Friday 18 April: An apology is due to those who were vilified for their views on gender

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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683 thoughts on “Friday 18 April: An apology is due to those who were vilified for their views on gender”

  1. Good morning, chums, and a Happy Good Friday. Thanks to Geoff, too, for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,399 4/6

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    3. Good morning Elsie
      Wordle 1,399 3/6

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  3. Good morning
    Apparently William and Kate aren't going to bother with church on Easter Sunday this year.
    This isn't just a kid deciding not to go to church, it's a middle aged man who is due to be its head in a few years from now deliberately turning his back on the Church of England, and this decision comes from the highest level.
    It is nothing less than the controlled demolition of the Church of England.
    I would rather see the throne go back to the true King and the C of E re-join the Roman Catholics than the dismantling and selling off of church buildings that is probably planned.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14622601/Kate-William-make-major-change-Easter-plans-break-royal-tradition.html

      1. That too. It doesn't give the impression that William sees a future where George is going to be head of the Church of England either.

    2. I saw nothing in this article about the Wales family not attending church on Easter Sunday, only that they are stopping in Norfolk rather than going to Windsor to assemble with the Firm.

      Edit – they do have churches in Norfolk; my grandfather was rector of a Norfolk benefice in the 1950s and 1960s, which to my knowledge is still there and holding services.

      1. I have to confess that I haven't read the Daily Mail article. If what you say is correct, is this just another example of the Press stirring it in order to sell more copies?

        1. Only if they do establish a tradition of visiting their local church instead – it would be very good if they would do that, however I haven't seen anything to suggest that they have.
          That might change if there is a negative reaction of course.

      2. Yes, that is true, however, it's not the point. William has said things in the past that suggest he is not a keen Christian.
        This is not just a private individual who might or might not choose to go to church privately. William is going to be head of the Church of England in the not too distant future. He needs to turn up and be seen to turn up, at the very least at the most important service of the year.

        Last year, the excuse given for the Waleses not attending was Kate's reported illness and treatment. William could still have gone – but he chose not to. There were no reports of any of them being seen at a local church anywhere, that I'm aware of.

        1. When in a leadership position, it isn't enough to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk, as well. Or, you're not going to be taken as a leader, just some strutting popinjay. Charles… looking at you, man.

        2. He may well be typical of his generation. Both William and Kate were born in 1982. How many people born in the 1980s do you see attending church?

          When I was baptised in 2002, it was after going to a Family Communion (renamed clunkily “All Age Service”) at the CoE church in Suckley that I realised that depite being in my mid forties, I was the youngest one there. I am now approaching seventy and am still one of the youngest. The same could be said of this very forum.

          The constant preoccupation in the 1970s and since from the old institutions was “how are we going to bring in the young people?” The solutions they came up with, from Celeb Worship, primary color (sic) hype, Disclosure & Barring, woke lunacy and the Alpha Course, all turned out to be as useless as solutions being offered up to tackle Global Warming. We seem to have lost the capacity to think things through logically and radically.

          One thing that strikes me about William and his family is how beautiful they are. If we scratch below the surface of Christian conformity, what is it that really matters in order to become blessed and godly? If this can be achieved through Christ, then the churches are doing their job; but it is still better achieved some way or other, rather than not at all.

          1. The young that I know, from 40 and downwards in age, are most certainly not the shallow creatures that would be attracted by the crap that you describe, Jeremy. They are the best educated yet, and (here in Norway at least) have been taught to think for themselves. They are the most widely travelled, as well, and unlike my generation, don't seek entertainment in alcohol consumption.
            What's needed is a thorough rethink of how Christianity is presented – a few simple rules on how to live, how to create a close society, how to be respectful of others, and fundamentally kind. Not celeb shite.

          2. William isn't just anyone; he has responsibilities that come with his position. The millennials are possibly the least spiritual generation ever in Britain. However, William has had access to the best spiritual teaching.
            I was inclined to give him leniency when he was younger, understanding that he wanted a bit of private life – but that was a luxury he could afford when his grandmother was alive.
            Now, his sliding out of duty is beginning to look downright lazy.

          4. The current Royal family are rich and entitled and have no idea ..

            Our late Queen was the last of a line of regal lines where respect and deference was practised

            Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of respect or reverence. Deference has been studied extensively by political scientists, sociologists, and psychologists.

            Now discuss that .. and see how deference has skewed social mores .. and now examine the uninvited hordes of foreigners , who espouse deference to Allah, and insist on deference to be shown by their females to their so called male superiors, and are now almost controlling our head of state and the Prime Minister .. police, media and all authorities !

          5. We have young people (under 10s) at our church. Many in the congregation and choir are in their twenties and thirties. One of the most observant (in that he is almost always there and keen to help) is someone who only fairly recently became a church-goer. I was there when he was confirmed. Not all churches are moribund. We do, however, have traditional services (and lots of them, marking saint's days and festivals).

    3. I saw nothing in this article about the Wales family not attending church on Easter Sunday, only that they are stopping in Norfolk rather than going to Windsor to assemble with the Firm.

      Edit – they do have churches in Norfolk; my grandfather was rector of a Norfolk benefice in the 1950s and 1960s, which to my knowledge is still there and holding services.

    4. If he doesn't become Head of the C of E, it might have a benefit in re-igniting enthusiasm for the Church – disestablishment would allow the Church to flourish wihout the dead hand of Wales and Welby on the tiller. If local parsih churches are sold off, then the parish could maybe collect togeher enough money to buy it, and install their own Priest.
      Grass-roots energy would really be a shot in the arm for the Church.
      The drawback could be St. Paul's Cathedral being owned by Bill Gates… 🙁

      1. There is a network of independent Anglican churches already. In our area, apathy would kill any initiative stone dead. Also, there are too many people in villages who made their money out of flipping property and would see churches as just another opportunity.

      2. Christ was resurrected on the third day after Good Friday.

        I think the CofE is now completely beyond resurrection

    5. Gosh, I wonder if he'll be at Villa Park for the important game against Newcastle on Saturday.

  4. Good morning all.
    A trip to Jodrell Bank this morning. I've bought a pair of solar panels I'm hoping to fit to the van to charge the leisure battery up when I'm away camping.
    Plan to take Graduate Son with me to get him out of his bedroom!!
    A dry and pleasantly mild but overcast morning with a less cold 6½°C on the thermometer.

  6. SIR – It was most interesting to read Tessa Dunlop’s article on the renewed popularity of King Alfred (Features, April 15).

    The village of Wedmore was not mentioned, but it is important. The peace treaty between King Alfred and Guthrum the Dane was signed here in 878. Currently, there is little evidence of this major event here, but we are addressing that.

    The village of Aller in Somerset is important, too, as it was where Alfred converted Guthrum to Christianity. This area of the county is the birthplace of England.

    David Ewens
    Wedmore, Somerset

    SIR – In your laudable article on Alfred the Great, it would have been as well to mention that Wantage, where he was born in 848, was then in Berkshire. It did not come within Oxfordshire’s local government area until 1974.

    David Lyall
    London SW3

    I am not a historian , but love exploring a little bit of history .
    How on earth did people get around the country in the early days of history .. I mean , there won't have been decent roads and bridges or even sign posts , victualling areas, spare horses , good water sources .. HOW?

    Here in Dorset , King Alfred left so much for us to think about , churches , convents, monasteries, but we also had King Canute as well.. how surprising is that.. Visit Shaftesbury and yes , a difficult town to reach, it is in North Dorset , uphill from here , everywhere is uphill from here , but all the Kings travelled around here .. even King John up until King George 3rd.. How did they navigate .. am I being naive?

    Here is a nice King Alfred link . https://king-alfred.com/wp/2019/07/26/shaftesbury/

    1. They had well-made roads in Roman times. Deer tend to create paths through the woods, which then become natural roads as they are widened by other users. Saxon roads often follow property boundaries. Right back to prehistory, good water sources were known about and revered. There are many "holy wells" around Malvern, which were originally natural springs. The druids drew up a network of ley lines, which had special properties little understood today, but it prompted the Christians to dedicate many of these to St Michael.

      2. Saxon roads often follow property boundaries.

        Is that one reason why our roads are so inflicted with bloody awful bends?

      3. Treffynnon (in English Holywell) is one such. It's known as the "Lourdes of Wales" where St Winefride's well is a natural spring.

    2. Good morning, Maggie. I was born 4 miles from Wedmore in a small village called Chapel Allerton. Have family who live in Wedmore.

    1. One more brick in our cultural wall removed. It's deliberate and not only will this destruction continue, it will escalate as Labour recognise that their time is limited.

      It's surprising that the brewing and other fermentation industries haven't been directly attacked by the "Net Zero" zealots as have the farmers and other food producers. Or have I missed something?

      In commercial brewing, the carbon dioxide created during the yeast fermentation step is released into the atmosphere, only for brewers to have to buy commercial CO2 to forcibly carbonate that beer in a later step of the process.7 Oct 2020

    2. Oh dear…..but all part of the current government's anti British adgenda.
      I remember a few years ago finding a pub closed in Salcombe. But then due to staff shortage.

    3. We had a Hole in the Wall pub in Richmond, but I've just found out it shut in 2006 and was bought by David Attenborough and turned into his library. Fair play to him though, it was going to be turned into flats otherwise.

    4. I used to frequent another 'Hole in the Wall' pub in Ashby-de-la-Zouche, hope that's still going

  12. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautiful, bright, chilly sunny day.
    Stiff in he back after yesterday's heavy tidying in the barn, another day to go, plus trees to trim along the drive. Lovely weather for it, though, so feeling energised!

    Remember that today is Good Friday (Langfredag, på norsk):
    According to the New Testament, this is the day Jesus was:
    1. **Betrayed by Judas Iscariot** in the Garden of Gethsemane.
    2. **Arrested and put on trial**—both by the Jewish religious leaders (Sanhedrin) and the Roman governor **Pontius Pilate**.
    3. **Mocked, beaten, and whipped** by Roman soldiers.
    4. **Forced to carry His cross** to the place of execution—**Golgotha** ("Place of the Skull").
    5. **Crucified** alongside two criminals.
    6. As He died, Jesus is said to have spoken several **final words**, including:
    – *"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."*
    – *"It is finished."*
    7. After His death, there were signs like:
    – Darkness over the land
    – The temple curtain tearing in two
    – An earthquake
    So. maybe not a day for joy, keep that until Sunday.

    1. It illustrates the fundamental difference between the Islamic interpretation of God and the Christian one: Jesus died for humanity, whereas humanity should die for Allah.
      And we see that attitude resurgent now, with jihad, take-overs, and the like. If we are to preserve what's fundamental to our society, such as gentleness, art, free thought, we are going to have to fight the bastards and smash them.

        1. Thanks for the little illustration, Belle.
          As they say, "A week is a long time…".

        2. There are videos about all the horrible ways to be put to death, including crucifiction, on YouTube. I watched the crucifiction one, and it was truly horrible, along with being impaled… Jesus must have had some serious backbone, knowing what was in store for him, and instead of running away as fast as possible, washed feet. You have to respect the man, he was no coward.

          1. If you watched the first series of Wolf Hall on TV, during the days of Henry 8th, the graphic torture details were unbearable ..

            Wolf Hall is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.[1][2] In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".[3]

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Hall

            The British were cruel and merciless through out time .. and in fact the present government is presenting us all with destructive mental torture

          2. Yet for all that, we weren't as indiscriminate in our use of torture as those on the continent.

    2. Who have we got that might be lined for a modern day version of such a terrible occasion.

      1. Plenty, just as long as they don't rise again.
        Bliar would be my starter for 10.

    1. The difference being Mr Rose if you have a ticket and when you use it you won't be claiming it back on expenses.

    1. Colder today! I have lit the woodstove again, to provide a nice warm spot for the hot cross buns to rise.

      1. Ooo… Lovely! Can I come round in a bit and share one? I love hot-cross buns, warm, with a little butter.

          2. I sometimes egg-wash them, sometimes I can't be arsed.

            Always best toasted and buttered but, years ago, I would take them to work for my meal break, filled with cheese.

          3. Strong cheddar in a hot cross bun is heavenly. 20 seconds in the microwave and …. voila!

          4. I always put on more cheese than I need whenever I have toasted it on toast or a toasted teacake.

            The melted bits in the bottom of the pan are the best bits.

          5. I sometimes egg-wash them, sometimes I can't be arsed.

            Always best toasted and buttered but, years ago, I would take them to work for my meal break, filled with cheese.

      1. Seems some can…

        Good morning. Off to the garden centre later. I think i will treat myself to some fish & chips.

  20. I was reading "Can Easter survive" in Tom's great Freespeech backlash blogsite https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/article/can-easter-survive this morning at about 04:30 (couldn't sleep after pumping bilges). Very thought-provoking, and really disturbing article. I recommend it.
    There's a lot of great material posted there – watch out for the site to be banned as the time for revolution approaches.

  21. Daughter has been looking forward to hot cross buns for weeks, but they don’t look like being the best I’ve ever made…a bit slow to rise. Currant-ly in the oven.

    1. ;-))
      SWMBO usually makes them, but this year is with her Parents in Devon, so none for me… can’t even buy any, as the shops are shut. Maybe our favourite restaurant, Numedalskro (https://numedalkro.com/) run by a young couple. He’s French, she’s Norwegian, both trained Chefs in France, and the food is exactly my favourite – not fancy or grand, but peasant food of the absolute best quality (cucina povera, in Italian). They may be baking Easter treats for service today…

        1. I was in church last night and will be going again tomorrow, but I've had to give the Good Friday Liturgy a miss as I'm a bit off colour.

  22. Morning All 🙂😊
    Sunny start for Good Friday.
    Not double figures yet but rain coming later.
    At least I'll get one coat on the pond decking.
    I must have missed seeing those vilifide on their gender views ???
    What happened ?
    I saw TB had a comment held back.

  24. Good Morning!

    Frederica’ article, Can Easter Survive? , maintains that the State, the Media, the Monarchy and even the Church have all decided that observances of the Christian Religion are no longer to be encouraged. Do you agree?

    US government officials are now warning that parts of Europe are more dangerous than El Salvador, a country notorious for its extremely violent gang warfare. Read ‘ It’s Dangerous’ and let us know what you think.

    In LIB: Lithium Ion Battery, or Lithium Ion Bomb? We have a true tale of a cordless power tool. of the type most households have. exploding with such force that it wrote off a work boat. We explain why and what to look out for. And in his short but powerful article,

    Energy watch 08.00: Demand: 25.12 GW. Total UK Production: 19.34 GW from: Hydrocarbons 21%; Wind 22.4%; Imports 22.9%; Biomass 11.5%; Nuclear 1432%. Solar: 4.2%.

    Imports are proving the highest proportion of our electricity, mostly from France. The French always have our backs covered in times of need, don’t they?

  25. Already put up a post for "Can Easter survive", Tom. Powerful article. Most disturbing, so it is.

    1. I saw that Oberst. Thanks. It is disturbing, and it's being played out all over Europe.

      PS. I pump bilges regularly during the night, but I always go to sleep immediately they are empty. Must be a bugger not being able to sleep.

  26. The only useful way that "reparation" money can be used to overcome the effects of the slave trade on Carribean residents, is to use the money to relocate them to the African/other countries & districts from which they were abducted, by fellow countrymen but of different tribes

    1. If they don't like where they were sent to then it is only right that we send them back the places from which their ancestors came.

      1. If it's so awful, they can damned well apply for a residence permit and pay for themselves to move.

    2. Indeed. Fcukwittery.
      Contrast the ex-British Empire countries with those in Africa. Where would you rather live, as a lowly citizen? Where has the better life prospects, lifestyle, cleaner water, whatever else you might measure civilisation on? Then, give thanks your ancestors moved/were moved there, 'cos it's given you a better start in life than your non-enslaved relatives.

  27. The only useful way that "reparation" money can be used to overcome the effects of the slave trade on Carribean residents, is to use the money to relocate them to the African/other countries & districts from which they were abducted, by fellow countrymen but of different tribes

  28. I saw that Oberst. Thanks. It is disturbing, and it's being played out all over Europe.

    PS. I pump bilges regularly during the night, but I always go to sleep immediately they are empty. Must be a bugger not being able to sleep.

    1. It made me think (what passes for deep thought in my addled brane) about the differences between Christianity and Islam, and (as noetd below) I came ip with that in Christianity, Jesus died for humanity whilst in Islam, humanity is expected to die for Allah. Please tell me if I'm wrong, as it affects the whole ethos of the religions.

      1. It’s a good thought Oberst, one I hadn’t thought of myself. Can I ask you to post it under the article and I’ll try to get it debated?

    1. Yes. They can claim it's low carbon for propaganda reason, as Norway produces a lot of lekky from hydro.

  30. French anti-migration philosopher banned from entering Britain
    ‘They don’t want me to speak,’ says Renaud Camus who claims immigration will lead to ‘replacement’ of Europe’s indigenous people
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/18/anti-migration-philosopher-renaud-camus-banned-from-uk/

    Douglas Murray has been telling us this very clearly since 2017 when The Strange Death of Europe was published . How long before this is banned and all copies found and destroyed?

    BTL from a Mr Lush (which represents many of the BTL views expressed)

    “We cannot debate you, because you are clearly and obviously right, and we are wrong. We cannot rebut a single statement or point you make because they are facts, and all we have are delusional wishes and feelings, which clearly and obviously will fail to disprove your argument…. So we will simply ban you!”

    Every leftist university and organisation, and now the British communist party government too. 🙄🙄🙄

    If he was wrong, they’d best let him come, and then make a total fool of himself, as his arguments got cut to pieces in debates. They just proved that he is completely correct.

    Cowardly authoritarian fools.

    Incidentally my son, who writes AI software and his Ph.D. fiancée – who is a university lecturer – have never even heard of Toby Young the founder of The Free Speech Union who has just been elevated to The House of Lords. (Has he been ennobled to be enknobbled and shut up?)

          2. Until I read that book, I didn't realise there had been such a recent outbreak of Plague.

          4. There was a theory that the book was also an allusion to the Nazi occupation of France.

        2. and of course Wimmen and the 123,987, 000 other available genders in Starmerland

    2. "Douglas Murray has been telling us this very clearly since 2017 when The Strange Death of Europe was published . How long before this is banned and all copies found and destroyed?"

      They will never find my stash of DM books.

      1. I wasn’t planning on buying the latest one but a friend took me to hear Douglas speak at the Westminster Central Hall on Monday and bought me one of the signed copies as a gift. (My friend is gay, by the way – he fancies Douglas, not me!)

    3. And this from Liebour, who made such a fuss about two obvious troublemakers [aka Liebour MPs] who were not allowed to enter Israel!?

    4. The "recognition factor" of notable political figures amongst the general public is usually very low. Toby Young would be amongst the least recognised. My guess would be less than 5%, probably about 2% based on the simple question, "Who is Toby Young?", without any other prompting such as an image. However, ask a similarly phrased question about a television or sporting celebrity and the recognition percentage would be much higher.

  31. Sack the judges
    Rod Liddle

    19 April 2025

    The population of the United Kingdom was increased this week by the arrival of two Albanian lesbians who have been given the right to remain here by an deputy Upper Tribunal judge called Rebecca Chapman. The women insisted that they would face persecution in Albania for their sexual preferences. This is despite the fact that Albania decriminalised homosexuality 30 years ago and in 2010 adopted a law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

    Rebecca was not impressed, however, pronouncing Albania to be a ‘patriarchal, conservative society in which homophobic attitudes still exist, particularly in rural areas’. (Those of you who have just read Rebecca’s description of Albania and are consequently interested in emigrating to the country should try the Properstar real estate website. There’s a nice coastal villa going for £832,021, as well as a selection of smaller properties, including one-bedroom flats, from £40,000 upwards.) I suspect that there are some parts of the UK where the people do not differ terribly from the Albanians in their attitudes to sex and gender orientation, but probably not places Rebecca has ever visited. I do not know the name of the two women we have allowed in, but welcome, please, make yourselves at home.

    We might conclude, then, that it does not matter what liberal laws may be passed by any country, if Rebecca believes them to be ‘patriarchal’ and ‘conservative’ and full of ’phobes. She might as well decide the same thing about Denmark, or the Netherlands.

    Anyway, the case of these two devotees of Sapphic love is only the latest in a bizarre series of decisions by the tribunals of late. You may have heard of some of them, such as the Nigerian woman who tried and failed eight times to secure asylum. She was only successful on her ninth appeal after joining a terrorist organisation back home – despite a judge finding she had done so purely ‘to create a claim for asylum’. Or there was the convicted Albanian criminal Klevis Disha (a two-year stretch for possessing money from criminal activities, since you asked), who successfully argued against deportation back to Albania on the grounds that his young son was sensitive and very picky about food and did not like the chicken nuggets they served in the Balkans. Then there’s the Pakistani who served 18 months for grooming young girls and who was allowed to remain because the judge said the man’s family would ‘take a dim view’ of his behaviour and possibly make life difficult for him. Or the wife–beating Pakistani paedophile who was allowed to remain because the courts agreed that he might face ‘degrading’ treatment at home. It is of course beyond the pale that a paedophile might face degrading treatment.

    Or how about the convicted Syrian terrorist who was given leave to remain here at least partly because the court heard that he had no plans to do any more terrorising and that his house was ‘always clean, tidy and homely’. Or one of my favourites, the Iran-ian allowed to have his case reheard because he had a lot of Facebook friends. Oh yes.

    The tribunal judge in this case was again a lady called Rebecca Chapman – and she overturned the decision of a lower court that the bloke should be booted out post-haste. I have scoured through Google and have yet to find a report of a case where Rebecca thought someone should be kicked out, although there must surely be at least one. I think we have alighted upon the reason why it is seemingly impossible to deport anybody from this country and why there are no foreign countries which meet the pristine standards of the judges.

    It is often argued that we should leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), an instrument of the Council of Europe to which we are a party. The convention was adopted almost 75 years ago and its proscriptions no longer have force or relevance in an age of mass migration, we are told. That may well be so – and I have no objection to us renouncing the ECHR and drawing up a new one binding solely on ourselves and which, perhaps, would commit us to respecting human rights while also encoding for ever our status as a patriarchal, conservative and male-dominated society.

    It is all quite beside the point. People are apt to blame the ECHR because it is a supranational institution and leaves us at the mercy of foreign judges. But that is hardly the problem we have here, is it? Judge Rebecca Chapman is the problem and she is as British as they come, I believe.

    I do not mean just Rebecca Chapman, but the whole lot of them – all the judges who are appointed to adjudicate in the Upper Tribunal (and First-Tier Tribunal, come to that) and who subvert both the spirit and the intention of the ECHR. I do not believe that when the convention was drawn up, its signatories believed that convicted criminals should not be deported because their sons preferred a domestic brand of chicken nuggets.

    It is our judges who make those decisions. The ECHR clearly did not intend for it to be taken as read that there are virtually no countries, worldwide, to whom someone might be deported because all of them are in some way, uh, patriarchal or ‘conservative’. And then you look at the other job enjoyed by Rebecca – yes, she is a barrister representing, in the main, asylum-seekers. It seems to me outrageous that those two jobs could be held simultaneously, but there we are.

    I would begin by sacking whoever appoints the judges and then work through the list of them, sacking each one in turn. It is they who make us a laughing stock (to ourselves). They have taken liberties with what was once a noble convention. Get rid of them.

    *********************************

    Bill Rees
    a day ago
    One of the problems is that Rebecca Chapman practises as a barrister advocating for asylum seekers and the like.
    Her chambers' website says: "Rebecca practises in all aspects of immigration and asylum law. She has particular expertise in cases involving vulnerable women and children, LGBTI+ individuals, family reunion and article 8 cases and deportation. She represents clients at all levels from the First-tier Tribunal to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR."
    There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that.
    But the problem surely is that a conflict of interest arises when she is appointed to chair a tribunal in this field of practice.
    As an advocate in such cases as the Albanian lesbians Rod refers to, I can't imagine that she would give a decision that would go against the asylum seekers in any case that comes before her, no matter how far logic has to be stretched to allow someone to stay in this country.

    George Steel Bill Rees
    a day ago
    Really surprised, I would have thought such a conflict of interest was legally unacceptable.

    Anglomicronesian George Steel
    a day ago edited
    Not in today’s world.

    Exhibit A
    Angela Raynor
    Deputy PM and SofS for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
    Member of Unite.
    Unite are responsible for the rubbish situation in Birmingham.
    Raynor received £10k from Unite last year.
    Raynor is now responsible for negotiating with Unite to resolve the dispute.

    There Wolf Bill Rees
    a day ago
    It is straying into the territory of the rule of natural justice called Nemo Judex in Causa Sua (a judge should be free from bias and the appearance of bias).

    Pravda Verify
    a day ago edited
    So, who did appoint her?
    The answer it seems is the 15 Commissioners of the Judicial Appointments Commission. Worth a google. I’m not sure how much they are committed to justice but they sure are committed to diversity. Set up in 2006 under – yes you guessed it, the Blair Government. Once again , thanks Tony, another great idea!
    I guess the next question is, who appoints the Commissioners……
    Anyway thanks Rod for lifting the stone so we can see what’s underneath it.

    Jim Burfield Pravda Verify
    a day ago
    Blair was supreme master at getting his people in everywhere. The Judicial :ppointments Commission, the adoption authorities, the Electoral Commission, the judiciary, charities, the magistracy, education establishments, the CofE, …

    Maggie, while ruthless is so many ways, completely and utterly failed to do this.

    1. "Or one of my favourites, the Iran-ian allowed to have his case reheard because he had a lot of Facebook friends. Oh yes."
      I have no Facebook friends. Maybe I should join to avoid being sent to Iran.

  33. The Spectator actually has some Christian articles up, they've not done that for a few years .

  36. Doing some overdue gardening yesterday (planting White Agapanthus in a pot, with some blue Cranesbill), my mood was much enhanced by a Robin who did much flitting around my working area. I do love the way Robins move ….. Sometimes there is one around in the outdoor seating area of Bournville Garden Centre Cafe…

  37. Are there any advantages to be a descendent of a slave,

    Can present day Africans just move to the Carribean Islands, for a better standard of living?

    No, Caribbean Islands do not have an "open door" policy for people arriving from Africa, nor do they have any broad, general policy that would make it easy for them to enter. While there are historical ties and cultural connections, migration from Africa to the Caribbean is generally governed by individual country policies and regulations.

    Here's a more detailed explanation:

    Historical Context:

    Many Caribbean islands have a history of African diaspora, with a significant portion of the population being of African descent due to the transatlantic slave trade.

    Individual Country Policies:

    Each Caribbean nation has its own immigration laws, and these laws often restrict or regulate the entry of migrants from other countries, including those in Africa.

    Visas and Permits:

    To enter and stay in any Caribbean island, people from Africa (or any other country) typically need to obtain a valid visa or work permit.

    No Open Door Policy:

    There is no "open door" policy in the Caribbean where people can simply enter and stay without any legal requirements or restrictions.

    Cultural Ties:

    While there are cultural and historical connections between Africa and the Caribbean, these ties do not automatically grant individuals a right to enter or stay in the region.

      1. Do you mean “Bom dia” (Portuguese) or “Bon jour” (French) my friend? Incidentally, I do like today’s new avatar; the specs make you look very cultured and erudite.

        2. No, Auntie Elsie, I meant what I wrote.

          "Buenos Dias" is Castilian Spanish. "Bon Dia" is Catalan (Basque) Spanish. When I used that specific greeting in Majorca, I always got special treatment from waiters, etc.

          2. I learnt it in a visitors’ guide book to Majorca. It gave a list of phrases in both Castilian and Catalan. It also advised you to use Catalan for a better experience with the locals.
            I did so to my clear benefit.

  41. Grad. Son is ready, so we're off to Jodrell Bank!
    Back in a few hours, TTFN.

  42. SIR – After a frightening experience in the ladies’ loo of a prominent department store, I am one of many women relieved by the Supreme Court’s common-sense judgment.

    Thank you to every woman who fought for us and the return of our rights.

    Felicity Thomson
    Alloway, Ayrshire

    What 'rights' are those, Felicity. Many — if not most — other countries of the world have bogs shared by both sexes, and no one bats an eyelid!

    Just last week I dined at a restaurant in Malmö and needed their lavatory. I followed the signs up a staircase to the room marked Toalett. Inside was a clean room with a set of washbasins set in a worktop and three cubicles opposite (no urinals). I chose the one vacant cubicle. When I emerged to wash my hands the female occupants of the other two cubicles did likewise and — do you know what? — no one blinked! This is a very common situation in Sweden (and elsewhere) where people are not brought up in an anally-retentive, prissy and hidebound manner.

    After all we each have a bum-hole but just differently-shaped orifices for urinating from. When you are safely locked inside your cubicle who knows — or cares — who is relieving themselves next door? Farts are no indication of sex either. Yes, there are separate lavatorial facilities in other places in this country (railway stations, shopping malls and sports complexes for example) but if you are in a café or shop and you need to "go", then most people don't give a monkey's if the cludgie is unisex or not.

    How many television dramas or films do you watch when a man walks into the Ladies for a chat with colleagues within; or a woman does the same in the Gents? In my own experience, on more than one occasion, I would be standing at a urinal in the police station when a female rushed past to the nearby cubicle muttering a hasty "sorry!". I did the same on occasions in the Ladies, especially as in that ancient (1923) building the two female lavatories were at the west end of the premises and the two male facilities were a good fifty yards away at the east end.

    Perhaps it is this Victorian affectation of manic separation of the sexes that is withering the minds of those who continue to be the subject of such arcane strictures.

    Moreover, I have never — in my entire life — visited a private house (home) that has separate toilet facilities for each of the two sexes!

        1. That reminds me of the time in the USA when a restaurant had two toilets marked “Elton John” and “Olivia Newton John”.

        2. In Shakespeare's time the John was called the Jakes.

          As the robust Duke of Kent said about Regan's odious underling Oswald in King Lear:

          My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar and daub the wall of a jakes with him.

    3. Mixed sex loos are not the issue. It is paedos and rapists dressed as women gaining access.

      1. I know that. But my point still stands.

        Any paedophile or rapist entering (and misbehaving) in a mixed-sex bog would soon be given a swift uppercut-or seven by the normal males in there.

        1. …………..would soon be given a swift uppercut-or seven by the normal males in there.

          Who would then be charged with a hate crime and be sent to prison.

      1. I remember laughing at tha in The Full Monty. That dirty cow neither wiped her minge nor washed her hands afterwards!

    6. Try using unisex lavatories solely with cubicles at half-time at football matches. There's a reason there are always queues for the Ladies'.

      1. An additional reason for ladies' loo queues is that the children go with their mother or other female companion.
        It takes forever to sort out small children in a cubicle with a metal loo roll holder at just the right height to excise your kidneys.

    7. I agree entirely. We are long past the Age when men and women were not seen to go to the loo together.

      The sensible solution to toilet provision is what are termed “Ally McBeal” toilets where ample circulation space is provided for shared basins and mirrors whilst toilet cubicles are full height containing WC and a smaller hand wash basin for use within the cubicle.

      Cubicles can be shared or else marked individually for men or women if so wished.

      Urinals are a “no-no”.

      1. Indeed. When I first encountered a urinal, as an infant, I was utterly bemused by it.

        At my primary school the boys’ lavatory had nothing more than a blank wall with a long drain beneath it! That area also had no roof so you got utterly drenched when it rained.

        I have still never visited a private home that has a urinal installed.

        1. I am advised that our village hall
          recently installed waterless urinals. When one of the very few men seated at a recent meeting was asked to demonstrate the installation he retorted “what, from here”.

        2. One of my (farmer) friends has a urinal in the downstairs loo. Presumably for convenience (sorry!) particularly on cold mornings (or maybe his wife just got fed up of mopping up).

    1. At the time of composing this comment, there are 10 upvotes, whereas I haven't the foggiest idea of what this is about. If there is a loop, I've been kept well out of it.

      1. In an ideal world, Her Late Majesty would rise from the grave.

        (That's my take, anyway).

      3. Old ad on TV – everything is better with a Carlsberg. So, they roll aside the stone and HM the Queen is risen again.

    2. Amen to that!

      Hands down meme of the year – unfortunately too edgy for the parish magazine, I fear…

  44. Unite Union Cripples Easter Getaway With Gatwick Strikes

    https://order-order.com/2025/04/17/unite-union-cripples-easter-getaway-with-gatwick-strikes/

    It’s not happy news for co-conspirators off in search of sunnier climes. At least if you’re flying from Gatwick…

    The dinosaurs over at the Unite union are getting baggage handlers to down tools at the UK’s second biggest airport. Unite’s members “overwhelmingly rejected” an offer yesterday. The strike is due to start in the early hours of Good Friday morning, over the Easter weekend, until Tuesday 22 April. Starmer’s Britain…

    17 April 2025 @ 16:59

    We must reverse Labours damage
    4m
    Starmer's dream for Britain comes true…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fcc383792ea339e9c81bb80eb9a07ccbd471fbc1009f3f809572663607e1f41b.png

    1. SHIT!
      SWMBO is due to pass through LGW on Sunday morning, on her way home!
      Bastards!

      1. Unhelpful observations elsewhere

        "At least there won't be any flying pickets"
        "I'll be fine; my luggage doesn't have any handles"

    2. Easter is based on the Jewish Passover. Airport strikes are based on Easter. Therefore Unions are Religions. QED.

      1. I suspect most NOTTLers know this.

        Ēostre ([ˈeːostre]) is an Anglo-Saxon goddess mentioned by Bede. By way of the Germanic month bearing her name (Northumbrian: Ēosturmōnaþ, West Saxon: Ēastermōnaþ; Old High German: Ôstarmânoth), she is the namesake of the festival of Easter in some languages. The Old English deity Ēostre is attested solely by Bede in his 8th-century work The Reckoning of Time, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Ēostre's honour, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

        1. I'm not one of the most, though flattered that you think I might be. However, I suspect Rastus has it memorised word-for-word.

    1. Henry Flower
      16h
      Bridget Phillipson on 25th June 2024: “Trans women can use female toilets.”
      Bridget Philippson yesterday: “We have always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex.”

      I wonder why politicians are so enthusiastic about having more control over the internet?

      1. A spokesperson says there is no contradiction. The single-sex spaces to which Mx Phillipson referred are the individual cubicles within a larger lavatory environment. At no time has zie ever suggested that cis-women and trans-women use one lavatory pedestal simultaneously.

          2. Never heard that before. A pedestal in our part of the world is a washbasin on a stand.

  46. Nigel Farage on ITV News reveals first thing he'd do as PM.. I won't post the link. Not worth the electrons.

    The Establishment can rest easy, he has no intention of reforming the status quo.

    1. The egotistical fraud, Farage, is making the same mistake that all Conservative Party leaders have made since Margaret Thatcher was stabbed in the back: they thought that by moving to the left they would become more electable.

      Has not Farage noticed:

      i) That Major moved to the left and was trounced in 1997 by Blair who had moved Labour to the right;
      ii) That after 13 years disastrous Blair/Brown government lefty Cameron failed to win the election outright and needed Clegg;
      iii) Cameron resigned having supported the EU – the very EU that had humiliated him before the referendum;
      iv) May moved left when nearly 30 points ahead in the polling before her election non win when she needed DUP support to govern;
      v) Johnson won a significant victory by pretenting to be right wing and fell from gace when this was exposed as a lie;
      vi) Sunak was pathetic and not remortely right wing and the Conservative PArty suffered its greatest ever defeat.

      et, etc.

      Farage must be very seriously deluded if he thinks he will do better by moving to the left.

      1. Will Farage avert civil war by..?

        Undo Blair? Nah.
        Enact emergency legislation with The Null & Void Act 2029? Nah.
        Remove all progressives from power overnight? Nah.
        Mass deportations? Nah.
        Drill baby, drill? Nah.

  47. Stonewall’s hour of reckoning has finally arrived. 18 April 2025.

    For decades, influential charity Stonewall was widely regarded as a champion for equal rights – winning over the most powerful businesses and politicians.

    Its influence was such that hundreds of Britain’s largest organisations battled for top spot on its flagship equality leader board, handing millions of pounds to the charity in the process.

    But much has changed. The 36-year-old organisation now facing a crisis that has prompted even one of its founders to turn against it.

    This organisation has probably done more damage to the UK than the KGB could ever have dreamed of.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/17/stonewalls-hour-of-reckoning-has-finally-arrived/

      1. Not just local authority architects but planners including Holford and apartheid experts imported to dismantle the canal and rail networks for new roads, underpasses, flyovers and tunnels.

      2. Not just local authority architects but planners including Holford and apartheid experts imported to dismantle the canal and rail networks for new roads, underpasses, flyovers and tunnels.

    1. I had planned to pop down to the local shop for a punnet of mushrooms and a bottle of Tiptree tomato sauce.
      Sounds as if my visit may be more fun than usual.

      1. I can't recall having tried Wilkins's Tiptree sauces. Have you tried Stokes's sauces? Not quite as local as Tiptree, made in a stable in Rendlesham, Suffolk, but widely available so one doesn't have to visit the dark side.😮

        Good range of sauces and superior to the international brand we're so used to.

        1. Both Tiptree and Stokes are streets ahead of glop like Heinz.
          Worth the extra cost, especially when it's two old farts, rather than hoard of children squirting it onto the plate.
          p.s. Tiptree mango chutney is disappointing. We use Baytree.

    2. During my years Promming in the Royal Albert Hall Gallery, I got to know a transvestite who used the ladies loos without ever being challenged or questioned. Looking at his X feed now, you’d think he’d suffered decades of persecution and abuse. That tries my patience far more than his being a cock in a frock.

  49. With 'racial discrimination', in mind, will it soon be law that whitemen are not allowed to play in the Wendyball Premier League

    1. I didn't think there were any left doing so*. Every photo is of a chap from the Congo (or similar).

      * Apart from that hideously ugly scandinavian chappie who plays for Man City.

    2. Well, if the current craze for quotas in employment were to be extended to football, it would mean that only 2 out of each team would be black. So much for 'positive discrimination'.

      1. Ah, but you need to take age profile into account. What would it be for males in the age range 18-40? The other complication is that top football clubs scour the planet for talent, not just the local youth teams. That said, I saw some of the Newcastle United vs Crystal Palace match recently and Palace had a rather higher proportion of black players compared with their opponents. Perhaps the local catchment area does play a part.

        1. Could it be natural talent? Why are so many sprinters black – could it be physiological? My point was about the absurdity of selection by quota, instead of merit.

          1. Yes, merit should trump just about all other considerations, although there can be some tricky areas regarding sex-based sensitivities.

          2. I saw part of a programme some years ago about Colin Jackson where they delved into his background and antecedents and I think it concluded that he had certain specific genes that allowed him to hurdle/run very fast. There are very few white world class sprinters.

  51. Good (ish) Moaning.
    Thinking of matters historical and regal:
    Æthelstan was the first English king. In his Easter address, did he show that well known trait of tolerance and give an approving nod to Odin?

  52. Just coincidence.

    Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynne-Williams reveals Zuckerberg has been selling personal data of US citizens to the CCP.. and its Llama Ai model forms the basis of the PLA's military artificial intelligence.

    Oh, Sir Nick Clegg President of Global Affairs at Meta announced he would step down from the role and quickly leave Meta in 2025.

        1. I listened to an interview with his son, back in Jan 2020 when I was working in Colombia and the Convid was busy making its way over through Italy. I thought his son was very convincing, I must say.

          Because I always remember the joke du jour, "What's the difference between David Icke and Ayrton Senna?" Answer: "David Icke went completely round the bend". Ayrton Senna died on 1st May 1994, wow, 31 years ago now.

          1. "Ayrton Senna died on 1st May 1994, wow, 31 years ago now."

            Three years after Freddie Mercury and Robert Maxwell.

      2. Good grief, Annie, there certainly are some obscure posts on this site. The penny has finally dropped that by "Mr Sugarmountain" you meant "Zuckerberg". At first I thought "Alan Sugar" doesn't look anything like that. Lol.

        1. D'oh!! Me too! It's all clear now!!!! (AND i have no excuse, as I do speak German!!!)

        2. Well there was a post yesterday about a sugarglider (a possum, though apparently the taxonomy is uncertain) in the USA.
          FYI, possums are sociable and inappropriate as pets.

        2. I quite agree. Zuckerberg has always had an alien quality about him, as if he has had to learn how to be humanlike.

          5. Lots of people look weird to those from other populations.
            I remember chatting to an educated, good looking, friendly lady from North Africa on a flight to Gatwick, and after landing her main impression was how very 'white' British people appeared, as in almost-albino. She laughed in amazement. (OK, 'twas back in the 1990s)

    3. Not the first time Meta has been caught selling people's information to governments of unfriendly countries.

  53. I didn't know that knitting on a flight was permitted.
    I had some nail scissors, total blade length about 1 cm, confiscated from my wash kit. I would think knitting needles would make a far better offensive weapon.
    I believe that the scissor restrictions are no longer as strict.

    1. Yes, husband always carries a penknife, had it confiscated when he travelled on planes, got it back end of flight. Don't think I ever saw him knitting, but you never know these days……….

      1. He was lucky, there was a big container where the staff just threw whatever they had taken.

        1. Staff were always ok with him, but he retired a while ago – think the knife check was in its infancy. Lots of crows squawking here, buzzards circling. Ash and oak neck and neck, can’t yet tell if in for a splash or a soak….:-)

    2. You want to take a handgun on the plane? Needs a locked box and security escort to the flight, then handed over to the pilot. Same in reverse on arrival, you collect from security after passport control. Firearms etc certificate required, as well as booking with the airline.

  54. when i commuted to Germany every week, I used to take my knitting. That was back in 1994/95. Then I think it got banned after all the terrorist attacks on the planes. Maybe they have repermitted it again.

    1. This is the first time I've seen this advert, whereas the AA's bank robbery advert I must have seen hundreds of times. Why do I get plagued with the annoying ones?

  58. Except it isn't about the "shitting habits" of these men, is it, Burnside? It's about control and erasure of women's rights. As you should know, if you weren't being so disingenous (whoever you are).

    What do your wife, daughter, mother, niece, aunt and sister think about the issue? Or is it all about you?

    1. I'm not going to argue with Burnside's figure as I have no knowledge of the number, but there are no doubt many more who do not have the certificate but, nonetheless, self-identify as the opposite sex.

      I don't see it as a matter of the control and erasure of women's rights so much as the elevation of trans-women's rights to that of biological/anatomical/chromosomal women because some trans-women and their supporters simply regard them(selves) as real women who've tragically been given male anatomy by some flaw of nature, in the same way that others get conditions such as cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anaemia or a cleft palate. I think they're quite mistaken, but that's the perception they and their supporters have.

      1. I have a 'sex recognition certificate'. It was issued just after my birth.

        We call it a 'birth certificate' and in the column marked 'sex' it shows an 'M'.

      2. That isn't quite the right comparison; such things as you list are genetic…I'd hardly call thinking you're something you aren't a genetic disorder – more like a delusion.

        1. My understanding is that they think it akin to either a genetic disorder or a malfunction during gestation. I struggle to understand the idea of thinking that your mind, your self-perception is correct and that your anatomy belies what you truly are. The reason I have this difficulty is understanding how anybody can know the essence of what it feels like to belong to the opposite anatomical sex. Is there a difference between having a preference, on the one hand, for the norms of the opposite sex's dress, appearance and behaviour, and perhaps a non-sexual attraction for its anatomy, which might manifest itself as transvestism, cross-dressing and suchlike, and on the other, a feeling that beyond the outward appearance and behaviour, you have the actual mind, psyche, feelings and urges of the opposite sex. There are masculine women who do not want to become male and feminine men who don't wish to be female, at least not to the extent of taking hormones and having surgery. They know they just happen to be at the edges of the spectrum for their sex, but it's not the same as believing you are the opposite sex. Perhaps it is a delusion and maybe not enough effort is made to convince these people that their self-perception is erroneous and to come to terms with their biology and anatomy and to cease efforts to deny it, at least to stop self-harming and to quell suicidal impulses.

    2. Except it isn't about the..
      It's about dripping acid on all the cornerstones of Western culture & capitalism.
      Religion. Family. Democracy. Borders. Gender. Notion of Nationhood. Language. Science. Maths. History. Heritage. Meritocracy.
      A constant drip drip drip..

    3. Except it isn't about the..
      It's about dripping acid on all the cornerstones of Western culture & capitalism.
      Religion. Family. Democracy. Borders. Gender. Notion of Nationhood. Language. Science. Maths. History. Heritage. Meritocracy.
      A constant drip drip drip..

  59. Good morning, all. Forgive me if this has been raised before but is anyone else having a problem with readers' comments in the DT? This week they seem to have acquired a very large font which spills over into other text on the page, rendering them unreadable.

    1. Ditto.

      Last week I could not even get into them let alone make my own comments.

    6. They did – but they worked ok on my phone, then yesterday they seemed to have sorted out the problem – they seem to work ok on the laptop as well now. I thought at first it was just me but it seemed to be a general issue. It was quite impossible to read them properly as they went underneath the side column.

    7. There was a problem that lasted for over a day.
      It seemed to be sorted by yesterday evening.

  61. The European project is dead, yet Starmer remains besotted with it

    The UK is in prime position to strike a transformative trade deal with the US, but risks throwing it all away

    Sherelle Jacobs
    17 April 2025 6:23pm BST

    As the world changes beyond recognition, Britain is sitting pretty. For all the talk of Trump’s trade war backfiring, countries are lining up to strike free trade deals with Washington – and London is near the front of the queue.

    We are in a strong position to exploit Scottish-American Trump’s soft spot for the UK to mould the special relationship in our favour. In the mercurial Trumpian age this subtle advantage is not to be sniffed at.

    Yet the PM risks sacrificing our strategic position on the altar of the Remainer cause. It is striking enough that Sir Keir Starmer should try to have his cake and eat it, pursuing the fundamentally incompatible objectives of a closer relationship with the US and deeper association with the EU. It is even more astonishing that the PM should do this at a time when the EU project faces obsolescence.

    This week, murmurings emanated from the White House that it could strike a trade deal with the UK within three weeks. At the very same time, it emerged that Sir Keir Starmer is closing in on an agreement to align with Brussels on food and veterinary standards. Such a partnership could potentially scupper the US trade deal, as it may shut out American products that Trump wants to sell in Britain.

    A diplomatic blowup is brewing. Trade experts are worried that the US could turn on Britain and renege on its offer of a deal should we start to live up to our “perfidious albion” reputation. As one expert told me: “On the global stage we aren’t as trusted as we might like to think. We are not trusted in Washington or Brussels. They think we’re very polite, but also tend to think we are being sneaky even when we are being indecisive.”

    Unless the PM changes course, we may end up with the worst of both worlds – alienated from the US and estranged from Brussels.

    Starmer’s double dealing risks squandering a golden economic opportunity. A trade deal with the US – which would require the UK to slash domestic red tape – would offer Rachel Reeves a lifeline, giving her the authority she sorely needs to pursue the “bonfire of regulations” that she has been struggling to drive through in the face of vested interests since her fiscal headroom evaporated.

    But the most baffling thing about No 10’s pursuit of a closer relationship with Brussels is that it comes at a time when the EU’s future is more uncertain than at any point in its history. The EU has no clear role in this new age – at least not in its current form. America wants the EU as it currently stands to be effectively disbanded. The EU has evolved, largely by accident, from a peace-preserving free trade bloc into the world’s regulatory superpower. The EU’s clout today is rooted in its ability to leverage restricted access to the single market – the largest in the world – in order to compel companies to comply with its regulatory standards. This makes it often easier for companies to adopt European standards across the world. Europe has been able to colonise the regulatory systems of foreign countries, shaping much of the world in its own compliance-driven, innovation-stifling image.

    This dynamic is incompatible with the world order that America is now attempting to erect. The US wants to transform itself from a power rooted in dominance of global finance and technology to one that is also anchored in the kind of manufacturing prowess that can provide ordinary American workers with well-paid jobs. This demands a huge jump in US exports.

    Yet, as it stands, many US products do not meet red tape thresholds that exist not just within the EU’s borders but across the world. America thus wants radical deregulation on a global scale.

    Pro-EU scholars concede that the Brussels project is threatened. Professor Anu Bradford, the leading expert on the EU’s regulatory power, told me that US pressure combined with internal panic over European tech stagnation could cause the EU to lose its nerve and dismantle voluntarily:

    “We need to rethink everything now. I’m most worried about the Europeans’ own inability to defend the regulatory agenda; that the EU will come to think its path to tech competitiveness is walking away from its regulations.”

    Some Europhiles seek solace in the notion that the EU is a self-made power that can face down American bullying. They are wrong.

    America holds most of the cards in negotiations. The EU’s trade surplus with the US means it is vulnerable to tariffs. The idea that Europe is an independent civilisation created by visionary European elites is also a romantic myth. The EU is a failed American experiment. Since George Washington, Stateside politicians have been captivated with the idea of a “single republic” in America’s mirror image across the pond. After the Second World War, the US vigorously pushed the dream of a united Europe, viewing it as a way to both contain Germany’s militancy and hold the line against communist Russia. The harsh reality is that America birthed the EU.

    It is not just economic but also military shifts that threaten the EU. Russia’s rampage against Ukraine has demolished the myth that globalisation alone can secure world peace. It is clear that Europe must operate as a defence bloc first and a trading outfit second.

    This will almost certainly require the EU to reverse course on integration. True, a defence turn demands integration in highly specific and vital areas. The Continent urgently needs to standardise its weapon systems. Still, the political and fiscal integration envisioned by the EU’s most ambitious champions is clearly obsolete.

    Europe lacks a common set of defence interests. Southern Europeans don’t feel the Russian threat in the same way as their northern counterparts. Eastern Europe is ripping itself apart over whether Russia is a friend or a foe. It’s hard to conceive a European nuclear weapon capability for the simple reason that member states would never be able to agree on when to use it. As Dr Neil Melvin of RUSI told me: “This is not a kind of Brussels ecosystem. It’s much more like the Europe of the old days where you have strong nations as core actors. The question is whether Europe can find a new kind of structure to manage the re-emergence of nation states as the main drivers of European agendas.”

    The PM’s eagerness to align with Brussels is illogical. Whether the EU can reinvent itself for a new epoch is uncertain. For now then, we should focus on nurturing relations with the world superpower, while keeping a cordial distance from a European project in existential crisis.

    ***********************************

    Adrian Maddock
    16 hrs ago
    Two-Tier Keir loves the Belgian Empire almost as much as he loves shady international law courts. The reprobates who run these organisations are the people who define him. It's psychologically impossible for him to break free from them and act in the national interest.

    James Terry
    16 hrs ago
    Reply to Adrian Maddock
    He is really out of it. The ICJ is not recognised by the USA nor China nor Russia. So what is the point of it? Another one of those "Jobs for the boys" maybe? Starmer's mates included.

    1. The big mistake that many in the MSM continue to make is in thinking that Starmer is interested in what is best for the UK.

      Every single action he has taken since coming to power has been specifically aimed at destroying Britain.

      Education, Chagos, Net Zero all are part of the plan to remove any status the UK ever had as being a civilised and respected country with a functioning economy.

      1. Starmer, along with Macron, Denmark, the insignificant Baltic States and the mad women running the EU are fighting on two fronts.

        These people are fixated with Ukraine above all national concerns and interests, thus expecting to defeat Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, but at the same time wishing to inflict some geopolitical defeat on Trump and his administration.

        Macron and Starmer are certifiably mad if they believe they can survive placing their respective armies in Odessa as planned. Those armies would be obliterated and Russia encouraged to take back not only Odessa but Ukraine also.

        We have the most inadequate and incompetent UK Prime Minister in my lifetime in Keir Starmer. The other Western European actors are no better.

        2. And we have the most muddled headed monarch ever — Ethelred may have acquired the sobriquet of being Unready, William of being the Conqueror, and another Charles of being Merry, but what will be the nickname that Charles lll gets given?

      2. I'm convinced that his government's actions to date, and leaked plans and ideas for farming, food, energy etc. are geared to provoking mass unrest within the settled population. An uprising would open the door to martial law, lockdowns and many other restrictions, aka control.

        Why then, one could ask, is putting a "peace force" in Ukraine a top agenda topic. Think on…

        1. "An uprising would open the door to martial law…"

          Will the British Army fire on its own people?

          1. Depends on how many non-indigenous people there are in the British Army.

            Next thing we know there will be Army recruiting posters on all the billboards in Dover.

          3. I lean towards no. However, it’s not the British Army we should be afraid of.

    2. If the EU's attempt at moulding the disparate nations and cultures into one mass of humanity has failed could this be one driver for the idiotic attempt to flood the EU with the Third World? If the EU leadership thinks that controlling the incomers will be easy, well, good luck with that.

      Same stands for the UK's Uni-Party's attempts.

    3. A trade deal with the US – which would require the UK to slash domestic red tape – would offer Rachel Reeves a lifeline, giving her the authority she sorely needs to pursue the “bonfire of regulations” that she has been struggling to drive through in the face of vested interests since her fiscal headroom evaporated.

      Pardon?

      1. Yes, I was a little slack-jawed over that. Poor Rachel, all her liberating instincts stifled by obstructions placed in her way.

    4. A trade deal with the US – which would require the UK to slash domestic red tape – would offer Rachel Reeves a lifeline, giving her the authority she sorely needs to pursue the “bonfire of regulations” that she has been struggling to drive through in the face of vested interests since her fiscal headroom evaporated.

      Pardon?

    5. A trade deal with the US – which would require the UK to slash domestic red tape – would offer Rachel Reeves a lifeline, giving her the authority she sorely needs to pursue the “bonfire of regulations” that she has been struggling to drive through in the face of vested interests since her fiscal headroom evaporated.

      Pardon?

    6. I don't know about not trusted in Brussels or Washington – he isn't trusted here in the UK!

    1. He's looking for a male cervix and as usual he can't see the object he's seeking. In this case, of course…

      PS No assistance, please!

    2. He won't have looked at a map before because (and this is TRUE)

      My wife does all the driving. David Lammy

    4. Nice shiny table, but I mentioned to the cleaner, also polish it behind the door.
      Parrot fashion 🦜🤭

  63. The EU apparatchiks will not be happy with Meloni: preserving Western Civilisation is so very dangerous. The EU, and sadly, the UK "leaders" past and present, have been working hard for years to destroy both our way of life and the people.

    Flooding the EU states and the UK with Third World populations and religions is deemed virtuous and progressive by these power-brokers who are locked in to the globalist zeitgeist.

    https://x.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1913121863649161628

    1. Does Meloni have any spare time to pop over and sort out Blighty?
      We do have a spare bedroom with panoramic views over neighbouring gardens.

  64. Batshit Bonkers Britain
    Project to suck carbon out of sea begins in UK.

    A ground-breaking project to suck carbon out of the sea has started operating on England's south coast.

    The small pilot scheme, known as SeaCURE, is funded by the UK government as part of its search for technologies that fight climate change.

    The Seacure project has £3m of funding from the government and is one of 15 pilot projects being backed in the UK as part of efforts to develop technologies that capture and store greenhouse gases.
    https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/4b10/live/c1d33eb0-17bd-11f0-a455-cf1d5f751d2f.png

    1. I mentioned that earlier, but only very briefly – more money we don't have squandered. And here's the first major lie in the report "There's broad consensus among climate scientists [funded by groups that make billions from the scam?] that the overwhelming priority is to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the chief cause of global warming."

      1. derrrr Does not that bright shiny orb in the sky, The Sun, not have anything to do with Global Warming then

      2. When they've made their money, when the climate wheel turns as it inevitably will, they'll claim it as theirs and move on to the next money spinner.

      3. Of course they ignore the evidence (how inconvenient) of ice cores which shows that CO2 follows, not drives, any warming.

    2. Does anybody know which concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere will maximise human happiness and wellbeing, assuming that is the preferred outcome of those who strive to achieve whatever it is. For all I know, the happiness and wellbeing of the planet, of mother earth, of Gaia, matters more to these people.

      2. For all I know (and definitely suspect) the happiness and wellbeing of their bank balances matters more. I doubt very much that Mother Earth has much say in the matter.

    4. I wish some one would inform (educate) these cretins that CO₂ is not 'carbon' (that is 'C').

      I'd love to see them try to make pencil leads, diamonds or living entities out of their version of 'carbon'.

      1. Maybe they think they can make diamonds from it. They'll certainly be making money from the taxpayer (who has no choice to fund the lunacy).

    5. And where are they storing the CO₂?

      "The CO2 that emerges into the air is sucked away and then concentrated using charred coconut husks ready to be stored."

      1. Luckily we have an inexhaustible supply of coconut husks in the UK /sarc. Oh and how much energy is used to char them?????

    6. They also acidify the seawater (to enhance CO₂ release) and then alkalis are added to neutralise the acidity before releasing the the seawater back into the sea. Any unintended consequences will be put down to Russian sabotage.

    7. Of course, it will need government – i.e. taxpayer – "investment".
      Swift's extracting sunshine from cucumbers was positively sane.

    8. CO2 necessary for photosynthesis. Which, conveniently, turns it into sugar and O2.

    9. If the high hiedyins didn't cut down rainforest to make a highway so they can get from their private jet to the conference centre, there would be lots more trees to capture CO2 and photosynthesize it to wood and oxygen. Not this utter bullshite.

      1. And if they stopped building on green fields, cutting down mature trees and grubbing up hedgerows in the process so they can house more an more people we don't need, photosynthesis would do the job.

    10. The SeaCURE image is misleading.

      Phytoplankton are part of what is known as the biological pump where these microorganisms are the start of a process that separates CO2 into atmospheric gases and carbon (the latter falling to the sea floor where noone has ever seen it)

      It's explained here:

      https://www.nature.com/articles/483S17a

      and is the reason why the earth has developed into what it is today.

      Carbon storage has been going on ever since H2O was invented and carbon sank out of sight to where the sun don't shine.
      Obviously we need to encourage more phytoplankton to promote the sea floor as a carbon sink and regulate the excessive solar emissions that are causing global warming.

      1. "…and regulate the excessive solar emissions that are causing global warming"

        Tell God to turn down the Brightness control, maybe? Works for my Mac…

    11. The SeaCURE image is misleading.

      Phytoplankton are part of what is known as the biological pump where these microorganisms are the start of a process that separates CO2 into atmospheric gases and carbon (the latter falling to the sea floor where noone has ever seen it)

      It's explained here:

      https://www.nature.com/articles/483S17a

      and is the reason why the earth has developed into what it is today.

      Carbon storage has been going on ever since H2O was invented and carbon sank out of sight to where the sun don't shine.
      Obviously we need to encourage more phytoplankton to promote the sea floor as a carbon sink and regulate the excessive solar emissions that are causing global warming.

    12. What they might achieve if the scale of their efforts is magnified thousands of times and more worldwide, is to cause the carbon cycle to slow down or even shudder to a halt.

      "The carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to making Earth capable of sustaining life."

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

  65. 404433+ up ticks,

    No honor as such should be claimed via yesterdays ruling, in was the put down of a blatant long term piss taking issue and sanity showed through.

    But for a few considered to be natures errors that do need our sympathy and medical aid the rest in the main are playing the system with a multitude of fools giving support.

    THEY the pansy brigade need at every turn the "Duncan Webb treatment" DW when revealing the ladies of the night actions in the NOTW was recognised, he was chased & beaten with umbrellas.
    https://x.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1912816247173259764

    3. Agatha Christie wrote a book entitled Ten Little Niggers, which later became bastardised by the hard-of-thinking into "Ten Little Indians".

      Even that was too near-the-knuckle for the cretins at the Beeb who renamed it into the more than mundane (vacuous) "And The There Were None", for a production they aired a few years ago.

      2. You can get into trouble with the Wokerati by just mentioning the original title of the book.

      3. Here's a thought – if I identify as a black man, can I start calling other blacks "nigga"?

    4. Donald Pleasance had a knack (as an actor, not himself) of being able to convey threat but in an understated way. He was rather good at being sinister.

  68. Welcome to the lunatic asylum that once ruled one fifth of the globe.

    "Rapists can no longer claim to be women
    Police forces now expected to record sexual offenders by their sex and not preferred gender following Supreme Court ruling"

    2. Starmer will put more(life) boats out to ensure that they arrive here safely……

  71. I went to the garden centre today to get my chilli and pepper plants. I was going to have lunch there too but when i saw the prices i walked.

    £18.95 for fish and chips.
    £19.95 for a roast lamb dinner.

    I bought a leg of lamb for £14 from Sainsbury's for Easter Sunday so i wasn't going to pay those prices.

    Strangely enough in their food and meat section you could buy frozen ready meals for two for £9.95.

    I know the industry is struggling but i'm not paying that.

    1. Breakfast for two at Wetherspoons
      Bacon Sausage Egg Hash Browns Beans and Toast
      One with extra Egg one with added Mushrooms
      2 Coffees with unlimited refills
      £15.80
      All fresh coooked and delicious
      Not to mention great value

      1. Love Wetherspoons. Great food and really fair prices. The merlot on draft is excellent too. Shame they stopped selling San Miguel, but you can’t win ‘em all.

        1. Slip a couple of plain plastic plates in her handbag and transfer the food once there. Job done. 😉

          1. She is fully in favour of your idea.

            She is on Amazon seeking a new suitable handbag

            AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH

        2. I don't care for them, either. The pattern is so "busy" it's a bit distracting.

    2. Not cordon bleu, I grant you, but some Greene King pubs do a 2 for £11.99 offer for dishes on their Classics menu. Two beef lasagnes with generous side salad, dressing and two slices of garlic bread for £6 a plate yesterday afternoon was both tasty and excellent value for money at the local-ish (20 min stroll) Pied Piper in Stevenage. I think it applies in just their otherwise unbranded pubs – not Hungry Horse, for example. What's more, they are currently promoting some drinks on a 2 for 1 deal, Monday-Thursday before 7pm until May 15th (excluding bank holiday Mondays). That was less than £2/pint of Greene King IPA yesterday.

    3. We were in Swanage during the week , sunshine was glorious . Moh felt peckish , we don't drink, do pubs or anything like that thee days .

      A meal out would be a waste of time . He bought a small portion of chips, £3.50.. yes and he nibbled them whilst sitting on a sea wall .. not even the sea gulls were interested ..

      Eating outdoors is not our thing , but needs must , and he enjoyed the experience .

      Idiot Reeves must have a food expense account , and what does the eatery in Parliament charge for meals/ coffee / etc?

        2. A lot of highly 'labour intensive' items on that menu suggesting massive levels of subsidy.

      2. The eatery in Parliament, like the ones in the EU, is heavily subsidised. Then of course they have expense accounts …

  72. Had fish & chips at Wetherspoons a few weeks ago – really good portion of battered cod and more chips than I could manage.

  74. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/05909621141d4f4dc1e0c2048afc72326773a62a46d265ea125ae97a7339bf97.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/afcdb33ecd29f00425a9f36e48a8818ee4748670a9eae8ffe5d7bfc95e30106a.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d400a74fffc20972face2dc5eb6eb89e849c72848a4a1cde70bf394575ed536.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f3ca23064ca266bd6f24d42ab5362ef5344d72ed9ad1be04c616e750dae0578.png We do not get bluebell woods, here in Sweden, as you do in the UK.

    However, this is more than made up for by our woodland which is carpeted — edge-to-edge — at this time of year by a stunning display of white wood anemones. We also get a small number of the yellow variant and even smaller numbers of the dazzlingly beautiful blue/violet variety.

    And the fields are carpeted by an excellent show of lesser celandines.

    1. Lovely! We've had a good show of primroses this year and the cowslips are starting to open up.
      Not nice out today – cold, windy and drizzle in the air. Can't really complain after weeks of sunshine but we need some proper rain now.

      1. Most wild flowers, over here. tend to emerge around a month later than they do in the UK.
        We are also in dire need of a good rainfall.

        1. Had ours this last two days, Grizz. Beautiful, warm sunshine today! Everywhere almost perfectly green…

      2. I've got the rain, albeit overnight. It's damp rather than actually raining at the moment.

    2. We've had both of those along the river for the past couple of weeks among the wild garlic. Earlier than you I guess, from your post below.

      1. Oooh. Fond memories of jacket pockets stinking for ages as I collected huge amounts of wild garlic to make pesto. 🙂

        1. I also have wild garlic – I was given some plants by a gardening friend and these must have come with them. Now, I can't get rid of them.

        2. With the many dog walkers here you need to gather the garlic as far away from the path as possible, Katy.

    3. Thanks for posting these, Grizzly – they gladden my heart, very little out here yet. Such a lot of dead ash still to be cleared, one or two ok and showing leaf before the oaks…ash before oak etc….

    4. I have a lot of bluebells in my garden – proper ones. I am trying to get them to spread in the orchard.

      1. We have bluebells in the garden but sadly they are not the real ones but the stiff Spanish ones.

    5. The verges here seem to be more than usually abundant in dandelions and daisies. I suppose there is a cycle to these things as well as some years having more favourable weather patterns than others. All the same, the display is quite striking, unless my memory is playing tricks on me.

    6. The verges here seem to be more than usually abundant in dandelions and daisies. I suppose there is a cycle to these things as well as some years having more favourable weather patterns than others. All the same, the display is quite striking, unless my memory is playing tricks on me.

    1. SWMBO says the same.
      Her poor boobs clamped flat between two plates and irradiated…

    1. Did you manage to recover your other account, and your one on Twitter?
      Sorry you're not feeling well.
      It's cold and drizzly here. I went outside to hang up the washing as I thought it had stopped but nearly got blown away and the wind is damp. Slight glimmer of sunshine now so may try again later.

          2. Will you send me the link please , email me , because although I have now reverted back to True_Belle , the wretched X have used a new id number using my proper name , I am so cross. I have been on Twitter since 2009.

    2. Hello Belle…I've had on and off diverticulitis for years, nothing has worked so far – just about to try milk thistle, will see how it goes. Good luck with IBS, hope not too much discomfort x

    3. Oh Belle! How ghastly! I had it for years and, then it suddenly went away. Touch wood – nothing since. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! Cold and damp here, so I’m about to light the wood burner and do not very much. We’ve had a busy week with 4 grandchildren having a sleepover on Monday night, 2 on Tuesday night and Wednesday, and the twins on Thursday! No wonder we have children when we’re young! Alan and I are exhausted but it’s been a (mainly) very happy time! 😳 We’ve got friends coming for dinner tomorrow night and Alan is doing his masterpiece leg of lamb a la Madhur Jaffrey.

      1. " … Alan is doing his masterpiece leg of lamb a la Madhur Jaffrey."

        Tell him another Alan has just booked his flight over to Prestwick!😋

        1. I don’t think it’s amongst the myriad of ingredients which are covering the kitchen bench! However, I may be wrong!

    4. Sorry you're feeling poorly. Massive sympathies; IBS is painful.

      Mine disappeared completely when I switched to low-carb, by the way.

      2. I've never had IBS but when I switched to low-carb, my energy levels were raised. My sleeping patterns improved, I lost my 'brain fog', my mental clarity became heightened, my energy levels got higher, I lost excess weight, and my all-round vitality, strength and wellbeing skyrocketed.

        I then knew that I did not require: vegetation (as my ancestors for 99·6% of our evolution instinctively knew), sugars and ultra-processed crap. I shall never go back to being a weed-eater.

      3. I had a huge bout of ulcerous colitis that docs thought was food poisoning. It was not only embarrassing but appallingly frustrating and exhausting – as you can't sleep for an hour without needing the loo.

        Thankfully it hasn't recurred, but there's always the threat it could.

  79. Yes , have picked it up , lock stock and barrel , but X have a follow thing on it because of the new account , I am stuck , aren't I

    1. Not sure what you can do from there. You could try their Help thingy – I kept on at them when I was locked out of my account back in 2020 because they suspended it and as I didn't have a working mobile phone they couldn't send me a text to prove it was me. It was five months before I was able to get back in.

    2. Down at the bottom left on my X account I can switch from one account to the other either as Ndovu or Help a Hedgehog. You should be able to add your account and do that.
      Hedgehog Hospital
      @HelpaHedgehog
      Add an existing account
      Manage accounts
      Log out @HelpaHedgehog

      Ndovu 🇬🇧 🙂
      @hoglet3
      Add an existing account
      Manage accounts
      Log out @hoglet3

    1. And answer came there none!
      And this was hardly odd because
      They're rape friends everyone.

      (With a nod to Lewis Carroll)

    2. I am highly sceptical of Lord Pearson's figures, based, as it seems to be, on an extrapolation of the worst headline cases. Isn't it akin to calculating the UK's average rainfall levels based on readings taken solely from Fort William, Blackpool and Plymouth?

    1. True, but let's imagine it is the state put in a cage and the public allow them out when we want something.

      Then we give them the resources and monies to carry out of will while we allow it. Then they go back in the cage and we get on wit hour lives as we wish.

    1. The loons were out protesting in Telford, according to my local rag. They should be campaigning for better mental health provision.

  85. Had a huge Easter egg delivered today. I can only assume it is from Garlands. I do wish she would answer emails.

      2. Actually. She knows what a blabbermouth i am and can't keep secrets. Perhaps that's why.

        1. She doesn't need to tell you secrets – just hello would do……or to say she's ok or whatever.

          1. I do get a hand written note with the Christmas card. But what i really like is the company. Doing lunches, visiting museums together. That sort of stuff.

            In the process now with Annie, Sue and Stormy arranging a lunch. Nice to have things to look forward to and see smiling faces, tell dirty jokes and plan the downfall of the government. You know…Happy Thoughts.

      1. Hadn't thought of that.

        I wondered what those muffled sounds coming from the freezer were…

  86. Football executive fired after THREE DAYS for social media posts supporting Hamas
    https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/exclusive-football-executive-fired-after-three-days-for-social-media-posts-supporting-hamas

    The BBC doesn't appear to have picked up on this story yet. D&R FC certainly didn't run a check on Ms Mashour. The man acompanying her in the photo is Marwan Serry. He's still with the club. This is how he dresses when he removes the collar and tie.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8afb68e5d0ab57bec0e755314f64a32bd0cb6da969c0a3beca3ed12fb867081c.jpg

      1. At first I thought it was the wee fishwife, but I have to admit it looks more like Merkel.

  90. Yes it is – but can you add the old one and switch back to it? I can just click on one or the other without logging out. I never actually log out of anything hardly. Log back in to the new one and add the old one. Then switch to it.

    1. My old email is no longer active , my account was scammed on Monday with a popup when R was playing golf .. In 16 years I have never ever signed out of Twitter X

      Now I am back into my new one , no wonder my IBS is playing up

      1. You'll need to let the X help people know that and that your email address is the current one not the old one. They should be able to verify you're the right person with your mobile number. When my old phone died in 2020 and I didn't replace it straightway they couldn't do that so I was suspended for five months. It took a lot of time and effort to get them to see reason but eventually they did.

        When I switched to Help a Hedgehog just now I got a pop up asking if my mobile no was still the number they had. That was a real message though rather than a scam.

      3. This was the problem for me here on nttl, disqus out of the blue asked me to verify my email – my old email was no longer active, indeed the address no longer existed so I have had to return as poppiesmum1. And what a palaver it was too.

  91. Advice would be welcomed on An Important Matter:

    Half the plants on my balcony are in those plastic pots that have a detachable bottom which doesn't have drainage holes. I, with the help of torrential rain from time to time, have inadvertently been overwatering them.

    So today I shall embark upon the Grand Repotting.

    Thing is, when I stick plants in pots which drain, I get soil all over the balcony when it rains. If I put them in shallow trays, those overflow too.

    Any helpful hints, or do I just put up with the soil and having to continually clean the tiles? (I am not the world's most enthusiastic cleaner.)

    1. Just a suggestion; don't water them unless they actually need it! Feel the soil and unless it's bone dry they will cope (I'm assuming they aren't ferns). As for the deluges, possibly large pots that will take more water and deep saucers. You could try putting gravel in the saucer to raise the pot up off the bottom. It is possible to get something (vermiculite?) to absorb more water, which you can mix with the compost. Other than that, get a wind-out awning to keep the rain off! 🙂

      1. Thanks so much! I shall implement your suggestions as far as I can (I suspect asking for vermiculite might be a challenge – just feels like one of those words that can get you into trouble in a Romance language 🤣) up until the awning, which I couldn't afford. 🙂

        2. If you have chairs on your balcony, shelter plants under there if raining?…Whatever you do, don't sing to them unless you want them to grow out of their pots and likely out of your balcony……x

          1. Getting things exported isn’t a problem. Laying hands on them when they get here is a whole different kettle of worms. Customs tend to impound just about everything and demand your newborns to release them. Being childless, I see a snag… 🤣

    2. Good advice from Conway there! And porous terracotta pots are better and retain moisture more.

    3. Can you put the plants on a sort of 'spouted tray'? That way excess water would drain out over the side of your balcony. If gravel and what as others suggest were in there too, the tray wouldn't be able to hold too much water and you'd not have to clean all the while due to the natural overflow.

  92. Afternoon, all. Still dull and miserable here – and that's only me, never mind the weather!

    Apology? Those zealots know that, whatever the facts, they were right!

    1. The trans are proving it's all about their ego, not respecting others. As usual with the Left, they want, you have to adapt. That's why they have to be fought.

    2. It will be interesting if Canada ever gets to the stage of a trade agreement with the UK, since for the past few years, tranny rights and other woke causes have been front and centre of conditions the liberals put on deals.

  93. Just watching a film called 'The Bucket List' starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Thoroughly recommend.

    1. It is very good. I suggested to a chum that he write one for when he was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma.

      1. My nephew has been diagnosed with that. He's in chemo now. He's only in his 30's. He does seem to be responding well to the treatment.
        I make a point of visiting when he is in his better moments.
        I manage to make him laugh.
        He said he found it strange that all his hair fell out except for his eyebrows.

        I offered to shave them off for him. That got a laugh !

        1. Post-jab our elder son developed alopecia. The hair on his head fell out leaving large visible circles of skin so he shaved his head, he now looks moth-eaten because you can still see the dark regrowth pushing through his skin. He has also lost his beard growth, his eye-lashes and his left eyebrow. His right eyebrow remains so far, but I expect that will go. It has upset me more than it has upset him. (Younger son became dairy-intolerant post jab.)

          I hope your nephew is returned to good health. He is so fortunate to have you in his life, Phizzee.

          3. I've received yet another text inviting me to book my "Spring covid booster" – ignored as all the others have been.

          4. Snap. Texts and phone calls.
            Always the promise to make a note of refusal so I'm not bother …… oh, what's the point?

          5. I have had texts, letter and email but I don’t think I’ve had the phone call……..

      2. If you recall the saga a few weeks ago with my son driving from Cardiff to Winchester, and my wondering if he had a girlfriend there.

        He came back earlier this week and mentioned he did indeed have a girlfriend, who lives in Winchester. So that mystery is solved.

        He had told my parents, but asked them not to mention it. So they didn’t. My son assumed my parents would have told me; but of course, he asked them not to, so they didn’t.

        Anyway this is by-the-by. It turns out the lovely new girlfriend (about whom I know next to nothing but she can be only 20 at the most) has a condition called Phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare but potentially serious inherited disorder.

        “The main treatment for PKU is a low-protein diet and controlled intake of many other foods, such as potatoes and cereals.

        High protein foods should be completely avoided. These include:

        meat and fish
        eggs and cheese
        nuts and seeds
        flour-based foods, like bread, pasta, cakes and biscuits
        soya, quorn and tofu
        In addition, people with PKU must take an amino acid supplement to ensure they're getting all the nutrients required for normal growth and good health.”

        It sounds really serious and I feel really sorry for the lass.

    2. Is that the one where Nicholson utters the memorable line, "Never trust a fart"?

  94. Yes, that is true but poor old Ethelred will always be associated by the unread as unready.

    Edited to finish the sentence with a full stop, or period is some would say.

  95. Wordle No. 1,399 3/6

    ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 18 Apr 2025

    An elegy for Birdie Three?

    1. Not too happy with this result

      Wordle 1,399 5/6

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

    2. Well done! Disappointing bogey here…..

      Wordle 1,399 5/6

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

      1. #metoo.
        Wordle 1,399 5/6

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

    3. Been out all day but did Wordle at breakfast.

      Wordle 1,399 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. My third line was to position the letter ‘E’. Par only.

      Wordle 1,399 4/6

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

    5. Well done. Pub early doors was good. Don't remember how I did on Wordle. (is it just me?)

      Wordle 1,399 2/6

      ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Ah, now I remember, but I don't remember what the word was without looking. Anyone else forget what the word was earlier, not just today, but even a few minutes after. I believe (hope) that it's because there are so many possible words going through my head, that the answer just blends into a myriad of words.

      1. Know your rights. Know the law. Film them on your doorstep. Post their cringing because they know they are only following orders and in the end…judgement will come.

    3. Checked out the "The Muslim Council of Britain", but I can't write a "Happy Easter" message on it.

  97. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAR9u6zjtwg&list=WL&index=56 This splendid chap is very listenable to. If there is one thing (above everything else) that I miss about the UK it is a decent pub selling a top quality, well-kept, cask-conditioned, best bitter ale, on draught and served by hand-pump or gravity.

    No other beer type on the planet comes close.

    And Harvey's of Sussex (as Johnny Norfolk will tell you) is second-to-none. An utterly exquisite best bitter.

    1. Will they make up a pint of it with half pint of lemonade?

      Asking for a friend who is disappearing over the horizon…

    2. Totally agree on the pubs and the Harvey's.

      It may be that my taste has altered, but I used to like so many bitters that seem to have deteriorated.
      Harvey's has maintained its high standards.

    3. Just avoid the cities if possible. I'm not a bitter drinker (gives me awful wind), but the West Country ales, as far as my bitter drinking friends tell me, are still very good.

  98. Good afternoon all.
    Got back from Jodrell Bank 1½h ago after a pleasantly enjoyable day with Grad.Son.
    After picking up the Solar Panels I'd bought we went up the road and spent a couple of hours looking round the radio telescope before trundling over to Congleton for a pie, mash & gravy at a rather nice little cafe.

    I now need to confirm that the solar panels actually work, items bought at auction tend not to come with guarantees, then work out how to fit them to the van.
    That will then allow me to use my little fridge when I'm away camping.

    Weather's turned damp but we must have chased the rain across as the washing I'd hung out before leaving was only damp and not soaking.

    3. I can see Jodrell Bank from Beeston Castle. If the weather's clear, I can see Liverpool's Christ the King. Cromwell knocked the castle about a bit, but it's still an interesting place.

  99. That's me for this Good Friday. Potatoes planted (as usual). A bit of DIY involving wire (curses). The sun has gone in and it has turned rally cold – again.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – if I am spared.

  103. I think a lot of it is 'jumping on bandwagons' and 'fashion'. I suppose there have always been some men who preferred to dress as women, but in the last 20 years or so there has been an explosion of trans, and many of them are rapists, or criminals of other kinds.

    Many as well just want to break into women's sporting events and beat them because they have greater strength and other advantages.

    1. Sadly, some have gone down this path to exploit a weakness in society for personal gain. It can be difficult to conceive of any desired end for which I would wish to tackle the obstacles which lie in the way, but human history is littered with cases of all kinds where someone goes to extreme lengths to seek personal gain, to advance a cause or to satisfy a yearning for fame or notoriety.

      As for those convicted of sex crimes, they often rank at the bottom of the hierarchy of felons in male prisons, so I can understand why some would take the tricky path that leads to transfer to a female prison, if only to avoid the worst excesses of violence in our penal institutions. Are those who allow this to happen just gullible do-gooders? Are there examples of male-to-female transsexuals who drop all pretence of transitioning once released from jail?

      While I’m not wholly opposed to the idea of m-to-f transsexuals being housed in women’s prisons, I would never allow it if their male genitalia was still intact.

      1. I think the more ‘gentle misfit’ types are unlikely to end up in jail. Those who do are probably sex offenders anyway, like “Isla Bryson” – who deserves a male prison.

  104. Mr Blue Sky
    3h
    Striking on a bank holiday weekend shows the vindictive spitefulness of the unions.

      1. And don't forget the mealy-mouthed lies – "We have no intention of disrupting people's lives…they should blame the employers"

        1. That's on a par with "we should blame the electricity companies for the high price of electricity" – yeah, right. Nothing to do with green taxes, then.

  105. Just as David Lammy sees everything through the prism of slaves & slavery.. and so Ayatollah Charles Three has to ram in Islam some how.

    King Charles praises Islam and Judaism in surprising Easter message

  106. @terpsidancingonhelicon:disqus

    Visited today, the Church of Saint Nicholas, Studland, Dorset:

    The Church of Saint Nicholas is a Church of England parish church in Studland, Dorset. It was built in the early 12th century on the foundations of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building, and is a good example of a small, largely unaltered, Norman church.The church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of mariners. Little is known of the church's early history, but a study for the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society in 1999 concluded that most of the present structure had been built after 1125 and completed by 1140. Although there is no mention of a church at Studland in the Domesday Book of 1086, this is not unusual. The manor at the time of the survey was held by Robert, Count of Mortain (1031–1095), half-brother of William the Conqueror, who held more land than any other Norman baron. The landholding of Studland at the time when the church was probably built is uncertain, but a number of similarities have been identified between Studland church and Romsey Abbey, suggesting that the same master mason was employed at both.Some rebuilding work was undertaken in the 18th century. By 1880, large cracks had appeared in the walls and the church seemed to be in danger of collapsing; the walls were shored up with large timber baulks while the walls were being underpinned with concrete. The roof of the nave was reconstructed in 1930–31 and the tower roof in 1933.Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described the church as "one of the most complete Norman village churches in England"The Church of St Nicholas has a three cell plan, consisting of a nave, chancel and sanctuary with a squat central tower. A south porch was added in the 17th-century. The chancel and sanctuary have quadripartite vaulted rooves. Most of the windows are simple lancet arches dating from the 12th-century. A plain stone font is also from the 12th-century. The wooden pulpit, pews and west gallery are 19th-century.On the exterior north and south walls of the nave, the roof rests on tables of carved 12th-century corbels of various designs including floral and grotesque animal heads. Other carvings depict sexual imagery; a copulating couple, a phallic man and a sheela na gig, some of which have been defaced by iconoclasts; they are believed to have been intended as a warning against immoral behaviour.     https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e880eaeebc6b1aa606ab2612c3ce25916eb212dac2189d254128ec847ea4295e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6b88a7ada839e603c704a13fcfd67f3209a228dcd314917d0310659ca8667a8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/030780a9d51fb50185e70792381db5f56135531afc4b5d480bf27cf209f9ada7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/df55a987b5a187c2ff3b59bb419c07be4dd1929f1cfb1d9ba1f82ed629071622.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7060d6a08c4213044729c9c3134dda9ed99c11b209b38b32e7345d27ca813196.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3cd12ccfaa90e32de52692b6342092a80467444f1241dbc8c4a6ffb1553e76c7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ae566e867612487530f05a0feca52450a9e4ceb44075c255e4c537dc8dbac9ec.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/390327712ea5abe1109921295690c5af949a9633bab3f47eb1e3fb401c40f18b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/662747fe2f9c0435c9a3f3f6d5d94a8641edf822d6abb1f7deae4d2b902bc5b8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/90ffa7a9dba0754a00cb61e04242799e1c2684831c54a892af8ed8c2e7f42c27.jpg

  107. Keir Stramer welcomed Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who has said Britain owes her country £3.9 trillion, to Downing Street |

    I think they should pay us reparation . Why, for releasing them from the hellhole that corrupt lawless squabbling , fighting cruel Africa represents .

    2. And how much aid have they pocketed over all the years since we actually stopped the slave trade, at immense cost to Great Britain??

  108. Yet another delivery from she who won't be named. Two lovely iced muffins.

    As i was eating one and wondering about my insulin levels i read the label and where they were from.

    Turns out they are from the Barking Bakery.

    I did wonder why i was getting the death stare from Dolly. :@(

    1. We are at least getting out there. Eventually it'll be more than low earth orbit. Hopefully sooner we'll get further out, to the moon. Then to other planets. I doubt i'll see it in my lifetime. We've been held back hundreds of years by the state, instead of a jet pack and flying cars we have statism and higher than ever taxes.

      1. Until we find a way to travel faster than the speed of light we ain't goin' nowhere useful

  111. This is an interesting one..
    rumours suggest the attacks are warnings to French state to lay off.

    Seven prisons have been targeted, in Toulon, Aix-En-Provence, Marseille, Valence and Nîmes in southern France, and in Villepinte and Nanterre, near Paris.
    Darmanin suggested the attacks which began on Sunday were a response to the government's crackdown on drug trafficking. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has launched an investigation.

    Gangs have totally infiltrated French prison & police system.
    "We've Lost Control!" – (Says FRENCH 🇫🇷 Police Chief..

        2. Hmm. Somewhat niche application, Sue.

          Unless you like ice cream with the consistency of mildly chewy gum.

    2. I do have about 15 or, so small herb/spice bottles that have never been used.
      Let me go and quickly look and I'll give an example.

      Black onion seeds and Fenugreek are the furthest back at first glance.

      2. I once used "Five Spice" after a very funny skit on it by Malcolm McKintyre. Goodness me, it was disgusting. Ruined the meal.

    1. Well, yes, it is, but do you want to tell the Warqueen that? She's on her third Lindt bunny. And she's a Catholic (sort of).

      However, it is also a time for chocolate as it represents the first harvest of the year, thus celebrating food after the fast of Winter. It depends if you're a pagan or not (and I am, as it's vastly more interesting than the tribal survival guide, version 2,237,478.

  115. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f8d9be4d21521027455ccd92e9b8cf1cd4d7349a95114821a961289f98e97f2.jpg The Siberian Unicorn: A Gigantic Behemoth from Our History

    The Siberian unicorn, known scientifically as Elasmotherium sibiricum, was not just a mythical being but a colossal creature similar to a rhinoceros that roamed the frigid landscapes of Eastern Europe and western Asia until around 40,000 years ago.

    Boasting a magnificent, solitary horn, it's easy to see how this remarkable prehistoric animal may have inspired some of the earliest unicorn legends in human culture. These extraordinary creatures coexisted with Neanderthals and early modern humans, their imposing presence a vivid reminder of the rich array of life that once flourished on Earth.

    Imagine early hunters or explorers encountering the Siberian unicorn, its formidable shape standing out against the icy expanse under a boundless, wild sky. Such sightings could have ignited the first stories told around campfires—tales of magnificent, otherworldly beings that have been handed down through the ages, eventually transforming into the mythical unicorns we know today. Whether these ancient narratives were based on actual experiences or born from imagination, the Siberian unicorn acts as a fascinating link between myth and reality, highlighting how the natural world has always fueled human inspiration and creativity.

    1. Unfortunately for the The Siberian unicorn it tasted good to Neanderthals and early Homo Sapiens, the rest as they say is history.

      1. Looks remarkably like a rhino. I wonder if it just migrated south and lost the hair?

    1. My niece put down a really good guide to using whatsapp. My mother still doesn't understand it – although that's because she likes ignoring when people ring her, then complains that no one rings her.

  118. Lots physical work, sunshine, lovely dinner, couple of glasses of wine and one of rum, now I feel all of my nearly 64 years, and so to bed.
    Gnight, all Y'all. See you tomorrow.

  119. From the Babylon Bee:

    “LONDON — Prosecutors were stopped in their tracks this week and left with no recourse to pursue the case any further, after a suspect in a recent stabbing incident in the United Kingdom pleaded Muslim.

    Sources close to the case said authorities had been confident that the alleged perpetrator would be quickly convicted and sentenced for the violent crime, but were dismayed upon hearing that the suspect's legal counsel would be entering a "Muslim" plea.

    "I'm afraid there's little that can be done at this point," said lead Crown Prosecutor Aleister Burlington. "We thought we had all the evidence needed to convict the suspect, but pleading ‘Muslim' is an airtight defense. Had we realized he was a Muslim, we would have never brought the charges in the first place. We were under the impression that this was a horribly violent stabbing and weren't aware that it was a traditional, ceremonial Islamic stabbing."

    The suspect's barrister emphasized the importance of entering the plea. "There's simply no way my client can be charged with a crime," said Ellington Bedfordshire. "At the time he committed the stabbing, he was a practicing Muslim, thereby absolving him of any guilt in the incident. His inherent Muslimness weighed heavily into his decision to go stabbing in the first place. By entering our plea of ‘Muslim,' it is our hope that this case will be thrown out altogether, as it should. Muslim."

    At publishing time, the UK court had apologized to the suspect and instead brought charges against the stabbing victim for getting in the way of the attacker's knife.”

    1. It’s hard to know what is satire and what isn’t. From the Daily Sceptic:

      “The founder of Mumsnet, Justine Roberts, has revealed she was blacklisted by Barclays and Ocado and branded a “bigot” for standing up for women’s rights to access single-sex spaces, as she welcomes the Supreme Court’s trans ruling.”

        3. Ah, you should have been posting on Gransnet….. a generation makes all the difference.

        4. I realise that birthing people dont have to be female, but I didnt have you on the list Bob!

    3. The Bee is usually hilariously funny, but this is simply true. The Left are repellant.

        1. Indeed.
          But the problem wasn't the Kafka's it was those who took advantage and weren't eliminated immediately they did so.

  121. Also from the Daily Sceptic, also not satire:

    “French philosopher Renaud Camus, who is opposed to mass immigration, has been banned from entering Britain after the Home Office told him his presence would go against “the public good”. ”

    2. We've got about 2000 people a week entering the UK whose presence is definitely against "the public good". Why don't they ban them?

    1. The one she invites into the house once a week and is never seen again by the herd makes a tasty meal.

    2. The one who's guzzling all the treats reminds me of Winston. He's always first to get anything if he can.

  125. Been busy again today, finished the fence and painting the decking. 46 quid for another 2.5 litre can of decking paint. But all done now.
    Off to bed before I fall asleep watching an American a mini drama series about early settlers. 1883.
    Good night all. 😴

  127. Smells of sweat. Apparently its great for those not allowed near allium-based food.

    1. MOH was allium intolerant – and intolerant of a lot of other things, I have to say, but not all of them culinary related 🙂

    1. So funny! I was telling my NZ friend about it, and he said it was a genuine advert, shown on the telly (albeit a pisstake).

    1. They won't stop there, Wibs. And just wait and see what perversions are made compulsory.

      1. We used to joke, when homosexuality was legalised, that soon it would become compulsory. We're not joking now!

    2. I take it that was a rhetorical question because we all know the answer is, of course not.

    3. BTL – Let's face it, the whole idea of duty, honour, service, sacrifice is totally alien to Starmer, Rayner and Co.

  130. In Wolverhampton tonight preparing for our assault of Kinder Scout tomorrow. Will be leaving early.

  133. It’s the week in which we saw Peak Miliband. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero providing the world with a perfect visualisation of the word “hubris”.

    Taking to X, he reflected on the emergency law passed enabling the UK Government to control British Steel: “Very proud to be in the House today to see my colleagues standing up for British steelworkers and industry. This Government is delivering the muscular industrial policy this country needs in uncertain times.”

    So wrote the man who stood in front of a field of wind turbines strumming a guitar and singing, “the answer my friends is blowing in the wind”, who described Conservatives as wanting to “gamble in the fossil fuel casino” and who danced on the grave of a Nottinghamshire coal power station as it was reborn as a fusion plant. And who, this week, joined Government colleagues in welcoming the arrival of 55,000 tonnes of Japanese coking coal at the Port of Immingham and ushering it, at speed, on its 25-mile journey to the steelworks at Scunthorpe, lest the furnaces go out and bring to an end 50 years of British steel-making.

    Miliband is the man who, driven by a delusion that he can, in his words “make the UK a clean energy superpower”, wants to cover the country in solar panels (constructed and shipped from China) and put a heat pump (at unaffordable initial cost) in every school, except for private ones, which is fine because he and his colleagues are doing their best to shut them down.

    There’s also his zeal for electric cars and what he calls “our world-leading EV transition plan”. All that is holding that back, he argues, is the charging sector, which is failing to deliver the charging points at the same feverish pace that he traverses the nation pontificating his eco-mission.

    But, a true zealot, he is so blinded by his own vision that he can’t see the crevasses opening up in the road. This week, The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association wrote to the Government’s Transport select committee to complain that it is having to shoulder massive losses due to falling values of EV cars. The trade body, supposedly at the forefront of EV growth, pointed out that demand for electric cars is “struggling to keep pace” with the volume entering the second-hand market and if values aren’t stable, “the future of the entire transition to electric vehicles is at risk.”

    This catastrophic prophecy seems in line with the outlook of people like me, who like the idea of an electric car but are neither mad nor rich enough to buy one. I’m lucky that there is space at the front of our house to park and charge such a car. But the up-front cost and knowledge that a fully electric car won’t get me to where I want to go, especially if I do something crazy like put the heating on or turn on the radio, means I’ll be speaking fluent Mandarin before I actually buy one.

    The deadline, in only five years, of 2030 for a ban on sales of new diesel or petrol cars is a fantasy the Government is bound to roll back on.

    But not if Miliband is still Secretary of State, buzzing around London in his own silent EV as the rest of us start buying tractors on the cheap from the family farms Labour have put out of business with their death tax.

    And his net zero by 2050 target represents an assault on personal freedom. No flying to Corfu in the summer, no milk on the kids’ cereal, no Sunday joints, or Friday night steaks and barbecue meat fests, and, preferably, no living in nice old draughty houses in the countryside.

    I do, however, get some brownie points having inherited some rooftop solar panels from the previous owner. But energy supplier Ovo is considerably more efficient and forceful at chasing me for late payments than it is in responding to my requests that they send me some pocket money for the feed-in tariff.

    As for the heating and hot water, even if I could afford the £20,000 or so upfront cost for a ground-source heat pump to replace the oil boiler, I wouldn’t risk it. Mrs Sitwell’s irritation at not getting a hot bath at night would make Armageddon look like a tea party.

    Deluded by ideology, averse to reality, Miliband’s inadvertent commitment to making our nation chilly and impoverished makes him a man of clear and present danger. Unfortunately, Sir Keir Starmer will never be rid of him because a leader needs to be surrounded by loathsome toads to take heat off their own miserable inadequacy.

    A Ramage
    15 min ago
    Zealots should not be made government ministers. They single mindedly pursue their own agenda regardless of voters' wishes or the interests of the nation. Milliband is one such.

    Comment by Margo Bartlett.

    MB

    Margo Bartlett
    16 min ago
    Somehow he’s got to go, or it’s lights out. Us sane lot have to keep calling out the climate hysteria.

    Comment by Carole Henton.

    CH

    Carole Henton
    16 min ago
    How much time does Miliband spend in this country.?

    He looks like a globe trotter to me.

    Lucky that he can escape when it all goes wrong.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/18/ed-miliband-britain-most-dangerous-man/

    2. They are still pushing the myth that Milliband believes in saving the planet. He's a marxist, from a family of marxists. The goal of marxists is always the concentration of power in the hands of a small elite and the enslavement of the rest of the population.

  134. Night-night, everyone. My thanks to Geoff for re-instating me – my apologies, I couldn't reply to your message because by the time I saw it the page had closed for replies. Thank you!😊

  136. Well, chums, I am off to bed now. So I wish you all Good Night; sleep well and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

  137. Goodnight, all. The hot water bottles are warming the bed, time for me to send the dogs out for their bedtime wee and then retire.

    1. Were there irreplacable wartime planes in there? Obviously arson unless somebody was extremely careless.

Comments are closed.