Friday 14 June: The Labour manifesto does nothing to earn the support of voters.

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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466 thoughts on “Friday 14 June: The Labour manifesto does nothing to earn the support of voters.”

    1. Me too. Met up with a former colleague in Alton for a pint or three. Caught 'the train home' with a couple of minutes to spare. Not enough time to establish which platform that train was on, clearly. It didn't move for 59 minutes… 🙄

      1. A very early' morning, Geoff, thank you and cheers for all the efforts you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Todays (recycled) story

    A NARROW ESCAPE

    A squaddie narrowly escaped serious injury recently when he attempted horse riding with no prior experience. After mounting his horse unassisted, the horse immediately began moving.

    As it galloped along at a steady and rhythmic pace, the Rifleman, who has not been named, began to slip sideways from the saddle. Although attempting to grab for the horse's mane the Rifleman could not get a firm grip.

    He then threw his arms around the horse's neck but continued to slide down the side of the horse.

    The horse galloped along, seemingly oblivious to its slipping rider. Finally, losing his grip, the rider attempted to leap away from the horse and throw himself to safety…However, his foot became entangled in the stirrup, leaving him at the mercy of the horse's pounding hooves as his head and upper body repeatedly struck the ground.

    Moments away from unconsciousness and possible death, to his great fortune a Royal Air Force Engineer, shopping at Tesco saw him and quickly unplugged the horse from the mains.

    2. No, I don't believe that. He wouldn't have been in Tesco's. One of the 'Raffer's' servants would have done that when buying his champagne and caviar!

  4. Late Queen’s favourite marmalade maker posts loss for first time ‘in memory’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/10/07/TELEMMGLPICT000348587408_16967008802080.jpeg?imwidth=640
    ‘Churchill would have an appropriate saying for the adversity we faced’, says Wilkin & Sons chairman

    Daniel Woolfson
    13 June 2024 • 6:06pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/business/2024/06/13/TELEMMGLPICT000381621805_17182982898430_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqq4ZJCiq5lwABXAhqKAJFwfLoMOMOd3q6dug1IceP5kw.jpeg?imwidth=680
    The late Queen visited Tiptree's factory in 2010 to celebrate the company's 125 years of jam-making
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    Bertie Barking
    10 HRS AGO
    A competent government would have secured low cost energy and production by encouraging UK fracking, drilling, mining and supporting UK Rolls Royce reactors.
    14 years of failure and crap.

    Ruth Sinclair
    8 HRS AGO
    Tiptree have fewer unnecessary added ingredients in their jams than nearly anyone else which is why I buy them now I can't make my own. I don't want jam which has had lots of water and orange juice concentrate added (to bulk it out) and then needs something to set the cheap sloppy gloop – I just want sugar and fruit! I was hugely impressed to learn a while ago that Tiptree have their own mulberry orchard – and even more impressed when I tried the mulberry jelly. Tawny Orange Marmalade, Little Scarlet Strawberry, their Medlar, Quince, and Crab Apple jellies are poetry as much as foodstuff. We lack a modern Betjeman to immortalise these names which are as quintessentially British as "Crimson Lake to Hookers Green." I bought their Tasting Selection last year and my nieces and nephew were ecstatic about having 12 little pots of jam to choose from to put on their homemade rice pudding when they came for Sunday dinner. They have been going since the early 1700s and grow their own strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, Morello cherries, rhubarb, damson, Victoria plum, greengage, quince, and medlars on their farm. What a loss to wildlife and the countryside it would be to lose those orchards, that must be a heaven of blossom in spring. Best of luck, Tiptree, and thank you for your fabulous varieties of jams and jellies!

    1. When the late Queen visited Tiptree in 2010, she was introduced to Colchester's then Lady Mayor, Sonia Lewis. HM asked Sonia "Do you enjoy Tiptree marmalade?" Back came the reply: "No, Ma'am, I make my own!"

      I met up with Sonia again at the "Colchester Recalled" AGM on Monday of this week, when the speaker after the AGM was the curator of Tiptree's unique museum who gave us a talk on the history of the Wilkins family, owners of the Tiptree jam factory. At the end of the talk, we were each given a choice of one of their miniature jams, marmalades, sauces, etc. and I was lucky enough to choose one of their Little Scarlet strawberry jams.

        1. The one I would not recommend is their mango chutney.
          Geeta's or Bay Tree are much better. (Bay Tree I have only seen on sale at Perrywood's Nurseries, so they may be more Farm Shop/Garden Centre orientated.

      2. Just bought this on Amazon.
        Wilkin & Sons Tiptree Mini Jar Small Assortment Case, 24 x 28g / Customisable 24-pack of Tiptree 28g Mini Pots / 8 Pots x 3 Flavours/Select Your Delicious Flavours

        £17.99

        I thought that was a good price with free delivery included.

          1. Any good?

            I purchased those little jars because added to a few other treats dressed up in basket makes a nice present for friends.
            If you want to buy a birthday gift for someone you don't get much for £20 so i put in a couple of little jars, some special biscuits and a Tunworth cheese. Some chutney and you end up with something special for less than £20.

          2. Yes Phil it’s great marmalade – they also do a ‘thick cut’ (I said CUT)

      3. We buy all our jam and marmalade from a rural village business. It is made on a small scale, costs £4 to £5 per jar and is absolutely superb. Knocks all the industrially produced stuff into a cocked hat.

        1. SWMBO makes ours to lowest possible sugar recipes, so they are good 'n sharp – jams (blackcurrant, strawberry, bramble) and marmalades (orange, lemon, lemon & ginger). Lovely, so they are, especially the marmalades.

      4. I've been making chilli jam recently. It seems to be popular with friends and family.

        2. Chili jam is lovely; I often add it to casseroles etc.. for extra zing.
          I've never made it because I would be bound to rub my eye at some point in the proceedings.

      5. I was one of Sonia's "Mayoresses" as her husband was too retiring to take on the role of escort.
        Then I broke my ankle; luckily, she had several of us on stand-by so there was always someone available.

  5. Good morning, chums. And thanks again for today's NoTTLe page, Geoff, posted rather early I see. Any reason for this? PS – I have just now read your explanation for the early post.

    Wordle 1,091 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie.
      Last night I actually dreamt about wordle! how sad is that?
      Wordle 1,091 4/6

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  6. Morning all. I saw a glimpse of the golden orb on getting up, but it's gone now and unlikely to be seen again for the next four days or so. A gale of wind and a thunder storm are on their way and maximum temperature today a whopping great 15C (59F).
    A friend in Athens sent me a message to say that at 7am his time, the temperature there was 30C (86F).
    Roll on global warming says I.

    1. Morning Tom. It will be the "warmest June ever" no doubt. I had to put the central heating on last night.

      1. Morning AS. No doubt, or if they think that won’t fly, it will be labelled ‘an extreme weather event’ caused by man-made climate change.

  9. Europe bows to US pressure to agree $50bn loan for Ukraine. 14 June 2024.

    On Thursday, G7 leaders in Italy announced that Ukraine would receive a major financial boost by the end of the year, as Western countries try to placate Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of next month’s Nato summit.

    Under the deal, returns from $320 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets will be used to secure a loan of $50 billion, which can be used by Ukraine for its military or economic recovery.

    Even by the standards of present day government this is an astonishing decision. A loan is being issued against assets the recipient neither owns nor controls. It is blatant fraud. Of course when the Americans foreclose the Ukies will have to cough up their own property. That will be an auction worth attending.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. The US bossing its vassal states about again AS, and acting like a bunch of gangsters. The West has lost all semblance of morality.

    2. It's a roundabout way of giving money to his friends and backers. Biden (and his Democrat colleagues) authorise vast loans to Ukraine, Ukraine buys vast amounts of arms and ammunition from 'the senators mates'. Ukraine can't repay loan, Biden and Co write off old loan and authorise new loan. Everybody happy except dead Russia and Ukrainian soldiers and civilians caught in crossfire. Repeat ad infinitum.

  10. Europe bows to US pressure to agree $50bn loan for Ukraine. 14 June 2024.

    On Thursday, G7 leaders in Italy announced that Ukraine would receive a major financial boost by the end of the year, as Western countries try to placate Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of next month’s Nato summit.

    Under the deal, returns from $320 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets will be used to secure a loan of $50 billion, which can be used by Ukraine for its military or economic recovery.

    Even by the standards of present day government this is an astonishing decision. A loan is being issued against assets the recipient neither owns nor controls. It is blatant fraud. Of course when the Americans foreclose the Ukies will have to cough up their own property. That will be an auction worth attending.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. Don’t need much after 14 years of the Tories deliberately running down the NHS.

  12. Reform overtakes Tories in poll for first time. 14 June 2024.

    Reform UK has overtaken the Conservatives in an opinion poll for the first time, prompting Nigel Farage to declare: “We are now the opposition”.A YouGov survey put Mr Farage’s party on 19 per cent, ahead of the Tories on 18 per cent. Labour remains ahead on 37 per cent, a lead of 18 percentage points, while the Liberal Democrats are placed fourth on 14 per cent.

    We need the so called Tories to collapse and their votes go to Reform.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  13. Reform overtakes Tories in poll for first time. 14 June 2024.

    Reform UK has overtaken the Conservatives in an opinion poll for the first time, prompting Nigel Farage to declare: “We are now the opposition”.A YouGov survey put Mr Farage’s party on 19 per cent, ahead of the Tories on 18 per cent. Labour remains ahead on 37 per cent, a lead of 18 percentage points, while the Liberal Democrats are placed fourth on 14 per cent.

    We need the so called Tories to collapse and their votes go to Reform.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

      1. Ì really hope that Reform can eat further into the Labour vote. Reform must already be comfortably ahead of the Cons in many constituencies outside London and university towns.

      2. If Reform makes a breakthrough in the Red Wall, would this be considered a defeat for the Tories (who won many of these seats in 2019) or for Labour (who consider them rightfully theirs)?

    2. These proportions are masking the considerable number of protest votes, with no confidence in either Conservative or Labour, but have up until now presumed that a vote for anyone else is a wasted vote.

      When I first voted fifty years ago, the Liberal Party finally made a breakthrough and harvested six million votes, which got them a handful of MPs.

      I might suggest that the discontent today is much bigger than it was in 1974, and that if the disgruntled were mobilised, this could create interesting scenarios in "safe" Tory and Labour seats where the Reform Party or the Liberal Democrats present a challenge from either the Centre-Left or the Centre-Right.

      There might also be a class element here too – Liberal Democrats tend to attract the middle class, whereas Reform appeals to the workers. This is bad news for Labour, which relies on the middle-class Left and winning back its old working class support, which went Tory in 2019, and might well have a punt with Reform this time round.

      Labour must be vulnerable in Scotland since the respectable Kate Forbes was readmitted to the high command of the SNP, and the Glasgow Muslims exposed for what they are.

    3. 388545+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      Sounds to me with their votes going to reform we would end up with a reformed tory (ino) party, I see.

    6. I do hope that my prediction that all that was needed was for Reform to overtake the Conservative Party in the polls was for the real Conservatives to come to their senses and abandon the corpse of the old party.

      Much as I like the Dutch we must get the Dutch boy to take his finger out of the dyke, open the floodgates and let the torrent commence!

  14. Reform overtakes Tories in poll for first time. 14 June 2024.

    Reform UK has overtaken the Conservatives in an opinion poll for the first time, prompting Nigel Farage to declare: “We are now the opposition”.A YouGov survey put Mr Farage’s party on 19 per cent, ahead of the Tories on 18 per cent. Labour remains ahead on 37 per cent, a lead of 18 percentage points, while the Liberal Democrats are placed fourth on 14 per cent.

    We need the so called Tories to collapse and their votes go to Reform.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  16. The EU fines Hungary 200 million euro and one million a day for being Right Wing and protecting its own (and EU) borders.

    The EU parliament moves to ban Hungary from voting. And the West is defending democracy in Ukraine? A Ukraine in which the president's term in office has expired and elections are banned?

    2. Lets have a free trade deal with Hungary. Send Nigel over he understands it all.

      1. Indeed, Farage should campaign for all disaffected EU countries to leave the EU and make trade deals with the UK.

    3. It will be interesting to see what happens when Hungary 🇭🇺 refuses to pay a single euro to the EU Mafiosi.
      Hopefully it will be the start of something bigger as regards to Brussels.

    4. Starmer will have to get his skates on if he wants to rejoin the EU or there will be no EU left to join.

      But if he squeaks in in time UK will have to pay an enormous entry fee and then, a week later, will have contribute the largest part of the dissolution costs!

  18. Good morning all.
    A damp and dull start after the overnight rain. Not raining at the moment, but that is likely to change soon but a tad under 8°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    1. Morning Bob, rained during the night but dry now. Thankfully got the grass cut yesterday

  19. Good Morning Folks

    Started off with rain, then the sum came out, now overcast
    All since 5am.

  20. The Labour manifesto does nothing to earn the support of voters.

    Starmer deployed his dads rubber hammer with the manifesto

    1. For a document titled 'change' there's nothing in it. The only changes are the taxes they'll levy. Nothing will improve. Taking more money out of the productive economy and pouring it into the unproductive will just result in ever higher costs – at a time when costs are already incredibly high and service return appallingly low.

      1. There is change. They are planning to dismantle Britain, and put law-making in the hands of the Supreme Court, removing power from the House of Commons. It will be a formal end to democracy if they get in, finishing the job started by Blair.

  21. 388545+ up ricks,

    Morning Each,

    Friday 14 June: The Labour manifesto does nothing to earn the support of voters.

    The whole manifesto series seems to be aimed at the gullible maladjusted voter, current manifesto's are the creation of far to many, ALL four party cooks, of very dubious natures putting together a creation following a navy cake recipe with a toxic cream on top.

    Once again the main herd will be led by the majority voter to the screwing sheds, AKA the polling stations to consent, as ever, to yet another right royal rogering courtesy of the ruling WEF / NWO political cartel.

    The overlaying question is, how much can we take ?

    1. If we assume the objective of the state machine is to pursue it's own agenda at any cost then it doesn't matter who gets in.

      The simple truth is changing sides doesn't matter. Who gets elected doesn't really matter. None of them have enough time to properly confront and resolve the problems the administrative arm of government causes.

      1. The alternative to the ballot box is direct action – everything from vigilantism to self-sufficiency, and including a campaign of non-co-operation.

        Wilfully treating the law with the contempt it deserves can go quite a few ways. Disregarding nonsensical or harmful legislation, challenging the police to divert their limited resources to harassing the sensible, is one way. However, another might be the arming of drug pushers with knives, which they will use against those who show inadequate respect, or simply to assert their own domination.

        1. There should a form of public legal stick available to beat them over the head and prod them into action. They are very adept at being absolutely useless.

    2. It's never any different Ogga, political classes are all trying to hang on to the lifestyles they have created to suit their own needs.
      They don't give a foot scraping for the public.

      1. 388545+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,

        “political classes are all trying to hang on to the lifestyles they have created to suit their own needs”
        aided & abetted by the same never changing voting pattern.

        RE, they are not pets but vicious
        life / maiming takers.

  22. Morning, all Y'all.
    Been raining since it woke me up at about 03:00. What's that about global warming? Somewhere else seems to be getting our share of the sunshine.

    1. Morning Obs, you know the 'THEY' change it to 'climate change' when the worlds public opinion became more relevant to their BS.
      Greece is the word 🇬🇷

  25. 'Morning All
    They're handing out panzerfausts to the schoolkids now, aren't they?
    pitiful.and we're supporting this………
    https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1801194821484261644
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53884e311c8c32571aec9f7576ec67acbf68f0265ecbf4e0782cade597f879a7.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/262289afc34219717d72c89f63c5451d034669019f15d41425e6bdb6b583c62d.gif
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79e23e97ad2487f53c49a02c2b368ac6258718f6812aaaf01dc1df8cb035af34.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e777d1765dbb09b6428be1398f2e61bc5c7b714cc024311f437966a6d7e54bb0.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7f20516e80777236065fe38fd34b557a1f0d292d717f37bb6053f0ff2a65938.jpg

      1. Heating? I have reported you and True Belle to the Climate Police. They will be round as soon as they have had a shave and have finished putting on their make-up. Be careful to use their proper pronouns or you may end up with a very long sentence.

        2. She-he-it-that-they-them-him-her-I-you-us-we-your-hers-his-theirs-yours-who-what-why-wherefore-she-he-it-that-they-none-of- hers-his-mine-theirs-where-when-you-us-we-what-a-very-long-sentence…sorry, couldn't resist! Have I missed any?

    1. I am proud of my sons – but I have rather more to be proud of than the President of the US.

  28. Dreich:
    Wordle 1,091 4/6

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  31. It looks like hoi polloi will vote for Reform no matter how much the leftwaffe squeal their normal infantile insults, (racist, Nazi, bigot, etc, etc) and simply won't vote the way they should.
    It will be most vexing.

    1. Surely now is the time for Jacob Rees Mogg to jump ship?

      Or is his plan to work with Farage after the election to form a new right of centre coalition?

      Farage is wise not to make any deals with the Conservative Party as it is now. After all the miserable Brexit deal surrendering both Northern Ireland and UK fishing to the EU was the result of Johnson betraying Brexit by making no accommodation with the Brexit Party. Sunak's Great Windsor Sell Out means that no pro Brexit Party should ever trust the current Conservatives again.

        1. He is certainly blindly faithful to a party which no longer supports a conservative political philosophy.

          His nanny needs to give him a smacked botty to wake him up to the fact that the Conservative Party should be abandoned by all right thinking, Right of Centre people.

          1. Read that as "…right thinking Right of Centipede"… 🙁
            More coffee needed, then I must go out and fix the fence.

      2. I think your second sentence is right (as in correct).
        I just hope the surviving Conservative MPs are not the bloody wets/one nation dorks who have brought us to this sorry pass.

        1. Indeed, it is tragic that the Conservatives cannot be trusted. An electoral coalition between right wing Conservatives and Reform would have been ideal.

          If only far more wet Conservatives had defected to Labour leaving Reform to contest their seats unopposed by Conservative replacements.

    2. The Reform candidates need to update their websites though – there's no information whatsoever about our local candidate. Nor others.

  32. Morning all 🙂😊
    High cloud scooting across from the south west, periodic sunshine.
    The labour manifesto is a recipe that develops no taste and they have no accessories like even an oven, plates, knives forks, or even condiments to serve it with.

  33. As Elon Musk, the innovator known for SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, Neuralink and OpenAI takes his $56 Billion Pay package, & moves to the safe state of Texas..

    Meanwhile.. Dawn Butler informs us that "we're going to the very top, without the gatekeepers n stuff, "If you like me, let me know, let me out the shadow…"

    DEI hires and WFH professional mouse jigglers way-2-go or, A descent into a leftie South African style abyss?

  34. Good morning, all. Overcast with rain forecast later this morning.

    Dr Robert Malone on The Highwire from 68 minutes in.

    Dr Malone exposes many insights into his journey through what is a tangled web within the medical and research systems in the USA. Truly, we are at risk from the morons engaging in research and the charlatans than hold the purse strings and control the narratives.

    2. It's the language in the question that is divisive and inflammatory. Loaded question, or what?

    3. They cannot forgive him for being completely right on the question of immigration and falling net wealth per capita.

  36. SIR – Animal Rising’s peaceful protest rightly highlights the suffering imposed on animals at the RSPCA’S Assured Farms (report, June 12).
    Furthermore, it is a myth that animal slaughter is “humane”. The most “humane” slaughter involves terrible fear, suffering and distress, not to mention the misery that the animal has endured from birth.
    All slaughter involves taking the life of an innocent being for the sake of palate pleasure. Only by going vegan can we stop this unnecessary pain.

    Mark Richards
    Brighton, East Sussex

    It would be impossible to explain the facts to you, Marky lad, without upsetting your addled brain; so I'll not even bother to attempt it.

    You see, for a period well in excess of 4½ million years, a developing human species got fitter, stronger and massively more intelligent on their natural carnivorous diet. OK so far?

    Unfortunately, around 10,000 years ago, for some unfathomable reason known only to them, a cartel of ancient Egyptians and Babylonians thought it would be a fun thing to state munching on weeds. They they started growing grains and vegetation and marketed them as 'food'. Good food for herbivores, maybe, but humans are not herbivores.

    This event coincided with the slow deterioration in the health of humans; many previously unknown ailments were given great succour by this change in diet to vegetation. The rise of so-called "modern diseases" accelerated and became rampant under this new unnatural way of eating. One of the biggest changes was the rise in stupidity, which began its long march to domination.

    This manifestation commenced a rapid acceleration under vegetarianism, and has now gone through the roof with the modern concept of veganism. Vegans are terminally and irreversibly stupid as a direct result of their unnatural diet.

    The problem that we normal humans have with you, is that trying to explain the facts to you is impossible; your ingrained stupidity has so altered your brain that it is no longer capable of listening to archaeologically-proven facts and reason.

    The only resort left to us is to simply laugh at you. Personally I'd put you all in a cage, poke you with sticks, then offer you some proper food through the bars!

    1. I’ve seen vegans on social media stating that having 35 feet of gut proves that we’re natural herbivores. Yet sheep have 85 feet and cows have 125, plus both have stomachs with four chambers. Cats have the shortest gut. Those veggie munching beasts with a short intestine and simple stomachs also have digestive problems. Elephants eat grass but have evolved to digest it very slowly. Giant pandas do actually resort to a natural bear diet of fish and berries when needs must.

      1. Better Half has been type 2 for decades. Went on carnivore diet a few months ago, blood sugars/blood pressure all improved. He was taking 13 different meds, prescribed over many years, gradually added while none stopped. Slowly starting to lose weight. Went to see GP explaining his reasoning, only to find GP fully agreed and was doing the same. NB: I'm not recommending this – to anyone interested, please fully research before changing diet/lifestyle.

        1. I know this diet – a variant on the Atkins diet recommended to me in 2004 by an Australian medic.

          It is primarily concerned with glycaemic index, and the idea is to ban all foods with a GI of more than 50. This knocks out nearly all the processed carbohydrates, especially anything containing sugar, but permits any quantity of fat, protein, vitamins and the harder-to-digest carbohydrates. Best of all therefore is meat and green vegetables. A roast dinner without the potatoes or the Yorkshire pud or the sweet course is perfect.

          I went down from 92kg to 79kg, a lot of it in a matter of weeks and felt much fitter and less tired.

          There were several disadvantages to it – any social setting usually offers only high carbohydrates – cheap party food – so going on this diet is quite antisocial.

          It also demands more thought and preparation, which is hard living alone with many other demands on time, energy and thinking space. It is so much easier simply to grab a snack, comfort food, out of the fridge. Sandwiches are a prime example.

          I was also warned that this diet risks damage to the kidneys if kept up for over a year.

          1. Thanks for comprehensive info, jeremy. I’ve read Atkins died after slipping on ice and banging his head – post-mortem revealed not only overweight but also furred arteries, so you may imagine the chats we’ve had about that. He isn’t eating ANY carbs at all, usually steak and greens (Atkins). Previously he was a big fruit/bread eater, no more. I’d imagine anyone interested in diet knows the ‘carb rush’- it’s very addictive. I’m especially interested in what you say re kidney damage, that’s doubtless another ‘chat’ I’ll have with him.

          2. Blueberries, cranberries and cherries are good for kidney function. Though as you mention people should do their own research.

          3. Thanks, Phizz. Happy to consume any and all, at anytime! He can do his own research:-D right now he’s not eating any fruit, one time he ate several a day – not too good for diabetic.

          6. Possibly not, just wrote the books/diet plan. There’s more books now, and especially online/YouTube videos…usually American females from what I hear…

          7. I cut down on carbs a year or so ago – not out completely but certainly less than before. I don't count calories or weigh anything. I eat meat, eggs, greens, fruit. Hardly any potatoes or bread. I feel much better for it and lost a couple of inches round my waist. My main carb intake is muesli with fruit for breakfast – just a couple of spoonfuls. It fills me up and keeps me going till mid afternoon.

          2. He always has his nose around her back end too. He hasn't been 'done' you see. I never let him lick my face.

          3. An early memory coming up……. look away now if you're squeamish.
            I was four years old when my Mum took me to Exmouth for the last time… I needed a crap suddenly and squatted in the sand dunes. The dog which had followed us from the hotel ate it.

        2. I remember remarking on the straight line in which my then-toddler sister was walking when out for a wander on the common land. Turned out she was following the trail of 'sweeties' generously donated by a rabbit… 🤣🤣

    2. Firstborn kept a couple of pig for the meat. They were pleasantly happy creatures, looked forward to the topping-up of their feed, loved rootling around outside (and occasionally breaking out), were happy with their safety – and tasted fabulous. Their offing was swift – lured outside wih the food scoop and an unseen deadbolt to the skull – done.
      I think we were more upset than the pigs – despite all efforts, we'd come to like their piggy personalities and thought them charming. Didn't make the mistake of naming them though, just Pig #1 and Pig #2, because they always were in that order, right to the deadbolt.
      If you mistreat them, they don't thrive and what meat you get is not top quality, so why do so? Richards is a dork.

    3. Firstborn kept a couple of pig for the meat. They were pleasantly happy creatures, looked forward to the topping-up of their feed, loved rootling around outside (and occasionally breaking out), were happy with their safety – and tasted fabulous. Their offing was swift – lured outside wih the food scoop and an unseen deadbolt to the skull – done.
      I think we were more upset than the pigs – despite all efforts, we'd come to like their piggy personalities and thought them charming. Didn't make the mistake of naming them though, just Pig #1 and Pig #2, because they always were in that order, right to the deadbolt.
      If you mistreat them, they don't thrive and what meat you get is not top quality, so why do so? Richards is a dork.

  38. An interesting piece of history:

    1926 United Kingdom general strike

    The new Conservative government led by Stanley Baldwin took decisive control of the general strike of 1926, ending it in nine days by bringing in middle-class strikebreakers and averting violence. Ramsay MacDonald (Labour) continued with his policy of opposing strike action, including the general strike, arguing that the best way to achieve social reforms was through the ballot box. Labour deeply distrusted the media and lost heavily in the court of public opinion formed by a hostile press. They learned a lesson and switched to a policy of deliberate media engagement, notably with the BBC, which proved successful in the long run.

    Second Labour government Second MacDonald ministry

    The election of May 1929 left the Labour Party for the first time as the largest grouping in the House of Commons with 287 seats. MacDonald was still reliant on Liberal support to form a minority government.

  39. A lot of the Red Wall voters will be switching to Reform because of their hatred of the EU, and it's Free Movement of Cheap Labour stealing their kids jobs and holding down wages.
    Then of course the mass importation of third world dross polluting largely working class areas with record amounts of crime that is destroying the cohesion of their communities and the social fabric of their neighbourhoods.
    Personally, I have no desire to see my wife and daughter threatened by stone age savages, or my son stabbed for his phone or because he chose to walk down the wrong path and disturbed a drug addled piece of garbage buying his poisonous filth whilst he's on his way home from work late one evening

    2. A lot has been said about Reform damaging the Tory vote. This is almost certainly true, and a lot of Tory seats may well fall, and many to Labour, especially the Red Wall, which were only "on loan" to Boris Johnson at the last election to get Brexit done. Small cities such as Worcester are also expected to fall to Labour.

      What would happen though if a goodly number of these votes, instead of reverting to Labour, went to Reform?

      As well as damaging the Tories as expected, any sizeable inroads by Reform into taking Red Wall seats, alongside a revival of Lib Dem fortunes and of the post-Youseless SNP in Scotland, might even deny Starmer his majority.

      He would then have to rely on an agreement with a hotchpotch of minor parties to govern, denying the absolute power he craves. Rough justice to a man who spent much of 2019 bringing Parliament into a state of ungovernable anarchy.

  40. Seen elsewhere …

    Your forever impartial BBC suspect foul play, it can only be a matter of time until Russian funding is verified and found to be behind the success of Reform. Arron Banks has his legal team on standby.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d6af31add4f24f499609098b1cccf68d622b5a6d2181e0b030415379384ddaa.png
    I haven't watched much but the Chatterati can't hide their hate and spite towards Reform and Farage their faces twisted with revulsion as they try for "Gotchas" and fail miserably

    1. Well Rik, that's me convinced. I will now vote for Our Keith, who had a Dad who was a toolmaker you know?

    1. All schizo's are a danger to the public if they don't take their medicine. They should all be locked away.

    2. Has the judge considered the likely use of powerful drugs being the likely cause of the schizophrenia? Many of the people I had to deal with in my working life were addicts which had caused their violent behaviour.

      1. I suspect a significant proportion and given the demographic of the offender in question, almost certain to be a factor.

  44. SIR – As the owner of a large buy-to-let portfolio of terraced properties in Lancashire, I’ve been subjected to the Government’s onslaught against landlords, which has included the reduction of tax relief, extra charges, and various other hostile changes.

    I held my nerve as other landlords got out of the market, and have been rewarded with virtually 100 per cent occupancy, greatly increased rentals, and a rise in property values.

    I would like to thank the Tories for my good fortune and look forward to the incoming Labour government trying to bash landlords with the probable introduction of rent controls – which have always failed when tried.

    I don’t doubt that this will, by the law of unintended consequences, make me even wealthier.

    Dr David Parkinson
    Warrington, Cheshire

    1. My mother and I eke out our pensions by letting a small flat to an elderly couple. After paying the extravagant Service Charge, whose Reserve Fund was recently cleared out by shafters, and complying with a raft of rules and regulations, I have had enough and want out.

      Life is too precious to spend under constant disapproval, like waiting to see the Headmaster, and the market better left to the professionals who are well equipped and inclined to fleece the public.

      1. What happens when the letting market is buggered, and all the housing sold off?
        – Those who cannot afford a mortgage will not have anywhere else to live other than with parents.
        – Those changing jobs will find starting in a new part of the country difficult, if not impossible
        – Those being seconded to another part of the country will have to live in hotels, making the secondment even more expensive.
        Result: Jobs market even more sclerotic than before, and youngsters with nowhere to live of their own and no chance to get started.
        SWMBO and I rented apartments in Millwall, Isle of Dogs, Olney, Beds, Newport Pagnell, Bucks, before we had employment enough to get a mortgage. Now, several houses later, the mortgage is paid off, but we'd never have got started if we'd have had to buy a place in London/Beds/Bucks, as the job & money would never have supported it.

        1. Absolutely right. Labour folk are doing the underprivileged no favours by demonising landlords.

          An old housing remedy was to take in a lodger when times were hard. This provided cheap and flexible accommodation, company and some able-bodied practical help for an elderly landlord or landlady reluctant to move to a home, some emotional comfort to a lonely single or divorced person, and took a lot of pressure off limited housing stock.

          1. I was lonely in a four bed house in Birmingham so i filled it with English students from Aston University. Never a dull moment.
            I included in their rent all the tea and toast they could eat. And on Sundays i cooked them all a roast dinner.

      2. What happens when the letting market is buggered, and all the housing sold off?
        – Those who cannot afford a mortgage will not have anywhere else to live other than with parents.
        – Those changing jobs will find starting in a new part of the country difficult, if not impossible
        – Those being seconded to another part of the country will have to live in hotels, making the secondment even more expensive.
        Result: Jobs market even more sclerotic than before, and youngsters with nowhere to live of their own and no chance to get started.
        SWMBO and I rented apartments in Millwall, Isle of Dogs, Olney, Beds, Newport Pagnell, Bucks, before we had employment enough to get a mortgage. Now, several houses later, the mortgage is paid off, but we'd never have got started if we'd have had to buy a place in London/Beds/Bucks, as the job & money would never have supported it.

  45. Pretty much my personal stance although not my husband's (see my post to Sue E, above).

  46. 388545+ up ticks,

    What is coming across strongly to me is that a reformed tory (ino) ,party is under construct with what will be many of the old
    alledged political criminals dodging the court-house.

    The road to destruction is sure being dragged out, better having a civil war that would suit the political cullist and the patriot element.

    Best man, woman, it, takes the remnant remains to govern.

    1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      Reform has become the home of the right-wing protest vote
      Comments Share 14 June 2024, 9:48am
      The great British public seems to have got over its feelings of anger and disillusionment towards the Conservative party. It is mainly just laughing at the Tories now. The descent into outright ridiculousness brought about by the centrist ‘sensibles’ who currently run the Tory show came across loud and clear in last night’s seven-way ITV debate.

      Twice the audience responded with spontaneous giggles at the answers given by Penny Mordaunt. The first burst of titters came when she described our education system as world class. In fact, there is much international data to back this up, at least for England where Conservative reforms have paid dividends in rising standards. But such is the extent of public derision for the Tories that almost nobody seems prepared to believe this.

      Reform is the perfect receptacle for a giant right-wing protest vote
      Then, the most raucous burst of laughter came when Mordaunt was challenged by Nigel Farage on the betrayal of promises to reduce immigration made in four successive previous Tory manifestos. Why, asked Farage, would anyone believe the same promise now being made for a fifth time? ‘Because of the record of this prime minister,’ she said – bringing the house down in the process. ‘Enough, that’s fine, I’m happy,’ replied a delighted Farage.

      His tail was up anyway given that, less than an hour before the debate began, a new YouGov poll had for the first time put Reform ahead of the Tories (by 19 points to 18). It was just one poll, but hugely symbolic. Especially as Farage had confidently predicted such a ‘crossover’ opinion survey when he launched his campaign in Clacton.

      Most popular
      John Connolly
      Exclusive: How many XL Bullys live in your area?

      Elections guru John Curtice, an altogether more objective source, this morning told the BBC that polls taken since the start of this week showed a clear trend of the Conservatives losing further ground, Labour also dropping back a bit and both Reform and the Liberal Democrats rising. A pollster texted me to say he thought that under YouGov’s old methodology – they have controversially just changed the way they weight their data – the scores from the latest poll would have been Reform 18, Conservative 15.

      The notion that the most successful party in the history of democratic politics anywhere on the planet could record such a poll score midway through a general election campaign is utterly extraordinary. It is surely also proof of a contention that I have been advancing in these pages for many months: that in the current era Tory centrism of the kind that took David Cameron into Downing Street 14 years ago and is now being advanced by Rishi Sunak holds no widespread appeal. The so-called ‘centrist dads’ have all defected to Labour or the Lib Dems and aren’t coming back anytime soon. Meanwhile, the natural Tory vote demands much stronger responses to the anxieties of the age – excessive immigration, the rise of radical Islam and a breakdown in everyday law and order being chief among them.

      The Reform party gets all this and in Farage has a brilliant campaigner to let the relevant voters know that it feels their pain. Whether it would actually be capable of governing sensibly hardly matters: it is the perfect receptacle for a giant right-wing protest vote.

      The Conservatives, by contrast, have Sunak, who has turned out to be as clueless a campaigner as he is a strategist. Since he called the election everything seems to have gone wrong: another set of gargantuan legal migration figures landed with a thump, illegal migration via the Channel boats was shown to have hit a record high, the economy is flat-lining again according to new official statistics and NHS waiting lists are pushing even further upwards.

      In an era when most voters are full of angst about an obvious social recession that is dragging down non-pecuniary living standards, he has fallen back on a narrow and frankly unbelievable pitch about tax cuts.

      When Sunak brought back David Cameron and sacked Suella Braverman last November it told voters on the right all they needed to know about his administration. ‘Daddy’s home,’ purred one centrist Tory commentator. For the mass of the right-leaning electorate this was exactly the problem. The Tories may have further yet to fall.

      1. 388545+ up ticks,

        Morning Rob,

        “The Reform party gets all this and in Farage has a brilliant campaigner to let the relevant voters know that it feels their pain. Whether it would actually be capable of governing sensibly hardly matters:”

        I do think it matters a great deal ALL the time we are tactically voting and venting our self inflicted anger against each other the islamic snake is gaining power daily to such an extent that in my book shortly we will have to take sides in some very,very, serious civil unrest.

          1. Well it certainly isn't a cobra. A boa constrictor may be, smothering and swallowing humanity.

    2. Conservative voters should vote for the man or woman – not the rosette.
      Take a look at your candidate and decide if they deserve another term.

      2. I'm still torn between voting for Siobhan, who has been an active local MP, and the unknown Reform candidate who has not yet even put any information on his website. Locally, all the posters out so far are red, and the Labour candidate is a popular local GP. This area votes Labour when the candidate is a local man, and Tory otherwise. Greens have also done well here – the council is mainly Green.

          1. A Labour leaflet came yesterday. They’ve got their act together but they certainly won’t get my vote.

          2. The gurning face of our LD MP (record claims for expenses and nothing achieved) was plastered over a leaflet the postie handed over the other day. It went straight in the fire. That’s the only one I’ve had.

    3. Whether or not you loathe and despise Nigel Farage you surely must admit that the UK needs the political structure to be completely rearranged?

      How can this realistically come about and who do you think is capable of setting it in motion?

      1. 388545+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        It has already been done radically changed that is, on the 24/6/16 until the party before Country fools returned to supporting voting lab/lib/con coalition party once again, the very combo they voted against in the referendum.

        Without doubt success was shown
        what could be done in one year, ALL recorded, with the Batten / Braine UKIP leaders, the only party that was operating financially in the black gaining members daily ALL achieved in one year.

        It has been done only to be crushed by treacherous egocentrics and a multitude of voting fools without
        whom we would never have got to where we are today.

  47. Sir,

    Now that The Reform Party has overtaken The Conservatives in the polls the Conservative Party's argument that voting for Reform would help Labour has collapsed. It is now clear that a vote for the Conservatives will destroy the Right of Centre for a generation.

    I suggest that Jacob Rees-Mogg, who agrees with Nigel Farage on most political issues, leads a mass defection to Reform NOW so that after July 4th there is a decent, reinvigorated, new Right of Centre contingent in the House of Commons.

    Rastus C. Tastey

    1. Fingers crossed, Rastus. Maybe some good will come out of the whole sorry mess.

    4. The last mass defection from the Tory Party was in 2019, when I think 42 of them crossed the floor, including old sweats like Ken Clarke. They were a bit like the peasant revolters in Richard II's time. Many of them came crawling back, and some disappeared never to be seen again.

      I think if they felt it was a way forward, they would not have waited until an election was well under way before proposing to deselect existing candidates from the target party.

      The jury is now out.

      1. The biggest problem for Reform on that one is that "boat people" floating across to them from the Conservatives will inevitably have a lot of lefties among them. You can't turn them back without looking churlish, but at the same time you might be storing up future troubles.

        Personally I'd like the Libs in the Tory ranks to defect straight to Labour. But still, Utopia is yet far away. Hey ho…

        1. Not a single one of those dinghy people deserve to settle in the UK. Not even the children. They have come through multiple safe countries.
          We have paid the French government £680 million to harden that border and their police just stand and watch.

    5. JRM will have to put his money where his mouth is. He is good with the talk but little action. I watch with interest.

    2. ‘Morning Anne! I’m sure you’ll be delighted to know it’s hissing down here in Portugal! 😳

      1. Is it? The assistant in Majestic was a Portuagese lad.
        He said that April was the bad month for rain; the gushing down the streets type stuff.
        Unlike me, he had never been to Madeira.
        I suppose it's like my never having been to Shetland.

  49. As you may recall. I was talking about the fate of White South Africans who have fled South Africa because of persecution by applying for a carers visa to this country and that now those visas have been revoked giving people 60 days to find another sponsor or leave the UK. The problem is that the government has been closing down the agencies that sponsor these people, so far they have closed down over 300 in an industry that is critically short handed in the first place. The government in its inability to control illegal immigration has cynically decided to attack those who are here legally. This has coincided with an election in South Africa which forces the ANC to go into coalition with the EFF, a Communist outfit run by Julius Malema who is notorious along with his followers, for the chant: "Kill the Boer." and such remarks as: “We are not calling for the slaughter of white people, at least for now”. But then that is when he was not in power.

    One of the carers has become a good friend, she is literally terrified to return. She left SA because she was a lawyer who actively opposed the ANC and its corruption. She fears jail, if she returns, or worse. She is determined not to go back and has told me that she will commit suicide rather than go.
    I wanted you all to see what sort of horrors some of these people will face if they are forced back. The first is the Kill the Boar chant. The second is the fate of Whites in South Africa. With regards to the second video. I have been told that things have become worse since this video was made. The third is farmers talking about their lives. This is 6 years old and yes, it is worse now.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suL6sAN4bKU

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba3E-Ha5Efc&t=1s

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlSiMZ34-z4

    1. Can you become her sponsor?
      South Africa is not a place I'd want to visit again, in spite of the beauty of its countryside.

      1. Unfortunately no. In truth I would like to sponsor all of them. It is a lot more complicated than you would think because you also have to deal with government not only in terms of sponsorship but also in terms of payment. It is the sort of thing that really does require an agency. One of the people I know, Peter, relies on his job as a carer to feed his family in South Africa because, it is almost impossible for a White South African to get a job, housing or much else. He is some sort of computer expert who worked in clean rooms. I could not understand what he did, it was beyond me. He has a science degree. They are discriminated against in a way that is far worse than blacks were treated under Apartheid. Another I know is an Emergency Medical Care Specialist, even she can't get a job in SA. You would think such a person would be snapped up by any hospital but no, she Isn't black. So all of them are highly qualified in their fields and would be assets ibn the British economy if it were not for the fools that govern our country into the ground.

      2. Is there now a single, safe country in Africa which is fit to live in?

        My grandfather, a Devon GP, had eleven children Six of these made their lives in Africa. Leonard was a farmer in Rhodesia; Hugh w became the world's leading expert on African music in South Africa; Christopher, my father, became a colonial governor in the Sudan where I was born; Evelyn became a headmistress in Nigeria; Vera and her husband were farmers in Kenya; and Decima and her husband, both medical doctors, were missionaries in Rwanda.

        My Aunt Vera was murdered in Kenya; my Uncle Leonard's daughter-in-law was murdered in Zimbabwe.

        1. Murders happen here in England, Rastus, and in France. It's only because we live in rural areas amongst like-minded people that we are shielded from the worst.

          I used to go for demos in London – the last time was five years ago – I wouldn't walk round London on a Saturday now.

          I'm well looked after on my trips to Kenya and have never felt unsafe there, but I'm under no illusions as to what has happened to other people there, attacked and killed by fanatics.

        2. And I, of course, grew up in Libya. Another sad disaster in Africa with immense potential.

          1. On retiring from the Sudan my father worked in Libya for a couple of years when King Idris was the ruler.

            I remember sailing with him in Tripoli when I was a little child,

          2. Yes and I was a child when I was evacuated with my mother and sister during the Suez crisis 1956, and daddy and a few hundred expat males were taken prisoner and interned for 3 months . History doesn't talk about that , does it .

            Prior to that , lived in the Sudan from 1951 –1955, Egypt 1955-1956, then uk , then parents went to Nigeria , then back to the Sudan , and then in 1966 they decided to emigrate to South Africa with my sister , younger sister and her twin brother , and I decided to stay in the UK , and I am glad I did .

          3. I worked quite a bit in Libya years ago. It was a pleasant place, as long as you didn't get onto the subject of Ghaddafi. And then NATO bombed the shit out of the place, Ghaddafi was murdered and the power vacuum allowed for anarchy.
            Poor Libya.
            Worked a contract in Sudan, too. Great country, fine people.
            Poor Sudan.
            Grew up in Nigeria. Loved it – enormous freedom as a child.
            Poor Nigeria, although not so disastrous as the fate of Sudan and Libya.

      3. My good old friend i went to SA with, after his wife died, married a family friend to bring her the the UK for her safety.

    2. I dont think anyone actually checks on the status of immigrants once they are through the border. Naturally, you cannot leave and hope to return with an expired visa.

      1. That is what I have told her to do. After all she blends in completely, especially if she takes lessons to speak like an Englishwoman. And, ironically, if she continued as a carer, she would make more in the underground economy than doing it legally. But she is a lawyer, as I said, and an honest one at that. It that trait that got her into trouble in SA.

        1. II have no idea if you are serious about the elocution lessons, but if you are and she's interested, do get in touch (Hertslass has my email); I'd be happy to help.

    4. I feel for her, there must be some way of getting her feet on the ground in Europe.

        1. I hadn't seen that.
          Of course but getting here is the problem for genuine and honest asylum seekers.

    5. The obvious solution is for all European-origin people to return to Europe and all non-European origin people to go back to where they or their forebears came from. Which political party/movement will embrace that?

    6. I remember the anti-apartheid protests in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. South Africa was an international pariah and its sporting teams were excluded from international competition. Is it not time to treat it in such a way once more?

      1. You've seen me in the papers, you've seen me on the box
        I complain of Vietnam – or the hunting of the fox
        Of hunger in Biaffra – or the nuclear atom bomb
        And where the filthy capitalists get all their money from

        How I hate Apartheid,
        But how I love to demonstrate

        I say that what we need is tolerance and peace
        In proof of this I smash up cars and throw things at the police
        I refuse to hear a point of view that's different from my own
        A really reasonable debate's a thing I've never known

        How I hate Apartheid,
        But how I love to demonstrate

        We really had a field day with Springbok sporting tours
        We cut up cricket pitches for the multi-racial cause
        When we stopped the Lions' rugby game it was our finest hour
        But we don't see any racism in those clamours for black power

        How I hate Apartheid,
        But how I love to demonstrate

        But now, alas, my student days I'll have to leave behind,
        I'll put away my banners and I'll regiment my mind
        I'll shave off all my whiskers and I'll wear a pin-stripe suit
        And catch the 7.50 – cos it's such fun to commute

        It was great to demonstrate,
        But now it's time to vegetate.

    7. Is there an opportunity for her to marry in the UK, and so obtain permanent residence?
      Can she apply to another country, eg Germany, Norway, even, for employment and maybe asylum?
      Don't let her do herself in – that would be truly awful.

    8. When trying to tackle anything illegal the government almost inevitably attacks the law abiding. Clueless, incompetent government we have had with us for several decades at least, now.

      1. I should add that the government has closed over 300 agencies, deliberately thwarting any attempts of these people getting a job. The people concerned cannot apply for a different visa or get a job in another field. It is diabolical because beside throwing the Carers lives into turmoil there is an acute dearth of carers in the first place which the government has now made far worse. The result is that people are most certainly going to die and at the very least people are going to end up in hospital.

      2. I should add that the government has closed over 300 agencies, deliberately thwarting any attempts of these people getting a job. The people concerned cannot apply for a different visa or get a job in another field. It is diabolical because beside throwing the Carers lives into turmoil there is an acute dearth of carers in the first place which the government has now made far worse. The result is that people are most certainly going to die and at the very least people are going to end up in hospital.

    10. A proper refugee, she should be made welcome here. Her honesty might cause problems though. In all seriousness, the best of luck to her.

  50. A longish but interesting view on how ideas now Trump, ho ho reality.
    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-plague-of-ideas/

    If our time is defined by anything, it is the primacy of ideas over reality. Whether the issue is trangenderism, and its rejection of nature, or the assumption that “human rights” and democracy are universal values to be imposed at gunpoint on other societies, we value abstractions more than truths—feelings more than results. Almost nothing is decided on the merits of whether it will produce a net gain for the greatest number of people, or even if it will work. What matters now for our elites, and for those who seek to boost their social credit score in the hopes of one day joining that august class, is adherence to the orthodoxy of the moment, not real-world outcomes.

        1. I'm afraid, Johnny, that no matter for whom you vote, the government always gets in. If voting changed anything, it would be illegal.

    2. As an Engineer, when I come up with something a bit new, I get two questions that I prepare for in advance:
      1. How does that work, then?
      2. What's in it for (the project)?
      Can't give a convincing practical answer, then on me bike…

    3. "Almost nothing is decided on the merits of whether it will produce a net gain for the greatest number of people, or even if it will work"

      That's an idea…

    1. Judges 14 (King James Version)

      And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

    1. Tefal. A number of different models, check reviews before deciding (Amazon). Daily use in our kitchen. Apologies if you weren't being serious :-DD

    2. I have a Sage Ped. It is eminently satisfactory though I would recommend that you buy the larger model.

    1. 388545+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      ALL governing political overseers and pretenders are of the same ilk, ALL interchangeable.

    1. I think that’s a good choice, simply because it gives more choice, ability to roast etc.

      1. It only goes up to 200c though. If i want to do a large joint i will use the main oven. The
        Daewoo is fine for smaller things like chicken breast, bacon, chops etc.
        I have a dinner party coming up at the end of the month. Several neighbours invited. I will need the main oven for that.
        I will be doing Rick Stein's https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pot-roast_pork_enchaud_28198
        And Nigella's lemon curd Pavlova.
        Hopefully the sun will shine as i'm making first use of my new refectory table in the garden.

          1. I am having another party in August. An open invitation to all Nottlers who are within range. August 10th at 2pm.
            One of our very own is an opera singer and will be making a virtual appearance from Buenos Aires. (video on the telly not hologram ! ).

          3. Well, certainly within range of nuclear missiles from Russia. Just a few miles up the Creek from Portsmouth harbour and Southwick.
            Party Time.

  55. Ok a margin of error.. but second poll confirms..
    A vote for the Conservatives is a vote for Labour..

    2. There's a tail there somewhere but I don't see any conclusions that might have been drawn.

  57. I’m not but the link seems to show pineapple upside down cake, or similar? Best oven/cooker I ever had was a (gas fired) Aga…everything in one pot, in the oven, spend the rest of my time as I pleased and have a hot meal end of day. Similar to a large slow cooker, bit more versatile due to extra room. Drawback is it loses temp the more it’s used, whereas slow cooker doesn’t. Hope you find some good cookin’ in your group:-)) I’m no longer allowed to cook since I developed a habit of fainting/syncope – every cloud etc….:-)

    1. Oh dear. Sorry to hear that.
      The group is all about old school recipes. The stuff from childhood.
      Never was keen on pressure cookers but i did get myself a Pressure King Pro. Works a treat.

      1. 🙂 pressure cookers, that takes me back – my mother used hers all the time. Will check out the King Pro, thx.

  58. A vote for Sunak is a vote for Labour. Only Reform can deliver real change
    The Tories have betrayed their voters time and time again. It’s time to break with the pattern of failure
    Richard Tice: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/richard-tice-reform-uk-conservative-crossover/

    Of course he would say that, wouldn't he? But he is quite right.

    BTL

    Conservatives truly hoist on their own petard!

    They said a vote for Reform was a vote for Labour; now they must surely accept that a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for the status quo electorally as well as a vote for Labour.

    Surely few can now deny that our system needs a complete overhaul.

  59. Farage won the debate on tele according to most polls, but not according to Leftie Stu Grant.. who ran an alternative Leftie poll with his Leftie friends..

    They then spent the rest of the night posting across social media.

    "Oh God, Farage on ITV. I just can't. Had to change the channel. Cannot stomach him."
    "Not Farage again on ITV! Shocking sight on ITV. TV off."
    "Switched off, cannot deal with listening to Farage and his haaaaaard faaaaar right bile."

    Job done.

  60. Well, I laughed.

    From the DT.

    "Cheating husband sues Apple after wife discovered ‘deleted’ messages sent to sex workers
    The Briton believes he might still be married if his partner had not found the secret messages"

    BTL comment:
    This is why communication is vital in a healthy relationship- if he’d just spoken to his wife…she could have shown him how the computer worked

    2. “This is why communication is vital in a healthy relationship- if he’d just spoken to his wife…she could have shown him the door”.

    3. 'Who is Anna and why are you meeting her for three hours on Friday afternoon?' She asks.
      'A gorgeous raven hair minx', I tell her.
      'Mongo's girlfriend?'
      'His mother.'

      I have no fun.

  61. I have a small example of idea versus reality. Both my mother and her sister suffered from fluid retention on their feet and ankles. I have it too, though to a lesser extent. Mum was convinced that it would help if she cut her fluid intake. My brothers got hold of a fashionable idea that the solution is to increase fluid intake in order to kick start the body into dealing with it more efficiently. I heard this from a GP too. Neither supposed solution actually makes a blind bit of difference.

    A chiropodist explained to me that it's caused by a combination of the heart not beating hard enough and the lymphatic drainage not being efficient enough. He said that the condition is hereditary and that if he and I could come up with a real solution, we'd both be millionaires. The retention appears as a swelling but as he pointed out and as I'd realised, it isn't a sac of fluid that can be punctured and drained. The fluid is infused in the tissue.

    On the practical front, I've discovered that massage helps to spread it and improve the appearance and twenty four hours of palpitations has some impact. Keeping one's body weight down is helpful too. Otherwise, my "lived experience" (fashionable phrase often used where ideology is what's really meant) has proved the chiropodist correct and not the brothers, mother or the GP.

      1. Yes, neighbour found those useful – important to get correct size otherwise leg turns blue….

    2. I get that too, Sue, but to a lesser degree. Occasionally put my feet above my head, on the wall whilst lying down. I often fall asleep…:/-

    3. Reports out today, Starmer Snr actually owned the toolshop. If that's true, Starmer Jnr would certainly know it, and if he didn't correct any reports knowing the truth would out, he's pretty stupid.

  63. This is where political cowardice leads.

    Melanie Phillips.

    "Is it time for the Jews of Britain, Europe and America to leave?

    This question is increasingly being asked by diaspora Jews reeling from the volcano of antisemitism that erupted with the Palestinian pogrom in southern Israel on October 7 and has continued to spread its lethal effluent over the world.

    To Jews in Israel, the answer is obvious. Of course, it’s time for diaspora Jews to leave, they say. How can this even be a question?

    It’s certainly impossible to ignore the astonishing scale and nature of the Jew-hatred now manifesting itself across western societies.

    This has progressed far beyond the pro-Hamas demonstrations in western cities and on campus that are continuing to spread incitement, intimidation and violence against Jews with minimal pushback from law enforcement, administrators or politicians. Jew-hatred and the campaign to destroy the Jewish state have become mainstream.

    In New York this week, the homes of the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum and its Jewish board members were vandalised with red paint and graffiti that included inverted red triangles, the symbol by which Hamas marks its intended victims for murder.

    Two days earlier, outside an exhibit in Lower Manhattan commemorating the hundreds who were slaughtered at the Supernova music festival during the October 7 atrocities, hundreds of Hamas supporters lit flares and shouted: “Long live the intifada” and “Israel, go to hell”.

    On the New York subway, a keffiyeh-masked mob on a train shouted: “Zionists identify yourselves, this is your chance to get out.” When they declared: “OK, no Zionists, we’re good,” there were cheers.

    In Britain, an opinion poll revealed that 54 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 agreed with the statement: “The State of Israel should not exist.”

    When an El Al flight landed at London’s Heathrow Airport, a customs officer who noticed an Israeli flag on a piece of luggage pulled all the passengers from that flight into a room to have their luggage specially scanned. According to the UK Lawyers for Israel, when one of the passengers said: “We are Jewish, why are you doing this to us?” the official replied: “I am a customs officer, and I can do whatever I want.”

    In the first three months of this year, French authorities registered 366 antisemitic attacks — a 300 per cent increase over the same period last year, while the number of antisemitic acts recorded in 2023 was quadruple the figure for the year before. In May, Normandy police shot dead a man suspected of attempting to burn down a synagogue in Rouen. In April, a Jewish woman in a Paris suburb was kidnapped, reportedly raped and threatened with murder by an attacker who wanted to “avenge Palestine”.

    According to Sammy Ghozlan, president of the National Office for Vigilance against Antisemitism, almost all violent antisemitic acts in France for more than two decades have been committed by Muslims.

    Left-wing parties across Europe are increasingly genuflecting to the Muslim agenda. In France, the main left-wing party La France Insoumise is virulently anti-Israel, and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, calls Hamas a “resistance” movement.

    In Britain, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is attempting to balance his pledge to make the party safe for Jews with the vicious anti-Israel feeling rampant among his members and Britain’s Muslim community. His deputy was filmed grovelling to Muslims in her constituency and promising to “recognise a state of Palestine”.

    The party’s election manifesto says “Palestinian statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people” and that it is “not in the gift of any neighbour.” It commits Labour to recognising a Palestinian state “as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” which leaves up in the air the question of whether a Labour government would recognise “Palestine” unilaterally or not.

    Regardless of such ambiguity, since British Muslims number some four million compared to a mere 280,000 affiliated Jews the idea that a Labour government would resist the increasingly brazen anti-Israel and anti-west Muslim agenda is a fantasy.

    All of this obviously strikes a frightening historic nerve. The refusal of the Jews of Europe to realise the Nazi threat until it was too late is burned into Jewish consciousness.

    Today’s situation, however, is different. Unlike in Nazi Germany, the antisemitism rampant in the west today isn’t state-sponsored. It is the product instead of an alliance between the hard-left, woolly liberals and the Muslim world. The threat is therefore not limited to a regime based in one specific country. It is instead something more insidious — a war from both inside and outside the west against both the Jews and western civilisation.

    The second big difference is that a pushback against the wellspring of all this is now underway in Europe. In last week’s elections to the European Parliament, a variety of “populist,” anti-immigration or “hard-right” parties made record gains.

    In Britain, where according to the opinion polls Labour is on course to win the general election on July 4 by a huge majority, a similar revolt is under way. This is spearheaded by Nigel Farage, who galvanised millions of British citizens to vote for Brexit and who stormed back into frontline politics less than two weeks ago as head of the hitherto insignificant Reform Party.

    Denouncing the Conservatives for having failed to stop uncontrolled immigration and Islamisation, for having done nothing to combat intimidatory identity politics and for having committed Britain to the ruinous Net Zero green agenda, Farage is poised to pounce in the event of a predicted Tory wipe-out at the election and become leader of a transformed conservative movement.

    Although these “populist” parties are all very different from each other, they have one big thing in common. Like Donald Trump in America, they represent an insurgency against an entire political establishment that ignores, scorns or punishes eminently reasonable and indeed necessary concerns over Islamisation and mass immigration, the growth of coerced cultural conformity and the erosion of the rule of law.

    Diaspora Jews tend to hold their noses at anything on “the right” because they associate “the right” with antisemitism. They need to wake up fast. While there are certainly troubling increases in neo-fascist groups, the main threat to the Jews today is posed overwhelmingly by left-wingers and Muslims.

    Some European “populist” parties are indeed unsavoury. Others are merely authentically conservative. Most support Israel, although some have troubling antisemitic roots.

    In other words, this is a mixed picture. And as a result, the pushback against those determined to destroy the west is likely to be messy and complicated.

    Whether or not it’s time to uproot is necessarily a personal decision. However, Jews remaining in the diaspora will find themselves having to choose between the devil and the deep-blue sea. Quite apart from any dangers, the political choices they face are likely to make for an uncomfortable ride.

    This alarming situation didn’t suddenly burst out of nowhere on October 7. The writing has been on this particular wall for decades. But most diaspora Jews refused to see it.

    In America, the majority of Jews have actually signed up for the liberal ideas that are driving anti-Israel hysteria and Jew-hatred. In Britain, most Jews have been too frightened, too craven or too muddled to talk publicly about the threat from Muslim antisemitism and mass immigration.

    Of course, diaspora Jews can reasonably point out that, at present, Israel is hardly a safe haven. And unfortunately, there may well be yet more horrors for that beleaguered little country to endure.

    But Israel is where everyone knows what they’re fighting for. It’s where there is zero ambiguity about their enemy or its genocidal intention. It’s where the overwhelming majority understand that they are living through another seismic moment in the sacred history of their people. It’s why they know they have no alternative but to win.

    That’s why Israel will survive. The same cannot be said for the west."

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e5e76f386660d956ee24540602c33cf9aa901c1e9aab17fac6a9710ba56ca7f.jpg

      2. Of course that's the most obvious thing to do Phiz, but we all know how stupid our political idiots are.

    3. Leave to where? Throw out the troublemaker Islamists, keep the Jews. They make for a more gentle and peaceful, prosperous society.

  64. Putin’s nuclear arsenal is crumbling. Ukraine can take it out for good. Hamish de Bretton Gordon. 14 June 2024.

    The tactical nuclear threat peddled by Putin and his gangsters is empty: take it from me, I’ve been countering nuclear terrorism and threats for nearly 40 years. I suspect, as do most of my “intelligent” chums, that the weapons are in such a state of disrepair that, even if the planes or trucks which carry them can actually move, they may not detonate.

    All of the nuclear drills carried out this week have been done with dummy warheads because the real ones are likely bust. Their concept of operations were designed for the 1960’s and 70’s, when we did not have the sophisticated intelligence assets we do today. Putin did not need to tell us about his nuclear drills as we probably knew before he did.

    This man is totally deranged and should be in a hospital under sedation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

        1. Ture
          And initially most countries did to test them, but I very much doubt anyone has launched a rocket/shell with a live warhead as a drill.

  65. Putin’s nuclear arsenal is crumbling. Ukraine can take it out for good. Hamish de Bretton Gordon. 14 June 2024.

    The tactical nuclear threat peddled by Putin and his gangsters is empty: take it from me, I’ve been countering nuclear terrorism and threats for nearly 40 years. I suspect, as do most of my “intelligent” chums, that the weapons are in such a state of disrepair that, even if the planes or trucks which carry them can actually move, they may not detonate.

    All of the nuclear drills carried out this week have been done with dummy warheads because the real ones are likely bust. Their concept of operations were designed for the 1960’s and 70’s, when we did not have the sophisticated intelligence assets we do today. Putin did not need to tell us about his nuclear drills as we probably knew before he did.

    This man is totally deranged and should be in a hospital under sedation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. It claims Clacton is 96% white.
      If he fails to get in, in his mind it will be proof of racism.

      1. A lot of Eastenders settled there. Getting away from the influx. He may be right a touch of racism is involved but if he were any good they would vote for him anyway. Realists not twats.

    2. Dd he ask himelf why there are no black philosophy lecturers? If not, he's not much of a thinker, is he?

      (And there are many, but they're American. I'd argue Thomas Sowell is such, but unlike this kid, Professor Sowell is not a racist bigot).

    3. Dd he ask himelf why there are no black philosophy lecturers? If not, he's not much of a thinker, is he?

      (And there are many, but they're American. I'd argue Thomas Sowell is such, but unlike this kid, Professor Sowell is not a racist bigot).

    4. He "…identified himself as being part of the “Wakanda diaspora.”

      I think he's mis-spelled that – it should be "Wanker diaspora".

    5. Probably selected because of his height as NF is not tall. He'll be trained in intimidation. And Nigel is actually English.

  67. A man was recently imprisoned, wrongly, for distributing anti immigration stickers. Would i be imprisoned for making stickers saying 'I love Jews' ?

    Jews have enriched our culture and are not violent. The same cannot be said for muslims !

    I LOVE JEWS.

    https://youtu.be/2WJhax7Jmxs

  69. Girl and boy ‘miracle’ twin elephants born in Thailand

    Scare as new mother is spooked by ‘very rare’ second birth and breaks keeper’s leg

    Sarah Newey,
    GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, IN BANGKOK
    14 June 2024 • 4:06pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2024/06/14/TELEMMGLPICT000381742199_17183759369890_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqwDgGh3pkom49KxtKngnUa_4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2024/06/14/TELEMMGLPICT000381742197_17183767584790_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwSX5rhseiWKOo9p9OQ-ymek.jpeg?imwidth=680
    A Buddhist monk blesses the baby elephants, which are seen as sacred in Thai culture

      1. Often happens with animal twins. In horses it's rare for twins to survive. If one of our mares conceives twins, the vet pinches one out. It's a bit of a lottery; he or she could be pinching out a future Derby winner to leave a selling plater.

  70. A cryptic Par Four!

    Wordle 1,091 4/6
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Another fluke three.

      Wordle 1,091 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Early doors Friday pub session. Not sure what my result was, but here it is.
      Wordle 1,091 4/6

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

      par will do.

    4. Same here

      Wordle 1,091 4/6

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

    5. Skin of the teeth for me.
      Wordle 1,091 6/6

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

    3. I remember playing in a band which did a skit on this following 9/11 (perhaps too soon) which contained the words "Hey, Mr Taliban, tally me Osama" (morphing between Osama/Obama and bin Laden in following repetitions). Wish I could remember the other words.

    3. The Mummy is looking a bit guilty. Her family have been asking her awkward questions but she doesn't know who the Daddy is either.

  74. Was listening to YouTube, and this popped up from the 40th anniversary collection I put together for the celebration that SWMBO and I were to have – except events intervened, so it's postponed until ….
    It's more expressive of my feelings than I can manage about that small lady who God made tiny to stop her taking over the world… the person from whom all the wonderful things in my life have come.
    https://youtu.be/ifgQepGWFzQ?si=xPyngbFIlxdWCu9A

    1. I posted this lovely song on the forum yesterday And my lovely wife posted it for my birthday a couple of years ago

      Perhaps it's simply that I love you
      More than words can say
      Perhaps I'll write a love song      Just for you one day.

      Another surprisingly touching love song is Jake Thackray's La-Di-Dah.

      When we're off on our own
      No more lah-di-bloody-dah
      I promise, we just won't have the time
      We won't have time for such
      Such fancy pantomimesI
      love you far too much
      https://www.google.com/sear…

      1. We've hopefully booked a singer who specialises in the oldies.
        This for our golden wedding anniversary in August.
        Two 45 minutes sessions, one before lunch (for 45 family and friends) and another 45 minutes just after.
        We love all the old standards, some of the lyrics are so meaningful. We heard him casually singing providing company in a church environment at a local art festival.

        1. Excellent!
          There's a whole load I could recommend, but since it's your event and my taste, I'll STFU.

          1. I've got a stack of CDs that I've been sifting through recently.
            Every decent male and female singer you could think of.
            I'll probably settle for his professional judgement but make a couple of requests.
            I doubt if he does Ella Fitzgerald impersonations. Things could get a bit misty.

    2. You guys on here are so very uxorious! I wish, sometimes, that Lord O were more that way inclined. Go for it, you are obviously all lucky men!

    1. Ankle chain needed.
      I bet Vlad is having a good old larff at that 🤣😂🤣😆

  76. Afternoon, all. Had an automated phone call this arvo wanting me to sign up for a survey to see if I was eligible for solar installation. I know I'm not, having tried before to get grants etc – the roof space facing in the right direction is insufficient (and solar, despite what they claimed on the phone, isn't sufficient to halve my bills in the winter – the Rayburn does that). They asked me to spell my surname "so we can check against our records". When I asked what they thought my surname was, the reply was "the reason we need it is so my manager knows how to address you correctly when he rings back". At which point, I put the phone down. There's only so much time I'm prepared to waste stringing them along.

    I noticed when I went shopping today that one of the churches in the local town is putting on a hustings under the heading "meet the candidates", but it's only some of the candidates (LibLabCon and Green). They have previous. Last time they didn't invite the UKIP candidate and lied about why.

    I see Cur Slammer is claiming he'll rejuvenate the nation. Apart from the fact he's an international globalist who hates the nation state, his ideas will be the same old, same old failed policies that Labour has tried since 1945. Anybody who votes for that has clearly not studied history.

    2. We have a large flat roof but the freehold company looked into installing solar panels and found it would be massively expensive and not produce enough energy to power one of our lifts, much less the boiler room.

  77. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

          1. Scots want independence and to join the EU. Do they seriously suppose that the Germans will think twice about crashing their economy and drinking all the best whiskey. Just as they have bullied and thrashed their hapless football team.

          3. Scots want independence and to join the EU. Do they seriously suppose that the Germans will think twice about crashing their economy and drinking all the best whiskey. Just as they have bullied and thrashed their hapless football team.

        1. I understand, it’s been ruined by theatricals like diving and rolling on the turfs. And video recordings to help the poor referees make decisions.

      1. Stop making me cry! My Grandpa, who fought in two world wars and died of a heart attack at the age of 86 used to play such music. I thank the Lord that he is not around today to see what has been built upon his sacrifice.

    2. Il Papa doesn't look very impressed. Perhaps he'll call for his bell, book and candle and Sleepy Joe will be consigned to history. De profundis clamavi, Domine, non confundar in aeternum.

      2. The Jackdaw of Rheims.
        Ever since I read that poem as a child, I've always had a soft spot for jackdaws.
        "The Cardinal rose with a terrible look;
        He called for his candle, his bell and his book …"

        1. On crumpled claw, Come limping a poor little lame Jackdaw! That's the scamp that has done this scandalous thing! That's the thief that has got my Lord Cardinal's Ring!"

        2. There is a bird who, by his coat
          And by the hoarseness of his note,
          Might be supposed a crow;
          A great frequenter of the church,
          Where, bishop-like, he finds a perch,
          And dormitory too.

          Above the steeple shines a plate,
          That turns and turns, to indicate
          From what point blows the weather.
          Look up — your brains begin to swim,
          'Tis in the clouds — that pleases him,
          He chooses it the rather.

          Fond of the speculative height,
          Thither he wings his airy flight,
          And thence securely sees
          The bustle and the rareeshow,
          That occupy mankind below,
          Secure and at his ease.

          You think, no doubt, he sits and muses
          On future broken bones and bruises,
          If he should chance to fall.
          No; not a single thought like that
          Employs his philosophic pate,
          Or troubles it at all.

          He sees that this great roundabout,
          The world, with all its motley rout,
          Church, army, physic, law,
          Its customs and its businesses,
          Is no concern at all of his,
          And says — what says he? — Caw.

          Thrice happy bird! I too have seen
          Much of the vanities of men;
          And, sick of having seen 'em,
          Would cheerfully these limbs resign
          For such a pair of wings as thine
          And such a head between 'em.

          William Cowper

      3. A number of scandals surrounding the current Pope, according to Damian Thompson/Unherd a while ago. Perhaps the Pope and President have things in common.

  79. You couldn't make it bbc one, party election broadcast by Refom UK nothing on the screen whatsoever 5 minutes and still nothing.
    Obviously deliberate still nothing.
    It says Britain is Broken Needs Reform.
    Too much for them to handle. Zilch.

    1. Second thought's perhaps that was the whole idea. No bull shonet this is what Britain needs.

  81. The imperial EU is trying to claim another victim
    –
    Its actions serve as a warning to voters against Labour's plans to develop a common immigration policy with the Bloc. Thank God for Brexit
    –
    ALAN SKED • 14 June 2024 • 3:50pm

    Hungary in modern times has always had to struggle to maintain its independence. For centuries it was part of the Habsburg Monarchy and in 1848-9 fought a war of independence which it lost.

    A "compromise" constitutional settlement was then agreed in 1867 which appeared to put the country on an equal footing with its "Austrian" neighbours, but even within this new "Austria-Hungary" or "dual monarchy" Franz Josef called the shots. A strong Hungarian premier, Istvan Tisza, did manage to delay the outbreak of war in 1914, but the war was lost and Hungary lost roughly 70 per cent of its territory in the peace settlement.

    Between the wars, under Admiral Horthy (although the country had no sea border), a Habsburg restoration was thwarted and a parliamentary regime of sorts survived. Hungary, however, became an ally of Hitler, was occupied by the Nazis in 1944 before being occupied by the Soviets and incorporated into their empire. It continued to struggle for independence but its uprising in 1956 was brutally crushed by the Soviets, who issued a declaration claiming they were acting according to socialist principles of "complete equality… state independence and sovereignty, and of non-interference in one another's internal affairs". Quite.

    Today, Hungary must surely be experiencing a sense of deja vu after the European Union handed it fines of €200 million for defying EU immigration law, and an additional €1 million per day from now on for refusing to take in "asylum seekers".

    In 2020 Budapest passed a law saying those wishing to apply for asylum would have to do so from its embassies in Belgrade or Kyiv and it has detained those who have made applications in transit camps between border fences. Last year only 20 applications were made. This policy was denounced as illegal by the European Court whose rulings Budapest has simply ignored.

    Hungary claims it is enforcing European immigration policy by blocking the route through the Western Balkans taken by over one million migrants in 2015. Yet the European Court sees this as an "unprecedented and exceptionally serious breach of EU law". Hungarian premier Orban's response? 'it seems illegal migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens. We will not give into financial blackmail. We will protect the borders and protect the Hungarian people.'

    If the logic of EU policy is bizarre – punishing Hungary for successfully protecting its borders while failing to protect those on the EU's Mediterranean coasts – the timing of the Court's judgements is also peculiar. First, Hungary on 1 July will assume the presidency of the European Council. Secondly, these judgements coincide with general elections in both France and the UK, immediately after European elections which saw a swing to the "far Right" in France, Germany and Italy and elsewhere.

    In France the highlighting of issues such as immigration policy, the aggressive stand of EU institutions against a member state, and the very nature of national sovereignty within the EU, cannot fail but give impetus to the claims of the Eurosceptic National Rally of Bordalla and Le Pen.

    Here in Britain, the Tories, not to mention Farage, can use these developments to warn voters against Starmer's plans to develop a common immigration policy with Brussels. How many illegal immigrants would he take in from Italy, Greece and Spain? Thank God for Brexit.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/the-eu-punishing-hungary-for-rebelling-mass-migration/

    Sorry, Skedders old chap, but we don't have a Brexit, not least in respect of immigration. In their war on the British nation and its people, the traitorous internationalist filth in the Home Office simply sourced their ammunition from elsewhere in the world.

      1. The most stunningly attractive young blonde lass I ever saw is Hungarian… the kind of beauty that took away the breath and left your chin dragging on the pavement. Sigh…

  82. The imperial EU is trying to claim another victim
    –
    Its actions serve as a warning to voters against Labour's plans to develop a common immigration policy with the Bloc. Thank God for Brexit
    –
    ALAN SKED • 14 June 2024 • 3:50pm

    Hungary in modern times has always had to struggle to maintain its independence. For centuries it was part of the Habsburg Monarchy and in 1848-9 fought a war of independence which it lost.

    A "compromise" constitutional settlement was then agreed in 1867 which appeared to put the country on an equal footing with its "Austrian" neighbours, but even within this new "Austria-Hungary" or "dual monarchy" Franz Josef called the shots. A strong Hungarian premier, Istvan Tisza, did manage to delay the outbreak of war in 1914, but the war was lost and Hungary lost roughly 70 per cent of its territory in the peace settlement.

    Between the wars, under Admiral Horthy (although the country had no sea border), a Habsburg restoration was thwarted and a parliamentary regime of sorts survived. Hungary, however, became an ally of Hitler, was occupied by the Nazis in 1944 before being occupied by the Soviets and incorporated into their empire. It continued to struggle for independence but its uprising in 1956 was brutally crushed by the Soviets, who issued a declaration claiming they were acting according to socialist principles of "complete equality… state independence and sovereignty, and of non-interference in one another's internal affairs". Quite.

    Today, Hungary must surely be experiencing a sense of deja vu after the European Union handed it fines of €200 million for defying EU immigration law, and an additional €1 million per day from now on for refusing to take in "asylum seekers".

    In 2020 Budapest passed a law saying those wishing to apply for asylum would have to do so from its embassies in Belgrade or Kyiv and it has detained those who have made applications in transit camps between border fences. Last year only 20 applications were made. This policy was denounced as illegal by the European Court whose rulings Budapest has simply ignored.

    Hungary claims it is enforcing European immigration policy by blocking the route through the Western Balkans taken by over one million migrants in 2015. Yet the European Court sees this as an "unprecedented and exceptionally serious breach of EU law". Hungarian premier Orban's response? 'it seems illegal migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens. We will not give into financial blackmail. We will protect the borders and protect the Hungarian people.'

    If the logic of EU policy is bizarre – punishing Hungary for successfully protecting its borders while failing to protect those on the EU's Mediterranean coasts – the timing of the Court's judgements is also peculiar. First, Hungary on 1 July will assume the presidency of the European Council. Secondly, these judgements coincide with general elections in both France and the UK, immediately after European elections which saw a swing to the "far Right" in France, Germany and Italy and elsewhere.

    In France the highlighting of issues such as immigration policy, the aggressive stand of EU institutions against a member state, and the very nature of national sovereignty within the EU, cannot fail but give impetus to the claims of the Eurosceptic National Rally of Bordalla and Le Pen.

    Here in Britain, the Tories, not to mention Farage, can use these developments to warn voters against Starmer's plans to develop a common immigration policy with Brussels. How many illegal immigrants would he take in from Italy, Greece and Spain? Thank God for Brexit.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/the-eu-punishing-hungary-for-rebelling-mass-migration/

    Sorry, Skedders old chap, but we don't have a Brexit, not least in respect of immigration. In their war on the British nation and its people, the traitorous internationalist filth in the Home Office simply sourced their ammunition from elsewhere in the world.

  83. Did any of you listen to the radio at lunchtime , The World at One news BBC radio 4., 1300hrs?

    I was driving to Dorchester listening to the news .

    An idiotic BBC twerp was in the Birmingham area talking about the problems the area used to have , and of course he was talking about Enoch Powell, who was evicted from the Tory party , as we all know .

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00202rh Listen ( 31…22)

    The Black Country, a region in the West Midlands of England, got its name in the mid-19th century for a few reasons:
    Smoke
    The area was filled with smoke from the thousands of ironworking foundries, forges, coalworks, cokeworks, glassworks, brickworks, and steelworks. In 1862, American diplomat Elihu Burritt described the area as "black by day and red by night".
    Coal
    The name may also refer to the color of the thick, rich coal seam that was close to the surface.
    Smoke
    The area was filled with smoke from the thousands of ironworking foundries, forges, coalworks, cokeworks, glassworks, brickworks, and steelworks. In 1862, American diplomat Elihu Burritt described the area as "black by day and red by night".

    His interpretation of the Black country?

    Did I miss something , perhaps I was navigating a roundabout ?

    1. I'm not sure what you're getting at in your two questions. I was much more exercised by Naughtie's commentary:

      "Looking at the history of Smethwick, Gary Stewart [black interviewee] sees the same contrast between now and then…
      "….the problem that so often trouble democracies is how to talk about race and immigration without stoking the flames, which some will always try to do…
      "…The Smethwick campaign of 1964 is long ago, like the 'Rivers of blood speech' itself…the question always hovers: how an important public issue like immigration and contemporary mass migration can be seriously discussed without raising the ghost of Smethwick…"

      Which is exactly what Naughtie has done here.

  84. So Starmers toolmaker Dad was renown for making small files
    Especially those between coarse and smooth

      1. I wonder how many posters on this forum recognise the relevance of “bastard”.

  86. Moh watching the build up to the football match in Germany .. Scotland the brave !!!

    The cameras are roving around and the stadium looks huge , but there are several magnificent statues on hills etc very Germanic , one of them is a chariot drawn by four horses and on figure holding a standard high .. what could that be ?

    The Tartan Army have travelled in their droves as Steve Clarke's side get their campaign underway at the Allianz Arena. Scottish fans can be found all across the host nation, with four per cent of the country said to have travelled but millions are still set to watch from home.

    1. Watching the opening ceremony with a hundred clowns prancing around is frankly excruciating. The Germans have lost the ability to put on a dazzling show which is probably a good thing.

      I do wish the authorities would stop the discredited ‘taking the knee’.

      It is reported that the Ukrainian team are to be given close protection, not for their well-being but to prevent them from defecting.

    1. Gavin Newsom tried to stop a shop closing. His argument was that no one would be able to buy food for 30 blocks.

      The store owners replied – no one buys it now. They steal it. We don't make any money, we can't pay our few remaining staff so we're closing.

      Newsom said they couldn't and must stay open.

      So the store owners, with 6 or so months left on their lease upped and left to see the store looted as plod stood by doing nothing because Newsom has said it's racist to arrest blacks for theft.

      There are shops closing all over California as it's simply not worth bothering.

      It's funny. Robocop (and othre 80's films) had the privatisation of the police and rampant capitalism as being to blame for all crime in Detroit. The reality is that it's Left wingery that destroys things. Always will be.

    1. I wonder how many different fathers there are, how much if anything they are contributing, and where they all are.
      Edit for typo

    2. Now imagine if child benefit were not paid but returned as a tax allowance for working parents.

      Suddenly the dross would stop breeding.

    3. I my youth, there was a hoary (whorey?) joke about how the Pill worked as a contraceptive.
      The woman held it between her knees.

      1. I'm trying to remember what Thalidomide was meant to fix.
        Period pain or something?

        1. It was for morning sickness during pregnancy. My mother took it. I was very lucky indeed. Guardian Angel active even then.

      2. Apparently Catholic girls would make their boyfriends stand on a tin full of stones.
        When the tin started to rattle they would kick it away.

          1. Oh dear!
            The theory is that when the boyfriend was approaching climax, he would begin to tremble and rattle the stones indicating it was time to pull it out!

  92. VAR may have its critics but that was interesting.
    It started with a play that initially looked like a last ditch challenge with a "clip" at the end. The referee didn't react straight away as he would if he thought it was a serious offence. He was contacted by the VAR.
    In slow motion it was clear the defender had both feet off the ground, so it moved from a clip to a dangerous tackle and thus a penalty and a red card.
    Game over.

      1. 388545+ up ticks,

        Evening O,
        He has a good a chance as any, there are just to many now who
        via 20/20 vision seeing and realising at long last the real odious, dangerous state of the nation.

        This is “no Country for old men”
        Young men, old ladies, young ladies, and especially children.

        1. "As good a chance as any" tends to mean no chance at all for anyone who goes against the grain. He will shortly be offed, unless he recants. I can't believe I just said that, but it is what we have seen time, and time, and time again.

          1. 388545+ up ticks,

            O,
            Then it must be recognised and sorted, everyone cannot be at the centre of the herd.

        2. “That is no country for old men the young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees,
          -Those dying generations -at their song,
          The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
          Fish, flesh or fowl, commend all summer long
          Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
          Caught in that sensual music all neglect
          Monuments of unaging intellect.

          Sailing to Byzantium is about the greatest poem written in the English language.

          1. 388579+ up ticks,

            Morning C,
            Thanks, good post, even that via the hands of the political overseers
            has been taken, used ,and abused,

            “Country in which he resides is no place for the old—it is only welcoming to the young and promising”…. Islamic troop aged youth.

        3. “That is no country for old men the young In one another’s arms, birds in the trees,
          -Those dying generations -at their song,
          The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
          Fish, flesh or fowl, commend all summer long
          Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
          Caught in that sensual music all neglect
          Monuments of unaging intellect.

          Sailing to Byzantium is about the greatest poem written in the English language.

      1. Never trust anyone boasting an education at Goldsmiths, Lefty Central. Most of its product are as thick as shit and brainwashed into being so afflicted.

  97. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    The Princess of Wales is making a welcome recovery
    Comments Share 14 June 2024, 6:57pm
    I have recently had the bad fortune to read a forthcoming biography of the Princess of Wales. Its greatest fault isn’t just that it’s poorly written, incurious or unrevealing, but that it came out at exactly the wrong time. What would, under normal circumstances, have been a harmless enough puff book now becomes irrelevant the date it’s published.

    Ever since the Princess made her heartbreakingly vulnerable and deeply sad announcement that she was suffering from cancer, the whole existential stability of the Royal Family has been shaken. Catherine was always meant to be the one who was able to convey an air of normality and stability in a way that her husband, for instance, never could, and the revelations about her health have been shattering.

    Most popular
    Patrick O’Flynn
    Reform is rapidly gaining on the Tories

    We must be grateful that the news that she will be taking part in the King’s Birthday Parade this weekend suggests that there has been a significant improvement in her condition, but the announcement comes tempered with provisos aplenty. She has said that ‘I’m making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.’

    This is not the stiff, formal language of royals from former eras. This is the kind of tone that the Princess has always managed to convey; warm, straightforward and candid, but also businesslike when it concerns anything to do with ‘the Firm’. There had been worries that she would be out of action and invisible until late this year, and possibly longer. Given how popular she is in the opinion polls, this would have been catastrophic from a public relations perspective. Yet we have to remember that this is a young mother of three, first and foremost, rather than an icon. Like the King, heading to D-Day, she has put duty ahead of comfort, and we should admire her all the more for it.

    She will not be fully back on show for some time to come, as she has stated. Her reappearance in public tomorrow is an anomaly rather than a return to business as usual. As she said ‘I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.’ This is vitally important. Yet when when we think of the sorrow, panic – and in some deserved cases, shame – that her announcement of her cancer was greeted with earlier this year, this highly welcome news must be regarded as very glad tidings indeed.

  98. Labour's race equality act will only divide Britain further
    –
    We deserve better than this flawed reasoning
    –
    TONY SEWELL • 14 June 2024 • 3:14pm

    In my book "Black Success: The surprising Truth", I argue a case from my own life and wider that "Black" success ironically has little to do with being Black. In this counterintuitive romp through black modernity, I happily disrupt claims of race-based victory. I look at examples such as the tremendous success of black pupils in Hackney, the very non-black heroism of entrepreneur Mary Seacole and the new success of Nigerians across the globe. I argued that the factors that drive success for all groups are agency and self-affirmation. All have been blessed when they have looked beyond the castle of their skins.

    So, it seems strange or maybe predictable that a new Labour administration will prioritise a new Race Equality Act that at its core attempts to close an ethnicity pay gap based on the framework used for gender. It deliberately ignores the complexity of the task and how in the end the exercise will prove to be counterproductive and divisive.

    In my March 2021 report for the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, I argued that pay gap reporting as it is currently devised for gender cannot be applied to ethnicity. There are significant statistical and data issues that would arise because of substituting a binary protected characteristic (male or female) with a characteristic that has multiple categories.

    The main statistical problem that arises with ethnicity pay reporting is the unreliability of sample sizes. If an employer with 250 employees reports a gender pay gap, on average they will be comparing 125 men with 125 women.

    If they report an ethnicity gap as well, on average they will be comparing 225 White employees with 25 ethnic minority employees. Any findings from such a comparison will be unreliable and make it impossible to look at the workforce stratified by the 18 ONS ethnicity classifications.

    If an employer is in an area with a low ethnic minority population, there may not be a diverse local candidate pool for firms to draw on. The 2011 Census data shows that of the 650 constituencies in the UK, 437 are over 90 per cent White, so many employers around the country simply do not have enough ethnic minorities for the recording sample to be valid. [Those figures need some updating!]

    In addition, the age distribution of ethnic minority groups can influence the ethnicity pay gap. Those from ethnic minority groups are more likely to be younger, meaning they have not reached the top of the career ladder. So, comparing and reporting becomes a statistical minefield.

    Many of the less ideological Labour Peers in the House of Lords understood my Report and may well challenge their own party. I was pleasantly surprised that when I became a Conservative Peer, many from the Labour side would stop me and congratulate me on my Race report. They recognised that the report's emphasis on a difference between "disparity" and "discrimination" was something their own party chose to ignore.

    The reasons for the disparity in the numbers of doctors from an Indian background is landed in family and education, while the high levels of black males in custody cannot be dissociated from the crimes that are committed. This is different from intentional discrimination in job applications against those that do not have so-called "British" surnames.

    The other matter that they liked was the return of "class" and "poverty" to explain disparities in education and employment. This meant that white groups had to be considered, and that you clearly couldn't lump all Black and Asian groups together. A taxi-driver from Bradford of Pakistani background is a world away from an Indian-Hindu background doctor from Harrow. Yet traditionally we have lumped all Asian groups together, in some kind of brown power block. The new Race Equality Act seems to want to ignore such statistical refinements as politicians seek to dismantle the edifice of white privilege.

    Indeed, there is a religious zeal in Labour to take on the race agenda and exorcise the deep sin of institutional racism. It isn't surprising that data is ignored over so-called "lived experience" and feelings. Race is being re-configured as a paradigm of Christian victimhood. It can persuade its base that black people like me are race traitors, a Judas with no ethnicity pay gap selling his people for 30 pieces of silver. It is also driven by a white guilt that ignores our clear disparities driven by geography, age, poverty, and low aspiration.
    –
    Lord Sewell CBE is the author of "Black Success: The surprising truth"
    –
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/14/tony-sewell-labour-race-equality-act/

  101. I'm off to bed now. Good night, chums, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  102. Good (Saturday) morning, chums. After an unsettled night's sleep I will now post my Wordle results here, and then go back to bed. When I awaken, I will refer you back to this post which I have made at 6 am on Saturday. Enjoy your day.

    Wordle 1,092 3/6

    ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
    🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. ' Morning, Geoff, thank you and cheers for all the sterling work you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

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