Friday 19 September: Donald Trump’s state visit was a triumph – for Britain’s monarchy

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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505 thoughts on “Friday 19 September: Donald Trump’s state visit was a triumph – for Britain’s monarchy”

  1. Morning all, including Geoff. A bogey for today's Wordle. PS – Wow, I think I'm first today. Thanks for the super early page today, Geoff.

    Wordle 1,553 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,553 4/6

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      1. Well you may have arrived a good 7 minutes after me, BB2, but that was an excellent result. (Good morning, btw.)

  2. Good morning all.
    A warm 17°C on the thermometer, currently not raining but overcast.
    Not the best nights sleep I've ever had, felt like I was tossing & turning for hours, then woken by the DT's elbows forcing me onto a 10" strip of the bed!

  8. We're done for…

    ‘Britain can’t deport me’: Calais migrants vow to keep crossing Channel

    Asylum seekers scoff at Shabana Mahmood’s chances of removing them under the UK’s ‘one in, one out’ deal with France

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/19/britain-cant-deport-calais-migrants-keep-crossing-channel

    Fewer than one in three Universal Credit claimants looking for a job

    Critics accuse Sir Keir Starmer of creating ‘perfect storm’ of joblessness and urge him to reform welfare system

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/19/fewer-one-in-three-universal-credit-claimants-looking

    1. 14 hours ago
      Labour want these people here. Starmer, Hermer, Lammy and co have spent all of their careers in and out of politics enabling this influx of people many from cultures at odds with our own values

      14 hours ago
      I found Starmers fawning display creepy, trying to hang on to Trumps coat tails, how can 12,000 arrests be free speech ? Usual Starmer rubbish

      14 hours ago
      How much of our money parasitic human rights lawyers get.
      https://talk.hyvor.com/media/website/14037/eVBTFBJLmxwXMbQjoCjPWjOHGMOOUaPbkrKrXbyr.jpg

    2. Graduate son had yet another job application rejected t'other day and yet again with no feedback on why.

          1. Surprises me that he's finding it difficult to get any attention.
            Can he maybe work as a Consultant?

        1. Computing job.
          But he's also applied for jobs in an assortment of supermarkets only for the recruitment process to have been outsourced to some company that specialised in psychobabble.

      3. They never give feedback these days. Very rude, especially as is pointed out above, there are more and more HR staff!

    1. 413053+up ticks,

      Morning C1,

      Tool & crew really should blast off to oblivion, while the going's good.

      1. Of course not. They've effed up at every turn because of their own sense of self importance and love of inventing 'rules' that only they deem relevant.

      2. The HR types I have met are either weird blokes or the best looking young women in the organisation. The latter have brightened up the office, at least.

    3. In banking & finance it is the Compliance bit of Human Resources that takes up most desk space.

      1. In the UK, there is money to be made and empires to be built in various enforcement jobs – HR, H and S etc. I worked on gas and oil terminals and the difference between one site and another was marked, according to the moods of the safety people.
        In our head office, in Aberdeen, one woman administrator, wages, timesheets expenses etc had managed to work her way into a position where she would regularly order some of the junior staff about including one young trainee who was sent to work with me from our Teesside office. She called me one day, indignant that he had not reported in to her daily. I suggested that as he was working for my direct boss, she should butt out. We did not get on!

  14. 413053+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Since"miranda" lifted the Countries entry latch we, the peoples, via his/her unleashed foreign paedophiles have neglected the Childens welfare Countrywide, BIG TIME, even to the extent of colluding
    with it through council / police in eyes tight shut mode.

    .Kids of the past to our shame are now surfacing as mentally damaged adults.

    So could we not try and redeem our national shame that must be surely felt, through the animal kingdom and end HALAL.

    https://x.com/blaiklockBP/status/1968687407944896547

    1. 513053+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      What will delight many although not lab/lib/con supporters, is the fact that the allah chap & followers won't like it.

    4. "Perfect with a 'side' of 'fries'?"

      It seems that vapid Americanese [aka pidgin 'English'] has now reached New Zealand too.

    5. She did a good interview with Nick Buckley earlier this week. I think i posted it.

  16. Good Morning!

    This month the US military has killed fourteen people by hitting their boats with missiles in international waters off Venezuela breaking all the laws of the sea. In Pirates Of The Caribbean, The US Goes Rogue we look at those laws and the implications of the US acting like the Houthis in the Red Sea. Please let us know if you think the Trump administration is justified in carrying out many see as murder on the high seas.

    In Has The Fuse Been Lit? J B Shurk looks at former Department of War Studies head Michael Rainsborough's writings on UK's descent to civil war. Rainsborough was dismissed from his post for “thought crimes” after illustrating “the hollowing out of British democratic institutions” and the dangerous rule of an elitist, permanent and authoritarian governing class. Shurk says that the situation is similar in all western countries, but offers a glimmer of hope – in a Nepal moment.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 32.2 GW, sourced from Gas, 16.8%; Solar, 4.3%: Wind 52.4%; Imports, 10.1%; Biomass, 5.2%; Nuclear 7.8% and Miscellaneous, 3.4%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    2. Don't drink too much early in the day – all that booze before lunch makes the rest of the day unproductive… ;-))
      Morning, Bill.

    1. I always like to remind progressives that..
      Susie Green former chief executive officer of Mermaids took her son to Thailand to undergo SRS castration as a sixteenth birthday present.

      1. Indeed. There is nothing wrong with being gay.

        I listened to the Brendan O’Neill’s recent interview with Graham Linehan on my way home this morning. He is very uncomplimentary of Plod (as he should be).

        …“But again, this is the fault of people like Alistair Campbell and media talking heads and the Newsagents [Goodhall, Maitliss, Sopel] and all this sort of stuff, because for years, they've been either ignoring this issue, saying the party line, which is that this is a group of vulnerable people, or actively participating in calling people on the conservatives and people on the right as fascists and Nazis and bigots, you know?

        And also, something that if you're involved in this discourse, you know very well, phrases like trans holocaust, you know? Phrases like armed trans people. This has always been a sort of pseudo-military movement.

        And the hilarious thing is these violent men can pick up guns and then claim that women are being armed. You know? So it's like, it's, it's, people just have to wake up.

        And I think the great thing about Charlie, you know, the only good thing about what happened to Charlie Kirk is it just woke people. I think it's woken America up, you know, to come just after my arrest, especially, you know, like not to say it had anything near the same kind of significance. But the two things together are really making people think, hang on a sec, these people are a problem.”

        From The Brendan O'Neill Show: Graham Linehan: I won’t be silenced, 18 Sep 2025
        https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/id1436524071?i=1000727397941&r=2049
        This material may be protected by copyright.

  19. Miriam Cates
    Why is the Assisted Dying Bill being rushed through the Lords?
    19 September 2025, 5:53am

    One may hardly be surprised that the battle over life and death in Parliament, focused on Kim Leadbeater’s controversial assisted suicide Bill, has featured Machiavellian manoeuvres inside Westminster’s halls.

    As the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister, the cabinet reshuffle, and Nigel Farage’s conference speech dominated the headlines earlier this month, a quiet but significant announcement was slipped out by the government. At 2 pm on 5 September, peers were informed by email that extra time would be given for the assisted suicide Bill’s Second Reading debate in the House of Lords. On the surface, this might look like a practical tidying-up exercise. In reality, it represents a disturbing breach of the government’s own neutrality pledge on one of the most contentious conscience issues of our age.

    The Bill, introduced as a Private Members’ Bill, had already attracted unprecedented interest: at one point, over 200 peers requested to speak in the debate. In recognition of this, the government belatedly conceded that a second day was necessary. But the way they handled this decision has raised deep concerns, not least because it sets a dangerous precedent.

    Instead of allocating the second day of debate for 24 October – the next agreed sitting Friday – the government took the extraordinary step of changing the parliamentary recess dates, delaying the start of the peers’ break from Thursday 18 September to Friday 19 September to accommodate an extra day for Leadbeater’s Bill. Shuffling recess dates around in this way has typically been reserved for true national emergencies, such as wars, or the sudden collapse of critical industries like British Steel. That such a drastic step has been taken for a mere Private Members’ Bill – irrespective of the subject matter – is rather alarming.

    Keir Starmer’s government insists it is neutral on the Bill but its actions are neutrality in name only. In bending parliamentary timetables, the government is, in practice, affording the Bill a privileged status it does not deserve. This is particularly troubling because we are dealing not with routine legislation, but a proposal that would alter the moral and legal fabric of our nation, allowing the deliberate ending of adult human life by the state.

    Even more concerning are the implications of this timetable change for the peers who sought to participate in the debate. Many who had hoped to contribute to the Second Reading debate might have assumed that if a second day were to be granted, it would be held on 24 October, previously scheduled as the next Friday reserved for Private Members’ Bills in the Lords. Instead, with just two weeks’ notice, they have been asked to cancel longstanding commitments in order to attend today. To make matters worse, peers must attend both days if they wish to speak at all. This does not facilitate wider participation; it actively restricts it. In effect, the government’s decision will silence voices that had every right to be heard.

    If the government can rewrite parliamentary conventions and timetables for a Private Members’ Bill on assisted suicide, what is to stop it from doing the same in future for later stages of this Bill or for other controversial proposals?

    Some may claim these interventions merely serve efficiency, ensuring a full debate is held without delay. But efficiency cannot come at the cost of fairness, neutrality, respect for conscience, or longstanding convention. The whole point of granting a free vote to assisted suicide is to ensure the government treats the issue with scrupulous impartiality. This requires No. 10 to stand back, not to interfere in scheduling in ways inconsistent with normal procedure.

    Parliamentary conventions exist for a reason. They protect the integrity of our democracy, ensuring that no government, of whatever party, can tilt the playing field to favour a particular outcome. When those conventions are set aside so lightly, especially on matters of life and death, we should be deeply concerned.

    The assisted suicide Bill is not just another item of business. It touches on the most profound questions of human dignity, suffering, and the role of the state. Whether one supports or opposes it, surely we can agree that it must be considered under conditions of the utmost fairness and neutrality. In acting as it has, the government risks undermining those principles. The casualties will not only include convention and proper scrutiny; this is a matter of life and death.

    1. I agree completely, but take issue with part of one paragraph:

      Keir Starmer’s government insists it is neutral on the Bill but its actions are neutrality in name only. In bending parliamentary timetables, the government is, in practice, affording the Bill a privileged status it does not deserve. This is particularly troubling because we are dealing not with routine legislation, but a proposal that would alter the moral and legal fabric of our nation, allowing the deliberate ending of adult human life by the state.

      A private member's Bill it may be, but its importance cannot be understated.
      I believe this Bill, if passed, will have an enormous impact. And I also believe that many individuals will eventually be pressurised into early death by their families and/or the State (NHS).

      If anything, a third day, on the usual Friday should be allocated and Peers should not be required to attend all sittings if they wish to speak.

    2. It's reintroducing the death penalty, only this time the crime is getting old or ill while the red carpet is rolled out for rapists and murderers.

  20. 413053+ up ticks,

    "Lest we forget "
    And once again take the route of least resistance without thought.

    🇺🇸 OldFrenchy 🇺🇸
    @OldFrenchy

    ·
    Nov 25, 2022

    Replying to

    @gjb2021

    You have been dead-on, right over target for years. It has BAFFLED me that even a large minority of British citizens were willing to allow the usurping of their national control by the EU.
    It was a beguilement started back in the early Seventies when joining the Common Market. Just look how that morphed into the beaucratic fascist state that it is today.
    You were the Paul Revere of your time (if I may use the Revolutionary comparison). How can one not see a global conspiracy for control at work here?
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GBM0zl…
    UKIP Leader Gerard Batten speech in EU parliament
    UKIP Leader Gerard Batten speech in EU parliament

    UKIP Leader Gerard Batten urges all UK MEPs to reject Eurojust enhanced powers "The evolving EU system of criminal law may not be alien to some member states…

    http://m.youtube.com

  21. The regrettable necessity of more armed police.

    SIR – Robert Ross (Letters, September 17) argues against arming more police, saying it would change the relationship between officers and the public, incur major costs and risk the complacent or incompetent use of firearms.

    I was an armed officer for more than 11 years with an overseas British police force. Since returning to this country 30 years ago, I have seen our society become more violent. Operational officers remain unarmed and insufficiently protected – along with, by extension, the public they serve.

    Extended batons, proposed by Mr Ross, would not offer a proportionate and effective answer to knife crime – and would certainly do little to protect an officer faced suddenly with a firearm threat. A confrontation with someone wielding a knife, sword, iron bar or axe will rarely involve an officer neatly ducking a clumsy swipe and incapacitating the offender with a single blow. No, it can get ugly, and the nearer you have to get to an armed attacker in order to subdue them, the more dangerous it becomes. Tasers are useful but have their limitations.

    As for changing the relationship with the public, my experience is that people tend to be reassured by the knowledge that those acting to ensure their safety are equipped to do so. You cannot avoid entirely the risk of error, or even of police weapons falling into the wrong hands, but vetting, good management and thorough training reduce this risk significantly.

    The force in which I served was equivalent in size to the Metropolitan Police (“Give guns to all front-line officers, says secret Met report”, report, September 15). All officers were armed, and the misuse or loss of firearms was extremely rare.

    David Platts
    Newark, Nottinghamshire

    An excellent synopsis, David, of which I fully support. The only problem, in this idiotic day and age, is when it comes to vetting of potential firearms carriers. The vetting system for general police recruitment has fallen into disuse of the past three decades. That needs to be addressed first before the selection of suitably mature and intelligent firearms-qualified officers is considered.

    1. Sadly, the Norwegian police, hitherto only armed on occasion, have now been issued with firearms on a general basis.
      A reflection on society, I fear – the increase in need for armed protection seems to match the increase in numbers of uncivilised immigrants. I wonder if the two are related?

        1. Even before general arming of the Norwegian police, there were regular newspaper reports of one of them shooting a hole in their patrol car!
          As a civilian shooter, the safety rules are VERY strict – you only take out your weapon (oo-er missus!) at the firing line when just about to shoot, and that's where you load it. You MAY NOT take out the firearm anywhere else except the fumble zone (a shooting point with no target, where one can inspect & service one's unloaded weapon). Negligent discharge gets you thrown off the range. So, to shoot your car, you must withdraw the gun from it's holster and mess with it, making sure you pull the trigger as well… modern weapons are now so safe, they don't just "go off".
          It's lousy training and really poor management follow-up that allows idiocy like this to continue.

  22. The Fed then Canadian.. in fact all the central banks are cutting interest rates.. bar one.

    All Reeves could say in response was that she recognised people were still struggling and promised to keep costs down.

    1. It's too late. I suggest various politicians (Khan, Starmer, Reeves for starters) spend 24 hours (day and night) living in in some of the hell hole conditions in parts of the UK. Then say (and do) something meaningful.

    2. 😂

      When you read in Guido all the money they are spaffing on themselves and foreign travel

  23. The Trump visit has been a breath of fresh air for this country, like when you open a window on a sunny spring morning and let out all the stale air.
    Just contrast what Trump says as opposed to Starmer.
    Trump has a clear message, Starmers is obfuscatory.
    Trump is positive, Starmer is negative,
    Trump encourages freedom of speech, Starmer, like a weasel, says free speech has consequences.
    Trump stands up for the silent majority, Starmer menaces them into dumbness.
    Trump says defend your borders, Starmer says we'll do what the ECHR tells us to do.
    The difference at the end of the day is the USA having a leader that is not under the control of globalist institutions and agendas with one that is.

    4. Can you imagine Trump giving American territory away to a potentially hostile power which is in the pockets of China and paying through the nose with taxpayers' money to do so?

      I know I look somewhat absurd in this cap which was given to me last month when I visited the village in Cornwall in which I grew up but can you imagine Starmer wearing a Make Britain Great Again cap?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/489188d727bf2b16abf6517307a31b1f6c2f8d9b8f39f6f8ead645c7c285a6c0.jpg

    5. The letter in the Terriblegraph from Edward Thomas if Eastbourne.

      “sir – i go back a fair way with state visits…..i enjoyed them all until the present visit which has sickened me”

      1. Don’t knock it. A fat, blue-haired, vacuum-headed, gormless, useless tenant’s money is as good as anyone else’s. In this case, it’s worth twice as much!

  25. SIR – Faced with a glut of green tomatoes (Letters, September 18) late last year, I discovered a recipe for green tomato marmalade. As we’d almost finished our normal orange batch, I took the plunge, simply swapping the oranges for tomatoes and adding a lemon to provide acidity.

    The result was delicious – much better than boring old chutney.

    Ron Giddens
    Caterham, Surrey

    Like you, Ronnie, I have never seen the point of chutney. I have been give jars of the damn stuff by various people over the decades and, after first sampling, they have been shoved to the back of the pantry where they remain until covered in blue mould and then chucked away. As for your 'green tomato marmalade', I'll leave that one with you.

    Chutney's awfulness matches its pointlessness. People searching for ways of trying to make inedible vegetation palatable … and serially failing.

    I await someone trying to tell me that their chutney will enliven some other inedible crap — like turkey — and that I must try it.

    Sorry to disappoint them. It will not happen.

    1. So he'll be on the next boat back, then?
      We should have sent him to India and got a software developer in exchange!!

  29. What is this right to stay nonsense ?

    If we went to Australia , we wouldn't have a right to stay , if we went to America or anywhere else , we would not have the right to stay and work or be looked after an given free medical treatment etc , would we?

    2. Well with time, depending. I've lived in Spain for fifty years and acquired certain rights including free medical treatment (which admittedly I paid for over the years). Lots of places recognise foreigners rights '

  30. I hate all those cretins who believe in 'hate crime'. I just hate them.

    [Just as much as I hate chutney.]

        1. Turkey is bland and tasteless – baked spuds make me gag and I can't eat chutney. Apart from that they're fine. I just don't want to eat them.

        2. But since my stroke, I have almost no taste (many would say that should read "Since my birth…"), and the crunch, acidity and sweetness are great.

    2. I don't suppose you have ever eaten chutney , be honest ?

      I dislike beetroot in vinegar , but love plain beetroot in a sandwich .

      I would rather use a squirt of lemon juice on chips and fish , not a fan of vinegar.

      1. Rubbish, Margaret.

        If you'd read my comment (below) you would not need to speculate on what I have and have not eaten. Beetroot in vinegar on a bacon sandwich is wonderful.

        2. That sounds good, Grizzly, I think I'll have to buy a jar of beetroot in vinegar on my next visit to Aldi.

    2. The banquets are a Royal cost.
      They are a necessary tool of diplomacy.
      Even communist countries throw state banquets.

  34. 413053+ up ticks,

    I would deem it more advisable to lean towards being the fifty first USA state,than being in a horrendous state linked to the eu.

    Dt,
    Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
    Trump’s big, beautiful tech pact is a watershed moment for Brexit Britain

  35. Lord Hermer gave free advice to charity helping migrants fight deportation
    Attorney General worked for group that is doing its utmost to prevent Channel refugees being sent back overseas
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/19/lord-hermer-free-advice-charity-migrants-fight-deportation/

    BTL

    The Attorney General provided free legal advice to a charity that helps migrants to fight deportation from Britain.

    Has Starmer the guts to sack Hermer and then scrap the calamitous Chagos Islands betrayal which was mainly instigated by Hermer and his legal friends? Hermer clearly despises the UK and has always done his utmost to go against what is best for our country.

    I had hoped that Trump would manage to intervene to stop it before the deal is finally enacted next week.

      5. A bit more difficult here in the US, as our Christians tend to be of the "Onward Christian Soldiers" mindset – and armed to the teeth.

  36. From today's Jack Kessler.

    Islington, North London (Jack Kessler)I’m not sure it would have occurred to me to invent agriculture. Particularly when life as a hunter-gatherer wasn’t so bad. You could enjoy a varied diet, low rates of chronic disease and a fairly flexible schedule. It was not for nothing that the cultural anthropologist Marshall Sahlins famously described hunter-gatherers as “the original affluent society”, noting they only worked three to five hours per day to meet their subsistence needs, which allowed them to devote more time to leisure.Compare that to the life of a typical human in early agricultural societies: poor nutrition, risk of starvation if a single crop failed and overcrowding that enabled the spread of parasites and infectious disease. Little wonder that the author Jared Diamond described the decision to switch to farming as “the worst mistake in human history.”

    Take one example. When the anthropologist George Armelagos examined nearly 600 skeletons from Dickson Mounds, a Native American settlement site and burial mound in Illinois, he found that after intensive maize cultivation was adopted around A.D. 1200, cases of iron-deficiency anaemia jumped from 16% to 64%, while average life expectancy fell from 26 years to 19 years.

    Yet the shift to agriculture — after 200,000 years of hunting and gathering — may have been less a conscious choice than a kind of gradual entrapment — driven by climatic shifts, growing populations and the allure of surplus food. That this revolution occurred independently across multiple societies around the world suggests that farming conferred a compelling advantage. It enabled cities to flourish and civilisations to rise. To that end, the global population exploded, from around five million 10,000 years ago to more than 8 billion today. Farming could simply support so many more people than hunting — the catch was that it came with a poorer quality of life.

    It was a boon for homo sapiens, less so for individual humans.

    2. I look to those isolated tribes which have remained hunter gatherers and know that, had the rest of humanity retained that form of lifestyle, I would never have existed, nor would any of my ancestors of many centuries. More than this, the pinnacles of human achievement simply wouldn't have happened.

  37. 'Bully' and 'nuisance' Lennon disowned by school, claims teacher.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ecbd808f20c836fa3ab93e669f0fd6d85c4b9bb34ab5081190e057934b26206.png
    JOHN LENNON was a bully and a “nuisance” at his school, a teacher has claimed. The Beatles star was said to have been such a troublesome student that staff at Quarry Bank School in Liverpool wanted to forget that he had ever attended.

    Tom Barry, a design and technology teacher at what is now The Calderstones School, has revealed that Lennon’s five years at the school were previously “never spoken about”, even during Beatlemania. He said: “When John left, he was that much of a nuisance and a bully and that much of a poor student the school staff didn’t want to acknowledge that he ever went to the school and removed any trace of him.

    “He was never spoken about, he was never acknowledged through Beatlemania. Apparently, fans would come to the school gates and just be sent away because the school didn’t want any connection to him.” The teacher added: “They didn’t want to idolise him and for students to think you can prat about and be a bit of a bully and still be successful.”

    Lennon attended the school from 1952 to 1957 and formed the Quarrymen, the forerunners of the Beatles, while a pupil there. Lennon’s record and antics in school have been well-documented, including detention sheets that revealed his “extremely cheeky” side when they came up for auction in 2013. Reasons for punishment given by his teachers on the recovered sheets from Quarry Bank School when Lennon was 15, include ‘‘sabotage’’, ‘‘fighting in class’’, ‘‘nuisance’’, ‘‘shoving’’ and ‘‘just no interest whatsoever’’. The Beatle even managed to receive three detentions in one day on two occasions in 1955 and 1956.

    It comes as Lennon’s old desk was discovered in the attic of the school, where teachers were said to have stored it in an effort to remove any memory of him from academic life. The desk, which is an old-fashioned lift-up, will be featured in a display at the Liverpool Beatles Museum along with other items from the band members’ schooldays, including Lennon’s enrolment ledger signed by his aunt.

    The items, along with old school signs and uniforms from when Lennon went there, will go on display at the Liverpool Beatles Museum. Despite years of refusing to acknowledge the school’s link to pop history through Lennon’s rise to stardom, the school is now starting to offer tours of its site for Beatles’ fans.

    I wonder what comments our good friend, Spikey, has to add to this report.

    1. That actually doesn't surprise me given his obnoxious behaviour to the rest of the Beatles when he got involved with Yoko Ono.

    2. Talented people can often be thoroughly unpleasant.

      I put down my own lack of talent to the fact that I am such an agreeable and affable fellow!

    3. I wondered that.
      Certainly, from my memory, us girlies had largely unspoken reservations about Lennon. Paul was the 'pretty' one; George the vaguely spiritual one; Ringo the one that would be mocked and overlooked.
      I think we suspected JL could be verbally nasty; sarcastic and belittling would be my guess.

  38. Good morning all! Quite a pleasant day here in West Sussex, the sun is out and it is rather cool but warm enough to have the door open. Yes indeed, I actually live where it is actually safe enough to leave your door open. Something that used to be commonplace for the whole country before the Great Invasion began.

    A question. Has anyone seen anything about Khan wanting to ban all British flags in London? His response to last weeks Unite the Kingdom.

    2. I drove up to Wolverhampton up the M40 at the crack of dawn today. There were 4 bridges with flags on (first one near Gaydon) – i honked them all.

      1. Many bridges on the A1 on the way to Edinburgh had union or St. George flags on them; often both.
        The Angel of the North sported a St. George's flag. It had gone when we returned, but I'm unsure whether human or wind power removed it.

    3. I have a skull and crossbones flag left over from my Promming days. An Israeli one too. Will those do?

      1. For drug trafficking in theory, but there's been a moratorium.
        I'm confident that a thorough investigation of these people would find evidence of it.

    1. It is unlikely her daughters (if indeed she has any) will be raped by the illegals, so why should she care?

  41. 413053+ up ticks,

    The lab/lib/con coalition have been recruiting via the dark as lammies bum web for decades, they advise, I believe, that that is the place to be for seeking the best of the worst politico's.

    Dt,
    MI6 puts out call to aspiring spies on dark web
    Recruitment portal targets new global agents, especially those with access to sensitive information in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea

    And I do hear anywhere north of Dover.

    1. Lubna refers to the 'Hill-Billy' type of Pakistanis from the tribal north.
      The ones that Dubai despise.
      Funded by the Saudis, building mosques specifically for sh1tstirring.
      The 'Hill-Billies' absolutely hate you.. hate The West.
      They need to be identified.. and removed from office.. defunded.. then deported. Starting with Shabana Mahmood and her family.
      The rest can stay.
      The Lefties of course group them all as oppressed.
      Nigel needs to get this into his thick skull.

      1. I am obliged to say that while Farage is good at running a group of supporters he has no idea about running a country. He is recruiting LibDem yes-men from the Tory party because they are unlikely to damage his delicate ego.

        2. I think he has had his instructions to push the great reset forwards, and he doesn't want any independent-minded people challenging that. When they come from the Tories, they have already proved their credentials at toeing the line.

  43. Dozens more windfalls – I suspect that we'll start picking much sooner than in previous years.

  44. My niece popped round to see me last night. She has just started teacher-training at a state school in Wembley. She is already fed up with the entitled, aggressive attitude of the muslim pupils who dominate the school. She told me they openly call her an “infidel”. And not in a jokey way. Can you imagine if she referred to a member of our wonderful Diversity in such a manner? Yet there is nothing she can do about it. There is no stomach in this country to stand up to Islam.

    1. Even the church will tell you that the pagans merely give God a different name and have found an alternative route to the same end. I swallowed that in my teens and twenties but as I approach my seventies, I’ve come to understand why Ferdinand and Isabella did what they did. The Reconquista only works when you say it’s my way or no way.

      1. "-—– it’s my way or no way."

        The problem is that Muslims are prepared to stand up and say this while Christians are not.

        Islam and Christianity cannot coexist peacefully together – one will have to win.

        But when you have a Head of the Church of England, The Idiot King, proclaiming how marvellous Muslims are then the future of the Church in the UK must be in doubt.

        Can anyone imagine either the Mayor of London or the Home Secretary giving such fawning, sycophantic adulation to Christianity?

      2. The Second Vatican Council taught that Muslims worship the one true God:

        The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even his inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. (Nostra Aetate 3)

        This is, I believe, a grave error. Thankfully, it is not a doctrinal matter i.e. one which requires acceptance as a tenet of faith. When will the Church wake up to the fact that Allah is not God?

    2. She should bite her tongue and bide her time.
      Keep a detailed diary.
      Pass it to someone like Rupert Lowe when she finishes her training.

    3. Back in the mid 50s one of my father's elder brother's was the mayor of Wembley. He'll be spinning daily in his grave now.
      The hospital I'm in at the moment is near Luton nearly all the staff are from Africa or Muslims.
      some of the African woman are quite aggressive when they speak.

      1. There’s quite a strong Filipino presence at Hammersmith Hospital as well as black and/or Muslim. On the cardio thoracic ward they were mostly very kind.

        1. I have a Filipino relative, one of the best people I've ever met. A very tough and able person, quite a tumultous upbringing.

      2. Had my first baby in '76, very high bp so was in hospital some time before induced labour. Pakistanis were already there at that time. One woman was the second wife of a Pakistani man, she was the sister of his previous wife with whom he had several children and when she died he fetched her over to look after those children, and got her pregnant too. Doubt this a lone incident. Who runs this country? Not us, not the politicians, not any stripe of Government – my bet is permanent Civil Service. So if Reform/Farage ever get into power be interesting to see how that goes.

        1. An Indian nurse delivered my first son in 1970. In Tidworth Military Hospital. The nurses were Queen Alexandra nurses. She was very brusque and dug her ear trumpet in hard. The baby was distressed and monitored with an audio thing so I could hear the heartbeat. When he was born the cord was round his neck and round his body. When I asked her what weight he was she said "I don't know dear, they don't come with labels on"………… he was 6ib 5oz.

          1. What a lousy experience for first born. I was attached for over 24 hours to a machine pouring out paper, recording my progress in labour, because only one nurse on duty. Husband largely absent, at work. I only saw a couple of white nurses (2 auxiliaries, both excellent) and two white sisters, alternating on the two wards of pregnant mothers. My grandchildren were born in birthing pools, one almost drowned because senior nurse had left the room. I know a young woman went in for her (second) caesarian, instead had hysterectomy luckily wasn’t planning on more children. I don’t believe the NHS is the finest in the world, by a long chalk. Many people seem to think it’s ‘free’ because it’s ‘free at the point of use’, but it ain’t free tax payers foot the bill – as I understand they do for medics who have a five year training course but are then free to leave and work whichever country they like, without reimbursing tax payers. If you know differently, N…let me know plse?

          2. J's niece had hers in a birthing pool – but I think all was well with them. They're strapping teenagers now and the elder one starting at university.

          4. We received very good treatment yesterday and certainly no complaints on that score. All the staff were kind, courteous and helpful. They were thorough with their monitoring of John’s vital processes and he had perked up considerably by the time we were allowed to go home.

          6. Both our boys were born at home.
            I had an equally unfeeling English midwife when Sonny Boy Senior was born.
            When Junior was born the midwife – again English – was so different. I could have done with her first time round.

          7. My second one was late and eventually I was carted off to Gloucester Maternity Hospital. So instead of the lovely midwife I’d been seeing for months I got new ones – though the girl who delivered him was fine…….. he was a bit jaundiced but otherwise unharmed. His father had been sent out while they did some procedure so he missed the birth which was quite quick in the end.

        2. I’ll bet the reason our country is being allowed to be wrecked in this way is because they have threatened to riot on a massive scale.

          1. Easily trouble ahead, Eddy. Anyone with any sense already leaving town (h/t Bob Dylan), if they’re able to.

  45. Morning all 🙂😊🤗
    Just seen the consultant and he has confirmed my exit today. Exitlent…..
    The junior doctor got the blame for yesterday's mistake, naughty boy. Very pleasant pharmacist has just been to see me.
    I can get dressed again. 🤗👍🤞
    Nice to see that Donny had requested that kahnt was not included for the state dinner.
    I can't read any further unless I pay. So what actually happened and what is occurring ?

    1. This nonsense really is garbage. I'm aware of at least 4 conspiracy theories now. But Ockham's razor. Fact is that almost any American familiar with using a firearm can hit the target from 200 meters. But, as per usual, the ghouls, the attention seekers, come crawling out of the woodwork to throw in their ha'penny worth for their 5 minutes of fame. Even Candice Owens, someone I used to respect is prancing around pointing the finger at the Jews. It's all very, very sick and pathetic.

        1. I know. She went off the rails with the Palestine thing. The soppy left in the West treats that bunch of professional con artists as if they were sacred bloody cows. So I stopped paying attention to her some two plus years ago.

          1. I have to say both MB and I find her constant harassment of Mrs. Macron very distasteful.
            I know we joke about her little Napoleon (hubby), but what is being bandied about is hurtful and undignified.

          2. Candace Owens is part of the media establishment, her job seems to be to push the official conspiracy theory which is always ridiculous and therefore make anyone who questions the narrative look stupid.
            I do not find the idea that Brigitte Macron is a man terribly convincing simply because she's so small. Very few men are that tiny.

          3. There is a kernel of reason behind her comments against Israel, the USS Liberty that was targeted and nearly sunk by the IDF in 1968.

          4. That is true, but the idea that Mossad shot Charlie Kirk is just not credible IMO. He wasn’t influential enough or dangerous enough to Israel to attract that sort of attention.

    3. Jesus! That was nasty to watch.
      I suspect that the shot cam,e from a distance away, as you heard the sonic crack from the bullet well before the muzzle report (zip-squeak) – so, not knowing anything else about the firearm, I'd suspect a longarm – having the accuracy to hit at long range, and the power for the bullet to still be moving fast after a distance.

    5. I think the billowing of Kirk's t shirt just before the blood spurts out of his neck needs explaining, as do the small signals from Kirk himself and two men who I think are part of his security team just before we see the blood spurting.

    6. The ballistics experts say the shot was from a distance of 143 yards. There are some images capturing what appears to be a bullet at supersonic speed with a vapour trail from which it might be possible to triangulate a firing position from reflections in widows of adjoining buildings.

      As with all distressing shootings and assassinations people immediately suspect some state involvement and so it is here.

    7. The sound suggests a rifle shot in that you hear the round hit, then a more distant thump of the muzzle report a split second afterwards.
      A bit like when I used to be in the butts during a range day and it was noticeable how the thump of the round being fired became noticeably delayed as the range increased from 100, to 200 and then 300 yards.

    2. Unfortunately apart from the most obvious fact that all these know it all's believe they are aware of. They know absolutely nothing about about anything. Their are far too many people in the country right now to be able to house. Rayner found that out and ended up looking very foolish.

      1. I might well have considered it when I was working right on High Holborn, except we had young children and we wanted them to grow up in the fresh air, so we stayeed in rural Essex.

  48. Also i notice the former head of the Institute of Directors has been banned from being a company director for 11 years for “abusing” the Covid loan scheme.

    Everyone lost their moral compass at the prospect of “free” money. It was an absolutely shameful episode. The attitude seemed to be, everyone else is, i might as well, it’s a victimless crime.

    I get so cross.

    1. This has happened with refugees from other countries as well, those who left in fear of their lives, but then returned for vacations.

  51. So after years of personally insulting Trump and allowing a hideous blimp to be flown at Trumps first state visit, Trump insisted that Mayor Khan wasn't invited to the Banquet in his honour at Windsor Castle.
    Is Mayor Khan now the victim of the consequences of free speech?

    If that same blimp was flown this week would it come under the incitement to hatred and violence laws and involve Khan being charged under them?

    1. A modern monetary system works the same way as the electricity system. It's all about flow. Money is 'generated' by activity.. hopefully positive activity like; innovation, social entertainment, education, being productive & most important of all procreation.. and not smashing windows.

      Electrical distribution engineers hate reactive power requirements as much as you hate 'borrowing', but at least they are sensible enough to know that things start to brown out if they don't supply it (print) and take it back (shred/tax) 50 times a second.

    2. A modern monetary system works the same way as the electricity system. It's all about flow. Money is 'generated' by activity.. hopefully positive activity like; innovation, social entertainment, education, being productive & most important of all procreation.. and not smashing windows.

      Electrical distribution engineers hate reactive power requirements as much as you hate 'borrowing', but at least they are sensible enough to know that things start to brown out if they don't supply it (print) and take it back (shred/tax) 50 times a second.

  53. John's not well this morning……….he's finished a week's course of antibiotics for a suspected UTI, but today he's not himself at all. I rang the dr surgery, described how he is and they said to call an ambulance.

    3. Poor John , is he in pain , feverish etc

      I hope it is just a blip, is he confused , clammy etc .

      Thoughts directed your way .. and all the best wishes for a good outcome in A+E

      1. Thankyou……..he's sleepy, a bit incoherent and shuffling. I got him out of bed and into the shower as he'd had an accident in the night. He managed to dress himself mostly and had a bit of Weetabix for breakfast. Last night he was fine, not like this. He sat up to the table for breakfast, but kept falling asleep so I got him back to bed. He didn't drink his coffee..

        1. Sounds as if the UTI hasn't shifted , just wondering whether the infection has cleared up, infections can lay some one really low , frightening for you both . Possibly a TIA , maybe . UTI's can be quite severe inasmuch can make one dopey and confused , and that is when a fall happens . Fingers crossed still a UTI and more help needed Xxx

          1. I thought perhaps a TIA but the Dr ruled that out – she was very thorough with her verbal and spatial awareness tests and whether he could see properly and so on. It seems to have been the last gasp of the UTI, which seems to be a very common problem for elderly men.

      3. Thankyou – he was confused and incoherent which really alarmed me. All seems ok now and he had improved a lot by the time the Dr saw him last night.

    5. There's guy opposite me the staff are getting him ready to go now UTI problems have kept him in here for a few weeks.
      Best wishes to you both. It seems that it's not easy to cope with, but like David in the bed opposite who has been treated very well, he's happy to be going home.

      1. UTIs seem to be a common problem for elderly men – I hadn’t really come across them before. I think I’ll know what to look out for next time.

    9. Just saw your post, Ndovu. I hope John get the treatment he needs as soon as possible. You are both in my thoughts.

    10. Oh bugger.
      That will be a worry for you. Hope they can diagnose what is wrong and get it sorted.

    11. Good luck, N. He's going to the right place…m-i-l (in her 90s)..very similar experience recently, antibiotics insufficiently strong – once in hospital on antibiotic drip, soon recovered and home in a couple of days (we thought sudden onset dementia, if that's even a thing).Wishing the same for John.

      1. Funnily enough, he didn’t have any further treatment and had finished the antibiotic course….. but they were very thorough with the tests and monitoring.

        1. Good news he’s better, not always easy to stay hydrated in colder weather, hot drinks preferred to water 🙂

    13. Good luck. They move very quickly on UTIs because they can lead to sepsis – particularly for anyone whose health is already fragile.
      MB had a UTI about a fortnight ago; his specialist nurse saw the blood test results, got onto the local pharmacy and he had anti-B bombs within 2 hours.

      1. Oh- that was good. UTIs seem to be quite common in elderly men. I think we know what to look out for now. It was the sudden dementia that really spooked me.

        1. Fortunately he’d not had a stroke, and the Dr was very thorough when he finally got to see her. Gave him verbal tests, checked his balance and whether he could see properly etc……… the blood tests showed an infection.

  55. Mix of mortar done and a load of blocks laid.
    Now need to hoik another 4 bags of sand and a few more blocks up for the next mix.
    But now it's time for a mug of tea and a bite to eat.

    2. In the replies:

      Jennifer Robinson
      @welshroots

      Unbelievable that electorate voted for a Party more far Right than the Conservatives the Party we all rejected at the last election. What were they thinking.

      #Reform will remove Workers Rights , cut and turn our NHS into an Insurance based Health System like America that no one will be able to afford.

      1. Tut tut.. Jenny used two old tired slogans.
        Please update slurs to; Reform supports white supremacy, intimidate us from voting, lidderally committing genocide, and gearing up for a dictatorship.

      3. A response to her:-

        Jennifer, why do Lefties like yourself ignore the excellent Insurance Based health services in other countries such as France?
        The NHS is not, and to be quite honest, never has been the "Envy of the World" you and your ilk so often claim it is.

        2. Trowbridge is a district, community and coterminous electoral ward on the eastern edge of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales.

          Thoug I expect you know this… 😊

  57. The chefs, working to plate three courses flawlessly, grew frustrated as US Secret Service agents repeatedly checking and even sampling all the food.

    Translation: Leftie activist DEI Islamic friendly chefs felt the lack of trust was disruptive.

  58. The Spectator
    Julie Burchill, Gareth Roberts and Madeline Grant on what makes Britain great
    19 September 2025, 10:42am

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11ec0300a7251485d64658c1ea98f52cebf1f43df59ad59ad1ece84d616d289f.png
    New Year’s Eve in Manchester (Credit: Joel Goodman)

    This month, GQ Magazine asked some celebs what they love about Britain. Names such as Emma Thompson, Anthony Joshua and Brian Cox replied with the predictable: the Lionesses, Adolescence and Paddington Bear. http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-state-of-the-nation-october-cover-story-2025
    This horror show prompted us to ask our writers: what’s actually great about Britain?

    Madeline Grant
    Those two brave boys who ripped the face off that statue of Paddington. Of course I don’t condone vandalism, but I view it as the equivalent of when Iraqis tore down that statue of Saddam with such joy in 2003. Paddington has become a symbol – unintended by his author – of the twee, hectoring, brain sapping monoculture which has come to squat over every aspect of British life. The judge who sentenced these men said they ‘were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for’. Good – that has come to mean being bullied into recycling by passive-aggressive messages on your drinks bottle, those stupid cartoon ads telling you to ‘be kind’ and not stab anyone on the tube, and finally the sort of low level hectoring misery that defines almost every encounter with officialdom. Bravo to those lads who tore his face off, may they be the forerunners for the day we throw off Paddington’s twee tyranny forever.

    Cosmo Landesman
    Forget all that Paddington Bear and tea stuff. It’s the people that make Britain great.

    I love the fact that British men have bad teeth – and don’t care. I love the fact that the British don’t take themselves too seriously. And that they say ‘sorry’ all the time even when they’ve done nothing wrong!

    They stay up all night consuming vast quantities of really crappy drugs, drinking far too much alcohol and smoking like chimneys – and they’re still having a great time! They are truly a nation of guilt free hedonists.

    Let’s not forget British women who are unbearably sexy. In the summer they walk around the streets practically naked. And the ‘fat’ ones and the ‘ugly’ ones don’t give a damn what you or I think. God bless ‘em!

    Julie Burchill
    I don’t recall the name of the female American writer who, after coming to live here believing that it would be a picturesque blend of Richard Curtis films and Jane Austen novels, was surprised to find out that even the most articulate of people were drunk a lot of the time – and shocked to find out that most of us had sex in that condition, too. In contrast with the Stateside dating scene where potential suitors on both sides are careful not to get ‘sloppy’, she couldn’t believe that, over here, a ‘first date’ often consists of getting blotto in the pub before tumbling legless into bed. And waking up in the morning without a clue what you did the night before – and doing it again, just in case.

    Regrettably, a new generation of Brits, with their lily-livered ‘sober-curious’ ways, are letting the side down in this department. But I shall always have such happy memories – or rather, not – of the Bacchanalian free-for-all which characterised sex in the lovely, lost, lubricious twentieth century.

    Sean Thomas
    The greatest thing about Britain is swearing. English has the best swearwords, and they are best delivered in one of the saltier British accents – Glaswegian, Cockney, Norn – or in the icy vowels of RP.

    I say this with some experience. For instance, I was once driving out of Amalfi in Italy, and I ran into a nasty traffic jam (as you do when driving out of Amalfi). An Italian motorist got angry at me and swore my way in a stream of unintelligible and effete Italian cuss-words. It sounded something like ‘your mother disgorges lasagne’. It simply made me laugh.

    Then I turned to him and said “shut up you stupid motherfucking cocksucker”. And he instantly crumpled, in his silly linen jacket, and drove on in silence. The brilliantly emphatic sounds of Anglo-Saxon swear words had defeated him. Wanker.

    Rory Sutherland
    The contradictions. We lead the world in pageantry and in public drunkenness.

    Gareth Roberts
    The big attraction of 2020s Britain – roll up, roll up! – has to be that we remain the most class-riddled country in the world. It wasn’t supposed to be like this; the late years of the last century threw all the pieces of the class jigsaw up in the air. But now they’ve settled again – how hubristic to think all of that could be overturned in two shakes of a lamb’s tail! – and the big neon irony is that it’s the posh Herberts who make the biggest song and dance about ‘inequality’. The party of labour – literally its name – has a commanding poll lead among ex-public school attendees. These busybodying boondogglers infest the public sector, treading water around a tap from which gushes a never-ending supply of other people’s gravy, their class interest disguised – very, very thinly – as compassion for the lower orders and ‘social justice’, whatever that means. Yes, Britain leads the world in snobs, tarted up in tatty progressive drag.

    Ed West
    As the writer Marcus Chown once said: ‘If I had 6 letters to describe Britain. they would be NHS-BBC’.

    The NHS is what makes Britain unique, which is why global audiences were enthralled by the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and didn’t at all look at the whole thing with bemused confusion.

    As for the BBC, at a time when the far right is on the verge of power across the world, it’s more important than ever to have an impartial service that combats misinformation and brings us vital news stories. I’m thinking of this urgent demand that ‘It’s time to talk about black rugby players’ hair’.

    Or this crucial investigation into what ‘Census 2021 data mean for Norwich’s bisexual community’. Or the regular updates about a Muslim man who likes walking. Or, just this week, how we learned about the national emergency that is the shortage of afro hair salons. And where else would we receive the daily, almost hourly, updates on what drag artists up to, including such important stories about how drag queens are keeping gay sign language alive.

    In old age my father still recalled the sound of the BBC’s Home Service during the war and how reassuring and familiar it was; as we face a new fascist menace today, this is how I feel reading the latest daily report about drag queen or Muslim Hikers on our beloved national service.

    Nicholas Farrell
    I was born in Britain and am British and lived there until I was 39. Not once did I use a bidet, nor think it relevant. Only people like my step-mother, a nasty piece of work, had a bidet. But in 1998 I came to Italy and never left and I soon found out that to the Italians life without a bidet is unthinkable. As a result, they treat the British with scorn, even if not to their face, most certainly behind their back. To the Italians, the British – there are no two ways about it – are unclean. They use the bidet so obsessively, I am convinced, as part of a vain attempt to cleanse their sins and to maintain la bella figura at all costs. They are obsessed with form at the expense of content – with appearance over reality. Yet there is something magnificent about the absence of bidets in Britain. For let us face it: we founded an empire, the most benign in history, with filthy asses – sans bidet.

    Gus Carter
    Old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist… oh wait, hang on. It’s now stabby roadmen on Lime scooters zipping through clouds of melon vape. Bits of old England do cling on, however. Like a freezing pub garden, endured with a pint of Tribute, a pack of fags and a gang of bitchy friends. Or getting the train to some miserable part of the Kent coast on a Sunday to look through antique shops and pay London prices for fish and chips. Or wood smoke and depressed pigeons cooing from sagging phone lines as the November sun gives up and descends beneath a cold chalk escarpment. Or how prickly the Scottish, Welsh and Cornish get in the presence of Englishmen. What I can’t stand is golf courses, earnest political YouTubers and mac ’n’ cheese. Fundamentally, though, I think it’s all over for us, only because that’s the one true English response to such questions. It’s been downhill since the Normans.

    John Sturgis
    Any list that reads: ‘The Oasis reunion. Nationalised healthcare. Sir David Attenborough…’ simply demands to conclude: ‘…your boys took one helluva beating’.

    That immortal phrase was coined by a very excitable (and perhaps slightly inebriated) Bjørge Lillelien on the occasion of his home country Norway’s football team beating hapless England 2-1 in a World Cup Qualifier in 1981. ‘Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, Maggie Thatcher – can you hear me, Maggie Thatcher?” he thundered before his famous helluva pay-off line.

    And we have long taken this piece of commentary to our hearts – because we are a nation of pisstakers and recognised this immediately as top drawer stuff. It took a Norwegian football commentator shouting ‘Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me…’ to tell us something important about ourselves: we are a little bit shit and as soon as we forget this we can come across as unforgivably pompous.

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

    Registered Protest
    2 hours ago
    What really makes Britain great?

    1. Inventing modern industrial and political civilisation.

    2. Empire: creating the world in our own image through armed tourism.

    3. Therefore: Millwallianism. Everyone hates us and we really, really, don't care.

    4. Not being French.

    A. Headhunter
    2 hours ago
    It was the Barons who forced King John to sign the Magna (i.e. "Great") Carta, which laid out English liberties for the common man. We now have a Socialist government elected by 20% of the electorate, which has so far destroyed 650,000 jobs and is determined to remove all the descendants of those Barons from the process of government – for what? Labour is the antithesis of what makes Britain great. Recognising a Palestinian state? They may as well recognise Narnia for all the good it would do.

    2. On the subject of Anglo Saxon swear words, once on a college trip to Italy, we asked a group of teenage Italians in Florence if they spoke English. They nodded and chorused in unison, “Fuck Off”!

      5. I remember a bunch of Polish archaeology students being taught English by their British counterparts during a cultural exchange in 1978. When I went over myself on a return trip the next year, I was asked to translate a Sex Pistols record. They knew the words, but not always what they meant.

        During the 1978 Cultural Exchange, camped in Dorset, the Poles brought over a large leather bag containing bottles of Spirytus Rektyfikowany, which they had hoped to sell in order to get some extra hard currency. They got nowhere with that, but a number of Glaswegian lads there waved a bottle of whisky at them challenging them to a drinking contest…

        How times have changed! The last time I was in Poland, in 2022, they were nearly all sober.

      6. 1971. School cruise on SS Uganda, commencing in Venice (didn't think much of the place, it seemed to be flooded). Local yobs: "You are Eenglish?" "Yes," we replied, thinking the natives were friendly. "Bugger off-o, bugger off-o".

        Once we were safely aboard, fed, watered, and on the deck at the stern, they shouted similar abuse. We responded with hundreds of empty Coke cans…

    4. As ever the sensible and amusing insights of the common man and woman below the line wins out. That now makes my Britan great.

    5. "The NHS is what makes Britain unique, which is why global audiences were enthralled by the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony and didn’t at all look at the whole thing with bemused confusion."

      "bemused confusion" is EXACTlY how my American friends viewed it. As for me, I thought it was just embarrassing. I mean, why use a failing bureaucracy to represent the country? It's the sort of thing the East Germans might have thought a good idea.

      1. NHS is not unique, Canadas crumbling health system is just as ineffective with most people screaming about the negative impact privatized healthcare would have on universal healthcare. After all inaccessible healthcare for everyone is far better than allowing private care.

        at least you lot have BUPA type care.

          1. I’m told that at the Cromwell Hospital, which takes BUPA patients, all signs are in English and Arabic.

          3. In the nursing home for a few more days. Home next week, which will have its challenges but it’s been a month and there’ll be regular NHS checks.

          5. Marcus has been away but Taylor, the assistant priest (and a better singer than his namesake), has kept in touch.

        2. Being in the US, it's a different story.

          A couple weeks ago I started have pains in one leg, ranging from thigh to foot. Called the doc, got a same day appointment, and he sent me to an orthopedist – got an appointment a few days out. Saw him, his office ran a slew of Xrays which showed no joint problems, so his diagnosis was a pinched nerve or similar. Got a course of steroids which he said should ease things, but may/may not be the long term fix. He was exactly right, so when I came back from the beach, I went to see him again and he recommended a lower back MRI and a visit to a spinal guy. Got the MRI apppointment two days later, and next week I see the spine guy.

          The point of this tale is that this is how Americans expect their health systems to work. Just get on with the treatment when it is needed, not when the bureaucracy gets round to it.

          Do we all need health insurance? Yes. Is it cheap? No. But when we hit 65, we go onto Medicare which is government provided health insurance, basically provided at a discount. It works well, with almost no bureaucracy.

  61. Let's see.. just checked the calendar.. yep.. due one soon.

    O Zealous Monotheists, Abu Hudhaifa al-Ansari أبو حذيفة الأنصاري the ISIS equivalent of Morgan McSweeney issued a press announcement
    "Excerpts, o lions of Island… chase your prey or Jews, Christians, and their allies in the streets and roads of precious America, Europe, and the world. Break into their homes, kill them, and punish them by any means you can."

    1. If you were writing a fictional story about an angry death cult, it would look very much like this.

  62. Let's see.. just checked the calendar.. yep.. due one soon.

    O Zealous Monotheists, Abu Hudhaifa al-Ansari أبو حذيفة الأنصاري the ISIS equivalent of Morgan McSweeney issued a press announcement
    "Excerpts, o lions of Island… chase your prey or Jews, Christians, and their allies in the streets and roads of precious America, Europe, and the world. Break into their homes, kill them, and punish them by any means you can."

    1. If you're driving one of the jag bricks, people will look – and wonder what on earth you were thinking!

  66. 2 out , 800 in today … yep that's right . 800 illegals on boats from France today ..

    At the end of a frustrating week for the Government in which just two small boat migrants have been returned to France, GB News can reveal that at least 800 others are currently crossing the English Channel.

    After nine days of windy weather, preventing migrant crossings, conditions improved overnight.

    At first light, people smugglers around the Calais and Dunkirk areas pushed multiple small boats out into the Channel.

  67. Sir Keir Starmer hoped his “one in, one out” migrant deportation deal would finally end the small boats crisis.

    But migrants in Calais have vowed never to stop crossing the Channel as the scheme faces a wave of legal challenges.

    Asylum seekers told The Telegraph on Thursday that if deported back to France, they would return to Britain “again and again”.

    Buoyed by successful challenges from would-be deportees, several migrants said they were confident they could avoid being removed once they crossed the Channel by following legal advice given to them by British charities working in Calais.

    Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has accused migrants detained under the scheme of “making a mockery” of Britain’s laws and generosity by making “vexatious last-minute claims” of human trafficking and modern slavery.

    She has now blocked migrants from challenging Home Office decisions about their claims in an attempt to speed up deportations.

    The migrants waiting in Calais appear not to care. Speaking outside his flimsy, brightly coloured tent on a disused dock, Ahmed Mustapha, 30, scoffed at Ms Mahmood’s chances of deporting him once he crosses the Channel.

    “She’s just talking,” the Syrian father-of-three said. “They say the same things again and again, but it doesn’t change anything. I don’t care what she says. They can’t deport me. I will talk to a lawyer and try to cross again and again. I control myself.”

    Ahmed Mustapha, 30, scoffed at Shabana Mahmood's chances of deporting him once he crosses the Channel
    Ahmed Mustapha, 30, scoffed at Shabana Mahmood’s chances of deporting him once he crosses the Channel Credit: Ali Arkady For The Telegraph
    Christophe Gosselin, 68, a volunteer for migrant charity Salam, spoke as he was giving out pastries, bread rolls, melon, bananas, tea and coffee to migrants in a car park.

    He insisted the “one in, one out” deal would not end Channel crossings.

    “The problem is the English dream,” he said. “For migrants, England is the dream. They assume it’s no problem to work there and you get the good life.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/19/britain-cant-deport-calais-migrants-keep-crossing-channel/?recomm_id=394740d4-15db-4bb8-ad98-8e6056e8e402

    1. This is only going to end when we're prepared to use lethal force. The gimmigrant must be met by a gun boat. They can refuse to turn back, in which case they will be fired over. If they still refuse, fire at them.

      The invasion will end.

      1. Only need to sink a couple.

        But the government needs to make an unequivocal statement that it will never grant residency to anyone who arrives illegally. And follow through with that. Then it could be ended.

        But all the while the PM and his advisers put foreign laws above British citizens, nothing will ever get done.

      2. Only need to sink a couple.

        But the government needs to make an unequivocal statement that it will never grant residency to anyone who arrives illegally. And follow through with that. Then it could be ended.

        But all the while the PM and his advisers put foreign laws above British citizens, nothing will ever get done.

    3. We house them
      We give them food and money
      Free health care
      Free education
      The country is rapidly falling to Islam
      etc etc.

      Small wonder there's a pull factor.

      Give them nothing.
      Let them work to support themselves but give them nothing.
      If they steal or commit any other offence apply the very strictest Sharia law punishments.
      Treat them as the Taliban would treat an English illegal immigrant to Afghanistan.

    4. You may have seen Patrick Chrystys recording on GBN, Belle – he went to Calais on behalf of GBN to interview migrants waiting to cross the Channel, he asked them why UK they said 'benefits'. He went because he got fed up of seeing immigrants defecate on the pavement outside his London first floor flat, they were living on the street in tents. If the UK doesn't adopt a policy of having outposts in Europe to process migrants, and instead continues to enable free for all…they will keep coming, and the UK as we know it will be finished, and not too far into the future.

  68. Wordle No. 1,553 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 19 Sep 2025

    Next for Birdie Three?

    3. Well, after my First Starter Word gave me the last 4 letters I was certain I was on for an Eagle – then I realised there were 12 (yes 12) options for the first letter – I discounted 9 of them as being just a bit too tenuous for Wordle and of the remaining 3 ( C,L,W ) I got it at the second attempt. Birdie….

      Wordle 1,553 3/6

      🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Not as logical as G3 just guesswork for a birdie.
      Wordle 1,553 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Late on parade. Granddaughter visiting.
      3 today.

      Wordle 1,553 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  69. Currently sitting in Gloucester Hospital waiting to see a doctor and find out out if he's going to be admitted or whether we can go home.

      1. We’ve been here since about 3pm. He’s had various tests but we’re waiting for a doc to say if he can go home or stay in.

  71. That's me for this glorious autumn day. Sunny and warm all day. Picked four trays of cooking apples. The MR met new neighbours. My sister in law finally moved house six months after accepting an offer from a couple with nothing to sell. I am thankful that I have nothing to do with the law – especially property law – these days.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain

  72. The BBC still claiming the "Robinson march" was 100,000 people.

    WHY oh WHY isn't someone showing the drone footage of the march numbers, pointing out that there are twice as many illegal gimmegrants in the UK (minimum) so that people can see the vast scale of what we've imported.

    1. In the last day or so, TR went to Columbia for a hol and was refused entry on the basis of 'national security'. He said he would leave and flew to Panama, he was also refused entry and is right now sitting in the deportation waiting room. If you are a threat to the state it will certainly make life difficult for you. Very nasty.

      1. I’ve been trying to find a way to contact him or one of his supporters who might actually take up my suggestion.

  74. 8 hours ago
    Meanwhile in the land of make-believe, an Asian grifter may have netted £1.1 million (= £55 x 20,000) …
    https://talk.hyvor.com/media/website/14037/nilWXgLKvj7hiRp3UzcPdQFdOUCzVbkhkJ6X9Za6.jpg

    8 hours ago(Edited)
    Her hubby “works” for the Fire Brigade Union. Remember: these are the feckers who refused to do welfare calls on elderly and lonely people during the Wuhan virus attack by China.
    _________________________________________________________________

    1. Yes. Glad it’s not just me. I have to keep going back to the main list of notttl pages, otherwise I’m asked to login but get an error message when I try to do so.

          2. Thank goodness John is eating , is he on an IV drip ?

            I expect you are also hungry and thirsty, you need to keep your energy up , Are you able to drink tea or coffee there ?

          3. Yes – we’ve had some tea and biscuits thanks. I can’t get back into Nottl now.
            John ‘s not on a drip but he’s wired up to bp monitor etc. He’s had bloods taken but we’re still waiting for stay or go home. He does seem much brighter than this morning.

          5. Just wondering whether his glucose levels are all over the show.. is he Type 2 diabetic .. He may have had a bad turn due to low sugar .. just guessing , that's all

    1. At the risk of repeating myself (why not, that's what you always do… Ed.) Matt really is the best political cartoonist by a country mile!

        1. I dont think that matters too much Rene, he has a very distinctive style, I would always be able to spot a Matt Cartoon.
          It’s more the jokes that are consistently amusing and clever!

        1. My hope is that he resigns as mayor to fight a cast iron safe Labour seat.

          AND then gets humiliated as Reform cans him.

          And he ends up in the wilderness.

        2. I knew he wanted to enter parliament, but he has no say yet, surely? He’s not that popular! Khan and Burnham banging on the door of the Commons…what a dismal prospect.

          1. It is said that the only sane man to enter Parliament was Guy Fawkes…. and look what happened to him!

        3. Were it not for this forum, I would have been utterly unaware of his ambitions. I do not seek out mainstream news sources. I am sometimes in the vicinity of a broadcast chosen by another. Nevertheless, nothing about this will alter my actions for the foreseeable future. Regardless of who leads the Labour Party, my voting intentions remain unchanged. I will not be voting unless something radically unexpected happens. A miserably low turnout is the best message to send to politicians, especially as I am disinclined to set about murdering candidates as a sign.of my discontent, although I might cheer on martyrs prepared to sacrifice their freedom.for the cause of expressing it more violently than I am willing to.

    1. 80 proscribed Islamic terrorist org in UK, of which 57 are jihadist.. 5 Pillars, Muslim Brotherhood, every single member, splinter group.. 45,000 terrorists on watch list to be deported. Rape Gangs & those covering up.. out. That's 1 million girls and still going on. Mosques to be demolished.

      How the hell is the Home Office gonna function.

  81. Off Topic but….

    I had to go to the dentists today – I havent been for a number of years what with Covid etc – but I broke a tooth (not a front tooth but one of the ones next to them) biting on a very hard crusty roll!
    Anyway, I was told it would cost £3,500 (minimum) for a dental implant, or about £2,500 for a part denture.
    I mean, I'm not skint, but that sort of money FFS – what planet are they on? No wonder you see so many snaggle-toothed people around.
    Dental charges and Dentistry generally is an absolute scandal!
    Try getting an NHS appointment anywhere in the UK…. not a chance!
    They're all on £200k per annum minimum despite having had their training subsidised by the State.
    It's a National disgrace but try finding anyone raising these issues at a significant level…..
    They must have the best PR/lobbyists in the business…

    PS I'm going for the part denture – I like the idea of putting it in a glass at the side of the bed at night… (plus it's at least a grand cheaper!!)

    I would be very interested to hear of any other Nottlers experiences here – it's utterly beyond belief!

    1. Not that I have done it, but a holiday and treatment in Turkey might be a solution. However, we should be able get a service here. Its shocking.

    2. Would you really miss not having a replacement?
      You're smile might be a bit lopsided.

      But you're a prop so that's the case in any case!

      1. Well remembered!

        No, I have to have it fixed – it looks awful when I smile broadly (not that that happens that often……)

        But you’re in France so I suspect the general level of service is much better……

        1. Health care? Yes
          Dentistry? Almost impossible to get on a dentist's list.
          We stay with our UK private practitioner.
          We've been with the practice for 40+ years and this dentist for 30+

          1. I guess that means you have to combine visits to family and friends in the UK with the dentist!!!

      2. I have a gap but it doesn’t show and will be filled with a bridge eventually. The extraction was necessary before heart surgery could be done. Yes, there is a connection. Next priority is an atrial ablation to stop the Afib and then we can get around to the tooth replacement.

          9. The nurse here in the care home decreed today that it was time to remove the plasters and I do as I’m told. Seems to be OK.

          10. Good! No doubt they would have come off in the shower anyway!

            Were you told how long it would take for your sternum to knit back together?

          12. I have to say Sue that you have done incredibly well without much local support (apart from the Far-Right nutters contributing to NottL). KBO!! x

          13. You are Sigourney Weaver from the Alien film franchise and i claim my 5 buckets to be sick in.

            Glad you are improving.

    3. I have two implants and they have never been a problem. They did cost an arm and a leg though.
      TBH, if the difference is only a thousand, I would go with the implant.

      1. I did think about it but the dentist told me an implant would take many months (something to do with your jawbone/other bones adjusting??) and I wanted it sorted sooner – I still think the prices are beyond comprehension……

        1. I have had a couple where a root canal was necessary, then they "screw/glue in" some kind of peg and have a "tooth" made to match the others. Never had to wait months. Last one I had, my dentist set me up with a dental surgeon in the same professional building, and it was all very quick. I had a temp cap on immediately, the only wait was for the replacement "tooth" to be made.

          Of course, the US being the US, some places advertise same day service. I guess they use some form of 3D printer to spit out the odd tooth.

          1. Not sure, jack, but that sounds more like a crown – I had a number of them many years ago and most of them have broken now.

            Anyway, they told me a crown would be minimally £900 – I told them the last one I had done (albeit about 10 years ago) cost around £300 – they told me ‘dentistry has changed a lot since then’…. unbelievable.

          3. It bloody well feels like it! I remain astonished there has been no pushback against these shysters…. who the hell have they got in their pocket?

    6. I have several gaps. As long as I can still eat, albeit more slowly, I'll stay as I am. They're not especially visible, and it's not as though I'm trying to attract a mate in my advancing years. In rcent years, I have been visiting a dentist and a hygienist: there's a dental surgery in a local Sainsburys. Recommended by Dianne The Ex, and she still goes there, despite moving to Devon six years ago.

      Routine stuff is reasonably priced. I needed a few extractions a year or so ago, and – privately – they would have drained my bank account. They did, however, put me in touch with an NHS dentist in Guildford, for negligible cost.

      Some years sgo, having been frogmarched to D's previous dentist*, I paid several hundred for a crown. It lasted barely six months. I took his advice about gaps, though. Other than implants, which I'm happy to leave to Hollywood types, and those with rather more disposable income than I have, bridges and the like necessitate damaging sound adjacent teeth. No thanks.

      *Julian Chen is a Chinese dentist. Curiously, all his appointmemts seemed to be at 2.30…

      1. You’re very fortunate to get any NHS treatment at all! My ‘gap’ is near the front and I’m very self-conscious about it – if I smile broadly I look like a bloody yokel (stop sniggering at the back!).
        PS I do hope he’s really a Chinese dentist – if you tell him the joke I’m sure he wont have heard it before!

  82. Madeline Grant
    This peer’s Assisted Suicide speech was truly bonkers
    19 September 2025, 5:54pm

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-19-at-17.49.39-1.png Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe in action in today's debate (Credit: Parliament TV)

    We’re back again in the House of Peers this week as they once again give a leaden beating to Leadbeater’s suicide bill. Even when discussing matters of life and death, there is something very reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan about the place. The most famous G&S operetta set in the House of Lords is, of course, Iolanthe – when Parliament is taken over by a group of incompetent fairies. I’m saying nothing.

    Again, the House was full. Perhaps aware that some of the most convincing criticism of the bill both in the Commons and Lords had come from women, today its sponsor Lord Falconer had surrounded himself with a rotating cast of female Fabian prunes for moral support. He slumped there, a face like a constipated toad throughout, the Blairite Hugh Hefner and his Lethal Injection Bunnies.

    A number of Falconer’s posse engaged in pure Gilbertian topsy-turvydom, specifically trying to chastise their Lordships for using the word ‘suicide’ in a debate that involves amending the Suicide Act. Baronesses Thornton and Blackstone both did battle with reality and plain English. Baroness Royall – who, along with Mandy was recently rejected by Oxford as a candidate to be their Chancellor – gave their Lordships a particularly incoherent haranguing on this topic.

    Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe delivered a truly bonkers speech in which he appeared to suggest that assisted dying, as a tool of population control, might contribute to the fight against climate change. He heaped praise on abortion and (I am not making this up) even homosexuals for their efforts at keeping the population down. If he’d been given a few minutes longer, I suspect we might have heard paeans to mosquitoes and the Black Death. This was without doubt one of the most surreal speeches I have ever heard in my years covering Parliament; Thomas Malthus meets Greta Thunberg with a soupcon of Logan’s Run. It made Jonathan Swift’s modest proposal sound like a day at the Wacky Warehouse.

    There were, however, some absolutely magnificent salvos from the peers. Baroness Butler-Sloss, still formidable at 92, completely dismantled the fantasy of the proposed Death Panels as a safeguard with a series of barked questions: ‘Will they meet in public? Will they meet at all? Why no Coroner?’

    There was a good bit of Latin from the Bishop of Chichester, this debate he said, was full of ‘lacrimae rerum’, the things of which tears are made. He also reminded the House that contra the arguments of the lobbyists for the bill, sanctity of life was not some monstrous conspiratorial Christian imposition but the basic assumption that underpins all of our law. There was a gloriously vinegary speech by Lord Moylan about the ridiculous euphemisms the bill contains; ‘approved substances’ to be administered by an ‘approved device’, suicide as ‘assistance’. Gilbert would be proud of such preposterous wordplay.

    The debate saw considerable pushback against the bill’s sponsor; Lord Wolfson of Tredegar politely but firmly took Lord Falconer to task for dismissing views informed by religious faith, and rubbished suggestions that peers should “uncritically defer” to the Commons. Rather awkwardly, Lord Falconer was forced to begin his statement with an apology for failing to disclose that the lobby group Dignity in Dying had funded the printing of literature sent to peers.

    Baroness Fox of Buckley warned that there would inevitably be legal demands to expand the law; “God help us once human rights lawyers get involved”. Meanwhile Lord Frost offered a philosophical critique of the bill, reminding peers that it essentially enshrined utilitarianism as the guiding ethical principle for the law, and that this would lead to very dark places indeed.

    In such moments the superior nature of the Upper House’s debate shone through. Many of the current House of Commons couldn’t even pronounce Utilitarianism, let alone critique it philosophically. As Gilbert wrote in Iolanthe, ‘with a House of Peers composed of persons of intelligence, what is to become of the House of Commons?’ We are already seeing the answer to that; a dumping ground for Student Union politicians, toadies and people who shouldn’t be allowed to use cutlery unsupervised. Some, indeed, fall into all three categories.

    Throughout it all, the Grim Leadreaper herself sat in the viewing gallery, making grimaces when peers disagreed with her and looking over to one of her bag carriers for sympathy when the bill got yet another slamming by someone who has probably forgotten more on the salient topics than she ever knew.

    WS Gilbert also wrote at the end of the Pirates of Penzance, ‘no Englishman unmoved that statement hears, because with all their faults we love our House of Peers’. It was a line which might well have come to more than one mind listening to the debate today.

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

    Seabury Pongleton
    2 hours ago
    "assisted dying, as a tool of population control, might contribute to the fight against climate change"
    OK, you've definitely convinced me. These people are nutcases.

    Cat Staff Seabury Pongleton
    2 hours ago
    But hasn't that been the objective all along? The WEF will no doubt be cross that the "noble Lord" has let the cat out of the bag.

    1. Assisted dying… population control… climate change?

      Is this oaf seeing the dindus pouring through the front door? The destruction, impoverishment and unemployment the green con is causing?

      An unhinged idiot, spouting bilge.

    2. "in which he appeared to suggest that assisted dying, as a tool of population control,"

      He just said the quiet part out loud, that's all

  83. Evening all from a surprisingly warm Norfolk. Been to Wells next the Sea and Walsingham – all by bus! Have used my bus pass more today than in the last couple of years! Winston and Kadi had their own Rover ticket.
    LOL please
    Unfortunately for a day spent walking around sightseeing, I have been crippled with pain. I visited the shrine at Walsingham.

  84. Evening all from a surprisingly warm Norfolk. Been to Wells next the Sea and Walsingham – all by bus! Have used my bus pass more today than in the last couple of years! Winston and Kadi had their own Rover ticket.

    Unfortunately for a day spent walking around sightseeing, I have been crippled with pain. I visited the shrine at Walsingham.

  85. Evening all from a surprisingly warm Norfolk. Been to Wells next the Sea and Walsingham – all by bus! Have used my bus pass more today than in the last couple of years! Winston and Kadi had their own Rover ticket.

    Unfortunately for a day spent walking around sightseeing, I have been crippled with pain. I visited the shrine at Walsingham.

      1. I have problems with my sacroiliac joint. Normally it’s uncomfortable but bearable. Today it was excruciating. I don’t know why my post appeared so many times. Disqus seems to be playing up.

  86. Evening all from a surprisingly warm Norfolk. Been to Wells next the Sea and Walsingham – all by bus! Have used my bus pass more today than in the last couple of years! Winston and Kadi had their own Rover ticket.
    LOL please
    Unfortunately for a day spent walking around sightseeing, I have been crippled with pain. I visited the shrine at Walsingham.

  87. Evening all from a surprisingly warm Norfolk. Been to Wells next the Sea and Walsingham – all by bus! Have used my bus pass more today than in the last couple of years! Winston and Kadi had their own Rover ticket.

    Unfortunately for a day spent walking around sightseeing, I have been crippled with pain. I visited the shrine at Walsingham.

      1. Yes I have had them a while, but they suddenly became much worse on Friday. Today hasn’t been very good either, but I have managed to do what I wanted to.

  89. Tommy Robinson is not the man to unite the Right

    Far-Right rabble rousers once tried to cancel me. They do not respect freedom of speech, nor do they believe the law applies to them

    Camilla Tominey, Associate Editor
    19 September 2025 5:30pm BST

    The Right appears to have got itself in a bit of a muddle, possibly because it is no longer in power, but probably because when it was in power, it wasn't very "Right" at all. With immigration – both legal and illegal – reaching staggering levels, amid legitimate concerns about the rise of Islamist sectarianism, people are understandably worried about the future direction of this country.

    This week, we saw the ridiculous spectacle of Thames Valley Police officers visiting a cancer patient at home to tell her "something you wrote on Facebook has upset someone". Mother-of-two Deborah Anderson filmed the idiotic episode and her exasperation at them policing her thoughts rather than the streets spoke for a nation. Throw in the cost of living crisis, Rachel Reeves's economically illiterate Budget and 14 months of Labour incompetence, and it's little wonder Brits are frustrated.

    On September 13, at least 150,000 people, according to police estimates, although some say it was more, marched through London to make their voices heard. While marred by some violence (but fewer arrests than the Notting Hill Carnival), the rally was mostly peaceful and consisted of a large cross section of the country worried that it is being overwhelmed by mass migration.

    Of course it is wrong to label everyone who attended "far-Right" or "fascist". But it is equally mistaken to pretend that there weren't any far-Right fascists there. The concerns themselves aren't "racist". You're not a racist simply for being worried about Britain's future and having the temerity to say so, not least when free speech was another theme of the rally. We know from polling that millions will have agreed with some of the points raised at the march, even though they wouldn't have dreamed of attending it.

    And the reason for that is because it was organised by Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who was once a member of the far-Right British National Party and co-founded the English Defence League.

    Even though Robinson himself admitted that he left the latter in 2013 because it contained "racist" elements, some are now trying to deny both his past associations and the fact that he continues to attract far-Right, fascist and racist elements. This is not just dishonest but dangerous.

    The concerns Robinson raises – about the rape gangs, Islamic extremism, mass immigration, two tier policing, and so on – are mainstream but he certainly is not. There is an irony here, because those claiming that Robinson has become mainstream are often the very people who attack the "legacy" or "mainstream media" for suggesting he's a minority figure, albeit with a formidable social media fan base and apparent support from the likes of powerful people including Elon Musk. Yes, he has done more respectable media in recent years – but I note that none of the more mainstream Right-wing journalists who have interviewed him lately attended the march. Instead, he was flanked by Katie Hopkins and Laurence Fox, who by their own proud admission, are anything other than mainstream. Instead, they are rabble rousers; agitators who appear not to think the rules should apply to them.

    Robinson, a convicted criminal who was jailed for contempt of court last year, appears to have no respect for the rule of law.

    He claims to be all for freedom of speech, except when people express critical views of him. He has demanded an apology from me for my comments about him on ITV's This Morning, asking his online army: "Who wants me to find her with a camera?"

    In 2021, he was slapped with a five-year stalking protection order after he shouted abuse outside the home of a journalist who wrote something negative about him and threatened to repeatedly return to her address.

    There have been calls for me to be cancelled for my opposition to Robinson, with some even lobbying my employers here at The Telegraph and at GB News to sack me. There's a similar hypocrisy at play in the US right now, where Right-wing free speech advocates are revelling in the suspension of the Left-leaning chat show host Jimmy Kimmel because he said something about Charlie Kirk they disagreed with.

    But we know what Robinson's general schtick is. I appreciate he left the BNP and EDL behind precisely because he didn't want to be associated with racists. But he isn't the next Messiah. And while he should be credited with highlighting the rape gangs scandal, as survivor Sammy Woodhouse has said in the past, he didn't expose it, the girls who were abused did. Along with MPs and journalists including the late Andrew Norfolk.

    Would Robinson have campaigned on the issue if the perpetrators weren't predominantly Muslim? I'm not sure. He has a bit of an inconsistent history when it comes to calling out other kinds of child sex offenders, including Richard Price, who was convicted for making four indecent images of children, and possessing cocaine and crack cocaine, in 2010. Initially Robinson reportedly claimed his mate had been "stitched up" and that Price had "no idea" how the vile images came to be on his computer, but eventually he condemned him.

    Robinson's supporters insist he is selflessly doing the country a great service in speaking out against what they perceive to be the "Islamification" of Great Britain. I think it's rather more self-serving than that, since Robinson seems to bask in the glory of fans chanting his name and wearing his face on their T-shirts.

    But his outspokenness is also proving to be quite counter-productive. The very people now trying to push a de facto blasphemy law through Parliament in the guise of an Islamophobia definition are using Robinson's rhetoric as justification. It's the main reason why I don't think Tommy Robinson is the solution but part of the problem. I would genuinely have more respect for the bloke if he put his money where his mouth is and ran for office in a bid to sort out the problems he's highlighting. But he isn't the unifying force he thinks he is because he sees people like me as the enemy. He can't even unite the Right, let alone the kingdom.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/19/tommy-robinson-is-not-the-man-to-unite-the-right

    2. He did run for office. I can't quite remember when, but I think he stood in Greater Manchester for either council or EU election. Somebody here might know better.

    3. Thing is, the Right minded person doesn't really want to form a big, homogenous group with a common goal.

      We want to be left alone to live our lives as we want to free from some meddling authority dictating our lives.

      Leftists, on the other hand desperately want to control other people. They know they can only do this with power. They know they'll only get power by banding together with others like them.

    4. This might begin to make sense if I ever heard anything particularly Right wing or small c conservative coming from the direction of Tominey. Another condescending Liberal who can't stand the idea of plebs having opinions and doing something about it. Just listen to her in person whine on about Robinson. The tone is nauseating.

      Notice the claim about "But he isn't the next Messiah". It's not the first time even this evening I have heard this sort of tactic employed by a hostile adversary. I am finding this religiously rather distasteful against Christianity. I rarely if ever hear committed Christians of whatever flavour speaking like that. Which makes me suspicious. In addition it is making a claim to some underlying insight and superior morality the speaker has access to. That those who disagree are committing a sin of some hidden description. Circling back to my point, "How dare you?" Does that tone remind you of anyone?

    5. "Tommy Robinson is not the man to unite the Right"

      That's probably true, but he does get people thinking, and it's not the sort of poorly written drivel like this that unites anybody.

  91. A useful bit of work today, but a bit slacking this evening.
    I had planned getting some bags of sand and some blocks ready to take up tomorrow, but heard the bloke who's taken on the Bungalow ready to head off home so went down to say Hello.
    We had a natter and I gave him some apples off the Newton Wonder, the Aldi Special and Old Des's Lord Derby which he was grateful for.

    To keep Bill happy, here's what I did today:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/24797bd60a09717a3db383c5a236db466f018a7b33376e43bdfa5a64eb80c407.jpg I need another half dozen blocks brought up to finish that bit off.
    The other bit I'm doing is finishing from where I left off from the lower terrace wall.
    I've already got most of the blocks I need for this bit lying ready:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c88e4e9765f29924f30ea016d011bfe55ec3dd9b57ccaedcf1e5775bd50cf11.jpg Once that lot is done, I can shift the cement mixer down to the yard and carry on with the small ledge above the yard.

    There's a lot of toadstools beside the steps this year https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1be8e5496838c4e1260701cf3b0e920df5cd1cb6054f4f51f4136a88411349f2.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/01c28284fd1c87597dce554fd772a070876824ddb45324a34765aac98a7c5a1a.jpg And, with that I'm off to bed.
    Goodnight all.

    1. You are an astonishing fellow, Bob. I wouldn't know where to start. In contrast, I tried to work out my a network card wouldn't route traffic when every indicator says it should.

      This mostly involved small screwdrivers and sitting on my capacious booty.

    2. Bob, I would love to see – wouldn't we all – your artists impression of the the finished creation atop the Hill of Bonsall!

  92. Moh has been prescribed a new drug for his type 2 diabetes .. DEPAGLIFLOZIM.. He is currently on Glicazide.

    It suits him , but has now been advised to go onto the new drug.

    He has been reading up on the contraindications on the new drug, terrifying .
    Have any of you with type 2 diabetes any experience of DEPAGLIFLOZIM.

    2. I have dapagliflozin but I’m not diabetic. It was stopped a few days before surgery and restarted two weeks after. I’ve not noticed any reaction.

    3. If Gliclazide suits him why change ( I'm on it – tried Metformin but I was having my meals delivered straight to the bog). I've never heard of this drug

      2. I started with Metformin and Gliclazide. I can tolerate Metformin – not sure how it helps, but it does no harm. Gliclazide did it's job, but left me exposed to hypos if – for example – I spent a few hours chasing a lawn mower. Exercise reduces insulin resistance.

        Insulin helps my blood glucose control. I have a BG meter which – having tested, will ask how many grams of carbs I'm about to eat, and suggest a dose. It usually works. If I know I'm going to put some physical effort in, I can reduce the dose.

  93. Serious question: Is there any regular contributor to this forum who is not on medication? (Apart from alcohol!)

    2. I'm not.
      But I have seen someone go to age 82 without any medication and then get started with one after another until about fifty tablets a day eight years later. So I am keeping an open mind…

    3. Not me. But I am still relatively young. My folks (86/81 respectively) are on a whole heap of pills. And long may it continue.

    4. Not me regrettably. Blood thinner Apixaban, Levothyroxine, asthma treatments such as inhaler, cream for occasional psoriasis, Folic acid and Hayfever tabs I take all year round to keep resistance.

      On the plus side I stopped the Statin and refused the Covid and latest flu jabs.

      Carol insists I dose with Vits such as D3, K2 and CoQ10.

      I am allowed a few glasses of white Burgundy, am limited on Red consumption (Fleurie) and in the winter months I am given a glass of Cognac before bed.

      1. D3 is excellent – since I started during Covid, haven't had a cold or sniffle. 20ug is fine for me.

    5. Frayed knot. Metformin for Type 2 Diabetes, (plus insulin inmjections), Ramipril and Lercanidipine for blood pressure. Atorvastatin goes in the bin. Cholesterol remains fine. Stopped ordering 75 mh Aspirin a few monthe ago, following a telephone medication review with the GP Surgery pharmacist: "we haven't recommended that for years, unless there are heart problems."

      I can't know for certain whether my retinal bleeds were related to aspirin, but I remember having a Lucentis injection in one eye for Diabetic Retinopathy, when the nurse said "Sorry; I've made the lovely white of your eye bleed: that's the Aspirin"…

      I'm suspicious.

      Happily, the blood does seem to be receding, glacially slowly. It's still easier to read the laptop screen with White on Black: I tried Normal settings this morning, and could actually read the Letters page. Contrast wasn't great, but much improved.

      1. I quit Methformin recently after finding out it wasn't helping the blood sugar (daily pre-breakfast measurements where the lowest was aevery Saturday morning and not affected by how many methformin I took – 1, 2, 3 or 4) but was messing with my memory. ChatGPT was helpful in reinforcing that decision. Now, blood sugar is OK and it's pressure / being a clot that still needs pilled.

    6. I am no longer on medication since I adopted a 90% carnivore diet. I am physically stronger, mentally more acute, sleep like a log, have cured my gout, no longer troubled by arthritis, and have lost my 'brain fog'. My high-(animal)-fat/medium-protein/low-carb/no-sugar diet is one I wish I had known about 50 years ago.

  94. Serious question: Is there any regular contributor to this forum who is not on medication? (Apart from alcohol!)

  95. Serious question: Is there any regular contributor to this forum who is not on medication? (Apart from alcohol!)

  96. The collapse of Corbyn and Sultana's Your Party is delicious

    This must be the first time Jezza has been described as 'Right wing'

    Stephen Pollard
    19 September 2025 12:12pm BST

    Has there ever been a more delicious, predictable, pathetic, gripping, deserving – and downright hilarious – political spectacle than the unravelling of Your Party, the Jeremy Corbyn fan club cobbled together with the so-called "Independent Alliance" (aka Independent Gaza) MPs, along with hard-left droner-in-chief Zarah Sultana and assorted other names resurrected from the glory days of the Magic Grandpa's leadership of the Labour Party?

    Let's put it this way: when Jezza is attacked as a right-wing entryist into his own party, then truly the wannabe revolutionaries have started devouring their own children.

    To recap, if by some unfortunate accident you missed the fun as it developed yesterday. Sultana began the day with a bright and breezy message to supporters, urging them to sign up for membership – a snip at just £5 a month, and an outright bargain at £55 for the year. The only problem is that this wasn't all it seemed, despite (according to reports later in the day) 22,000 people jumping aboard with their direct debit.

    The early giveaway that something was up was that the URL provided to sign up was very different to Your Party's actual site. The later giveaway was, however, a treat for the rest of us – an "urgent email" from Corbyn and four Independent Alliance MPs, with one name notably missing. Yup. For it was she. Cancel your direct debits, the other MPs told comrades. Ignore anything else you see – from the madwoman, they didn't need to add. "Legal advice is being taken".

    To which Sultana responded with a statement telling us that she had had to act on her own because the other five men had ensured she was "effectively frozen out… I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely."

    It must be galling for Sultana that even she could see that an accusation of Islamophobia wouldn't wash, given the religion of Jeremy's four comrades-not-in-arms-but-would-be-socialist-utopia. Still, there's the other explanation: "I have been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys' club", she wrote. (Far be it from me to point out that it can in fact be described in lots of other ways, and has been widely referred to as a sh-t show.)

    The problem is apparently entryism. By the founder of the party. Into his own party. Because he is a right-wing plant. Anyone with a heart must surely let it go out to those lefties who had fun in the sun during Labour's Corbynite glory years of 2015-2019 but have since disappeared from view, and who saw in Your Party the chance to live, laugh and love again, but have now seen it being snatched away over the course of one day. As one of them moaned on Twitter: "Appears there is a bit of a whispers campaign by the right-wing of Your Party who are acting in bad faith…" Damn those right-wingers. Damn Corbyn, that renowned right-wing eminence grise. As one wag put it: "Two Corbynites walk into a pub and fall out over the definition of Corbynism. One of them was Corbyn."

    For hard left, "the right" is always to blame for everything. It's never, of course, that they are petulant, idiotic, useless fools.

    Still, there is hope. The cry has apparently gone out to comrades that it's time to jump aboard the Greens, now they are led by super-duper Zack Polanski. It has a certain logic. Because a bunch of loons have shown conclusively just how loony they are, supporters of loonies everywhere should switch to a third loon who has yet to provide irrefutable proof that he too is a loon.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/19/corbyn-sultana-your-party-collapse-delicious

        1. He’s just managed to totter to the loo & back – he’s just going to make the tea & coffee, feed the cats and get back to normal. Yesterday was exhausting but we both slept well.

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