Friday 13 December: Britain risks following France into a crisis caused by public spending

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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672 thoughts on “Friday 13 December: Britain risks following France into a crisis caused by public spending”

  2. Morning, all Y'all. Dark. Icy. Undercooled rain forecast. Oh, good – return to bed looks like the best alternative, but gotta go to work… πŸ™

      1. Turned out OK in the end, VW. Not that I noticed, too busy – no coffee, no lunch, just work.

    2. 398734+ up ticks,

      Morning JN ,

      This very sad case should become a corner stone for building a case against what passes as a government, as in " crimes against humanity"

  5. 'Morning All
    Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a356bed353b02815d2c3ada5982f5cedc17f501eddcf166bd9372e1878ef43dd.jpg
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  7. Morning Geoff and Readers, are you guys suffering more from Insomnia?
    Trigger warning – Sexual content
    Today's Tale
    Two friends were discussing their sex life.
    β€œOur sex life has become boring,” said one. β€œThere doesn’t seem to be any interest there any more. We don’t worry about it much now. In fact, I haven’t had sex for six months."
    β€œWell,” said the other, β€œit’s up to you. You’ve got to make things interesting. I buy my wife a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers. We sip a glass of champagne on the rug in front of the fire. Then I rip off her underclothes and make love to her right there on the lounge floor. You should try that.”
    Next time they met, the friend asked, β€œDid you take my advice?"
    β€œI sure did. Sex is fantastic now, and I just love that bear-skin rug on your lounge room floor.”

  11. Just had one of those Wireless Remote House Thermostats fitted.
    You know – you wake up too early at 04:35, it's perishing 'cos the Central Heating doesn't come on till 05:45.
    You just reach for your Smartphone, touch a couple of 'buttons' and listen for the 'whoosh' as the boiler starts up downstairs and the CH pump starts to buzz in the airing cupboard.
    15 more minutes in bed and the room is cosy again. Heavenly!

      1. Not so, Citroen1.
        The big batteries attached to my Solar panels have been filled up overnight with the 'spare' green electricity (at only 7.5 pence per kWh 'cos not so many folk are using it). So the whole house will be running off the batteries until either (a) they run out of juice or (b) the sun comes up and fills them up again.
        So I AM being Green – and saving money (after paying for the Solar installation of course!). Discuss.

        And here's a P.S. When the Power Cuts start, my system has a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) so that it continues to supply the Central Heating pumps and boiler, the upstairs 13 Amp sockets, all the house lighting and the fridges and Freezers. Most Solar installations are built to go completely DEAD if there's a Power Cut.

        1. You're going to be engulfed in lithium flames from your batteries as they explode before sunrise…and we will all watch the footage on the telly with George Monbiot in tears!

          1. Thought of that. One of my sons has a PhD in Lithium Chemistry, so the batteries are arranged OUTSIDE the house.

          2. I rather like the idea of your new 'Wireless Remote House Thermostat'. Don't need one here because we have a centrally controlled biomass (wood chip) boiler that feeds underground pipes to all the cottages around the farmyard and heat exchangers give us CH and HW. It always breaks down on a Friday afternoon when no engineer is available until Monday afternoon to mend it.

          3. Citroen, I was out yesterday afternoon, fixing a friend's LaserJet printer so that he could print wirelessly from his new iPad and iPhone. It took a lot longer than I thought, (I HATE Windows 11 on his new PC – they've hidden all the useful 'Engineer's' Apps) so I pressed the right 'button' on my iPhone and switched on the Central Heating at home so it was nicely warm for my return.

          4. Hi Citroen1
            To illustrate the effect of a large pair of batteries (Total 10 kWh storage) here is the Inverter's graphical output to show the power flows at 09:59 this morning. Overcast, only 298 Watts from the roof, but 1420 Watts from the Batteries, which are still 89% full and contributing 1420 Watts to the 1661 Watts needed to run a household appliance or two. The Inverter is pulling only 17 Watts from the Grid, so incurring a very small cost of Electricity.

            I'll soon be finding that the Standing Charge for Electricity will be more than the cost of bought-in Electricity. My last Quarterly Electricity bill showed that they paid ME just over Β£261 for the power I had exported to the supplier.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e44b97ad653030d2330a318a86c5a64ca666268174aa32af824c41c6de8ac68b.png

          5. Citroen1, you are right to be sceptical.

            But I just looked, and my whole house is pulling just 17 Watts (not kiloWatts) from the Grid right now, when the general Tariff for electricity is about the highest it gets during the day. If people either can't afford full Solar, or have houses with shaded roofs or the wrong orientation (mine is fortunately due South, so the panels don't even show at the front) then it can be worthwhile just to fit big batteries (outside) and a programmable Inverter, so that they can do like the EV owners (NOT me) and benefit from the 'unused' and much cheaper Green electricity that is 'going to waste' overnight.

            Another potential benefit (after I am gone) should be that the house will attract a higher price because of its Off-Grid abilities when Net Zero brings the almost inevitable Power cuts.

          6. Thought of that. One of my sons has a PhD in Lithium Chemistry, so the batteries are arranged OUTSIDE the house.

      1. Ndovu, does it work when he's miles away, too? Like I was yesterday afternoon – see below.

    4. We've had 'Hive' for the last 8 years or so and haven't used its remote mobile capability yet. Plus, if I wanted to stay in bed it would be a problem as my mobile lives in the kitchen downstairs. Your power sources and capabilities do sound wonderful though.

  12. Good morning all.
    Another mild and dry start to the day with 6.6Β°C on the digital readout of the New Yard Thermometer.
    According to the New Thermometer, it reached a maximum of 7.7Β°C and the minimum was 6.1Β°C.

    Something I forgot to post from Yesterday's Letters Page:-

    Best with chips
    SIR – Many years ago I worked with a Frenchman with a wide knowledge of food and drink. He had moved from Paris to work in the north of England. I asked him what was the best wine to accompany fish and chips (Letters, December 10).

    β€œNo wine goes with fish and chips,” he said. β€œChoose tea instead.”

    Thomas Davison
    Hellifield, North Yorkshire

    1. For once, I thoroughly endorse that Froggie opinion…not merely because my roots are, like yours, BoB, firmly embedded in the north of England.

      But you already knew that.

      Are any trees still standing on your Derbyshire estate or is it looking like a swathe of denuded Amazonian forest these days?

      1. Plenty of trees.
        And as I clear out the detritus from the felling, I plan replanting with species less susceptible to disease as well as allowing self seeded ash and elm to regrow.

        1. Er, forgive me for asking but aren't ash and elm both susceptible to disease?

          Morning BoB and all

          PS Thanks for posting the Video on Wagner yesterday – currently half way through….

          1. Yes, but the amount of dormant see already in the ground is going to start growing and there is not a lot I can do to stop it!
            I've a dozen or so assorted pot grown saplings that will, eventually get planted including some seed grown fruit trees, a couple of walnuts and sweet chestnuts and a Scots Pine.
            Species already up there include Yew, Holly and Horse Chestnut as well as the ubiquitous Sycamore.

        2. One of our near neighbours has a hundred foot plus high evergreen hedge. It spoils the views of open countryside and worse of all it is keeping the sunshine and daylight from the house at the bottom end of her garden.
          But she gets away with it, not only because she is a local Councillor but had just one removed so it didn't leagally qualify as a full hedge.
          I just checked and two count as a hedge there are more than two. As its so high its also anti social.
          I'd love to see it all cut down it's appalling.

          2. I heard copper nails are good for killing large yrees πŸŽ„ she never decorates them either πŸ˜†

          4. Poison it, it has to be one of those Leylandii hedges. A pestilence that should be illegal in the UK.

  14. Britain risks following France into a crisis caused by public spending

    Yes, we never really left the EU are we are still following the EU agenda

    1. Precisely.

      Magna Carta has died in vain.

      Common law, previously on life support since 1974, also declared dead.

      1. β€œNo free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.
        β€œTo no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

        Magna Carta.

    1. β€œI realized that unless we reduce cow farting by 30%, gigantic icebergs will crash into the sea and flood all of the land. β€œ

      πŸ˜‚

  17. I disagree entirely with this writer, who thinks controls on home-schooling are the answer to another Sara Sharif incident. However, I think fear of having to go into hiding (or worse) or being called a β€œracist” (sic) or β€œbigot” (sic) for calling out the perpetrators of the crime is real issue, which won’t be addressed at all. The elephant in the room.

    β€œSir – I appeal to the Government to instigate tighter regulation and supervision of home-schooling, and give greater priority to child protection, so that a tragedy like little Sara Sharif ’s murder can never happen again (β€œWhatsapp messages reveal horrific abuse of Sara Sharif missed by social services”, report, December 12).
    We don’t want to hear how β€œlessons will be learnt” anymore.
    Hyder Ali Pirwany Okehampton, Devon”

    1. From what we were allowed to see and hear its pretty obvious that the little girl was living two types of lives. And the overlap was obviously not allowed.
      Probably if she had lived with her birth mother she would have lived the happy life and not have been punished for her alternatives.
      Shame nobody asked her mother to speak out. But she probably declined under pressure.

      1. It reads as if the birth mother was not quite the full shilling.
        But then, we are reliant on the MSM for such information.

        2. A good way to keep her out of her limelight in such terrible circumstances. Only one side to the story.

        3. Apparently the Polish birth mother has β€œlearning difficulties”.

          One wonders what she was doing here, marrying a Pakistani man.

        4. Apparently the Polish birth mother has β€œlearning difficulties”.

          One wonders what she was doing here, marrying a Pakistani man.

      1. Morning Ellie, 😊
        Because the threats of damage and riots are always present.
        I think the father was persuaded to take his punishment.

      2. But innocent, law abiding parents who wish to be in charge of their children's schooling will be harassed non stop.

  19. 398734+ up ticks,

    Cover-up so easily achieved with everyday peoples input, take rotherham for instance, LEST WE FORGET.

    Dt,
    Sara Sharif: Anonymity given to judge and social workers who gave father custody
    Family Court bans press from reporting names of those involved over concerns of a β€˜social media pile-on’

    2. Is there such a thing as a jury in a civil matter? But I have to say that most judges in family court are so biased against fathers it's hardly worth bothering. The worst of them all was one, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, evil incarnate was that one.

  20. off to work. Late due to compelling podcast with Andrew Doyle, Graham Lineham and Jordan Peterson.

    Seems Andrew and Graham have moved to Phoenix Arizona, to set up some comedy thing, due to the fact there is no longer comedy (censorship issues) in the UK.

  21. 398734+ up ticks,

    These very dangerous political clowns are using SS / GB as a guidance handbook.

    Dt,

    Miliband to overrule local residents in wind farm building spree
    Unelected planning officers will have power to brush aside local opposition to major projects

    1. I bet there will NOT be any pylons near where:

      The Unelected planning officer
      Their family
      Their friends etc
      live

    1. His house is presently going up in smoke due to fires in Malibu. Lost his cat, it ran away while he was evacuating his property.

      1. One of those good looking women who's refusal to adopt a more glamourous persona actually added to their sex-appeal.

  23. GDP Falls 0.1% in October

    Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that GDP fell by 0.1% in October. Services showed no growth while production and construction contracted…

    Reeves responds: β€œWhile the figures this month are disappointing, we have put in place policies to deliver long-term economic growth.” Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffiths meanwhile says it’s β€œclear the government has no growth plan. The economy is now flatlining and urgently needs CPR from the reversal of Labour’s jobs tax and a replacement Chancellor.”

    Construction fell 0.4% and production 0.6%. Pubs, restaurants, retail, and oil and gas fell. That means in the the three months to October the economy only posted growth of 0.1%. There won’t be happy faces at the Treasury this morning…

    December 13 2024 @ 07:10

    1. BTL

      EnglandLaments

      A recession made in Downing Street. First Starmer talks down the economy and then Rachel from accounts clobbers it when she crashed the economy with her appalling Budget.

      Ian wragg

      We're lucky it's only down 0.1% the way Thieves is going 19% is more likely by the end of the next year.

      Nickerless
      Ian wragg

      ….not forgetting that '22bn thing'….πŸ˜‚

      Steve

      She is a genius – I bet the Accounts Complaints Hotline will be busy today!!!

    2. 'Morning, everyone x especially Geoff …it's possible next month will be better due to Christmas buys…hang on to your hats January onwards…eeeekkkk….

  26. They’ll stop at nothing to get you jabbed.

    Not me, pal, no jabs here.

    Home Climate Watch The climate scaremongers: Met Office fiddles the figures over Storm Darragh

        1. Simblar here, anne – at least half a dozen times, both flu and covid. Carl Heneghan worth the time to read up on vaccines/viruses.

  27. They’ll stop at nothing to get you jabbed.

    Not me, pal, no jabs here.

    Home Climate Watch The climate scaremongers: Met Office fiddles the figures over Storm Darragh

  28. Morning all πŸ™‚πŸ˜Š
    Dark grey and wet Friday 13th. Or is it just this horrible useless government that has arranged this for us ?
    And ten thousand forgien prisoners are residing in our jails right now and costing us 500 million plus each year, to keep them in relative luxury while some of our pensioners are living in worsening condition just because they are the elderly and they have been honest all their lives.

  29. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff. Let's try and see if I can post my Wordle attempts:

    http://disq.us/p/31b1lr1 No, there's something wrong with this. I had 6 attempts but still I couldn't get the word.

  30. A day later than I promised here is the 'J'accuse' letter from Consultant Cardiologist Dr Malhotra addressed to those responsible for the disastrous handling of the Covid 'pandemic' and the 'vaccination' programme.

    Those who view Dr Campbell's videos may have seen his interview with Dr Malhotra, a really bright guy who you would want on your side!

    https://doctoraseem.com/thousands-of-doctors-sign-petition-to-suspend-covid-mrna-vaccines-an-open-letter-to-the-gmc/

    1. I think he's a brave voice in the wilderness but I wonder if anyone in authority is listening.
      He refers to the successful lawsuit recently won by Dr Malcolm Kendrick and Zoe Harcombe, but he declined to join them in that lawsuit.

  31. Π”ΠΎΠ±Ρ€ΠΎΠ΅ ΡƒΡ‚Ρ€ΠΎ, Ρ‚ΠΎΠ²Π°Ρ€ΠΈΡ‰ΠΈ,

    Dull and grey at Castle McPhee, wind East, 5℃ all day.

    Nice to see the DT fulfilling its side of the bargain it has with Bill Gates and paving the way for the future mass slaughter of livestock, consumption of bugs and artificial 'meat' and more universal jibby-jabs.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/31b3b51510d74835d2926eabca135e173ca870ac59ed700d68234a40faf93a60.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/why-farms-not-wet-markets-are-a-pandemic-threat/

    I call DISINFORMATION.

    1. Even if you accept the argument, the funny thing is that most intensive farming is by the larger, corporate farms, not the small, family-owned farms the government is intent on putting out of business.

      1. Last night's TV documentary on Kim il Sung was interesting in that one of the

        greatest successes of his dictatorship was controlling the food supplies to the populace, a

        characteristic of successful dictators.

  32. For the past month progressive liberals have been stress testing their drone swarms over USA.. getting ready to disrupt inauguration day.

    Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Wednesday afternoon, "There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States … and there is no so-called 'mothership' launching drones toward the United States."

  33. Well, it’s Friday 13th again , so I’m not finishing that job in the garden that needs a chainsaw on it. Instead, I’m going to stay inside and study the new article today, A Very Scandalous Scandal, the open letter sent by the courageous Dr Aseem Malhotra, an eminent Consultant Cardiologist, to the General Medical Council on the proven dangers of the experimental mRNA vaccines that the evil British Establishment is still pushing into people, despite the overwhelming evidence that they are potentially lethal. Dr Malhotra also makes a convincing case that the political an medical establishments are basically corrupt, and have an unhealthy, even incestuous relationship with Big Pharma.

    I know Christmas is coming, and many are sick of all the gloom, doom and depression, but if you read nothing else today, read this. It could even save your life.

    Energy watch: Demand: 26.78 GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 68.8%; Wind 6%; Imports 2.8%, Biomass 2.354% and Nuclear 9.9%. Pretty much the same as yesterday, though with over 10GW of demand lower, and wind source energy can still only produce six percent of demand. And the records indicate that 'they' would rather import electricity than use gas powered power stations here, it seems that Europe has little spare capacity to export. We should be very worried.

  34. Good morning, all. Weather wise I have to agree with BT's description.

    Looking out at the weather I happened to notice that the jackdaws are beginning to congregate in my neighbour's now bare walnut tree before flying off to who-knows-where to feed.

    My neighbour's tree, despite being heavily cut-back two years ago, has recovered and is quite large and produces enough walnuts for the local grey squirrels to bury the nuts everywhere and also a mass of leaves. He kindly agreed to give me the chopped-up walnut leaves after he collected them with his mower. Now, I have a half filled bulk sand/ballast bag of partially rotted and compacted leaves to transfer into my leaf cage. Leafmould is the soil conditioner par excellence and although it does take time to form, it's free.

    I've never had much time for Piers Morgan, IMO a bit of a loudmouth, but here I agree with him wholeheartedly.

    On a very minor point compared to both Notre Dame and Hammersmith Bridge, there is a bridge over the A12 in Colchester that was struck by a vehicle many years ago. It carries a minor, but quite busy road, from a business centre/football stadium to villages north of the town. This bridge has not been repaired and is weakened to the point that it is only capable of carrying one lane of traffic and has to be controlled by "temporary" traffic lights. Broken Britain is exemplified by this type of situation i.e. in the big picture this example is small beer but to those affected by the council's neglect in not repairing the bridge, it's a pain in the arse.

    https://x.com/bbcquestiontime/status/1867323221051162640

    1. Tell me about it.
      Every time I nip to Colemans I am reminded of that damn blockage. How many years do you reckon it is now?

    2. Piers Morgan revealed the depth of his shallowness and nastiness when he said that he thought that those who did not have the Covid gene therapy should be treated as pariahs and not receive any medical care.

      He is thoroughly obnoxious and it is beyond my understanding as to how or why his wife, Celia Walden, puts up with him!

  35. Here come the 'experts' again. They'll conflate factory farms with family farms in order to intensify the war on our food supply. The fact that wet markets had nothing whatsoever to do with the fake plandemic doesn't stop these shameless propagandists who masquerade as journalists.

    1. Yes, that wet market lie was a whopper. Something very sinister was going on in the US-funded Wuhan lab.

  36. The Millipede was on the Today (spit!) programme. I just HAD to listen, to see what he had to say. Load of garbage.

    He didn't give a direct answer to a SINGLE question, though Nick Robinson tried to give him a hard time and was ignored. He almost always started his replies with "Look", which is code for "Look, I'm not going to answer that".

    1. A few interviewers should follow up with:
      I am looking, and what I see is a politician prevaricating. Now answer my question.

  37. A colourful start to the day:
    Wordle 1,273 4/6

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

  38. 398734+ up ticks,

    One harvest that will be a certain success, the harvest of souls
    via the political grist to the culling mill overseers campaign.

    Dt,
    175,000 more pensioners to lose winter fuel allowance under Labour
    Rising state pension means more retirees will not qualify for means-tested benefit

    May one ask,

    Does this affect foreign, morally illegal pensioners ?

          1. 10/10.
            We could also add the "uncle" to whom I suspect she was going to be married off. Hence that gaol bait photo.

        2. The foul couple who tortured and murdered Sara Sharif.
          I do so hope the warders in their respective gaols have very selective hearing and vision.

    1. Between him and the destruction of the farmers. Will there be anything left of England to save?

        1. Was a saying of a friend of mine…means someone (an idiot) likely had the best education money can buy (but still an idiot, although apparently an educated one).

    4. Miliband looks as evil as he is.

      Some people can successfully hide their true nature and as King Duncan observed :

      There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face.
      He       (the Thane of Cawdor) was a gentlemen in whom I built an absolute trust.

      Blair managed to hide his sheer nastiness from the general public for many years but neither Miliband nor Starmer can disguise the sheer depth of their repulsiveness.

    5. We notice that there is nothing in this about Milliband using taxpayers' money to bail out Veritas, a

      company run by his friends.

  41. Will the song

    "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" be allowed to be sung, or will it be classed as racist

    (The phrase refers to the hope that there will be snow (which is white) for Christmas day.

    1. Soon gets muddy the number of people trek through it, from pristine white to grey slush. Or is that racist, too.

  42. Good Moaning.
    Elderly Chum died last night, so will be spending the day running around with her nephew sorting out stuff.

    1. Anne. My sincere condolences. Had to do the same a couple of weeks ago but didn't want to talk about it, still don't, in the group.

        1. Thank you Conway. It was my brother. I didn’t want to say anything because we were all talking about assisted dying.

    2. Sorry to read your news, anne – been there, done that a few times with family. Never quite goes away, always in memories. Still very much miss PetaJ, although we never met in person, think of her every day. Even sent msg to her Disqus a/c, which was still active a month or so ago.

  43. Morning all 😊 Another dark and gloomy day, temperature is currently 4C. I suppose it will improve during the day. But I'm so grateful for my cottage, it is so well insulated./ No heat on but it is 18.8c in here. So quite pleasant. Last night it dropped to 14.9. I credit the insulation in the attic. It is so incredibly deep.

    Anyway. I know that most people don't like Dominic Cummings, I did and was disappointed that he was wasted in 10 Downing Street. But here's why. He gives, in this video an explanation of what is really going on in government, how things are run. It is not good because it is clear from what he says, it is an utter waste of time to vote for any of the mainstream parties.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqH9_Ru0jYs

    1. Here's what he said about Kemi Badenoch (h/t Guido): Speaking at the Looking for Growth campaign launch, Dominic Cummings described Kemi Badenoch as having: β€œHancock levels of utter confidence, utter vacuousness, and utter uselessness.”

      I suspect he's correct, judging by her performance at PMQs.

      1. Frankly, I think she was picked for two reasons. One she is a prize in the ethnic minority virtue signaling competition, "We (the conservatives) are more virtuous than thou (Labour). And two, she will not rock the boat she will do the same old same old because she is thoroughly in favor of immigration. A fact that most people seem to have forgotten. She will tell the usual bare faced lies that they are going to do something about immigration and deportations. Swear up and down, on her sainted mother and any thing else she can think of. And then, when people have returned a Conservative government, make every excuse under the sun about why it can't be done. But, I think the problem is now, that no one is going to fall for that game anymore so we must hope that a Reform government will be next. Even though, I have little faith in them because of Farage's enormous ego.

      3. Was she chosen as leader of the Conservative Party a result of positive discrimination with regard to her sex and her colour?

        She certainly scores a good amount of Brownie points when placed beside Keir Starmer!

        1. I think it was the TV debate, preferred to Jenrick for female vote and also putting Dr Who back in his box. Started to go downhill when she seemed to suggest Maternity Benefit cobbed but then changed tune. And poor showing at PMQs. CP now realising..wrong choice? 🀯

  44. Its so cold out there today it does not bear thinging about, those old people that cannot sfford to heat their home.
    Just how could stamer do that to so many peopl,e with not a peep from the BBC about it.
    Imagine if the Tories had done that. All those people in government living off the fat of the land and nothing will be done. Who would have thought it.

    1. Meanwhile as i mentioned earlier, there are now more than ten 10 thousand foreign nationals in our jails. All enjoying the luxuries of free food bedding heating and lighting, TV, phone charging. And it's costing us millions to keep them. And the stupid government want to build more jails.

    2. It's just over 17 degrees C in here at the moment, but I haven't had the heating on until I got back. Wearing a fleece or two until it does.

    3. It's just over 17 degrees C in here at the moment, but I haven't had the heating on until I got back. Wearing a fleece or two until it does.

    1. I've live through several Labour governments, and have been distinctly unimpressed.
      This is the first one I actually HATE.

      1. At the time, possibly, but when I look back at what Blair and his wrecking crew did, and continue to do to the country, I can never forgive his Government. His acolytes are poisoning the current mob and virtually all our institutions. To Hell with them all.

      2. Likewise Anne. Like you probably. I'm old enough to remember when their first port of call, after an election, was Moscow.

      3. Every time we have a Labour gumment I always get the feeling that everything they do is against my interest. A wart on the arse of progress, if you like.

        1. We keep our turnover under the VAT threshold so we do not have to add it to our course fees.

          But VAT on private school fees looks as if our business is finished because the majority of our students come from private schools and their parents are not rich enough to pay a 20% increase in their school fees as well as the cost of coming on a course with us. The fact that this tax is going to be applied in the middle of the school year shows just how very nasty and spiteful this government is.

          At the age of 62 Caroline is still a few years short of retirement age and so we wish Starmer as much ill fortune as he has brought to the world in general and specifically to us!.

    2. Now that being homosexual is entirely acceptable and respectable left wing politicians have to have to find another bΓͺte noire : Starmer has chosen the Far Right for the role and this term can be applied to anyone who disapproves of socialism or mass immigration.

    3. The link seems to have been taken down but I can see and listen to it on my phone !!!
      More then 400 hundred replies……the game must be up for him now.

        1. There is something wrong with my PC, i’m going to have to buy a new one after Christmas. John Lewis.

        2. There is something wrong with my PC, i’m going to have to buy a new one after Christmas. John Lewis.

        2. I have always resisted the temptation to wear a toupΓ©e. In fact it was never a temptation.

          Men are rather shy about going bald. My father was bald and so I knew from an early age that I was going to lose my hair so it never worried me. Also I have found that women are more likely to be impressed by a man who is honestly bald than by a vain idiot with a wig.

    3. Their 'relationship' started when she was his teacher aged 39 and he was 15. The age of sexual consent in France is 15.

      The age of sexual consent in UK is 16 and there are now very strict rules in the UK about a teacher even having social contact with his or her pupils or former pupils out of school. I suppose the state feels it should work on the premise that all teachers are paedophiles!

      Of course paedophilia should be treated very seriously but the UK has gone in for overkill. When I was a teacher several of my former pupils came sailing with me – one even sailed across the Atlantic and back with me. He, his parents and his wife are amongst our closest friends.

      When Caroline and I moved to France 35 years ago several of our former pupils came to visit us and remain our good friends.

    4. I must say those sort of nasty remarks about an old lady are uncalled for. The sort of ugliness best kept to oneself.

      1. Madame Macron might send you a writ also for calling her an old lady. :@)
        But yes. No one deserves that sort of abuse.

    5. I must say those sort of nasty remarks about an old lady are uncalled for. The sort of ugliness best kept to oneself.

    2. There is really something shady about Gates unlike Musk who always appear upfront about what he's up to. Gates seems to skulk as if he was doing something illegal,

      3. Do remember that Gates was the person who conned IBM into using his Quick and Dirty Operating System (the worst OS in the history of computing) when IBM made the worst business decision in history by outsourcing the development of the systems software for their new line of personal computers to this piddlingly small software company in Seattle called 'Microsoft' instead of developing it in-house. Gates's OS was built without storage protection (which stops applications programs from altering the basic systems functioning of the computer) and therefore was wide open to the development and use of computer viruses by malicious people.

        If IBM had developed this Operating System in-house it would not have had this disastrous weakness, and they would now be the wealthiest company in the world – instead of which, the commonest computer OS world-wide is the crappiest one ever produced, and Bill Gates is one of the wealthiest men on the planet.

        1. Well IBM did come up with OS/2 that addressed some of the windows shortcomings but they failed to win over the market.

  50. On days like today when there is very little wind about,
    When early 70% fossil fuel back up is required to keep the lights on,
    Ed appears to think that having more wind farms all over the country will solve the problem.
    How thick can a government minister be?
    https://grid.iamkate.com/

    2. He's not even mentioned the overall massive increases in CO2 that is going to happen when collegue gets her way in building 1.5 million new homes.

    1. I managed to remove and return the monitor. Echocardiogram at St Mary's on Sunday. Getting lots of reminders from them. Two texts, a letter in the post and a phone call checking that I'm definitely intending to attend. Yes, I definitely am!

  52. Do you watch Headliners on GB News? Josh Howie has opted for almost completely bald rather than sparse in places and with the facial hair also much more closely cropped, his appearance is actually much improved.

      1. I would listen to the accumulator powered radio transfixed by "Dick Barton -Special Agent" with Jock and Snowy. I am rather elderly.

        1. I used to listed to ITMA but didn’t find it funny! Apart from Colonel Chinstrap: “I don’t mind if I do.”

    1. General uselessness, perhaps? Perhaps her quirkiness went down well in, er, Nigeria – but fails to hit the spot in plucky little Britain.

      1. She had a bit of spark with Tennant, but now seems to have little appetite for the fight. I voted for her, now starting to wish I’d gone for Jenrick – colleagues like him, say a hard worker. Think she was born Nigeria, raised UK.

        1. Jenrick was the right choice but he was white, British and male. which, in these times, excludes him from office in the Conservative party.

          1. Sorry – none of them was the "right choice". All had been tainted by total acceptance of (and participation in) the load of shyte that passed for the Tory government.

          2. Actually when Jenrick, in a reply about Islam, said he had 3 daughters who's future he feared for. He became, for me, the right choice.

          3. Maybe – but it was his record and that of the govt he was happy to be part of that is the stumbling block.

          6. Maybe – but it was his record and that of the govt he was happy to be part of that is the stumbling block.

          7. I think she talked a good talk on TV debate, better than Jenrick. Talk cheap tho eh…I couldn’t care less on colour, gender, talker…who has policies and the backboneπŸ˜ŠπŸ€žπŸ‘

    1. The wet Tories still in denial.
      How Britain might have looked if the Tories hadn't torn each other to shreds..

      The party that spent fourteen years trying to win over Guardian Readers.

    2. I was a Ukip member and voter until they splintered. My sole belief of any chance of reversing the UK's plummeting into a hellish Shariah caliphate is with Reform UK and Farage leading them. It's beyond personal likes and dislikes now, it's the UK's last chance saloon.

      1. As you know, I don't like or trust Farage. But you are right. Reform, at least as things currently stand, are the last chance saloon.

  56. Russia’s Duma passed a bill yesterday banning children who are not proficient in Russian from attending school. The law takes aim at migrant children, who must now pass a Russian language proficiency exam.

    The State Duma, which passed the bill 409-1, is the lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly.

    Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin also clarified that migrant children will have their legal status in the country checked, that is, if they are living in the country legally.
    The upper house of Russia’s parliament, the Federation Council, is expected to pass the bill as well, with it set to come into force in April 2025 after President Vladimir Putin signs it into law.

    Volodin claimed that 41 percent of migrant children had β€œdifficulty” speaking Russian at the start of the 2024-2025 school year. He also said 14 bills in total have been passed to combat illegal migration this year.

    Putin’s tightening of migration policy is not a surprise after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack at a concert at Crocus City Hall in Moscow that left 145 dead and 551 injured.
    Tajikistanis purportedly carried out the IS plan, with mass police raids and deportations of migrants from Tajikistan and other former Soviet Central Asian republics in the wake of the attack.

    Just this past June, Islamic terror attacks targeted an Orthodox church in the town of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan; a synagogue in the town of Derbent; and a police station in Makhachkala.

    In response to this bill, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, Natalia Zviagina, said:

    β€œThis bill not only blatantly violates international law, which Russia is bound by, but also the country’s own Constitution, which prohibits discrimination and guarantees everyone the right to free school education. It is a gross display of xenophobia elevated to the level of state policy.”

    1. It appears that Russia is looking towards its future and not pussyfooting around. It might sound a bit extreme, but then you must consider that the percentage of children at schools from migrant backgrounds is increasing at a very rapid rate. It's happening here too, as we know. That plays an enormous part in Islam's plans to overwhelm us.

      1. The sickening thing is that the Imams are quite open about it.

        The politicians in the West continue to encourage their arrival and to give them special treatment.

    3. Russia are correct in this respect, if not in others. There are reports of children UK schools who can't speak English well if at all, are still wearing nappies, can only eat with their hands etc.

    4. You cannot keep your Danish nationality if you are not reasonably fluent in Danish by the age of 22.

  57. Phew! That got my fingers a bit cold!
    Just been shifting wet leaves and my gloves very quickly became wet and very cold!
    Now in for a mug of tea!

    1. At the very beginning of this conflict I asked people to listen to Vladimir Pozner's lecture from September 27 2018. He set out all this in the article you have just posted. In other words this has been in the public domain for years but people in the West have chosen to ignore it. In this debacle we are the guilty party, not Russia. But people, now a days, are so lacking in moral courage they would rather defend what is wrong rather than defend what is right because that takes effort, it is to invite allegations of being a traitor and slander upon oneself, sensible conversation and being truthful are not to be had. We went into WWII with a clear moral motivation. With this war, we went in using lies, deceit, and vilification. We have fallen a long way and it angers me because, I believe, the West was the true light of good in the world. Now we have reduced ourselves in such a way that we are looked upon as hypocrites.

      2. If England did to Wales what Ukraine did to its ethnic Russians there would be international condemnation; but because it's Russia/Russians that are being harmed by Ukraine it's OK.
        Utter hypocrites, the lot of them.

    2. A long read, Stephen – thanks. All US military ventures can seemingly be traced to Wolfowitz section 6(d) which, to paraphrase, goes something along the lines of 'we reserve the right to whack you if we even think you're thinking of attacking us (USA) in any form'. Witness Vietnam, Afghanistan etc. Arms manufacturers always kept busy, good for economy. There are many online posts about the towers and attackers. Biden/Ukraine is apparently especially so because of connections with Hunter/aluminium business. All the above could be online gossip, or possibly a kernel of truth in some of it. Lavrov and Putin now both interviewed by Tucker Carlson, worth a watch/listen.

  59. One to warm the cockles of our hearts on this dark and dismal day!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/love-inspires-88-year-old-man-pass-grade-8-piano/

    β€˜I must learn to read music for her’: How love inspired an 88-year-old man to pass grade 8 piano

    Marianka Swain
    13 December 2024 9:00am GMT

    Music has always been a vital part of Ray and Brenda Eveleigh’s lives, but it has now brought them national attention. At the venerable age of 88, Ray, a retired reverend, has just passed his grade 8 piano performance exam with distinction – to the delight of his family, neighbours in his East Yorkshire village of Kilham, and well-wishers far and wide who are embracing this joyful story of passion and dedication.

    It’s been quite a gap for Ray, who took his grade 7 piano exam back when he was a student in Cardiff in 1957. β€œI’m a slow learner!” he jokes when we catch up with him at his home. β€œVarious things took up my time, like getting married, having children and a job and a mortgage, so music took a back seat.”

    Then last Christmas his wife Brenda, 93, and their daughter Jenny Bray, who is a singer-songwriter, added a special present to his stocking: music for grade 8 piano. β€œI thought β€˜I’m certainly not going to do that,’” recalls Ray. But when his piano teacher Ann Martin-Davis also suggested he give the exam a go, he thought it was too much of a coincidence not to try.

    Ray began work on his four pieces, which included the slow movement from Beethoven’s Sonata PathΓ©tique and the theme and variation from Mozart’s sonata in A Major, back in February, preparing for the recital on which he would be judged. β€œIt was quite a task, I must admit,” he says. He finally recorded his performance and sent it to his teacher. β€œAnn said, in her inimitable style, β€˜Let’s bung it in’ – so we did.”

    That September, he received the extraordinary results from Martin-Davis: not only had he passed, but with distinction; only a few students manage that feat. β€œI said, β€˜Come off it, Ann!’ I couldn’t believe it,” recalls Ray. His family was enormously proud, and the story soon spread. He seems both bemused and thrilled that it has since caught the public imagination.

    Ray first began playing to accompany his dad, whose pub housed eight pianos. Ray’s daughter Jenny pops up at the end of our conversation, and she remembers telling her granddad: β€œβ€˜But none of them are in tune!’ – I was an annoyingly precocious seven-year-old with perfect pitch.” Ray’s dad was a big George Formby enthusiast, so his instrument of choice was the ukulele. β€œHe bought it for 30 shillings,” says Ray. β€œHe taught me simple tunes on it – I learnt chord sequences and harmonic progressions, though I didn’t read music.” Soon they were touring clubs in South Wales with a β€œconcert party”: essentially a music hall set-up, featuring a comedian, singers and musicians. Ray learnt to accompany all the performers.

    Brenda also loved music as a youngster. β€œI was always singing, but I was too shy to do it in front of the whole family – I had to go sit on the stairs. When I was 10 my parents bought me a microphone for Christmas and Daddy somehow fixed it up to the radio. Of course I thought I was broadcasting out to the world!”

    Brenda got a council grant to support her studies at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff. It was there that she caught the eye of a certain maths and physics student at Cardiff University: Ray.

    β€œI met this very, very attractive young soprano who needed an accompanist,” he recalls with a chuckle. β€œShe was a specialist in lieder. So I thought, β€˜I must learn to read music for her.’ Instead of going to my physics practicals, which I found a bit pointless, I went to the college and had piano lessons – that’s when I did my grade 7.”

    Ray was struck by Brenda’s β€œlong dark hair, which she wore in a plait that went all the way down to her backside. I thought it was just beautiful.” The pair wound up sharing a flat, with another student, and became friends, although Brenda remembers Ray used to annoy her by pulling her hair – the playground version of flirting. β€œI thought, β€˜When is this guy going to grow up!’”.

    β€˜We couldn’t exist separately’
    Finally they began β€œcourting”, as Brenda terms it, attending church and concerts together. Ray also helped Brenda with the musical arrangements for her performances on the ITV programme Land of Song, starring the Welsh baritone Ivor Emmanuel. When Brenda went home to Norfolk to visit her parents, Ray says he β€œsuddenly felt a void. We found we couldn’t exist separately. I bought a ring from a pawn shop in Cardiff, we went into a church, and I knelt down and put the ring on her finger.”

    The couple came from similar backgrounds, notes Brenda: β€œHe was from a mining village in the Rhondda Valley, I was from West Riding [also a mining area]. Although actually when I went to college, my father said, β€˜Have a good time but for God’s sake don’t bring a Welshman home for a husband.’ There was still a lot of ill feeling from the general strike, when Welsh miners came up to the Yorkshire pits and broke the strikes. When I told Ray what he’d said, he nearly passed out. But they immediately fell for his Welsh charm.”

    As do I when we speak. The couple’s dynamic is also immediately clear: Ray tends to wax lyrical, while the more practical Brenda chips in with corrections and steers him back to the point. β€œHe thinks and then speaks,” she sums up. β€œI’m inclined to speak and think. Between us, we’ve done very well for 65 and a half years.”

    They also have another child, Richard, and Ray worked variously as a teacher, on computers β€œback when they took up a whole room” at English Electric, and as an Anglican clergyman. Brenda focussed on being a wife and mother, β€œwhich is what was expected back then”, she explains.

    But their performing days weren’t over yet. They formed the Rev-Ray Quartet – Brenda singing, Ray on piano, plus drums and bass – playing jazz and swing at local festivals. They even performed at a headteachers’ association dinner on HMS Belfast. β€œIt was just wonderful,” enthuses Ray. β€œSuch a rare thing to be able to do.” Best of all, he adds, is β€œthe sheer joy of sharing this with Brenda, getting to play while she sings”.

    Brenda admits that she used to tell audiences she was Ray’s child bride, β€œbecause I looked younger than him. When I had my 80th birthday, I admitted he’s actually my toyboy.”

    β€˜Music is the food of love’
    They also founded a choir, Ray’s Voices, in their village in 2015. Ray says he recruited one man who worked in the butcher’s shop. β€œHe claimed he couldn’t sing, but when he went into the backroom to chop up the lamb cutlets, he’d be singing his heart out.” The man later told Ray that joining the choir had transformed him. Daughter Jenny fondly recalls parties at their family home β€œwhich were basically like a variety show. There would be a queue for the piano.”

    Music is a part of Ray’s faith, too. β€œSomeone more famous than I said, β€˜Music is the food of love’, and as someone else put it β€˜God is love’. When we started the choir they said, β€˜We don’t want any religious music – let’s do the Beatles’ Let It Be.’ I said β€˜Did you realise that’s from the Magnificat?’ I’ve always felt the best music brings us nearer to God.”

    Brenda explains that sadly her hearing loss means she struggles to hear the keys properly, so she doesn’t sing as much these days. Ray quips that her soprano voice is now β€œmore of a basso profundo”.

    But when I ask which songs they like doing at home together, Brenda is off and running. β€œLover Man, Someone to Watch Over Me,” and she begins crooning β€œβ€˜Do I love you? Oh my, do I? Indeed I do, honey.’ I often sing that to him. Or I sing β€˜Have I told you lately that I love you?’ and he’ll say β€˜No’, so I’ll sing β€˜Well darling, I’m telling you now.’”

    Whether or not there are more exams in Ray’s future, this wonderful couple will surely keep the music flowing.

    3. Learning to sight read is very hard work. Caroline is good at it but I never managed to FACE up to the challenge and I was a not an endorsement of the mnemonic : Each Good Boy Deserved Favour or fruit!

      1. FACE for the spaces and, going to school in York, I was taught "Eggs Go Bad Down Fulford" for the lines.

      1. That's one the reasons I have come to dislike this country and wished we had stayed in Oz, not perfect but………

        2. Tell me about it ! The Testogel / hormone replacement treatment against my man boobs make me as horny as hell ! And it still won’t go up !!!
          Lucky the post lady has a good sense of humour. Unlike Lisa Faulkner. (referencing Gregg Wallace).

      1. I had a reasonably calm night so better today. Seem to alternate with good and bad nights. The hospital are sending me lots of reminders. Do people really not turn up for such important appointments?

        1. "Of the 122 million appointments booked last year (2021/22), around 6.4% were missed – around 7.8 million appointments a year and around 650,000 a month."

        2. Usually, MB's blood appts are around 11.0am.
          When he gets there, he is ushered straight in because by then the department has had an average of 4 no-shows.

      2. I had a reasonably calm night so better today. Seem to alternate with good and bad nights. The hospital are sending me lots of reminders. Do people really not turn up for such important appointments?

  65. The Burmese python problem: how 20ft predators are wreaking havoc on the Everglades. 13 December 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/997c0086043b1bb21f84edb05e9f10f6f7b0ff4e4302836b28637440a6741b02.png
    There are no other apex predators in the Everglades region meaning these invasive pythons, with their insatiable appetites, are wreaking havoc on one of America’s biodiversity hotspots. A study from 2012 found native populations of raccoons, opossums, and marsh rabbits had been all but wiped out since 1997.

    Immigrants!

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/13/the-burmese-python-problem-how-20ft-predators-are-wreaking-havoc-on-the-everglades

    1. A Python I should not advise, β€”
      It needs a doctor for its eyes,
      And has the measles yearly.
      However, if you feel inclined
      To get one (to improve your mind,
      And not from fashion merely),
      Allow no music near its cage;
      And when it flies into a rage
      Chastise it, most severely.
      I had an Aunt in Yucatan
      Who bought a Python from a man
      And kept it for a pet.
      She died, because she never knew
      These simple little rules and few; β€”
      The snake is living yet.

      [Hilaire Belloc]

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f61e9fc6848039c0a449feff1987e32d16e1d46ce114970abe61049ffc06300.png

    2. A Python I should not advise, β€”
      It needs a doctor for its eyes,
      And has the measles yearly.
      However, if you feel inclined
      To get one (to improve your mind,
      And not from fashion merely),
      Allow no music near its cage;
      And when it flies into a rage
      Chastise it, most severely.
      I had an Aunt in Yucatan
      Who bought a Python from a man
      And kept it for a pet.
      She died, because she never knew
      These simple little rules and few; β€”
      The snake is living yet.

      [Hilaire Belloc]

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f61e9fc6848039c0a449feff1987e32d16e1d46ce114970abe61049ffc06300.png

  66. The Burmese python problem: how 20ft predators are wreaking havoc on the Everglades. 13 December 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/997c0086043b1bb21f84edb05e9f10f6f7b0ff4e4302836b28637440a6741b02.png
    There are no other apex predators in the Everglades region meaning these invasive pythons, with their insatiable appetites, are wreaking havoc on one of America’s biodiversity hotspots. A study from 2012 found native populations of raccoons, opossums, and marsh rabbits had been all but wiped out since 1997.

    Immigrants!

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/13/the-burmese-python-problem-how-20ft-predators-are-wreaking-havoc-on-the-everglades

    1. Do you think that they care? As long as they have a big majority they will continue to ignore the voice of the revolting peasants.
      Labour don't seem to have the same predilection for changing their leaders with the seasons. Maybe not a bad thing or you will have PM Lammy for a few months before one of Sadik Kahns brethren takes over

  69. Word is that Trudeau is set to fire his terribly incompetent finance minister soon after she tables a fiscal update on Monday (for FY2023/24 that ended in March).

    To show how desperate things are over here, his favoured replacement Finance Minister is Mark Carney of dubious Bank of England / WEF fame. Why anyone would give up lucrative directorships and a nice cushy UN role to become finance minister of z failed economy is beyond me.

  70. Word is that Trudeau is set to fire his terribly incompetent finance minister soon after she tables a fiscal update on Monday (for FY2023/24 that ended in March).

    To show how desperate things are over here, his favoured replacement Finance Minister is Mark Carney of dubious Bank of England / WEF fame. Why anyone would give up lucrative directorships and a nice cushy UN role to become finance minister of z failed economy is beyond me.

      1. Trudeau is quite capable of doing that on his own. If it wasn't going to be so catastrophic for us, boy wonder taking on Trump would be entertaining.

      2. Trudeau is quite capable of doing that on his own. If it wasn't going to be so catastrophic for us, boy wonder taking on Trump would be entertaining.

    4. As he was one of the leading politicians (non elected) in this country, we can

      assure you that Carney's work here showed that he is a highly educated and skilful disaster.

    1. The waits and the queues will be just as long if not longer as the NHS is awarding GP's contracts to provide a service to illegal immigrants that the indigenous don't get…home visits and fast track to hospital.

      1. Five years ago I was told I should have a partial replacement in my left knee joint. And still they have put it off with excuses.

    2. The waits and the queues will be just as long if not longer as the NHS is awarding GP's contracts to provide a service to illegal immigrants that the indigenous don't get…home visits and fast track to hospital.

    4. This fool thinks he's going to convince people that they're better off despite all evidence to the contrary.

    6. But they haven't secured higher pay. They've forced it by making it more expensive to employ someone. This will lead to unemployment. It would have been the right thing to do to raise the tax thresholds which would grow the real economy at no cost to the worker.

      That's the right thing to do but, like the last 25 years, they did the exact opposite.

      They're creating more appointments but what's the point of that? What is that to crow about? Folk are still waiting many, many months to be seen. Money won't help the NHS. It needs root and branch reform.

  73. If you saw how she no longer fits into her not so little black dresses, it would be quite a bonfire.

    It is normally strong competent women that get thrown out of cabinet, dropping this sycophant would be quite a change.

  74. If you saw how she no longer fits into her not so little black dresses, it would be quite a bonfire.

    It is normally strong competent women that get thrown out of cabinet, dropping this sycophant would be quite a change.

  75. If you want civil servants to act like the private sector, put them in it
    A start-up culture won’t work in government, where every department is too big to allow to fail.
    David Frost: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/12/flashy-policy-gimmicks-cant-fix-our-bloated-state/

    BTL

    I still cannot forgive David Frost for giving way on UK fishing rights and Northern Ireland when he had been so adamant that these were red lines that would not be crossed.

    The consequence was that we got a very poor Brexit deal and now Starmer is effectively taking us back into the EU.

    But why did Lord Frost give in? Was it weakness and his inability to stand up to Johnson and Gove both of whom never really believed in Brexit and suddenly arrived in Brussels just before the terms were agreed and signed?

    1. The problem isn't that big government fails – it fails all the time. it is it's natural state. The problem is that those failures cost us money, not it. Big state blunders along, confused and useless never paying the costs of it's failure.

      That lack of consequence is why it constantly fails. It doesn't have to change or adapt. It can keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again because someone else pays the price.

      When I submitted invoices that didn't account for tax I made a loss. When I forgot to add on VAT I made the loss. When I didn't consider fuel or depreciation on the motor I made the loss. When you're facing not being able to pay your mortgage you have to improve. Big fat state never faces that. It needs to.

  76. If you want civil servants to act like the private sector, put them in it
    A start-up culture won’t work in government, where every department is too big to allow to fail.
    David Frost: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/12/flashy-policy-gimmicks-cant-fix-our-bloated-state/

    BTL

    I still cannot forgive David Frost for giving way on UK fishing rights and Northern Ireland when he had been so adamant that these were red lines that would not be crossed.

    The consequence was that we got a very poor Brexit deal and now Starmer is effectively taking us back into the EU.

    But why did Lord Frost give in? Was it weakness and his inability to stand up to Johnson and Gove both of whom never really believed in Brexit and suddenly arrived in Brussels just before the terms were agreed and signed?

    1. The reply exactly sums up the constant issues and problems we have with the political classes.

    2. Economy 'unexpectedly' shrinks?

      Really? Unexpectedly?

      It was obvious what would happen! A child could predict it!

      2. In the same way, pensioners will unexpectedly die of cold this winter, and assisted dying will unexpectedly morph into the NHS's preferred treatment!

      3. The budget was largely successful……..in the same way that the maiden voyage of the Titanic was.

    4. I don't think the economy shrinking is that unexpected with the Labour clowns destroying the country!?

      1. Far from unexpected to almost guaranteed. They've taken massive amounts of money out of the real economy, hiked costs and thrown those into the public sector to buy votes. It's taking blood from one arm, slopping a few pints on the floor, poking holes in the tube and jamming it in the other arm and calling it a transfusion.

    5. Obviously going to hear a lot more of the black hole (just not the one that is our present government). Laughing stock.

    6. "Unexpectedly" shrinks? It was obvious to a blind, deaf and dumb kid that given the idiotic policies pursued by Starmer and co the economy would tank.

    2. I am delighted that JRM is so enthiastic about P.G. Woderhouse.

      One of the ways of judging how well you will get on with somebody is by finding out what they think of the author and I can truthfully say that all my very best friends love P.G. Wodehouse's books.

      When I first met Caroline I lent her one of my Blandings Castle books and her enthusiastic reaction to this confirmed that I had made the best possible choice of bride!

  82. "A London restaurant is facing criticism for charging diners Β£1.50 per head for tablecloths and napkins.

    The London Steakhouse Company, co-founded by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, asks customers to pay a cover charge of Β£1.50 per head, which the restaurant states is β€œto cover the cost of table linen and napkins”.

    While the contribution for the tablecloth is described as a fixed fee, there is also a discretionary service charge of 9.5pc. ………..

    …….. The London Steakhouse Company also adds a Β£10 fee for booking certain set menus more than 48 hours in advance. Their website clarifies this β€œis not a deposit and won’t be credited to your bill in the restaurant, it is just a fee to allow you to make the reservation”. "

    Nobody HAS to go to a restaurant. Most people's incomes are somewhat pinched.
    Own Goals R Us, methinks.

    1. There used to be a thing called "the cover charge" which appeared at the top of the bill before the actual nosh, booze etc.

    2. True, but folk still are. In a way, I don't think these charges are egregious. Energy is just stupidly expensive due to the demented climate change act. You're washing napkins and tablecloths almost every day on a high heat – it soon adds up to an offensive bill. Then there's cooking, salaries – the NI hike hits someone. Businesses simply pass their costs on to their customers.

      Labour, being flea bitten vermin will then blame 'da wich' and demonise companies and businesses for not taking the hit on their profits. It's pathetically predictable.

    3. Caroline has rejected the idea of charging extra for French tuition on our French courses!

  83. The NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte , has demanded that European countries increase their spending on defence in preparation for a confrontation with Putin's Russia. Comrade Starmer has promised to increase bankrupt Britain's contribution to Β£25,000,000,000 – That's 25 Billion in common talk. Now you know why the sick and homeless are being ignored and pensioners are dying in unheated hovels hoping to survive the coming winter. It is all in the name of Socialism and EU solidarity. Doesn't it make you proud to be British!

    1. How on earth did the cretin Rutte end up as NATO SecGen after his performance in his own country – does no one do a background check?? [Rhetorical – screwing up is obviously no impediment to future employment in "their" world].

      1. Incompetence and being thoroughly loathed are essential 'qualities' for those put into high office in the EU, NATO and the WEF. And apparently the odious former Chancellor, Mark Carney, is about to be appointed in Canada to see if he can do to Canada what he did to the UK.

    2. Makes me want to lock Starmer and his crew in a walk in refrigerator with no handle on the inside and leave him for 24 hours before releasing him.

    1. Not the best day to mention "boosting economic growth"!! More utter Labour lies – well amended BoB!

    2. Not the best day to mention "boosting economic growth"!! More utter Labour lies – well amended BoB!

    4. How can renewable energy ever be secure when it depends on Nature's capricious behaviour?

      Will the dullard Miliband scream "batteries" with no explanation of the vagaries of how the storage will be constructed let alone where the resources are to be found to construct and maintain it?

      The whole "secure energy" mantra is going to end up as the greatest industrial shit-show this Country has ever seen. Costing untold Β£Billions it will bankrupt the UK and its people.

      Buckle up, it's going to be a very rough ride into future darkness.

      1. Never mind that the batteries Ed will have in mind will almost certainly require rare earth metals.

    1. At least Frau Leyen has a stake in the future, being a mother (and presumably a grandmother). That Mark Rutte is still single, so why would he care about sending the youth of Europe (or Euth) to die on the snowy steppes of Mother Russia.

      2. Oy! I'm childless (or child-free as Grizz would have it), but I care very much about the future of this world, this country and our indigenous youth.

    1. Is Father Christmas on the Lord High Executioner's List?

      There is certainly a long list of people in the current government who should be on the list. To start with:

      The fake economist,
      We've got her on the list!

    2. Is Father Christmas on the Lord High Executioner's List?

      There is certainly a long list of people in the current government who should be on the list. To start with:

      The fake economist,
      We've got her on the list!

  89. Our MP is Pippa Heylings. She is a Lib Dem. We did not honour her with our votes. We have just received a Christmas card (photo of her and her dog) and a Christmas message: "At this time of year I especially feel for those who are struggling with anxious waits for treatment and those living alone – especially older residents hit by the winter fuel cuts".

    The hypocrisy know no bounds – she voted with the government for the cut of the WFA (and also the assisted suicide bill, I suspect that the two are related). They really are different from us.

    6. Put it in a public location along with her voting record – can find it on theyworkforyou (you prob have).

      A simple note with the card text, an image of her voting record and the simple phrase 'hypocrite'.

  92. I willingly admit that I used to be a massive supporter of Kemi (having spent a lot of time and effort sponsoring and promoting the Bonny LNG project and several other enterprises in Nigeria) and having been at school with her excellent father-in-law who lived on t'other side of Loch Ness from Duncan Mac, late of this parish.

    She's proven to be not up to the job and I wish her well.

      1. You have always been renowned for your generosity of spirit. I'm quite sure that she harbours similar sentiments about you, treasure.

        1. I think they already HAVE turned Britain into a faraway country of which we know little – and it isn't Czechoslovakia.

    2. Summed up by Peter Hitchens..

      Kemi Badenoch & The Conservative Party are still quite clueless about what it faces, and so cannot fight it. It still carries on believing that Labour is the same old tax-and spend trade union party. It has never bothered to reverse or even weakened Labour’s revolutionary programme. It failed utterly to stop the Blairite takeover of the legal system and the coup d’etat of establishing a β€˜Supreme Court’ in a country where Parliament is actually supposed to be supreme.

      I had the strong impression that the Tories actively collaborated with Harriet Harman and the other social revolutionaries as they rammed through their keystone Equality Act in the last years of Gordon Brown’s government.

    3. Unfortunately you could have another leader much like Thatcher and the party would still be stuffed with one nation wets.
      Perhaps only the good Lord can turn them back into a true Conservative Party, I can’t see anyone else being capable of such an accomplishment.

    1. Krystian Zimmerman. He won the Chopin Piano competition when I was in Warsaw in the early seventies.

      When I was in my early twenties I saw John Lill perform the Emperor concerto in Sheffield City Hall, mesmerising despite the acoustic. Lill won the Tchaikovsky and I believe his London debut included this concerto.

  95. Macron Appoints Pro-Islam Prime Minister in Bid to End Political Gridlock
    François Bayrou faces an immediate crisis as he leads a new government tasked with forging a budget..

    Bye bye France. Bye bye EU.

    1. Appointed on the day the Assemblee goes into recess until January 7th.
      I suspect he will last until February or March.

    1. I wish that I dud not have so many to send.
      Wordle 1,273 6/6

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

    2. When I got to choice four, I scribbled down eight possibles and amazingly the first word on my list was correct.

      Wordle 1,273 4/6

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

      2. Well done! There didn't seem to be much left for me to guess…
        Wordle 1,273 4/6

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

      3. Well done! There didn't seem to be much left for me to guess…
        Wordle 1,273 4/6

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

    3. Aaagh the dreaded -O-ER which has done for me on two previous occasions – all the more 'obscure' letters come into play!

      Given the circumstances I'll settle for the bogey…….

      Wordle 1,273 5/6

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

      1. I don't always use this, but as the number of possible answers diminishes, then the more chances of duplicating previous answers increases. It's got to the stage where knowing what not to try is more important than the possible answers. I don't think it's cheating to know previous answers. I've played 830 games and if I'd noted down each correct answer then I would not be using them as once used they're not repeated.
        Hence: https://www.fiveforks.com/wordle/

        1. Good point mola – I also dont think it’s cheating to know what went before, but it’s up to the individual – there are times when I’ve been sorely tempted to look at one of the ‘cheat’ sites – usually on guess 5! – but ultimately, what’s the point?………

          1. No point at all. It's also got to the stage where you can know what early users regular 1st guesses are. Best to Wordle before looking at nottl.

          2. Absolutely – I do mine in the morning, along with all the Times puzzles, but I only post on here after Lacoste kicks it all off!

    4. I made several silly errors but scraped home.

      Wordle 1,273 6/6

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

    6. I did mine this morning, but here it is anyway.

      Wordle 1,273 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  97. 398734+ up ticks,

    This nation as a decent nation must now be in its final death throesm say one more year and there will be enough incoming to build a credible party, then you will witness unity in action, sadly NOT for the benefit of the indigenous peoples.

    Dt,

    Migrants crossing the Channel surpass 600 in busiest December day on record
    Hundreds of people cram into flimsy dinghies as passing of stormy weather makes passage possible

  98. That's me for today. Another miserable, drizzly day – with absolutely nothing to commend it. It is said there may be sunshine tomorrow. I'll believe that when I see it. Still it's only eight days till we reach the winter solstice and then – slowly, but surely, the days will get more light.

    Have a spiffing evening watching the Bard of Leeds… Ninety, eh? He gets no more cheerful with the passage of time.

    A demain

  99. Comment of the day..

    Put a MAGA sign on one of those drones and watch how fast information comes out.

    1. China has broken two world records with 10,197 drone show over Shenzhen..

      Hej, John as secretary of state for defence you got this covered?
      After all your lot have been spaffing money left right & left again.

  100. Graham Linehan: I’m leaving Britain. 13 December 2024.

    In a video released on Elon Musk’s social media site, Linehan discussed his attempts to dismantle gender ideology and how he received β€˜no support’ from his colleagues in the industry in the process. β€˜As a result,’ he admitted, β€˜I haven’t worked in five years.’ But it’s not all doom and gloom. Linehan announced he has written three episodes of a new sitcom, which he will work on in Arizona in a new production company – alongside non other than actor Rob Schneider and GB News presenter Andrew Doyle. Talk about a turnaround!

    I think that were I much younger I would be off myself.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/graham-linehan-announces-uk-exit/

    4. I think anyone effectively silenced by a group shows how far we have fallen.

      There's no doubt folk who agree with him but they're too frightened of the mob to speak up. The appalling equality act, rights act, all that – it's got to go.

          1. Got you πŸ˜†πŸ˜†…isn’t there a Sci-Fi, let me look – yes I have a very old and battered copy ‘The World of Null-A’ by A.E.vanVogt. Remember it was quite a slog, reckoned to be a classic πŸ€”

          3. I recall I, Robot. What do you think to Arthur C Clarke – didn’t he say he invented the computer? Space 2001 and all that…

          5. You won’t have seen the film either, in that case. Quite good ape costumes, throwing bones around πŸ˜€ I watched it because there’s a so-called StarGate at the close, reported to be impressive…hmmm…film is quite old though. I used to like the Saturday Night Play BBC but that’s quite a while ago.

          13. My favourite "sci-fi" book is more of a comedy in some ways – The Technicolor [sic] Time Machine" by Harry Harrison – an epic tale of a bankrupt film studio trying to save themselves by making a Viking saga film, using a time machine and real Vikings!!

          14. Thanks, SB…looked it up, just one p/b copy from World of Books…h/b Β£69.80. Put the pb in my ever groaning basket…

          15. If you have a VPN, set it outside of the UK and open this Magnet link in a Torrent manager. It contains 20 of HH's books (incl especially the Tech Time Machine) as epubs. Onve downloaded, copy the book(s) reqd into your electronic book reader or read on your PC.

            magnet:?xt=urn:btih:643A998CB456FF759B693A94FB71434EECD10942&dn=Harry%20Harrison%20ebook%20collection%20(EPUB)&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Ftracker.opentrackr.org %3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Fopen.stealth.si %3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Ftracker.torrent.eu.org %3A451%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Ftracker.bittor.pw %3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Fpublic.popcorn-tracker.org %3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Ftracker.dler.org %3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Fexodus.desync.com %3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F% http://2Fopen.demonii.com %3A1337%2Fannounce

          16. Thanks will ask young relative he’ll help me do this…it will be PC tried an Amazon reader but not so keen. I have a kindle for photo/camera. Good of you to help, Sean..appreciate it 😊

          20. Thx…no time today until much later…if you have time would you send me a link, suggest a website SB? No probs if not, I’ll sort it later poss tmrw 😊

          23. Thanks, SB…looked it up, just one p/b copy from World of Books…h/b Β£69.80. Put the pb in my ever groaning basket…

          24. My favourite "sci-fi" book is more of a comedy in some ways – The Technicolor [sic] Time Machine" by Harry Harrison – an epic tale of a bankrupt film studio trying to save themselves by making a Viking saga film, using a time machine and real Vikings!!

          25. Got you πŸ˜†πŸ˜†…isn’t there a Sci-Fi, let me look – yes I have a very old and battered copy ‘The World of Null-A’ by A.E.vanVogt. Remember it was quite a slog, reckoned to be a classic πŸ€”

        1. Yep. It's what planet the idiots who think they can rely on solar are on that concerns me! Especially as they have their grasping little fingers on the means to control us all.

          1. Apparently, it's called a Dunkelflaute (or 'dark wind lull') and results in zero sunshine and zero wind – so it's good job we've got fossil fuel back-up…… for now………

          2. Yes, I'm familiar with the term. Such states often happen in winter when demand is at its highest. Not that the crazies in charge would recognise this if it bit them on the nose.

          3. Yes, I'm familiar with the term. Such states often happen in winter when demand is at its highest. Not that the crazies in charge would recognise this if it bit them on the nose.

          4. Apparently, it's called a Dunkelflaute (or 'dark wind lull') and results in zero sunshine and zero wind – so it's good job we've got fossil fuel back-up…… for now………

  102. Evening, all. Not long back from the last meeting of the year at Bangor on Dee. Not very successful today; only one winner from six races πŸ™

    "Risks"? It's a racing certainty (better than I managed to select as I dismissed the odds on favourites for various reasons and they won) that we'll plunge into crisis.

    1. Ah Conway…sounds fab, I love horse racing, especially having a flutter. Reminds me of an experience around 25 years(!) ago, I went out to shop, when I returned husband had been talking to a neighbour who had a 'system' of only backing 'favourites' …then roll it over and repeat, he was luckily only around Β£50 down, persuaded him to stop. When we calculated end of day, would have lost around 900GBP 🀯🀯🀯

    2. Ah Conway…sounds fab, I love horse racing, especially having a flutter. Reminds me of an experience around 25 years(!) ago, I went out to shop, when I returned husband had been talking to a neighbour who had a 'system' of only backing 'favourites' …then roll it over and repeat, he was luckily only around Β£50 down, persuaded him to stop. When we calculated end of day, would have lost around 900GBP 🀯🀯🀯

    1. Bath has a "ring of steel" (bollards etc) in place to keep you safe throughout the year.
      Delve deeper into the ins and outs of how it is managed and you would be on the next stage out of town as John Wayne would say.

        1. Clearly Otto, I can see the spittle flecks on the screen.

          GBS, however, was a great man and did in fact famously say,

          'All great truths begin as blasphemies' – so perhaps he was onto something?

          1. GBS may have written some good plays but he had a nasty, misanthropic streak.

            Otto could, of course, be one of the 77th having some fun.

          2. Yes, of course, GBS promoted eugenics – amongst other things! – but I prefer to view him through his works (I wrote oeuvre initially but it sounded too pseudy!).

            I find it difficult to envisage anyone in the 77th ‘having fun’…….

        2. Clearly Otto, I can see the spittle flecks on the screen.

          GBS, however, was a great man and did in fact famously say,

          'All great truths begin as blasphemies' – so perhaps he was onto something?

      3. Quite a lot of it about, G4. Yesterday I visited an old friend, a widow, lives alone – no pets, no mobile, no computer, no TV, just a radio. House clean, comfortable, warm. Neatly dressed, hair washed. Doesn't drive. Older than I (am 75), fit and healthy, walks most places, doesn't drive/own any kind of vehicle, attends church regularly. Reads a lot, always cheerful, always good natured, always good company.The sanest person I know.

          1. Had exactly the same affect on me, G4…came home with a bounce in my step and smile on my face..didn’t last long of course πŸ˜€ back to reality…

          1. Yes, and if she did it would be basic channels – no Netflix etc. I don’t think it’s the sole reason, Conway.

          1. I’ve never heard of that one, and I have a lot of his books – slowly working my way through them.

    4. The beauty of the proposal is that a very significant proportion of the white world will be killed before it starts to affect the African and other poor countries' populations.

    7. Hmmm, Otto says, "The World Economic Forum has reportedly instructed…"

      Call me an old "Verify Git", but…

  111. Yes, we should care.

    They are two comedians who have refused to bow to the Woke elite; but they are leaving due to the lack of free speech in this country (amongst other issiez).

  112. Yes, we should care.

    They are two comedians who have refused to bow to the Woke elite; but they are leaving due to the lack of free speech in this country (amongst other issiez).

          2. Good plan!
            Getting over the week, it's been a bastard. Too much to do, too many switches of thought train… Brain is worn out.

    4. As one of the children playing a King in a nativity play said, "I bring .. er. I bring .. um. I bring – oh, 'eck. Frank sent these."

      1. My great niece proudly announced few years ago that she was to appear in "an activity play".

  115. To all Wordlers.

    Something I posted a few minutes ago.

    "I don't always use this, but as the number of possible answers diminishes, then the more chances of duplicating previous answers increases. It's got to the stage where knowing what not to try is more important than the possible answers. I don't think it's cheating to know previous answers. I've played 830 games and if I'd noted down each correct answer then I would not be using them as once used they're not repeated.
    Hence: https://www.fiveforks.com/wordle/ "

  117. Spent a couple of hours at a wake late afternoon.
    Met some lovely people and a few old friends.
    It's quite an experience but also quite sad to know another decent person has passed away.
    Walking back to the car the beautiful aroma of woodburners.
    Another one on Sunday. Family this time.
    Walking back to.
    Off to sleep after I've finished my second glass of red liquid.
    Shumthing on the label suggesting 14% not shhhurr whhatt thhhatt meenz.
    😴

  118. Thanks G4, I try my best to be so…no point moping….happy if I can cheer someone up with a dopey remark πŸ˜…πŸ˜…πŸ˜…

    1. He no longer has any agency – did he ever? – and it's someone else pulling the strings…hmmm… who could that be?

      1. An agent takes commissions, the Biden clan appear to have extracted commission from everything they touched.

          1. 😁 ‘Morning Elsie, this is the emoji laughing face (emojicopy.com)…:-D is the keyboard version, where : are eyes, – is nose, and D is laughing mouth. OK? (shorthand for Okay)…see you later, LOL (lots of laughs)….Kate (my name is long) x (kiss)

    2. Er, the film version did not star Alec Guinness, Sam – he was in the TV series version.

  123. 398734+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    I had a 2 pm appointment at a major city hospital today, I had to dependent on the bus service, got there 11/2 early, down to the ex ray department prepared for a long wait, 10 minutes nurse asked name, ushered into the department, up on a fable, procedure carried out with a successful conclusion
    good result carried out with humour and respect shown by all concerned.

    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1867648799923122209

    ,,

      1. 398734+ up ticks,

        Evening T5
        I fully expected something of that order and to be asked about the jab, also mask wearing was mandatory but no,nothing of the sort.

    2. I have sympathy for the 'flu jab problem, Oggie, because the medical experts have to guess in which direction the 'flu will mutate in January in order to start manufacturing the jab from mid-January onwards so as to have sufficient supplies for vaccinating from late October onwards. This "best guess" by the experts in January may not be accurate, and so the 'flu jabs may be totally ineffective. But the constant succession of Covid jabs is a "Project Fear" effort to enrich the pockets of the manufacturers of the jabs, with undoubtedly a cash "kickback" to those politicians and others promoting it. (For our Scottish NoTTLers, for "jabs" read "jags".)

    3. I have sympathy for the 'flu jab problem, Oggie, because the medical experts have to guess in which direction the 'flu will mutate in January in order to start manufacturing the jab from mid-January onwards so as to have sufficient supplies for vaccinating from late October onwards. This "best guess" by the experts in January may not be accurate, and so the 'flu jabs may be totally ineffective. But the constant succession of Covid jabs is a "Project Fear" effort to enrich the pockets of the manufacturers of the jabs, with undoubtedly a cash "kickback" to those politicians and others promoting it. (For our Scottish NoTTLers, for "jabs" read "jags".)

  124. Monday, Starmer does a deal with Germany to smash the gangs, many traffickers arrested.
    Friday, 609 new arrivals cross on small boats in one day.
    No wind, calm seas, wind turbines not turning.
    70% energy reliant on back up fossil fuel, but soon to be banned completely.
    Economy shrinks for the second month in a row.
    The tax on jobs is beginning to bit.
    Train drivers threaten strikes over Christmas.
    Starmer doing his best sign us back up into the benighted EU institutions before Trump gets in.
    And this has been one of the better weeks for Labour since elected.

      1. That's what I thought, Conners, but after another "iffy" day I sloped off to bed at around 9 pm, thinking that an hour's sleep would enable me to return to this site at around 10 pm – and here we are at just turned midnight and I've only just woken up. So, belatedly, I'll wish you all a Good Night's sleep, and I shall see you all on Saturday morning.

Comments are closed.