Friday 9 October: The folly of a Covid strategy that seeks to eliminate risk altogether

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/10/08/letters-folly-covid-strategy-seeks-eliminate-risk-altogether/

827 thoughts on “Friday 9 October: The folly of a Covid strategy that seeks to eliminate risk altogether”

  3. Good Morning

    Can’t see what it’s like outside. Drizzle.
    Feel like committing a nice bit of hate thought crime today.

    1. Morning Michael. The really good news is that you can do that inside the privacy of you own brain and there is fluck all the Fluckers can do about it!

      1. Not so sure, Stephen. If we are not seen to be bursting out with rapturous ‘spontaneous’ applause for the Fluckers’ every action it will be off to the gulag for us.

    2. Morning Michael. The really good news is that you can do that inside the privacy of you own brain and there is fluck all the Fluckers can do about it!

    3. Morning Michael. The really good news is that you can do that inside the privacy of you own brain and there is fluck all the Fluckers can do about it!

  5. UK willing to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, says president’s aide. 9 October 2020.

    The UK is willing to provide a large lethal weapons contract to Ukraine and a £1bn loan to help Ukraine’s navy build new ships capable of use in the Black Sea, according to a senior aide to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

    The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that Zelensky had pressed Johnson to set a timetable for a Ukrainian path to join Nato.
    “Our president was very clear. He said Ukraine needs a Nato membership action plan. Nato membership will contribute to Ukrainian security and defence,” Kukeba said.

    Morning everyone. This is idiocy on stilts. Ukraine can never amass enough weapons to deter Russia who must always overmatch them. The main reason Putin supports the Donbass rebels is to prevent Ukraine joining NATO since one of its signing up provisions is that no state that is at present in conflict can join. As to appealing to the Americans they are themselves in the process of decoupling from an organisation that they regard as leeches on American generosity.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/09/uk-willing-to-provide-ukraine-with-lethal-weapons-says-presidents-aide

    1. On the other hand, if we had shipyards we could build ships if we could pay for them.
      Or, maybe we should quit NATO? No treaty in the past has been worth anything. If the UK were to be attacked by some foreign power, let’s say Brasil, how many would come to our aid? Not the EU for sure. Probably not the USA which sees South America as being under their wing. So that’s pretty much that. If Russia were the aggressor the USA would hold back so as not to involve itself. The EU might make noises, but the EU would not do anything.
      The idea of Russia as the aggressor seems unlikely. Russia has never attacked us, whereas we have had troops on Russian soil a couple of times. Furthermore I suspect that Russia might be wary of us. Their military analysts considered that we could not capture the Falklands. They are still scratching their heads.
      So what point NATO, or the UN?

  6. This is pathetic. We’re all doomed, I tell ye, doomed

    Delingpole: NATO’s New Mission – Saving the World from ‘Climate Change’

    NATO has a new mission. Defending the West from the Russians is so last century: now it wants to save the world from ‘Climate Change.’

    According to an op-ed, written by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg:

    Climate change is making the world more dangerous. NATO’s task is to preserve peace and keep us safe. So to fulfil our main responsibility, NATO must help to curb climate change for our security today and for the security of future generations.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/10/08/delingpole-natos-new-mission-saving-the-world-from-climate-change/

    1. So no mechanised transport or weaponry? Good job we’ve still got the Household Cavalry, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and HMS Victory to fall back on. We’ll have to commandeer some hot air balloons, though.

      1. I’m sure the Chinese and the Russians will understand that the priority is saving the planet, and they won’t launch any sneaky, cheating non-carbon neutral attacks.

      1. I will forgive you the lack of subjunctive after ‘if’ as, unfortunately, it is more likely to be true than be conditional 🙁

    3. ‘Morning, C1. Stoltenberg must be smoking some dodgy stuff. Meanwhile, another crank is claiming that our pets are responsible for one sixth of our global warming activities, and that this needs to be addressed.

      When does the cull start and to whom should I report with Fido?

    4. We need large organisations with a mission of Saving the World from ‘Climate Change Madness’.

  7. Good morning all

    Anyone listening to the news .. Can you believe that the service hospitality industry contributes to three quarters of our economy, no wonder there is a froth going on.

    Britain is surviving on the real truth that getting people pissed and obese and staggering around on the streets is what is keeping economy afloat !

    1. Morning Belle. Don’t forget the Tattoo Parlours – they’ve got a lot of skin in the game too!

  8. Boris Johnson will never defeat the coronavirus pandemic and must learn to live with it, says Iain Duncan Smith. 9 October 2020.

    Boris Johnson will never defeat the coronavirus pandemic, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said, and instead must start to help Britons to learn to live with the disease.

    The former Conservative leader told today’s Chopper Politics podcast, which you can listen to on the audio player above: “‘I’ve never been to a time like this where we have almost suspended all judgement on everything else as secondary to Covid.

    “And the truth is that if we go on just trying to push these spikes down the whole time … then we could be in this for years because there are very few vaccines that have been completely effective against viruses.”

    This might be the first sensible thing Smith has said in his entire lifetime! Boris may destroy the UK economy in his quest to defeat the virus and still have to surrender at the end.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/09/boris-johnson-will-never-defeat-coronavirus-pandemic-must-learn/

        1. Many in Parliament and the Civil Service already think that to rejoin is the only way forward.

          Who do you think is encouraging Barnier?

          1. Well the new Tory leader in Scotland for one.
            Douglas Ross has said “British fishermen are not ready to take full advantage of the additional stocks the country stands to reclaim from the EU, …
            In an interview with The Telegraph, Douglas Ross said the UK’s fishing industry did not yet have the “capacity” to reap the full benefits of leaving the Common Fisheries Policy at the end of this year.”

            What a gift to the EU negotiators! It is like saying, “we can’t use all our fish so you had better have them”. As I mentioned yesterday the BBC reporter had the last word on the subject “we’d be taking it away from French fishermen”.

            No mention that successive UK Governments, Tory and Labour, have agreed vastly reduced fishing quotas for the UK followed ineluctably by decommissioning exercises that resulted in UK boats being destroyed, fish processing factories closing, and thousands of UK jobs being lost.

            Ross, a graduate of the Scottish Agricultural College, appears to very little work experience. He worked for a time on dairy farm, before entering politics. He is a qualified soccer referee.
            He is also energetic, and outspoken. He also appears to be an idiot.

            https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/03/exclusive-british-fishermen-unprepared-take-full-advantage-extra/

        2. Morning Horace – As a nuclear option, in extremis, I would suggest the UK apply to become a state of the USA. This might be attractive to Southern Ireland. I still think a clean break from the EU on December 31 2020 is the way forward.

          1. The USA is also going down the same road. If only we Nottlers could band together and buy a big parcel of land in Argentina…

  10. Morning all. Let’s end this nightmare soon.

    SIR – We have been promised more restrictions from next Monday, with the possible closure of pubs and restaurants (report, October 8).

    I liken this approach to the steady reduction of speed limits on our roads. The justification for this is that it will reduce accidents and deaths. However, if we pursue this logic, the limits will keep getting lower until they reach zero – eliminating accidents completely.

    This is clearly ridiculous, as we understand that, in order to travel, we must accept a degree of risk. Such acceptance is absent from the Government’s Covid strategy.

    John Smart

    Coventry, Warwickshire

    SIR – I run a small company based in Soho. My colleagues and I reopened our office 11 days ago and we’re not shutting it again. We can’t afford to.

    Travelling into central London is a dismal experience. Shops are not just closed: they’re boarded up. Most restaurants are closed, and those that remain open provide half the usual tables. The few people on the Tube shy away from each other.

    ADVERTISING

    Ads by Teads

    Whitehall should try walking the streets of their city. It’s frightening. They need to understand that those at risk have been taking the necessary precautions for months, while those who don’t care about the rules won’t have a change of heart now.

    The rest of us – the vast majority – will continue to take all reasonable precautions to safeguard our loved ones. We don’t need curfews and endless, ever-changing expert advice. We know what to do. Let us do it and save our economy and society.

    Alisdair Low

    Richmond, Surrey

    SIR – There are complaints that forcing pubs to shut at 10 pm will lead to widespread closures and job losses.

    When I was a student in the Sixties and Seventies, pubs closed at 10.30  pm every day except Sunday, when they closed at 10 pm. Many were also shut for four or five hours in the afternoon. Yet everyone seemed to get their fill of drink, and pubs were profitable and vibrant places.

    Only when Tony Blair’s government relaxed opening hours, thinking this would encourage a more “Continental” drinking culture, were folks allowed booze all day, with pub staffing levels (and costs) increased to cover these longer hours. Yet pubs have since been closing in record numbers, suggesting that the available drink-spend has been spread more thinly.

    Perhaps more controlled hours would not only be good for our health but also better for the trade.

    Terry Lloyd

    Derby

    SIR – If Boris Johnson wants to raise spirits, he should consider retaining British Summer Time, thus preventing the wave of gloom that descends on the country at the end of October.

    This was tried in the late Sixties and early Seventies, with great success, but rejected due to objections in Scotland.

    P Blakey

    Warwick

    1. Maybe the pubs etc should just stay open and risk the fine. It may be more profitable in the long run, In fact they could refuse to pay the fines. If all pub and restaurant owners worked as one and did this, they couldn’t all be imprisoned.

      1. You speak of widespread rebellion. We may see it soon. Most probably from the younger elements in our society though. The ones with least to lose and everything to gain.

        Good morning, Storm.

        1. Morning Phizze,

          We have had rebellions, protests, parties , raves illegal concerts, and general disruption, the airports are still receiving passengers, thousands are coming ashore in Dover, long distance lorry drivers are delivering to depots, and the motorways are as busy as ever, nothing has really changed , has it!

          1. Morning, Belle.

            And then the government threatens us with fines and potentially the armed forces on the streets to keep order. I don’t think they have thought this through to the end.

            Even people previously mild mannered are beginning to see red.

        2. Morning Phizz : I prefer to call it ‘non co-operation’. Worked for Ghandi

      2. Morning BSK

        I feel very sorry for pubs, there will be so much wasted food and beer .

        In the early days of Covid we were all led to believe that by closing pubs , there would be less violence on the streets after closing hours, but then of course , the off licences stayed open and people drank themselves stupid anyway.

        So I wonder what sort of pressure A+E depts have been under since the pubs were reopened.

        1. A&E departments are mostly closed. There are one or two “emergency centres” to replace hospital A&Es, and they provide something akin to enhanced first aid.

        2. Re: wasted beer – perhaps we’ll se the return of real ales’ being delivered in pins instead of firkins.

    2. Well as, for speed limits, a general overall speed limit of 20mph has now been imposed on 80 towns and villages in the Scottish Borders, replacing the previous 30mph limits. That covers pretty well every built up area from hamlets to the big towns, and not just a few residential areas, or the streets around the schools.

        1. Scotland today, Wales tomorrow, then the world… oh, where did I put those pills?

        2. Except on key arterial routes where the local authority will have the right to keep to 30 mph to keep traffic moving through.

        4. There are more than a few places I regularly pass through where I already slow down because the official 30mph limit is too fast.

    3. I remember the trials of year-round BST – it was a disaster. If I had my way, it would be year round GMT.

  11. A morning when, unusually, I hear a little Radio4Toady and the second sentence in, “its over to blah, blah, the BBCs LGBT Correspondent” and two sentences into his spiel he’s talking about “hate crime”. I left the kitchen with some hateful thoughts running through my brain.

    1. There is only one cure switch Radio 4 off. I did many years ago when they were giving T Blair a free ride….haven’t looked back.

    2. …and if I hear the wretched ‘Black History Month’ again my radio or TV will be in mortal danger.

      1. Be grateful you don’t work for my company – it’s Diversiy this, Inclusion that, BLM the other. Oh and don’t forget “Educate yourselves – here’s a suggested reading list.”

        Thank phuque they’re laying me off next year.

  12. SIR – Margaret McCartney (Comment, October 7) is right – the idea of GP phone consultations being the norm is worrying, not least for young medics.

    As a nurse, I was always very aware of the experience of the bed bath. One could determine the patient’s pain levels, circulation and mental health. This cannot be done over the phone.

    Moira Harper

    Worcester

    1. Years ago when my mother in law was alive, and coping well, in her mid eighties , she came to stay with us , and because she was unable to use the bath , I assisted her with the shower, and stood by just in case she fell.

      When she had finished washing herself , I opened the shower door to hand her the bath towel, and I was shocked to the core when I saw a very very irregular breast and a deeply inverted nipple , her breast was dimpled with no nipple showing.

      I asked her how long her breast had looked like that and she said she didn’t know and she just assumed her breasts were getting old!!!

      All credit to the NHS where she was fast tracked within 2 weeks to the Breast unit where she lived , cancer was diagnosed , and a course of chemo shrank the tumour , she was poorly for about 6 months , but she coped.

      Doctors have no idea how their patients are doing by using phone consultations for diagnosis.

      1. The loss of face to face and flesh to flesh destroys medicine unless GPs are to become machines automatically screening patients and referring on those that need to see a doctor. When I hear of postponed chemo and delayed cancer operations I realise that medical ethics has changed. The NHS is failing us. Prancing around in plastic because some people are testing positive for coronavirus rna and wrecking all around them in political panic.

      1. Wiki:

        Since 2013, Lydon has held British, Irish and American citizenship.

        Morning, Bugsy

      1. When he first arrived he was a true anti-establishment figure. These days he actually speaks a lot of sense and would make an excellent NoTTLer.

        1. All he’s ever done is tell it how he sees it (at the time). That can be hilarious or infuriating.

          Mark E. Smith (RIP) and Morrissey – much the same.

  14. Good morning, all. A chilly night but a sunny start to the day. I watched the third (and last) of the PBS “Home” movies of WW2. They were a bit naughty having a lot of stuff that was propaganda film – about the concentration camps etc. They also showed film of the woman who was the most senior in the Nazi Party – Gertrud Emma Scholtz-Klink, much praised for her 6 children. Made me think of the present Nazi running the EUSSR – with her brood of seven. Nothing changes, does it?

      1. “……about how we will keep supporting our nation’s most cherished institution – for this pandemic and into the future.” I suspect, then, that the demise of the nhs is imminent under the auspices of the Great Re-Set.

        Good morning, Hugh.

        1. ‘Morning, PM. Is this the same “cherished institution” that is condemning countless current and future cancer patients to an early death?

        2. You will only have access to the NHS if you have your Covid19 certificate proving you’ve been vaccinated.

      2. wazzock (plural wazzocks) (Britain, originally Northern England, mildly derogatory, slang) A stupid or annoying person.

        wazzock – Wiktionary

        1. If it’s only “mildly derogatory” then I think something a lot stronger is needed for Halfcock!

        2. On the back of that Alf looked up the meaning of nincompoop. Apparently :

          For such a colloquial word, nincompoop actually has a very learned past. Samuel Johnson, the compiler of England’s first proper dictionary, claims the word comes from the Latin phrase non compos mentis (“not of right mind”), and was originally a legal term.

          1. An old friend of mine, Arthur, used to get regularly irritated by the musings of another mutual friend, John.

            He would regularly call John a ‘pillock’ or a ‘wazzock’. One day he told me that, because there were so many pillocks and wazzocks around and that John was a special case, he had coined the word ‘Johnock’ specifically to describe our friend.

            Arthur would regularly regale people for talking ‘like a Johnock’.

          2. I thought you were going to say “pizzock” or “wallock” or of course a pallock or wizzock! Alf also looked up pillock and:

            Pillock. This is another delightful description of someone who’s painfully stupid. The word has has 16th century Scandinavian origins, and comes from the old English word pillicock, meaning penis.

  17. Donald Trump says American troops should be home from Afghanistan by Christmas. 8 October 2020.

    Donald Trump has said America’s remaining troops in Afghanistan should be home by Christmas, in what would be a dramatic speeding up of the US military withdrawal from its longest war.

    Nato insisted its members would consult and decide together on when to leave Afghanistan.

    Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general, said: “We decided to go into Afghanistan together, we will make decisions on future adjustments together, and when the time is right, we will leave together.”

    Stoltenberg is of course hoping that a President Biden will reverse this decision and keep American troops in the country. He may very well be right. There’s no doubt Trump has missed a trick with the Middle East; he had the support of the American people to withdraw from the remnants of these catastrophic Liberal wars and blew it. They should have all been back home in the first two years of his administration! This applies particularly to Afghanistan in which no victory is possible.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/08/donald-trump-says-american-troops-should-home-afghanistan-christmas/

      1. She probably did as she is a sporting old girl.

        The Queen of Tarts rather than the Queen of Hearts!

        If only Charles had had the good sense to marry her in the first place rather than ‘Lady Di’ everyone would probably have been a lot happier.

  19. Am I alone, on this forum, in having never sampled a ‘Bath Oliver’ cracker?

    I grew up with ‘cream crackers’ (“They must be Crawford’s,” said mum, “far superior to Jacob’s!“) We ate those things all the time with cheese (invariably white Cheshire, sometimes the disgusting ‘Dairylea’ triangles of rubber!). She then moved onto a dreadful thing known as a ‘Butter Puff’ and the less said about those the better!

    When I grew up I discovered Carr’s superior water biscuits, Tuc crackers and my favourite, Ritz crackers. I also discovered Gruyère, Roquefort, Comté, Gubbeen, Pavé d’Affinoise, Vacherin Mont d’Or and many other superior cheeses.

  20. Strewth! Where do they find these writers?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/08/wisdom-teeth-removed-arteries-added-human-beings-evolve-rapid/?WT.

    “Babies are being born without wisdom teeth”. No baby was ever born with wisdom teeth.

    “There are also more cases of spina bifida occulta – an opening of the sacral canal, which is the bone at the base of the spine.” A canal cannot be a bone. Spina bifida occurs in the sacral vertebral region (several bones involved), which is not at the base of the spine. The bone at the base of the spine is the coccyx, which any 1st year medical student will tell you.

    1. The article does actually state, correctly, that all humans are born with wisdom teeth (buried inside their gums) but they only emerge at adolescence.

      “Researchers found evidence that humans now have more bones in their feet, while wisdom teeth are becoming obsolete. Most people are born with four wisdom teeth at the back of gums until they push through at adolescence. Anthropologists believe wisdom teeth provided a helpful tool to early humans who used them to eat tough or uncooked foods. But evolutionary changes are making them redundant.”

          1. Alas, it’s not uncommon to have a supernumerary tooth. It eventually became loose and had to be extracted.

      2. ‘Morning, George, “But evolutionary changes are making them redundant.” As is wisdom itself becoming redundant.

        1. ‘Morning, Tom.

          I was nearly moved to comment on the article itself, since there is no reference to the slowly (and very apparent) deteriorating intelligence of the species.

    2. Don’t think you need a first year medical student to tell you that Peddy. 14 year old biology pupil would surely know that one – even if she did muddle up her malleus, incus, and stapes.

  24. I see the senior part of the EU Mafiosi have come to London today, lock them up and throw the keys away.

      1. Merely by their presence, the risk of some sort of infection has been hugely magnified.

          1. What did the Muslims do that was so bad as to deserve having an EU delegation forced upon them?

          2. You really want an answer to that? I might be banned for life, but here goes………

    2. Nobel Awards Committee? United Nations?

      One not-fit-for-purpose quango awarding its top award to another not-fit-for-purpose quango.

      1. All the prizes are subjective.

        The PP is the most subjective of all. I would not regard it as the top prize even if Nobel himself had so defined it.

      1. I would imagine that President Donald Trump would consider it a badge of honour NOT to be awarded a gong from a body which gave a similar gong to his predecessor (President Barack Obama) before the man had even taken office.

        1. Good grief! It must be getting late (and I’ve imbibed too much sherry and port), but I read that as “Black” Obama!

    1. Thanks for my drinks (and food) yesterday. I was very impressed with your attitude re masks. Assertive and authoritative.

      1. A lunch at Wetherspoons last week prepped me for the mask quotes
        I can’t say I blame the landlord,so many snoops and snitches around who would happily dob him in and get him a massive fine
        One review I saw of the pub was someone whining about lack of mask enforcement

        1. One review I saw of the pub was someone whining about lack of mask enforcement

          It’s getting a bit like the current invasion of England, they al want to come here, but they always quickly find something to moan about.

    1. I watched a program that showed sandwiches being made in a factory. These sandwiches go to most outlets in the country. I think there are three or four such factories.

      I saw people with cuts on their fingers and no gloves or blue plasters. Hygiene was a major issue. Most of the workers were foreign and some after a raid were found to be illegals.

      I haven’t bought a sandwich since.

        1. My last bought sandwich was in the early 70s, from a little Italian owned cafe in Kingston, where they made them to order in front of you. It was only 50yds from the shop where I worked.

          1. I would still buy one from an outlet like that but not the packaged ones found in shops and garage forecourts.

          1. I’m going to slice it, spread the slices with a decent non-fermented butter, cut them into soldiers, and them dip them into a couple of 3-minute boiled hens’ eggs. The simplest food is the best food.

    1. Funny – he’s been very quiet lately. Thought the dozen “guests” would have provided a fine photo opportunity.

    2. They want to leave their shit-holes only to bring the same attitude to this country, thus ultimately turning it into… a shit-hole.

      1. Time we pulled the plug – but we won’t even if the bowl is full to bursting and stinking.

      1. Absolutely spot on. Why bother working and building your own country up, when you can just walk into another that has already been built – – -and take over? Then 50 yrs later – look for another because they’ll have trashed this one.

        1. Those of a certain religious persuasion quite deliberately cause as much trouble amongst the native communities as they can get away with, every where they go. And then they start on each other.

    5. This is because they’ve ruined where they live and want to ruin where we do.

      Easily solved. When the boat rocks up, turn a cannon full of grapeshot on them.

      1. That was strange. Everyone he spoke to was very restrained and polite. He, however, was harassing people. In Scotland that could be construed as a breach of the peace. It certainly would be if he was thumped.

        1. That twat might well have a lot of padding around his middle but I bet I could deflate him with a well earned ‘tap’ on his solar plexus.

          It would be fun to record how much hot air came rushing out of his fat gob.

          Of course, I would only, ever, resort to such tactics if he had failed to acknowledge … immediately … my request for him to fuck off!

    2. Why are you risking everything
      by not wearing a mask, said the obese at-risk barsteward…

      ‘Morning, Minty.

  32. The cock-up theory of history…

    Toby Young
    Boris Johnson’s human shield
    From magazine issue: 10 October 2020

    https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltf04078f3cf7a9c30/blt9cfccbff3fd756e1/5f7db324879de80eb41b1273/Toby-Getty.jpg?format=jpg&width=1920&height=1080&fit=crop

    At a Conservative party conference fringe event last Sunday, Lord Bethell, a health minister, was asked where he thought Britain ranked in the world in terms of its response to the pandemic. ‘I think there have been some outstanding pieces of delivery that have not been fully appreciated,’ he said. ‘And I think it will be like the Olympics, that when it’s all over and we look back and reflect, we will actually be extremely proud of ourselves.’

    A few hours later, Public Health England confessed that it had failed to include 15,841 people who’d tested positive for Covid-19 between 25 September and 2 October in the daily updates and had added them to Sunday’s total. Presumably, Lord Bethell wouldn’t describe that as an outstanding piece of delivery. Nor, I imagine, would he include the government’s failure to provide NHS staff and care home workers with sufficient PPE, the decision to suspend community testing and then ramp it up again, the U-turn on face masks, the abandonment of the NHS’s original Track and Trace app and one built using Apple-Google technology, the fact that the latter didn’t work properly when it was first rolled out and the failure of PHE to anticipate the extent of public demand for testing when schools and universities reopened. True, there were several cock-ups in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, but it’s hard to imagine what the Covid equivalent of GB’s medal haul will be. Which aspect of the government’s response to the crisis does Lord Bethell think we’ll look back on with pride?

    No doubt the junior minister interpreted the question as a veiled attack on his boss and was just being loyal. Matt Hancock has come under so much fire since the beginning of March there’s been speculation that Boris Johnson is only keeping him in the cabinet as a human shield. Whenever the government makes another unforced error, Hancock is pushed out in front of the media and forced to stand there and take it as brickbats are hurled at him. It’s hard to imagine why the Health Secretary is being kept on life support if it’s not to soak up as much blame as possible so he can be sacrificed when things get so bad the public demands blood. Some think that might not be until the official inquiry pronounces its verdict, which is bound to be withering. But surely he can’t last that long?

    I thought he might be in difficulty earlier this week when Amnesty International published its investigation into why around 40 per cent of all Covid deaths in England have occurred in care homes. It described the government’s treatment of care home residents as ‘inhuman and degrading’ and said their fundamental human rights had been violated. At the beginning of the viral outbreak, Hancock claimed a ‘protective ring’ had been thrown around the care sector, but that wasn’t quite accurate. We now know that the government was so worried about the NHS being overwhelmed, hospitals were effectively ordered to discharge elderly patients back into care homes without first checking whether they had Covid-19. Many of them did and they went on to infect other residents, but few were able to get proper medical care because hospitals wouldn’t admit them and GPs wouldn’t visit. The ‘protective ring’ was more like a prison wall. It didn’t stop infected people getting in; it stopped them getting out.

    Of the 28,186 excess deaths recorded in English care homes from 2 March to 12 June, 18,562 were attributed to Covid-19, while the remaining 9,624 weren’t. Amnesty speculates that some of these will have been due to undiagnosed Covid, but others will have been an indirect result of government policy. When the country was locked down, far fewer people than normal were treated for heart attacks, cancer, strokes and diabetes, and dementia deaths increased by 50 per cent. Many care home residents will have died as a result of enforced isolation, their only social contact being with tired and overworked staff wearing masks, face shields and plastic overalls.

    I’m not saying Matt Hancock is to blame for any of these deaths, but if the buck doesn’t stop with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who does it stop with? Incredibly, though, the media hasn’t paid much attention to the Amnesty report so Hancock hasn’t been damaged by it. But the goodwill of the public is gradually being exhausted and it won’t be long before it’s time for Boris to initiate Operation Scapegoat.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-s-human-shield?utm_medium=email&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Editorial&utm_campaign=WEEK%20%2020201010%20%20FISHER%20%20AL+CID_5e7da086bac0cdcde2f1e32dc69447df

    1. Using that Olympics analogy, the entire Team GB will have been disqualified for drug use.

        1. Eddie probably single handedly doubled the viewing figures for Skiing. I know some people laughed at him but he showed something we Brits all admire. Spirit, with a can do attitude.

          1. Sean the Shitehawk, wallowing in the political cesspit.
            (They should all be in for the High Jump)

    2. Toby Young may not be saying that Hancock is to blame for any these avoidable deaths but I am, and so are millions of others. If the man had even a shred of integrity, he would resign his position as Health Secretary together with his seat in Parliament and retire, preferably to a Trappist monastery.

      1. Do be serious Duncan. What, give up his ministerial salary, his expenses, his subsidised food and drink, his chauffeured limo, and all the other perks doled out to the public sector, you’re ‘avin a larf!

        Meanwhile countless others are, or soon will be, unemployed, as our son was informed yesterday at the age of 48, and where on earth is anyone to find another job.

        Universal wage here we come and the middle classes will soon be defunct with their savings, if they have any, will be wiped out trying to survive and the U.K. well and truly under the globalists’ thumb.

        1. Your son has my deepest sympathy, VW. He deserves better but, sad to say, for the selfish, unfeeling bastards that comprise our Government with their guaranteed, gold-plated lifestyle, he’ll just be another statistic.

          1. I’m afraid so. And meanwhile Border Farce are busy bringing in more illegals for us to support every which way. There is no common sense or understanding in Parliament.

  33. 324392+ up ticks,
    After the wretch cameron sent everyone a missive regarding the delights of
    staying in the eu, and charged everyone for the postage you must give them credit for charging the peoples for policing the incarceration, plus the odd £10000 fine to, more than likely, fund the policeman’s masked / unmasked ball.

    Covid Cops and Lockdown Enforcement to Get £60m in Taxpayers’ Cash

  34. Morning again

    SIR – The comments by Patrick McLoughlin, and particularly Greg Clark (Business, October 5), that the complexity of rail fares structure goes back to British Railways, as far as 1950, is rather wide of the mark.

    In the 1950s British Railways’ fare structure was simple: a fixed price per mile, the cost of return tickets being twice the cost of a single and first class 50 per cent more than third class. (There was no second class.) In the summer of 1954 the single fare from Bristol to Gloucester, 37 miles, was 5s 5d (27p) at about 1.9d (0.8p) per mile.

    While British Railways, over time, added a modicum of complexity to the fare structure, its current impenetrability was the result of privatisation with multiple franchises, some on the same routes, allowed to fix many of their own fares in an attempt both to attract custom and to manage peak demand. There must be a simpler system.

    Dr Richard Harries

    Loughborough, Leicestershire

      1. I agree. The correct use of the apostrophe is a far more critical priority when broken down on a smart motorway.

        1. Have you ever shared the back of a farmer’s Landrover with a couple of farmyard border collies?

          1. Eight very wet grouse beaters and 15 sodden dogs, is my own personal record for the back of a short-wheelbase L/rover. Happy days.

          3. Just a tad…. I forgot to mention the 2 bagfuls of dead grouse, from which someone’s spaniel pup had to be kept separate – the old dogs all knew better.

            We’d started out with a fine morning, but the afternoon turned cold and the rain was horizontal, and everyone was glad when the boss called a halt before the last drive.

            Even a wet dog in your lap is a surprisingly good “hot water bottle” – especially when your lap is already as wet as it’s possible to get.

            On of those days when you strip off back at home and can’t find a dry stitch.

          5. I was young, I was fit, the moorland in November can be very beautiful, the company was a group I was familiar with and happy to be amongst….

            What’s not to enjoy?!

  37. Yesterday, Discurse behaved perfectly. Just like it always was. Today, it is buggering about again with not showing facebook links. Unless the “display media” is checked and then it merely has the red “view” beneath the comment. Grrrrrrr!

    2. Listen to his tone though. He doesn’t like this any more than anyone else. He is whizzing through it trying to disguise the thing.

  39. The ONS say that the average age of deaths caused by Covid is 82.4 years old.

    I would think that 82.4 was the average age of death for most people, regardless of cause.

      1. MOH did some research for everyone:

        From Macrotrends:

        The current life expectancy for U.K. in 2020 is 81.40 years, a 0.15% increase from 2019.

        The life expectancy for U.K. in 2019 was 81.27 years, a 0.15% increase from 2018.

        The life expectancy for U.K. in 2018 was 81.15 years, a 0.07% increase from 2017.

        The life expectancy for U.K. in 2017 was 81.09 years, a 0.07% increase from 2016.

        From ONS publication:

        Median age of death in males 2016-2018 is 82.7

        Median age of death in females 2016-2018 is 83.2

        We consider that death age doesn’t seem to have changed much from pre Covid days.

        Certainly not enough to get wildly hysterical and wreck the economy!

    3. The latest figures for Scotland – issued in September – give 77.1 as the average age of death for men throughout the country, although it varies by region. Those living in rural areas fare better than those in urban areas, Glasgow having the lowest life expectancy of all.

      I’ll be reaching that age in a couple of months but I’m not ready to go just yet. My father reached 91 and I’m determined to beat his score!
      ;¬)

      1. Morning Duncan, my Dad only scored 69 but Mother scored 105 – I doubt if I’ll beat her score

        1. Women often live longer than men. My mother made it to 90, but my father died at 68. She spent the last decade or so of her life lamenting that she had to carry on without him.

      2. My father made 85 and my mother 97 but one of my sisters – who died of cancer 10 years ago – only made 73. I am expecting my elder sister – who is now 85 – to make a century but I doubt if I shall be there to see it,

    1. Well, we know that our MPs are not the brightest of people….personally I think this whole mask-erade is ridiculous, but I wouldn’t be so stupid as to wipe my glasses in front of cameras in Parliament.

  42. Very good BTL comment in The Grimes this morning about the plan for the “vulnerable” to FOAD (aka “shielding”)

    “Having been in intensive care for three weeks in January and 72 years old, I was advised to stay home and see no-one. Like hell. I went out almost every day for the vigorous five mile walk that saved my life in the first place – I was so fit I survived what they told my partner when I was in a coma would probably kill me. It was, and is, extremely easy to stay well socially distanced and I’m doing fine. This advice to tell vulnerable people to lock themselves away is crazy and unnecessary, excepting those with dementia. And who really wants to go on living with severe dementia anyway?
    Time to start giving people genuinely practical advice.”

    1. Good heavens, somebody using their own common sense, how startling.

      Any advice coming from this government, or Professor Whitty or Sir Patrick Vallance is not worth the paper it’s written on.

    2. “Having been (…) 72 years old…
      I wonder how old s/he is now. :))
      Morning Bilty

  43. Received this message on my phone a few minutes ago.
    Essentially it’s the doctors telling us all to FOAD. Don’t/won’t see us. Only way to make an appointment is use the internet.
    Then the irony of this. If you don’t have an internet connection how are you going to receive and be able to read the message.
    It does say that if you don’t have an internet connection you can phone the surgery and the receptionist can fill the form in for you but it will stop other people contacting the surgery therefore please just GOAD and don’t bother calling us.

    This is the NCS (National COVID Service) that is the envy of the world. BTW if you think you have COVID they don’t want to see you and if you do have COVID the still don’t want to see you.
    https://mapps.mjog.net/postviewer?mode=file&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.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.UO-ol7XR7a853FfGVMQvtIHElXkVCd87zAvNFamd6gU

    2. Meanwhile . . .At every “landing” of our new replacements there are several ambulances with staff already waiting for them to arrive. Then straight onto coaches. The govt clearly sees these people as far more important than the people who have to pay for them.

    3. Good afternoon, Alf.
      I usually telephone for a repeat
      prescription, this week I ‘phoned more
      than twenty times… engaged each time.
      This morning I went to the village Chemist
      shop to ask for their help … ” Pop down to
      the Surgery and keep ringing the bell until
      someone answers, they have started to take
      the phone off the hook so they may concentrate
      on other things.” [??]
      I did that, while I was waiting for a response two
      other people turned up with exactly the same
      problem … the receptionist, when she did answer
      was left in no doubt about our thoughts!!

      1. My surgery always has the phones on mute. Even pre-covid.

        Quite a lot of Doctor’s receptionists have a very bad attitude. There must be a special training school for these harridans.

        Bang on the windows next time.

  44. I was thinking during one of the long spells of being awake last night about the catastrophe in the Alpes-Maritimes and politics.

    Despite the devastation, not that many people actually live in the small towns and villages. From a political point of view, there are, perhaps, 30 or 40 thousand voters. Hardly worth bothering about if you are Toy Boy.

    1. If one is Toy Boy, it’s not the local voters who matter, it’s the telly-time on national networks….and his own narcissism.

      2. And now he appears to be threatened by one of his “step-daughters” – almost the same age as he is – who has “political aspirations”…. Maman is thrilled.

          1. And of course Jean-Marie le Pen’s daughter and granddaughter are both prominent in the French political world.

  45. Exposed – the £250k Eat Out to Help Out scam:

    How the Lamborghini-driving boss of a huge Papa John’s pizza franchise got a big slice of YOUR cash, even though it offered mostly takeaway. So how DID he get away with it?
    Raheel Choudhary owns 61 Papa John’s franchise restaurants across the UK
    The millionaire is suspected of stealing more than £250,000 of taxpayer’s cash
    He promised managers bonuses for putting in large numbers of the fake orders
    Fraud experts say it shows how easily coronavirus schemes can be exploited
    By TOM KELLY INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8821117/Millionaire-Papa-Johns-franchisee-suspected-250-000-Eat-Help-scam.html

  47. Am I alone, on this forum, in having never sampled a ‘Bath Oliver’ cracker?

    I grew up with ‘cream crackers’ (“They must be Crawford’s,” said mum, “far superior to Jacob’s!“) We ate those things all the time with cheese (invariably white Cheshire, sometimes the disgusting ‘Dairylea’ triangles of rubber!). She then moved onto a dreadful thing known as a ‘Butter Puff’ and the less said about those the better!

    When I grew up I discovered Carr’s superior water biscuits, Tuc crackers and my favourite, Ritz crackers. I also discovered Gruyère, Roquefort, Comté, Gubbeen, Pavé d’Affinoise, Vacherin Mont d’Or and many other superior cheeses.

          4. They used to be a customer of ours in Edinburgh and our girls loved it when Daddy came back with bags of misshapes!

          5. I did some work in the UB Tolcross factory in the ’80s. Talk about Dickensian…..

          6. I often wondered if United Biscuits just sold broken biscuits that had been stuck together again.

    3. Good morning, George

      I see you are having an identity crisis and changing your moniker each day like you used to change your hats. I would like to quote the beautiful and wonderful Joyce Grenfell and say “George, don’t do that!” – however it is good to see that even though you will be 70 next year you are still keen to project a young and dynamic image.

      My parents were very keen on Bath Oliver biscuits and we managed to find them at Sainsbury’s a few years ago but neither Tesco’s nor Waitrose had ever heard of them. Caroline has found a recipe on line and has adapted this to make a gluten free mock Bath Oliver which we are testing at the moment. We shall let you know if we think it is a success.

      1. Good morning, Richard.

        “… it is good to see that even though you will be 70 next year you are still keen to project a young and dynamic image.”

        Peter Pan, me, Richard.

    5. Bath Oliver’s are deliberately bland and the best Biscuit for Blue Stilton.

      Like you I put up with all sorts of crackers and came late to Bath Oliver’s. My mother would buy Crawford’s Cream Crackers for Cheddar and Marie biscuits for tea.

      At Christmas you will see metal tins of Chocolate Bath Oliver’s in places like Waitrose. These are supposedly small Bath Oliver biscuits coated in chocolate. They are very expensive on account of the packaging and I think originated via Huntley & Palmers which was acquired by Jacobs.

      1. Huntley & Palmers: there’s a name from the past. I think most of the venerable old biscuit companies have either died off or been taken over. I can remember firms such as, Meredith & Drew, Macfarlane Lang, Peek Frean, Gray Dunn, McVitie & Price, and a few more whose names escape me.

        1. One of my neighbours bought the name Huntley & Palmers and tried to relaunch the brand. I saw their packs of Bourbon and Captain Scott biscuits on offer in ‘Thing Me Bobs’ in Haverhill.

          He failed to reestablish the brand, rubbish poorly designed packaging did not help. He sold on to a biscuit maker in either Harrogate or York. They now sell a Wallace and Gromit range.

          Edit: And Chocolate Bath Oliver’s.

        2. One of my neighbours bought the name Huntley & Palmers and tried to relaunch the brand. I saw their packs of Bourbon and Captain Scott biscuits on offer in ‘Thing Me Bobs’ in Haverhill.

          He failed to reestablish the brand, rubbish poorly designed packaging did not help. He sold on to a biscuit maker in either Harrogate or York. They now sell a Wallace and Gromit range.

          Edit: And Chocolate Bath Oliver’s.

    6. Bath Oliver’s are deliberately bland and the best Biscuit for Blue Stilton.

      Like you I put up with all sorts of crackers and came late to Bath Oliver’s. My mother would buy Crawford’s Cream Crackers for Cheddar and Marie biscuits for tea.

      At Christmas you will see metal tins of Chocolate Bath Oliver’s in places like Waitrose. These are supposedly small Bath Oliver biscuits coated in chocolate. They are very expensive on account of the packaging and I think originated via Huntley & Palmers which was acquired by Jacobs.

    7. Argh! The butter puff! Squeaky on the teeth, AND the ghastly flaky bits got stuck in your throat and made you cough! Horrible things!

    8. Crawfords have declined from those I ate in my youth Grizz. They were then crispy and a light gold on both sides! They are now doughy and cooked on one side only!

      1. I’ve not eaten any in decades, Minty.

        Another commandment of mum’s was, “Crosse and Blackwell’s soups are superior to Heinz!” She was very brand-dedicated, was mum.

      2. I’ve not eaten any in decades, Minty.

        Another commandment of mum’s was, “Crosse and Blackwell’s soups are superior to Heinz!” She was very brand-dedicated, was mum.

          1. And the Branston brand was originally Crosse and Blackwell.

            As in Crosse and Blackwell’s ‘Branston’ Pickle.

          6. I can’t remember their crisps, but I do remember their biscuits. They were available for 1d each at the morning milk break at my primary school.

          7. Did you read any of the BTL comments with a number of people who lived in the street where the Shadwell factory was. Fascinating.

            Don’t think we had biscuits on offer but do remember paying 1d per week for cod liver oil capsules.

          9. Another fascinating insight into the past. I think they’ve shrunk from their original size and are now more like scooter wheels.
            I was introduced to Gary Weston by the wine buyer of Fortnam & Mason, Mr Mortimer, in the ‘80s. Associated British Foods was still in existence and owned Fine Fare and Shoppers Paradise supermarkets. Fortnum’s was owned by Weston and nothing to do with ABF.

          10. Crosse & Blackwell (in Europe) is owned by the Princes Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese company Mitsubishi.

    10. I find Tuc and Ritz too salty and incompatible with most cheeses. That was the beauty of Bath Olivers, no saltiness.

      I doubt that United Biscuits could be persuaded to reinstate them, however they might licence production to a 3rd Party.

      1. I suppose one could write to their Head Office in Istanbul. Perhaps they call them “hamam biscuits”.
        United Biscuits is part of Pladis. Pladis was formed when United Biscuits were taken over by Ulker a Turkish company, now known as Yildiz Holding. Pladis has joined MSDUK to give preference to BAMEs.

        https://www.pladisglobal.com/discover-pladis/our-story/

        https://english.yildizholding.com.tr/our-products/together-with-our-partners/

        https://www.msduk.org.uk

        3. Ritz crackers with marmalade. Mmmmmm. (I don’t buy them anymore as they are made, like most biscuits and cakes, with palm oil.)

          1. I am. I lost three stones in the first eight months. I’ve not lost any more in the past six weeks but, then again, I’ve not gained any weight either.

    11. My first “encounter” with the Bath Oliver was reading Puck of Pook’s Hill, somewhere about the age of 11. It must have been at least 30 years later that I actually encountered them in a shop. I did buy a packet – just for curiosity’s sake, but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to repeat the experience.

      1. I found them disappointing.
        Very bland and curiously lacking in texture; certainly didn’t add anything to the accompanying cheese.

        1. Perhaps, like Dan and Una, we should have eaten them out of doors with hard-boiled eggs and salt out of an envelope… 😉

  48. ‘The molecular equivalent of one infinite scream’ 9 October 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c23e2fb3b7286b06a2bfed5bb4be0dd1710097713e5c203236fe1aeabc28d3e.jpg

    The trees, which can grow taller than 100ft, are found throughout the rainforests of eastern Australia, where they are known to torment hikers. “It’s like having a nail shoved into your flesh,” says Gilding, a biologist at the University of Queensland and self-described sting connoisseur.

    Tales abound of nightmarish encounters with the hypodermic-needle-like hairs of its leaves injecting a toxin that drives men to madness and has prompted horses to hurl themselves off cliffs.

    The sting from the trees’ hairs also has immense staying power, doling out anguish in waves for hours or days. Some anecdotes have reported intermittent pain lasting months; a few especially bad stings have even landed people in the hospital.

    The Australian equivalent of Trombetti!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/science-and-technology/stinging-trees-australia-science-investigation-b741487.html

        1. You’ve obviously never had at least one of those sharp little objects pierce one of yer thongs. (flip Flops)
          Nearly as bad a s bite from an inch ant.

          2. They have a lot of problems with imports. Rabbits, Foxes, Cane Toads, Camels, Brumbies, Wild pigs, Feral cats, Blackberries.
            No wonder they are so particular at airport arrivals. Have you seen some of the peculiar stuff the Chinese and other middle and far eastern people stuff into their luggage ?

          3. There used to be a TV show about their border force/customs people, I don’t know if it’s still on, but it certainly showed some dreadful attempts at smuggling.

            The Chinese must be among some of the most selfish people on the planet.

          4. It’s still shown on TV now but some of the clips are quite a few years old.
            I saw one recently where someone or company had imported a huge container load of wine from Chile. Suspicions were aroused when the Border force inspectors found some of the bottles of ‘clear’ Cabernet Sauvignon to be leaking from the screw tops. Further examination showed the ‘wine’ to be heavily laced with cocaine. Total value of all the examined bottles containing drugs was over 7 million dollars. But why would Australia want to import wine ???

          1. Those are the least of their problems.

            And that, in a nutshell, tells you how dangerous Oz is.

    3. It looks horrible. I think I’d steer well clear of a “self-described sting connoisseur”.

    1. I may be alone in this but I’m afraid that I don’t share any happy memories of this person. He was a communist, so revered by Fidel Castro that a statue of him was built in Cuba. But worst of all, he used to help to finance the IRA.

      Sorry, but I can’t revere such a person who clearly hated us and everything we stand for.

      1. He struck me as rather an unpleasant and arrogant man with none of he charm of the other three Beatles. Mind you, we all tend to judge people in the public eye by what we see darkly through the Media’s glass.

        1. Snap. Amongst my contemporaries, not one girl ever said she fancied Lennon. I think we all sensed something rather nasty about him.

      2. By that rationale everyone ought to hate and revile Frank Sinatra, who was a lifelong Mafia associate; however, for some strange reason, he is still held as an icon by millions.

      4. With you all the way there, Sguest! A very arrogant and misguided little man. The Beeb are in sainthood mode on the interview and programme with his sons! Quite yucky it is!

      5. Well JL was certainly a prat – I was in the same class as him at grammar school and played guitar with him before he formed the Quarrymen

          3. Many thanks.

            Imagine you are having difficulty with putting on your live performances for the oldies. Funnily enough Caroline went to an old people’s nursing home in the village to play the organ this morning for a mass as they all love singing hymns and gave her a very warm welcome..

            I used to sing in a choir at prep school and my elder son, Christo, is singing bass in a choir near Leighton Buzzard where he works.

          4. Unable to play at any of the care homes Richard – they all have my CDs though if they need punishing :o)

      1. I will enjoy listening to him singing Run For Your Life, Girl, In My Life and a few others all day long.

        But if the dirge, Imagine, ever comes on, I can’t get to the ‘off’ switch fast enough!

          1. Morning, Maggie.

            I’ve never been a fan of Paul MuckCart. He is my seventh favourite Beatle. [After John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, George Martin (honorary Beatle), Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe.]

        3. I wonder how his song ‘Woman is the nigger of the world’ would play with the woke generation. If they didn’t know it was him or his motivation and message was…would they want to ban it?

        4. I’ve got a Rock and Roll album some where by Lennon, front cover shows him against a wall somewhere, but i no longer have the means to play it.
          And what ever ‘you are on Grizz share the secret you look younger every day 😉

          1. Eddy, if you provide the name of the album, I might be able to run down an mp3 version of it for you.

          2. Wonderful, i have a friend who has one of those gadgets that can play a record and transfer it to a CD, he’s going to lend it to me if he can find the instructions. But I’m not holding my breath, i’ll get back to you, thanks for that.

  51. Michael Portillo has been rightly fully having a bit of an undisguised dig at the BBC.
    He’s described it as a polar bear trapped on a receding ice flow.
    I think there are millions of people who would agree with that.
    I read the BBC are going to be looking in other places other than our ‘red bricks’ for future employees. Too much left wing influence ?
    How long has it taken them to take a good long hard look in the mirror ?

      1. Sorry i was distracted by a phone call Phizz what i meant to say was swim to were ?
        I expect that the bears are aware of Orca’s as well, or vice versa.

      2. And, contrary to Green propaganda, polar bear numbers are increasing and not diminishing.

    1. True, Eddy – but people such as FF and lots of other “commentators” can and do have their say – but SFA gets DONE because the bunch of clowns posing as a government takes no notice.

      This is one time when I wish we WERE like yer French and take to the streets, and rip up paving stones and block railways and roads and dump manure in front of Parliament.

        1. Well, what do you suggest we do to show this shower how diabolical we think they are?

          The French protesters – however unpleasant they are – DO get results. The proposed fuel tax rise was cancelled because of the Gilets Jaunes.

          1. I seem to remember Gideon’s proposed fuel tax was abandoned after a protest by lorry drivers.

      2. Bill i totally agree, but if people like us take the trouble to read understand and more often than not agree with what is said, we can pile the pressure on the government.
        I wonder how many people have written to their MPs and told them that unless they pull their fingers out they are never going to vote for them again. I did last year.

        1. I have, several times. Totally useless. His attitude (unspoken, but quite clear) is that I should FOAD.

        2. Mine already knows I won’t vote (and haven’t voted) for him. He came to that conclusion (when I campaigned against him) in 2015 🙂

      1. Careful, Sue.

        You really need to be aware of the damage they can do with that sink plunger!

        1. Yep. He used to light up and say, “Exterminate!”, much to the delight of parties of school children brought in for tours of the studios. Now he just sits there wondering what the hell’s going on.

  56. ‘Morning All

    For all of us puzzled at the amount of support for the government policy in the comments sections………………..

    “Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter has revealed

    that 77 Brigade is involved in countering misinformation online relating

    to Coronavirus.”

    https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/77-brigade-is-countering-covid-misinformation/

    Still, not to worry,they’re only madly recruiting in the catogories in the link below……

    https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/formations-divisions-brigades/6th-united-kingdom-division/77-brigade/apply-to-join-us/
    The British Army,deployed as the thought police in the UK,nothing at all sinister there,no sireee…………………….

    1. As a Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter has proved to be an complete arsehole, and any soldiers involved in 77 Brigade’s conducting psyops against our own people in this fashion are a feckin’ disgrace. They bring shame on the uniform.

    4. 77th are very easy to spot on Twitter. They’re all orphans ’cause their entire family, all under 30 years old, have been wiped out by the ‘Rona. But God bless the NHS.

      1. On the Mail message boards their posts seem to be limited to “Hello Ivan” and “How is it in Moscow Tovarisch?”

    1. I am all in favour of the Benin bronzes being returned, but only on condition that all the UK’s Nigerians and their descendants are sent back with them.

      1. Weren’t the Benin Bronzes made from the shackles used to secure slaves on the journey to the coast before they were loaded onto the slave ships?

        If so then they are artifacts with a strong connection to the Black involvement in organising and feeding the slave trade.

    3. Aaaarrrggghhh. Worth millions, of course, simply because of the colour of the dauber. Still,no wore than a lot of crap “art” daubed by white people.

    1. 324392+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      As I was saying in a recent post the current count of flu deaths will be hovering around zero as covid deaths rise
      to “alarming ” numbers as the governance party go into
      MACTJA mode.
      MACTJA = manipulative Arse Covering To Justify Actions.
      Ps That meeting today in london with the eu mafia don
      could very well be arranging a much needed bale out loan
      in the near future leaving the UK beholding to the ………..

    2. Experts tell me that this is because the lockdown and isolation is working. If these steps can cut flu deaths from 20,000 to 400, imagine how many cv deaths there would have been without controls..

      Back to your cell, there’s a good boy.

      1. Do you trust the figures? Do you think that it’s possible to distinguish between COPD deaths caused by Covid and other cold and flu viruses? Did you know that the 18-19 winter in the UK had a very low death count from flu, the result of which was a larger number of people than usual who were vulnerable to any virus causing a serious chest infection? Maybe the 19-20 flu virus was also a weak one, leaving the way open for Covid. Plenty of experts say the lockdown had little effect, if any, on the fall on Covid deaths after the April peak. Who’s to say it had any effect on flu deaths?

  61. Phew – I spent the last two hours lifting the outdoor tomatoes, putting the electric pump away, and stacking most of the new logs. Came in to check the stove – and – whoosh – it is tipping down. Talk about good timing…{:¬))

    2. I went down to the gate to see a friend off this afternoon – it started to drizzle so we took shelter under the porch of the studio – good thing we did as it absolutely chucked it down and then, for good measure, the rain turned to hail!

        1. What’s alarming you? The shrink-to-fit Levi blue denim jeans; or the stone-coloured Wrangler cord jacket? De rigueur teen uniform back in 1969.

          1. Snap. I had a wrangler style cord jacket just like yours but in dark blue which I gave to my son Henry who was delighted to have it and thought it just the thing.

      1. Cor blimey. What a looker ! You have such a nice look in your eyes. You look at Rastus like that he is one lucky fella.

        1. Thank you, Phizzee!

          Funny how younger photos show up much better whom the children look like – our elder son looks just like Rastus did, and our younger one is very much me. It’s easier to see from older photographs than from what we look like now.

          1. Our elder son is very like his father.
            Our younger son looks more like my brother.
            Hereditary does some odd side steps.

        1. There’s a terribly rude joke in there somewhere, but I will leave that to the claimant!

      4. I’m not shy of posting, I just don’t have any photos of myself in younger days – to be honest, I don’t have many photos of myself in older days, either! Not being very (tbh, not at all!) photogenic, I avoid the camera if I possibly can.

      6. I don’t seem to be able to post photos – the message goes….you must log in….yet I’m already logged in
        Hummph!

      7. Lovely photos. I don’t have any of me that I want to share – I was chronically ill between the ages of about 17-27 and that period is best forgotten. I’m far fitter and have much less pain now in my fifties than in those days!

          1. Poor gut health. There is a lot of research into it at the moment which I am following in the New Scientist, and they are discovering that not having a healthy mixture of bacteria in your gut is linked with all sorts of things including aches and pains, depression, cotton woolly brain and autism. It can go wrong if for example, you get an overgrowth of yeast as I did. There are all sorts of theories about why, eg antibiotics, food preservatives, western diet.

            I was diagnosed by a pioneer doctor in this field, who also linked the bad reactions to many foods that I was having to the same condition. It was like having constant flu for about ten years. I had got a place at Oxford just as the condition was closing in, and then ploughed through every exam, finally leaving with the lowest possible grade and all my tutors and contemporaries having written me off as stupid or lazy.
            I looked healthy, so nobody could tell that I was exhausted, confused, depressed and hurting all over. If I went to two hours’ lectures, I had to go home and rest in bed for the rest of the day. Attempts to tell the utterly useless college doctor that I wasn’t feeling well resulted in a scolding and the instructions to “Pull yourself together,” which I was young and miserable enough to believe.
            I finally got diagnosed in my mid-twenties, and only by chance because I met someone who had been treated for the same condition, and she recognised my “spaced out” look which is typical. With this information, I was able to get referred to an NHS specialist.
            It is all a long time ago now, but at least two of my children have similar conditions.

            There is a lot of depression and autism that runs in my father’s family. Plus I have a relative who is trans, another condition that is known to be linked with autism but hasn’t yet been linked with poor gut health . It is a pet theory of mine that the rise in people suffering from gender dysphoria may be linked to poor diet and poor gut health in some individuals. If that were the case, it might be curable for them, because it has already been shown that autistic symptoms can be reversed by changing the gut bacteria. Of course the trans political lobby would hate the idea of a cure.

          2. Wow. I’m amazed you turned out so well after such a shaky start. Diet is definitely more significant than most people credit.

      1. ‘Supermac’ was in No 10;
        ‘Ike’ was in the White House …
        Cliff Richard was TOTP …

      1. If you don’t do selfies. get someone else to take one of you.

        It’s one taken when you were 18 that we want to see most.

    7. I wish I had met you when your were that age, Rastus. Without a doubt my stunning good looks at that time (together with my marmalade- and crumble-making skills) would have ensured that Caroline wouldn’t have stood a chance in your life!

      :-))

  64. Delingpole: Doom Pixie Greta Thunberg Spurned AGAIN by Nobel Peace Prize

    For a second year running Greta Thunberg has failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

    This year she was beaten by the UN World Food Program.

    In 2019 she was beaten by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as his reward for securing peace with neighbouring Eritrea.

    Perhaps the Nobel prize committee has noticed something increasingly apparent to the rest of us: that the world has long since reached Peak Greta; the Doom Pixie has delighted us all quite enough.

    Part of Thunberg’s problem may be that her cause has been superseded by that of Chinese coronavirus.

    Earlier in the pandemic, Thunberg made a bid for ongoing relevance by co-authoring an angry letter to European Union leaders, demanding that climate be taken seriously as coronavirus.

    It screeched:

    The last few months the world has watched with horror how the COVID-19 pandemic has hit people all over the globe. During this tragedy, we are seeing how many – not all – world leaders and people around the world stepped up and acted for the greater good of society.

    It is now clearer than ever that the climate crisis has never once been treated as a crisis, neither from the politicians, media, business, nor finance.

    The letter’s petulant tone is an indication of the growing frustration among climate activists that their thunder has been stolen by COVID-19.

    In fairness to the Doom Pixie, however, she is pretty much on track to getting her wishlist anyway.

    At one point in her letter, she and her co-authors – including the ‘usual collection of hypocrites and charlatans’ such as Leo DiCaprio, Michael Mann, Emma Thompson, et al – write:

    We are facing an existential crisis, and this is a crisis that we can not buy, build, or invest our way out of. ​Aiming to ‘recover’ an economic system that inherently fuels the climate crisis in order to finance climate action is just as absurd as it sounds. Our current system is not ‘broken’ – the system is doing exactly what it’s supposed and designed to be doing. It can no longer be ‘fixed’. We need a new system.

    This essentially is what most Western leaders — barring President Donald Trump — are now promising to do with their ‘Build Back Better’ policy as they implement the World Economic Forum’s ‘Great Reset.’

    Climate change was formerly the globalist elite’s preferred excuse for rebuilding the world economy in its own interests. Now that excuse has conveniently segued into COVID-19.

    Greta the Climate Puppet has served her purpose. Now the caravan has moved on.

      1. …with the boys needing all the drugs and booze before they might show the faintest interest in her.

    2. Should she come around here, she’ll get beaten for a third time. There will not be a fourth.

    1. That is illegal.

      No business in the UK can restrict a job to a specific gender or base acceptance on creed. There are a tiny, tiny minority of exceptions, such as men in a rape crisis centre – but, laughably! men in dresses are getting in there and yes, as we all knew, are raping those women seeking refuge from doemstic violence.

      For FU***KS sake! I’m sure I’m living in hell and someone forgot to change the signs.

      Everything – *everything* is back to front. This isn’t policy, it isn’t strategy, it’s insanity.

  68. Anyone else having Disqus connection problems? Mine has cut out 6+ times in the last half hour or so. Pain in the neck

    1. Is the indented a reply to the former, or is the indented top and emboldedend bottom a reply to the top?

      It’s a hideously unhelpful UI.

  70. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18416a0762a4a944d1032d74b333ce93cdcb207f4afcc6a71530388c4f167dcd.png Is ‘Thom’ Gibbs [DT ‘reporter’] such a halfwit that he couldn’t find a genuine photograph of John and Yoko performing their ‘bed-in’ at Amsterdam in 1969? Why was the fool taken in by a spoof of that event portrayed by a couple of impostors? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/022cea579a4d0e369300585a6fad2f259810d7db0f24cf4d55a8001ff94d0215.png This is the real couple at that event.

    1. That’s Thompson his faithful security guard standing to attention, immediately behind Winston. I got the DVD series of his WW2 adventures with Winston Churchill free of charge from the Daily Telegraph.

      1. And that’s the enigmatic Brendan Bracken standing behind Winston’s left shoulder …

  72. “All in it together”
    Aye,right…………
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/936ca1708313b870e210a1658606b238a3e8ff47dc8b2714c45fea05962c1f0a.jpg
    Note it looks like ALL the public sector with their guaranteed jobs and pensions will be getting pay rises…………..
    Meanwhile in the real world my Niece sweats the review at the end of this month to see if she still has a job,her grafter husband made redundant after his firm was put out of business by Covid has found a new job,a little less money and an extra two hours travel a day but hey that’s life in the private sector………..
    I’m off for a walk,I’m so fucking angry,later all

    4. “Now is the winter of our discontent” !
      They all helped themselves to 10 grand a piece at the beginning of the out break.
      Let’s all write to our politicians to tell them we are never going to vote again.
      I am going to take a lot of pleasure in spoiling the ballot papers.

  75. Special thanks to the BBC for highlighting anomalies in student halls of residence by making University of Nottingham redefine its definition of members of a household from those sharing the same floor to those sharing the same bath.

    As my COVID-free granddaughter does not have to share bathroom facilities with other students in hall she can now go for a walk outside instead of being locked up day and night with only a two hour slot for eating in hall.

    2. My niece rejected two universities because she would have to share a bath(room).

  76. Well guess what?

    Just as we are nearing the school half term for when lockdowns were predicted some weeks ago the positive tests are rising very fast and at record levels.

    Who would have thunk that they would respond like an orchestra to a conductor so timely.

  77. Just seen the local French tv news.

    They have got prisoners helping with the clean up of the river – all those tress I showed the other night…

    My first thought was, natch, what on earth has happened to their ‘Uman Roits???

    1. Thank God for that.

      “I never found it funny.”
      ” Oh yes you did.”
      ” Oh no I didn’t.”

      1. I was dragged off to watch “Panto” and hated it.

        I spent most of the show in fear that someone would appear and insist I went up to the stage.

        2. Even though a young boy I really fancied the Principal Boy in ‘Puss in Boots’ circa 1960 at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

          The recollection of those nimble legs and shapely thighs in black stockings remains with me. She wore a short green tunic with a deep brown leather belt and a green pointy cap.

          1. My mother was an actress and loved it.

            I cannot imagine anything worse, even though, on the odd times I’ve had to so, I have been “well received”

          2. I suppose, being an ex-teacher, “performing” has never been a problem. I did AmDrams both as a pupil and as a member of staff.

          3. Preparation, planning and presentation can overcome most of it, but there is no way I would ever enjoy it.

          4. I would have been about 8 at the time I made my stage “debut” (in Wolverhampton). I missed my metier; I could have been famous – instead of infamous 🙂

          5. I did too and my elder son could not be restrained from charging up onto the stage at the slightest provocation.

  79. That’s me for another day. I see that tomorrow’s predicted lovely, sunny day has been affected by the virus – and it will now rain most of the day.

    Thank you, Professor Branestorm… Millions dead by Tuesday.

    A demain.

  80. 324392+ up ticks,
    Boris May Submit to European Court of Human Rights for EU Deal.

    WHY ?

    It IMO already done “deal” is beginning to appear in the shape of a politically much sought after funiculus umbilicalis, any deal will do, a future latch lifter.

      1. 324392+ up ticks,
        Afternoon RE,
        I wore out two typing fingers
        calling for a build on the real UKIPs membership as an anti treacherous party and was knocked out of the way by the
        lib/lab/con brigade in their rush to get back to supporting the pro eu coalition.
        The real UKIP was always total severance with some necessary CONTROLLED immigration.

      1. Don’t be silly, how can you eat marmalade sandwiches if you’re wearing a mask? :@)

      1. Doh! Don’t you know nuffink? Paddington came from Darkest Peru and his fave was marmalade sarnies. The broad is playing with her iPhone.

      1. Aww, poor doggo! Mine once took exception to Bob, the Battle of Britain dog at Capel le Ferne. Unfortunately, when I had a disk crash, I lost the photo.

    4. Why do people wear masks in the open air? And if it’s necessary, why isn’t Paddington masked up?

    1. Just seen they own Peacocks and Jaeger – -24000 jobs at risk – -yet STILL the govt will be welcoming the newbies into Dover

    4. As I recall, the shop in Helensburgh – shut down c2007 – was called the ‘Edinburgh Woollen Mill‘; were not all others elsewhere?

  83. I posted a chart of R rates a week ago..

    That image needs to be qualified by the following caveat:

    Last updated on Friday 9 October 2020.

    Latest R number range for the UK
    1.2-1.5

    Latest growth rate range for the UK
    +4% to +9%
    per day

    An R number between 1.2 and 1.5 means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 15 other people.

    A growth rate between +4% and +9% means the number of new infections is growing by 4% to 9% every day.

    The UK estimates of R and growth rate are averages over very different epidemiological situations and should be regarded as a guide to the general trend rather than a description of the epidemic state.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-r-number-in-the-uk

    In my attempt to build an elementary model of viral incidences using a spreadsheet I confused the definition of R with that of growth rate.

    These two measures are unrelated and so I understand now that to achieve a state where every 10 people do not infect anyone then:

    R = 0.0

      1. Am I also correct in assuming that if R>1 then the virus is not being controlled and if R=1 then all that is being achieved is the status quo?

          1. I think your concurrence with my logical assertion is supported by the following Government statement:

            An R number of 1 means that on average every person who is infected will infect 1 other person, meaning the total number of infections is stable. If R is 2, on average, each infected person infects 2 more people. If R is 0.5 then on average for each 2 infected people, there will be only 1 new infection. If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is growing, if R is less than 1 the epidemic is shrinking. The higher R is above 1, the more people 1 infected person infects and so the faster the epidemic grows.

            https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-r-number-in-the-uk

            I note that in the case of R=0.5 then one infected person will be responible for infecting 0.5 of another person.

  84. Couldn’t have anything to do with injunctions could it, and the name nobody may mention?

    Why does the fawning media let Nicola Sturgon get away with Scotland’s Covid failure?

    Scots have been subjected to both less liberty and more Covid, yet the First Minister is treated like a hero.

    TOM HARWOOD
    9 October 2020 • 6:00pm

    Nicola Sturgeon has presided over a disastrous double whammy Covid disaster. The First Minister of Scotland both deprived Scots of their freedom significantly more than other parts of the UK, and is now presiding over the worst R number and virus doubling time of any country in the Union. Scots have been subjected to both less liberty and more Covid. And the SNP is getting away with it without significant media scrutiny.

    The Scottish Government not only kept pubs, hairdressers, and places of worship shut for longer than England, it also imposed far stricter household gathering rules both indoors and outdoors. It kept families more apart, restricted people’s freedom to travel more harshly, and deprived many Scots of being able to say goodbye to loved ones for longer. All in a vain attempt to reach a ‘Zero Covid’ Scotland.

    Just a couple of months ago the First Minister was crowing that Scotland is “not far away” from eliminating coronavirus entirely. Pundits were indulging her fantasy with sexist commentary that somehow female leaders are intrinsically better at handling Covid. Commentary that conveniently ignored female-led countries with more significant outbreaks like Belgium or Bolivia. Despite the fawning headlines at the time, Sturgeon and her ‘Zero Covid’ approach has failed.

    Yet despite a comparable initial outbreak to England, and one that now even appears to be worse, Sturgeon is perversely seen as having done a good job. Despite broken promises and over-optimistic predictions, despite the deadly consequences of her Government sending Covid patients into care homes, and despite being forced to U-turn into a return to lockdown-like policies, Sturgeon continues to be seen as having a ‘good pandemic’.

    As polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice pointed out on the BBC’s PM programme this week:

    “The relationship between people’s attitudes towards the handling of the coronavirus by the respective Prime/First Minister of the respective Governments, and the outcome in terms of the virus has not been that close.”

    “Many of the mistakes and many of the difficulties that faced the UK Government; care homes, PPE, the level of the virus… were all very similar on the two sides of the border. But perceptions of the handling of the pandemic… has been very very divergent.”

    While around seventy per cent of people think Nicola Sturgeon has handled things well, the reverse is true of Boris Johnson.

    A media which continues to be pathetically supine, if not fawning, towards the First Minister has an enormous amount to answer for.

    The attitude of much of the media is expressed in no clearer way than STV’s now-deleted ‘Thank you, Nicola’ video – in which a series of children express their gratitude to their dear leader, all set to soft piano music. The creepy video, organised and edited by the television company, sees child after child declare one after another that “We are so grateful. Thank you for always keeping us safe. Working so hard. For being strong for us.” It is the kind of cult-like adoration that would not look out of place in North Korea.

    It is the attitude that leads to uncritical media cheerleading for the First Minister when she spoke of being close to eliminating the virus. By contrast when Boris Johnson spoke of his “sincere hope” that he could “allow a more significant return to normality from November at the earliest”, he was met with derision.

    When Boris Johnson said “I must level with you, level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time,” he was met with derision and even comparisons to Shrek’s villainous Lord Farquaad. When Nicola Sturgeon is sombre, she is hailed as the grown up in the room.

    These dangerous double standards have led to a situation whereby public perception is utterly divorced from reality. They are also leading to a situation where the Scottish separatists are on course to win back their majority in next year’s Parliamentary elections. Too many of those who do not fawn are indifferent. It’s time more of the media wakes up, ditches its hypocrisy, and subjects Nicola Sturgeon’s administration to the scrutiny it deserves.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/09/does-fawning-media-let-nicola-sturgon-get-away-scotlands-covid/

  86. LAST POST – the catastrophe on the Côte d’Azur is not ALL bad.

    The hundreds illegal blacks who lurk in Ventimiglia trying to find a way into France, have been using a new route up the Roya valley to Breil and Tende – and then crossing illegally into yer France in the middle of nowhere. (The direct route is blocked by dozens of French police who send them back t’Witterly.)

    As the Roya valley is now an area of desolation- and Breil and Tende are inaccessible by road – the fluckers have to continue lurking in a cold, flooded Ventimiglia where – get this – they are finding a shortage of food… So it really IS an ill wind etc etc..

    I thought that all of you (bar one) would like this nugget.

    TTFN

  87. Thought for the day:

    It is a little known fact, but the IQ of those most fearful of Covid is less than the average age of those dying from it.

  88. Perceptive comments from Mr ward:

    “Nine hundred and ninety-nine people out of a thousand will suffer little more than three days in bed as a result of Covid19 infection. Only a fool destroys an economy supporting 75 million people for the sake of 1 in a thousand people who do not represent additional deaths to those of viruses in previous years.

    Such represents madness in years of economic plenty. To do so after a pointless bout of self-inflicted income reduction in a year that looks forward to the challenge of final Brexit is beyond explanation other than that our leaders are paying obeisance to another agenda entirely…or are all mathematically illiterate.

    Add to that conclusion the ghastly state of economies beyond ours, and the outlook seems positively apocalyptic. The collapse in crude oil prices, global trade imbalances, a looming downturn in sub-Saharan Africa, the basket case that is Italy, the EU facing life without cash-cow Britain, and the supreme madness of the Australian authorities are all adding to an economic Covid-shock that the World Economic Forum tells us is three times worse than the 2008 shambles.

    And remember – the banking firms and bourses have persistently blocked or diluted all attempts at reform since that time…while the vast majority have a QE-inflated index of valuation that bears no relation whatsoever to reality.

    Boris, my friends, is doomed. He is doomed because he is neither one of them, nor one of us.”

    https://therealslog.com/2020/10/09/boris-faces-2-wave-tsunami/

    2. “our leaders are paying obeisance to another agenda entirely”. I mistakenly assumed that Agenda 21 had been kicked into the long grass, and replaced by Agenda 2030. How wrong I was.

  89. The prime minister is to make a statement to MPs on Monday giving details of new restrictions to slow the spread …..of freedom

      1. Did you notice the line he trotted out in his statement earlier this week, necessary actions to save the NHS from being overwhelmed.
        The same justification he used in March, please remind me just how much use did the Nightingale hospitals get during lockdown. They were as good as empty, and they still are. Unfortunately so are treatment centres for Cancer and other fatal diseases. Ba$tards, all of them!

        1. Johnson and his ministers and scientific advisors are in the pay of very wealthy globalists. They are looking to making their fortunes and taking the rest of us for fools.

          I doubt that many Germans, French and Spanish will put up with their own equally corrupt politicians and expect that anti-lockdown protests will grow and gather pace.

          Covid is not a pandemic as such but might be considered an epidemic. Comparatively few lives have been lost and probably less when you consider the way in which the figures for Covid deaths have been falsified, again with bribes using public money. A Covid death is worth more in subsidy than a death from other causes.

          The perpetrators of this hoax will eventually be brought to trial and incarcerated for their crimes.

          Edit: As at Nuremberg the defence of ‘only taking instructions from higher authority’ will not wash.

  90. I wonder if the good doctor is still alive.

    From the Daily Telegraph, Sat 14th March 2020

    SIR – As a 90-year-old doctor who qualified in 1953, I have been reflecting on how we would have reacted to a coronavirus epidemic in those days. The answer is not at all, for three main reasons.

    The Covid-19 virus could not have been identified rapidly enough, if at all. Most cases would have been too mild to attract attention in this season of coughs and sneezes. And the small proportion of deaths among elderly people with chronic respiratory disease would have remained much as usual for the time of year.

    It follows that there would have been no alarm or countermeasures. International trade and travel would have carried on as usual. World stock markets would not have collapsed. And governments would not have needed to get involved.

    As it is today, we know too much about the coronavirus for our own good, but almost nothing about treating its victims or preventing its spread.

    Dr George Birdwood
    Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire

    1. Voices like Dr Birdwood are being ignored because there is an agenda beyond the supposed pandemic.

      1. And cf: 1967 Asian ‘flu (H2N2) Pandemic.
        At my boarding school, 50% – 180 pupils and staff – were bedridden …

          3. Funny you should say that, because back in the 1990s I did hear of a case where a boy of 12 or 13 had pregnificated an assistant matron at a boarding school. No names no pack drill, especially as stuff on this site is searchable on Gurgle.

          5. The “prettier” ones among our assistant matrons looked like the rear end of omnibuses.

    3. Giving it a name makes it panicworthy. Just like storms – they were wind and rain until they were named, now reasons to panic.
      The world is full of wusses.

      1. Just like storms – they were wind and rain until they were named…

        And if they’re not given names, they’re described as ‘extreme weather events’. What was once a rapidly deepening depression is now a ‘weather bomb’, an extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area exhibiting explosive cyclogenesis.

        1. In layman’s terms:
          Wet and windy.
          But now they get names how about a competition for the wettest and windiest:

          Fill in the nottler of choice….

    5. I keep returning to the 1957 Asian flu pandemic.
      Our class of 32 pupils reduced to 5.
      Teachers off sick (not that we really noticed).
      Shops open; buses running; no face masks or sanitisers; pantomime carried on for Christmas 1957. No bossy markers or notices.
      Hell: and we all survived apart, presumably, for the crocked who were unlikely to see 1958 anyway.

      1. Historically – since God was a girl – most vicious plagues have come to the West from China. (This is, for once, a serious comment).

    7. “As it is today, we know too much about the coronavirus for our own good, but almost nothing about treating its victims or preventing its spread.” Actually, George, knowing anything about the C19 virus or treating people for it is immaterial; what matters is how far the populace can be cowed while the global agenda is advanced.

  91. That’s me for tonight. Good night, gentlefolk, read you tomorrow.

    The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended,
    The darkness falls at Thy behest;
    To Thee our morning hymns ascended,
    Thy praise shall sanctify our rest.

      1. Although often heard at sad times, I think it’s one of the most beautiful hymns, Tom.

    1. “Musicians could retrain to cope with during Covid….”

      Sunak: wot an effing Philistine …

      1. Probably true (I don’t know enough to tell), but while this is a complete buggeration for most of my musician colleagues, it’s hard to argue that we’re a special case here. The way the industry works, most of us are self-employed, and so the furlough doesn’t apply. I honestly can’t think how any government could get away with subsidising us to do nothing while others must apply for universal credit. Those of us who rely on continual muscular fitness to perform are in a horrible situation, though.

        Whisky beckons.

        2. As I don’t drink spirits, I have moved on from the sherry to the port! Really, imbibing is the only way to remain sane! No wonder they want to stop us drinking!

      1. Musicians are too good to be fucking politicians. Admittedly, I dipped my toe into the political water in 2014 in the Borough elections. I was never going to win, but I beat the NonlibUndem, and the Guildford Greenbelt Group, who beat me by 34 votes, cheated…

          1. Prior to the BC election, I went to lock up Seale church, and found the porch emblazoned with GGG posters, and inside there were piles of GGG leaflets. I tracked down their Leader, and emailed her to the effect that she had placed the church (a charity) in a difficult situation, since we were prohibited from taking sides.

            Previously, Guildford UKIP had approached her party, and suggested that our principles were very similar, and we should agree not to campaign against each other in each ward. They wouldn’t play.

        2. It’s good to know that real people turn up to be voted for, Geoff. Sometimes I wonder… but then, by not being elected, you missed being infected with the same self-aggrandising, thieving, incompetent, biased, unthinking shit-for-brains they have.
          Close shave, man!

        2. He retains the respect that that tweetling old fool Attenborough lost behind the sofa together with a few thousands of loose change from his BBC loot!

        3. 324392+ up ticks,
          Evening S,
          Hero’s / truthsayers are the ones they are after, discredit & castigate, prime example
          Batten ex UKIP leader.

  94. Evening, all. The problem is, people have been so risk averse since H&S really got going that it’s stifling. Who knows where it will end, but it probably won’t be good.

          4. Look at the Connemara, to the third mattress on the left; I know there’s a stash underneath…

          5. The Connemara is stabled on rubber mats – there ain’t nuttin’ underneath – except, perhaps, some ammonia and a bit of sh1t which evaded the mucking out 🙂

          7. Even the Son of God, who you would have thought was well placed to do so, couldn’t avoid death.

  95. Sigh,ever more depressing and scary………….

    Darren Grimes is being investigated by police on suspicion of

    stirring up racial hatred over an interview with the historian David

    Starkey that he published, it has emerged.

    Mr Grimes, a conservative commentator, has been asked to attend a

    police station to be interviewed under caution after publishing a

    podcast in which Dr Starkey said slavery was not genocide because there are “so many damn blacks”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/09/darren-grimes-police-investigation-david-starkey-interview/
    The Land of Free Speech………………….wot a flucking bad joke…………….

    1. The very idea that the enslavement of blacks was “genocide” is risible. Genocide is the deliberate and targeted killing of a people, while slavery is the exploitation of living prisoners who are forced to perform work for their masters.

      Dead men don’t make good plantation workers.

      2. There you go with those #HateFacts again…………
        Pack one small case and reportd for re-education

    2. They couldn’t get him for referendum spending so they’re trying another way.

      Nevertheless, he really should have edited out that bit.

      1. I can’t agree, William. I fervently believe in free-speech, even if it annoys so much that some, who cannot bear the truth, have to be offended.

        1. On the truth of the message, I agree. It’s the manner of its expression that counts. Drive them mad with reasonableness and politeness!

    3. On a serious note.

      What is needed is a test case that can go all the way to the “supreme court” and that states unequivocally that freedom of speech MUST include opinions that might be offensive to even a significant proportion of the population.

      It won’t happen.

    4. They are determined to get Darren Grimes after he stuck it to the Electoral Commission.

  96. Shit. Dame Mary Berry FFS. The sight of that toothy old hag puts me off my food.

    Sir Tommy Steele? I thought he was dead.

    Who dreams up these pointless recipients of honours? A bloody millionaire footballer and no end of artless wankers swell the ranks.

    1. Her hair looks nice and we all know why, other than that she is just another politician scoring cheap points.

        2. Having her hair done breaking lockdown regulations at the time helps her appearance, but hey, the rules only apply to the plebs, not the self important hypocrites like her. She wasn’t wearing a mask whilst being a hypocrite and I have nothing but contempt for her and the likes of her.

    2. The woman’s an idiot. UK Pharmaceutical companies have always complied with FDA regulations, and submitted Clinical Trial results to that body for approval. The USA is a major market for pharmaceuticals, so UK companies know they must satisfy the FDA if they want to sell their products in the USA.

    4. All we are hearing about the witch is her continuing anti Trump moves, her latest being to start talking about the constitutional amendments that allow a president to be removed.

      The sooner that type of partisan politician gets the boot, the better.

        2. Don’t be silly, they would scream blue murder about unfair tactics and demand that nothing be done – let the people decide in the election!

        1. Why would you write Ninja and pronounce the j as y? Surely you would write Ninya?

          1. Not in Norway, you don’t.
            Y is pronounced something between E in “Ear” and U as in “urgh”.
            When I’m not thinking, it creeps in…

          3. But we are meant to speak English on this site, Herr Oberst. (Although Peddy and Grizzly do try hard to <s.confuse educate us.

    2. Oooh argh,

      Round these parts they say there’ll be a hard’un this winter.

      Loads of berries on Holly, hedgerows are full of blackthorn berries , rowan berries , hips and haws.

      1. Any sloes, Mags? Sugar and a bottle of gin plus a needle to prick scratch each one of those sloes. Do it now and it’s ready for the non-Christmas.

        2. All of which is the result of the spring and summer weather, rather than any sort of omen for the winter to come.

          Hard winters have been well enough known to follow poor harvests – indeed as a result of the weather last winter and up to the end of March this year’s harvest has been very poor in many areas.

      3. Here, too. I know people say, “but that just means that conditions for producing berries were good in the summer”, but in my experience, good conditions for producing berries in the summer are usually followed by a (proper) hard winter! 🙂

          2. It’s the same here, Bill. The roads and paths are littered with them. We had a good crop of hazelnuts, too. My hollies are red (or orange or yellow, I have all varieties) with berries.

          5. So you’re saying, Bill, (© Cathy Newman) that illegal immigrants are nothing but acorns? :-))

          7. I have seen masses of them as well, where have all the squirrels gone to though,

            Also loads of very interesting funghi, some very bright orange and yellow fungus , on stalks , and loads of very tall umbrella type toadstools .

            A couple of nights ago, I was putting the dogs out for they last and final wee just before midnight and I heard geese flying overhead , honking in chorus, it was a wonderful sound, their wings and honks , I didn’t see them even though it was a moonlit sky.

          10. When I was waiting for the vet to bring my dog back to me (I had to wait in my car in the car park) I noticed one of the oak trees had a virtual forest of Chinese coolie hat type fungi growing around it.

          13. The squirrels are all round here, it seems. They are suicidally running across roads and scampering up trees. I have had to remove several hazelnut seedlings because of their stashing nuts away.

    3. My holly tree is, rather surprisingly, sparse for berries this year and is not shewing much red.

          2. But there isn’t really any need to waste as much of it on apostrophes as some people here manage to do…. 😉

          3. Well…
            My English was corrected by a German yesterday… that was worth a comment. Irritatingly, he was right!

          4. But there was no need of an apostrophe in your sentence above – though I can only deduce that “out” means “our” 😉

          5. Sigh… smelling isn’t my strong point, especially when I get fat finger syndrome.

  104. Good night all.

    A simple supper: whole lemon sole à la meunière, pears & blue cheese (Gorgonzola), made for each other.

  106. Mr Cleary is right that it’s a dirge. That’s where he should have started – and stopped.

    Swing Low Sweet Chariot has had its day and the RFU should have banned it

    Such a ground-breaking edict would have reached out beyond the cosy confines of Twickenham and made people aware that rugby was serious

    MICK CLEARY, Chief Rugby Union writer

    The RFU should have banned the singing of Swing Low Sweet Chariot at Twickenham. It should have grasped the moment, sensed the mood of the country and gone the whole hog. Of course, it has done many things right in looking to educate its rugby constituency about the origins of the song, about its connections to slavery. It has taken steps also to embrace diversity on the make-up of its board, pledged to keep reforming, to be representative and welcoming. All these initiatives are admirable.

    Yet it has held back from doing the one thing that would have made every rugby follower in the country sit up and take notice. In fact, such a ground-breaking edict would have reached out beyond the niche and cosy confines of rugby union and made people aware that Twickenham was serious in its mission to align itself with progressive and inclusive ways. It would have been a landmark action, eye-catching and resonant.

    You could argue detail in mitigation, such as the historical provenance of the song, the fact that it speaks of a freed slave referencing the biblical story of Prophet Elijah, or bring up the fact that arch-leftie folk singer, the incomparable Joan Baez, sang Swing Low at Woodstock in the 60s. You could also plead the impracticality of enforcing a ban: ‘Oi, you there, in the middle of Row J, the bloke with the barbour and a pint in his hand, you’re nicked, my son’.

    But this is not about prosaic matters. It is about gesture and symbol, about sending out a message, about buying into the prevailing tone, sensing that this is a pivotal time around the world for such issues. It’s about Twickenham and the Zeitgeist. There’s a snappy slogan.

    The RFU would argue that it has reacted to the mood of the time by canvassing almost 4,500 people across all sectors before coming to its decision. Well, never mind the well-intentioned survey. The only two people that should have been taken profound notice of are Maggie Alphonsi and Maro Itoje. And even if neither Maggie nor Maro wanted a complete ban, the RFU should have taken on board their reservations and discomfort by going beyond mere education of the masses to an outright rejection of the song.

    For all the advances made, the reaching out into all communities to provide opportunity so that the likes of Kyle Sinckler and Ellis Genge can be part of the most Bame-representative England team in history at the World Cup in Japan, this is a step backwards. For all these fine efforts, rugby union is still too often portrayed as a sport of the white middle-class, a conservative enclave, the gammon ranks filling Twickenham at every international match.

    It does not matter that this is a flawed view, at odds with the true and full reality of things. This was the chance to lay that sweeping stereotype to rest, to silence those critics. It is not about being ‘Woke’, or any other such nonsense. Swing Low Sweet Chariot is not even worth the effort of preservation. It is a baleful dirge.

    The RFU has removed all merchandising and slogans. It has endorsed the taking of the knee by players. It has done so much right. But, to use an analogy from another sport, to go one further and ban Swing Low was an open goal. But the RFU missed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2020/10/09/swing-low-sweet-chariot-has-had-day-rfu-should-have-banned/

    1. sometimes tradition, just for the hell of it is worth keeping.

      If some consider it bland, offensive to some high chariotteers, so what?

      1. My old school song ends with the lines (shouted): “Aske’s Hatcham, at ’em bash ’em!” – which I think you will agree is deliciously non-PC!

    2. He is a cowardly writer who rarely allows comment on his very poor articles. That he ignores the fact that 93% disagree with him is indicative of his arrogance.

    4. On that basis, Flower of Scotland will also require banning. What say you there, Mr Clearly Stupid?

        1. ‘Evening, Cori, you speak from experience?

          They’re bluddy good at singing, as are most servicemen, ex or otherwise.

          1. It’s been noticeable (in the days when one could give the departed a proper send-off) how well and lustily the hymns are sung at military funerals.

      2. He’s obviously never been in rugby club, otherwise he would understand that the song’s popularity has more to do with its accompanying smutty gestures than any association with slavery.

    5. Presumably, Mick Cleary has never ever witnessed, let alone, participated in a rousing rugby club session otherwise he would know reason this song is a rugby favourite. Its use was nothing to do directly with slavery.

      By the way, wouldn’t it be great if England fans did not song the song, merely carried out the accompanying gestures in silence?

    7. The negro spirituals were heartfelt Christian hymns that sustained people through hard times. Is that the real objection, or is it just shallow idiocy?

      1. Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        I looked over the MSM and what did I see
        Coming for to get me at home
        A band of wokels coming after me
        Coming for to get me at home
        Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        If you get there before I do
        Coming for to get me at home

      2. Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        I looked over the MSM and what did I see
        Coming for to get me at home
        A band of wokels coming after me
        Coming for to get me at home
        Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        Shallow, sweet idiocy
        Coming for to get me at home
        If you get there before I do
        Coming for to get me at home

    8. He is a cowardly writer who rarely allows comment on his very poor articles. That he ignores the fact that 93% disagree with him is indicative of his arrogance.

        1. Agreed, Peddy, complete with gestures and actions. When you’ve seen at least half a Squadron in action, it’s a sight for sore-eyes. Synchronised swimming doesn’t come near.

    1. The Countryside Alliance has a Christmas card entitled “A Zoom Christmas”. It has similar comments, including “you’re on mute. Unmute, Claude” 🙂

  109. Shit. Dame Mary Berry FFS. The sight of that toothy old hag puts me off my food.

    Sir Tommy Steele? I thought he was dead.

    Who dreams up these pointless recipients of honours? A bloody millionaire footballer and no end of artless wankers swell the ranks.

      3. She offered her honour; he honoured her offer – and all night it was on ‘er and off ‘er!

  110. Goodnight, Nottlers all.

    Postscript:

    Now, now that the sun hath veil’d his light
    And bid the world goodnight;
    To the soft bed my body I dispose,
    But where shall my Soul repose?
    Dear, dear God, even in Thy arms,
    And can there be any so sweet security!
    Then to thy rest, O my Soul!
    And singing, praise the mercy
    That prolongs thy days.
    Hallelujah!

    Henry Purcell

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnINqb17Wtg

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