Monday 21 September: Fines for breaking quarantine will deter people from seeking coronavirus tests

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/09/20/letters-fines-breaking-quarantine-will-deter-people-seeking/

632 thoughts on “Monday 21 September: Fines for breaking quarantine will deter people from seeking coronavirus tests”

  2. ‘Last chance saloon’: Britain given final warning to avoid new lockdown. 21 September 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ae6119d5b7c093a216ec11d0a5ab8ffb6bffcbfafae537801d66282176971db1.png

    Britain is in “the last chance saloon” to avoid tougher lockdown measures, Government sources have warned.

    Boris Johnson is expected to give Britain one final chance to prove it can follow the rules and suppress a second wave, as his chief medical officer warns on Monday that the nation has reached a “critical point in the pandemic”.

    Morning everyone. There were 18 Covid deaths yesterday! These are personal tragedies but they in no way impinge on the fate of the country, they certainly do not justify the destruction of the economy or of a way of life that stretches back a millennium. Such losses even if true are not simply supportable but actually occur every year with Common Cold and Flu epidemics. I’ll not give any advice on what the Government should do because I don’t believe that their policies have anything to do with the virus.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/20/last-chance-saloon-britain-given-final-warning-avoid-new-lockdown/

        1. The pandemic has given us the chance to change the way we live and have a more sustainable economy.
          Don’t suppose he will be easing up much though

          3. The country is being rewilded – mostly with muslim young men, originally from or fresh off the breeding grounds of Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan/Pakistan.

          4. Does that mean we’ll have to install reedbeds in our gardens to filter out the poo? Should make the balconies on flats a little cramped.

          5. Does he simply mean force down the use of cars?

            As it is, there are likely 6 million unemployed at the end of this. What’s going to sustain them?

            Pret a Manger staff have been made redundant, along with Costa. Those are real people, real jobs. Low paid, mostly – well, let’s be blunt – unskilled workers but workers nonetheless. A huge amount of taxes and frankly people’s pride in doing a job.

            We can’t simply give them a stipend forever. In this horrifically overcrowded, indebted, high welfare dependence country we need people to work to pay their own bills or else the interconnected matrix of the economy collapses.

          6. Perhaps the foreigners will go home? As for the reduced tax revenue, the rest of us will be taxed until the pips squeak.

    3. How many of those deaths are solely from COVID-19? If the answer is 18, and the individuals were fit, healthy adults then that’s something to be genuinely concerned with.

      If of those 18 17 were elderly, with pre-existing conditions and the last one an otherwise healthy overweight asthmatic, then that’s a different issue.

    1. Yes of course. That’s all the test does. It takes a DNA sample for their database. PCR tests can’t identify one coronavirus from another or tell whether it’s a live or dead virus fragment.

  5. Health official urges people not to flock to ‘heaving’ Blackpool. 21 September 2020.

    Health officials have expressed alarm after huge crowds descended on Blackpool hours after it was excluded from coronavirus restrictions due to come into force this week.

    Day-trippers said they had “never seen Blackpool so busy” as people poured into the town over the weekend, with many reporting a lack of social distancing or face coverings.

    Gem Concannon, 36, from Northwich in Cheshire, said the town was “heaving”, adding: “Hardly anyone was wearing masks or social distancing. It was shocking. I’ve never seen it that busy before.”

    This is a sort of Vote with your Feet exercise. It tells us that faith in the governments narrative is collapsing!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/20/health-official-urges-people-not-to-flock-to-heaving-blackpool-covid

  6. ‘Morning, Peeps. Today’s crop of Covid-related letters. The natives are restless, and rightly so:

    SIR – The Government has stumbled on a clever way to reduce pressure on the coronavirus testing system. The risk of a £10,000 fine if you test positive and fail to self-isolate will deter those who believe they or their children might just have a cold. It may, of course, deter those with coronavirus symptoms too.

    Who will now leave genuine contact details in a Covid-secure and socially distanced restaurant, for example? If another customer, whom you might never even have seen, let alone come within two metres of, tests positive, you would then have to self-isolate for 14 days. That, for many, will be a greater risk than catching the virus.

    Julian Gall
    Godalming, Surrey

    SIR – If I am contacted by the test and trace system and told I must isolate, as I’m alleged to have been in close contact with someone, I have to comply or be fined £1,000. I am not told who the alleged positive contact is. Their word is taken and my personal liberties are taken away on pain of financial penalty. It is like being fined £1,000 for shoplifting, but with the magistrate under no obligation to tell me from which shop I am alleged to have stolen.

    This is simply a misuse of power. There is no debate in Parliament when such laws are being introduced.

    S Smedley
    Chesterfield, Derbyshire

    SIR –Someone with a grudge could falsely identify another person as having been a contact. Because of anonymity the person identified could not know who named them and would have to self isolate needlessly and with no means of redress.

    David Muir
    Bristol

    SIR – Gosport, Portsmouth, Fareham, Southampton, Eastleigh, Winchester and Test Valley (all in Hampshire) have Covid cases in single figures per 100,000, far below the average for England.

    Areas with high rates of cases have been granted tougher lockdown measures. It would thus be illogical and unfair to impose extra restrictions on a national level.

    The public will support a policy which incentivises good behaviour and common sense.

    Tom Knight
    Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire

    SIR – A major rethink on how we battle coronavirus is urgently needed. Now, we’re far better informed, so locking us all down and destroying more lives and livelihoods are not the answer.

    Even when a vaccine is found, it may not grant total immunity. In the meantime, as with every other disease, we must learn to live with it.

    The most vulnerable are more than capable of deciding how to protect themselves, while the young need to get on with their lives and enjoy their youth, which passes all too quickly.

    Enough of this hourly analysis, which creates an atmosphere of fear out of all proportion to the threat. Our best weapon against the virus, for now, is common sense, not over-reaction, which is devastating our country.

    Richard Drax MP (Con)
    London SW1

    SIR – I must have recently turned into an ill-tempered old curmudgeon, as I rather agree with Van Morrison’s views on lockdown.

    Christopher Gordon
    Farnham, Surrey

    SIR – There is a simple solution to the shortage of laboratory resources for full-scale coronavirus testing. The first step is to ask those being examined at their local virus testing centre what their examination results should be.

    The next step is to plug the answers into the Ofqual algorithm, to moderate and adjust these results.

    This innovative approach would give all those being tested for coronavirus the results they were hoping for. Furthermore, it would prove the virus is still spreading.

    Peter Bryson
    Ilkley, West Yorkshire

  11. The Democrats are now the Party of “Disintegration.”. SST. 20 September 2020.

    Shapiro and Levin are two of my favorite talking heads. They both understand clearly that the Jacobin Marxist wing of the Democratic Party with its BLM and Antifa allies are intent on destroying and obliterating the United States of America. They intend to replace the constitution with a different document, to replace the flag, the anthem and to erase our history in a replication of the Khmer-Rouge’s murderous enactment of the philosophy of the “Year Zero.”

    The machine Democrats like Pelosi, Schumer,Warner, Kaine, Cuomo, etc., are rapidly losing control of their party just as the Girondists lost control of the National Assembly as history moved them along on the way to their ride in the tumbrils. AOC says openly that her comrades should vote for Biden however ridiculous and ideologically inappropriate he is. Joe should listen for the rumble of the wooden wheels.

    But! Do not despair! I doubt that the Armed Forces and the Deplorables would accept the seizure of power by the Jacobin Marxists. There may be generals and admirals who would be tempted to accept such a government but the troops … Pat Lang.

    The view from the United States.

    https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/

  13. Good morning, all. Misty start – with the sun just breaking through.

    Must go out and denounce someone.

  14. Morning, Campers.
    Seeing the mist this morning, I must get the fence painting finished before autumn damp becomes too pervasive.
    Deep joy, as this entails disappearing into the depths of the local builders’ merchants to buy another can. I may be some time.
    The fruitfulness has definitely passed by Allan Towers; the grape vine has produced miserable raisins which I can’t turn into jelly. Rats and double rats.

    2. We have the best blackberry harvest ever this year, Anne. Apart from fingers full of spikes, we got 3,5 kg a week or so ago, and another 3kg yesterday. Yaay! Blackberry & apple pies for the winter!

      1. Apart from the blackberries from Korkie’s garden this year has been carp; my usual picking spots have been absolutely frazzled.

    3. You’re lucky, Annie. (Good morning, btw.) I was hoping to do some more fence painting today, but there is a leak in the plumbing and all my kitchen flooring is peeling up. Water turned off at the mains and everything is now on hold whilst I phone the insurance company and the plumber. AAAARGHH!

        1. I shall pass on your good wishes as soon as I can find Mr Lime, Uncle Bill. Where is The Master when you need a man to wield his spanner/hammer/screwdriver?!?!?

          :-))

      2. Snap! A water main burst right outside my house & the men came on Friday to fix it. Of course they didn’t finish the job & left the barriers up all w/e, leaving me to squeeze in & out of my own entrance. Hopefully they’ll come & finish today, but so far no sign of them.

    4. My vines produced small grapes, but before I could harvest them, the birds stripped the lot! I managed the sum total of three – but they were very sweet. The raspberries, on the other hand, are still being harvested pounds at a time. There are plenty of apples and pears still to remove from the trees as well. The spuds are safely gathered in and I’m thinking of putting my garden to bed for the winter once the Harvest Home is over.

  15. Get a group of friends together, the more the merrier and ideally spread around the country.

    All pretend to have had a positive Covid test.

    Dob in each other and as many politicians/tester maniacs/journalists etc as you can concievably have come into contact with.

    Ensure that each of you also dob in a couple of other high profile individuals; draw up an agreed list where the contact is possible, eg restaurants, public transport or places where it isn’t impossible they were present.

    The snitch and snatch system of compulsory isolation would soon collapse when i starts to affect “big peope” instead of us little people..

  16. Daily Telegraph and Bill Gates Propaganda Alert !

    Interesting how the Daily Telegraph pushes Chris Whitty as the right person to ”inspire” the public when their global health articles are paid for by vaccine loving Bill Gates, and Chris Whitty knows Bill Gates from 2008………

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/government-needs-fresh-coronavirus-message-want-come-professor/

    So what Chris Whitty says looks likely to have come straight from Bill Gates !

  17. A massive gap between a Daily Mail article and the BTL comments:

    Social media users have been left in tears over an advert for Renault Clio which follows a lesbian love story, with some calling it the best ad ever made.

    The two-minute video follows a love story spanning three decades as two women meet as children, before falling in love and later reuniting as adults, all to an acoustic cover of Wonderwall by Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne.

    Many social media users have been blown away by the advert, suggesting it’s a rival for the traditional John Lewis tearjerker.

    One posted on Twitter: ‘Waiting for a good Christmas advert to have a good cry and getting it from the Renault Clio ad instead.’

    Another added: Forget the John Lewis ads, the new Renaut Clio advert is a masterpiece

    Social media users have been left in floods of tears over the Renault Clio advert, which follows a love story between two women spanning across three decades
    Social media users have been left in floods of tears over the Renault Clio advert, which follows a love story between two women spanning across three decades

    The advert starts with two young girls meeting for the first time, and going on to bond over a music mixtape in the back of a Clio car
    The advert starts with two young girls meeting for the first time, and going on to bond over a music mixtape in the back of a Clio car

    Another wrote: ‘The new Renault Clio ad might be the best ad ever made.’

    It’s not the first time the brand has captured public imagination with its adverts.

    During the ’90s its series of ads following the romantic adventures of Nicole who kept being foiled by her father, leading her to exclaim ‘Papa’ at the end of every clip.

    They were so successful that a 1996 survey found that Nicole was more recognisable than the then Prime Minister John Major, and the final ad in the series – featuring her wedding – was watched by 23 million viewers in May 1998.

    The latest advert, which was released to commemorate 30 years of its Clio hatchback, celebrates the love story between two women, one from France and the other from Britain.

    It begins with a young red-haired British girl named Gemma being driven off in a red Clio to spend time with a family in France.

    She is greeted by Sieza, a dark haired French girl of the same age and while the two initially appear a little awkward, they bond over a music mixtape.

    The two women later reunite in England as teenagers, where they take a dip in the sea and share their first kiss in a car

    While separated the two write love letters to one another, which are later discovered by Gemma’s father who is furious about their romance

    The girls become great friends the trip to France, before meeting again as teenagers, when the French teen visits England for the first time.

    After embracing at the ferry, they take their Clio on adventures to the country as well to the beach.

    The couple take a dip in the sea before they share an intimate kiss in the front seats of the car.

    Gemma later watches on and appears devastated by her former lover Sieza marrying someone else, but the marriage is shortlived

    After reuniting, the couple travel together to Gemma’s parents house with their daughter where they are embraced by her parents

    In one scene, he is shown holding the letters in one hand and screaming at Gemma while they stand in the rain at a petrol station.

    Time passes, and Gemma watches on in turmoil as she stands at the wedding of Sieza to another man.

    But the marriage doesn’t last, and she drives to Britain to see Gemma where they passionately reunite.

    In the final scene, they drive with their daughter in a rust orange Clio, the most recent generation of the car, to Gemma’s parents house, where all are accepted and embraced with hugs.

    Renault became famous for its ads documenting the romantic adventures of Nicole in the 1990s

    It concludes with the tagline, ‘The All-New Renault Clio: 30 years in the making.’

    Social media users have been left in floods of tears over the advert, with one posting online: ‘Deffo not crying over the Renault Clio ad I promise.’

    ‘Inject that Renault Clio ad into my VEINS,’ another wrote, ‘Goosebumps every time.’

    One added: ‘It’s so refreshing to see #LGBT representation, and as an advertising geek, I love the clever ’30 years in the making’ strapline that reflects the couple’s moving story.’

    The top BTL comments by far – over 6000 upvotes dismiss it all as PC nonsense!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-7722905/Viewers-left-tears-Renault-Clio-advert-follows-lesbian-couples-love-story.html

    2. Without the long explanation I wouldn’t have understood a fraction of it. Fun cars to drive, though.

    3. I haven’t seen the ad (and won’t go out of my way to do so), but it should ensure that no self-respecting male will consider buying a Clio. Positioning the Clio as an edgy woman’s car is marketing suicide..

        1. Not really sosraboc.

          Some people still buy Walker’s Crisps, but we don’t and neither do our friends.

          1. Ummm.
            Eating or not eating crisps is much less of a “statement” than buying or avoiding a make of car.

        1. That was different. A perfectly normal father/daughter relationship which worked on many levels.

          1. Do you remember the spoof advert where the male driver is cruising the red light district and pulls up by this girl on the pavement. She turns round and the guy exclaims “Nicole!” to which she exclaims “Papa!”

      3. Bonjour Harry!

        Should curiosity get the better of you, you can watch the ad in full as part of the DM article.

  18. Good morning dear people.

    Today is sunny, no clouds , no breeze , golden , glistening spider webs , pigeons cooing ,and a robin calling.

    Today is probably the last day of warm weather .

    Ode To Autumn
    John Keats

    Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
    Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
    With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
    To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
    And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
    With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
    And still more, later flowers for the bees,
    Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For Summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cell.

    Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
    Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
    Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
    Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
    Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
    Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
    Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
    Steady thy laden head across a brook;
    Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
    Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

    Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
    Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
    While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
    And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
    Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn
    Among the river sallows, borne aloft
    Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
    And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
    Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
    The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
    And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

      1. 323843+ up ticks,
        Morning G,
        Going on the incoming rate via Dover I do not find it hard to believe in the least, if not more.

        1. Oh dear.

          I have heard that we have less fewer troops than the amount number of people who would fill Twickenham.

          ‘Morning, Belle. What would you do without me?

          1. 3 (as they call themselves) tell me that they plan to build a 20 metre 5G mast near me, “opposite from the Post Office”.

      2. 323843+ up ticks,
        Morning B3,
        Seemingly they have taken the capital city & seriously put Brum in jeopardy of falling, many positions of power via councils throughout the country are in place.
        All this achieved whilst the indigenous were fighting each other
        through the ballot booth & the vote in / keep out mode of voting,
        we are suffering the fall out from party before Country mode of voting.

  20. Morning all, just before we go out for the day………….

    FIRST TIME SEX (THIS IS SOOO FUNNY) & CLEAN!!
    A girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night to meet, and have dinner with her parents. Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time.
    The boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. He tells the pharmacist it’s his first time and the pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex.
    At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he’d like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family Pack. The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all.
    That night, the boy shows up at the girl’s parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door. “Oh, I’m so excited for you to meet my parents, come on in!”
    The boy goes inside and is taken to the dinner table where the girl’s parents are seated. The boy quickly offers to say grace and bows his head. A minute passes, and the boy is still deep in prayer, with his head down. 10 minutes pass, and still no movement from the boy. Finally, after 20 minutes with his head down, the girl friend leans over and whispers to the boyfriend, “I had no Idea you were this religious.”

    The boy turns, and whispers back, “I had no idea your father was THE pharmacist.”

        1. I have a very good friend who lives in Victoria and is, in fact, a strong Labor supporter. Whenever I’ve raised Victoria’s bullying behaviour (which he fully support BTW) or for that matter, the arbitrariness of Covid policies worldwide, I get a withering put-down about believing the frenzied outpourings of nutters on Facebook and Twitter. However, I’ve yet to hear a reasoned defence from him about the policies and tactics that are being pursued.

          I no longer raise the issue because it seems we’re poles apart. Shame, he used to be pretty open-minded …

    1. It’s a good, sensible and balanced letter. I note that Matt Halfcock was not included in the addressees.

    2. Dangerous renegades – clearly far-right, swivel-eyed, foam-flecked – they must be if they are against spreading terror and despair/

    1. Yet…. it never gets any further than tucked away in the corner of a newspaper.

      You will never hear the BBC present that fact, for example. It will never publicise those facts, nor point out that having your nails done while expecting someone else – the tax payer – to pay your gas bill is actually irresponsible.

  28. Donald Trump is catching Sleepy Joe napping in his election surge. 21 September 2020.

    An American election cycle runs for two years, and longer if you count the fundraising run-up. But an American election doesn’t get going until after the Labor Day holiday on the first Monday in September.

    The current election cycle has been running for nearly four years – since the morning of 9 November 2016, when a stricken Hillary Clinton conceded to Donald Trump. And it has barely begun. This is why Joe Biden, or at least the handlers who work his Twitter feed and give him his cocoa, should be very worried by the polls.

    Donald Trump makes so much noise that we miss the stealthy, subtle moves that count. The two-ring circus is now in town: first Trump and then Biden submitted to the faux-democratic theater of the televised ‘town hall’, a nightmare out of Norman Rockwell in which pre-selected questions are fended off by pre-prepared answers.

    The real action is elsewhere. “Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness,” Sun Tzu counsels. As in The Art of War, so in The Art of the Deal. While the Democrats are fighting a chimera, a formless fantasy of their own creation, Trump, the Sun Tzu from Queens, is quietly winning his war.

    In 2016, the Democrats refused to accept the legitimacy of Trump’s victory. Most of the media felt the same way. The losers of 2016 have remained in campaign mode throughout this term, tracking popularity polls instead of policy moves, and delegitimizing Trump when they might have been addressing the failure of their ground game in a Rust Belt that Hillary Clinton barely visited.
    Trump has abetted this distraction. He too has remained in campaign mode. Throughout this term, he has continued to hold rallies for the base – as though his power is not constitutional but charismatic, populist not procedural.

    One result of this is that while Biden’s campaign is trying to gather momentum, team Trump is already running at warp speed. The Covid-19 suspension masked this advantage: for months, neither candidate could meet the voters. But now the mask is off.
    Last Tuesday alone, Trump talked to Fox News for forty-five minutes, presided over the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House, and then delivered a series of dramatic monologues for his town hall on ABC.

    Meanwhile Biden somehow managed to describe the Biden-Harris campaign as the ‘Harris-Biden’ campaign, and responded to a softball question about getting veterans back to work in civilian life with pure gibberish: ‘if you were a quartermaster, you can sure in hell take care runnin’ a, you know, department store, uh, thing, you know, where, in the second floor of the ladies department or whatever, you know what I mean?’

    The Sun Tzu of Queens is jetting around the Midwest on Air Force One and delivering stand-up routines to thousands. Biden is lost without a teleprompter, but stranded when he has one. His personality, or what remains of it, is his strongest suit, but his team won’t let him near the public. They fear the idiocies that might come out of his mouth, and they fear the virus that might go up his nose.

    A presidential election is not so much a popularity contest as a war for the Electoral College, fought on the battlegrounds of the swing states. In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote by 780,000 votes but won the Electoral College. The popular vote, whatever the Democrats say, does not decide who wins the White House.

    Trump took six of the ten most competitive states in 2016. His margins in delegate-rich Pennsylvania and Florida were tight: 1.2 per cent in both. In Michigan, it was tighter still: 0.3 percent. Look at the polls, and Trump is on track to win these states again.
    In Florida, three polls taken over the last week show that Biden’s lead has shrunk to within the margin of error. A Marist College poll shows Trump and Biden neck and neck on 48 per cent each, and a Florida Atlantic poll has them matched at 50 per cent each.
    Trump is making inroads into the Latino vote too. At this point in the 2016 campaign, Marist College reported that Hillary Clinton was leading Trump 59 per cent to 36 per cent among Latinos in Miami-Dade County. Marist now places Trump on 47 percent and Biden on 46 percent.

    Clinton won Florida’s Latino vote by 27 per cent in 2016. Marist reports that Trump has closed that gap to 17 per cent. Trump already leads Biden among white voters.

    In a state with a high Latino population, many of them Cuban and anti-communist, Trump is opening a new path to victory in November. And not just in Florida: a, a third of Latinos identify as Republican, and Trump’s share of their support is rising in Texas and Arizona too.

    In Pennsylvania, Biden’s lead is also within the margin of error overall. Since 2016, the Republicans have aggressively built up their voter registration in the state, and have closed the gap to only 150,000. In southwestern Pennsylvania, the Democrats’ war on coal and natural gas is pushing union members, once the backbone of the white working-class vote, into Trump’s camp. In Luzerne County, which voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 but Trump in 2016, the Democratic state senator now calls himself an Independent and caucuses with the Republicans.

    Biden’s lead appears to be greater in Michigan, but, as Time magazine noted, the Democrats have built no ground game there. And as everyone knows, the polls almost always underrate Trump’s support. If the Democrats are repeating their errors of 2016 in Michigan, they will repeat their failures.

    One analysis of the 2016 elections argues that if Michigan and Pennsylvania’s black voters had supported Clinton in the way they supported Obama in 2008 and 2012, then she would have won those states. The margin of difference was as small as 5 per cent – and Trump is indubitably more popular with African Americans, especially the under-thirties, than John McCain was in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012.

    The Democrats have banked that demography is behind them, and that the ‘browning of America’ will grow their coalition. But the Republicans, and Trump in particular, are clearly picking up votes from the diversified electorate. November will be close, but Trump is quietly eroding the Democrats’ traditional base in the crucial states while he loudly dominates the news cycle. And we haven’t even had the first debate yet.

    Good!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/21/donald-trump-catching-sleepy-joe-napping-election-surge/

  29. The CSA and CMO gave a totally inappropriate presentation of COVID scientific data to the general public at 11:00 hrs today on BBC1.
    The graphs might just have been legible if shown as Powerpoint slides on an overhead projector when viewed from the front row.

    1. Just had a look at that on Twitter – still ranting on about ‘cases’ – when we know the tests are faulty.

      1. So there may be more cases. Are they severe enough to put people in hospital, or wooden boxes? If not, who cares how many cases there are – just like the common cold, or freckles.

        1. Are they severe enough to put people in hospital, or wooden boxes?

          It is highly likely that some will be, and a few of those may even be young enough not to be looking over their shoulders for the reaper coming up behind them. But we already have a multitude of conditions which cause that to happen; and we are neglecting all of them whilst we worry about this one.

      1. 323843+ up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        So in point of fact this odious issue could very well be a family affair as with father / son politico’s which would make it worse
        via the voting pattern, that surely has been the reason for much of the cover up’s.
        Party first has it’s consequences.

      2. I strongly suspect that the chances are that younger men were used as the bait to attract the girls. A teenager is more likely to be able to approach younger girls and then commence the process of drugs and booze and faked love.

        Eventually the girls would be passed by the younger men to their older controllers and then passed around their community.

      1. Muslim rapists should be given two offers:

        Castration
        Deportation with indelible tattoo saying RAPIST on their foreheads, cheeks, chests and backs.

        2. Nigeria has got the right idea now

          They are going to castrate sex offenders , then give them the death penalty.

          I would happily wallop the balls of a sex offender , and if that is Sharia law , well those muzzies who are guilty of interferring with British children should be punished properly .

          I can remember when I was a little girl asking my father why so many people in Khartoum had one hand .. my father replied .. “That is what happens to people who are naughty”

  32. Morning all

    SIR – If I am contacted by the test and trace system and told I must isolate, as I’m alleged to have been in close contact with someone, I have to comply or be fined £1,000. I am not told who the alleged positive contact is. Their word is taken and my personal liberties are taken away on pain of financial penalty. It is like being fined £1,000 for shoplifting, but with the magistrate under no obligation to tell me from which shop I am alleged to have stolen.

    This is simply a misuse of power. There is no debate in Parliament when such laws are being introduced.

    S Smedley

    Chesterfield, Derbyshire

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    SIR –Someone with a grudge could falsely identify another person as having been a contact. Because of anonymity the person identified could not know who named them and would have to self isolate needlessly and with no means of redress.

    David Muir

    Bristol

    SIR – Gosport, Portsmouth, Fareham, Southampton, Eastleigh, Winchester and Test Valley (all in Hampshire) have Covid cases in single figures per 100,000, far below the average for England.

    Areas with high rates of cases have been granted tougher lockdown measures. It would thus be illogical and unfair to impose extra restrictions on a national level.

    The public will support a policy which incentivises good behaviour and common sense.

    Tom Knight

    Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire

    SIR – A major rethink on how we battle coronavirus is urgently needed. Now, we’re far better informed, so locking us all down and destroying more lives and livelihoods are not the answer.

    Even when a vaccine is found, it may not grant total immunity. In the meantime, as with every other disease, we must learn to live with it.

    Advertisement

    The most vulnerable are more than capable of deciding how to protect themselves, while the young need to get on with their lives and enjoy their youth, which passes all too quickly.

    Enough of this hourly analysis, which creates an atmosphere of fear out of all proportion to the threat. Our best weapon against the virus, for now, is common sense, not over-reaction, which is devastating our country.

    Richard Drax MP (Con)

    London SW1

    SIR – I must have recently turned into an ill-tempered old curmudgeon, as I rather agree with Van Morrison’s views on lockdown.

    Christopher Gordon

    Farnham, Surrey

    SIR – There is a simple solution to the shortage of laboratory resources for full-scale coronavirus testing. The first step is to ask those being examined at their local virus testing centre what their examination results should be.

    The next step is to plug the answers into the Ofqual algorithm, to moderate and adjust these results.

    This innovative approach would give all those being tested for coronavirus the results they were hoping for. Furthermore, it would prove the virus is still spreading.

    Peter Bryson

    Ilkley, West Yorkshire

  33. ‘Morning, again.

    From yesterday’s DT (okay, ST). Perverting the course of justice was, and still should be, a serious offence, but the slap on the wrist of a suspended sentence does not, in my view, send out anything like that message. It is hard to imagine what Henry Milner went through during the 2 years this alleged assault was hanging over him. When digital photography was in its early stages my work involved the investigation of road traffic accidents (as we knew them then). In short order I had 2 cases of doctored photos; the first where the shadows from the alleged finishing positions of 3 vehicles were inconsistent, and in the other where skid marks had been added with the intention of exaggerating the speed of one of the vehicles. In both cases the police took the trickery seriously and both parties finished up in court with custodial sentences, albeit short ones.

    “A hunt saboteur perverted the course of justice by altering a video to claim he had been attacked by a farmer, a jury found amid warnings that attempts to doctor footage are the “heart of sabs tactics”.

    David Graham, 35, has been handed a suspended jail term and given a restraining order after giving police a video which had been edited to make it appear that farmer Henry Milner was repeatedly kicking out at him.

    Mr Milner had the accusations hanging over him for two years and was interviewed by police before the case was discontinued.

    It is not the first time that concerns have been raised over prosecutions based on evidence provided by hunt saboteurs who are trying to prevent hunts from taking place.

    Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance said: “There have been numerous concerns raised throughout the years by members of the hunting community of saboteurs using significantly edited or tampered footage.

    “This footage is often uploaded online, with no regulation, in a bid to raise money for funding further disruption of legal trail hunting activity.

    “This conviction serves to strengthen those concerns and prove that producing dodgy footage, even in a bid to fool police, is very much at the heart of hunt sab tactics.”

    Graham, of the West Midlands Hunt Saboteur group, had been following the Atherstone Hunt in Leicestershire when he trespassed on Newton Burgoland farm run by Mr Milner and his brother Thomas.

    The Milner brothers, who had given the hunt permission to cross their land on March 5, 2016, saw two hunt saboteurs in balaclavas on their land and had asked them to get back on to the path, they said.

    There was some arguing and shoving, the court heard, before the Graham and his colleague were escorted off the land.

    However, days later Graham called the police to say that he had been assaulted before providing footage later that month which he claimed was an original recording.

    It appeared to show Henry Milner repeatedly kicking him but when he was interviewed by police he denied any assault.

    Mr Milner told the court that he had merely taken a step near the defendant while requesting he leave his land.

    Graham had fallen to the ground in the “slippery” wet field, he said.

    However, it was not until the summer of 2018 that the case against Mr Milner was discontinued after Leicestershire police analysed the films and “determined they had been doctored to present the incident in a different light”.

    Graham was charged with perverting the course of justice with the video but denied the allegations and was only convicted following a trial at Leicester Crown Court last week.

    He was found not guilty of a separate count of perverting the course of justice in relation to the report of the assault which he had made.

    He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work within the next two years after the judge noted that it had taken almost five years for the case to come to a conclusion.

    He was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs and given a seven-year restraining order banning any contact with the people he had made the allegation against or from going to the area in which the incident was reported to have happened.

    Detective Constable Louise Osborne investigated the incident.

    She said: “Perverting the course of justice is a serious criminal offence. I hope this will serve as a deterrent to anyone intent on committing a similar offence.”

  34. Isn’t the most pressing question that of the validity of the PCR test used to identify “cases”? With a false positive rate even below 1% the figures are alarming. Of every thousand tested there will be more false positives than genuine infections. What is the FP rate for this test?

  36. What foolish and cruel rules we follow.

    SIR – Clive Fewins (Letters, September 18) asks why so many churches remain closed. I think he is wrong to blame churchwardens.

    Advertisement

    Little Horsted is a rural parish of about 85 households. Normally a service is held every Sunday. The last service inside the church took place on March 25 – a family funeral (eight persons) for my husband Terry.

    The church was locked immediately afterwards and has remained closed.

    The warden has told me that the church authorities had decreed that churches must remain closed until they have been professionally cleaned. The usual volunteers are banned.

    Apparently this will cost Little Horsted about £500 – money that a small parish cannot afford. So, in an area with one of the lowest incidents of Covid in the country, the church is likely to remain closed.

    Katharine Clark

    Little Horsted, East Sussex

    1. I am not sure the rules have been correctly
      ;interpreted; it is widely accepted that the virus
      may live on some surfaces for up to 72 hours.
      If the Church has been locked for more than
      4,000 hours it seems unlikely to be infected, if
      it ever was!

      1. Morning, G. I don’t think it’s about the virus.
        Look at Well-meaning and whatever apparatchik is now ArchBish of York.

        1. Good morning, Anne.

          I agree with you, I attend a conservative
          Baptist Church [the Parish Church is very
          happy-clappy] which has some restrictions
          but they are not designed to keep people
          away from Church….rather the reverse.
          By the way, my grape vine is very heavily
          laden as is the fig tree!

          1. I didn’t get any figs from my neighbour this year because her neighbour threw glycophosphate all over her fig tree.

            *not asking for any of yours. wink wink. 🙂

          3. Garlands, I’m on my way to help you out with your heavily laden fig tree! Figs are a special favourite of mine, since my early years in Argentina when I used to climb up local fig trees and eat them raw.

      1. I always thought Blair was the Anti-Christ – he appointed Welby, didn’t he? Or was it the Charleton Cameron?

    3. What’s the point of a deep clean if no-one’s been in there for months? The virus can only survive outside the body for hours at most.

  37. SIR – Full marks to Judith Woods for her observation: “Britain needs a statesman – not a larky schoolboy”.

    We desperately need a statesman to guide us through this difficult time. Boris Johnson is certainly not that man.

    Roger Redfarn

    Emsworth, Hampshire

    SIR – Gove was right. We were wrong.

    John Francklow

    Ludlow, Shropshire

      3. Yes, This was on yesterday if I recall correctly. It pretty well annihilates the whole “cases” scenario!

  39. SIR – I echo Richard Overy’s sentiment that the “Many” won the Battle of Britain. It can hardly be said that the RAF saved the nation from “probable invasion” when the chances of successfully landing an army on the beaches of Kent and Sussex were so massively diminished by vast Royal Navy resources stationed around the south and east coasts – and the German admirals knew it.

    Air power had little relevance to a situation where enemy barges would cross at night. Even in daylight our airmen lacked the training and equipment to do much about sinking ships, especially if the armada was being closely engaged by British destroyers. By contrast, Royal Navy warships shot up enemy invasion ports several times by night.

    I am sure Professor Overy already knows that Churchill told his colleagues privately that he did not expect an invasion but wanted to keep everyone tuned to a high state of readiness. I believe that the vast German preparations existed to reassure Stalin that the German focus was on Britain rather than Russia, to which Hitler’s thoughts had already turned.

    Battle of Britain Day was originally Civil Defence Day but, as the war went on, Churchill wanted to divert attention from the Many to the Few for political purposes – and perhaps subconsciously because he would have liked to have been a pilot.

    Dr Anthony J Cumming

    Author, The Battle for Britain

    Paignton, Devon

    1. Oh Yeah,because naval forces did sooooooooo well against air power without their own fighter cover,how many destroyers lost at Dunkirk??
      CoughRepulsePrinceofWalesCough

    2. Look out for “Dr” Cumming’s new book, “Britain lost the Second World War”

      Wonder if he lives in Barnard Castle….

    3. It is true that the RAF had a poor record in attacking ships but this was not so with the Luftwaffe. If they had succeeded in driving the RAF from the skies they would have had a field day with the Royal Navy in the narrows of the English Channel! In all probability they would have succeeded in the invasion!

      2. Air power won’t conquer a country but it will sink ships and make a mess of everything on land. At the beginning of WW2 the RAF Bomber Command were very pleased if their bombs hit the ground as they could not hit any specific target smaller than a continent. Which is why they decided to indiscriminately bomb civilian targets, that is, towns and cities.
        The story of Billy Mitchell demonstrated how hard it is for planes to drop bombs accurately, even if the target does not move. Lots of practice required. The Royal Navy were good at torpedo attacks, however, as at the Battle of Taranto.

    4. The “many” who won the Battle of Britain were in the Air Force or the Observer Corps; pilots, plotters, observers, cooks, guards, fitters, riggers, armourers …

      1. But really who cares about how many positive test results there are? Testing is a total shambles week on week comparisons are meaningless when access to testing is not consistent.

        It is as Rik suggests. How many hospitalizations and how many deaths? Those numbers will be rejected by many of this parish because of comorbidities but its better than test counts.

        Canada is equally screwed. When MPs cannot get tests, things are bad! Apparently there is a simple spit and test kit that has been developed in Vancouver, no test centres, no sending samples off to a lab.do it at home for almost instant results. The authorities are reviewing the test, no urgency there.

        1. It would help us understand the statistics better if they normalised the test results relative to the total number of tests (on different people) each week, rather than just giving the number of positive PCR tests which are meaningless as they are overly sensitive. IMO, it’s the rate of hospital admissions that is the most important factor in seeing if the virus is spreading more.

      3. “And let’s imagine again that, in this scenario, 10,000 random people go
        for a Covid-19 test. With the infection level at 0.1 per cent, just ten
        people will have Sars-CoV-2 and 9,990 will not. Of the ten who turn up
        with an infection, 80 per cent will test positive, meaning eight people
        will be correctly identified while two walk away with a false negative.”
        That’s a very high rate of false positives – picking up paople who may have had the virus and recovered, or they may just have bits of flu or cold virus stil in their systems.

    2. Cases are irrelevant IMO. It’s the deaths they should concentrate on. The number is bobbing along at the bottom of the graph so cases is what they’re trying to scare us all with now.

      I don’t understand how they Don’t realise that the game is up, the virus is on the wane, and things should go back to normal immediately. To me it just goes to prove that control is the name of the game, leading to (perhaps) mandatory vaccination (when they finally come up with one). However there will have been not nearly enough time to ensure its safety . And in any case it will mutate and the vaccine will be a year behind the virus just as is the flu jab – it’s always based on the previous year’s strain. But what can we do? . I certainly intend to decline any vaccine (and don’t forget the pharma companies have been given immunity from prosecution should any adverse reactions occur). It is all so sinister.

      1. The game was up with climate change ages ago, vw, after the revelation by leaked emails that UEA climate change research scientists had cherry-picked the data. And still they carry on with that scam. I too shall certainly decline any vaccine. I think the pressure at first will be in the guise of emotional blackmail, something like ‘get your vaccine to protect others’. However, if the sheep have had the vaccine, there is no need to protect them, is there? We are living in dangerous times, and not because of a ‘virus.’

  41. Britain stands at a ‘critical point,’ Professor Chris Whitty to warn this morning. 21 September 2020.

    Britain stands at a “critical point” in the coronavirus pandemic, Professor Chris Whitty will warn this morning, potentially laying the ground for tough new controls in an urgent attempt to halt the surge in infections.

    In a televised briefing expected at around 11am, the Chief Medical Officer for England will say the country faces a “very challenging winter”, with the current trend heading in “the wrong direction”.

    I don’t like this guy. I don’t share the uncritical admiration of him that others seem to possess. He’s too much like that twerp Ferguson for my tastes. That said one wonders if he realises what he’s doing here. He’s standing up and essentially setting Government Policy and if it goes tit’s up; which is what I think will happen, they will make sure he takes the flak for it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-second-national-lockdown-london-cases/

    1. I’ve come to the conclusion that these people are all apparatchiks for world government and their latest push for more control

      1. I think it is simpler than that. Once they enter Whitehall they develop a self given belief of superiority and righteousness and lose all sense of reality. They live in a closetted world of self serving committees, members of which are all of similar mindset, so the whole apparatus is a closed loop structure of self perpetuating groupthink. They come from a class of society which is rooted in theoretical research, funded by interest groups which direct their mindset. 1984 to the power of ten.

    2. He has a narrow vision, confined to his speciality. He doesn’t do human and is unaware of the balancing act that a normal life entails.

      2. Morning Anne .

        I like your description of CW.

        There is a familiar ring there some how .

        Intense men like that are almost on the autistic spectrum .

        Do you understand what I mean?

      3. Quite agree. His view alone will be ensure that lasting damage, both to the economy and ‘body and soul’, is assured.

    3. ‘…they will make sure he takes the flak for it!’

      Of course they will, if not him then someone else.

      Good morning, Minty

    1. 323843+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      There, there Oggy I know the truth hurts & truth spreading incurs the slings & arrows of outraged members of the three monkey brigade, but onward
      Christian Soldiers onward as……..

  43. Good afternoon, Chums.

    I have been unable [until this morning] to understand the
    barely disguised panic of friends……but all has been revealed.

    I was invited to a friend’s house for coffee, five of us enjoyed
    a very pleasant chat about all and nothing, however when I arrived
    the telly was on because *We need to know what further restrictions
    we need to adhere to.*

    I never listen to or read any ‘news’ unless it appears here, on the blog,
    consequently I have been unaware of the blatant, unfounded, lying,
    scheming, mendacious, manipulative reports blasted forth [rather like
    the five-times-a-day-call-to-prayers,]
    I have found it almost impossible to believe people’s gullibility but
    after listening to that tripe…..well, I suppose if one hears it often enough
    one starts to believe it to be true.

    1. But one might say the same about this blog, which is fairly heavily biased towards the sceptical viewpoint.

      };-O

      1. Indeed, Sos….but we do have the occasional
        libertarian who attempts to bring us into line,
        HMG and helpers seem to be inviolate to any
        form of criticism.

        Good afternoon.

    2. 323843+ up ticks,
      Afternoon G,
      Good comparison,5 times a day, IMO ALL political paths
      ARE leading to the mosque, the herd currently is going through a softening up fright / sh!te period.
      With the make believe plague fallout & brexit sharing equally forthcoming deceit & treachery.
      My views alone.

    3. Good news for the over 35s!

      If Witty had shown this series of charts in his TV broadcast it would have made more sense.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3730e1171d5ffc2ed42b7f059430bf154f954559a85ad8bff89077dcb71928f7.jpg

      Basically, the under 35s are socialising too much and doing things that promote the exchange of COVID-19 pathogens.
      My granddaughter is in the 17-24 group and was installed in her university student accommodation on Friday.
      She was kept awake by a rowdy party of girls on Friday night one of which was heard to have boasted of having intimate relationships with two boys.

      Professor Witty’s remarks really need to be addressed to the under 35s but they don’t watch BBC1 and are happy to just connect to WiFi and arrange parties and assignations.

        1. When they organise a party to celebrate my passing, does the body count as one of the six? It’s probably the most infectious of all present.

          I think we should be told.

          1. Is the body of someone who died of Covid allowed to attend its own funeral? It could be a danger to the mourners.

      3. Who needs to mix in social groups anyway? A bottle of whisky, an oatmeal bannock – and Mrs. Mac beside me singing in the Wilderness – Och! my “bubble” is paradise enow ….

        …… I’ll get a refill …..

        3. If David Attenborough were doing a survival of the human species series then all he would need to know is if the birth rate was higher than the death rate.

          The idea of socialising in conjunction with drinking in the under 35s is to keep the birth rate higher than the death rate through just drinking in the over 35s.

      4. My 89-year-old friend hasn’t been out since March. He’s quite happy; he does his garden, bakes and keeps the house tidy (his wife died a couple of years ago), his neighbours do his shopping and bring him special offers of whisky when they are on at the local supermarket and his son does things for him on-line. He will listen to the news, though 🙁

        1. I put the beautiful flowers in water and someone (Dolly probably) hid the chocs. I’ve only just discovered them. Your house isn’t made of gingerbread is it?

  44. Navalny asks for his clothes back as no official probe into poisoning launched in Russia. 21 September 2020.

    Alexei Navalny, Russia’s opposition leader who was in a medically induced coma for weeks, has asked authorities to return belongings and clothes that were seized from him as no official inquiry has been launched into his poisoning in Russia.

    Well since no crime was committed except possibly that of self-harm and all the evidence has been moved to Germany, and they will not release it, there’s not much point carrying out an investigation!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/21/navalny-asks-clothes-back-no-official-probe-poisoning-launched/

  45. Browsing the net – for want of something better to do – in the light of the massive SIXTEEN dead yesterday from the plague, I discovered that every year in the UK, 6,000 people die because of accidents in the home.

    Amazingly, that comes out as SIXTEEN a day.

    Where are the headlines, the press conferences and, above all, where are Halfcock and Whitty?

    Obviously, everyone must be ordered to remain bed-bound for the rest of their lives.

    1. Bed is the most dangerous place – more people die in bed than anywhere else!
      I’ll get me shroud.

    2. Such are not welcome.

      Nor is the 26 injured or killed on the roads a day either. Or the (statistically averaged) 7 a month from Muslim terrorism.

  46. Good morning my friends

    Any more people want to add their birthday to the list or correct any mistakes on the list?

    If so please post below this.

          9. I regard all the posts directed at me by peddy with grave suspicion!

            We have a Nottler birthday coming up this week. I hope everybody will wish a Happy Birthday.

          17. You weren’t meant to see it, just to close your eyes and listen carefully until you fell into the arms of Morpheus.

    1. Here is some correspondence over my mother’s TV licence. She is locked down away from her flat at the moment, so I let the licence lapse.

      “TV LICENSING
      Darlington
      DL98 1TL
      Tel: 0300 790 6087
      Fax: 0300 790 6012
      Email: enquiries@tvlicensing.co.uk

      Dear Mr Morphey,

      Thank you for contacting us.

      In order for us to continue with your enquiry please provide the full address and postcode of where the TV Licence is currently registered to.

      In addition to this, please confirm if anyone is accessing the BBC iplayer on any device at your address as this information has not been provided on your original email.

      I look forward to your reply.

      Yours sincerely,

      Daniel Henderson
      TV Licensing

      ———- Original Message ———-

      Following the general institutional breakdown in this country, and that the BBC no longer honours it Charter, due to its preoccupation with pushing gender and race factionalism and its extortionate renumeration policy for executives and celebrities, I can report that there is nobody watching TV or downloading BBC content at this address for the foreseeable future.

      Please do not put “do not reply” on any future contact details for yourselves when you write to me.

      Mr Morphey

      On 28 Aug 2020, at 12:18, TV Licensing wrote:

      Don’t risk your address becoming unlicensed – renew today

      So you know this email is from TV Licensing, we’ve included part of your postcode, ****. For details on how to check this is genuine information, sent by TV Licensing, please refer to Your security at the bottom of this email.
      [TV Licensing]

      ———————-

      Dear Mr Morphey,

      You need to renew today
      to stay covered.

      This is your last chance to renew your TV Licence before it expires. Don’t leave it any longer – it only takes minutes to renew online.

      Renew now

      Your TV Licence covers you to watch or record live TV programmes on any channel or device, or to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer – live, via catch-up or on demand.

      Did you know?
      Renewing online means more of the licence fee goes towards BBC TV and radio programmes.

      Terms and conditions

      Update your details”

      1. My mother never owned a telly in her life. She was continually bombarded with threats from TV licencing – she used to put them in the bin, unopened.

  49. Even the BBC is raising concerns!
    The nation has been brought to a standstill once at immense cost to the economy, education and health more generally. And now with cases rising there is the threat of new national restrictions, while large parts of the country have already found themselves back in partial lockdown. But are we fighting a losing battle? Do we instead need to learn to live with the virus?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54228649

  50. Looking at what was my French local newspaper, I see that they are having the “covid v snuffles” debate about school chlldren

    1. Now they’ll ALL do it. – – -plus just read the ones going into the barracks nr folkestone are due there today – wonder how much has been spent on refurbishing the houses with new everything for them?

    2. If only Hitler had thought of that – drip feeding the invasion force, rather than thinking that an aerial bombardment and a squad of Panzers was all that was required.

      He could have sneaked in an entire army of SS stormtroopers before anyone thought of challenging their sense of diversity.

      Or maybe we did government better in those days?

      1. Maybe Hitler did think of it. Maybe he sent his invasion force over, in dribs and drabs, over a prolonged period of time, and maybe they slowly inveigled themselves into government.

        Maybe.

          1. I didn’t have to. There were already sufficient Fellow Travellers and Useful Idiots in the UK to give them the victory of Marxism we see now, all be it, a couple of decades after Marxism collapsed in the USSR.

    1. I used to naively believe that if we could only look at the bank accounts of people in power, we’d discover who was bribing them. Of course we’d really need to know how many fake companies they own or are affiliated to and use to launder their ill-gotten gains.

      1. That would work if the money was paid into their accounts. Such openness would need to be extended to visibility not only of MPs finances, but also those of spouses, and relatives. The accounts of charities and similar LLP companies show assets etc, but not cash flow in their annual returns to Companies House. If rules were amended to require “money in /money out” to be shown that would be one door shut to money launderers,

  54. Huge thunderstorm overhead, flash bang simultaneously and raining so hard I can’t see across the garden clearly.
    The downpour is so heavy the gutters can’t cope.
    Oh what fun, no doubt power will go down soon too.

    1. Scorchio in South Hampshire. Blue sky all the way. You must have done something bad in a previous life. Or in fact…this one. 🙂

      1. We could do with the rain, the problem is that when comes down like this it just flows staright off the very hard dry land. I suspect the bottom of the valley is awash.

    2. Just starting here. Big rain. No electrical storm though, yet. The cat has the best nose for electrical storms and he’s not behind the sofa yet.

      1. Looking at how far the pool has risen, I would guess we had well over an inch in less than an hour. It has reverted to “normal” rain now.
        Last swim it was.

      1. If it isn’t cold, it’s quite pleasant swimming in the rain, I enjoy it.

        One would have to be extremely unlucky to be affected by lightning

        1. I think Professor Whitty would disagree with you vehemently. Well over a million people are struck by lightning while swimming each WEEK….

  56. First look inside former Kent barracks that will house up to 400 asylum seekers for up to a year – as staff prepare for first migrants to arrive today
    Napier Barracks has been turned into an ‘assessment and dispersal facility’
    The first arrivals are expected later today at the facility in Folkestone, Kent
    Council leader David Monk initially expressed ‘great concerns’ about the site

    This is the first look inside a disused barracks that will house asylum seekers for up to a year while they await a decision of their asylum applications.

    Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent has been turned into an ‘assessment and dispersal facility’ for around 400 people.

    The asylum seekers are expected from today and on a daily basis thereafter, according to Folkestone and Hythe District Council.

    Behind the turquoise fire doors was a metal structure setting out at least seven single beds on either side.

    Fresh bedding was placed upon each blue mattress.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8755431/First-migrants-set-arrive-today-disused-Kent-barracks.html

    1. How can they be asylum seekers if they arrive from France? For the UK to accept them as valid asylum seekers the UK has to ignore international protocols set out and endorsed by the UN.
      Surely the UK Government would like to be seen to be adhering to some international laws by sending them back immediately (as in within 24 hours)?

      1. They are happy to call out Boris saying he will be breaking International Law if he uses the legitimate device that Bill Cash inserted into the WA. On the other hand it is quite all right not to worry at all about breaking international protocols when it comes to asylum seekers.

        Britain is beginning to rot and stink like bad fish.

    4. Dispersal to… France?

      They are illegal gimmigrants. It makes a mockery of those who’ve earned the right to be here through effort, worth and skills. Send these people away.

  57. A comment made on this video:-

    I get the impression that she (Ginsberg) wanted to retire and hand the job of naming her successor to Hillary Clinton and, when Clinton lost the election was stuck on her seat like the poor old lady who failed to realise the lavatory seat had just been varnished.

    https://youtu.be/YoU3vgNpQYs

  59. Mr Cadbury met Miss Rowntree on a Double Decker.

    It was just After Eight.

    They got off at Quality Street.

    He asked her name. ‘Polo, I’m the one with the hole’ she said with a Wispa.

    ‘I’m Marathon, the one with the nuts’ he replied.

    He touched her Cream Eggs, which was a Kinder Surprise for her.

    Then he slipped his hand into her Snickers, which made her Ripple.

    He fondled her Jelly Babies and she rubbed his Tic Tacs.

    Soon they were Heart Throbs.

    It was a Fab moment as she screamed in Turkish Delight.

    But, 3 days later, his Sherbet Dip Dab started to itch.

    Turns out Miss Rowntree had been with Bertie Bassett and he had Allsorts!

    https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/1400/02cf5a7716477.560b063b97897.jpg

    Black Liquorice Malevolent.

    1. Bert “Have you invited six guests to my birthday party, pet?”
      Ada: ” I couldn’t find any people still on speaking terms with you”

    3. Bert “Have you invited six guests to my birthday party, pet?”

      Ada “Yes…. I’m holding a seance “

  62. One for Bill,,,,,,,,,,

    A Lawyer dies in a car accident on his 40th birthday and finds himself
    at the Pearly Gates. A brass band is playing, the angels are singing a
    beautiful hymn, there is a huge crowd cheering and shouting his name,
    and absolutely everyone wants to shake his hand.
    Just when he thinks
    things can’t possibly get any better, Saint Peter himself runs over,
    apologises for not greeting him personally at the Pearly Gates, shakes
    his hand, and says, “Congratulations son, we’ve been waiting a long time
    for you.”
    Totally confused and a little embarrassed, the Lawyer
    sheepishly looks at Saint Peter and says “Saint Peter, I tried to lead a
    God-fearing life, I loved my family, I tried to obey the 10
    Commandments, but congratulations for what? I honestly don’t remember
    doing anything really special when I was alive.”
    “Congratulations
    for what?!?” says Saint Peter, totally amazed at the man’s modesty.
    “We’re celebrating the fact that you lived to be 160 years old! God
    himself wants to see you!”
    The Lawyer is awestruck and can only look
    at Saint Peter with his mouth wide open. When he regains his power of
    speech, he looks up at Saint Peter and says “Saint Peter, I lived my
    life in the eternal hope that when I died I would be judged by God and
    be found to be worthy, but I only lived to be 40 years old, not 160.”
    “That’s simply impossible son,” says Saint Peter. “We’ve added up all your time sheets.”

    1. A Lawyer dies in a car accident on his 40th birthday and finds himself
      at the Pearly Gates. A brass band is playing, the angels are singing a
      beautiful hymn, there is a huge crowd cheering and shouting his name,
      and absolutely everyone wants to shake his hand.
      Just when he thinks things can’t possibly get any better, Saint Peter himself runs over,
      apologises for not greeting him personally at the Pearly Gates, shakes
      his hand, and says, “Congratulations son, we’ve been waiting a long time
      for you.”
      Totally confused and a little embarrassed, the Lawyer
      sheepishly looks at Saint Peter and says “Saint Peter, I tried to lead a
      God-fearing life, I loved my family, I tried to obey the 10
      Commandments, but congratulations for what? I honestly don’t remember
      doing anything really special when I was alive.”
      “Congratulations for what?!?” says Saint Peter, totally amazed at the man’s modesty.

      You killed Tony Blair in that car crash.

    1. The best hangover cure known to man:

      Two pints of Marston’s Pedigree and half a pint of cockles.

      Never fails.

          1. I never had a problem, even after many pints. Of course adding wines and spirits into the mix will produce a thick head the next day.

          2. Got it in one.
            Some people get them, some don’t.
            I’m now almost impervious to red wine. I fall asleep long before hangover time.
            Beer now, OK up to a gallon, and in those days beers were certainly weaker.

            The worst hangover I ever had, by a country mile, was after a bottle of sherry, four pints of cider and assorted other drinks at an end of year party.

            I couldn’t look a pint of sherry in the face for decades.

          4. I’m OK with gin, but I seldom drink spirits.

            Apart from a G&T, oddly enough, my favourite cocktail by a very long way is Long Island iced tea.
            Goes down a treat.

          5. I got really plastered ome Christmas on rum. The hangover lasted 3 days. it’s a wonder I survived.

          6. When they are bad, Gawd they really are bad.

            My sherry/cider episode took a week to even get close to normal. Never again.

          9. ‘Tis quite a while since I had gin. My consumption of spirits is fairly abstemious. I do, however, have half a bottle of 18 year-old Ledaig (from the Tobermory Distillery) lurking here. It occasionally sees the light of day. More accurately, the artificial light of night…

          11. My favourite spirits are:

            1. Single-malt Scotch whisky with nothing added.
            2. Cognac.
            3. Armagnac.
            4. Calvados.
            5. Tequila Margarita.
            6. Gin.
            7. Limoncello.

            A pint of an excellent cask-conditioned best bitter ale in a British pub is the only beer I drink these days: there are no substitutes.

            I’ve not drunk wine for over five years. Dry white wine tastes like vinegar (and gives me acid reflux) and red wine gives me insomnia.

          12. Apart from Laphroaig I’m not a whisky man. 2,3,4, 6 agreed.

            I even enjoy the aniseed ones! Ouzo, Ricard and the like.

            The only thing I really miss about the UK is pubs and good beer.

          13. Laphroaig is like drinking a liquid bonfire! Springbank is my favourite and Highland Park, Tullibardine, Glenfarclas, The Glenlivet, The Macallan, Singleton, Caol Ila, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Glenmorangie, Knockando and a few others also rate highly; but I would be here all night listing the others I’ve enjoyed over the years.

          14. With you on one to four, but I also appreciate a good red. I’m a lifelong insomniac so it makes no difference.

          18. Back in the day, I could reach double figures of pints, and not bat an eyelid. I was young then. The main effect of beer these days is a couple of nocturnal trips to the lavatory. Which is less than ideal when the prostheses are off…

          19. I was never in that league. I used to hang around with a group of friends who could hold their beer but, no matter how hard I tried to keep up with them, I inevitably failed. After a few years of trying I simply gave up attempting to join them.

            For the best part of the past 45 years my absolute limit (on very few occasions) has been three pints. One is most usual and a couple if I’m feeling thirsty. I’d be most unwelcome company on a pub crawl!

          21. Lucky man, if I only go twice now it’s a minor miracle.

            When in the UK I tend to stick to four, maximumum six pints and then enjoy a pee on the hour, and the half hour, all through the night.
            {:-((

          22. Ah, but now your capacity is less because your hollow legs are not connected to your hollow feet 🙂

          24. Oof. My downfall was college port, poured liberally by the wickedly funny prof sitting next to me. I still wince at the thought.

      2. The Pedigree came from Lidl (France) in a box of mixed Marston’s beers. I do ship different beers in, but the local supermarkets are getting better at offering beers that aren’t French. I keep a good and varied stock….

        1. Is that since they’ve realised we voted to leave (and some of us, who used to prop up the French wine trade single-handed, have changed to non-EU produce)?

    3. Pedigree in bottle-conditioned form has been around for only four years but a splendid drink it is, even if not quite up to the draught version. Strictly speaking it’s a pale ale, not amber – that’s marketing speak.

      Our student bar had cask Pedigree and Shipstone’s. Of course, I found my way quickly onto to the bar committee and learnt all about the moods of live beer. Shippo’s was a doddle, usually drinkable in 24 hours from delivery. A cask of Marston’s, however, was a UXB.

      1. Pedigree in cask is a very temperamental beer and difficult to keep consistent. When it’s on song it’s one of the world’s best beers. I used to enjoy Shippo’s back in the day.

        1. Cask Pedigree is what got me into real ale back in the early 80s. As you say, it can be a bit ephemeral and temperamental.

          A bit like some of the excellent products of the Adnam’s brewery in Southwold. At source it ranks with the best; however, it doesn’t travel well and deteriorates more and more the further it gets from the brewery.

          1. That seems to be true of many East Anglian breweries. I’ve said before that GK IPA was brilliant in the Dog and Partridge, Bury St Edmunds (in Lovejoy’s old pub), or the Linden Tree, but was noticeably worse in Thetford, all of ten miles away. Now it’s gone national, it has lost its attraction. Tolly Cobbold was another.

          2. I’ve never experienced that. I have consumed Adnams beers in Southwold and as far away as Exeter and it was all good.

    4. Hi Haricot, Howdya do in t’quiz?
      I couldn’t enter on Sunday as I have had my mother staying with me for a few days, but I looked at the questions this evening a n found them very hard

      2. It was certainly trickier than usual. Came 2nd, 75pts, 1st was 76 pts. Some of the ‘correct’ answers were dubious.

        Your mum might have enjoyed it!

        1. Second?!
          Wow, well done. I found it very hard – too literary. I’m better at science rounds

          I hope to be in it again this w/e.

    1. I’m sorry, but it reminds me of Blair’s verbless sentences.

      ‘Education, education, education’ – yeah – what about it? Why does it need improving? All you did in 13 miserable years is use education as a tax vehicle. You fiddled endlessly with the curriculum and outcomes didn’t really improve at all.

      Why are you filling the seat? Who do you want there? What prinicples (a word foreign to most politicians) must that person have?

  65. That’s me gone for today. A lovely evening to enjoy a glass of medicine in the sun.

    A demain.

  66. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/savings/disaster-21-million-savers-nsi-announces-premium-bond-cuts/

    “Large interest rate cuts also announced for NS&I’s savings accounts”

    Just tried to log in to pull out the cash I had there in income bonds. Won’t accept my security responses. ‘We’ll ring now with a security code’. Phone number is correct but no call, tried to login again but I am now locked out of my account until I’ve submittted a form! Last time I shall ever touch NS&I…

  68. 323843+ up ticks,
    Just musing on current events such as, what if the police had gone into action 16 + years ago with such vigour & zest they are showing at the moment with their suppressive campaign waged against the peoples.

    If the same was used against the paedophile pakistani contingent of rotherham plus, would it have saved any young girl from a mentally scarred future.

    Seems very much like financial backing behind some issues ( brown envelopes) can make one hell of a difference, a great many of them will be changing hands shortly, methinks.

  69. Completely off topic.

    We had a lot of rain earlier this evening.
    I wish I had a slow motion camera that could have recorded the outcome.

    Our whole plot was dried out, brown, yellow, no green whatsoever.

    The whole area is now green and one can almost see the vegetation growing.
    Quite extraordinary.

    1. Similar experience in South Sudan. To add to the amazing transformation was globes of fish, all circulating in the flows in the ditches. WTF did they come from?

  71. Contrasting interpretation by Janet Daley and the BBC of the Whitty/Balance briefing.

    Whitty and Vallance’s attempt to dress down the lockdown sceptics was unconvincing

    Are we really supposed to just hold on a bit longer for the magic silver bullet?

    JANET DALEY

    The most notable thing about the tone of this briefing – which many of us had expected to be a terrifying warning of inevitable doom – was how very careful, and even defensive, it was. Patrick Vallance actually made the pointed comment about one of his graphs, that what it showed was “not a prediction” but merely a hypothesis about how things “can move” if cases go on to double every seven days.

    From a grammatical point of view, he should have said that this is how things “could move” but I suppose that would have made it sound altogether too tentative. A few sentences later he described one of his own more alarming theoretical conjectures as based on “a big if”.

    But, you might have thought, given that you are hedging on all these non-predictions and making it clear that there are caveats to all the hypotheses you are offering – where exactly does that leave us? What are the other possibilities? There was a virtual admission, for example, that thus far, an increase in deaths that is proportional to the rise in cases is pure conjecture.

    That is where Chris Whitty came in to explain why it was highly unlikely that such a concurrent rise in the death rate would fail to follow the increase in positive test results. The argument for this seemed to rely almost entirely on the premise that the UK would follow precisely the pattern of Spain and France – although again this view was a hypothesis for which there was as yet no empirical evidence. But Professor Whitty’s statement, while rather less hemmed in by caution, was almost entirely devoted to countering the most widely disseminated criticisms of the government’s policy and of his own interpretation of the facts. He went through them one by one attempting to disarm or discount each one in turn.

    First, he accepted that the numbers of hospital admissions were still “relatively small”, but argued that this was entirely explained by the fact that most of the new cases thus far had been among young adults who rarely became seriously ill. He dismissed the idea that the virus itself might have become milder as a kind of wishful thinking. (It was not quite clear why.) He admitted that treatments had become more effective but said that these improvements “won’t eliminate [the virus] or take it to trivial levels”. “Trivial” seems to me a rather loaded word in this context: no one I have heard is claiming that this disease is trivial – only that it could prove to be manageable which better treatment might make possible.

    Then he dealt with the very grave matter of other serious medical conditions going untreated as a consequence of the priority being given to Covid. Quite ingeniously, he turned this into an argument for even more priority being given to Covid: until we can remove the threat of the virus, he suggested, we will never be able to return to the full scale of NHS attention that should be paid to all those other health conditions that need treatment.

    Within his – and the Government’s – terms, this is true of course but it begs the critical question of whether the total elimination of Covid is a realistic or essential goal. Then there was the matter which is now coming up repeatedly in public discourse: that people should be allowed to make their own decisions about their personal risk. This was unacceptable too – because being prepared to take risks yourself can also be putting others at risk.

    This might be true but, again, it misses the larger moral question of whether Government diktat should be permitted to deprive whole populations of what are usually regarded as unassailable liberties in order to protect a very small minority of people who might – or might not – be in danger of what might – or might not – be seriously illness.

    The final segment was a moderately hopeful account of vaccine research. The clear message here was: just hold on a bit longer and maybe we will have the magic bullet. Or maybe not. This briefing was not – thank heaven – a shrill call to panic stations. But neither was it a convincing repudiation of the critique of the Government’s approach which has now received such wide currency. If it was designed to silence the skeptics, I very much doubt that it will do the trick.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/21/whitty-vallances-attempt-dress-lockdown-sceptics-unconvincing/

    Covid-19: UK could face 50,000 cases a day by October without action – Vallance

    The UK could see 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October without further action, the government’s chief scientific adviser has warned.

    Sir Patrick Vallance said that would be expected to lead to about “200-plus deaths per day” a month after that.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54234084

    1. Perhaps these highly skilled knights of the medical realm could tell us ALSO the number of deaths from all the ghastly diseases and ailments that have NOT been treated in the last eight months….

      Many thousands would be my conservative suggestion.

    2. I’ve tried putting facts and figures to Covid betwetters at work. First they try the “scientific consensus” myth then when you blow that one away along with everything else, out comes the “my superfit 40 year old friend who’s now an invalid due to Covid” emotional blackmail.

    3. The denial of medical care for the sick so as to protect the imagined future sick is a gross distortion of medical ethics and justifies fitness to practice investigation of those doctors who abandon patients.

      1. If I didn’t know better I might start to think that that is being done to create a deep pool of terminally ill patients, who will be knocked over like nine-pins during any second wave.

  72. How about this for the incompetence that awaits the world if Biden wins the presidency? He looks so sleepy and has to squint even at the big letters. This was supposed to be a ‘media event’ in front of reporters but no random questions allowed! He won’t last long, so it’s a case of vote Biden, get Harris and Pelosi. Please win, Mr. Trump!

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/09/breaking-photos-biden-teleprompter-revealed/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f535af3e43dfabb32567e6bf1949c42c06d1a9b493c4d86b73f5d53c48c55f01.jpg

    2. There is one other thing, 40 people were shot and six killed in Democratic-run Chicago this weekend, as with every weekend. Where are the protests from BLM? Surely it couldn’t be because white people weren’t involved, could it? So who are the real racists, might I ask?

  73. It’s fairly obvious now that it is not the covid virus that is causing all this upheaval

    The way to beat the virus will be to have a targeted six month lockdown to include

    1) Everyone that works for the mainstream news media

    2) All medical and climate scientists

    3) All the heads of public services, councils and universities.

    4) Everyone involved with anarchist left wing movements funded by billionaire philanthropists.

    5) All politicians past and present that work for companies funded by billionaire philanthropists and corporations.

    I predict that the pandemic will be over in a few weeks and the country will be back to the old normal in less than a month

  74. Apologies for my language, but mods, please bear with me, I am so angry about all this garbage. Most of these quotes are courtesy of the DM.

    OK you stupid, fucking, bastards:

    “Tory MPs rebel over threatened new lock-down after rumours emerge Boris Johnson will shut pubs at 10pm – as serious questions are raised over Whitty and Vallance’s doomsday claim that deaths could hit 200 a day by November.”

    “Do Whitty and Vallance’s numbers add up? ”

    “Advisers claimed Britain is on course to follow French and Spanish trajectories but NEITHER country is showing cases doubling every week like they warned for UK .”

    “Where’s the next Covid-19 hotspot? Scientists predict cases will spread further down the North-East coast over the next fortnight and continue spreading in the Midlands and London.”

    “FTSE 100 closes 3.46 per cent down after falling 208 points to 5,799 in worst plunge since June amid dire warnings of new Covid rules as pubs, hotels and shops say they will not survive ‘disastrous’ second lockdown.”

    KILL THE ECONOMY, WRECK THE NHS, SHATTER LIVES with unemployment, loss of homes and businesses, no future, children’s educations ruined and for WHAT?

    Possibly but not certainly to save a few old and unhealthy people who were likely to die soon anyway?. AND in all probabilty will be sensible enough to isolate themselves.

    I HATE the political and “expert” bastards.

    I hope that they all die of a particularly foul and painful cancer that doesn’t get picked up because their Covid scare stories don’t let them get treated.

    Better yet, that their immediate family get the diseases and they have to watch and suffer because they screwed it up.

    2. I think many now know that we have been fed a load of exaggerations and lies. SAGE should be shut down and Whitty, Vallance, Hancock and Dido Harris sacked for gross incompetence.

      I had hoped that Trump will have sacked Fauci, who, like Whitty and Vallance, is in the pay of Bill Gates.

      These people are not scientists and are falsifying the effectiveness of their testing regime. The tests are as good as useless in identifying the virus. They are being used to collect our DNA for their next abominable scheme viz. compulsory vaccinations for all.

      My advice to every acquaintance is not to seek a test and when offered a test refuse it.

      These politicos and pseudo scientists have us down as fools. Time we taught them a lesson.

  75. Evening, all. I think people are beginning to ignore the C19 rules; I was the third person in the bank today (only three allowed) and a fourth person came in (not only that, but she stood much closer to me than 6ft – not that I bothered). Then to Boots and the person behind me there was closer than 6ft away, too. Shopping was almost normal except for the masks (the bloke in the queue behind me left his wife to it, saying, “I’ve got to get this mask off, I can’t breathe” – I don’t think anybody would be saying ginger beardies’ lives matter any time soon, though). Apart from that, it’s been a lovely day, weather-wise and as well as the chores and dealing with the OT team, I’ve managed to get some tidying up in the garden done. Sometimes I amaze myself with just how much I manage to pack in.

    1. Bloomin’ heck – a normal person doesn’t think ‘Oh look, a woman got in my car. I’ll rape her.’

      What is wrong with these savages?

      1. Do the majority of the indigenous British people want savages like this free to roam amongst us? And if not, is there a democratic answer?

      2. Muslims think kuffar women are fair game – in fact, their prophet put them there to be used as sex objects.

    2. Just one more reason why I think that rape, if proven, should be a capital offence – preferably executed in public as a warning to others.

  78. Phew. I have now recovered from a heart stopping event today.
    Went to builders’ merchants for ebony fencing woodstain. None of the one I used before was in stock, so I bought another can of similar stuff which again was produced by Sadolin. Stirred, painted on, stood back …. it had a bluish tinge. MB and I stood and looked – both of us barely breathing and not daring to utter dread thoughts.
    Should I take it back? Should I just carry on and hope? Given the weather forecast and the time of year, I had only Monday and Tuesday to apply stain to really dry fencing. October and permanent dampness is on its way. This is the only time of year when we can stomp over flower beds without doing serious damage.
    After about half an hour, the stain changed to a proper black colour; slightly different in texture, but only if you really look. A few days weathering and all sorted.
    I need a very large gin and tonic.
    On the plus side, it distracted me from the doings of the most stupid government in my life time.

  79. Les Ferdinand launches angry defence of Queens Park Rangers’ decision to stop taking the knee. 21 September 2020.

    Les Ferdinand has launched an angry defence of Queens Park Rangers’ decision to stop taking the knee, declaring it had become like “fancy hashtag or a nice pin badge”.

    QPR’s director of football, one of the most senior black figures in the English game, spoke out after they and Coventry City agreed on Friday night not to perform the gesture, which is associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

    Good . Fascist gesture anyway!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/09/21/les-ferdinand-launches-angry-defence-queens-park-rangers-decision/

  80. Just picked three MORE pounds of raspberries – that’s on top of the three pounds we picked on Saturday. More to come – I hope – before the weather changes.

    1. Hopelessly inadequate investment in reliable – i.e. nuclear – electricity generation will result in many (millions?) of deaths from hypothermia …

  84. 1st Parish C meeting since February , all of us were masked, 6ft spacing apart.

    Villages through out have been zoom meeting , not the best for conversation flow.

    It was great to meet up with everyone .. people have been either shielding or just keeping away from everyone ..

    The deluge of holiday makers down here has made all the locals wary and nervous , and now people are fearful of things to come , medium size village , lots of retired bods etc.

        2. Guidelines are for the guidance of the wise and the adherence by fools.
          You are certainly not a fool Belle.

    2. I ‘ve been to several meetings since August – lunch out last month, coffee in the local cafe – we just have to get on with normal life. Fear is a killer.

      1. I feel that; I am getting on – I want to live what’s left of my life, not cower in a bunker. I’ve had coffee with friends (in their houses), taken MOH for drinks in a cafe, been out to an antiques fair with a friend and have been invited to lunch next Sunday (again). Che serà, serà.

        2. Good for you Conners. Keep buggering on. These control freaks will eventually feel the full wrath of the public. Believe me.

          We have seen it all before. Apparently the jerks have not yet put two and two together to make four.

          1. Ooh, er, I was severely castigated for suggesting similar – be careful, Cori, you too, may be casigated (the unkindest cut of all) for advocating violence. I merely highlighted the lynchings in1930s America, as an example of what the backlash might bring.

          2. Eventually, when all other forms of communication have been ignored, violence remains the final attempt.

          3. I don’t mind castigation it’s only words from someone hiding behind a name they dare not say.
            They who do that are like people who talk behind your back but dare not say it to your face to face.
            In effect, cowards who will only follow a course set by an authoritarian.

          4. Those images were somewhat disturbing, but worse happens these days with all the terrorism in the last couple of decades.

          5. Sorry to reply so late in the day but, those images were meant to be disturbing – I was trying to highlight that if BLM, Antifa, XR Extinction etc continued on their set path, we may not be liable for the ensuing result.

        2. “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the
          little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will
          permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I
          will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there
          will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

          ―

          Frank Herbert,

          Dune

    3. I ‘ve been to several meetings since August – lunch out last month, coffee in the local cafe – we just have to get on with normal life. Fear is a killer.

    4. That sounds like our problems in our area.
      We suffered under an influx of tourists throughout the summer, many of them behaving less than decently. There has been a lot of antagonism locally between those depending on tourism for their living and others who just want a quiet, safe life.
      Who knows what will happen in the next few months as tourist traffic drops off but the number of people moving in from the big cities increase pressure on local services.

    5. ‘Evening (or morning) Maggie, we have yet to hold ours – due last April – and the diocese is more interested in combining others. When I remonstrated and suggested other urgent topics, here’s my cry. This to our local representative of the Cof E:

      Dear James,
      While you are faffing about with your re-organisations, are you not aware of the greater damage being done to the Church of England, the religion that the (still) majority of us were brought up in, by the head honchos, typically, Wellby and those who subscribe to his pandering to Islam – the biggest threat to these British Isles – by their insidious population increases aimed at removing English Law and its replacement by Sharia Law?

      What are you and the other Deacons, Arch-deacons, Bishops and Arch-Bishops doing to counteract this undermining of the English way of life, its religion, culture and other morés?

      To date, I can only see a big fat zero. If for no other reason, please highlight to your hierarchy that their very jobs are under threat – never mind the Christian Word – we were all brought up with.

      It is with great sadness that I – and many others – see the declining of standards in the British way of life, led in no small part by the Church of England’s hierarchy, in probably the greatest betrayal since Henry VIII’s Reformation. Without taking his name in vain, for Christ’s sake DO SOMETHING.

      The answer was:

      Dear Tom

      Thank you for your email. Pastoral reorganisation is a necessary part of my work in order to fine tune our diocesan resources.

      Your email raises a number of other issues that I’m not equipped to deal with and therefore I’m passing your message to the Archdeacon of Sudbury.

      James

      James Halsall
      Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches and Pastoral Secretary
      Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
      St Nicholas Centre, 4 Cutler Street, Ipswich IP1 1UQ

      Total cop-out as far as I’m concerned.

      1. Just so long as he fine-tunes the placement of the deckchairs, I’m sure the Titanic will continue to sail majestically on.
        What a tosser.

      2. Good morning Stellen ,

        I was referring to the Parish Council ( 3rd tier of local government) .

        However a discussion arose from the the Diocese Parish regarding church matters , and I was shocked to hear that 72 hours is required between weddings and funerals , to spray and disinfect the churches and the frustration with Diocesan heirarchy.

    1. We’ve got a dinner at a local restaurant pub with us and 2 other couples for next Saturday. 1930 kickoff and a request to vacate the table by 2230.We’ll just have to drink a bit quicker.

    3. That fat arsehole Boris Johnson can forget it. He has now lost all authority, demonstrated daily that he has no political judgement and we can only presume that he too is in the pay of the corporates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

      The man has betrayed our confidence in him. Gove, albeit another snake in the grass, was right. Boris is unfit for high office.

        1. I suppose there are a few remaining true conservatives but you could count them on two hands. They now need to step up.

          I am thinking of Drax, Redwood, Brady, Bill Cash and a few others but these are ever dwindling forces, being beaten into submission by the rotten compromised conservative machine as it trudges on destroying all before it and handing us back to the EU, despite the bluster.

          These useless fuckers will pay a price for this shipwreck.

          1. Cameron and Gove systematically purged the Conservative party of its right wing during their time with the notorious A-List, plus a few coups like Finchley 2010.

        3. About the only one I can think of is Penny Mordaunt, who was good at International Development, sorting out the Oxfam scandal with decisiveness, and Defence, even though she was hardly allowed to get started there.

  88. Brain surgery on a 12 year old lad with benign Pineal tumour thst will kill him in a couple of months. On Channel 4 now. Incredible microsurgery.

    A must watch.

      2. It was awe inspiring both the surgeons, 17 hours surgery over 2 days, and seeing the lad walk out of the hospital. A real reality programme.

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