Friday 17 January: The threat to Israel will persist while Arab leaders foment hostility

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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601 thoughts on “Friday 17 January: The threat to Israel will persist while Arab leaders foment hostility”

  3. Good morning chums. And thanks, Geoff for today's new site.

    Worlde 1,308 5/6

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    🟨⬜🟩⬜🟩
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      One of my standard second guesses paid off today
      Wordle 1,308 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  6. The threat to Israel will persist while Arab leaders foment hostility

    Have the Democrats tried to get this ceasefire done and dusted before Trump takes over so that he will get the blame when it all kicks off again?

  7. Good morrow gentlefolk, especially Geoff and thank you for his wonderful work on this site

  8. Russian diplomats entered out of bounds area of Parliament. 17 January 2025.

    Russian diplomats accessed a private area of Parliament in a security breach last December, it has emerged.

    A small group of officials broke off a public tour just before Christmas to enter a section of the Lords that is out of bounds to visitors.

    The group was ejected by security but it prompted Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Lord McFall, the Commons and Lords Speakers, to write to MPs and peers on Thursday.

    It was probably the members private toilets. Mink lined seats. Gold plated chains.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/16/russian-diplomats-private-area-parliament-security-breach/

    1. Some will begin to read that, clutch their pearls and squawk "Too much information".
      But is it? Do we need to be made aware of just how evil and depraved the men in these gangs are?
      I think we do.

      1. 400281+ up ticks,

        Morning Bob,

        We cannot afford “LEST WE FORGET” changed by many into “BEST WE FORGET” protecting the party stance in this odious instance, there are only two parties,
        RIGHT & WRONG.

      2. It certainly shook me when I read it. Although one kind of expects that kind of thing, to actually see it in black & white …

    2. You'll be surprised how many Us Labours politicos haven't read the Oxford Transcripts.
      Also, slowly the spotlight will fall on the Islam and reveal its plagiarism, historical errors, fakery.. it's just a politicised death cult out for land grabs.

  11. Good morning all.
    After yesterday's dip below freezing we're back up again to 6.2°. Still no rain and not a lot of wind.

  12. Good Moaning.
    I've escaped to the relative sanctuary of NOTTL. The sound and fury over at the DT is deafening. The comments are clocking up like billyoh.
    A remake of "Downfall" is definitely needed.
    A foetid bunker peopled with the likes of Stoma and Rachel from Complaints would exceed our worst dreams. Crammed full of inadequates and apparatchiks busily planning their next strategy to destroy the whole country above ground level.

    "Asked whether she was the Iron Chancellor, she replied: “If people want to describe me as that… I will make the right decisions. I’m happy to be the Iron Chancellor, if that’s what you want to call me.

    "Margaret Thatcher is one of the reasons why I joined the Labour Party" ….

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/17/rachel-reeves-i-will-not-let-them-get-me-down/

      1. Can you imagine being on an underground train sitting in a disabled seat with your walking stick. She standing over you, face on staring down trying to get you to give up your seat.

        2. Good analogy.
          She'd steal the stick and beat you over the head with it until you fell senseless to the floor.

    2. Rachel Reeves was born in 1979. Maggie left office in 1990!
      What? Was she manning the barricades aged eleven? Or just another porkie from our Rachel from Accounts.
      I played a game of chess wiv my sister.. I'm a grandmaster.

      1. She is completely mad.
        We have all met people who believe their own lies.
        It's just they're not usually in the position to bu88er up an entire country.

      4. Like Blair remembering visiting the Newcastle football stadium which had not yet been built!'

        Caroline's maternal grandfather, Pieter ten Cate, was a grandmaster who composed very difficult chess problems in a wide range of chess magazines.

        Pieter ten Cate (28-07-1902 – 27-06-1996) Dutch composer and International Master
        https://chesscomposers.blogspot.com/2012/07/july-28th_27.html

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32278f76b6dc2c5297973d387b4221e6aff510a7c7993cd2b650d6b878c1591b.jpg

        He composed more than 1300 problems and published his first problem at the age of 17. He belonged to the Good Companions Club, was an International Judge and composed many helpmates in his later career. Dr Niemeijer published a book including several problems by ten Cate in his series "Probleemcomponisten" in 1961.

        (We named our children after their grandparents : Christopher Lourens was named after his two grandfathers; Henry Pieter was named after two of his great-grandfathers)

        1. Talking about family names, my paternal great grandfather was Frederick Aveling Barstow. His son (my paternal grandfather) was Albert Butler Barstow. I know nothing of the provenance, or history, of the names 'Aveling' or 'Butler' used as first names.

          Even curiouser, My grandfather's daughter, my aunt, was given the name 'Aveling' as her middle name, effectively making it bisexual (multisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, transsexual?). It then died out as a family favourite, as did 'Butler'.

          Some time ago I decided to resurrect both names as a non de plume in some of my writing efforts. I think Aveling Butler has a unique ring to it.

          1. Grizzly, I thought you used to be a policeman, not a butler. Any relation to Bertie Wooster's butler gentleman's gentleman? Lol.

          3. Only if you gently glide into the room with a glass of your hangover recipe first Jeeves, er, Grizzly.

          5. Quite likely. Questions I asked when I was a youngster, though, shed no light on the topic.

    3. How very confidence-inspiring to know that the woman in charge of raising taxes is inspired by dislike of a previous Prime Minister rather than anything dull like principles or common sense.

          1. I watched that 55-year old film for the first time ever, just t'other day. I was hugely disappointed with it.
            It is not a patch on the earlier The Dirty Dozen, a funny and successful film which it tried to emulate, but failed.

      2. Rachel Reeves is doing something, but not necessarily the right thing. If said with a flat enough voice, either people will believe you or they are asleep.

        1. Apparently she's planning to introduce a tourist tax to help cover the shortfalls caused by the new government policies.
          How much does she think she'll get from the boat invaders.

          1. There’s a good market for body parts right now. What’s 10% of an invader when competing with the Chinese?

        2. At least Eric Morecombe played the right notes in the wrong order.

          Rachel from Accounts has been given a sitar which is out of tune and so she is not even playing the right notes.

          1. Not so much out of tune, but strung with the same strings tuned flat, so they all come out with a dull thunk. I expect she thinks a beautiful melody is emerging.

    4. Someone should send her an ironing board…….after all she seems pretty good at scorching the economy….

      Morning Anne and all…

    5. Someone should send her an ironing board…….after all she seems pretty good at scorching the economy….

      Morning Anne and all…

  13. Good morning, all. Dull, overcast with not a hint of a breeze.

    Ex-PM Truss, if not letting the cat out of the bag, she has told us definitely there is one in the bag. Not a surprise to Nottlerland but confirmation is always welcome.

    Clearly, the stables, aka the Palace of Westminster, require a Herculean clear-out. The Thames is close by, just saying.

    https://x.com/real_shirelass/status/1879873102420889793
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b729b1c9ed6d697bd6e55c12a36d2f3410779615d049eae68cb83874cd0e07f1.png

    1. "In her view the UK needs radical change.."
      Indeed. But it definitely doesn't need you to carry it out.

      1. On the other hand, she would almost certainly be better than TTK and Rachel from complaints?

    2. 'YES' Prime minister…..
      A classic example of exactly how and who runs our country. Along side and above the government are the wreckers in (S)White Hall.

    3. Interesting to see it becoming more & more open.
      How to fix? Madame Guillotine, maybe?

    4. Just who she is alluding to is the question. The Civil Service Blob, or (and) the WEF, Gates, Soros, WHO, UN et al? Does she actually know who exactly because these things are whispered in her ear?

    5. So basically a big boy did it and ran away?

      Seems to me that if she couldn't see said big boy off then she probably shouldn't have been doing the job in the first place. She's surprised that there are people in the PM's orbit trying to do coercion? Bit naïve.

    1. It appears to be a storage facility for renewables.
      I hope Miliband is taking note, although I doubt it will halt his dementia regarding "renewables".

      The battery energy storage facility at Moss Landing is among the largest in the world, according to Vistra's website.
      Both Vistra and the county official said that all site personnel had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.
      'There are no active fire suppression efforts going on, as the best approach, according to fire staff, is to allow the building and batteries to burn,' according to the Monterey Sheriff official.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14295791/fire-moss-landing-California-evacuations.html

    2. I find it curious (and endlessly fascinating) how the simplest and the most complex elements are the most volatile.

      Hydrogen has just one electron in each atom, lithium has three. Uranium, Neptunium and Plutonium have 92, 93 and 94 electons respectively. Uranium is the heaviest of all naturally-occurring elements; all heavier ones are manufactured.

        1. In most cases (of elements) the number of protons match the number of electrons but , in this case, it is the number of electrons that are counted.

  15. Good morning, all. Grey but dry. I slept like a log last night. All that driving must have been more exhausting than I thought.

  16. Extract from a BTL Comment:

    "A pansexual, incidentally, is a person who harbours romantic feelings for frying pans"…..

  17. Morning all 🙂😊
    Just grey and chilly. And more Rubbish from the political classes.
    And who is surprised at the way Arabic culture behaves.
    Out banking later and some shopping of course.
    And still trying to get an appointment for my knee operation all I seem to be doing is giving them the same information that they already have had for years.

  19. Sir Keir Starmer in Poland now to discuss a new defence and security deal with Donald Tusk.
    Then onto his highlight of the year.. his spiritual home..
    This year it's got a fun but sinister theme; 'Collaboration for the Intelligent Age'.
    Sigh. If only every week could be like Jan 20 to 24, 2025.

  20. We have a double header at FSB today. Psychologist Xandra H talks about our changing relationship with death in her article Do you want to live forever? It’s not at all depressing folk, I promise, but just to be sure, in our other article, our Grumpy Old Git Graham Bedford thought he would cheer us all up with his account of being poorly over Christmas and New Year. His Is Covid the new man flu, or just a cold? also tells of his encounters with the envy of the world NHS.

    Energy watch 08.00. Demand: 42.483GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 50.3%; Wind 30.4%; Imports 2.3%; Biomass 5.8% and Nuclear 8.3%.

    We are importing electric power from Norway, but exporting it to Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Anybody know why NI is classed as ‘foreign’?

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. In Victorian times, death, being so common, was readily talked about and there were elaborate mourning rituals. Sex, on the other hand, was kept under wraps. We seem to have gone the other way now. Sex is openly in your face in everything (adverts, articles, daily conversations) whereas death has become taboo.

    1. Reminds me of someone referring to a death in hospital as "a negative patient outcome".

  24. Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, has announced he is running to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada.
    Mr Carney launched his campaign to lead Canada’s Liberal Party on Thursday in his hometown, Edmonton in Alberta, ahead of the contest on March 9.
    “Our times are anything but ordinary. The system is not working as it should and it’s not working as it could,” he said during his launch speech.
    If he wins, the 59-year old will lead the country into the next general election, which must be held by late October.

    I think Canadians are going to need an awful lot of luck over the next few months

      1. Morning sos, I have turned into a cold hearted miserable cynical old bar steward these past few years.
        If the Canadians choose a Mark Carney led government next time round they will get what they deserve.
        I will feel sympathy for the more enlightened voter who did not vote for them but unfortunately that is the price for living in a “democracy” such as it is.
        The same can be said of Californians and indeed the UK. Keep voting for the same old failures and you keep getting the same quality of government.
        Perhaps when the plebs have experienced enough pain and betrayal their eyes will be opened.

          1. When signed in, I can’t see posts by vvof as I think that he has blocked me. I have no idea why as I can’t recall challenging or insulting him at all. When I sign out, I can see his posts of course.

          3. I have checked all my comments history and couldn’t find any post that I made to vvof. Perhaps it was something I said to someone else that caused offence.

          4. I got a downtick from Citroen this am. I expect it was fat finger syndrome! Well, I hope it was!

          5. Hi Sue, I’m good, a few family commitments has kept me busy since Christmas but off to visit other family members in Australia for 3 weeks, flying out next week.
            It is a long flight which seems to last longer as I become older but Mrs VVOF and I are looking forward to the break.
            I hope 2025 is treating you and yours well and you manage to endure 2TK’s reign of terror, him being the 🤡 that he is.

          6. Delighted to hear about your family holiday – sounds wonderful, and I hope you have a great time. We had family here over Christmas and New Year and although it was a bit manic, the joy of 6 families being all together was an absolute joy! I think we have just about recovered!
            2TK and his ghastly rabble are a bunch of shonets!

          7. I have always considered we need a holiday period immediately after Christmas to recover from Christmas.
            Lovely to have the family together, we done the same but frantic at times.
            Glad you had a good time.

      2. Morning sos, I have turned into a cold hearted miserable cynical old bar steward these past few years.
        If the Canadians choose a Mark Carney led government next time round they will get what they deserve.
        I will feel sympathy for the more enlightened voter who did not vote for them but unfortunately that is the price for living in a “democracy” such as it is.
        The same can be said of Californians and indeed the UK. Keep voting for the same old failures and you keep getting the same quality of government.
        Perhaps when the plebs have experienced enough pain and betrayal their eyes will be opened.

    3. There must be an alternative. He was a disaster at the BoE.

      I fear that if the British electorate were stupid enough to vote for Starmer the Canadians might well be stupid enough to vote for Carney.

      1. BBC QT kbhoy, expect no less. Jeered Farage a while ago, hosted by the fragrant Fiona B – first time I watched in years, haven't returned.

    2. I'm like that EVERY day! I kept putting the snooze on the alarm until I knew if I didn't get up I wouldn't get everything needful done and I'd be late no matter how I rushed.

  28. It’s not ‘far right’ to care about the mass rape of white girls
    Matt Goodwin : https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/its-not-far-right-to-care-about-the-mass-rape-of-white-girls/

    Why and how have the PTB and the MSM managed to make the term 'right' a term of opprobrium and the term 'left' a positive thing.

    Starmer is without doubt the most left wing prime minister the UK has ever had and his political philosophy should be under constant attack by all right thinking people.

    BTL

    Is it not time that those to the right of centre pointed out that Far Right is considerably less dangerous than Extreme Left – which is where Starmer is?

    The Extreme Left gave us the National Socialist Hitler as well as Stalin and Pol Pot – all of whom practised genocide.

    And the most genocidal people in the world today are in Islam which calls for the extermination of Jews and turns a blind eye to the Pakistani rape gangs who prey on white girls – and it is Islam which the 'Extreme Left under' Starmer wishes to have on his side politically.

    1. Good morning, Rastus…here's another 'why and how' have many journalists only started reporting on this issue now. It's been well known for a number of years eg I think the MP for Keighly Ann Cryer raised it a couple of decades ago. Again, some MPs seem to have remembered they've known about it for a long time. It is now more widespread the length and breadth of the UK, again known for many years. What hasn't been reported so far is whether (or not) young boys have been similarly abused.

      1. 2003 to be exact m'Dear. Reported on by Andrew Norfolk and, after being slapped down for doing so, both kept schtum for the next 8 years.
        The MASSIVE irony is that the reason given for remaining silent was to prevent the "Far Right" from picking up on the story and using it for "racist propaganda", yet as soon as the BNP took up the story and started gaining substantial kudos among the local populace, Andrew Norfolk released his Times Bombshell.

        1. Thanks Bob…thought it was a good couple of decades. Awful as it sometimes is – online world has its upside, where most of this info has been found, and consequently more of us aware than we were. Do you know if Tommy Robinson has been able to release a statement from his solitary – I haven’t seen anything, and I doubt it.

          1. I've tried pointing out the BNP connection and giving some credit to the late Marlene Guest, the former LibDem council candidate who defected to BNP: because her party was not interested in the Rape Gangs, on the Telegraph BTL Comments, but each time my comments have been deleted.

          2. I’ve had ‘disappearing’ comments on the Spectator quite a few times (currently, my Disqus button not working). Sister publication to Telegraph….hmm….

          3. You’re not alone, Bob. I foolishly (it turns out) re-subscribed to Spectator ‘Special Offer’. Disqus still doesn’t work there as it should, the ‘Digital Team’ (i.e. Jack) are ‘working on it’. Comments section is better than it was, articles …man to beast, beast to man….

        2. Love how you refer to me as m'Dear, Bob. Can do that as often as you like 🥰 😁 seem to recall Cryer mentioning it 2002? No matter. There may be more to come out, not over yet.

    2. Agreed totally.
      But has any one taken into account that it is entirely and obviously utterly racist for pakistani (unless of course they also are raping their own children) men to rape young white girls because they want to and because they can, because they know they can now get away with it ? Because seemingly due to government backing !

    3. Rastus, I think that using the Left-Right labels is playing along with the agenda of those who wish us ill. They are terms which I think have become meaningless save as synonyms (and not I think useful ones), for good and evil.
      Do you really think of yourself as far right or right of centre or whatever? You seem to me to be someone with the traditional values that made us a cohesive and successful nation.
      Turning to your comments on Islam I think we should remember that the evil we are seeing is as much to do with Islam as the Inquisition was to do with Christianity – that is nothing at all. The mob will always be with us, as will those who seek to harness the mob for their own purposes.

      1. Being called “far-Right” is simply an absurdity.

        Being labelled ‘far-Right’ is preposterously idiotic. If you are on the Right of the political spectrum it means you shower, work, know the words to the national anthem, belong to a family, voted Brexit, eat meat, and prefer single-sex lavatories. Have I missed anything?

        Oh yes, I've missed a lot. It also means you are an independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant individualist; who has aspirations and is innovative, knowledgable, entrepreneurial, enterprising and hard-working; who enjoys low taxation and small government. Moreover, your preference is a free-market economy, and you do not go in for mob-handedness, rioting and civil disorder. You expect these positive attributes to be encouraged and rewarded. Your self-esteem, your family, your locality and your country come first, and you are prepared to kill (and die) to defend them.

        In a nutshell, you are NORMAL.

        Therefore it logically follows that to be ridiculously labelled as being ‘far-Right’ means that you must be an extremely independent, extremely self-sufficient, extremely self-reliant and an extreme individualist; who is extremely aspirational, extremely innovative, extremely knowledgable, extremely entrepreneurial, extremely enterprising, extremely hard-working, and enjoys extremely low taxation and extremely small government, etc.

        If that is the case, then you may call me extremely ‘far-Right’ until the cows come home.

      2. If you think that

        we should remember that the evil we are seeing is as much to do with Islam as the Inquisition was to do with Christianity – that is nothing at all.

        You are deluded. The evil re such things as the rape scandal, the Hamas atrocity, the murders and terrorist incidents around the globe are very much to do with Islam its prophet and holy book and its teachings.

        1. Try that the other way round – the torture and burning of people by the Inquisition was closely linked to- very much to do with – Christianity and much quoted by those so desecrating Christian values. Funny how the delusion is always so grotesquely fixed.

          1. You've just proved my point, by stating the total opposite of what you originally claimed.

            The Inquisition was to do with Christianity in the same way all the atrocities currently being committed by Muslims have everything to do with Islam.

            The difference is that Christianity has moved on, unfortunately Islam can't, because of the way its Holy book and the Hadiths are written.

      3. I think we should remember the injunctions in the koran to enslave the kuffar, never befriend him, rape his women, behead him where possible. We should also be aware of kitman and taqiyya. So, your comment about islam having nothing to do with evil is misguided at best.

          1. That is a false argument; the Old Testament is modified by the New. The koran is the word of allah and must not be altered or interpreted. Love thy neighbour and the meek shall inherit the earth are not the equivalent of do not befriend the kuffar and strike him in the neck.

    1. Onan was the second son of Judah. His elder brother Er, was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the LORD put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight; so he put him to death also.

  31. Good morning all.

    ICC prosecutor implies he didn't regret Netanyahu warrant, since he didn't do enough to "probe" Israel's crimes. Because of course the ICC did…

    The mind boggles. What probe would have been needed? Doesn't the ICC understand the meaning of genocide, which involves the systematic extermination of a race of people? Surely if Netanyahu was intent on that as he stands accused, he would know perfectly well what's going on. No probe required. The Nazis did after all have the good manners to keep records of their murders.

    Too late to row back now Mr Prosecutor. We can see you.

    1. Fiona Bruce exhibits vanity in bucketloads. I never watch anything she presents, because she really does seem to think it's all about her. I don't think she's even trying to bang the lefty drum. Basically it's just 'hey, look at me!'

  33. Just seen Badenoch's latest offering. They're such slaves to fashion, politicians. Labour have done their bit to screw pensioners, so naturally Badenough wants to try to outdo them. Apparently we don't understand means testing properly in Britain and that pensions ought therefore to be means tested properly? Which she'd do really well so that the country can afford those old hangers-on.

    Where's me wall so I can bang me 'ead on it?

    2. From what I read into it, she seems to argue that if we are to go down means-testing concessions, the current threshold is far too low, and kicks in too suddenly. Iain Duncan Smith argued the same thing when reforming Jobseekers' Allowance. It had to be tailored in such a way so as not to penalise heavily those making tentative steps to come off welfare.

      In fact, the existing Income Tax on pensions is the mechanism whereby such money can be graduated: the bigger the private pension, the more Income Tax is levied, so the State pension need not be touched.

      This Labour Government doesn't seem to have a clue about money, except that Mandelson's chums have lots of it, which is their right, even if it ruins the country. An example of this is setting the IHT-free threshold on farming estates at a million. Considering how much it costs to set up a viable family farm (where ownership is in generations rather than in quarterly returns), money which is locked up in the "tools of the trade" and should not be raided, a better figure to discourage the land speculators would have been 5 million or even 10.

      1. We are all agreed that Labour is economically illiterate. The farming raid though is I believe a straightforward land grab designed to free up land for the likes of abrdn to snap up once small farmers are driven off their properties.

        The means testing route though is just wrong all round. Her point about a millionaire not needing the fuel allowance which incidentally does not exist for them anyway is just a ‘look a kitten’ argument. You’d have thought with the swelling of the population going on she’d be saying that there’s ample taxes coming in to support pensions. But she’s not, of course. And we all understand the root of the problem. She doesn’t expect today’s young people to have pensions as we know them in future.

        1. Wearing my Lefty hat, I actually agree with you. The joy of universal benefits that apply regardless of wealth or status, and paid for out of general taxation, is that everyone shares in the benefits, including the rich. They can then feel they are getting something for their money that benefits the whole nation, not just the select favourites.

          The wealthy may feel though that it’s not worth the bother claiming the fuel allowance for about what they would earn in minutes, but that’s up to them. There’s a warm feeling to be had saying “let it go to someone who needs it more than I do”.

          1. You end up, if you are not careful, having two classes of people- those who never work, to preserve their “benefits”, and those work and pay for everything. At some point, the numbers in class A outweigh those in Class B. We are getting dangerously near that time.

          2. I knew a lord who tried to hand back his fuel allowance to the DWP on the basis he was filthy rich. They said it wasn’t possible and said he’d just have to keep it. He never said what his State pension approach was, but I always suspected he just never ever claimed it.

            Now, the Righty head might expect people such as him to be able to “give back”. The State is just inflexible and works randomly against us most of the time.

            The problem I’ve got with means testing is if it applies to those who began taking their pensions under an older regime. That for me is tantamount to undermining the responsible ones who prepared over a working lifetime for retirement. If you set out knowing the score there fine. Unfortunately it’s hard to trust government over this. There are other issues too of course.

          4. Yes it does and once upon a time that was open political comment whenever it was raised. Not anymore. Even after that you’ve got to decide what counts as a “means”. The dice will be loaded in favour of the treasury. It’s just a dodge. You only need to look at Labour’s IHT for farmers to see that the fiscal arguments are both spurious and self serving.

        2. I always went through my working life assuming that the State pension wouldn't exist when I retire, and made private arrangements accordingly. Now I'm about to be 64, I might have been a tad pessimistic, but better safe than sorry.

          1. You’d be a bit neglectful not to have something other than the State pension if you can afford it, that’s for sure.

  34. It is quite exciting being part of a piece of music in real time as it is being created.

    Tom Wells started his "Seasons" project back in 2016 after being inspired by poetry in 'Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady'. It was scheduled to be performed in that year, but was held up when the composer set himself on fire and had to be air-lifted to Intensive Care. It seems that sensitive musician, reluctant bonfire, petrol and matches do not go together terribly well. He is in good company. Elgar once blew up his garage/science lab. He wanted a particular sound, but his musicians were not up to the job. A neighbour recalls a loud bang, and then a distinguished gentleman with a smouldering moustache emerging from the wreckage looking very pleased with himself.

    'Seasons' was eventually premiered in Worcester in 2017, and I had the great fortune to sing in the choir then.

    There were a couple of additions, but then Tom Wells became Leader of the district council and was preoccupied with public service. However, last year, he was ousted from power by an unholy coalition of Conservatives, turncoat Starmer-Labour (who used to be Independent), Liberal Democrats and the Democratic Independents (as opposed to the 'Malvern Hills Independents' and an unnamed group of Independents led by Wells).

    He has now decided to resume his musical interests, and returned to 'Seasons'. Two new songs have been added to the cycle in the last fortnight, one for the awakening of Spring and the other December, which has a fiendish syncopated rhythm we are all trying to get our heads round. He invited more suggestions for poetry to add to the cycle.

    I have two which I would like to see, one of which is in the Country Diary and one most definitely isn't. I would love to see him set 'To Autumn' by John Keats, but he has resisted all attempts by me to put it in so far. I think he likes to show who's boss. The other is a delightful Christmas carol he set a few years ago as part of a BBC carol writing competition. It wasn't shortlisted, but I think it was much better than any of the entries that did make it. It was a setting of Carol Ann Duffy's poem about bees in their hive at Christmas time.

    So far there are the following:
    Here in the Country's Heart
    February
    Stormy March
    The Whole Bright World
    The Cry of the Children
    April
    The May Queen
    The Lark
    A Summer Evening
    Autumn Song
    December
    The Angel of the Year

  35. I think this is of interest so trust the length of reposting this will not offend.

    Keir Starmer and the institutionalized neo-Marxist racism against indigenous white ethnicities

    By Hanne Nabintu Herland

    Few cases have illustrated more brilliantly the profound effect of Marxist discrimination against the indigenous white Europeans than UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s blatant refusal over many years to hold accountable foreign born Muslim rapists, murderers and grooming gangs.

    The story is as shocking as it is sad. An inquiry in British towns such as Rotherham uncovered that predominantly 1,400 white British girls had been sexually abused and tortured for almost 20 years, by Muslim men, mostly of Pakistani origin. Their families had been threatened into silence if they complained to the police. In Telford, an inquiry established that as much as 1,000 girls were abused over 40 years – some cases not investigated because of “nervousness about race”. In Oldham, an inquiry was set up after rumors spread online that children were being groomed in council homes, shisha bars and by taxi drivers, according to the BBC.

    It was Elon Musk, who is part of the incoming Donald Trump’s political team, who blew the whistle on X and joined the UK public rage against Keir Starmer and his Labour government.

    The main question remains: Why have UK leaders such as Prime Minister Starmer been so soft on the Muslim grooming rape gangs that have ravaged white, British girls for many years? Why does the predominantly white British population seem so defenseless? Why are their own political leaders not defending them?

    The answer is that the neo-Marxist narrative that has dominated European politics since the 1960s, has automatically given dark-skinned immigrant-invaders the victim card while white indigenous Europeans have been handed the role as chronic abusers, racists, Islamophobes, far-right lunatics, Nazis, fascists and bigots. The message is that whites should be held harshly accountable in a way one would never dream of treating a dark-skinned immigrant-invader.

    It was after World War II that a group of prominent atheists and neo-Marxist philosophers in Germany began the work to destroy the West’s trust in traditional, historical values such as the family, religion, God, free speech, individual freedom, justice, morality, rule of law. They called themselves The Frankfurt School and became the founding fathers of the 1960s student revolution that preached free sex and drugs, and the revolt against the traditional value system that was the pillar of stability in Western civilization.

    Influential French philosophers were part of this demonic ideological push and heavily influenced the reading list in Western university courses.

    Multiculturalism was one of the left-wing’s weapons. It opened Western civilization to cultural pollution and ultimately to disavowal by the West itself. The “deconstruction” of traditional Western values and the demonization of these values was the central aim of the cultural Marxists. The main goal was to evaluate individuals based on race and ethnicity in place of the traditional Western success model of equality under law. By so doing, a desired discrimination against the white indigenous European population was implemented, while dark-skinned immigrant-invaders were largely excused as persons one should “feel sorry for” and not hold accountable. This narrative, unjust and racist, implies that certain ethnic groups are not to be held accountable in the same way one would do with a “privileged” white person, thus creating a privilege for the dark skinned person.

    With multiculturalism a system of differential rights and status based on race and gender became institutionalized. Equal treatment under law was transformed into race and gender based privileges in university admissions, employment, promotion, and general accountability.

    Jacques Derrida, a member of the French left, speaks about power structures as pairs, one weak and the other strong, exemplified by opposites such as “male” versus “female”, “white” versus “black”, “majority” vs. “minority.”. He assumed that the power balance between these pairs are static. This means that the male and the white are always the strong elements in the pair, and the female and the black are always the weak. From this idea came the neo-Marxist feminism that currently is destroying the family and the natural relation between men and women.

    Furthermore, since the “European” is always the strong and the dark-skinned immigrant is always the helpless victim in Derrida’s multiculturalism, the white man is always at the top, while the black man is always at the bottom. Consequently, one should always feel sorry for Africans or black Americans, but not for “privileged” white Americans or white Europeans. The dark-skinned man needs to be forever helped by privileges, since he is always being victimized by the white man.

    Derida’s analysis destroys equality under law and replaces it with a differential system of rights based on race, gender, and other indications of victimhood.

    The greatness of America was based on assimilation to the national culture that resulted in unity regardless of race, creed, gender or ethnic origin. What Marxism has done is to destroy national unity. I describe in my book, New Left Tyranny, the deconstruction of unity into a Tower of Babel.

    When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Minister of Safeguarding Jess Phillips recently refused a national inquiry into the historic grooming gang scandal in Oldham, the internet exploded with angry reactions. The British people are raging mad after having lived with the discrimination against white British citizens for three decades. This problem is generalized across Europe.

    It was Elon Musk’s comments on X that brought the horrifying details to international light by writing on X that Minister of Safeguarding Jess Phillips deserves to be in prison and that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is evil and should be sentenced to prison. By posting “no justice for severe, violent crimes, but prison for social media posts,” Musk referred to the recent Southport stabbings in which British girls were killed by yet another foreign born immigrant-invader. Instead of supporting the strong popular reaction, Starmer instantly began a shocking Soviet style persecution of those who wrote critically about the stabbings in social media. Many white Brits have since gone to prison for social media posts critical of the government’s soft handling of immigrant-invader criminals and rape gangs.

    Musk further pointed out that “serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects. Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008 -2013.” Calling Starmer a “national embarrassment” Musk said he “must go,” stating that a number of British politicians should be in jail: “Starmer was complicit in the RAPE OF BRITAIN when he was head of Crown Prosecution for 6 years. Starmer must go and he must face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain.”

    Musk’s tweet “Free Tommy Robinson” speaks volumes. The British journalist and anti-rape activist, Tommy Robinson is currently imprisoned in the UK, having been a central figure in the exposure of the Rotherham rape scandals.

    In a recent interview with Jordan Peterson, Robinson spoke about the horrifying discrimination against whites that is ongoing in the UK as they attempt to get justice for hideous crimes. So, when Musk tweets that the UK justice system is broken, it depends on which system he is talking about. The current neo-Marxist, multicultural system is definitely not broken, continuing the implementation of institutionalized racism against the indigenous white British population. It is not broken, but perfectly achieving its aim.

    Throughout the Western world the white ethnicities have been indoctrinated with guilt that has made them helpless against exploitation by immigrant-invaders. Today European governments speak of the necessity of preparing for war with Russia while their own populations are terrorized by immigrant-invaders.

    Hanne Nabintu Herland is a historian of comparative religions, and founder of The Herland Report. Her latest book, The Billionaire World: How Marxism Serves the Elite, is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Billionaire-World-Marxism-Serves-Elite/dp/B0CHL16CZT/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694461898&sr=8-3

      1. Indeed. Many of its members fled to America because of the Nazis, who more's the pity, didn't catch and execute them. On arrival in the USA they found the working class comfortable, happy and quite uninterested in becoming revolutionaries. It was in response that they decided to undermine the USA vie destroying education, families, religion etc etc. You are all familiar with the Marxist routine. Thus we end up with the USA as it is now, riddled with transexual nonsense, feminism and racism. Quite honestly, I have come to the conclusion that any Communist should be killed on the spot when discovered, they are nothing but agents of evil. If that had been the policy of Western governments, I very much doubt that Britain would be in the mess that it is now, ruled by an evil man with an evil; government intent on destroying the native people of this land, in particular the English.

    2. It's incredible to think that she was Laurence Olivier's widow – he seems to belong to another era now.

      1. Joan died at Denville Hall which is a retirement home for actors. Incidently she starred in a film called Mrs Palfry at the Claremont which is a fictional retirement hotel. Worth a watch i think.

        1. The book was good! Wouldn’t want to go back to those tomes. Poor old Mrs Palfrey.

          2. Well as most films are nothing like the books, me telling you she turns into a frog and hops off to the Moon won’t probably affect the film.

        2. The book was good! Wouldn’t want to go back to those tomes. Poor old Mrs Palfrey.

  38. Nearly 4,000 comments in 5 hours on the Iron Chancer Chancellor. (Who, I thought, was Bismarck.)

    This short BTL posted in the past few minutes cracked me up.
    "I may be jumping to conclusions but I’m not sure every comment is entirely complimentary."

    1. 'Iron Chancellor'? More like Rubber Reeves. Gives in to every woke passing cause. No reduction in welfare, turbo charging net zero, unsustainable tax rises on small businesses; making the UK less desirable to invest in with every passing day; ludicrous pay rises for the union workers. And yet she claims to be full of ideas to make the UK prosper. Ha ha, more like full of BS.

      1. A nasty piece of work. He displayed barely concealed anti-semitism in his vicious attacks on the editor of the Jewish Chronicle.

    2. GB News has deliberately got together a selection of odious and repulsive pundits who are deluded into thinking they are supporting their absurd points of view when in fact they are exposing just how ridiculous they are.

      1. Know your enemy.
        By seemingly obeying OfCom's rules, GBNews is really showing what we have undermining this country.
        The Law of Unintended consequences, you Beeboid Pensioners aka unbiassed Ofcom.

  40. From the DT this morning:

    A former Tory MP has said the party forced her mother to undergo diversity training after she liked a social media post about illegal migration.

    Dame Andrea Jenkyns said Tory HQ had sent her a 10-module course which included questions about different genders and sexualities.

    The former Tory minister said party bosses had stripped her late mother Valerie, who at the time was almost 80, of her membership and would not restore it until she did the training.

    The decision happened before Kemi Badenoch was made leader, and a Conservative spokesman said the party was “now under new management”.

    Seems to me, the Con Party is always under 'new management' and with every manager it gets worse. There's only one party to vote for and it's not the Brit-hating Uniparty.

    1. Good gracious. Even Farage never subjected UKIP members to that kind of harrassment.
      I'm sure the 10-module course as well as her membership card were appropriately filed in the round file after that.

  41. Germany’s ‘Dexit’ party is becoming a serious threat to the European project
    The AfD’s ‘Europe of the fatherlands’ is planning a covert subversion from within
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/17/germanys-dexit-party-is-becoming-a-serious-threat/

    Starmer is always looking for ways of wrecking the UK economy so that he can impose a Communist state. At the moment he is waiting for Germany to leave the EU and when Germany has done so the UK have to pay an enormous re-entry fee.

    The EU will then collapse and the UK will be responsible for the largest part of the the dissolution costs.

    Ergo: Brother Starmer's mission successfully completed. UK economy totally destroyed.

      1. And Captain Hindsight says the beginning of the end of the EU can be pinpointed to 0345 hrs GMT 26 September 2022 when US Navy P8 HexCode AE6851 descended to an altitude of <10,000 ft and dropped its payload on 3 of 4 Nord Stream pipes.

  42. This is worth watching for the German woman and what she has to say. She used to work for the German Army in the propaganda department (psyops). Very informative. I certainly learnt a trick or two from listening to her explain how to fight using systems of communication.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiK0pFk7Jgg

    2. Mr Mohammed Aziz – the Chair (sic) of the new body, says that he will be looking at far-right extremists.

    3. Why the U-turn on these grooming gangs? Have th politicians realised they misjudged the mood in the country on the subject, and are trying to curry some favour now?

      2. Musk is the Donald's right hand man now.
        He says jump, spanner says how high.
        it's all bulshit, enquiry after enquiry just to keep the plankton in their place and the wheels of corruption properly greased and turning.
        we know what needs to be done, and the time is fast approaching.
        Never forget this:- The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
        The government is your enemy….

    4. Will that "Action Plan" include those politicians, local and national, Police Officers, Social Workers, journalists etc etc etc who covered up the activities of the Pakistani Rape Gangs?

      1. Oh, I'm sure it will! Must dash, I'm meeting a nice chap who is selling me a bridge at a really good price!!

        1. As it happens, there's been a bridge, only a small one I hasten to add, dumped over the road from here for several years that the owner of the Mill says he'd like to see the back of!!
          About 10 or 12' long by about 3' wide, it's made up of galvanised hand-rail!
          Would do perfectly across a small brook.

  45. When G Brown sold the UK's Gold Reserves at a knockdown price I wondered at the time if the move was to encourage the market to devalue the £Sterling to the point of parity to the Euro to lessen any opposition to the UK joining the Euro Currency.

    The same thought occurred to me today when reading about the perpetual support Starmer the Cursed has committed to Ukraine:

    "The hugely symbolic 100-year agreement, which clearly sends a message to the Kremlin, commits a whopping £3 billion of British support each year, to be continued indefinitely, according to The Guardian". In due course I expect the devaluation of the £ towards parity with the Euro. It follows that we will then be asked: "Boys & Girls would you like us to rejoin the EU?"

    1. Every day, and in every way, TTK gets worse! You're supposed to be the British PM, you cretin – try looking after us!!

    2. Or the pistol held to our heads could be that only the EU can prevent our children being sent to defend Ukraine. They don't do things by accident, so we must assume that this easily signed, undiscussed and unsupported treaty will come back and bite us one day.

    3. £ towards parity with the Euro..
      Nah, euro's dropping faster against US$ than £.

      Joining the euro!
      What? Having an ECB official stationed in Thread Needle street.. hand over your economic levers.. economic policy making.. no f way.
      Even a rabidly anti-British radical Trot wouldn't be that stooopid.

      Besides. The return of the mighty DM is imminent.

      1. As I had been predicting the imminent demise of the dollar for many years, I did not join the chorus of euro doom-sayers.

    4. £ towards parity with the Euro..
      Nah, euro's dropping faster against US$ than £.

      Joining the euro!
      What? Having an ECB official stationed in Thread Needle street.. hand over your economic levers.. economic policy making.. no f way.
      Even a rabidly anti-British radical Trot wouldn't be that stooopid.

      Besides. The return of the mighty DM is imminent.

    5. £ towards parity with the Euro..
      Nah, euro's dropping faster against US$ than £.

      Joining the euro!
      What? Having an ECB official stationed in Thread Needle street.. hand over your economic levers.. economic policy making.. no f way.
      Even a rabidly anti-British radical Trot wouldn't be that stooopid.

      Besides. The return of the mighty DM is imminent.

    1. Write to King Charles.

      Except he won't in case they cut his head off, and William, Kate and the kids have to hide up a tree until they pledge to restore Christmas.

      1. Pity he's already knighted. Perhaps we could take his knighthood away on a technicality, so the King would have to do it again. Properly this time.

      1. The way he looks when he speaks, I doubt the orifice is big enough to pass motions, let alone a thick head.

  47. Not laughed so much in years!

    SIR – The death, destruction and repeated strategic setbacks brought about by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel raises a fundamental question for Palestinians and their allies: was it worth it (“Hope for hostage families as ceasefire agreed”, report, January 16)?

    Arguably, every war imposed on Israel since 1948 has resulted in a worsening of the Palestinians’ situation.

    The time has now surely come for Arab leaders to renounce this futile and self-destructive hostility to Israel, and to devote their energies and huge resources to building a better society for the people they purportedly represent and support.

    Alan Tomlinson
    Cheadle, Cheshire

    2. The Book of Numbers Chapter 33 (King James Version)

      50 And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

      51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;

      52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:

      53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.

      54 And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.

      55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

      1. So what you are saying Sue is that the Lord didn't think Diversity was such a great idea?

        1. It would appear not. Some of the Arabs in Gaza actually claim to be descended from the Canaanites. They can't prove it but then they don't have evidence for any of their claims. It's a bit like Rose McGowan, the actress in the Weinstein case who when asked for evidence, said, "Me, I am the evidence".

  48. Near fail. Had to check fifty or sixty words before I got the right one.
    Wordle 1,308 6/6

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

    1. 2nd try: all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order.
      Wordle 1,308 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟨🟨🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  49. Bin lads emptied the garden waste bin this morning, so that's the chainsawing waste cleared up! Looks a lot tidier out there now.
    Wasn't left like that for long though. I've cleared the logs from above the shed roof and made a start on sawing them ready for splitting.
    Noted that the saw appeared to be trying to cut in an arc, which makes using it unnecessarily hard, so have just given it a resharpen.

    Now sat with a mug of tea on the way and I might have a bite to eat before I do outside abain to do some more cutting.

        1. Surely visiting Wivenhoe is treat enough.
          (Provided you avert your eyes from the abominable Essex university accommodation blocks.)

    1. Once Hamas has regrouped it will all start up again. Israel needs to send a kill squad to Dubai and take out the leadership.

  51. It seems the National Trust gas got money to burn. This week I've received four copies of both their latest magazine and Next Year's handbook. Two addressed to me and two copies to the previous residents now both deceased. I have informed the NT in the past of their demise and have done so again today….

    1. Perhaps their membership numbers these days don't look so good if they exclude dead people. It's possible that dead members haunt their properties?

      1. Great marketing idea: Free Ghost with every new magazine edition – Select your ghost here……!

    2. I wonder how many "ghost" memberships the NT has.
      And how many of them have a record of voting at the AGMs?

    1. We can learn Moslems are always the victims never the perpetrators………
      Oh Wait….
      "Bosnia Charges 25 Muslim Wartime Officers, Four Bosnian Serbs With War Crimes "
      "Prosecutors in Sarajevo said on December 29 that 11 former Muslim members of the Bosnian Army were charged with taking part in an attack against the Serb village of Cemerno in the region of Ilijas, north of Sarajevo, in which 30 people were killed.

      In another case, 14 former Muslim police and military officials were indicted for war crimes allegedly committed against dozens of Serbs in the southern region of Konjic, the Sarajevo state prosecutor's office said.

      Ten of the indicted men are already in detention, it said.

      Their crimes allegedly included the "murder of several dozen Serb civilians, both men and women of different age, torture, robbery and persecution of nearly the whole Serb population from the Konjic area," the prosecutor's office said.

      On December 28, the prosecutor's office said it had indicted four Bosnian Serb army officers for alleged genocide against Muslims who were fleeing the eastern town of Srebrenica after it fell into Serb hands in July 1995."
      https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-charges-25-muslim-wartime-officers-four-bosnian-serb-officers-war-crimes/28947007.html
      A bitter brutal civil war with horrific atrocities by ALL sides but as always the moslems scream "victim" loudest

      1. Melanie Philips sounds off on the latest Spiked podcast on the West’s useful idiots:

        https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/id1436524071?i=1000684225784

        “…“Generally speaking, the left, which we used to call the hard left, but anyway, it's a bit of an arcane discussion there, I'm sure. The left has a project which is basically to destroy the West. The Islamists have a project which is basically to destroy the West.

        The fact that the Islamists' aim that the society they want to replace the West is inimical in many respects to the society that the left wants is brushed aside by both sides because they both basically united in the understanding that between the two of them, in their view, they can bring the West down. There is a kind of unholy alliance there. In a way, I suppose, what you might call it, sort of cognitive dissonance on the part of the Western left, they put it to one side, that what Islam stands for is completely the opposite of everything they believe in.

        That's partly because they don't want to think about that perhaps, but it's partly also because part of their creed is to do with you know better than I do, is sort of old Marxist view of the world that all relationships are basically consisting of power “structures or power imbalances. That the developing world, i.e. people whose faces are black and brown, are always the victims, or the powerless victims of the powerful who are the white skinned West.

        The white skinned West as powerful can never do any good, and the powerless brown and black skinned peoples of the world can never do any bad. So if you say to such a leftist, but the person alongside you, he has more than one wife and he treats them appallingly, he dehumanizes them, and so on and so forth, or he subscribes to a way of life, a way of thinking which supports the stoning of women, it supports the executions, I would say, murder of gay people. If you say that to this kind of leftists, they will again have a complete cognitive dissonance because that can't be the case that a person with a brown skin who is oppressed by me, a white skinned person, can subscribe to bad things.

        So there is that, but there's also something again, darker and worse in all of this, which is that the Western left poses as being anti-fascist, anti-Nazi, anti-racist. It's anything but…”

        From The Brendan O'Neill Show: Melanie Phillips: Israel’s fight for civilisation, 16 Jan 2025
        https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/id1436524071?i=1000684225784&r=2852
        This material may be protected by copyright.

        1. The Left are defined by their hypocrisy and doublethink. They are terribly confused and very stupid people.

  53. Surprise surprise, it’s El Dorado in ex Con MP Chris Skidmore’s Net Zero Land!

    Just by an extraordinary random coincidence, ex Con MP Chris Skidmore, who in 2019 signed Net Zero into law exactly as George Soros wanted, has been given a job at the LSE working for George Soros’ very close friend Lord Nicholas Stern who wrote the Stern Review which is the basis of George Soros’ Climate Change Act 2008!

    Chris Skidmore already “earns” $200,000 from other Net Zero jobs only made possible by the Net Zero law he personally signed when in office..

    We know George Soros wanted Legal Net Zero because he part financed Conservative Think Tank Bright Blue through Open Society which, surprise surprise, recommended it exactly as George Soros wanted to Chris Skidmore MP and Theresa May!

    Isn’t that the most extraordinary series of random coincidences?

  55. Asda has publicly backed farmers in their row with Labour over its inheritance tax raid.

    A letter was presented to the supermarket chain by protesting farmers in the Midlands on Friday, which called on the retail giant to support British agriculture.
    The group asked for the backing of supermarkets against plans laid out in Rachel Reeves’ October Budget, which will force farms to pay inheritance tax from April 2026.

    An Asda spokesman said: “Farming is a vital part of our supply chain.
    “We need a confident farming sector which is able and willing to invest in its future.
    “We have been raising our concerns with the Government and will be supporting the NFU’s [National Farming Union] campaign calling for a pause in the implementation of APR to allow for proper consultation.”

    If all the supermarkets join in saying they oppose the Government's proposal how on earth will the Farmers bring pressure to bear. if the government refuses to budge?

      1. Private property is being attacked all round. In parts of the US and Australia now it is being said that it's impossible to get house insurance. Plus every time an area gets Lahaina'd and the government declares it a disaster zone and compulsorily purchases the whole lot…

        Cognitive Dissonance did an interesting podcast recently about the California fires – Monica Perez who is one of the panel lives in one of the affected areas and they had to evacuate.

        Pets, Papers, Photos is the rule apparently. How long would it take you to collect all those ?
        I realised that I could organise my things better – I've never factored in having to evacuate at short notice…

  56. According to a recent survey, 14% of people said they think that sex lasts too long.

    Those people are called, "inmates."

    Scientists have discovered that trees have a way of communicating with each other.

    It's called what sap.

    Absolutely fuming! I was going on holiday with the family, the first time my 7 year old son has ever been on plane and I thought he'd love the view. Unfortunately the window seats were all booked, but I figured people wouldn't mind moving for him, he's only a kid. So, we got on the plane and I noticed an empty seat next to the window, cracking view, so I went to strap him in. But fuck, almost straight away, the guy who was supposed to be sitting there starts on us. *That's my seat, he can't sit there, bla bla bla*. I told him to calm down and explained he could take my son's aisle seat, but he wasn't having any of it. Started making out my son wasn't as important as him and getting really fucking irate with me. In the end, the stewardess made us move to our original seats and my son missed out. Honestly, the fucking arrogance of some pilots is unreal.

  57. Looks like billionaire devotee Angela Raynor has teamed up with World Economic Forum board director Larry Fink to provide all the laws BlackRock and the WEF require to buy up distressed British assets dirt cheap such as farmland and busineses, and to ruin Britain.

    After all, Klaus Schwab said the WEF have ''penetrated Cabinets'' and that certainly looks the case here!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc3a600081302fe46235133e2f45ec60ced9ca65c841509cbb290a505c0d3ffc.jpg

    1. Your favourite Bank of England governor, Mark Carney is supposedly stepping down from BlackRock directorships while he applies for a summer job as Canadian liberal Prime Minister. Odds on his wife is still feeding at the trough.

      Latest rumour is that the election of a new liberal leader is fixed. Carney wins, becomes PM and will avoid losing a vote of confidence thanks to a backroom deal with the communist NDP. Polly might be impressed by the level of intrigue

      1. Thanks, but no surprises. Soros' friend Mark Carney was appointed to the BoE by David Cameron and George Osborne who were both working with Soros like Tony Blair. A number of Soros' friends were appointed to senior positions by David Cameron including Lord Kim Darroch as British Ambassador to Washington who later became chairman of Soros' Best for Britain. Here's Canada's permanent PM (L) looking relaxed meeting with his respectful and obedient puppets who hang on to his every word..

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa7a5f099cdb8d51a0d7398878bf60fc2655854ac078540a7c14e07169247f0d.jpg

  60. First trip out for a few months. Shopping in Sainsburys WGC, easy access and easy parking, very civilised.
    Popped in to the bank but had to make an appointment for next month. Might be able to sort out what we want on line.
    Finished in John Lewis. Lovely and warm inside very sophisticated.
    Home now and feet up, my knee is a major problem.

  61. Bluss, it is chilly out. Have just spent an hour pruning the raspberries. Hands now frozen. Have come indoors to warm up a bit. Next 10 days seem similar, according to the Wet Office. I put it all down to global boiling.

    1. "Climate change, dammit! Climate change! No one believed our lies when they could prove it by looking out the window so we changed the marketing!"

    2. Dare one ask, why are you pruning raspberries? I just leave mine to do their own thing. This is probably why your raspberry harvest is measured in pounds while I count individual berries…

      But I did just use the last fresh tomato from last summer today!

      1. I usually cut mine down in the autumn (a bit late this year). Raspberries only fruit on new wood.

      2. To ensure a huge crop. The MR picks and freezes them – and has them on her breakfast porridge.

        2. The person I teach runs a dog rescue. She received a parcel today with dog clothes and leads in for the rescues. The sender had lost her dog suddenly to a heart attack and wanted them to go to the abandoned in memory of her dog. We were both choked.

  64. "Lucy Worsley Investigates: 1066" on BBC2 tonight. Why? What is there to investigate. The extant material evidence is limited and already available to those who care to look. There are commentaries aplenty already published. Tell the story by all means but "investigate"?

      1. She also wants to know why they tried to repel the invaders rather than giving them hotel rooms and benefits.

        Myst be extreme right wing defenders.

    1. I wonder if there is a chance of an appeal? It seems disproportionate and, dare I say, designed to enflame already-existing tensions.

        1. It is POETS day every day for a lot of people these days.

          In fact, for many there is no workplace to POE from! They all SFH (Skive From Home).

          1. He is a farmer and was once the owner of Southampton Football Club. His constituency is Great Yarmouth.

            He donates his MP’s salary to local charities.

          2. Thanks, Corim, I've just "Googled" him. He is precisely the kind of MP we need in all constituencies.

            Trouble is, when will the Left-wing establishment commence their campaign to get rid of him.

    3. Rupert Lowe is the most competent MP in the HoC.

      He is feared and loathed by MPs from all the parties.

      He reminds me of Owen Paterson who was sacked by Cameron for his competence – he too had a career outside politics before becoming an MP and the he was sacked for being too good!

    5. Speech to the House of Commons by Rupert James Graham Lowe, Reform Party MP for Great Yarmouth.

      “Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I should start by alerting people to my declared interest relating to the pharmaceutical industry.

      All of us familiar with the growth of the Quango [Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation] will be aware of how these unelectable, unaccountable organisations have come to control and dominate British public life. Not us, the democratically elected members but the Quangos. Failure is rewarded, never punished. No organisation encapsulates that point as comprehensively as the MHRA, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Their rôle is essentially to ensure that medicines and medical devices are safe and effective. Where have we heard those words before?

      How can they possibly be trusted to regulate properly when they are largely funded by the companies they are to regulate? It is simply human nature for a conflict, like this, to impact on the decision-making process. The MHRA’s biggest challenge in history was the COVID response. It failed! It enabled the biggest assault on civil liberties and economic prosperity in my lifetime — lockdown — the greatest scandal of them all. It was quite simply the most disgraceful period of recent history.

      The MHRA’s insistence on ‘vaccines for all’ enabled lockdown restrictions to continue for as long as they did. They must take part responsibility for the consequences: vast NHS backlogs; rife mental health issues; soaring alcohol-related deaths; obesity booming; children’s development wrecked; long-term illnesses mounting; increased substance abuse; domestic violence on the rise; unnoticed child neglect; fathers missing the birth of their children; and elderly loved ones left to rot and die alone. We weren’t even allowed to properly mourn the dead. The wicked list is endless.

      None of it was based on any science, certainly not ‘vaccinating’ almost the entire population including — disgracefully — young children. This was a hideous dereliction of duty from the MHRA. It’s not just children they forced the COVID ‘vaccine’ on; tens of millions who had absolutely no need for it whatsoever. And there was clear risk from taking the ‘vaccine’; not just the initial two doses but the boosters following that. The evidence was simply not there. Particularly considering that by this stage almost the entire population had actually caught the virus, which gave far more effective natural protection than any man-made intervention.

      The MHRA knew that, but failed to act. Why? Political pressure, not to undermine the wretched COVID response. Had they been honest about the real need —or lack of it — for population-wide ‘vaccinations’, the whole case for lockdown collapses.

      As of the 4th of November there have been 489,991 adverse-reaction reports for COVID 19 ‘vaccines’ in the UK. This is just reported issues. What is the true number? When individual-after-individual reports feeling far worse following taking the ‘vaccine’ than they ever did after the virus, should we not question whether that ‘vaccination’ was necessary? The MHRA failed. This was not a vaccine that was needed for the entire population. It simply wasn’t. We were fed the lie that through taking the jab it would protect vulnerable loved ones. That was disgraceful dishonesty. The ‘vaccine’ did not prevent transmission. We know that now. And we knew that then. It should always have been a fully free and informed choice.

      If an elderly man in his 90s believes that the virus poses more of a threat from the ‘vaccine’ then let him take it. For almost everyone under 70, that was a risk analysis which fell firmly in the camp of not having the ‘vaccine’. Don’t even get me started on the abhorrent ‘vaccine passport’ policy; one of the most evil policies devised by government in living memory.

      The MHRA should have provided full and transparent data so the educated adults could make their own decisions for themselves and for their families. It must act as an independent barrier against both political expedience and corporate profit, protecting public health above all else.

      The question is: ‘who regulates the regulator?’ Who protects against regulatory capture? How did the MHRA allow politicians, celebrities and even their own agency to describe these ‘vaccines’ as safe and effective when yellow card data clearly shows it’s not universally safe, and certainly not universally effective? How could MHRA CEO, June Raine, say she had transformed the MHRA from a watchdog to an enabler of the pharmaceutical industry? An oxymoron for a watchdog who is meant to safeguard public health?

      It is Parliament’s duty to now exercise its sovereign power to ensure that we learn from the myriad of mistakes.

      Thank you”

        1. Caroline and I have not had the Covid vaccine – gene therapy, thanks to our doctor, Françoise, and thank God. Who else on the forum has not had a single Covid jab?

          Covid restrictions just about destroyed our business but we survived by the skin of our teeth even though we received no furlough.

          We are beginning to get a few more enquiries for our courses – maybe Starmer will fail in his attempt to destroy us after all.

          1. I hope you will continue to thrive, even with the increased costs for the parents of your pupils.

            I had two AZ jabs as I had a trip to Kenya booked – and twice postponed, but they did ask for the certificate at Nairobi airport in 2022 and 2023. I had no reactions to it at all, and I’ve had many jabs for travel reasons, it just seemed to be another. But I’ve had no boosters and no other jabs at all since 2021. My travel jabs have all now expired ( apart from yellow fever) but I didn’t renew them for the trip to Brazil.

          3. On the advise of two surgeons I saw in early 2020 was advised to take vitamin D3 and have only had 2 or 3 colds since. They both said it would boost the immune system that even if you spent all the daylight hour in the sunshine during our summer would not give your immune system enough vitamin D as the sun is too high in the sky.
            It was not mentioned by the medical profession nor MPs because at less than 3p each there was no profit in it for Big Pharma to give Big Bribes. Well done Rupert Lowe for his speech.

          4. If you allow me to put a tent up in your garden i'll cook for everyone for free. I might even learn something !

  71. We received a Christmas Card from England today (17th January) with the correct amount of stamps upon it for first class delivery. It was posted on 16th December.

    I wonder if Happy Ramadan or Happy Eid cards take over a month to be delivered from England to France.

    Do we have a 2 tier postal system which favours Islamic celebrations ahead of Christian ones?

      1. I don't think my Swedish friend has received her Christmas present yet – I posted it about three weeks before Christmas.

        1. Same here. I'm still waiting for a gift posted early December from the UK.

          My gifts, sent in the opposite direction, were received within a week.

      2. Who knows. Our canadian post office was on strike for the month before Christmas and we are sure that they just dumped stuff.

        How to sgore up the post office and encourage users – increase the price of stamps bt 20 percent.

    3. Our cards from friends in Germany and Austria arrived more or less on time – one in time for New Year, anyway.

    5. The post service in UK is appalling. A birthday card to my daughter last year never arrived, and this week we posted a parcel from the town post office to London on a 1st class tracked service. The tracking showed that 24 hrs later the parcel had not gone anywhere so I set forth to the PO and asked whether the post had been collected the previous day, it had been. It eventually appeared at the Cardiff sorting office some 10 miles away 25 hours after posting. So I enquired of the RM as to where my parcel might have been for the past day. Oh they say, 1st class service does not guarantee next day delivery. Yes I know, but what the 'ell have they been doing with it in the meantime.

      1. Some one recently mentioned how strange it is to see so many muslim women using blue disabled parking permits.

        1. I asked a Pakistani woman at work why so many of them are lame. She replied, "Too many children".

          3. Osteoporosis through repeated pregnancies or very damaged innards.
            I'm not sure it is just white girls who are treated to what I read earlier.

    2. Going after Sadiq Khan for accepting free Taylor Swift concert tickets is a bit like catching Al Capone for tax evasion, except that Khan is unlikely to be locked up.

      1. Is Taylor Swift the new greta doomgoblin? It appears that all politicians have been after swift tickets.
        Trudeau of course ignored riots so that he could attend a concert with his kiddies.

  73. Wordle No.1,308 3/6

    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 17 Jan 2025

    A banal Birdie Three?

    1. Well done. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,308 4/6

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

    2. Nice birdie. I made the wrong choice from two for the second day in a row! – so just a par.

      Wordle 1,308 4/6

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

    3. Well done Lacoste.

      Similar to yesterday I used my usual first word and second word finding five letters.

      Wordle 1,308 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Very lucky start with four of the letters .

      Wordle 1,308 2/6

      🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. I was a bit embarrassed about posting my Wordle.
      Early this morning I looked at Nottl and saw Elsie's 'divots' and saw the one letter that she got but in the wrong place. I know Elsie's 1st word.
      Wordle 1,308 1/6

      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  74. I have an appointment to see a cardiologist at Hammersmith Hospital next Friday afternoon. It was originally booked for July but has been brought forward. Both good and bad.

      1. Yes. It was originally for the rehab clinic in six months time but the bookings clerk rang and said that after the scan he'd been asked to bring it forward to February but he has a slot next week and can I make it then. I can, of course.

        3. On the positive side, he might have been told to give you the first available appointment or even to have "bumped" someone else to fit you in, rather than just bringing it forward, so presumably they think they can find a solution to your problem.
          God Speed.

        5. May well have been a cancellation. It seems all appointments are for months, if not a year ahead, so Alf always makes a point of saying he will accept cancellations. Good luck Sue.

    3. Good news our Susan 🤗😊

      I had my original cardioversion at Hammersmith. In first thing in the morning home by 5 pm obviously chauffeured.
      I've literally just this minute had a phone call from my local practice saying the ECG I had on the 3rd this month.

  75. Back from being out – busy morning, then met my travel companion for tea and cake this afternoon. She had a duplicate book of some of the birds we saw so she's given me that. It's quite odd that we were on the same trip but most of our photos are quite different. It's an addition to my collection anyway.

    1. Thinking of the conversation just now about late items arriving in the post – the reason she had duplicate books of photos was that the first one didn't arrive until she'd complained and they sent another – then the original one arrived.

  77. Evening, all. Much milder today so I didn't freeze when coaching. We did pole work and achieved an improvement in straightness, which is gratifying. It's always good when a plan comes together and you actually achieve what you set out to do. Something that when I was teaching children modern languages so rarely happened!

    The threat to Israel's existence will persist while islam is allowed to flourish.

      1. Coaching dressage. The poles were to get the horse to lift her feet and encourage core strength.

    1. Imagine me choking on one of your dishes, and then you could laugh yourself to death.

      Seriously, whatever is troubling you needs more reflection because most problems can be resolved with suitable support.

    1. It's good that you let us know how you're feeling. I'm not sure we can do much to cheer you up, but we're on your side.

    3. Delete the post but not yourself. Can you imagine how staid this group would be without your irreverent and irrelevant comments.

      1. Not sure what the original post was, but if it involved “deleting one’s self”, I think it shouldn’t be considered. I have had some dark moments over the past few week’s with Mrs Bee’s deterioration and demise. Not everyone who takes that sort of action is successful and can be left with serious life changing injuries and disabilities. No matter how dark the day, there is another dawn.

          1. Yes, we have one of those electric photo frames and they evoke some wonderful memories. Went to see her today for the last time at the chapel of rest. Funeral in a fortnight.

          2. My prayers are with you as you mourn, and with you as you reflect.

            I hope the funeral is followed by a celebration of her life, and your lives together.

            And I hope it goes as well as she would have wished.

  82. Don't go yet! We like to see you here! Anyway, you're planning more get-togethers. You're too young to go yet.

    1. It would be nice to see you at one. I suppose the only way i could entice you would be to bring an elephant. I know the Lanesborough allows dogs.

    1. Amazon do next day delivery. Iceland do same day delivery. But then both those businesses are not hidebound by Unions. People still want to work for them though.

  84. Come on pull yer self together, we've all got our health problems Phizz. Keep the phizz going. We only get one chance at it matey. 🙂😉

  85. That's me for today. As I mentioned earlier, chilly. No sun which is very dispiriting.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain

      1. In this case I'm surprised you can't, it isn't behind a paywall and neither is the one above.

        1. He thinks the blue screen is a paywall – it invites you to either pay for ad-free access or allow the ads.

          1. I have an adblocker, I don't get that; and the escape key trick works a treat on the pay wall.

          3. I've just worked it out.
            The DM has an AI programme that seeks out lawyers, and bans them.

            Doesn't matter that they are kindly, friendly, cheap and hard working lawyers, they just take the easy option and block you all!

          8. Well – what's the difference? I don't WANT adverts. I refuse to pay for "free" access.

          10. None of us ‘want’ the adverts! But sometimes the stories are worth reading. You can kill the cookies before you leave, but then you have to allow them each time. You don’t have to pay.

          11. As much as I'd like ad-free, no-subscription access, I cannot envisage a sustainable model in which the provider foots the entire bill and the consumer pays nothing.

      2. There's no paywall – you just have to agree to their ads – which pop up all over the place in a very annoying way. I only read the story that is posted. Then remove cookies on the way out.

          1. Just click allow on the right hand side. The ads are annoying, so I just read the story as posted and leave.

          3. Well there you are then. No paywall and no ads. Mine probably needs updating because it doesn’t stop those annoying ones.

      3. Hooded thieves loaded bottle after bottle of wine into their Ikea bag-for-life as they crouched down in the aisle near the fridges to loot the booze, at Sainsbury's, on Wapping Lane, east London

        Workers helplessly watched on, as shocked shoppers filmed on their mobile phones

        As they left the store an onlooker who was recording said 'smile you're on camera'

        Sainsbury's have reported the first incident to police who are currently investigating.
        One local, Theresa, a retired nurse said: 'I'm going to try that tomorrow. And see how far I get.'

        Office of National Statistics figures reveal there were 469,788 incidents of shoplifting in England and Wales last year – a rise of 28 per cent on 2023.
        There has been a recent surge across London from middle-class shoplifters, with upmarket stores being frequent targets.
        Experts suggest a combination of financial pressures and a sense of entitlement may drive some of these incidents.

        Richard Fowler, who manages security at upmarket health food brand Planet Organic, said shoplifting at the Chiswick branch takes place 'every day' – and that 'posh totty' types are part of the problem.

        He claimed the brand loses a staggering £900,000 a year as a result of stealing. The chain has nine stores across London and claims all the products it sells are organic.

        Metropolitan Police figures show that 57,453 offences were reported across London last year – an increase from 38,157 in 2022.
        Criminals targeted the same supermarket only two weeks prior thieves emptied boxes of chocolate into bags.

        July was the most common month for shoplifting offences, research has found
        Watch relaxed M&S shoplifter casually stuff his bag with goods before shoving past staff to escape

        Emmeline Taylor, professor of criminology at City University, told the BBC: 'It's widely known that the police have been overstretched and under-resourced for over a decade.

        'It is not just about the number of police that have been taken off the streets, it's also the operational approach and the strategy.'

        Shoplifting has risen to the highest level on record, new data revealed in April this year.

        Retail bosses accused ministers of allowing shoplifting to become effectively decriminalised, with many police forces failing to attend the majority of reports and failing to gather any evidence when they do.

        Less than 40 per cent of shoplifting reports were attended by the Met between April 2022 and April 2023, figures revealed.

        Separate data suggests a similar – and often worse – situation in the rest of the country, with forces sending out an officer for just one in five calls related to shoplifting.

        1. That was my local Sainsbury's ! The only time i got into trouble was when it was my turn to do the shop and i bought pink toilet paper. My flat mates were not amused.

        2. Ah well the strict application of Sharia Law in due course put an instant stop to stealing from shops….

      1. Hardly, they report what's happening; the Labour Government ignore it, or possible even approve of it.

    4. This comment was under another link about Bonnie Blue. I was confused.
      "One local, Theresa, a retired nurse said: 'I'm going to try that tomorrow. And see how far I get."

      2. What surprises me about the sordid fuckathon is that the men queue, screw and spew in under a minute each.

        I'm no super-stud, but less than a minute???

        1. Reminds me of an old Woody Allen line. “Why do all my girlfriends say I’m a lousy lover? How can they make a definitive judgement in just three minutes”.

          1. One knows one is a lousy lover when she says, "For Gawd's sake get on with it add name of your favourite Nottler."

    2. This has nothing to do with normal people – it's just a deliberate degredation of society to the lowest level.

      2. The corruption of long established ideas in society and morality have been trashed by the progressive establishment. Be prepared for these people to suddenly find themselves with 'mental elf'. Evening BB 2, I have departed the country for a week to seek sunshine in North Africa.

    3. I don't get it. Why would any man want intercourse with a woman who had hundreds of men fuck her before they got their go? What about STD's FFS.

        1. Shame really, she probably still has a living Mum and Dad – I doubt they're massively proud…..
          She's a pretty girl but looks like just about every other young girl in the media… not good…..

          1. I suppose some parents would overlook that fact when she bought them a nice shiny big house.

          3. I think it's a bit like Ryanair. I use them from my local airport and travel to Malta. Never once had any problems. Fly from Leeds or Manchester and there are drunken brawls and fist fights. Screaming and all sorts of nonsense.

            I think it is a Northerner thing.

            Nods to Grizz

          4. Oi, I’m a Northerner – loud and proud Lancastrian (are there any other sort?).

            And I’ve only ever been chucked off one plane in my life, coming back from Corfu many years ago – but that’s a long story….

          6. I dont want to go into details on here but it was when I was at University, drink was involved (!) and fighting with locals, thought I'd got away with it but they hauled me off the bloody plane coming home! I ended up with a criminal record in Greece, got away with a fine and suspended sentence – returned a number of years later with my missus on a works event (I hadnt told her about it) and was bricking it in case they didnt let me in, fortunately it was no problem!

          7. Thank you for your candour.

            I think most people have regretful instances from their youth. I know i do. Lots !

          8. I’m reminded of G K Chesterton’s brilliant quote;

            ‘The follies of our youth are in retrospect glorious when compared to the follies of our old age.’

          9. A good quote but i think the follies of my youth steered me away from making those same mistakes again. I just made them more enjoyable.

        2. I scanned it but didn't read any detail. Strange how it makes Meghan Markle look good.

          I see with these sort of articles rape and sex abuse to rise. It also suggests to me to underline that white women are trash and deserve what they get from Paki rapists.

          Our minds are being fucked with…

    4. Woodpeckers think that holes are merely to be used. They're not fussy about the details.

  88. I know he's a plucky entrepreneur and genuinely loves Britain.. but thick or what?

    (Aside from the obv.. thinks it grand to be ruled by a Donald Tusk)
    Among the images are David Cameron, who he believes was a “great prime minister”..
    Charlie Mullins: 'Why I'm joining Farage to crush this nonsensical Labour Government'

      1. He does.. he just hasn't really grasped this geo-political thang.. even the most basic stuff. Like, er the notion of nationhood.

        1. And it's not a class thing either.. it's a bit like the undergraduate I see waving Queers for Palestine..

          2. I try to be a nice person but there is something about the green and purple haired mob where i would like to see what happens to them if the Palestinians are successful in their aims.

          4. My Tutor always wrote how popular i was. I wondered why because at lunch time i ate on my own.

      3. I have no doubt that "remainiacs" love Britain just as much, but in a different way.

        1. Given that the EU believes (it’s written on the wall in Brussels) that the “nation state is evil and must be destroyed”, I don’t think they love Britain at all since they will be signed up to its destruction.

    2. He's a strange looking hombre (does he wear make-up, ladies?), and he's a plumber.

      I suspect if you voted for him he'd never turn up and then charge you double what you agreed when he did…..

    1. Charlton, Law and Best – now all gone.

      They dont make them like that anymore…..and I'm not even a United supporter!

      1. In the present day environment, Law and Best would have been unplayable, as would Matthews.
        Defensive greats would have been carded out of the game, but attackers would be protected.
        Is the game better?
        Who knows; but I'm happy that I saw them at their peaks.

          2. Behave yourself! Sing along with the Swindon song… all together;

            When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin' along… along!

        1. Oh I dont know – Cole Palmer is so white he's almost translucent (as is Ben Foden) – and he's effing brilliant!

  91. I would like to apologise for my earlier post. We all have our own troubles and concerns. I was feeling at a loss and deflated. No need for me to burden you fine folk with me being in the doldrums.

    2. Ayup Pip the black dog visits us all from time to time we are all here to support each other if it gets that bad I'll come down and drink a bottle of Steve's home made brandy with you
      (That'll finish us both off) {:^))

      1. Thanks for that. You could help me get through the other hundred bottles if you want.

        Harry Kobeans said he was seeing bottles everywhere. Luckily he didn't open any of the sideboards !

    3. YOU, apologise??

      Blimey, you really are in the dumps.

      I hope you get happier soon.

      Kiss the dogs, they'll wag their tails and all will be well!

      Seriously, talk to your friends.

    4. Quite frankly, given the weather and the pound shop Lenin reducing this lovely country to a laughing stock, it is difficult to keep up a brave front.

    6. Just don’t go doing anything that with a sensible head on would be stupid, even if it seems sensible at the time.

    7. You know we're here for each other, Pip. Everybody gets down at some time or another. That's when we need our friends. I've not been at my best this last week for various reasons as I've mentioned.

          1. No it isn't. One of the things getting me down is erectile dysfunction you heartless bastard !

          1. I was crying with sadness and now i am crying with happiness.

            I think i prefer nose bleeds.

          2. Did you step on a rake or summat?

            They are promising something like minus twenty here on Tuesday night, that will give you z nose bleed if you go out in that.

          3. I can't imagine temps like that but i expect you are used to them and have stocked up.

            I did have a nose bleed recently which prompted me to call an ambulance as it wouldn't stop no matter what i did.

            They said it would be four hours. I do think that is now the standard response in the UK.

    8. That’s what we do, Phizzee! We’re just here, and will listen and be here some more.

    9. No worries Phiz I expect most of us feel like that now and again.
      Slayders matey.
      Chin up 👍

    12. I think you'll find that quite a few of us are languishing in the drolldums at the moment!

    14. When I was down in the dumps, I decided to buy a new suit to cheer myself up. They were cheaper there.

          1. As i am supposed to drink 3 litres of water a day i find a splash of vimto helps the medicine go down

          5. My tummy does vary during the week. The only night I exist totally on Guinness is Monday’s open mic night.

        1. You asked for it !

          Drinking a shandy in a dirty glass can result in a less enjoyable drink with a shorter-lasting foam head. A dirty glass can also impact the carbonation level of the beer.
          Why is a clean glass important?

          Taste: A dirty glass can make the beer taste less enjoyable.

          Foam head: A dirty glass can result in a shorter-lasting foam head.
          Carbonation: A dirty glass can impact the beer's carbonation level.
          Odor: A dirty glass can generate foul odors.

          How to tell if a glass is dirty?

          Bubbles: Bubbles clinging to the sides of the glass indicate that the glass is dirty.
          Residue: A dirty glass can have soap residue or other impurities.

      2. Hang on. How is Mrs Palfrey?

        (i’ve been taking advantage of my freedom by going out and drinking alcohol-free beer).

          1. 🙂 I waste time doing that. Then get cross with myself for wasting precious time being morose. And so it continues! This year of course will be different…..

    4. Of whisky? beyond even me G4…don't know why I'm receiving old messages, but good morning and have a good day x

  93. Well after my exhausting shopping trip (I think I've alreadt gotten out of the next one) today. I'm making my excuses and getting my usual 9 hours, with a bathroom break of course.
    Good night all 😴

      1. By the way, I've now seen the responses to your now deleted post. For what it's worth, your irreverent and funny postings are amongst the best on this forum. I no longer contribute in anything like the volume I once did, but you are one of the reasons I cannot keep away. I don't know what made you feel particularly downhearted today, although I'm aware of your prevailing ill health, but I do sincerely hope it was just a passing mood. Rest assured that amongst those things in life that give you purpose, your presence here is much appreciated.

      1. Thank you. Only one doggo now which is why I’ve been so down; it’s coming up to a year since I lost Oscar.

        1. I’m so sorry to read that…you’re not alone, Conway…just drop a line to any one of us here, if you feel like doing that x

          1. It hasn’t helped that two people have lost their dogs in the last week. Brings it all back.

          2. It does. I once had to have two dogs euthanised same appointment, and all bar one have been euthanised. They were all really upsetting, one in particular was such a grand dog – he just stopped eating, although he would hang over his food salivating, took him to different vets none understood it let alone recommended treatment, they thought a possible mental condition. I decided once he got to a certain weight with no sign of recovery, I would have him euthanised, and that’s what happened. Dogs…the best things…and then the worst…..take it easy, Conway, remember the good times….x

          3. All my dogs so far have had a one way trip to the vet. All, bar one which wasn’t really my dog, have had incurable illnesses. The exception was a psychopath foisted on me without consulting me. I tried everything I could to turn him round, but failed. For everybody’s safety I had to have him put to sleep. The only decision I’ve made with no regrets!

          4. I haven’t taken mine to vet for years. I think their charges are too high…place is often empty so I guess others find similar. He still has very poor digestion every so often, very runny 💩…possibly his age almost 15, have tried different foods, diets..seem good at first but then adjusts. I wonder what happened to the psycho dog in his past, or sometimes brain tumors can cause that, in humans too. All my life I’ve never known anything like the numbers of cancer cases today, all ages, all types. Anyhow, dog snoring head off so he’s ok for now. ‘Night Conway 😊

          5. Goodnight. The psycho dog had a very disturbed start. No socialisation. We were his last chance. Sadly, I failed him. I think, though, that he had a tumour (I didn’t have a post mortem). Sometimes when you looked in his eyes (they were very light, which I am not keen on in dogs anyway) he didn’t seem quite right.

          6. I’ve had a dog off to a bad start similarly, my husband chose it and was always his dog. It had a breadth between its eyes which suggested to me some staffie. Was eventually removed. Husband also tried with a greyhound ex racer, first thing it did was bite one of other dogs. Some are just beyond rehabilitation by the time they have a second chance, sad to say.

        2. You should be proud that you did your job. You outlived them. You took the pain of loss, rather than them taking the confusion and distress of of losing you.

    1. She looks quite pleased with herself, Phiz. This Kate possibly would too, 40 million reasons….

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