Friday 16 September: Quiet grief leavened with good humour – notes from the queue to Westminster Hall

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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639 thoughts on “Friday 16 September: Quiet grief leavened with good humour – notes from the queue to Westminster Hall”

  4. Good morning all.
    Some almost neutral news from the BBC:

    Texas sends migrants to vice-president’s Washington residence

    “Immigration groups in both Washington DC and the wealthy Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard said they were not given an advance warning about the arrivals.
    Footage shown on Fox News showed two buses – reportedly carrying between 75 and 100 people – arriving near the vice-president’s residence and migrants, who were mostly from Venezuela, gathering their belongings and standing nearby. A non-governmental organisation later came and reportedly transported them to a church.
    “Harris claims our border is ‘secure’ [and] denies the crisis,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott later wrote on Twitter. “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job and secure the border.”

    Speaking at an event in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said the state was willing to help facilitate the movement of migrants to be able to go to “greener pastures”.
    He also said Florida was not a “sanctuary” state. So-called sanctuary cities in the US are cities that have policies to aid undocumented immigrants.
    “All those people in DC and New York were beating their chest when Trump was president, saying how they were so proud to be sanctuary jurisdictions,” Mr DeSantis said. “The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they all of a sudden go berserk.”

    I don’t wish to presume which way these ‘undocumented immigrants’ will vote given the chance, but given the tens of thousands arriving in Arizona and Texas I’m willing to bet the Democrats would rather they stayed in Republican states where in due course they may help turn the State Democrat

    1. ‘Morning King Stephen

      The reaction is hilarious,virtue signallers hoist by their own petard,you want open borders?? ‘Ave some

      https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1570449660019359744?s=20&t=lwNcR1MGVZC-23yKH6uj4A

      https://twitter.com/QuintusCurtius/status/1570506524770050048

      https://twitter.com/ChristinaPushaw/status/1570498549057716225

      But,but but,you stand with them,suck it up

      https://twitter.com/NautPoso/status/1570467620935335936
      Edit
      Not so welcoming now eh??
      https://twitter.com/ChuckCallesto/status/1570511629313519616?s=20&t=vEOoS7mgYTEm6XauhnQF6A

      1. All those ten bedroom mansions and nowhere for the migrants to stay!
        But “Somewhere Else” will have unlimited room and facilities, eh?

    2. ‘Morning King Stephen

      The reaction is hilarious,virtue signallers hoist by their own petard,you want open borders?? ‘Ave some

      https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1570449660019359744?s=20&t=lwNcR1MGVZC-23yKH6uj4A

      https://twitter.com/QuintusCurtius/status/1570506524770050048

      https://twitter.com/ChristinaPushaw/status/1570498549057716225

      But,but but,you stand with them,suck it up

      https://twitter.com/NautPoso/status/1570467620935335936
      Edit
      Not so welcoming now eh??
      https://twitter.com/ChuckCallesto/status/1570511629313519616?s=20&t=vEOoS7mgYTEm6XauhnQF6A

      1. I think he’s working up to challenging Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination. Hope he has the guts to carry it through, and not become a RINO after he gets elected.

  5. Liz Truss should scrap the sugar tax. 15 September 2022.

    In public health circles, it is considered terribly gauche to expect policies to work. You might think, for example, that a trailblazing intervention designed to reduce obesity would be considered a failure if obesity rates rise to record highs after it has been implemented. Not so with the sugar tax. Obesity among both children and adults has gone up since it was introduced in 2018, but the health lobby does not consider it to be a failure. Contrary to the evidence of your eyes, they say, it has actually been a success. The only failure is the failure of the government to do lots of other things in addition.

    I of course don’t care whether it has been a failure or success. We don’t elect governments to tell us what to eat or drink! It is none of their business if we look like garden rakes or basking sealions. I’m even opposed to what is the de facto ban on smoking. These activities are the results of free choice. If you cannot do what you wish to your own body then what price the greater freedoms? It is this perpetual nannying that has led to the atrophying of self-reliance and personal responsibility.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/liz-truss-should-roll-back-the-nanny-state-starting-with-the-sugar-tax

    1. Government interference has reached dizzying heights – on the one hand they are banning and restricting harmful stuff like sugar and tobacco, on the other hand, they are actively promoting harmful stuff like mRNA jabs.
      Perhaps sugar and tobacco weren’t killing people quickly enough?

    2. Sugar tax anyway, even if a failure = more fascism. Like greenery. Tell you how to live your life and punish you if you don’t comply.

      1. Sugar comes from grass; therefore it’s green.
        (Sits back and watches health Nazis’ heads explode.)

    3. Sugar tax anyway, even if a failure = more fascism. Like greenery. Tell you how to live your life and punish you if you don’t comply.

  7. Serious question:

    “If a man says something in a forest and there’s no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?” :-))

          2. That’s one for Annie to answer, BoB. But this evening I had a second tasting with some cheese – it’s delicious.

    3. God is still there:

      There once was a man who said “God
      Must think it exceedingly odd
      If he finds that this tree
      Continues to be
      When there’s no one about in the Quad.”

      Dear Sir,
      Your astonishment’s odd.
      I am always about in the Quad.
      And that’s why the tree
      Will continue to be
      Since observed by
      Yours faithfully,
      God

    1. Good cartoon, but Matt forgot that even at Highgrove you have to go round a roundabout in a clockwise direction. Lol.

  9. Trans ideology is unravelling before our eyes. Spiked 16 September 2022.

    Mermaids’ expert witnesses were reluctant to answer questions that should have been well within their grasp. The reason for this is simple. The idea that we each have a gender identity is based entirely on faith.

    For the most part, the majority of people are content to politely accommodate trans people who say they find their bodies distressing. But the rub comes when the rights of others, be they female rape victims or confused gay youth, are impacted by the faith-based position of this minority group. And when fixed under the hard stare of lady justice, the idea that each of us has some mystical sense of gender identity dissolves quite quickly.

    On the one hand, the entertainment value of watching those who style themselves as the great and good flail in court cannot be overstated. On the other, it is hard not to reel with incredulity that grown men and women believe in an ideology that claims lesbians can have penises and gay men can have vulvas.

    That such beliefs can be aired in a court with a straight face is testament not only to how far gender ideology has spread, but also to how unused its adherents are to being challenged.

    How we wish. It has to be remembered that the Leader of His Majesty’s Opposition (and probably His Majesty as well) is unable to define what a woman is and that in fact the entire Political Elite is similarly enthralled by this bizarre doctrine. As a demonstration of group psychosis it is probably unequalled in world history. Only the Religious Wars of the Middle Ages can compare for sheer unadulterated looniness!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/09/15/trans-ideology-is-unravelling-before-our-eyes/

    3. We are the heretics. Welcome to the scaffold and the stake*

      *Please note that this is not intended to cause offence to dyslexic Vegans. If it does, I apologise. Immigrants from Vega are welcome here.

    4. Morning, all. Bright but chilly if my lounge is anything to go by.

      I’ve come to the conclusion that all of those creatures who want authority over every facet of our lives must have a genetic quirk that forces them to meddle where they’re not wanted. This can only end badly for one side or the other and we must make sure we’re on the winning side, the side of common sense and decency.

      2. Morning Korky. I put my central heating on this morning to take the chill off for the first time since June!

    5. The only meaningful opposition to the political trans movement has come from other bullying political movements, namely gay rights and women’s rights.
      This is not a good situation.

    7. “Mermaids (acting with the support of Jolyon Maugham KC’s Good Law Project)…”

      The kimono-wearing, fox-battering arch-Remainer knows a good cause when his wallet sees it.

      “…a disproportionate number of children who present at the Tavistock clinic identifying as trans turn out to be gay or lesbian.”

      Even the writer is confused!

  10. Good Moaning.

    We need bit of a titter.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/15/center-parcs-bing-bunny-brands-made-mess-tributes-queen-elizabeth/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    “‘Will guests be shot on sight?’: The brands that made a mess of their royal tributes

    From Center Parcs’ PR nightmare to Bing Bunny’s moment of pause, it’s clear that corporate grieving doesn’t always go to plan

    15 September 2022 • 6:17pm

    Perhaps it was dear old Center Parcs which won or perhaps lost, the week

    There is no correct way to grieve the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II, so profoundly individual were our connections to her. But there are surely incorrect ways, and dressing a chihuahua as a Grenadier Guardsman is probably one of them.

    This is what the Instagram page of Edinburgh Chihuahua Cafe, a hospitality venue which very much does what it says on the tin (unless you think it’s serving them up) did last weekend. “It’s what she would have wanted,” a lot of people have said, in a lot of different situations, and with varying degrees of certitude, over the last eight days. I think we can say with some safety that Queen Elizabeth would not have really minded if Edinburgh Chihuahua Cafe had sat this one out.

    Won’t somebody think of the poor customer-facing businesses? While the monarchy and the Government pressed play on longstanding plans for this time of national mourning, faced with a loss they knew was coming as well as any of us – which is only to say, at some point, probably in the not too distant future – it has become painfully, and occasionally hilariously, clear that there was no Operation London Bridge in place for brands.

    First came the incongruous tributes. “Everyone at Domino’s joins the nation and the world in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II,” the pizza chain posted, on a black background. Was Her Majesty a Meatilicious kind of gal, or more into the Vegi Volcano? We may now never know, but perhaps it is right that we don’t.

    “For 70 years, she stewarded us through our darkest and brightest days,” wrote the British Kebab Awards. A laser hair-removal service extended discounts to its customers, “to celebrate and remember Our Queen”. Whether you had to leave with the shape of a corgi etched onto your body was not made clear. Playmobil, the toymaker, posted a photograph of a figurine that presumably was meant to be Her Majesty, but in fact resembled Mary Poppins, only with hooks for hands.

    CrossFit, a high-intensity fitness regimen not normally known for sombre displays of communal emotion – unless you count yelling “PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY” at aircraft hangars full of hyperventilating stockbrokers – posted a workout called “Queen Elizabeth II”. It included 70 jumping lunges, one for every year of her reign, then “1 min rest in silence”, and closed on “96 double unders”.

    Suddenly, watching the BBC’s livestream of The Queue sounded appealing.

    Hooters, the bar known for its hotpant-wearing waitresses, declared the Queen “a shining example of dedication and an inspiration to girls and women for decades”. Unlike, for instance, Hooters. The British Vape Company decided to suspend deliveries.

    It wasn’t just online, of course. Morrisons, which is having quite some week, turned the sound down on its checkouts, as if muting the beeps for people attempting to scan tins of spam would have the same effect as muffling Big Ben.

    In Manchester, a ride-on toy version of Bing Bunny, the CBeebies character, had an A4 sheet of paper taped to his forehead. “As a mark of respect to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II we are suspending the use of this ride whilst the nation is in mourning,” it read. “Thank you for your understanding.” Because nothing would spit in the face of our constitutional monarchy quite like a toddler being sat in a miniature car with a four-foot anthropomorphic black rabbit made of plastic. Imagine if the child visibly enjoyed it. In fact, don’t imagine that; it is simply too much to bear.

    But perhaps it was dear old Center Parcs which won the week. Plenty of companies – McDonalds, Waitrose, Wetherspoons – are closing some of their outlets for some or all of Monday 19, for the state funeral, but what would become of holiday parks, which are already booked? Center Parcs, which doesn’t even close on Christmas Day, had originally asked guests to leave its sites on Monday “as a mark of respect” and to allow employees to “be part of this historic moment.”

    It then backtracked. Guests could stay, but they would have to remain in their lodges, effectively placing people under house arrest. “Thanks Amy,” one person responded to the poor social media manager tasked with handling queries. “Will guests be shot on sight if they leave their lodgings or will there be some sort of warning? Probably best to let the mother in law head out first just in case!”

    Center Parcs had to clarify further: “Apologies for my wording, you will be allowed to walk around the village, but the facilities will be closed. Thanks, Amy.” By the end of the day, “Poor Amy” was trending on Twitter.

    “There is no grief like the grief that does not speak,” the 19th-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote. A few brands could have heeded that sentiment this week. But, while a cloud hangs over the country, at least we’ve been given the odd smile. In a way, it’s what she would have wanted.”

    1. It makes one wonder if HM couldn’t take this sort of nonsense anymore and gave up on the whole foul jamboree!

  11. I’m an expert in crowd behaviour – don’t be fooled that everyone queueing in London is mourning the Queen. 16 September 2022.

    Despite what we hear from the media, the reasons so many are gathering are complex and various.

    After delivering himself of this ridiculous statement the author (Reicher) then goes on to say, at great length and with much cavilling, that they are. It could not be otherwise since his initial premise would imply that they would assemble regardless of the death of Her Majesty. A patent absurdity!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/15/crowd-behaviour-london-mourning-queen

    2. There has been so much blatant nonsense and hypocrisy on both sides of the republican debate, including those fanatically loyal to the Crown who believe that people should be arrested for holding up signs saying “not my King” to the ridiculous example above.

    1. Certainly not colourised. Not a BAME in sight. No sign of airport level security* either. It wasn’t needed then anymore than it is needed when you visit your next door neighbour or your grown-up children.

      *As currently being applied at Westminster Hall.

      1. What a lovely thought.
        Apparently there are 2 Chihuahua Cafes; one in Edinburgh and one in London.
        I can’t find a picture of the CC dressed as a grenadier guard.

    1. ‘Morning, Bill. You can still afford to run an Aga? Respect! You are obviously a man of means – but not perhaps for much longer. According to the DT Aga owners are (allegedly) ripping them out.

      1. Ours heats the water and half the house. To replace it would cost an even greater fortune than keeping it.

          1. My Rayburn cooks the food, heats the water and runs the central heating – three bangs for the same buck.

  17. Good Morning. Very cold this morning, but clear. The house martins and the swallows left a week ago. You see them, and the you don’t. But you can’t be sure, as they hang about, out of sight. Then they are on the telephone wires, and then they are gone. An earlier departure than usual as the 16th is the standard departure date. It’s a sign. Looks like being a cold winter.

    1. The last of our swallows departed about ten days ago.

      We were quite surprised as it was still warm.

    1. At school the teachers were quite happy with pupils’ names like Dlugolecki, Majewska, and Deponio, but could not handle Pendleton.

  19. 356105+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Friday 16 September: Quiet grief leavened with good humour – notes from the queue to Westminster Hall

    Could not agree more and with respect NO one does quiet good humour like the English.

    By the same token & trending currently tis noted humour is in play again,black humour that is when regarding these Isles and observing the downward spiral via the polling booth.

    When reality once again dawns on many they will surely realise the present condition of this Country and the political aims intended by these so called governing parties are NOT a legacy Queen Elizabeth 11 would wish to leave,

  20. Fireball seen over UK confirmed as meteor after day of confusion. 16 September 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/538168ab98b17c376e1614ff1addd8c45c961566b058e70cb457ce4bd6a8d064.png

    A fireball seen over many parts of the northern UK has been confirmed as a meteor after a day of confusion about its identity.

    The fireball was visible above northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland as it blazed across the clear night sky just after 10pm on Wednesday night.

    Comets of course have been seen as Harbingers of Doom since the very earliest times. There probably wasn’t time to arrange one for current events so they sent this. A sign of our diminished status in the World?

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/sep/15/fireball-seen-over-uk-confirmed-as-meteor-after-day-of-confusion

    1. Harbingers of doom? Don’t we get dozens of those each time we open a newspaper or switch on the BBC?

  21. This from Barclays: “If you’re using a foreign currency account and your payment doesn’t involve Great British Pounds, your payment won’t be delayed.” Great British pounds? FFS!

    1. There was of course never any real danger to the under fifties/sixties. Even us seventies were only at a slight risk!

      1. That would be us seventies who pre-date polio jabs, mixed with poor people with impetigo, whose mothers never worried about food sell-by dates and who slept in bedrooms with ice on the inside of the windows.

        2. 356105+ up ticks,

          Morning Anne,
          I still have an imprint pf an anchor on me @rse from me dad naval greatcoat brass buttons.

        3. One year I was in the unheated Big Dorm in my house at Blundell’s in which 18 of us slept. The condensation from the breath of so many of us meant that on winter mornings there was so much frost on the insides of the windows that you could not see through them at all and the frost was often still there at bedtime at night.

          I believe I was the most beaten boy (by masters and monitors) in my time at the school. Gosh, wasn’t I lucky to get such a privileged education!

          2. It was just about three days of feeling a bit tired for me. Before covid, I’d just have gone to work as normal!

          3. It was clearly circulating widely long before they announced it – I think it’s what I had in January 2020.

          4. The MR thinks that her nasty bout of ‘flu in December 2019 – while we were in Laure – was The Plague.

          6. Ditto MB: he had about 10 nights of a dire cough and struggling to get up the stairs.
            End of Jan beginning of Feb 2020.

        4. I had multiple hospital appointments. Mostly blood related. I had no choice but undergo their stupid tests. Always came out negative.

          2. The most ridiculous thing was security. When i went for an appointment in acute medical where i would be staying overnight, in my wheelchair, the guard said that the person pushing the chair was classed as a carer and could enter.

            But could not enter the hospital the following day to collect me. As he was entering the hospital as neither a carer or a patient so not allowed. Wankers.

            My carer just entered the hospital through the North wing where there was no security.

            I’m not negative. I’m as happy as a sunbeam. :@)

          3. We spent a night in A&E in January 2021 – curtained cubicle and a chair for me while he was on the couch. Worst thing was wearing a mask all night.

      3. 356105+ up ticks,

        Morning AS,
        I do believe it has killed the trusting innocents, have not payments already been paid ?
        As a political tool it has no equal.

      4. The suppression of the Great Barrington Declaration was a criminal act against both science and free speech.

        Why is it that I, who am unjabbed, and am 76 years old got Covid far less severely than anyone I know, young or old, who got Covid at the same time as I did?

  23. Modern Life……..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5bda72cfd6dcf4cbdff1265b78decd9bbabc803b6872fa514ad42b6b46574fb8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc95a320f06d770bcd845c31810978863340c53666dc63e866517b2f0f2b8a8f.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bccffc58a260a9c02605ed5409ca37058ab1c47bc91a2342ffa27fd9f69219f3.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a404a79b56fbdb2e46ce97ad83e67af61bf8a10dbbc76571cd567cdd0a9b0e59.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d69d5dfbf1fee66e39149c75bcdd6e524950e09859af0b42304a18737820deff.jpg

    Finally,Oof….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d7974794b3806f10481ea6e75f56d7abe0f1a563ae527105b0a8e608116be64.jpg

    1. Good to see that the head hunters have taken advantage of western technology when it comes to clothing.

  25. Ladies have been in the news re jab side-effects: menstrual problems, fertility, miscarriages etc. Now it’s time for the men: severe injuries to the penis have been exposed in the literature. How many men would have given their consent to the jab if they had been informed of the possible consequences, no matter how rare?

    Daily Clout – Severe Injuries to the Penis Post Jab

      1. “Beware the Jabbercock, my son

        The needle prick, the clots that block!

        Beware the GP’s jab, and shun

        The rule-bound EnAitchEss!”

  26. ‘Morning, Peeps.  It was 11°C here earlier, with a refreshing 16° forecast, just right for some heavy gardening this morning.

    Headline in today’s DT:

    “Lord Goldsmith sacked as environment minister amid animal rights fears under Liz Truss

    Close ally of Boris Johnson will keep role at the Foreign Office, but has been removed from his post covering domestic animal welfare”

    A well-deserved sacking for a net zero fanatic and close ally of Johnson.  I’m pleased to see that Mrs T’s practice of reminding her ministers exactly who is in charge appears to be the Truss method too.  The BTL posters seem to be mostly pleased:

    Gary Halstead13 HRS AGO

    Excellent, now clear out the rest of the greenscammers, climate hoaxers and ecoloons from government, parliament and all the quangos: indeed from any position that has any input into policy before they wreak any more damage on the UK’s economy, industry, communities and people’s lives in general.

    Guffy Macduff12 HRS AGO

    All very sound so far. Always argued that Johnson would have been successful & possibly legendary PM if he hadn’t ditched his eminently sensible 2nd wife Marina & agreed to made nooky conditional on ever more degrees of eco fantasy..

    Still convinced Carrie Johnson continued her affair with Goldsmith long after she met Johnson.

    Andrew Hotston13 HRS AGO

    A prerequisite for sidelining Net Zero. Excellent news.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/09/15/zac-goldsmith-sacked-environment-minister/

    1. It is very, very important that folk know that Goldsmith invests heavily in windmills. He did very little for animals while at environment. His role was mainly to push windfarms – for his own profit, of course.

      1. Yes, he is from the Limp-Green wing of the party. Fortunately the tide seems to be turning against these eco-loons and it is inevitable that there will be the occasional ‘drowning’…

      2. Private Eye called his Daddy rude names and his sister is not renowned for her chastity and virtue.

  27. This suggestion has appeared in the BTL comments under the Tellygraff letters.
    I think it’s a good idea; apart from being a touching tribute, it would rub the noses of the Left in the lack of diversity (in popular opinion).

    “David Arrowsmith

    5 MIN AGO

    Some sort of permanent marking of the passage of the queue, set into the ground with stone from all parts of the UK, might be a subtle but lasting memorial to both the late Queen and the esteem in which She was held. The last footprint could be inlayed with platinum.”

      2. Interesting that in Britain peasant is often a term of abuse whereas in France paysan has far more positive connotations.

  29. Funny Old World

    On NoTTL we have all noticed that the big yellow shiny thing in the sky is never included in all the clever,clever climate models so obviously it has no effect…..

    Oh Wait

    What caused the loss of a dozen or so satellites back in Feb??

    As Space Weather puts it:.

    “Although it was only ‘minor,’
    the storm pumped almost 1200 gigawatts of energy into Earth’s
    atmosphere,” explains lead author Tong Dang of the University of Science
    and Technology of China. “This extra energy heated Earth’s upper
    atmosphere and sharply increased aerodynamic drag on the satellites.”

    SpaceX
    launched the satellites from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 3, 2022. Forty-nine
    (49) Starlinks were crowded inside the Falcon 9 rocket; less than a
    quarter would survive.”
    1200 gigawatts equivalent to the output of 96,000 wind turbines to give some idea of the scale…….

    1. Didn’t Tesla (Nikolai, not the Elon one) create a system of drawing static electtricity from the air?

      The Left lie. We all know this. They lie because the truth doesn’t suit their world view. That the sun is the biggest impactor on our planet is beyond them. They’re too parochial, too egotistical. They know that their ultimate goal over the lie of climate change is economic change to socialism. They won’t admit it, but they have to keep pushing the narrative. Admitting the sun is responsible removes their hectoring that we should shut down our economy to suit their ego.

    2. He seems like a less controversial and more literate Trump. The problem they have is the Left wing idiocy of fat, lazy Americans.

      Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.

    3. He’s so right but…..
      Lovely place is Martha’s Vinyard. Lots very expensive realestate there.
      But it ain’t never gonna happen.

  32. Two police officers taken to hospital after being stabbed near Leicester Square in central London. 16 September 2022.

    The force added that inquiries into the “circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing.”

    London Mayor Sadiq Khan has condemned the attack and called for anyone with information about the incident to contact the police.

    He described it as “utterly appalling”, adding that the officers “were doing their duty and assisting the public at this momentous time for our country”.

    Meaningless cant!

    https://news.sky.com/story/two-police-officers-stabbed-after-incident-near-leicester-square-in-central-london-12698661

    4. Big city, get used to it. However, the culprits will be black, the murdered bloke will be black too.

    2. That’s a corker.
      I’ve bagged it and will see if I’m organised enough to get it converted into a tapestry template.
      (Not while we’re still sorting Allan Towers, I suspect.)

    3. That’s a corker.
      I’ve bagged it and will see if I’m organised enough to get it converted into a tapestry template.
      (Not while we’re still sorting Allan Towers, I suspect.)

    7. By William Blake, about Glastonbury…

      And did those feet in ancient time
      Walk upon England’s mountains green?
      And was the holy Lamb of God
      On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
      And did the countenance divine
      Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

  35. Gosh – it is chilly this morning. For the first time in months, I have had to put on a shirt and trousers (instead of shorts and T-shirt – before any of you start your smutty comments!!)

  36. Hunter Biden: I can no longer afford my love child’s support payments
    US president’s scandal-hit son claims in a court filing that a ‘substantial’ change to his income affects the amount he can pay
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/15/hunter-biden-can-no-longer-afford-love-childs-support-payments/

    Hunter Biden is clearly a very decent man which is why the American MSM were so eager to supress any negative stories about his alleged drug abuse and his computer which showed nothing other than how innocent his business activities in Ukraine and with China were?

    BTL

    Why were even the British media complicit in hushing up the stories about Hunter Biden’s very dubious deals and life-style in order to help Joe Biden win the presidential election against Donald Trump?

    2. He can, he doesn’t want to. The boy is a millionaire, mostly from drug running through Ukraine, arms dealing through Ukraine and money laundering – through Ukraine. All with the help of his dear old Dad.

  37. Pound sinks to lowest since 1985 as retail sales slump. 16 September 2022.

    The pound has slumped to its lowest level since 1985 after retail sales suffered their biggest drop of the year in August as shoppers cut back on spending amid soaring prices.

    Sales fell 1.6pc last month from July, more than three times the drop forecast by economists, according to the Office for National Statistics.

    This sent the pound down 1pc against the dollar, falling below $1.14 for the first time since 1985.

    IMF Here we come!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/09/16/ftse-100-markets-live-news-strike-france-inflation-latest/

    1. Force us to the IMF
      IMF, being EU stooge says You must rejoin the EU (in reality or in disguise)
      State says ‘Yes, we know, it’s what we wanted’.
      State goes to country ‘We’re in dire straits and have to accept this bail out. it means minor (giggle) economic changes.’
      Country forced to agree.
      UK rammed back in under offensive terms into the EU.
      Champagne corks pop, canapes and party throughout Whitehall.

      They want this, and must be burned out to prevent it.

  38. Pengate is not new:

    “The King has been criticised by some ungenerous souls for his tetchiness around unruly fountain pens. This is a family trait. When William IV had his first privy council meeting in 1830, he scratched and blotted his way across a document before complaining: “This is a damned bad pen you’ve given me.” Mightier than a sword, some say.”

    The Grimes, yesterday.

    1. Fountain pens are a bloody nuisance of epic proportions. Yes, they’re beautiful when they work, but most of the time they run out of ink, or they splurt out too much.

      Decades of research has gone into the perfect Biro. Even the plastic has been tested for chewability.

        1. Decadent capitalist. My writing implement of choice is, of course, a chisel and stone tablet.

          Anyone trumping with a wax tablet… see me after school.

    2. The pen is mightier than the sword
      My enemy’s in sight
      I cast my cutlass overboard,
      And fast began to write
      My witty words will wound him more
      Than any warlike deed
      -Oh would that I had known before
      The idiot can’t read!

      Pugwash

  39. Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

    This is a useful and interesting book about punctuation. It is written by a woman called Lynne Truss and I wonder if she is related to the prime minister and that the PM has asked her bestie, Thérèse Coffey, to make some rules about the Oxford Comma in order to boost the sales of Lynne Truss’s book.

    2. When Lynne Truss was researching Eats, Shoots and Leaves, she wrote an article in the DT asking readers for examples of grammatical howlers and errors to be sent to her. I submitted a couple and she graciously acknowledged my contribution.

      In the book she describes the punctuation mark as a “comma-shaped shark fin”. She writes: “There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.”

    3. Ban HR jargon, but the Oxford comma deserves an exemption

      Therese Coffey is right on many things. Her new grammatical diktat is not one of them

      RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS

      Having acquired more information on Thérèse Coffey in the last three weeks than in her three years as secretary of state for work and pensions, I now know what I think of her. I’m a fan.

      In an era when socialists and retired terrorists sport the hair, teeth and wardrobes of senior executives, I love the Deputy Prime Minister’s refreshing I-don’t-give-a-damn-what-you-think-of-the-way-I-look-or-live style. Now she has emerged as a potential leader in the war against another foe: those who wish to corrupt our society and our language – which in government mostly means the fifth column known as “human resources”, the obfuscatory term for what the sane call “people”.

      Although Jacob Rees-Mogg has been naughtily claiming the credit, it was Michael Gove of blessed memory who on his appointment to the Cabinet Office in February 2020 became the key figure in resisting this enemy within government. He set in train the enormous task of cleaning up Civil Service training by replacing the woke communication that has spread its tentacles into almost every department. He ordered that officials be taught once more how to write literate, evidence-based briefs free of ideology. Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch have been significant warriors, too.

      This week Ms Coffey joined the fight. When it comes to the health sector, where these days documents are drafted by people who don’t even know that the word for a biological female is “woman”, I’m delighted with her instruction to officials to steer clear of jargon and to “be precise”. Inevitably, Ms Coffey has been accused by some of being patronising and annoying staff, for in these days of entitlement, apparently civil servants are indignant at the suggestion that ministers might tell them to do anything, let alone write clear English.

      But sadly, I now have to be critical of Ms Coffey on a matter of grave importance. Because as part of her new set of instructions to officials, she has reportedly ordered them to avoid using the Oxford comma. No, no, no, Ms Coffey. The Oxford comma might be despised by those who think it pointless, as in: “We went to France, Germany, and Italy.” But people should just be taught to use it properly.

      Indeed, abolishing it would be a major injustice to an innocent punctuation device that sometimes serves a purpose. It is, for instance, a vital tool to use against dangerous ambiguity. Take the American case in which Maine state law sought to exempt employers from paying overtime for “canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution”. The lack of a comma after “shipment” cost employers a packet.

      Unfortunately, it also led to the foul American practice of using it in every list just in case, which in turn has caused it to be treated with disdain in England. Mr Rees-Mogg has had the decency to admit that his dislike of the Oxford comma “is mere prejudice.”

      But Ms Coffey is a scientist who has great battles to win. This is not a hill for her to die on. Used sparingly, this little punctuation mark can even be of literary value, introducing an ominous pause, as in John Irving’s “Death is horrible, final, and frequently premature.” And it can save you from public ridicule. Never forget the famous (although, sadly, seemingly apocryphal) book dedication: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.”

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/15/ban-hr-jargon-oxford-comma-deserves-exemption/

    4. Ban HR jargon, but the Oxford comma deserves an exemption

      Therese Coffey is right on many things. Her new grammatical diktat is not one of them

      RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS

      Having acquired more information on Thérèse Coffey in the last three weeks than in her three years as secretary of state for work and pensions, I now know what I think of her. I’m a fan.

      In an era when socialists and retired terrorists sport the hair, teeth and wardrobes of senior executives, I love the Deputy Prime Minister’s refreshing I-don’t-give-a-damn-what-you-think-of-the-way-I-look-or-live style. Now she has emerged as a potential leader in the war against another foe: those who wish to corrupt our society and our language – which in government mostly means the fifth column known as “human resources”, the obfuscatory term for what the sane call “people”.

      Although Jacob Rees-Mogg has been naughtily claiming the credit, it was Michael Gove of blessed memory who on his appointment to the Cabinet Office in February 2020 became the key figure in resisting this enemy within government. He set in train the enormous task of cleaning up Civil Service training by replacing the woke communication that has spread its tentacles into almost every department. He ordered that officials be taught once more how to write literate, evidence-based briefs free of ideology. Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch have been significant warriors, too.

      This week Ms Coffey joined the fight. When it comes to the health sector, where these days documents are drafted by people who don’t even know that the word for a biological female is “woman”, I’m delighted with her instruction to officials to steer clear of jargon and to “be precise”. Inevitably, Ms Coffey has been accused by some of being patronising and annoying staff, for in these days of entitlement, apparently civil servants are indignant at the suggestion that ministers might tell them to do anything, let alone write clear English.

      But sadly, I now have to be critical of Ms Coffey on a matter of grave importance. Because as part of her new set of instructions to officials, she has reportedly ordered them to avoid using the Oxford comma. No, no, no, Ms Coffey. The Oxford comma might be despised by those who think it pointless, as in: “We went to France, Germany, and Italy.” But people should just be taught to use it properly.

      Indeed, abolishing it would be a major injustice to an innocent punctuation device that sometimes serves a purpose. It is, for instance, a vital tool to use against dangerous ambiguity. Take the American case in which Maine state law sought to exempt employers from paying overtime for “canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution”. The lack of a comma after “shipment” cost employers a packet.

      Unfortunately, it also led to the foul American practice of using it in every list just in case, which in turn has caused it to be treated with disdain in England. Mr Rees-Mogg has had the decency to admit that his dislike of the Oxford comma “is mere prejudice.”

      But Ms Coffey is a scientist who has great battles to win. This is not a hill for her to die on. Used sparingly, this little punctuation mark can even be of literary value, introducing an ominous pause, as in John Irving’s “Death is horrible, final, and frequently premature.” And it can save you from public ridicule. Never forget the famous (although, sadly, seemingly apocryphal) book dedication: “To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.”

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/15/ban-hr-jargon-oxford-comma-deserves-exemption/

  40. Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

    This is a useful and interesting book about punctuation. It is written by a woman called Lynne Truss and I wonder if she is related to the prime minister and that the PM has asked her bestie, Thérèse Coffey, to make some rules about the Oxford Comma in order to boost the sales of Lynne Truss’s book.

  41. SIR – I find it hard to accept that while our Government continues to commit vast sums of money on a high-speed railway line of questionable value, it has spent virtually nothing on meeting contingencies related to providing essential energy and gas supplies to the nation.

    The fact that we shut down the Rough gas storage facility under the North Sea and never seriously investigated the development of onshore gas reserves would seem to be a symptom of political incompetence, combined with what can only be described as the “Britsh disease” – a tendency to bodge, make do, and to avoid ever having to consider the what-if scenario in basic design philosophy.

    One thing is for certain: unless we recalibrate our politics in this country and stop sitting on our hands, we will be relegated to a lower division in world rankings.

    Ian Johnson
    Chelford, Cheshire

    We live in hope, Mr Johnson!

    1. HS2 is an EU project. The running down of our energy generation is EU policy.

      Mr Johnson, if the problem isn’t evident, it’s the EU. It’s the adminstration’s fervent adherence to the EU.

    2. HS2 is an EU project. The running down of our energy generation is EU policy.

      Mr Johnson, if the problem isn’t evident, it’s the EU. It’s the adminstration’s fervent adherence to the EU.

  42. Despite my grumpy nature and general poor temper here, I’m not usually an angry person. However I’m wanting to contact Evri regarding a parcel delivery. They refuse to let me speak to them as i have no tracking number. Now, they should have provided me with that automatically, but they haven’t, so I am in catch 22.

    That the only recourse is to complain to the post ombudsman is infuriating. Worse, of course, is needing to create an account to do that. Why? Why do I have to do this?

    The default should be to answer the users questions and solve the problem. The deliberate up yours – from every side – is cause for a Molotov cocktail.

    1. Interesting. I had an e-mail from Evri a week ago saying that they had a parcel to deliver. Tracking number provided.

      I am NOT expecting any parcels – so assumed this was a scam. No parcel has arrived. So it WAS a scam.

      In my experience, any complaint to or about Evri (which is simply the shambolic, bent Hermes in another guise) is completely pointless. The one and only time we used them last year they “lost” (ie, stole) the item – and refused any redress because it was second-hand. Never again

      1. I despair of most delivery firms, particularly Amazon who, despite repeated notes identifying a safe place in shelter, left a hardback book on our neighbour’s drive in the open, with heavy rain forecast. When I complained they offered to replace the book free of charge – guess where the driver left it! At present we are waiting for a delivery from FedEx – original forecast was for delivery today, but yesterday morning they claimed they would deliver that day. We were in all day, but at 13:26 we got an update saying they had attempted delivery but we were out – a blatant lie! Shortly afterwards another mail arrived saying that the delivery was “delayed” with no date for delivery given. I wouldn’t recommend them either.

        1. Ah yes, we’ve a ring and runner as well. He dumped a £800 NUC comp (covered in decals, fragile, don’t get wet, glass – on the doorstep and buggered off. My neighbour, being a decent sort grabbed it and brought it inside and gave it to me later on.

          It’s annoying, as there’s a slew of decent ones who wait and hand things to you but the foreigners are just rubbish – and that’s most of them.

          1. The only poor experience i had was with yodel. I proved the driver was lying with timed video evidence. All the others including Amazon have been fine. All the foreign guys have been very polite and smiling too.
            I’m not that far away from you so i can’t understand why your service is so poor.

      2. Much like government or banks – if they email or message you, it’s a con. No bank bothers telling their customers there’s a problem and the state doesn’t use modern methods.

        It is the fervent ‘give us a tracking number -> I can’t, you haven’t given me one -> well, we aren’t interested’ that is most annoying. With no way to break the deadlock this is just stupid.

        They’re a pair of old SAS drive cards. No real use to anyone.

        1. As far as I can remember yesterday, I had (now 11am) arranged a 10 am phone call from Barclays Bank ‘Customer service’ to sort out a long standing problem with one of my premier Visa debit cards. Errrmmm, still waiting. The problem doesn’t seem to bother them, even with a new card when i attempt to pay for something it denies the payment. It all started a few months ago when I half filled the car with petrol and fortunately had just enough cash in my wallet to pay for it. Card refused.
          Let’s look at the facts, years ago they closed down the bank in our village leaving a cash point, also now gone. They had a handy branch 15 minutes by car away with a large free parking area near St Albans …..now closed as well. The next alternative is WGC and pay for parking get in the long queue and be disappointed with the attention received and leave with nothing.
          I feel the Lagos branch would have sorted this problem out weeks ago.
          To add to the fun of it all I had a message phone call telling me I had sinned against the Inland revenue and owed thousands in back taxes and there would be a trial and I would be sent me to prison if I didn’t pay up and it out. Or word to that effect, it was difficult to understand with a such a strong unidentifiable foreign accent. Press one to speak to someone. I did and two words sorted it out straight away they rang off.

      3. The majority of deliveries up here are done by sub-contractors to the main agents and we rarely have cause to complain as these local delivery drivers know us all anyway

    2. DPD lost a parcel of mine. It was collected and the tracking showed that it got to the local depot but no further. The recipient did not get the goods. When I complained they asked for evidence that it had not been delivered. Doh, is your own tracking system not good enough. The complaints system consisted of drop down menus and a facility to upload images. Nothing to allow the written word, so I had to resort to writing something on a scrap of paper and photographing it. I did get compo but they made me work for it.

      1. I posted a parcel to a fellow Nottler. Tracking said it was delivered. It hadn’t been. As it was over £100 i had insurance cover. They paid the value of the parcel and two days later it was delivered. They didn’t ask for their money back which i wouldn’t have paid anyway. :@)

    1. Ah yes, control the message. Never, ever permit discussion or debate. Is this really something the BBC should be doing? Silencing free speech?

    2. “The BBC”! Is it an “it”? I didn’t realise the “BBC” policed soshul meeja! How naìve am I.

        1. Oh they’re already here. That said, mostly Soton has a lot of Poles who are no problem. The muslim bit isn’t bad, but it’s overrun with welfarism.

          The biggest problem we have is there’s simply not enough resources and money is wasted on translations. If you can’t speak the language, you can’t live here.

          2. I’m hurt to the core! (I assume you meant Geordies, or were you reefering to the knot brigade?) 🙄

      2. Savagery is the one qualification they need to gain admittance to our once reasonably peaceful Country. If the government cared for our welfare there would very strict entry criteria to be met and adhered to, on pain of deportation. The Channel crossings are evidence that the government is complicit in undermining our quality of life.

        1. I think the accusation was about food being thrown at her. My Birminghamese is a bit rusty now though.

    3. Although the story has its funny side, the vast majority of South and Central American migrants are simply poor people looking for work and a means of survival. They don’t tend to be scroungers, nor religious fanatics.

  46. 356105+ up ticks,

    You’re avin a George Raft aincha ?

    In personal preference I would put Fu Manchu
    a country mile ahead of anthony charlie lynton & many of his still serving colleagues.

    ‘Project Kowtow’ – Communist China Should Be Banned from Queen’s Funeral, Parliamentarians Demand

    1. Not rhyming slang I know’. Does it mean, in vulgar terminology: You’re ‘avin a shaft?

          1. 356105+ up ticks,

            Afternoon R
            I do bow to your correction but do believe you have some neck stretching your point.

  48. Dalrymple on good form

    A government of the people, in Lincoln’s phrase, has changed by degrees into a people of the government. When one considers the number of duties or obligations one must fulfill to the government, it is clear who is boss in the relationship—and it is not we, the people.

    Naturally, the government offers us all sorts of benefits, some real but many notional, in return for obedience to its diktats. But it is as unreasonable to expect it to confer those benefits without taking something for itself—especially power—as it is to expect a company to sell us its products at no profit. The trouble is that governments make John D. Rockefeller look like a disinterested do-gooder.

    The fundamental point is, however, that the citizen (and bear in mind that I am not quite at the bottom of the social scale, at least not yet) is now so oppressed by his duties toward authorities that they are sufficient to convince him that he is of no more significance or account than is a single bacterium in a colony of bacteria on a petri dish.

    And we call ourselves free!

    https://www.takimag.com/article/one-way-ticket/

  49. Just been trying to understand recent events concerning travel restrictions.
    Not three weeks ago a champion tennis professional was refused entry into the USA and had to miss the grand slam event because of his vaccination status.
    Presumably the health professionals and experts in the USA feel it unsafe for someone that hasn’t received the correct dosage of vaccine to travel to their country for fear of infecting Americans and spreading the virus.
    All well and good, but now with our late Queen’s state funeral taking place on Monday, many senior Americans will be coming here and so will dignitaries from other countries with similar restrictions all around the world.
    As we do not have restrictions here they will be mixing and socialising with people of unknown vaccination status
    From the latest data there are many millions of people living in the London area that haven’t been vaccinated with either one dose or the course of boosters.
    Why do the great and the good feel it then safe to come here and then fly back to the USA for a big UN conference.
    Was the grand standing over who can play in the Tennis just all nonsensical and just for influencing the public?

      1. I’d not use the word ‘illegal’ in the context of revised Danish recommendations for the forthcoming Covid-19 autumn booster programme. Looking at exceptions to the withdrawal of Covid-19 boosters for under-50s, it looks like it contains a substantial cohort of younger adults. Furthermore, nothing is mentioned about obligations which other nations may impose on Danes wanting to visit their countries. Nor does it say anything about under-50s who are not in those categories recommended to have boosters but who, nonetheless, still want one.

        Vaccination of people aged under 50

        In the autumn and winter season 2022/23, the Danish Health Authority recommends booster vaccination against covid-19 for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector as well as parts of the social services sector with close contact to patients at higher risk, relatives of people with severely impaired immune systems and pregnant women. Read more about the target groups on this page.

        The aim of the vaccination programme against covid-19 this autumn is to get us well through the winter by protecting people who are at the highest risk of becoming severely ill and by avoiding that the Danish healthcare system, especially the hospitals, are overburdened.

        Everyone aged over 50 is recommended booster vaccination from 1 October 2022. In addition, some target groups aged under 50 are also recommended booster vaccination because they are either themselves at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or because they are in close contact with citizens/patients who are.

        People at higher risk

        Who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19?

        Age is by far the most predominant independent risk factor for becoming severely ill from covid-19. However, in addition to increasing age, some people aged under 50 who have certain diseases and conditions may have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

        The Danish Health Authority has reviewed the evidence and has, based on this review, drawn up a list of these diseases and conditions:

        Chronic pulmonary disease or impaired respiration due to reduced muscular strength
        Cardiovascular disease (except well-regulated hypertension)
        Diabetes type 1 or 2
        Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, including organ or stem cell transplantation
        Chronic kidney or liver disease
        Other serious diseases where, according to the doctor’s assessment, the condition means that covid-19 poses a serious health risk
        Obesity (BMI over 35)
        In treatment for cancer disease
        Severe gastrointestinal disorders with affected general condition and significantly reduced nutritional state
        Severe neurological diseases
        Severe rheumatological diseases
        Severe mental illness and/or serious substance abuse
        Down’s syndrome
        Pregnant women (regardless of trimester)

        In addition, vaccination against covid-19 is recommended for people living in the same household as people with congenital or developed immunodeficiency.

        https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Vaccination-against-covid-19/Vaccination-of-people-aged-under-50

      2. I’d not use the word ‘illegal’ in the context of revised Danish recommendations for the forthcoming Covid-19 autumn booster programme. Looking at exceptions to the withdrawal of Covid-19 boosters for under-50s, it looks like it contains a substantial cohort of younger adults. Furthermore, nothing is mentioned about obligations which other nations may impose on Danes wanting to visit their countries. Nor does it say anything about under-50s who are not in those categories recommended to have boosters but who, nonetheless, still want one.

        Vaccination of people aged under 50

        In the autumn and winter season 2022/23, the Danish Health Authority recommends booster vaccination against covid-19 for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector as well as parts of the social services sector with close contact to patients at higher risk, relatives of people with severely impaired immune systems and pregnant women. Read more about the target groups on this page.

        The aim of the vaccination programme against covid-19 this autumn is to get us well through the winter by protecting people who are at the highest risk of becoming severely ill and by avoiding that the Danish healthcare system, especially the hospitals, are overburdened.

        Everyone aged over 50 is recommended booster vaccination from 1 October 2022. In addition, some target groups aged under 50 are also recommended booster vaccination because they are either themselves at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or because they are in close contact with citizens/patients who are.

        People at higher risk

        Who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19?

        Age is by far the most predominant independent risk factor for becoming severely ill from covid-19. However, in addition to increasing age, some people aged under 50 who have certain diseases and conditions may have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

        The Danish Health Authority has reviewed the evidence and has, based on this review, drawn up a list of these diseases and conditions:

        Chronic pulmonary disease or impaired respiration due to reduced muscular strength
        Cardiovascular disease (except well-regulated hypertension)
        Diabetes type 1 or 2
        Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, including organ or stem cell transplantation
        Chronic kidney or liver disease
        Other serious diseases where, according to the doctor’s assessment, the condition means that covid-19 poses a serious health risk
        Obesity (BMI over 35)
        In treatment for cancer disease
        Severe gastrointestinal disorders with affected general condition and significantly reduced nutritional state
        Severe neurological diseases
        Severe rheumatological diseases
        Severe mental illness and/or serious substance abuse
        Down’s syndrome
        Pregnant women (regardless of trimester)

        In addition, vaccination against covid-19 is recommended for people living in the same household as people with congenital or developed immunodeficiency.

        https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Vaccination-against-covid-19/Vaccination-of-people-aged-under-50

      3. I’d not use the word ‘illegal’ in the context of revised Danish recommendations for the forthcoming Covid-19 autumn booster programme. Looking at exceptions to the withdrawal of Covid-19 boosters for under-50s, it looks like it contains a substantial cohort of younger adults. Furthermore, nothing is mentioned about obligations which other nations may impose on Danes wanting to visit their countries. Nor does it say anything about under-50s who are not in those categories recommended to have boosters but who, nonetheless, still want one.

        Vaccination of people aged under 50

        In the autumn and winter season 2022/23, the Danish Health Authority recommends booster vaccination against covid-19 for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector as well as parts of the social services sector with close contact to patients at higher risk, relatives of people with severely impaired immune systems and pregnant women. Read more about the target groups on this page.

        The aim of the vaccination programme against covid-19 this autumn is to get us well through the winter by protecting people who are at the highest risk of becoming severely ill and by avoiding that the Danish healthcare system, especially the hospitals, are overburdened.

        Everyone aged over 50 is recommended booster vaccination from 1 October 2022. In addition, some target groups aged under 50 are also recommended booster vaccination because they are either themselves at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or because they are in close contact with citizens/patients who are.

        People at higher risk

        Who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19?

        Age is by far the most predominant independent risk factor for becoming severely ill from covid-19. However, in addition to increasing age, some people aged under 50 who have certain diseases and conditions may have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

        The Danish Health Authority has reviewed the evidence and has, based on this review, drawn up a list of these diseases and conditions:

        Chronic pulmonary disease or impaired respiration due to reduced muscular strength
        Cardiovascular disease (except well-regulated hypertension)
        Diabetes type 1 or 2
        Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, including organ or stem cell transplantation
        Chronic kidney or liver disease
        Other serious diseases where, according to the doctor’s assessment, the condition means that covid-19 poses a serious health risk
        Obesity (BMI over 35)
        In treatment for cancer disease
        Severe gastrointestinal disorders with affected general condition and significantly reduced nutritional state
        Severe neurological diseases
        Severe rheumatological diseases
        Severe mental illness and/or serious substance abuse
        Down’s syndrome
        Pregnant women (regardless of trimester)

        In addition, vaccination against covid-19 is recommended for people living in the same household as people with congenital or developed immunodeficiency.

        https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Vaccination-against-covid-19/Vaccination-of-people-aged-under-50

      4. I’d not use the word ‘illegal’ in the context of revised Danish recommendations for the forthcoming Covid-19 autumn booster programme. Looking at exceptions to the withdrawal of Covid-19 boosters for under-50s, it looks like it contains a substantial cohort of younger adults. Furthermore, nothing is mentioned about obligations which other nations may impose on Danes wanting to visit their countries. Nor does it say anything about under-50s who are not in those categories recommended to have boosters but who, nonetheless, still want one.

        Vaccination of people aged under 50

        In the autumn and winter season 2022/23, the Danish Health Authority recommends booster vaccination against covid-19 for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector as well as parts of the social services sector with close contact to patients at higher risk, relatives of people with severely impaired immune systems and pregnant women. Read more about the target groups on this page.

        The aim of the vaccination programme against covid-19 this autumn is to get us well through the winter by protecting people who are at the highest risk of becoming severely ill and by avoiding that the Danish healthcare system, especially the hospitals, are overburdened.

        Everyone aged over 50 is recommended booster vaccination from 1 October 2022. In addition, some target groups aged under 50 are also recommended booster vaccination because they are either themselves at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or because they are in close contact with citizens/patients who are.

        People at higher risk

        Who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19?

        Age is by far the most predominant independent risk factor for becoming severely ill from covid-19. However, in addition to increasing age, some people aged under 50 who have certain diseases and conditions may have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

        The Danish Health Authority has reviewed the evidence and has, based on this review, drawn up a list of these diseases and conditions:

        Chronic pulmonary disease or impaired respiration due to reduced muscular strength
        Cardiovascular disease (except well-regulated hypertension)
        Diabetes type 1 or 2
        Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, including organ or stem cell transplantation
        Chronic kidney or liver disease
        Other serious diseases where, according to the doctor’s assessment, the condition means that covid-19 poses a serious health risk
        Obesity (BMI over 35)
        In treatment for cancer disease
        Severe gastrointestinal disorders with affected general condition and significantly reduced nutritional state
        Severe neurological diseases
        Severe rheumatological diseases
        Severe mental illness and/or serious substance abuse
        Down’s syndrome
        Pregnant women (regardless of trimester)

        In addition, vaccination against covid-19 is recommended for people living in the same household as people with congenital or developed immunodeficiency.

        https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Vaccination-against-covid-19/Vaccination-of-people-aged-under-50

      5. I’d not use the word ‘illegal’ in the context of revised Danish recommendations for the forthcoming Covid-19 autumn booster programme. Looking at exceptions to the withdrawal of Covid-19 boosters for under-50s, it looks like it contains a substantial cohort of younger adults. Furthermore, nothing is mentioned about obligations which other nations may impose on Danes wanting to visit their countries. Nor does it say anything about under-50s who are not in those categories recommended to have boosters but who, nonetheless, still want one.

        Vaccination of people aged under 50

        In the autumn and winter season 2022/23, the Danish Health Authority recommends booster vaccination against covid-19 for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector as well as parts of the social services sector with close contact to patients at higher risk, relatives of people with severely impaired immune systems and pregnant women. Read more about the target groups on this page.

        The aim of the vaccination programme against covid-19 this autumn is to get us well through the winter by protecting people who are at the highest risk of becoming severely ill and by avoiding that the Danish healthcare system, especially the hospitals, are overburdened.

        Everyone aged over 50 is recommended booster vaccination from 1 October 2022. In addition, some target groups aged under 50 are also recommended booster vaccination because they are either themselves at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or because they are in close contact with citizens/patients who are.

        People at higher risk

        Who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19?

        Age is by far the most predominant independent risk factor for becoming severely ill from covid-19. However, in addition to increasing age, some people aged under 50 who have certain diseases and conditions may have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

        The Danish Health Authority has reviewed the evidence and has, based on this review, drawn up a list of these diseases and conditions:

        Chronic pulmonary disease or impaired respiration due to reduced muscular strength
        Cardiovascular disease (except well-regulated hypertension)
        Diabetes type 1 or 2
        Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, including organ or stem cell transplantation
        Chronic kidney or liver disease
        Other serious diseases where, according to the doctor’s assessment, the condition means that covid-19 poses a serious health risk
        Obesity (BMI over 35)
        In treatment for cancer disease
        Severe gastrointestinal disorders with affected general condition and significantly reduced nutritional state
        Severe neurological diseases
        Severe rheumatological diseases
        Severe mental illness and/or serious substance abuse
        Down’s syndrome
        Pregnant women (regardless of trimester)

        In addition, vaccination against covid-19 is recommended for people living in the same household as people with congenital or developed immunodeficiency.

        https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Vaccination-against-covid-19/Vaccination-of-people-aged-under-50

      6. I’d not use the word ‘illegal’ in the context of revised Danish recommendations for the forthcoming Covid-19 autumn booster programme. Looking at exceptions to the withdrawal of Covid-19 boosters for under-50s, it looks like it contains a substantial cohort of younger adults. Furthermore, nothing is mentioned about obligations which other nations may impose on Danes wanting to visit their countries. Nor does it say anything about under-50s who are not in those categories recommended to have boosters but who, nonetheless, still want one.

        Vaccination of people aged under 50

        In the autumn and winter season 2022/23, the Danish Health Authority recommends booster vaccination against covid-19 for people at higher risk of becoming severely ill, staff in the healthcare and elderly care sector as well as parts of the social services sector with close contact to patients at higher risk, relatives of people with severely impaired immune systems and pregnant women. Read more about the target groups on this page.

        The aim of the vaccination programme against covid-19 this autumn is to get us well through the winter by protecting people who are at the highest risk of becoming severely ill and by avoiding that the Danish healthcare system, especially the hospitals, are overburdened.

        Everyone aged over 50 is recommended booster vaccination from 1 October 2022. In addition, some target groups aged under 50 are also recommended booster vaccination because they are either themselves at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19 or because they are in close contact with citizens/patients who are.

        People at higher risk

        Who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19?

        Age is by far the most predominant independent risk factor for becoming severely ill from covid-19. However, in addition to increasing age, some people aged under 50 who have certain diseases and conditions may have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19.

        The Danish Health Authority has reviewed the evidence and has, based on this review, drawn up a list of these diseases and conditions:

        Chronic pulmonary disease or impaired respiration due to reduced muscular strength
        Cardiovascular disease (except well-regulated hypertension)
        Diabetes type 1 or 2
        Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, including organ or stem cell transplantation
        Chronic kidney or liver disease
        Other serious diseases where, according to the doctor’s assessment, the condition means that covid-19 poses a serious health risk
        Obesity (BMI over 35)
        In treatment for cancer disease
        Severe gastrointestinal disorders with affected general condition and significantly reduced nutritional state
        Severe neurological diseases
        Severe rheumatological diseases
        Severe mental illness and/or serious substance abuse
        Down’s syndrome
        Pregnant women (regardless of trimester)

        In addition, vaccination against covid-19 is recommended for people living in the same household as people with congenital or developed immunodeficiency.

        https://www.sst.dk/en/English/Corona-eng/Vaccination-against-covid-19/Vaccination-of-people-aged-under-50

    5. Whereas NoTTLers* adhere to the house rule of ‘No Selfies’, the Great and the Good find the lure of ‘photo-ops’ irresistible. I can guarantee you that Macron will get himself photographed next to Biden (again) and other fools. Thus all the G&G will set aside any inconvenient rules in order to be seen at the State Funeral.

      *[Except Uncle Bill because he was one of the G&G when on the JY Show] {:^}}

    6. “Senior” people know that CV-19 is a vehicle to enable control over the masses, basically it’s a scam with a dangerous “vaccine” as the end point. The fear effect is starting to wane but those in on the scam have to keep the pretence going for a little while yet. The WHO are making noises that the end days of CV-19 are approaching. When that becomes official WHO policy the pretence will end until the next ‘scare’ rears its head. .

      1. I’ve been chatting with slightly our older neighbours and a friend earlier and they are all proud of their latest jabs. Including the flu jab.
        Both at the same time ????? 🤔

        1. Had coffee with a friend this morning – she’s going for the covid jab on Thursday and wants the flu jab as well. She’s younger than I am. I didn’t want to start an argument so I kept quiet but she knows what I think. She’s quite a lefty but for some reason, we get on ok together.

          1. We have both already had texts and emails re getting the booster etc. All deleted. No more and, to boot, I have another huge red blotch on my left arm. Another jab? I should coco.

          2. I’ve had both as well and OH had a printed letter. We’re ignoring them all. Has your doc given you any idea yet what the red blobs are? Are they hives? I think I’ve been very fortunate to have escaped any ill effects from the two AZ jabs I had. So far………..

        2. Had coffee with a friend this morning – she’s going for the covid jab on Thursday and wants the flu jab as well. She’s younger than I am. I didn’t want to start an argument so I kept quiet but she knows what I think. She’s quite a lefty but for some reason, we get on ok together.

        3. Had coffee with a friend this morning – she’s going for the covid jab on Thursday and wants the flu jab as well. She’s younger than I am. I didn’t want to start an argument so I kept quiet but she knows what I think. She’s quite a lefty but for some reason, we get on ok together.

    7. There used to a rule that stated “One rule for the rich, and another rule for the poor”. Now that there are so many nouveau-riche clogging up the planet, a change needed to be made to ensure that the plebs were kept in their place.

      The new rule is “One rule for the demonstrably powerful, and another rule for the rest of you oiks”.

    8. Can you imagine how many people our New King and Camilla have been in close contact with on their extensive travels around the UK.
      This ‘vaccine’ and its supposed repression of a virus seems to have become the mist recent Elephant in the room.

    9. Can you imagine how many people our New King and Camilla have been in close contact with on their extensive travels around the UK.
      This ‘vaccine’ and its supposed repression of a virus seems to have become the mist recent Elephant in the room.

    3. Had he been Muslim and raped an eleven year-old white girl he would have received a far more lenient sentence.

      I am beginning to think that the PTB are deliberately fomenting dissatisfaction in order to get us to rebel in such a way that they can crack down on dissent even more.

    1. They want us squabbling among ourselves. Also, they want a large group in the population which is dependent upon the government and who will riot if the government doesn’t give them a UBI.

      1. All very well, but that demographic doesn’t work. It costs vastly more than it ever raises. Folk int he state don’t like it, but if you eradicate whitey, you also destroy your income stream. Who pays for the dross when the overtaxed, over burdened stop bothering?

  52. My salad days,
    When I was green in judgment, cold in blood
    To say as I said then!”

    (Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra)

    In other words it is unjust to hold the things I said when I was young and inexperienced against me. I now know better.

    Sadly many environmentalists such as King Charles and Ben Marlow, who writes nonsense in today’s DT, remain ingenuous even after they have grown old and should know better.

    A BTL comment under Marlow’s article makes the point succinctly

    “I think you would agree that solar and wind power is not “green” in the sense of it being environmentally friendly. It is only green in its naivety.”

    1. Am I alone in this? I find it difficult to read the words “King Charles” without my mind immediately going back to the Stuart dynasty. I can only think of a Cavalier King and a Merry Monarch whenever anyone writes (or utters) the words “King Charles”.

      [Also, when you wrote “Ben Marlow” I thought you were conflating Christopher Marlowe with Ben Jonson! 🤣]

      4. No, I have the same reactions. I might have got used to thinking about Charles as King about the time William takes over.

      5. No, I have the same reactions. I might have got used to thinking about Charles as King about the time William takes over.

      6. The first Charles lost his head, the second was exiled then tried to sell us out to France (Treaty of Dover). Will this Charles follow in these footsteps?

  53. Some telly totty walked past The Queen yesterday (NOT having queued for six hours, natch).

    Why on earth was she wearing a MASK?

    Just asking…..

    3. I saw a physiotherapist yesterday he was wearing a mask. I saw him last week for hydrotherapy and he was in the pool without a mask. I asked him if chlorinated water nullified the effect of Covid virus? He looked at me suspiciously and asked why. When I pointed he wasn’t wearing on then but was now. Why, I asked.
      He admitted it didn’t make sense but he’d not thought of that. He said he was under instructions to wear one.
      Obviously never questioned an instruction.

          1. I do feel sorry for them but at the same time i refuse to comply. My dentist is now mask free. They have left the hand sanitiser station by the front door which i think is a good thing anyway regardless of the covid hoax.

          2. Our opticians office is mandated to be a mask wearing zone,

            Ever had an eye test while wearing a mask – guaranteed to fog up your glasses and all of the fancy opticians equipment.

          3. Specsavers still has notices up asking people to wear a mask but not all of the staff wore one. I picked up new glasses on Monday and, on the way out, spoke to a member of staff. She said it was under general guidance. Said she hated it but didn’t take it off.
            ETA: In case of doubt I didn’t wear one, never have done from the start, (Oxford comma), and neither did Alf.

          4. I went to Specsvers a couple of times earlier this year –

            The staff were all wearing them but I wasn’t. I told the receptioist, the optometrist and the dispensing optician that I needed to lip read and they all took them off so that I could understand them. The DO said she hated wearing it but the company enforced it.

          5. Well done. I hadn’t thought of that but lip reading certainly comes into the hearing for me, most definitely.

          7. Specsavers still has notices up asking people to wear a mask but not all of the staff wore one. I picked up new glasses on Monday and, on the way out, spoke to a member of staff. She said it was under general guidance. Said she hated it but didn’t take it off.
            ETA: In case of doubt I didn’t wear one, never have done from the start, (Oxford comma), and neither did Alf.

          8. Our opticians has a notice to that effect, but I just say I’m exempt (as I did at the hospital for the blood test) and that’s an end to it.

          9. Our opticians office is mandated to be a mask wearing zone,

            Ever had an eye test while wearing a mask – guaranteed to fog up your glasses and all of the fancy opticians equipment.

          10. Urgh! I read that as”left hand sanitiser” and was wondering about sanitising the right hand…

          11. Urgh! I read that as”left hand sanitiser” and was wondering about sanitising the right hand…

          12. I do feel sorry for them but at the same time i refuse to comply. My dentist is now mask free. They have left the hand sanitiser station by the front door which i think is a good thing anyway regardless of the covid hoax.

        3. Obviously you have decided what the truth is and that doesn’t fit your agenda.
          However, it is true.

        4. Obviously you have decided what the truth is and that doesn’t fit your agenda.
          However, it is true.

      3. About twenty regulars go to our gym aerobics classes, no masks are worn when the classes are being run. However, two of the regulars will wear masks when they enter the building and stay masked up until the music starts. Same people, not much closer together in the entry than in the studio.

        It makes absolutely no sense, if I am not going to share my germs, viruseses, bacteria or whatever when I am huffing and gasping for air, I doubt that I will be spreading the lurgi around when we are just talking.

      4. About twenty regulars go to our gym aerobics classes, no masks are worn when the classes are being run. However, two of the regulars will wear masks when they enter the building and stay masked up until the music starts. Same people, not much closer together in the entry than in the studio.

        It makes absolutely no sense, if I am not going to share my germs, viruseses, bacteria or whatever when I am huffing and gasping for air, I doubt that I will be spreading the lurgi around when we are just talking.

  54. #together

    DANISH HEALTH AUTHORITY

    “Why are people aged under 50 not to be re-vaccinated?

    The purpose of the vaccination programme is to prevent severe illness, hospitalisation and death. Therefore, people at the highest risk of becoming severely ill will be offered booster vaccination. The purpose of vaccination is not to prevent infection with covid-19, and people aged under 50 are therefore currently not being offered booster vaccination. People aged under 50 are generally not at particularly higher risk of becoming severely ill from covid-19. In addition.”

    Denmark has just barred most people under 50 from additional C19 jabs.

    ‘The purpose of vaccination is not to prevent infection,’ they now say.

    Of course, only 8 months ago we were fighting to save 100,000 NHS workers’ jobs…

    …because, we were told, the purpose of vaccination was indeed to prevent infection.

    The threats to livelihoods by Sajid Javid…

    The ill-informed demonisation and scapegoating, by public figures and the media at large…

    …of those simply wishing to exercise their right to CHOOSE…

    …these were truly shameful episodes for the UK.

    Please: join Together as a member if you can HERE so we can stand strongly against any future threats to bodily autonomy.

    Growing our membership is so important because the big challenges we face have not gone away…

    Together this week wrote to Maggie Throup MP demanding answers about the Freedom of Information request revealed last week, that appears to show “Covid Pass” is still being developed for domestic use within the UK.

    We also continue to fight to get the dangerous Online Safety Bill scrapped.

    There is now talk of watering this censorship Bill down – but this won’t do. The pressure is having an effect. We must keep it up.

    Meanwhile, thank you if you took action on our Axe The Tax and NHS: Whats The Plan? campaigns.

    In the last week, there has been a response of sorts from government in both these areas.

    Details are still vague so we’re evaluating what they said and will have more for you soon.

    THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUING SUPPORT

    We are stronger Together

    1. 356105+ up ticks,

      G,
      Many of us came together under the Gerard Batten leadership of UKIP, rebuilding a party of success
      financially in the black and a steady flow of new members daily.

      The tory moles in the nec and farage via treachery took care of that in 2019.

      Is “together” another brexit party political Q ship running protection for the lab/lib/con
      coalition party ?

    2. 356105+ up ticks,

      G,
      Many of us came together under the Gerard Batten leadership of UKIP, rebuilding a party of success
      financially in the black and a steady flow of new members daily.

      The tory moles in the nec and farage via treachery took care of that in 2019.

      Is “together” another brexit party political Q ship running protection for the lab/lib/con
      coalition party ?

    1. A bright & sunny day, but also with a chill breeze that kept it from getting warm.
      The ton of sand has been delivered, but I want to use up the last of the previous batch before I start shifting it up the garden.
      I’ve scavenged the last usable bits of broken concrete block from over the road and matched up a few lumps of stone to where I intend putting them, so I might get a mix of mortar done tomorrow.

    2. A bright & sunny day, but also with a chill breeze that kept it from getting warm.
      The ton of sand has been delivered, but I want to use up the last of the previous batch before I start shifting it up the garden.
      I’ve scavenged the last usable bits of broken concrete block from over the road and matched up a few lumps of stone to where I intend putting them, so I might get a mix of mortar done tomorrow.

      1. I read that as “… got some washing on the fire”.
        I think I had better lie down for a while.

      2. I read that as “… got some washing on the fire”.
        I think I had better lie down for a while.

    5. What is the family influence on divorce? Only Edward in the royal family succeeded in having a happy marriage at the first attempt.

      Caroline’s parents were happily married for over 50 years; my parents were happily married for over fifty years; my elder sister has been happily married for 65 years; Caroline and I are still going strong after 34 years but my second sister divorced, one of Caroline’s sister divorced twice and the other one is separated. The four children of my happily married elder sister are all happily married but three of the children of my divorced sister have also divorced.

      1. My younger (and more beautiful) niece’s marriage lasted about 18 months. She is bright, lively, vivaceous, noisy, and really hard work for an introvert. He is almost invisible and silent. I wonder how they even thought marriage was a good idea, they are so different.
        It’s really sad, though. No children, thank God.

          1. No, and I reckon there never will be.
            Police suggestion, after being reminded of ther promise to respond within 24 hours, was to issue a crime number, and suggest taht I phone the company again. Wankers.
            CAB are the same. Wankers, too.
            Maybe I’ll go round and firebomb the place. I know where they live…

      2. I was married to my ex for 40 years. It lasted because he was away a lot and I was working full time. It became intolerable when he stopped going away on business and then retired. A marriage may last a long time- doesn’t mean it’s necessarily happy.
        My husband now is a good man and, even better, is cooking dinner;-)

        2. My first marriage lasted 7 years then she got the 7 year itch and a friend of mine scratched it. I struck lucky second time and in 36 years we never had a bad word between us then Alzheimers took her from me 18 months ago

          1. I remember Spikey and, as then, my heart goes out to you. Glad you had so many good years and such a shame it wasn’t for longer.
            Life can be cruel.

          1. I did all the cooking during my second marriage but SWMBO did all the baking as she was so good at it.

      3. I think it rather depends on whether you have found the right person. Of course in years gone by it wasn’t easy to divorce and unhappy couples had to stick together. I’d put both my aunts and uncles in that category.

        I stuck it out with my first husband for over 20 years but our differences became too much. I’ve now been married 25 years to my second husband and, although we don’t see eye to eye on everything, we rub along quite happily most of the time. Of course I was too young when I married at 20.

        1. Married first at 24 – bride = 19. Both of us hopelessly immature. We simply grew further and further apart.
          I left – feeling awful – and, unknown to me, her bloke moved in the afternoon I departed.

          Married second at 36 – thought it was rock solid. 14 years later – I was unceremoniously dumped. I have never understood why.

          Met the MR in 1989 at a party. Nice girl. But I was happily married. When dumped, in 1992, I wrote to her (she was in Holland).
          She wrote back.
          Thirty years on – she is cooking dinner, having just drawn up next year’s seed order!
          Happy as Larry, me….I think she is, too. Despite many deep differences (she is a Greenish Limp Dumb) , we never fall out.
          BLISS.

        2. A friend of mine and his wife stuck together for years for the sake of the children – neither of them wanted them

        3. My sisters both married at 20 – as I said above one marriage worked very well, the other didn’t.

          My father was 33 when he married my mother who was 27; Caroline’s parents were both 25; I was 41 when I married and Caroline was 26. Sounds soppy but we love each other now even more than we did on our wedding day.

      4. Been married over 47 years now, first and only wife.

        She tells me I have never been so happy. :-))

          1. I have had it a while now, with so many a*****s in the country, especially TPB, I thought it was time to make an appearance.
            I may award the Order of the Mug to such deserving recipients. Douglas Henshaw is in the running for the award today. 😂

          2. Shame as we’ve enjoyed the Shetland series though I didn’t know there were so many Bame people in that far northern land…..

      1. with difficulty – he probably had someone queueing for him (maybe his wife, she doesn’t take up much space)

        1. David Beckham gets in a taxi at Dublin Airport and notices the driver keep looking in his rear view mirror at him.
          After about 5 minutes the driver says “Go on then give me a clue!?”

          Beckham replies, “I had a glittering career with Man Utd, played over 100 times for England and married a spice girl, is that enough?”.

          Driver says “No mate, I meant where are you going?”

          3. I heard a true story on the radio a few years back. A chap rang in and told a story about his car breakdown on a dual carriage way near Hatfield in Herts. The guy gad his two children in the car and was trying vain to push it off the road. Nobody stopped to give him a shove. But a range rover pulled up on the nearside verge and David Beckham got out and set about helping him to get it off the road.
            The guy was over the moon.
            The presenter on the radio said well what a wonderful experience what did you say to him.
            The guy replied OMG I was all choked up and lost for words. I said I LUV U DAYFID.

          4. I heard a true story on the radio a few years back. A chap rang in and told a story about his car breakdown on a dual carriage way near Hatfield in Herts. The guy gad his two children in the car and was trying vain to push it off the road. Nobody stopped to give him a shove. But a range rover pulled up on the nearside verge and David Beckham got out and set about helping him to get it off the road.
            The guy was over the moon.
            The presenter on the radio said well what a wonderful experience what did you say to him.
            The guy replied OMG I was all choked up and lost for words. I said I LUV U DAYFID.

        2. David Beckham gets in a taxi at Dublin Airport and notices the driver keep looking in his rear view mirror at him.
          After about 5 minutes the driver says “Go on then give me a clue!?”

          Beckham replies, “I had a glittering career with Man Utd, played over 100 times for England and married a spice girl, is that enough?”.

          Driver says “No mate, I meant where are you going?”

      2. with difficulty – he probably had someone queueing for him (maybe his wife, she doesn’t take up much space)

        1. David Beckham is out shopping one day.. (Old)
          He spots a tall, cylindrical silver thing. He asks a shop assistant what it is; “It’s a Thermos flask, it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold” replies the assistant.

          So David buys it. On arriving home, Victoria asks what he’s
          got there. “It’s a Thermos flask, keeps ‘ot fings ‘ot an cold fings cold.”

          “Great,” replies Victoria, ” you can take that to training with you, show the lads.”

          So David takes it along to the England Camp the next day.
          The players ask him what he has there, “A Thermos flask, keeps ‘ot fings ‘ot an cold fings cold”

          “Zo vot have you got in it David?” asks Sven.

          “A cup of coffee an a choc ice” he replies.

        2. David Beckham is out shopping one day.. (Old)
          He spots a tall, cylindrical silver thing. He asks a shop assistant what it is; “It’s a Thermos flask, it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold” replies the assistant.

          So David buys it. On arriving home, Victoria asks what he’s
          got there. “It’s a Thermos flask, keeps ‘ot fings ‘ot an cold fings cold.”

          “Great,” replies Victoria, ” you can take that to training with you, show the lads.”

          So David takes it along to the England Camp the next day.
          The players ask him what he has there, “A Thermos flask, keeps ‘ot fings ‘ot an cold fings cold”

          “Zo vot have you got in it David?” asks Sven.

          “A cup of coffee an a choc ice” he replies.

        3. I meant about him queuing for hours…

          He looks like a pikey from that that shoddy programme “Peaky Blinders”

          1. He looks like a pikey from that that shoddy programme “Peaky Blinders”

            But, the sounds are missing the BBC-obligatory F-bomb every 5th word.

          3. He looks like a pikey from that that shoddy programme “Peaky Blinders”

            But, the sounds are missing the BBC-obligatory F-bomb every 5th word.

        4. I meant about him queuing for hours…

          He looks like a pikey from that that shoddy programme “Peaky Blinders”

        5. Was he planted byteh powrs that be to show the peasants that it is OK to queue for a day or two?

          Anyway queueing is good practice for the food shortages and rationing that is comimg

        6. Was he planted byteh powrs that be to show the peasants that it is OK to queue for a day or two?

          Anyway queueing is good practice for the food shortages and rationing that is comimg

    7. I really believe that he did, Spikey. He is (despite the revolting tats and the awful tarty wife) a good man. Not awfully bright but brought up to ‘do the right thing’.

      1. I was hoping that he would become head of the FA when that post became vacant a few years ago. An honest man is so rare. Corruption in football is legendary.
        I am no fan of football and I don’t care much whatever happens. I just thought that he would fit the bill.

      2. I was hoping that he would become head of the FA when that post became vacant a few years ago. An honest man is so rare. Corruption in football is legendary.
        I am no fan of football and I don’t care much whatever happens. I just thought that he would fit the bill.

      3. Some footballers (Becks, Peter Beardsley, David Silva, Dennis Bewrgkamp etc. etc. ) read the game as if they were Chess Grandmasters …. they see all the pieces and anticipate their positions over the next crucial 5-10 interactions ….

        BTW I appreciate Becks efforts to be a good role model … if only he could and would get those tattoos removed

      4. Some footballers (Becks, Peter Beardsley, David Silva, Dennis Bewrgkamp etc. etc. ) read the game as if they were Chess Grandmasters …. they see all the pieces and anticipate their positions over the next crucial 5-10 interactions ….

        BTW I appreciate Becks efforts to be a good role model … if only he could and would get those tattoos removed

      5. And he had a little blub when he got there. But well done him going through the queue which our odious MPs were not prepared to do.

        I was convinced 30 years ago that tattoos would soon go out of fashion and procedures for getting rid of them would be a good business to get into. I was wrong – they are everywhere still : even on people who should know better.

    8. I really believe that he did, Spikey. He is (despite the revolting tats and the awful tarty wife) a good man. Not awfully bright but brought up to ‘do the right thing’.

  62. Am I unusual , I cannot bear all the noise , clapping , shouting and excitement greeting the new Royals .

    The media circus is just a little bit too much.

    Friends have been chatting to me about their woriies re cost of living , some have now been waiting ages for hip ops , eye ops , and ……prostate ops, one of which was caught far too late .

    People in villages chatter , some feel quite isolated and forgotten about .. and many are dependant on deliveries from supermarkets .. the real world has lost touch with reality… so has British Royalty. Coccooned in their grand castles and mansions , what do they really know?

    1. Belle, when has Royalty ever been in touch with what you and I know as reality? Never. As regards “the real world” the vast vast majority of us are so “insignificant” – I mean not “famous” in any way. But we are all amazingly significant. Where would we be without Geoff, for instance? Alf and I contribute, if you can call it that, only to this blog and nowhere else. (That’s another question. Is it a blog?). The world would be a poorer place without us. Think of all the people in your village you have spoken to, about their worries and yours. What would have happened in the past if they couldn’t have deliveries from supermarkets or wherever. We are very lucky in many ways.

      We also know people who have been waiting for surgery, have had it cancelled at the last minute or have never even made it to the GP surgery.

      The media circus is easily avoided, together with the noise. Just don’t switch the tv on or the radio. If you have DAB radio you can listen to Mellow Magic, mostly gentle music from way back. There is some talking and advertising but not a lot. You are fortunate to have a dog to exercise. Bet you meet quite a few others to whom you can chat. KBO is what I say and keep busy. Take heart, we all care about each other on here.

    2. Belle, when has Royalty ever been in touch with what you and I know as reality? Never. As regards “the real world” the vast vast majority of us are so “insignificant” – I mean not “famous” in any way. But we are all amazingly significant. Where would we be without Geoff, for instance? Alf and I contribute, if you can call it that, only to this blog and nowhere else. (That’s another question. Is it a blog?). The world would be a poorer place without us. Think of all the people in your village you have spoken to, about their worries and yours. What would have happened in the past if they couldn’t have deliveries from supermarkets or wherever. We are very lucky in many ways.

      We also know people who have been waiting for surgery, have had it cancelled at the last minute or have never even made it to the GP surgery.

      The media circus is easily avoided, together with the noise. Just don’t switch the tv on or the radio. If you have DAB radio you can listen to Mellow Magic, mostly gentle music from way back. There is some talking and advertising but not a lot. You are fortunate to have a dog to exercise. Bet you meet quite a few others to whom you can chat. KBO is what I say and keep busy. Take heart, we all care about each other on here.

    3. I sometimes think that royalty meet
      – aristocrats
      – servants
      – politicians
      – courtiers
      – performers, writers and broadcasters
      – sports people
      – business CEOs
      – members of the armed forces
      – merrie peasants who bother to go along and see them, invite them to their business or elbow their way to the top of the queue to shake hands with a royal
      – migrants and homeless people

      This gives the royals a somewhat slanted view of the world. There’s a huge layer of society, including monarchists, who wouldn’t go to the end of the street to see a royal or work for them and whom consequently the royals never meet.

    4. I sometimes think that royalty meet
      – aristocrats
      – servants
      – politicians
      – courtiers
      – performers, writers and broadcasters
      – sports people
      – business CEOs
      – members of the armed forces
      – merrie peasants who bother to go along and see them, invite them to their business or elbow their way to the top of the queue to shake hands with a royal
      – migrants and homeless people

      This gives the royals a somewhat slanted view of the world. There’s a huge layer of society, including monarchists, who wouldn’t go to the end of the street to see a royal or work for them and whom consequently the royals never meet.

    5. We’ve been watching very little of the media circus.

      They probably know very little about how ordinary people live.

  63. King Charles is visiting an Edinburgh hospital. He enters a ward full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or illness and greets one.
    The patient replies:

    “Fair fa your honest sonsie face,
    Great chieftain o the puddin race,
    Aboon them a ye take yer place,
    Painch, tripe or thairm,
    As langs my airm.”

    Charles is confused, so he just grins and moves on to the next patient. The patient responds:

    “Some hae meat an canna eat,
    And some wad eat that want it,
    But we hae meat an we can eat,
    So let the Lord be thankit.”

    Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the Prince moves on to the next patient, who immediately begins to chant:

    “Wee sleekit, cowerin, timrous beasty,
    O the panic in thy breasty,
    Thou needna start awa sae hastie,
    Wi bickering brattle.”

    Now seriously troubled, Charles turns to the accompanying doctor and asks “Is this a psychiatric ward?”

    “No,” replies the doctor, “this is the Serious Burns Unit”

  64. What is the difference between a chimpanzee with a baby, King Charles, and a person with alopecia?
    One is a hairy parent, one is an heir apparent, and the other has no hair apparent.

  65. What is the difference between a chimpanzee with a baby, King Charles, and a person with alopecia?
    One is a hairy parent, one is an heir apparent, and the other has no hair apparent.

  67. My ton of sand arrived today.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57f4a4e22f44b85ed664608afe0a42f2fb0e063bd521099869c9c048f2645770.jpg

    Not planning to shift it until after I’ve used up the last of the old batch, but here are a few bits of rock:-
    A Scallop Shell, or whatever fossilised ones are called!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb480707a60cd889a5544fbc95455551275dd1b9b2700e727a0fe7d39b937358.jpg

    And note the fossils on the other side:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d4362c3f1fe0abe13d314aaa6125b2f2f58708fe592b67dc2e0e57c82ee5be88.jpg

    Two lumps of common or garden rock. Both “about” a similar size.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ffdfd22ad045d6ed2717190f00ffdffe345596f7b7ca47d893c39a45fb547389.jpg

    The left hand rock weighs in at a tad under 4¼kg and has a few fossilised markings:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4ea640ea8bbac55b5d58214a9c2478187a108d81b4e707cfb1a5a7e1c252aee.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea07a5ff0eb69cf2fadc078e83cfab9fee59b29c3f520bfb2fa20e428114124c.jpg

    Continued:-

    1. The other rock is nearly twice the weight, a tad short of 8kg, and has some rather shiny grey flecks on it:-
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e91b6b875b4696c643533fb82714d42f73669ee46e5c5c0ef513bc3bb473c354.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d767e0255f017f41ef7fcbc2001caedd09ede240bee839b5496bfc4a2bc99baa.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19c6c14e227c91bac0f5601f06d8a87b381e6a1a9b18b42f792ad07f862de76d.jpg

      Those grey flecks are Galena, lead ore.

      Just a few bits of rock I’ve picked up from the garden.

      3. Taking if scallops, here’s the scallop shell in the Tracey Family Crest.

        The scallop is the symbol of St James at Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain. Pilgrimages have become a sort of tourist attraction (indeed Caroline’s sister has made several short pilgrimages to the Cathedral) but in medieval times members of the Tracey family had to make real pilgrimages to atone for the heinous murder of Thomas-à-Becket in his cathedral in Canterbury and the scallop formed part of the family’s sign.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/996b49641ccafe1828943f09109b68f4daf85930a63536f95aaaad11872af87d.jpg

        and here are Christo and Henry in front of the Cathedral when we sailed to Northern Spain on our way to the Med in 2004.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6fc5526bfab90bb087a8e20fc6ff33d09f48fdb9caf03eaf5612b6871f4e548f.jpg

        3. There was a recent Telegraph obituary for a Tracey descendent, and somewhere I read that the “heinous murder” could well have been manslaughter.

      4. Taking if scallops, here’s the scallop shell in the Tracey Family Crest.

        The scallop is the symbol of St James at Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain. Pilgrimages have become a sort of tourist attraction (indeed Caroline’s sister has made several short pilgrimages to the Cathedral) but in medieval times members of the Tracey family had to make real pilgrimages to atone for the heinous murder of Thomas-à-Becket in his cathedral in Canterbury and the scallop formed part of the family’s sign.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/996b49641ccafe1828943f09109b68f4daf85930a63536f95aaaad11872af87d.jpg

        and here are Christo and Henry in front of the Cathedral when we sailed to Northern Spain on our way to the Med in 2004.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6fc5526bfab90bb087a8e20fc6ff33d09f48fdb9caf03eaf5612b6871f4e548f.jpg

    2. The other rock is nearly twice the weight, a tad short of 8kg, and has some rather shiny grey flecks on it:-
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e91b6b875b4696c643533fb82714d42f73669ee46e5c5c0ef513bc3bb473c354.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d767e0255f017f41ef7fcbc2001caedd09ede240bee839b5496bfc4a2bc99baa.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19c6c14e227c91bac0f5601f06d8a87b381e6a1a9b18b42f792ad07f862de76d.jpg

      Those grey flecks are Galena, lead ore.

      Just a few bits of rock I’ve picked up from the garden.

  68. My ton of sand arrived today.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57f4a4e22f44b85ed664608afe0a42f2fb0e063bd521099869c9c048f2645770.jpg

    Not planning to shift it until after I’ve used up the last of the old batch, but here are a few bits of rock:-
    A Scallop Shell, or whatever fossilised ones are called!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb480707a60cd889a5544fbc95455551275dd1b9b2700e727a0fe7d39b937358.jpg

    And note the fossils on the other side:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d4362c3f1fe0abe13d314aaa6125b2f2f58708fe592b67dc2e0e57c82ee5be88.jpg

    Two lumps of common or garden rock. Both “about” a similar size.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ffdfd22ad045d6ed2717190f00ffdffe345596f7b7ca47d893c39a45fb547389.jpg

    The left hand rock weighs in at a tad under 4¼kg and has a few fossilised markings:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4ea640ea8bbac55b5d58214a9c2478187a108d81b4e707cfb1a5a7e1c252aee.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea07a5ff0eb69cf2fadc078e83cfab9fee59b29c3f520bfb2fa20e428114124c.jpg

    Continued:-

  69. Free Speech Union weekly newsletter: Welcome to the FSU’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week. As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture.

    Arrest of anti-royal protesters sparks free speech concerns
    As the country observes an official period of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, a spate of arrests of republican protesters at public events provoked what the media described variously as a “public backlash” (FT), an “outcry” (The Week) and a “row” (Evening Standard, Express) about heavy-handed policing, which then quickly prompted free speech “concerns” (iNews, BBC, Express), “fears” (National) “demonstrations” (Mail) and “debates” (Bloomberg).

    The first story to make the headlines involved a demonstrator who held a banner saying “f**k imperialism, abolish the monarchy” during the Proclamation for King Charles III in Edinburgh, and who was subsequently arrested and charged under a 2010 law that covers behaviour “likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm” (Independent).

    Several other lone protestors have now been arrested, detained and in some cases charged with a public order offence for voicing criticisms of the monarchy (Mail, Guardian). Unsurprisingly, the police quickly came under fire for their “overreach” (Guido) and “excessive shutdown” of protests across the country, with one former counterterrorism chief even describing the approach of some officers as “heavy-handed”, “overzealous” and “inappropriate” (Mail).

    A young woman who stood quietly holding a placard saying “not my king” was also escorted away from the Houses of Parliament by a group of police officers (Mail).

    In Oxford, a man who shouted, “who elected him?” when Charles was officially proclaimed King was arrested, handcuffed and briefly detained on suspicion of a breach of public order under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, for allegedly using threatening or abusive words or behaviour that could cause bystanders “harassment, alarm or distress” (Metro). Another man, who heckled Prince Andrew in a procession along the Royal Mile in the Scottish capital, may face a similar charge, police confirmed on Tuesday (Daily Beast).

    Later in the week, an overzealous Metropolitan Police Officer was caught on camera telling a protester whom he’d spotted holding aloft a blank piece of paper that he would be arrested if he wrote “Not my King” on it. “That may offend people,” he said. “Who’s that going to offend?” asked the protestor. “I don’t know, someone may be offended by it,” the officer replied (Sky News).

    We can all probably agree that the sorrowful occasion of the late monarch’s death is not the best time or place to make political statements. Some will no doubt find the behaviour of the protestors – or as William Atkinson put it for ConHom, the “tedious, bargain basement Cromwells” – puerile. Others may feel it is grossly insensitive – certainly, as Sky News’s home editor Jason Farrell reported, for many people coming to pay their respects to the late Queen this was not the week for protests.

    But as Observer columnist Sonia Sodha put it, “the test of a commitment to free expression is not whether you defend it at zero cost in relation to people you agree with, but whether you defend it when it costs you something and in relation to people you may disagree with but whose democratic rights you nevertheless respect”.

    As a non-partisan, mass-membership public interest body that stands up for free speech, the FSU echoes that sentiment. That means defending the right of republicans to peaceful dissent. No-one should be arrested or charged for simply stating their opinion, no matter how distasteful the majority may find it. As Lord Justice Sedley said: “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.”

    The police are under unprecedented pressure during this time of national mourning, but officers on the ground nevertheless need to protect people’s right to protest, however irritating some people may find them.

    It is for these reasons that the FSU has offered its support to several named protestors, urged others who had been arrested and/or charged to reach out to our case team, and issued several statements upholding the right of republicans to free speech and peaceful dissent (which you can read here, here and here).

    If anyone who has been arrested for protesting against the monarchy in the past week is reading this, then please contact our case team on help@freespeechunion.org.

    Gillian Philip fundraiser – an update!
    Thanks to your generous support, and the sterling work of Gillian’s legal team (Shah Qureshi of Irwin Mitchell and barrister David Mitchell), permission has been granted for Gillian to bring her case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Gillian will now have the chance to persuade a superior court of record that in writing novels under the close control of her publishers she was a worker, entitled to the protections of the Equality Act 2010. This is a timely opportunity to secure protection from discrimination for precarious workers in an increasingly intolerant sector. Many congratulations, Gillian!

    The FSU’s packed schedule of events this autumn!
    Details of the FSU’s packed schedule of events this Autumn was emailed to members last week, so do check if you’ve received that message (and let events@freespeechunion.org know if you haven’t).

    Our upcoming members-only events include a live, in-person launch of Andrew Doyle’s brilliant new book The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World. The comedian, author, and presenter of GB News’s Free Speech Nation will join FSU General Secretary Toby Young on-stage in London on 27th September to discuss how we can push back against cancel culture and reinstate liberal democratic values. There’ll be plenty of time for an audience Q&A, as well as for audience members to purchase signed copies of The New Puritans. FSU members can buy a signed copy of Andrew’s book, thanks to Primrose Hill books, who have set up a special offer sales page that includes free shipping to all customers within the UK. The link is here.

    On 5th October we’ll be holding our second Online Annual Convention. This event is exclusively for Gold and Founder members, so do consider joining now as a Gold member or upgrading your current membership package. The Convention provides senior staff and the Directors of the FSU with an opportunity to thank members for their continuing support and report back on highlights from the past year – e.g., legal victories, case-work successes and the impact our behind-the-scenes policy work is having. It’s also an opportunity for Gold and Founder members to participate in a Q&A where they get to have their say about the work we’re doing.

    Then, on 12th October, Toby will be joined in conversation at an exclusive Online Speakeasy with the stand-up comedian, actor, writer and presenter Jack Dee. You can watch Jack’s video message inviting you to the event here.

    FSU members will also be offered discount tickets to the Battle of Ideas Festival 2022 (15th and 16th October). During that event, Toby will be speaking on a panel the FSU is sponsoring focussing on the Online Safety Bill. The Free Speech Champions will also be hosting a session about how young people can be brought to care more about freedom of speech.

    Anti-royal protests and the problem of subjective policing
    As Lord Sumption pointed out in the Spectator last month, the problem with legislation built around subjectively perceived notions of harm is that it is “liable to adopt, by default, the standard of the most easily shocked, upset or offended”. The former Supreme Court judge was of course referring to the Online Safety Bill, but the point holds in relation to some of the laws used to arrest anti-royal protestors.

    The arrests in Scotland, for instance, were made as a breach of the peace – behaviour which is “severe enough to cause alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community”. In England, meanwhile, they were made under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which allows police to arrest someone whose use of threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour may cause “harassment, alarm or distress”. Writing for iNews, Ian Dunt noted that these laws, however different they may be in other respects, are similar in that they create an extremely vague category of criminal behaviour – e.g., “alarm” – and then hand the police the discretion to make a subjective judgement about what constitutes “alarm”. “Of course,” he says, “most protests are allowed to take place”, but they do so on the basis that a police officer’s judgement of a vague category of apparently criminal activity – swear words, provocative placards, lazy insults – could at any moment lead to arrests being made.

    Not that there’s anything new about this, says Jacob Mchangama. The Public Order Act’s essentially subjective concepts of alarm or distress have for some time provided the police with “too wide a berth of discretion” and allowed them “to crack down on a variety of peaceful protests – ranging from animal cruelty demonstrators to atheists displaying posters questioning the existence of God”. (Daily Beast).

    Has this led forces to adopt, in Lord Sumption’s words, “the standard of the most easily shocked, upset or offended” while policing events taking place during this period of national mourning? Speaking to Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, FSU Chief Legal Counsel, Dr Bryn Harris, pointed out that it was not the role of the police to police good taste and decency, and nor was it their role to “choreograph the funeral”. (You can watch Bryn’s appearance on TalkTV here). The police seem to be on a hair trigger, he added, and are assuming that anything provocative is going to cause harassment, alarm or distress. The problem, in other words, is not so much the individual police officers involved, but the fact that the Act in question is empowering those officers to make subjective judgements about a vague category of apparently criminal activity in a highly charged public moment.

    Strange bedfellows: David Davis, Jeremy Corbyn and free speech – a future FSU panel?
    According to Guido, an “unlikely coalition” has formed between Conservative former Home Secretary David Davis and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn after both launched a push to defend freedom of speech in the wake of the arrests of republican protesters over the course of this week. On Monday, Mr Davis wrote to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Sir Iain Livingstone. Speaking as a “strong monarchist” he nevertheless expressed his “concern that an anti-monarchy protestor has been charged by police”. He was referring to the protestor who held up the “F*** imperialism, abolish the monarchy” placard, though of course since then several other similar arrests have been made. “If the individual concerned committed acts of violence, or the police had reason to believe she would, then action was obviously necessary,” he wrote. “But if the individual was simply stating an opinion, I trust you agree that a liberal approach would be desirable.”

    Mr David then added in a separate tweet: “[R]epublicans have as much right to voice their opinions as anyone else.” Two days later, Jeremy Corbyn tweeted that “the arrest of republican protestors is wrong, anti-democratic and an abuse of the law” and then provided surprise cross-party backing for Mr Davis by congratulating him on his message: “Well said David.” Hardly effusive, it’s true, but it did get us thinking about the possibility of an FSU panel discussion on the place of free speech in the liberal and the socialist political traditions. Watch this space.

    Free Speech Warriors hold to their principles
    There was a time when free speech was held up as a sacred principle of the left. In recent years, though, a large section of the cadre Tom Slater refers to as the “woke left” (Spiked) has apparently abandoned the idea that it should strive to give a voice to the voiceless and allow them to stand up, speak out and challenge conventional wisdom. Even the term “free speech” has become a contentious phrase for progressives, something that, as Jemima Kelly puts it, is too often dismissed as “an eye-roll-worthy right-wing obsession that is a non-issue at best, or a cover for bigotry at worst” (FT).

    Perhaps that’s why, as this week’s neo-medievalist clampdown on subjects who wished to refrain from celebrating the accession to the throne of their new King unfolded, many on the woke left felt that they had been gifted a glorious opportunity to highlight the hypocrisy of that figment of their fevered imaginations – the stuffy, monarchy-loving, gammon-faced free speech warrior.

    “The outcry on the left has – correctly – called out the hypocrisy of right-wing ‘free speech’ advocates who maintain a stony silence on these arrests,” crowed the Morning Star. “The silence of so-called free speech groups is deafening,” thundered the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire. “The reason ‘free speech’ warriors don’t kick over stuff like this is very straightforward,” explained permanently dyspeptic left-wing pundit Owen Jones. “The ‘free speech’ they actually care about is the right to say bigoted and stigmatising things about minorities.”

    But as Jemima Kelly rightly points out, these missives couldn’t have been more wrong: “‘Free speech warriors’, from the Free Speech Union to Spiked Online, have indeed been kicking off, and loudly.”

    What, then, are we to make of the woke left’s instinctive belief that those they like to slur as ‘free speech’ advocates would simply look the other way while cancel culture came for the values they hold dear – protest, class-based social analysis, republicanism, and so on?

    Perhaps if she were still alive, the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein might diagnose a rather acute case of projective identification – a defence mechanism in which the unpalatable aspects of the self are projected onto another person or group. Tom Slater certainly feels that these people’s “chutzpah is almost impressive”. Here they are, he says, “accusing free-speechers of hypocrisy, despite ample evidence to the contrary, while at the same time only ever defend[ing] speech they agree with”. And isn’t it also the case, as Jemima Kelly suggests, that “in trying to point out the hypocrisy of the right”, Owen Jones and friends have “inadvertently revealed the insincerity of their concerns about freedom of expression”?

    Sharing the newsletter
    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture. You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Best wishes,

    Freddie Attenborough

    Communications Officer

  70. Free Speech Union weekly newsletter: Welcome to the FSU’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week. As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture.

    Arrest of anti-royal protesters sparks free speech concerns
    As the country observes an official period of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, a spate of arrests of republican protesters at public events provoked what the media described variously as a “public backlash” (FT), an “outcry” (The Week) and a “row” (Evening Standard, Express) about heavy-handed policing, which then quickly prompted free speech “concerns” (iNews, BBC, Express), “fears” (National) “demonstrations” (Mail) and “debates” (Bloomberg).

    The first story to make the headlines involved a demonstrator who held a banner saying “f**k imperialism, abolish the monarchy” during the Proclamation for King Charles III in Edinburgh, and who was subsequently arrested and charged under a 2010 law that covers behaviour “likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm” (Independent).

    Several other lone protestors have now been arrested, detained and in some cases charged with a public order offence for voicing criticisms of the monarchy (Mail, Guardian). Unsurprisingly, the police quickly came under fire for their “overreach” (Guido) and “excessive shutdown” of protests across the country, with one former counterterrorism chief even describing the approach of some officers as “heavy-handed”, “overzealous” and “inappropriate” (Mail).

    A young woman who stood quietly holding a placard saying “not my king” was also escorted away from the Houses of Parliament by a group of police officers (Mail).

    In Oxford, a man who shouted, “who elected him?” when Charles was officially proclaimed King was arrested, handcuffed and briefly detained on suspicion of a breach of public order under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, for allegedly using threatening or abusive words or behaviour that could cause bystanders “harassment, alarm or distress” (Metro). Another man, who heckled Prince Andrew in a procession along the Royal Mile in the Scottish capital, may face a similar charge, police confirmed on Tuesday (Daily Beast).

    Later in the week, an overzealous Metropolitan Police Officer was caught on camera telling a protester whom he’d spotted holding aloft a blank piece of paper that he would be arrested if he wrote “Not my King” on it. “That may offend people,” he said. “Who’s that going to offend?” asked the protestor. “I don’t know, someone may be offended by it,” the officer replied (Sky News).

    We can all probably agree that the sorrowful occasion of the late monarch’s death is not the best time or place to make political statements. Some will no doubt find the behaviour of the protestors – or as William Atkinson put it for ConHom, the “tedious, bargain basement Cromwells” – puerile. Others may feel it is grossly insensitive – certainly, as Sky News’s home editor Jason Farrell reported, for many people coming to pay their respects to the late Queen this was not the week for protests.

    But as Observer columnist Sonia Sodha put it, “the test of a commitment to free expression is not whether you defend it at zero cost in relation to people you agree with, but whether you defend it when it costs you something and in relation to people you may disagree with but whose democratic rights you nevertheless respect”.

    As a non-partisan, mass-membership public interest body that stands up for free speech, the FSU echoes that sentiment. That means defending the right of republicans to peaceful dissent. No-one should be arrested or charged for simply stating their opinion, no matter how distasteful the majority may find it. As Lord Justice Sedley said: “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.”

    The police are under unprecedented pressure during this time of national mourning, but officers on the ground nevertheless need to protect people’s right to protest, however irritating some people may find them.

    It is for these reasons that the FSU has offered its support to several named protestors, urged others who had been arrested and/or charged to reach out to our case team, and issued several statements upholding the right of republicans to free speech and peaceful dissent (which you can read here, here and here).

    If anyone who has been arrested for protesting against the monarchy in the past week is reading this, then please contact our case team on help@freespeechunion.org.

    Gillian Philip fundraiser – an update!
    Thanks to your generous support, and the sterling work of Gillian’s legal team (Shah Qureshi of Irwin Mitchell and barrister David Mitchell), permission has been granted for Gillian to bring her case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Gillian will now have the chance to persuade a superior court of record that in writing novels under the close control of her publishers she was a worker, entitled to the protections of the Equality Act 2010. This is a timely opportunity to secure protection from discrimination for precarious workers in an increasingly intolerant sector. Many congratulations, Gillian!

    The FSU’s packed schedule of events this autumn!
    Details of the FSU’s packed schedule of events this Autumn was emailed to members last week, so do check if you’ve received that message (and let events@freespeechunion.org know if you haven’t).

    Our upcoming members-only events include a live, in-person launch of Andrew Doyle’s brilliant new book The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World. The comedian, author, and presenter of GB News’s Free Speech Nation will join FSU General Secretary Toby Young on-stage in London on 27th September to discuss how we can push back against cancel culture and reinstate liberal democratic values. There’ll be plenty of time for an audience Q&A, as well as for audience members to purchase signed copies of The New Puritans. FSU members can buy a signed copy of Andrew’s book, thanks to Primrose Hill books, who have set up a special offer sales page that includes free shipping to all customers within the UK. The link is here.

    On 5th October we’ll be holding our second Online Annual Convention. This event is exclusively for Gold and Founder members, so do consider joining now as a Gold member or upgrading your current membership package. The Convention provides senior staff and the Directors of the FSU with an opportunity to thank members for their continuing support and report back on highlights from the past year – e.g., legal victories, case-work successes and the impact our behind-the-scenes policy work is having. It’s also an opportunity for Gold and Founder members to participate in a Q&A where they get to have their say about the work we’re doing.

    Then, on 12th October, Toby will be joined in conversation at an exclusive Online Speakeasy with the stand-up comedian, actor, writer and presenter Jack Dee. You can watch Jack’s video message inviting you to the event here.

    FSU members will also be offered discount tickets to the Battle of Ideas Festival 2022 (15th and 16th October). During that event, Toby will be speaking on a panel the FSU is sponsoring focussing on the Online Safety Bill. The Free Speech Champions will also be hosting a session about how young people can be brought to care more about freedom of speech.

    Anti-royal protests and the problem of subjective policing
    As Lord Sumption pointed out in the Spectator last month, the problem with legislation built around subjectively perceived notions of harm is that it is “liable to adopt, by default, the standard of the most easily shocked, upset or offended”. The former Supreme Court judge was of course referring to the Online Safety Bill, but the point holds in relation to some of the laws used to arrest anti-royal protestors.

    The arrests in Scotland, for instance, were made as a breach of the peace – behaviour which is “severe enough to cause alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community”. In England, meanwhile, they were made under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which allows police to arrest someone whose use of threatening or abusive words or disorderly behaviour may cause “harassment, alarm or distress”. Writing for iNews, Ian Dunt noted that these laws, however different they may be in other respects, are similar in that they create an extremely vague category of criminal behaviour – e.g., “alarm” – and then hand the police the discretion to make a subjective judgement about what constitutes “alarm”. “Of course,” he says, “most protests are allowed to take place”, but they do so on the basis that a police officer’s judgement of a vague category of apparently criminal activity – swear words, provocative placards, lazy insults – could at any moment lead to arrests being made.

    Not that there’s anything new about this, says Jacob Mchangama. The Public Order Act’s essentially subjective concepts of alarm or distress have for some time provided the police with “too wide a berth of discretion” and allowed them “to crack down on a variety of peaceful protests – ranging from animal cruelty demonstrators to atheists displaying posters questioning the existence of God”. (Daily Beast).

    Has this led forces to adopt, in Lord Sumption’s words, “the standard of the most easily shocked, upset or offended” while policing events taking place during this period of national mourning? Speaking to Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, FSU Chief Legal Counsel, Dr Bryn Harris, pointed out that it was not the role of the police to police good taste and decency, and nor was it their role to “choreograph the funeral”. (You can watch Bryn’s appearance on TalkTV here). The police seem to be on a hair trigger, he added, and are assuming that anything provocative is going to cause harassment, alarm or distress. The problem, in other words, is not so much the individual police officers involved, but the fact that the Act in question is empowering those officers to make subjective judgements about a vague category of apparently criminal activity in a highly charged public moment.

    Strange bedfellows: David Davis, Jeremy Corbyn and free speech – a future FSU panel?
    According to Guido, an “unlikely coalition” has formed between Conservative former Home Secretary David Davis and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn after both launched a push to defend freedom of speech in the wake of the arrests of republican protesters over the course of this week. On Monday, Mr Davis wrote to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Sir Iain Livingstone. Speaking as a “strong monarchist” he nevertheless expressed his “concern that an anti-monarchy protestor has been charged by police”. He was referring to the protestor who held up the “F*** imperialism, abolish the monarchy” placard, though of course since then several other similar arrests have been made. “If the individual concerned committed acts of violence, or the police had reason to believe she would, then action was obviously necessary,” he wrote. “But if the individual was simply stating an opinion, I trust you agree that a liberal approach would be desirable.”

    Mr David then added in a separate tweet: “[R]epublicans have as much right to voice their opinions as anyone else.” Two days later, Jeremy Corbyn tweeted that “the arrest of republican protestors is wrong, anti-democratic and an abuse of the law” and then provided surprise cross-party backing for Mr Davis by congratulating him on his message: “Well said David.” Hardly effusive, it’s true, but it did get us thinking about the possibility of an FSU panel discussion on the place of free speech in the liberal and the socialist political traditions. Watch this space.

    Free Speech Warriors hold to their principles
    There was a time when free speech was held up as a sacred principle of the left. In recent years, though, a large section of the cadre Tom Slater refers to as the “woke left” (Spiked) has apparently abandoned the idea that it should strive to give a voice to the voiceless and allow them to stand up, speak out and challenge conventional wisdom. Even the term “free speech” has become a contentious phrase for progressives, something that, as Jemima Kelly puts it, is too often dismissed as “an eye-roll-worthy right-wing obsession that is a non-issue at best, or a cover for bigotry at worst” (FT).

    Perhaps that’s why, as this week’s neo-medievalist clampdown on subjects who wished to refrain from celebrating the accession to the throne of their new King unfolded, many on the woke left felt that they had been gifted a glorious opportunity to highlight the hypocrisy of that figment of their fevered imaginations – the stuffy, monarchy-loving, gammon-faced free speech warrior.

    “The outcry on the left has – correctly – called out the hypocrisy of right-wing ‘free speech’ advocates who maintain a stony silence on these arrests,” crowed the Morning Star. “The silence of so-called free speech groups is deafening,” thundered the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire. “The reason ‘free speech’ warriors don’t kick over stuff like this is very straightforward,” explained permanently dyspeptic left-wing pundit Owen Jones. “The ‘free speech’ they actually care about is the right to say bigoted and stigmatising things about minorities.”

    But as Jemima Kelly rightly points out, these missives couldn’t have been more wrong: “‘Free speech warriors’, from the Free Speech Union to Spiked Online, have indeed been kicking off, and loudly.”

    What, then, are we to make of the woke left’s instinctive belief that those they like to slur as ‘free speech’ advocates would simply look the other way while cancel culture came for the values they hold dear – protest, class-based social analysis, republicanism, and so on?

    Perhaps if she were still alive, the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein might diagnose a rather acute case of projective identification – a defence mechanism in which the unpalatable aspects of the self are projected onto another person or group. Tom Slater certainly feels that these people’s “chutzpah is almost impressive”. Here they are, he says, “accusing free-speechers of hypocrisy, despite ample evidence to the contrary, while at the same time only ever defend[ing] speech they agree with”. And isn’t it also the case, as Jemima Kelly suggests, that “in trying to point out the hypocrisy of the right”, Owen Jones and friends have “inadvertently revealed the insincerity of their concerns about freedom of expression”?

    Sharing the newsletter
    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture. You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Best wishes,

    Freddie Attenborough

    Communications Officer

  75. Watching the folks file past the Queens coffin – haven’t seen any muslims all afternoon – so much for integration

    1. C’mon Spikey – it’s Friday prayers – a previous engagement to pay homage to an illiterate goat herder and sexual deviant

    3. Islam is an archaic, alien and hostile culture; it has no desire to integrate with the Judeo-Christian western democracies.

      1. You know that; all the Nottlers know that; virtually all the MPs know that – so why are they given free access to Britain and encouraged to come?

        I suppose it must be because the Great Reset requires that everything that has been built up in Britain over the centuries must first be destroyed and what better to destroy it than Islam?

    5. I suspect the sort of Muslims that respect the Queen don’t dress like OT patriarchs and letter boxes.

  76. Watching the folks file past the Queens coffin – haven’t seen any muslims all afternoon – so much for integration

  77. That’s me for this very windy, wet and COLD day. Stove going strong – first time since April. Cats approve.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. Lovely evening here. Have just been sitting in the ‘garden’ (=ill-kempt hay field and rampant undergrowth) with a hard earned glass of Scottish wine in the setting sun.

      Those cats don’t know how fortunate they are.

      Nagsman returned this morning from a short holiday on the Narfulk Broads with her daughter + man and his children + dogs. She has nixed the notion of going to London to stand in a queue and is going to ride her hoss at great speed on Monday in tribute to Her late Maj.

      1. Yes; we’ve decided against.
        MB cannot stand for that amount of time and he’s not obviously crocked so can’t sneak in the side door; it would be a constant worry.
        One entire Allan family has done their bit, the other lot plan to watch the funeral procession on Monday. The Old Farts have made a donation to the Prince’s Trust; like buying indulgences, I suppose.

        1. We will pay our respects here at home. I cannot stand for too long anymore but will not go into detail. We shall observe the minute of silence on Sunday, watch the funeral and observe the 2 minutes after the funeral.
          It is the end of an era.

      2. Good evening, Sir!
        At least you’ve got something you can CALL a garden with less of a sense of irony than I have to use!

    2. Clear fine day here but with heavy cloud for a short time which came to nothing. Quite chilly out there now.

      1. I had had two glasses of sauvignon blanc and my antibiotics which may have numbed my brain, well, everything really. I didn’t find it all that amusing so I offered it to the panel which has given it a deffo 👎👎👎. Memo to self: don’t drink and post.

        I am a bit numbed actually by all that is going on atm. It has been a tough two years and there is a long way to go.

    1. Oh gosh, are they recycling that one again? Isn’t it that time they were filming some series? Though goodness knows why Buckingham Palace gave any film crew permission for that!

    3. Spoof. For a start, the Life Guards are wearing greatcoats, which indicates colder weather than we have now. Somebody’s been busy with video editing software.

    1. “Monarchies are steeped in problematic histories of colonialism which connect to ongoing present day oppression of individuals and groups. It is important to consider how each staff and student’s lived experience may potentially shape their perspective of the monarchy and be respectful of this,”

      This is the type of hippy crap one might expect from California. How far has Canada sunk?

    2. “Monarchies are steeped in problematic histories of colonialism which connect to ongoing present day oppression of individuals and groups. It is important to consider how each staff and student’s lived experience may potentially shape their perspective of the monarchy and be respectful of this,”

      This is the type of hippy crap one might expect from California. How far has Canada sunk?

    3. “Monarchies are steeped in problematic histories of colonialism which connect to ongoing present day oppression of individuals and groups. It is important to consider how each staff and student’s lived experience may potentially shape their perspective of the monarchy and be respectful of this,”

      This is the type of hippy crap one might expect from California. How far has Canada sunk?

    4. “Monarchies are steeped in problematic histories of colonialism which connect to ongoing present day oppression of individuals and groups. It is important to consider how each staff and student’s lived experience may potentially shape their perspective of the monarchy and be respectful of this,”

      This is the type of hippy crap one might expect from California. How far has Canada sunk?

  88. A rare Friday evening visit to Radio 4 and ‘Any Questions?’ revealed that arch-Remainer Dominic Grieve is capable of speaking sensibly about other current affairs. The question was “Which is sacrosanct: good manners or the right to protest?”. It was a bit of an open goal but he put the ball in the top corner with: “The right to protest with good manners is sacrosanct.” Bronwen Maddox (journo) disagreed but she rather missed the point; a misplaced pass, as it were. Grieve dispossessed her and cleared downfield. In the 25 minutes or so that I listened it was one of the least contentious editions I can remember.

      1. An odious man who was, not surprisingly, attacked by one of his constituents.

        His disdain for the democratic vote for Brexit and his desire to undermine it won him the contempt of most right-thinking people.

        Against fairly stiff competition he was considered to be both physically and mentally one of the most unpleasant MPs in the House of Commons.

  89. A rare Friday evening visit to Radio 4 and ‘Any Questions?’ revealed that arch-Remainer Dominic Grieve is capable of speaking sensibly about other current affairs. The question was “Which is sacrosanct: good manners or the right to protest?”. It was a bit of an open goal but he put the ball in the top corner with: “The right to protest with good manners is sacrosanct.” Bronwen Maddox (journo) disagreed but she rather missed the point; a misplaced pass, as it were. Grieve dispossessed her and cleared downfield. In the 25 minutes or so that I listened it was one of the least contentious editions I can remember.

  90. Zac Goldsmith shouldn’t have been demoted. He should have been sacked outright

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else

    ROSS CLARK • 16 September 2022 • 1:41pm

    According to Zac Goldsmith’s website, a million species are on the brink of extinction – a somewhat exaggerated interpretation of a UN-sponsored report from 2019 which concluded that 680 vertebrate species have become extinct since 1500 and that a million more may be under threat at some point in the future. But there is one threatened species which will not be sad to see the demise of Lord Goldsmith himself as environment minister: English tenant farmers. Goldsmith is one of the chief architects which is threatening to push them off the land in order to rewild it instead.

    Most people are in favour of encouraging nature, but the Government’s Landscape Recovery programme, to give it its official name, is just a huge handout for wealthy landowners, encouraging them to push farmers off the land so that it can be planted up as luxuriant, private nature reserves instead. There is no requirement even for public access so that the reserves can be enjoyed by the taxpayers who will be forced to pay for them. Moreover, it won’t be small, family farms getting the cash – it is only currently available for landowners with between 1,200 and 12,000 acres to turn back to nature. Who needs pesky tenant farmers on their land when you can get public money to let it grow into a dreamy wilderness, improving the view from your country home and creating an interesting diversion watching beavers and lynx roam your woods? As one upland cattle and sheep farmer puts it (a farmer who has been involved in numerous small-scale projects to encourage wildlife, by the way), it is a “weird kind of highland clearance”.

    Needless to say, like so many bad ideas nowadays, rewilding is supposed to be all about tacking climate change. According to DEFRA, its plans will lead to between 25 and 50 kilotonnes of carbon savings per year. That rather depends what you mean by saving carbon. If it means – as it all-too-likely will – food production being shunted abroad so that related carbon emissions can be shunted onto other countries’ carbon balance sheets, it will be of no net benefit to the planet at all.

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy, at the expense of the interests of everyone else. It is also an indulgence which belongs to the pre-covid era. As we have discovered to our cost over the past three years, food security and energy security matter. Forcing ourselves to import more food so that British farmland can be taken out of production and turned over to subsidised nature is going to expose us further to global crises in future. Our national self-sufficiency in food has already fallen from nearly 80 per cent in the mid-1980s to around 60 per cent now, as the EU Common Agricultural Policy forced land into set-aside. [This figure requires some research. What type of food accounts for the increase in imports: staples or exotics?]

    Zac Goldsmith would have deserved to be sacked as a government minister for his comments on his colleague Mark Spencer alone. When he believed that Rishi Sunak was lining up Spencer as environment secretary he called him “our own little Bolsonaro” – after the Brazilian president accused of destroying rain forests. You can’t have a government whose members continuously slag each other off in public. Lord Goldsmith is extremely fortunate to retain a Foreign Office position. He will be no loss to the English countryside.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/16/zac-goldsmith-shouldnt-have-demoted-should-have-sacked-outright/

    Expect a Countryfile edition in the next month or two to ask the question “How soon will the skies burn and the seas boil now that HMG has abandoned the plans to end farming?”

    1. Spot on. Re-wilding is self-indulgence for people who aren’t worried about where their next meal is coming from.

    2. Spot on. Re-wilding is self-indulgence for people who aren’t worried about where their next meal is coming from.

    3. “How soon will the skies burn and the seas boil now that HMG has abandoned the plans to end farming?”

      A lot sooner than the land and its inhabitants grow hungry, in the streets and cry ‘Revolution’.

  91. Zac Goldsmith shouldn’t have been demoted. He should have been sacked outright

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else

    ROSS CLARK • 16 September 2022 • 1:41pm

    According to Zac Goldsmith’s website, a million species are on the brink of extinction – a somewhat exaggerated interpretation of a UN-sponsored report from 2019 which concluded that 680 vertebrate species have become extinct since 1500 and that a million more may be under threat at some point in the future. But there is one threatened species which will not be sad to see the demise of Lord Goldsmith himself as environment minister: English tenant farmers. Goldsmith is one of the chief architects which is threatening to push them off the land in order to rewild it instead.

    Most people are in favour of encouraging nature, but the Government’s Landscape Recovery programme, to give it its official name, is just a huge handout for wealthy landowners, encouraging them to push farmers off the land so that it can be planted up as luxuriant, private nature reserves instead. There is no requirement even for public access so that the reserves can be enjoyed by the taxpayers who will be forced to pay for them. Moreover, it won’t be small, family farms getting the cash – it is only currently available for landowners with between 1,200 and 12,000 acres to turn back to nature. Who needs pesky tenant farmers on their land when you can get public money to let it grow into a dreamy wilderness, improving the view from your country home and creating an interesting diversion watching beavers and lynx roam your woods? As one upland cattle and sheep farmer puts it (a farmer who has been involved in numerous small-scale projects to encourage wildlife, by the way), it is a “weird kind of highland clearance”.

    Needless to say, like so many bad ideas nowadays, rewilding is supposed to be all about tacking climate change. According to DEFRA, its plans will lead to between 25 and 50 kilotonnes of carbon savings per year. That rather depends what you mean by saving carbon. If it means – as it all-too-likely will – food production being shunted abroad so that related carbon emissions can be shunted onto other countries’ carbon balance sheets, it will be of no net benefit to the planet at all.

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy, at the expense of the interests of everyone else. It is also an indulgence which belongs to the pre-covid era. As we have discovered to our cost over the past three years, food security and energy security matter. Forcing ourselves to import more food so that British farmland can be taken out of production and turned over to subsidised nature is going to expose us further to global crises in future. Our national self-sufficiency in food has already fallen from nearly 80 per cent in the mid-1980s to around 60 per cent now, as the EU Common Agricultural Policy forced land into set-aside. [This figure requires some research. What type of food accounts for the increase in imports: staples or exotics?]

    Zac Goldsmith would have deserved to be sacked as a government minister for his comments on his colleague Mark Spencer alone. When he believed that Rishi Sunak was lining up Spencer as environment secretary he called him “our own little Bolsonaro” – after the Brazilian president accused of destroying rain forests. You can’t have a government whose members continuously slag each other off in public. Lord Goldsmith is extremely fortunate to retain a Foreign Office position. He will be no loss to the English countryside.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/16/zac-goldsmith-shouldnt-have-demoted-should-have-sacked-outright/

    Expect a Countryfile edition in the next month or two to ask the question “How soon will the skies burn and the seas boil now that HMG has abandoned the plans to end farming?”

  92. Zac Goldsmith shouldn’t have been demoted. He should have been sacked outright

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else

    ROSS CLARK • 16 September 2022 • 1:41pm

    According to Zac Goldsmith’s website, a million species are on the brink of extinction – a somewhat exaggerated interpretation of a UN-sponsored report from 2019 which concluded that 680 vertebrate species have become extinct since 1500 and that a million more may be under threat at some point in the future. But there is one threatened species which will not be sad to see the demise of Lord Goldsmith himself as environment minister: English tenant farmers. Goldsmith is one of the chief architects which is threatening to push them off the land in order to rewild it instead.

    Most people are in favour of encouraging nature, but the Government’s Landscape Recovery programme, to give it its official name, is just a huge handout for wealthy landowners, encouraging them to push farmers off the land so that it can be planted up as luxuriant, private nature reserves instead. There is no requirement even for public access so that the reserves can be enjoyed by the taxpayers who will be forced to pay for them. Moreover, it won’t be small, family farms getting the cash – it is only currently available for landowners with between 1,200 and 12,000 acres to turn back to nature. Who needs pesky tenant farmers on their land when you can get public money to let it grow into a dreamy wilderness, improving the view from your country home and creating an interesting diversion watching beavers and lynx roam your woods? As one upland cattle and sheep farmer puts it (a farmer who has been involved in numerous small-scale projects to encourage wildlife, by the way), it is a “weird kind of highland clearance”.

    Needless to say, like so many bad ideas nowadays, rewilding is supposed to be all about tacking climate change. According to DEFRA, its plans will lead to between 25 and 50 kilotonnes of carbon savings per year. That rather depends what you mean by saving carbon. If it means – as it all-too-likely will – food production being shunted abroad so that related carbon emissions can be shunted onto other countries’ carbon balance sheets, it will be of no net benefit to the planet at all.

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy, at the expense of the interests of everyone else. It is also an indulgence which belongs to the pre-covid era. As we have discovered to our cost over the past three years, food security and energy security matter. Forcing ourselves to import more food so that British farmland can be taken out of production and turned over to subsidised nature is going to expose us further to global crises in future. Our national self-sufficiency in food has already fallen from nearly 80 per cent in the mid-1980s to around 60 per cent now, as the EU Common Agricultural Policy forced land into set-aside. [This figure requires some research. What type of food accounts for the increase in imports: staples or exotics?]

    Zac Goldsmith would have deserved to be sacked as a government minister for his comments on his colleague Mark Spencer alone. When he believed that Rishi Sunak was lining up Spencer as environment secretary he called him “our own little Bolsonaro” – after the Brazilian president accused of destroying rain forests. You can’t have a government whose members continuously slag each other off in public. Lord Goldsmith is extremely fortunate to retain a Foreign Office position. He will be no loss to the English countryside.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/16/zac-goldsmith-shouldnt-have-demoted-should-have-sacked-outright/

    Expect a Countryfile edition in the next month or two to ask the question “How soon will the skies burn and the seas boil now that HMG has abandoned the plans to end farming?”

  93. Zac Goldsmith shouldn’t have been demoted. He should have been sacked outright

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else

    ROSS CLARK • 16 September 2022 • 1:41pm

    According to Zac Goldsmith’s website, a million species are on the brink of extinction – a somewhat exaggerated interpretation of a UN-sponsored report from 2019 which concluded that 680 vertebrate species have become extinct since 1500 and that a million more may be under threat at some point in the future. But there is one threatened species which will not be sad to see the demise of Lord Goldsmith himself as environment minister: English tenant farmers. Goldsmith is one of the chief architects which is threatening to push them off the land in order to rewild it instead.

    Most people are in favour of encouraging nature, but the Government’s Landscape Recovery programme, to give it its official name, is just a huge handout for wealthy landowners, encouraging them to push farmers off the land so that it can be planted up as luxuriant, private nature reserves instead. There is no requirement even for public access so that the reserves can be enjoyed by the taxpayers who will be forced to pay for them. Moreover, it won’t be small, family farms getting the cash – it is only currently available for landowners with between 1,200 and 12,000 acres to turn back to nature. Who needs pesky tenant farmers on their land when you can get public money to let it grow into a dreamy wilderness, improving the view from your country home and creating an interesting diversion watching beavers and lynx roam your woods? As one upland cattle and sheep farmer puts it (a farmer who has been involved in numerous small-scale projects to encourage wildlife, by the way), it is a “weird kind of highland clearance”.

    Needless to say, like so many bad ideas nowadays, rewilding is supposed to be all about tacking climate change. According to DEFRA, its plans will lead to between 25 and 50 kilotonnes of carbon savings per year. That rather depends what you mean by saving carbon. If it means – as it all-too-likely will – food production being shunted abroad so that related carbon emissions can be shunted onto other countries’ carbon balance sheets, it will be of no net benefit to the planet at all.

    Rewilding represents the Tory party at its worst – when it is being a self-help group for the wealthy, at the expense of the interests of everyone else. It is also an indulgence which belongs to the pre-covid era. As we have discovered to our cost over the past three years, food security and energy security matter. Forcing ourselves to import more food so that British farmland can be taken out of production and turned over to subsidised nature is going to expose us further to global crises in future. Our national self-sufficiency in food has already fallen from nearly 80 per cent in the mid-1980s to around 60 per cent now, as the EU Common Agricultural Policy forced land into set-aside. [This figure requires some research. What type of food accounts for the increase in imports: staples or exotics?]

    Zac Goldsmith would have deserved to be sacked as a government minister for his comments on his colleague Mark Spencer alone. When he believed that Rishi Sunak was lining up Spencer as environment secretary he called him “our own little Bolsonaro” – after the Brazilian president accused of destroying rain forests. You can’t have a government whose members continuously slag each other off in public. Lord Goldsmith is extremely fortunate to retain a Foreign Office position. He will be no loss to the English countryside.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/16/zac-goldsmith-shouldnt-have-demoted-should-have-sacked-outright/

    Expect a Countryfile edition in the next month or two to ask the question “How soon will the skies burn and the seas boil now that HMG has abandoned the plans to end farming?”

  95. I am a monarchist to my very bones. God ( the Christian religion of our country, Queen ( now king ) and country are part of our unique culture and history of this country, going back over a thousand years. I know the left would like to destroy the monarchy as much as it’d like to destroy Christianity being the religion of this country but the idea of Blair trying to become a president and our palaces turned into homes for presidents and refugees makes my blood run cold, I could never be a republican . God keep our late Queen and God save the King .

  96. Cats have slunk away after being shouted at for making me spill my supper into my lap. Got jumped on when I didn’t need it. Grr! Where’s 5 minutes peace to actually be allowed to eat my fcuking supper after a long and tiring day? Now it’s all in my jumper and on the floor, and I’m hungry! AAArgh!

      2. My Oscar watches, then gets impatient and whines to tell me to hurry up. If he really can’t stand the wait, he tries to climb on my knee. Needless to say, he doesn’t get anything for that behaviour. When he’s asked, “what do you do?” he sits quietly and looks hopeful.

    2. Every schoolboy knows Cat&Pauls are dangerous.

      Bad luck old chap! According to Wilson MIdgely- ‘Cooking for Men Only‘ – “There’s always Toast!’

    4. Oops, poor pusses. Have you tried sitting at the table….askin’ for a friend a long way away from you. :@)

  99. Evening, all. Been busy today – I have tried to get a spare key cut for my porch (it’s a mortice lock) and the saga has been going on for days. The locksmith wasn’t able to supply one, so I went to the local Timpsons only to be told they didn’t do that blank any more and the same message came from the local timber yard which does locks. I then went to Timpsons at Nantwich as I was told they had a better stock. It turns out that my local Timpsons could have ordered a blank so I went back to them and got them to order it. When it came, the new key was cut – it didn’t work. I took it back and it was modified, but it still didn’t work. I took it back again and more was shaved off. It still didn’t work! Then I noticed that the blank was wider than the original, so after that had been sorted I actually had a spare key that worked! Mirabile dictu!

  100. Stupid Wordle word.,
    Wordle 454 6/6

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

  102. It’s well past my preferred new bedtime of 10 pm, so I’m off upstairs now and wish you all a calm, peaceful and restful night’s sleep.

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