Friday 22 November: Labour’s defence policy leaves Britain exposed at a time of war in Europe

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

612 thoughts on “Friday 22 November: Labour’s defence policy leaves Britain exposed at a time of war in Europe”

    1. It used to be that Left wing governments cut military spending and wanted to send them everywhere.

      Right wing government increased the size of the military and kept them at home.

  5. Good Morning Geoff and all Nottlers
    Today's Tales – it's in the punchlines

    A tortoise had been raped by two snails. “Describe them," demanded the police.
    “I can’t,” said the tortoise, “it happened too fast."

    He was obviously trying to impress her as they walked into the jewellery shop on Friday night.
    “Choose any diamond ring you’d like, darling," he said, gesturing flamboyantly.
    She chose a five-carat setting worth £40,000.
    “Can I pay by cheque?” he asked the manager.
    “Certainly, sir, but of course you understand that we will have to keep the ring until the cheque is cleared.”
    A few days later, he returned to the jewellers. The concerned manager said, “I’m afraid your cheque has bounced.”
    “Yes, I know," he said, “I just dropped by to thank you and say that I had a really great weekend.”

  6. A difficult night. Turning the heating off didn't stop the buzzing, so it was turned back on. Then every hour, for 5 minutes we'd get the buzzing. I woke up in the early hours and it's now every half an hour or so, for 5 minutes.

    The house has roused early – us mainly to escape the noise. I imagine we'll both have naps this afternoon.

    Blasted fed up. Want a window in the bathroom. want gas so I can throw the windows open, get some fresh air in and then heat the house up.

    As the Warqueen said over orange juice – 45 months. No more, no less.

      1. Heat pumps are not new, other country's have used them for some time. Countries where electricity is cheap and winters are long, cold and dry.

        I hate the government. I hate the green agenda. I hate that it is so obviously nothing but a tax scam.

        1. Along with the Police and the NHS, I wouldn't trust this govt as far as I could spit through a plate-glass window.

    2. Sometimes I hear buzzing, sounds like the electricity meter .
      In freezing weather the boiler can kick in to stop a freeze up.

      1. Aye, there's this big box stenciled Samsung in the attic that I assume controls the heat pump – it's coming from there. During the day it's audible but annoying. I don't mind the frost protection bit – but the heat pump itself is outside. I'd expect that to come on. This box of gubbins? Who knows what it does.

    3. Sometimes I hear buzzing, sounds like the electricity meter .
      In freezing weather the boiler can kick in to stop a freeze up.

    4. Buzzing may be water passing through the thermostat, with the thermostat only slightly open – and the turbulence causes it to vibrate and so buzzes.

    5. We had a similar problem and it turned out to be low water pressure in the system.
      Have you checked the water pressure valve for the heating system? You may need to open it to allow more water in to get the correct pressure. If it's like ours the correct range is clearly marked.

  7. A difficult night. Turning the heating off didn't stop the buzzing, so it was turned back on. Then every hour, for 5 minutes we'd get the buzzing. I woke up in the early hours and it's now every half an hour or so, for 5 minutes.

    The house has roused early – us mainly to escape the noise. I imagine we'll both have naps this afternoon.

    Blasted fed up. Want a window in the bathroom. want gas so I can throw the windows open, get some fresh air in and then heat the house up.

    As the Warqueen said over orange juice – 45 months. No more, no less.

  10. Trans men can be pregnant too, says Labour MP in attack on ‘gendered language’. 22 November 2024.

    Mr Sobel, 49, told the Commons: “Across the NHS there needs to be a greater awareness of trans men and trans masculine people who have given birth.

    “For example [if] a trans man is not asked whether he could [be] pregnant before receiving a dose of radiation, there could be serious consequences.

    “We can begin by removing gendered vocabulary from pregnancy care and parenthood.”

    He also warned that trans men “face a number of barriers in accessing equal quality healthcare on the NHS”, including long waiting lists for breast removal surgery.

    “This leaves a situation where trans men and trans masculine individuals are forced to pay for private care, which not everyone can do, as we know,” he said.

    “Or to put up with dysphoria and other associated mental health impacts, for which there is a lack of sector-wide support and training.

    “Top surgery drastically improves well-being and saves lives.”

    This person is in Parliament.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/21/trans-men-pregnant-labour-mp-sobel-gendered-language-nhs/

    2. They're completely mad. A man in a dress is a man. A woman pretending to be a man is NOT a man. If she is with child then, categorically she is a woman, as only women can bear children.

      The trans nonsense is merely a chapter in the insanity of our times along with DIE, the cult of celebrity, the destruction of the family, thoughtcrime, woke and a host of other nonsense.

      1. "only women can bear children".

        I might be muddled in memory, but I'm sure that there was an experiment decades ago where a fertilised egg was implanted onto an organ in a man's body, and it grew there.
        I asked Chat GPT and got the answer below:

        "There has been at least one notable instance of a highly experimental and controversial procedure involving the implantation of a fertilized egg into a man's body, although it was not carried out as a full pregnancy attempt and was considered more of a speculative or conceptual experiment.

        Key Example: Robert Winston's 1990s Experiment
        In the 1990s, British scientist and fertility expert Professor Robert Winston explored the idea of male pregnancy as a hypothetical possibility. While a full pregnancy in a man was never attempted, Winston and his team examined whether a fertilized egg could theoretically implant into a man's abdominal cavity or other suitable areas (such as the peritoneum, a membrane lining the abdominal cavity).

        The concept drew from cases of ectopic pregnancies in women, where embryos implant outside the uterus and sometimes continue developing for a time. Technically, a man's abdominal cavity could provide enough blood supply to support an implanted embryo, but the risks of such a pregnancy—internal bleeding, organ damage, and complications during delivery—would be extraordinarily high.

        Other Cases and Ethical Issues
        While no verified full-term pregnancies in men have occurred, some experiments and proposals have explored male surrogacy using advanced techniques. Ethical, medical, and social concerns remain significant barriers.

        For instance:

        In 2017, a transgender woman underwent a uterus transplant, which fueled discussions about whether uterus transplants could one day be performed on cisgender men to enable pregnancy.
        The possibility of using artificial uteruses or ectopic implantation in men has been discussed, but it is far from practical due to immense risks.
        Fiction vs. Reality
        Some rumors or fictional stories might have exaggerated the extent of such experiments. For now, no case exists where a fertilized egg was implanted in a man and carried through a full pregnancy. Any experiment in this area would require groundbreaking advancements in reproductive science and an in-depth resolution of the ethical concerns involved.

        1. I fully expect this is continuing to be researched and will be common place by the end of this century.
          Thank the Lord I'll be long gone.

    5. One might suggest that normal people are being overlooked by this continued focus on the extreme alphabet mob.

      As for having to pay for their own bit removal, there's that old saying – tough titties!

    1. Will second that. It's kept me sane many a time, so thank you all and Geoff for setting it up.

    1. The Leftie narrative being pushed out..
      Except no-one is stealing from farmers – just closing the loophole that leads to the elite buying land as a tax dodge..

      Elite.. Loophole.. tax dodge.. the key words to keep Sir Keir on the side of The Will of The People.
      Elite!! LOL. As BlackRock move in.

    2. The Leftie narrative being pushed out..
      Except no-one is stealing from farmers – just closing the loophole that leads to the elite buying land as a tax dodge..

      Elite.. Loophole.. tax dodge.. the key words to keep Sir Keir on the side of The Will of The People.
      Elite!! LOL. As BlackRock move in.

    3. The Leftie narrative being pushed out..
      Except no-one is stealing from farmers – just closing the loophole that leads to the elite buying land as a tax dodge..

      Elite.. Loophole.. tax dodge.. the key words to keep Sir Keir on the side of The Will of The People.
      Elite!! LOL. As BlackRock move in.

  13. As my old friend Roger would have said – precisely.

    “ SIR – If the Government really wanted to stop wealthy people buying up land to avoid inheritance tax, they would have the support of farmers.

    Here in the Peak District, whenever farmland goes on sale, it is snapped up by investment companies, pricing out ordinary farmers. A better and fairer solution would have been to insist on five years of actual farming accounts to qualify for agricultural property relief, thus ensuring it would only be available to bona fide farmers.

    Rosemary Spalton
    Hope Valley, Derbyshire”

    1. Thing is, inheritance tax is the state taking from you when you're dead – having paid tax throughout your life and now being hammered simply because you've had the temerity to die having saved and invested.

      It is fundamentally wrong. It is simple socialism – you've got it, we want – again.

    2. Easy way around that. Rent the land out to neighbour farmer, or get a contract farmer in. All expense tax-deductible, of course.
      In Norway, if you buy a farm or small-holding, you have "drivplikt" – the duty to farm the land, and you have to come with a plan as to how. Firstborn rents his fields out to the local cattle and sheep farmers, so they are worked usefully, for forage and silage. (there was much talk of potatoes… that land wouldn't support a single spud!

    3. She has a good point, but it's not about that, it's about a land grab. Yet again, the mainstream media (in this case the Telegraph) works to hide the ugly truth and promote the agenda that politicians just have these silly ideas.

      Well, at least now we know what it was that Rishi didn't have the stomach to push through.

  14. OK i’m not too sure about this letter at all. Obviously, if say Nigel “threw a punch” at someone on camera he would be branded a “FRT” and be banged up for 3 years before his feet could touch the ground. If 2TK did it, it would be completely glossed over but i doubt anyone who did hear about the incident would respect him more for it.

    “SIR – I’m not a Labour supporter, but I admired John Prescott because you knew what he stood for.
    I suspect that if Sir Keir Starmer threw a punch on camera, his ratings would soar.
    Tim Oldfield Wye, Kent”

  16. Good morning all.
    A light fall of snow overnight, barely ½", but clear skies with the waning Half Moon high in the sky and -4°C on the Yard Thermometer.
    I had planned to head over to see Stepson in Stoke, but will give it a miss on account of the weather and also, I think I've done enough driving this week!

          1. Shit happens and it could have been worse.
            I was more than a bit tired and distracted by chatting to the DT and just totally lost concentration.

  17. 397293+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Seemingly the TOOL is following his instructions to the letter
    get the United Kingdom onto a war footing ALL slotting in nicely with the RESET agenda.

    In the new order and forgetting the triple eleven ceremonies you cannot whack a war for people culling, and a nuclear one with a clean bomb, just the dead to tidy up.

    This would be highly satisfying to both the
    politico / pharmaceutical top rankers

    Friday 22 November: Labour’s defence policy leaves Britain exposed at a time of war in Europe

    Yet another NWO /WEF / RESET under, successful so far, in the making.

  18. Good morning all,

    Frosty morning , blue sky brrr 2c ..

    The cat that that has taken up residence here .. appeared in the bathroom when I woke up to do what needed to be done at 6am .. she curled herself around my legs mewling and pawing me .. tail waving .. I was half asleep..

    Need to collect my specs from by the bed, Pip was asleep , Moh was flat out asleep with his Cpap mask on and all I needed was to climb back into the warm part of the bed I had just vacated .

    Cat still mewling ran down stairs and sat in the kitchen clawing at utility room door .. she needed her breakfast . Sachet delivered to her dish .. she was so hungry , kettle refilled , and here I am now ..everyone awake , Pip fed , garden visit for him , another Friday, bin day .

      1. Morning J,

        Yes she has , and as the weather has got colder she lingers longer with us .. I believe her owner has young children and other cats .

        I feel bad about allowing her in , but she used to suddenly appear when the back door was open or climb in through the downstairs loo window .

        Pip is so laid back , he just accepts her . probably glad of her companionship.. He was utterly lost when Jack spaniel died last year .. she is the same colour as Jack , so perhaps thinks she is a miniature Jack .. The pair of them were anti cats , and woofed them out of the garden ! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea5c0112ada964b67c5a45940fe0c34e3d6f0db39cfe7d2f8e5c9e2a16bea646.jpg
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d107be5df017b8a4d41085f51c63aaac2790ae383008e5b41b90922fc9d43f14.jpg

  19. David Frost makes reference in hus piece today (“What’s Starmerism? Socialism via moralising lawyers”) to a speech given recently by the AG on the Rule of Law in an Age of Populism. He writes:

    “…Their ideal is a constitution of lawyers, ultimately based on the ECHR, interpreted by judges, staffed by the great and the good, in which you, the voter, can’t change anything important. It’s all there in the speech by Lord Hermer, Attorney General and Keir Starmer crony, last month: “The Rule of Law in an Age of Populism”. Read it and shiver….”

    Here’s a link to that very speech, hiding in plain sight (as so many of the dystopian nightmares championed by the Left One-World Order are):

    https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/attorney-generals-2024-bingham-lecture-on-the-rule-of-law

    I don’t remember Lord (“Tom”) Bingham. Was he a lefty Judge? Would he be happy with the complete overturning of centuries of English common law with “the rule of law”?

    “For nearly fifteen years, the Bingham Centre has been an essential voice for the advancement of rule of law values at home and abroad. Its work to promote a better understanding of the rule of law and to help build the capacity to give it practical effect, has never been more vital than it is today.”

    It is worth reading the lecture. I didn’t see any commentary about it in October when it was given, but it may have been extensively covered and I just missed it.

  20. The climate scaremongers: BBC admits it lied about vanishing polar bears.

    Not the only thing the BBC lies about.

    Home Climate Watch the climate scaremongers: BBC admits it lied about vanishing polar bears.

    1. Good. It’s a shame tbe others were coerced into pleading guilty, especially poor Mr Lynch. The charge against him was ludicrous.

      I wonder how there people sleep at night. Presumably they are psychopaths with no conscience.

      1. It's not hard to guess what happened to David Lynch before he took his life. And those responsible are no doubt confident of escaping scot free.
        We have to get back to a society where one law applies to all, and wickedness is punished, not rewarded.

    2. Starmer should be brought to justice for what he did. Also everyone in the chain of government who "just obeyed orders."

  23. SIR – Given that the Government is planning to scrap the Navy’s Landing Platform Docks, two RFA tankers and a number of Chinook and Puma helicopters, I’d suggest that more savings could be achieved by doing away with the Royal Marines completely. After all, there seems to be no point in maintaining an amphibious force if we are unable to deploy it.

    Peter Tunks
    Weybridge, Surrey

    I see Lord West is confident that our nuclear power will do the job when required !

    4. In Putins Russia very few people are arrested for speech crimes.

      K: In Russia last year 400 people were arrested for things that they posted on social media. Obviously this country is very different. How many do you think were arrested in Britain for what they said in social media?
      I: …
      K: Take a guess.
      I: I've no idea.
      K: 3,300
      I: Really? Arrested for things that they said on social media? …

      What are the numbers today?
      Source, Sceptics Stack Exchange.

  27. One gets the incy-wincy feelin that Trump aint messing around this time.

    Trump To Send Special Ops Assassin Squads To Kill Drug Lords..

    Incoming border czar Tom Homan also recently stated that Trump intends to “use the full might of the United States Special Operations to take ’em out,” and “ take ’em off the face of Earth.”..

    Former Green Beret: Trump Can "Turn Loose Delta Force" On The Cartels..

    1. Meanwhile.. Met officer Martyn Blake has been cleared of murder but questions remain about police and the use of lethal force.

      1. There was a thread on Twitter last night that this had exposed Trump's enemies and was deliberate. I didn't take much interest as it was late, I had been baby-sitting then shopping, and I didn't know the politician's names involved. I'll see if I can find the thread.

    3. Has he been reading too many of Kyle Mills' "Mitch Rapp" novels?

      Edit; Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills.

  28. Ha. Hope Not Hate have his children's faces, schools and mobile numbers plastered on a billboard.

    (They didn't but they thought about it).

  29. A nice quick burrdie 🙃
    Wordle 1,252 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I seem to have a magnetic attraction to every possibility except the correct one at the moment….
      Wordle 1,252 5/6

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

  30. Morning all 🙂😊
    A bit brighter broken cloud sun doing its best to make an appearance.
    if Starmer has signed up to have the elected president of Israel arrested for war crimes, surely by suppling missiles and other weapons both he and Biden are also guilty of escalation of attacks.

  31. Well, full of cold and feeling rotten, I've called in sick today.
    You know what that means? I'll be here all day supervising so y'all watch out 🙂

        3. Vaseline the nose and lips. You have to re-apply frequently but it is very comforting, especially the Vaseline with AloeVera, look for the small green tin.

    7. Aaarrggghhhhh ….. be nice to me. I've an hour long dental appt. this afternoon. (At 3.0 pm – not 2.30!)

  34. You may hear drilling and chiselling sounds – the whole house is full of it!
    The underfloor heating in the bathroom has gone kaputt, and the whole room is colder than the inside of the fridge. A guy has come round to find the break (IR camera) and is now chiselling up the floor to repair it. Being as it is upstairs, in a wooden house, the whole house reverberates with the noise! But it's quicker & cheaper than digging up the whole floor…

    1. Oh dear, I can only imagine it…….thankfully.
      There's nothing worse. I was speaking with an elderly neighbour yesterday and her gas boiler had to be replaced,
      just in time.

    2. The report is in.
      The watertight membrane isn't any more, and the cables have actually burned! Thank God for the fusebox… so, we'll have to get the floor dug up and replaced, and while we're about it, the kitchen (room underneath) needs a new ceiling and floor tiles replaced. Likely the bathroom floor joists too, as they will likely have rotted some.
      That's going to cost some money. I'll have to sell the children…

      1. Holy Smoke. What a time for that to happen. How will you keep warm – and sane?
        (Thinking about it, maybe 'holy smoke' wasn't the best exclamation.)

        1. ;-))
          We have a basement shower room that's nice 'n toasty, so we can keep warm showering.
          We'd planned renovations to start in the summer, so it's brought things on a bit. I'd hoped that the cables could have been repaired until then, but it isn't so, and the upstairs is chilly with no heating in the big bathroom.
          At least the house didn't burn down…

      3. 😱 I can't imagine the cost of all that. I hope you are managing to keep warm. Depart for the home of your elder son for the weekend.

    1. Don't know about anyone else but I would be perfectly happy if a delegation went to Trump with a request to invade on a temporary basis until Democracy and free speech could be restored.

      And P.S. Part of the deal would be that no democrats be allowed into Britain and that Ellen DeGeneres who currently besmirches the Cotswolds be removed from the UK and all other democrats who want to live here, as exiles from Trump, be sent to Canada.

  37. 'Morning All
    Well if anyone checks my meme history I won't be worrying about heating bills or doctor's appointments
    https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1859842447255437386?s=19
    Still the hell with it today's Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5666ae709473f0d906d07606064f54ff73a2923f7c92e82411a5e3f60bdf0c71.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a30a94092cb27aae5cbb8baa975939d02b29f26812d7dc83b1e36b4b8a563362.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ebb5dd4eafd901fd6dbd02e4bb25c8aa5841557a81007762d05f6f36d1954bf.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d0e87c4cfbc9befc264b1d6b0a496fa5bcf1af13dfc1230db47818369989b4cc.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0de41019eea8c820a96c4e588e2d7a15f36ab8973c940a7bfbfb15e61a7c8544.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b5533c1389d483462d9e779ad50b0c5dbbbf5f7fc01535ffc7aa968099ab9a35.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/470db2e4efe8a1db1169e859f865017a65fdd098898d615c9a3f198644eb04fb.jpg
    https://x.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1859531044615028901

    1. 397253+ up ticks

      Morning DB,
      Agreed and the current political
      governing criminal cartel are not
      patriotic as with the ones VOTED in before, & before, and……

  40. Starmer's meetings with acquisitive entities e.g. Gates and Fink (Blackrock) is being linked by many to the changes in IHT for the farmers.

    The Tories started an attack on landlords:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb97ba6c8a63fae4e5f338e8d52df56398d502a84cda70d41222ea966999913d.png
    Property 118

    Next up, people who own their homes?

    Miliband minor is relaxing rules on the control of heat pumps' noise and dimensions and, from the Daily Express:

    Ed Miliband's so-called “boiler tax” will force heat pumps onto people by making gas boilers unaffordable

    All costly moves, not only cash-wise but environmentally and in heating efficiency and living comfort.

    Will the next step be the EPC rating when a house comes on the market? A low rating and no sale allowed without a costly upgrade or home value plummeting/next to worthless, and being picked up by investment companies?

    What once appeared/were sold as fairly benign rules to help improve the environment, reduce homeowners' heating bills and improve housing stock are now available to this untrustworthy government.

  42. If they must blather on about "typical" energy bills, they should at least use the modal, rather than the median, household.

  43. New pension rules in England secretly scrap by Labour 'in U Turn'.
    Not been able to read it, apparently in the Birmingham Mail.

    1. Here you go Eddy

      New pension rules in England secretly 'scrapped' by Labour in u-turn

      A pension system overhaul has been secretly scrapped by the new Labour Party government in a 'pot for life' U-turn. Speaking to Politico, a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) official shared there is currently "no active work is being taken forward" to make Jeremy Hunt's pledge a reality.
      A Department for Work and Pensions official with knowledge of policy discussions, granted anonymity to speak freely, confirmed to POLITICO that “no active work is being taken forward” on former Conservative Party MP Hunt's proposal to legislate for a moveable workplace pension.

      The pensions industry welcomed the demise of Hunt's pot for life. “This would have been a massive administrative hassle for employers, would have introduced considerable cost into the system and would have risked less well informed and engaged workers being left behind in potentially inferior arrangements. It’s great news that this idea has been dropped,” said Steve Webb, a former Liberal Democrat pensions minister and now partner at LCP.

      Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, said pursuing the reforms before delivering a pensions dashboard "would have been like throwing two rocks at the same bird." “Given how many times the launch of the first dashboard has been delayed, it makes sense for the government to prioritize this rather than pushing ahead with a second project aimed at tackling the same problem that would inevitably demand significant time and resources,” Selby said.

      Kate Smith, the head of Pensions at Aegon, warned: "The new ‘pot for life’ concept will give employees the ability to select their own pension provider and force their employer, as well as any future employers, to pay their employer and own employee contributions into this chosen pot.

      "This could work well for a minority of higher paid employees who wish to select their own pension scheme but risks poorer retirement saver outcomes for millions of employees if economies of scale are lost. Costs are spread across scheme memberships, where those with higher pensions effectively ‘cross-subsidise’ the pensions of those with smaller pensions pots who tend to be the lower paid, enabling them to benefit from lower charges.

      "Those left behind, on modest incomes, could face higher charges which means lower retirement incomes."

  44. Good morning to all. Frost on the ground again, sun and, my god, a slight wind in well over a week. The Millipede will be pleased.

    In reply to the ICC and the disgusting Starmerfuhrer. Leader of the anti-Semite party.

    Netanyahu Sends FIERCE Message After ICC Issues Arrest Warrant

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXrKchkaXiQ

    2. I nicked this from some clever clog who did history n stuff..

      Tyrants & murderers are never on the side of the Jews, from Ramesses II to Sennacherib to Antiochus IV to Caligula to Muhammad to the medieval Popes to Tsars to Hitler to Stalin to Khomeni to Saddam Hussein to Ismail Haniyeh. This ICC prosecutor worships Muhammad, so what do you think is the morality of his brief and his warrant?

  46. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff for Friday's site. Late on parade again, I'm afraid, so off now to my GP for a blood test; I missed the appointment scheduled for 8.40 am, but fortunately was able to book another one for 10.50 am today. Whew!

    Wordle 1,252 4/6

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

    1. Morning! I had another blood test yesterday. Scheduled for 9am but I arrived early and the nurse called me in straight away. My GP wanted to test blood sugar, which wasn't included in the bloods taken last week. I now have a bruise on my right hand and one in the crook of my left arm!

        1. Just received a text to say the results are in so rang the surgery and the GP will call between 12 noon and 1 pm this afternoon. Fingers crossed!

      2. The Vampire Dept. at Colchester General is the most efficient on the site.
        Their efficiency is helped by the sheer rudeness of all too many patients. MB's 11.0am appt. had been preceded by four no-shows (unlikely they were all demented).

  48. Blackrock is fond of buying up land. They have brought 1.7 million hectares in Ukraine.

  49. I hear that Germany is imposing border checks, in spite of the Schengen agreement. Couldn't we have a similar arrangement on the Irish border?

  50. Iain Hunter’s investigation in Free Speech into the mess into which British politics has sunk continues with part four, ‘ A Solution? ’ in which he gives a detailed outline of what he thinks should be done to rectify three decades of increasingly incompetent government. We also publish an article by a reader from Canada about sex , his first (article).

    The backlash against NCHIs is not only growing but is also having some success. The police have dropped the absurd charges against Allison Pearson and are getting flak for failing to apply this sinister practice evenly. We therefore again urge you all to keep the pressure on by writing to your MP, demanding that this anti-free speech practice be stopped. This article has a template letter you can use .

    The farmer’s backlash might also be having some effect, but British farmers and taxpayers have also just had a slap by the mendacious, arrogant elitist fools in government who have announced that they will give £536 million of OUR money away to foreign farmers. In case you missed it, we have an account here into the difficulties facing farmers by Stuart Agnew, farmer and former MEP showing that it is not just tax, but also the idiotic amount of Green red tape imposed on farmers by ignorant civil servants.

    Please help us grow and reach a wider readership. Spread the word and give the site address to anybody you think might be interested.

    Energy Watch: Demand at 0800: 41.681 GW. Supply: Hydrocarbon = 35.9%; Renewables = 35.8%; Nuclear = 10%; Biomass = 7.7% and Imports 6.5%.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

    2. It isn't your imagination. I've noticed it too. It's particularly bad with foreign names. Used to be that people were taught how to pronounce a word/place etc prior to a broadcast. But, perhaps it is now, information comes in so fast they cannot afford that luxury?

      1. Place names was alwasy dodgy territory. I always remember Valerie Singleton on Blue Peter pronouncing my home district of Acomb in York as Ay-KoomB. Ay-cum is correct. I have no idea of the correct spelling of the original old Yorkshire name but it was pronoucned Yakum-sandoils and meant place of the sand holes.

        1. Horsforth nr Leeds was always pronounced Horse-forth instead of Horzf'th as the locals pronounced it.
          Good morning, Sue!

          3. Try Wymondham in Norfolk.

            It's Wind'am.

            Or Happisburgh, no, not happy buggers, but Ha'sboro'.

          4. Costessey? Reepham? Tacolneston? Postwick? Mundesley? Shotesham? Ingoldisthorpe? Acle? Stiffkey? Cley? Hoveton? Hunstanton? Cromer? Fakenham? Salhouse? And a good number more.

            Norfolk has but a few.

          5. Try Wymondham in Norfolk.

            It's Wind'am.

            Or Happisburgh, no, not happy buggers, but Ha'sboro'.

        3. Even the late Queen, Elizabeth. had problems. She mispronounced Keighley (Keeth Li) as Kee Lee. Nobody's perfect.
          For the information of anyone who has the misfortune to visit Barnoldswick on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, it is Bar Lik to the natives.

    3. Their pronunciation of Palestinian terrorist and 'ill-treated' illegal immigrants is beyond reproach. It's as if they were not just supportive, but possibly approving of their criminal actions and objectives
      No, no! It couldn't possibly be true. It couldn't happen in a leading democratic country. could it?

    4. Their pronunciation of Palestinian terrorist and 'ill-treated' illegal immigrants is beyond reproach. It's as if they were not just supportive, but possibly approving of their criminal actions and objectives
      No, no! It couldn't possibly be true. It couldn't happen in a leading democratic country. could it?

    1. The East German Stasi's favourite time to call was 4 o'clock in the morning. Something they had learned off the Gestapo.

      1. The Stasi and Gestapo were likely the same individuals. Can't waste that skill set and experience!

        1. All of you, 2T polis and you and your family. Hope the rozzers left with a flea in their ears!

    4. 3 of them. And at least two cars. Excellent, thanks for sharing. Esp. interesting after 9 minutes with the commentary.

  54. Very hard frost overnight and some snow:
    Good guessing: Wordle 1,252 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  55. Good Moaning.
    Very crisp. The snow is neither deep nor even as it's running down the drain.
    Thinking about the Capt. Tom farrago:
    1. Any charity set up in the depths of a national hysterical spasm will implode in a morass of embezzlement and mud slinging.
    2. The fact that the money was going to "NHS charities" (how many £billion does it already guzzle?) was a real turn-off.
    3. I feel desperately sorry for the Ingram-Moore children. What must they be going through, particularly at school?

    2. I have never donated to charities. Any charity. Do I feel bad about that?

      You can bet your arse I do not.

    3. Just finished his autobiography. The frenzy of giving for the sainted NHS was manic – my thought was, "what's happened to it all?".

  56. Nottlers Have a quick look at bbc 2 news on now and tell me who the news reader reminds you of.
    Weather now. Give it 5 minutes.

    1. Every word you say on the internet is being monitored by Ai for its toxicity score in terms of how much it violates some blob Libtard bullsh1t grand plan. Try any of these in a sentence:
      WEF Gates Farmland Blackrock Starmer Google Soros Arabella Associates, Clinton foundation, the Open Society Foundation Tides and the Chinese Progressive Association. Capital Research Center.

      Full-house.

      1. Look now, I had the shock of my life when I ventured into Poole , the posh part the other day , and had to park in an unknown carpark with a new fangled looking parking meter .

        Enter your car reg it said .. my mind went blank , and I didn't want to walk back nearly 600 yards in the drizzle to clock my car reg.

        I remembered the first letter K.. and not the rest .. I clicked K into the parking meter and I nearly fainted when the whole of my reg number appeared on the ticket machine .

        How?

        2. You'll get a shock all right.. when the CCTV camera swivels round & clocks your profile.. then up pops the message on the meter..

          You're faaar right. You're racist. Homophobe. You're a xenophobe. You patriarchal transphobic. islamophobic. You're spreading HATE. You're SPREADING HATE. YOU'RE SPREADING HATE. You're lidderally Hilter.

          all printed on footer of Dorset county council receipt

      1. Pure speculation but it might be something to do with copyright protection as movies always seem to state their date of creation/publication in Roman numerals. Again, pure speculation, it might be to ensure that there is no ambiguity between the day and the month as the US uses the month/day/year format – so is 11/04/2024 the 11th of April or November the 4th?

        1. Dhobi Mick: I thought that the reason why movies stated their date of release in Roman numerals is so that they can either re-release them at a later date or with a new and different title in the hope that younger cinema goers would not realise that this was an older film. I may be wrong.

          1. You could well be right, Elsie. After all, movie moguls are not exactly renowned for their ethical purity!

      2. I know of two people who write their dates like that. They're both pretentious pr*cks.

        I ve always wondered why the don't write the whole date in Latin. They probably can't count past twelve

        1. So, 22 is XXII, 11 is XI and 2024 is MMXXIV but the Romans would apparently describe the day of the month rather than write the numbers. Maybe this is Friday in the penultimate week of November in the year MMXXIV, or summat like that?

    2. The cartoon is missing an important part – Biden and Starmer behind Putin and poking him with sharp sticks . . . and a crowd of arms manufacturers and WEF leaders behind them pushing them forward,

      3. Each time Biden and Starmer up the stakes Putin gives a carefully considered riposte.

        He appears to be the only totally sane person in the room.

  59. Phew!
    Walked to Cromford and the X17 was over 20min late and the 6.1 Bakewell bus didn't turn up!
    Did half the shopping I'd planned, but at least the Bonsall bus turned up on time!

  60. Trivia question: While a teenage steward and waiter for Cunard, Lord Prescott attended to which former prime minister?

    The answer is Anthony Eden, the Earl of Avon, who boarded a six-week cruise to New Zealand just nine days after resigning as prime minister.

    1. The question is not how well Prescott served the Labour government and the country but how well he served a Gin and Tonic!

    2. They once asked him 'Did you work for Cunard?' – he replied 'Well, I worked fairly hard, yes…..'

      I'll get me G&T…..

  61. Yvette Cooper refuses to say if Netanyahu would be arrested in UK
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/22/politics-latest-news-icc-benjamin-netanyahu-yvette-cooper/

    BTL (Percival Wratt-Strangler)

    So should we now brand Starmer and his government as anti-Semitic?

    I feel sorry for his wife and his children who are being brought up in the Jewish faith.

    Starmer, Reeves and Cooper show all the typical traits of bullies: they give in to those who can effectively strike back and persecute those who cannot do so.

    I have heard rumours that Mrs Starmer has already left her husband – I do not know if these rumours are true but she certainly has good reason to leave him. I should also imagine that Mrs Lammy cannot find it easy to live with a husband who seems to detest all white people.

    1. These people are often complicit/enablers. Like paedos whose spouses ignore or even accept their proclivities. Such people do exist. Whether it is due to some psychological flaw, past trauma or just for a quiet (probably otherwise prosperous) life, who knows?

      1. 'Like paedos whose spouses ignore or even accept their proclivities. Such people do exist'

        Not just spouses…………The BBC… Jimmy Saville, Chris Denning, Chris Langham, Jonathan King, Rolf Harris, Huw Edwards.

        All category A abusers.

        1. Enabled by starry eyed colleagues, I think. Mind, groomers often groom people of influence to make them think they are ‘nice’ people.

        2. Enabled by starry eyed colleagues, I think. Mind, groomers often groom people of influence to make them think they are ‘nice’ people.

      2. 'Like paedos whose spouses ignore or even accept their proclivities. Such people do exist'

        Not just spouses…………The BBC… Jimmy Saville, Chris Denning, Chris Langham, Jonathan King, Rolf Harris, Huw Edwards.

        All category A abusers.

      3. Someone the other day was telling me of an interview with the son of the CofE abuser Smyth; his father took him out to a shed in their garden and beat him savagely because his mother kept a black book of his "sins". When he'd been beaten to a pulp, his mother was very solicitous. If that isn't complicit, I don't know what is.

    1. Yet… to what end. They can't all work in the public sector. If they don't know who pays for everything then they're dangerously incompetent.

      Oh, they can pretend their damaging, idiotic communist policies are not causing catastrophic damage but I think they simply don't care. Labour always massively expand the state, ruin the economy, devalue the pound and ram up the debt. They just don't care.

    2. Yet… to what end. They can't all work in the public sector. If they don't know who pays for everything then they're dangerously incompetent.

      Oh, they can pretend their damaging, idiotic communist policies are not causing catastrophic damage but I think they simply don't care. Labour always massively expand the state, ruin the economy, devalue the pound and ram up the debt. They just don't care.

  63. I've just been emailed a form from an American company requesting a reference for a former colleague. I'd love to help him but the form asks, "What were his/her strongest skills as an attorney?" Well, our function when we worked together was what the Americans call paralegal and some of our colleagues had studied law but none of us were employed as lawyers. He's doing a Rachel Reeves by the look of it and I can't be complicit.

    1. How about "He has the ability to gain the confidence of others with often fanciful and far-fetched notions."

      1. As the HR Bod said: "It's not the lack of ambition that bothers me. It's your lack of abilities….!"

      1. I used to think an attorney was equivalent to a barrister but apparently it just means lawyer. This guy definitely wasn't a lawyer when we worked together.

  64. Am seething. Fraser Nelson writes in the DT today that he has 'long been a supporter of mass immigration' Not immigration, which is a different thing but 'mass' immigration. He writes that it opens us to the world and its talents. How deluded. The chasm between his delusion and actual reality is huge. And this is a member of our establishment. At the same time he begins to acknowledge that it does undermine our own workforce and seems to suggest 25K offered to each immigrant to repatriate, as happens in the benighted Sweden which has been forced to take such measures. Offering money for repatriation is a good idea but he and his ilk have created a system where even that won't work in the UK. We do not have proper exit and entry checks (they said they were going to improve them but have not). Many would take the 25K and then return. And few would be picked up when they did. Or even if they were they would say they were visitors but then stay. I uncovered a horrific statistic yesterday:

    Summary of latest statistics – GOV.UK

    14 Nov 2023 · There were 3,287,404 visas granted in the year ending June 2023, 58% higher than the year ending June 2022.

    3.28 MILLION VISAS WERE GRANTED LAST YEAR. Let that sink in. 3.28 million despite objections to the huge numbers the previous year. We do not have anywhere near proper exit or entry checks. If we offered 25K for repatriation, many would take it and then return. Until exit checks are made fit for purpose, this is a mad idea. Visitors come and then a huge number stay. There is no disincentive not to.

    1. Migration has also lowered the average IQ in this country. Some blooming benefit !

      I have on several occasions remonstrated with delivery drivers because they aren't familiar with door handles !

      Leaving my porch door crashing into the side of the house.

    2. Offer them a lack of arrest and deportation if they leave on their own bat. Then start mass arrests of illegals, put them in camps and export them. No comfort allowed. Treat their children kindly.

    3. Offer them a lack of arrest and deportation if they leave on their own bat. Then start mass arrests of illegals, put them in camps and export them. No comfort allowed. Treat their children kindly.

  66. Legion of Winston Churchills hold the line in besieged city Russia wants most. 22 November 2024.

    With a cigar in his mouth, Winston Churchill stares out at the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

    In fact, while the city is increasingly deserted, there are more than a dozen Churchills still here, scowling over the ruins in the form of statues, portraits, and photographs.

    As artillery booms nearby, Oleksiy Yudin, the proud owner of the recently-opened Churchill Store, looks nervously out of the window.

    This is a sort of grotesque pastiche to engage the sympathies of Brits who have not signed up to this war. There is no depth to which these people will not sink.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/22/ukraine-city-russia-wants-most/

  67. SIR – John Prescott (Obituaries, November 21) will be remembered for many things – Jaguars and eggs come to mind – but as a politician he made important contributions.

    In 1999 he overturned the recommendation of a public inquiry and approved the Transport and Works Act to allow the Ffestiniog Railway to rebuild the impressive Welsh Highland Railway. Running between Porthmadog and Caernarfon, through stunning scenery and the Aberglaslyn Pass, this is now a major tourist attraction, bringing visitors and revenue to north Wales from around the world.

    Jonathan Mann
    Gunnislake, Cornwall

    Would it happen now?

  68. OK, so we're going to repeat the blood tests again next Thursday. Everything is fine except that my liver enzymes are high and there isn't any obvious reason for that. I haven't had more than three or four glasses of wine across the last year.

    1. Might it be all the bile one consumes on Nottle?

      Good luck, I hope they find a non threatening answer that is easily applied.

    2. Just to cheer you up…. :@(

      Some common causes of elevated liver enzymes include:

      Medications: Certain prescription and nonprescription drugs can cause elevated liver enzymes, including acetaminophen (Tylenol), statins, antibiotics, anti-epileptics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

      Viral hepatitis: Hepatitis A, B, and C can cause elevated liver enzymes
      Alcohol: Drinking alcohol can cause elevated liver enzymes, and even a single episode of binge drinking can increase the levels of the CYP2E1 enzyme
      Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): NAFLD can cause elevated liver enzymes
      Other conditions: Heart failure, obesity, autoimmune hepatitis, and genetic conditions like hemochromatosis and Wilson disease can also cause elevated liver enzymes

    4. Afternoon Sue. I went through that enzyme business a few years ago. More blood tests and a sound scan of my abdomen. By some fluke the operator told me there was nothing to see. You would not have guessed this from the letter which was couched in cautionary language designed to conceal it from me.

    6. Good luck, Sue…Better Half had some bad results a few years ago, turned out to be because sample had been left to stand over weekend. Repeat test on new sample was fine. Fingers crossed your repeat will be AOK x

  69. OK, so we're going to repeat the blood tests again next Thursday. Everything is fine except that my liver enzymes are high and there isn't any obvious reason for that. I haven't had more than three or four glasses of wine across the last year.

  72. had my heart MRI yesterday,. That was fun, not. Arrived at hospital at 7.25 attended to immediately with a cannula inserted. Given rundown of what to expect, lots of breath holding after exhaling. Would have one injection to make heart race, felt like heavy mass on the chest. Nurse had max 45 seconds to administer and retreat from the room followed by 90 seconds of scanning and the drug would disappear from the body in 3 minutes. The other injection was for contrast. Scanning plate on chest, BP monitor on one arm and sats finger clip on other hand. Came out of the room at about 9.10.
    Quite an exhausting time. Had to have a drink and biscuits before being discharged.
    It’s investigating that blood flowing into the heart. Radiologist in attendance to report as the procedures progressed.
    Feeling tired today but that’s another story.

    1. Good luck.

      My nephew who i mentioned has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma is responding well to treatment. The lumps on his neck dissolved after the first chemo. One more to go and they are talking about stem cell replacement.

      Take it easy my friend.

    2. You must be exhausted! Are there ongoing problems despite the atrial ablation being successful?

      1. Yes Sue this is to do with Shortness of breath. Had 2 stents in June but no improvement. Cardiologist wants to see if there is any obstruction on blood entering the heart. Should have letter in 10 days.

    3. Yo A_t_G

      They gve up after 5 attempts to get a cannular in me for Colonoscopy

      Had Gas & Air.

      If/when they launch into a lectures of why's/hows/wherefores, I just ask the ifthey expect to be told how the jet engine works before the flight:seems to shut theemup

  74. I had a heart stress test at Papworth a year or so ago. Cannulas in both arms dye in one and some chemical in the other. I had the heavy breast plate and a tent before being slid into the circular ring. Told to breathe in and hold breath for hours or so it seemed.

    I found that taking a deep intake of breath was more difficult to hold than shallow intakes. I wish they had told me earlier as it prolonged the process. At one stage my oxygen level fell and I was released temporarily and asked to breathe normally outside the tent.

    After a stressful wait of a fortnight I received a letter stating that my heart function was normal and that I was to be discharged.

    I hope you have a similar result.

    1. The nurse, before I went in to the tunnel told me to breathe shallow as it would be easier. Also had the very heavy plate on my chest. Quite exhausting. I had a cannula with 2 tubes. One for the first dose and one for the contrast.
      Glad you’re fine. I hope this will find the reason for the shortness of breath and hopefully a cure.

    1. He's a communist. He is a charisma vaccuum with no utility or interest in the damage he causes. If he is aware, he doesn't care so he is either stupid or mendacious. As he's not stupid, we have to put his actions down to malice.

  76. The release date is usually given in the credit when claiming clip usage under copyright exceptions. There has to be due acknowledgement of the creator of the work and with feature films that usually means captioning the clip with the movie title, name of director and date of release – I assume by way of clearly identifying the work.

  79. My DNA results arrived. It turns out that I'm 89.6% English from the Midlands. The rest is Dutch. I have no clue about the Dutch but I'm quite satisfied that I'm thoroughly English. It does cause a little confusion which will never be answered because anyone that could elucidate is dead. But my mother insisted we were, on her side, French.

      1. I did this because we had a discussion on here about this a few months ago. Were you one of the people who had done it Bill?

          1. That is what concerns me, the ulterior nefarious purpose in all this, despite the much lauded 'data protection' to which they are said to subscribe. Money talks and temptation is great.

          2. The Data protection Act continues to expand to organisations/partners that i wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.

        1. The Dutch are not a separate race from the French. They are both of the caucasian race, as are the British, Jews, Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis. All the same race.

          2. I have a book by the evolutionary biologist Richard Lynn, who was of course much hated by the wokerati. He explains that there are three broad racial groups. Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid. Interestingly, Caucasians can breed successfully with the other two groups but the other groups can't produce healthy children with each other and how often have you seen a Chinese/African partnership anyway?

          3. It's to do with your environment and what you or your predecessors ate etc. It reveals where they were from. So yes, the same race but because environments are different they give information away at the level of DNA,

          4. "All the same race", yes, the human race.
            There are only two destructive species on planet Earth, namely humans and rats.

          5. No!

            Humans Homo sapiens sapiens are NOT a race: they are a species. That species has five recognised racial stereotypes.
            Whoever first came up with the idiotic risible expression “human race” was an uneducated buffoon.

          7. They get confused between species, race, nationality, political affiance and ‘belief’ system, Opopanax.

            Humans — it seems — are an easily-confused entity.

        2. Isn’t part of Flanders in the Netherlands? I thought it was split between NE France, northern Belgium and the western Netherlands.

    4. I suppose the French rellies could have Dutch ancestors, say from the Lille area, there has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing across border lands for all time, and Belgium is not very big.

    5. Ah, I think mine was much lower, johnathan – largest part after Anglo Saxon was French (my paternal grandparents were from Southern England, perhaps that was the connection – grandfather looked exactly like a Breton fisherman. I'm also part Russian (what?) but don't tell anyone will you.

        1. Look to the era of Vermuyden when he was draining the fens then Jonathan. Most likely link lies there.

    7. Interesting results.
      I must get mine done soon, I've been talking about it for years.
      One of my friends had his results and was quite intrigued to find that he had some Irish connection.
      Over a couple of pints in the local we reached the conclusion that there could have been possible links with the navvies who probably needed some romance during their time off from digging canals.

    9. My family did this several years ago. The results have changed over the years because, the company says, the database becomes larger and they acquire more information.
      My son gave me a subscription to Ancestry.com one Christmas as a present. I spent time building my family tree,detailed information available from the UK and the US about census, birth certificates etc from the 19th and 20th centuries enabled me to find information about long dead relatives. I was disappointed as I couldn't get much information about my Spanish wife's family ( I Imagine the authorities were protecting citizens' privacy) and so our family tree was a little lopsided.

    1. No doubt they didn’t understand that muzzies could be arrested. No further action no doubts.
      Should all be bundled onto Pakistani airplane for the them to live in their own heathen country.

      1. This is what we get for being kind to certain people whose original home countries didn't suit their parents. I can't imagine what the future holds for this nation.
        Our stupid political idiots have committed on going treason and completely wrecked our country.

    2. I remember visiting as a child, more than half a century ago. It was bad enough then. That PC should never have been there on his own, he looks quite young and small too.

    4. They need a 12 bore shoved up their Khyber Pass.

      BTW, is there no minimum height for cops these days?

    3. Has anyone else noticed how there are more Islamic females now on our TV programmes. This 'sudden hatred' of our canines could be part of the process of becoming a force to be reckoned with, in our not too British country these days.

    4. Clue as to who is offended?
      primarily non Irish will not go into a house with a dog as it offends them.

  85. A question. Is it illegal to swear at a policeman in England? I ask because I have seen several videos threatening people with arrest because they have been sworn at.

    1. It is Johnathan. I can't remember the exact charge, probably something like interfering with a police officer in the execution of his duty.

      1. Not true, Araminta.

        The offence you allude to is "obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty" which is something else altogether.

        1. Ah, but if the police officer is offended by the remark there is Shirley a "prima facie" until proven otherwise.

          I rest my case, but I've just got back from the pub.

    2. No it is not.

      However, S5 of the Public Order Act (at least the old one) states that it is an offence to use threatening or abusive, words or actions, against ANYONE in a public place.

      Hope that answers your question.

      1. so, swear nicely then.

        “Oh I do say officer, it appears to me that you are an #£@& f-#&£ but I doooooo love you.”

        Along those lines?

      2. Yes thank you Griz. Sitting here waiting for dinner to be ready 😊 normally in bed by now.

      1. I am wondering if Putin is going to flatten Ukraine for Blackrock – saw a news item last night which informed that residents of certain areas in Ukraine would be informed before weapon strikes. Nothing is as it seems.

        1. Stranger things have happened. Putin himself said to Carlson he was only interested in the four Oblasts, the rest could be rubble as far as he was concerned. The whole debacle is strange, Biden family seeminglyinvolved from the start. Eventually the truth comes out, thanks to investigative journalists.

      2. And in Iraq.
        And in Afghanistan.
        And in everywhere else the USA has poked it's nose over the past 20+ years.

        1. Spot on Bob. What’s the point of war if it isn’t to make a profit. Clause 6(d) in action. Or maybe just read Catch22.

        3. And all of the critics of all of those adventures are silent on the subject of the Maidan.

    4. Fink is a North American slang term that originally meant "informant" or "strikebreaker" and expanded to be a general pejorative term for a jerk or an unpleasant person.

      So accurate.

    6. If you have a private pension plan, some of your money is likely to be invested in index funds managed by Blackrock or Vanguard. As I may have mentioned before, Vanguard was founded by John C. Bogle, one of the greatest investors of the 20th century; he was a philanthropist. Vanguard is indirectly owned by its investors.
      Wiki: "Later in his life, Bogle expressed concerns that the growing popularity of passive indexing would lead to a concentration of corporate voting power for leaders of the three largest investment firms (Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street), adding, "I do not believe that such a concentration would serve the national interest."

      1. Ah Blackrock. Mark Carney is tied in with them and he is also in thick with our liberal party government. By some strange coincidence, the liberal government directed pension funds to invest in green power initiatives just like those owned by Blackrock / Brookfield.

        One company receiving funds was Northvolt who have just declared bankruptcy.
        Our 53 billion that the government has invested in EV battery plants is really looking like a good investment now – ha ha!

        1. Carney (spit!). Not content with his many years of running the UK into the ground had the gall to recommend one of the BoE tea ladies (as if he knew who she was) as CoE and look what's happened. It was always obvious that he hated this country.

  87. That is outrageous. In the USA it comes under the first amendment. You can voice your displeasure as much as you want, even give policeman the finger. It all comes under the category of freedom of expression. I have to say, watching police interaction with the public in the UK, things are very ambiguous and thus work in favor of the police even if you are entirely innocent. It contradicts freedom until found guilty. We really need a first amendment here. It is the ambiguity that has allowed these evil speech laws to flourish.

    1. There was a report a few years ago in the UK that Police should take into account that this was normal for this type of person. If they generally littered their utterances with expletives that should be accepted.

      I think now it is a case as recruitment has been set so low that Police officers now behave like victims if some says to them to fuck off.

      I am going to try it the next time they ask for my help.

  89. The West is now deliberately poking the Russian bear. 22 November 2024.

    On Thursday evening, President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian people on the escalation of the Ukraine War. Putin vowed to strike military facilities of countries that use their weapons against Russian facilities and warned that “in case of escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond resolutely in a mirror way.” Putin also decried the increasingly “global character” of the Ukraine War and blamed the West for this trend.

    The way things are going we will probably be able to microwave the Christmas turkeys by leaving them outside in clingfilm.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/22/the-west-is-now-deliberately-poking-the-russian-bear/

    1. I made hard work of it today.

      Wordle 1,252 5/6

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

      1. #metoo.
        Wordle 1,252 5/6

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

        Too many possibilities again. Still, that’s half the fun.

        1. Wordle 1,252 5/6

          And me

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

    2. Boring par here…..

      Wordle 1,252 4/6

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

    5. Well done, I'm on a bit of a roll too.

      Wordle 1,252 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  91. Forced relocations of peoples end in the destructure of the societies they arrive at.

    Guess who's coming to dinner…

    1. The comments are always the best bit..

      Honestly good. I don’t want to go in a pool with them, I actively avoid doing so

      Isn't it amazing how inclusion seems more and more racist with each new initiative?

      I'm old enough to remember when people marched against segregation, but we are.

      As White English are actually, and factually, the underrepresented ethnicity in Leicester perhaps there ought to be White only swimming sessions..

      So black/brown people dont go swimming when caucasians do?? Of course they do! Talk about inventing a problem And this isnt UNITY is it???

      We've come full circle.

    2. Oh, FFS, I bet they were just mobbed during that period with black non-swimmers. I have a few stories from Nigeria about "swim tests" with Shell.

    2. One respondent suggests the Manchester muggers haven't yet been charged because Tory spending cuts have caused a backlog in the courts. He must have been out of the country in July and August when the courts were clearly working very effectively.

    1. Dontcha worry the farmers will cough up..
      In any case "I will take no lectures as I am fixing the foundations"

  97. Ed Miliband’s new heat pump plan could tip us into civil unrest

    Very soon, communities will be at war with one another until tempers are stretched beyond breaking point

    Matthew Lynn
    21 November 2024 7:16pm GMT

    Nothing ever seems to deter Ed Miliband, the green commissar of this Labour government. He has already brought back the boiler tax, adding a few hundred pounds to the bill for anyone unlucky enough to need a new heating system this winter. Now he is relaxing the size and noise restrictions on heat pumps, allowing them to screech through the night. At this rate, the typical British city will be turned into a cacophonous heat pump farm, with a few pale, sleep-deprived humanoids trapped inside. But hold on. This is crazy. In reality we are doubling down on a failing technology, and risking civil unrest in the process.

    For a man who typically despises any form of deregulation, Miliband makes one crucial exception. If it is part of his net-zero crusade then it is perfectly fine. Too big? Never mind. Too noisy? No problem. Too expensive? What does cost matter when the planet has to be saved? We already have subsidies for heat pumps, quotas and taxes on the traditional alternative. Now they will be allowed to fill the night with noise as well.

    And yet, there are two big problems with Miliband’s decision. To start with, why are we obsessing over a technology that doesn’t seem to work very well? If your dishwasher sounded like a fighter jet with the afterburners switched on we might suggest the boffins in the lab figured out a way to make it quieter. If mobile masts took up half the street we’d ask the manufacturers to go back to the drawing board and make them smaller.

    Heat pumps may or may not be the best way of moving towards carbon neutral home heating.† But if we are going to install millions of them, then surely they need to be fit for purpose, in the same way that any other mass market product should be? Pumps need to be quiet, compact, and cheap. Until they are, they either need to get better, or else we need to look at alternatives.

    Instead, we will risk splitting communities apart. Relations between neighbours can often be fraught at the best of times. There are arguments over parking, parties and fences. Now we can add heat pumps to the list. If one house is keeping the whole street awake with its heating that hardly seems reasonable, but presumably the self-righteous eco warriors will insist it is OK, and will have the Government on side.

    Nor does it stop there. Miliband also wants us to do our washing at three in the morning to even out the load on the grid. But if a rackety drier wakes up half an apartment block in the middle of the night, that hardly seems reasonable either. Likewise, cabling for electric cars now runs across many pavements, but it is easy to trip over, and we surely would not allow that it was not part of the green crusade. Very soon, communities will be at war with one another, arguing about every new rule handed down from Westminster, until tempers are stretched beyond breaking point.

    That is crazy. We can debate whether climate change is an imminent catastrophe, and whether the UK, accounting for less than one per cent of global emissions, really needs to lead the world in combating it. But regardless of that, surely we can all agree that whatever technologies we adopt for the transition to carbon neutrality need to be cheap, effective and safe, and mustn’t disrupt the communities in which we all live. Miliband doesn’t seem to care about any of those tests – and instead appears intent on driving the country to the brink of civil unrest.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/21/ed-milibands-new-heat-pump-plan-could-tip-us-civil-unrest

    † Er, no, Mr L, they're simply useless in most residential locations.

    The civil unrest will more likely come with the deadly power cuts that will be the result of the whole mad package.

  99. Off topic

    OK, I know, it's a marketing ploy and the product is very rough and ready.

    As we usually do, we selected 6 different Beaujolais Nouveau wines.
    We opened the first this evening, aiming to work from cheapest up over the next week.
    The cheapest was, to our palates, delicious. Very fruity, not at all acidic and possibly the best opening salvo for several years.
    If they get better they will be a pleasure to sample.

      1. I try to keep down with my wife's drinking habits, 'coz sure as eggs is omelettes, she can't keep up with mine!

    1. Oh dear. Did the BBC check the fact that the tax is a thinly disguised land grab based upon the usual Labour envy and spite and little to do with simply raising cash? It's not as if they have already got history in taxing land owners out of existence.

      1. My head was spinning half-way down.

        All of that disputed analysis to extract from farmers over a period of five years enough tax to run the NHS for one day.

        1. Well yes, that's the point. Aside from their tortuous logic the bottom line is that since it is a drop in the ocean they'll actually raise then one must conclude that that is not why they are bringing it in.

          That Beeboid who interviewed Clarkson the other day on the farmers' march tried the gotcha, "it's IHT or the NHS, so how would you pay for the NHS if the farmers don't?"

          Those who do logic call that a false dichotomy. But then that's par for the course for the Beeb.

        2. Well yes, that's the point. Aside from their tortuous logic the bottom line is that since it is a drop in the ocean they'll actually raise then one must conclude that that is not why they are bringing it in.

          That Beeboid who interviewed Clarkson the other day on the farmers' march tried the gotcha, "it's IHT or the NHS, so how would you pay for the NHS if the farmers don't?"

          Those who do logic call that a false dichotomy. But then that's par for the course for the Beeb.

    2. One should not rejoice in Karma, even though I do.

      I would have been happier to read that he'd fallen ill with a particularly nasty dose of Covid.
      But, failing that, I can't stop myself from hoping the heart problem is as a result of the jabs.

      Speaking as someone who suffered from a totally unexpected heart attack, even my doctor was surprised, having had the injections and still caught Covid.

      In mitigation, it was impossible for us to live a normal life, with returns to the UK to visit elderly relatives, unless we were fully jabbed.

      BASTARDS

      1. I took the jabs so I could go on a foreign fishing trip with friends. Very sorry I did. Fishing was crap too.

  102. The thoroughly discredited and frankly dangerous ex Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock, still thinks we should lockdown harder, sooner in the event of a pandemic being declared. To the inquiry he says, as if lockdown opposition is some sort of minority opinion among the ill informed:

    "There are still people making the argument that lockdown wasn’t necessary, or in future we should try to do without it."

    🙄

      1. They are having to get rid of the many millions they've got over. And the Tories wonder why sensible people ditched them.

      2. Many Ontario medical facilities have been demanding face masks for several months. No mask, no service with no appeal.

      1. Indeed. Pensioners shipped out of hospital to die in "care" homes separate from their famies, added to that one. Billions spaffed on Nightingales that were never used, because they weren't needed. Application of respirators making COVID more harmful, not less. Probably would have got a better prognosis using a witch doctor rather than falling into the hands of Hancock's version of totalitarian care.

        He didn't believe in lockdown anyway, because if he did he wouldn't have been groping some woman's bum in an intimate embrace for the cameras. He'd have been too scared shitless to even go near anyone. Hancock is economical with the truth. Who new?

        Always avoid dangerous megalomaniacs is my advice.

        1. And as far as I’m aware, nobody has been held accountable for their decisions, let alone been imprisoned.

      2. I don't suppose anyone remembers me saying back then, on here and at the pub, that the ship would have been the perfect place to see how deadly this virus would be.

        1. I remember one or more Nottlers doing so.
          And you were 100% on the money.
          It was, it did, and nobody paid the slightest attention.

    3. 2064: Matt Hancock, speaking from his retirement home said "I think it's a disgrace that we pensioners aren't banged up 24 hours a day. Someone on my corridor had a cold last week. It's a disgrace!"

  103. Usually too late for the formal results announcements, but an appalling drop in standards after yesterday's two:
    Wordle 1,252 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Muzzle preferably. Until she can speak a) sense and b) decent English (as opposed to gobledigook). So that many be permanent.

  105. What's Starmerism? Socialism via moralising lawyers

    Despite appearances, this Labour Government does have a vision – it's rule by ECHR-adhering judges

    David Frost
    21 November 2024 5:39pm GMT

    The excellent Alex Burghart MP – a former university academic in Anglo-Saxon history, which makes me instinctively sympathetic to him whatever he does – stood in for Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday at Prime Minister's Questions. What struck me was not so much his ability to put Angela Rayner on the back foot, which I had expected, but his attempt, the first I have heard, to define "Starmerism".

    Now one hesitates to dignify the approach of this Government with any term that implies it has a coherent plan or systematic vision. But I think the effort to define "Starmerism" is worth making, not least because Labour itself will be reluctant to do so, knowing as they do how unpopular their leader already is.

    Alex's definition – "High tax, high inflation, low growth, low reform: that's Starmerism" – was a good start and was true as far as it went, though an uncharitable observer could fairly point out that it is a fair description of the last Tory government too. And certainly there is a socialist approach behind Starmerism. To be fair to Sir Keir, he did warn us before the election that he was a socialist, but no-one paid attention. Since then we have seen nationalisation of the railways, job-killing laws giving the trade unions more power, vast pay-offs to the public sector, all financed by huge tax and spending increases. The associated rhetoric of growth is just words: we can all see that Labour has only the crudest, most primitive understanding of what actually produces growth and prosperity.

    But perhaps Alex's definition didn't quite capture what I think many voters are picking up – the sheer weirdness, the oddness, at times the nastiness, of the way this Government behaves and acts. Its style: that's what's distinctive about it. Starmerism is more a style than a philosophy, and it's a style that is already grating badly on many Brits.

    There's the moral superiority. Labour ministers can do things – appoint non-civil servants, take freebies – that others wouldn't get away with. They can junk historical paintings from their state offices. They can doctor their CVs and it doesn't matter. They are open in telling us that the public sector is morally better than wealth-creating business and that we should be pleased to hand over more money to "save the NHS".

    With this moralising approach goes a very clear hierarchy of groups. At the top of the pyramid, obviously, are Labour ministers and their advisers.

    Below them are NHS workers, the Labour aristocracy, followed closely by the public and quasi-public professions like teachers and lawyers. Then the trade unions and the Leftist blob of NGOs and professional mega-charities. Then, a long way behind, comes the wealth-creating private sector.

    And, finally, right at the bottom, are the modern equivalent of Soviet kulaks: farmers, pensioners, people who send their children to private school, anyone who owns more than one house, and of course anyone who doesn't like the social change brought about by massive inward immigration. Labour is indifferent to what those people think. It sees them as "populists" and as potential victims, internal enemies in need of re-education.

    Such a hierarchy can only be enforced with a high degree of authoritarianism. We all learnt that pretty fast with the crackdown on free speech over the summer. Many are now frightened to say what they think – one reason why the police investigation into the great Allison Pearson has struck such a chord. If they can come after her, we think, who is safe?

    But it's visible more broadly. Important decisions are taken without scrutiny and rushed out when no one is looking: the cancellation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act in July, or the re-subjugation of British courts to European Court doctrine in September. And we can all see Starmer's visible anger when someone has the temerity to ask him a question.

    Labour are fine with this because they aren't politicians in the normal sense, but rather lawyer-politicians who see law as superior to politics. For them the law is not a way of enabling citizens of a democracy to conduct our political affairs in a fair and equitable fashion. They see it as a way of constraining us, of limiting politics to what they consider acceptable, a system to which politics must bend.

    Their ideal is a constitution of lawyers, ultimately based on the ECHR, interpreted by judges, staffed by the great and the good, in which you, the voter, can't change anything important. It's all there in the speech by Lord Hermer, Attorney General and Keir Starmer crony, last month: "The Rule of Law in an Age of Populism". Read it and shiver.

    Want a visual image of all this? Look at that picture of Starmer on the plane to Rio: alone, stern, working on his papers. It reminded me of nothing so much as one of those Soviet bloc propaganda photos: "General Secretary Starmer works tirelessly to protect the British people."

    We know what that really means. Socialist economics. Imperious authoritarianism. Control. Disdain for you, the voter. And all coupled with a haughty moralism that says "we are the masters now". That's Starmerism for you. Better watch out.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/21/whats-starmerism-socialism-via-moralising-lawyers-echr

      1. Is he familiar with Conservatism, is he the odd one out of the Parliamentary Party who knows what that means.
        I suppose at least one Conservative MP must know what Conservative values mean, it could be him I suppose.

    2. Allison Pearson had to be made an example of – That went well,did't it? Another massive plod red-face.

    3. We are heading quite deliberately for a Dikastocracy, (a form of Kritarchy), in which like all the other dodgy nations around the world use it, Britain will relegate democracy to a figleaf like our monarchy. Good for tourism and self congratulatory back slapping at world forums, but that's about it.

  106. Another off topic:

    Great pleasures in life:

    Sitting in a cosy dark room, doing nothing apart from watching the flames of a fire, no background noise apart from the odd crackle.
    no ladies, that's definitely crackle not cackle HG enjoys the fire too
    It's strangely comforting, I wonder whether it's a throwback to caveman days?

    1. On Netflix there are programmes of a log fire burning that run for an hour. I thought 'who is going to watch that?'. Ten minutes later………..

      2. A staple of Canadian tv programming. Frequently the log fire is the best option. From among the hundreds of channels available.

  107. People that have spent their whole lives not drinking alcohol, not smoking and not owning or driving a car should be hit with 40% inheritance tax on their estate when they die, for all that tax avoidance during their lifetime, it would only be fair, according to leftwing logic, that is.

    1. Nearly there, Bob. Anyone who works and saves all their life must have all their property confiscated as soon as possible and reassigned to the State.

      1. Nearly there, opopanax.
        Anyone who works and saves all their life must have all their property confiscated as soon as possible and reassigned to the State and that's why we are introducing an assisted dying bill….

    2. After abstention on that scale, their lives have probably been miserable enough without having an additional tax applied.

    3. The new definition for Death duty is IHT.
      I still call it Death duty and,now, the hard earned pesion pot gets screwed with 63% tax.
      Hope Reeves has a miserable Xmas and chokes on her pigs in blankets along with her co-pigs in the cabinet

  108. I use to light a log fire at the end of my garden and sit down with a bottle of red and sit and listen to the crackling. Loved it.

      1. Do you mean howling ?

        I was chief fire lighter when we went camping in the scouts. And breakfast cook.
        I might have even gained a d badge for that. 🤚

  110. Apologies for yet another off topic.

    Why is there a voiceover describing the scenery on a television programme?

  111. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    ' Two countries separated by a common language’ is how transatlantic relations are often defined. But these days it really does seem like some in Washington are struggling to understand what is going on this side of the pond. Mr S has previously noted how British-based networks like the Center for Countering Digital Hate have enraged Congressional Republicans with their demands for a big tech crackdown. Now it seems that some on Capitol Hill are broadening out their critique still further.

    Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have today criticised the UK’s Online Safety Act in the UK as part of a ‘tsunami of censorship headed towards America’. According to Congressman Darrell Issa, a member of the aforementioned panel:

    Legislation like the Online Safety Act that is said to combat ‘hate speech’ empowers regulators to censor free speech. Congressional Republicans understand that these threats to free speech are part of a broader global push by the Censorship Industrial Complex, which includes not only the EU, UK, and other nations but also malign actors here at home. We are committed to confronting this growing threat alongside the incoming Trump Administration to fight against these assaults on free speech within our borders and around the world.

    Sounds like Whitehall will struggle to do much about Silicon Valley these next four years then. The committee also criticised abortion centre ‘buffer zones’, having recently interviewed Brit Isabel Vaughan-Spruce. A practicing Catholic , she recently won a payout of £13,000 from West Midlands Police for her two unlawful arrests for silently praying in an abortion centre ‘buffer zone’ in Birmingham.

    With Reform’s leader – and Trump bestie – Nigel Farage warning publicly about the ‘very sinister’ ‘crackdown on free expression within the UK’, expect to see today’s Republicans taking a less rose-tinted view of the UK than their predecessors did…

    Steerpike
    WRITTEN BY
    Steerpike
    Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

    1. More power to their elbows.

      If we're not careful any non confirmative opinions won't just be banned, but having them will send us to the local Gulag-U-like.

  113. Remember the truckers protest in Ottawa back in 2022? One of the most prominent protesters Pat King has just been found guilty of mischief. Naturally they have thrown in a conviction for disobeying a court order so they can increase the penalty beyond a mere nuisance charge. He faces a possible ten years in prison – that will teach him to blow his truck horn.

    In the meantime, the leader of some Palestinian hate mob is free to scream abuse and incite violence.

    1. In the meantime, the leader of some Palestinian hate mob is free to scream abuse and incite violence.

      Trudeau again?

      1. Not this time, Trudeau is busy telling us that he has no choice but to follow ICC demands and arrest Netanyahu if he set foot in Canada.

        This leader is called Charlotte Kates, a leader of the internationally recognized terrorist organization Samidoun.

  114. I couldn't help quoting Will Jones from the Sceptic.

    "If we have to live in a British version of North Korea, better it should be run by David Lammy, Bridget Phillipson and Ed Miliband than, say, Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket scientists. Not because the assault on our freedoms is leavened by the comic relief of watching Starmer’s buffoons running amok in Whitehall, but because they’re too stupid to work out which levers to pull and buttons to push to implement their oppressive policies in full. To paraphrase Orwell, if you want a picture of Britain’s future, imagine a clown shoe stamping on a human face – for ever."

  115. Watching Surgeons:A matter of life and death on My5 catch up. Replacing an aorta near the lungs.
    Admiration and respect.
    It’s like watching a miracle before your very own eyes.

      1. I think that IDS is a very well-meaning bear of little brain. What Neil says above may or may not be true. I don't know. Friends who inhabit that part of the world and have lived through WWII and Russian occupation have a very specific and cynical view of Russia and her leaders which would conflict with the narrative above. But, that there has been quite breathtaking evil and greed motivating the mass killings, cannot be denied. It is also undeniable that the time has come to end it. I am so glad that Trump is now POTUS.

        One small personal anecdote: a close friend recently had need of a handyman to do various jobs for her and a very pleasant and personable chap was produced. He proceeded to do a good job at a decent rate. It turned out that this young man (in his late20s/early30s) is a Ukrainian refugee, "billeted" (as he described it) in a lovely local family where he wants for nothing (courtesy of the UK tax payer), but does numerous odd jobs to send money "home to his wife and children" and to save for buying a property somewhere cheap in Europe when the war is over. I am relaying this without comment.

  117. Evening, all. Cold here despite the Rayburn. When I say, "cold", it's 20 degrees C, but it feels cold.

    Surely leaving the UK defenceless and stoking up a hot war can't just be down to incompetence, can it?

  118. Friday 22nd November 1963, I was nine years old, my last year living in the US. And like anyone else living in America can remember where i was and what I was doing when I heard the news.
    What a dark weekend it was. The only thing on TV which was on all day culminating in Oswald being shot whilst my dad was picking my mother up from church. I met them at the door and my dad was appalled that a little boy, alone, had seen a real murder on television. And several times by the time they got home.
    They say that most Americans thought that this weekend was when everything began to go wrong for the US. But the missile crisis, the Berlin Wall and Vietnam had all begun in Kennedy's crazy three years.
    What about civil rights? It was Nixon, as vice president who first brought MLK to the White House. Kennedy just civilised the racist Democratic party and that was no easy task.

    1. I never understood the deification of Kennedy. He really launched the US into the Vietnam War but always gets a free pass about it.

  121. Quote of the day

    ‘The experience of sitting with a fatally ill baby girl did not convince me of the case for assisted dying; it convinced me of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care.’

    – Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown comes out against assisted dying. Legislation to legalise it will be put to a Commons vote on 29 November.

    2. The death of his daughter, Jennifer Jane, was one time Gordon Brown had the sympathy of the nation.

  123. The invasion of Cuba was the debt the Kennedy family owed to the mafia. Joe Kennedy had used his money and influence to get his son into the White House and price had been the recuperation of Cuba which the gangsters believed belonged to them.
    Some are of the opinion that Kennedy nearly started a nuclear war trying to appease organised crime.
    When he failed and refused to try again he was whacked. A theory dismissed years ago but now very much in vogue.

    1. Dear Johnny

      What wonderful, wonderful news! Congratulations and thank you so very much for letting us all know. Give a big one to Mrs Johnny too. CV1xx

    2. Dear Johnny

      What wonderful, wonderful news! Congratulations and thank you so very much for letting us all know. Give a big one to Mrs Johnny too. CV1xx

    5. I don’t believe he took the jabs. In fact I recall he admitted to not having had any. Heart issues can be hereditary or indeed caused by other factors.

      1. Precisely. None of the promoters of the Covid jabs submitted to them. They knew the evil purpose and none of them will have been jabbed.

        This explains why we have not witnessed the politicians and global elites dropping like flies.

  126. Labour must not leave our children ignorant about Britain's past – that way division lies

    A Left-wing sociologist is now in charge of the school curriculum. This does not bode well for our social cohesion

    Robert Tombs
    22 November 2024 3:41pm GMT

    The deadline for submitting evidence to the Government's Curriculum and Assessment Review has just passed. Telegraph readers who might have wished to express an opinion are now too late – even if they managed to find and navigate the complicated 33-page online form provided by the Department for Education.

    We must now wait and see whether the review lives up to its own extravagant aims: "to refresh the curriculum to ensure it is cutting edge … fit for purpose and meeting the needs of children and young people to support their future life and work", balancing "ambition, excellence, relevance, flexibility and inclusivity", ensuring "meaningful, rigorous and high-value pathways" and contributing to "the Government's missions to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child and young person, at every stage, as well as to the Government's mission on growth."

    So many clichés in so few lines! But good luck to the review in working these miracles without (as it is more modestly put) "destabilising the system".

    In charge of the process is Professor Becky Francis, who has published on fashionable aspects of education (feminism, gender, ethnic minorities). She is a London-based insider (fellow of the British Academy, holder of the CBE) and long-time Labour supporter. During the Blair government she criticised British education as having an "obsession with academic achievement".

    More recently, and more encouragingly, she stated that the present national curriculum (finalised under Michael Gove) was "pretty good at the moment". She is now reported to be primarily concerned with class inequalities, presumably good news for today's only demonstrably disadvantaged minority: white working-class boys.

    A more worrying sign of what might be in the offing is a report published by OCR, an examining body owned by Cambridge Assessment consisting of Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal Society of Arts (of which Prof Francis was once director of education), and explicitly aiming to influence the review.

    Entitled Striking the balance, it was chaired by Charles Clarke, former Labour education secretary. He was reported in 2003 to have said that medieval history was a waste of time. This he denied, but did believe that the purpose of universities was to "enable the British economy and society to deal with the challenges posed by the increasingly rapid process of global change."

    This might mean that medieval history is indeed a waste of time, or it might mean that understanding the past helps us to navigate the future. Clarke's preface to the OCR report suggests the former.

    He wants the school curriculum to be "far more contemporary and forward-looking, including more content on digital skills and artificial intelligence and climate change … focused far more on the world as it now is and is going to be than on the past". Focusing on the past, it appears, is merely "acquiring the canons of knowledge which have been built up over centuries."

    What remarkable self-assurance to assume an understanding of both the present and the future while demeaning knowledge built up over centuries – which is, of course, the only knowledge we have. Clarke's vision of the future involves making climate change a central part of the curriculum. Education or indoctrination?

    This utilitarian focus means cutting back on literature: "the literary canon should better reflect the range of cultures and experiences of all young people". What about their common culture? Why not aim to widen their experiences by introducing them to imaginary worlds they cannot otherwise know?

    Instead, the OCR wants "more media, non-fiction and multi-modal texts, including film, TV, drama and digital texts".

    Cultural discovery is not needed by the future proletariat, it seems. Yet there are excellent schools that show every day that children from "a range of cultures" can enjoy and take possession of our shared culture. This is their right, and it is what all our schools should aim at, not at the perpetuation of cultural differences, intellectual impoverishment and what has rightly been condemned as the tyranny of low expectations.

    As a historian, I am worried by what may be in store for the History curriculum, which the OCR report casually describes as "overloaded with content". To reduce its already slim provision would be disastrous.

    Ever since the beginning of democracy and mass education – the two are closely linked – teaching history to schoolchildren has been seen as essential for two reasons. First, to help future citizens understand what it means to be a citizen.

    Second, to create a sense of common belonging as sharers in what has been called "a rich heritage of memories", both positive and negative. This is essential at a time of major change and instability such as that which we are now experiencing.

    England is unusual by international standards in the little time it devotes to the study of history in schools. Perhaps knowing history seemed less urgent in a country that had experienced relatively few upheavals and disasters, and where in the past a broad consensus on national identity and national values could be assumed.

    In countries where that was not the case, which includes most of our European neighbours, history is a core subject at all levels right up to the school leaving age.

    Today in Britain, ignorance of history has become a danger. It makes children and adults vulnerable to activists whose aim seems to be to undermine both citizenship and common belonging.

    Or if that is not their conscious intention, it is the inevitable consequence of their campaign to discredit the past – and certainly Britain's particular past – and inculcate shame, cynicism and division.

    This is done directly by distorting and even falsifying the historical record, and indirectly by ignoring large parts of it. The justifications given for such distortions are varied: that we must "face up to" negative parts of our past (usually well-known already); that we can and should create new "narratives" to please certain lobbies or political movements; that we should undermine national identity and replace it by something else; and that we must please customers and consumers (including schoolchildren) by giving them a view of the past assumed to accord with their prejudices, expectations or cultural backgrounds.

    Any national history curriculum in a truly democratic country should have very different aims to these. It must be accurate, balanced and coherent. It must explain how the past can be rationally explored by honest interpretation of evidence.

    It must show how ideas, beliefs, social conditions and values change over time, and will continue to change. It must explain the origins and purposes of institutions. It must challenge complacent assumptions that our culture is the peak of human achievement, and that the future is knowable.

    Living in England and for the most part being future citizens of the United Kingdom is the fundamental thing – perhaps the only thing – that all schoolchildren have in common. The present National Curriculum for England is intended to provide the essentials of English and British history over a long period, alongside a comparative introduction to other cultures and continents.

    No revision of the National Curriculum should depart from this basic principle. It must value our history as the foundation of common citizenship in a multiethnic society. It is a shared heritage to which the younger generation have a right.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/22/labour-will-leave-our-children-ignorant-about-britains-past

    __________________________________________________________________________

    The appointment of Rebecca Francis was reported in the DT in the summer:

    Prof Francis, who previously served as an adviser to the House of Commons education select committee, specialises in education inequalities and gender stereotypes in the classroom.

    She has written dozens of publications, spanning a 30-year career, about how girls are often negatively affected by gender clichés in school, including books called Feminist Critique of Education and Feminism and The Schooling Scandal.

    Labour's decision to place her at the helm of the curriculum shake-up could see more girls encouraged to take science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects.

    Prof Francis said at an event hosted by the charity Gender Action in 2019 that "gender discrimination and gender inequality are ongoing issues day to day in schools, both in terms of kids' experiences of school and their outcomes".

    "We see a very strong gendered trend still in terms of uptake of different subject areas going on into A-level particularly, and then on into university," she said.

    Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said that "for too long they have been held back by a curriculum and assessment system that fails to prepare enough of our children for work and for life".

    Ms Phillipson has previously promised Labour would overhaul the maths curriculum in a move that would see children taught to manage their household budgets, exchange currencies and rank their favourite football teams.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/19/feminist-professor-francis-shake-up-national-curriculum

    __________________________________________________________________________

    I have to admit that I thought that the 'gender' war had already been won and that only girls were now getting GCSEs, A-levels and degrees. So relentless has been the propaganda of the last 20 years or so that I thought boys had stopped going to school.

    Nevertheless, there is something in the idea of helping young people learn to manage their lives properly but they must be told that the study of money does not feature in botany lessons. Not long after Lee Anderson was elected as Conservative MP he was filmed on a visit to a charity which helped people with the basics of life. He was genuinely appalled at how useless some people were at simple every-day tasks. Of course, he was typically blunt, giving the TV crews a chance to present him as an insensitive oaf (although he was a little careless when discussing food-banks and stating that meals could be cooked for about 30 pence per day).

    1. "During the Blair government she criticised British education as having an "obsession with academic achievement"." That soon died out under Blair, I would have thought.

    2. 'girls are often negatively affected by gender clichés in school'
      I find this an extraordinary statement.
      When I went to school in the 60s and early 70s there might have been some basis to such an affirmation but certainly not today.
      The problem with these activists is they tend to dwell in the past, battling their own old ghosts and frustrations. Maybe it's just easier to refuse to recognise that the world has changed and face the demands of new 21st century challenges.

      1. I went to a co-ed grammar school. I can't recall girls being treated differently. We were all expected to achieve.

        1. Yes, I would be inclined to agree. At the small Inner London comprehensive school I attended girls and boys were expected to achieve. However not all girls received the same encouragement from home or at least that was my impression. Many didn’t do well because less was expected of them, not by teachers but by their families.
          Careers officers, who were always notoriously work-shy, often presented the girls with three options teaching, nursing or secretarial work.
          As I write I do remember now that while the boys in my school studied technical drawing the girls would go down into the basement with a very old lady and learn needlework. Obviously it was thought boys might fancy a career in engineering but girls? Ironic because my daughter is an engineer. But that’s progress and I insist this activist is anchored in the past.

          1. The woodwork/needlework dichotomy applied in the lower school, but in the Sixth Form, girls were allowed to do woodwork and metalwork if they wanted. A few did.

          2. The law changed. It didn’t affect me but my little brother even had to learn cookery. And it wasn’t woodwork/ needlework I was talking about. It was technical drawing that girls were not permitted to do because women were not expected to study engineering.

          3. I did learn some technical drawing but only later when I went to Art School. We were taught measured perspective for an hour once a week.

          5. Very lucky. It was compulsory in my school for the first 5 years as was woodwork. The girls did housecraft and needlework. All this changed later when boys and girls had to study the same subjects.
            We were also streamed, less academic classes did metalwork instead of carpentry. Streaming also disappeared in favour of mixed ability classes.

          6. We were streamed; the A stream did Latin and French, the B stream did French and German, the C stream did French and Spanish, I think. The A stream also did their O levels a year early and were excused English Literature.

      2. Promoting the idea that a woman could get married, have children and then upkeep a stable home environment as her husband the father of those children goes out working could be a fulfilling life. Does anyone think that will get a mention?

        1. None of that is incompatible with the idea that a person should prepare himself for adult life, study hard, be able to earn a living and thus face whatever the future may bring.
          Many of my friends, even in the sixties came from one parent families, mothers who being widowed or divorced had to support sometimes quite large families. Having a good profession meant not having to work on a low salary as a cleaner for example.
          There were girls in my class who really did seem to regard a job after leaving school as something temporary before finding someone to support them. Some were successful and others not.

          1. That holds even today. They have to work, but the women in my workplace divide into two groups; those who take work seriously and those for whom it is an extension of their social life.

        2. Those things were NEVER mentioned at my all girls school in the 80s. Part of the reason why 40% of university educated Gen X women are childless today.

    3. From a glance through the above I strongly suspect this woman has long marched through her career having never had any of her basic assumptions and premises seriously challenged thus the higher claims become increasingly spurious. The failing in our universities to mount any philosophical challenge to these ideas has been an utter disaster. Here's a twist potentially for my fellow Nottlers, in places there might actually be something worthy of consideration that has been noticed. But the Left are so ideologically possessed the point is saturated and smeared in their dogma to the point of nausea for the independent or conservative minded. More everyday mathematics might be a good idea. How about dealing with setting up a small business for example. Or how to mitigate any unnecessary taxation on your farm.

      Notice the casual imbedding of Climate-woo. That's the biggie in terms of wider control.

      This story is one more of the daily turds floating past my window.

    4. No doubt she will do her worst, but young people will vote with their feet and get out of the system as quickly as possible. Enlightened parents will home-educate. They're already making these choices. Two of my children are currently working in careers that they trained in by watching youtube videos and reading information on the internet. Programmer son worked alongside new graduates and says they were clueless….

  128. Just been to a lovely concert which, while produced by Wigmore Hall, took place at St James’s Spanish Place and it’s quite an attractive building but cavernous and bluddy freezing. The Wigmore staff had their outdoor coats on and I hope someone brought a blanket for the Duke of Kent. The players and singers were a French troupe called Le Concert Spirituel and their concert was of course dedicated to St Cecilia on her feast day. The Faure Requiem was especially beautiful.

      1. But cold. Oxford St was still heaving when I left and Selfridges still open after 9pm. Very glad I didn’t have to wait long for a bus. Sitting at home in the warm, my pulse and breathing have settled.

  129. I am glad you are back safely and didn't have a London transport "incident" on the way home.

    1. You jest I’m sure but the 94 route actually is now all electric. I hesitated to use it when the changeover first happened but they mostly seem to explode while charging?

      1. Sit near the exit, maybe…
        When driving, I try to give these things a wide berth too. At least give myself space to escape if anything happens.

  133. Storm Bert: Stock up on food and water, warns British Gas

    Energy provider advises people to keep a 'torch, batteries and a phone charger close by' in case of power disruption

    Emma Gatten, Environment Editor
    22 November 2024 5:40pm GMT

    British Gas is warning customers to stockpile food and water in the event of heavy snow, as Storm Bert barrels towards the UK this weekend.

    The storm is set to bring a "multi-hazard event" to the UK, including heavy snowfall, strong winds and potential flooding. Amber and yellow alerts are in place for swathes of the country from Saturday morning into Sunday, with warnings that rural communities in Scotland could be cut off.

    In advice sent out to customers, British Gas has advised that people stockpile three days' worth of goods if heavy snow disrupts travel and power. The company warned: "It's a good habit to have at least three days' worth of food and essentials stored in an easy-to-reach part of your home. That's things like medicines, drinking water, non-perishable food and snacks and extra blankets."

    British Gas added: "You should also keep a torch, batteries and a phone charger close by too."

    It advised drivers to take food, water and blankets on any long car journey in case of becoming stranded. Police in Scotland have warned against road travel. Snow could reach up to 40cm on the highest peaks on Saturday as overnight temperatures drop as low as -6C in parts of Scotland, where an amber warning for snow and ice is in place.

    Parts of Dartmoor and South Wales could receive up to three months' worth of rain over the weekend, with a risk of flooding.

    Winds could reach 70mph on some areas of the coast of Northern Ireland and western Scotland, bringing strong waves.

    Oli Claydon, a Met Office spokesman, said Storm Bert was a "multi-hazard event", with "strong winds, some high snowfall accumulation, heavy rain, all in various parts of the UK".

    "Because of the different nature of the weather across the UK, people really need to have an idea of what the forecast is for them specifically. Further south it's wind and rain, further north it's snow then rain and wind. So it really depends on where you are in the UK. Keep on top of the forecast for your area, and prepare as necessary.

    "Obviously, with snow and ice there could be some pretty tricky conditions, especially in the morning [on Saturday], so if you are going to leave the house pay attention to what's going on in your area with the local authorities."

    Dozens of schools in Scotland closed ahead of the storm, where a Met Office amber warning comes into force from 7am for parts of the Highlands, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Angus. Yellow wind, rain and snow warnings cover much of the rest of the UK. Wind warnings cover Scotland from 5am until 7pm on Saturday.

    Rain and snow warnings cover northern England from 4am to 9am and Northern Ireland from midnight on Friday until 11am on Saturday. Rain warnings cover much of Wales from 6am on Saturday until 6am on Sunday, and South West England from 6am on Saturday until 11.45pm. A wind warning also covers coastal areas of southern England from 3pm until 9pm on Saturday.

    The storm forced the cancellation of Christmas events across the country, including light ceremonies in Essex and Perth.

    The storm is not expected to clear until Monday, when there will be still be showers and strong winds that will bring a chill, despite average temperatures, although conditions will be drier.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/22/stockpile-food-water-storm-bert-british-gas-power

    We might accuse Mr Claydon of making a little more of a winter storm than is necessary, but the villain of the piece is the DT journo. Get a grip!

  134. Bedtime for Bonzo (old Ronald Reagan film) – and for Elsie. So it's Good Night, chums, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  135. A Mrs as good as a mule!

    Could anyone enlighten me about the etiquette and correct appellation for a married woman who uses her maiden name?

    For example Yvette Cooper's married name is Balls so she should be called Mrs Balls. However if for professional reasons she wants to maintain her maiden name then surely she should be called Miss or Ms Cooper. But in a DT article today she is referred to as Mrs Cooper which might well be the right term for her mother but surely not for her.

    1. If she were to style herself as 'Mrs Yvette Balls' I would assume that her husband was deceased. Anyway she is a Jew-hater like most of the Labour Party, so who cares if she calls herself Frau or Baroness or Mx.

    2. If she were to style herself as 'Mrs Yvette Balls' I would assume that her husband was deceased. Anyway she is a Jew-hater like most of the Labour Party, so who cares if she calls herself Frau or Baroness or Mx.

    3. If she were to style herself as 'Mrs Yvette Balls' I would assume that her husband was deceased. Anyway she is a Jew-hater like most of the Labour Party, so who cares if she calls herself Frau or Baroness or Mx.

    4. If she were to style herself as 'Mrs Yvette Balls' I would assume that her husband was deceased. Anyway she is a Jew-hater like most of the Labour Party, so who cares if she calls herself Frau or Baroness or Mx.

  136. Meeting this evening .. A sort of consultation .. several issues .. pollution of rivers , birds, conservation , attracting salmon back to spawn in our rivers .. silting up of our rivers , harbour , creating more flood meadows… heathland blah blah.

    Dare I say… Brexit got the blame … because farmers lost their various top ups and had to diversify in other cash areas ..

    Maize growing being one of the culprits , the growing season is longer because it is a tropical crop .. and harvested late which coincides with Autumn , wet fields and mud and stuff leeching into our waterways ..

    Farmers … yes ..good cash crop, diversifying into bio fuels .. and of course the alternative is to give their fields over to solar farms …

    Yay , Brexit hasn't helped farmers .. and neither is the government helping .. see the farm sales .. and this blinking carbon footprint / global warming scam !

    Farming is scuppered.. we just might have a bad crisis looming .

    1. The salmon situation is both dire and mysterious. Here, we fought to oppose the Severn Barrage (successful, thanks to Hague) on the grounds that it would kill the rivers, yet the rivers are still being killed. The life cycle of the salmon is awe inspiring. How can this natural wonder be all but destroyed within a generation?

      1. Exactly. and the blame is being aimed at farmed salmon that have escaped , salmon that has been treated with chemicals .. fish don't have the strength of wild salmon and have probably bred with our Atlantic salmon. Our rivers that salmon spawn in have been contaminated by water run off from fields , and their wonderful gritty pebbly hollows in river beds are now probably silted up with the detritus from fields / roads etc .. also some rivers are blighted with gungey weed / river bloom .. due to pollution .

        Another factor is lots of rivers when they are sluggish during the summer heat , have no trees on the bankside to create cooler areas for fish to wallow .. such a lot of info… plus mega cow factories / hen/ piggeries etc , have slurry pits. Highly medicated farm animals .. their slurry is spread on fields , result no insects , nothing .. rain , then mud , leeching into our rivers..

        It all figures , doesn't it.

    2. The salmon situation is both dire and mysterious. Here, we fought to oppose the Severn Barrage (successful, thanks to Hague) on the grounds that it would kill the rivers, yet the rivers are still being killed. The life cycle of the salmon is awe inspiring. How can this natural wonder be all but destroyed within a generation?

    3. "attracting salmon back to spawn in our rivers"
      Not sure that's possible.       At least in a natural way, as salmon return from the sea to the river where they were 'born'. Sure, the EA will release hatchlings in rivers, but it's not the same as natural spawning. Throw in sewage pollution and you have an environment that is just not conducive to a healthy fish population.

  139. Can one be honest about our defence policy ?

    I love our armed services (especially the Royal Marines) but I feel that they have all been misused to the point that – because of their effectiveness – they have caused us strategic harm.

    The Afghans we were meant to be fighting a war on terror against are now flooding to our shores (Biden's abandoned weaponry at their fingertips) and the uncorking of Africa via Libya and Iraq has caused a biblical migration crisis which threatens our very civilisation.

    I am far FAR more fearful of our own government and authorities than I am of Putin.

Comments are closed.