Friday 17 May: NHS whistleblowers and Britain’s pernicious culture of closing ranks

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

704 thoughts on “Friday 17 May: NHS whistleblowers and Britain’s pernicious culture of closing ranks”

      1. Afternoon pet, from very warm and sunny Central Scotland! 😘 Been to Alloa to see an old friend whose lovely husband Billy has been in a care home since an ‘incident’ last November, and there seems little prospect of him returning home. Alzheimer’s is a truly wicked disease. He’s only 72.

        1. That’s a shame Sue – the ‘long goodbye’ as I know only too well 😘

          1. Yes, it’s truly hellish. Like being bereaved when they’re still alive. An existence – but only just. 😘

  3. Good morning, chums, and a big Thank You to Geoff for today’s site.

    Today’s Wordle, which I did in three:

    Wordle 1,063 3/6

    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Three here

      Wordle 1,063 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done. 5 here.

      Wordle 1,063 5/6

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

      1. Another 5.
        Wordle 1,063 5/6

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

  4. Good Morning.13C Sun and blue sky, little wind. on the Sussex coast.

      1. Apparently a biological female now identifying as male so not your run-of-the mill transgender sex offender.

  7. NHS whistleblowers and Britain’s pernicious culture of closing ranks

    No different from how anyone else is treated that tries to tell the truth in any other institution.

    1. “And how are the tractor productions stats, Comrade?”

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/16/nhs-demanded-fingerprints-from-staff-in-whistleblower-hunt/

      “NHS demanded fingerprints from staff as it hunted whistleblower

      Consultant says she will ‘never be the same again’ after being hounded by managers who also insisted that she provide handwriting samples

      Gordon Rayner, 16 May 2024 • 9:00pm

      NHS bosses hunting a whistleblower demanded fingerprints from a doctor who has warned that medics “don’t stand a chance” if they raise concerns.

      Patricia Mills, a consultant in anaesthetics and critical care, said she would “never be the same again” after being hounded by managers who also demanded handwriting samples from her.

      They were trying to identify the author of a letter sent to a widower that made claims about one of the staff involved in the care of his late wife, who died at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds in 2018.

      A report commissioned by NHS England found that the hospital’s request for fingerprints from staff was “incendiary” and unprecedented. The hospital’s chief executive later resigned over what was described at the time as a “witch hunt”.

      Doctors want the Government to create a new criminal offence of causing detriment to whistleblowers after accusing NHS managers of targeting them for daring to speak up.

      It comes as other whistleblowers accused the NHS of “protecting” managers who have been criticised for their handling of patient safety warnings. Many have been given other senior roles in the health service.

      The Telegraph has highlighted concerns raised by more than 50 doctors who say they were targeted after sounding the alarm about upwards of 170 patient deaths and almost 700 patient harms, though the true number of avoidable deaths has been described as “astronomical” by one consultant.

      Instead of trying to address problems that might be putting patients at risk, the whistleblowers claim NHS bosses are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money hiring law firms and private eyes to investigate them.

      Dr Mills was one of several staff whom bosses at West Suffolk Hospital wanted to fingerprint after an anonymous letter was sent to Jon Warby, whose wife, Susan, died after surgery on a perforated bowel.

      The letter alleged a cover-up by the hospital of an anaesthetist involved in Mrs Warby’s surgery, claiming he had “injected himself with drugs…while in charge of a patient and it was all hushed up”. The author of the letter has never been named.

      Those who refused to hand over fingerprints claim they were told by the trust that “refusal to provide consent or refusal to provide an adequate rationale could be considered as evidence that the individual was involved in writing the letter”.

      Dr Mills – who refused to be fingerprinted or give a handwriting sample – told The Telegraph that the action taken by West Suffolk NHS Trust caused her to become unwell, as she feared she could lose her career.

      She said whistleblowers “absolutely don’t stand a chance” against the power of NHS managers, who often spent vast sums of public money investigating the whistleblowers themselves.

      Dr Mills told The Telegraph: “I was off work at the time for six months. I’ve never, ever had any time off work, ever. It made me very unwell.

      “I will never be the same again,” she said, adding that: “But it wasn’t just me. It had a profound effect on everyone who was persecuted, really, by their employer. I wasn’t the only one, there were several others.”

      Dr Mills contacted the National Guardian’s Office, the body set up to ensure health and care employers comply with whistleblowing protections, to ask for help challenging the trust’s demand for her fingerprints, but described their response as “literally useless”.

      A report into the matter commissioned by NHS England later stated: “The requests for fingerprints were incendiary. No evidence was produced to me that fingerprinting had previously been used in the NHS in a potential disciplinary investigation such as this, where the police had already confirmed that there was no evidence that a criminal act had been committed.”

      It said the trust’s pursuit of the whistleblower had lacked “fairness, balance and compassion” and was “disproportionate and inappropriate”.

      Steve Dunn, the trust’s chief executive at the time, resigned after the hunt for the whistleblower was made public in 2020. Dr Mills continues to work at the trust.

      Dr Mills believes she was able to return to work because, unusually, her case led to senior executives losing their jobs.

      The whistleblower is calling for the way NHS managers are assessed to be reformed.

      She said: “I think there’s a very good case for a ‘fit and proper persons’ test deciding that if you have persecuted someone who has raised patient safety concerns, then there’s no place for you in the NHS.”

      An inquest into the death of Mrs Warby concluded that the anaesthetist named in the letter was not directly responsible for her death.

      Dr Ewen Cameron, chief executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We accept full responsibility and have apologised to the staff and family affected by the failings surrounding the whistleblowing case…

      “Whilst we’ve come a long way, we know there is more to do.”

      Justice for Doctors, a group for whistleblowers founded during the pandemic and has held regular online meetings ever since, held its first in-person patient safety conference on Thursday at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

      Salam Al-Sam, the group’s founder, told attendees that the persecution of whistleblowers was a “system failure” in the NHS, where a “fear culture” stopped many people from speaking up.

      Responding to The Telegraph’s investigation, Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said on Thursday: “The ability for professionals to report their concerns, to me, is a vital part of ensuring that our healthcare system meets the needs of patients and indeed of other staff members.” “

      1. The only incentive in business these days is the directors’ bonus. All else is subordinate to this Prime Objective.

        This is the world we voted for, it seems. Any other consideration has been rubbished by influential think tanks and their lobbyists.

    2. “And how are the tractor productions stats, Comrade?”

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/16/nhs-demanded-fingerprints-from-staff-in-whistleblower-hunt/

      “NHS demanded fingerprints from staff as it hunted whistleblower

      Consultant says she will ‘never be the same again’ after being hounded by managers who also insisted that she provide handwriting samples

      Gordon Rayner, 16 May 2024 • 9:00pm

      NHS bosses hunting a whistleblower demanded fingerprints from a doctor who has warned that medics “don’t stand a chance” if they raise concerns.

      Patricia Mills, a consultant in anaesthetics and critical care, said she would “never be the same again” after being hounded by managers who also demanded handwriting samples from her.

      They were trying to identify the author of a letter sent to a widower that made claims about one of the staff involved in the care of his late wife, who died at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds in 2018.

      A report commissioned by NHS England found that the hospital’s request for fingerprints from staff was “incendiary” and unprecedented. The hospital’s chief executive later resigned over what was described at the time as a “witch hunt”.

      Doctors want the Government to create a new criminal offence of causing detriment to whistleblowers after accusing NHS managers of targeting them for daring to speak up.

      It comes as other whistleblowers accused the NHS of “protecting” managers who have been criticised for their handling of patient safety warnings. Many have been given other senior roles in the health service.

      The Telegraph has highlighted concerns raised by more than 50 doctors who say they were targeted after sounding the alarm about upwards of 170 patient deaths and almost 700 patient harms, though the true number of avoidable deaths has been described as “astronomical” by one consultant.

      Instead of trying to address problems that might be putting patients at risk, the whistleblowers claim NHS bosses are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money hiring law firms and private eyes to investigate them.

      Dr Mills was one of several staff whom bosses at West Suffolk Hospital wanted to fingerprint after an anonymous letter was sent to Jon Warby, whose wife, Susan, died after surgery on a perforated bowel.

      The letter alleged a cover-up by the hospital of an anaesthetist involved in Mrs Warby’s surgery, claiming he had “injected himself with drugs…while in charge of a patient and it was all hushed up”. The author of the letter has never been named.

      Those who refused to hand over fingerprints claim they were told by the trust that “refusal to provide consent or refusal to provide an adequate rationale could be considered as evidence that the individual was involved in writing the letter”.

      Dr Mills – who refused to be fingerprinted or give a handwriting sample – told The Telegraph that the action taken by West Suffolk NHS Trust caused her to become unwell, as she feared she could lose her career.

      She said whistleblowers “absolutely don’t stand a chance” against the power of NHS managers, who often spent vast sums of public money investigating the whistleblowers themselves.

      Dr Mills told The Telegraph: “I was off work at the time for six months. I’ve never, ever had any time off work, ever. It made me very unwell.

      “I will never be the same again,” she said, adding that: “But it wasn’t just me. It had a profound effect on everyone who was persecuted, really, by their employer. I wasn’t the only one, there were several others.”

      Dr Mills contacted the National Guardian’s Office, the body set up to ensure health and care employers comply with whistleblowing protections, to ask for help challenging the trust’s demand for her fingerprints, but described their response as “literally useless”.

      A report into the matter commissioned by NHS England later stated: “The requests for fingerprints were incendiary. No evidence was produced to me that fingerprinting had previously been used in the NHS in a potential disciplinary investigation such as this, where the police had already confirmed that there was no evidence that a criminal act had been committed.”

      It said the trust’s pursuit of the whistleblower had lacked “fairness, balance and compassion” and was “disproportionate and inappropriate”.

      Steve Dunn, the trust’s chief executive at the time, resigned after the hunt for the whistleblower was made public in 2020. Dr Mills continues to work at the trust.

      Dr Mills believes she was able to return to work because, unusually, her case led to senior executives losing their jobs.

      The whistleblower is calling for the way NHS managers are assessed to be reformed.

      She said: “I think there’s a very good case for a ‘fit and proper persons’ test deciding that if you have persecuted someone who has raised patient safety concerns, then there’s no place for you in the NHS.”

      An inquest into the death of Mrs Warby concluded that the anaesthetist named in the letter was not directly responsible for her death.

      Dr Ewen Cameron, chief executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We accept full responsibility and have apologised to the staff and family affected by the failings surrounding the whistleblowing case…

      “Whilst we’ve come a long way, we know there is more to do.”

      Justice for Doctors, a group for whistleblowers founded during the pandemic and has held regular online meetings ever since, held its first in-person patient safety conference on Thursday at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

      Salam Al-Sam, the group’s founder, told attendees that the persecution of whistleblowers was a “system failure” in the NHS, where a “fear culture” stopped many people from speaking up.

      Responding to The Telegraph’s investigation, Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said on Thursday: “The ability for professionals to report their concerns, to me, is a vital part of ensuring that our healthcare system meets the needs of patients and indeed of other staff members.” “

    1. Ah, the man who would polish off the United Kingdom?

      Good morning Anne And All

      1. Goodness, I thought, is he still alive? He must be in the House of Lords by now. He was old when he turned up at the 1966 World Cup.

        I had to look him up, and sadly he went to a Place that is forever British in 1993, aged only 82.

    4. What is wrong with his hair? It looks as if it’s covered in glue or wax.

  9. Russia expels British military attache in tit-for-tat move. 17 May 2024.

    Russia has ordered the expulsion of the UK’s military attache after a similar move by British authorities last week, as Cold War-style tensions rise between London and Moscow.

    In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the Russian foreign ministry ordered Capt Adrian Coghill to leave the country.

    “The defence attache at the British Embassy in Moscow, AT Coghill, has been declared persona non grata. He must leave the territory of the Russian Federation within a week,” it said.

    I long ago ceased to laugh at this juvenile diplomatic tit for tat. Does anyone seriously believe that their replacements will be any the less offensive than their predecessors?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/16/russia-expels-british-military-attache-in-tit-for-tat-move/

    1. You know it can get serious when the Diplomats start to fly…..

      Morning Minty…

  10. Apart from the ambassador handing out drinks and nibbles. that is what embassy staff are for.

    1. There are two separate issues being discussed here, and they should not be confused.

      As regards the appalling Equality Act, I see no prospect for any of the political parties on offer to the electorate with any realistic possibility of forming a government doing any different to each other. They operate as a political cartel, with a consensus the public must like or lump. It is what passes for democracy since the New Order cut its teeth on the Equal [edited to correct] Marriage Act ten years ago.

      As for the Windsor Framework, I am more generous. The fact is that Michel Barnier and numerous skilled operatives in the EU spotted that Ireland has put the British in an impossible bind. The special relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the UK dates back a century, well before both were EU members. Since the Republic is now in the EU and the UK is not, then how on earth does one sustain this special relationship, and a termination of it runs the real risk of The Troubles returning to Northern Ireland? Cobbling up a compromise seems the only way to deal with it.

      I trust Keir Starmer, who was Shadow Brexit Secretary during the chaos in 2019, even less than I do Rishi Sunak.

      1. The point the author makes quite rightly is the Tories have the power to address the issues but don’t.

        1. Indeed, but I recall my own father had this stock response each time I moaned to him about the state of the world “well, what are you going to do about it then?”.

          2. People elected the Tories because they thought they would do something about it.

          3. The fatal disease took hold of the Conservative Party when Dave ‘Call me Cancer’ Cameron became the party leader.

    2. There are two separate issues being discussed here, and they should not be confused.

      As regards the appalling Equality Act, I see no prospect for any of the political parties on offer to the electorate with any realistic possibility of forming a government doing any different to each other. They operate as a political cartel, with a consensus the public must like or lump. It is what passes for democracy since the New Order cut its teeth on the Equal [edited to correct] Marriage Act ten years ago.

      As for the Windsor Framework, I am more generous. The fact is that Michel Barnier and numerous skilled operatives in the EU spotted that Ireland has put the British in an impossible bind. The special relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the UK dates back a century, well before both were EU members. Since the Republic is now in the EU and the UK is not, then how on earth does one sustain this special relationship, and a termination of it runs the real risk of The Troubles returning to Northern Ireland? Cobbling up a compromise seems the only way to deal with it.

      I trust Keir Starmer, who was Shadow Brexit Secretary during the chaos in 2019, even less than I do Rishi Sunak.

  13. Morning all.

    Just in from the British Friends of Israel:

    Dear Mr Tom Armstrong,
    We’re delighted to share an article by Nimrod Palmach, the hero IDF reservist who disobeyed orders to drive south to fight Hamas on 7th October. Together with other Israeli soldiers he saved many lives. Since then he has created a Virtual Reality experience, “Survived to tell“, which invites people to witness the truth and develop empathy. This is his story in his own words.

    From the Frontlines to the Classroom – Turning Tragedy into Teachable Moments through Virtual Reality
    by Nimrod Palmach

    When I woke up on 7th October, I didn’t know it was “October 7” — a day that would test my deepest convictions and change my life. As the CEO of ISRAEL-is, an NGO dedicated to harnessing the power of young people to advance peace through authentic stories, I found myself suddenly thrust into the very essence of our mission under the most harrowing circumstances.
    Responding to a sudden call, I raced toward escalating smoke at the Nova festival armed only with a pistol, where I was soon faced with a critical decision: proceed as a concerned father, a leader of an NGO that promotes Israel’s positive image, or as an IDF soldier. Ultimately, I recorded a farewell video for my children, acknowledging the possibility of death, and plunged into the fray.

    Watch the trailer https://www.israel-is.org/en/survived-to-tell/

    Minutes after donning an armed vest from an injured soldier, a bullet struck me in the center of my chest. The vest saved my life. For the next 15 hours, I fought against hundreds of terrorists, preventing them from overrunning Kibbutz Alumim and saving countless lives. The battlefield was a grim tableau of death and destruction where, for the first nine hours, I saw no signs of life – only the dismembered and tortured remains of victims. It was a scene so horrific, I doubted anyone would believe my account.

    During a brief moment of respite when I was pinned down in Kibbutz Be’eri, I pondered how to convey the horrors I witnessed. Collecting three stones as mementos, I resumed fighting, these small rocks a tangible connection to the ordeal. The physical wounds from the battle healed, but the emotional scars lingered, fuelling a determination to share our stories on a scale never before attempted.

    Collaborating with award-winning producer Stephen Smith, who was the executive director of the Shoah Foundation (Steven Spielberg), we developed a platform integrating VR and AI, enabling people virtually to stand where we stood, to hear and see our experiences. This technology is not merely about innovation: it serves a profound purpose. Virtual reality provides an immersive experience that traditional film cannot, challenging the denial and misinformation surrounding the events of 7th October by placing viewers directly into the scenes we lived. This format not only counters false narratives but also fosters a deeper empathy and connection with the audience.

    Our initiative began as an Instagram page and evolved into a series of VR experiences that narrate our survival and challenge the denial surrounding these terrorist attacks. We chose London for the global launch in an effort to respond to a significant increase in antisemitic incidents, setting the stage for impactful encounters with key figures including Nicola Richards MP and Suella Braverman MP.

    This alarming trend underscores the urgency of our mission and the need for a platform that can effectively counteract these narratives of hate through education and empathy. As we expand this initiative across global campuses, it becomes particularly poignant. The VR glasses are not merely educational tools, they are bridges to understanding in places marred by antisemitic protests and rising hatred. Today’s youth are our future, and by immersing them in the reality of our experiences, we hope to inspire a more informed, empathetic and proactive approach to combating hate in all its forms.

    “Survived to Tell” is more than a recounting of survival: it is a call to witness, learn, and most importantly, empathise. This project aims to spark a global dialogue rooted in empathy and the recognition of our shared humanity. It’s not just our story – it’s a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, the imperative to remember and the enduring power of hope.

    Through this endeavour we not only aim to educate, we also aspire to inspire a worldwide movement grounded in empathy and understanding, proving that even from the depths of despair, the human spirit can rise to teach and heal.

    If you would like to book a “Survived to tell” VR experience and delegation of survivors at a campus please contact Nimrod Palmach, CEO of ISRAEL-is at STT@israel-is.org.

    Find out more at ISRAEL-is.
    Sign up to receive articles from British Friends of Israel by email.
    Could you support British Friends of Israel? We are a not-for-profit company set up by volunteers in the wake of the horrific Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Please donate whatever you feel you can afford to support content, events and this website.

    You may at any time unsubscribe from this list.

    1. ”the hero IDF reservist who disobeyed orders to drive south to fight” ??? Orders?

  15. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) Poem

    ALMIGHTY THEN…

    There was a small church in Texas that had a very big-busted organist. Her breasts were so huge that they inadvertently bounced and jiggled the entire time she played the organ. Unfortunately, she distracted most of the congregation considerably, both male and female.

    The very proper (and not nearly so blessed) church ladies were appalled. They insisted something had to be done about this or they would have to get another organist.

    So, one of the ladies approached her, very discreetly, and told her to mash up some green persimmons and rub them on the nipples of her breasts and maybe they would shrink in size. She warned her to not eat any of the green persimmons, “…because they are so sour they will
    make your mouth pucker up and you won’t be able to talk properly for a week!”

    The perky organist agreed to try rubbing the persimmons on her nipples.

    The following Sunday morning the vicar got up in the pulpit and said….
    “Dew to thir cumsthanthis bewond my contwol, we will not haff a thermon tewday.

    1. Your amusing story is spoiled by the fact that these days the vicar would almost certainly be either female or gay!

      2. Wasn’t there a story going round a while back about Ukrainian President Zelenskyy playing the instrument with his organ?

      3. This disgraceful limerick has lost something since female priests invaded the CofE.

        There was a young lady from Looe,
        Who said as the bishop withdrew,
        “The vicar is quicker,
        And slicker and thicker
        And two inches longer than you.”

  17. Good morning all and the 77th,

    Bright and sunny at McPhee Towers, wind in the South, 11℃ but it’s going to be 20℃ later. Apologies for absence yesterday, I had a lot to do.

    This could just be the beginning. Pray it catches on all over the country and it’s the beginning of the end of party politics.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac32a395d92962a48c5dcc7c1c6ec39fa37c775ebab7444bc850d4fc1a1d51fa.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/16/canvey-island-fully-independent-council-sent-tories-warning/

    1. I think that sums it all up.
      If they haven’t realised how they have effed up everything by now they never will.
      And that so over used pointless lie. “Working Hard”. They wouldn’t have a clue what hard work actually is.
      Working hard claiming expenses. Is about as close as it gets.

          1. Weird… the uptick count is four, yet there are seven names when you hover over the thumb symbol.

  18. Good morning all and the 77th,

    Bright and sunny at McPhee Towers, wind in the South, 11℃ but it’s going to be 20℃ later. Apologies for absence yesterday, I had a lot to do.

    This could just be the beginning. Pray it catches on all over the country and it’s the beginning of the end of party politics.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac32a395d92962a48c5dcc7c1c6ec39fa37c775ebab7444bc850d4fc1a1d51fa.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/16/canvey-island-fully-independent-council-sent-tories-warning/

  19. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start, after a warm night.
    But as the old saying goes. ‘Ner’ shed a clout ’till May is out’.
    Closing ranks brings all the slime bags together in one place. Time to pounce.
    Garden day today cutting back lawn edges.
    It does tend to make it look well cared for. And encourage comments.
    I might even cut the grass in the back garden so I can sit down all weekend and stare at it. As one does 🤗🤭

    1. It was sunny earlier but has clouded over already. Not happy about that. It rained all afternoon yesterday as well, but at least the wisteria is looking nice.

      1. Lovely, but i know how you feel SW.
        But it’s green, which is nice. 🤗😉

    2. Don’t forget your smug expression as you listen to your neighbours mucking up their weekends mowing grass.

    2. 387553 +up ticks,

      Morning FM,
      The burning question is ” will the intended,
      morally illegal, invaders camp” blend in, and more to the point will they, the foreign invaders be happy with their surroundings ?

  21. 387553+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    These past four decades via the polling stations the peoples
    either knowingly, or thoughtless stupidity / misguided loyalty to a false party name, have been giving succour / support to a
    lethal form of political rabbit.

    Who in turn spreads treachery & mayhem through fear and rapid multiplication throughout the Kingdom by giving access
    and freedom of the Country to their foreign counterparts.

    The peoples have allowed the NHS / political top rankers to become wagon circulars of great renowned

    Friday 17 May: NHS whistleblowers and Britain’s pernicious culture of closing ranks

    Currently supporting / voting lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella coalition party, is on par with “doing a kim philby” by putting whistleblowers lives in jeopardy

    2. Starmer’s pledges are as much substance as water held in a cupped hand .

      1. Be careful when sailing in that part of the world. You wouldn’t want your boat to end up as a statistic on that Isles of Scilly shipwreck chart.
        😉

        BTW Did Henry approve of it?

      2. Aircrew humour:
        I was a very new, young member of a 10 man Shackleton crew returning to our base at St Eval. I was operating the radar and we were approaching the Sevenstones lightship when:
        “Captain to Radar, have you got sevenstones?”
        “Affirmative, Captain”:
        “Then stick six of them up your a**e”
        LONG SILENCE
        “Captain to Radar, you’re not offended are you?”
        “Uh, no Captain”
        “Then stick the other one up your a**e”

  23. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06ba7f1d73916e5b59ca36efc7bdb04b1646c1c032985af384665c67198e03f7.jpg

    Good morning everyone . This Is a picture of a young happy Audrey Hepburn – it’s also the complete image of my mother ( and I resemble my mum – both of them ) . It wouldve been my Mother’s birthday today – I don’t keep pictures of my family around the cottage – I keep photo’s packed away in the attic – whereas I know most keep photo’s in rooms – I find it too sad . But I can look at this picture of someone who was’nt my mother and I can see my mother in the features and smile of this other lady and I can smile back at the picture.

    1. We have a long dresser in the library upon which we place a mass of framed family photos and our many albums are in the cupboards below. We also have a drawer full of photos which have not yet found their way into albums. I find their presence reassuring.

      We also have several albums in our Student House which has group photos of every student group which has been to us going back to 1990. (We are probably now on our final album)

    2. I’m planning a rogues gallery for family pictures. Not many family, so more of a corner than a gallery.

  24. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06ba7f1d73916e5b59ca36efc7bdb04b1646c1c032985af384665c67198e03f7.jpg

    Good morning everyone . This Is a picture of a young happy Audrey Hepburn – it’s also the complete image of my mother ( and I resemble my mum – both of them ) . It wouldve been my Mother’s birthday today – I don’t keep pictures of my family around the cottage – I keep photo’s packed away in the attic – whereas I know most keep photo’s in rooms – I find it too sad . But I can look at this picture of someone who was’nt my mother and I can see my mother in the features and smile of this other lady and I can smile back at the picture.

  25. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06ba7f1d73916e5b59ca36efc7bdb04b1646c1c032985af384665c67198e03f7.jpg

    Good morning everyone . This Is a picture of a young happy Audrey Hepburn – it’s also the complete image of my mother ( and I resemble my mum – both of them ) . It wouldve been my Mother’s birthday today – I don’t keep pictures of my family around the cottage – I keep photo’s packed away in the attic – whereas I know most keep photo’s in rooms – I find it too sad . But I can look at this picture of someone who was’nt my mother and I can see my mother in the features and smile of this other lady and I can smile back at the picture.

  26. Good morning, all. A fine start to a day that is forecast to be dry.

    Francis Collins, once the doyen of the USA’s health community (head of NIH), has admitted that there was no scientific proof or evidence for the efficacy of ‘social distancing’. Slowly the curtain covering up the CV-19 scam is being drawn back to expose what for many, will be a very unpalatable truth.

    Here, Natalie Winters, executive editor of the War Room reports from 5 minutes 45 seconds in.

    War Room – Natalie Winters Reports on Francis Collins

  27. I must be off- Ive an appointment with the dental hygenist, Im sure they enjoy scraping teeth and digging gums with sharp instruments .

    1. Complain ! It doesn’t have to be painful. A little discomfort yes. They have gels which they can apply to give a partial numbing effect.

      1. I’m just leaving, ill do so Pip.
        Are you watching Masterchef, like myself?
        Anyway I must dash, I shall treat myself to a rather nice brunch when out in town afterwards.. even it makes my teeth grubby 😁

        1. Yes i am. Shame about Mary but someone has to go. I have been making notes throughout the series of some dishes and techniques.

          Singapore. Marina Bay Sands next.

          1. I do the same, get lots of ideas from masterchef, it was a shame about Mary but I think she was content to be going. Someone else will be going after Singapore – it’s 3 in the final and I cannot guess who’d be next to go . I very much like to Watch Masterchef the Professionals with Marcus Waring – he had some travelling cookery thing on TV recently but I missed it.

          2. Marcus Wareing simply Provence. It’s on iplayer. I am enjoying it.

            I watch them all too. I even like the celebrity one though it can be tedious at the beginning because they are all doing their schtick. Once it gets going and serious i like watching how they progress and flower.

            My money is on Chris.

  28. 387553+ up ticks,

    Dt
    NHS bosses who cost taxpayers millions with pursuit of whistleblowers are ‘protected’

    Funny that the GESTAPO in their time of being active were granted the same ” untouchable”mantle.

  29. Good morning all.
    Overcast above, but clear towards the south with 10°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    2. Well done.
      Shame they weren’t ‘ahead of game’ when Notre Dame was set alight..

    3. Good morning,
      Even if our police were routinely armed, they’d risk being arrested and imprisoned for carrying out such a necessary and highly justified action.

  31. To introduce a serious note.
    Has anyone heard from Damask Rose?
    She hasn’t posted for some time and I know her health isn’t good.

      2. I seem to remember that Pretty Polly was on TCW a couple of days ago.

    2. She sometimes posts on The Conservative Woman but I can’t remember when she last posted.

    3. She is ok, Anne. She is busy with projects and is taking a rest from social media.

  32. That reminds me of the mid 70s Morphet Vale just south of Adelaide. The noisy lawn mower competition every weekend.

  34. France is spiralling out of control. 17 May 2024.

    The cold-blooded execution of two prison guards at a Normandy motorway toll on Tuesday has shocked France. It is for many commentators and politicians incontrovertible evidence of the ‘Mexicanisation’ of the Republic.

    Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has told the escaped prisoner and his accomplices that they will be hunted down and punished, but it better be done quickly. With every passing hour that they remain at liberty it reinforces the image of a state that, in the words of Senator Bruno Retailleau, ‘has lost control’.

    Coming here soon! Courtesy of Westminster.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/france-is-spiralling-out-of-control/

    1. 387553+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      Via the political / pharmaceutical recent killing fields campaign, already in play in the
      United Kingdome, tis my belief.

      In all things WEF / NWO I believe us to be world leaders.

    2. ‘Mexicanisation’ of the Republic.?
      I think they mean Islamification of the Republic.

      The name of the escaped prisoner is Mohammed.

    3. What are the chances that the perpetrators are bearded and of a Levantine appearance? 100%?

    4. Hi Minty
      An execution is a sentence of death carried out on a condemned person. The prison guards were murdered!

  35. 387553+ up ticks,

    Lest we forget,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    13h

    Today Geert Wilders forms a coalition government for The Netherlands. An historic moment.

    As an MEP I invited Wilders to the Euro Parl to show his film Fitna – which the Parl would not allow.

    Farage refused to meet him or shake his hand. Remember that when Farage postures on GB News.

    1. That was certainly a very grave error of judgement by Nigel Farage. I wonder if he will have the necessary strength of character to admit it.

      But of course Farage’s greatest mistake was to give in to Johnson in 2019 getting nothing in return which then led on to a totally bodged Brexit.

    2. Grammar Police intervention:

      It is ‘A’ historic moment, Gerard, not ‘an‘ . Historic is aspirated. Only four words: hour, heir, honour and honest — and their unaspirated derivatives — demand an ‘an’ as their associated indefinite article.

      Although a handful of British ‘authorities’ still accept ‘an’, these antiquities now form a massively tiny minority.

      👍🏻😉

      1. 387553+ up ticks,

        Morning G

        His grammer may be poor but as a 1000% patriot he cannot be faulted.

        2. If his grammer is poor, why doesn’t he go around to see the old dear and take her a dish of hot soup?😉

      2. Or, if you are a Yank, herb.

        Whilst I get annoyed about the Yanks’ mangling of our language, I have to remember it is largely more authentic than ours…by which I mean, the words they use (and how they pronounce them) were also used by us in the 17th century.

        2. Exactly. The bloody innovators and manglers of classical English, if we can refer to it that way, are the British. In particular the innovation of posturing Frenchifying, in English, due to Victorian snobbery, hence the absurd ‘centre’ when it is correctly spelled by the Americans in its original form as ‘center’ the way the English speaking peoples actually pronounce it. And lets not get onto the English laziness with the letter R’ amongst other things. It’s golf folks not gof.

      3. Or, if you are a Yank, herb.

        Whilst I get annoyed about the Yanks’ mangling of our language, I have to remember it is largely more authentic than ours…by which I mean, the words they use (and how they pronounce them) were also used by us in the 17th century.

      4. Christo did not make himself popular with his teacher in primary school when he, Christo, corrected his teacher’s mispronunciation of les haricots because he failed to aspirate the h. Imagine how pissed off the teacher was to be quite correctly corrected on his French by a little English boy of seven years old!

        Le h de «haricot» est «aspiré». En cela, il interdit la liaison et «impose que ce mot soit prononcé disjoint de celui qui le précède». Et ce, au singulier comme au pluriel. Ainsi, on prononce «le haricot» et non pas «l’haricot» ; «les/ haricots» et non «les-z-haricots»; «un beau haricot» et non «un bel haricot»

          2. Back in the 1960s there was a popular German song with a similar title – Einen Bohnen in den Ohren – or some such. A completely different song which I have often search for but without success.

        2. I love the Google translation of your quotation:

          The h in “bean” is “sucked.” In this, he prohibits the connection and “requires that this word be pronounced separately from the one that precedes it”. And this, in the singular as well as the plural. . . .

        3. I love the Google translation of your quotation:

          The h in “bean” is “sucked.” In this, he prohibits the connection and “requires that this word be pronounced separately from the one that precedes it”. And this, in the singular as well as the plural. . . .

    3. Hi Ogga! Was thrilled to read about Wilders success, a long time coming and thoroughly deserved. Lets hope his success is the beginning of a trend for all of Europe against Islamification.

      1. 387553+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,
        Agreed with bells on, I do wish Gerard Batten would become a figurehead even of a new party, he has the magnetic pull in regards to decent peoples, as farage recognised.

        1. He pops up every now and then on You Tube but that’s about it. Do you know what he is doing?

  36. The French military have a plan to deal with it. It would upset the EU, ECHR and woke crowds so the politicians won’t order it.

  37. Mornings, all Y’all.
    Constitution Day in Norway. Whole country is all dressed up and going to party pretty well all day. Beautiful weather, too!
    Gratulerer med Dagen, Norge!

      1. Not in yer Weegie. “Happy Birthday”, as it represents the birth of Norway as an independent nation. So, Gratulerer med Dagen!

  38. Voice of a city Klopp always spoke mind

    Daily Telegraph, 17 May, 2024.

    Jurgen Klopp, Scouseland’s favourite Hun (who was given the freedom of the place) has now left and buggered off back to Deutschland. He was just as gobby, ill-informed and Left-winged as the natural Pinko Scouser is. Here are some of his ‘sound-bites’ (vacuous utterances).

    On Donald Trump and Boris Johnson: “The last two elections, with Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, that’s really a bad sign for the whole world”.

    On Brexit: “It makes no sense at all”.

    On Covid and anti-vaxxers: “It is a little bit like drink driving. I don’t take the vaccination only to protect me, I take the vaccination to protect all the people around me”.

    On welfare state: “I believe in the welfare state. I’m not privately insured”.

    Off you piss then, back to the EU, you gormless, socialist Kraut. Your homeland deserves you.

    1. Are you sure that woman is Pakistani? They’re all Muslims and we can see her hair.

      1. One of my first girlfriends was a Pakistani from Bradford. I saw all her hair too Squire! Taught me a lot that lass.

        1. Dianne-the-Ex’s youngest son, Jack, married Sadhiya (Sadz), from a Bradford-based Pakistani family. She’s educated, totally Westernised, much to the disgust of her family, and utterly likeable. Both are now happily living and teaching in Bangkok.

      2. Many upper class Pakistani’s are very Westernized. I often wonder how they live. I assume in enclaves of sorts away from the backwardness of Pakistan in general?

  40. Righty-ho, I’m off tae bother the troots on the upper Hampshire Avon – which is actually in Wiltshire.

    This is where you’ll find me until this evening.

      1. Beautiful clear water .

        There are stretches of the Piddle that are similar to that , the trout just lazily glide in the shallows .

    1. Only a bunch of complete idiots would have made a desicion like that.
      It can’t be allowed to happen.

      1. Even worse than that was squeezing past the radome and crawling up the intake of a Lightning to inspect the compressor blades and some twat in the cockpit testing the (Ignition) crackers

  43. Good morning all

    Dank weather here , might brighten later 12 c

    We have water again, plumber reappeared yesterday morning to fix the leak in the garage .

    Wessex water also came out to look at the stop cock at the bottom of the driveway , they will sort things in a week or so, meanwhile the water pressure is very low , more than a dribble .

    Moh has cleared off to golf , says there is nothing wrong with the pressure , huh, he will have a shock when he has a shower later .

    3. She was so happy in her job that she whiled the day away singing Strawberry Fair.

      ♬”Ri-fol, Ri-fol, Tol-de-riddle-li-do
      Ri-fol, Ri-fol, Tol-de-riddle-dee…”♬

    2. Most of them look like they live up trees anyway so they’re pulling down accommodation

    3. The (African) shoebill Balaeniceps rex, also known as the whalebill, whale-headed stork, and shoe-billed stork, is a large long-legged wading bird. It derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill.

      As a child I was fascinated by these as well as the equally strange (Eurasian) spoonbill Platalea leucorodia which now occurs in small numbers in the UK and which I have seen at Cley-Next-The-Sea in Norfolk.

  46. Morning to all. A nice day here in West Sussex. Two videos to start off with. First is a lesson on what happens to a Christian nation once Islam takes hold. The second is about how to start a revolution by Matt Goodwin. To my mind this video is a lesson about how to prevent the lesson in the first video.
    HOW ISLAMISTS OVERRAN MY COUNTRY LEBANON – BRIGITTE GABRIEL
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhiytelX6-A

    How to Start a Revolution: The POWER of RADICAL Minority Groups
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enKaadBtJEA&list=TLPQMTcwNTIwMjSUK-oqLbNQSw&index=2

    1. Islam is determined to destroy civilisation as we know it. And Islam will succeed unless politicians stop running away from the issue.
      If Muslims become a majority in the UK then that will be the end of our culture, our values, our democracy, a law and our freedom. The account of the woman from Lebanon in the video clip above needs to be heeded.

      1. If you read Islamic history, Rastus, there is not one advanced civilization that Islam has entered that has grown the better for it. All have been made the poorer, in all ways, by Islam. It is a parasite that sucks the life out of its host and leaves nothing but dust, ignorance and poverty.

  47. Not a fan of Judith Woods so won’t read the article in today’s Terriblegraph but the headline is: “only bored wives want gammon over beefcake”. It’s to do with Jeremy Clarkson being voted as something or other (again, I don’t pay much attention).

    Imagine however a headline along the lines of “only bored husbands want trollops over posh totty” (or whatever). There would be an uproar.

    Why are women not held to the same standards as men? Why aren’t men fighting back?

    1. I think/ Clarkson has been voted most handsome man in the universe, or some such.

  48. Wolves still stirring it up. Go, Wolves!

    “W olverhampton Wanderers have warned that the Premier League could be “irrevocably damaged” if clubs do not ditch the video assistant referee system, urging rivals to listen to their fans.

    As the league’s heavyweights, including Liverpool and Manchester United moved to kill off Wolves’ bid to scrap the system, the club’s chairman Jeff Shi has hit back by insisting that top-flight football’s reputation is at stake.

    In an exclusive column for Telegraph Sport, Shi outlines his concerns, claiming that VAR has introduced “a level of interference that is at odds with the spirit of our game”. Shi also states:

    ♦ VAR is threatening to permanently damage the Premier League brand;

    ♦ Fans are becoming “increasingly disengaged” because of VAR’S negative impact;

    ♦ Rival clubs should consider abandoning VAR to preserve the “integrity and magic” of the Premier League.

    Yet United manager Erik ten Hag has insisted there is “no way back” in abolishing VAR, while Liverpool are also understood to be supporting its continued use.

    Ten Hag said: “I don’t think there is a way back. In principle it makes football more fair, but there are some problems, and I think we have to find the solutions to these problems, we have to make improvements.”

    However, top-flight clubs face a fan revolt unless supporters are given a say over Wolves’ proposal ahead of a landmark vote on the issue. It was fan power that last month meant Sweden, where top clubs are majority supporterowned, became the first country to refuse to adopt VAR.

    Leading supporter groups have united to demand they are consulted about the resolution Wolves have forced the world’s richest league to include on the agenda at its annual meeting next month.

    Rival teams have already told Telegraph Sport they will vote against the resolution but they are now being warned not to do so without consulting their own fan groups.

    Manchester United Supporters Trust spokesman Chris Rumfitt said: “VAR is widely disliked, especially amongst match-going fans who are the biggest losers from all the problems it creates. MUST is a democratic organisation and will be polling supporters to get their views. It is vital that Manchester United, and all clubs, listen to their supporters before they cast their vote on June 6.”

    Those sentiments were echoed by the chair of Liverpool’s Spirit of Shankly, Paul Khan, by the Arsenal Supporters Trust’s Tim Payton and Manchester City Supporters Club general secretary Kevin Parker.

    The Football Supporters’ Association said: “The FSA would encourage all clubs to engage with their

    issues which affect the match-day experience – and VAR is certainly one of those. Credit to Wolves for doing so and it’d be great to see other clubs follow that lead ahead of June’s meeting.”

    Wolves’ announcement had prompted some fan groups to poll members on whether they wanted VAR scrapped, with the vast majority stating they did. That included an FSA poll on X which found more than three-quarters of fans backed Wolves’ position, up from around two-thirds who were against VAR in its most recent survey published last June. In a poll conducted by

    Telegraph Sport, more than 75 per cent of 3,000 readers said scrapping VAR was a good idea.

    But what began on Wednesday as a one-club crusade for the Premier League to ditch VAR has so far failed to generate enough support from the division’s other 19 sides.

    Wolves would need another 13 teams to back a resolution that has forced the Premier League to agree to ballot its members at its AGM.

    But not one of 10 of clubs who spoke to Telegraph Sport on condition of anonymity said they would vote to scrap VAR, with some either confirming or strongly indicating they would oppose such a move.…..”

    1. Funny how just about every second of play in Rugby Union is susceptible to the video ref and not a murmur of discontent

        1. The television match official (TMO) has been in place in rugby union for more than two decades.
          The official is a crucial member of the matchday refereeing team, helping the on-field referee and assistants make decisions.
          The TMO has access to all game footage on television screens in front of them, and is usually situated in a truck outside of the ground.

          Outside the ground?

          1. Most of the time – in international matches – he is an interfering pain in the arse.

    2. Funny how just about every second of play in Rugby Union is susceptible to the video ref and not a murmur of discontent

    3. If the warring tribes stopped kicking each other and returned to kicking the bag of stale wind up and down the manicured meadow there wouldn’t be much need for VAR.

    4. If the warring tribes stopped kicking each other and returned to kicking the bag of stale wind up and down the manicured meadow there wouldn’t be much need for VAR.

    5. If the warring tribes stopped kicking each other and returned to kicking the bag of stale wind up and down the manicured meadow there wouldn’t be much need for VAR.

  49. Well, that’s been a busy day so far. Woke at 7. The MR poorly with hay fever and a splitting headache. I took over cat duty. Pickles came in and ate well. Gus blood-stained after a fight and had had heavy gut rot. Cleaned that up – thank God I no longer have any sense of smell. An hour and a half gone in a trice. Neighbour came round for some tomato plants. Killed three slugs.

    At least it is sunny and quite warmish. Will shortly hang out the washing. I dunno – it’s like being the woman round the house!!

    1. Has MR drunk plenty water, Bill? If she’s dried out, that can give awful headaches. Hayfever can dry you out by making you breathe through the mouth rather than nose.

      1. I’ll tell her. She is not that receptive to “advice” just now. I’m keeping low profile…..(know what I mean??)

        1. Take her a glass of cold water and give her a kiss. Don’t tell her what to do…

    2. Lip balm smeared all around the nostrils and sunglasses might help, Madame.

    1. I feel sad for Libya, I still miss it and the people even though it’s more than 40 years since I have been there. I would love to have returned and lived, once again, in Al Khums.
      As for Iran. At least we have the pleasure that it’s people are turning against Islam. I hope I live long enough to see the fall of the Ayatollahs.
      https://www.iranintl.com/en/202306027255

    2. I was in (and out of) Iran for about 3 Months, Back in the early 1970s

      Bribery was rampant, but it seemed safe

  51. What is instructive about this video is how the London police play games to thwart a legitimate gathering.. It makes very clear who the enemy is. A disturbing and, I would say, a sad state of affairs for the ordinary Englishman and woman.

    Important Message From Tommy Robinson & Tousi TV 🇬🇧
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DCqBMcm_bw

  52. There is an international ‘sporting’ tournament taking place right now in yer Yankland. It is one of Golf’s four major tournaments.

    There are 156 players participating from all over the world. A breakdown of those 156 players reveals:

    85 (54·5%) of them represent the United States of America.
    71 (45·5%) of them represent every other country in the entire world combined.

    Why do golfists, worldwide, put up with this crazily unfair imbalance? All this does is ensure that a Yank stands a massively greater chance of winning. This is exactly the same with all other major tournaments, three of which, incongruously, are held in the USA.

    Lawn Tennis also has four major tournaments, that are held in The UK, The USA, Australia and France. If Golf was to be similarly, fairly, distributed, then four majors would be: The US Masters, The Open Championship, an Australian Open, and a fourth that would migrate between all the other major golf-playing countries. If Lawn Tennis can do it (and accrue the necessary funding) then there is no reason why golf cannot follow suit.

    The US PGA and US Open tournaments would simply become lesser competitions on the golf circuit.

    1. Well it is an American tournament and they have caused enough controversy by inviting players from that LIV golf group.

      That’s nothing compared to their Little League Baseball World Series. Teams that are not from the US play in a different division to local teams and only the top team advances to their playoff event.

      Anyway, it hardly matters who plays, tv coverage is all tiger, bloody tiger and a few other top ranked players.

  53. When will Britain have an outbreak of cholera /dysentery/ typhoid or even polio.

    Will that be the next disease outbreak , and what viruses do these un vaccinated illegal people carry, apart from the CLAP.

    Britain is becoming overwhelmed with S@@t , our island is becoming overcrowded , our villages , towns and cities cannot cope , water pressure is appalling , and the taste is not as crisp and clear as it used to be .

    The fields around here have been dressed in muck, the stench can be disgusting , seagulls seem to be attracted to such stuff, and fields are scarred with yellow , not with oil seed rape but the soil .. is it weed killer or muck .

    A elderly friend who died a few years ago caught Polio swimming in the sea off Eastbourne , he was paralysed from the waist down when he was a young man .

        1. It was served in a big glass with lots of whipped cream and chocolate. Plus i was on the terrace of the Adlon Kempinski, Unter den Linden.

          Animal !

          1. Who the hell wants chocolate with their coffee? Only in the UK do the brainless clowns who serve cappuccino think it is necessary to dredge cocoa over the top of it. Why, FFS?

            Anyone doing that in Sweden would be told to try again. Anyone attempting that in Australia would be given a bunch of fives.

    6. Nine quid for “arse cream” [the dialect is clear]?

      You couldn’t get any from the chemist for that.

    7. She’s a lovely lassie from Lancashire! Probably Yorkshire/Lancashire border.

      I was right – Twins Marnie and Mylah, from Burnley.

    8. She is a little girl with an attitude. At that age it is safe to assume her mother is equally outspoken,

    1. And in keeping with most of government, briefing against the people.

    2. As a hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding (apart from his alleged residency status) person who seems to pose no threat to anybody, he is a very easy target.

      1. Yup, as were the Windrush generation whose papers were never in order but led blameless and productive lives in the UK. Remember that? This is picking low-hanging fruit with bells on.

        1. Just makes you wonder what religion or nationality the home office official is!!,
          Certainly lacks any common sense or humanity.

          1. You are probably more right than you think you are – Islamists despise Africans and think they are “beneath” them.

          2. Muslims despise the kuffar wherever he/she comes from. They are, by definition, “lower than cattle”.

    3. Easier to deport him than to deport a raping, murderous Islamic criminal.

      Just like the police who will prosecute a Christian woman for silently praying than trying to deal with a howling anti-semitic fanatic calling for the murder of all Jews and the eradication of their state.

      1. Two-tier justice system. Naturally, we who fund it are treated as second class citizens. Those who illegally come here are treated like Kings.

    4. This is heartbreaking but a story we have heard many times. Once again man hours are being spent on something which is not only unfair but unnecessary whilst at the same time large numbers of illegal immigrants are either ignored or given a free ride.

        1. These people ( although they will deny this) have quota they have to fill.
          This old guy is just easy prey.
          The newspaper article is intended to shame the functionaries. Fat chance.

          1. The only way they will ever be shamed is by being individually rooted out and named.

    5. G’morning hope all good with you….made the mistake of opening a link sent to me, Freddie Sayers interviewing Tom McTague (it’s on Unherd website 9 Aug ’23, you may have already seen it). Subject: TBI. Mindbogglingly depressing but unsurprising. Starmer mentioned. Lots to do today, see you later…..

      1. Hi KJ. OK here but busy getting ready for a lunch party tomorrow so probably won’t be here all that much until later! Not seen the FS interview but not in the mood to get depressed right now :D! Btw, what is TBI?!

    6. He would or should have known his visa status and is just one of the many who enter the UK on a temporary visa and never leave. Thankfully, he seems to be a contributor to society. I have spent a great deal of time and money on visas for Mrs Pea to live in the UK, but if she never intended to leave the country, I wouldn’t have to bother as her status is never checked apart from when she returns here from abroad. I do have some sympathy with the chap and he should be allowed to regularise his immigration status without much fuss. There is a Sky film on at the moment which is a story about a Korean chap who was adopted in the US by an American at 3 years old. He came to the attention of the police in his 30s and was found to be an illegal and deported. He was married with 2 children. Apparently, its a problem for those in this situation when they turn 18 and adopted before 2000 when the law was changed. Blue Bayou was the flick and listed a number of cases.

    7. Prosecuting the white whilst favouring the relatively recent, or recent incomers of a different hue. When are the UK authorities going to stop being racist by deifying strangers? Do they no see these immigrants as people too? Immies good; whiteys bad.

    8. Prosecuting the white whilst favouring the relatively recent, or recent incomers of a different hue. When are the UK authorities going to stop being racist by deifying strangers? Do they no see these immigrants as people too? Immies good; whiteys bad.

  57. Not bad!
    Wordle 1,063 4/6

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

  58. Extract from an article from Coffee House

    Of course it isn’t racist to tell a Japanese colleague you like sushi
    Comments Share 16 May 2024, 3:57pm
    Is it racist to tell a Japanese colleague that you like sushi? No, says an employment-tribunal judge, in another welcome blow for sanity. This is the conclusion to a downright deranged claim of racial discrimination lodged by Nana Sato-Rossberg, a linguistics and culture professor, against her employer, the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) at the University of London.

    It revolved around Sato-Rossberg’s alleged treatment at the hands of Claire Ozanne, the former deputy director and provost at Soas. After their very first meeting in 2020, the tribunal heard, Sato-Rossberg told a colleague that she suspected Ozanne would be biased against her. ‘People like me, a non-white female’, Sato-Rossberg said, ‘must constantly consider the possibility that they are treated unfairly because of gender or ethnicity’.

    This seems to have become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Primed for signs of alleged racism, Sato-Rossberg naturally went thermonuclear when Ozanne told her about a sushi joint she and her family enjoyed going to near their home. She thought she was making small talk, but to Sato-Rossberg it was bullying and harassment. This innocent restaurant recommendation was a ‘racist microggression’, it was claimed. After Soas cleared Ozanne of wrongdoing, Sato-Rossberg sued for race discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unfair treatment for whistleblowing. The judge presiding over the employment tribunal has now firmly rejected the claims, describing Sato-Rossberg as ‘hypersensitive’.

    Employment tribunals have become an unlikely ally in the fight against unhinged racial identity politics in the workplace. Last year, Sean Corby, an employee of the government’s workplace conciliation service Acas, successfully took the organisation to a tribunal after his bosses forced him to remove comments that he posted on an internal social-media platform. Colleagues had accused him of racism. His outrageous speech crimes included criticising Critical Race Theory for being too divisive and promoting the more colourblind approach of Martin Luther King, that infamous white supremacist. In January, Carl Borg-Neal won an unfair-dismissal case against his former employer, Lloyds Bank. He was sacked after he unthinkingly quoted the n-word during a workplace training session about how to tackle racism.

    1. Anybody who has lived abroad will tell you that the British are continually harangued about their food. Normally sentiments are negative and words are not minced.
      Occasionally someone will say how much they like steak and kidney pie or fish and chips.
      But never have I ever interpreted these comments as racist.

    2. Sato-whatever, should be sacked for needlessly causing harassment and stress toward her colleague. She should also be deported for shamelessly attacking the UK. Especially when she has been given work here. At the very least she should have been sacked. It is highly unfair for other colleagues to be forced to work with someone who is so antagonistic. Could you imagine the authorities in Japan taking this kind of claim seriously? It’s disgraceful. She should be counter-sued and legal aid should pay for it. Why should strangers be allowed to come here and attack our country and its people?

    3. Of course it is a form of ‘micro aggression’, but it’s also a way to avoid discussing how the Japs treated prisoners of war and native peoples during and before WWII.

  59. Good news. The French police shot dead a man who had set fire to a synagogue in Rouen this morning. One down – trillions to go.

    1. We like Rouen, spent hours at Cafe Central in front of the Cathedral. The port was destroyed in WW2 but the central area was not.

      1. It is our regular overnight stay – the Mercure Cathédrale. Several agreeable and inexpensive restaurants within a few minutes.

        1. We stayed at the Mercure in Chinon an outstanding buffet lunch. The sea food wsa out of this world. but it was qiute a long time ago.

        1. The spire is made from wrought Iron and it was painted many times by Monet. Great street market as well, and frre parking at the meters for 2 hours at lunch time, very civilised .

    3. “Where are my 72 virgins? And why are you poking me with that pitchfork? Oh hallo Muhammad – fancy seeing you here”.

      1. “In Inferno, the first part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, Muhammad is placed in Malebolge, the eighth circle of hell, designed for those who have committed fraud; specifically, he is placed in the ninth bolgia (ditch) among the sowers of discord and schism”. (From a quick Google search.)

  60. Nice warm sunny morning here in my patch of Co. Durham. Just finished planting my broccoli seedlings. I love the feel of warm, moist soil on my hands.
    Mrs Armstrong’s not so keen though. I’ve just had a bollicking for leaving black fingerprints ‘everywhere’.

        1. Whereabouts in County Durham do you live, Tom?

          My former wife hailed from a village, outside Stanley, called Craghead.

          1. I know it. My Mam’s side were all pitmen and I think they had relatives at the pit there, or nearby. I’m not that far away, up Weardale, just yon side of Stanhope.

            The shared ‘stan’ comes from old English for ‘stone’ still called stanes hear abouts.

  61. You have to larf – this is from The Grimes today about illness caused by the cow shit coming out of the tap in Devon:

    ““Most people recover eventually without treatment, though some go on to have more prolonged symptoms or suffer relapses of diarrhoea for some weeks,” said Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia.

    Antibiotics do not help. Usually people need only to ensure they drink plenty of fluids.“

  63. I am back from the hygienist and had very shiny clean teeth, I then had brunch out – eggs benedict ( my favorite ) they’re still relatively clean .

    2. I was there last evening. Not the same one, obviously, unless you’re in Woking. Ironically, now that they’re squeaky clean, I’m having three impacted ones extracted on Monday…

        1. Hi, Kate. I’ve acquired a few gaps over the years, without any problems. Thus far, I’ve eschewed implants, on the basis that they’re too bluddy expensive. One privately-sourced crown didn’t last a year. And bridges, since they inevitably involve damage to healthy adjacent teeth, don’t seem like a good plan. A friend had implants done in Portugal, which were far, far cheaper than in the UK, plus an added holiday. But I’m thinking that if my exshtra gapsh caushe a problem, I’ll exshplore parshial denshuresh. Or live on shoup for the resht of my life… 🙄

          1. 😄 friend of mine told he needed whole of mouth implants and would have to wait couple years NHS. Saw the dentist out n about one evening who said he’d do it ‘on the side’ for 10k. Friend went to Turkey 2k plus flights/accommodation etc. Very happy with result. No problems as yet. Soup’s always good…👍

    1. The country is complacent and imbeciles appear to be in charge. My grandparents would be turning in their graves. Is there anyone (us excepted) who are competent at anything?

    2. Good God ! This happens when you allow people in from sh1thole countries, your country becomes a sh1thole country as Donald Trump said much to the horror of Khan. As said yesterday, I only drink spring water and am not likely to change that. I’m surprised this has occurred in Devon of all places .

      1. It’s all that raw sewage being pumped into rivers. It has infected the acquifers.

      2. It certainly occurred back in 1995, I think it was. We were camping near Modbury and there were notices on site warning of drinking tap water due to contamination with cryptosporidium.

    4. The only tap water I drink has been through the filter jug and the kettle first. All other drinking water comes from a bottle and preferably a glass bottle or a can.

      1. Water filters that remove all particles above 1 micron in size are another way
        of protecting against cryptosporidiosis and other water borne infections. This
        filter will need to be fixed to your mains water supply, usually under the
        kitchen sink, and be changed at regular intervals. (We have one in clinic if
        you’d like to have a look). In the US the National Sanitation Foundation
        International does independent testing and awards trademarks to filters that
        remove Cryptosporidium, which can be searched on their website
        (www.nsf.org).

        Jug filters are not adequate and actually harbour potentially harmful bacteria.

        1. The filters in the kitchen hubs at work are under the sink and take water from the mains pipe but the water tastes odd. I buy Radnor (Welsh) mineral water in the canteen.

      2. I have drunk tap water from the tap all my life. no problems. I never drink from a plastic bottler.The little milk we drink is Grahams from a waxed cardboard carton.

        1. Me2, although micro-plastics are everywhere, according to various articles – the sea, the land, our food, our drink…

    1. Oh of course. They believe if they do it immediately before Friday prayers then they’ll be fast tracked to heaven with an unlimited supply of virgins. Isn’t God clever. None of them are ever allowed back to warn the others.

    1. I think the voting public were making the point that they prefer the manliness of Clarkson to the vapid, narcissistic, feminised men that infest reality TV shows like Love Island.

      1. I understand that. Jeremy Clarkson does have a alfa male rugged masculinity and square jaw whereas effeminate ‘ Ant & Dec types of beta males are off-putting.

  67. Tony Blair Institute, yes leave it until you have time to digest🙄 your lunch party a much better idea👍

      1. He’s influencing others, bankrolled by Larry Ellison. ‘Wheer thes brass thes muck’ h/t Yorkshire..

      2. Well here we are Saturday evening, hope your lunch party went well. Btw did you see the Unherd piece about Pope F/Vatican recently, bit of an eye opener. Written by Damian Thompson, prev Spectator.

  68. Dutch far-Right government set for immigration showdown with EU
    Geert Wilders pledges ‘strictest asylum policy ever’ and ‘the sun will shine again in the Netherlands’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/16/dutch-government-set-for-immigration-showdown-with-eu/

    Why is the Daily Telegraph, a supposedly right of centre newspaper, accepting the terminology used by the left? It is high time James Crisp was sacked and sent to work in the deepest, rankest and most putrid slurry mines in Belgium.

    BTL

    But will the editors of the so-called right wing Daily Telegraph realise that the left use the term far right as an pejorative and insulting term. As most of the BTL comments here show, the readership of the paper consider that the Dutch government’s approach is rational, sensible and not in any way extreme.

    1. But will the editors of the so-called right wing Daily Telegraph realise that the left use the term far right as an pejorative and insulting term.

      The Telegraph is not right-wing but Globalist.

      1. The EU seems to be taking the same sort of inflexible, authoritarian stand against the Netherlands as it took against Cameron when he weakly asked for some very minor concessions to encourage the British voters to vote to stay in the EU in the referendum.

        Let us hope that this will lead to an IN/OUT referendum in the Netherlands and that they will vote to leave.

        1. Afternoon Richard. The EU is the same as the Telegraph. It is a Globalist organisation.

        2. Afternoon Richard. The EU is the same as the Telegraph. It is a Globalist organisation.

  69. Dutch far-Right government set for immigration showdown with EU
    Geert Wilders pledges ‘strictest asylum policy ever’ and ‘the sun will shine again in the Netherlands’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/16/dutch-government-set-for-immigration-showdown-with-eu/

    Why is the Daily Telegraph, a supposedly right of centre newspaper, accepting the terminology used by the left? It is high time James Crisp was sacked and sent to work in the deepest, rankest and most putrid slurry mines in Belgium.

    BTL

    But will the editors of the so-called right wing Daily Telegraph realise that the left use the term far right as an pejorative and insulting term. As most of the BTL comments here show, the readership of the paper consider that the Dutch government’s approach is rational, sensible and not in any way extreme.

  71. Anyone e,se read this? A student has ‘had her visa revoked’ due to remarks about the Hamas attack last October. However, she’s still here. How does that (not) work?

  72. If children don’t learn about sex at school, who will teach them? 17 May 2024.

    Thanks to the internet, children are exposed to adult material at increasingly young ages. Schools can provide much-needed guidance

    This is going to seem utterly incredible to the Woke but children learned about sex long before the internet and schools themselves existed. One of my bugbears about school sex-education is that when it was first introduced we were assured that it would reduce promiscuity and unwanted pregnancies. The very opposite has occurred. The reasons for this are transparently obvious. It removed from parents their obligation to carry out this necessary task.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/15/sex-education-british-schools-conservative-party-children/

    1. ‘If children don’t learn about sex at school, who will teach them?’

      This is such a silly comment.
      So many things I never learned at school ( English grammar, history of the 20th century, theory of relativity, quantum physics, world geography and history, the list goes on) but yet I got by with English literature, the Tudors and the Stuarts, oxbow lakes, religious knowledge and Bunsen burners.
      Luckily most of us didn’t have to depend on school education.

      1. As the late Duchess of Devonshire once said, “You are taught to read and write and the rest is up to you.”

        1. I don’t think the Mitford sisters actually went to school, did they? Didn’t they have a governess at home?

        2. Actually my mother taught me to read for which, amongst many other things, I am eternally grateful.
          I started school in the US in a Polish Catholic school with nuns of that country and my mother discovered I was not being taught to read. Older mothers advised her that she would have to take charge herself and luckily she took this very seriously.
          There were about fifty kids in the class and when I left the school four years later there remained a group of about ten boys who could still hardly read.
          My mother, English woman to the last, maintained that few Americans could read properly having been taught with a ‘look/see’ method.
          English is a difficult language to read. My own children learnt to read in Spanish schools and the truth is I never heard of any of their classmates having any trouble learning quickly to read. And always at school.

          1. Mine too. I was three. By the time I went to school I could read anything, a fact which said school ignored and accused me of “showing off”…..

          3. When I was a child we didn’t know any others who couldn’t read and thought adults who couldn’t (Pikies etc) were mentally defective.

          4. You and me both, Bill. I was reading the Daily Mail* long before I started school. *It was a different kettle of fish in the early sixties…

          5. There were no books in our house. Playboy doesn’t count.

            Hence i was a late learner but i soon caught up.

            I admit to pinching the hymn book from school because i liked the carols.

          7. Seem to remember I started with the Beano, Geoff, I think around three years old 😀 I especially liked Dennis.

          9. You’re correct, Geoff. I’m mostly online. Reading a piece earlier I think on Unherd about Blair’s institute, how it’s bankrolled etc. Not in the DM 😄

          10. I can’t remember learning to read or being taught to do so. I remember I was taken to the Headmaster and thought I’d committed some dreadful crime that I knew nothing about, but he just wanted to hear me read because my reading age was so far in advance of my chronological age.

        3. Deborah Cavendish, an intelligent and forceful woman. One of my brothers ran the Dukes Bar for her when it first opened in Bolton Abbey. I only ever saw her en passant. I did some work for the present Duchess’s mother many, many, many years ago. Lovely people.

        4. There was a man who occasionally appeared at a local shoot; he had been (or still was) a loader for ‘Debo’, possibly at Chatsworth; his conversation famously included anecdotes along the lines of ‘I said to the Duchess and the Duchess said to me…’ I remember his surname, but can find nowt on the ‘net.

    2. How ever did homo sapien manage to survive some 300,000 years without being taught how to mate. (Tried to add a laughing chimp gif but don’t know how!)

      1. There are many tribes in the Middle East and Africa who are still practicing on animals. Some have got so far as refusing to eat their loved ones.

  73. Funny thing – no mention of the “attack” on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm in the MSM

    How can they have missed it? Or pehaps it WAS a car back-firing….

  75. China develops revolutionary electric car battery that can charge in 10 minutes. 17 May 2024.

    China has developed a revolutionary car battery that can charge in just 10 minutes and power a car for hundreds of miles before it needs to be plugged in.

    A report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) has hailed “remarkable” developments in chemistry that have allowed China to develop new batteries that pack far more energy than existing technologies.

    The IEA highlighted EV batteries capable of travelling 250 miles without a recharge. Newer versions announced since the report was written can manage 600 miles.

    Ooops!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/17/china-revolutionary-electric-car-battery-charge-10-minutes/

    2. IF true, and it’s a big if given it’s the Chinese, why would anyone buy an expensive EV now with such an inferior range? The values of the latter will simply collapse.

    3. IF true, and it’s a big if given it’s the Chinese, why would anyone buy an expensive EV now with such an inferior range? The values of the latter will simply collapse.

    4. It takes me about 30 minutes to replace the energy at 2kW/h used in my EV after having gone just four miles.
      I timed the petrol fill time for MOH’s Subaru recently for a top up to extend its range by 250 miles and it took just two minutes.

      OK. so the Chinese are on fire in charging an EV to full range in ten minutes but there’s still a long way to go in dealing with the thermal consequences of excessive connector and charging energy losses.

  78. There were 2,939 fewer new pupils joining private schools in 2023 compared to 2022, a decrease of 2.7pc, the steepest fall since the education body started collecting data in 2011.

    A government source suggested that the extra £22m it would cost to provide education for these students was the equivalent of paying 400 teachers.

    Gillian Keegan, Education Secretary said: “Labour are playing party politics with children’s education, and that comes at a very real price.

    “This report lifts the lid on the damaging impact of Labour, with the early signs clearly showing they are already costing taxpayers £22m, putting unnecessary pressure on our schools.

    “Yet again, Labour put ideology ahead of good policy – costing taxpayers, and damaging children’s education, in both private schools and state schools alike.”

    (Declaration: One grand daughter in private Education a second will follow in a year’s time)

    2. I only taught in private schools. Had private schools gone out of business I would have left the profession and I imagine that many thousands of teachers would decide to do the same thing which would lead to a severe shortage of teachers.

      When President Mitterrand tried to shut down private schools in France the teachers unanimously declared that they would leave their jobs and refuse to take jobs in the state sector if this went ahead. The sheer tidal wave of pupils would have swamped the state education system to the extent that it would not have been able to cope and Mitterrand had to climb down.

  79. Talking of electric cars and charging their batteries – I have a question. I know I’ll sound like the Thurber character who was worried about electricity dripping from bulbless light sockets……BUT:

    I charge my electric razor till it is showing “fully charged”. Next morning – before I use the razor – I note that it needs five minutes get the charge back to full. What has happened to the “missing” electrical charge? Where has it gone?

    2. Electricity leaks from batteries all the time. Although they store electricity they will always leak.
      Full charge it, don’t use it for a year it will be dead.

          3. And this is the kind of nasty sarcastic remark, Phizzee, which gets you downvotes.

        2. I can’t find the answer on the internet 🙁
          There is no circuit, so it can’t be electricity leaking.
          I can only assume that under the influence of a potential difference applied by the charger, the chemicals inside the battery are pushed into an unstable state, and over time, they tend to revert to a more stable state even if no potential difference is applied (due to using the battery). At a guess, the energy would be released as tiny amounts of heat.
          Don’t know the exact mechanism, but it is a darn nuisance with test phones that are used only once every few weeks or so, as they are always as flat as a pancake!

          1. Thank you, anyway, for taking my question seriously.

            I hope there is no charge for your advice…!!

          3. Of course not. What do you think I am, a lawyer!?

            You raised the one thing that an engineer can’t resist – a question they can’t answer!

        3. Unless you completely turn your razor off then it’s probably still using power in the background to display the lamp that shows it still needs a charge.
          If it’s not that then I don’t know.

          1. No lights. No power. Mystery. I had hoped that an electrical engineer might come up with a plausible answer. BB2 did her best, bless her.

      2. Good afternoon, Alf. Will those in charge, like NHS managers, demand fingerprints and specimens of handwriting to find out who was responsible for the leaks? Lol.

    3. In anticipation of winter power cuts, I bought a rechargeable AM/FM/DAB radio with two lighting options. Charged it fully. Noticed yesterday that it’s now as flat as a proverbial pancake.

    5. Simple to understand really.
      Batteries work by chemical reactions that induce a current to flow in the wires that form the circuit it is powering.
      Recharging a battery reverses the flow of the current through the circuit from an external source which reverses the chemical reaction in the battery.
      When a battery is providing current, the chemical reaction is most active when the current is highest.
      When the circuit is disconnected, the chemical reaction slow down but does not completely stop and the electric current produced circulates in “eddy currents” within the circuit.
      The older a battery is, the more active are these eddy currents.

      A huge amount of research has gone in to finding ways of stopping or slowing down these eddy currents.

        1. I’d say the two on the left are twin sisters; the one on the right is their mother.

      1. Nice faces but the breasts would be around the waste like tennis balls in a sock without proper support .

          2. It’s the reason why i am in favour of breast reduction on the NHS and not breast enlargement.

      3. What you can’t get in your mouth is a waste. The champagne glass is allegedly based on the perfect breast

    7. I’m torn between;
      Dont point them at me dear, they might go off (Frankie Howerd)
      or
      If you’re selling those puppies I’ll have the one with the pink nose (Lee Mack)

  81. From Coffee House

    The hypocrisy of the fame-shy famous
    Of course they love the attention

    Julie Burchill17 May 2024, 5:01am
    Three years ago, I started employing actors, when I had my first play in the Brighton Fringe. I always think they slightly disapprove of me as I’m a fidget and tend to leave rehearsals early (as I remarked to my husband and co-writer of the latest one as we hightailed it off to the pub one day after only an hour of watching our cast run lines: ‘We didn’t ask them to sit in the room and watch us write the ruddy thing, did we?’) but I love to observe them. In fact, I find it almost too affecting an experience, which could explain my reluctance to watch them too much. That and being a booze-hound.

    I even made up a word, ‘limberessence’ – a fusion of limbo, limbering up and luminescence – which describes that perfect moment between privacy and performance. You can see it in that photo of a tiny Carrie Fisher sitting at the side of the stage watching her mother Debbie Reynolds perform, or Monroe and Russell between takes in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with Jane looking in the mirror and Marilyn drinking a Coke, or Brigitte Bardot in full costume sitting on her sister’s lap on-set reading a newspaper. I can’t quite explain why I find it so beautiful, but I’m hoping to one day.

    An actor who doesn’t want to be looked at makes about as much sense as a singer who doesn’t want to be heard
    Is it something to do with the sorrowful combination of being forever hopeful in the toughest profession to gain employment in? (Around 90 per cent of actors can’t find work in their preferred field.) Contrary to the received wisdom about thespians being tough hustlers, one thing I’ve noted over the past few years is that actors are the opposite of writers. We tend to be rotters and dirty realists; they tend to be dreamers – though sometimes a bit dirty too. Writers, good ones, were born ‘jagged with sophistication’ as Amanda in Private Lives describes herself; for example, I remember as a 12-year-old never dreaming about getting married (and my parents union was idyllic, so it was nothing to do with my upbringing) but instead fantasising about being a ‘divorcee’ which I found the most mesmerising word in the world. But there’s a part of even the most reprobate actor that is always a child, excited about Let’s Pretend and dressing up and finding The One. (I’ve never heard a first-rate writer talk about The One.)

    It’s because of this affection that when I read an actor moaning about their success, I feel quite cross. Recently I’ve read both 77-year-old old veterans like Brian Cox, talking of his role in Succession (‘One thing I have lost is my anonymity, which I prized… it is a double-edged sword. The success, I am not going to knock it, but at the same time everybody knows who I am now’) and newcomers like 33-year-old Josh O’Connor, talking of his role in The Crown (‘I found it so impactful, people stopping me. You want to be in stuff that’s successful and seen, but I think sometimes we underestimate how powerful even a slight loss of anonymity can be’) similarly griping about how horrid it is to be one of the fortunate 10 per cent. And let’s not forget poor Paul Mescal who told the Times last year that he would be ‘profoundly depressed’ if he was in a film which was so big that people stopped him in the street. Good job he didn’t star in a blockbuster like Gladiator 2, then – sorry, yes he did. ‘If the film impacts my life in that way, I’ll be in a bad spot. I’d have to move on and do an obtuse play nobody wants to see.’ Well, so long as he doesn’t get his penis out on prime time TV, he surely stands a chance of passing under the radar? Sorry, he already did, in Normal People.

    What is wrong with these people? An actor who doesn’t want to be looked at makes about as much sense as a singer who doesn’t want to be heard. But there are so many of these Sham Hams around. Some of them are just naturally miserable, but some of them you do feel have a bad case of sour grapes about various things they blame the newspapers for; Brian Cox was an extremist Remainer, for example, who obviously revelled in mouthing off on Question Time about the subject, with very little care for his precious ‘anonymity’. Steve Coogan has made headlines for everything from romping with glamour models on money-strewn beds (‘Lie on them. Go on, lie on them’) to attempting to keep his vast fortune intact by taking full advantage of the pandemic furlough scheme for the gardener and housekeeper at his £4 million mansion (a year after starring in a film called Greed) while poor old Hugh Grant never got over having his anonymity blown by Divine Brown.

    The latest to join the cavilling chorus is the writer and star of Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd, who detailed his stalking, sex life and forced sodomy in a way that gave rise to more trigger warnings than a rifle range. Yet he’s now at this where-is-my-precious-anonymity lark too, telling the Guardian: ‘I still don’t think of myself as famous… I went to see the Pogues the other day and I went into a pub beforehand, naively thinking that I could just go in and sit down with some friends. But it was bedlam, it was chaos – people coming up all the time, sharing stories and talking about the show and how it affected them. I kind of thought, oh, I can’t really go into pubs any more and expect to sit there quietly in a corner and have some food… I don’t Google the show or myself. I still keep a quiet life, but I have noticed the crazy part of it, the sudden public attention with people coming up to me and the sudden feeling that there’s more eyes on me all the time.’ Where on earth has he been living, not understanding how fames works?

    I do think that actors tend to be worse than actresses when moaning about public attention (with the exception of extreme chumps like Kristen Stewart, who memorably compared being papped with being raped) because actresses accept that movie stars only exist because of desire; when they show up wearing next to nothing on red carpets, they are acknowledging that they need to literally have flesh in the game in order to metaphorically have flesh in the game. But on the other hand, female celebs, actresses included, can be the most shameless in promoting their talent-free nepo-babies. People used to be cut off by their families for going into acting, so disreputable was it; now stars make sure their kids get a foothold in the industry, blatantly disproving their claims that fame is horrid, because if it was, why would you subject your children to the same horrible experience?

    Is this high-handedness just an extension of class privilege? It’s undeniable that a higher proportion of public schoolboys and girls become successful actors now than ever before, and maybe they feel it inappropriate to be caught by oikish audience making exhibitions of themselves, so they pile on the agony to play down their indiscreet desire to show off. But performers, by their very definition, want to be looked at by strangers; this might feel shaming to them, as the phrase ‘attention-seeker’ is very obviously an insult. Best own up to it, as I do when accused of it – it really isn’t the worst thing to be.

    It’s not half as bad as being a hypocrite, for example. The fact is that fame is highly enjoyable. If you don’t want it, go and get a job that won’t bring it. If you moan about attention, it won’t stop you receiving it; the only outcome will be a kind of Barbra Streisand effect, in that whereas you might have attracted attention in the past for being a good actor, now you will be known as that privileged, pretentious poltroon who doesn’t know when he’s well off. Next time you embark on your latest I-want-to-be-anonymous publicity campaign, remember Meghan and her Worldwide Privacy Tour. And remember what Mae West – one of the greatest stars, yet one of the least pretentious, said – ‘It’s better to be looked over than overlooked’.

    1. The riding skirt. Thigh high leather boots on a lady are likely to cause car accidents. :@)

      1. Elegant, sophisticated, subtle, utterly English and just perfect .

      2. Looks terribly uncomfortable. As well as unbalanced. Still, each to their own.

      3. Michelle Dockery. They are now reading the new script for the next Downton Abbey film.

        1. The one at the top is more elegant. Not a fan of crash hats for riding plus his coat is too tight.

      2. Nothing runs like a Deere. Apart, that is, from the mower when I was looking after Seale churchyard. It proved too much for a Stihl brushcutter/strimmer, too.

  87. My word my effort in the garden are taking its toll on me. I came in for a cuppa sat down and dozed off for an hour. I’m only cutting straight the edges of the grass areas. Now I have a wheel barrow full of clumps of grass infested soil.
    I’ll weed killer it and leave it for a few to break down.
    Off to tidy up, I’m getting frowned at. 🤔😏

    1. I’ve fifteen bags of surplus topsoil plus soil improver since I relaid the back lawn two years ago. I shifted them out of the way last Friday, since they were becoming overgrown by weeds. Won’t dispose of them, but will eventually extend a raised bed. The new turf was OK at first, but there are many clumps of coarse grass. So I’m taking those out with weedkiller, then re-seeding. Wish me luck…

      1. That sounds like an extremely labour intensive taske, Geoff! Take it easy!💕

        1. Thanks, Sue. It will be a process, rather than an event. I moved the topsoil bags out of the way on Friday. Took a while, but they were disappearing among weeds. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e6087a5675326c66f1130ec8668499fc02f4612e5166879b208cf8221ec0d0b.jpg

          The plan is to re-purpose a few paving slabs, vertically, to close the gap below the back fence. I’ll re-use some concrete edging slabs between the rear border and the ‘lawn’, and extend the existing raised bed towards the far left corner. I don’t like the outwardly-leaning slabs, acting as a retaining wall for the raised bed, so I may replace them with a timber equivalent. The area to the right of the roses, etc., including the paved path and a greenhose base out of shot, will disappear under composite decking, stretching 8 x 2.4 metres from the house, coinciding with the end of the badly-laid paving, bottom right in the picture. Ultimately, I’ll move the bird feeding station, and plant veggies in the “far-right” 😱 corner.

          Eventually…

          2. Why aye, man. Alexa introduced me to the song of that name yesterday. Never heard it before. Reminds me of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, pet…

          5. It Bites was a favourite band of my friend, Chris. He took me to see them in concert in Mansfield. Calling All The Heroes was the only number of theirs I recognised.

      3. Well done its not as easy as it seems on tv. They usually teams at it.
        All the luck in the world to you G.G.
        But it’s so worth all the effort.
        I even managed to mow the lawn this afternoon. Six boxes of cuttings filled both my compost bins to the top.
        I’m worn-out now. But happy.

  88. Secret of Great Pyramid construction revealed by dried-up river. 17 May 2024.

    Egypt’s largest pyramid, one of the ancient wonders of the world and the tallest building on Earth for almost 4,000 years, sits among the largest cluster of pyramids in the African country on a narrow strip of desert.

    It has long been a mystery how millions of tonnes of rock were transported to the site to build the pyramids, and the Great Sphinx, on the Giza plateau.

    Scientists have now discovered a 40-mile long branch of the River Nile which existed during the time of pharoahs but has subsequently been buried beneath farmland and desert.

    It was built by Aliens. We all know that. I think that I would like to have seen them covered in their original white limestone.

    No comments allowed. Creepy hey?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/16/secret-of-great-pyramid-construction-revealed-by-dry-river/

    2. The aliens acquired the constructions through a pyramid selling consortium – at least I sphinx so.

        1. The sexual life of a camel
          Is stranger than anyone thinks
          At the height of the mating season
          He tries to bugger the Sphinx
          But the Sphinx’s posterial sphincter
          Is blocked by the sands of the Nile
          Which accounts for the hump on the camel
          And the Sphinx’s inscrutable smile.

          1. 4G Incase you missed my post below – what is more elegant annd what do you prefer – Jodpurs or a riding skirt for A lady on horseback. The lady in black is from the Squire. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db9c30a8c5b2e33a21d47cf413301ed466d4e06333672d74c18b2353bfaaf068.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c49ebf818d4eb7217511c4f0e5b681817516d431287bd99b14c4c3817677e986.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c47ecbcc285ffd33512f3a8372ac914e1595de0991150f896430360cbdc9818.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4932f4ccff968b85b1466ec6afb1fe20f022ebb2cc4b248df053e7b7886d2a1.jpg

          2. You will no doubt be highly disappointed, Kitty, but perhaps not at all surprised, that I favour the 3rd picture………

          3. No 3 was about the smell of saddle wax, comfortable pair of snug jodphurs, haystacks, leather boots and whips, Im not surprised at all, 4G 🙂 But it’s not elegant as you know .

          5. Her late Majesty wore breeches when she rode side saddle. I don’t know why but apparently she did and the appearance of a skirt was actually just an apron. Mark Twain describes ladies in his party having to ride astride when touring Ottoman lands. In 1867 they would have had ample skirts and petticoats but that didn’t hold them back.

          6. They all do. That is standard. The side saddle skirt is indeed very much like an apron.

          9. “Her late Majesty wore breeches when she rode side saddle. I don’t know why…”

            Modesty. my dear. Modesty.

          10. That is normal. A lady wears (usually dark-coloured) britches underneath the apron. The apron is a safety feature so the rider doesn’t get hung up on the fixed head.

          11. The sexual life of a bullfrog
            Is hard to comprehend
            At the height of the mating season
            He tries to lick out his friends
            But the friends’ anterior passages
            Are blocked with both mucus and slime
            Which accounts for the snout on most bullfrogs
            And why they just croak all the time.

            Edit for memory lapse

          13. I had a memory lapse.

            There was also a verse on Picasso which went something like:

            The sexual life of Picasso
            Wasn’t hard to comprehend
            At the height of the mating season
            When he tried to fuck with his friend
            Found his friend’s anterior passage
            Was planted on top of her head
            Which accounts for all his strange pictures
            And explains why Picasso is dead

          17. A couple more verses for you:

            Recent research at Harvard,
            By Holinshead, Harris and Hall
            Has shown that the dear old hedgehog
            Just cannot be buggered at all
            But why don’t those fellows at Harvard
            Take after the fellows at Yale
            Who successfully buggered a hedgehog
            By shaving the spines off his tail.

            It was Christmas Eve in the harem
            The eunuchs were saying their prayers,
            The dusky girls in the harem
            Were combing their pubic hairs.
            When along came Father Christmas,
            And out aloud he calls:
            “What do you want for Christmas?”
            And the eunuchs answered: “Balls!”

          18. One forgets how many verses of the old rugby songs that there were.
            Ball of Kirriemuir, Good ship Venus, Eskimo Nell etc.

          19. “When the wind blows cold
            And a man grows old
            And the end of his dick turns blue.
            And it bends in the middle
            Like a one-stringed fiddle,
            I can tell you a tale or two.”

          20. When HG was a lot younger she could recite many verses of that.
            Nowadays she denies it, but she used to watch the matches and join in the sing songs afterwards in the clubhouse bar.
            It was an “old boys” club where families were encouraged to participate at every event; lots of toddlers running along the touchlines and mums cheering on the menfolk.
            Great times.

        2. The sphinx was a lion with a human head – you know what those aliens got up to with their experimental probes!

        3. Yes there is. That ‘Stop Brexit’ idiot (Steve Bray) was an utter sphinxter 😂

      1. Apparently when somebody was observed in an act of sodomy the witness to the scene exclaimed he was not just outraged at the act but also that it had taken place under the arches of one of the most beautiful bridges on the Embankment in London.

        Please can anyone help? I can’t remember where this came from – was it from Evelyn Waugh?

    1. Once the Muslims take over it won’t be the lawyers they kill first it will be the Christians.

      1. Shoudn’t take long, then. There are prolly fewer Christians than lawyers by now. Think I should grow a beard and learn the Adhan…

    1. A revolting sight, even worse than the tattooed fatties I saw in Barmouth a few days ago.

    2. You’re mistaken. Madness are seven blokes from Camden Town. Now very much middle-aged, from the late ’70s to mid ’80s they were at the forefront of the Ska revival and still fondly remembered by those who were also young at that time.

        1. They are apparently known for being potentially aggressive to other dogs and even people. Well they are Chinese, I suppose.

        1. I think they’re gorgeous, but I lover boxers! Unfortunately the dogues de Bordeaux have rather shortened lives due to their bred in flat faces.

    2. I believe it is a Sharpei…..a Chinese breed known for possessing a blue tongue.

      2. Ah, yes, the blue tongued dog, thank you, I didnt recognise it.

      4. My neighbour has one. The Sharpei is a lovely dog. Their brute of a Staffie cross not so much.

  93. A guiding Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,063 3/6
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. And me too.

      Wordle 1,063 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Birdie Blitz!! Good stuff, team…..

        Wordle 1,063 3/6

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

    2. Showed me ‘divots’ early doors before I went fishing, but here they are, for what they’re worth.

      Wordle 1,063 5/6

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

    1. I strongly suspect that when all the alternative spellings of Mo Ham Head are added together it comes top by quite a way.

        1. And has done so for many many years. It’s one reason why the various options are separated out.

    2. Noah? Literally no one was called Noah when I was at school…….the name would have been regarded as ridiculous.

      2. I think Noah is a very modern name, surfing dudes from Australia etc..

        1. Funny how names go in and out of fashion. I wonder when the last Ethel was christened? (Never mind Ethelred!)

          2. My mother, born 1911, was named Bertha and she hated it with a passion!! So everyone called her Molly (never knew why) and she was the only one I knew with that name.

          3. I once worked with woman who told us her name was ‘Bev’.

            Turns out her real name was Beryl and she hated it.

          4. My father’s name was Bertram – which he hated.
            Apparently his mother was a great novel reader and she came across the name there.
            He was usually called John or Dickie (alliterative as his surname was Drye).

      3. You wait ages for one to come along and then suddenly there’s a flood!

    3. Muhammad has been revealed as the most popular name in the UK for newborn babies, according to an annual survey by parenting advice resource Baby Centre. The Muslim boy’s name, which is also spelled Mohamed, Muhammed, Mohammad, is constantly the top choice for parents naming their sons in the UK.13 Dec 2023.
      [BBC]

      Muhammad has been revealed as the most popular name in the UK for newborn babies, according to an annual survey by parenting advice resource Baby Centre. The Muslim boy’s name, which is also spelled Mohamed, Muhammed, Mohammad, is constantly the top choice for parents naming their sons in the UK.13 Dec 2023.
      [The New Arab]

  95. From Coffee House, the Spectator
    Why Geert Wilders won’t be the next leader of the Netherlands
    Comments Share 17 May 2024, 3:06pm
    ‘A new wind will blow through our country,’ said Geert Wilders, as he declared that his anti-Islam, anti-immigration Party for Freedom (PVV) would enter government for the first time in history.

    Late on Wednesday night, Wilders announced that the PVV will join with the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the New Social Contract party (NSC) and the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) to form a highly unusual right-wing coalition. Although Wilders’s party gained the most votes in the 2023 election, he will not be the next Dutch prime minister.

    Still it is a remarkable change of circumstances for the Netherlands’ longest-standing MP, who stood on a manifesto calling for a ban on Islamic schools, mosques and the Quran, as well as a referendum on leaving the EU. Wilders has been a political outcast in the Netherlands for a decade, with the major parties shunning him due to his conviction for insulting Dutch Moroccans and his anti-constitutional views on Islam.

    Now he’s at the heart of government. ‘The PVV, my own party, is coming into government, into the centre of power and we are enormously proud of this,’ he said on Thursday morning. ‘At a stroke, we go from being the biggest opposition party to the biggest party of government.’

    The PVV won the election last November by riding on a wave of popular discontent brought on by the deeply unpopular coronavirus lockdowns, successive government scandals, an asylum shelter crisis, plus the cost of living and housing crises.

    A turning point came during the election campaign, when the leader of the VVD said she would no longer be against joining a coalition with Wilders’s party. Wilders, in response, began appearing on liberal television programmes saying he would put his anti-Islam policies ‘on ice’. He seemed, to some commentators, somewhat ‘Milders’.

    His strategy seemed to pay off. Many of the PVV voters I spoke to after the shock election result said they had made a protest vote. Everyone I interviewed mentioned their difficulties in getting affordable housing. The housing crisis has been brought on by the government inviting market speculation and failing to build enough, an ageing population living in family homes for longer, and immigration adding a million people to the country’s population since 2014.

    But despite becoming the largest Dutch political party at the election, with 37 of the 150 seats, the most extraordinary thing about Wilders’s government is this: he was unable to win enough cross-party support to become prime minister of the Netherlands.

    The price of agreeing to the coalition was that this will be an experimental, ‘extra-parliamentary’ government. The leaders of all four parties will sit in parliament. Half of the ministers will be appointed as outside experts from business.

    Instead of a detailed coalition accord, the four parties presented a ‘headline’ agreement of 26 pages. Votes and debates will be fought out in parliament, and also in the Senate – where the coalition does not have a majority.

    Although the genial, former Labour minister, Ronald Plasterk has been floated as a suggestion, no prime ministerial candidate has yet been formally announced. ‘That is for another moment,’ said Wilders on Wednesday afternoon.

    One of the main themes in the accord is the introduction of ‘the toughest asylum policy ever’. As part of this, an unpopular law spreading asylum seekers across rural areas will be scrapped, as will permanent residency for migrants. There will be more immigration restrictions for family members of migrants, asylum seekers will no longer have priority for social housing, unsuccessful asylum seekers will be expelled, and the Netherlands will ask the European Union for an opt-out from its migration pact. The coalition proposes declaring an ‘asylum crisis’ law and to stop processing applications for asylum for two years. This would be unlawful unless the EU agrees. The four parties have also pledged to reduce student migration, by increasing fees for non-EU students and capping numbers.

    As well as migration, there are proposed tax breaks for working people, a reduction in health costs from 2027, and promises to build homes. There is a pledge to build four (instead of two) new nuclear power plants while scrapping green measures such as obligatory heat pumps and motorway speed limits. There are also parliamentary reforms proposed to protect whistleblowers, to increase regional representation and to improve the separation of state and judiciary.

    The question is how many of the flashy measures can really be achieved, given that the Netherlands has to conform to EU law and needs to make budget cuts of some €15 billion.

    Initial reactions to the coalition have been mixed. Nic Vrieselaar, senior economist at Rabobank, said industry is concerned the ‘business climate’ of the Netherlands will suffer, while environmentalists like Marjan Minnesma, director of Urgenda, criticised the green cuts. It’s all very well to pause climate change action, some point out, but the Netherlands will be one of the first countries to go under if sea levels rise, while up to a million of its houses (and kilometres of road) already have sinking foundations linked to increasing periods of drought.

    Frans Timmermans, the leader of the Green Left-Labour alliance, the second-largest parliamentary party, called the agreement ‘catastrophic’, saying Europe will never agree to exemptions on nitrogen-based pollution or asylum for the Netherlands.

    Over the centuries, this energetic, innovative and hard-working country has achieved extraordinary things through its links with the world. But it now has an inward-looking coalition agreement that could well make the country poorer. Given that ‘expats’ and immigrants are being blamed for problems caused largely by government policies, how many more skilled and high tax-paying foreigners will be tempted to move here (especially given the challenges of learning Dutch)? This is a particular problem as the Netherlands has a huge labour shortage.

    The four party leaders, after a largely sleepless night, looked happy to have reached an agreement – particularly since Wilders is now polling at new highs. There’s a parliamentary debate to come, several weeks to appoint ministers and decide a prime minister and then the coalition will begin.

    ‘We can make a go of it, and the motto we four came up with, if you read the accord, is hope, guts and pride, the motto of our political cooperation,’ said Wilders. ‘We can be proud of this country again, of the beautiful Netherlands.’

    The sun is shining for him, he said. It remains to be seen how much power this uneasy coalition can generate while it lasts.

    1. Horribly biased article, which takes the assumptions of the green lobby as a starting point, and also that illegal immigraiton will solve the skills shortage (if that were the case, Europe would be the rising power-house of the world, instead of stagnating on its past achievements).

    1. Nice recording. Did you notice that the soundtrack is not quite in sync with the video? The notes are heard a tiny fraction of a second after he has played them.

      2. Clearly, he’s playing too slowly… 🙄

        Joking apart, I used to occasionally play at the church of SS Andrew and Patrick in Elveden, Norfolk. Lovely building, like a small cathedral. It’s on an estate owned by the Guinness family, several of whom I met.

        Trouble is, the organ console is located behind the Cantoris choir stalls (there’s a pair of double doors behind the organist, leading to the Vestry. The actual organ is in a chamber to the North side of the Nave.

        There’s no direct ‘line of sight’ (hence, sound) between the console and the organ. So the organist hears a reflection of the sound from the South West corner of the building. But it’s worse, since the organ action has a slight delay. Which means the organ is unplayable, if you listen to it. You have to ‘close your ears’ and crack on with what’s on the page, or else you’ll grind to a halt.

        Always enjoyed playing there, though. Was once literally chased down the aisle by the late Lady Miranda Guinness, who was keen to chat, but I had another service to attend. I do hope the good people at St Peter, Brandon, appreciated my selfnessless…

        1. Geoff, St Barts is fully wired up with professional camera equipment for the YouTube channel so the organist has a monitor above his keyboard. It’s said that the twelfth century founder, Prior Rahere, still haunts the building and I’m told that the verger has seen him. It would be great to know what he makes of it all?

        2. Anyone who can make music come out of a machine, or even their body, has my deepest respect, since I posess none of that ability.

  99. Weird. There is absolutely no reporting (apart from a brief comment many hours ago) about the “attack” on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm.

    Perhaps there wasn’t one. Even such Swedish newspapers that I can find are silent.

    What’s going on, Grizz??

    2. Afternoon Bill. It seemed like quite a minor affair. Some gunshots near the Embassy.

    3. Probably no one has a clue as yet:

      “STOCKHOLM, May 17 (Reuters) – Swedish police launched an investigation and stepped up security around Israeli and Jewish interests in the country after a patrol heard suspected gunshots near Israel’s embassy in Stockholm early on Friday, they said.
      “Due to a suspected shooting in close proximity to the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, the police are carrying out continued security-enhancing measures against Israeli and Jewish objects and interests throughout the country,” police said in a statement.”

    4. Just a few ‘locals’ sorting out their differences in their traditional way.

    5. Nothing in the news here. That report from a few hours ago was a load of sensationalist bollocks. The ‘live video of the event’ that the presenter showed us was nothing more than footage of a few police standing around in a street.

      I took it all with a shovelful of salt.

  100. Clearly the usual suspects and the press – being shit scared – keeps schtumm.

  101. That’s me gone for this hay-fever ridden day. The MR is a tad better – but we both suffer. If only sleep would cure it all. Indeed, if only one could sleep….{:¬((

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain.

  102. https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/carole-malone/1900490/jeremy-clarkson-sexiest-man-in-britain

    Woman secretly want a man like Jeremy Clarkson .

    Equality of the sexes – used to be about intellectual equality which is very correct.But soon we had rabid feminism which has nothing to do with equality and more about domination .Lefties love beta males- men who trail after women, being obedient – effeminate men who have been browbeaten by leftist woman and spend time with their wives friends and having a gossip .

    Jeremy Clarkson is a masculine man, square jawed alpha male . Maybe leftiest woman have got fed up with their husbands turning into Ant ‘N Dec or David Cameron wokiest and effeminate and suddenly prefer strong men like Jeremy Clarkson. Rightwing men are more attractive then leftwing men and rightwing woman are more attractive then leftwing woman .

    1. I’ve seen Paul Lewis so many times at the Wigmore that I guess I’ve maybe begun to take his superb playing for granted but after his last recital there I heard an American couple saying that they’d bought tickets not knowing anything about him and they were completely bowled over!

      1. What I think is brilliant – apart, natch, from his playing, is that his father was a docker and his mother a dinner lady. And he is now in the same league as Brendel and Schiff etc etc. What a tribute to the man, his talent and determination.

          1. You became an organist, as well as a professional quantity surveyer? and you set up this great site where we can all chat as much as we like! You done well!

          3. I would also add: you overcame physical adversity and disability with good humour and never a moan. You’re a role model for all of us.

      2. I’ll have to have a trundle down to London one day and arrange to meet you in the restaurant for lunch before the Monday Lunchtime Concert.

      1. I am only trying to accommodate all my guests where they are relaxed and comfortable. Some are decrepit old wrecks and need a padded seat !

          2. I must admit, I visited friends in central Farnham earlier this week, in their new – almost completed – home. I sat on one of only two chairs with vague armrests. Too low to get up again. So I sat on one armrest as a halfway measure. It worked. Next time, I’ll sit at the dining table…

            Their new place is a former stable or coach house, behind the former Bishop’s Table Hotel. Couldn’t help but notice that all the lighting was controlled by the Rako system. We have had the same in St Laurence, Seale, for about ten years. Currently, friends have four identical ‘scenes’, which are basically ‘everything on’. If the developer / contractor can’t help them, I’m confident that I can…

          5. Those are the legs. I have two chairs like that for Nottlers who visit…mentioning no names most of my furniture is for erm….normal sized people but without prejudice or god forbid telling the buggers are too fat to sit on my proper dining chairs i ….what was i saying???

          6. You pinched that from my sitting room! Actually, mine has tapestry upholstery but I am thinking of having it redone in check or tartan.

      1. I’ve been fighting my way around Lidl, Sainsbury’s and Layer Marney Meats (I managed to get Boerwors, baby ribs and lambs’ hearts, so set up for several cooking sessions.).
        And then I got caught in the bloody post-school traffic queues.
        My shoes are full of feet. Spartie has just had a short, sharp “hurry up and have a dump” walk; I’d charitably describe it as ‘functional.
        I’ve had better days.
        And the chair seems a tad pricey. Very nice but a basic ‘care home’ chair with a snazzy cover.
        Good, but expensive fun.

          1. We have seven schools within a small area.
            We don’t bother driving between 2.30 and 4.0 pm as the roads are snarled up with cars and buses.
            My shopping took longer than I expected, so I got caught up in the mayhem.

        2. Well my love. After navigating all that …………….coming to my party should be a doddle. Don’t forget the Bayeaux Tapestry antimacassers. :@)

        3. Thank heavens you’re back, Anne! The rabble were getting restless!

      2. Something inside of them might be telling themselves this is wrong. Except that old boy, I wonder how long he would last on the Gaza Strip?

          2. No. Some good Greene King, but I tend towards cider down here – Thatchers for preference. Butcombe…

          3. Makes sense. The local Hogs Back Brewery is somewhat intertwined with Thatcher’s.

            I used to drink in the Dog and Partridge, Bury St Edmunds, on a Friday lunchtime. It’s virtually next door to Greene King’s brewery (and was the location for several Lovejoy series).

            I lived in Thetford at the time – around 10 miles from the brewery. GK IPA was noticeably far worse than the BStE version. Fairy Nuff. Some beers don’t travel well. Now it’s gone national, I avoid it like the plague. Abbot Ale is still OK, though…,

          4. When I first met Thatchers, it was a family cider farm. You took your own container round, and spoke to the man in the barn, who would offer you a taste (= pint) of the dry, and same of the sweet, so you could blend it how you like. A second pint of the dry to be sure, and buy a gallon of dry.
            Sigh. Good old days.
            They still make superb, flavoursome cider, though, their Katy (at 8%) being a masterpiece.

    1. I’ll join you for a glass (or two) of Sancerre wine, my current favourite! The sea bass fillets sound delightful, enjoy.

      1. Mother-in-Law just fed us the biggest steaks I’ve seen for a very long time. Nobody could finish them, we managed to eat about a third of the meat.
        Very nice, just too massive.

          2. If that’s what you like! I’d have the steak without. How was your journey this time?

          3. Journey fine, thanks. Left Oslo at 26C and brilliant sunshine. Arrived Rhoose at 14C and rain… Oh, well. So much traffic in England, it’s staggering.

          4. That’s because the government has imported so many people (and not bothered to invest in public transport).

          5. A few years ago Nigel Farage complained about journey times and the amount of traffic. He blamed it on mass immigration and was inevitably called a racist. He wasn’t wrong and it has got much worse.

          6. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a2d6a67d34cd6d0eee6e24400e412bf76db2d7a214c2757452f5ba612ea1c22b.jpg I found a large home-made hamburger (made from chuck steak) in the freezer yesterday. After defrosting it I fried some home-cured bacon then fried the hamburger in the bacon fat. I then cut a home-made ciabatta roll in half and spread it with a garlic butter that I’d grated some parmesan cheese into. I placed that bread into a pre-heated air-fryer and cooked it for just 5 minutes at 180ºC until it crisped up and the cheese melted. I placed the hamburger, bacon, sliced tomatoes, sliced pickled gherkin, remoulade sauce and a bit of piccalilli on the bread. It was rather yummy.

          7. Looks grand, Grizz! The right size for a mature stomach!
            Love piccalilli, finely chopped as you have it!

          10. We had haddock fishcakes and salad, and cucumber marinated mixture that I bought from Tesco, sweet tomatoes , sweetcorn .

            I air fried the fish cakes , they were plump and fishy .

            Delicious .

          12. Had a Co-op Irresistible Cumberland Sausage sandwich for lunch. One slice of lumpy bread, fresh from the breadmaker. I’ve since done a white, rather than lumpy brown loaf.

          13. I find I hardly eat anything these days, so to be presented with a chunk of meat the size of a clog was disconcerting. The runner beans were good, though…

          15. Wasn’t helped in that the meat was barely warmed up, so lots of blood when I cut into it… I like it well done. Thought I could hear the echo of a moo…

          16. If cooking steaks for others they should be medium rare. Not bloody. Though i do like a very rare steak myself sometimes.

        2. I sincerely hope that the left overs will not be wasted and be eaten tomorrow or the next day.

          Quite often our left over meals are the best.

        3. Just remembered I have a Tesco rump steak in the fridge, use by today. Cant be arsed, will sling it in the freezer, and try agsin tomorrow…

          1. We tend to buy mince, and make a sauce ragu with pasta to go with it.

          2. Same here. We rarely buy steaks, they always seem to be sized for a hungry twenty year old and that is definitely not us.

            Last night was a good old fashioned mince and tatties, tasty and satisfying.

          3. Today’s were sized for a posse of lumberjacks. They didn’t fit at all, sadly.

          4. I buy whole fillets and cut the steaks to the size i want. Normally 100gms.

          7. I leave the steaks in the fridge unwrapped until they start to go black. Use by dates for steak are a joke. Ptooie !

      1. A friend suggested it when we were discussing lobster so long ago 🙂

        2. Sancerre and Muscadet pairs well with fish. If the budget will stretch a grand Chablis is wonderful too.

  109. Could be a short, hot Summer ahead…

    “The continued inevitable and disastrous slide into a WW3 nuclear-armed confrontation between Russian and the West continues as The New York Times reports NATO appears to actually be seriously mulling sending troops to Ukraine to serve in the role as ‘trainers’ at a moment Kiev is desperate to tap and train up new manpower. And this would be closer to front line positions as well.

    “NATO allies are inching closer to sending troops into Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces, a move that would be another blurring of a previous red line and could draw the United States and Europe more directly into the war,” NY Times wrote Thursday. What has changed? The Zelensky government is now directly requesting it, apparently on a formal level for the first time of the conflict, according to officials.

    The Times confirms “Ukrainian officials have asked their American and NATO counterparts to help train 150,000 new recruits closer to the front line for faster deployment”

      1. Unfortunately, we the population, have bugger all say in what these mad bastards’ machinations will bring about.

    2. We are already training Ukrainian soldiers here in UK. Plus sending weapons and teaching them there how to use them. Now the suggestion they should fire at targets on Russian soil. I’m not sure how much more provocation Vlad will tolerate.
      All out war in aid of the ‘great Reset’.

      1. The UK govt is also training Ukrainian civilians to become soldiers, people such as firemen.

  111. Well that’s it for today, you couldn’t imagine how knackered I feel. I even managed to mow the lawn. Sat down out side with a beer.
    Had a shower. And cooked one of our favourites. Smoked salmon linguine. (Try it its quick easy and very tasty) On my second large glass of Yellow tail chardonnay. Not a bad drop. As they say in Oz.
    Relaxing and feeling lucky I’m alive….again.
    Good night all. 🙂😴

    1. Fantastic talent. My first thought though was AI. Just something about the perfectness of everything. Hope I’m wrong.

      1. It’s genuine. Japan invests a LOT of effort in teaching their children to appreciate music.
        Have you ever seen the videos of the Marching Bands???

          2. I wonder why there were only 4 or 5 young men (wearing dark trousers). Not much diversity otherwise.

          3. Having had 3 grandchildren involved in High School marching bands and watching championships, this took my breath away!!

  114. Son no 2 and his partner are moving to the Isle of Wight in a couple of weeks , to East Cowes.

    Wow he is one lucky chap. Their current flat is on Worthing sea front , but the rent has really escalated. Their running costs have risen , something wrong with the electric metre, and sadly many shops have closed in Worthing .

    He says that a tent city has arisen down on the sea front , and drugs and boozers are noisy at night or by mid afternoon . A lot of displaced Brits have relocated , and from what I gather Sussex and Kent and even areas of Hampshire and here are not being policed properly , it appears that the lack of police , jobs , affordable accommodation and a declining tourist trade are taking a grip on traditional seaside towns .

    Son no 2 and partner are escaping for those very reasons .. and they will also have a new sea view and the sound of clinking mastheads .

    1. East Cowes, from what I remember, is quieter than West Cowes. Come Cowes Week and things used to really kick off, but no idea what it’s like these days.

    2. There is a Waitrose supermarket with car parking, but the Fire Station is about to be closed, locals are protesting. (info courtesy of local newspaper)

    3. Didn’t they escape London for the same reasons? I must admit though….The Isle of Wight will probably be overlooked by the invaders. Not enough locals to feast on.

      1. Yep, you have a good memory , years ago Gravesend , an easy commute for the City , and son’s partner came from Tilbury ,all areas .ruined

  117. Evening,, all. The NHS needs to adopt the same attitude as the aviation industry (although not that of Boeing!) when it comes to dealing with incidents.

      1. If you read my statement, I did mention Boeing as not the attitude to be copied.

  119. Well, chums, I’m off to bed now. Sleep well, see you all tomorrow, and enjoy your weekend.

  122. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

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