Saturday 26 September: Why do so many national institutions disdain the public’s conservatism?

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/2020/09/25/letters-do-many-national-institutions-disdain-publics-conservatism/

857 thoughts on “Saturday 26 September: Why do so many national institutions disdain the public’s conservatism?”

  2. ‘Morning all.

    From today’s letters – make this chap an honorary NoTTLer……

    SIR – As a newcomer to this country from Canada, it occurs to me that England – and perhaps Britain – is a socially conservative country.

    Proud of its achievements and aware of its faults, it has pragmatic and nonsense-free ideas of how the latter could be remedied. And yet a survey of the field shows that nowhere is it being defended – certainly not through its more “conservative” institutions.

    The Tory Party was probably lost to the cause before I was born. The National Trust and the Church of England are more recent casualties.

    Why is the significant – perhaps majority – group being ignored? Where is it now represented?

    John Gordon

    Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire

    1. 323999+ up ticks,
      Morning HK,
      IMO john the ovis have for year upon year, been led via treacherous crooked political shepherds, the only thing straight about their persona is……. their crook.
      Still it seems as if as long as the party keeps a grip on power mayhem gets the nod as seen by new members joining daily via Dover.

  4. Obamas top poll for most admired man and woman in the world. Louise Hall – The Independent – 25 September 2020

    Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have topped the list of most admired man and woman in the world, a new poll has shown.

    Mr Obama pushed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates from first place for the time since YouGov started carrying out the survey since 2014, according to the organisation. Mr Gates ranked second and Chinese president Xi came in third.

    They came in ahead of Xi! You have to laugh!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-michelle-barack-most-admired-man-woman-world-yougov-poll-b606871.html

  5. Morning all

    SIR – Mark Littlewood (Comment, September 25) writes of the enormous growth in the size of the state. If there is to be a serious discussion about this, the public needs to be faced with the reality of just how dependent we have become.

    One word permeates our society’s thinking: entitlement. From top to bottom, there is a belief that the state is now responsible for providing cash and services to mitigate every personal and economic difficulty, unhappiness or anxiety. This is infantilisation.

    Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, wants us to face our fears. He is quite right. Courage is about recognising your fear and embracing the responsibility required to face it.

    Linda Hughes

    Newton Abbot, Devon

    SIR – While a case can be made for restructuring the economy and doing away with jobs that aren’t really necessary, most of those non-jobs lie in public-sector bureaucracies – not least in the NHS.

    So far it is workers in the private sector who have borne almost all of the consequences of Covid-19, while those who work in the public sector have continued to be paid their full salaries by taxpayers.

    When will the balance be redressed?

    Andrew Pittman

    Bristol

    SIR – The new Job Support Scheme is welcome, but where is the financial help to encourage hesitant employers to take on new employees?

    Antony Atkins

    Chinnor, Oxfordshire

    SIR – Senior members of the Conservative Party would be wise to advise Boris Johnson to take a rest from office and let Rishi Sunak take over the role.

    Mr Sunak’s speech on Wednesday had everything right in the way it was delivered, whereas our current Prime Minister is struggling to convey the balance between restrictions he is imposing and the reality of living with Covid-19.

    Philip Hall

    Petersfield, Hampshire

  6. SIR – Mark Littlewood (Comment, September 25) writes of the enormous growth in the size of the state. If there is to be a serious discussion about this, the public needs to be faced with the reality of just how dependent we have become.

    One word permeates our society’s thinking: entitlement. From top to bottom, there is a belief that the state is now responsible for providing cash and services to mitigate every personal and economic difficulty, unhappiness or anxiety. This is infantilisation.

    Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, wants us to face our fears. He is quite right. Courage is about recognising your fear and embracing the responsibility required to face it.

    Linda Hughes

    Newton Abbot, Devon

    SIR – While a case can be made for restructuring the economy and doing away with jobs that aren’t really necessary, most of those non-jobs lie in public-sector bureaucracies – not least in the NHS.

    So far it is workers in the private sector who have borne almost all of the consequences of Covid-19, while those who work in the public sector have continued to be paid their full salaries by taxpayers.

    When will the balance be redressed?

    Andrew Pittman

    Bristol

    SIR – The new Job Support Scheme is welcome, but where is the financial help to encourage hesitant employers to take on new employees?

    Antony Atkins

    Chinnor, Oxfordshire

    SIR – Senior members of the Conservative Party would be wise to advise Boris Johnson to take a rest from office and let Rishi Sunak take over the role.

    Mr Sunak’s speech on Wednesday had everything right in the way it was delivered, whereas our current Prime Minister is struggling to convey the balance between restrictions he is imposing and the reality of living with Covid-19.

    Philip Hall

    Petersfield, Hampshire

    1. 323999+ up ticks,
      Morning Epi,
      Please inform Linda,
      Sod the RSPCA shoot the three monkeys residing in the polling booth to start with.

  7. Ahem

    Boros the Greeniac Globalist strikes again

    “Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he

    wants to make a “big bet” on renewables, turning the UK into the “Saudi

    Arabia” of wind power.

    Talking via video link to a roundtable

    discussion at the UN in New York, he said the country held

    “extraordinary potential” for wind energy.

    He said the UK should embrace a range of new technologies to achieve its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

    The UK holds the presidency of the UN climate conference, known as the COP.

    But

    because of the coronavirus crisis, the annual gathering will not take

    place this year. It has instead been postponed until November 2021.

    China sets surprise 2060 carbon neutrality goal

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54285497
    They’ve all gone bonkers and as for Chyna’s promises…………..
    Carrie clearly still has his balls in her handbag

  8. Morning again

    SIR – Come to our university. We can offer all these exciting benefits: no face-to-face lectures, all teaching on a laptop from your accommodation, meals taken in isolation, no parties or socialising, fines for anyone stepping out of line, Christmas in isolation on campus. It’s the best experience in the world.

    Keith Whittaker

    Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

    SIR – I am an engineer, not a medic. But might the pragmatic approach be to allow Covid to follow its natural course within universities?

    Significant additional herd immunity would result well before Christmas, affected students could enjoy the festivities with their families and the nation would benefit.

    The policy is quite simple; turn a blind eye and hormones will do the rest.

    Dr Tony Parker

    Ringmer, East Sussex

    1. What a disaster for us that we have a classics scholar as PM unable to grasp the physics of the atmosphere and persuaded that a vital trace gas already greening the earth is such a threat to us that having wrecked our economy with one hysterical reaction to a virus he proceeds to a second by destroying whole industries and introducing us to power failures cold and winter misery.

      1. …and on that theme:

        SIR – Senior members of the Conservative Party would be wise to advise Boris Johnson to take a rest from office and let Rishi Sunak take over the role.

        Mr Sunak’s speech on Wednesday had everything right in the way it was delivered, whereas our current Prime Minister is struggling to convey the balance between restrictions he is imposing and the reality of living with Covid-19.

        Philip Hall
        Petersfield, Hampshire

        ‘Morning, Epi. Mr Hall makes a good point; our bumbling PM is anything but Churchillian, the latter was able to speak in understandable, grammatical sentences, sufficient to lead and inspire. Johnson has none of these qualities, I’m sorry to say.

      2. 323999+ up ticks,
        Epi,
        Since major via the wretch cameron/ clegg/may they have had the measure of leading the ovis astray regardless of their political actions,.
        The ovis penned in by their own voting mode of party first & foremost must comply as shown by their support / vote.
        Ps
        Genuine sheep are completely innocent.

      3. Actually, I am one of those perverse folk that think on balance that both pose a serious threat, but that does not mean that those charged with doing something about it have a clue about doing the right thing to address it.

        You actually hint the right response – carbon dioxide greens the Earth, so why not have more green to exploit the extra carbon dioxide, doing some good with it? Burning down the great forests all over the world hardly seems the right thing to be doing.

          1. That is logical – carbon dioxide (along with water and sunlight) are converted into wood, but when growth is negligible, so too does the process just tick along.

            However, in nature, there is constant replacement of the trees as the mature die or fall in the wind and are replaced by vigorous youngsters, which are carbon positive. Replicated artificially, the woodsman selectively fells a certain number of the trees for profit, leaving the forest intact and in good health.

            If this wood is burnt, then there is a carbon dioxide hit. If, however, it becomes furniture or building materials, or rots away to soil humus (as the leaves and needles of temperate zone trees do), then the carbon is locked up. In some parts of the world, leaving wood litter on the ground is a fire risk, so this must be done judiciously. Much of the primeval jungle became our coal reserves, where the carbon was locked up for many millennia until we dug it up.

          3. On the other hand, humanity in its arrogance may consider itself the only species entitled to generate carbon dioxide, based on the Star Trek assumption that the only life forms recognised on an M Class planet are humanoid.

            However, I might also consider that all sorts of other carbon-consuming life forms, including soil microfauna and earthworms are just as entitled to be here, and most are greatly beneficial and often crucial to our survival.

          4. I often wonder how quickly the idiotic human species will annihilate all life forms, on the only planet known to host them, when it has exhausted all coal and oil measures.

            Will it burn every tree first, or will it go entirely into atomic fuel with its eternal problem of safe waste disposal?

          6. I did read recently a theory that the reason the coal measures were created was because the fungi and other organisms that rot wood had not evolved!

        2. 323999+ up ticks,
          Morning JM,
          “Burning down the great forest ” doubled
          up with supporting / voting lab/lib/con
          hardly seems to be the right thing to be doing is a guaranteed common sense winner.

        3. Concreting over green spaces and cutting down trees to accommodate a burgeoning population (who all breathe out CO2), while taxing us to death for green policies is utter madness.

      1. 323999+ up ticks,
        Morning B3,
        Gerard Batten laid down the route to running a successful party
        starting on the 17 / 2/2018 for 18 months resulting in UKIP being
        financially sound after asking the membership for £ 100,000 and
        receiving £300,000 membership rising daily UKIP on the return as a credible party.

        No way was that to be allowed triggering the ersatz Nec treachery with input from farage via LBC.

        The LLC close shop plus the three monkeys will be a tall order to take down.

    3. No, Mr Johnson

      Nobody can say that you have not been just as conned as we have been about Climate Change. We are waking up to the fact – it is time you did.

      1. 323999+ up ticks,
        Morning R,
        IMO he receives his daily instructions via the squeeze & the green pillow, on a daily basis.
        Much of this is chaff in regards to what is being sprung on us shortly.

      1. 323999+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        Is it true they are bringing in the 9 day week for the dwindling
        number of taxpayers ?

  10. ‘Morning, again.

    SIR – My shower gel (price £1) claims to contain “40 real limes”. The price of a single lime in a shop, however, is usually 40p.

    What is going on here?

    Anthony Whitehead
    Bristol

    It is very simple, Anthony Whitehead – it’s a load of old bolleaux and you have been conned.

    1. Your shower gel is only part of a batch of 100,000. Maybe they used 40 real limes to make up the batch?

      I’m surprised they economised on the phraseology (perhaps their copywriter charges by the word?). The usual claim is “up to 40 real limes”.

  12. A rough night. Me. Food poisoning. Inside out. Travelling home today.

    ‘Never trust a Greek bearing gifts’.

      1. On reflection it would have been more accurate to say ‘no such thing as a free (in this case half-price) lunch’ at a very smart hotel en haut in Sidmouth, Plum. It was the sea bass wot did it.

    4. “Timeo Danaos Et Dona Ferentes.”
      Apart from “Veni, Vidi, Vici” the only Classical Latin quotation I can remember.

      1. Sea Bass at the very smart Victoria Hotel in Sidmouth! We were entertaining an elderly gentleman (schoolfriend of p’dad) who lost his wife to cancer during the lockdown. Fortunately they very sensibly chose the sirloin, and were ok. We are home now, as we were driving along the M25 in the direction of the A1 the weather changed, it became very dull. We got out of the car and were met by a northerly blast of wind chill. Actually starting to feel better now if somewhat washed out.

          1. Thank you Belle – yes, I know about Pepto-Bismal, but had completely forgotten about it until I saw your posted advertisement. I am on the mend, though, the stomach is quiet and behaving itself now – a good night’s uninterrupted sleep should see me more like myself come the morning. Just awful being ill in that way when one is not in one’s own home – thank heavens I packed extra loo rolls to take with us!

            We went to Lyme Regis on Thursday, we had the most delicious crab sandwich baguette from a little kiosk sort of place very near to The Cobb Inn, red ironwork chairs outside – I highly recommend, seemed to be run by a little old white-haired lady (well, on that day, anyway!) – she was so pleased when I said it was all delicious. However, it was all really busy at LR so we didn’t stay long.

      1. Self catering cottage in Devon. We are home now – it is freezing cold, dull and very breezy here in the Eastern counties.

  13. Feargal the Cat

    We hope you have

    A wonderful Birthday

    and

    Many Happy Returns

    Rastus and Caroline

  15. ‘Morning again.

    Just found yesterday’s DT Leader (apologies if already posted). The BTL comments are almost exclusively hostile to the NT’s wokery:

    The National Trust is in danger of becoming an exemplar of an institution that forgets what it is for. As we report today, ministers are being urged to open a formal review into how the Trust is run after Guy Opperman MP accused it of “unilaterally closing” properties. The institution is set to lose £200 million this year; Mr Opperman wants it to look at ways to free some of the £1 billion it holds in reserve.

    The Trust insists it will reopen sites as quickly and safely as possible, which is well and good – but given the financial crisis it faces, it should also be wary of alienating volunteers and members. Yet the Trust is bizarrely determined to go woke. Three years ago it faced controversy for trying to “out” a deceased country squire and make volunteers wear a gay pride symbol. Now it has released a list of properties linked to colonialism and slavery, including Chartwell, home of Winston Churchill. To question the historical reputation of properties in this way breaks faith with the families that donated them.

    There are effective ways of engaging with the complexities of British history. Then there is adopting a politically correct agenda that forgets why most people are drawn to these sites, namely love of place and character. The Trust’s crisis of mission reflects the liberal-Left bias of Britain’s elite, mixed with the cult of novelty: having taken leadership of an institution, the management feels they must do something revolutionary with it, a phenomenon found in quite a few churches, too.

    In the case of the Trust, it is doubly perverse because its job is to conserve, not comment – to pass things on to future generations in a spirit of intelligent affection for what the nation holds dear.

      1. Including all those who are claiming reparations for the slave trade and have links.

        They can be enslaved and work the lands.

      2. The whole point of the NT was that so many of them were being pulled down in the 20th century to avoid paying death duties (now Inheritance Tax) on them.

        2. I know it is not really a practical solution but since giving anything to the government is a mistake and the NT has lost all sense of direction what alternatives are there?

          2. Russian gangsters oligarchs love these kind of places. Half the castles in Scotland are owned by Russians.

          3. It is almost impossible to identify any CC individual if one wishes to make a query let alone make a complaint. I eventually wrote to the head of the CC with a query about something on their web site and received a “Do not reply” response from someone who simply referred me to, guess what, their web site. The CC are killing very worthy charities by deluging them with regulation after regulation. The people that bear the burden of applying those regulations are not the highly-paid senior staff but unpaid volunteers at local level. You pose the question “Who holds the Charity Commission to account?” – it seems to be the Head Unicorn Keeper in British West Hartlepool.

  16. Good morning, everyone. We have eldest granddaughter and her boyfriend for the w/e. She has an 8 year old Dalmatian and a 3 month old lurcher puppy. The Springer thinks she is in heaven.

    1. As an accountant I once worked with remarked about someone else (not me): “Any fool can manage by throwing money at a problem……”

    2. It should read Hands, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

      Hands – for the NHS

      Shoulders – shrugged for the victims of terrorists

      Knees – For BLM

      Toes – for towing the climate change and pandemic scams

  20. Good morning, all. Late on parade. Gale still blowing – another power cut last night – and it is raining. Wonderful way to start the weekend..

    3. 323999+ up ticks,
      Morning Bob,
      “it will be put down” good result.

      In the case of the horse is there hope of recovery ?

  22. True Fact

    There is written proof that Jeremy Corbyn has visited every pub and eatery in the realm in the past 24 hours.

  24. Before I head for the crossword- today’s discussion point.

    In the Norwich hospital, all the nurses wear their ordinary uniforms. They have masks, of course, and put on gloves when doing blanket baths – but don’t wear them when emptying pots, doing blood tests, handing out meds, making beds ad handing out meals. Apart from the masks, they look perfectly normal.

    The same at the GP surgery – just uniforms and masks.

    But at the GP Surgery the DOCTORS all dress as though they were about to do a ten hour heart transplant. Scrubs; special shoes; gloves all the time….masks, natch

    I began to wonder whether the GP DOCTORS were trying to make some sort of point about how much more important they are….

    Most of the hospital doctors were in ordinary clothes – though a few did wear scrubs.

    1. Our hospital medics of all types wear colour-coded scrubs. Street clothes carry infection in both directions.

      1. Ambulance crews can attend any bad car crash or heart attacks etc – but keep the same uniform on all day.

      2. Here, in Sverige, all doctors, surgeons, nurses, ward-orderlies, bog-cleaners and secretaries wear an identical all-white uniform! You simply cannot tell who is who!

        1. On a slight tangent, it always amuses me that my work contacts at SVT always replicate our common mispronunciation of Sveriges Television when they’re speaking English, rather than correct and educate.

          2. You have to do that with English words when speaking German too.
            My daughter was once in a class and the teacher asked for the English word for “höflich”
            “P’lite” said my daughter in her native, impeccably RP accent.
            “What?” said the teacher.
            So daughter repeated it, but the teacher still didn’t get it.
            Then a light bulb went off in her brain, and she said “Po – lite”
            Teacher was then happy to have got the “correct” word…..

          3. My firstborn was constantly having to correct the English teacher on his business course in Düsseldorf. She asked him if he wanted to take over. He did for a while & all the marks in the class went up. Of course, he got it from his father.

          4. Oh, I get a lot of that over here. Friends will talk about “Wikings” thinking that ALL our ‘v’ words are pronounced with a ‘w’ (their few words beginning with a ‘w’ are pronounced with a ‘v’).

            Also I get gems like “jellow” (for yellow). Again, reverse psychology comes into play; since their ‘j’ is pronounced like our ‘y’, they incredulously reverse the process with ‘y’ words.

            My friend, Rolf, tells me about the ‘mices’ he gets in his loft. I never correct him because I like the charm of it.

          5. Years ago, visiting a Dutch friend, she asked (whilst laying the table for a cold lunch) whether I liked “pickled mice” … only when she showed me the jar did I realise that she meant pickled maize.

          6. Yes, it’s the same in Sweden. Over here maize is spelt ‘majs’ and pronounced ‘mice’. Also a pie is pronounced the same way as we do but is spelt ‘paj’.

          7. I know this now… but at the time it was quite amusing. Especially once I had explained the meaning of mice.. we decided that lunch would be better without them – either fresh or pickled. But I quite enjoyed the little pickled maize which, at that time (mid 1980s) I had never seen in this country.

            One advantage of the number of Poles, Latvians etc who have come to live and work in the UK is the easy availability of all kinds of interesting foodstuffs, even in run of the mill supermarkets.

          8. I’m lucky in that most supermarkets, here, have an aisle dedicated (comically) to “world foods” (Fentiman’s tonic water comes under that category!). There is also a good selection of Polish food: their pickled cucumbers are far better than the English or Swedish ones. Polish jars of cherries are to die for!

            There are also a few Polish supermarkets in the cities that are well worth a visit.

          9. I’m not keen on pickled cucumbers, but I sometimes find herrings in dill pickle which I much prefer to the traditional British rollmops. I haven’t encountered the cherries… I will keep my eyes peeled.

            I remember spending two whole days stoning cherries as a teenager. I was staying with friends in Germany and my hostess was bottling a cellarful of both sweet and sour cherries for the winter. I remember that there was a yellow cherry which was a little later in ripening and as soon as the fruit was ripe enough to pick the wasps descended upon it en masse. We picked them after the sun had gone down because even for those like me who don’t scream when a wasp lands on them there was simply too many, all over the fruit, to make picking a safe business during the day.

          10. Over here we have jars of pickled herrings in the shops with more than a dozen differently-flavoured sauces or sweet vinegars preserving them. Most are delicious and a far cry from the quite acidic English rollmops.

            ‘Pek’ is the commonest brand of Polish cherries in a jar. The deep ruby-coloured cherry juice they are contained in is wonderful in jellies. I make a dessert from it by straining the juice into a pan, warming it through before adding a couple of gelatine leaves. I share out the cherries into four dessert dishes before pouring the juice over them and putting them into the fridge for the jelly to set. I then make an almond panna cotta which I pour over the jelly before finally adding a few amaretto biscuits on top. If you find some (I believe Tesco might be a good place to look) I certainly recommend it.

          11. I cannot find a supplier of Pek bottled cherries anywhere in the UK (just Pek ham and bacon tinned products) – though I have found a site which mentions that they are Morello cherries, so not sweet ones. I can imagine that with panna cotta the mix is luvverly.

            I’ve found a source of black cherries in kirsch in Kent, which might be interesting, but not the same thing at all.

            The first time we visited Germany I was about 8 or 9. We met up with our friends (my mother’s best chum/bridesmaid married a German chap before I was born and they visited us regularly when they came across to see her folks but leaving a one-man-run farm for long enough to go abroad was a big adventure for us) at the seaside – the warm Baltic sea was a complete revelation to children reared on the shores of the North Sea, they couldn’t keep us out of the water – and travelled back to the middle of the country, where they lived, a few days later. A neighbour came round with a cheesecake which was served at supper. We had not encountered cheesecake at that point (it was 1968) and the combination of Quvark and sour cherries was not what we expected of a dessert. I was the only one who finished the portion and I’ve learned to like such things since.

            Last time I was in Germany was in 1998, I took my mother across to visit just before her friend died (from cancer, at just 62). I went shopping with the daughter for a festive Saturday evening meal (yes, despite the prognosis it was festive with lots of reminiscence and laughter) and we looked at a shelf of pickled herrings at least 2 metres in length. I lost count of the number of varieties and I can’t say that I fancied some of the combinations (she translated them for me, my German isn’t up to much). I’ve tried a few since they appeared over here in the last decade or so, but I’m not keen on the mustardy ones and I keep going back to the sweet vinegar and dill – I can get a half-decent rye sourdough at Lidl to eat with them.

            We used to have a really good Polish stall in one of the local indoor markets – but whether they will be there when it eventually re-opens I simply don’t know.

            As I can’t get Polish ones I think I shall try a jar of the Kentish cherries in kirsch.

      1. I usually use the paper towels if they are available. And I hate the term “bathrooms” for something which never has a bath in it.

        1. Calling a bog a ‘bathroom’ is worse than silly. It’s like using the word ‘alternate’ when you mean alternative.

    3. Apparently I’ll have to pay extra for my visit to the dental hygienist on Monday, even though they’ll be doing less, because the price includes their PPE – which will probably be OTT – but hey ho, the plaque is building up and needs removing.

      1. My hygenist appointment in June was cancelled and they still haven’t rebooked another. I’ve been trying to be a bit more diligent with the floss.

        1. I use interdental brushes rather than flossing. You can get them very small so you can get in all the tiny spaces between the teeth.

          I think they are better than flossing.

          1. I’ve got some little gadgets called floss picks. Easier to manipulate than just floss.

            Do you use the Tepe ones?

          4. Not yet but i will have a look. I am also looking at a full arch implant because i am am tired of the constant interventions.

      2. I was so tempted to ask the hygienist how she dressed for safe sex because her multi layer plastic bin bag combo was all encompassing.

        Strangely for me, common sense overtook my putting mouth into gear, so I did not have the thrill of having a sharpened tool embedded into the roof of my mouth.

      3. If it is a BLUE plaque, I think you are meant to leave it there!! Unless it has a link to slavery, of course…

  25. My Vigo Press apple mill arrived yesterday!
    Though my Lord Derby’s are not ripe enough for pressing, I did try it out with some fallers and got a couple of pints of juice which tasted rather nice!
    It did need a bit of adjustment though, the threading for the grub screw that holds the handle on needed a quick run through with a 5mm tap to allow the screw to seat in the drilling in the shaft properly.

    https://www.pressfruit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/vigo_classic_apple_crusher.jpg

    My apple press was not used at all last year as the apples were rather lacking, but it will be this year!
    http://www.home-brew-online.com/images/products/zoom/1376644480-25745800.jpg

    3. We have one of those. Excellent, so it is. Bolted on to a WorkMate, we pick, was, chop crush and squeeze apples in the garden close to the orchard at Firstborn’s place. Regularly make 50+ litres of cider.

    4. we tried this cider lark about ten years ago. Looked good, tasted good but was more potent than wine. Dangerous stuff when you triedquaffing it like cider.

      1. The last couple of bottles from 2y ago have turned to cider vinegar, so guess what I’ll be making my chutney with this year!

    5. I harvested all my Lord Derby apples yesterday. They dropped off the tree when I touched them (so I lost one over the fence as it toppled out of my hand). They will be divided between my two friends who cook (apple pies and crumbles will no doubt be the tribute paid).

      1. How big is your tree?
        Mine is bloody big and there are always apples that are well out of reach, even with my collector basket on a pole.

        I did strip the Russets today, only 1½lb but it’s more than I’ve ever had off the tree.
        I left the smaller apples on the Aldi Special, but picked about 5lb of the larger ones last week.

        1. Its branches are quite long, but it’s not very tall. It’s considerably shorter and more compact now as I’ve spent some time pruning my apple and plum trees over the last few days.

  26. Am I first? No, beaten to the post.

    Like many Nottlers who are over 75, I guess, yesterday morning I received a thick letter from TV Licensing telling me ‘It’s time to set up your next TV Licence’.

    It contained 5 sheets of A4, all colour printed, plus a slim A5 booklet (also colour printed, 12 pages, heavy-grade paper) and a reply-paid envelope. I wondered who had produced it and what had cost (remember that slim £9 million mail-shot in 2016 from Cameron on Brexit?).

    Instead of sending a Freedom of Information request to TV Licensing (which would probably have been ignored or forwarded on a wild-goose chase) I visited the TV Licensing website to see who they used for communications. Turns out the principal one is Proximity London (for Marketing & Printing Services). They are owned by AMV BBDO who are part of Omnicom Group Inc (so American – might have guessed). Down the edge of each page the job number is a bit of a
    giveaway: it says PIM101 PIM1 …etc. Looking at their entry on the Companies House website, there are 88 officers but 84 resignations. Hmmm.

    I did a bit of UK-based research and after Googling ‘Royal Mail Bulk Mailing’ I tracked down a similar firm called stannp.com who publish a menu of charges for setting up, printing and mailing large mail-shots:

    2-sided colour letter, 4,000 or more…..42p each
    4 extra 2-sided colour pages @ 7p…….28p
    2 extra inserts from.2p……………………….4p

    So let’s be generous and say not less than 75p each. According to TV Licensing’s own website there were 4.6 million over-75 TV Licences in 2019. So multiplying up, that would cost £3,450,000 PLUS VAT, or £4,140,000, a shade over £4 Million. OK, they probably give a discount for HUGE mailings of 4 and a half million, but you get the picture.

    Divide by the cost of each Licence (£157.50) and we find that it takes the first 26,285 over-75 households just to pay for the mailshot, never mind the cost of calculating the regular payments and collecting them.

    Who pays for this? why, the licence-holders of course. By the way, each letter weighs exactly 60 grams. Multiply that by 4.6 million and that comes to 276 metric tonnes. Quite a big pile of mail.

    All back-of-the-envelope stuff, but it WAS a big envelope.

    1. 323999+ up ticks,
      Morning RC,
      In many respects the wretch camerons mailed missive
      worked though, the party still via ovis support gave us the princess of treachery ( the second stage of the eu semi re-entry rocket) mayday.

    2. ‘Morning, RC. Good work…but you may have overlooked the cost to local authorities of collecting and disposing/recycling all of this printed material?

        1. Whenever there is a big industrial fire in the region, why is it nearly always a recycling depot?

          It is like these stately homes and similar historic buildings such as the Glasgow School of Art which burn to the ground shortly before the renovating builders are due to hand over.

      1. We received ours a while ago – it’s at the bottom of a pile of paperwork (which is what passes for my filing system).

    4. Good morning ,

      Our obstreperous 85 year old friend commented that he will not be paying his TV licence .. it is like subsidising black rappers, black adverts , and minority viewers and TV announcers, there is NOTHING on TV for him any longer ..

  28. Rugby-obsessed sergeant who was shot dead INSIDE police station when firearms suspect, 23, IN HANDCUFFS pulled gun from his trousers – as friends pay tribute to the ‘big, friendly bear of a man’ who was due to retire in two months. 26 September 2020.

    Sources said the officers failed to find the small firearm as it had been well concealed and would have been recovered only with an intimate strip search and body cavity check.

    The 23-year-old fired the gun with his hands still handcuffed behind his back hitting the veteran officer allegedly several times in the heart at point-blank range.

    In the ensuing chaos the attacker’s weapon went off again, wounding him in his neck, but he remains alive in a critical condition. The suspect is believed to be autistic and of Sri Lankan origin, according to The Times.

    Morning everyone. I would pay good money to see just one of these things done let alone all of them. It would make riding a bike backwards on the roof of a moving car while juggling six balls simultaneously look like a doddle! As for autistic and Sri Lankan, they are new ones on me, which I suppose is the intention.

    No comments allowed!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8772181/Pictured-Rugby-loving-London-sergeant-shot-dead-INSIDE-police-station.html

    1. Sri Lankan you say
      How exotic,I feel like some bizarre twitcher crossing off nationalities of imported terrorist murderers

        1. Or perhaps he was bi-polar or a narcissist? Or perhaps he was an evil terrorist? Perhaps he was just a BAME?

          1. The whole thing is nonsense Richard. Even if we assumed he was the first Sri Lankan, double-jointed, wide assed, autistic assassin in history, the shot in the neck would still be impossible. My guess it’s a cover up! The five hour delay in reporting it is suspicious in itself!

          2. The whole thing is nonsense Richard. Even if we assume he was the first Sri Lankan, double-jointed, wide assed, autistic assassin in history, the shot in the neck would still be impossible. My guess it’s a cover up! The five hour delay in reporting it is suspicious in itself!

          3. Good Morning Minty

            I wonder who is the most cynical person on this site? You and I must be up there!

          5. Let me put in my tuppence worth, please. In almost all of these situations, the police involved meet together and decide on their story.
            This happened in the Menezes case. This will happen here. According to the news yesterday an investigation has been started to determine the actions of the officers in connection with the injury to the arrested person. (This is separate to the murder enquiry.)
            We should not expect the names of any of the other officers to be released. It is highly unlikely that the officers who failed to properly search a man they arrested for possessing drugs and ammunition and who were thereby indirectly responsible for the death of Sergeant Ratana will be reprimanded. The notion that even a small Saturday Night Special could be concealed from the most cursory pat down is ludicrous. There will surely be bodycam recording of the arrest and search… oh no wait, the devices were not functioning at the time.
            According to Dick of the Met the crime committed by this suspected terrorist was not terror related.

            Sir Peter Fahy, the former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, told the BBC: “… the circumstances surrounding the death appeared to be “incredibly unusual”, adding: “There are procedures of searching prisoners before they are taken to police stations in vans or in cars, they’re searched again when they get to police stations and there are additional procedures because of screening for Covid.”

            “Met Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said the shooting was being treated as a murder investigation and was not terror-related.
            It was believed the suspect was known to counter-terrorism police, BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.
            The suspect had been referred to the anti-extremism government’s Prevent programme, aimed to stop people joining extremist groups and carrying out terrorist activities.”

            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54306029

    3. Was the policeman keeling behind him at the time?
      I can’t visualise how else that could have been done unless the gunmen had some special training or something

      1. Initial reports said he hadn’t been searched and had not been handcuffed. That makes more sense.

    5. Well, that’s what decades of woke policing does. Sorry for the man who died, but he probably died because box ticking and community relations are more important than high standards.

      2. IQ? Nah! Lets subject the lot of them, Snivel Serpents and MPs included to the same Drug & Alcohol regime I was subject to, along with many others in a wide range of industries.
        Compulsory D&A testing during medicals, testing if I was involved in an incident where my actions may have been a factor and subject to being selected for a random test should a test team turn up at a depot where I was working.
        Test positive or refuse to be tested meant the sack.

  30. Boris Johnson has gone green. But are there any reasons why we should believe him?

    Politicians told me that diesel cars are the least polluting and so they reduce the price of diesel. So I bought a diesel car.
    THEN they tell me that diesel is the most polluting of fuel for cars and raise its price.

    The politicians encourage us to have wood-burning stoves as wood is a renewable fuel so I buy 2 wood-burning stoves and some of my friends install heating systems in the house fuelled by wood pellets.
    THEN Mr Gove says bugger whether or not wood is a renewable source and tells us that burning wood is bad for CO levels and even bans some stoves. To put a cherry on the cake he also bans the installation of gas into new homes.

    Traditional light bulbs are removed from all shops so we have to buy long-life mercury bulbs which are not long life and within 6 months lose their stated brightness and have to be thrown away.
    THEN LED light bulbs come on the market and we are told that the mercury in the bulbs we have been encouraged to buy are bad for the environment.

    We are told we must all have electric cars
    THEN we find they have a very limited mileage range making them unsuitable for the use we need, battery technology is not fit for purpose, and the fuel we used to put in our cars will still have to be used to top up demand for electricity.

    And now we discover that we are on the brink of finding a way of producing economical cars which run on hydrogen and will make electric cars obsolete.

    And the great guru of greens is a physically undeveloped adolescent who played truant from school and has no qualifications in any branch of meteorology. who lectures us all and takes in swathes of gullible people.

    And so it goes on …….

          1. I have a stack of wood out back and it will not be an electric chainsaw that I use to cut it down to size.

          3. that has been my excuse allthrough the summer, it was far too hot, I would wait until it became cooler outside. Now that temperatures are down to the low twenties, I need another excuse.

    3. Hmmm…
      Didn’t buy a diesel car, as the whiff of BS was too strong.
      Do use woodstove, but that’s because our cottage has never had central heating installed.
      Didn’t like those weirdy lightbulbs that came before LED and took a minute to come on, because I read that some optician had bought a lifetime’s supply of the old ones, because the mercury ones were so bad for the eyes.
      Will strongly resist electric cars, as they would take my regular journey across Europe back to the 19th century (at least 2 days instead of one).

      Government 1, Me 3.

      1. We have boxes of traditional lightbulbs. I stocked up from a local wholesaler when the ban loomed on the horizon.

    5. Quite so, Rastus. Mass-produced hydrogen-powered cars are not possible in our lifetime, and probably long after, because production of hydrogen requires a lot of energy we don’t have. Production of hydrogen from natural gas is again not easy and requires a fossil fuel which, according to the eco-loons and others, is a no-no. As as for powering home heating systems with hydrogen…well, the production of such a vast quantity isn’t likely, now or for generations to come.

        1. ‘Afternoon, Paul, and the cost of a replacement battery, when the old one won’t hold charge?

          Possibly more than the car is worth at that time.

      2. Ah we may have a problem here.

        Trudeaus latest greenpromise scam is to tell us that the liberals will create one million new jobs based on turning dirty yucky alberta oil into hydrogen that will power our newly invented green economy.

        Some actually believe.

  31. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    The NT continues to get it in the neck, and rightly so. Can’t be long now until someone comes to their senses…can it? You would think, wouldn’t you, that they would be keen to raise their income after the couple of hundred million pounds lost during lockdown. They really have shot themselves in both feet when, instead, people are cancelling their memberships. Understandable, as the backbone of NT membership – the older, indigenous, hideously white element – raises two fingers.

    SIR – Last Sunday, while with friends in Burwash in East Sussex, I visited Bateman’s – Rudyard Kipling’s home. I said to my companion: “How long will it be before Kipling’s ‘colonial past’ is reviewed and reaction to it expressed?”

    On Tuesday, the Nobel laureate’s home was added to a list of National Trust properties whose connections to the slave trade and the British Empire are being examined.

    In Burwash, we paused at the memorial to John Kipling, 18 years of age when he was killed in 1915. Kipling’s son was not fighting just for the English, the allies or even the Empire. He gave his life for mankind.

    Julian Barran
    London SW1

    SIR – In our home we have a mahogany chair made by an inmate of a prison in Rangoon in the Thirties, a ceremonial sword from Chin State in Burma from the Forties and a set of brass figures from Nigeria from the Fifties. All of these were inherited from my grandfather and father, who received them as gifts.

    So, like the National Trust, I have identified the colonial artefacts in my house. Should I feel ashamed of my grandparents and parents for their past? No. They did the best they could in the times in which they lived, and I am incredibly proud of them.

    Tom Barton
    Woking, Surrey

    SIR – Perhaps in its pious eagerness to be the nation’s conscience, the National Trust should give sackcloth and ashes to visitors. It could also close down offending properties and allow them to be turned into social housing.

    It has clearly lost sight of the reason why members pay their subscriptions.

    Diana Wilson
    Penarth, Glamorgan

    SIR – My wife and I were National Trust members for years and introduced our grandchildren to its properties, through which they learnt of many aspects of British history. Properties reflect the lives not only of the principal families but also the astonishing skills of the craftsmen who built them.

    Sadly, I’ve felt ostracised in recent years, as the Trust has not so subtly suggested that the membership that maintains it needs to be re-educated by those who know better.

    Well, good luck to it. I’ve cancelled my subscription renewal, and urge others sharing my concerns to 
follow suit.

    Alan D Thomas
    Ware, Hertfordshire

    1. I understand that John Kipling should never have been called up, he failed his medical.
      His father pulled numerous strings and called in favours to get him accepted.

      He later regretted it (Understatement of the year).

        2. Having fought in WWI and been commissioned in the field, at the outset of WWII and knowing that wearing spectacles would prohibit his being accepted, he gained a copy of the eye chart and learned it by heart. He was accepted with the rank of Captain in the Military Police and the Suffolk Regiment.

      2. Perhaps the lad wanted to enjoy the same experiences as his father and persuaded him to use his influence. I do hope so. No one wants to die for their country (certain religions excepted) but it is a price often to be paid by those who love it.

        1. I recall reading that his father was the one who was the keenest, he felt that it was a duty, as he could not go himself, and that his family should have the same risks as all the others who were losing sons to death and injury.

          It was a very sad tale.

          If you have never been, Kipling’s home is (was?) an excellent day out. I’t probaby been forcibly awoken.

      3. Yes, Kipling admits his terrible error in his book ‘My Boy Jack’. His son’s poor eyesight should have kept him out of harm’s way.

        “‘If any question why we died/Tell them, because our fathers lied”. (Kipling)

        ‘Morning, Sos. That anyone should seek to denigrate Kipling and his work is beneath contempt.

    1. And the £500m he has promised to a supra national group to help combat the lurgy in poor countries. I guess Mercedes Benz will get a boost in orders.

    1. Is this comedy or a jape?

      By all means, a man can wear a dress and call himself a woman. That’s his right.

      However, my right also allows me to say he’s a delusional idiot and about as much a woman as he is a gerbil.

      1. 323999 + up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        I do agree but in doing so think you are being totally unfair to gerbils.

    2. To answer Batten’s question, https://www.amazon.com/Conquest-Without-Jacques-Compiled-edited/dp/B000FMJKI6
      Conquest Without War explains how the Soviet commies planned to take over the West, using Kruschev’s own speeches which were no secret.
      Now that it’s coming to fruition, the Chinese commies are pushing it.
      Add that to the Soros motivation, the general decline of a society that has enjoyed the good life for too long and the inevitable decline of a democracy where women have political power.

      We are seeing the inevitable results. I think it’s too late to save the old Europe now.
      But like a phoenix, it will rise again from the ashes one day.

      PS Batten should avoid Twitter. It’s toxic, and when you start looking down that particular rabbit hole, you see extremes of stupidity and self-indulgence that you wouldn’t have believed possible.

      1. What does one have to do to earn the maximum sentence of 14 years? Mow down a judge’s daughter?

  35. I have always considered BBC Radio 4 obsessed with homosexuals, greens, blacks and Scots.

    Today, in one programme, they managed to find a black Scotch woman who had never known her American serviceman father, a heavy metal gay-boy (Rob Halford lead singer of Judas Priest) with drugs and alcohol problems, a daughter of an environmentalist viscount (who married his 18 year old first cousin) who grew up on her father’s private island in the Inner Hebrides and some palatial home in Suffolk, someone called Jessi Gutch, whoever she is, and all presented by a black woman married to a gay looking white man, and a homosexual padre with the unlikely name of Richard Coles (Dick Holes?).

    I rest my case.

    1. unfortunately it is not just radio 4. There must be a central casting outfit that keeps a stable of weirdos ready to talk on any subject that comes up.

      Try the world service, everyone is earnestly describing their struggles against the misogynistic biased and uncaring world.

    3. Reverend Coles was in the Communards. Besides the ‘gayness’ and his ‘political leanings’ he is a rather nice chap.

      I do get your point though.

      1. Wasn’t he a contestant on Strictly a few years ago? The OH was quite keen on Strictly so we watched it – he wasn’t quite so keen to hear that this year’s line-up included a black, gay female boxer dancing with a woman.

        1. He was paired with professional dancer and they were the second couple to be eliminated after scoring 14 points for their to Flash Gordon.

          – the lowest scoring Pasodoble in the history of Strictly.

          From WIKI.

          I haven’t watched ‘Strictly’ since they updated the format.

          1. Did they update it? It seems much the same each year. Only the judges have changed (apart from Bruno and Craig)

          2. Until 1998 it was called ‘Come Dancing’. Heavily made up ladies in ball gowns and the men in tuxes.

          11. There are so many programs i would never have watched but being the youngest of the household i didn’t get a vote. If i was watching something on my own an elder sibling would come in and just switch it over or off.

            No heating upstairs so not good for reading but that didn’t matter because there were no books.

          12. No telly but plenty of books in my mother’s house. She never did get one to the end of her life. I have most of her books here.
            We had no heating either – I used to put my school clothes under the bedclothes to keep warm. She used to put her shoes and slippers in the oven to warm up.

      2. Richard Coles is, indeed, a nice chap. He was the host of a painting programme along with Mariella Frostrup a couple of years back. He is genial, self-effacing and very witty. He never goes on about his beliefs and proclivities.

      1. The same Rob Halford who was the manager of a porn cinema before he joined the group? Old men with little boys and Jimmy Savile badges?

        1. I wasn’t aware of that. I don’t know much about him, only that I argue with Hertslass over who is the better rock vocalist: him or Graham Bonnet. My preference is the latter.

  36. I may be absent for the next couple of weeks while my PC goes in for repair
    Play nicely while I’m away

        2. Have you already taken it in?

          If not, my first suggestion would be to check all the connections. A blank screen (I’ve seen) can be a simple as rolling over/pressing/the video cable. If it’s a laptop, the hinge could be squashing the cable.

          Beyond those without looking at it it’s difficult to know. Let us know if it’s gone in already.

          1. If a laptop then I am wondering if the motherboard temperature is getting a bit hot – and the sensors cut the power until it cools, allowing it to come back on. I had the same problem years ago – All down to needing the cover off ( power disconnected first ) then a good air blast and vac to clean the vents and motherboard out. It is surprising how much airborne dusty stuff gets sucked in there.

          2. I have my laptop on a little platform that has fans underneath. It doesn’t overheat.

            A good idea to Vac it, as you say.

          3. Me too, Phil. The cooling tray is powered via a USB connection to the laptop. No external power source needed.

  37. Regarding the current discussions about police searching people (for whatever purpose), especially in respect of the unfortunate (and eminently preventable) death of a police sergeant, yesterday; I have this to say.

    At no time during my police career in the 1970s and 1980s was I given any detailed tuition in how to search a person, properly or thoroughly. It was simply a matter of “pat downs”. This omission came vividly to life when I became a screening supervisor at Norwich airport. Full body searching was taught and practised to a high degree. We would secrete guns, knives and various other objects upon the bodies of colleagues and take it in turn searching them thoroughly in order to find the hidden objects. Every bit of the body was searched (even if discretion was given in order to not intrude too closely on “sensitive” areas of the body). Males could only search males and females could only search females; however, in practice sessions, we would search both sexes (with permission, of course).

    This drove home to me just how underprepared and uneducated I had been in the area of body-searching during my police career. Having said that, I doubt whether any prisoner who had been found to be carrying ammunition, as well as controlled drugs, would have not been searched more thoroughly in case he was in possession of a device with which he could use that secreted ammunition. Bullets without a gun? Alarm bells would have sounded!

    1. Do you think that such a prisoner would normally have been left alone with the custody sergeant?

      A nasty experience for me at an airport a few years ago.
      I always set off the alarms and was sent to be patted down as usual. I was quiet, polite and obliging, even standing legs apart and with arms raised to the usual position, because in the days before scanners it happened to me every time I flew and I made a comment to that effect.

      (It still happens but at least the scanner is more straight-forward.)

      The man doing the searching decided, for whatever reason, that I should be taken behind a screen, still in the public area, where he told me to drop my trousers and pants so that he could inspect my operation scars. Fotunately, being in boxer shorts all I had to do was lift the leg because the hip scar is very obvious and the ones on my knee make it look as if the whole thing has been taken apart and sewn back together. No comment, no apology no thanks.

      I was more than somewhat surprised, as was my wife who was with me, but did as requested. We were both still fuming when we eventually got to the plane. I think he might have been having a bad ay and that he deliberately did it to humiliate me for the pleausre of it.

      1. In situations such as you describe, I (and my staff) would have first used a wand to check the area. If not able to determine what the cause was we would then ask you about the situation, discreetly, and then ask if it would be possible to see if you raised your trouser leg. If you couldn’t we would have taken you to a private room (with another male for your protection) to investigate further. Never just behind a screen. I would never have attempted to embarrass you.

        Many people asked if they could be searched in private and we invariably accommodated them. One Indian gentleman once insisted on being searched in private because he was too embarrassed to be searched in front of his wife and daughter.

        1. That is exactly what I would have expected and on the odd times that it got down to waving the wand, it lit up immediately (or whatever it does if it’s other than beep) where I had indicated.

          In many years of flying, after the opearations, it was the only time I was treated thus.

          Had I not been having to head for the gate I would have complained at the time, but we could not afford to miss the flight. Security seemed to take forever and perhaps they were on exceptionally high alert level and he’d been being given a lot of abuse as people thought they might miss flights; who knows.

    2. The suspect was probably a POC (person of colour). Pocs and Bames have the right to flash a victim card and must be treated softly softly. A simple blindfold (eye covering) would have made any assault less deadly. If the alleged killer is Sri Lankan, he could be muslim or hindu, or less likely, a Buddhist.

        1. But at the last census (admittedly 9 years ago) 4.4% of the British population was Muslim so I should imagine that though that figure must be rising rapidly I expect the figure is now still less than 10%.

          But In Britain rather more than 10% of terrorist activity is committed by Muslims.

  38. Good morning boys and girls.
    It’s a bit Pearl Harbour today isn’t it?
    There’s a nip in the air.

    3. I get the feeling it was planned and others knew – as the one recording it knew where to keep the lens on it.

  41. Good morning all. I just visited a news stand, to find that every newspaper is covered with an advert for the ‘Big app download weekend.’ Apparently we are all to download an NHS app, presumably so that the government knows where we are at any moment. If we come into contact with someone with Covid then we get to spend the next fourteen days isolated, on pain of a £10,000 fine.

    Forgive me if I don’t rush to download it! How long until this becomes compulsory, or life is made so unpleasant that you can’t do anything normal without having your app turned on? Does anyone else find what is happening deeply disturbing? 1984 was meant to be a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual!

      1. Same here; my clamshell will send and receive calls and texts and that’s the sum total of its capabilities. It won’t even recognise emoticons in text messaging.

    2. ‘Morning, JK.

      I don’t find it disturbing because my mobile phone is not a smart phone. I cannot download the app.

        1. ANY mobile phone call – position tracked and number called/length of time is recorded.
          Credit card purchases – position and amount tracked.
          Cash withdrawals at ATMs – tracked
          Drive – tracked by ANPR cameras.
          New car – has auto assist that can’t be turned off – tracked.
          Emails – to/from who/where/ broadband supplier – recorded
          Every post on here – from and to – recorded
          etc etc.

          And now with “track and trace” – a govt monitoring system – paid for by the phone buyer – US. What happened to Data Privacy?

    4. I’m just about to buy a new mobile, and it won’t be an android one (neither will it be an iPhone – adapting an Android app for iPhones put me off ever owning one).

        2. Actually there are loads of non-Androids on the market. There is even a rival operating system that has an app store (tizen). But I really just want a non-app phone, or I might make some apps for it myself.

      2. When I bought my first computer, in 1999, a knowledgeable work colleague sat down with me and explained 1,000 reasons why I shouldn’t buy a Microsoft-infected computer. He advised me to go Apple.

        I bought an iMac (in luscious lime-green) and have stuck with the brand for computers and mobiles ever since. Changing to another system would be too much confusion for my small brain (extremely low IQ, you know) to cope with.

        1. I was told by both my sons never to use Microsoft for anything. They set us up with Linux so that’s what we use. I won’t be downloading the app.

        2. That’s why I don’t like’em. They suck you into a walled garden from which it’s well nigh impossible to escape! I loathe that the mac I use randomly shares data with the test phones.

    5. …and how much taxpayers money was spent on that advertisement in all the national papers?

      NHS, good at spending other people’s money.

      1. No idea, but it won’t be cheap. Eat out to Help Out cost us in the region of £400m, and what was our reward for doing what we were told? 10pm pub curfews and the Rule of Six.

        The more we comply with their restrictions, the more they will apply.

        “A boot stamping on a human face forever.”

  43. Are MP’s slowly starting to rouse themselves from their six-month slumber?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/09/26/risk-forsaking-liberties-many-died-preserve/

    I find it remarkable that when we were trying to wrest our sovereignty back from Brussels, Parliament fought against it tooth and nail. But they have nothing to say over the greatest assault in history on our basic rights and freedoms. I doubt that any tyrant managed to regulate the lives of their people down to the level of who you can associate with and whether you can hug your grandchildren. It is a little late to be asking nicely if they can be allowed to vote on the ‘Rule of Six’ or any further restrictions. One can only conclude that defending our freedom is not what MPs feel they are there for.

    Where’s Gina Miller when you need her?

    1. About bloody time Graham Brady got off his arse. Too late, of course. But he could manage Johnson’s downfall retirement on health grounds….

    2. “On Wednesday, the Government will seek to renew the sweeping emergency powers that were introduced in March. If they accept my amendment requiring that those powers should only be exercised with prior parliamentary approval, they will show they understand that they can only govern by the consent of the people.”

      Not enough. The existence of the whole Act should be up for the vote.

  44. A new scam NOT from DVLA

    Report it to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk

    9/26/2020 1:54:10 a.m. e.Ticket #fogoyb – Status: Unverified – Routine check –

    ‘Accunt Information Confirmation’ | ‘ Receiving Account Communications ‘ | Current Profile 9/26/2020 1:54:10 a.m. ` ->

    Residential Information update required

    Driver and Vehicle Agency – Update required on 9/26/2020 1:54:10 a.m.

    Look at splellin and date formats

  45. World Health Organization
    UK to become WHO’s largest state donor with 30% funding increase
    Boris Johnson to call for more powers for health body in coronavirus fight as Trump pulls out

    Boris Johnson will announce a 30% increase in the UK’s funding of the World Health Organization, making the UK the single largest national donor after the US leaves.

    In an announcement at the UN General Assembly, he will urge it to heal “the ugly rifts” that are damaging the international fight against coronavirus.

    While Trump has denounced the WHO as corrupt and under China’s influence, Johnson will announce £340m in UK funding over the next four years, a 30% increase. He will also suggest the body be given greater powers to demand reports on how countries are handling a pandemic.

    The proposals will form part of a British vision, drawn up in conjunction with the Gates Foundation, of how future health pandemics could be better controlled, including “zoonotic labs” capable of identifying potentially dangerous pathogens in animals before they transmit to humans.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/uk-to-become-whos-largest-state-donor-with-30-funding-increase

    BoJo has lost his marbles bigly.

    1. And the 30% increase in funding is going to be taken from where else? Massive amounts to Foreign Aid – More costs here as foreigners pile in unchallenged – and now yet more money to God knows where.

    2. Are you confusing his marbles with his testicles or has he lost both?

      Rumour* has it that Carrie has gone off the copulative side of their relationship and now sees Boris as physically repulsive and a big turn off.

      * (If the MSM is happy to start rumours then why shouldn’t I do so too?)

      1. Well, she has her ‘ickle babee, doesn’t she – the sort of thing that “independent”, single women are always demanding.

  48. Just in from a tour of the garden to pic up the windfalls. It looks as tough a bomb has hit it – tree debris everywhere – the trombetti tower not emulating Pisa.

    Yesterday, the MR and I moved one of the veg frames to a place of safety. During the night a large branch snapped off the tree that was “protecting” it….

    Still, the stove stayed in….!

  49. We’re tired of unintelligible gobbledygook

    ‘We are living in anti-intellectual times,” writes the American feminist thinker Judith Butler in an email interview with The New Statesman magazine published this week. That is certainly one perspective on the Trump phenomenon.

    Another, from outside the Ivory Tower, is that we are actually trapped in a culture war spawned on university campuses, where words like “decolonise” have long been applied to hearts and minds, rather than territories, and where the issue of gendered lavatory signage is of paramount importance. In that sense, we are living in profoundly “intellectual” times – and my God it’s toxic. Is it any wonder so many of us can’t bear it?

    If people are losing patience with all this radical theory taking over public discourse, the intellectual response would be to ask why. One reason may be that so many segments of the intelligentsia insist upon discussing ideas in language that deliberately excludes normal people. Then they try to police everyone else’s language using moral outrage.

    This is the sort of thing I mean. It’s an extract from an essay by Dr Butler and it won first prize in the journal Philosophy and Literature’s 1998 “bad writing” contest: “The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory…” It goes on.

    It is obviously hard to engage with someone who has chosen to be so utterly incomprehensible, but I’ll try. From what I can make out, Dr Butler tends to make two claims about sex and gender. She argues, firstly, that sex is an entirely made-up category imposed upon people by society rather than by biology. She argues, secondly, that a person can make a legitimate claim, based purely on their own feeling about “who” they are, to be of one gender or another, rather than having to “perform” a gender according to their sex. But these two propositions contradict one another.

    If a human’s sex is not an authentic category and gender is simply a “performance”, why lay claim to be of one gender or another and demand that everyone recognise this claim? Why affirm these supposedly oppressive categories by demanding such a label?

    Her answer, I think, might be that society’s emphasis on gender forces people to value these bogus categories and so we must respect people’s choices about belonging to one or another. But you can’t have it both ways. If our notions of sex and gender are really social constructs, there is no existential need for physical gender reassignment.

    Dr Butler is of course welcome to clear up this inconsistency, but she may want to hire a translator to do so on her behalf.

    Tte unassailable fact that we are living in anti-intellectual times is clearly displayed, daily, in the streets, homes, workplaces, government, schools, social and news media. Mankind is degenerating morally and intellectually by the minute. Stupidity has never enjoyed so much cachet as it does now.

    1. Good mordy, Grizz.

      The plusty problem ariles when the allegebold intelleticals departmost from the basic Engly twenty-fido causing furrage of the browloppers, all grimage, with scratchit of the headloder and puzzlemold there.

      Oh yes.

    2. They delight such academics take in using gobbledegook is comical.

      It’s ‘the more unintelligible I make it, the more intelligent it will sound.

      Put bluntly, you are born either male or female. Your body then grows as either a man or a woman, with the chemistry specific to each sex.

        1. There is, however, XXX, XXY and quite a few intersex variants some of which you would certainly never wish on anyone. The sufferers are in the minority but, like almost everything else in nature, there are few clear-cut lines and not a few “imperfects”. Roughly one infant in 200 has some intersex characteristics (though most are minor).

          Having seen some of the strangely put together creatures which are “twin heifers” (these are the monochorionic twins of bull calves which initially appear to be female) I can speak from direct observation in cattle … which I know (from study) is replicated in humans.

          Put bluntly – to declare that there are only XX or XY is as erroneous a position as the one you are refuting.

          2. You’re not wrong if you look at it another way. The ‘program’ is XX or XY. It’s just that in some individuals it’s corrupted on installation (e.g. the extra sex chromosome) or it fails to execute properly. Either way, certain physical and/or behavioural abnormalities are the result.

    3. A lot of people, and not just Dr Butler, need to understand that in English, gender is purely a grammatical construct and has nothing whatsoever to do with a person’s sex – of which there are only two – male and female.

    4. “The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory…”

      This kind of writing, where the author seems to believe that more syllables add more gravitas and where one word is never used when three could be used instead, tends to be a thing beloved of leftards. A Conservative would never write like that.
      Is there a setting on Babelfish, or Google translate, for Gobbldygook to English?

      2. It’s designed to be ambiguous, to be unclear and imprecise.

        In short, it’s a sign of someone trying to avoid talking about an issue.

  50. Any Answers, Radio 4 LW, finished with long whinge about problems faced by man transgendering. Presenter deeply sympathetic and suggested much more time should be devoted to this crushing problem. It won’t be on Radio 4 though, it is already oversaturated with similar programmes. The BBC could divert some of the money it is extracting from poverty stricken pensioners and create a new radio service dedicated to gender benders – but wouldn’t they keep switching channels? Just a thought.

  52. For fun:
    Sent by me a fortnight ago, maybe a bit rude. No response as yet

    Rachel Fellows
    Chair CEO/Communications
    Bettys & Taylors Group Limited
    1 Parliament Street
    Harrogate
    North Yorkshire
    HG1 2QU
    Dear Ms Fellows,
    It was with disappointment that we noted your support for BLM. BLM is a Marxist organisation which has as one of its closest associates a terrorist, Susan Rosenberg, who was convicted of a bombing in the USA.
    In this country BLM and supporters have caused much damage to property and offered threats to people as well as a great deal of disruption.
    Their actions, in my opinion, come well within the scope of the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and later.
    The Government and police, while ready to take summary action against old ladies’ tea parties, have given carte blanche to the black terrorists of BLM and their foolish supporters.
    It seems that a complete lack of education and an abysmal failure to understand history has allowed these hooligans to run riot in the streets and in the media.
    We are not in the least ashamed of our humble forebears and our history. Quite the contrary.
    We have been customers of Taylor’s of Harrogate for many years.
    However your support for terrorism and rejection of our tradition has ended that association. Our family will no longer buy your products just as you yourself suggested on June 8th of this year.
    We have now reached the end of our large tin of Yorkshire Tea. I enclose the last two tea bags. Some years ago I had a colleague in Yorkshire who suggested a course of action to me using what I assume is a Yorkshire expression.
    Let me use his phraseology and suggest that you “stick the tea bags where the monkey sticks his nuts”.
    Yours sincerely,

    2. And the great majority of the bar stewards are still there with their snouts in the trough.

  55. In other news, from Belgium:

    An Irishman who lives in Belgium claims he was bitten by a fellow bus passenger after asking the stranger to wear his face mask properly. Robert Murphy, 56, was reportedly bitten on the chest twice by the man during the altercation.

    Mr. Murphy, who lives in in the municipality of Merksem in the northern Belgian province of Antwerp, said: “I just asked the man to wear the mask properly over his nose. However, he refused, and a row broke out.”

    The suspect allegedly attacked Mr.Murphy after swearing at him. He recalled: “I tried to pull myself free, but I am disabled so it was not easy. We tussled until the man threw himself at my chest and bit me. I couldn’t believe it. He was like a mad dog. I pushed him away, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. The whole time he was trying to bite me again.”

    Mr. Murphy was taken to hospital for treatment. In a statement, Belgian Police say they have identified and arrested a suspect after examining footage from the bus’s onboard security camera.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66b8aa1f3580b0690c2a156f1efb83748635258e6a0ce74aaae3135b8f6aacb2.jpg

    The investigation continues.

    4. Funny that – I noticed that Halloween tat is appearing in the shops and I contemplated buying a werewolf mask to wear in the shops.

  56. Project Fear alive and well in the Telegraph:

    “Exclusive poll: Two-thirds of Britons think coronavirus restrictions do not go far enough
    Majority would also favour closing gyms and beauty salons now to lower the rate of infections, Telegraph poll reveals”

    I imagine a typical question was:

    Q: Do you think that the restrictions should be (a) More; (b) Much more: (c) Very much more?

    1. Q: Would you rather have tighter restrictions or (a) Die of Covid; (b) Be fined £10k and thrown in jail?
      A: Quarantine, please please!

      Q:,Would you rather dismiss the lies and live – wasn’t asked.

    2. Well, the taxpayer will pay them all to stay at home, won’t they? Maybe all shopworkers, police, medics should also stay home? Or, is the government-funded holiday only to apply to me? Idiots. Ask again, when unemployment is 20%+, governemnt cuts mean nothing works and zombies walk the streets.

  57. Suspect was handcuffed in custody – but somehow he pulled out a gun and shot Matt Ratana. 26 September 2020.

    “What we have established,” said Sal Naseem, the IOPC’s regional director, “is that the man was handcuffed to the rear before being transported to Croydon Custody Suite in a police vehicle where he was escorted into the building.

    He remained handcuffed to the rear and seated in a holding area in the custody suite. His handcuffs remained in place while officers prepared to search him using a metal detector.

    “It is at the point that shots were fired resulting in the fatal injuries to the officer and critical injuries to the man. A non-police issue firearm, which appears to be a revolver has been recovered from the scene. Further ballistic work will be required.”

    It was a “fluke shot”, a senior police source said last night, still uncomprehending of how the officer, a “gentle giant” hugely popular with colleagues, had been killed.

    It certainly was. I’m only surprised there was no Novichok on the gun!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/25/tributes-paid-topolice-officer-shot-custody-centre-questions/

      1. 323999+ up ticks,
        R,
        After the johnson chap has finished with the peoples shortly they will be bloody lucky to
        sniffahaddock.

    2. 323999+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      When a new party is formed, not the strongly suspect tory top up but a NEW party then may one suggest that the odious perpetrator when found guilty or if dead his family / close associates are sent to the parents place of origin, same day as verdict.
      Treat like with like, same with time served felons after abusing our lifestyle / culture, deportation with family
      revoke citizenship OUT destination parents place of origin.

    4. Why did they take him to the station THEN want to check him with a METAL DETECTOR??? Can’t they lay hands on them anymore? How the hell did they get handcuffs on him but miss a gun???

      2. There are hand held metal detectors used at airports. They are a cross between a wand and a badminton racket. I’m sure space could be found for one in each police car.

        1. You may be right. The Police have a history of misreporting an event as it unfolds. Normally for damage limitation purposes.

        2. Prolly. It’s incidents such as these which now make me suspicious of virtually any and every item of “news”.

      5. Allegedly he was using the area where the sun seldom shines as the holster.

        Given that even at 2am there is likely to be a SJW with a phone videoing everything they do to any bame, do you think the police would wish to do an intimate body search in the street.

        1. Not an intimate body search, but they do tell people to stand, spread legs and get legs patted all the way up.

          2. Read somewhere that 3D printers can even make a small functional weapon. and that, unloaded, wouldn’t be picked up by a metal detector.

          3. But powerful enough to kill and possibly kill twice? It seems unlikely to me that this was much other than inadequate search and control.

            Perhaps Grizzly can explain the likely process this killer should have experienced.

          5. No – not for explosives. Plastic/resin simply isn’t strong enough. Materials that are have a limited number of shots and the barrels need replacing – at immense cost.

          7. Can that hold six shots and have sufficient firepower to kill two people?

            (Assuming the toerag dies)

          8. If it’s a .22 then the cylinder could be chambered for six rounds and at close range, it could certainly kill.

          9. The holder must have big hands.

            As an aside, I really don’t see a street criminal carrying something like that, insufficiently macho.

    7. How could he shoot the officer with his hands handcuffed behind his back? How could he even get the gun out of its concealed place? Something very fishy about the story.

      1. I would hazard a guess and suggest he was wearing jogging bottoms (street scum uniform) and the barrel of the gun had been inserted in his anus. Not too much of a stretch for him to slip his handcuffed hands down towards his backside.

    2. The riot police weighed in with batons, without any provocation. The crowd were a mixture of men and women of all ages, With a few children. I think that it was highly unlikely that they instigated any violence. The police say bottles were thrown. I don’t believe that. The police were determined to smash the demonstration and there were a few bloody heads handed out as the police forced their way across the square. All on video.

      1. They got in some practice on the pro-hunting marchers. It could have been my fate had I not been in Mongolia and unable to be there.

      3. Forgive my cynicism, but I would always expect the Antifa/BLM/ER people to seize the opportunity to stir up a confrontation.

    2. What I can’t understand is why on earth the man shot at all, surely he can’t have believed he would escape.

      1. Mental ishoos Confused. Drugged. Not used to the English way of life…Never learned, “It’s a fair cop, Guv”.

      1. Bad idea, Tom. Next thing, it’d be applied to over 70s not paying their tv licence.
        Government isn’t to be trusted with the little things, let alone the big things like death.

    4. Maybe they are all plain clothes police persons? Now that they can be authorised to commit crimes.

    5. When are the arrests, the punch-ups and baton charges due to start; presumaly as the crowds start to disperse and the more elderly people can be grabbed.

      1. More to the point, why aren’t they wielding billhooks and pitchforks and mounting an attack on parliament?

        The Tolpuddle Martyrs, Revolting Peasants, Robert Kett, Robin Hood, and the Gunpowder Plotters (from times when men were men) will be squirming in their graves!

          1. You mean horny-arsed white “middle class” desk-sitters (and water-cooler leaners) who wouldn’t know the meaning of the word “work”.

          2. One channel shows “Rich house Poor house” – where two families swap homes and weekly disposable cash amounts for a week. A new prog could be to swap people who have only ever been desk-sitters and manual workers. Reckon the desk sitters would get a shock in continuous production line jobs or in such as steel mills with molten metal about.

          5. Not all ‘horny-arsed white “middle
            class” desk-sitters are work shy,
            some did and do ‘know the
            meaning of the word “work.”

          6. When people deride desk sitters and seat polishers they are normally referring to public sector employees not people who work for a private company that actually produces something.

            Good afternoon, Flower. I’m on a one choc a day diet at the moment. 🙂

        2. “More to the point, why aren’t they wielding billhooks and pitchforks and mounting an attack on parliament?”

          Because it’s empty today…

          1. And George Loveless, Wat Tyler and the rest of the gang wouldn’t have been in Trafalgar Square on a Saturday. They’ve have been plotting for next week in yonder tavern.

  62. Walker, 72, is killed after being charged by cows on popular Pennine Way rambling route as police appeal for witnesses. 26 September 2020.

    A walker has been killed after he was charged by a herd of cows on the popular Pennine Way rambling route as police called for witnesses to come forward.

    Malcolm Flynn, 72, from Carlisle, was fatally injured in what police said was a ‘tragic incident’ while he was walking on land near Thirlwall Castle and Gisland, Northumberland, at around 11.45am on Friday, September 11.

    A passing Friesian named Mabel Buttercup described the incident as a tragedy. “He was just walking along and a gang of Herefords appeared out of nowhere and attacked. I don’t know what the countryside is coming too!” A Spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture said if walkers stayed at home this sort of thing would never happen. While HLM (Hereford’s Lives Matter) said they were subjected to intolerable discrimination, “We get none of the best pasture and all our kids go to slaughter first!”

    The police are appealing for snapshots or video footage.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8773817/Pennine-Way-Walker-72-killed-charged-cows-popular-rambling-route.html

    1. Was Mabel suggesting that the cows should be put on a second charge – I thought they had herd immunity.

      1. You know that, I know that and so do lots of country people. Walkers out for a day in the rural theme-park countryside tend not to.

  63. 323999+ up ticks,
    It really has become parabloodydoxicall they are calling for social distancing at the same time as running the Dover potential troop intake campaign, resulting in peoples all around the coastline falling over the edge.
    ALL recorded as death by covid 19.

      1. Yes, it will be very cold. The signs are here. We have had a cool summer, the ground never really warmed up. The holly and cotoneaster have lots of berries. Two weeks ago the house martins were flying outside the kitchen window like a scene from “Wings”. They left promptly on the 16th September. The wind is now cold even though the sun may be shining from time to time.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrVY8ukOl88

        2. We now know the Germans won. My hollies, viburnums and cotoneasters are laden with berries. Even the hollies I thought were males have had berries on for the first time.

        1. ‘Morning, Elsie, having just risen, you will note that I have not lost sleep over it but thank you for the ‘Oops’.

    2. Snow to about 6″ depth just above Firstborn’s farm overnight. Awfully early. The cats have a coat like nobody’s business already, and it’s not even October.
      Maybe it’ll be cold this winter. Better lay in some timber.

      1. Our dog groomer, who groomed our little hound (short back and sides) almost two weeks ago, said her (the dog’s) undercoat of fine, soft, dense hair was much thicker than she had seen it in preceding haircuts.

  65. DT Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/25/duke-duchess-sussex-should-lose-royal-titles-majority-british/

    Duke and Duchess of Sussex should lose royal titles, majority of British public believe

    It seems rather strange that no comments are allowed meaning that readers cannot say what they think under this article which is about what people think.

    In fact I think that they should be stripped of their titles which have become no more that a useful publicity tool for Migraine’s insatiable and bottomless avarice for money and self-promotion. That Harry has been dragged into politics really scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

    1. I wonder if he actually understands the meaning of the words he reads (badly) from the autocue…

      1. Apparently he shouted at Palace staff prior to the wedding that what Meghan wants, Meghan gets. Well, she has got him in her pocket.

        Poor Henry. Led by his cock.

    1. 323999+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      It would be bloody serious then if the governance politico’s / MsM are saying and trying to push that as the casualty list, maybe it is wishful thinking in freeing up housing, education, medication,& incarceration spaces for the Dover plus intake.

      Heaven alone knows what these supporter / voters are going to vote in next.

  67. That’s me for the second miserable day in a row. Looks marginally brighter – still a gale – but the rain has stopped. Will start cleaning up the garden on Monday. Enough timber brought down to build a tree house!

    Will hope to finish watching the excellent docu (apart from the effing muzak) about how R-R build a Trent engine. The MR was rivetted (good engineering joke, there). The power went off half way through last evening, for the second time. Came back at midnight – when I got up for a pee and discovered how many lights were blazing!

    A demain.

      1. I am delighted to say that the wazzocks came three times to fit the “mandatory” smart meter but failed each time because there is no signal. As we told them before they came. Three times.

      2. I am delighted to say that the wazzocks came three times to fit the “mandatory” smart meter but failed each time because there is no signal. As we told them before they came. Three times.

    4. Probably just as well you’re off.

      The wimmin are talking knickers below, and we wouldn’t want you over-excited and do yourself a mischief.

      2. As has been the case for many years – some have, some have not. We had a couple of laundrettes on campus which were useful for the things that couldn’t easily be hand-washed, but in the main I used my bucket and dolly.

          1. Our college had it’s own wash room with sinks, machines and even dryers, ironing boards and irons.

            One had to pay, but there is no doubt that it was heavily subsidised, electricity only, I would guess.

            The facilities were open to those resident in college and also all student digs. And people could be seen bringing washing in; it was an all male college in those days.

            We must all have been well trained by our mothers!

          2. I am currently doing the same, Peddy, as the washing machine would simply flood the kitchen until the drainage pipe is repaired/replaced.

          3. We were agriculture students – we came into contact with some mucky stuff from time to time; we would pool our farm gear to fill a machine. When I lived out of hall we would take our sheets to the laundrette in winter; more for the driers than the washing machines – otherwise the house we were sharing never dried out. We kept heating to the barest minimum so getting our clothes dry was as much as we could manage.

  69. LAST POST (REALLY)

    Just seen tomorrow’s Grimes headlines. Charles Moore to be Chairman of the BBC.

    The woke on the Times are going BALLISTIC….. Wonderful to behold.

  73. Two-thirds of Britons think coronavirus restrictions do not go far enough. 26 September 2020 •

    Almost two-thirds of people believe the Government’s latest Covid-19 restrictions do not go far enough, a poll reveals.
    A survey of more than 2,000 adults found that 63 per cent believed that the measures taken last week fell short of the action that should have been taken.

    The ORB survey was carried out online on Wednesday and Thursday.

    I once took part in one of these online surveys. It was about listening figures on the radio and I responded to the initial request by saying that I didn’t actually listen to it all let alone the channel in question. Anyway the reply was splendid; or words to that effect; “Can you just log on to the site and vote every Friday for six weeks?” This I dutifully did just to see what might happen. Well nothing happened actually but I guess this piece of totally fraudulent statistical nonsense appeared somewhere to prove that no one was listening to the station in question.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/26/two-thirds-britons-think-coronavirus-restrictions-do-not-go/

    2. I’ll bet there are way more than 63% want the Calais-Dover freeloader ferry service to stop – but the govt don’t give a **** about that figure.

    3. Today’s paper DT has the front page covered by an ad for the NHS robot-controlling app. Keeps the paper in business I suppose.

      1. Every National newspaper had the same cover. People who don’t wear face coverings eat babies……

  74. Sage expert warns of 100 UK coronavirus deaths a day within four weeks. Sat 26 Sep 2020.

    The UK’s daily coronavirus death toll will rise from 34 to 100 a day in three to four weeks’ time, an expert on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has warned.

    Infectious disease modelling expert Prof Graham Medley said there is little that can be done now to prevent daily deaths climbing to 100 – but “we need to make sure transmission comes down now” to prevent the figure increasing further.

    Well even if this were true it would still not justify the losses due to other infections and causes on the NHS that far outstrip this number due to the lockdown!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/26/uk-will-see-100-coronavirus-deaths-a-day-within-four-weeks-sage-expert-warns

      2. 5 people die every day on the roads. Don’t see government shutting those – they’d like to, obviously. The morons running this council are desperately trying to just a time when we urgently need people spending money in shops (because councillors are gormless morons who share a brain cell but spread themselves like mucus).

        1. Many towns seem to have got the message to close their high streets to traffic – which means people who need to park close to the shops can’t get there. They don’t seem to consult the people about this.
          Our local paper letter columns are full of complaints about this policy – which appears to have been coordinated, and not just a local decision.

    3. ” coronavirus death toll will rise from 34 to 100 a day in three to four weeks’ time, ” – – – reads more like a plan, than a possibility. “Vaccinations” anyone?

  75. Climate change – I found this on the BBC website:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24021772

    Two sentences stand out:
    The Earth’s average temperature is about 15C but has been much higher and lower in the past.
    There are natural fluctuations in the climate but scientists say temperatures are now rising faster than at many other times.

    Who would have guessed that averages are computed from variables? Genius! What is subtly misleading about this is that it implies a near steady state, the great flaw in the argument.

    However, it is the second sentence that rankles. There are no comprehensive and reliable world meteorological records from much before the start of the 20th century so calculations on temperature before that are based on little more than informed guesswork, mostly using biological and geological evidence. The same applies to CO2 levels and this extraordinary claim which can neither be proved nor disproved:
    The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in at least 800,000 years.

    Obsessing about CO2 levels is distracting everyone from the real problem so forgive me for repeating it – there is as yet no real alternative to fossil fuels.

    Meanwhile, a lot of hot air is being generated in Cumbria over plans for a new mine to produce coal for steel-making. Cumbrian coal is low in phosphorus, produces little ash and is highly prized by smelters.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/25/uks-first-deep-coal-mine-30-years-should-go-ahead-council-says/

    1. The whole thing is a hoax, invented by liars to take money from the earner and give it to the state.

      That’s *it*.

      There are things man does that we could resolve – pollution, making better use of resources (sustainabililty) and recycling however, vitally, fundamentally the desperate pursuit of green has no interest in those things. None whatsoever. It is solely dedicated to the nonsense of carbon dioxide.

      That’s because massive multinationals make a lot of moeny telling the state to force down energy use through taxes and legislation. Legislation that means it doesn’t have to do anything. That’s paradise for government it just agrees with supra national bodies telling it what it should do, it hires people to tell it how to do the things it already intends to do and … we get the bill.

      And we pay and pay and pay and pay and pay.

  76. I was thinking during lunch about the Croydon “incident”. If the arrested man really WAS handcuffed behind his back – here’s another scenario.

    Keen young copper, anxious to please, searches matey and finds a gun. “Gosh, Sarge – look what I’ve found. I wonder if it’s loaded…” Bang – “Sorry Sarge”; Bang, “Sorry, matey…”

    Just saying….

    2. Sri Lankan shot by police whilst handcuffed. I’ve a feeling there’s going to be kneeling in Ealing before the weekend’s out.

    5. There’s always the possibility that the handcuffs weren’t properly attached and he slipped them, Bill. Or it is just possible for an extremely agile man double-up and pass his legs through his arms when they’re handcuffed at the back so he then has his arms in front of his body. Unlikely I know but it has been done.

    1. This came through from a friend :-

      And so it begins!……😩
      ‘Good Morning (At 1:30am) 😱 I’m called from the NHS track and trace service, Sorry to wake you !!According to our system, you are likely to have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This means that you now need to self-isolate for 7 days and take a COVID-19 test.’
      ‘OK. Can you tell me who that person was?’
      ‘I’m not able to tell you that. That is confidential information.’
      ‘Right. Um… so ….’
      ‘But you do need to be tested within the next 72 hours. So can I just get the best mailing address so that we can send a kit to you?’
      ‘Ok (gives address)’
      I just need to take a payment card so that we can finalize this and send the kit to you.’
      ‘Sorry – a payment card? I thought this was all free?’
      ‘No – I’m afraid not. There is a one-off fee of £50 for the kit and test results. Could you read off the long card number for me, please, when you’re ready.’
      ‘No – that’s not right. This is part of the NHS so there’s no charge.’
      ‘I’m afraid there is. Can you give me the card number please – this is very important, and there are penalties for not complying.’
      Puts the phone down.
      This is how scammers work. And vulnerable people will fall for it.”
      Don’t fall for it…!😡

      Please share.

      Just a warning for everyone in the UK, be careful don’t fall for it, stay safe🌈

        1. Trouble is, some people may not realise that, and fall for it anyway. Also, the Track and Trace system does not solely use the mobile phone app – it also uses a paper-based form. In any case, the person receiving the call may be frightened into handing over their credit card details for fear of being ‘fined’.

          1. We had at least 5 calls from scammers yesterday. Haven’t had any for quite a while, quite interesting to have a batch on the same day.

  79. The source of our Covid paranoia? Modern society has forgotten that life is a lottery

    Our shared refusal to accept that some people always have to die is sending our economy back to the stone age

    SIMON HEFFER

    One constantly hears anecdotes about the elderly – people in their 80s and 90s – who cannot understand the Government’s management of Covid-19. To shut down, indeed apparently to sabotage, large sections of the economy to preserve the lives of people who even without this plague would, sadly, die within months, seems to many in this most vulnerable age group to be insane.

    Many of fewer years who take a calm and philosophical view of life, and death, or know some history feel the same. Life is always precious, but in recent decades the desire to preserve it at all costs has grown as exponentially as any graph of new Covid-19 infections. Those now alive enjoy privileges unknown a century ago, and in most eras before that.

    Around a sixth of the young men who fought in the Great War did not return. In the Second World War military casualties, while still heavy – 55,000 of Bomber Command’s 125,000 air crew were killed – were less severe, but there were over 67,000 civilian deaths. Between 1900 and 1940 there was joy that infant mortality fell in Britain from 128 per 1,000 live births to 53; it is now 3.8. It was quite routine for mothers to die in childbirth.

    Tuberculosis, scarlet fever and even typhoid attacked the young. In 1900 life expectancy for men was 47 and for women 50: it is now an average of 81. Death and disease, once an accepted part of life, seem to have become such strangers that governments willingly wreck livelihoods and general prosperity in order to keep avoiding them.

    It may be this is a function of a secular society: but that would overstate the level of religious devotion before the Great War. The notion that life on earth was merely a preparation for a state of eternal bliss (or, depending on one’s behaviour, damnation) has been dwindling since the reformation, and was accelerated in the 19th century by Darwinism and other scientific advances.

    Or it may simply be unrealistic expectations, and a government’s blind fear of trying to scale them back. No prime minister can go on television and tell the British people that more of them may have to die. It is much easier to send out the Chancellor of the Exchequer to tell them that more of them will lose their jobs.

    Before long the fantasy economics on which present policy is based will have to end. The confrontation with those who believe death and disease are optional must then happen. Sadly, the first confrontation may have to be among ministers and their increasingly Dr Strangelove-like advisers, who one suspects panicked the public so effectively because they were so good at panicking themselves.

    It is not usual for governments to have to have philosophical discussions with the governed, but these are not, thanks mainly to the strategy deployed so far, usual times. To avoid returning us to the economic stone age, and all that would entail for human health and welfare, it would be better to act without further delay.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/26/source-covid-paranoia-modern-society-has-forgotten-life-lottery/

    2. I have long said that whereas for the Victorians, death was an ever-present ritual and sex was a taboo subject, current snowflake generations have reversed this. Now, every death is a tragedy and sex is everywhere. There is no sense of decency; today’s generation sees no need to keep sexual activity private.

  80. When the experts have “saved” a few thousand people to live a few months longer than they might otherwise have, due to their underlying conditions, and they have condemned many, many thousands more to an early death from cancers, suicides, dementia etc, will they get MBE’s, OBE’s Knighthoods etc?

    Of course they will.

    Wheras what should really happen is that they are fired in disgrace and lose their pensions.

    Am I being unreasonable?

    They are giving what they believe to be best advice. But are they?

    I believe that they are choosing the advice that looks at today, rather than into the future.

    They will kill the economy, they will create massive unemployment, they will pile up debt that will never be repaid, unless Britain defaults on its debts.

    And for what? Saving a few old fogeys like me, to live a tiny bit longer, and that assumes we are unlucky enough to catch it…

    I’m sorry, that’s not the price my grandchildren and their grandchildren should have to pay

    1. Quite agree.
      I have now reached the stage where I am just so angry that, to save my sanity, I’ve had to take a step back and wait for the implosion.
      MB and I spent most of our working lives – until 2006 – helping to pay off this country’s WWII debts.
      Now our children and grandchildren will be lumbered with another national debt; one incurred with no good reason.

      1. Thank you.
        I partially agree with your synopsis.

        For me, it’s not just “no good reason”, far worse is the fact that it has all been done purely out of political expediency.

        1. I wonder if my local builders’ merchants has enough tar to preserve the heads?
          With all the home improvements undertaken this summer, they were very low on stuff like wood preservative..

          3. When a boy I oiled my cricket bats but at club level by then they were pre-sealed. Even my Gunn and Moore’s from the seventies are now as out of date as my Wilson T2000 tennis racket.

            The less said about my Grays of Cambridge squash racquet the better.

            I still have them in my shed along with the Black Mamba bow from Lillywhites.

          4. My equivalents went the way of all flesh years ago.

            I often ponder how some of the modern day tennis players and cricketers would have fared against the likes of Laver and B-J King or using only the equivalent of Bradman’s bat and protective equipment today.

          6. When works were done to the Eaden Lilley store in Cambridge a preserved cat about to catch a rat was discovered trapped in a wall cavity.

            Apparently in a former store linseed oil was dispensed and had accumulated in the cavity after seeping through the timber floor. The linseed oil had preserved the cat and rat.

          9. Preserved???
            Those two talking heads are so full of shite that if they had been dug up in Ethiopia, Lucy would have considered them old prat…

  81. On my brief visit to Bizzaro World last night courtesy of the BBC and Sky, I noted two news stories
    The BBC showed coverage of the Lying in State of a dead judge. The ceremony was arranged by the Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The coffin was placed on the same place as was Lincoln’s.
    Sky television decided to cover the stabbings outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo. They had a long interview with some bloke from that magazine.
    They showed the cover of a recent edition. But they censored it by pixelating out the picture on the cover. Free speech, well not if it might upset some communities.

    https://backabo.charliehebdo.fr/aboweb/downloadservice/aboshop/editionsrotative/products/450/covers/1.jpg

  82. Evening, all. I hope the protests in London went well. Not that I think it will change anything (except a few people will be arrested and fined).

    2. Ah, it seems he may have got something right at last!
      I bet the Common Purpose Snivel Serpents are spitting feathers!

  87. Oh look……..

    Who is pouring even more money into world government?

    None other than Boris Johnson who has announced huge additional funding for the World Health Organization…………

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/uk-to-become-whos-largest-state-donor-with-30-funding-increase

    Boris’ best friend, Bill, will be delighted because Bill loves the WHO and pours money into it as well to buy the necessary influence for his global ambitions……..

    https://www.politico.eu/article/bill-gates-who-most-powerful-doctor/

    Boris and Bill – the world government team leading the UK’s world government C-19 response!

    https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/who-controls-british-government-response-covid19-part-one

        1. You didn’t tell me last time!

          PS: A comma, after “it”, would help and, maybe, one after “Otherwise” as well.

    4. How she has put up with the last twenty years i do not know, I’d have had heads rolling by years ago.

    5. At least covid keeps effing Brash and Trash away. I told Harry that covid affects Zoom – so I can’t talk to him on it – and he believed me…..!!

  96. LAST POST (REALLY)

    Just seen tomorrow’s Grimes headlines. Charles Moore to be Chairman of the BBC.

    The woke on the Times are going BALLISTIC….. Wonderful to behold.

        1. If Stig is anything to go by, you’ll be getting a few more!

          However, if your alteration is true, a lot of fun may be had…

          2. Easily done.

            I don’t have a problem when the teasing is just that, it’s when it’s “gotcha” that I object.

  98. At a University of Maryland lab, tests on the theory that tiny air particles can pass down tubes are being carried out to confirm the idea that it may be a basis for replacing G5 installations:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19b71e403ae6f991d606d78ebec452abe9501a036d6753b5da575f9a926f1b8d.jpg

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/tiny-airborne-particles-may-pose-big-coronavirus-problem-coronavirus-people-virus-scientists-particles-b623081.html

      1. Especially if they are so confident in their power that they are not even bothering make up convincing lies.

        1. 323999+ up ticks,
          evening B3,
          I posted to that effect yesterday saying the endgame must be near where the peoples feelings no longer count in the least.
          The johnson knows that the continuing run
          of treachery from major ongoing has quite frankly knocked the arse out of these type tories regaining power.
          Next move is files & paperwork being
          consumed by fire, ultimately the final brexit revealing.
          My view for what it is worth, you can kiss your fish supper good bye, & more.

      1. Thought he was a book short of a book case?
        Edit: not Paul Weston of course!
        Hancock and Shapps come across as patronising and clueless.

    4. This is UNBELIEVEABLE. OMG – I demand a public execution of Matt Hancock (if Nicola Sturgeon can be included that would be a bonus).

  103. More on the Brady amendment.

    Tory rebels face ‘nuclear’ option on Covid measures

    A number of MPs are rallying around an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, which would force a vote on future social restrictions

    By Edward Malnick, Sunday Political Editor

    Boris Johnson is preparing to effectively dare rebels to vote down his entire package of Covid-19 measures this week if the Commons Speaker blocks a vote designed to give MPs a say on new restrictions.

    A growing number of MPs are rallying around an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, which would force a vote on future social restrictions before they are imposed.

    With some 60 Conservatives preparing the back the move, Mr Johnson would face his first parliamentary defeat since his landslide election win if opposition parties also vote against the Government en masse.

    But ministers believe Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, will rule the amendment “out of scope” of Wednesday’s motion on the first six-month renewal of the Coronavirus Act – despite allies of Sir Graham having received advice to the contrary.

    If the amendment cannot be debated, Downing Street is understood to be preparing to rebuff calls to put forward its own mechanism to allow votes in advance of each future measure like the requirements to wear face masks and avoid gatherings of more than six people.

    The move would leave Conservative MPs faced with the “nuclear” option of voting against the renewal of the entire Act, which the vast majority of the group of up to 60 rebels would avoid doing. [Don’t be shy, boys, have a go.]

    The legislation contains powers ranging from the emergency registration of nurses and other healthcare workers to measures to ensure that court proceedings continue to take place during the pandemic.

    On Saturday night, Andrew Mitchell, the former Chief Whip, who is preparing to support the amendment, said: “When the chairman of the 1922 committee leads a rebellion like this it would be an exceedingly careless Prime Minister that chose to ignore it.”

    Writing in The Telegraph, Steve Baker, another former minister who has repeatedly raised concerns about curbs to freedoms as a result of the Government’s measures to tackle Covid-19, states: “The consequences of taking away liberty to protect public health have been devastating to our society and economy by any standard.

    “We must not now make a bad situation worse as we look to our future: we cannot spend our way out of this contraction, deficit or debt.”

    Mr Baker adds: “Please Boris, reach a deal with Sir Graham Brady to put Parliament where it belongs: right with you.” Downing Street has said it wants to “work closely” with MPs, with plans to offer more parliamentary debates and “symbolic” votes.

    It has brought forward a retrospective vote on the “rule of six” to Oct 6. This weekend a No10 spokesman said: “We have been clear that it is vital that we can take action to stop the transmission of the virus and protect the NHS.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/26/tory-rebels-face-nuclear-option-covid-measures

      1. The NHS has chosen to become a specialist Covid-19 treatment service.
        The rest of us – with heart, lung, cancer and sundry conditions of old age – has been sidelined …

  105. Oh my goodness me…………

    Further proof that the UK is fully engaged with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation……..

    ”The proposals will form part of a British vision, drawn up in conjunction with the Gates Foundation, of how future health pandemics could be better controlled, including “zoonotic labs” capable of identifying potentially dangerous pathogens in animals before they transmit to humans.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/uk-to-become-whos-largest-state-donor-with-30-funding-increase

    It also further suggests that the UK probably was party to the Gates pandemic planning exercise ”Event 201” held in New York City on October 18 2019.

    What’s more…. look at the following for a further example of Johnson’s love of world government………..

    ” He will also suggest the body be given greater powers to demand reports on how countries are handling a pandemic.”

    It’s also obvious why Gates is operating in the UK… because the Trump administration is not participating in the WHO or in COVAX. So, while the medical research facilities are more sophisticated in the US, the political climate is against Gates’ world government ambitions via the WHO and his ability to tap into generous state revenue streams.

    That’s why Gates wants Johnson… so the interesting thing now is…. what is the quid pro quo? What does Johnson want from Gates?

  106. Just got back from a pub after having dinner with 2 other couples. They re-opened the renovated pub one day before the March lockdown. We heard good things about the place and went there. Smashing ‘posh’ pub grub. I’m not usually a fan, but it was topnotch food and service. Masks and shit when going to the loo were depressing, but better than not going out. Carry on drinking!
    Last night I did early doors at my local with a fishing pal. That was depressing. No standing at the bar, landlord/lady delivering drinks to the table. I’m now booked at a table on Monday for what now passes as an ‘open mic’ session on Monday.

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