Friday 21 June: Why this Labour voter won’t be celebrating a landslide for Keir Starmer

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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496 thoughts on “Friday 21 June: Why this Labour voter won’t be celebrating a landslide for Keir Starmer”

  2. Morning everyone. Elsie bids me say that she has taken a longship on a pillaging expedition and that anyone wishing to see her last runes must refer to yesterday's page.

  3. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Todays (recycled) story.

    King Arthur and the Witch:

    Do not take this story lightly!

    Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighbouring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

    The question?
    What do women really want?

    Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

    He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

    Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.

    But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

    The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.

    The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!

    Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.

    He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur

    He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.

    Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:

    What a woman really wants, she answered…

    …is to be in charge of her own life.

    Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared.

    And so it was, the neighbouring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

    The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened

    The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.

    Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day – or night?

    Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?

    What would YOU do?

    What Lancelot chose is below.

    BUT….make YOUR choice before you scroll down below.

    OKAY?
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    Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

    Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life

    Now…what is the moral to this story?

    The moral is…
    If you don't let a woman have her own way…things are going to get ugly

      1. 388769+ up ticks,

        Morning JB,

        Long gone,probably to join the others of the covid jabbers SS, in South America.

        1. Hasn't his wife been to California already, to sort out their next home? He has no intention of staying here.

  5. Good Moaning.
    Madeline Grant is a good reason to keep the Tellygraff subscription running.
    A snippet from her account of last night's "leadership" shenanigans.

    "The boyband from Heaven’s waiting room – together at last"
    On the Ed Davey's grilling:

    "Were his paddle-boarding antics really “prime-ministerial”, asked another questioner. Sir Ed gulped. “On the day I went down that slide we were putting forward a very serious policy.” Of course, famously Neville Chamberlain announced we were at war with Germany from the teacup ride at Legoland, so fair play."

    1. Did anyone ask Davey about the Post Office Horizon scandal and his role in ignoring it?

  6. It was essentially like watching one of those video cassettes they used to sell in Woolworths in the 1990s, with Danny Baker narrating, and a title like Oops! Football Bloopers 3.
    England hit new low with dire performance too bad to be boring
    Jonathan Liew, The Guardian (ah that's where he's gone to from the DT).

    1. A convincing first twenty minutes where they ably grafted to get control… then it all fell apart.

      Over cautious Horse Face Southgate left his indelible mark on that one didn't he? I think his motto is: never take a penalty because you might miss.

  7. Teenagers who refuse National Service could forfeit driving licence, Sunak suggests. 21 June 2024.

    Young people who refuse to do national service could forfeit their driving licences and be denied access to student loans, Rishi Sunak has suggested.

    The Prime Minister said there would need to be “a set of sanctions and incentives” to ensure compliance with a new scheme proposed by the Tories.

    When asked how he would make youngsters take part, he suggested the UK could adopt punitive measures used by other European nations.

    These people have abandoned reality. There is absolutely no point in listening to their maunderings.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/20/general-election-question-time-bbc-debate-sunak-starmer/

    1. It's a bit late for punitive measures very Richie. Your the one who should be in prison, you and your party have completely effed up everything you have come into contact with.

    2. Liberals through and through, all of them. Will he be recommending young people be made to stand on a 'naughty step' too.

    3. I expect this suggestion to be put in the bank and raised by Lab in the following election to all those 16 year olds added to the electoral role.

        1. Oh, I don't know that they will refuse – all that free military training. What's not to like?

  9. Why this Labour voter won’t be celebrating a landslide for Keir Starmer

    I can't understand why anyone would vote Labour or for any of the mainstream parties, for that matter.

    1. I prefer to vote for a particular objective, rather than out of habit or tribal loyalty.

      This time round, my prime objective is to avoid any Government with a Labour or Conservative majority, thereby mitigating the worst that these two festering and rotten parties can do to the country as the electorate sorts itself out. None of the other parties can govern the UK with a majority, so this is not an issue with them, and I can be somewhat more charitable in my evaluation of them.

      Tactically, there is a choice between Lib Dem, Nationalist, Reform, Green, Workers or any popular local Independent. Which one in each constituency has the momentum and the excellence of candidate to achieve my objective?

      Sadly, in West Worcestershire it is none of them, so I cannot honour my objective in this election by voting. I hope others here who agree with me have better fortune.

      1. Make sure you put NOTA on the ballot then, Jeremy. I do agree in principle. I think we just have to endure the oncoming one party State. It's already that, but at least this time around it'll be nakedly obvious to the 'reasonable man on the Clapham Omnibus'.

        1. Freedom like trust is easily lost, but the very devil to get back.

          I spoilt my ballot paper in 2019, since none of the candidates on offer inspired me. I wrote in the name of a 14-year-old classical composer who, in her short life so far, had done more for British diplomacy travelling around the world (including lecturing Presidents Putin and Xi and was a particular favourite of the Austrian Chancellor), explaining the meaning and need for beauty, than any politician. Sadly, like so many teenagers with the spark of promise, she lacked staying power and, without good mentors to keep her on track, soon finds other passions, such as ballroom dancing at the Imperial Palace in Vienna and directing a production of Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’.

          The man on the Clapham Omnibus is more than likely not to have parents born in this country, nor owe any particularly loyalty to it or its people. He may even be carrying a knife in order to enforce “respect”. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Clapham, let alone ride one of its buses.

          If I have offended Londoners, or produced something that would be Gotcha’d by some political opponent eager to cancel me, I invite them now to explain below how I am so wrong about Clapham.

          1. But, but, but Clar'm is trendy, and where those who can't afford to go to Kensington go, my dear.

          2. Well yes, excellent point about Clapham Jeremy. It’s hardly the old legal average for the man in the street any longer, regrettably.

  10. Good morning all, after an overcast day yesterday, today looks like rain in Co Antrim. Think I'll return the sun cream for a refund.

  12. Election debate programmes without Farage participating are just like watching England try to play football without Grealish.

    1. Grealish has developed a super backpass in the last few years under Pep Boreiola.

    2. Grealish has developed a super backpass in the last few years under Pep Boreiola.

    3. You mean the 'do not rock the boat' so-called debate. I don't watch but I imagine it's more like a corporate committee meeting going on there.

  13. US says Ukraine can hit inside Russia ‘anywhere’ its forces attack across the border. 21 June 2024.

    The U.S. has told Ukraine it can use American-supplied weapons to hit any Russian forces attacking from across the border — not just those in the region near Kharkiv, according to U.S. officials.

    This will have come as no surprise. I would think that by now Vlad has accepted that he is actually fighting the United States and that it is a struggle for Russia’s very existence. His recent visit to North Korea and Vietnam to drum up support would strongly suggest so.. The US for its part has decided to sacrifice Europe in the cause of the American Hegemony. We are now simply waiting for the outbreak of open hostilities.

    https://www.politico.com/ne…

    1. I suspect that’s why our Prime Miniature and Macron decided to have (and possibly lose) elections before the sh1t hits the fan.

      Good morning Minty and all

      Still waiting for the arrival of the Queen of Sheba……

      1. Yes. I think you are right.
        Neither has to worry about where their next groat will come from.

          1. Sorry, George, You cannot mix currencies.

            A groat (4d) and Victorian could only look after Sovereigns.

          4. Why are Guineas not British? 1 Guinea = £1/1s/0d [£1.05]. Gemstones and other valuables are bought and sold in guineas. Also the 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas races are held, annually, in spring on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile.

          6. No. A sovereign was a pound (20/-). A guinea was a pound and a shilling (21/-). Two different names for two completely different amounts of money.

          7. I'll be happy to pay you the same number of sovereigns as I charge you in guineas…

          12. Different subject, George. You want to pay in Oat Groats (whatever they are!)?

      2. "I suspect that’s why our Prime Miniature and Macron decided to have (and possibly lose) elections before the sh1t hits the fan."

        Original. Nevertheless could even be true.

  14. Good morning all.
    A beautiful start to the day, clear skie, no discernable wind and 8°C on the Yard Thermometer.

      1. I have, JBF, and I just find it sad.

        Thankfully I won’t be around to see the effect on my children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren.

    2. Reminds me of the last years of Brezhnev.
      The Russians used to wheel him out until he was so dead, even the restorers of Lenin's mummy couldn't hide the truth.
      For the next few years, there were short lived General Secretaries/Chairmen. The one that made me smile was the happily named Andropov – who did precisely that in short order.

      1. Andropov, who interpreted an NHS Blood Donor campaign as being the UK preparing to attack the USSR!

  17. Helios has for once given us some sunshine.
    A glorious day for me to Waltz around in a scented breeze .
    Good morning from Audrey and myself x

  19. SIR – A Labour landslide with no opposition would be a disaster. After all, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
    We may end up looking back on the past 14 years as the good old days.

    David Coverdale
    Leeds, West Yorkshire

    The fact is, David, that anyone voting Labour would be A Fool For Your Loving of such a lame party. You would certainly Burn and feel Mistreated.

    “Power tends to corrupt.”
    “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
    “All politicians — at every level of politics, in every country in the world — are intrinsically corrupt.”
    “Cut any politician in half and you will see the word ‘corrupt’ written all through it like in a stick of Blackpool rock.”
    “Cutting all politicians in half, as you would do with a slug on your vegetables, is the only way to annihilate corruption.”

    1. Take a house-point for correct use of quotation marks. Rest of the class, take note.

      1. Thanks. I was brought up to the rule of single marks inside double marks. Sadly it seems that way is in the minority these days.

        1. This is one use of single and double quotation marks, where they are nested.

          I tend to use double marks for direct quotations, which I may or may not agree with, and single marks for specialist term or in lieu of italics or underlining, where I do not want emphasis.

        2. I volunteered to help edit a chapter of a book being published by a voluntary organisation. I was told to follow the "rules" one of which was single quotation marks first, then double inside the single. I queried this and was told that those were the rules. I didn't volunteer again.

    2. The old canard about power. Why do people trot that out all the time?

      The truth is that power tends to attract the corrupt, not the other way around.

        1. Still amounts to a corrupt one party state next time around, whichever way we put it.

    3. Labour always try and attract voters with promises. And robb as many people as they can get away with to try and fulfill their pre election lies.

    4. Oh dear, Grizz, it looks like no one picked up on your David Coverdale puns.

      Where's Stig?

  20. Phew.
    Now finished Antony Beevor's "Russia Revolution and Civil War 1917 – 1921".
    I was vaguely aware that there had been trouble after 1917, but I have learnt a lot. Very harrowing to read. In fact, I could only read 2 or 3 chapters at a time before needing a break.
    The cruelty and contempt for human life precedes the Nazis by several years. In fact, some practices were familiar, but are normally only attributed to the Germans.
    By the end of the book, I was amazed that any Russians survived. Apparently the death toll is reckoned to be 12 million.
    The era was bizarre mixture of mediaeval and modern.
    On the one hand, both sides were using recognisably modern developments like cars, radio, telephones and aeroplanes. On the other hand, their set battles were cavalry charges complete with sabre waving.
    The Whites deserved to lose; but the Reds didn't deserve to win.

    1. Morning Anne. Russians have an Asian mentality, probably a left over from the Mongol conquests. This partly explains their indifference to their losses in Ukraine. Suffering and tragedy are a part of the Russian experience. This makes them formidable opponents.

      1. Mentality shown starkly by the Viet Cong and slammers. When life has little value, your enemy has no fear.

    2. "The Whites deserved to lose; but the Reds didn't deserve to win" ; plus ca change, just think of today's Tories as Whites.

  21. good moaning all.

    Why is the headline news in the DT all about ‘ COrbyn would have made a better PM than Johnson?” How utterly fatuous.

    1. Good morning vw. Fatuousness is the most prominent brand of modern journalism.

      You're welcome.

    2. It is moot whether Corbyn would have made a better PM than Johnson, but there can be little doubt that he would have made a better PM than Starmer, a spiritless amalgam of Blair and Liz Truss in the body of a dodgy London lawyer who got his knighthood prosecuting the innocent and letting the guilty off with protected status.

      No wonder they are engineering him a landslide.

  22. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely start once again could get use to this.
    I'm not sure what the headline today means, which labour voters?
    Sensible people should vote Reform it's really the only way to get out political idiots into order, they've been stuffing it up the British public for years.

    1. The problem we now have is that thanks to Blair and the wrecking crew politicians no longer actually have any power.
      It has been handed to the civil service, judges and quangos.

      1. That's why I mentioned them as often as possible.
        They are all garbage the whole of Wastemonster and Whitehall need a clearance notice.
        But because of the pre mentioned, we have no effective army anymore.

      2. All of whom were politicised first by Thatcher and then by Blair, and none of them elected and therefore publicly accountable, or even appointed by merit by a respected national figurehead, such as the Sovereign, or even there by fate and destiny arrived at by random selection and on balance therefore reasonably politically neutral.

        1. Whilst I appreciate that Thatcher is your own particular bête noir, she did nothing even remotely as damaging to Britain as the Blair years. If there was a politicisation under Conservative administrations it came from Heath and Barber

          1. They did have a code of integrity though, and you couldn’t enter the Civil Service without it. Thatcher spent two years getting the Civil Service to do what she wanted, by sidelining troublesome “wets” and promoting those who were “one of us”. She also made use of special advisers, who were not beholden to any ethical code.

            I remember well meetings during the S.W.Surrey by-election in 1984, when the Liberals brought over a newly-retired senior Civil Servant (Sir Bob Marshall was his name if I recall) who explained in some detail the process. This was in the days when there were public political meetings. These days, it’s all about tightly-controlled TV debates.

            You are right about Blair. His “reforms” went much further than Thatcher dared, and the Civil Service Code was rewritten, abolishing integrity and replacing it with social justice compliance. He also politicised the judiciary, creating an American-style “Supreme Court” that could be controlled from the Commons.

            I was too young to take in what Heath and Barber did, other than to vote them out on my 18th birthday.

          2. What Thatcher did was intended to be constructive, what Blair did was intended to be destructive, huge difference.

        2. The politicisation of the Civil Service began decades before Mrs. Thatcher even became PM as the OxBridge educated Marxists wormed their way into the CS and worked their way up the corridors of power.

          2. They sorted out the Marxists by the 1970s, and I had to sign a declaration that I was not and never had been a Communist. I did declare I had visited an Iron Curtain country on a cultural exchange in 1979, and wouldn’t have missed that experience for the world.

            I think the Oxbridge Marxists were more borne of complacency and/or naïvety. Upper class chaps were not like that, you know. Mind you, they still handed over to the USSR our nuclear secrets before they were found out. I doubt that today their equivalent would even make it to a police notebook.

            There are plenty of traitors amid the global market speculators, the Muslims, and all sorts of Entitlement movements such as BLM, Feminists and Pride, as well as old-fashioned foreign Government intrigue operators including the Russians and the Israelis. The last of these brought down the British Leader of the Opposition whose unexpected popularity denied Theresa May her majority and who has now been pushed out of his party by a man whose own political integrity is very dubious, and yet is being pushed hard to be our next PM with absolute power.

      1. NF was not invited because the four who were are leaders of parties which had more MPs than any other party. How many MPs were from Reform?

  24. I don’t want “activists” though.

    ”SIR – Cornflour – the substance thrown by Just Stop Oil protesters over Stonehenge – is probably one of the least harmful things for the rocks.
    Turning Stonehenge orange scores high on impact and low on damage. Isn’t that what we want from activists? David Burton
    Dorking, Surrey”

  25. On getting home yesterday evening I opened my personally addressed letter from the Tory PPC for North Dorset, one Simon Hoare.
    In it he proceeds to explain how wonderful he is and a protest vote (voting Green, LibDem, or Reform) is just what Starmer wants as that will let Labour in by the back door.

    No Mr. Hoare, Labour will in all probability get in through the front door because your grubby little party has betrayed the people who voted for you and the rest of our great nation and squandered an 80 seat majority.
    Now kindly go fuck yourself.

    2. Look be careful.

      Here in South Dorset we are destined to have a Labour MP.. a chap whose family own a fish and chip shop in Weymouth , but who wandered off to London , as a Camden Councillor .

      Dorset Council is now majority Liberal Democrat .. They are dead keen on more cycle lanes on our narrow roads and other strange climate ideas .

      Our Tory MP is a nice person , landowner etc , back bencher , but disliked by many Labour party incomers .

      Despite a smattering of blue signs , he is on wobbly ground .

      Heaven forfend the rural community will be in for a real hammering if Libdem or Labour grab the seat.

  26. anyone else noticed a “lurch to the right”???

    “SIR – Throughout my adult life I have held views that would be considered moderately Right-of-centre. I have always voted Tory, believing in compassionate conservatism.
    However, at this election there is no party representing my feelings, or those of millions of other people who would class themselves as “soft-right”.
    Labour is now reminiscent of Tony Blair’s party, but it is still Left-wing. The Liberal Democrats have become a centre-left party. The Conservatives, through the efforts of people like Suella Braverman, and because of the threat from Reform, have lurched to the Right. This means that a whole swathe of voters like me have effectively been disenfranchised.
    Michael Thomas Uffington, Oxfordshire”

    2. Mike – Since you are stupid enough to think the Tories have "lurched to the Right", you really don't deserve a vote!

    4. Reform is centre right. Why is it referred to as hard-right or far-right. It's just very right to me. Why do they think that people will be duped by their twisting language like this. I suppose people like Michael Thomas Uffington are easily duped. I actually wonder if he actually exists or if he is just more woke propaganda?

  27. "He (Matthew Parris) also asks, would you want your daughter to marry Nigel Farage? A litmus test, it seems."

    The question that springs to mind: Would you like your son to marry Matthew Parris?

    Matthew Parris and the Tory liberals who have killed off the family : By Laura Perrins in the Conservative Woman today.
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/matthew-parris-and-the-tory-liberals-who-have-killed-off-the-family/

    I THINK I have Matthew Parris derangement syndrome.

    He has written a piece in the Spectator saying how if the Tories move right after their inevitable crushing defeat, he’ll leave the party. What a loss.

    He also asks, would you want your daughter to marry Nigel Farage? A litmus test, it seems.

    ‘Writing in the Telegraph last week, Petronella Wyatt said the test should be how you’d feel about this man marrying your daughter. You’d shudder, wouldn’t you? At their peril do party strategists underestimate the potency of the shudder. When the Tories crash next month it will not be because they failed to win over Reform supporters, but – at least in part – because they tried to.’

    Well, Nige is getting a bit on for the blushing millennials, but who knows, maybe he’s a bombshell in the sack.

    The bigger and much more serious point is that because of the social liberals like Matthew Parris and the rest of the morons in the Conservative Party, the marriage rate has collapsed as well as the fertility rate.

    So very few daughters – only those in the upper middle class really – are marrying anyone, even counting in the sham of ‘gay marriage’. No one is getting married to Nigel Farage or indeed to anyone else any more. That’s the point.

    So best of luck with the match-making. But university-educated millennials are not getting married or having children, so I think Matthew-cum-matron will struggle.

    1. He ought to have left the party a very long time ago. As usual Parris is going to stamp his petulant foot and have a hissy fit. Quelle surprise.

      The biggest problem with his type is that after they've finished bawling and slammed the door on their way out they blinking well come back as a sullen sulky brat to irk us some more.

    2. Gay Parris? Self confessed woofter who cruised Clapham common. Forty years ago he claimed there were as many as sixty fellow cottagers in Parliament. He wouldn't want any man to marry a daughter. He probably got Jimmy Savile's 'autograph' – but it wouldn't have been made with a biro.

  28. I seem to have come down with a nasty dose of steam railway illness and so have decided to visit the Bure Valley Railway today. See you all later!

  29. A gentle reminder to voters;

    it's not a good idea voting for a grown man that bends his knee in public.
    never place your trust in a Trot lawyer.. ever.
    and if you don’t control your mind, someone else will.

    1. I discovered that one of our legal trainees at work believes that innocent until proven guilty refers to the accuser and not the accused and when I repeated this to a friend who's a lawyer he said but Sue, you have to understand that you don't need to be intelligent to be a lawyer.

  30. Mark Rutte set to be next Nato head after rival withdraws – as it happened. 21 June 2024.

    Klaus Iohannis, the Romanian president, has withdrawn from the race to become the next Nato secretary-general, paving the way for Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte – long considered the frontrunner for the job– to formally get the post.

    I wonder how much they paid him to assuage his disappointment?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jun/20/putin-vietnam-north-korea-russia-ukraine-war-live-updates

    1. Good morning, Minty

      As I posted yesterday: Rutte is now absolutely loathed in Holland. He is a WEF stooge, environmental fanatic and a dangerous idiot who wants to destroy agriculture and make us all eat insects farmed by Gates.

      It seems the less you are liked and the more you are despised by your compatriots the higher the position you will be given in international organisations .

    2. Good morning, Minty

      As I posted yesterday: Rutte is now absolutely loathed in Holland. He is a WEF stooge, environmental fanatic and a dangerous idiot who wants to destroy agriculture and make us all eat insects farmed by Gates.

      It seems the less you are liked and the more you are despised by your compatriots the higher the position you will be given in international organisations .

    1. May I join you

      Wordle 1,098 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Can I come?

        Wordle 1,098 3/6

        🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
        🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. And me!

          Wordle 1,098 3/6

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

    2. Birdie Blitz! Just like Rory last weekend….oh…..

      Wordle 1,098 3/6

      🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. I was commanded to go to the docs and not the docks. I was a bit wobbly this morning. Also realised I might not be able to climb back up from the Fowey estuary or expect my to fishing friends to carry me.

          1. Good lord! The sensible option! Wonders will never cease.

            May things get sorted pdq; I am not happy at the thought of a wobbly sunfish x

    3. He cancelled his fishing trip and went to the DRs after getting a lot of advice off here.

    4. Went to the doctors after cancelling the fishing. I'm doing fine thanks. A possible ITA. Being looked into.

    2. Don't quite understand. The root domain – gov.uk – is legitimate. Google independently for other government services and you go back to gov.uk.

      The URL can't redirect without someone able to create the link making it do so. I'm not really sure what this is.

  37. The 50 best TV comedies of all time – ranked. 21 June 2024

    Our hand-picked selection of the 50 top TV comedies ever mixes homegrown hits with imported gems, live action with animation, recent picks with vintage favourites. We agonised over what to include and what to leave out, with the likes of To the Manor Born, Red Dwarf, The Young Ones, Open All Hours and Ever Decreasing Circles only narrowly missing the cut. Feel free, of course, to tell us what we’ve forgotten in the comments below.

    Fawlty Towers comes out as number one which is pretty difficult to disagree with. There are very few from the last twenty years which is no surprise since the Wokeys have killed humour.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/best-comedy-shows-all-time/

    1. Most of those in the list completely passed me by – but Fawlty towers and Dad's Army, The Good Life and Yes Minister were good. And Porridge………..

    2. Watched Desmond's with Junior the other day and he said 'I like this, it's funny.' because it wasn't solely about the colour of the characters.

      Then we watched Open All Hours and he liked that even more.

  38. We know all this, Moggy, but it's way down the list of subjects to be discussed in this faux election.

    Any organisation will succeed or fail on the basis of its recruitment. There should be no barriers. It should choose whoever it wishes to. If a black man wants only black employees, that's his business.

    Labour would allow wokery to destroy capitalism

    Rachel Reeves' economic plan would wreck Britain's economy. Let's not let it happen

    JACOB REES-MOGG • 20 June 2024 • 1:55pm

    The market economy has been the greatest engine of human prosperity. It works because it allows us to flourish as individuals, free to pursue enterprises as we see fit. This is the guiding principle of prosperity and it should never be forgotten.

    While many of the great deregulations and tax cuts from the 1980s remain in place, economic growth is threatened by the two forces of woke capitalism: diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) rules on the one hand, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rules on the other.

    As research for Legatum Institute's new report Woke Capitalism in Britain shows, these are strangling the economy and reducing the innovation and economic dynamism that the British people need.

    The damage that woke capitalism does is immense: it means employers can't hire people on merit, they must tick boxes and meet quotas instead. It means that businesses must spend time and money accounting for carbon emissions, and that the oil and gas industry in the North Sea is unable to finance its operations, which keep our lights on, the country's factories running and everyone's home warm.

    Even worse, woke capitalism means if you say the wrong thing, or have the wrong views, you could find your business unable to open a bank account, or even have your own personal bank account closed down. While the Conservative government acted to stop this, after the PayPal account of the Free Speech Union was shut down and Nigel Farage had his bank account closed by Coutts and NatWest, the ideas being floated by the Labour Party would make this entire situation worse.

    Ed Miliband, Labour's Shadow Energy Secretary, wants to force company directors to report on their carbon footprints and redirect private capital to supposedly green initiatives. What does this look like in practice? It means businesses of all shapes and sizes being refused loans or access to capital unless they follow Labour's green rules and regulations. This would take de-banking to an entirely new level.

    It doesn't stop there. Today's Labour Party is little changed from the party which destroyed British pensions when Gordon Brown was chancellor. Instead of conducting tax raids on pension funds, Brown's successor, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, will destroy the public's investments and savings through regulation and woke capitalism.

    By gold-plating ESG rules and forcing pension funds and asset managers to make investments in poorly-performing ESG projects, a prospective Labour government will damage British prosperity and the livelihoods and retirements of the British people.

    Just as the global economy turns its back on the flawed ideas behind ESG, and takes a more rational approach to Net Zero, the Labour Party wants to entrench them in law.

    Labour will put a "Race Equality Act" into law, forcing new and divisive rules on all British businesses. This policy will take woke capitalism and ESG ideas to an extreme new step. So far, Labour have said they will force diversity-related reporting requirements on all firms, and will upend procurement rules so businesses owned by people from particular ethnic groups unfairly benefit.

    This means no more hiring on merit; form-filling to prove that a company's workforce is sufficiently "diverse", and taxpayers' money being spent on contracts for companies which achieve political goals rather than deliver public services and good value for money.

    Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has criticised the Companies Act for putting the people who own businesses first. They want to dictate how businesses run their affairs, and put the government first, not business owners.

    The Better Business Act campaigner, Mary Portas, introduced Rachel Reeves at Labour Party conference in 2023. This group wants to force companies, of all sizes, to follow net zero rules and social engineering ideas. If you own a business, a Labour government will tell you how to run it.

    Labour wants to hand more powers to regulators, killing democracy and prosperity. An even more powerful Bank of England, which couldn't control inflation for nearly three years. An OBR which stops an elected government from cutting taxes, and forces Britain to continue her reliance on low-skill, low-productivity immigration. This is woke capitalism in action. It has to be stopped.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/20/labour-would-allow-wokery-to-destroy-capitalism/

    1. Why are all these Conservative politicians bemoaning what Labour will do when they come to power?

      If they had acted like proper Conservative politicians — nay, statesmen — when they had more than ample opportunity to do so, then there would be no chance of the country voting in a Labour administration.

      2. To be fair to Grease-Smogg he is far more conservative than Sunak and his government.

        The trouble was that nobody listened to him. I suppose Jacob was a smooth man rather than a hairy one like his brother Esau but maybe Benedick would have been a better Christian name for him than Jacob.

        As Beatrice said to her unenthusiastic suitor in Much Ado About Nothing:

        I wonder that you will still be talking, Signor Benedick. Nobody marks you.

        (JRM and David Frost must be at the head of the queue to join Reform after the election.)

  39. Have any Nottlers made use of a DNA Family tree test ? I'm quite keen to have this investigation while I still can. There are several different services advertised at vastly different prices, but it's difficult to be confident in an honest outcome. I think I know most of my paternal family background, but the maternal is a bit of a mystery. And there is no one left now, who would know.

    2. I have traced my Family Tree back to 530 (Egil, King in Sweden, Uppsala) but have never had it 'tested'.

      What is the test and where may I find it?

      1. Ancestry apparently have the best one – you'll find lots more rellies coming out of the woodwork if you do.

        1. Done it already, Jules and only 4th cozs n times removed but a definite Scandinavian ancestry according to DNA.

      2. Ancestry apparently have the best one – you'll find lots more rellies coming out of the woodwork if you do.

      3. You apply to a company, there are various options. But I’m not sure which one would be best. I believe that you send throat swabs and they can analyse your decendantcy as in where from originally.

    3. No. I've traced my parentage back as far as the English records go, but I'm not interested in them having my DNA. I know I'm English to the core (apart from the Welsh bit).

    4. It's not too difficult to trace them back using b-m-d records, there are free sites and paying ones – I've used both.

      1. I’ve got a family tree for my father’s side it goes back to around 1700.
        But I’ve always had the impression we are from other European decent.

        1. You can track the English ones back through the records, and parish records prior to 1837, but I don’t know about other countries – there’s a lot on Ancestry though.

          1. I believe it can be tracked in the local library for free.
            My good lady is a volunteer at ours.
            But I don’t think I can sit and concentrate that long. It’s not in my nature.

          2. Over 20 years ago I used to go and sit in the local records office and trawl through micro fiche till I was cross-eyed. It’s a lot easier these days now you can do it at home online. I’ve used Ancestry and Find My Past and they are good but quite expensive. I let my subscriptions lapse some time ago but occasionally get tempted back with discounted offers. My current Ancestry one expires next month, and I’ve cancelled the automatic renewal.

            But there are free sites – Free BMD is a good place to start, also Free Reg, which has parish records. The 1881 census has free transcriptions and is a good place to start. The census is invaluable but not entirely accurate as people have always lied. But gradually you get used to the quirks of different sites and use the clues you have found elsewhere.

            See my reply to Roughcommon re my gt grandmother’s date of birth.

    5. My brother did our family tree. It became apparent that our father wasn't my elder sisters father. She punched him in the mouth for it.

        1. She always was a bruiser. Assaulted me and then said i had attacked her. Brother got punched and my other sister held by the neck up against the wall. I no longer have anything to do with her. Gaslighter that she is.
          I have an event coming up soon and my other sister will be a guest. It will be the first time i have seen her in 15 years. I had to make the break from all the family as they were driving me nuts.

    6. I'm very wary of what happens to the records.
      Governments have a habit of 'acquiring' such useful information.

  40. Now it seems that hooded shit Galloway wants to write off the royals but keep Anne as a president.
    Of course things have changed since QE2 passed on. She was a wonderful person.
    But who the hell does he think he is to try to destroy our focus on thousands of years of heritage. If you don't like it (polite) clear off.

    1. I loved and seriously miss QEII, One of our most beloved (world-wide) monarchs.

      I cannot see KCIII replacing her!

      1. I feel the same Tom.
        I almost welled up when they made her sit alone at Phillip’s funeral.

        1. I felt bloody homicidal.
          How very dare such grey little people treat her in that manner.

    3. Sit on a bench with a beautiful dog and the world is yours.

      "Was für ein wunderschöner Hund!"

      2. We pootle down to the shoreline in weather like this. Mongo battles into the sea, Oscar barks at it. They jump about, swim a bit then get out and shake then Oscar sits there panting and Mongo comes along to lean on me and occassionally when he puts his paw on my shoulder reminds me he likes me nearly as much as he likes Junior.

        Yes, sometimes you think … why can't this be the entirety of life?

      3. Taking Kadi to a fun dog show tomorrow (church fete). I entered Oscar a couple of years ago, not long after I'd had him. I was very proud – we didn't win, but he didn't bite the judge 🙂

        1. Our Newfoundland, Nelson, was always the subject of attention on walkabouts wherever we went. He could have been a show dog if he didn’t insist on sitting down in the ring.

  44. Good morning and hello, everyone! I'm back! Reconnected with the world thanks (ha ha) to BT and Sky. It seems we were wired and connected to the wrong box 100s of yards away, discovered only when we changed internet provider from Virgin to Sky. Five visits were required to fix this. And we've just returned from a chilly week's holiday in south Devon to the news that our daughter-in-law is expecting our third grandchild. Both our son and d-i-l are in their forties.

    I hope everyone is well and present and correct although I have just read only a few posts down and all is not well for molamola?

    I am busy atm with family stuff until after the weekend and d-i-l not well, just stopping by to put my head round the door.

    1. Congratulations! Grandma-and-bar! How lovely is that?
      Don't worry about he age – we were 40 when Second Son was born. One just has less energy for the child, but more experience, so things even out.

        1. Interesting. My mother was 40 and father was 48. The downside of course is that I was 32 when father died and 58 when mother followed. They were aged 80 and 97 respectively.

          1. I was just 11 when my father died but was 36 when my mother departed. They were 60 and 78 respectively.

            Seems like a common trait, Sue.

          2. My mother was 39 when I was born, and father 35. Sadly he died at 39, when I was four. Mum made it to 80, when I was 41. I think I've become more like her as I've aged.

  45. Well this awkward,explains a lot
    https://x.com/ricwe123/status/1803573320367088043
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1b7c3b74bc277a04d9d811299b0f1d3a5df2033a66d8d632bb174e533c7c001.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4bf0ec749dd6f78c899d7b4afa2dc9db5219389b8f29139790ad5638ca4056ee.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de865ba260a16678364ed961a3b9bded3cbef9634644ee48fb49799b84d21e2b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f14d41f798a1891d4b9d3f3759242a997b540b44f89d9b4e785eebcf0be18d5.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a56b096eddbcb0e46e64311430ec45602f8325ca80905030127f72cd3ddfd2cb.jpg

    1. Labour, t' party for t'working man.

      Once.

      Now, when Welsh steel workers are threatened with redundancy? A dead silence.

      Oh, all those wonderful new jobs in the wonderful new green industries!
      What will those jobs actually be though? And in which specific industries?
      Starmer never seems to mention that.

      I suppose it's like our electricity bills, which will fall "in the long run" under the green Starmernomics.

      The Green Fairyland – always just around the next bend, but never ever arriving.

    2. Is that a Tory campaign ad? Really? For goodness sake. The Welsh steel plant. Fertiliser costs. The demented net zero farce? 35bn on windmills and another 700bn promised in subsidy over 15 years. 70% tax on oil and gas exploration. Good grief. It's as if they think people are stupid.

      The sad thing is, people are.

          1. It was the end of the tax year.
            The IRS sent an auditor to the local hospital to audit their books
            The tax inspector asked the Chief Finance officer what they did with the little bits of plaster left on the rolls.
            The CFO said we save them all up and send them back to the company and a few weeks later they send us a free box.
            The tax inspector said…you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end bits.
            The CFO said we save them all up and send them back to the company. A few weeks later they send us a free box.
            The Inspector trying to catch him out asks and what do you do with all the foreskins you remove.
            The CFO says we save them all up and send them to the IRS.
            A few weeks later they send us a complete dick.

          2. A lady goes to her priest and says i have a problem.
            The priest says what can i do to help.
            The lady says i have two female parrots and the only thing they say is hi we're hookers, fancy having some fun?
            The priest says that is obscene.
            He said i have two male parrots that i have taught how to pray. Bring over your parrots and my parrots will teach yours to pray too.
            The lady arrives at the priests house with her parrots.
            She notices his two male parrots in their cage holding rosaries in their claws and praying.
            She puts her two parrots in the cage with them. Silence.
            After a few minutes the female parrots say hi we're hookers, fancy having some fun?
            The male parrot looks at his friend and says put the beads away Frank, our prayers have been answered..

          3. A Nun was teaching class. She asked what part of the body goes to heaven first when you die?
            Little Susan said i think it is your hands.
            The Nun asked why she thought so.
            Little Susan said because you hold your hands out in front of you when praying and God takes you by the hands.
            Very good Susan.
            Little Johnnie put his hand up and the Nun said yes Johnnie. Which part of the body do you think goes to heaven first?
            Little Johnnie said i think it is your feet.
            Puzzled, the Nun said why do you think that Johnnie?
            Little Johnnie said i walked into mums bedroom and her feet were in the air and she said oh God i'm coming. If it wasn't for Dad pinning her down we would have lost her.

    1. Ofcom is stacked with ex BBC types. It's done so deliberately to ensure consensus to the Left wing state. Every regulator serves the demands of big government first and only.

      1. They obvs don’t follow up references or past history. If it looks good on paper …

        ETA: I remember reading not that long ago, maybe a year or so, about a man who’d been CEO of a National Health Trust for something like 20 odd years with all sorts of relevant qualifications and experience. It was all false.

    3. From Coffee House, the Spectator.

      If only Britain knew how it was viewed abroad
      If the country were a person, it would need its friends to sit it down and deliver it a few home truths about its damaging behaviour to itself and others, says Michael Peel

      Comments Share
      A London-based foreign correspondent is probably not the target audience of Michael Peel’s latest book. Indeed, what Peel (himself a former Financial Times correspondent in Lagos, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok and Brussels) discusses in eight lively, well-researched chapters won’t come as a surprise to any of his UK-based foreign colleagues: how Britain is perceived abroad; and how little it seems to permeate the national consciousness. This blindness – or the British inability to realise how they appear to others, as opposed to the image they have of themselves – often has foreign correspondents pulling their hair in disbelief. If only Britain knew how it was seen!

      One senses that Peel’s return to London from Tokyo after 13 years of foreign postings must have felt like a crash landing. The filth, the erratic, if not nightmarish, transport system, and the overall mess, loom large in the first pages:

      Within months of being back, I felt that if Britain were a person, it would need its friends to sit it down and deliver it a few home truths. It has had a rough time lately. At an institutional level, it has damaged others, and increasingly itself, with its behaviour. It urgently needs to allow its many better qualities to flourish.

      If Britain were indeed a person, one could add that it suffers from body dysmorphic disorder and mythomania.

      Most popular
      Freddy Gray
      Why are Joe Biden’s poll numbers improving?

      Peel begins by examining what he calls Britain’s ‘trick mirror’ before weaving together personal memories with analyses of polls and interviews with academics, politicians and diplomats. Citing a 2016 Ipsos study of people’s views on certain topics, he reminds us that ‘some of the most grievous UK misapprehensions concern how the country is changing as a result of immigration’. Britons thought 15 per cent of the population were Muslim when the real figure was 4.8 per cent, and that EU nationals also accounted for 15 per cent – three times the actual level.

      Such distortions occur in many countries; but in the UK overestimates of immigration and misapprehensions about its negative impact have opened the way to harsh policies, such as the Rwanda deportation scheme for asylum seekers. It also played a part in the Brexit vote – which leads us to one of the most striking chapters in the book, ‘The Nostalgia Trap’. Here, he details the experience of the German historian Frank Trentmann at Birkbeck, who prepared for the UK citizenship exam, only to discover a warped official view of history, the kind which enabled ministers such as Suella Braverman to present a sanitised version of British history:

      In a September 2023 speech in the US, she argued that the UK has ‘a proud history of human rights dating back to Magna Carta’. At a stroke, she eliminated entirely the country’s responsibility for crimes of the past eight centuries.

      Trentmann was so shocked that he drafted an open letter calling for reforms:

      More than 600 historians signed it. The letter is part of a building effort to force the Home Office to revise the citizenship test material. It is a campaign that, as of December 2023, the government had mostly resisted.

      Peel mixes his perspective on Britain with his experience of other countries, such as the Philippines and Thailand. ‘The phenomenon of political nostalgism takes many forms. In the Philippines, the government is rewriting the history books. In the UK, it is refusing to do so.’ His Bangkok posting allows him to compare ‘both royalty’s enduring power and its underlying fragility’. In the chapter entitled ‘Flawed Prophets’, he cannot help wondering at the institutions which propelled Boris Johnson and Liz Truss to Downing Street: ‘Johnson’s rise was an example of the considerable rewards British-style elitism has often offered for failure.’

      Peel tries to remain polite when he cites last year’s paper Global Britain in a Competitive Age:

      The document makes a string of questionable exceptionalist assertions, including that Britain has ‘uniquely global interests, partnerships and capabilities’ – a claim that might surprise other countries with similar feelings. The idea that Britain has a ‘global perspective and global responsibilities’ sounds like a gentler rewrite of the imperialist idea of the ‘white man’s burden’.

      For Peel, Tories, Labour and the country as a whole, need to accept that ‘Brexit has been a colossal waste of time, money and attention’. Since 2016, ‘too many troubles facing the country have been sidelined’. What Britain needs, he concludes, is not so much a revolution as a reboot.

      1. If Britain needs a "reboot" it is most certainly NOT from the EU, the USA, the WEF, or any of the other corrupt institutions that have largely contributed to the double-think and corruption which infests this country. Or their cheerleaders.

      2. Peel sounds like a man few on here would wish to meet. Brexit was only 'a colossal waste of time' because the traitorous May and Civil Service dragged it out for as long as possible.

        He also sneers at mistaken population figures, ignoring the point that the correct figures are still awful, showing than 1 in 20 are Ropers and another 1 in 20 post-2004 EU.

        And as for 'the crimes of the past eight centuries'…

      3. If muslim is only 4.8% of the population then why is an entire quarter of Soton overrun with them? Why is London so polluted? Luton? Sheffield? Leeds?

        Simply put, the official statistics also put the population at 67 million, only a few million above what it was in 1997 yet supermarkets who measure footfall for reasons of sale estimate it at closer to 85 million. Who is to be trusted? A state with an agenda or an organisation without?

        It's the same as the Tories – and labour – claiming they won't put up tax or have reduced taxes. They happily ignore all the allowances, reliefs, duties they have reduced or hiked.. oh, those aren't 'taxes', they squeal.

    4. How is Britain viewed abroad? I’ve lived most of my life abroad. In my experience People the UK, its culture, its traditions and even history tends to inspire admiration.
      Yes, a few embittered detractors, but too few to mention.
      A sad little article.

    5. Did nobody do any checks? The Royal Navy would have his records.
      Shouldn't at least one interviewer have done the maths and worked out his age?

      1. As one who has gone through positive vetting (before joining the nuclear industry) I'm surprised that this position didn't attract the same level of vetting as everything about you is investigated unless of course he was shoehorned in for a backhander – we should be told. Hope he lost his pension although I guess his 'mates' will ensure he keeps it

  51. A white horse goes into a pub and asks for a whisky
    Barman says "Certainly, would that be a Teachers, Bells , Johnny Walker? We even have a whisky named after you"
    The horse say "What? Eric?"

  52. A white horse goes into a pub and asks for a whisky
    Barman says "Certainly, would that be a Teachers, Bells , Johnny Walker? We even have a whisky named after you"
    The horse say "What? Eric?"

  53. Cancelled fishing and went to the Doc instead.
    Wasn't feeling great first thing so I was commanded to call the surgery. Had an appointment quite quickly. Doc says might be TIA but will have to wait on bloods. Thanks for the help yesterday, everyone.

    5. All best, mola. Missed yesterday, but hope you are on the path to speedy recovery.

    10. Good. Not the possible TIA, of course, – but the fact that you heeded advice.

    1. The French are known for decapitating their overlords. Time Madame G was brought out of retirement.

    2. Then deploy the military and shoot them. They're not welcome, not wanted and if they get uppity then best off they were dealt with as any vermin are.

  55. I took a bimble along the Stour at Wimborne this morning after visiting Canford Magna Parish Church, with the original Saxon building being incorporated into the enlarged building as a Chancel in the 12th century.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/69a058481a31ff7f865e4a394f48995f06b7b47ab2af7f0e304487c1837e8391.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/064cf669433dac3ed836a4eb47ae6bc7de7f2fc51b4bd325e0dc2c026b485c2e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad97fca22367308ca8dbf0f8bddef71b78c3152292e64c3aa774f701d2204b0d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3239a41cc6fc41ec8d92b2fd79427cba39498aa8ea33ad4f6989c9ba95dd454e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84925ad09a11af4b2bcc6dcc4683b3f5fe2f8d201835bb5f5df920a1cca11762.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b90dca663dc1b9dfc337ac573d68624d1496917d1c1a67757a441258abe6cc2c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20634c052a1be8c0cfef6a4a92f0497057d6337c04178ce34ed75c080f7da275.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ecd5b9990b1bf065654eaca270f69485d9e4e224b57f3dc6f11442f72a5544c2.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e91f3025dd59da8c761b210e676afdacd313edb21a89d142610451c485af8c3.jpg

      1. I am fortunate to live in a beautiful part of a beautiful country. I sometimes find it difficult to comprehend that I said a prayer and had a bit of a stare into space in a building people have been using for those things for nearly 1,500 years.

    2. Fun fact: Peter Aliss & Richard Todd went to the old Wimborne Grammar school founded in 1497.. survived a fire but not Anthony Crosland. Then further up the Stour.. Canford Hogwarts School flourished in the early 21st century however succumbed to a thousand VAT hikes in 2029.

  56. Olaf Scholz addresses the Progressive Governance Summit. 21 June 2024.

    Olaf Scholz said conflicts around the globe are “creating an atmosphere of insecurity.”

    He also spoke of changes in technology, including artificial intelligence, and the question of climate change.

    “All these things are happening at the same time,” he said, noting that it’s important to give people a perspective that there will be a good outcome.

    No kidding? I wonder why that is?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jun/21/europe-live-french-far-right-candidate-attacked-olaf-scholz-progressive-governance-summit

    2. Who could possibly be generating that 'atmosphere of insecurity'?
      I couldn't give a toss for their fake 'climate change' – but we'll all be poorer and less secure when they keep going for 'Net Zero'.

    3. 'Progressive governance summit'. You never hear of a 'Right wing plan for the future' do you? It's always Lefties who want power.

      AI at the moment is a glorified search engine. It's as intelligent as Mongo. Climate change is not a question, it's a tax scam. A hoax designed to soak money from the earner and move it to people like, well, the 'progressive governance' wasters. Rather these people are asking 'how can we force people to comply with our demands.

      The best outcome is for organisations such as 'the progressive governance summit' to disappear. True AI would eradicate them completely.

      1. "As intelligent as Mongo" but without the hugs. Yes, just data retrieval. The Egalitarian Myth is of course predicated on a lust for power. As you and I know all too well, genuine equality of opportunity does not produce equality of outcome. Equality of outcome can only be achieved by unjust manipulation. By the exercise of power.

  58. Phew!
    Took t'Van ower t' t'Mill to have a roof ventilator fitted.
    Began what ought to have been a half hour job of changing the rubber washer on the cold water tap on the bath and it degenerated from a quick "turn off at stop cock, remove handle, chrome shroud and tap mechanism, change washer, reassemble" to "turn off at stop cock, remove handle, chrome shroud and TRY to remove tap mechanism."
    Then remover side panel, disconnect tap from cold water pipe, remove whole tap from bath after finding suitable sized spanners, take tap up to the shed to use vice, dissemble tap, replace washer, reassemble tap, look for Plumber's Mate sealant after the DT & Welder son had been tidying up, refit tap, turn cold water stop cock on, check for leaks, luckily there were none and bath side panel.
    Then get Graduate son to tidy up after me because I was bloody knackered!

    Walk over t' t'mill to pick up t'Van, then after a Bite to eat, walked over back over t' t'mill to pay the body shop lad and gave him a jar of my home made chutney. He was rather chuffed with the chutney too!

    1. Spoke to plumber while he changed our kitchen tap – most are cartridges these days. Are these a standard so folk could just replace that? Of course not. All unique and bespoke to the tap fitting. Which is damned annoying to fix a leak.

      1. And expensive. I've had a mixer tap unit for 10 years and I've had to replace the cold valve three times. The first two occasions were within the 5-year guarantee but the third time I had to pay more than £20 for a pair (H&C) – I couldn't get a single. The bloody things soon leak with our hardwater. It takes only a little piece of scale to scratch the ceramic valve face.

        The spout's now leaking in its seat so the unit will soon be replaced with separate screw taps. Bollocks to modernity.

        1. I had that done about twenty years ago (my next-door neighbour was a plumber). The darned mixer tap would never turn off properly. Now I have two separate taps.

  59. Does anyone find Slithery Sunak's sinister suggestion that access to things like a driving license or financial services could be withdrawn from young people who refuse National Service absolutely terrifying? We are well down the road to serfdom folk.

    2. Afternoon Tom. All these people are control freaks. They spend their lives thinking of ways to make other people do as they wish.

      1. Good afternoon AS. They really do need to be put in their place. I find the idea of national service a gross infringement of freedom, and the withdrawal of basic rights for not complying with such hideous laws terrifying. I really do. What next? Withdrawal of basic services for criticising Islam, or calling a bloke pretending to be a woman a man? That's the way it's going.

          1. According to our guide at the Secret Bunker today, the sort of scenario that was used for dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear attack was used for the covidity scam – only he didn't use that terminology, obviously.

        2. Those already exist. Read the race relations act. It's a difference of enforcement.

          1. Sorry, that sounded rather rude on replay – 'have a read of…'. The laws that've been passed are simply horrific in how they pander to the alien.

    4. Just a step on the road to total control – say the wrong thing? Your bank account is frozen.

    1. There were always threats where National Service was concerned. It was obligatory, you simply had no choice. Anyone avoiding it was treated as a deserter and dealt with accordingly.

  62. A tarty Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,098 3/6
    🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. 3 for me as well.
      Wordle 1,098 3/6

      🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Me too. It'll probably be a stinker tomorrow.

      Wordle 1,098 3/6

      🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. I'm Free

      Wordle 1,098 3/6

      ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. 4 today.
      Wordle 1,098 4/6

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

  63. I read this morning that long term drivers in the UK can now be fined upto a thousand pounds for being polite to other road users. Due to recent changes in the highway code. Perhaps and as usual, they once again have got it all around the wrong way.
    Due to the currently obviously plummeting standards of driving on British roads. It might be a more sensible option to make sure new arrival and people who have never taken or obviously passed a British driving test are made more aware of the standards set decades ago. If there were more speed cameras and ongoing fines in rural areas. They'd have more than enough money to repair all the potholes.

    1. I knew you could be fined for being rude, but that's just the creeping mania of the state.

    2. There are plenty of speed cameras and mobile speed cameras in the rural area where I live. How many more do you want?

      1. We have a road that comes towards a T junction in our village, it has a flashing warning 30 mph speed sign. As do the other approaches. But probably only 5% actually take notice. Even the 20mph in the high street is fully ignored. Any where we drive now at the recognised speed limit you’ll get someone tailgating.

    3. Yeah, Highway Code 160. Some blue flashing ambulance driver waved to me recently for being 'polite', but I suppose now I will have to report her. Some people with disabilities such as having only one arm manage to drive, but perhaps they belong to a protected group. Seriously, how can one change gear without taking a hand off the steering wheel?

  64. As some of you know, a Spitfire is a regular sight here in NN8 but this week we've had a bonus – indeed, several. On the way into town two days ago I could hear something up there but couldn't see it until it dived out of the clouds into the late afternoon sun – a Mustang. Later it was joined by the Spit for a duet.

    This afternoon I heard one mighty racket – Spitfire, Hurricane, Mustang and Thunderbolt heading west in a foursome towards Sywell for this weekend's airshow. And it wasn't over – a silver Lockheed Lightning shining brilliantly in the sun. Never seen one of those before.

        1. You're near Sywell then William? I just looked up the weekend's airshow schedule. That's very impressive.

      1. The Pack of Four certainly made a great sound as they were close and fairly low. The Lightning Trio were higher and more distant.

    1. Wow, think about how much money the owner must have saved getting around, no fares to pay.
      Glad no one was injured, it could have been even more than a disaster.

    2. I wouldn't like to be the owner of that scooter. His/her insurance premiums will be astronomic in the future quite apart from the extent to which the current insurer may refuse to meet the bill in full due to contributory negligence…

    2. From what the judge said it looks like they were convicted of a S22 wounding. That's very serious.

      Let's face it, the prisons are full and so judges have no scope to send anyone there anymore. The Cons haven't done anything about it and neither Lab nor Lib-Dem believe in prison, in any case. Expect at least 5-years of the same, I'd say.

    2. Soooo…if I don’t sleep well, I’ve got Covid. Truly, I live in clown world.

  69. Eight teenagers who brutally attacked another teen with a machete, axe and a golf club have been handed community sentences.

    Tom Hilton, who was 17 at the time of the attack, suffered a head injury so serious his skull was exposed, and wounds to his shoulders and legs in the attack close to the Old Paper Mill in Hermitage Street, Rishton, in August 2021, reports LancsLive.

    However, as he arrived he was chased by a group of boys he later described as "like a pack of gorillas."

    He ran through the woods and onto the road, where the gang caught up with him, the court heard.

    At the time, around 50 young people were in the area, and as the gang of eight surrounded Mr Hilton, each either attacked him directly with weapons or fists or encouraged the others. Judge Philip Parry said they acted together.

    Throughout a trial at Preston Crown Court, all eight laughed and joked in a way the judge said showed disrespect.

    The sentences are as follows:

    Danny Yakub, 18, of Blackburn Road, Great Harwood – 18 month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activities and 180 hours of unpaid work.

    Connor Armstrong, 19, of Christ Church Street, Accrington – two year community order with 35 days rehabilitation activities and 200 hours of unpaid work.

    James Meagre, 18, of Tinker Brook Close, Oswaldtwistle – two year community order with 25 days rehabilitation activities and 200 hours unpaid work.

    Davis Hargreaves, 18, of Plantation Road, Accrington – two year community order with 35 days rehabilitation activity requirements and 200 hours unpaid work.

    Kane Taylor, 20, of Ripon Road, Accrington, was given an 18 month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activities and 150 hours unpaid work

    Jay Slater, 18, of Fountains Way, Accrington – 18 month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activities and 150 hours unpaid work.

    A 16-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons – 18 month youth referral order with 18 months supervision, 91 activity days a four month curfew and an intervention plan.

    A 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons – 18 month youth referral order with 18 months supervision, 91 activity days a three month curfew and an intervention plan.

    1. The prisons are full. We will be seeing much more of this.
      They deserve a good beating themselves.

        1. Possibly a coincidence. Slater isn't an uncommon name and firsts names go in fads.

  70. A Nun has to take a taxi.
    She notices the driver keeps looking at her in the mirror.
    She asks why and the taxi driver says i am sorry sister i don't want to offend you.
    The Nun says you won't offend me. When you have lived as long as i have you have seen it all.
    Okay says the taxi driver. I have always had a fantasy about being kissed by a Nun.
    The Nun says i will do it provided you are single and a Catholic.
    The driver says yes i am single and a Catholic.
    The Nun says pull over in the next side street.
    He does and they do. A real tongue swallower.
    As they continue the journey the taxi driver says i am terribly sorry and must confess.
    The Nun says why? what have you done?
    The driver says i am married and i am not a Catholic.
    The Nun says that's okay. My name is Garry and i'm going to a halloween party.

  71. Good evening from Audrey and myself.
    It's been somewhat quiet here as late, maybe many are tired of politics or just away as I am most of the time. Have a good weekend. X

          1. Apparently they really are advertising for an assistant no less, to the dreadful Marianna Spring; or so I read today. And I’m not even making that up Geoff

          2. I don't see what was wrong with those remarks. Nor that they were ill-considered or careless.

          3. "The good thing about him is that he puts his country first. The bad thing is the way he does it."

    3. This may have been his ‘rivers of blood’ moment. He may regret these comments.

      1. The beauty of Nigel Farage's position is that there are no craven media lickspittles to throw him out of his party, unlike Enoch Powell and others since. He will not be shut up and nor will those who are thirsty to hear what he has to say (at last said out loud) be intimidated into silence. The bullying media mob has met its match.

        1. Enoch I believe was thrown out if that is the expression because of his stance against the Common Market. He was told to concentrate on immigration and not oppose Heath’s pet project

    1. Ah, should've spotted that. Wellingborough area.

      The lightning I'd love to see back in the air would be the English Electric version, but I'm not going to complain if a P38 flew over here.

  74. Garden seems to be enjoying the sunshine:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b3b4e84436fa4e2501900d16798b8467b590261792d32b2688b1b3143fa55d9d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d37b5dd21e4b7ecac7492f53a7cb5af30766ea6148f852deaeb29fc2bc1ec87e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16c3ef3c2b8008f0efd11cd69a8f1042582b60b17916e2dcb9961157b9d1d8ca.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc9c5488caff7ea55dc7ae78939e89574aa6219a69e260f41faf4b7856e80294.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99603419ccafc4a195582fa18621ebdea47ce0f213b109eff0307a53ea9359fb.jpg

  75. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/13a43474b497f46d7eb1b854ee4755af1b8279123a45216e950935718e8952e9.png Here's one for Sue E.

    In my naïveté, I often find it quite astonishing what can be discovered on the internet. This concert, which took place at the BBC Radio Theatre, in April 1962, was attended by an 11-year old me!

    It was a three-day school trip to London from my junior school, with a full programme. My schoolmates and I sat in the theatre audience and watched acts of the day, including the Karl Denver Trio, Helen Shapiro and John Leyton singing their ditties.

    1. https://myvintagerock.com/2014/12/27/the-who-stafford-bingley-hall-4th-oct-1975/

      In a similar vein, I also attended this very rock concert, by The Who, at The New Bingley Hall, Stafford in October 1975, as a 24-year old.

      The Who, at the time, were engaged in a battle with other bands, notably Deep Purple, for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's loudest band. They were so loud that I had to leave the venue prematurely because my ears felt like they had been stabbed with a red hot poker. I was completely deaf afterwards for three whole days! My hearing has never fully recovered as I find it difficult to listen to certain frequencies.

      1. My tinnitus is almost certainly a legacy from my rock ‘n’ roll years. Pete Townsend has severe hearing problems now?

        2. Mine is not wearing hearing protection when watchkeeping on very large diesel generators.
          I would like a time machine so I could travel back and have a quiet word with that young idiot.

        3. Mine's a combination of 7.62 ball, loud machinery topped off by a female Personality vocalist with one man, a guitar and his backing tape at a friend's 60th.

        4. I think mine stems from a train journey home from London in 1966, in a carriage with the corridor doors open, and window open too; as we rattled through the tunnels a shock wave hit me and I think damaged my right ear drum, which was painful for a week or so afterwards. I was alone in the carriage.

        5. If you'd stood in front of Keith Moon (the best drummer that ever lived) for several years, you'd have hearing problems!

    2. That must have been a memorable concert!

      I have access to the archive but it was elsewhere on the ‘net that I found an edition of the JY Prog featuring Bill Thomas. I forwarded the link and it apparently provided some entertainment. Carolyn hadn’t heard Bill in action on the radio.

      1. If possible, listening to it again would bring back many happy (but very old) memories.

    3. You were lucky. It could have been a school trip to watch Jimmy Saville !

      I find this more to my liking https://youtu.be/_oSRGlOQVL0?t=12

      Also hoping to see our Sue in August. You are welcome to join us and lots of other Nottlers have accepted at my place. I understand a plane ticket would be involved so i understand.

      Drinkies and canapes leading into debauchery the evening.

      I have a piano but it looks like i am going to have to chain someone to it to play the damned thing !

    1. Plaid Cymru, keen to represent people who are willing to condone reip, torture and murder. I note that hostage release is not their top priority.

  77. I'm catching up with 2024 Tennis-player fashion at 'Queen's':

    It matters not what colour yer balls – so long as you wear a daffodil-yellow shirt or shorts!

  79. Coming home this evening, there was a very striking mackerel sky over White City and Shepherds Bush. I notice cloud formations more these days. Thankfully no chemtrails.

    1. Sue – I strong;y recommend joining the "Cloud Appreciation Society". It is a joy, and a perfect fit for nottlers.

      1. Way back in 1970 I saw a huge orange moon over the steelworks in Pittsburgh. It was the smog, I guess. The steelworks are long gone of course.

      1. Apparently a BBC presenter who wore a see-thru dress at a BAFTA do. Par for the course these days?

    4. Isn’t she just, but no comments allowed!! I wonder why that is?🤔Is it because I don’t give a….

  81. Telegraph: "Four members of Britain’s richest family given jail sentences for exploiting servants
    Hinduja family members accused of spending more on pet dog than on one of their staff during Swiss trial"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/06/21/hinduja-family-britain-richest-family-jail-sentence/

    It is not unknown for wealthy Indian people to travel abroad accompanied by less wealthy acquaintances who show their gratitude by assisting with domestic tasks. In fact, these helpers tend to follow their 'friends' everywhere that a no-questions-asked visa can be obtained. Ladies' maids, cooks, gardeners, cleaners, nannies, all are available.

      1. I saw him with Yehudi Menuhin at the Edinburgh Fringe back in ‘82, and then met Mr. Menuhin the following week at a private dinner!

          1. He was absolutely charming! A delightful man and very amusing. It was a dinner in the University of Edinburgh Staff Club and I was in charge of the evening!

          4. He was absolutely charming! A delightful man and very amusing. It was a dinner in the University of Edinburgh Staff Club and I was in charge of the evening!

    2. I attended a DR & SG concert in St Andrews in the 'Seventies.

      'Twas Sensational!

      1. He is, but he is fighting the ideological arrogance of the entire state machine. His case threatens them at a fundamental level. It exposes them. They'll take everything he has, spin it out for years – anything to do protect themselves.

          1. As that gets bigger and more visible they are going to encounter a problem. it is to be hoped.

  84. Well, that was a nice Summer.
    It's just started to rain.

    2. Clouded over here during the afternoon and looked like rain but nothing yet I think. Wouldn't mind a drop during the night as I skipped the watering. No chance of seeing the full moon!

  86. Evening, all. Spent most of the day at the Secret Bunker (it's no longer secret; there are signposts to it), getting a few tips on protect and survive ready for when the idiots in Wastemonster kick off WW3.

    1. In this neck of the woods we have a whole network of decoy bunkers, designed to deceive Jerry into believing we were Cardiff

    1. I doubt that it was either, but see your anxiety. I’m glad, though. that more and more people are saying the unsayable and not apologising for so doing.

      1. I don’t care much for your condescension.

        He must give his critics nothing.

        1. I'm sorry and apologise if you thought my comments condescending (unintentional, as I find yours both interesting and thought provoking). I do disagree with you, though, as I think the time for pussyfooting around the rabid media is over and am grateful that at last we have a character sufficiently robust to take the fight to them.

          6. We have rarely had new members who resort to insulting behaviour. Those who do tend not to last very long.

          8. As I said, he must give his critics nothing. The likes of Robinson will spend any amount of time labouring a single phrase or quote clumsily expressed. Farage can be a bit snippy. I'm not sure he's quite learnt how to calmly deal with those sort of attacks. He still has to get some of the conservative media on his side.

    2. Don't suppose Africa could divert some of the money gained from its vast mineral wealth, to health or clean water. Nahh, just blanket, bowl and stick.

      1. Of course not – so long as gullible westerners can be called upon to cough up "charity" money, the various chiefs and PTB in that unfortunate continent can continue with their luxury living. It stinks.

      2. Of course not – so long as gullible westerners can be called upon to cough up "charity" money, the various chiefs and PTB in that unfortunate continent can continue with their luxury living. It stinks.

  91. I was fast asleep and then my phone beeped. Woke me up. Apparently a niece of mine writes for the Daily Telegraph. My sister was so impressed she texted me even after i had told her not to text or phone after 6pm.
    Shame really because on the 29th i was going to be entertaining her to lunch after a 15 year hiatus. This break was caused by her not being able to respect my boundaries. What to do?

    1. Change your boundaries? (sorry, but is often the case – I have experience of it!…)

      1. Boundaries or standards? My phone number is restricted to very few people. I have certain problems which i won't go into and she should know better. She is lucky the return text was polite.
        My phone !
        Now i am wide awake when i should be asleep. It will fuck up my schedule tomorrow.
        And yes….I know i could switch my phone off but…

        1. I know Phizz, and it's always dangerous to get involved in other people's familial disputes. I have one myself and I have taken the view that I will never, ever give up on it, and will continue to extend the hand of friendship and love even though it has been spat back at me innumerous times. I wont give up on this…..

          1. A good (Christian) attitude and i applaud you.
            My elder sister caused a massive rift in the family when she stole our fathers dead body so she could grandstand with her friends and family for a funeral near to her. She waited until the early hours at the hospital and had his body released to her even though for the last 20 years he had been living with my other sister after mothers untimely death.
            When people complained they were met with violence.
            I was assaulted and humiliated. she then went on to tell everyone that i had attacked her. She had my sister by the neck up against the wall and she also punched one of my brothers in the face. Families eh…………………………
            I try to be good and i know it is bad for me but i await the day when i hear the fucking bitch is dead.

          2. Ouch – that's terrible! I honestly dont know how I would react in similar circumstances (but I suspect it wouldnt be good) – all I can say is best of luck, buddy, and I seriously hope you can find some sort of balance in the future, you clearly deserve it!

          3. Thanks for that. I do have balance now. It did take me a long time to realise that there were nearest and dearest who needed to be binned. And the lid slammed shut. And locked.
            If i am not mistaken you are a newbie. You fit in well. This site sometimes gets deep. Normally after a drinkie or two in the evening. And also when some bugger wakes me up !!!

          4. Well done, that must have been tough.

            Thank you for your kind comments, I try to fit in but I'm a confrontational b*stard and I enjoy a bit of argy-bargy btl – it's great fun!!

          5. You sound like the perfect guest for my party. I have some right opinionated….. er…persons coming.
            Are you anywhere near Pompey or Southampton?
            A good time to meet the boss and some other Nottlers..
            You don't happen to play the piano do you? :@)

          6. I've heard about your party on here – it's becoming a seismic event -and it's extraordinarily good of you to consider inviting me.

            Unfortunately I live in the frozen far North and am therefore miles from all the fun!

            I would be prepared, however, to help crowd-fund the recording of the event to see the people there and put faces to the names – think about it!

          7. Oh. Sorry it's too far for you. On here we find people from everywheres….Some Nottlers have the misfortune to live East of the M25 !
            Another time and another place then.
            Crowd funding will not be necessary. Blackmail works perfectly well thank you.

            We do have several guests arriving who would prefer their images not be posted. Some shy, some on the run…ahem.

            However…we do have one star. Again unable to attend as the lady is in Buenos Ares tripping the light fantastic……….every night.

            The lady in question has sent me a video of her doing her stuff and that will be posted.

      1. There are more gracious ways of welcoming a new NTTL page. Are you from Yorkshire? 😉

          1. Casting nasturtiums on Herts, are we? :o) There is actually a place (in either Dorset or Somerset, I can't remember which) called Gaspar.

          2. Nej, Dukke! Stig was casting antirrhinums on Yorkshire. I just gave him some back. 😘

          4. We nearly went there when were in the area recently, just so that I could take a photo for you. Sadly we didn’t have time. And we are buddies!

          5. Oh that’s nice, you’d love it up here! I’ve never heard of it btw, I must check it out…..

        1. I’m not going to be equally unpleasant to you as I might never get to see the Matt cartoons again!

          BTW it’s a pretty well-known Northern expression when anybody gets up early – I absolutely was not having a go at Geoff – who I like and get on with immensely!

      3. *bad boy !
        20 lashes for you.
        But just to temper the pain all the Nottler ladies will administer the punishment with silk whips…naked.

    3. Geoff!!! – your link leads back to Wednesday's page. Am not complaining because all NoTTLers keep on saying the same thing day after day after day but thought you might like to know.

Comments are closed.