Friday 17 September: The reshuffle was not a grand design but simply a swapping of chairs

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as 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.

714 thoughts on “Friday 17 September: The reshuffle was not a grand design but simply a swapping of chairs”

          1. Oh yes! It was Simons birthday yesterday, and his best present was not being in hospital! 🙄

          4. Yes thank you, another year gone but celebrated in style. Treated to a pub lunch with my daughters, pub lunch the next day with ex work colleagues followed by on my birthday itself a day out with Mrs VVOF, and all in this week.

  5. Why didn’t doctors listen to women about the link between Covid vaccines and periods?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/didnt-doctors-listen-women-link-covid-vaccines-periods/

    Here’s the medical source of this current media headline:

    https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2211

    The mechanism of the blood clotting process is extremely complicated and with the known inclusion of an HIV sequence in the COVID-19 virus RNA sequence, women are naturally more susceptible than men to having bleeding irregularities.

          1. That is yet another infuriating aspect of the “modern way”. One has to wait in all day on the off chance….

          2. I stayed home for 10 minutes after the slot expired and went out and did the weekly shop for 2 hours. No messages at all so phoned the surgery and was told she’s still making calls and I’m next. Just glad I didn’t stay at home. It was also the 3rd attempt at a telephone meds review. Things are looking bleak.

    2. Beware of media click bait and partisan propaganda.

      Doctors knew about it well before Covid. That vaccinations affect women’s periods has been known for a long time, whether directly or through psychosomatic effects. Doctors probably aren’t worried as, to quote from the report:
      “Most people who report a change to their period after vaccination find that it returns to normal the following cycle and, importantly, there is no evidence that covid-19 vaccination adversely affects fertility. In clinical trials, unintended pregnancies occurred at similar rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. In assisted reproduction clinics, fertility measures and pregnancy rates are similar in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.”
      “ Menstrual changes have been reported after both mRNA and adenovirus vectored covid-19 vaccines, suggesting that, if there is a connection, it is likely to be a result of the immune response to vaccination rather than a specific vaccine component. Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) has also been associated with menstrual changes. Indeed, the menstrual cycle can be affected by immune activation in response to various stimuli, including viral infection: in one study of menstruating women, around a quarter of those infected with SARS-CoV-2 experienced menstrual disruption.”

      1. I put the link in so you could read it as well from the horse’s mouth.
        No need to panic then.
        Trot on…

    3. Beware of media click bait and partisan propaganda.

      Doctors knew about it well before Covid. That vaccinations affect women’s periods has been known for a long time, whether directly or through psychosomatic effects. Doctors probably aren’t worried as, to quote from the report:
      “Most people who report a change to their period after vaccination find that it returns to normal the following cycle and, importantly, there is no evidence that covid-19 vaccination adversely affects fertility. In clinical trials, unintended pregnancies occurred at similar rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. In assisted reproduction clinics, fertility measures and pregnancy rates are similar in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.”
      “ Menstrual changes have been reported after both mRNA and adenovirus vectored covid-19 vaccines, suggesting that, if there is a connection, it is likely to be a result of the immune response to vaccination rather than a specific vaccine component. Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) has also been associated with menstrual changes. Indeed, the menstrual cycle can be affected by immune activation in response to various stimuli, including viral infection: in one study of menstruating women, around a quarter of those infected with SARS-CoV-2 experienced menstrual disruption.”

  8. Morning all

    SIR – Like Camilla Tominey (“Johnson’s vanilla reshuffle has left strong players on the backbench”, September 16), I waited hopefully for proceedings to take a more radical turn, and was ready to either expostulate vehemently – or cheer for backbenchers such as Tom Tugendhat and Tobias Ellwood being promoted to roles that suited their expertise and passion.

    Ms Tominey is correct: the Prime Minister’s grand reshuffle was not creative or inspirational, just plain boring. I did, however, feel rather sorry for Robert Buckland, who was removed from the role of Lord High Chancellor, and also for Dominc Raab, who has performed well recently.

    An object lesson, perhaps, that there really is no justice – and that, in politics, loyalty counts for nothing.

    Judith A Daniels

    Cobholm, Norfolk

    SIR – Surely one of the greatest omissions in this reshuffle was the return of Jeremy Hunt. He was among the most effective ministers in the last government. Brexit is behind us and should not be a barrier to his reappointment to the Cabinet.

    Gerald Lee

    Newport, Monmouthshire

    SIR – I am bemused by your headline “Gove loses out” (September 16).

    Surely a major part of the Conservative manifesto was the pledge to build 300,000 new homes by the mid-2020s.

    To get anywhere near that target will require immense drive, energy and determination – qualities for which Michael Gove is known.

    Anthony Haslam

    Farnham,

    SIR – I feel for Dominic Raab. He was undone by poor intelligence in Afghanistan and worked his socks off to get people out before the deadline.

    Liz Truss was also doing a good job as Trade Secretary. These changes do not help the running of the country.

    Jack Marriott

    Churt, Surrey

    SIR – One of the biggest mistakes that a company can make is to promote its best salesman to sales director.

    Instead of being out in the field generating business, where they are most effective, he or she is then stuck behind a desk.

    I fear that “promoting” Liz Truss to Foreign Secretary may have a detrimental effect on Britain’s future prosperity.

    David Miller

    Chigwell, Essex

    SIR – In what other profession would hard-working people be made to parade in public – filmed and harangued by reporters – while on their way to discover whether they are to keep their job, then come out to face the same reporters who have been speculating on their fate?

    Reshuffles should be private, with the results announced the next day. Every politician, good or bad, deserves better than the current system.

    Estelle Townsend-Smith

    Narberth, Pembrokeshire

    Pressures on GPs

    SIR – As the debate regarding general practice continues (Letters, September 13), two points do not seem to have been considered.

    First, many households will be rightly proud that family members will shortly take up their hard-won places at medical school. Of this cohort of undergraduates, approximately half will complete their training in general practice.

    Secondly, British doctors have a significantly higher rate of suicide compared with the national average.

    I am a GP, and I am overjoyed that neither of my twins has shown any interest in entering the medical profession. It means I will not have to suffer watching them try to pursue a career in general practice, or endure the political indifference, unrealistic public expectations, and media trolling that such a career entails.

    Dr Myles Johnson

    Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

  9. Officer at the ready

    SIR – In 1958, while undergoing officer training during National Service, I passed my test driving a three-ton Bedford truck (double declutching when gear changing).

    Can I help reduce the shortage of HGV drivers (Letters, September 14)?

    Ian Sandison

    Colinsburgh, Fife

    1. We know two people who have HGV licences.

      During the recent kerfuffle they both investigated returning to HGV driving.

      They found that the well paid jobs were in obscure and/or dangerous areas, with very unsocial hours.

      They both decided that it was Press distortion, and would stay in their present jobs.

  10. Officer at the ready

    SIR – In 1958, while undergoing officer training during National Service, I passed my test driving a three-ton Bedford truck (double declutching when gear changing).

    Can I help reduce the shortage of HGV drivers (Letters, September 14)?

    Ian Sandison

    Colinsburgh, Fife

  11. Good morning from a grey & overcast Derbyshire. At least it’s dry and, with a cooler 7½°C in the yard, the autumnal feel is intensifying.

  13. Choosing when to die

    SIR – The article by Rowan Williams (Comment, September 14) opposing the legalisation of physician-assisted dying is misleading, if not erroneous, in several respects.

    First, it would not be up to the law to define which medical conditions merited consideration. Rather, a patient who had been given a terminal diagnosis would be allowed the option of an assisted death if their suffering became intolerable during the last few days or weeks of life, despite all that palliative care could provide.

    A second independent and experienced physician would then be invited to help with the assessment, which would confirm the diagnosis and ensure that the patient had mental competence and was not under pressure from anyone else.

    If these conditions were fulfilled and the patient was “not expected to live more than six months”, an appropriate prescription would be sent to the nearest pharmacy. It would reside there until the patient felt it was time to die and decided whether or not they wished the doctor to be present.

    Finally, it should also be emphasised that two decades of experience with such a law in Oregon have shown that approximately two thirds of patients who register never in fact use the option because of good end-of-life care, but have derived comfort from knowing that an assisted death was available if needed.

    Sir Terence English FRCS

    Oxford

    2. Remember that abortion was only to be if the life of the mother was in danger? Mission creep is inevitable.

    1. Clever cartoon but I do not think that Peter Brookes has quite caught how grotesque and barely alive Biden looks.😎

      1. ‘Morning, Mike.

        I have aches where I didn’t know I had places to ache, but a comfortable night, thanks. . Bit jittery on the legs – I shan’t be doing much today.

  16. Look to Denmark for fair immigration policies

    SIR – Britain has handed millions of pounds to the French, but there is no sign of a reduction in the numbers of migrants trying to reach our shores. Zoe Strimpel (Features, September 12) is right to highlight alternative approaches to sorting out this mess.

    The Danes have proposed that immigrants must work at least 37 hours each week or face losing state benefits. This seems like a more targeted approach. Rather than being stuck in limbo and costing taxpayers dearly, leading to resentment, there should be clear incentives for new arrivals to assimilate.

    Kirsty Blunt

    Sedgeford, Norfolk

    SIR – A requirement for purchasers of rigid inflatable boats to present a licence to the seller, and for the seller to have evidence that their purchases from manufacturers and subsequent sales match the numbers of licences, would greatly reduce the number of illegal and dangerous journeys made by Channel migrants.

    The cost of such a licence system could be covered by the monies paid by Britain to the French for their ineffective policing of their coastline.

    Mike Collard

    Sturminster Newton, Dorset

    SIR – Sailors in France face myriad regulations about seaworthiness, backed by serious penalties, which are enforced at sea. Equipment regulations vary according to whether a boat is coastal sailing or making a crossing, and these powers seem draconian to British sailors.

    Why are the French not applying these rules to the unseaworthy and scantly equipped migrant boats?

    Peter Sweetman

    Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

    1. There has got to have been some secret deal done between Boris and Macron for this to be happening at all.
      There can be no other explanation for this charade that has been going on now these last few years.
      We still haven’t seen any film of the so called criminal gangs loading these trafficked people being loaded onto boats on French beaches.
      How can they be getting away with that in broad daylight out in full public view? no this must be state organised or sanctioned.
      Something isn’t right here.

      2. I would be far from shocked to find that this human tide has been encouraged under the UN immigration pact that Saggy May signed off on, even as her fingers were being pried from the door jamb of Number 10.

  17. It was reported yesterday that the useless, crooked, smirking Shatts was “disappointed” not to have been promoted in BPAPM’s chair moving exercise.

    Just as well that the wanqueur was not dependent on NoTTLers…..he’d have been out on his elbow months ago.

    1. He’s been left in situ to bu88er things up even further.
      Is it to make Johnson look good by comparison or does he hold some very ‘useful’ information on head honchos?

          1. I had a good night, thanks Anne, but feeling tired so I’m going back to bed soon. Feeling better than I expected.
            Missy didn’t hesitate to demand breakfast on time. She knew something was going on yes’day.

    2. There’s a ghost of an old lady riding a bike at SMB – has caused a few accidents I believe

  19. 338923+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    Why on earth would he want to change anything to benefit the decent elements of the herd when all issues in play are running successfully, he’s
    had a lookalike re-shuffle in the lookalike tory party to pacify the members & their muted grumbles.

    Friday 17 September: The reshuffle was not a grand design but simply a swapping of chairs

    By the by any water polo scores from the English Channel yet ?

    1. All they have done is swap an order for French diesel subs in favour of British nuclear powered subs. Hardly warmongering.
      Trust the Beeb to make an issue of that. The French would have done the same if they had the chance.

    2. The French like to shove their independence and self-interest in our faces but they’re always there when they need a friend.

  22. “SIR – In 1958, while undergoing officer training during National Service, I passed my test driving a three-ton Bedford truck (double declutching when gear changing).

    Can I help reduce the shortage of HGV drivers (Letters, September 14)?

    Ian Sandison
    Colinsburgh, Fife”

    I learned to drive at the age of nine, thanks to the very patient airmen in the MT Unit at RAF Abu Sueir. The vehicle provided was a ten ton Crossley. I had to stand with both feet on the clutch to change gear – double-declutching, of course. I was then promoted to a 45 ft “Queen Mary” artic and required to reverse it correctly through goal posts. That grounding has stood me in good stead during the succeeding 70 years.

    1. At the age of at least 81, I doubt that he could get into the cab of a modern HGV let alone pass the medical checks, learn to drive at modern speeds on modern roads and pass his test, should he survive long enough to take it with the current backlog.

        1. No, you don’t say. I, too, was thinking of driving HGVs after my military service gave me the licences some 40 years ago.

          PS. I learnt to drive HGVs, initially on 3 tonners, then progressing onto bigger stuff, including a Crossley, all with double declutching and no power steering (free gym workouts). Technically I still hold the licences I got then as the DVLA still lists them on my licence despite my not having done mandatory medical reviews.

          2. Yes, modern life may be more comfortable and longer, but I, too, sometimes long for those simpler albeit more brutal days. That said, Life is simpler in Afghanistan, but I wouldn’t like to live there.

          4. Yes, modern life may be more comfortable and longer, but I, too, sometimes long for those simpler albeit more brutal days. That said, Life is simpler in Afghanistan, but I wouldn’t like to live there.

          5. #metoo.
            A selection of Bedfords, RL, MK & TK at 56 MT Training Squadron, Church Crookham, 1976.

          9. Does someone keep an eye on it? The traffickers might have nicked it to use in the Channel…..

          10. After running around doing radio surveys for two years with a small trailer to carry a second antenna, my trailer reversing skills are quite good, but yes, I fully agree about the small trailer!

          11. My trailer is difficult to reverse for the same reason, Rastus. Low and narrow, difficult to spot.

        1. I drove military wreckers on occasion; great fun. You must be one of few at that age to retain their licence.

          1. Yearly medical, I don’t drive a wrecker any more just the 18 ton slide bed and a couple of smaller ones. I’ll probably retire at New Year as the shoulder joints are painful and my licence is up for renewal next March

    2. I remember my father talking about double de-clutching; apparently he had to learn how to do it.
      He learnt to drive in 1930, and never took a test. More worryingly, my aunt used to automatically renew her little red book driving licence, but without ever bothering to drive to keep her hand in.

    3. I used to drive in Nigeria when i was 7 – with Father in the passenger seat.
      Biggest vehicle I ever drove was a tank transporter, complete with Chieftain panzer on the back.

  24. “SIR – A requirement for purchasers of rigid inflatable boats to present a licence to the seller, and for the seller to have evidence that their purchases from manufacturers and subsequent sales match the numbers of licences, would greatly reduce the number of illegal and dangerous journeys made by Channel migrants.

    The cost of such a licence system could be covered by the monies paid by Britain to the French for their ineffective policing of their coastline.

    Mike Collard
    Sturminster Newton, Dorset”

    Poor Mr Collard has failed to notice that whenever regulations are imposed/inflicted to “protect” the public – money-laundering, CRB* checks, ID requirements, guns – the list is endless – all they do is bugger up the lives of the law abiding while yer criminals simply ignore them and do what they want. Thus traffickers would not be remotely inconvenienced by the rule he suggests.

    * I know it has some other daft name.

    2. There are various regulations in France that boat owners carrying passengers for reward are expected to comply with.

      However the French ignore those requirements when dealing with people smugglers.

      Why does Mr Collard think that his suggestion will be adhered to?

      1. D’you know – I am beginning to think that yer French WANT to get rid of these people…..{:¬)))

        1. Wowsers!!!!! A moment of enlightenment!!!!!!
          And I’ve just seen a bear clutching a roll of Andrex heading towards woodland.

        2. To be honest we want to get rid of them too but for some strange reasons our politicians, absurd CofE and misguided assorted lefties are keen to have as many illegal immigrants in Britain as they can import.

      2. There has been a very serious outbreak of naivety. It is spreading more quickly than Covid and will prove to be far more deadly.

  25. Priti Patel orders police to get tough on climate activists after M25 protests. 17 September 2021.

    Priti Patel has told police to take “decisive action” against climate change activists as video footage emerged showing officers facilitating the motorway protests that caused major traffic disruption.

    The Home Secretary condemned as “completely unacceptable” the traffic chaos caused by the guerilla tactics of Insulate Britain, a splinter group of Extinction Rebellion, which blocked off motorway junctions at rush hour twice this week.

    Morning everyone, Wow! They must be as terrified as the Cross Channel tourists!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/16/priti-patel-orders-police-get-tough-climate-activists-m25-protests/

    1. Anyone would think that the government WANTS the police to behave in this way – in the same way as they WANT the perlice to beat up anti-vaxxers.

    2. Just tell the Police to pretend these idiots are anti-lockdown protesters or white working class men protecting statues, people the Police seem to be happy to arrest or assault before you can say “ uphold the rule of law – without fear or favour”.

  26. 338923+ up ticks,
    So just what kind of journalism is it then Andrew, does it / will it find favour with the tubby turk ?

    Dt,
    Andrew Neil suggests he quit GB News because it was ‘not my kind of journalism’
    Ex-BBC journalist said he was ‘in a minority of one’ among managers and would not work for a ‘British Fox News’

  28. 338923+ up ticks,
    So one can safely say the M25 is to be mothballed then on account of sitting tenants ?

    Priti Patel orders police to get tough on climate activists after M25 protests
    Home Secretary demands ‘decisive action’ after footage emerges of officers facilitating motorway blockade

    1. Interesting how the print copy’s “Priti Patel URGES police to get tough on climate activists after M25 protests” has been changed for the online version.

      1. Funny thing is that the Home Secretary is the boss of the police, and boss of the border security and immigration services. Is she aware of that?

  29. Well, after noting the grey overcast sky earlier on, the cloud descended to a fairly heavy mist, almost a fog, which is now clearing.

  30. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7f0ab5de3f9ecfae3536590bd33855fcc2c3583c/0_0_2958_2042/master/2958.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=bf7ebda6832314c81361c1b94e3802cf
    Alberto Trinco, a botanical horticulturalist, tends to a cluster of Victoria Amazonica, the world’s largest water lily species, as the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in Richmond, west London, celebrates another Guinness World Records title: it is home to the world’s largest living plant collection
    Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

    1. I’d have thought that the Amazon rain forests had a larger collection of plants, but what do I know?

        1. Free the plants! These collections are the legacies of empire, slavery and white cisgender patriarchy oppression. They must fall.

    2. I’d have thought that the Amazon rain forests had a larger collection of plants, but what do I know?

  31. Why didn’t doctors listen to women about the link between Covid vaccines and periods?
    A new study reveals that thousands of women experienced irregularities after their jab – yet the medical establishment does not seem to be interested.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/didnt-doctors-listen-women-link-covid-vaccines-periods/

    BTL Comment:

    A vaccine that does not stop you getting the disease, does not stop you passing it on to others, needs constant ‘topping up’ and often seems to have unpleasant side effects is not the answer to Covid that we were encouraged to hope it would be.

    Dare one suggest that early hydroxychloroquine treatment (which was banned because Trump thought it was effective) might be a better way forward than vaccines which are beginning to look both useless and dangerous if the disease could be treated with something else which stops people getting ill?

    1. Yes, the vaccines are more a help than the answer to Covid, but they are far more effective than hydroxychloroquine. In any case, they are used in different areas; better to use both, subject, of course, to the balance of risks for that particular person.

    2. 338923+ up ticks,
      Morning R.
      Define “the wrong way forward” in regards to vaccines
      when much of it comes down to 8 month pregnant
      brown envelopes.

    3. They’re now saying that period irregularities only last for one month. They were denying they happened, or saying they were incredibly rare until recently.

      Daughter’s teacher had a very bad reaction to the second jab, including period irregularities. She’s had all kinds of tests in hospital to check whether there is damage to various organs.

  33. Welcome to the Free Speech Union’s weekly newsletter. This newsletter is a brief round-up of the free speech news of the week.

    Bristol punishes academic after he criticises treatment of women under sharia

    Human rights scholar Professor Steven Greer was subjected to a five-month-long investigation by authorities at Bristol University after a prolonged campaign by the University’s Islamic Society to oust him. He’d raised the treatment of women under sharia in a module he teaches on human rights in the law school every year and was branded an “Islamophobe”. The University investigated a complaint lodged against him by the Islamic Society, cleared him, and then scrapped his module in case it provoked more complaints. The University said it had to act as “guardians of [students’] welfare”. We were quoted in the Mail on Sunday about this latest attack on free speech. Our founder Toby Young told the paper: “Bristol’s treatment of Prof Greer is outrageous. By kowtowing to the Islamic Society, the university has issued a gold-embossed invitation to activists to submit vexatious complaints about its employees.” Professor Greer wrote about his ordeal in the Conservative Woman. He said “the social, economic, political, legal and moral implications of any faith or ideology must be open to debate by everyone, especially in universities. Islam is no exception.”

    Professor Peter Boghossian has given an interview to the Times about his resignation from Portland State University because of its complete capture by the woke left, and warned of the decline of campus freedom in the UK.

    Congratulations to Dr Arif Ahmed of our Advisory Council for winning the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award.

    Policy Exchange has made recommendations about reforming the Equality Act to protect university speakers with unfashionable views.

    Chinese company Huawei has been accused of infiltrating a Cambridge University research centre.

    Westminster updates

    25 MPs led by Sir John Hayes, Chairman of the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs, have urged the Prime Minister to “take a stand” against the “dangerous modern hysteria” of cancel culture. Nadine Dorries’ opposition to cancel culture and support for free speech was noted in the Spectator and the Telegraph following her appointment as Culture Secretary in the reshuffle.

    Michael Gove faced calls to resign after recordings of un-PC jokes he made in his student days surfaced in the Independent. Ruth Dudley Edwards, writing about the recordings, was optimistic about the future of student debating societies: “I’m delighted that there are still young people who want to be part of a debating society with a great tradition, and as an inveterate optimist I believe that one day the thought police will be overthrown and students will once again discover the pleasure of playing with ideas, rebelling against fashionable opinion and offending each other just for the hell of it.”

    Earlier in the week the now ex-Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden explained the Government’s plans to refocus charities on their core objectives, rather than spending their time on “woke” social justice obsessions. The government is looking for a new Chair of the Charity Commission to pursue this agenda.

    Self-censorship and cancel culture

    David Aaronovitch has written in the Times about the “creeping menace” of self-censorship across society. He says it arises “from a fear of reprisal. Of repercussions. Of losing our livelihoods, disadvantaging our families, or of not succeeding.” This chilling climate has spread beyond monocultural universities into workplaces.

    In his Spectator column Douglas Murray says that two decades on from 9/11 society is failing more than ever to talk about Islamism: “We still lack even the vocabulary to describe the problem. So two decades after the most famous Islamist attack of recent decades, we don’t appear to be much closer to even naming the ideology that sparked it. If anything, rather less so.”

    TalkRADIO released a one-off TV show, Cancel Countdown, featuring the top 10 strangest examples of cancel culture. TalkTV, a new channel featuring many of talkRADIO’s presenters, will be launching next year.

    Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, stars of the upcoming Season 2 of The Morning Show, have talked about cancel culture in an interview with the Independent.

    Heretical children’s books burnt by social justice mob

    A literal book burning was held by social justice activists in Canada. It has emerged that a “fire purification” ceremony was held in 2019, at which 30 books were removed from Ontario school libraries and burnt. The ashes were used to plant a tree. (Woke tree?) 4,700 books were removed in total. Tim Stanley has written about this appalling episode in the Telegraph, and wonders how much potential art has been snuffed out by the pervading climate of fear. Patrick West says the burning shows that wokeness is a puritanical cult.

    Trainee therapist expelled for concerns about trans ideology forced on vulnerable children

    James Esses was summarily expelled from his psychotherapy training institute after he voiced concerns about aspects of transgender ideology. There was no procedure whatsoever — he was just booted out. He’s now mounting an ambitious legal battle and we’re helping him crowdfund. You can support his effort here.

    Meanwhile Labour MP Rosie Duffield will be missing the Labour Party conference due to concerns for her safety. She’s been hounded ever since she stated “only women have a cervix”, offending transgender ideologues. Suzanne Moore asks why Labour, the LibDems, Greens, SNP and even the Women’s Equality Party are failing to protect women and the rights of gender critical feminists.

    The trans head of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre has said women opposed to gender reform are “fascists who want to eliminate trans people”.

    Harry Miller criticises Leicestershire Constabulary’s “flying squad”, pictured wearing LGBT rainbow-coloured wings, and their tactical support unit which posed for pictures with riot shields painted in the colours of the trans flag. The force added that a member of the public who carried a riot shield painted in the colours of the suffragettes — as opposed to a rainbow — would be considered to have committed a public order offence as it would be an offensive weapon.

    GB News

    Following Andrew Neil’s resignation from GB News, Robin Aitken says the channel only stands a chance if it becomes a populist Fox News-style outfit. Stephen Armstrong isn’t so sure and has said in the Telegraph that while Brits don’t like political correctness and feel “woke” has gone too far, our culture war isn’t as intense as America’s. Daniel Finkelstein criticised the station in the Times for cancelling Guto Harri.

    The BBC has appointed Jess Brammar as an executive news editor despite concerns about her left-wing bias. Paddy Hannam has written for Spiked about the BBC’s fixation on a certain type of “diversity”, where people come from different backgrounds but think the same about controversial topics. The Government has restated its commitment to ensuring the BBC and ITV produce more distinctively British shows.

    Misha Glenny urges the European Union to act against member states which restrict press freedom.

    Tech

    Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that restricts the ability of social media platforms to block and remove accounts. He said the law was to “fight back against big tech political censorship”.

    Annelise Butler has written for the Daily Signal about moves by banks to close accounts of Republican officials on the grounds of “reputational risk”.

    Facebook has been criticised for keeping secret its research showing the harmful effects of Instagram on teenage girls.

    The hacking group Anonymous claims to have hacked Epik, a web registration company known for hosting American conservative social media networks.

    FSU at Battle of Ideas Festival

    The FSU will be out in force at this year’s Battle of Ideas Festival at Church House in Westminster on the weekend of the 9th and 10th of October. We’ll be organising a session, chaired by our founder Toby Young, called “The FSU Files: How to Fight ‘Cancel Culture’ and Win” in which we’ll hear from individuals who’ve experienced first-hand what it’s like to be cancelled. But these particular individuals also have something else in common: with our help, they’ve all fought back. We will hear from them about what the most effective ways are of surviving an online assassination attempt, as well as more general advice on how to persuade people that free speech is a cause worth defending.

    Across the weekend there are numerous other sessions on free speech issues that should be of interest to FSU supporters, including “Hate, Heresy and the Fight for Free Speech”, “From GB News to Ben & Jerry’s: Boycotts or Censorship?”, “Publish and Be Damned?”, “The History Wars”, “The Social Justice March through the Institutions”, “Has Coronavirus Changed Us?” and “Can Culture Survive the Culture Wars?”

    Most of our staff will be there encouraging others to join the FSU, so come and find us at our stall and say hello. Buy tickets here. Members were sent a discount code in the last monthly newsletter.

    Sharing the Newsletter

    You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Remember, all of our work depends on our members and donors. Sign-up today or encourage a friend to join and help us turn the tide against cancel culture and censorship.

    Best wishes,

    1. I have on problem with the FSU that prevents me from joining it and that is Toby Youngs refusal to defend Tommy Robinson. Anyone who has listened to him (Robinson) knows very well he is not a racist or a rabble rouser but simply a man telling the truth. His fault is that he is working class and prepared to sacrifice himself for the truth and therefore fair game for the middle class elite that has no scruples or spine when it comes to failing to take a moral stand on anything and which in its spineless pretensions will brook no rabble rousers that will interfere with its bland make work façade hiding an awful lot of nothing. It is thanks to them, in my opinion, that we have mediocre politics in this country. As Kate Hoey pointed out a few days ago. The working class, people who called a spade a spade, are now non-existent in Parliament replaced by middle class jobworths afraid of causing offence to anyone or anything and thus effectively useless. In my opinion, Toby Young is in the same class, he has yet down from his middle class pedestal and start digging around in the mud, of which there is plenty that he and his ilk are not prepared to deal with. I find them contemptable.

        1. Yes, exactly, those sort of people. The ones that look down their noses whilst pretending to be egalitarian but don’t want to descendent to the grubby facts of life. Toby Young, in his response to being asked of free speech extended to Tommy Robinson, is one of those. He was evasive and dishonest to a direct question. When his answer should have been a short and sweet: “Yes”. If you are going to defend free speech it must be across the board, not what you favour or deem ‘proper’. This sort of cowardice is typical of the “movers and shakers” in our society. It is why they achieve little or nothing and allow the truly honest to be frozen out of not only the conversation, but out of society all together.

  34. This morning 14 protesters from the Insulate wing of Extinction Rebellion were arrested on M25 at Leatherhead within 20 minutes of trying to block the road. Furious drivers tried to remove them just before police arrived to arrest the protesters.

      1. Morning Bill – let’s hope the arrested demonstrators get hefty fines for their misbehaviour.

  36. Of course they’re fine, no need for concern, everyone should use them.

    DDT, smoking, thalidomide, asbestos, lobotomies, Vioxx, all cholesterol being bad, ECT, using blood products from HIV positive donors, the list goes on.

    Recalls of dangerous drugs, of course they were safe

    https://www.medicalerroraustralia.com/medical-disasters/10-worst-drug-recalls-in-history/

    Medical scandals, but hey ho, you can trust me I’m a doctor/scientist.
    https://www.topmastersinpublichealth.com/10-biggest-medical-scandals-in-history/

    But our hubristic medics and politicians are absolutely certain Covid vaccination won’t do long term harm and is unquestionably the way forward for absolutely everybody, young, old, fit, vulnerable.

    On the positive side, massive depopulation might be good for the planet.

    4. It’s all very fine having the container stamped with its volume content when most of the time, there’s the best part of a quid’s worth missing after it has been poured. It’s time the brewers supplied a glass with a line marking the pint and room for the head on top.

        1. I know that but they are far from universal nor mandatory and I can remember some wallah from Guinness saying they were not necessary and waiting all day for the drink to be poured was part of the Guinness culture and mystique. In my pub, I often see pint glasses returning from the restaurant to be topped up as I assume the diner has decided that the glass is far from full.

        1. I think when the pub is busy, this is less likely to happen. My pub was bought by a big company 18 months ago- just before lockdown. I used to drink Pilsener Urquell which the new owner stopped serving. The Pilsener Urquell came in a huge glass- be it a half or pint, with a line and the bar staff always served to the top of the glass for me- I did not ask! I was probably getting a good 20% more than the supposed measure!

    5. 2043 Crown Stamp:- Used from 1999 to October 2006
      Marked on vessels produced by Verrerie Cristallerie d’Arques (VCA) under the self-verification act from 1999 to 2000. In 2000 this French manufacturer changed its name and became Arc International (Arcoroc France). 2043 was used up to 29th October 2006 when the CE mark was introduced.

  40. Russian and African Roulette

    There’s this African ambassador visiting Russia and the Russians show the African how to play Russian Roulette. The African thinks to himself, “What a strange and daring culture!”
    The next day the African leaves and goes back to Africa. About a month later, the same Russian ambassador visits with the African ambassador in his own nation. When the Russian gets off the plane the African shows him to a circle of six buxom Nubian babes and says, “We have created our own version of your Russian Roulette!”
    “How do you play?” asks the Russian.
    The African replies, “Any one of these girls will give you a blow job.”
    The Russian says “Wow! What a game! But, uh… where’s the risk? The thrill?”
    The African says, “Oh, there’s risk alright! One of the girls is a cannibal!“

    1. I expect he received immediate medical attention. Unlike the Scottish woman who waited 40 hours for an ambulance…then died.

        2. The ropers really don’t do humour! But it was OK for him to mock whitey Douglas Ross when he had an accident on the football pitch! Karma for the evil little b***er!

        1. Couldn’t be moved safely, i expect.

          St Nichola is asking the Army for help. Though at the same time will not call it a crisis.

          Doing so would make it look as if she couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery.

        1. Would there be enough ammunition if we were able to line all the disgusting dishonest devious bastards up and shot them all.
          Where are the SAS when we need them most ?

    4. Hum ma bawz has made a meal of the reaction, with his race card deployed. Of course, by causing such a hullaballoo he hopes it will deflect from the ongoing NHSS ambulance crisis, for which he as the Nationalist Health Minister must carry some responsibility.

      How much easier to stir up the reaction to him acting the fool in a sub-par ‘You’ve Been Framed’ entry.

      1. Playing the race card is sooo easy he’s trying it again with his child’s nursery place! He really is an absolute white-hating sh1t!

    1. We pay quite enough already towards the diversity officers and managers pension fund, thanks. All we get here for our money is a fortnightly bin collection (and weekly food waste, of which we have very little) and a street lamp.

      1. Our Conservative council isn’t that bad. We still have a library !

        From next month they are to begin charging to take away our green waste. At the same time as giving themselves a pay rise.

        I won’t be paying it. There is a disused railway line which is completely overgrown at the back of my property.

        I might charge the neighbours half what the council are charging to dispose of their garden trimmings.

          4. No Bob. It was a spur that went to the armaments depot. Closed 20 odd years ago. Had one train a day at 10 a.m. I used to wave to the driver !

            They wanted to put a bus lane along it but because of several obstacles it was too expensive.

            Foxes, badgers, squirrels, deer and birds all over the place. And soon to be a load of garden waste composting.

        2. Our small green waste and kitchen peelings etc goes in the compost bin and larger stuff from the bushes goes every now & then to the “recycling centre” – i suppose that’s one thing we’re getting from the CT. But it is about 10 miles round trip so we save it up till we have a car load.

        1. They started the food waste collection a few years ago – we always managed without it and could do so again. It’s usually just a few bits of bones. Any vegetable matter goes in the compost bin.

    4. The only fair method is a sales tax, levied on everything. That way no-one can avoid paying and if councils in one area increase the sales tax to pay for one-legged black actresse’s poetry classes, people will just go next door to do their shopping.

      This was suggested rather than the ill-fated Community Charge (Poll Tax) but Heseltine said it was too complex – he conveniently forgot that VAT was introduced overnight.

  43. Those sophisticated Londoners…

    Tube accidents soar as passengers too afraid to hold escalator handrails

    Escalator falls have soared in Tube stations because passengers are too afraid to hold handrails over fears they could catch Covid.

    A London Underground chief has warned falls caused by people not holding handrails “due to a perception they are not clean” is currently one of the biggest safety risks facing the network. There were 12 serious injuries on the Tube network between April and June and 23 on buses, which Transport for London (TfL) said was “a total greater than any quarter throughout 2020/21”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/16/tube-accidents-soar-passengers-afraid-hold-escalator-handrails/

    2. God grief, do these “sophisticates” ever read? There has not been one single case of anyone catching Covid world wide from a surface, not one.

      1. They believe the scare stories. Why are people STILL wearing those stupid face nappies in the open air (or anywhere else, come to that)?

        1. Hallo Bill! No doubt you saw Labour having a go at the Tories in Parliament because they were not wearing “sanitary napkins” on their faces. So it is clearly political, pseudo moralists on the left trying to capture the high ground and failing miserably at it. I think it was the detestable Emily Thornbury, Snob in Chief, leading the charge.

    3. Morning all!

      I’ve seen people wiping the hand rails with sanitiser or folding a cloth around the rail to avoid touching it on tube trains. Madness reigns.

    4. Unless I happen to be carrying a suitcase or a giraffe, I would always walk up or down the escalator (as appropriate). Not so much running these days.

        1. They should – but my fear is that they will not. At least not in this world.

          I wonder what IDs St Peter will demand when we stand at the gates hoping to get in?

          2. Of course Macbeth’s Porter – the one who warned that too much drink was the droopy brewer’s enemy – said that he was the Porter at Hell’s gate.

    2. And we thought it was bad in Australia.
      We could de with some of those shippable cubicles at Dover.

    3. That’s China under the CCP for you. It’s more about drilling the masses for control than anything else.

  47. Morning all.
    I went to the pub last night it’s been a long time since 7 old codgers sat and put the world to rights. We all put a tenner into the kitty, as I had a lift home the last orders were only three pints. with only bit of lose change left i proffered twenty and some one shoved in a fiver. When the drinks came back on a tray there was a pile of change. It was handed to me and I shoved it into my pocket, as one does. I have just gone through it and found that not only did i make a profit one of the 2 pound coins is a rare item and worth around 26 quid. With It’s WW1 celebratory on the reverse side.

      1. As an hones person now I have the dilemma of keeping schtum or putting 20 back in the kitty next time.

        2. You will like yourself more if you put £20 back in the kitty next time. We regret the omissions more than the comissions in life.

          3. I’ll keep it with a few others I have discovered over time and hand them to our grand children.

          5. Nothing wrong with optimism PM but it can lead to disappointment sometimes. As a pessimist I am seldom dissapointed. 🤗

          6. Makes a change [no pun intended] from the days of yore when shopkeepers would routinely hand you an Irish penny (or some other foreign coin) in your change and feign surprise when you pointed it out to them.

          7. There was a little shop near Mill Hill (northern line) East Station and the old boy who owed it was always up to something like that. He would sometimes just chuck your change on the counter and walk a away. I think it was called Briggs and son. Long demolished.

      1. No, I think it came from the till at the bar Tim.
        I doubt if youngsters handle much cash these days and wouldn’t look at any of it out of interest.

      1. I loved that programme Bill it always reminded me of many people I had met during my life.
        Paul Whitehouse who started off as a plasterer in London I’m sure met Roy Bridges one of the characters he played was the spit of Roy. Every thing you thing you mentioned Roy had done. We once worked out he should have been 160 years old and he was only 40.

          1. Did you know that Paul Whitehouse’s fishing mate Bob Mortimer was once a Lawyer in south London ?

  48. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/17/m25-protests-eco-activists-block-junction-motorway-third-time/
    The well-off privileged tw@ts are out again trying to stop ordinary people making a living, one near me.

    They have a right to protest but not to f*ck everyone else around. Many of this group have been arrested and bailed twice already this week for the same offence.

    Instead of letting them off as they think they have a reasonable excuse – who wouldn’t want to save the world, were it actually be in any danger – why not fast track them to a few weeks inside as they did to to the white working class cisgendered man taking a piss near a memorial plaque?

    Edit: oh the irony that they be right about the need for insulation for the wrong reasons: their demented green policies will destroy our ability to heat our homes properly just when the sun wanes and our planet starts to cool.

    1. Good morning Dale and others.
      A lot of Magistrates Courts are overworked & understaffed because of Covid.
      One answer would be to create regional super-courts, and allocate detained people according to their place of birth, previous employment, previous court appearances etc. (create an algae ribbon to calculate the appropriate option)
      That way, there could be a fair chance that the M25 plonkers might end up in North Yorkshire, or West Wales.

      1. There is a fair number of people who could be sworn in as Magistrates and Sheriffs. No legal training is required as there are lawyers in court and on call. Magistrates do not need to be lawyers.

      2. Better still just kill everyone accused of a crime. Much quicker. Not for slammers and bames, of course. They get acquitted automatically.

    2. Boris needs to scrap the Supreme Court first. They are the idiots who ruled that protesting by blocking highways was OK.

      1. And didn’t the Supreme Court do its best to bugger up Brexit?
        Mind you in signing up to the NI Protocol, getting no deal on financial services and allowing the EU to continue to plunder our fishing waters Johnson and Gove did their very best to bugger it up without the Supreme Court’s help?

      3. In effect, the Supreme Court was created to administer the ECHR through the Human Rights Act and to manage our legal relationship with the EU. We’re out of the EU (well, sort of…) and the HRA and ECHR need to be dealt with first.

    3. If these dopey wokey’s were really worried about ‘climate change’ they would be front lining on the real causes of increased carbon emissions from our small group of islands. That is over crowding destroying wild life habitat and concreting over green belt and agricultural land to bulld many thousands of new homes for migrants ! Migrants we do not require in any shape or form. But that’s another story, they don’t have the guts to face up to the really important issues, it’s more truth than they can handle.
      In the express the other day there was clip form the M25 blockage, where a dopey wokey female copper was asking the blockage idiots if she could be of any assistance and was there any thing she could do to help.

      1. You’re forgetting Lefty doublethink.

        Immigration good! Climate change bad! The nots they’ll tie themselves in defying the smple truth is staggering.

        1. ‘Cisgendered’ is an invented term which apparently applies to both sexes (Note – I did say both sexes, as there are only two – male and female). Genders – there are three; masculine, feminine and neuter, as ‘gender’ is a grammatical concept.

  49. 338923+ up ticks,
    Me thinking that the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration coalition
    were already in compliance and were now working on worldwide travel cards for paedophiles & others felons of an assorted nature.

    Personally in a very short missive to the top honcho regarding the Un the second word would most definitely be OFF.

    UN to UK: ‘Consider Keeping Your Borders Open’, Change Anti-Illegal Immigration Bill

    1. No.

      The UN is a disaster. Incompetent, inefficient, bureaucratic. The world would be better off without it. There is nothing united about the UN.

    2. If the UN was logical in any way, it would actually be telling developing countries to keep their citizens in place to build those countries.

      It is always claimed that it is the most educated, dynamic and able who are heading out, so surely those are the very ones who should be being encouraged to remain to develop the third world.

      1. 338923+ up ticks,
        S,

        I believe many go into cuckoo mode as in tailor made,

        A cunning master of misdirection, the cuckoo’s reputation precedes it. These brood parasites spook woodland birds from their nests, then lay their own eggs in them to be brought up by the host. Cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. .. as do illegal immigrants.

        Mass uncontrolled immigration is the major fault any leaving in great numbers is going to damage that country what I think is a brain surgeon type is dependant on the brain dead type ( the infrastructure ) meaning any leaving in large numbers is damaging both Countries, theirs & ours.

      2. and the West should not be pillaging them for their expensively-trained medics, either, just because the West cannot be arsed to train their own folk.

      2. 338923+ up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        I would say rape of the mind ( mental damage) added to very serious ABH, the portrayals in this country will go far in the currant political infrastructure along with the instruction manual in office & halal on the canteen menu.

        You need no further proof as to the overseers agenda.

    1. A video clip is shown below, shame he didn’t really hurt himself or had fallen on Olga Krankie.

  53. The Americans are going to wrap Sequoia trees in foil cladding to protect them from forest fires. I wonder who thought that one up? Sequoia trees have a spongy outer bark that protects them from fires. There have been lots of forest fires in the last 2000 years and the giant redwoods have survived. Will they survive man’s help, as the wrapping changes the dynamics of the fire, probably acting as chimney and increasing heat? But what do I know?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58592376
    ( Giant sequoia bark is fibrous, furrowed, and may be 90 cm (3 ft) thick at the base of the columnar trunk. The sap contains tannic acid, which provides significant protection from fire damage.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoiadendron_giganteum#:~:text=Giant%20sequoia%20specimens%20are%20the%20most%20massive%20individual,claimed%20via%20research%20figures%20taken%20out%20of%20context.

    1. Why don’t they do what we’ve been doing for centuries and dig a fire break?

      Oh! Because big government doesn’t learn any lessons.

    2. Nadine: was married to someone in coal mining.
      Grizzly: son of a coal miner.
      Nadine: loathes the Left.
      Grizzly: loathes the Left.

      She’ll do for me.

      1. Oberstleutnant: Grandson of a coal miner and dweller in Hartlepool.
        Can’t get grittier than that!

  55. Aukus is the moment global Britain came alive. 17 September 2021.

    The security partnership jointly announced by President Biden and Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison late on Wednesday night may turn out to be one of the most consequential since the end of the Cold War. Aukus, as it is to be known, is a new trilateral agreement that deepens the defence and security ties between Australia, the UK and the United States. The US and the UK will mark the new partnership by providing Australia with sensitive nuclear technology, giving its submarine fleet greater range and flexibility in the Indo-Pacific region.

    The UK doesn’t have the Naval Forces to defend its own shores and yet it’s going to project them 6,000 miles around the planet! The logistics alone will be horrendously expensive and one only has to look at what happened to the Russian Grand Fleet at Tsushima to know their probable fate if there was trouble. All this and by the time one nuclear powered Australian submarine had been built; and it’s doubtful that they could afford more than three at the very most, China will have constructed another fleet. This is preposterous nonsense. It makes no more military sense than Afghanistan. This is about gaining political allies against China which will incur economic losses on our part for no gains.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/17/aukus-moment-global-britain-came-alive/

    2. We were discussing this over coffee.
      We need to keep our close links with India, Australia and Japan in order to encircle and keep a beady eye on China.
      India will be the only country with enough population and industrial potential to post a challenge in that area.
      Until the Kiwis boot out the Blair Babe and her acolytes, the country is far too flakey. Even then, there are probably future little JAs in the pipeline.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7855eeabd7aa8cab0224946cc2a0925d9da9bc98c0a25cfddd2718567fa4eed0.jpg

      1. No chance. Like Blair, by the time she leaves, the whole country will be infiltrated and owned by her followers.

    3. Our secret and top secret documents in t’Army would be marked Strap – AUSCANNZUKUS or AUSCANUK, etc, depending who we trusted with the Intel.

  56. The first decision of Nadine Dorries was to authorise the demolition of this:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc69186abce028b7994b906a56f8cb59a0d1b89dca98d167f48ce658e89becff.jpg

    It’s a coal feed bunker left behind after the demolition of the Redcar steelworks. It was given a Grade 2 listed status only this week in an attempt to save it.

    Labour’s former candidate to be Tees Valley mayor, Jessie Joe Jacobs, accused Ms Dorries of “cultural vandalism”. “The Dorman Long tower is one of UK’s best examples of brutalist architecture and a proud symbol of Teesside’s industrial heritage. This is just tragic,” she wrote.

    I can’t argue against the decision. However, there is an ironic and rather depressing conclusion to the story. One of the manufactories to be built on the site will make *******.

    Read on…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-58593615

    1. That reminds me. Why does Scotland, and indeed England, need millions of immigrants to boost the population? It seems hardly necessary given that millions of jobs in factories have disappeared. As these jobs were sustained in the past from a lower population base, the optimum population for the UK is surely nearer 40m than the current 66m?

  64. Spicy prawn Ramen tonight. Twisted the heads off and the stomach follows. Peeled them Butterflied them. Dropped them all over the floor. Washed them.

    3. I cook my prawns with the heads on, then twist them off as you describe. I then crush the heads between my incisors & suck out the juices, then discard the husk. Delicious – a trick my first spouse, who was born & brought up in Bombay, taught me. When the family had a prawn curry, the servants would eat a prawn head curry & as a child she would often eat with them.

  66. The government apparently has been monitoring my Disqus account…There █████ █ ████ is ███ █ no █████ █ ████ problem █ ████ █████ █ ████ everything ███ █████ is█████ ████ ████ fine ████ ██.

  67. A horse walks into a bar, the barman says “you’re in here pretty often, I’m beginning to think you may be an alcoholic”
    The horse replies “I don’t think I am” and vanishes from all existence.

    You see the joke is about Descartes’ famous philosophy of ‘ I think therefore I am’ but to explain that part before the rest of the joke would just be putting Descartes before the horse.

      1. I was thinking about you last night as i was reading my book. I thought i would recommend it to you. Then i had second thoughts. You being an educated gentleman of a serious bent.

        The book gives a great insight into cat behaviour. Especially when the cat doesn’t think you are looking. Probably a bit childish for you but then you could always read it to Gus & Pickles.

        ‘The Amazing Maurice and his educated Rodents’. Terry Pratchett.

        If you do get it and don’t care for it you can always throw it to the back of the head of any passing child.

          1. Yes. I think i have seen most of them.
            The first one i watched was Simon being woken up with the baseball bat. Very funny.

  69. Piotr (Polish neighbour) just came by to see how I am after yesterday’s event. Offered to do any odd jobs, like cut the front hedge. I gave him a bottle of fizz as a thank-you for their help yes’day.

  70. Well – that was a blow. We planned a seven mile bike ride to Martins Farm and back – to stock up with sausages and chicken. My front tyre flat as a pancake.
    Fortunately, a chap a few hundred yards away, who was made redundant, has set up as a bike repairer. He has the job in hand.

  71. The best cities in England for safety and wellbeing:
    Swindon
    Luton
    London
    Reading
    Slough
    The results were based on weighted results across the five categories of local crime rates, death rates, mental health rates, sickness absence rates and non-fatal injuries in the workplace. The total was then weighted out of 100, with the lower the score, the safer the city.

    Swindon, Luton and London all tied with 19 out of 100. (Kabul would have come top but no one would answer the phone).

    Data gathered by Pheonix Health and Safety… aided and abetted by YouGov, no doubt.

      2. It can’t have been the mental asylums as most of them are closed. Remainers, displaced Scots Nats, BBC employees, Marxist/Leninist activists (same thing really)… plenty to choose from.

      2. We went to Blackpool in 1980. It was shut. The sea was all over the road, too, and the rain was hozirontal.

    6. I always thought a town had to have a cathedral or an abbey to be known as a city. Luton (old English name Lower Town) has a few mosques and Sikh temples.
      There is one church there that has quite a few ‘electrical faults’ over the past 30 years.

  72. Thanks to everyone who offered advice and recipes for dealing with tomatoes.

    As we’ve been eating most of them I didn’t in the end have enough for Carolyn’s chopped toms but have kept it in case of more next year.

    In the end I “sun dried” enough yesterday afternoon for a jar of ‘sun dried’ and here they are, with the rest of my small tomatoes for eating ( and there are still some more to ripen).

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/698817269ce5b12afb1dc455cf8c76f20e8676da2d4970af68fd4dd54f32e57c.jpg

      2. Ah, fried red tomatoes seasoned with salt and pepper on toast. Be careful to select those tomatoes which are not quite fully ripe.
        I am always a little bit sad this time of year because it will not be too long before shop bought tomatoes have to make another appearance in the larder. Tasteless compared to home grown I think.

          1. A fried egg, sunny-side up, with soft runny yolk and crisp-edged white is a necessity. Two are even better. When the yolk runs into the surface of that fried bread … Mmmmmmmm!!!!

          2. Yes Grizz but i find the red and yellow makes me think of things that i don’t want to think about whilst eating.

        2. Shop tomatoes look nice, but have absolutely no flavour. Then you pick the first home-grown one (hopefully after it’s been warmed in the sun) and the smell of tomato that wafts off from just the picking… Drool!

    2. Good on you, girl. We’ll make a Victorian kitchen wife out of you yet. 👍🏻😊

      Strained and filtered (muslin) my beef stock this afternoon. It is deep, dark and rich. When it’s cool I’ll portion it up, freeze some, drink some, and save some for further reduction to a glaze.

    3. Mine have all gone, eaten as they are, in salads or sauces (some in the freezer). Blight has now overcome the plants in the greenhouse.

      1. Mine too. I still have some beef toms finishing. Looks like i will be ripening them in the conservatory.

    4. We still have lots. Those outdoors which were near the blighted plants will be picked tomorrow and stored on newspaper in a box to ripen (or chuck out).

      The greenhouse is still very prolific. A lot more tomata will be made before September is out!

      1. There are still some to ripen, but I think my plants might have caught the blight, as the stems are getting brown patches. Most of the beef ones are still green. The little yellow ones are lovely.

  73. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9a584ab3956bf1a9dfa9694000f9bc01ab09ff3b21a9676d3a213dae5ae2c0c.jpg With reference to the discussion, this morning, about pint glasses with the Imperial Crown etched on them. I have a set of six of those (one pictured, above) that are all rim measurements. I’ve just tested one for capacity by placing it onto the kitchen scales, empty, before filling steadily with water until it reached 1 lb – 4 oz. This filled it to the brim just before it would overspill. For the life of me, I can’t fathom out why rim glasses became so popular, except that they gave unscrupulous landlords an opportunity to rip you off. Attempting to carry one containing a full pint from the bar is simply impossible.

    Apart from all that I’m a northerner and I like a full pint of liquid ale with a creamy head on top of that. This cannot be achieved with a rim glass.

        1. Nah – just pubs in the south of England, where we don’t like huge amounts of foam on the top of a pint.

          3. No thanks. I’m a Timothy Taylor’s man. Proper beer, that.

            I am partial to a drop of Harvey’s when down south, though.

          4. I’m partial to a drop of Landlord, myself. I used to drink Young’s, my local beer (at least until I moved out of London), until they sold out and moved production to Bedford. It doesn’t taste the same now.

    2. Expected yield from a keg of lager (11 gal) – 104%
      Expected yield from a keg of Guinness – 108%

      2. Creamy froth on Guinness is legally part of the pint. Some row a million years ago decided in court.

        1. Well of course it is. It’s guinness not glass so of course the head forms part of the pint. Grizz is a typical yorkshireman wanting something extra on top of what he paid for.

      3. That’s OK if you drink keg ‘beer’ and lager. I don’t.

        Is it the same for proper cask-conditioned ale; the only beer worth drinking?

        1. Guinness is definitely worth drinking, but on the whole I steer clear of gassed beer too. I hate lager, it’s just horrid and gassy bitters just don’t taste like beer should.

          2. I went out with a belgian bird so spent a fair bit of time in Brussels. Can’t get a proper beer over there for love or money, it’s all lager. She raved about this Biere blanche Hooegarten or something like that. just tasted like all other lager, pretty gross.

          3. I have never enjoyed Guinness served from either keg or bottle in the UK. I am told, though, that it is a far better drink in the Republic of Ireland.

          4. Each to their own but if im in a pub and there’s just bad or no real ales available it’s always Guinness I plump for. Thankfully it seems since my near alcoholism days that pubs have very much improved their ranges of real ales.

          1. Discerning drinkers don’t give a monkey’s about yield as long as they get a full, decent pint, served at 13ºC, by a crafted cellarman who knows his trade.

  74. More migrants have arrived in the UK for the fifth consecutive day this week after crossing the English Channel.

    A man carrying a young child on his shoulders – who was wrapped in a blanket and wearing a woollen hat – were among a group of people seen arriving in Dover on Friday amid bright and breezy conditions at sea.

    At least 481 migrants have arrived in the UK since Monday after making the journey across busy shipping lanes from France.

    But the numbers so far are substantially lower than the week before.

    A new record was set for the year so far when 1,959 people made the crossing in the week to September 10 – the highest total for any seven-day period in 2021, according to data compiled and analysed by the PA news agency.

    At least 14,900 people have crossed to the UK on board small boats this year.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/kent-priti-patel-dover-english-border-force-b955962.html

  75. I see Shatts has taken Kenya off the red list! Too late for my October trip – as BA cancelled our flight home we’ve postponed the trip again to February. Just have to hope it’s not back on the red list by then.

    1. You were really looking forward to your October trip , so sad that you have been let down again .

      I don’t think any of them know what they are doing .

      Why are Pakistan and Turkey off the list, I assumed bods were being knocked down like ninepins by the plague .

      1. I don’t know about Turkey but I can think of only one reason for Pakistan & Bangladesh coming off the list.

    2. That’s a bummer, N. Fingers crossed for the next attempt!
      SWMBOs prents have given up with their holiday to Sicily and cancelled.
      :-((

  76. Beautiful day today .

    The dogs enjoyed their run on glorious heathland near Corfe Castle

    The roads were busy… again .

    Moh and I were rather mystfied by the large flags and sign posts along the road to Corfe Castle …. Nordic Walking Festival …. and tents galore in a field near the Norden steam railway line

    The Purbeck WALX festival (formally the Purbeck Nordic Walking Festival) in Dorset will enter its fifth year in 2021 having sadly missed 2020 due to Coronovirus.

    Join us on the 17th 18th and 19th SEPTEMBER 2021 for a bigger and better event!
    Explore this stunning area on the Jurassic coast and take part in walks in iconic locations like Brownsea Island, Thomas Hardy’s cottage and Old Harry Rocks. We have hundreds of walks for all levels, with or without poles. All led by trained leaders and all with an essence of adventure, food or fun (or perhaps all 3!)

    This 3 day event includes two distance challenges (16 and 27 miles) and a Saturday night social with live music at our unique Festival hub nestled beneath Corfe Castle.

    NEW for 2021 – Virtual Challenges!

    For the past four years a host of Nordic Walkers from around the world came to learn, participate
    and simply enjoy nordic walking at all levels. See pictures here.

    So come and join us on our home turf in 2021, the stunning Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. Explore tranquil beaches, stunning Jurassic coastal paths, ancient castles and picture postcard villages. Registration will open this Winter.

    What’s On?
    This festival will combine innovative workshops, presentations, social events, over 100, guided walks and the UK’s only dedicated walking and nordic walking Marathon (in fact its almost 27 miles due to the rugged terrain!) there will also be a 16 mile stunning challenge route. https://www.nordicwalking.events/
    ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

    Not alot more I can say about that except on this very sunny day as we drove through Corfe Castle village , we saw lots of people of all sizes and shapes in all types of clothng , complete with a bright stick in each hand .. the sort one would use in snow or muddy conditions !!!

    Everwhere we looked we saw families and people who would probably have some difficulty negotiating and navigating the Purbeck hills .

    So not only are there scores of Lycra clad cyclists on on our narrow lanes , but confused Nordic walkers with brightl coloured walking sticks sweating buckets in the heat !

    It is a grand life for many

    We headed for Swanage , just like the days when we used to vsit Moh’s mother in the nursing home for over three years , five years ago .

    Sadly the nursing home , a great grand oldfashioned Victorian ex convent is closed , locked up , shuttered for good .

    January 2021 they lost 16 patients to Covid .. a patient was returned to them from hospital .. and the very worst happened .. the business collapsed .

    Didn’t spend long in Swanage , drove home , yes there were more walkers , cyclists and very impatient van drivers and a milk tanker!

    1. Hmm, Maggie, 16 and/or 27 miles, I have difficulty in walking 70 paces before my back starts screaming at me and the doc cannot refer me to a bone specialist and I can only apply for useless physiotherapy.

      So one just learns to live with the pain.

  77. “Under-fire Priti Patel FINALLY reads riot act to police chiefs as she faces call to go after eco mob causes M25 chaos for THIRD time this week after being allowed to walk free – because officers claim they still need to ‘gather evidence'” (Daily Wail)

    “Gather evidence”???? Take a photo of the wazzocks sitting on the highway. That is your bleeding evidence, Chief Cunstable (sic).

    1. The woman has a very difficult job. She has to work out who she can get away with persecuting before her paymasters tell her no.

      Those same paymasters obviously think Cretinous Dick is the right person for the job.

      Within a couple of years we will see both harridans in the Lords.

      2. Putting the world to rights as the 7 did last night in the pub, one of our group use to be a senior cop and another’s son is an inspector at the moment. They both agreed that she is totally effing useless. And of course is only in the job because of her private beliefs.
        One slightly leftie councillor didn’t agree, but we have come to expect that. But the Retired senior cop put him straight.

          1. He was Hendon trained and came up through the ranks to chief inspector, he has no time for any of it these days, but as he says there’s nothing he can do now.

        2. One of a group of friends on my last holiday abroad…sighs is a serving officer for Derbyshire Police. I put it to him that they were now a glorified social services. He agreed.

        3. Our lefty retired headmaster has been in Crete at his holiday home for the last 4 months. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice bloke and we all like him. The point is we don’t get tutted at when we talk about ‘Hanging the bastards.’ (politicians) or ‘Sending the bastards back.’ (Illegal immigrants).

          1. The same as this guy, he’s a nice chap and good company, he Doctor P was senior chemist at one of the big pharmaceutical companies. But his leftie lean is a bit frustrating at times. Fortunately he’s not so out spoken.

  78. “Under-fire Priti Patel FINALLY reads riot act to police chiefs as she faces call to go after eco mob causes M25 chaos for THIRD time this week after being allowed to walk free – because officers claim they still need to ‘gather evidence'” (Daily Wail)

    “Gather evidence”???? Take a photo of the wazzocks sitting on the highway. That is your bleeding evidence, Chief Cunstable (sic).

    2. “We must bring back proper border control.”

      And employ more national and local government officers to combat tax and benefit fraud, illegal labour scams and the housing and planning rackets.

    3. There’s not much work ‘outside the formal economy’ unless you are a whore or drug dealer.

      Most drug dealers do get high on their own supply so that’s generally not much of a money maker and it seems about 75% of ladies of the night are Romanian.

      It’s very difficult to operate a business paying staff cash in hand now.

  81. Well today i was testing my plumbing once again Last winter i had to replace a heating element in out bathroom towel rail radiator But it sprang a leak so I closed it down and turned it off. Today I took the whole thing off the wall today and dismantled it and replaced the three Rubber O rings that had perished. I had to buy a new box of O rings from Tool Station, click and collect it’s so easy. Another job done time for a well earned Ale. Now i’m on to baked seabass and other appropriate bits and pieces.

    1. Pity you can pop in here, Eddy. A disc cover at the base of the shower has dislodged. I have it AND the washer – but Can I get the damned thing to stay in place?

      1. Email me a photo of it and I might be able to help Bill. I’ll delete the email from here when I receive yours.

          1. Okay Bill i know what you mean i get like that. Out with the ‘lads’ Thursday i was offered three jobs, i spose i’ll get around to them but………..I worked for 53 bleedin years 🤗

          2. I hope I didn’t sound dismissive or rude. My point, really, was that the wazzocks who “design” these expensive bits of kit NEVER have to install and maintain them

      1. You couldn’t make it up Ellie I wondered why we had no hot water this morning and went outside to find the overflow pipe is now dripping casing the boiler to lose pressure, probably needing a new O ring, but it means draining the whole lot down again to fix it.

    1. But of course the same people are almost certainly the ones who want children as young as 6 months to be given the Covid vaccination.

      1. And at the same time feeding those idiotic parents who wanted a girl or boy, but got a boy or girl and have been dressing and treating them accordingly. I have met families where it is abundantly clear that that is what is being done to the children.

    4. They had to overturn that ruling, because it contradicted the government’s diktat that 12 year olds are competent to decide whether or not they can take an experimental treatment.

      1. I suspect it will have been part of it, and that being the case they should all be sacked.

        BT can correct me, but my understanding is that they are required to interpret the law as it is written, not as the politicians would prefer, and certainly not to support an alternative agenda.

          1. I know a number of judges, some very senior.

            What surprises me is that those that I know I can’t imagine them making some of the judgements that get handed down.

            One wonders who selects the judges for the various cases.

    3. That was me, a few days ago!! Just spent time with daughter and husband, along with Jack on North Carolina beaches , where it was a wonderful relaxing time away from all the doom and gloom!! Temps were in the low 90sF Now it’s back to reality!

      1. Ah! So that’s why we haven’t seen you here! Glad you had a good time!

        Weather here in September has been mainly good, after a wet day on Tuesday (much needed rain) much better than in gloomy August.

  84. I am off. Very satisfying day in the garden. Pity about the bike ride – but neighbour has repaired the puncture, so will have an outing tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

    1. By the time they let him out, hopefully this nonsense will all be over. I’m talking some ten or twenty years in the future…

  86. Just an observation okay.

    Decades ago , Muslim women were free to dress in modern clothes , Iran , Afghanistan , Saudi etc and even Egypt , face covering was quite rare apart from keeping the sand out of your face , women were freer than today .

    So why is that when they come to a FREE country like the UK , they feel obliged to cover their faces and their hair .

    There are many things I don’t understand , why do many of the men still wear pyjamas and gowns , how impractical is that?

    1. What they are doing is saying:
      “Here we are, we’re different and we couldn’t give a flying fuck what you think, it’s our country now.”

    2. They want a western lifestyle, without having to adopt western manners and customs.
      Most Indian people keep their Hindu dress for special occasions.

      When OH’s nephew married his Sikh bride (her parents came from Uganda in the early 70s) her family brought a selection of lovely saris for other members of his family to wear – so his mother and sister were dressed as Indian ladies.

      1. Ceremonial saris are lovely .

        I was talking about Muslim women .. you can only see their eyes .

        There have been a few down here in this area recently , probably on holiday or being rehomed , dunno, but if they are in a safe country why hide yourself away?

        1. When I was still working, I was a staff trainer for a year, as we took on a lot of new people in 2009. One of them was a Muslim girl and she wore a coloured hijab and the full black bin bag over her clothes. Actually she was a nice, lively girl and fun to chat to. Underneath the bin bag you could see she had nice clothes on. She didn’t wear the face covering. Her husband was a policeman – I think she probably was born here. My guess is that these rules are optional but if the husband requires it that’s what they do.

          1. There is nothing in the koran to mandate the full body bag. The only requirement is that women should dress “modestly”. Women are, of course, goods and chattels and belong to male relatives, so whatever her husband (or father or brother) says goes.

        2. When I was still working, I was a staff trainer for a year, as we took on a lot of new people in 2009. One of them was a Muslim girl and she wore a coloured hijab and the full black bin bag over her clothes. Actually she was a nice, lively girl and fun to chat to. Underneath the bin bag you could see she had nice clothes on. She didn’t wear the face covering. Her husband was a policeman – I think she probably was born here. My guess is that these rules are optional but if the husband requires it that’s what they do.

      2. Same with my son’s brother in law.
        It was a fabulous wedding and apart from that they live as a typical British family.

          1. At the individual level those Muslims that I have known have been pleasant, BUT, all drink, most don’t follow food strictures, nor Ramadan, nor do they attend the mosque nor do they appear to pray 5 times a day.
            So, are they real Muslims?

            Every other religion/group seems to integrate and yet still hold to their principles.

    4. 338923+ up ticks,
      Evening TB,
      Any lab/lib/con current supporter / voter will tell you it is NOT them ( muslim woman) out of step in the United Kingdom but the indigenous peoples.

    5. Because it raises their profile in our midst. If they wore Western dress, they would disappear (appear integrated).

    6. It doesn’t matter that these things are impractical; they are political. They send a message that they are different and should be respected.

    7. They do what their husbands, families and mosques tell them to do.

      Would you change what you wear when you are used to it and find it comfortable just because you’ve moved countries?

    8. They do what their husbands, families and mosques tell them to do.

      Would you change what you wear when you are used to it and find it comfortable just because you’ve moved countries?

      1. Interesting concept mindfulness, if it works for you it is very good. Don’t dismiss it out of hand.

        1. It is, in fact, highly effective. Just not the version peddled in the West. That version is so weak you might as well put on a record of classical music and relax to that.

          2. Unless they are steeped in the Buddhist meditative tradition and very few of the peddlers are, they are, as far as I’m concerned, frauds. The reality is that mindfulness cannot be separated from that tradition anymore than you can separate wheels from a car and still pretend it is going to get you places.

          3. What on earth makes being steeped in the Buddhist tradition a necessity?
            It might be better by why essential.

            To use your car analogy, you don’t need to be steeped in an automotive tradition to be able to drive different types of car once you’ve been taught.

          4. It is a necessity because mindfulness is an essential practice of Buddhism. Technically it cannot be separated from “calming” the two go together as Samatha/Vipasyana. Both must be practiced within the context of Sila, ethical conduct and a full acceptance of at least the minimum of the five initial components of Sila. Furthermore, Buddhist practice cannot be broken up into bits that suit you. It is based on the reality of Pritatyasamutpada, the interrelatedness of all phenomena/events which the Buddha Sakyamuni called “The Jewel in the Buddhas Crown”. So to reject one part of the path is to reject it all and renders it ineffective. You will find a full explanation of what is required for the practice of Samatha/Vipasyana in either the Visuddhimaga or the Vimuttimarga, the two basic manuals for meditation in the Theravada tradition. You will also find the same propositions and conditions laid out in the book “Calm and Clear”, a Tibetan work by the founder of the Gelugpa school, Tsongkapa. Also in any proper preliminary manual of the Buddhist tradition, regardless of school excluding Zen. And, by the way, it is because Zen excludes it that Zen was rejected and banned in Tibet as a false doctrine during a debate at Samye between an Indian Buddhist master and a Chinese Ch’an master.

          5. It might be better/more advanced, it does not mean that mindfulness as taught by others does not work for some people.

            It might be nomenclature, but I am always sceptical whenever I am informed that there is only one way to do something, particularly when I see a different approach working better than the so called real deal.

          6. Nothing works better than the “real deal” and to insist, what is taught in the West is plain false. As I said, you are just as well off listening and relaxing to a good piece of music. Further more when people have been hooked up to sensors and their brainwave activity has been measured, there is a quantitative difference from those who are traditional practitioners and those who think they can do as they please. I suggest you look up Matthieu Ricard or research done on Tibetan meditators.

            In my opinion, because of Western individualism, itself a product of a certain and therefore biased, world view, we think we can pick and chose as if we are unerringly right in our cavalier approach to different traditions. To think that we can appropriate something over 2, 500 years old and pretend that what we are doing is right. Strikes me as the typical hubris of the West when it comes to such matters. It is improper and, frankly contemptuous smacking of a false sense of superiority.

            My brother is a Tibetan Buddhist monk, has been for over 50 years and speaks Tibetan, and reads Sanskrit and Pali fluently. He has told me that the reason he will have nothing to do with Westerners is because of false assumptions that they can define something they hardly understand and then tell others what to do and thus lead people astray. He believes that for the most part Westerners are unteachable. He is hardly alone in that assessment, there are several eminent Tibetan teachers holding the same opinion after contact with the West. My brother, by the way, lives in India and has done for decades,

  88. 338923+ up ticksm
    May one ask,
    Will pakistan & india be put on the green list for the half term holidays
    seeing as it is the slice & dice & taking children in unholy wedlock period,
    a sure vote winner.

          1. It is fascinating, and well worth a few hours walking and reading.
            I hope you enjoy it, it is certainly sobering when one considers the sacrifices made to protect others.

          5. Ta for the invite

            We head home on Sunday, but Janus J willing, we will be putting Tintent in Lickpenny for a a month in October

        2. It’s interesting which families survived (natural anti-bodies?). Descendents of those families still live there, I believe.

          1. There was a very sad incidence of a mother and daughter both dying of Covid recently, within a very short time of each other. Neither had been vaccinated, neither had underlying conditions.
            I wonder to what extent their genes played a part and at the same time I wonder how medics/scientists can be so confident they are not injecting long term genetic problems.

          3. They aren’t injecting genes and changing your genes, they can’t cause genetic problems.

            So many people call covid vaccines gene therapy. They are nothing of the sort. You are injected with an antigen, which the body’s defence system then learns to fight off and kill.

            There may well be long-term problems caused by vaccines but they won’t be ‘genetic problems’.

          4. I was referring to the fact it was the same family and the short timescale.
            If their genes were part of the cause of the rapid deadly reaction to Covid how can you say with certainty that people with similar genes can’t be affected down the line because of the mRNA might end up doing something we don’t yet know about. If the quick death was genetic, rather than unfortunate, I would suggest that was a genetic problem

          5. We know exactly what mRNA does and have done for about 60 years.

            The way people react to antigens is usually genetic but it’s not a problem that can be solved really. My family are generally susceptible to heart and lung problems and we tend to avoid cancer and dementia. That’s just the luck of the draw.

          6. We think we know.

            I get very fed up with scientists, medics, “experts” telling me something is fully understood only to discover years later that in fact they didn’t know what they thought they knew and that their miracle cure was actually dangerous.

            We need a lot more healthy scepticism.

          7. The various nucleic acids are well understood now. They were even when i was at school. We know exactly what functions mRNA and tRNA have. mRNA encodes proteins. tRNA transfers amino acids to ribosomes so that proteins can be created to the mRNA blueprint. Molecular biology has been a thing for many years now. My biology teacher had four degrees and one of those was a molecular biology degree. I was last at school at the end of the eighties. My year was the last to sit real ‘O’ levels.

      1. Go out of your house, open your eyes, there’s Eton’s mess everywhere now.

        When the UC uplift is removed I predict a good increase in the amount of reported crimes.

        My worry is that pensioners will be targeted, as they have been vociferous about removing benefits whilst grabbing every penny they can for themselves.

          1. Most people on UC are actually in work. They work low paid jobs and are deliberately not given good hours by their employer.

            I have 40 hours of care to cover. I can employ 1 carer for 40 hours, 2 carers for 20 hours each or 4 carers for 10 hours each. Four at ten hours means no employers NI, no need to offer a pension and plenty of cover shifts options.

            I hope you have the balls to tell your carers as and when you need them that you consider them to be in the underclass.

          3. I suppose that you have to find something to have an unjustified rant about without address the problems of using undefined initials and shouting down the enquirer. I still have no idea what UC is or maybe.

          4. Then I apologise. It’s Universal Credit which currently has a £20pw uplift that’s being removed which will put benefits back in real terms to the levels in 1989.

        2. The bset Scotch Egg I ever had was made by Carron at The Free Press pub in Cambridge it was the size of a canon ball. With a pint of Green King bitter.

    7. Braised shin of beef for me , leek and potato soup , pea and ham soup , baked apple , rhubarb and custard , bread and butter pud ..jelly and cold custard!

      1. Make your own, they’re easy enough and far tastier. I make my own Eccles cakes, Scotch eggs and anything else I turn my mind to. I was brought up the old-fashioned way and there is not a woke, snowflake, whingeing cell in my entire body.

  91. 338923+ up ticks,
    So the move is on, opening the way to a great deal of double cutting one being slice & dice the other, wedding cake for immature brides.

    Turkey and Pakistan among eight countries removed from red list.

  92. Off topic.
    I’ve just watched “a question of sport”. As always with the BBC, I was expecting it to be too woke and worse.

    I think the new line up is better and they have improved the show, I always found Tufnell and Dawson somewhat tedious, too forced.

    Anton du Beke was outstanding in terms of sporting knowledge.

    Good luck to the new show.

    2. I pretty much stopped watching QoS when they lost Emlyn Hughes and Bill Beaumont. i virtually don’t watch TV now unless at work. I simply stream what i want when i want.

    3. I saw the first two. It’s OK but they need to replace Paddy McGuinness – I’ve no idea what he’s doing there.

      1. I had no idea who he was/is, but I enjoyed his enthusiasm.

        I’m never convinced that a quiz-master on such a programme needs to be an expert on the subject, merely a good host.

        I’ll certainly give it a few more viewings.

  93. From climate protests to statue topplers – soft-touch policing has to end now

    Like many of our country’s top institutions, the police force is intimidated by cancel culture and wokery

    ROBERT TAYLOR

    So here’s the deal: as long as you signal progressive virtue, you’re free to break the law. As long as you’re woke, you can block motorways and vandalise statues in full view of the police. Even better, you might get a bobby or two to take the knee while you offend. But, please, don’t be under any illusion that the rest of us could get away with such thumb-your-nose criminality. Deary me, no. If you’re an anti-lockdown protester, expect no mercy.

    Most of us find this week’s motorway chaos staggering. A bunch of activists calling themselves Insulate Britain get away with bringing the M25 to a standstill, leading to misery for tens of thousands, God only knows how much economic and, ironically, environmental damage, and causing an accident that leaves a woman seriously injured. Will any of them go to prison? Don’t be so silly.

    Okay, we hear reports that some have been arrested. But they clearly aren’t remotely impressed by that. In fact, having received their tap on the wrist, a tut-tut and a shake of the head, they’ve told police they’ll be back blocking the M25 at the earliest opportunity. Like today. Many of those arrested on Wednesday had already been arrested on Monday. They’re taking the mickey.
    But it gets worse. Video footage shows police at the M25 Enfield junction waving the criminals through to block the road. Yup, the police are facilitating the crime. It’s not so much soft-touch as no-touch. Or worse. I’m struggling to get my head around it. It’s no wonder that enraged motorists took the law into their own hands, attempting physically to remove the criminals. I would, too. But you can guess what happened next. The police leapt into action to protect the protesters, ensuring they could go on committing their crime.

    Having reviewed it all, and had a few hours to come up with a clever response, the police now explain they made a “dynamic risk assessment”. I have absolutely no idea what that means. And frankly, if they can’t come up with anything better than waffly obfuscation to excuse themselves, we really are in trouble.

    Perhaps we should look to our home secretary to take action. She talks a good arrest, if nothing else. She says she’s ordered the police to get tough. But shouldn’t they be doing that anyway? Isn’t that their job? Why do they need Priti Patel to order them to do what they’re already paid for?

    Apparently, there’s a five-step process the police follow when confronting virtue-signalling criminals. The first involves “engaging” and “appealing”. For reasons only too obvious to any human being who’s ever lived, that never works. So the steps get a little sterner, before finally we reach stage five which involves – wait for it – “reasonable force”. That wouldn’t scare a toddler in a tantrum, let alone a bunch of well-organised, self-righteous climate protesters. In any case, by that time the M25 has long since turned into the world’s biggest car park.

    The tragedy is that this policing by virtue signalling is all too frequent. When a violent mob tore down a statue in Bristol, the police let them get on with it, so as not to “inflame tensions” †. In 2019, a policeman skateboarded on Waterloo Bridge while protesters blocked it. A video showed officers dancing with XR protesters who had ground Oxford Street to a halt. Senior Met officers described this as “disappointing”. I can think of other adjectives.

    So these aren’t isolated lapses. There’s a narrative here, of police choosing to engage, appeal, facilitate and stand by – anything rather than prevent, crack down and arrest. And there can only be one explanation. Like many of our country’s top institutions, the police force is intimidated by cancel culture and wokery.

    It therefore comes as zero surprise that the criminals are back blocking the M25 this morning – the third time this week. And they’ll carry on until the punishment fits the crime. It really isn’t difficult.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/17/climate-protests-statue-topplers-soft-touch-policing-has-end/

    † The police have form. For decades they’ve been letting certain people get on with it so as not to inflame tensions.

    1. Bring back the riot act 1714 and reading thereof!
      Promptly followed by extreme prejudice against those who don’t conform.

      1. They remembered it quickly enough when the protesters against the ongoing invasion at Dover blocked a public highway.

    3. I don’t think they are intimidated at all. They are doing their job of supporting any protesters whose agenda is to destroy Britain and promote the great reset, while clamping down harshly on those who want to preserve the country.

    4. Never mind ‘disappointing, the Police are acting as accesories before, during and after the fact and someone, who knows how to do it, should have them arrested and charged.

  94. Evening, all. I’ve started putting the garden to bed for the winter and have thrown out some more of MOH’s clothes as well as earmarking some items to take to the charity shop. I was shattered afterwards, so took a bottle of Shiraz into the garden and enjoyed the last (probably) of the nice weather.

      1. Thanks, OLT. I’m doing my best. I have a list of things I need to accomplish and gradually, I am working my way through them. I shall be glad when I’ve finished.

          2. I trust you included Oscar and your NoTTLer friends, old troop. KBO, you’ll get out of the other side eventually.

          3. Yes, I am extremely grateful to have Oscar and my on-line companions. I also have a garden to keep me busy, a home to look after, enough money to live on, Coolio to ride and friends locally. I am very fortunate indeed.

          5. Thank you, Tom. I feel I am very lucky and have so much to be grateful for. Having all the worry and strain removed has changed my life for the better and made me realise that things are nowhere near as bad as they had been.

          1. If she gets up in the night, before you go to bed scatter pieces around her usual route to and from the lavatory/bathroom, she may suddenly see the light.

          2. If she doesn’t see the light (because she hasn’t switched it on) she may experience Lego foot 🙂

          3. That was my drift…

            I was amused by the Lego Nike trainer the other day.

            The epitome of discomfort I shoe ‘ d have thought.

          4. It seems to me that no sooner have I thrown something out than I find a need for it; instance yesterday – I was going to roll up a poster and my friend who was stiffening my sinews about chucking stuff asked, “have you got a cardboard roll to put it in?”. Answer: no, I’ve just thrown one away! 🙁

      1. Ask the organisers of the Brighton Marathon: they have introduced a totally new measuring syatem

      2. I don’t know anyone that isn’t a drug dealer that knows off the top of their head that there’s 28g in an oz.

          1. Yes really. It’s very rare that someone knows that. Weed dealers do though because weed is sold in eighths (3.5g), quarters (7g), halves (14g) and full ounces (28g).
            I just asked our chef of the previous 11 years if he knew. He didn’t.

          2. I do not know any weed dealers. I have translated many recipes from metric to Imperial. As a software developer, you should understand the need for precision! I am prepared to round the measurements to the nearest gramme…

    2. Just bought a ‘large’ box of Jaffa Cakes containing 3 lots of 10 cakes in each and the cakes are much smaller than the old ones you bought by the dozen.

      I don’t think I need say more regarding Base 10 -v- Base 12.

  96. After weeks of insisting the August 29 drone strike in Kabul killed an ISIS-K terrorist, US Central Command has admitted that the victims were all civilians, including children, but reportedly won’t discipline anyone involved.
    Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of CENTCOM, on Friday announced that the Hellfire missile fired at a home in Kabul just before the US airlift ended did not in fact kill a facilitator of Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorist group.

    The drone strike in Kabul “was a mistake,” McKenzie said, acknowledging that “ten civilians, including up to seven children were tragically killed.”

      1. The US have been killing civilians in their thousands for at least 50 years.
        Biden doesn’t know what day of the week it is.

      1. James Weale
        17 Sep 2021 5:54PM
        What not talk about the elephant on the table DT – declining IQs.
        The impact on society will be catastrophic – higher and higher entitlements with lower and lower ability to deliver.

        Paul Lavin
        17 Sep 2021 4:21PM
        Dutch urinals are also a lot higher!

        Lord Justin
        17 Sep 2021 5:15PM
        It’s all due to trainers. They’ve got thinner soles than clogs.

  100. I was thinking that the inaction of the Police Farces regarding the M25 illegal disruption is just the latest example what a sh|t show this country under the buffoon’s leadership has continued to be.
    It may be all very well announcing such grand US, UK and Australia alliance or the like, but those of us who consider themselves as conservatives at heart would just like to see a step or two in the direction as to what made this country once so great.
    I have never known our leaders so out of touch with the people, I can only assume the goodies in the feeding trough makes it all worthwhile, at least to them.

    1. 338923+ up ticks,
      Evening VVOF,
      Been deteriorating since Mrs Thatcher was politically knifed, gaining pace every year, urged on by the need of one odious party to beat another odious party and damn
      the consequences, we ALL suffer the repeat actions of dangerous fools.

    2. Johnson and his cabal are more interested in their globalist affiliations than in running this Country for the people. He is trying to put a veneer of business as usual on what is going on: the talk on jobs, house building to level-up (whatever that means), the re-shuffle etc. all the while knowing that he is planning to bring in authoritarian controls across the board. The people need to wake up and realise that the ‘virus’ wasn’t as deadly as the propaganda made out, that “cases” aren’t what they are made out to be but are a fear maintaining mechanism and that the “vaccines”, as well as being useless for the purpose intended, weren’t designed for the ‘virus’ but the latter was designed for the “vaccine”. The “vaccine” is the control mechanism, hence the pressure to get everyone jabbed and bring in “passports” that will lead to the next step, all embracing digital identification enabling absolute control over the lives of all ordinary citizens. The elite. as we have already see here and elsewhere, are excused e.g. travel restrictions, mass unmasked gatherings whilst staff are fully masked etc. Johnson is a complete and utter fraud.

      1. Sadly, I have to agree with you, Korky, even though for a long time I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

    1. Ronapreve is not a preventative treatment for COVID and neither is it a cure. It effectively acts as a palliative to delay the inevitable consequence of living with COVID on this earth by applying a teflon coating to the SARS-COV-2 spikes:

      Trump: He had said: “I feel great. I feel, like, perfect. I think this was a blessing from God that I caught [Covid]. This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug. I said ‘let me take it’, it was my suggestion.”

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covidronaprevedonaldtrumpnhs-b1922381.html

    2. Ronapreve is not a preventative treatment for COVID and neither is it a cure. It effectively acts as a palliative to delay the inevitable consequence of living with COVID on this earth by applying a teflon coating to the SARS-COV-2 spikes:

      Trump: He had said: “I feel great. I feel, like, perfect. I think this was a blessing from God that I caught [Covid]. This was a blessing in disguise. I caught it, I heard about this drug. I said ‘let me take it’, it was my suggestion.”

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covidronaprevedonaldtrumpnhs-b1922381.html

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