Friday 10 March: Can more money really change the French approach to small boats?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

699 thoughts on “Friday 10 March: Can more money really change the French approach to small boats?”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Why Sharks Circle Before Attacking.

    Two great white sharks swimming in the ocean spied survivors of a sunken ship.

    “Follow me son” the father shark said to the son shark and they swam to the mass of people.

    “First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing.”

    And they did.

    “Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few times with all of our fins showing.”

    And they did.

    “Now we eat everybody.”

    And they did.

    When they were both gorged, the son asked, “Dad, why didn’t we just eat them all at first? Why did we swim around and around them?”

    His wise father replied, “Because they taste better if you scare the shit out of them first!”

  5. Good morning all.
    Looks a bit dull outside, but not yet fully daylight. -3° with a light fall of snow and about 2″ on the ground.
    The main road looks clear, and I think I heard the snowplough go past in the small hours but the road to the village has snow on it, but looks drivable.

    1. 8C cloud and damp, Temp forecast to fall during the day as the wind moves into the north.

    2. A light snowdering of pow here in Moffat. Temp -1°C.

      It might rise to 6°C by 15:00.

  6. Ah! Emma Kirkby singing Robert Johnson’s Hark, Hark! The Lark from Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline”!
    Delighful!

  7. Scotland has become a deeply sinister country. 10 March 2023.

    A consultation by the SNP Government suggests that as a way of fighting misogyny, men who loudly and publicly discuss their sexual conquests could face jail terms of up to seven years. No one is suggesting that misogyny isn’t a social menace that harms and threatens women. But jail time? Really?

    Another suggestion is that a crime could be committed if a man “deliberately rubs up against a woman in a public place”. Having just returned home from a trip to a very crowded London where I frequently used rush-hour Underground trains, I wonder how practical such a law would be. Remember that prosecution could only follow a police investigation. Witness statements and other physical evidence would need to be sought to demonstrate that a particular man was unnecessarily, and for his own sexual gratification, seeking to intimidate a woman. The trouble is, the defence could argue he was just trying to squeeze onto a packed train. How could anyone prove otherwise?

    In my youth the word misogyny appeared rarely. When used in conversation it would either be flippantly, or applied to some crusty bachelor in a novel. It is now seemingly second only to racism in its prevalence and one suspects just as erroneously. The quote above illustrates this admirably. Many motives and suspicions may be attached to men who “rub up against women” but hatred of them hardly seems probable. The opposite would seem to be the more likely explanation. This is just one of the innumerable examples of the way that Cultural Marxism has distorted and devalued language itself.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/09/scotland-has-become-deeply-sinister-country/

    1. Proposed by a party run by a couple whose only shared interest was fiddling the books, not with each other.

        1. This is a family friendly forum. Let’s not have any of that Andry Pandy on here!

  9. Can more money really change the French approach to small boats?

    I think I preferred it when the French farted in our general direction for nothing, now we pay them to do it.

    3. The French need the extra money, to buy more White Flags (from China of course), if WWIII starts

    5. Morning, all. Rain and a strong breeze blowing at the moment.

      This week’s Highwire Jaxen Report does an excellent hit job on Hancock. Jaxen follows up with excerpts from the Congressional hearing re the machinations that kept Dr Redfield, former CDC chief and member of the Coronavirus Task Force, out of the loop because he held different points of view. From 46 minutes in to 1:30.
      It’s becoming more and more difficult for some of the main players to remain looking credible. Governments doubling down by embracing the WHO – Gates axis don’t appear to have realised that they are sliding into a hole of their own making: as more revelations come to the surface the hope must be that they are engulfed.

        2. The piece about the HPV vaccination is so scary. Just why would any state wish to mandate its use? Knowing of the adverse effects? Haven’t reached the Covid part just yet.

        3. The piece about the HPV vaccination is so scary. Just why would any state wish to mandate its use? Knowing of the adverse effects? Haven’t reached the Covid part just yet.

  15. Been up since 2.30 now a mug of tea with a generous shot of rum and back to bed leave you with these

    https://media.128ducks.com/file_store/a15390d4c43cf39138402f30558da829923fae9ed9575fa38cd42a22b53445a9.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5012720deb51aeec2e11a2f36cc2552ab90cd5786ad22a6815967ef304dbaf65.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7223672e71fe5e9e33cca33362b53ceb9fa1fb593d165fd696681e2bc54afff8.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7930081165adaeb7d43b54d6689ba8cb05fe6efef4cd389e87ad4acbbee3c958.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8ceada52e4c846a5e78e0cc67dfa447d7853803b52b0165da13dbb92c242180.png

    1. The dog belonging to one of my friends was like that cat in the snow – boing, boing!

  16. Good morning, all. A combination of heavy rain, wet snow and a strong easterly gale.

        1. I usually make the effort even if its not required Ndovu but I’ve drawn the line against shivering in the bus shelter for no real purpose.

        2. That is sensible. If you go from warm and dry to cold and damp it can get on your chest. A scarf is handy too.

          1. Yes – very much, thanks. Much the same as before. A few places I’d not stayed at before. Nice friendly people and good wildlife. Very dry though, they desperately need rain. We had a little in the Mara area.

      3. I’m out soon to put SWMBOs car battery on charge. It’s bright, blowing hard, and about -11C…

  17. Morning all – absolutely foul outside today and so far the tweets on Mancock and the chickens make me sick.

  18. Good morning everyone

    Drizzly, mildish grey day here .

    No sign of any snow .

    Silly question , how and where do illegal migrants acquire their crossing in little boats money from?

    Are they really penniless when they reach Britain ?

    1. Morning Belle. Actually you have to be very well off to afford this method of travel!

      1. I’ve just stuck my head out of the bathroom window. It’s absolutely vile out there!

    3. They are rich enough to wear designer sports stuff and throw their iPhones overboard.

  19. History will damn Britain if it stays weak on China. 10 March 2023.

    Despite everything, the Government is still clinging to the idea that we mustn’t upset Beijing by suggesting that a lab leak may have caused the pandemic. So sensitive is Whitehall to potential slights that Matt Hancock’s memoirs were censored by the Cabinet Office, eliding passages suggesting that the emergence of a deadly new virus practically next-door to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was anything other than “entirely coincidental” – the Government’s apparent position.

    I’m not a fan of China and unlike the Political Elites and their lackeys I’ve never held any other view. The way things are going history will have forgotten that the UK ever existed in twenty years, let alone whether it was “weak” on China, so we need lose no sleep over it.This article (There’s another one in the Spectator) is part of the campaign against China to foster support for the New Cold War in support of the American Hegemony. There will be many more over the coming years.

    I’m actually for not upsetting China. It’s on the other side of the planet and poses no overt threat to us. We might as well sustain the least damage while paying lip service to American aspirations for Global Control.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/09/history-will-damn-britain-stays-weak-china/

    1. So many lies wrapped around one another.
      What they don’t want to admit is that there are 72 patents on the spike protein, held by Chinese, American and European companies and universities.
      So they’re “suppressing” this Chinese story instead. Pathetic.

  20. I smiled at this DT letter.

    SIR – As agnostic Britain has given up Lent, might it instead be time to give up crisps for as long as Gary Lineker stays at the BBC?

    Canon Keith Punshon
    Thirsk, North Yorkshire

    2. Yo T_B

      I did that years ago, when his voice stopped coming from his mouth and moved to his Arris

  21. A first last night. Gus and Pickles refused to go out at bedtime. They are normally queuing up! They could tell a foul night when they heard it!

  22. How the Kindle lost its spark. 10 March 2023.

    With the recent news that Kindle and other e-readers are automatically updating Roald Dahl’s books to sanitised versions, an entire era has come to an end for readers like me. Who in future will feel safe buying an electronic copy of anything?

    Publishers’ plans here may be modest, but the point about the puritan is that their work is never done.

    Who could now read a book on Kindle confident that it is the author’s words or opinion?

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-the-kindle-lost-its-spark/

    1. Zulu and Shakespeare are considered to be guilty of white supremacy

      Michael Caine blasts ‘bull****’ suggestion 1964 film Zulu incites far-right extremism
      Sir Michael Caine has defended the film, which he says “made him a star”, after it was dubbed as a “key text” for white nationalists by a review into the government’s anti-terror programme.

      Last month, the film was cited as a “key text” for “white nationalists/supremacists” in a review of the counter-terrorism programme Prevent, which found that the government is not doing enough to combat “non-violent Islamist extremism”.

      https://news.sky.com/story/michael-caine-blasts-bull-suggestion-1964-film-zulu-incites-far-right-extremism-12829481

      1. What utter rubbish – the film clearly shows the Zulus to be brave, and having good strategic and tactical thinking. It’s also a matter of history, which I suspect the woke would like to rewrite.

        1. Blacks are supposed to be the victims of white privilege. Can’t have them being brave and able to think.

    2. Who could have seen that coming, eh?
      I dropped my plans to buy a Tolino or a Kindle the moment I found out that you never really own the books – they are just on loan.

    3. My Kindle died a death and refused to recharge.
      Partly, I suspect, because I hadn’t used it for a couple of years.

  23. Morning all, blue skies and a slight smattering of snow to add to what’s already here

  25. Putin’s ‘holy war’ is terrorising Ukraine – and Russian dissenters. All they ask is that we don’t forget them. Rafael Behr. 10 March 2023.

    When a repressive state’s demand for ideological uniformity meets the human capacity for free thought, the result is terror but also absurdity. As the gap between official versions of the truth and reality widens, the central power insists on ever more grotesque levels of acquiescence. Passive obedience is no longer sufficient. Citizens must abase themselves with displays of loyalty. Masha Moskaleva’sart teacher had not asked the class to draw just any picture. The instruction was to produce something celebrating the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

    Who could read this and not give a wry smile? Smudged any Korans lately Mr Behr? Drawn any anti-Islamic cartoons?

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/10/russians-putins-holy-war-loyalty-fear

      1. Why would they be interested in British parliamentary customs and BBC initiation ceremonies?

  26. Good morning!
    Apparently there is a huge increase in young people reporting that they have been diagnosed with some kind of mental illness since 2011 – but most of the increase is among left-leaning girls. Graph here, and link to essay, where he dives into possible causes
    https://twitter.com/JonHaidt/status/1633811138512146435
    Apart from smartphones and Instagram, he also defines an interesting phenomenon that he calls “reverse cognitive therapy.”
    In cognitive therapy, you’re taught to avoid damaging thought patterns like seeing everything as a catastrophe, thinking in black and white, relying on your emotions.
    In the left-dominated education system on the other hand….

  29. 317921+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Friday 10 March: Can more money really change the French approach to small boats?

    If you believe it will, then you are of the ilk that believes the lab/lib/con/current ukip coalition will be the saviours of the United Kingdom.

    I believe there is a french company with politico top rankers management funding and producing small boats with financial
    backing from the British tax payer so any more will be appreciated
    as in, more financial bungs equates to more boats

    Urgently required in the United Kingdom is, ditch the current 650
    and give power to those who have proved to be PRO United Kingdom and have a set of balls or top bollocks made in
    yesteryears Sheffield.

    1. The French and Italians should be doing more to protect their Southern shores. It might be be easier to return these illegal immigrants to North Africa.

      1. 371921+ up ticks,

        Morning Cs,
        I don’t believe we are in any position to expect them to do more when regarding our own sufferance due to the treachery of our internal political cartel.

      1. Morning, Bob. I’ve just been checking the DT headlines. Still need some good subbies ….. someone was ‘pouring’ over documents.

    1. Obviously not Grizzly.

      Gary Lineker made some more “off colour” comments on Sky News yesterday.

      Yet no action has been taken by BBC management.

    2. It’s been pretty obvious for a long time that any person who was involved in the game could present the programme about football.
      But this has now become a major issue with the bbc. They have obviously set themselves up to be as awkward as they possibly can over this self made situation.
      The licence fee must now be removed by the government.
      And pay to view introduce.

  36. Morning all 😉 😊
    Wild and very windy out there today, sleet but not settling.
    The one and only longterm approach that suits the puerile French hierarchy is revenge for Creasey, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Waterloo and with the help of our alliance, saving from the nazi regime. Which a lot of them they still appear to have a passion for.
    Lovely country, a lot of decent people, but the nasty streak under the surface has always been bubbling away.

    1. I love the idea of the French seeking revenge for Creasey – a sanctimonious man hater who, I am sorry to say, went to Colchester Girls’ High School.
      However, I’m afraid your smell choker or prediktiff test probably needs a good smack.

  37. ‘Morning, Peeps. A healthy 7°C here, dropping to 3°C by lunchtime. At least it’s dry – so far.

    Concerned about the sinister ‘relationship’ rubbish being taught in some schools? Fear not, the head of OFSTED is finally on the case – headline in today’s DT:

    Ofsted chief’s warning over explicit sex education lessons

    Alarm at current guidance which places ‘no limits’ on what can be taught to children

    * * *

    Well, about time too…another bloated and ineffective regulator reluctantly awakes from a deep slumber. I await prompt and decisive action…meanwhile a whole squadron of pigs is airborne as I type. Now there’s a surprise.

    1. The curriculum is set by the QCA, not the Education department. If OFSTED are the regulator what’s the point of it if it won’t step inn to properly stop this sort of abuse going into schools?

  38. Good moaning all,

    Snow running to sleet at McPhee Towers this morning, wind in the North, 1℃. Apologies for my absence yesterday. I had much to do.

    It’s good to see the letters about the litter problem continuing but the one on the housing market from Wendy Stickley caught my eye. She writes:

    “In Scotland the process is very straightforward: once an offer has been made and accepted, it is a legally binding transaction. Here, however, either buyer or vendor can have spent huge sums on surveys and solicitor’s fees – and be within days of moving house – when it all falls through.

    In the past year, this has happened twice to a friend and twice to my brother. It causes not just serious financial problems, but also immense stress and anxiety.

    If England adopted the Scottish system, both buyers and vendors would know where they stand.”

    It would certainly put an end to the reprehensible practices of ‘gazumping’ and ‘gazundering’ when the market is moving fast in either direction but she is not aware that the Scottish system has its own problems. I’ve never bought a house in my homeland but my parents did. As I recall there weren’t any estate agents in Scotland when I was young, the whole business of advertising, negotiating and completing the transaction being dealt with by solicitors. Often it would be by sealed bids from the outset. This leads to the need to have a survey done before putting in a bid to avoid buying a pig in a poke or a millstone. The potential buyer may decide not to bid after the survey. Survey fees are then gone. He or she may not win the bid for the property. Survey fees gone again. It’s not perfect. Then there’s the SNP’s LBTT. Perhaps a Scotland resident can enlighten us about the procedure today.

    1. The only snag with the Scottish system is the need for a survey before even daring to bid. I’ve bought two properties in Scotland, in Banff and Irvine and spent god knows how much on survey after survey. It can be very expensive, That was in the late 70s, early 80s..

      As you say though, both buyer and seller know where they stand and with a date of entry settled, planning may begin.

      If there is to be an improvement in the system, I’d suggest that just one survey is done on the property and paid for by the seller and to be included in the final price.

      1. Just commented that Norway follows your recommendation, Tom, and it works well.

    2. The Norwegian system is similar to the Scottish, but better.
      The seller engages (if they are sensible) an estate agent, who does all the work. Said agent does advertising, also organises a survey for which the seller is legally liable if there is anything amiss – smart sellers take out insurance in case.
      Estate agent organises viewings, and makes a list of those who are likely to make a bid. Agent manages the auction, typically by telephone. The winning bidder is obliged to buy – if they drop out, the second bidder wins, but the original winner then is required to pay the difference between the two bids. Thus, buyers have to be sure they have the money etc. all lined up.
      When we bought the current house, we viewed at the weekend, came back Monday to check on some things, telephone auction Tuesday that we won, signed all the papers and money transferred Thursday, took the keys Friday. One week.
      Selling up in England was a nightmare. Went all the way to exchange of contracts three times until the last one actually exchanged. Cost a fortune in legal fees as well.

      1. That all sounds pretty efficient. People I know have been trying to buy since last spring. They’ve so far offered on three properties. The first fell due to the agent’s misdescription: Agent said it had a parking slot as well as a garage. It didn’t – their solicitor unearthed that. The second’s vendors couldn’t or woudn’t supply requested information to allow contract exchange in a timely manner then suddenly demanded completion within 5 days. Result – withdrawal from purchase. The third is under way now but mortgage company decided to get uppity, withdrawing mortgage offer – now resolved. Result for people trying to buy? lost survey/valuation fees and higher solicitor’s charges. It’s no good, is it?

        1. Without wishing to sound pathetic, MB and I are v. slowly unwinding from selling Allan Towers and buying the Dower House.
          The physical effects of nearly a year of stress are quite amazing; and our training should have prepared us for the damage. Somehow, despite all that knowledge, you never expect things to happen to you.
          We keep telling ourselves that we should be grateful we can afford a roof over our heads in the area where we wanted to stay, but there are times when that assurance still doesn’t work.

    3. Good morning,
      Maybe the English system could be improved if, when an offer is accepted, a deposit (5% of value, just an idea) is paid, which can only be refunded under specified circumstances, such as a survey throwing up problems or mortgage valuation being significantly below the offer price or buyer being made redundant. Withdrawal because the buyer changes their mind would result in loss of that initial deposit. It might help. A couple of years ago, a friend of ours made successful offers on five properties, each time withdrawing because they changed their minds.

  39. Just been outside. The builder came to look at the section of roof that needs replacing…in due course. It is absolutely VILE out – gale – horizontal wet snow and bitterly cold. Glad I don’t have to budge again….

    1. Meanwhile, 1,000 miles to the East, it is bright though cloudy (sun breaking through), still (no wind), and around 3ºC. Last week’s light snowfall still lying in patches. A lovely winter’s day for a brisk walk.

    2. Meanwhile, 1,000 miles to the East, it is bright though cloudy (sun breaking through), still (no wind), and around 3ºC. Last week’s light snowfall still lying in patches. A lovely winter’s day for a brisk walk.

  40. Just been outside. The builder came to look at the section of roof that needs replacing…in due course. It is absolutely VILE out – gale – horizontal wet snow and bitterly cold. Glad I don’t have to budge again….

    2. Two points, you vacuous bitch:

      1. You are half-white. Does that make you half-racist?
      2. Your entire rant, per se, is 100% racist.

      But I dont suppose your Leftist brainwashing will accept that, will it, you brain dead cretin?

    3. What an arrogant and ignorant person. Clearly too ignorant to see the irony in her claims re ‘white’ people.

    5. This idiot should try living in a foreign non-white country for a few years. She’ll soon find out how racist the rest of the world is. Ignorant, ill educated brainless bimbo!

      1. Anglo-Indians had a pretty rough time.
        Hence many of them worked on the then British run Indian railway system.

    8. I believe she’s right.
      I believe that everyone, without exception, is a racist.
      It has always been the case and always will be the case.
      There is even racism within people who externally appear to be the same colour.
      In her case I am prepared to bet that there are millions of blacker people for look down on her for her relative whiteness.

      1. There’s a lot of Nigerians (other African nationalities are available) who spend money on skin lightening lotions.

        1. Possibly so, but that doesn’t change my point.
          Those whitener lighteneers, will look down their noses at blacker Africans, so that’s racist too.

          1. Indeed.
            As a kid in Nigeria, I well remember the locals insulting another man by calling him “black man”, as well as bushman.

        2. There was a Nigerian chappie appearing for his university team on University Challenge on Monday. It is the third time he has appeared and the only words he has uttered on each programme are when he states his name, where he is from, what he is studying, and (incongruously since we already know) the university he is attending! He has not yet contributed to a single answer to any question his team has been presented with. BBC Tokenism, perchance?

      2. She’s obviously confused……🙃
        I’d even suggest one of her unfortunate parents was white.
        But we all know from experience that you can’t fix such ingrained effin stoopidity.

      3. Good morning,
        Our younger son’s other half is ethnically Indian. Father UK born. She volunteered the information (I wouldn’t have dared ask) that her parents were not 100% happy that she is with a white man rather than somebody from “their culture.”. Had I so much as obliquely hinted that we had concerns (we don’t, I must add) about the mixed relationship, I would have been met with a severely negative reaction.
        It seems ‘minorities’ are the racist ones.
        The girl’s parents are also unhappy that she is unmarried and living with a white man. That attitude I can live with, maybe old fashioned but harmless.

      4. Very true. It is an intrinsic part of the natural human (indeed, animal) psyche to look after ones own family, tribe, race and country/territory first.

    11. Bolx! “Racism” is an excuse for your own black under achievement and idleness.

      2. He does look very dis-chuffed. His expression is “You’ll regret this. Remember that revenge is a dish best served cold.”

      3. My Oscar was happy to wear his fleece coat this morning. Mind you, since his trim, he looks like a hairless, skinny rat. Don’t have any pics, I’m afraid.

        1. All these “titles” – like their fake medals – all bollocks. They are like children giving each other sweets.

  44. I am delighted to report that the MR has just handed me a mug of curry soup to restore me.

        1. We used to do a fundraising event called “Winter Warmer”. We had to make twice as much curried parsnip soup as the other three choices.

          1. We had a mug of homemade leek and potato soup last night. Going to make sweet potato and red pepper soup today. Our village greengrocer sells 6 long sweet peppers for £1.99. They’re gorgeous.

      1. She’s not going to pick a fight with her husband at her wedding reception, February 2018

    2. No doubt, William Hague watches it every week, downing a few six-packs and wearing a baseball cap …

  46. Desert Island Discs – BBC R4. Guest: Left wing, bi-sexual comedian, Robert Webb, one half of Mitchel & Webb. . . Not black though – There will be words spoken!

    1. No they don’t. I watched Bullitt last night. A superb movie even now fifty years later!

    2. ‘Chase a crooked shadow’ on TPTV last night too. My mother took me to see it because it was an A, and I was 13…Loved it then and still do.
      Have the DVD and can show it in widescreen, as at the cinema, rather than the 4×3 TPTV version.
      It was made in 4×3 but, as was frequent in those days, Erwin Hillier shot it so that all shots could be masked to widescreen for anamorphic widescreen cinema prints. Lovely atmospheric B&W photography, mostly filmed on location around Sitges before the high rise hotel eruption, when the area was still unspoilt Spanish fishing villages.
      At the end, there’s a coda where the producer Douglas Fairbanks Jr appears asking the audience not to reveal the plot.

  48. Morning all, weather still wretched in West Sussex. Lights on to see what you are doing and appropriate drizzle outside.

    Here is Col Macgregor discussing the latest on Ukraine. Half an hour long but well worth listening to.

    Russia Strikes Kyiv, Odesa & Kharkiv
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RBmMO5EKCg

      1. That too! But is a pleasure to know that the Ukrainians are forked. They really don’t deserve to win.

      2. And Odessa is the correct English transliteration from the Russian. It is a Russian city after all. It was founded by Catherine the Great not bluddy Zelensky.

    2. Shirley he should have peeled her first, with one of their little knives, then boiled her for 20 of their minutes.

  50. Prince Edward takes title of Duke of Edinburgh
    Charles has conferred the title, as Prince Philip had hoped, to mark his younger brother’s 59th birthday
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/03/10/king-charles-prince-edward-royal-family-title-duke-edinburgh/

    I recently was very critical of the King when it was reported that the title was going to Prince William’s line.

    I don’t know whether it was due to my criticism that the King had a change of mind and decided that it would be more politic to confer the title upon his brother – as both his mother and father had wanted – or whether my criticism was unjustified because the report in the MSM about the title going to Princess Charlotte was not correct.

    (Nottlers come clean if they need to do so!)

    1. As I mention below, my view is that it is complete bollox – all these phoney titles and gongs and prizes.

    3. Just shows how the media lies alll the time. It was a done deal that Edward would take his fathers title a long time ago.

  51. Vladimir Putin congratulates ‘dear friend’ Xi Jinping on winning new term by 2,952 votes to 0

    Vote for Xi caps rise that has seen him become the country’s most powerful leader in generations

    Mr Rashid is alive and well and on holiday in China

    He will be back in London to support Sad Dick Khant at the next London Mayoral Erections (chiness rub off)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/10/vladimir-putin-congratulates-dear-friend-xi-jinping-winning/

      1. One saying seems to have disappeared from Chinese conversation:

        “Me and my big mouth”

    2. Two horses in the race: Xi and Disappear Mysteriously. The latter fell at the first hurdle.

    3. 2,952 votes to 0? Gosh that matches the vote for Obama and Biden in some Philadelphia precincts.

      2. Mr Rashid has the US ‘directed vote’ contract as well

        We Jimmy Krankie could never ever get him to a deal with her/SNP

  52. Good morning all! A bit late but I’ve been bizzy! Up early, washing on and now out on the line. Glorious clear blue skies and sunshine with a bit of warmth in the sun! Glowball warming? Sorry for all you suvveners and the grey, wet and miserable wevver you’re having! However, remember we are stuck up here with a lunatic green Marxist ‘government’!

  53. Good morning all.

    “Can more money really change the French approach to small boats?”

    Of course not, they will just pocket the money and still send them over. Why does HMG even bother to pretend?

        2. We’re the ones being taken for mugs – after all, it’s our taxes they’re wasting.

    2. 1. It’s not their money.
      2. They don’t want the tide of invaders to stop.
      3. See 1.

      1. They’re certainly not going to stop the invaders, because if they do the money from the stupid

        English will also stop.

  55. Wishing the new Duke of Edinburgh a very Happy Birthday today!
    The King has conferred the Dukedom of Edinburgh upon his brother, Prince Edward, on his 59th birthday.

  56. Pro-Trans Irish Govt Looking to Erase Word ‘Woman’ from Constitution: Claim

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2023/03/GettyImages-800570708-e1678370803332-640×439.jpg

    Ireland’s pro-transgenderism government is now looking to erase the word “woman” from the country’s constitution, the leader of a populist party in the country has claimed.

    Hermann Kelly, the leader of the Irish Freedom Party, has told Breitbart Europe that the pro-transgenderism Irish government is now aiming to have the word “woman” stripped from the Irish constitution in pursuit of its progressive aims.

    Authorities in the country have spent the last week pushing for “transgender issues” to be taught in the country’s schools — despite one of the country’s largest school associations coming out to rebuke the plan as not being backed by “scientific or medical consensus”.

    Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s first gay and first ethnic minority prime minister, or taoiseach, has now announced that the country will hold a referendum in November this year on axing part of the country’s constitution that gives special protections to a woman’s right to a home life, arguing that this amounts to women being “discriminated against” due to their historic role as carers.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/03/10/pro-trans-irish-govt-looking-to-erase-word-woman-from-constitution-claim/

    2. It’s stunning how fast and how deeply so many mainstream politicians have disappeared down the woke rabbit-hole. Perhaps, if Buddhism is correct they’ll all come back as goats in some Muslim brothel.

    4. Oppressive progressive. Erase women and elevate the panto dame. No laughter permitted.

    7. A referendum? That will either be rigged to get the result they want or they’ll do what they intend to, regardless, or they’ll have to keep voting until they come up with the “right” answer. It isn’t as though they don’t have form for the last of these choices.

  57. Just finished shovelling several inches of global warming off our drive; if I didn’t know better I’d have thought it was snow!!

    2. Blasphemer! You cannot deny climate change! That’s why they changed the marketing!

  58. A Christian street preacher was reportedly facing criminal charges in the United Kingdom for declaring that a trans woman was really a “gentleman” and a “man in woman’s clothing.”

    The counter-terrorism unit arrested David McConnell, a Christian preacher who was already convicted last year for “harassment” in the incident last year.

    For the earlier offense, McConnell was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 80 hours unpaid work.

    However, according to the Daily Mail, he was also reported to the counter-terrorism unit and, according to McConnell’s probation officer, he is “viewed [as] persistently and illegally espousing an extreme point of view” with his preaching.

    That is all that it takes now in the UK and most of Europe today: “an extreme point of view.”

    So now he is akin to a terrorist for exercising free speech.

    2. Better news on the matter from the Free Speech Union:

      ‘Big free speech victory as Christian street preacher overturns conviction for misgendering trans woman

      A Christian street preacher who was reported to counter terrorism police after publicly misgendering a trans woman has this week successfully appealed his conviction for a public order offence in Leeds City Centre back in 2021 (Breitbart, Christian Post, Independent, Mail). Expertly advised by the FSU’s Legal Officer, Karolien Celie, Toby Young acted as an expert witness for the defence. We’re delighted that Mr McConnell’s conviction for ‘misgendering’ has now been overturned.

      Writing in The Critic, Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern, which helped Mr McConnell with his appeal, offers a lucid summary of the event’s that culminated in his arrest while preaching in Leeds City Centre:

      A transgender woman (i.e., a biological man dressed as a woman and identifying as a woman) asked a question about whether God accepts the LGBT community.

      McConnell responded to the question referring to the questioner by saying: “So, this gentleman asked a question…”

      Members of the crowd screamed at him: “She’s a woman!”

      McConnell replied: “No, this is a man.” At which a woman in the crown shouted: “She’s just as much a woman as me!”

      Interactions continued, with McConnell calmly preaching about Biblical sexual morality and continuing to refer to “this gentleman”, and sometimes referring to him as a “man in women’s clothes”.

      At this point, a police officer turned up, and members of an increasingly aggressive crowd immediately started complaining that Mr McConnell had offended them (“You’ve got a baton, slap him around the f***ing arse and take him,” one person said, chattily). When the preacher attempted to explain himself, saying: “She asked me… he asked me what do I think…”, the officer cut him off and arrested him. Astonishingly, Mr McConnell was later convicted of “causing harassment, alarm or distress” at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, fined £620 and sentenced to a 12-month community order (Independent).

      In its pre-sentence report, the Probation Service suggested that because Mr McConnell “is viewed to be persistently and illegally espousing an extreme point of view”, a probation officer had been “routinely liaising with [his] colleagues in the Joint Counter Terrorism Team” (Mail).

      A remarkable claim, that. What is it, exactly, that the Probation Service regard as “extreme” about Mr McConnell’s “point of view”? The idea that people cannot change their biological sex? Surely not. Back in 2021, the judgement handed down in Maya Forstater’s landmark employment appeal tribunal ruled that gender critical beliefs of this kind, including the belief that sex is immutable and not to be conflated with gender identity, was a protected philosophical belief and, as such, “worthy of respect in a democratic society” (Times). Or perhaps the Probation Service thinks it’s “extreme” to believe in biblical accounts that fail to affirm transgenderism. Then again, the President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Mrs Justice Eady, last year ruled that believing that men and women were created by God, including believing that transgenderism is sinful, is a protected belief under both the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act.

      Speaking before the appeal verdict, Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has done such a good job of representing Mr McConnell, said: “This case represents a disturbing trend in our society which is seeing members of the public and professionals being prosecuted and reported as potential terrorists for refusing to celebrate and approve LGBTQ ideology” (Mail).

      Let’s hope victory in this appeal case marks the beginning of a legal fightback’.

      3. Why was it even a police matter? What people think is up to them. It is not something the Left mob should be able to demand be changed.

        AS long as you can say that 2+2=4, everything else follows. What happens when we can’t?

    3. Better news on the matter from the Free Speech Union:

      ‘Big free speech victory as Christian street preacher overturns conviction for misgendering trans woman

      A Christian street preacher who was reported to counter terrorism police after publicly misgendering a trans woman has this week successfully appealed his conviction for a public order offence in Leeds City Centre back in 2021 (Breitbart, Christian Post, Independent, Mail). Expertly advised by the FSU’s Legal Officer, Karolien Celie, Toby Young acted as an expert witness for the defence. We’re delighted that Mr McConnell’s conviction for ‘misgendering’ has now been overturned.

      Writing in The Critic, Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern, which helped Mr McConnell with his appeal, offers a lucid summary of the event’s that culminated in his arrest while preaching in Leeds City Centre:

      A transgender woman (i.e., a biological man dressed as a woman and identifying as a woman) asked a question about whether God accepts the LGBT community.

      McConnell responded to the question referring to the questioner by saying: “So, this gentleman asked a question…”

      Members of the crowd screamed at him: “She’s a woman!”

      McConnell replied: “No, this is a man.” At which a woman in the crown shouted: “She’s just as much a woman as me!”

      Interactions continued, with McConnell calmly preaching about Biblical sexual morality and continuing to refer to “this gentleman”, and sometimes referring to him as a “man in women’s clothes”.

      At this point, a police officer turned up, and members of an increasingly aggressive crowd immediately started complaining that Mr McConnell had offended them (“You’ve got a baton, slap him around the f***ing arse and take him,” one person said, chattily). When the preacher attempted to explain himself, saying: “She asked me… he asked me what do I think…”, the officer cut him off and arrested him. Astonishingly, Mr McConnell was later convicted of “causing harassment, alarm or distress” at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, fined £620 and sentenced to a 12-month community order (Independent).

      In its pre-sentence report, the Probation Service suggested that because Mr McConnell “is viewed to be persistently and illegally espousing an extreme point of view”, a probation officer had been “routinely liaising with [his] colleagues in the Joint Counter Terrorism Team” (Mail).

      A remarkable claim, that. What is it, exactly, that the Probation Service regard as “extreme” about Mr McConnell’s “point of view”? The idea that people cannot change their biological sex? Surely not. Back in 2021, the judgement handed down in Maya Forstater’s landmark employment appeal tribunal ruled that gender critical beliefs of this kind, including the belief that sex is immutable and not to be conflated with gender identity, was a protected philosophical belief and, as such, “worthy of respect in a democratic society” (Times). Or perhaps the Probation Service thinks it’s “extreme” to believe in biblical accounts that fail to affirm transgenderism. Then again, the President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, Mrs Justice Eady, last year ruled that believing that men and women were created by God, including believing that transgenderism is sinful, is a protected belief under both the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act.

      Speaking before the appeal verdict, Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has done such a good job of representing Mr McConnell, said: “This case represents a disturbing trend in our society which is seeing members of the public and professionals being prosecuted and reported as potential terrorists for refusing to celebrate and approve LGBTQ ideology” (Mail).

      Let’s hope victory in this appeal case marks the beginning of a legal fightback’.

    4. A man in a dress is a man in a dress. The other party may want to live a fiction, but it does not change reality.

      When you can be arrested and charged for stating the truth we really are doomed. Indulging psychosis is a bad thing.

    5. A man in a dress is a man in a dress. The other party may want to live a fiction, but it does not change reality.

      When you can be arrested and charged for stating the truth we really are doomed. Indulging psychosis is a bad thing.

    2. Signed! I heard about it via the Gallery Prommers group on Facebook. The choir has already been disbanded I think though? More cultural vandalism.

        1. The Proms, especially The Last Night, has been changing over the years; it’s nothing like it used to be. Next move will be to get rid of the patriotic section in the second half of the Last Night.

          1. There’s more unlistenable “new music” these days I think. The Last Night is “far too Jingoistic” – I’m surprised it hasn’t already been banned, though there was a bit of a hoo-haa a couple of years ago about Rule Brittania.

  61. So Vlad congratulates his primary trading partner. In some respects a politician will always be, well…a politician. That extent to which you can take the Young [sic] Global Leader out of the WEF but you can’t take the WEF out of the Young [sic] Global Leader.

    As for voting in China. You want a zero social credit score? Seriously, the people of China don’t get to elect their president, whether by fair means or foul. The President of the People’s Republic of China is elected by the National People’s Congress. So, effectively, The Party appoints the president?

  62. 371921+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Scotland has become a deeply sinister country
    An SNP report recommends incarcerating men who boast of sexual conquests. This is unsurprising from a party set on policing our thoughts

    Leg over clegg would go down for a few year then and there would be large gaps in the UK political cartel as a whole.

    In the English parliament we have had /have MAP readers also
    such as when parking the yacht ” What buoy do you fancy ted,
    that big fat one”.

  63. 371921+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Scotland has become a deeply sinister country
    An SNP report recommends incarcerating men who boast of sexual conquests. This is unsurprising from a party set on policing our thoughts

    Leg over clegg would go down for a few year then and there would be large gaps in the UK political cartel as a whole.

    In the English parliament we have had /have MAP readers also
    such as when parking the yacht ” What buoy do you fancy ted,
    that big fat one”.

  64. Despite all the (worthless) pledges and the very faint hope that the French will do more if the UK government ups the bribe, do not expect a downturn in the number of invaders appearing on our beaches or being picked up by the free taxi service in mid Channel. The government are planning ahead to disappoint us.
    Heard a rumour that RAF Wethersfield near Braintree in Essex, currently being considered as a site for a prison, could be used for the incomers.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dec3384df1e577b2ee9879f1c009dfca5ad8d4ed4810db817042e64f152c3383.png

    2. The solution is simple. A gunboat in the channel with carte blanche to turn back invaders.

      Then remove all the invaders currently lounging around. Just get rid of them.

  65. – Will Macron use the money we give him to stop the dinghy migrants simply give it to the traffickers to send more across?

  66. Back from a run to Belper for fruit and a wander round Morrison’s. A lovely bright day now with glorious sunshine!

    1. It was sunny here, too, and quite mild if you could get out of the wind. Now below zero, so all the melted snow will be sheet ice tomorrow 🙁

    3. What a very unimpressive bunch – Millibland shouldn’t be allowed out, he’ll scare the voters!

    5. Yes… but high energy prices, resulting from Miliband’s pushing the climate change act into statute – remember, he said ‘Higher energy bills are a fair price to pay to save the planet’ – are driving industry away.

      So he can FRO.

      1. This climate change scam is everywhere. Even in the opticians there was a poster Claiming, “Next stop the climate emergency” and County is running courses (which incur a fee, naturally) about how to mitigate the climate emergency. Just stop importing hundreds of thousands and don’t build on green fields. That will soon help the “problem”.

    6. Imagine finding that in your car. It’s enough to make you reverse into the next available heavy lorry.

  68. The more I read about the Ukraine/Russia War the more I am convinced that there is little demand for peace negotiations and great demand for the war to continue for as long as they can keep it going.

    They could have negotiated a peace before the conflict started but the EU and the US stopped this. The EU is far more evil than Russia.

    Apparently the Israelis attempted to negotiate a peace before the hostilities started but the West was determined to thwart it.

    https://www.francesoir.fr/politique-monde/poutine-et-zelensky-voulaient-un-cessez-le-feu-bennett..

    There has, as expected, been a subsequent denial.

    1. Play this out as a board game. .

      Being a military superpower is expensive.

      Persuade India into a strategic alliance with the USA.
      Latin America is resource rich but financially weak. Forget them.

      Africa, loads of minerals, keep in with the dictators.
      Middle East, keep the oil flowing and who cares about the politics as long as Israel is on message.

      Oh no, Communist China is rapidly ascending, and dominates the whole of South East Asia.

      Russia and its former satellite states need China as a client and ally.
      Destroy Russia and you weaken China.
      A weaker China could not risk introducing democracy which would threaten the US dollar.
      A strong dollar, the world’s reserve currency, allows the US to spend without limit and maintain its position as a military superpower.

    2. Play this out as a board game. .

      Being a military superpower is expensive.

      Persuade India into a strategic alliance with the USA.
      Latin America is resource rich but financially weak. Forget them.

      Africa, loads of minerals, keep in with the dictators.
      Middle East, keep the oil flowing and who cares about the politics as long as Israel is on message.

      Oh no, Communist China is rapidly ascending, and dominates the whole of South East Asia.

      Russia and its former satellite states need China as a client and ally.
      Destroy Russia and you weaken China.
      A weaker China could not risk introducing democracy which would threaten the US dollar.
      A strong dollar, the world’s reserve currency, allows the US to spend without limit and maintain its position as a military superpower.

        5. I’ve seen that Columbo. He leaves cat hair on the back of the jacket so Sunak will be arrested and incarcerated in the Bastille.

        6. Don’t worry about zee press, ze bedroom is on the ground floor next to ze ball room and we can have a quickie or two before you sign zee cheques.

        7. To be fair, if you have to walk backwards down some steps, it is a good idea to do so in tandem.

    3. Ursula stitched him up in Northern Ireland last week – now it’s my turn to stitch him up over illegal immigration.

    5. And I though Macron was a stunty! Every day, Sunak reminds me more and more of a rat.

    6. They held hands for 12 seconds or more, according to the radio news. Have they been deprived of each others company so long as to make them so passionate?

      1. Cuddled on the steps.

        Macron feeling quite the alpha male with his rare height advantage

  71. Full steam ahead for China’s coal-fired power stations. 10 March 2023.

    Although China is building solar farms, the output accounts for only 4% of its electricity. The Chinese government have worked out that they cannot run the economy and provide the cheap and reliable energy their citizens needs with wind and solar power alone.

    Strange. They’ve worked out the exact opposite here!

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-climate-scaremongers-full-steam-ahead-for-chinas-coal-fired-power-stations/

    2. And the awkard thing is, in hindsight they were prudent to avoid the jab and opt for natural immunity.

    1. Can you imagine what she’d have said to Micron!?? Not that we’d be in this deep doodah to start with! 🙄

      1. Thatcher would have handbagged him. Also, Brexit would have been done and dusted in six months.

        2. We had an amazing time Phizzee. Fine dining at its best. ) TBH we’re not used to “fine dining” as you are! ). It was gorgeous. In the Tudor Pass room, just 7 tables, and the chefs came out to explain and present what we were going to eat. Canapés first. Then a beetroot course followed by Skrei cod, then duck and lastly mandarin chocolate. They only present the menu after you’ve eaten. The food was exquisite and exquisitely presented. When I’ve seen this kind of food on the telly I’ve always thought, that’s not enough to keep a sparrow alive. But it was very satisfying with really intense flavours. Sadly the menu didn’t go into as much detail as I would have liked coz I couldn’t keep in my head what it all was, so detailed. And petite fours to finish with. But we loved everything. There’s a lot of history to the place too, Elizabeth 1st visited in 1598.

          3. That all sounds wonderful. You can print off the menu if you wish.

            A cocktail then a canape and then the anticipation.
            The food does appear small but with several courses it can fill you up. Not John obviously !
            Still, it is mostly about taste sensations. What a lovely gift.

    2. That middle one won’t work. Wile E Coyote was a serial failure; he invariably blows himself up.

  80. SIR – In the 1960s my grandfather returned home from his first holiday abroad to Sweden. When asked how he had enjoyed his stay, he said that until his trip he had not realised what a dirty and litter-strewn country ours was. Sweden was pristine.

    I shudder to think what his views would be now.

    Keith Turfrey
    Kenilworth, Warwickshire
    Totally agree, Keith. Yer UK is a slovenly, scruffy place.

  81. UK Weather 2023

    It is snowing and the the Solar Panels are still producing Elekertricity

  82. Well, well, well….there’s a surprise

    Leaked Intelligence Memos Suggest Trudeau Knew of Chinese Election Interference

    Two leaked intelligence reports suggest that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may have known about allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections, despite insisting he did not.

    Prime Minister Trudeau has claimed that he was not briefed on allegations of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interference in federal elections but two memos from 2019 and last year suggest that senior government officials may have known of the allegations.

    The 2019 document warned of the CCP funding “preferred candidates” around two months ahead of that year’s federal election and came from Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), broadcaster Global News reports.

    The document states that the targeting of specific candidates began during the nomination process, adding that “foreign states clandestinely direct contributions to and support for the campaigns and political parties of preferred candidates.”

    “A PRC [People’s Republic of China] Embassy interlocutor founded a group of community leaders called the ‘tea party’ to hand-pick candidates that it would support and ultimately publicly endorse,” the report added.

    https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/1590027065499303936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1590027065499303936%7Ctwgr%5E30b23f192230ef83224aa373587cd0cfd3273acc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Feurope%2F2023%2F03%2F10%2Fleaked-intelligence-memos-suggest-trudeau-knew-of-chinese-election-interference%2F

    https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/1633210506411663361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1633210506411663361%7Ctwgr%5E30b23f192230ef83224aa373587cd0cfd3273acc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Feurope%2F2023%2F03%2F10%2Fleaked-intelligence-memos-suggest-trudeau-knew-of-chinese-election-interference%2F

    http://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/03/10/leaked-intelligence-memos-suggest-trudeau-knew-of-chinese-election-interference/

      1. I expect the snivel serpents still hate her and everything and everyone she stood, and stood up for. I find these people desperately sad and depressing!

  84. I find this very hard to believe:

    From the World’s most trusted News Broadcaster:

    “Far-right groups are increasingly talking about attacking the US power grid to cause chaos and advance their cause, terrorism experts say.
    The warnings come as the founder of a neo-Nazi group and a woman he met in prison are scheduled to appear at a plea hearing on Friday.
    They are charged with plotting to attack power installations around Baltimore.
    Brandon Russell, 27, and Sarah Clendaniel, 34, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
    In messages revealed in court filings, Ms Clendaniel described their alleged plot as “legendary” and hoped it “would completely destroy the whole city”.
    The pair were arrested before the alleged attack was carried out. Prosecutors said thousands would have been left without power if it had gone ahead.
    Attacks against infrastructure are a long-standing obsession of far-right and white nationalist groups, and they are increasingly being discussed in extremist spaces online.
    Veryan Khan, president and CEO of the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (Trac) says attacks are “not a matter of if, it’s when”.

    1. My interpretation; the banksters are planning to attack the grid to cause chaos and advance their cause.
      They will do it when the dollar is about to collapse, so that everyone thinks the electricity down time was responsible for the bank collapses/stock market crashes/other chaos.

      We know that such an attack is planned. In 2018, malware was discovered on the computers of several different European electricity generators. It was lying dormant, waiting to be activated.

  85. I find this very hard to believe:

    From the World’s most trusted News Broadcaster:

    “Far-right groups are increasingly talking about attacking the US power grid to cause chaos and advance their cause, terrorism experts say.
    The warnings come as the founder of a neo-Nazi group and a woman he met in prison are scheduled to appear at a plea hearing on Friday.
    They are charged with plotting to attack power installations around Baltimore.
    Brandon Russell, 27, and Sarah Clendaniel, 34, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
    In messages revealed in court filings, Ms Clendaniel described their alleged plot as “legendary” and hoped it “would completely destroy the whole city”.
    The pair were arrested before the alleged attack was carried out. Prosecutors said thousands would have been left without power if it had gone ahead.
    Attacks against infrastructure are a long-standing obsession of far-right and white nationalist groups, and they are increasingly being discussed in extremist spaces online.
    Veryan Khan, president and CEO of the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (Trac) says attacks are “not a matter of if, it’s when”.

    1. My husband got a box today as well! Unordered and unwanted. I thought they’d stopped the free tests.

        1. Is Mrs VVOF a recent hospital patient and so classed as “vulnerable”? I’m wondering if they are sending the surplus supplies to deserving patients. Or maybe just people picked at random.

          1. Mrs VVOF had breast cancer treatment in 2021. Apart from yearly checkups and a cataract removed last year, she is relatively healthy.
            It does seem to be a mystery. My theory is the Buffoon Johnson ordered years worth of stock and now the government are trying to get rid of it.

          2. I think so – they are unloading them onto people who have had recent contact with hospitals. I keep away from doctors (except when accompanying OH) so they didn’t send one to me.

  88. Have just looked at the DM headline. Apparently HMG is to give France HALF A BILLION POUNDS, yes, £500,000, to ……. do whatever they like with it basically. Some mention of building a detention centre in France. What an absolute joke. I have to laugh otherwise I’d cry.

      1. We had a great time. Not used to such finery.
        Canapés first, the beetroot cooked 3 ways (pickled, baked and boiled with horseradish and dill). Then Skrei cod, velvet card and monksbeard, followed by duck, turnip, red cabbage and timur pepper, then Macae chocolate, mandarin and English breakfast tea ice cream. Finally petit fours.
        Each course was presented by the chef who gave an explanation.
        Small portions but extremely rich and filling. Thoroughly enjoyable.

          2. The only thing i like about it is the colour. I really don’t like that earthy taste.

      2. To put it into perspective – it’s a quarter of a days state waste. Just a quarter. 6 hours. That’s how much government burns through. With significant, serious cuts the state could be brought to heel, no longer able to fight the removal of criminals, unable to put them in hotels, unable to even bring them here.

        It would be crippled. Yet because it is awash with money – most of it wasted on endless quangos, meetings and unnecessary makework it has no problem taxing even more to urinate up the wall of waste.

    2. It’s less than 3 months equivalent of what we are currently paying for their up keep.

    1. It’s predominantly entertainment for white middle class, middle aged listeners, of course they MUST get rid of as much as possible.

    3. What would you expect? The Singers and the Orchestras are irrefutable on-screen evidence that the BBC are failing to meet their own diversity targets. They have to go!

      On the other hand, Lineker fulfils the ‘goatee’ quota which has been woefully underrepresented since the retirement of Jimmy Hill.

  92. They really are out to scare and control us:

    Could bird flu be the next Covid? Why experts are warning Britain of ‘sleepwalking’ into a new pandemic
    Officials say the death of an 11-year-old from the disease should be a klaxon call for government action – so how worried should we be about the virus jumping to humans in the UK?

    https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/bird-flu-covid-new-pandemic-b1063745.html
    Officials say the Cambodian girl, now named as Bean Narong from the south eastern province of Prey Veng, was the first known human infection of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the country since 2014 — and the eighth globally since the current wave started in October 2021, hitting 76 countries, triggering national emergencies and leading to the worst animal-disease outbreak in US history. According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), more than 140 million poultry have died from the virus or been slaughtered to stop it spreading, and humans have tested positive in countries including China, India, Spain, the US and the UK.
    Narong, the youngest of four siblings and a so-called star student who wanted to become a doctor, had reportedly fallen ill with a high fever, coughing and throat pain six days before her death. She lived close to a conservation area and experts have since confirmed that the infection came from poultry, though she did not have the widely-circulating variant.
    Narong’s father Bou Vorn, 49, also tested positive for the virus but has not as yet displayed any major symptoms, and China has since confirmed two human cases of bird flu in a middle-aged man and woman more than 800 miles apart. Growing numbers of infections have also been reported in mammals, including dolphins, leopards and grizzly bears overseas and at a large mink farm in Spain.
    https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/bird-flu-covid-new-pandemic-b1063745.html

    A few observations:
    Note how few human cases there have been, relative to the number of birds affected and culled.
    Note that the father doesn’t appear to have many problems at all
    Note how it’s tracked into mammals (look out Grizzy you’re next)
    And, less relevantly, note also the way the poor girl is dismissed as a “so-called star student”. Had she been a knife wielding drug dealer shot dead while resisting arrest she would have been described in glowing terms.

    1. I posted a few days ago about “gain of function” research on Avian flu taking place in the USA who also have labs across S E Asia looks to me if the bug is struggling they are there to give it a helping hand………..

      1. Covid killed the elderly, it would be a major catastrophe if this one predominantly kills the young.

        I posted yesterday evening about research into “the blob” a single cell slime-mould. One of the suggestions was that its attributes might be useful to treat humans. Pharmaceutical companies are very interested and it was even being used as potential AI support for robots.

    2. Bird flu is the excuse to get eggs and chicken off the shelves. Have a nourishing cricketburger instead.

    2. Blimey BoB! You don’t half know how to screw up a Friday! I know…I shouldn’t have looked!😱

      1. Now, I like trans-women, and I like trans-men. But which are better? There’s only one way to find out:-

        FIGHT!!!!

      2. Yes, there is. They can pass for men more easily. Also, it is flippin obvious why they don’t ostentatiously push themselves into men only spaces – when you realise that, you realise how much of the transwomen stuff is pure bullying.

    4. Things like this should be shown as far and wide as possible and shown frequently. Certainly before every TV discussion or presentation by their supporters.
      Ridicule is the way to deal with it.

    5. The Warqueen said ‘That bloke has a very small willy and a poor choice of clothes on a cold day.’

    9. Funny thing – I don’t know how to put this neutrally – but they all look like blokes – and ugly blokes at that.

  94. I took Mongo and Ozzie swimming today. Ozzie still has his life jacket and worries about the water, but Mongo just bounds up the ramp and dives in, flaps about furiously for an hour and leaps out.

    In a way I’m glad they don’t go in together as Mongo’s vastly more boisterous.

    We then walked down to the shoreline where we met up with the other walkers and again I’m reminded that compared to me, he’s normal size. Compared to some others – a 5’1 lass – he’s taller than she is. He can’t run for toffee though. He’s like a a people dog, ambling along with the hoomahns while the German Shepherd and Collie race off.

    6. We know Godders.
      It’s almost impossible to understand exactly what our ‘king idiot government is trying to do to our country. And why.

  96. 371921+up ticks,

    With more financial funding from the United Kingdom taxpayer they, the frogs are constructing what I believe to be an extension to the rubber boat factory so we can expect the invasion to step up a pace.

    Dt,

    The political top rankers pictured holding hands,

    Rishi Sunak latest news: PM says cooperation with France on small boats crisis now at ‘unprecedented’ level,probably adding we cannot continue with this scam much longer asit is getting near voting time,we can go up until 3 days before the votes are cast otherwise the voters memory banks will be triggered.

  97. Little steps

    Gary Lineker steps back from Match of the Day after migrant Nazi jibe

    BBC says it considers presenter’s ‘recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines’

    By Ewan Somerville 10 March 2023 • 4:40pm

    Gary Lineker is stepping down as presenter of Match of the Day after a row over him comparing the Government’s migration policy to Nazi Germany.

    A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines.

    “The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.

    “When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none. We have never said that Gary should be an opinion free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.”

    This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

    1. ““The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media. he’s got himself a new, much better paid job on t’telly”

    2. “he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position...” In other words he’ll be back in his overpaid sinecure next week!

    3. It took them long enough to suspend him. Perhaps his goading yesterday (about presenting MotD as normal) was the last straw.

      1. There was one over-riding impression he was conveying when he answered journalists’ questions in his car yesterday, over his role for the BBC and his tweets – smugness.

    5. If he had any backbone he’d tell the BBC he’s finished with them.
      If he’s as good as they think he is he’ll easily get a job elsewhere.
      He won’t and they’ll bring him back within weeks.

        1. It might be a glorious opportunity to get rid of an expensive crock of shit that is more trouble than it’s worth, not all advertising is good advertising.

  98. Bloomin’ Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 629 5/6
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    2. I’m glad it’s not just me! I wonder if we got the same pattern with different words?

      Wordle 629 5/6

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  99. Now that Prince Edward is being given the title of a much loved and respected man – the Duke of Edinburgh – would it not be appropriate for the King to give Prince Harry the title of a much loathed and reviled man – The Duke of Windsor?

      2. But Prince Edward was the Earl of Wessex before being given the title of The Duke of Edinburgh.

  100. Garfield taking groundsman’s leave gives the beeboids a great chance to replace him with a black woman in a wheelchair.

    1. Not quite right Bill.
      A blic man with a huge wig dressed up as a woman in a wheelchair.

  103. – Breaking News – The BBC have sacked Lineker and given the job to Matt Le Tissier

    1. If only.
      But on the plus side two turds with one stone.

      Match of the Day in chaos: BBC takes Gary Lineker off air ‘after he refused to apologise for Nazi tweet’ and ‘does not agree’ with bosses’ order to step down as Ian Wright pulls out of show in ‘solidarity’ with presenter

  104. That’s me for the day of two halves. A filthy, morning – gale, horizontal snow and bitterly cold; afternoon windy but calmer and lots of sunshine. Cold night in prospect. Grey and chilly tomorrow – heatwave on Sunday.

    Have a spiffing evening polishing your CVs for the wendyball job.

    A demain.

    1. I want to be the Alan Shearer character. He gets paid far more per word uttered than Lineker

    1. And as a punishment we are tying him over a table so that 97 of the hundred can exercise their penises.

        1. That is true. Nowhere is safe. Telford’s newsletter has the question, “How can we make women safe?” I doubt it would be accepted if I emailed them, “deport all muslims”.

    2. RAF Scampton in Lincs, (was) home to the Red Arrows, home of the Dambusters has closed and sold to Serco to house 250 immigrants. I was there for over 2 years on Vulcans and Blue Steel missiles – a great camp with great facilities will be wasted on this scum

      1. I hope that Nigger’s memorial will remain intact, or will some wokeist want it removed lest it offends one or more of our illegal economic migrants?

        1. I’m sure it’ll be removed to a place of safety – I did hear it was going to go to the RAF Museum at Hendon

  109. I note that lots of “celebrities” are showing solidarity with Lineker.
    How many would do the same for A.N. Other celebrity presenter, let’s call him Bill Thomas, who expressed similar so-called extreme opinions but instead those opinions were those of the anti-Islamic takeover, anti-child-grooming and anti-gimmegration right correct?

    2. OfCom would go after him, as they did with Mark Steyn. That episode has led one of my colleagues to switch off her tv altogether. Another was despairing of the state of things the other day so I emailed, “KBO, K***”. She wrote back, “I’ll KBO for now, then I’ll BO”.

      1. In a parallel universe this should destroy the BBC’s stance on being impartial.

        I accept it isn’t really a State Broadcaster, but given its position, the likes of Lineker and for that matter Clarkson et al, should be kicked out the instant they show their true colours instead of sticking to their programmes.

        If Lineker and the like want to be political pundits they should restrict their activities to political programmes.

    2. Ha! Labour are claiming his suspension is the result of a ‘Right Wing Media Frenzy.” FFS, I don’t want to read or hear any more of this guff.

  111. Well, after a glorious afternoon with the snow rapidly melting, it’s now -3°C with a not quite totally clear sky, there are some thin clouds streaked across the sky, but it is going to get a bit colder tonight.
    Definitely hotwater bottles in bed!

  113. Game Over: FDIC Shutters Silicon Valley Bank, Appoints Receiver

    FRIDAY, MAR 10, 2023 – 04:10 PM
    Update (1135ET):
    *FDIC: SVB BANK CLOSED BY CALIFORNIA REGULATOR
    *FDIC: SVB BANK IS FIRST INSURED INSTITUTION TO FAIL THIS YEAR
    *FDIC CREATES A DEPOSIT INSURANCE NATIONAL BANK OF SANTA CLARA
    *FDIC: NAMED FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE FDIC AS RECEIVER
    *FDIC CREATES A DEPOSIT INSURANCE NATIONAL BANK OF SANTA CLARA
    *SILICON VALLEY BANK INSURED DEPOSITORS TO HAVE ACCESS MONDAY

    In a hearing before the US House Ways & Means Committee Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the department is monitoring “a few” banks amid issues at SVB.

    “There are recent developments that concern a few banks that I’m monitoring very carefully and when banks experience financial losses, it is and should be a matter of concern,”

      1. Of all days…

        Customers of Wells Fargo, the fourth largest bank in the US by assets, are complaining of missing direct deposit payments and incorrect balances. (Technical issues apparently)…

        1. BTL Comment:

          “”…but my money is safe because it is insured by the FDIC.”

          Spoiler alert: the FDIC and the entire federal government is insolvent.

          2. It amuses me to see the death dance around held to maturity and available for sale, essentially ways of allowing banks to avoid the accounting hit of proper mark to market, which in a genuine crisis is the only way to look at ones assets.

            My employer had a very strange balance sheet and wasn’t truly worried, because of the nature of those ultimately holding the baby, but the technical accounting losses were horrendous. When it eventually all unwound a few years later, the babyminders did very well.

            Fine if most is held “privately” not so good if held publicly, as in this case.

            This looks nasty.

          4. Northern Rock demonstrated that in spades, not because of bonds but because the cash couldn’t be found to pay the run; and the security for their 125% mortgages was dropping through the floor as property values collapsed in the way bonds are now as interest rates rise..

    2. No, no, no. My main pension is diverted from a US bank. I’ll be up the food bank!

  116. Devil’s advocate here.
    If Lineker had said Braverman was correct to try to stop the boats (yeah, yeah I know)

    How many on here would have agreed?
    How much howling would there have been from the left and pro immigration groups demanding Lineker be sacked?

    1. I’d like to think that we are smart and open minded enough to say ‘yes, that’s great, but your opinion, Gary matters not one iota, so button it!’

      1. But I suspect that that answers my question, we would have agreed, notwithstanding that his opinion doesn’t actually matter in the great scheme of things.

        1. But he used his public Twitter profile, on the back of his taxpayer funded lifestyle, to spout drivel and untruths, and he really needs to get some idea of real life. He is a truly unpleasant little man.

          2. He is one of the most highly paid BBC employees, so wisely keeps spouting leftie

            rhetoric to keep his place.

            You will undoubtedly remember that rather strange female presenter who made some extreme leftist

            remarks. The BBC loudly “suspended” her for a year.

            Three months later she was back in a more prominent position, one assumes on better pay.

            The same will happen to Gary Lineker.

          3. I fear you are right, janet. Or they will get rid of MOTD altogether and replace it with some even worse woke creation! Full of effniks, women and even more lefties!

  117. Evening, all. Why should even more money thrown at the French solve the problem when the last two bungs didn’t? They off-load their problems on us and punish us for daring to vote to leave plus they get paid for the privilege. Our government is mad.

    1. 371921+ up ticks,

      Evening C,

      If that be the case, for these last three plus decades the very loosely termed government have got worse as the RESET agenda took hold
      what may one ask would best describe the electorate majority ?

    2. The boats will keep flooding across the channel. Macron doesn’t care. The only thing that will stop them is a gunpoint waiting for them that has free rein to shoot them.

  118. Thought for the day.
    The UK should set up immigration centres on Guernsey, where all boatees will be sent.
    The conditions should be just enough to allow them to survive, but no more.
    Rubber boats should be made available for all those who wish to make the shortish hop across to France.

      1. Too polite.

        Perhaps she could have produced a wet wipe, wiped his hand and then offered hers?

    2. But everyone keeps telling them how special they are, how we shouldn’t bother them, how tolerant we must be.

      The more you pander to savages, the more savage they become. We give them welfare, a house, then they breed to get more money. They devalue the area, litter and never work, rape, bomb and insult us. It’s long past time they started learning their place.

      This is our country. Not theirs.

      1. Not for much longer, wibs. They are outbreeding us and with the ABC killing off Christianity, something will fill the vacuum.

    3. But everyone keeps telling them how special they are, how we shouldn’t bother them, how tolerant we must be.

      The more you pander to savages, the more savage they become. We give them welfare, a house, then they breed to get more money. They devalue the area, litter and never work, rape, bomb and insult us. It’s long past time they started learning their place.

      This is our country. Not theirs.

    4. I have no problem with the headscarf; until recently, women always wore a hat in church.
      When visiting a Hindu temple, visitors remove their shoes.
      Men wear a yarmulke in a synagogue.
      I do have very real problems with his gross ill manners in refusing to shake POW’s hand.

    5. I’d read about that but hadn’t seen it until now. The bearded little shiite should have been grabbed by the throat by her husband.

  120. https://order-order.com/2023/03/10/clear-danger-signals-for-chancellor-with-tobacco-duty-increases-in-this-months-budget/

    I find this comical. The UK’s smoking population virtually collapsed during the 90’s. Then Blair got in, imported 20 million eastern Europeans, middle easterners and Pakistani’s and it soared again because they all smoke.

    Now they’re surprised those people aren’t really excited about paying offensive levels of tax for a disgusting habit we had near eradicated before the scum Blair ruined the country.

    1. Reading between the lines
      Legalise pot and other drugs?
      Think of the tax revenues /sarc

      1. I’m sure there’s a lobby in Parliament advocating drugs remain illegal. After all it provides work opportunities for both Prosecutors and Defence lawyers….

    2. Depressingly, in my local rag the poll question “Should smoking be made illegal?” had a large majority for yes. What people don’t realise is that if it’s banned, it won’t stop it will just go underground, the government won’t get the revenue, so taxes will go up and smuggling will increase. Whatever happened to freedom of choice, anyway?

      2. People are far too eager to ban things. They should think a little more carefully. HMG will E only too eager to jump on somebody’s bandwagon. They like to control and need no more encouragement.

    1. Good grief! There are some really sad people on that thread! What a terrible indictment of this country!

      2. Common purpose have won – You wouldn’t sign up for the Army to defend them – what would be the point?

        2. Their attitudes and language are disgusting and their complete lack of self awareness when they want to cancel everyone who disagrees with them is staggering.

  122. Phew! Playroom sorted and I still have some spare cubes.
    I am chuffed to bits.
    Next week I will treat myself to a decent office chair.
    All thanks to D-in-L and grandson doing the hard graft.

  123. Oooh! Guess what! Wee Nikeliar had joined the furore over Gary Jug-Ears! She says the BBC’s decision is ‘indefensible’! What a hoot!

  125. Off to Nottingham tomorrow for a concert. The BBC Phil with Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Roussel’s Le Festin de l’araignée, which is a new one for me and finishing with Ravel’s La Valse.
    Got myself booked into a hotel for the night.

    Sadly, as Crich is due to open for the Summer tomorrow, don’t bloody laugh at the back, the DT will be unable to join me.

    3. It does say: “Home of the National Tramway Museum. We are now closed for winter maintenance. Due to the weather, we will NOT OPEN on Saturday 11th March. Please check this page and social media for updates.”

  127. More on the SVB Domino…

    “SVB was not just a dominant player in tech but were highly integrated in some nontraditional ways.

    A few things we’ll see in the coming days / weeks…

    One, SVB was incredibly integrated into the lives of many founders. Not just their startup’s bank & lender, but also provided personal mortgages and other financial services. A whole mess for FDIC (or the eventual buyer) to unwind.
    Two, any “uninsured” balances at SVB – those above $250K – are in jeopardy. FDIC plans to pay them out “as it sells the assets of SVB”. Lots of startups exclusively banked with SVB as *this was a covenant of their debt*!
    CEOs yesterday faced a hard choice: Pull your deposits and go into default on your venture debt or risk losing everything if the bank failed. Many chose to hold tight as SVB’s outright failure seemed outlandish.
    Now they may not be able to make payroll next week.
    Unpaid wages pierce the corporate veil, so boards are *incredibly* sensitive to employing workers they may not be able to pay.
    Expect mass layoffs later today, Monday at latest.

    And given the weak fundraising environment, a number of startups have been reliant on venture lenders – e.g., SVB – not aggressively pursuing amortization of debt or triggering default for covenant foot faults (e.g., cash balances). How will the FDIC handle this? Mass defaults?
    Having run a startup through the GFC, this is the first thing I’ve seen since that is even vaguely reminiscent of that time. Total clusterfuck.

  128. Goodnight, all. The Rayburn is stoked, so once it is confirmed to be burning nicely (and not to have gone out), I shall be filling my hot water bottles and retiring to bed.

  129. A large operation is under way off Italy’s coast to rescue 1,300 migrants in overcrowded boats.
    The country’s navy and coastguard say they are racing to help three vessels near the southern region of Calabria.
    Italy’s coastguard described the operation as “particularly complex”, because of the number of boats and people at risk.

      2. Now, in Woke UK, these boats should be ressurected and used

        The Gay class were a class of twelve fast patrol boats that served with the Royal Navy from the early 1950s. All were named after types of soldiers or military or related figures, prefixed with ‘Gay’. The class could be fitted as either motor gun boats or motor torpedo boats, depending on the type of armament they carried.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay-class_patrol_boat

        1. Weren’t there a couple named after General Gordon of Khartoum (The Gay Gordons)? Lol.

  130. Turning in now, not been busy today, but cleared up all the dog poo in the garden and scooped all the floating catkins from the pond. Filling up nicely now with 6 inches to go.
    Hopefully frogs newts etc from the nearby and covered log pile will be back in water soon.
    Not exciting, but that’s life for an oldie. KBO. 🤗
    Night all.

    1. I went outside and cleaned the cat’s litter tray and then refilled it with clean paper and litter pellets. Exciting stuff.

      Did the shopping this morning. Went with OH to the cardiac rehab class but he’s still not ready to join them. The nurse has lent us a blood pressure and heart rate monitor.

      1. I did a pile of washing up from last night which exhausted me;-) I must not leave it overnight. Actually, I don’t usually but was knackered after trip to supermarket. Plus sleep isn’t good right now. Feel like a dead duck much of the time- quack.
        Your husband and mine are getting there- mine is doing much better than he was but we can’t push it too much. I am feeding him up and we are going to have a roast chicken dinner this weekend and then stock and soup or curry.

      2. Certain but vague actions have to carried out. 😉
        I hope the nurse explained that you should sit and rest, then take at least one second reading.
        Keep a note of the times and results.

  131. The NHS are doing sod all. After the insolent letter my husband received yesterday, he got another today from his consultant. She offers (haha) him an appointment in July but it’s to be a phone consultation. Surely, after all that’s happened to him she should want to examine him?
    Seems to me they are doing as little as they can get away with.

  133. Anyone do Wordle today?
    Bogey for me.

    Wordle 629 5/6

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    1. Yup.

      Wordle 629 5/6

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      1. Yup, yup!

        Wordle 629 5/6
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    2. The first person to get caught red-handed will be given a hefty prison sentence to deter others….

  135. Just broken my bedside water glass. I hate breaking things and I’ve had that one at least 50 years. Quite upsetting. 😞

    2. Sorry. I always take up my wine glass. Water in it, and it’s still nearly full in the morning.

  137. Crikey. The Saudis have struck a deal with the Iranians to exchange weaponry. Sleepy Joe Biden is still asleep as, under his preposterous and dozy administration, the entire USA geopolitical set-up expires.

    I doubt that the average Americans yet realise the profound shift the linkage of Saudi Arabia and Iran represents. The Chinese brokered this deal as Joe Biden and his crappy regime remain occupied with cruddy Ukraine. Ukraine the proxy for their bio weapon (gain of function) laboratories and the receptacle for their laundering and washing of their criminal gain of money recycling programmes.

    American taxpayers should be livid.

    2. This is just part of the shift of power in the world. Having looted the US, big banksters seem to think they can ride the wave of an industrial revolution in Asia. We know that this shift is part of the plans of Rockefeller et al, because David Rockefeller’s WEF group included it in their notorious “you will own nothing” presentation, where the shift of reserve currency was one of the slides.

  138. ZH Reporting:

    “Prominent venture capitalists advised their tech startups to withdraw money from Silicon Valley Bank, while mega institutions such as JP Morgan Chase & Co sought to convince some SVB customers to move their funds Thursday by touting the safety of their assets.

    Let us get this straight: the largest US commercial bank was actively soliciting the clients of one of its biggest competitors, and the 16th largest US bank, knowing full well deposit flight would almost certainly lead to the collapse of a bank which courtesy of fractional reserve banking, had only modest cash to satisfy deposit demands: certainly not enough to meet $42 billion in deposit outflows.

    Of course, Jamie, who has suddenly emerged as a key figure in the Jeff Epstein scandal alongside Jes Staley, knows this, and would be delighted with an outcome that kills two birds with one stone: take his name off the front pages and also make JPMorgan even bigger. Actually three birds: remember it was JPM that started that “Not QE” Fed liquidity injection in Sept 2019 when the bank “suddenly” found itself reserve constrained. We doubt that JPM would mind greatly if Powell ended his rate hikes and eased/launched QE as a result of a bank crisis, a bank crisis that Jamie . JPM helped precipitate.

    And while we wait to see if Dimon’s participation in the Epstein scandal will now fade from media coverage, and whether Powell will launch QE, we know one thing for sure: JPM was a clear and immediate benefactor of SIVB’s collapse because in a day when everything crashed, JPM stock was one of the handful that were up”.

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