Friday 1 November: Rachel Reeves’s spiteful inheritance tax grab will be disastrous for family farms across Britain

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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872 thoughts on “Friday 1 November: Rachel Reeves’s spiteful inheritance tax grab will be disastrous for family farms across Britain”

  1. Good morrow one and all, especially Geoff and thanks for his wonderful work on this site.

  3. Good Morning Geoff and All
    Today's Tale is an Irish Joke (of which there are so many)

    Pat and Mick went into Dublin every Saturday night together. Pat always went to confession at the local church on the way while Mick waited outside.
    “It's been a week since my last confession, Father,” said Pat, “and I must confess that I have sinned of the flesh again.”
    “Was it Mary Fitzgerald, that hussy from the dairy?” “No, Father.”
    “Was it Maureen O’Connor from the fruit shop then?” “No, Father."
    “Then it must have been Kathleen Dwyer.”
    “No, Father.”
    “Well, do your usual fifty Hail Marys and thirty-five Our Fathers and be off with you.”
    Pat joined Mick outside the church and Mick asked, “What did you get?”
    “I got three certainties for tonight!” replied Pat.

      1. Sir J: OBSG – Good job I read Flemish and Dutch.
        Ontmoeting Buitenlandse Studenten Gent – OBSG vzw
        Meeting of International Students in Ghent: your home far away from home
        Founded by Father Charles de Hemptinne in 1976.
        Please enlighten me.

          1. Tom, Of course! You've used it before. My memory really IS fading.
            I don't know if there are any really new stories that haven't been published somewhere before.

  4. My desktop Windows 11 (spit!) computer is refusing to connect to the Internet again this morning, so I had to transfer all the "Ready to Post " Tales onto a Memory Stick and plug them in to my trusty Apple MacBook laptop. Why is it that Apple hardware ALWAYS WORKS?

    1. This morning, Sonny Boy Senior and I are popping into town to replace my mobile phone.
      The advice is to go for an iPhone but not the latest whizzy one. Something adequate that is reliable will do nicely.

      1. Anne, probably too late to influence you, but here goes. Go Apple. As of January 2024, more than 2.3 BILLION iPhones have been sold worldwide. They are more expensive than other makes because THEY WORK.

        If budget is tight, get yourself a secondhand, refurbished iPhone, e.g. from Amazon here:
        https://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPhone-13-Mini-Renewed-Blue/dp/B09MGCPW26/ref=sr_1_3?
        .
        My highly techie son gave me his old iPhone S years ago, then I bought an iPhone 7 myself with 64 Gigabytes of space. Before that I had had both Blackberry and Android phones.

        After several years of taking lots of photos it was running out of space so I bought an iPhone 13 mini to go Round The world in September 2023.

        I bought the mini, not the 'full-size' handset because I thought the full size one was too big to carry in a pocket. Many women and girls find the full-size one too big to hold easily, though, in its defence, the bigger model is easier to read and to 'type' on.

        Grit your teeth and go for the 256Gbyte version; if not, the 128Gb version in the link above will do you for some years to come. The 3 cameras are superb, too. And get a decent protective cover for it, too.

        Hope this helps. RC

        1. Much as I detest Apple fanboys' evangelism, I have to agree with the above. I've had Apple phones for years (children's cast-offs) and they seem to much simpler to use. That said, having worked with Microsoft softeare in the business world for years, I've never made the transition to an Apple PC.

          1. Yes, and when you need to upgrade to a new one, you just let them 'lie together' (in the Biblical sense), then go and have a cup of tea. When you come back, everything (including passwords etc) has been seamlessly transferred.
            Wonderful – I've done it with iPads too, especially for friends who have no techie skills. Windows is just beginning to make it as simple as that.
            I still have a working 1993 laptop running Windows 3.1, plus several working Windows XP and Win 7 laptops. These last two operating systems were rock solid. Also have laptops running Linux, just for fun.

          2. My Win 7 laptops are much better than this Win10 machine, but unfortunately are now long in the tooth.

          3. Yes, and when you need to upgrade to a new one, you just let them 'lie together' (in the Biblical sense), then go and have a cup of tea. When you come back, everything (including passwords etc) has been seamlessly transferred.
            Wonderful – I've done it with iPads too, especially for friends who have no techie skills. Windows is just beginning to make it as simple as that.
            I still have a working 1993 laptop running Windows 3.1, plus several working Windows XP and Win 7 laptops. These last two operating systems were rock solid. Also have laptops running Linux, just for fun.

        2. Much as I detest Apple fanboys' evangelism, I have to agree with the above. I've had Apple phones for years (children's cast-offs) and they seem to much simpler to use. That said, having worked with Microsoft softeare in the business world for years, I've never made the transition to an Apple PC.

      2. Anne, probably too late to influence you, but here goes. Go Apple. As of January 2024, more than 2.3 BILLION iPhones have been sold worldwide. They are more expensive than other makes because THEY WORK.

        If budget is tight, get yourself a secondhand, refurbished iPhone, e.g. from Amazon here:
        https://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPhone-13-Mini-Renewed-Blue/dp/B09MGCPW26/ref=sr_1_3?
        .
        My highly techie son gave me his old iPhone S years ago, then I bought an iPhone 7 myself with 64 Gigabytes of space. Before that I had had both Blackberry and Android phones.

        After several years of taking lots of photos it was running out of space so I bought an iPhone 13 mini to go Round The world in September 2023.

        I bought the mini, not the 'full-size' handset because I thought the full size one was too big to carry in a pocket. Many women and girls find the full-size one too big to hold easily, though, in its defence, the bigger model is easier to read and to 'type' on.

        Grit your teeth and go for the 256Gbyte version; if not, the 128Gb version in the link above will do you for some years to come. The 3 cameras are superb, too. And get a decent protective cover for it, too.

        Hope this helps. RC

  5. My desktop Windows 11 (spit!) computer is refusing to connect to the Internet again this morning, so I had to transfer all the "Ready to Post " Tales onto a Memory Stick and plug them in to my trusty Apple MacBook laptop. Why is it that Apple hardware ALWAYS WORKS?

      1. Here we are. My Dad says Jenrick is from Wolverhampton, which causes me to have to reassess him.

        He was at the Grammar School, independent since 1979. Interestingly, famous alumni are: Melvyn King (full grammar school); Satnam Sangera (bursary); and now Jenrick (full private).

      2. Here we are. My Dad says Jenrick is from Wolverhampton, which causes me to have to reassess him.

        He was at the Grammar School, independent since 1979. Interestingly, famous alumni are: Melvyn King (full grammar school); Satnam Sangera (bursary); and now Jenrick (full private).

  9. Good morning, chums. A pinch and a punch, white rabbits and welcome to a new month. Also, Geoff, thanks to you for today's new NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,231 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,231 5/6

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  10. And a Good Morning to all on this 1st of November. {thinks; must remember to tax the van}

    Still getting light but it's another dry but overcast start with a tad over 6½°C.

  12. 395694+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The electorate in the main I believe, refuse to acknowledge that this nation is on an internal war footing.

    This latest odious move by the political top ranker governing elites ( enemas) will be seen by many
    as an update on the 39/45 Atlantic convoys, the difference being this time the enemas are working from home.

    Keep up the same voting pattern and your future daily menu will be, in the main,a pharmaceutical breakfast tablet,
    dinner an A1 TV type / 3D print out etc, courtesy of
    mr gates.

    We are learning slowly, that if gates are left in open decent society, evil mayhem is ensured.
    https://x.com/natives_root/status/1852001438546956526

    https://x.com/natives_root/status/1852001438546956526

    3. Last time the PM and Chancellor had to go it's because their own MPs threw them out. This lot of brain-dead hogs aren't going to do that. – apart from the fact that I don't think the Labour Party has the same kind of internal procedural ability.

      1. Yes, Hertslass, but helped greatly by the foul press who kept insisting she was a soggy piece of lettuce.

  14. Good Moaning.
    I'm sure every NOTTLer nurse can remember the varying advice we were given about pre-injection routines. One moment it was swabbing with alcohol, the next it was fiddling with little pre-packed squares of wipey stuff, the next we were told it wasn't necessary, then that it was positively a bad thing to do ….. etc… etc… etc…..

    "Pensioner died of sepsis ‘after nurse did not wipe skin before injection’
    Coroner calls for common sense after nurse followed national guidance during routine vitamin jab that caused infection"

  19. "Rachel Reeves repeatedly met senior Treasury officials in the run-up to the general election, despite claiming surprise at the size of the spending “black hole” after taking office.

    The Chancellor is understood to have held talks with James Bowler, the Treasury permanent secretary, as part of transition discussions ahead of the election in July.

    She personally held a “handful” of meetings with senior Treasury figures, according to a well-placed source, while her team of advisers conducted more frequent conversations ahead of the election."

    Of course she did. It's a well known practice so that – contrary to appearances or its subsequent claims – the next government arrives with some knowledge of the state of the country.

    2. Someone post a pie chart of Government Spending with the Black Hole shown as a miniscule slice of total spending.
      Did anyone save it?

    1. She will get away with it, like Brown did, because the Liebour cheerleaders are all on defined benefit pensions and literally do not care about the private sector.

      Edit. I wonder if it’s challengeable in court? The message is clear though. Either make no provision for yourself at any time in life, or don’t die, ever. I have told mum and dad if they do, i’m keeping them in the freezer for 5 years.

      1. Many public sector employees now belong to a slightly less generous average salary scheme introduced some years ago, but somehow Governments and MPs have not yet found the time to reform their own Parliamentary pensions.

        1. An average salary pension scheme is less generous than a final salary scheme but is still very often far more generous than the defined contribution schemes that most people in the private sector have to have (as well as having to pay for the public employees' schemes).

          1. Agree with you. It's the Parliamentary Pension scheme that demonstrates that MPs preach water while drinking wine.

      2. Many public sector employees now belong to a slightly less generous average salary scheme introduced some years ago, but somehow Governments and MPs have not yet found the time to reform their own Parliamentary pensions.

    2. I believe that the idea behind the IHT raid on pensions is to rush people into spending or giving away their pension, which will then be spent by grateful children. This will produce a rapid boost to the economy, and inflation to wither the gov debt, in time for the next election when the magic growth in the economy will be trumpeted.

  21. Which Black Hole are we referring to?
    The one between her teeth and her nose, or the one lower down on her anatomy?

  22. You know those examples of sentences where punctuation is critical?

    From an article about JD Vance's running mate https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/01/washington-picked-right-president-donald-trump-election/

    "Sequestered at the US’s most northwesterly point, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Canada, Clallam County is largely rural, relying heavily on revenue from its logging industry and the spending of tourists, who come to visit the towering mountains of the Olympic National Park."

    "Sequestered at the US’s most northwesterly point, across the Strait of Juan, de Fuca from Canada, Clallam County is largely rural, relying heavily on revenue from its logging industry and the spending of tourists, who come to visit the towering mountains of the Olympic National Park."

    Although men get older, some of us never quite grow up.

  23. You know those examples of sentences where punctuation is critical?

    From an article about JD Vance's running mate https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/01/washington-picked-right-president-donald-trump-election/

    "Sequestered at the US’s most northwesterly point, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Canada, Clallam County is largely rural, relying heavily on revenue from its logging industry and the spending of tourists, who come to visit the towering mountains of the Olympic National Park."

    "Sequestered at the US’s most northwesterly point, across the Strait of Juan, de Fuca from Canada, Clallam County is largely rural, relying heavily on revenue from its logging industry and the spending of tourists, who come to visit the towering mountains of the Olympic National Park."

    Although men get older, some of us never quite grow up.

  25. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dbab42c04b07c7a8dd99249bb6f0753d9f827f6d1b768cac74ed45107f6dbe19.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/08dda3e0bac67402316252afef1a961cd845b801466821e748039d161c180b99.png
    Well, Peter, if you and your fellow farmers can see that will be the effect then I put it to you that it is the intention. This has nothing to do with revenue raising and everything to do with implementing UN Agenda 21. Do you not think it is time to "go Dutch" and take your tractors and slurry wagons to Westminster?

      1. They are trying to push farmers to take the easy money from putting their land over the green scams. The money is the carrot and this wicked Budget is the stick.

        1. So many in this govt were brought up by Commies. None of them can truly think for themselves. None are truly independent-minded. The Milimaniac, Keir (they even wiped his individuality from day one by their choice of name). Rachel Reeves was a good little girl who studied hard and listened to her parents – a little too hard.

      1. And French farmers are happy to cause as much mayhem as they can..

        Come on British farmers! The French were squashed in WW2 and Holland was occupied while Britain under Churchill prevailed.

        Let's show the French and the Dutch that British farmers can be just as persuasive and disruptive as they can!

    5. The only thing this budget will budge, is millions more into penury and the country into third world status.

  27. 'Morning All
    Delayed mixed medley
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  28. Hmm. It appears that a gold sovereign was worth £365.64 a year ago.
    It's now worth £476.32

    1. Or to put it another way, the pound that previously bought 0.00273 sovereigns now only buys 0.00209 sovereigns.
      The pound is now only worth 76.9% of what it was previously worth.
      (And it's negligible compared to the days when a pound was worth a sovereign!)
      My, my who'd a thought that all that money printing to keep the markets liquid would have had that effect?

      Here's an extract from an article by James Rickards on Daily Reckoning that I was reading this morning (thank you Stephenroi flagging this site on NOTTL!)

      "What happened ..[at Kazan] .. was that Putin and the BRICS announced a new blockchain-based digital ledger to record trade payments using existing currencies of the BRICS members. The significance of this system (tentatively named “BRICS Clear”) is that there are no dollars involved and the secure payment channels are relatively safe from U.S. and EU sanctions.

      Russia will sell oil to China for rubles, Brazil will sell aircraft to China for reais and India will sell technology to China for rupees and so on. (Alternatively, any BRICS member can elect to take the currency of any other BRICS member, all to be recorded on BRICS Clear).

      Payments can be settled on a net basis instead of a gross basis. This means, for example, that Russia and China can trade goods and record payments. There will be “due to” and “due from” on the ledgers.

      Those can be netted out with only the net amount changing hands. And this does not have to be done in real-time; it can be done monthly or quarterly. This greatly reduces the amount of payments and message traffic.

      The central bank or commercial banks in each country can provide payments to local sellers in local currency while recording a due from the BRICS Clear ledger on its books.

      That system can work well, but it leaves two issues unresolved compared to a single currency system. The first is stability in exchange rates while balances are left unsettled. The second is the overaccumulation of a certain currency by one party that may have limited use for that currency.

      If you don’t want to take exchange rate risk, you can take your counterparty currency balances and buy gold. And if you have too much of a certain currency standing on your accounts, you can reduce the balance by buying gold.

      The implications of this have not yet sunk into market pricing. It’s tantamount to an informal gold standard without fixed exchange rates. It relies on market forces (mostly denominated in U.S. dollars for now) and does not rely on huge hoards of freely convertible gold in central banks.

      Still, it works. It positions gold as an anchor in a new international monetary system without the strictures of the classical gold standard."

      https://dailyreckoning.com/the-golden-rule-is-real/

        1. I thought that was all about enforcing the exchange rates? As JR points out, if they use gold they can get round that. And they are buying an awful lot of gold…

          1. The EPU was administered by the BIS (as was the ECU). It was a monthly net settlement system designed to make the best use of scarce US dollars.

  29. Hmm. It appears that a gold sovereign was worth £365.64 a year ago.
    It's now worth £476.32

  30. STOP PRESS

    Folks – as, over breakfast, I looked at the terrible photographs from Valencia, I was reminded that a newish member of our community (rob something) LIVES in or near Valencia.

    He hasn't posted for a few days (as far as I know). I hope he and his family are OK

  31. My week inside the police state of Putin’s wartime Russia. 1 November 2024.

    It was easy enough to chat with people who supported Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but there was also a strong undercurrent of unhappiness, disgust even, with the war, although these frustrations had to be hidden. Russia is by any measure a police state set up for eavesdropping and surveillance.

    The irony. The author of this piece. J Kilner. Also reports (this week) on the Ukraine Front line. The bombing of Karkhiv and even more amazingly on the Dawn Sturgess inquiry in London. All at the same time. The latter is of course a complete hoax designed to cover up the Salisbury/Skripal lies. There are no witnesses, only the reading of seven year old statements into the record. Even the Stalinist show trials in Moscow were unable to equal this feat of legerdemain. The real horror here is that it is we who live in the Police State as the fate of Mr Lynch amply demonstrates. We will soon wish that we were living in Russia.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/01/inside-vladimir-putin-wartime-russia/#comment

  34. Phew!
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  36. Bill Gates, who is buying up cheap farmland, visits 10 Downing Street a couple of weeks ago.
    The Budget on Wednesday introduces taxation that will create large amounts of cheap farmland.

    2. Both my wife and I had a letter two weeks ago from a land auction company with details of a plot of green belt farmland for sale. Split into 16 plots each to be priced at 25 k.
      The land is surrounded by hedgerows and has only limited frontal access from a narrow country lane. There are obviously no essential facilities close by.
      Evidence of an activity such as this could confirm a conspiracy.
      Farm gates are being opened.

    4. There you go…he's been doing it for many years. We'll be on a beans and grass diet before we know it :-((

  37. Good morning to my fellow Nottlers.

    An interesting but frightening opinion from Paul Weston on X yesterday which I found in a tweet in The Conservative Woman today by Major Tom.

    “With regard to my views on The Reform Party, I would state the following:

    I believe they represent our current best hope, not least because they actually have elected members in Parliament. But can Reform exert any real influence over our impending racial and cultural subjugation? I don't think so.

    Nor do I believe ANY political party could hope to deal with what is rapidly approaching us. What we face is way beyond the abilities of polite politicians in suits sitting on green benches.

    Mass deportations would cause a religious war in Britain, involving tens-of-thousands of fanatical young Muslim males armed with machetes and possibly guns. All across the country. No politician wants to see that happen.

    But if mass deportation is not carried out, Britain will either peacefully or violently become an Islamic State in approximately 25 years time. No politician wants to see this either, but by doing nothing about it they can never be accused of causing the religious war.

    In short, the situation in Britain cannot and will not be solved by politicians in suits. I suspect English baby boys born today will have to fight for their racial and cultural survival circa 2050 in the exact same manner the Coptic Christians had to do in 1970s Lebanon

    The poor old Lebanese Coptic Christians lost, unfortunately. A full 33% of those who survived this Islam V Christian war were permanently disabled. People think such a thing couldn't possibly happen in England; couldn't possibly happen in Henley-on-Thames or the Cotswolds…..

    I'm afraid to say it very much can. All that it requires are large numbers of young men who prefer (to put it mildly) their 7th century culture over our 21st century culture.”

    1. Who is the biggest threat, international marxists determined that we shall own nothing and be happy?
      Or islam?
      If you remember that the former planted the latter in our countries, then it's clear that getting involved in an existential war with muslims will play into the hands of those who want us all to be serfs.

      1. Large scale immigration from India and the Pakistans began in the 1960s, much of it to support the dying textiles industry. Militant Islamism surfaced in 1988-89 with the Salman Rushdie affair. Three of the four 2005 bombers were born here.

        The foundations for the Islamic uprising were laid long before the recent Channel invasion.

          1. Indeed, but many see it as a relatively recent phenomenon because of the Channel invasion. In fact, illegal immigrants were coming over in lorries on ferries before the Channel rail tunnel opened.

          2. The reason why most people will always stay poor and the parasite class will always win, is that almost nobody thinks generationally. Except those AHs of course.

          3. And then they set the tunnel on fire in an effort to get trains to stop so they could board them.

  38. Morning all🙂😊
    A Pinch and a punch, sounds like Rachel doesn't it.
    How on earth do politicians all appear to have the impression that they are gods gift to everyone. When in fact and in harsh reality they are the complete opposite.
    As in absolutely useless POSs.
    It seems that they are being allowed to investigated the public's private bank accounts soon to check for benefits fraud.
    But When will their expenses claims be investigated for the same reasons ?

      1. Back in the 90s I worked with a woman who went on to have a very successful career in television by claiming that she'd been employed in a commissioning role at the BBC. She was actually an invoice clerk. A graduate of the London School of Economics so admittedly an over-qualified invoice clerk but nonetheless, she didn't rise above that status except by leaving and falsifying her cv. Which has paid off handsomely.

        2. I suppose if the invoices related to new programming you could stretch a point, although as a nun once said "the essence of a lie is the intent to deceive"? A friend of mine asked me to check the spelling on his draft CV, but wasn't happy when I also checked and disputed the actual content. Everything he said was true, as far as it went, but he left out a lot of detail – so "2nd in command of a Royal Navy ship" ignored the fact that it was a very small ship, with a ship's company of just 13! It got him a quite good job though!

    1. The trouble is that the first to arrive will take the lot so the following children will come and still knock on the door with menacing threats if you don't give them something,

      A fierce dog is probably the best solution.

      1. Or living up a dirt track lined with trees that has no lighting is pretty good. I don't get bothered by trick or treaters.

    2. Back in time and In our pleasant cu-de-sac, now that all the original children have grown up and moved on. It no longer happens.
      During last night's previous Hello Ian furore. When they rang the door bell in the unlit hallway I use to go to the glass and put a torch under my chin, shine it upwards and pull an open mouth face.
      That scared them off. 😆😄🤣😱

      1. I had this wonderful silver plastic anorak with a hood. At the time I had lots of hair, so I combed it forward entirely filling the hole in the hood, and waited for the next ToTer to turn up.

        I came to the door put my arms up and went "wooooahhh" at them. Not one of them stayed back to claim their treat.

        Would this be considered child abuse today?

        1. I saw one woman dressed in black underneath a 'shroud' so I asked her: "Are you the ghost of Net Curtains past?"
          She laughrd!

  40. Today on Free Speech psychologist Xandra H psychoanalyses what passes for the character of our wooden, characterless, robotic plank of an autocratic PM. Please read what she thinks and comment on her article Hollow Man Starmer and let us know what you think makes him tick – or if he ticks at all, and if he does, which boxes.

    And please consider writing an article for FSB, on any subject close to your heart.

    And on the subject of of the budget damaging farms, here 's what FSB said yesterday in our short budget summary – it's all part of the globalist re-set (as was the whole budget).

    1. And what is happening in Ukraine is probably been set up to keep Vlad busy, because he's the only person who can stop all this Davos crap from happening.

  41. Good morning all

    Dull morning , 9c , slight breeze and a glimmer of blue in the sky .

    I saw a flock of Fieldfares yesterday afternoon , probably a hundred or so flew overhead searching for a field /hedgerows .. Winter visitors .

    We have a driveway which can be a bit daunting to children trick or treating .. So I decided to place my self at the end with my torch and and rattle my bag of goodies ..

    Our road is full of elderlies and very few young families and is so quiet it feels as if I am the only one alive if I walk to our local shops etc ..

    The young children escorted by their parents trick or treating were gorgeous, their parents had gone to great trouble to deck them out in ghostie / vampire/ creepy/ spiderman/witch outfits .. and of course little groups of families wandered around the village .

    I enjoyed playing at being spooked by them , so many of them had monster masks and lovely outfits .. I just wish I had bought more tasty treats and apples.

    We don't have any grandchildren , but I do enjoy the funny little ways children have , they seem so sure of themselves these days , and they grow up far too quickly ..

    So here we are now, November .. this is a farming area , rural crafts , some small farms , goats , outdoor turkeys , sheep . My neighbour has ten acres and owns horses , has hens and turkeys as well .

    We have hen rescue farms , donkeys, sheep , lots of tenant farmers , milking parlours , beef , cereal crops , holiday cottages, camping sites, farriers , dog grooming , farm shops , small garden centres , rural crafts . Shooting clubs , timber yards , thatching businesses and so it goes on ..

    Our local MP used to be Richard Drax , a local landowner , sympathetic to many rural issues. He lost his seat

    We now have a young Labour MP.. who cut his political teeth in Camden .

    Don't forget , the Labour government mishandled the Foot and Mouth crisis in the early 2000's.

    Farmers suffered hugely from the incompetent Agricultural policy, family farms were decimated .

    No wonder many farmers have converted their land here to solar farms , because they knew that Labour would be a disaster .

    Sorry to rant on .

    1. You are right to 'rant on.' What this treacherous liebour government are doing to farming – and everything else – is truly frightening.

    2. Rather sad that the Warmwell blog that was so active during F&M appears to have shut down.

  42. Post

    See new posts
    Conversation
    Liz Kershaw
    @LizKershawDJ
    LATEST ON PETER LYNCH
    An inquest on thursday was told that the #Rotherham man who was found dead in HMP Moorland in South Yorkshire on Oct 19th died as a result of hanging
    That's the HOW. What about the WHY?
    #PeterLynch was jailed alongside more than 60 other men following rioting outside a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers.
    The judge told Lynch: “You did not yourself attack any police officer, but what you did was encourage by your conduct others to behave violently and you were part of this mob” before sentencing him to 2 years 8 months.
    Body-camera footage was shown in court of the 61-year-old grandfather screaming: “You are protecting people who are killing our kids and raping them”, “Protect my children” and “We are on the streets now to protect our kids” as police repeatedly pushed him back with shields
    At the inquest on Thursday his son Casey Lynch called for an investigation into why he was sent to prison in the first place and asked a series of questions including why he'd heard a number of different accounts of what time his father was last checked by prison officers before he was found dead.
    The inquest heard that “ancillary investigations” are ongoing. A full inquest will eventually be held in front of a jury.
    @Telegraph
    8:54 AM · Nov 1, 2024
    ·
    3,404
    Views

    2. "#Rotherham man who was found dead in HMP Moorland in South Yorkshire on Oct 19th died as a result of hanging."

      WHO did the hanging, Maggie?

    3. You encouraged others to behave violently. What proof is there of that? How is it judged?

      Of course, it's a case in point that there is no such behaviour. It's circumstantial. These people were jailed because they opposed the state. No other reason.

    4. One of my neighbours remarked that she thought that when in prison you had all means of hanging yourself (belt, tie, shoelaces, etc) removed and you should be observed regularly.

    1. They won't give up pushing this filth. Yesterday, I had the latest in a long string of 'invites' to get a winter flu jab and, as long as I am quick, a free convid booster.
      As long as there are idiots willing , and even desperate, to get the latest convid booster offerings, they will continue. You can't fix stupid.

    2. Saw a woman in the docs the other day wearing a mask – exposing her nose. A nurse suggested that it wasn't helping her or anyone else and she said 'it made her nose itch so she didn't wear it over it.'

      That's the level of stupid we're dealing with.

      1. As Einstein famously remarked; ' “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”

      2. Surely the whole point of women wearing masks is to preserve their modesty and protect their honour. They should use it to cover the hair.

        We are told by the authorities on commercial TV that all women over 30 have leaky bladders, so perhaps it is put to better use down there, well stuffed with some Super Soft puppy fodder.

        While on that subject, I found when rough sleeping in my car in October that since most body heat is lost through the top of the head, it is best to wear one's underpants there. I don't know about preserving modesty, but it seems I have precious little of that to preserve.

  44. There was a suggestion that our failure to build any reservoirs for thirty years was something to do with our EU overlords. I looked into the matter and found that there was indeed an EU policy to re-wild Europe's waterways. Dare I suggest that this might be a relevant factor in the recent floods in Spain? That flood defences have been wilfully neglected?

    1. And don't forget the flooding of the Somerset Levels which was due to the absurd EU imposed ban on dredging which had kept the Levels drained effectively for centuries.

      Owen Paterson, who was an excellent minister, was well aware of the cause of the problem and was sacked for saying so and replaced by Liz Truss by David Cameron. Cameron resented anyone in his government who was competent – Cameron was a petulant and jealous wimp of a man who could not bear having better people than he was around him.

      Paterson was finally sacked for corruption – but he was never given the chance to defend himself and many people believe he was stitched up and innocent. In my view he would have been a far better PM than Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss or Sunak.

        1. Mongo would make a better PM than any of the last 25 years and his most useful contribution is to roll over and want a tummy rub.

        1. A result of unfettered welfare. So many problems are down to Labour's malice and incompetence.

    2. Of coures it is we are doing the same the River Nar in Norfolk is being taken back to its natural course and that means it will not drain the land as quickly and the strait sections are returned to curves. Total madness by people who should know better.

      2. Restoring the meanders increases the length of the river and therefore the volume of water it can hold.

        1. It also holds the water back long enough to soak away to the water table, rather than running off into the rivers, which then burst their banks. The trick is to do this upriver of any settlement.

          This is the thinking behind reintroducing beavers, who are much better at building in flood plains than we are.

          1. As Beaver Bob was oft heard to cry: 'Oi! Jeff! Get that concrete hidden and got some twigs. it's da hoomahns!'

          2. You remove meanders to increase the flow and drain the land morer quickly. They are now putting them back and that will increase the risk of flooding.

          3. No. The river will hold more water.

            The Parrett drains the Somerset levels. It runs mostly on its original course (though with raised banks). It flooded so badly in 2013 because it hadn't been dredged properly for a quarter of a century. Nobody ever said it was ineffective as a drain because it meandered.

          5. Some in the EA are, at last, applying some intelligence to the matter. It’s no good simply speeding up drainage if it means the next town or river downstream gets dumped on sooner. Flows must be speeded up in some places but slowed down in others. Reinstating meanders slows the flow where it does no harm.

    3. Mostly down to their building on flood plains and ignoring water management. Much like the UK.

      The Left then blame 'climate change' when it's the exact opposite. The climate hasn't changed. The same thing occurs, it's just humans not working with it.

      1. Another problem is the looting which has been going on.
        Apparently there are gangs from outside the region stealing from shops, cars and houses. Often entering houses where people are living, intimidating the occupants and robbing with impunity.
        Volunteer vigilante groups are patrolling villages but no help from the authorities.

    4. Our village flooded in 2015. We kicked up a bit of a fuss and got the Environment Agency to return to an annual clearance of the local waterways, the council to ensure the drains were clear and to re-plane the road through the village to return the camber that had been eroded by new drains built too high. Since then, despite heavier rainfall than 2015, no more flooding!

  45. I would like to know how much, if anything, the NHS recharges to countries with reciprocal health care arrangements for British people living outside the UK.
    I get heavily subsidised and superb healthcare in France which gets recharged to the NHS/UK. I suspect the UK recharges very little to France and I also suspect the same applies everywhere.

    A straight comparison, fees charged by the UK vs fees paid by the UK would be a real eye-opener.

      1. If Farage asked it in Parliament it might raise a laugh, but also embarrass the health secretary, who would blame the Tory's even though the fault is NHS management's.

        I suspect the net difference runs into hundreds of millions, if not billions, annually.

      1. Possibly, but it would be better asked by someone with genuine clout, e.g. an MP raised in Parliament

      1. True, and the Brits will be older on average, but it is the actual gross figure I would like to see.
        If it is as I suspect, it should result in even greater scrutiny of individual countries.
        That should lead on to examining just how much free treatment the NHS hands out to people who have no right whatsoever.

  46. Apropos the Spanish flooding, I hope those affected are better treated than their French neighbours. In October 2018 there was terrible flooding around where we lived in the Aude – houses destroyed, bridges washed away etc. Toy Boy and the then prime minister visited and promised that everything would be done to rebuild and that compensation would be doled out rapidly.

    Six years on – many people are STILL waiting……

    Loathsome politicians are universal, n'est-ce pas?

    1. Yep. This happens regularly in Valencia. Bugger all to do with the tax scam of 'climate change' and a lot more to do with building over soil and not providing proper drainage. Valencia needs proper storm drains to channel the water out to sea. It needs real water management considerations but they don't bother and it floods.

      This isn't 'climate change'. It's a steadfast refusal to adapt to and live with the environment.

    2. It’s disgraceful actually. The people are crying out for help but the government has been slow and little help is arriving. Lots of volunteers but only a handful of troops coming to help out.
      No food, no water, no electricity. People living in the dark with no communication. Dead bodies still in mangled cars and flooded garages.
      But the administration is failing miserably.

        1. Nice of you to ask. We live some 250 km away in the interior but spend a lot of time on the coast in a holiday apartment in the province of Castellón. My son has been working In Madrid but he lives in California and due to return to his family next week. My daughter and her family live in a mountain village about 100 km from us. So unless the Dana follows us which now seems unlikely we are all safe.
          The news from Valencia is horribly depressing. Storms there are often very frightening but this has been particularly devastating.

          1. Good to know you are OK.

            As soon as I saw that the Spanish PM had visited and ordered three days of mourning – my heart sank. Gesture politics (covering up his wife's problems?)

  48. While I don't have a problem with Hindus, who mainly integrate well and respect our laws and customs, WHY are they permitted to let off fireworks until 1a.m., ignoring the normal curfew between 11p.m. and 7 a.m.?
    The new family running our little village shop are Hindu. They are friendly, helpful and a good addition to the village. However, last night they were letting off fireworks in the village park for an hour, starting after 8:45 p.m. Thank goodness they didn't wait until even later. I wonder how tired their very young children will be in school today. Plenty of young children live in the houses backing on to the park.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/24327070ab5da286be0c3f465b45898b34a31519ecc09db03fa8e76fdc87e552.jpg

    1. I've noticed some fireworks going off well after 11. The problem is, as with any exception, you'll get some waster who strolls into a firework shop and says 'for divy, innit' and sets them off in an unsafe and dangerous manner.

      1. "Penny for the Guy, Mister". What's the Hindu equivalent of burning effigies of religious insurgents?

      2. I sometimes wonder if some of the more dubious fireworks outlets actually check the ages of those customers who could be under-age.

    2. The rule should be "only set them off in Hindu countries and the UK isn't one". Same applies to ramadamadingdong and eid.

  49. It seems that people who have worked hard for a living, paid and saved for 'halcyon days' of their retirement are being picked on by a bunch of nasty people who have the cheek to call themselves a government.
    Government = Direction, steering, navigation.
    Not in this case, meaningless arm waving, road blocks, notice of closures, and unemployment for many. How can these people call them selves a government. Farmers work long hours in all weather and without them all our country would become a virtual nonenterty.
    People who take up a life long position in politics produce nothing except problems for everyone else, people they have absolutely no consideration for at all.
    Perhaps our Farmers would make a better job of Westminster and Whitehall. Their experience with animals would be very significant.

  50. While shopping yesterday we arranged a second mortgage and bough a copy of the Daily Telegaffe. Amidst all the usual dross, and evidence of non existent editing [see photo], there was an excellent article by Lucy Denyer about the appalling state of military housing. The article makes worrying reading – some of the tales are awful – dangerous faults reported but not actioned, health concerns ignored etc. If this accommodation was offered to council tenants or illegal immigrants there would be an outcry! As Lucy points out, the military are not allowed to strike and have no trade union so it seems no one cares! No wonder recruiting and retention are so poor.

    Anyway, back to the editing, or lack thereof …
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21fc2aa17b7034e6ce3655b3c5ab6177fb236cb2835fd6e819b488fca403bc01.jpg

  51. The Day of the Jackal, review: Eddie Redmayne is truly compelling in 21st-century reboot
    Frederick Forsyth’s assassin already has one superb screen incarnation in Edward Fox – and now this thrilling series gives us another
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/11/01/the-day-of-the-jackal-review-sky-atlantic-eddie-redmayne/

    The Old Harrovian, Edward Fox, was an excellent Jackal; will old Etonian, Eddie Redmayne be any better?

    One might also ask if Antony Eden, Sir Alec Douglas Home, Harold Macmillan, David Cameron and Boris Johnson – all Old Etonians – were a patch on Old Harrovian, Winston Churchill!

    2. I see the person charged with catching the Jackal; the Frenchman Lebel in the Fox original, is now a black, female, MI6 operative? The BTL comments on the series include " It sounds interesting, but why call it The Day of the Jackal? It has very little in common with the original. Oh yes, grab the headlines that way".

      2. I'll take that trade off if it means we can stick it to the Frogs.

        All i require is she can do the part justice.

        1. Yes, I'd agree there. It's become a frustrating trope of 'strong black woman' and thus derided on that basis rather than 'are they actually portraying the character and part.

          However, the Wokers caused this problem. They forced diversity everywhere. Perhaps if they'd kept to the principles of content of character we wouldn't think that way by reflex.

    3. 395694+ up ticks,

      Morning G,

      The philby, mcclain, burgess chaps certainly brought Cambridge to the fore, and act as splendid role models for today's inhouse politico's.

      They certainly set a hard level of treachery to sink to, but with the likes of miranda and the tool fighting our corner our politico's will not be accused of failing to try.

      1. It was interesting to see PBS last night state baldly that Cairncross provided Stalin with

        decrypts from Bletchley Park during and after the Second World War.

        This after many years of denials by the British Government that Cairncross, eventually a

        high up civil servant, was in any way involved.

    4. 395694+ up ticks,

      Morning G,

      The philby, mcclain, burgess chaps certainly brought Cambridge to the fore, and act as splendid role models for today's inhouse politico's.

      They certainly set a hard level of treachery to sink to, but with the likes of miranda and the tool fighting our corner our politico's will not be accused of failing to try.

      1. Then avoid the new one like the plague…. Woke; bame leading lady; story completely altered….

        1. Or just accept it as a new spy thriller. It will be for the majority of people who watch it.

    6. Luckily, for both his education and breadth of experience, Churchill chose not to go to university.

    9. It can't be worse than the Bruce Willis version.
      Although to be fair "The Jackal" wasn't intended as a complete reboot.

      1. They could have called it The Night of the Jackal where he survives and makes another attempt in the evening

        1. But he would have had to have been reincarnated because he was blown to smithereens.

          I have watched the film several times and each time I hope for a different ending with the Jackal succeeding in shooting de Gaulle but it never does – it always ends the same way.!

    10. Think it's on SkyTV, Rastus – not a subscriber, if you watch will you post your review please? Edward Fox was soooooo good.

    11. I enjoyed the book and the film with Edward Fox. I'm not sure I like the idea of a remake. Half of France will have turned into negres.

    1. Predictably there are a few dissenters: 'the butcher's apron' (yawn); 'keep your (British) bombs out of Palestine'.

  54. Christmas has become a grim time of year, remembering lost families and putting on a jolly face as better folk celebrate with their loved ones as I share my turkey alone with the rats. Bah humbug!

    What brought this on? Well, last night we were rehearsing 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' – a schmaltzy American confection fron the 1940s when there was still family life, but we sing it at the speed of a funeral march and in much the same spirit.

    There is this line in the score "They know that Santa's on his way; he's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh…". Being the grumpy old sod I've become, and therefore a keen nottler, I've substituted the word 'Satan' for 'Santa' when singing it. So far the musical director hasn't noticed, but at least one other tenor is following my lead, so it's only a matter of time before the MD catches onto us and gives us a ticking off.

    2. Why not invite one of your choir chums to keep you company? They can't all be married with family. Don't forget a problem shared is a problem doubled. You could be miserable together.

      1. I cooked a three course Christmas dinner for 200 local oldies at the nearby social club. They gave me five beer tokens. The same as all the volunteers. Though the work i put in took six weeks and the other volunteers just served on the day.

        I didn't care. It was worthwhile.

        1. Well done, Phiz – that’s quite a feat you accomplished there. Rope a few volunteers in to help you if you do it another time? Oldies can be crusties – but I’ve found quite a few worthwhile to chat with, on the same wavelength no matter the age difference, they often have stories to tell and no-one to listen to them. And everyone likes to laugh 😄😄😄

          1. I had the food franchise at the club. I didn’t want anyone else in my kitchen. I still cooked and sold all the other stuff in the run up to the day.

            It was all about planning. Even down to how many sprouts on the plate and when to prepare them.

            I was even aware of the gas pressure dropping when the stoves had been on too long so i timed those as well.

            I did hear that the woman who had done it previously had used tinned new potatoes and deep fried them.

            I wasn’t going to take any shortcuts. I knew many if not all had had a proper roast with roasties. So that was that.

            Lunch was at 1pm. My brother who happened to be a food distributor popped in at 11.30 to see how everything was going. I was sitting drinking coffee. He asked if he had the right day. I laughed.

          2. Brilliant. Wish I’d been a fly on the wall (or even a helper, have done some waitressing, always a good laugh with older people).S-i-L is a chef, he does similar to you – has to, plate size/profit size. Previous cook prob just took the easy way out – do the clientele also have Xmas pud and a brandy? (it is funny to think of you sitting drinking coffee when all the work done….)

  55. I'm thinking of writing to our Chief Constable to suggest appointing a black woman as head of the serious crimes unit, particularly for murders. There's clear evidence on the television that this approach would result in a 100% clearance rate.

          2. Me neither…would you charge them tho? similar to one of those drug rehabilitation centres…make a bob or two…😂😂😂

  58. Nothing quite so alluring as your partner wafting downstairs with her hair in curlers bundled up to the nines in woolly jumpers.

  59. Collectivization in the Soviet Union . . . Rachel's bedtime reading?

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
    Part of a series on Stalinism

    The Soviet Union introduced forced collectivization (Russian: Коллективизация) of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940 during the ascension of Joseph Stalin. It began during and was part of the first five-year plan. The policy aimed to integrate individual landholdings and labour into nominally collectively-controlled and openly or directly state-controlled farms: Kolkhozes and Sovkhozes accordingly. The Soviet leadership confidently expected that the replacement of individual peasant farms by collective ones would immediately increase the food supply for the urban population, the supply of raw materials for the processing industry, and agricultural exports via state-imposed quotas on individuals working on collective farms. Planners regarded collectivization as the solution to the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed from 1927. This problem became more acute as the Soviet Union pressed ahead with its ambitious industrialization program, meaning that more food would be needed to keep up with urban demand.

    In October 1929, approximately 7.5% of the peasant households were in collective farms, and by February 1930, 52.7% had been collectivised. The collectivization era saw several famines, as well as peasant resistance to collectivization.

    1. Most famines arise from grand government plans to organise the agricultural sector these days, don't they? China, N Korea etc

        1. Wibbling

          I don't think you are old enough to have experienced the terrible 1970's, when interest rates soared high into double figures , everything was a shock especially for young married couples like Moh and me .

          1. I remember the '70s. I keep trying to warn people, but a prophet is without honour in his own country.

    2. We are witnessing a Communist coup in Britain.

      A farm valued at £4 million (land, buildings and machinery) might return a profit of only 50-100k per annum. Some years, it will make a loss.

      The Labour government has just announced a 20% inheritance on the value of farms, which amounts to £800,000 payable (on a £4M farm) after the death of the farmer.

      His children will be unable to pay this astronomical sum of money, so they will have to sell the farm. But no one will want to buy the farm because of the future inheritance tax issue.

      What will happen? Friends of the government will buy it cheaply and convert it into a solar farm. After a couple of decades of useless energy production the land will be contaminated and can be re-zoned as a brownfield site and sold as building land.

      The government will be very happy. Lots of politicians will become very rich. Farmers will no longer exist and the average person will be unable to buy the expensive imported food British farmers once provided cheaply.

      I'm not sure people fully understand what is actually happening in England. If they did, there would be a million sturdy yeoman armed with pitchforks surrounding parliament next week.

      https://x.com/PWestoff/status/1852302362624287033

      1. The attack on farms and farmers was ongoing under the Tories: adverts asking for early retirement supported by financial pay-offs were published. Why would any government want to reduce the output from farms when at the same time deliberately increasing the population and hence demand? Energy is a similar case to ponder.

        Now, this government is directly increasing the pressure on farmers, via financial means, to pack-up and sell-up. If anyone believes that this due to incompetence…
        magic beans, bridges in London to sell, readily come to mind.

        1. I have been in touch with my former study-mate at school today.

          He was brought up on a farm and has spent his life running a farm.

          He thinks that Starmer and Reeves have lit the fuse on a time bomb which is likely to explode at any moment.

        2. The rate at which farm land is being allowed to be built on for housing estates is also alarming.

    3. Fear not, fellow NoTTLers. As I write, the MR is developing detailed plans for converting the entirety of the Thomas's Norfolk estate to the cultivation of trombetti for the nourishment of the NoTTLer collective. We merely have to supply the wine.

    4. As I recall they culled a lot of the the peasants who didn't agree and a lot of people starved.

  60. So, after years of calling us all racist because we were against mass immigration, Fraser Nelson writes this today in the Telegraph:

    'During the election, we were told that the first of Labour’s five missions was to “secure the highest sustained growth in the G7”. But the OBR finds no Reeves growth effect: not by the next election anyway. But it gets worse. Net migration is forecast to settle at an annual 350,000, equivalent to a city the size of Sunderland every year for the foreseeable.'

    Nice, decent, honest fella?

  62. Is it really breaking news that Manchester United have a new, Portugese, driver of the team bus?

    Man Utd confirm Ruben Amorim as new head coach – latest updates

  63. Listen, what else can one expect .. the idiots have voted in a pansy as a Prime Minister .. similar to France , Canada and anywhere else you care to remember .

    We have a foppish King , with an even more foppish pair of sons ..

    We have no one who is capable of manning up and showing an example .

    Dare I suggest that Rishi has brains and a real love of Britain .. and he certainly manned up on Wednesday when he responded to Lego headed woman.

    Rishi has money of his own and loads of energy .. okay he fell over on various policies, but now the idiots who crossed their boxes during the election have opened up the gates of a socialist/ Marxist hell.

    I am in utter shock .. truly am.

    2. He does have brains, and I think a real love of Britain, but not reciprocated by everyone. He made a few mistakes, possibly through bad or no advice from Civil Servants. I liked him, but many didn't – some for the view he stabbed Boris in the back (who was perfectly capable of stabbing himself), some for his policies, some for envy of his wealth, and some (hopefully a minority) for his colour.

      1. KJ

        I am glad I am not alone with my thoughts on Rishi .. I actually admired him , well not all of his policies , but I loved his energy and get up and go ..

        1. Thanks Belle. I understand his constituents think he's a good MP, too. He was clumsy getting rid of BoJo, but I think it likely many thought it had to be done – when they saw the fallout they didn't support Sunak, apart from Hunt, they seemed to get along well together. I suspect big regret barrelling our way with NoTier and Ms Reeves.

      2. All the tories had to do was to stop the invasion. They knew that but sat around doing nothing as is usually the case in that (those) pretentious Hall (s) with leather seats.

    3. Sunak was brought in to derail the NI Protocol and the proposed Bill of Rights. He achieved both objectives, as set by his masters. He's just another globalist plant implementing anti-British policies. Delighted to see him booted out of office.

      1. If he'd been really genuinely conservative and behaved in a way that benefitted Britain, he'd still be in No. 10.

    1. Astonishing that the audience was so quiet. They're all Left wing Labour types and student activists and usually squeal and shout about all this lark (because they're thick) and hate facts and truth. It was nice for once to hear basic economics explained to the panel.

      Of course, on top of nurses, police, teachers he can add 'massive waste across government'. That needs to be cut radically.

    2. Fiona Bruce with the standard BBC line: "Ah, but Labour had a terrible inheritance."

      Yes, and they're about to make matters even worse.

      1. It's become even more difficult to understand what anyone else except Labour politicians see in the advantage of a Labour government.
        But this terribly situation we are now in proves that the tories are in league all along with the WEF NWO or whatever they are called.
        The boats are still coming but
        why ? We already have a huge black hole in our economy. Unless all those idiots in Wastemonster are in this ongoing invasion of the UK together.

      3. I remember that once Fiona Bruce appeared on Top Gear when Jeremy Clarkson was presenting the programme. As she walked along in her tight fitting trousers he summed her up appreciatively:

        "Nice Bum!"

        Just about the only thing that is nice about her!

      4. Yes, it's quite funny that the BBC says this utterly unchallenged. I'd point to Brown's carnage. The Tory failure was not being conservative.

    1. If government really want to encourage solar then make panels and batteries tax deductible. Folk would race to install them then.

      At a stroke, individuals save money and there's less demand on the grid.

        1. Is… that same man's own money spent on something he might want and find useful rather than spaffed on big fat state's stupid nonsense?

    2. He's an absolute AH.
      If people want solar panels let them put them on their own roofs. There are no leafy suburbs in London. He's already pushing his luck by trying to kidnapp all of the area inside the M25. Most of land he'll be laying claim to is not London.

      1. As you probably know, Holland Park Avenue is lined with beautiful old trees. Khan't wanted to cut them down but the avenue is also lined with multimillionaire's mansions. The trees are still there.

        1. He’s probably got his eyes on Regents or Hyde Park. Or even Buck house garden’s.
          He’s just another nasty piece of work.

    1. It's a good job I can read that news elsewhere. My anti-virus software blocks reformnews.uk as a dangerous website!

    3. I think this is the best approach. Just undermine the local councils, get known for doing good things, understand the way the system works and then take a group of more battle tested and wiser, more politically astute folk into government.

      Or just blow the damned thing up and hang all the wasters currently infesting parliament.

    1. Where can we find the 2024 version of: Robert of Locksley; Wat Tyler; George Loveless; Robert Kett; Guy Fawkes?

      Shirley there is someone out there, with the balls, brains, common sense, leadership abilities, enterprise and impetus to conduct a clinical excision of the cancer that is presently infecting and infesting the country.

      Or is he too hypnotised by his addiction to social media and quite content to carry on harrumphing and tut-tutting while the country burns and society, as we know it, is destroyed?

      1. I'd do the job willingly but I lack any and all charisma and common sense. I'd leave the front work to the Warqueen.

        Come to think of it, the brains as well.

        Good government isn't difficult: cut taxes and go away. However it's bad politics, which requires high taxes to spaff on nonsense.

  69. Hang on a minute – if a car dealer takes a kick-back from the bank that finances my purchase, what business of mine is that?

    (Full disclosure: I don't drive.)

      1. It is the same in France. We rumbled what was going on and provided our own money when we bought a new car.

        They also tried to sell us solar panels saying that if we paid for them with a loan scheme it would cost us nothing. The loan interest and repayment would be met from the money we saved on our electricity bills. But of course if the price of electricity went up and the bank rate rose then we could end up with a substantial debt.

        We soon realised that the salesman knew nothing about solar panels and was far more interested in selling us a loan that we did not want.

        1. Fair point. But my friend in t'north would have none of that, and self-financed her solar panels and the paraphernalia that went with them. It came to the thick end of quiye a bit. I'm not sure that she did a discounted cash-flow analysis of the project.

        2. Thanks, Rastus. We have solar panels, installed first wave, together with a battery for excess storage. Then, there was a FIT payment which initially was good, but then lowered quite a lot. If something seems too good to be true, it generally is. Watch out for hydrogen salesmen….

          1. Paid cash for mine over 10 years ago, FiT payments paid for them in 9 years so on a profit now as the FiT payments increase slightly. If I bought a battery I doubt if I would get that money back

          2. I’m not too sure on the details, but I understand FIT payments paid for ours too, around a decade ago. I think the excess we don’t use gets stored in the Tesla, then released if required or back to the grid, we still get a FIT payment occasionally. Couple of Tesla engineers came to check the battery installation, in a Tesla EV, all black incl tinted windows, very smartly presented, impeccable manners.

  70. Why is Disqus forbidding me from uploading a photograph? Each time I attempt to do so I get a red bar telling me there is a 'network error'.

  71. I don't see how it would affect their advice. And if I think I can get a better finance deal, there's nothing stopping me.

    1. As to the second, true.
      But if they knew about the better deal but still pushed the one where they got the higher commission?

      There is a conflict of interest.

    2. History
      Prior to the Triennial Acts, Parliaments of England could be summoned and dissolved at the Sovereign's discretion. The Acts mandated that gaps between parliaments must not exceed three years,[11] but did not originally put in provisions for mandated dissolution, leading to the Long Parliament which was formed in 1640 and was not dissolved until 1660,[12] and the Cavalier Parliament which sat continuously for 18 years. The 1694 Act set the maximum duration to three years, with mandatory general elections between each. This legislation was carried forward into the Parliament of Great Britain following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707.

      The Septennial Act 1715 increased the maximum length of a parliament to seven years, after which time it would automatically expire.[13] This was later amended by the Parliament Act 1911, reducing the maximum term to five years. This could, however, be overridden at the pleasure of Parliament. The length of a Parliament has been extended on two occasions since 1911, once during each of the two World Wars. At any time the Sovereign could dissolve Parliament and call a general election. In accordance with constitutional convention, the Sovereign did not act independently, but at the request of the Prime Minister. Constitutional experts held that the monarch might refuse permission under the Lascelles Principles if a Parliament had more than a year still to run and if another person could potentially command a majority in the House of Commons. In practice, this meant that a Prime Minister with a Commons majority and the support of his party had de facto authority to dissolve Parliament at a time of his choosing. Prior to 1918, it was the Cabinet who collectively sought permission from the monarch in order for Parliament to be dissolved. However, since 1918, the Prime Minister alone sought the permission of the Sovereign.[14]

    4. Something about that slanted staff and crown makes him look more like the court jester than the king.

  74. Will the hike in inheritance tax also prevent the aristocracy passing on the great estates? Many of them are asset rich but cash-strapped and most of the estates have a home farm. I know they're already being bribed to accept windmills and solar panels instead of producing food but will they be allowed to keep their inheritance? The Normans may have been brutal but what you fight for is legitimately yours and they've been here nearly a thousand years.

    1. They are wealthy enough to afford good tax planning!
      Also they have enough homes that the older generation can move out and pass the main property on.
      Farmers will be OK if they can do that, I think. But they may be stopped from building a small dwelling on the farm by planners. And they're scuppered if they die suddenly, or within seven years of passing the farm on.

          1. Farms are dangerous places; fatal accidents are fairly common. The donor has to stay alive for seven years.

    2. No doubt they will set up bogus charities, and avoid IHT that way, in the same way as others set up companies for other tax purposes.

      1. Am I wrong to hope that they use any means possible to avoid paying? The old aristocracy are not the enemy?

    3. Frankly, I hope the estates are kept intact. I'm just reading a book on Historic Country Houses – one of the attractions is that they've been in the same hands for generations; in some cases more than 800 years. That's a lot of culture and continuity. We can't afford to lose that thanks to some financially illiterate Labour goon.

  75. We are living in dangerous times when with high rates of death duties and inheritance tax that people are more valuable to our authoritarian government dead than alive
    I note that their next big policy is assisted dying.

    2. Just a coincidence, you conspiracy theorist! My rights yada yada oh look there's a new scandal on a TV program involving scantily clad young women.

    2. "Distracted by the Budget"? FFS. Validity and substance to a claim is severely undermined by such a framing.

  77. https://x.com/True_Belle/status/1852350479226810541 https://x.com/True_Belle/status/1852350479226810541
    ·
    They kept their union paymasters happy, they kept them happy by taking away £300 from our pensioners heating this winter. They get a salary thousands of workers can only dream of – however, they get even more Boxing Day and New Years Eve. How many other workers doing their shifts then – firefighters, paramedics, nurses, etc etc etc won't get anywhere near that payout. Its disgraceful!

    2. Public Sector Pensions MUST apply to
      Ex-services people
      MoD workers
      NHS
      Teachers
      Police
      Firefighters
      etc

      NOT just penpushers

      2. Why just those? There are others who do just as valuable work (I would dispute how much value for money teachers, NHS managers, penpushers, DEI hires, and many other public sector shirkers are), but their pensions are being limited and the private sector, which pays for the bloated and largely incompetent public sector, is being punished.

          1. Wotcha, OLT,

            I actually meant that public sector pension levels should actually be available to people in the private sector as well – which they can't be. I really don't see why the governments can ruin private pension provision, as they have done, and keep public sector pensions going for certain public sector employees. They should have the same pension provision as everyone else. The only reason they can get away with giving the pension provision that they do is because the taxpayer effectively pays for it. Employer contributions are paid out of our taxes.

            As far as I'm aware the form pension provision takes is unconnected with Council Tax.

          2. I actually meant that public sector pension levels should actually be available to people in the private sector as well – which they can't be. I really don't see why the governments can ruin private pension provision, as they have done, and keep public sector pensions going for certain public sector employees. They should have the same pension provision as everyone else. The only reason they can get away with giving the pension provision that they do is because the taxpayer effectively pays for it. Employer contributions are paid out of our taxes.

            As far as I'm aware the form pension provision takes is unconnected with Council Tax.

        2. Um, when I was teaching I think I gave value for money. In addition to imparting language skills I tried to add in culture and art.

    1. Just wait until Labour agrees to pay billions in 'reparations' to Caribbean and African countries. Then the whole of the rest of the world will be queuing up to get their compo.

  79. Zimbabwe , government officials lived in luxury whilst the people starved.

    Land grabs and farming suffered , and still does , and now look at South Africa .. read between the lines , and understand what the Chinese are doing in Africa.. and then think again , who owns some huge farming land masses in the UK .

    Private Ownership: A large percentage of UK farmland is privately owned. This includes estates owned by aristocrats, wealthy individuals, and farmers.

    Institutional Investors: There has been a growing trend of institutional investors, such as pension funds and investment firms, purchasing agricultural land as a long-term investment.

    Tenancy: Many farmers operate on a tenancy basis, meaning they rent land rather than own it. This includes both short-term and long-term tenancies.

    Public Land: A small portion of farmland is owned by public bodies or local authorities, which may include land used for public purposes or conservation.

    Statistics: According to the latest data from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), around 70% of agricultural land in England is owned by about 50,000 landowners.

    Overall, while there is a significant amount of farmland owned by individual farmers and aristocrats, the trend toward institutional investment is changing the landscape of land ownership in the UK.

    1. "Zimbabwe , Britain – government officials lived in luxury whilst the people starved shivered.""""

    3. This is the excuse being trotted out by Labour. Today I’ve heard 2 Labour apologists claim that the tax arrangement is being changed because high net worth individuals are buying up farms as an IHT avoidance dodge. They go on to trot out the line that a farming couple can benefit from a £1M nil rate band if they are leaving the farm house to family and then a further £1M free of IHT for the farm land/stock/machinery and then only pay 20% . But, they are ignoring the what it all tots up to for a fairly middling farm. Also the extra nil rate band for leaving a house starts to disappear if your estate is over £2M so a fairly average farm is more likely to get the original £650K than the £1M exemption from IHT
      If the aim is to stop the super-rich buying farm land purely to avoid IHT, I’m sure they could quite easily find a way of tackling that through definitions of what constitutes a working farm and how involved in the farming a beneficiary would have to be for the estate to qualify for IHT relief. For example, they could stipulate that a family has to directly run the farm for 25 years or faces a levy on any sale of the land.

  80. Regarding Rachel Thieves' plans to dismantle Britain's farming industry:

    There is a concerted land grab going on across the western world. The elites want to control the production, supply and distribution of food and also what people can eat. Eating meat and eggs is going to become a luxury for "The Party", not for us minions. All very dystopian stuff that is deeply disturbing to investigate.

    Bill Gates now owns a vast 275,000 acres of agricultural land across the USA. America corporations including Blackrock are buying up Ukraine, one of the most fertile nations on the planet for food production. They have been putting farmers out of business in Europe too, especially in the Netherlands where there were huge protests in the last couple of years.

    It's time people wake up to what is actually going on before it's too late. Our nations are literally being dismantled and sold of to the highest bidders while our societies fall into decay and decadence. It's being deliberately planned and orchestrated.

    1. It's being deliberately planned and orchestrated.

      Well Globo you are in the right place. You will get no arguments about that here.

    2. I don't disagree but there's 89 million acres of agricultural land in the US. Gates needs to step up the pace!

      1. By all accounts he is coming here to buy – meeting with Starmer, then Budget. I have never been a fan of David Icke, but cold-blooded lizards would be an apt way to describe our elites.

        1. Icke is closer to the truth than you would dare imagine. I wouldn't go as far as the lizard people thing but there's no doubt that the ruling elites are engaged in occult practices, the worship and deification of false gods/idols. It's a huge subject beyond what can be speculated about here.

          1. They have the guns and machinery…which can be worth a lot more, as the Russians found out in WW1.

        2. I once knew (not in the Biblical sense) a girl called Moniker – she couldn’t spell either.

    4. Was admiring my neighbour's chickens today as I walked past (Gingers and Booties). She wants to become more self sufficient. There are a lot of people near where I live who are starting to wake up to what's happening.

  81. The 'Uni-Party have been cutting away at the UK's ability to control the essentials. All the bullshit knock-about political fighting has been/is pure theatre as the globalists worm their way into total control. When Starmer said that he preferred Davos to Westminster more people should have taken notice and then looked closely at what the Tories had been up to. Both parties are setting us up for the complete collapse of society.

    https://x.com/JamesMelville/status/1852116025216483615

  82. We need less digitalisation, not more. There is nothing good for us that a digital id can deliver that we don't get from the existing system – only advantages for authorities.

    1. yes, but burying carbon in the ground? It’s got to be the silliest suggestion since the Emperor paraded around naked in his new clothes! Why can’t people see it!

      1. Because they have been fed the mantra "CO2 is killing the planet" over and over again. What they have not been taught is biology (science these days is either "combined" or "environmental" which amounts to the same thing) and photosynthesis.

  84. Reform was banned from discussing Southport ‘attacker’ in Parliament, Nigel Farage reveals. 1 November 2024.

    Reform MPs have been banned from asking questions about the teenager accused of the Southport stabbings in Parliament, Nigel Farage has revealed, warning it will “shred” trust in democracy.

    Mr Farage has accused Sir Keir Starmer of using fear “to shut down public debate that he considers inconvenient”, after Axel Rudakubana was charged with a terror offence.

    Oddly knowing that Democracy in the UK is dead makes it easier to put up with these shenanigans.

    No Comments allowed. Lol.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/01/reform-banned-discussing-southport-attacker-parliament/

    1. Not just Reform from what is being reported? Any news on whether the "Manchester Airport 2" have been charged??

      1. I think the charge has been reduced to failing to have the correct change for the airport car park. Fined 3/6d

          1. Yes, they thought it was something that they were given, not something they actually had to give anyone.

        1. I doubt it. They've kept comments open on the Presidential election – thought I'd come away before I got banned again.

    2. Is that the same Paddy who went to the doctor and said he couldn't stop singing Green, Green Grass of Home?
      The doctor said 'you've got Tom Jones-itis'
      'Is it common?' said Paddy
      Dr 'It's not unusual…………..'

      This joke was originally told about the same time the font pictured above was built.

  86. 395694+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Nigel Farage
    Parliament has a right to know the truth about Southport
    Keir Starmer would be foolish to think he can emerge from this controversy with an enhanced reputation

    May one suggest this farage chap goes ahead and reveals the true facts as known.

    As for the kneeling tools reputation, one would be foolish to think that would worry him, he could very well get a standing ovation at the next davos shindig.

  87. I understand the farmers are travelling up to London next week, hopefully in their tractors to deliver cow dung to No 10 .

    1. They will be blocked. They won't even get close.

      Look at what happened in Canada where they froze bank accounts of protesters and donors.

      1. If they are wise, they won't tell anyone – just arrive under cover of darkness and cut London off. And stay put until they get what they want.

      1. I don't think Starmer is aware of the vast amount of rural areas in the North, from Yorkshire, Cumbria. Lancashire etc maybe he thinks there are only farms in the South West . He's clearly planning his evil 2 tier raids .

    3. But they will have to pay the sodding Kengestion Charge AND the ULEZ. Unless they cover up their numberplates

      1. …or trash all the posts the cameras are on…

        Speaking of which. Those vigilantes have gone quiet. I wonder if they were all fast tracked to the gulags.

        1. we were talking about that just last night. when i retire I am going to become a bladerunner.

      2. Congestion charge doesn't apply from 18.00 on Friday to 08.00 on Monday as I recall – unless the Khanate has changed that. You're fine to pollute over the weekend.

          1. It’s been a while since I last visited the Great Wen. I have even less reason to do so now.

        2. Weekend is after 12 apparently.

          You should have seen London. It was chaos. People everywhere (lovely warm evening).

          Difficult driving conditions though because of the traffic/people/ restrictions everywhere. Think i got caught at the end of a bus lane i didn’t see.

          All going well – though completely stressed – until my brother and i had a pointless row over something stupid and he stormed out of the car. Mother in tears, as you can imagine.

  88. Sorry if I appear to be banging on – but another thought occurred to me ref the Spanish flooding.

    In October 2020 there was very severe flooding in the Alpes-Maritimes – roads and bridges washed away. Houses wrecked etc etc. Villages cut of for months.

    Again, Toy Boy rocked up full of promises of help. Zilch. Four years on – the main "success" story is that the leader of the Alpes-Maritimes regional council – Mr Estrosi – gave a contract to a company run by members of his family to repair the infrastructure. Guess what happened. Yes – you are right. Lotsa money disappeared and the repairs were, if any, desultory.

    I loathe all politicians – any country, any party persuasion.

    1. I believe it's in Daylight Robbery where Dominic Frisby discusses a road and a rail link destroyed by Katrina.

      The rail owned by a private company, the road public infrastructure. The rail was repaired within a week – there's an incentive to repair and improve. The road was left as a ruin for years after. There's no incentive for the state to solve the problem.

    2. The Hard Left permit no dissent. Starmer is just another Lefty fascist who faces any front to his control with force.

      It's funny, media always presents as 'Right wing' the authoritarians but it's arrant nonsense. The Left are evil.

      https://youtu.be/DvCrDIPSEM4?t=61

    3. Quite, if they can jail people for FB posts then insubordination is going to be treated harshly. A note to judges being drafted as we speak no doubt..

  90. You're gonna seriously need that 'young, intelligent, chisel-jawed, charismatic, articulate, brave' figurehead to lead you out of this mess. Pronto.
    They are very rare.. that's why the are called Great.. says David Starkey.

    It's a shame Ginge wasn't so thick & woke. For a brief moment he genuinely had the support of the Nation.

  91. I had a bimble around this magnificent place today, Winchester Cathedral. It makes no odds whether you have Faith or not, it is a beautiful building.
    The font is mid 12th century, and made from black Tournai marble, decorated with carvings showing the miracles of St. Nicholas, patron Saint of children.
    The box is reputed to contain the remains of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons, and father of Alfred the Great:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9116069b8e1b1b781697bb6120e561314965229b3f481c4cdbbe2e35d84f4101.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e1e108ca9f42a59d6e3e4fd744e7d1440f2956884c5542fa34204c527a7c7aa.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6a26cfec9941493255b64ce910c6be8e3ec9285593cb704c217a7327865c722c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91bdc1a10c354c03364ab5ba13c503dc48a49127ebdd58aca76cd2aec95c62b8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98a0a95ebb50e701227b2c4ef0d03d33460f88dc69badfbdd980bd91118105ff.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ff68dd2a561ebafbf4faff183000ed2a31d158eba3a489e9636da4aa5085c67.jpg

    1. I always marvel at the skill in the building and decorations in Historic buildings such as churches especially the Glass.

      1. According to Google:
        Ground broken in 1079, completed 1572. Pretty well all handmade.
        That's 500 years, likely over 120 generations… and the result is truly breathtaking.
        The Glory of God.

        2. All for the son of a carpenter.
          I often wonder how they made everything level across such vast spaces because the had no water levels back then.
          and the quite a a few of the column blocks vary in sizes.

        3. The most amazing thing is that woke warriors haven’t tried to have these ancient religious buildings torn down because the aristocracy that paid for them to be built owned…quiet now…slaves.

        4. When i lived in Winchester (1970s) the Cathedral was said to be sinking, as it was allegedly built on floats beneath which all the rivers of Winchester flowed. There were ongoing remedial works to address this. Does anybody here know whether or not my (then) perception is true?

          1. Yes.
            And pre-Great War, the stabilisation efforts necessitated a diver going under the foundations to under pin them.

            ABSTRACT
            Winchester Cathedral is not only famous for its size and magnificent Gothic architecture but also for the underpinning work that was carried out between 1905 and 1912. This work ran into a number of serious problems due to a high-water table and poor ground conditions. The former meant that the underpinning work had to be carried out by a diver, William Walker, who has become a legend for his heroic work. The need for the underpinning work has seldom been questioned and the purpose of this paper is to examine the evidence on which this key decision was taken. The lessons learned are important for civil engineers and architects called in to advise on the need for the stabilisation of historic buildings and monuments.
            https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.1201/9781003308867-3/historical-underpinning-winchester-cathedral-heroic-horrific-burland-standing-yu

      2. The reason why i like Edward Rutherford novels. Gives a little insight.

        Though Corimobile does a good job of educating numnuts like me on here.

    2. When I enter a simple or a grand Church, I am often overwhelmed by the peaceful atmosphere, leading to tears forming. It only works with mature buildings, so not modern concrete ones – they haven't absorbed the spirit from those that worshipped there sufficintly.
      To think, that maybe a thousand years of people have worshipped in that one building, praying for all kinds of things… and the effect works whether it's a tiny wooden church, all Viking designs, or a massive stone cathedral.
      But then, I'm weird that way.

      1. If that is being weird them I'm proud to declare I am as well. Over a thousand years of ordinary people's faith seems to sink into the fabric of the building be it the great cathedrals or Saint Andrew's at Tarrant Tomson here:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa20abf106471dbadb7807fbfa88608a00dd208c36cd7a959f63789dab87f887.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c46f0ea8cacc0225c51a537709160575340fd2a10400b58731149ef3dc668206.jpg

          2. It's a beautiful little church/chapel. Enough to turn one's face towards God, in it's simplicity and presence.
            Thanks for posting.

    3. Lol we were there yesterday. Salisbury cathedral today

      Edit. Don't forget Canute, and queen Emma!

    4. Lol we were there yesterday. Salisbury cathedral today

      Edit. Don't forget Canute, and queen Emma!

    5. Actually it does matter whether you have Faith or not; if you have the wrong faith you see it as a place to be destroyed and subjected to submission.

  94. All kicking off in France.

    Une fusillade aux Couronneries à Poitiers a fait 5 blessés hier soir. Des tensions entre groupes ont éclaté nécessitant l’intervention de la police et de la gendarmerie. Le Préfet s’est rendu sur place. Des renforts de police seront déployés dès aujourd’hui.

    600 c'est énorme ils vont constituer une armée ??

    Who is involved? Who they ask? Not those Welsh Christians? 600??? sounds like an army.
    Clue: 'L'Othentik' kebab shop..

    1. Kalashnikov rifle and other weapons found hidden at Nice train station
      A passenger spotted the arsenal partly concealed in a false ceiling in the public toilets

    4. "groupes" "ils vont constituer une armee". Nothing like pussyfooting around the problem, is there?

  96. I can hear the conversation around the Cabinet table a couple of weeks ago:

    "We can hammer small farmers with IHT."
    "Err, don't we need small farmers for our food?"
    "Certainly not, I get mine from Waitrose."

    2. I was in a city last year where a farmers' protest was taking place, and I asked a likely looking passer by if he knew where the protest was gathering.
      "Over there," he replied, "but I'm not involved…I'm just going to lunch with my friends"
      Stupid fool.

      1. Life-destroying taxes. Not fair to the farmers, who have to dodge death until seven years after the property's safely handed over, and not fair to people who like eating actual food, when the farms stop producing.
        Criminal Reeves.

    3. Silage is cow food!

      It's the contents of the slurry pit that should be sprayed on Westminster – and if it's from a pig farm, on City Hall when you-know-who is in.

    1. Thanks Grizzly, saw this earlier but well worth watching again. You may now consider yourself off the naughty step….😇

      1. It is likely that If Trump isn't murdered or the votes aren't rigged the President would be amenable to his advice. They are both successful businessmen.
        Unlike the Clinton/Obama/Biden/Harris criminal organisation, both Donald and Elon got rich through normal means.

        1. Musk is one of the parasite class's bright young men who get put in charge of the Next Big Thing. More intelligent than most of them though.

          3. I'm hoping he's not "one of the parasite class's bright young men who get put in charge of the Next Big Thing.",
            but time will tell.

          4. I think the evidence is that he’s allowed to be so successful – they could bankrupt him overnight if he was a genuine threat to them.
            It is plausible that he could lead the world to a brighter future than Gates’ bugs and famines without upsetting the power structure – but he could also be the judas goat that leads people into serfdom.

      1. Dear God, wibbling – just wondering where he was in Alec's post (just above yours) scroll down and there he is, quite a shock the so and so.

      2. I'm not comfortable with the fact that I would happily punch that face squarely on the nose., and keep doing so until my knuckles bled.

          3. I know somebody who taught him in kindergarten. She is a very Christian woman who almost never makes a disparaging remark but she did express surprise at how far Ed has got in life – describing him as ‘a very ordinary little boy’. I don’t think she meant ordinary in the sense of ‘normal’, more in the sense of showing no evidence of significant ability or talent.
            Clearly a late developer.

      7. It bears an uncanny resemblance to MiL's vile youngest son. None of his relatives have any contact, and he lives on the other side of the world. What a shame we can't dispatch Millipede and the rest of the government likewise.

          2. Do unto others as they do unto you?

            The Labour government has been attacking messengers very hard.

          3. I think it's a bit of a stretch to suggest this is incitement to violent disorder. However, just to be on the safe side:

            Internet police: Please note that the previous posts fall under the heading of 'humour' and are not meant literally. Pending the introduction of this government's new hate crime bill, humour remains an acceptable component of life in Britain.

          4. When you are forbidden on pain of imprisonment to attack the policies, you aren't left with a lot of choice, no matter how distasteful.

  104. First picture of public schoolboy who attacked two pupils and teacher with hammers
    Thomas Wei Huang sentenced to life after attacks at Blundell’s boarding school in Devon last year
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/01/public-schoolboy-murder-two-pupils-teacher-hammers/

    BTL

    I was at Blundell's from 1960 – 64.

    In those days virtually all the boys were ethnic white English as they were in most public schools but nowadays virtually all such places have a large number of pupils from overseas.

    And of course the percentage of British students in British universities is far lower that it was in the 1960s and indeed, when my son Christo was studying Aerospace Engineering white students in his year were in the minority. The politicians probably think this is an excellent thing but not everybody agrees with them.

    The schools which survive the Reeves VAT robbery will probably need to recruit yet more pupils who are not English.

    Just as London now no longer has a majority of ethnically white English people in it the same will happen to public schools as only people from overseas will be able to afford the fees!

    2. I wonder how many parents of overseas students can claim tax relief for the fees in their own countries, given that the pupils are not taking up state school places at home

    3. When I studied Architecture at University College London (The Bartlett) in the seventies white English students were in the minority.

      We had Canadian, American, Indian, Sierra Leonean, Iranian, Iraqi, Thai and Australian students from memory and probably other countries. These were mostly from wealthy families. The chap from Sierra Leone had a Ford Capri with CD plates.

      The Architectural Association School in Bedford Square had similar numbers of foreign students mostly Americans. This was because most English local authorities would not recognise the school for grant purposes. The AA was run by the American Alvin Boyarski but attracted the best visiting speakers.

  105. A semestral Par Four?

    Wordle 1,231 4/6
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well done. I doubled yesterday's score.

      Wordle 1,231 6/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟨🟩⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Did you do it deliberately like me Sue?

        sixth attempt

        Wordle 1,231 6/6

        ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
        ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
        ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
        ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      3. Brill! Par four here
        Wordle 1,231 4/6

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        🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
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    4. Par today, just back from the local. Locals verging on revolting.

      Wordle 1,231 4/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Par here as well…… bit boring…. x marks the spot…..
      Wordle 1,231 4/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I'm reading that 14 years residency is sufficient, being over the age of 35 and a citizen.

      "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

      1. Could that be interpreted to mean that 14 years residence is required as well as being a ‘natural born citizen’ ie somebody like Boris Johnston who was a US citizen by birth could not have become president because he hadn’t lived in the US for 14 years?
        Otherwise, what would be the rationale for of the anti Obama ‘birther’ activists?

  107. Me: That haemorrhoid cream really caused a bad reaction.
    Doctor: Where did you apply it?
    Me: On the bus.

  108. No sun – no moon!
    No morn – no noon –
    No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day –
    No sky – no earthly view –
    No distance looking blue –
    No road – no street – no 't'other side the way' –
    No end to any Row –
    No indications where the Crescents go –
    No top to any steeple –
    No recognitions of familiar people –
    No courtesies for showing 'em –
    No knowing 'em –
    No travelling at all – no locomotion,
    No inkling of the way – no notion –
    'No go' – by land or ocean –
    No mail – no post –
    No news from any foreign coast –
    No Park – no Ring – no afternoon gentility –
    No company – no nobility –
    No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
    No comfortable feel in any member –
    No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
    No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, –
    November!

    Thomas Hood.

    I love the period December 22 to October 31.

    I loathe and detest November 1 to December 21. Each day gets darker, colder, damper, foggier, windier and shittier! Sod it! Seven and a half weeks of gruesomeness.

    2. I agree – and I love the Hood poem!

      Ever since the clocks went back I've been in a foul and depressed mood (although many close to me may not have noticed the difference).

      It's called Seasonally Affective Disorder – or SAD – and it is only alleviated by the enforced bonhomie of Christmas…..

      Until then I will remain SAD……

      1. I am the opposite. Since we went back onto proper time I've been attuned to my body rhythms and for the first time for seven months I've got some energy. Get yourself a light box.

        1. I've heard about light boxes but I struggle to see how they can effectively replace natural light.

          There is an old wives tale that says how you respond to the longer nights depends on which month you were born, I was born in June and cant stand the long nights – my wife was born in December and loves them!!

          1. I was born in September. It isn't the long nights that are a problem, it's having to live an hour ahead of my body clock. It effs up my circadian rhythm. The light boxes have UV light. That's what you get in sunlight. It helps to compensate for the "lack" of daylight (but actually we have exactly the same hours of daylight as before they stopped messing with the time).

          2. Ahh, now I get it – it’s a bit like a mini jet lag, we all feel that.

            As an aside, I used to spend a lot of time in my job virtually commuting to the US – I was fine with the Jet lag going out but I was always hammered coming back, never got used to it!

            You must have suffered if your circadian rhythm is that sensitive?

          3. It’s a nightmare every year. I never adjust. Part of the problem is that I’m a night owl, so while I can’t go to sleep when I’m going to bed at (effectively) 11pm, I find getting up at (effectively) 6am the next day draining. When I flew to Australia and Canada I was fine flying out and knocked out when I came back.

          4. Flying out to the US (ie East) I was always told – stay awake as long as you can when you get there, it will help you adjust.

            I guessed you've tried that when the clocks go back (same as flying East) but best of luck getting back in sync!!

          5. The clocks going back are no bother at all; it's when they go FORWARD in the spring and summer I struggle!

          6. Sorry, misunderstood your point!
            Fully agree that 'Flying West' (clocks going forward) is always a much bigger issue. Pleased I dont do it any more, and not likely to again!

  110. That's me gone for today. It stayed grey all day but there was very little breeze.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. 500 million Chinese and Japanese? Will the other 500 million be Muzzies? If do, does that mean a wholesale annihilation of Indians (currently the largest population on the planet) as well as all 'white' races?

      1. Japanese population numbers reported to be falling/fall further, and the Chinese apparently concerned too. Muslims seem to be the only ones not declining in number. Even Modi recognising it.

    2. The point at which it will all fall apart is when wealthy people realise that there isn't a place for them in the plans, they are destined to be serfs along with the rest of us.

    3. I was having a discussion with a woman who thought that perhaps humanity, and certainly the "Western white", is becoming androgynous and will cease to be fertile, given the way that their young are not having children and identifying as heaven only knows what different genders, etc.

  112. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d9026c300b3230bd1137681d81205a95b322fdc4ec3ccfd4eac2c2c503cb81a.png Where's Philip?

    Last June I found a 1kg bag of Seville oranges in the bottom of the freezer, left over from marmalade production. I took them out, defrosted them, stabbed them all over, then placed them into a large Kilner jar and covered them with Finnish vodka. I then placed that jar in a dark cupboard until this morning.

    Today I drained the orange-flavoured vodka into a large sterilised bowl, then squeezed out the residual juice from the oranges, adding it to the bowl. Next I added some simple syrup and stirred it all together before straining the liquid through a jelly bag.

    I got a yield of 160 ml, which filled two-and-a-third vodka bottles. Only problem is I can't drink it since I'm off sugar and alcohol. I'll probably give the two large bottles away as Christmas presents and keep the small one for a future date when I may feel like a small tipple.

    1. When will you tell the recipients that they were actually urine samples from your drinking days?

        1. At my little party in the Summer i asked my sister what her favourite cocktail was. She said……………………. Bucket ready
          Raspberry Vodka…Chambord…Baileys.

          1. Oh good lord! I'd pour that straight into the bucket, cutting out the middle man (or woman)… 🙄

          2. I laid out all my wondrous canapes, dips and crudites and not one person approached. I had all the spirits and mixers available and they ignored those too.

            They just wanted to be served the Punch and Beer!

            I had provided all these little colourful plates and napkins so they could add one two or three of my delights and what did they do?

            Well…………..You may well ask.

            They ignored it all. I had to plead with my most elderly sister to service them. Going around plate after plate and then…………..to my horror !!! a single small piece of gristle from the chicken thigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            Didn’t stop them all snaffling all the Macarrons though !

            THIS ! is why my poor dear elderly sister drinks this vomitous combination. It is a cleansing ritual i recommend after meeting Nottlers for the first time.

    5. The stabbing and the freezing then the Finnishing is a bit worrying. You're not hannibal lectering us are you?

      For the very few getting anything this year given that first class stamps are £1.75 most people are going to be devoid of presents and cards.

      I am however collecting all those little pots and sachets from hotels, motorway service stations and MacDonalds and will present them in a nice used wicker basket if people bother to turn up !

      Basket to be returned…or else!

    1. Lovely, Grizz – thanks 🙂 Bit reminiscent of Van Gogh. M-i-l visiting one time, saw a print I had of Picasso's (Francine) she thought it was my work….love that woman 😀

      1. Camille Pissarro (one of whom's paintings in on the front of this piece) is my favourite impressionist.

  114. Rachel Reeves doesn't mind if you don't like her Budget

    Faisal Islam, Economics editor

    The chancellor's aides say the critical fact is that the borrowing is mostly for big long term UK investment in major capital projects.

    The plans increase investment by £105bn versus previous Conservative plans for significant cuts, leaving investment at the highest sustained level in half a century.

    This could be much better for long term economic growth, and not as inflationary. Clearly, it depends on what the money is spent on.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39nvkl47k9o

    Mr Islam writes like an A-level student.

    As for The Reiver: Don't Care was made to care, Don't Care was hung…

        1. Sorry. But there were two main Graham clans: the Montrose and the Monteith. Plus those in the Border badlands, which I am proud to be associated with.

          1. I think there may be a misunderstanding here. Rachel Reeves is now being called a Reiver in the worst meaning of the name on social media.
            I doubt William meant to insult you or your ancestry.
            I have watched crap sci-fi that have reivers and i am sure none of yours got into Space. Did they?

            :@)

          2. She is reiver the thiever. Nothing to do with Geoff (who gives of his time and internet connection to keep us happy and amused).

          3. Our Rachel’s name implies descent from a petty official/local tax collector – as depicted in Chaucer.

          4. She isn’t our anything. My response was to Geoff’s comment. Though i would be surprised if he was annoyed about the family name.

      2. Not in the old rhyme –
        Don't Care was made to care,
        Don't Care was hung,
        Don't Care was put in the pot
        And boiled 'til he was done.

          3. That’s not really the point – you were criticising the grammar, but it was correct as far as the rhyme was concerned.

            Most rhymes and nursery rhymes come to that, aren’t poet laurate material, but then they don’t pretend to be. They are still part of our heritage. Don’t be such a snob! x

  115. Fertility rates have collapsed across the developed world, by design I'm sure. The Tavistock Institute and its promotion of transgenderism is also heavily implicated. It's right out of Huxley's Brave new World.

    1. "It's right out of Huxley's Brave new World.". No it's not. I have read that very recently.

      1. The concepts are certainly the same.
        Castes/classes bred to fulfil tasks and all controlled by elites, unless my memory (60+ years ago) of the whole is false.

        1. I see no mention of a caste system in the above text. A caste system is there in BNW but it's not a feature of any great sinister significance. On the whole life is pretty good for that part of the world, Huxley's point is it has no soul, is largely vacuous but it is very stable and comfortable.

          5. Only for those at the top of the “food chain”.
            What is elimination of useless eaters and having particular races/cultures given prominence other than a caste system expressed differently?

          6. It is over half a century since I read it but I think one of the most sinister aspects was that vast nurseries had taken the place of family. In more recent years I learned that this was actually a policy favoured by the Fabians so I imagine that Huxley was satirising them.

          7. I agree the destruction of the family is a big feature. As I recall it's is described as making people emotionally unstable, therefore undesirable.

          8. Also Lola there are a couple of great articles about the Fabians on Free Speech Backlash. Utterly bonkers that lot.

      2. Errrr, exactly what I thought AA, it isnt at all – but I'm trying to avoid confrontation these days……..

    2. I remember decades ago seeing a scientific paper correlating the level of education of a woman inversely against the number of children she had. So, high education, few offspring.
      Mother has a Ph.D, and just me.
      SWMBO has M. Phil, and two lads.
      QED.

      1. It's the same through much of the animal kingdom – the higher up the evolutionary scale, the fewer the offspring. Of course there can be exceptions but they tend to prove the general rule. Our average IQ level as a population has apparently gone down in the last 40 years, according to various studies. That figures.

        1. What could possibly have caused that, I wonder? Nothing to do with dilution of the gene pool, no sirree.

    1. If Christians did similarly outside major mosques in the UK, let alone in Islamic country's capital cities, all Hell would be let loose.

          3. "We" do, the PTB don't, or if they do they are complicit in the destruction of Western civilisation.

            Oops, I see what you did there!

          5. First choice would be beheading; that's what their book tells them to do with the unbeliever.

      2. BIbles and Churches are forbidden in Muslim countries.

        Britain is a Christian country which has a Christian Church of which the monarch is the head.

        So surely the King and the prime minister would be within their rights by reciprocating and banning both mosques and the Quran?

        Of course this is at the very root of the problem. Why do we tolerate those who do not tolerate us in Britain.

        Indeed – what would Archpillock Welby say about it?

    3. 50 kt would do the trick, and if timed right it would take out the duplicitous arseholes in the building behind.

    2. From my understanding of local farming, not many bullocks survive a fraction of a government's term in power.

  120. Evening, all. Bonfire Night has started early. I've sprayed Kadi with Pet Remedy and offered him a den to hide in, but he's shaking like a leaf and panting fit to burst. I reckon there are four more nights to cope with until peace is restored.

    There are no words I could print about this disgraceful government that wouldn't have me in chokey.

    2. Sorry to read your post, Conway – this blanket is only thing I've found to calm my dog when travelling, I guess it must be similar to those weighted blankets sometimes used for children. Good luck.
      https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dogs-Blanket-72x107cm-Anti-Anxiety-Snuggler/dp/B085VTHXGX/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=WG08F8OQGYU4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.44YMXz9pxSAZ35v1Jl6qNno2cBBK4yAWGeRtQ-489qQ14DBkiS-qOEs_Cg72NB9Feh8OgbpXuGJOTj0Rc-vOaW_Cx6v1IDM_oZiwCt-bbYVvJRVQo7xI2lOW1Kq3KKjWWyb9ASVAD_9IZozADrmn7vc7DJOZMcvPvcXXj30Pen2hmdCOMW_VmWvgjRtwAqDefbIpi9nk-j_M0BuVvQKz9NGLAbk51Q9SsCfBqJVe-AbC6vZaNGdgbnC-KgQ39mNbr1dKvX3R2MZJCwVajioOrYaPuZhTs9TXw-ZX62xeFgY.uF6ff179twUD4v-qFIc4cn6ancImUvf3fqKneqQZkfA&dib_tag=se&keywords=dog%2Bblanket&qid=1730487801&sprefix=dog%2Bblanket%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&smid=A3TFO26SXLLIOF&th=1

        1. The one I have is quite large, perhaps a weighted one might help him. I think there are drops to help, they smell quite strongly of alcohol/brandy…

          2. No, I don’t think so. Be more inclined to drink it myself, help me to ignore him? But then I’m more of a whisky girl….

    3. I know you won't necessarily want the noise, but can you train him to bark back at the bangs with treats?

      1. Hahaha! He doesn't need training! I need ear defenders. I am not rewarding him for barking; I've been trying to persuade him not to bark since I've had him.

          1. No, he’s not particularly musical. Thankfully, he’s calmed down now because the bangs have stopped.

      1. There is already a calming plug-in at work. Trust me, I've tried everything I can think of since I had him. He's just a nervous wreck.

    5. I pile quilts on my bed and allow them skin contact. Then i read my book while they are buried in the quilts and blankets.
      I also have those ear muff type things for doggies. Thick socks might help it you cut some holes in the right places.
      Also…..put some music on to dull the noises.

    6. Only four nights, Conners? In my experience fireworks continue right up until New Year's Eve – and then some more.

      1. The worst will be over the weekend when various places within hearing distance (i e around a mile!) hold displays. The ones at the moment are in people's gardens and the same will apply for Monday and Tuesday, if past experience is anything to go by. Fingers crossed we won't get anybody celebrating Diversity – sorry, I mean Diwali.

    7. Only four nights, Conners? In my experience fireworks continue right up until New Year's Eve – and then some more.

    8. My Oscar doesn't seem to worry about it, not that we're in a highly populated area. He's more anxious and shivery when we shout at each other. He's okay when he's thoroughly cuddled. It's usually something the government's done that starts us shouting.

      1. Thankfully Kadi is now fast asleep. The bangs have stopped for the moment and I think he's probably worn himself out. Oddly enough, my shouting at the TV (when I had one) didn't seem to bother him a jot.

      1. Unlikely to be that round here, despite the visible diversity. I don’t think they’re Hindus.

  121. I read in the extract that there would be the elites and the rest. If that isn't a caste system I don't know what is.

  122. No great significance? Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta babies are bred and indoctrinated from they are born to be their designated category. Each category has its own function and there is no crossover. IMO that is pretty sinister.

    1. Well no, Huxley doesn’t make that point in any significant way. As it goes I was expecting more of a song and a dance about that notion but Huxley doesn’t go there. Huxley creates a world where everyone is largely OK with their lot. It's all very beige. And if they are not OK around the edges there's always Soma.

      2. Isn’t that the point? That people have become so brainwashed that they accept what we would consider unacceptable.

  123. Not unless I am prepared to do it indefinitely! I don't want to make a big thing out of it and build it up in his mind as something to worry about.

  124. Alan Sked
    Starmer is the worst of old and New Labour
    The PM combines a devotion to 1970s-style intervention with a fondness for Blairite constitutional vandalism
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/31/starmer-combines-70s-labour-and-blair-worst-aspects/

    What exactly was Rachel Reeves’s first Budget supposed to do? Repair the damage done to public services under the Tories and kickstart economic growth. Yet the OBR is forecasting economic stagnation for the rest of this Parliament.

    Labour governments have always believed in growing the economy. Immediately after the war their key to this was the nationalisation of 20 per cent of British industry – unfortunately the dud 20 per cent. The compensation paid to the owners was then used by them to invest in profitable industries while the new state-owned ones – now run by boards of ennobled trade union grandees – just kept on making losses. Nor did the workers in these industries benefit in any way since their management structures remained the same. Soon nobody believed in nationalisation any more. Indeed, by 1951 Richard Crossman was writing: “Now all we can promise is that socialism is more moral than capitalism.”

    Paul Clements
    6 hrs ago
    "Now we have Starmer in power who also believes in a morally superior welfare capitalism, the ability to plan and kickstart the economy though a green-energy revolution, and central government investment funds for start-ups." No, he does not. He is a lawyer who turned belatedly to a career in politics for no other reason than self-advancement. He does not believe in anything and thus, has no views on anything at all and like every lawyer he needs someone else to provide him with a brief which he can then learn and parrot. Thus, Starmer merely repeats what the last person to have sat on him demands he says. In this case, the far left wing of the Labour Party via Raynor, Mc Fadden and others.

    1. “Now all we can promise is that socialism is more moral than capitalism.” – even that's a lie; what's moral about taking from people who have worked hard and earned the cash to throw at people who can't be bothered and live on welfare?

      1. Exactly .. and by stating socialism is more moral than capitalism is Marxist through and through .

        We are being had and will soon be driven to our wits end .

  125. Well how about that, a weather expert explaining how and why there was so much rain in Spain.
    Something to do with being close to the Mediterranean and the narrow gap between Gibraltar and North Africa.
    Strange how for most of the summer Spain had very little rain even severe drought in some areas and as soon as it became cloudy just like Dubai earlier in the year, there was a massive concentrated down pour leading to the tragic flooding. But not in other parts of the Mediterranean. Very peculiar.

      2. And their are many flights that visit both Spanish airports as well as in and out of Dubai.

      1. If we are to survive HE needs to try harder. And just in case some seventh rate troll can't follow a thread i am talking about GOD !

  130. I have some Tramadol and Gabapentin left over from sedating Oscar (to be groomed or to visit the vet). The trouble is, Oscar was heavier than Kadi. I wouldn't like to give him an overdose.

      1. No, I wouldn't. I might ask the vet for something to calm Kadi down, but by the time I can get to do that the worst will be over. Something to bear in mind for next year – or the New Year when they seem to go mad with fireworks.

    1. I start much earlier than thou, so oldest first is the better option, when you usually arrive oldest first is almost history!

      1. You do have the advantage of being one hour ahead. Plus I don't fire up the computer until much later. Still, it's good to know that I accord with the consensus here.

  134. The Left also want abortion up to 8 months. I will describe the process if you like….Not !
    You really don't want to go there.

    It will be argued he had issues/mental health problems/was drunk/ but we all know the real reason.

    You don't need to read much into the article that it wasn't his fault. He is a good father.

    I am also very surprised any sort of tests were carried out.

      1. Yes. What is the difference between a full-term or "post birth" abortion and infanticide. I can see none.

        1. No difference. I read an American piece, but I think abortion can be carried out late term uk too. Procedure is horrific. (Apart from that, good to see you again.:-)

  136. Just last Sunday everyone was commenting on all those contrails, saying that we were in for some climate change.
    Then this week we have flash floods over Spain

    1. Many field fares this week, Bob3, first for a few years..cold winter ahead, perhaps? Plus el nino has given way to la nina.

  137. Paul Homewood seems to know…says many occurrences of floods in this particular area, going back a number of years.

    1. We’ve had many floods in the UK before. Expecially early 1950s. Long before the invented phrase climate change or its insidious little brother glowball warming was introduced to humanity.
      Even when we lived in Oz floods happened and rivers burst banks.
      And lots of small farming communities gave up and moved because of drought.
      It happens. It’s weather not scientific knowledge. As today’s ‘experts’ seem to assume.

      1. ‘morning Eddy, thanks for your reply…completely agree. Have had conversations with others who are really concerned about this, even the local church, some people are very worried and I try to reassure them – think the coming winter may be more persuasive than I am.

  138. How the Environment Secretary’s £420 wellies are fuelling a farmers’ revolt

    With the world of agriculture still reeling from Rachel Reeves’ Budget, Steve Reed’s choice of footwear has added insult to injury

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/11/01/TELEMMGLPICT000400243500_17304857856910_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.jpeg?imwidth=680 Steve Reed was pictured wearing £420 Le Chameau wellies with former National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters

    01 November 2024 7:00pm GMT
    Ed Cumming
    They say you can tell a lot about a man by his shoes. This week, Britain’s angry farmers are judging Steve Reed by his. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is not a mucky gumboots kind of man. Instead, according to reports this week, Reed favours leather-lined Le Chameau “Chasseur” boots, “hand crafted by one single master boot maker”, or so says their blurb, and priced at a whopping £420.

    Not that Reed necessarily had to dip into his own pocket. Among the directors of Le Chameau is none other than the most generous of Labour donors, Lord Alli, who has given tens of thousands of pounds to Labour ministers, not least the Prime Minister.

    Reed’s boots were reportedly a gift from Alli, continuing the peer’s recent history of outfitting the Labour Party. At the time the boots were claimed to be donated they cost £270, handily just below the £300 threshold to be registered in the members’ interests.

    For farmers furious at Rachel Reeves’ Budget this week, which promises to increase inheritance tax (IHT) for tens of thousands of farmers, while keeping the overall agriculture budget flat, Reed’s boots have become a symbol of a Government completely detached from rural reality.

    “You’ll never see a farmer who wears £400 wellies, because we’re getting them covered in muck every day,” says Aled Thomas, a farmer and Conservative councillor in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

    “How can the MP for Streatham (Reed’s south London constituency) know anything about what’s going on in the depths of rural Wales or England? There’s this disconnect between the reality on the ground and what people are actually going through and what happens within the M25. Steve hasn’t helped himself. People are feeling quite insulted.”

    Environment Secretary Steve Reed delivers a keynote speech
    Reed previously made no mention of changes to family farms’ inheritance tax Credit: PA
    Bethan Holt, the Telegraph’s fashion director, says that the Reed’s Le Chameau wellies are far from the classic farmer option.

    “Le Chameaus are undoubtedly fabulous wellies but they won’t have scored Reed any authenticity points with the farmers,” she says. “They’re more a label associated with the Princess of Wales and glossy Cotswolds types. They have a whiff of City boy about them, when manure would have been preferable. A £50 pair of Dunlops would have done the trick.”

    “They’re absolutely not the kind of wellies a farmer would wear,” says Andrew Court, a farmer from Staffordshire. “Anything above £100 is not really appropriate for farming, it’s for driving your Chelsea tractor, that sort of thing. It’s possibly not been very thought out, wearing such expensive wellies. If you want to make the right impression with people, you probably want a more practical down-to-earth welly.”

    It is not the only way in which Reed, 60, does not fit the stereotypical profile of a farming secretary. Raised in St Albans, he studied English at Sheffield and worked in educational publishing for most of his career. In 2006 he became leader of Lambeth Council in south London. Together with Morgan McSweeney, now Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Reed worked to wrestle control of the council back from the hard Left. The two men later formed Labour Together, with Jon Cruddas and Lisa Nandy, a think tank designed to help resist Corbynism and which played a crucial role in getting Starmer elected leader.

    Reed’s background is in a street-fighting, inner-city kind of politics. He was elected MP for Croydon and Streatham North in 2012. Since then, he has been best known for campaigning successfully for police attending mental hospitals to wear body-cameras when restraining patients. In 2020, he was in the news for labelling the Jewish businessman Richard Desmond a “puppet-master” on social media. He deleted his post after learning Desmond was Jewish.

    In an interview last month, Reed spoke about his pride in fighting off the hard Left in south London. “Lambeth had been taken over by the hard left and we won it back,” he told The Times. “We knew what they were and how to beat them.”

    In his core Defra practice, he said he was focused on moving farming towards a more environmental model. There was no mention of any changes to IHT.

    “There’s a need to transition farming to a more nature-positive model of farming,” he said. “But we should be working with farmers who understand that transition, because they’ve already done it, and then supporting them to engage with other farmers, so you get a farmer-led model of transition.”
    *
    *
    *
    Dan Shepherd
    1 hr ago
    An MP for an inner city constituency is the Secretary for Rural Affairs. That’s how much this government care about the countryside.

    1. They are French, aren't they? He could have worn a pair of Hoggs if he wanted to splash out.

      1. I bought my wellies in Swansea Market twenty years ago. £10 and nowt wrong with them.

    2. Farming in England is being destroyed and elsewhere. The only people left will be corporations and people like that little shit getting his expensive boots paid for by someone else. We have already seen it happening.

      Who for fuck sake doesn't pay for their own spectacles?

      you still talking to me Citroen?

    3. No No Minette !

      I wondered who the bint hob nobbing with the Minister was. A newly made Baroness no less. NFU president.

      The photo would be improved with real farmers gathered around them with pitchforks.

    1. I don't own a pair; mine are Hoggs (also expensive, but Scottish) and I'm not a government minister who should be promoting Buy British.

        1. It would have been an instruction to others. A case if do as I say, not as I do. They are good at that.

    1. It's all very well having a "no dogs" sign – what about those dogs who served in the war? They carried messages and wire for communications.

      1. Wasn't there a Newfoundland who carried a grenade away from his human unit and was killed in the doing?

        Problem is, some dog walkers would simply let their dogs foul over the headstones. It's sad, but they would.

    2. We've just returned from a regular (because we can't go every year) trip to HG's great uncle's grave in northern France. He was killed within days of the end of the war.
      The grave is in a civilian cemetery, along with French soldiers. The average age of the dead was around 30 .
      The whole area is kept beautifully by the commune; I always weep.
      Other relatives names appear on walls, as their final resting places are unknown.

      What a waste.

      1. It's All Souls so it's traditional to visit the graves of relatives. I would like to go to a requiem tomorrow morning, but unfortunately, I can't fit it in. The timing is too tight for me to attend that and then get to Fflint for a meeting, even though the meeting has been put back an hour.

        1. It’s a public holiday here, although I believe tomorrow is the traditional date for grave visits.

          The civil part of the cemetery we visited is immaculate and it’s surprising how the French place all sorts of of mementoes on the plots.
          There was a disturbing number of recent graves for children. The photographs suggested there might be a genetic or chemical problem in the area.

    1. I'm sure there is the odd shot gun hanging around.

      Given how well the..well let's call them the police…….monitor such things.

      Like they are so on top of machetes.

      1. Machetes are only agricultural where the animal's ancestors originate. Here they're urban.

        1. Begs the question. Why are machetes so popular in the UK where we don't have any jungle or other things to slash through except other people.

          People with security or armoured cars are excepted of course.

  143. And that is me off to bed.
    Another load of brash burnt and small area of the hill above the "garden" cleared.

  144. Hi folks – out and about to day including a visit to The Colonades in Bath – a site that's been closed to the public for 50 years. I thought I'd post a few shots especially for corim…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cbe7b27a518a8779ed256568486092e4592e4fa262f3a07d4663931e99d05a5.jpg
    The end of the Colonade abutting Pultney Bridge:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f4200acd94f51b81ad9d71abe09e8d7c0933b5996880ecda0afb3ea6b331055.jpg
    East Gate to Bath, in Ship Stall Lane, dating from circa C12-1C4th :

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0465042751ebed416f88a220cba136867f210340b7bb6597c97c46aecf20cac1.jpg
    Graffiti in the vicinity dating from the time when Bath became HQ for the RN:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/404d2efad0c7de9b5894d5df288f9440b98123dd24fbbb07fb2730457ef475ab.jpg
    The weir seen from the Colonades:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4da21eb321dcaace7ef8fe09878e0d20b385ce7961deaa68a8f634d319f1b4e4.jpg

    2. I look at those beautiful buildings and yes, times have changed but I look at how disgusting our capital is and I think how easily the achievements and work of the past has been squandered by a petulant, ungrateful, arrogant clique.

          1. Yes Connners, I got that bit but missed the significance unless it relates to the graffiti

    4. Very interesting, King Richard Stephen. I am intrigued to know why it was closed to the public for 50 years. And why has it now re-opened?

      1. Richard???

        The reason given was vandalism. I think the Council are now pondering if this 'asset' which has a considerable amount of potentially usable space can be put to some alternative use….?

    5. On visits home when I was a student at the University of Sheffield I would smoke Gitane cigarettes whilst reading a book in the Colonnade which was accessed from the Parade Gardens. Deckchairs were then available.

      The Navy Department was housed in the former Empire Hotel next to the Police Station above (facing Orange Grove). Its roofline on two sides depict the cottage, the mansion and the castle.

      I just love being reminded of those special places in my home city.

          2. Not heard/see charp for snooze for a long time… Mother used to use it when she had a siesta after lunch every day. Now, not sure what her routines are in her care home.

          4. It’s aright bugger for me, Tom. I’m not sure she’s too aware of the situation, since she’s not too aware of me either. A blessing, I suppose.
            Thanks for your sympathy.

    2. They're fantastic, if I start eating them I find it difficult to stop (although that does apply to a lot of things….)

  147. I'm having a wee dram before I pop off to bed.
    It might ease the annoying disturbance in my upper respiratory system. If not it'll be worth a try.
    Good night all. 😴🥃

    1. A long gargle may help of said dram.
      I have had trouble shifting but i have found Benylin mucus cough max honey and lemon has worked. Not cured. Just worked.

    2. Try a hot whisky, juice of a lemon, tsp honey and four cloves, Eddy.

      If its only quite good, try another!

  149. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    It’s Rishi Sunak’s final week as Tory leader, but should he be asked to carry on? On Wednesday he charmed the Commons at PMQs before stealing Rachel Reeves’s thunder with a virtuoso Budget speech. And now, in the final poll of his leadership, it transpires that the Conservatives have, at long last, overtaken Labour in the polls. Autumn election anyone?

    The BMG research poll, which was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the Budget, found the Tories ahead in the polls for the first time since the partygate scandal began in December 2021. Asked how they would vote if a fresh general election were held now, 29 per cent of respondents said they would back the Conservatives with 28 per cent opting for Labour. Reform are on 17 points with the Liberal Democrats on 13. Sir Keir’s personal ratings have also suffered, reaching a new low of net -26, with 23 per cent of the public approving of his performance in office and 49 per cent dissatisfied. Sunak has recovered to -5 having gone into the general election on -42.

    Guess governing is harder than it looks, eh chaps?

    Steerpike
    WRITTEN BY
    Steerpike
    Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

  151. I like Japanese woodblock prints, very labour intensive tho. Recently gifted large Mark Catesby botanical paintings and drawings. You prob not keen on either as a Pissarro fan 😊 ‘night Grizzly 😴 poss see you the morrow.

      1. Comin’ over ear wiv your Francais la de dah (just kidding, who/what’s your favourite, Grizz?)

        1. Impossible to say, Katy. I have broad tastes. Trying to pick favourites from Art, Literature or Music is an impossible chore; I like so much (equally I dislike a lot too).

  152. 395694+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    Makes one wonder again, again,and again who votes for these morally illegal mass uncontrolled / governing body controlled immigration parties.

    Prime example of the near future of what has been voted in, out of, believe it or not pure spite is whilst the invasion force sleep soundly at night a number of our elderly will be shivering their way to the grave.

    https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1852261770963931269

  153. I disagree – our friend means that they are showing us that they really are arseholes – (as if we didn't already know!)

  154. It's the start of Virgil's Aeneid. It tells of a man sent into exile. Used by GBS as a title for one of his plays. The Graffiti was done by the RM, wasn't it?

  155. I had a discussion years ago with a friend .. We agreed that Britain resembled a beautiful paint palette .. Our countryside , towns cities , monuments , architecture , culture and our people .

    Depending on where one visited in Britain , we recognised our own , we recognised many people had tough lives , some had easy lives , some were poor , some were averagely well off , but the mixture of our own people was wonderful, we could communicate with cheeky chappies , slick bounders, laughing women , we could rub shoulders comfortably , couldn't we .. whether we were talking about the weather, train times beautiful flowers , the price of eggs/ tea/ theatre rhubarb or whatever , we knew who we were mixing with .. and don't forget our 6 degrees of separation ..

    A few of us just might be related to each other on here , who knows .. but now when we mingle with others during the day , there is an awkward ness , a preoccupation with mobile phones and indifference .

    What has happened to us as a society / country etc ?

  158. Keir Starmer must be shitting himself on the eve of the US Presidential Election. Trump has an incredibly strong team with RFK Jnr., Tulsi Gabbard, J D Vance, Macgregor, Varaswamy, Massey, and space scientists such as Elon Musk.

    Just as the Harris Biden administration has belittled America so too Starmer and his bunch of low IQ vengeful Marxist scum has taken the UK to its lowest esteem in our great history.

    Starmer, you are fired. Get out of here and take your slappers with you.

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