Friday 24 April: Harness Britain’s willing manufacturers to solve the PPE shortage

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/04/23/lettersharness-britains-willing-manufacturers-solve-ppe-shortage/

921 thoughts on “Friday 24 April: Harness Britain’s willing manufacturers to solve the PPE shortage”

  1. Why is Sweden still faring BETTER in coronavirus crisis than Britain – despite having NO lockdown? Case backs claim social distancing and hand-washing was enough to flatten curve. 23 April 2020.

    Sweden is piling up coronavirus cases more slowly than Britain – without the need for an economically crippling lockdown.

    Over the last three days, Sweden added an average of 53 cases per million people, whereas Britain’s figure was 66 despite a shutdown which has now been in place for a month.

    Morning everyone. There seems little doubt that when the UK Government decided (against its original plan) to follow instead the advice of that charlatan Ferguson, it made a monumental blunder.

    Part of the reason for the fanatical adherence to the false Lockdown policy is to hide this error from Public Gaze. The best thing is for everyone to return to work taking such measures as is possible for personal safety. The more vulnerable should be protected with the greater rigour!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8248719/Swedens-coronavirus-cases-grow-slowly-Britains-despite-lack-lockdown.html

  3. Good Morning, all

    SIR – Cotton face masks (Letters April 21), are not useless when used in conjunction with social distancing and hand washing. But if everyone uses disposable NHS-type masks the PPE crisis will worsen.

    My wife makes three-ply cotton masks for the family, which we line with a sheet of folded kitchen paper; this lining is disposed of after each use.

    Dr John Richardson
    Emeritus Defence Professor of Primary Care & General Practice
    Chichester, West Sussex

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F3532a068-8596-11ea-b876-ef9d21d57c48.jpg?crop=2342%2C1561%2C808%2C275&resize=685

    2. Thanks, Dr Richardson. I am now sending Mrs HJ back to her sewing machine for urgent creation of a prototype Mk2 face mask.

    3. “Emeritus Defence Professor of Primary Care & General Practice” WTF has defence got to with it?

      “Lining disposed of after each use.” Once a day; once an hour; after each breath? Do try to be specific, doctor defence.

      1. Cut him some slack…he’s a glorified tour guide with a vastly inflated job title!!!
        https://cdn.jonbainestours.co.uk/images/tour-leaders/_crop400/John-Richardson.jpg

        Professor John Richardson is Emeritus Defence Professor of Primary Care and General Practice. He has led study tours worldwide and was a medical escort to parties of veterans on journeys of remembrance for the Royal British Legion. He has also run many history of medicine battlefield tours. He has visited 80 countries and worked in 41 of them as a doctor. John has previously led tours for Jon Baines to China, Central Asia, India, Turkey, Central America, Ecuador and the Galapagos, Namibia, Ethiopia, Indo-China and Burma. He has also given lectures and been tour leader on cruises.

  4. SIR – I spent 38 years as a logistician in the Royal Navy. In 1982 I was, for several months, Joint Logistics Commander on Ascension Island, where my team achieved what others have described as a logistics miracle.

    Let me have 100 sailors, telephones and internet connection, and the commandeered services of a distribution company, and I will solve the PPE problem.

    Captain Peter Hore RN
    Milland, West Sussex

    England expects….

    1. SIR – Could someone explain to this simple sailor why, at a Downing Street press conference, the Chief of the Defence Staff is concealing himself in camouflage?

      Commodore CMJ Carson RN
      Swanage, Dorset

      1. He would like to create the impression that he’s been working his nuts off humping boxes in some sclerotic NHS warehouse?

        1. Yo HJ

          Like the Met, it will not be very long before the ‘Chief of the Defence (and Degate) Staff” will not have Nuts

      2. He spoke far more sense than the rest of the sh!tshow. No waffle or flannel and quite direct in his delivery.

      3. I’d be tempted to hide too, if I had to face that pack of spiteful whiners representatives of the press and media

    2. I seem to remember discarded fake life jackets stuffed with old news paper being found on Greek beaches after illegal Syrian migrants had used them on ‘their escape’ from Turkey.
      Didn’t the UK recently import tons of PPE equipment from Turkey ?
      I could never quite work out why islamic people would want to escape from a predominantly islamic nation like Turkey.

        1. And they have the opportunity, via jizya, to extend the caliphate to a kuffar nation.

  5. SIR – Russell Lynch (Business, April 22) is right to warn the Government that to prolong lockdown for the over-70s would be “suicidal politics”.

    There is widespread “elderly” contempt for the woke-driven pandemic policy: the craven subservience to discredited scientists; insulting war comparisons; deification of the heroic but ill-managed NHS; totalitarian hand-clapping; arrogant directives; officious policing; closing houses of worship; the brute ignorance of Christianity.

    If lockdown is not speedily lifted, we 8.8 million “elderly” voters will take our revenge at the general election.

    John McEwen
    London SW1

    Yo Boris. You’d better believe it, buster,,,,,

    https://bigmemes.funnyjunk.com/thumbnails/comments/You+asked+for+it+_d149468bd6b21ff363425af8dc4f4575.gif

    14th/20th NoTTLers’ Royal Hussars

    2. Nice words, but we know they won’t vote for any party that might upset the status quo.

      1. Indeed. During the last election the UKIP candidate in Eddisbury (for whom I campaigned) was disheartened by being constantly told, “I agree with everything you say, but I won’t vote for you”. She lost her deposit, despite being the only leaver on the ballot paper.

  6. Germany holds unprecedented state torture trial. BBC. 24 April 2020.

    Two men accused of committing crimes against humanity for the Syrian state have gone on trial in Germany.

    The German Association of Judges says cases are also being investigated in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Mali and other countries. “War criminals get no shelter in Germany,” association head Sven Rebehn told the DPA news agency.

    There’s irony for you!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-52393402

    2. ‘Morning, Minty, there I was, thinking that war crimes like this were tried in some sort of World Court in The Hague.

      I suppose the EU have taken this over and handed the torch to Germany ‘cos they’re much more stricterer, innit?

  8. You don’t have to loathe, despise, and detest McKinsey (the US based Management Consultants/con artists) to be appalled by this retired senior partner’s bumbling cupidity and idiocy as revealed here.
    https://youtu.be/qei0aY2vww8

      1. ‘Morning, Bill, If thee and me be NoTTLers, would our female friends be best described as NoTTLesses?

        Just asking…

        1. If AnneA, Lottie and I be Nottlers, would our male friends be Nottlads? (Short for Nottladsanymore?)

  10. Morning all

    SIR – I despair of NHS procurement. More than a month ago, we were told on at a conference call with manufacturers that the regulatory regime for supplies to the NHS was being streamlined to allow UK suppliers faster access.

    We now hear that gowns made by prominent textile manufacturers have not passed regulatory checks, so hospital staff are having to reuse single-use ones or go without.

    Relying on manufacturers around the world to provide single-use PPE in the midst of a pandemic is like trying to fill a sieve with water. Instead, the equipment must be multi-use and we should harness millions of people in the UK with the capability to help.

    As a start, NHS procurement should publish the specifications of the garments and other items required.

    We must stop the hopeless situation of having to go cap-in-hand to China and elsewhere to buy equipment that we no longer make in Britain.

    Alastair MacMillan

    White House Products

    Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire

    Advertisement

    SIR – I emailed queries about refunds on flights with British Airways and easyJet. Both took weeks to reply and regurgitated standard answers to questions that I might have asked but didn’t. Both sent emails from “no reply” addresses. The value of my transactions was about £700.

    I queried the misdelivery of a bottle of milk with a German-owned company. I received a reply next day and a credit to my account. Value of transaction: about £1.50.

    Is this why the Germans are beating the virus and we are waiting on masks and gowns?

    David Leech

    Balcombe, West Sussex

  11. SIR – I am 87, have prostate cancer (though I am getting admirable treatment) and am in lockdown.

    Growing up during the war was terrible – being bombed, having little to eat and little money. I never thought anything could be as bad again, – but I was wrong.

    Then as now, however, there was great camaraderie: everyone helped each other and we were in it together. I have seen little of this in the intervening years, but it is wonderful that it has returned. I am getting a lot of help from neighbours and family.

    When all this is over, there will be an outpouring of joy. I can’t wait to see my granddaughter and her new baby.

    Joseph Canetti

    Sheffield, South Yorkshire

    1. SIR – I swim, and play tennis and squash. I am 83. If I can’t get out to play sport, see my grandchildren, garden and shop, the physical and mental stimulation that accompanies these activities will be lost and I will undoubtedly become senile before my time. Please do not treat us oldies as if we are irresponsible children.

      Margaret Armstrong

      Newmarket, Suffolk

      1. Hear, hear! I was a category 1 on the fitness scale of frailty, but I am being downgraded to a 2 against my will!

    2. I had a long conversation with the woman in front of my in the queue at Lidl this evening. It helped to pass the time. I imagine it must have been the same in wartime.

  13. SIR – Daily government briefings inform us that the lockdown and limits on transport use are vital measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

    Meanwhile, thousands of air travellers, often from global coronavirus hotspots, arrive at Britain’s airports unchecked, then diffuse into local communities.

    This incongruity is hard to understand.

    Aileen Patrick

    Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire

    1. There goes Aileen’s front door – apparently pointing out that piece of stupidity is a hate crime!

    2. Even more incongruous is that the BBC website claims that asylum seekers, after being landed at Dover, are released into the community

  14. Morning all.

    Congratulations BBC. All those stars(?), all those woke presenters and a captive audience and you raise £27m.
    Meanwhile an old bloke with a walking frame raised £25m. with a lot less fuss.
    Time to pack it in Beeb.

    1. On the plus side, when MB and I saw the ‘treat’ lined up for us, we finally cracked open the box set our elder son had given us while I was in hospital.
      We can thoroughly recommend ‘Babylon Berlin’. After the first three episodes we are now completely hooked. Initially, the first episode seemed confusing, as there is so much ground setting; but after that – even I just watched and concentrated.

    2. ‘Morning, REP. If you want to see an example of BBC wokeness (you probably don’t, of course) look no further than the new series of Sewing Bee, one of Mrs HJ’s favourite programmes. Apart from the dapper judge, all of the men in the programme appear to be anything but straight. The Beeb must have spent many hours and much effort in recruiting such a ‘diverse’ bunch of contestants. It’s so obvious it’s almost laughable.

      1. ‘Morning, Hugh, Best Beloved, a very competent Tailoress, watches it avidly – I find other things to do while it’s on.

        The heavy-handed accent on ‘Diversity and Wokeness’ displayed on all the TV channels must be counter-productive to their objectives.

        I don’t know about you but, where before the normal ratio would have passed me by, I now find myself laughing and sneering at every example. I wonder how many others share this experience.

        2. Cynically I sneer, “ah, THERE’s the blek” whenever I spot one (programme or advert, it matters not).

      2. We watch this, one of the very few on the BBC that we do watch. We looked at the picture of the contestants in the Radio times, and made our guesses as to their characteristics. And so it is. While there is a lot of strangeness as would be expected from people new to being on TV it seems likely than none of them pass our test for being within “normal” parameters.
        As I have said previously in respect of similar cookery competitions, you do not fix the ongoing contest to get the result you want, you fix the selection of contestants.

      3. Sew It seams normal people don’t exist anymore.
        I often think the bbc specifically invite all these associated weirdos just for the audience annoyance factors.
        Just as they totally ignored St George’s day yesterday, but specifically made a feature of people who kneel on the ground and are currently choosing to fast for some other obscure reason.

    3. And, folks, most of the £27 mil (alleged) will go in ginormous fees, expenses, admin……

    4. I ‘watched’ it all on fast forward. The only bit worth slowing down for was Rob Bryden and Steve Coogan.
      (I did send off an entry for the Morgan though 🙂 )

  15. SIR – We decided to have “Sunday” lunch last Thursday, a roast and three veg. As a result, Friday became Monday, Saturday felt like Tuesday and so on. Is this lockdown madness setting in?

    Hugh Gill

    St Lawrence, Jersey

    1. Obviously it is, Mr Gill. Why on earth you would want a Sunday lunch on a Thursday is quite beyond me. Daft letter of the week?

      1. Call it roast dinner instead of Sunday lunch and you’ll find the problem goes away, Mr G.

        1. But not if it is eaten at lunch time. Then you have 2 problems instead of one.

        2. BSK: Are you trying to start a fish pun thread Citroen1?
          Citroen1: Gillty as charged

    3. There are plenty of care home beds going spare if HG is feeling the strain of keeping up with the days of the week.
      (p.s. that nice Mr. Churchill is no longer Prime Minister.)

    1. Somewhere, in the middle of the Pacific – or possibly Atlantic – there is an island the size of Wales (are any other land masses available?) consisting of single use PPE equipment.

    2. The figures are already flawed. The article equates 70° F with 25°C when, in fact it equates to 21.111°C and 25°C = 77°F.

      A little research may go a long way toward accuracy.

  17. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN’s Mastermind COVID-19 Special: Question – What is the point of Public Health England? Answer – pass

    PUBLISHED: 01:10, 24 April 2020 | UPDATED: 01:33, 24 April 2020

    From the Off, I’ve been happy to admit that when it comes to the coronavirus crisis I don’t have a clue. Is the lockdown justified? Should it be lifted immediately? The simple answer is: dunno.

    And neither does anyone else. You pays your money and takes your choice. The best and brightest minds in the world are grappling with Covid-19 and they can’t agree. This nasty virus affects different people and different countries in different ways.

    I just wish politicians wouldn’t pretend they have all the answers. Those daily press conferences are counter-productive. Nobody emerges any the wiser. What useful purpose is served by reading out the death toll every teatime, like the football results?

    Especially when we’re never told anything about the effect unspecified ‘underlying conditions’ had on the deceased. What’s the point of demanding an ‘exit strategy’ when the Government doesn’t have one because it still can’t be certain what it’s dealing with?

    Most of us understand that and are prepared to cut them some slack for the time being. I just wish ministers would tell the truth, and when they’re asked a question to which they don’t have an answer could summon up the courage to reply: ‘Search me, guv.’

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/04/24/00/27578428-0-image-a-37_1587685922612.jpg

    The Government should scrap the daily press conferences and simply send a spokesman to be quizzed by the Mail’s new Saturday columnist John Humphrys … Good evening and welcome to Mastermind.

    Let’s meet our first contestant. And your name is?

    Matt Hancock.

    Your occupation?

    Secretary of State for Health.

    And your specialist subject?

    Coronavirus. Also known as Covid-19, a deadly disease sweeping the planet.

    Here we go. You have two minutes to answer questions on coronavirus, starting now. The Government announced recently that 100,000 people a day would be tested. How many actually have been?

    Pass.

    How many testing kits have been made available up until now?

    Pass.

    How many of those who have been tested were positive? Pass. And how many tested negative?

    Pass.

    How many people without an underlying health condition have died from coronavirus?

    Pass.

    Not counting the PM, how many people have recovered from coronavirus and are back at work?

    Pass.

    How many people may have contracted coronavirus without exhibiting any symptoms?

    Pass.

    How many lives have been saved since the Government told us to stay at home to protect the NHS?

    Pass.

    And how many people have died from conditions other than coronavirus because their treatment has been cancelled?

    Pass.

    The Army took a week to build a special Nightingale hospital in East London, able to accommodate up to 4000 patients. How many patients are currently being treated there?

    Pass.

    More than 30 British companies have offered to supply personal protective equipment, PPE, to the NHS. How many of them have received a reply?

    Pass.

    Why are British companies having to export PPE while there is a shortage in NHS hospitals?

    Pass.

    Why are we sending the RAF to collect PPE from Turkey and Egypt when it could be sourced in Britain?

    Pass.

    Why can an online greengrocer deliver fruit and veg to your front door the next day, yet the NHS is incapable of distributing surgical gloves and masks to hospitals?

    Pass.

    Why has the NHS been slow to allow private laboratories and universities to carry out testing?

    Pass.

    A month ago, the private medical sector offered to treat patients suffering from cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening ailments to free up NHS hospitals. Why has this offer not been taken up?

    Pass.

    How close are we to discovering an effective vaccine?

    Pass.

    Do face masks prevent you catching coronavirus and are they about to be made compulsory?

    Pass.

    Will it be safe to start reopening schools in three weeks’ time?

    Pass.

    More than 750,000 people have volunteered to help during the coronavirus emergency, but only a handful have been recruited because the bureaucracy insists on doing extensive and intrusive background tests on everyone. For heaven’s sake, why?

    Pass.

    What is the point of Public Health England?

    Pass.

    How long is this lockdown going to last?

    Pass.

    Will we have to obey the social distancing guidelines for another year?

    Pass.

    Why can you buy plants and garden furniture from supermarkets and DIY stores, but not from garden centres?

    Pass.

    Why can’t you sit on a park bench when you are out taking your daily exercise?

    Pass.

    Why are the police preventing people from sunbathing even though nobody else is within 100 yards of them?

    Pass.

    Why are small firms and the self-employed required to fill in a 20-page form before they can be denied a Government loan?

    Pass.

    How many people will be unemployed before this economic shutdown is over?

    Pass.

    How long before the Government runs out of money and Britain goes bankrupt?

    Pass.

    When is Boris coming back to work?

    Pass.

    What is … (Beep, beep, beep) I’ve started, so I’ll finish. What is the Government’s exit strategy?

    Pass.

    Matt Hancock, you have scored no points and have passed on everything. One final question. . .do you know where I can buy a packet of bog rolls?

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

    Impressionist Christopher Gee recently turned my latest Dad’s Army sketch into a podcast. Now he’s done the same for last Friday’s Only Fools And Horses column, which caught up with the Trotters on lockdown in Nelson Mandela House. You can hear it at Mailplus.co.uk and on Christopher’s website, christopher-gee.com. Bonnet de douche!

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

    Max Headroom it is, then. A couple of weeks ago, I announced we’d have to settle on a nickname for the new Labour leader.

    I’ve always called him Max Headroom because of his uncanny resemblance to the 1980s computer-generated video jockey.

    But then someone came up with Mr Moisturiser, after Starmer shared his nightly skin care routine with a magazine.

    Given that Sir Keir is the first Opposition leader with a knighthood since Douglas-Home, and is a bit of a Champagne Socialist, I toyed with Kir Royale.

    That had a nice ring to it, but I decided to throw it open to Mail readers.

    You’ve come back overwhelmingly in favour of Max Headroom, largely on the grounds that Starmer is Half Man Half Avatar.

    (As opposed to that Eighties punk/folk group Half Man Half Biscuit, best known for the Trumpton Riots.)

    Actually, when Max made his debut at this week’s virtual Prime Minister’s Questions, it would have made more sense for him to have appeared on one of those large TV screens dotted round the chamber.

    Everytime he opened his mouth, I could hear Paul Hardcastle singing Covid-N-N-N-Nineteen…

    1. “The best and brightest minds in the world are grappling with Covid-19 and they can’t agree.”

      I don’t think there are any “best and brightest minds” any more. The exponential (and unstoppable) rise in the stupidity of the declining human species ensures that.

  18. Johnny was sitting in class, when the teacher asked what they did on the weekend. Johnny put his hand up and said “I put a banger up a toad’s arse and blew it to pieces!”

    The teacher replied, “You mean rectum, Johnny!”

    To which Johnny replied, “Wrecked ‘im? No, Miss… it fuckin’ KILLED ‘im!”

  20. The abandoning of ethical standards in medicine is shaming. I cannot believe there are doctors surgeons and dentists denying their services to the sick because of some misplaced government edict.

    SIR – We wish to highlight the problem facing babies born with clubfoot during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Clubfoot is a condition in which feet are twisted downwards and inwards. This otherwise disabling and disfiguring condition has a high chance of complete correction by a structured programme of manipulation, casting and minimal surgery (the Ponseti technique), that begins in the early weeks of life.

    It requires regular attendance at special clinics, where the expertise and facilities have to be available. When treatment is delayed beyond this opportune period, more invasive treatment with less satisfactory outcomes is necessary.

    The treatment of babies with clubfoot has become difficult or impossible in Britain during the pandemic, where hitherto the condition was well controlled. We must expect a backlog of neglected cases, and indeed this will be a problem worldwide.

    We hope that when more normal times return, the NHS and healthcare systems internationally will recognise the need to ensure that suitable resources are available to avoid further delay to treatment for these disadvantaged babies, and to allow the best outcomes possible in the circumstances.

    David Jones

    Honorary Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

    London WC1

    Chris Lavy

    Professor of Orthopaedics and Tropical Surgery, University of Oxford

    Chairman, Global Clubfoot Initiative

    1. Treatment of other conditions seems to be falling by the wayside, too. One reads of cancer therapies cancelld, for example. It seems the whole world is in thrall to the virus, nothing else can be done.

  21. By all accounts the next step will be to release us from our homes as long as we wear a mask.
    This will still destroy businesses like pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, and all sorts of sporting pastimes, I can’t see how it will help get the country back to normal.

      1. Beer doesn’t taste right when sucked through a straw. Pils turns to foam. A decent sized (glass or ceramic) mug that you can get your mouth & schnoz in is really the only suitable vessel for such imbibing.

        1. I’m laughing out loud Obs…..you’ve actually tried that 😃
          Well what about using a snorkel. Pour from above with a jug.
          I can imagine a line of people sitting at a counter in a cocktail bar.

          1. When I was young(er), I tried all kinds of stuff, purely in the interests of science, you understand. You just gotta know… the conclusion is that a proper glass or window mug is the best way to drink beer & cider. Even pewter can taste.
            Wooden vessels have too many rough bobbly bits where the beer can foam, so only really good for non-sparkling drinks.

          2. Hi Oberst, a pint ‘dimple’ glass with handle for bitter and a straight pint glass for Guinness. As long as you have those, a decent red wine glass and a heavy cut glass for whiskey you are set up for life 😂

          4. Too true, I miss sitting in a smokey local with mates around the bar – all drinking ‘proper’ beer in dimple glasses. Even though I don’t smoke anymore! It’s just the atmosphere/smells of yeste year.

          5. A flagon although heavy was a good vessel.
            I remember a long weekend in Charmouth my sister and B i law used to rent a lovely cottage.
            Before we were married my now wife and I use to jump into myMG BGT. and drive down after work.
            I went to the local and bought two large cloudy bottles of scrumpy.
            After a long days work and a long drive I downed a bottle of the stuff and fell asleep in front of the log fire on the comfy sofa. You really couldn’t ask for more Obs.
            Which I’m about to do now. Long gone I expect, but good night.

        2. Likewise drinking beer out of a bottle. On the other hand, the kind of beer that people drink straight from the bottle is not worth drinking anyway (e.g. Bud).

    2. 318530+ up ticks,
      Morning B3,
      Then it will be a success, unrepealable power is at the back of much of this & imo a deep rooted feeling on the governance party’s part of “we should have stayed in”
      that is not indoors but in the eu.
      Could be said in many respects we are doing penance
      owing to the 24/6/2016 result.

  22. SIR – I spent 38 years as a logistician in the Royal Navy. In 1982 I was, for several months, Joint Logistics Commander on Ascension Island, where my team achieved what others have described as a logistics miracle.

    Let me have 100 sailors, telephones and internet connection, and the commandeered services of a distribution company, and I will solve the PPE problem.

    Captain Peter Hore RN
    Milland, West Sussex

    Good man Captain Hore! It you want something done, get a private businessman or ex-military on the job. NHS management, PHE, ‘rabbit in the headlights’ cabinet ministers are as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot!

    1. Morning JK – I support the submarine Captain who held a barbecue on the dock at Plymouth for his lockdown crew. Their submarine was in dock for repairs. He has been removed from the submarine for the time being. I don’t think he has done any harm. [BBC Radio 4 report]

      1. “HMS Trenchant had been on patrol before having to return to Devonport to undergo repairs.

        The crew were required to stay with the submarine in isolation while the repairs were completed.

        BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said it was understood the captain had gone ahead with the entertainment despite being advised it might be inappropriate.”

        Therein lies the problem. Much as I support the captain’s initiative, it was bad PR.

      2. “HMS Trenchant had been on patrol before having to return to Devonport to undergo repairs.

        The crew were required to stay with the submarine in isolation while the repairs were completed.

        BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said it was understood the captain had gone ahead with the entertainment despite being advised it might be inappropriate.”

        Therein lies the problem. Much as I support the captain’s initiative, it was bad PR.

        1. In appropriate for whom?
          We would never have beaten our enemies if everything we did was ‘appropriate’ look at the state of the government and anything they touch. Everything they’re doing at present appears to be inappropriate.

        2. Actually it was quite sensible. No one there outside a closed group who had been cooped up together for some time. After all, they would not be letting off any steam in the pubs any time soon. It was only “bad PR” because it runs contrary to the laid-down politically approved, MSM promoted, BBC celebrated, completely unproven utter baloney.

          2. I suppose sooner or later someone was bounty come up with that.

            ‘Morning, Anne.

          3. Taste buds alter; or has the recipe? As a child, I thought they were delicious; now I find them sickly.

          4. I reckon they put more sugar in than they used to. The red label ones are better than blue, too.

          5. Not necessarily more sugar but more sweetening agents which are probably just as harmful.

          7. Fletcher CHRISTIAN – now that would be a good name for leader of a mutiny. And Happy Ramadan wouldn’t be his message.

    2. Those dusguised as ‘Management’ seem to get away with so many mistakes, as do the civil service. “Yes Minister” springs to mind.
      The front line always takes it in the neck as do the public.

  23. OT – for those of you who like classical music – try:

    https://www.ccma.cat/catradio/catalunya-musica/

    The music is sublime; whole pieces not the snippets that beeboids and Classic FM play; the adverts few and far between – and in an incomprehensible language!

    It is one of our favourite radio stations when in the sarf of France. And by the magic of the internet – it is available online.

    1. I have my Internet tuned in almost permanently to Radio Suisse Classique. When they play stuff I don’t enjoy I switch briefly to channels which play pop music from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

      I certainly love some classical music but I do no like all classical music. It is the same with poetry – I love some of it but by no means all!

    1. What the **** have muslims done. Going to their mosques in hoards and ignoring the law of the land.
      Perhaps the service they’re providing is infecting each other to reduce their numbers. If that’s the case I’ll give them a clap.

    2. The man is a cuckold and a fool whose main ambition, if you remember, was to be a Tampax in Mrs Parker-Bowels’s nether regions.

      As politicians and idiots like this jam rag fail to understand is that the more you give special praise to Muslims the more you will increase Islamophobia.

    3. “British Asians make up around 10% of the whole NHS workforce”

      White British make up around 85% of the NHS workforce. No praise for them???

          1. Charles would probably like to live like and have the same authority that the Saudi royals have….

  25. Coronavirus dies out within 70 days no matter how we tackle it, claims professor. 23 April 2020.

    But one Israeli professor claims that all efforts will lead to the same result, because the disease is self-limiting, and largely vanishes after 70 days, with or without any interventions.

    Prof Isaac Ben-Israel, head of the Security Studies program at Tel Aviv University and the chairman of the National Council for Research and Development, claims that his analysis proves Covid-19 peaks at 40 days before rapidly declining.

    Major General Ben-Israel, who was also head of the Analysis and Assessment Division of the Israeli Air Force Intelligence Directorate and former chief Cybernetics adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claims shutting down major economies is having devastating consequences for little gain.

    Hmmmm? Another nail in Ferguson’s coffin?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/23/coronavirus-dies-within-70-days-no-matter-tackle-claims-professor/

    3. No two countries are measuring deaths and infections the same way. Hard to say really if he’s onto something or not. We’re only counting hospitalised. Seems a little grasping at straws since China had it before Xmas and peaked in February sometime.

      1. Norway is only recording hospitalised and intensive care cases. It’s easier, as then you have fewer tests to do, fewer locations to do them in, and better control. How representative of the real life outside the hospital gates, I don’t know.

        1. And that’s the problem, we don’t really know much at all, so to make these statements like oh it burns itself out in 70 days seems a little premature and silly.

          1. Indeed. would be good to see some hard data about the burnout. If it exists. Anyhow, why would a virus die out so easily? Wouldn’t be much of a success if it did.

    4. Morning Minty and everyone.

      I’d like to think so, yes. And let’s hope Boris takes the Cabinet by the scruff of its neck and gives it a really good shake. For goodness sake let everyone go back to work. Give us a bit of hope.

      1. 318530+ up ticks,
        Morning V,
        Hope being a fickle commodity should always be backed up with certainty & since the M Thatcher
        reign tory party leaders have left a lot to be desired feeling behind them.
        My feeling is their feeling is still very pro eu.

        1. We’ve had a similar conversation about this before. Please remind me what is certain in life apart from death and taxes?
          Is it a certainty that UKIP will never form a government, in your opinion, or do you live in hope?

          1. 318530+ up ticks,
            Morning Atg,
            “What is certain in life besides taxes & death ”
            easy, guaranteed failure via lab/lib/con coalition party.
            The UKIP ersatz NEc via treachery is suppressing the real UKIP as is clearly seen if
            one would like to trace it through from the 17th of Feb 2018 peoples cannot make a sound judgement without ALL the facts, would you not agree.
            In not forming a government, one should really be careful when seeing the governance we have been suffering under for especially the last three decades, do you not agree?
            The real UKIP in winning the eu elections & triggering the referendum showed their potential then the lab/lib/con pro eu coalition party took a hand and put treachery top of their menu, agreed ?

          2. In that case I would have thought it certain the you real UKIP members would have broken away and formed the Real UKIP party or are you all hoping that one day you might dislodge the treacherous NEC as you call them. Perhaps you are just hoping somebody else will do it.

          3. 318530+ up ticks,
            Atg,
            No offence meant unless you wish it to be otherwise but I do not believe you have the full facts or any intentions of researching them.
            To me you are of the “form another party brigade” that solves nothing.
            I am still a member as I have posted numerous times hope is fickle and much used by the
            lab/lib/con coalition brigade over the decades and proving my point.
            Research then you can back up what you are saying with confidence & fact.
            By the by who has your support & vote or are you to shy to say ?

          4. I voted UKIP in the last 3 election in the HOPE it might make a difference but you know the answer to that. I have not done any research apart from looking at the election results. What certainty is there about the way you vote.

          5. 318530+ up ticks,
            Atg,
            From the 17th Feb 2018 Gerard Batten took the leadership role when we ousted bolten the farage conduit, the fortunes of the party immediately took of with membership gaining on a daily basis, Batten asked the members for £100,000 & received £300,000 in reply taking the party financially into the black.
            The excuse many made was when Batten had Tommy Robinson as a personal advisor the
            treachery element appeared in the NEc.
            His year up he tried to stand as a leadership candidate & was blocked by the Nec as a member “not of good standing”, WHY.
            Richard Braine won the leadership election
            with a very large majority and wanted G.Batten as deputy, and was blocked by the Nec , WHY.
            Court case with R.Braine ongoing.
            G Batten had to be stopped because the bent bastards could plainly see what potential his year in office had shown the UKIP party had.
            “What certainty is there about the way you vote”
            Learning from the last 4 decades continuing the same voting pattern lab/lib/con coalition party will in a short space of time now, have you a 5 times a day visitor to your local mosque for starters that is just one certainty,
            there are others if required.

        1. That was bound to happen, wasn’t it. But we need some hope of return to normality and soon. It’s a sad reflection on the rest of the cabinet that Boris is the only one with any charisma to speak of. We don’t watch any of the daily updates – it’s all too doom and gloom. This lockdown should be lifted and people told to make up their own minds. If you are vulnerable then stay at home. Let everyone else revert to what used to be normal.

          The real trouble is the message from the start. “Save the NHS” and, as an afterthought, “save lives”. I know that NHS staff are on the front line and open to infection from patients but, from what Alf and I have heard, the NHS are not covering themselves with glory at all.

          Edit: let everyone else revert to what used to be normal.

          1. Yo vouvray

            I have never agreed with the concept of save the NHS

            The governments concern over the NHS staff is completely different to that it applies to the Armed Forces

            There, it is Save the IRA, Prosecute our Servicemen, The B*astard Blair has a lot to answer for

          2. Yes indeed. Send our troops off to fight in wars but beware prosecution when back home.

          3. it wasn’t save the NHS, it was save people so the NHS didn’t get too swamped to treat anyone else.

          5. No one would get any care if the NHS became swamped. There wouldn’t be any beds or frontline workers, they’d all be too busy to deal with new cases of anything.
            Now do you see why we are in lockdown?

          7. Stay home (so you don’t get ill) -> protect the NHS (you’re staying home not getting ill) -> save lives ( NHS isn’t swamped so if you do get ill you’ll get treatment).

            Stop being obtuse.

          8. It is the responsibility of the NHS, as detailed by current Health and Safety legislation, to protect their employees.

            It is not the task, or responsibility of the Public at large to do.

            Advice should be given and implimented, to the public on how they can give positive support, ways which they can reduce dangers to NHS Staff.

            This inno way devolves the NHS management of their reponsibility.

            When the dust settles, the PPE fiasco MUST be investigated, in a similar way that Grenfell Towers was. Corporate manslaughte charges should be brought against those who failed to do their duty

          9. We are not protecting their employees we can’t even kit them out in proper PPE often. Protect the NHS simply means keep it bloody operational.

          10. Thinking back to the eighties, Maggie and Norman Tebbit were the only Cabinet members with charisma.
            OK, that’s double the current number.

          11. Well I suppose there was Heseltine and certainly Geoffrey Howe made an impression – once!

    1. Could you post the whole article Anne, I get as far as the first paragraph and then the fade-out paywall kicks in. Many thanks.

      1. Coronavirus dies out within 70 days no matter how we tackle it, claims professor
        Prof Isaac Ben-Israel claims that his analysis shows that the virus is self-limiting and peaks at 40 days before entering a rapid decline

        By
        Sarah Knapton,
        SCIENCE EDITOR and
        Dominic Gilbert,
        DATA JOURNALIST
        23 April 2020 • 7:00pm
        Premium

        Across the globe, debate is raging about the best way to tackle the spread of coronavirus, with countries adopting radically different approaches in the fight against the disease.

        But one Israeli professor claims that all efforts will lead to the same result, because the disease is self-limiting, and largely vanishes after 70 days, with or without any interventions.

        Prof Isaac Ben-Israel, head of the Security Studies program at Tel Aviv University and the chairman of the National Council for Research and Development, claims that his analysis proves Covid-19 peaks at 40 days before rapidly declining.

        Major General Ben-Israel, who was also head of the Analysis and Assessment Division of the Israeli Air Force Intelligence Directorate and former chief Cybernetics adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claims shutting down major economies is having devastating consequences for little gain.

        Advertisement

        His calculations show that the pattern of the daily new infections as a percentage of accumulated number of infections, starts at around 30 per cent, but decreases to 10 per cent after six weeks, and ultimately reached a level of less than 5 per cent a week later.

        “Our analysis shows that this is a constant pattern across countries,” writes Prof Ben-Israel in an article he self-published this week, which is yet to be peer reviewed.

        “Surprisingly, this pattern is common to countries that have taken a severe lockdown, including the paralysis of the economy, as well as to countries that implemented a far more lenient policy and have continued in ordinary life.”

        Teasing out whether his calculations are correct, or meaningful, is tricky because there is no baseline country to measure against. Even Sweden, which has imposed the fewest restrictions, has still implemented some mitigation measures.

        And no two countries are exactly alike when it comes to social distancing, isolation, testing, contact tracing and lockdown measures, so it is difficult to draw comparisons.

        When the Telegraph data team looked at the statistics, it was hard to compare countries because of the high number of variables at play. Some countries kept exponential spread at bay for longer, through strict testing regimes, while others locked down more quickly.

        The recording of data is also not consistent across countries, and the first recorded cases are unlikely to be the first that appeared.

        However some trends definitely emerged. The peak appears to be closer to 60 days for the 20 countries that we looked at, rather than 40, before gradually tailing off. The US is an outlier in the data, with very steep growth and a peak occurring at around 80 days.

        When asked by the Times of Israel why the disease might die away without intervention, Prof Ben-Israel said: “I have no explanation. There are all kinds of speculations. Maybe it’s related to climate, or the virus has a life-span of its own.”

        Some diseases are known to be self-limiting. For example in some areas cholera dies off with the rise of a certain type of virus in the environment, which destroys it.

        Likewise influenza is seasonable, dying away when the weather becomes too hot to keep its fatty protective coating intact. The coronaviruses that cause the common cold also appear to be seasonal, peaking in autumn and winter.

        Scientists are unsure exactly what causes the phenomenon. It may be that the cold virus just prefers cooler temperatures, or it could be that cold temperatures cause important changes in the human respiratory system.

        Seasonal differences may also be due to people spending more time indoors and closer to infected people. And some studies have suggested that a drop in body temperature may prevent the immune system from fighting off infections quite so well.

        Based on the new data, the team at Tel Aviv University has called on the Israeli government to start a phased lifting of its restrictions while keeping social distancing in place. “Given that the evidence reveals that the Corona disease declines even without a complete lockdown, it is recommendable to reverse the current policy and remove the lockdown,” the researchers advise.

        “At the same time, it is advisable to continue with low-cost measures, such as wearing masks, expanding testing for defined populations and prohibiting mass gatherings.”

        However, British scientists said it was wrong to think that social distancing and lockdown measures would not change the course of the virus.

        Prof Babak Javid, a consultant in infectious diseases at Cambridge University Hospitals, said: “To suggest that mitigation measures are irrelevant to the trajectory of the spread of the virus doesn’t take into account the fundamental concept of the dynamics of transmission of an infectious disease within infectious, susceptible and immune individuals in a population.”

        “They are correct in surmising that if exponential growth is unchecked, it will, in due course, decline. But that is only the case if a majority of the population are infected. It is not true if mitigation efforts have reduced the base number of people infected.

        “A striking example is Singapore: now three months (around 90 days) since its first case. After an initial highly successful containment strategy, due to inability to prevent transmission in highly crowded worker dormitories, they are seeing a new, massive spike in cases in a population that was previously unexposed.”

        1. Ta ever so. It’s quite a long one, which is why I tried the other route. Epic fail.

        3. I strongly suspect that when this study is independently peer reviewed it will be shredded.

          Equally, I believe that Ferguson’s reticence in getting his model and work independently reviewed is that he suspects it would also result in a shredding.

          1. He’s not going to get his work independently reviewed until after he has received his fee — obvious!

      2. You can sometimes defeat the paywall by hammering at the esc key like a woodpecker on crack whilst the firewall is thinking of kicking in…

        1. That works on the Speccie but I haven’t had any success doing that with the DT. I just try to speed-read before being cut off.

        2. Thank you but I have an iPad and it does not have an esc key…. iPads are all very well and very useful under some circumstances but they do not present with the full Monty.

  27. 318530+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    Surely post plague we should have an “untouchables” ( Elliot Ness) type
    unit set up consisting of 12 honest men, woman & thingies to assure us
    on a regular basis that there is enough all-sorted equipment to cater for
    ALL NI payers first & foremost, on standby.
    Plus post plague ALL financial outgoings should firstly be channeled through & satisfy any needs regarding education, incarceration, medication, accommodation ( social housing ) indigenous waiting list
    eliminated THEN accommodate our “guest’s”

    ALL seating in the house of commons MUST be fitted with lie detector
    equipment to be donned prior to rhetoric, ALL rhetoric to be big screened
    on show nationwide.

    ALL erring politicians to be fast tracked OUT.
    The political fraternity want 80K plus exs plus perks have them earn it
    honestly & with integrity.

  28. Looks like “Downing Street” is saying Britain should stand in the global queue for any British made C-19 vaccine…

    “Downing Street and its scientific advisers refusing to make any promises over UK distribution of a British-made vaccine”. DT.

    This will perhaps be because Johnson signed up to Bill Gates “Event 201” last October which makes it a condition that all subscribing nations pool and share their resources.

    That maybe explains the PPE fiasco and why hydroxychloroquine disappeared in January.

  29. Good Morning Friends

    The sun is shining!

    Having endured lockdown for a month and seemingly saved the NHS I am wondering when they will say thank you and come out to clap us.

    1. 318530+ up ticks,
      Morning N,
      This is a period of political muscle flexing & envelope stretching just to see how far……
      The only clapping you are likely to see from these governance parties is them
      clapping the peoples in irons, as in being Tommy Robinsoned.

    2. ‘Morning, Naggers.

      The moment they do that they will be accused of shirking, even if they are off duty.

      1. Many of them have a great deal of time on their hands. General and surgical wards are deserted – A&E down to 40% of normal – and oncololgy has come almost to a halt. Saw a pic the other day of an oncology specialist cleaning a Cv19 ward.

        It seems to me that if we have saved the NHS only for that organisaion to neglect our dying friends and relatives something is very wrong somewhere.

    3. Well, according to my local rag, they are out at 8pm on Thursdays clapping themselves.

  30. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q4pQTXspgsU&list=PL2OFHLSeLxlYU4Pnch95gKgJOgeTH71DU&index=1

    Listen to Andrew Bolt on the shutdown in Australia:
    “Published on 23 Apr 2020
    Liberal MP Andrew Laming says health officers who deliver the nation’s COVID-19 advice “know they’re holding the lives of Australians in their hands” but must remember they also hold the “livelihoods of thousands of Australians who are out of work”.
    It comes as strict social distancing measures continue to be implemented across the nation in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
    Mr Laming told Sky News host Andrew Bolt the way out of the virus will be “a maze”.
    “It’s going to be slow, painful … and the risk is, of course, more deaths”. “

    His opening words to the MP are : “As of 4:30pm today, there were 8 new infections in the country…”
    And the Australian government is still enforcing strict lockdown, despite the almost negligible number of new cases. One could be forgiven for thinking there’s another agenda afoot…

    1. They fined Tom Marquand (English jockey riding in Australia, where racing goes ahead behind closed doors) £1,000 for patting the groom and then hugging him after winning a valuable race. The groom was fined £250. The crime was breaking Covid 19 distancing restrictions.

      1. 318530+ up ticks,
        Afternoon Bob,
        I have put it up twice the first time taken down so quick the rhetoric never got an echo.

        G Batten warning of hugging the islamic ideology followers to the breast of Britain.

        On hancocks half hour yesterday opened a few eyes, seeping with submission, PCism & Appeasement I do believe he has been awarded an ermine prayer mat to use in the HOC…….. shortly.

  34. Ole is a farmer in Minnesota. He is in need of a new milk cow and hears about a nice one for sale over in North Dakota.
    He drives to North Dakota, finds the farm and looks at the cow. He reaches under to see if she gives milk. When he grabs the teat and pulls…the cow farts.
    Ole is very surprised. He looks at the farmer who is selling the cow, then reaches under the cow to try again.
    He grabs another teat, pulls, and the cow farts again. Milk does come out however, so after some discussion with the cow’s owner, Ole decides to buy the cow and takes it home.
    When he gets back to Minnesota, he calls over his neighbor Sven, and says, ‘Hey, Sven, come look at dis ere new cow I just bought. Pull her teat, and see vat happens.’
    Sven reaches under, pulls the teat – and the cow farts.
    Sven looks at Ole and says, ‘You bought dis here cow in North Dakota, didn’t yah?’
    Ole is very surprised since he had not told Sven about his trip.
    Ole replies, ‘Yah, dats right. But how’d yah know?’
    Sven says, ‘My wife’s from North Dakota’

  36. THIS IS NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS

    Pass to all 60 yrs. and older & anyone else who could benefit.

    Cardiovascular Exercise

    The older we get the more important it is to incorporate exercise into our daily routine. This is necessary to maintain cardiovascular health and maintain muscle mass.

    If you’re over 60, you might want to take it easy at first, then do more repetitions as you become more proficient and build stamina. Warning: It may be too strenuous for some.
    Always consult your doctor before starting any exercise program!

    Scroll Down

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    ‘

    NOW SCROLL UP
    That’s enough for the first day.
    Great job.
    Have a glass of wine.

    1. I’ve repeated this exercise several times (sorry, Peddy) – and already I feel better.

        1. I remember in a Tom Sharpe novel one of the characters was described as being ‘sexually self-sufficient’. I thought that this was a rather nice and polite way of putting it but I am very grateful to say that this does not apply to me!

  37. Oh dear.
    I don’t use a lot of those little blue slug pellets, but I have 2 troughs that this year I planted new lily bulbs in. The tops were getting eaten by slugs and snails, so I put a few pellets round them. After a night they’d all vanished. Funny, I thought, funny…. I’ve not known the snails to be so hungry before…Put a few more down…Next day all gone again with no visibly new slugs or snails.
    I have sadly concluded that it’s the voles that have taken a fancy to them, hope they’re ok….

    1. We found that fertiliser pellets also make slugs vamoose. Dunno why. Hopefully, the fertiliser isn’t poisonous to wildlife.

    2. It is more likely the voles which were attacking your lily shoots rather than the gastropods.

    3. They are deadly to hedgehogs as well – please don’t use them. Beer traps are better. Slugs and snails are hiding in this dry weather so are unlikely to have eaten your liliies.

      1. The slugs and snails have certainly eaten the tops. The troughs are watered each day. And the remains are visible on the soil surface.

      3. We always use them and I have never seen a dead hedgehog.as birds never eat a dead slug, only live ones.

        1. Plenty of hedgehogs get poisoned. Slugs are a very minor part of their diet. The hedgehogs probably pick up the poison directly as they forage.

    4. My problem is the slugs will not stay still long enough for me to hit them with a pellet

    5. Once you can get to a garden centre purchase the copper tape remedy for slugs, very effective and you do not harm other animals or waste good beer.
      Just noticed that Amazon and some hardware shops sell the product.

    6. We put the first dressing of pellets about a month ago and weekly since. Result no slugs and our prize Hostas are looking very good.

      1. I have my hostas in pots (with a copper trim on the rim) on a gravel surface. Much better than risking my dog being poisoned.

  38. Spiked

    Apocalypse News

    The coronavirus crisis is quite real and bad enough. It surely does

    not need any sensationalism or exaggeration. Yet too often it has seemed

    that the worst-case scenario makes the best and biggest headlines. When

    a senior war correspondent from a top British newspaper can write

    that, in corona-hit London, ‘popping out to buy milk might prove as

    deadly as driving on Kabul’s most suicide-bombed road’, you know that

    journalism has taken a wrong turn towards apocalypticism…………

    …………………………..

    The BBC’s bad war

    In a crowded field of media outlets deserving of criticism over their

    coronavirus response, the BBC stands out as the worst. The corporation

    has turned itself into a rolling public-information announcement,

    constantly lecturing us about how to behave and beating the lockdown

    drum. The BBC has tried to recreate its role in the Second World War, as

    the propaganda wing of the state’s war effort.

    The aim has been to establish the BBC as the voice / conscience of

    the nation, a sort of media equivalent of the NHS – and hence hopefully

    to protect it from further attacks by the Conservative

    government. The result has been to relegate objective news coverage in

    favour of hectoring and heartstring-tugging. Some have reportedly become

    hooked on the BBC’s constant coverage; others among us have turned off,

    probably for good.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/04/23/how-the-media-made-the-crisis-even-worse/

    1. Actually he did not suggest injecting disinfectant, he merely asked if bathing the inside of the body with strong light or injecting would help kill the virus. Not the brightest of questions and certainly up there in stupidity when said live on national TV.

      As for your question, he is still being touted as a saviour. The Telegraph article is typically anti Trump, you will find comments in the letters decrying the falsehood, anyone saying Trump is wrong gets shot down.

  41. Good afternoon from a Saxon Queen with Longbow and Axe
    Everyday is like ground hog day of circular motions repeating oneself .
    I even forgot what day of the week it was yesterday and thought it Friday all day long.

    1. Every day is the same here except for Friday – I do a load of washing and go shopping. Except last Friday I did neither because it was raining.

      1. Friday used to be my day “off” when I didn’t have any commitments. Now all my days are the same. I find it’s difficult for me to remember which day it actually is now! One of the questions they ask when assessing your memory is “what day is it?” and “what’s the date?” I would be hard pushed to pass that test these days!

        1. Yes – I’ve lost all sense of purpose and any urgency to do anything. I couldn’t be bothered in the end to do the shopping.

  42. It feels like we have to thank and be grateful to everyone apart from all the poor buggers that have sacrificed there jobs and economic future in support of this lockdown folly.

  43. I feel much the same way about (most) fellow NoTTLers….aaaahhh

    Douglas Murray
    I love my fellow hacks – even when I disagree with them
    From magazine issue: 25 April 2020

    It’s one way to keep in touch with people. Each morning, somewhere between the first coffee of the day and the first drink, I open my computer, log on to social media and see which of my friends or colleagues is ‘trending’ today. ‘Ooh,’ I think as I see their names flash up, ‘I wonder what Julie/Charles/Allison/James/Rod (usually Rod) has done now’. Then I click and read all about their crimes, usually through a filter of people labouring under the impression that a writer’s job is to say what everyone else has already agreed on. The howls, incidentally, mostly emanating from people who in no sense subscribe to the organ in which the crime is said to have occurred.

    This is one of the brightest moments of my day. For at these times I feel a huge surge of communal pride. I do not know if it is the same in all professions. I don’t know if chartered accountants love other chartered accountants, taxi drivers love other taxi drivers, or actors love anyone other than themselves. But I do love hacks, journos and opinion-mongers. Whether their views are in alignment with my own matters less and less with the years. The fact is that the more I see them attacked, the more grateful I am for this strange, disputatious, disagreeable tribe.

    Take Peter Hitchens. I have no idea whether Peter is right or wrong in his claim that this country has done the wrong thing in locking itself down to avoid coronavirus. But every time I see him sally forth in print or on screen to argue his case, I thank God for whatever it was in the Hitchens milk that produced such argumentative, un-intimidateable sons.

    Just as the desire to speak up transcends politics tribes, so the temptation to shut things down is not confined to any one political side. Recently I wrote something nice about the Guardian contributor Suzanne Moore, who had done an exceptional thing by publishing something in the Guardian despite its being true. Yet after my Moore encomium a number of otherwise contented readers got in touch to remonstrate. How could I say anything nice about Ms Moore, they asked. Had I not seen what she once said about the male sex, the royal family, or any number of other things? And my answer is the same: I don’t agree with anyone on everything, but as I grow older I am gladder and gladder for people who keep firing off in style, whatever the incoming flack.

    It was William Nicholson in his film about C.S. Lewis, Shadowlands, who came up with that beautiful line ‘We read to know we are not alone’. A feeling that approximates to the sensation Aristotle called ‘anagnorisis’ — the moment of discovery, or recognition. Great art regularly hits us with this emotion: the discovery that someone else lived who felt as we have felt. Well, I would propose that a less grandiose, often coarser but equally significant quality marks out desirable magazine–writing.

    As online readers will know, in recent weeks I have been re-reading some of my favourite Spectator columnists of recent decades. And one thing this has clarified is the fact that for me the definition of good writing includes something which makes me whistle and think: ‘I am so glad that someone has said that out loud.’

    Sometimes it is on a deep moral issue, like Mary Wakefield writing on abortion. Sometimes it is a matter of artistic judgment, as Lloyd Evans managed in a theatre column in 2015 when he summed up in just four paragraphs everything that is wrong with George Bernard Shaw. Often it is something so embarrassing that you just punch the air with joy that somebody has been willing to write and publish it. Such as Cosmo Landesman writing about whether right-wing women are better in bed than left-wing women (‘Yes’). Or Rod writing about his and his wife’s calamitous evening of wine criticism.

    If there isn’t all that much solidarity, then perhaps it is in part because we don’t get together often enough for the camaraderie to break out in public. Some people would say that is a good thing and that such disputatious people ought to be kept apart.

    The Spectator’s annual summer party provides some evidence for this line of reasoning. It always starts off respectably enough, with politicians, journalists and even some television presenters networking away happily. But the best part is when the grandees have cleared off. When the last spad or PR man has been led out by the hand like a defeated chimpanzee. Then you’ll see the opinionated classes still arguing it out, with nothing to stop them but last orders or oblivion, whichever comes first. Last year, as the crowd thinned, I watched one hack finally collapse backwards into a hedge at the bottom of the garden without even the hint of a crumple. Ramrod straight they stayed, even as the ground came rushing towards them. I think most people were too busy arguing to notice. But someone else got there first and a cry went up that temporarily stilled the discussion: ‘Is there a doctor in the garden?’ During a short pause it became clear that there was. Then the voice again: ‘Is there a sober doctor in the garden?’

    A couple of years back the editor had the fine idea of throwing a hacks-only party so we didn’t all have to be on such good behaviour. I think Nick Cohen was still drinking then. Somehow I recall Jeremy Clarke being carried out more than once, the last time under someone’s arms, like a rolled-up carpet. A left-wing feminist definitely #MeToo-ed me. It was a glorious, terrible, messy, disputatious, hilarious battlefield of an evening. ‘We lost some of our best men last night,’ I said quietly to the deputy editor the next day. ‘But I feel like we made some small advances on the enemy’s territory.’

    What are those enemies? Boredom. Predictability. Obviousness. Humourlessness. Dullness. Staleness. The demand for boring consensus, of any kind. Most of all that gang of people who seem to grow in volume if not in number by the year, who cry, ‘You can’t say that.’ Well, bugger them. Here’s to the awkward squad. Wherever they fall.

    2. I always enjoy what he says and what he writes,

      I wonder if his writing would be better or worse if he fancied women rather than men?

      1. Why should it be relevant? Why does it matter what he fancies? Why can’t people keep their proclivities to themselves?

        1. I take your point but I wonder how differently I would express myself if my sexuality were different. My initial response would be that it is immaterial and that it does not matter at all. But if, as we are constantly being told, our sexuality is something vitally important to our whole psychological being – the way we think, the way we feel, the way we are – then it would make a difference to what we write and how we think. I am not making any sort of moral judgement I am just asking a question to which your answer is that his writing and his points of view would be no different whatever his sexuality – or am I misinterpreting you?

          I like Douglas Murray and I find him one of the most reasonable, articulate, thoughtful and sensible of journalists. He is clearly very happy with his sexuality just as I am with mine but he does not make a ‘big deal’ about it. He is quite happy to tell us what his is just as I am nether proud nor ashamed of mine. It’s the way it is – but it might affect how I think and feel and express myself.

          3. My point is that nobody should be proud, nor ashamed of their sexuality, or their colour. It should be irrelevant. I’m not gay, but some of my friends are; I’m not black but some of my friends are. I’m a woman, but some of my friends are men.

            His words on paper or screen are just that. His views are his views.

          4. I agree that we are who we are and that we should be equal. Unfortunately some are always more equal than others. I like and admire Douglas Murray and am pleased he doesn’t go on about his sexuality – that’s what I really dislike. He just is.

          5. I have no idea whether his views would be different if he were straight. My point is that whoever he chooses to sleep with should be his own business, not mine or yours.

    1. Beautiful morning in E Wilts. Clear skies with wisps of mist down in the Vale (of Pewsey)

          1. …as the saying goes: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it scuba dive….”

            Morning Mr.T

        1. Now, now, Missus. I ONLY have bonfires when the wind is from the north. Due south, the nearest house is five miles away.

    3. I’m clearly not a hero(ine) as I usually fail to get out of bed before midday, (I really shouldn’t be posting here at 2.11am – there goes another day tomorrow without a chance of being classed as a hero).

    2. Footballers have stayed very quiet whilst they collect their vast pay for doing nought. Rooney apparently trying to restrict their reduction to 75%, why are they not furloughed at 2500 a month?

  47. Good morning everyone .

    Apols for grinding on about this , but our church bells are stifled , Easter came and went , Sunday is silent , bell practise during the week , nothing . The symbols of our majority Christian country are being ignored . The Queen’s birthday , St George’s day, Easter etc etc. Yet why was Matt Hancock instructed to dribble on about Ramadan .. Are we left with the assumption that the NHS is governed and run by Muslims , and that our major cities have much more of a Muslim influence than we think.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1253428089318600710

    1. Wishing moslems a happy month appears to be a mandatory performance for senior Government ministers. May was at it, Rudd obliged and now Hancock has joined the sorry bunch. Praising and grovelling to a group that contains many who do not follow our laws and conventions is appeasement and we know where that leads.

      1. In my view, the ideology of islam contains many similarities to the one we had to go to war against in 1939.

    2. Fasting is only during the hours of daylight. After sundown they stuff themselves and then get up early for breakfast. Not exactly the idea that is portrayed. Sex is also on ration for the month.

      1. Imagine being a passenger in bus or train driven by a famished and dehydrated operative.
        Let alone treated by medical staff in the same condition.

      2. Fear not. This is when balconies come in handy – very early breakfast à la Grenfell.

      4. ‘Morning, KP, wow, a whole month with effectively the painters in.

        Is there a 3 day period…?

    3. ‘Morning Belle. Con permiso…

      …bell practise practice during the week…

      Perhaps Belle should practise more? 😉

      2. Surely the object of language is that the person to whom the message is addressed should understand that message. Do you pronounce practise and practice differently.
        I was always told that English is a living language and continues to evolve. Looking at old books the word we now spell ‘bettered’ would have been spelled ‘better’d’.

        1. And the US use of English is closer to old English than the modern English use of English (if you see what I mean)

        2. Do you pronounce practise and practice differently.

          I don’t pronounce practise & practice differently but I usually put a ‘?’ at the end of a question.

          The old cough-drop of the evolvement of language is ironic coming from one who once tried to pull me up for writing ‘uni’ for university.

  48. Russia denies hiding coronavirus figures as Moscow mayor says low death rate is caused by mass testing (while people in Siberia are told to keep one bear length apart to social distance) 24 April 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b781294564ab92ef2076bbe174923b23811febdf0b68207eb252e4984b30f2c.jpg

    The 5,849 new cases take the overall tally from 62,773 to 68,662, around half of them in Moscow which has been under lockdown since March 30.

    Elsewhere, social distancing in Siberia has a particularly Russian twist as the 5ft safety distance is explained to residents as the size of ‘one small bear’.

    I don’t think that would go down too well in the UK. We would need something like “a safety distance of two large Labradors” or “thirty four medium sized hedgehogs”.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8252887/Russia-denies-hiding-coronavirus-figures-5-849-new-cases-recorded.html#comments

    1. Testing just gets better data. doesn’t affect the catching of the virus.
      Actions taken on the basis of better data might improve things.

        2. As bears can run faster than drugged up Jamaican athletes, who don’t the two male silhouettes have rifles?

      1. Have the bears bought up all the loo rolls? Just in case they should find themselves in woodland.

  49. Good morning, all. Late on parade. Started bonfire at 6.30 am – all done and dusted by 8 am. Very satisfactory.

    Lovely still morning with the gentlest of north breezes. Sunny later – they say.

    I see that people are going back to work despite “guidance” from HMG. Well, well. People showing initiative to avoid catastrophic financial ruin. Can’t have that…

    1. People on my local facebook are moaning about bonfires, we can’t have them in suburbia any more.
      Nobody seemed to mind years ago.

    2. People on my local facebook are moaning about bonfires, we can’t have them in suburbia any more.
      Nobody seemed to mind years ago.

      1. Good morning.

        The nearest habitation to what is left of my bonfire is five miles away.

    3. Morning Bill.

      Did the fire brigade rush out to you?
      Gorgeous morning here as well

      My son is working , and has been since the lock down , he lives at home with us !

      Moh and I are slightly nervous , but we admire his tenacity.

      I commented yesterday on DT letters

      The BBC is anti-everything, just listen to their Journos at the COVID briefing. The Bame led BBC who disregarded the Queen’s birthday and St George’s day are an alternative political party.

      They are putting pressure on the government to un lock lock down for their own particular agenda. They are all leftie agitators who will cause riots and dissent amongst the population.
      We need to be cautious. The scientists know what is best in the long run. We do not need the Media murdering us all!

      1. If you believe that Belle then you believe in man made climate change.
        Science is never ‘settled’ it really depends on which scientists you believe. The left will always believe the most doom laden nerds.
        I am the supreme optimist and find it hard to reconcile that governments always, in my opinion, pick the wrong side. They work on the basis of herd mentality and don’t want to go against the grain of those who have a different opinion.
        Look how we are berated if we disagree with climate change, the NHS, Coronapanic et al. We are shouted down by the people who go on about diversity and tolerance.

        1. If it is not man made, it must be a natural phenomenon and, therefore, we need to stop pretending that it can be controlled. We will need to work our how best we can live with the consequences, such as moving the population away from endangered coastal areas or investing in crops that will thrive in the new climate.

          On the other hand, if it is man made, then the solution is to control mankind. By that I mean, tackling the root cause, which is an exponential growth in the world’s population. It’s no good cutting down pollution in developed countries by, say, 20% if the undeveloped world increases the number of polluters by 20%. However, the issue of population control doesn’t have much in the way of annual international conferences in exotic locations, frequent TV opportunities to earn lucrative fees to pontificate on the subject, a large and profitable book market, substantial government grants to universities to study the subject, large numbers of professorships, Nobel prizes for politicians and so on. It’s much easier and more exciting to preach the gospel of global warming than tell people in the third world that they shouldn’t have as many children as they have done.

          1. And stop the big International Charities pleading for money to throw at African countries, also known as transferring the money of poor people in rich countries to the rich in poor countries. Since Live Aid in 1985 the populations of some African countries has increased fourfold. There is no work for them to don and they spend their lives procreating to the point that their a probably more people in poverty than their were in 1985.
            Have you noticed that on the TV adverts when a woman is holding a malnourished child that she never looks short of nourishment.

          2. By the way the climate is controlled by that giant orange star that’s 93 million miles from earth.
            Since we’ve been paying green taxes I can’t see the climate has changed any. Wonderful scam.

          3. As I have been watching ITV3 (I don’t normally watch TV) I have come across lots of adverts trying to tear jerk money out of the stupid to send abroad. Pictures of deformed children – restore their smile, they gush. No, stop marrying your cousin! Women (and it’s always women) whinging about “my little girl being forced to marry an old man” – she’s a muslim, you idiot. Where were you when Tommy Robinson publicised the scandal of the grooming gangs in Britain? The government wastes enough of my taxes abroad.

          4. Funny how there’s always a camera man there to capture the well fed woman with the malnourished child. Lots of people are, no doubt, taken in by it.

      3. Morning, Belle.
        I’m not too sure about scientists. But maybe ‘third time wrong’ Ferguson has soured my attitude.

        1. Morning, Anne.

          Does Ferguson have a ‘perfect’ hat-trick? Right foot in it, left foot in it followed by a bit of head banging?

          1. And a thorough bogwash – then kicked out with no gold-plated pension.
            Thanks to his advice, we can no longer afford to pay retired desk pilots to sit around for thirty plus years.

    1. But that knowledge will not

      wreck our Economy
      Put us in Lock Down
      Make us into a Perlice state
      cause the deaths of many, who have cancer etc not Covid
      Allow theis Government to praise Islam and Ignore Christians over Holy Times

  51. Latest Breaking News – A new cure for the virus has been discovered in the USA, it involves immersing people in a chlorine wash dip tank

  52. Yo All

    I have queries

    Last night,so I understand the Bame, LGBTetc, anti British Broadcasting Quango had a Comic relief type luvviefest to raise money to prolong fight the dreaded Covin 19.

    Why: The money to fight this and all other threats to UK, should come from the money raised by our taxes for the Government.

    If they say that they cannot afford it, cuts elsewhere must be made

    Overseas Aid MUST be stopped.

    Lotsa medical procedures for complaints like Cancer have been stopped reduced. If HMG can calmly kill our residents, why should an African dictator be able to buy his fourth house in London and 28th BMW with our money.

    Additionally, distinction, between dieing of the Virus or with it should be highlighted, There are lies, damned lies and Statistics

    End of rant

    1. Morning OLT

      Rant justified , keep ranting

      I have huge reservations about NHS efficiency for many reasons .

      The media are driving so many issues , I feel that we are perhaps being murdered by them as well, by being throttled to be silenced.

    2. Why didn’t the luvvies organise an event to help fund hospices during this time? Most are financed through various fund raising initiatives and shops but these have all ceased functioning.

    3. Radio news I hear these days (mainly Classic fm) state the day’s fatalities. But, instead of emphasising that the numbers are declining on a daily basis, they continue by staking what the cumulative number of deaths are. If this isn’t scaremongering, I don’t know what is.

      1. When I mentioned the number of new CV cases in Australia (8) and that perhaps governments have overreacted with closing down their economies, MOH said that more than 18,000 people had died in the UK. I pointed out that more than that die each year from the seasonal flu.

  53. Did the beeboids play the National Anthem on the morning of the Queen’s birthday? As I don’t listen to them, I don’t know.

    2. 07:00am on Radio4…otherwise silence.

      Hope you and your lady wife have a rollicking good Ramadamadingdong. {:^))

    3. Morning, Willum.
      In Allan Towers, the Beeb is not on tap, but I certainly heard no reference to MH’s birthday. But in fairness to the Beeb, the only time I pay any attention to it is for ‘Repair Shop’.

  54. I see that a doctor is proposing to sue the Government over PPE.

    I wonder when the first actions against the Government and NHS will be started by the families of deceased cancer/heart patients whose treatments have been curtailed?

      1. Surely they should have their writs shoved where the sun doesn’t shine, more like.

  55. First volunteers are injected in the UK’s coronavirus vaccine trial as Matt Hancock demands Britons be first in the queue for any drug developed with taxpayers’ cash. 24 April 2020.

    The trial will see half of the candidates injected with the coronavirus vaccine, made from a weakened version of the common cold virus from chimpanzees, while the other half will be given a meningitis vaccine.

    This is like something from Frankenstein. The quack will rush out of the room screaming “They’re alive! They’re alive!”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8251009/First-volunteers-injected-UKs-coronavirus-vaccine-trial.html

    1. The trial will see half of the candidates injected with the
      coronavirus vaccine, made from a weakened version of the common cold
      virus from chimpanzees,       while the other half will be given a meningitis
      vaccine.

      lemmy think where the vaccine could come from

    2. The trial will see half of the candidates injected with the
      coronavirus vaccine, made from a weakened version of the common cold
      virus from chimpanzees,       while the other half will be given a meningitis
      vaccine.

      lemmy think where the vaccine could come from

      1. Isn’t “chimpanzee” a chimpest word these days?

        I was mystified to find them called Bonabos – which I thought at first was a misprint for a Children’s Home.

        1. Bonobos aren’t the regular chimps. They’re a species in their own right, pygmy chimps.

    4. They must be mad. I wonder if they are old enough to remember Thalidomide..

      Use it on people on Death Row.

  56. Just checking wots on the box tonite and found this, so make sure you miss it

    BBC 2 !0.00 to 10.30 pm

    The Mash Report

    BBC Two HD | Film

    A self-isolated Nish Kumar hosts Britain’s most uncompromising topical satire, tackling all the troubling news from a world that’s put its
    faith in Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.

    His similarly quarantined correspondents, include Ellie Taylor and Steve N Allen

    I want my TV Tax Back

    1. He told what he described as a joke that if your parents voted for brexit you should go home and kill them.

      In a similar vein….

      Are your parent muslim, Nish?
      Then why don’t you go home and kill them.

      Not funny is it Nish.

    2. We missed the BBC programme, I’ll Get This” where some “celebs” go out for a meal in an expensive restaurant and play games to decide who pays.
      One of the celebs last week was Jonathan Ross. Yes, the same foul-mouthed Jonathan Ross who should have been fired by the BBC. But “celebs” don’t get fired no matter that their behaviour is appalling, disgusting, cowardly and illegal.
      (In the real world, if you get fired, you tend to stay fired. I am not betting against Dr Calderwood being reinstated as CMO in Scotland. Politics is not the real world either.)

      1. My TV has been programmed to select the onoff button to off if

        Ross pr any lother eftie luvvies come onto the screen

      2. I am not a fan of Russ Brand, but I know someone who occasionally is in the same building as Jonathan Ross for some work. JR has always been friendly and polite to him.

    3. Hello OLT! Thank you for alerting me to this ghastly programme! I will be sure to avoid it like the plague!

        1. Thanks again! My pore brain couldn’t find the word! That’s wot 3 daze decoration’ duz!

    4. Kumar is an anti-right, anti-British pillock, and if his face appears on my telly it is in mortal danger of immediate destruction. Goodness knows how much the BBC pays this talentless gimp.

  57. Russian newspaper staff rebel against editor accused of censorship. Fri 24 Apr 2020 05.00 BST.

    Journalists at the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti have rebelled against their new management after the paper’s editor was accused of banning criticism of constitutional amendments backed by Vladimir Putin and the use of data from an independent pollster.
    In a blistering opinion article published on the newspaper’s website on Thursday, the editorial staff said the new editor had undermined trust by massaging headlines about the Russian state energy company Rosneft and blocking a recent column critical of the same company and its boss, Igor Sechin.

    Hmmm. Vlad’s obviously learned something from the Skripal business. Get your people in there and shut the criticism down!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/russian-newspaper-staff-rebel-against-editor-accused-of-censorship

    2. H’mmm. How likely is the Grauniad to publish an article suggesting that Global Warming/Climate Change is an absolute crock?
      Pots and kettles.
      Morning, Minty.

  58. DTStory: The Big Night In, review: Stars of Blackadder and Little Britain come together for a royal treat.

    Where’s the dignity?

    Should the royal family involve themselves in such naffness?

    Can we now expect the Duchess of Cambridge to do a striptease pole dance?

    The last thing this couple should do is to try and imitate the vulgarity of Prince William’s younger brother, Harry, and his paramour, Migraine.

    My respect for the Cambridges has not collapsed completely as it has for the Faux-Sussexes but it has fallen a notch or two.

      1. I may be an old fogey now but even when I was a young fogey I was appalled by the royal family getting involved in this ghastly programme. I was particularly shocked that Princess Anne did so and I wonder if she still wakes up in the middle of the night trembling with embarrassment at the recollection of the naffness of what she did by being involved? Indeed The Princess Royal often uses the word ‘naff’ to mean ‘not quite the thing.’

    2. I assume you mean Prince Henry and his paramour, Richard? (good morning, btw.)

      1. Good morning Elsie

        I thought it was clear enough but I have clarified it further!

    3. I agree, I cringed when I saw the photo of that nonsense in the Mail.
      I think the problem here is that the Royals only ever meet lefties.
      Think about it – they overwhelmingly meet only people from the entertainment industry and the media, or who work for non-profits like charities or suck on the taxpayer teat in some other way, and these occupations are skewed heavily in favour of left wingers and migrants.

      I sometimes think the royal family thinks that Britain consists solely of
      1. Our friends the aristocracy – conservative, but at the mercy of The People.
      2. the majority of The People – left wing, do gooders, immigrants.
      3. the Far Right, a tiny minority that We must stay as far away from as possible

      Therefore, it’s not suprising that they suck up to 2. all the time.
      There is a whole huge group of patriotic Britons that the Royal Family never meet and appear to be completely unaware of!

    4. It does demean the senior royals. I seem to recall some of the previous generation got themselves, equally stupidly in some “it’s a knockout” thing some years ago.

      1. I think that was instigated by Edward and by Sarah, who badgered the other young royals to take part.

  59. SWMBO was just wondering if how many of the ‘Covid Dead’:

    Had had the annual Flu Vaccine

    and

    How many had not

    I still think, the deaths shoul be attributed to

    Of Covid
    with Covid

    and the historical number of Deaths, for

    Ethnicity

    Ages
    Illnesses etc

    etc

    for similar periods over the last 10 years compared to what the death rate is now

    1. OLT, It certainly should be “of Covid” and “with Covid”

      If you care to look up the legal definition of notifiable diseases you will understand that is exactly what the legal requirement is!

    2. OLT, It certainly should be “of Covid” and “with Covid”

      If you care to look up the legal definition of notifiable diseases you will understand that is exactly what the legal requirement is!

  60. I posted this very late last night but (apologies to Peddy) I thought I would repost it if I was still seething this morning with despair at our politicians’ sycophantic and demeaning behaviour towards Muslims. Not a word of praise for Christians restraining themselves during Holy Week and Easter but sickening praise for Muslims for not going bananas over Ramadan!

    Yes, I am still seething – so here it is again:

    How to create and promote Islamophobia?

    Treat Muslims with more consideration and better than Christians.

    It worked with MPs – give them a pay rise when everyone else is going bankrupt and – guess what? Politicians are even more loathed and despised than they were before. So what does Hancock think he will do to community relations by grovelling to Muslims but ignoring Christians to the point of contempt?

    The man must be superhumanly stupid!

      1. Is that the Theory of Relativity in Arabic, the fundamentals of which were actually first set out in the 14th Century in Moorish Spain (Prof Jim Al-Khalili/BBC)? Implication – the Jew, Einstein, failed to acknowledge his debts to great muslim scientists.

    2. What I find utterly demoralising and incomprehensible is how little we hear from the AoC. I’m not particularly religious, in that I don’t attend Church, but have felt for a very long time that the Church of England is extremely shy in the face of relentless Muslim pushiness.

      How have Muslims managed to become so favoured? Why are they so special that they are mentioned when it comes to Ramadamadingdong but not Christians or any other faith for that matter? Even our Christmas has been air brushed out when it comes to places like Birmingham, it’s Happy Holiday or some such rubbish. Muslims sing their festivals out loud and clear.

      4. Maybe Welby could organise a few CofE rape gangs to raise the Church’s profile a bit?

        This may not be the answer but whatever he is doing at the moment is not working is it?

        Mind you, if he was appointed by fellow Old Etonian, David Cameron, to destroy the Church of England then nobody could deny that he is doing a very good job.

        1. CofE, and the Catholics, were surely more into sodomy of children? Didn’t get them very far.

        2. He’s not doing anything at all is he? He is completely useless. Mind you I’m not sure the Pope has done much better. There is not a leader in the western world who is trying to bring comfort or hope to we lesser beings and I thought that was their job.

      5. Islam teaches that muslims are the master race (the kuffar are “lower than cattle”) so they feel it’s their right to push their ideology. The CofE, on the other hand, has appointed people to high office who are afraid of their religion and don’t “do God”. We need a root and branch clear out and some muscular Christians (not fundamentalists, but people who really do believe in Christ) to take over.

        1. It seems we need to clear out quite a lot of institutions. Police, Parliament, CofE, Judiciary, education, BBC, Brussels, Conservative Party, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation … feel free to add your own useless people.

          1. Indeed. It’s the long march through the institutions. Incidentally, I am back from the shopping expedition. No queue to get into Lidl! Mirabile dictu et visu! Alas, a long queue to pay, but they had everything on my list (and a couple of items for the garden which weren’t – I replaced a couple of hostas I’d lost, not through slugs, over the winter). Feeling triumphant, I proceeded to my next shops, only to find that both of them had closed a couple of hours ago 🙁 Ah, well. I can’t win them all.

          2. How did you fare with the elder, triumphant or not? I’m feeling very pleased with myself over the bindweed. Dug quite a lot out that were on the point of sprouting but did have to leave some in – well, pulled as much out as possible until they broke hoping to keep breaking them until they give up. We shall see.

    3. ‘Morning, Rastus.

      I read that last night & thoroughly agree.

      However, for such people I prefer the term ‘pathologically stupid’.

    4. 318530+ up ticks,
      Morning R,
      And I consider him to be one of the better ones but, I
      would say that wouldn’t I ?

  61. Pass me the smelling salts. I agree with a retired desk pilot.

    “Coronavirus deaths are valued differently to other deaths and the lockdown would never have been introduced if quality of life was factored in to the decision, a former cabinet secretary has said.

    Lord O’Donnell, former cabinet secretary said “when the benefits of the lockdown are not as great as the costs of continuing with it – it should be stopped”.

    And Lord O’Donnell said if that had been the case: “It wouldn’t actually mean we would go to lockdown ever. We would never have gone that far.”

    The peer was also asked if we value a life lost to Covid-19 more than a life lost to a rare form of cancer, to which he said they were treated differently.”

    1. Remind me where you live, basset. North east? Looks like the old jetty at Calais – though I know it isn’t!

          6. T-shirt and jeans was my dress this morning. A beautiful day.

            13° when I got home. Warming up nicely.

          9. Currently 19.6C in deep shade here. But In a couple of days, apparently going back to normal April temps and weather.

          10. We’ve had around 11°-12° all week. Plenty of radiant warmth in the sun.

            Just nice.

        2. Gradely lad, said the Duke.

          And very nice, too, basset. Your snaps are always a delight, especially in these bleak times.

          2. Back when I was working in London, we had a couple of Geordies working there. It was all OK until they got together, then the rest of us had no clue what they were talking about.

          3. And yet we were able to get our heads around the strange impenetrable accents that came from the London area.

            Funny what you can do if you make an effort.

        3. There really is a North/South accent divide. In Hampshire, it’s Hamble, in Northumberland it’s Amble.

          However, if you asked the residents of Hamble which county they lived in, the answer would be Ampsher.

          Part of the “explaining English to foreigners” series.

  63. 318530+ up ticks,
    Actions for today, the first being get that cross eyed route planner off of the escape committee, in Tom,Dick,& Harry we have missed the pub three times.

  64. Dann, für die Damen dieses (englisches) Gedicht von Pam Ayres: For the ladies, this poem by Pam Ayres

    I’m normally a social girl
    I love to meet my mates
    But lately with the virus here
    We can’t go out the gates.
    You see, we are the ‘oldies’ now
    We need to stay inside
    If they haven’t seen us for a while
    They’ll think we’ve upped and died.
    They’ll never know the things we did
    Before we got this old
    There wasn’t any Facebook
    So not everything was told.
    We may seem sweet old ladies
    Who would never be uncouth
    But we grew up in the 60s –
    If you only knew the truth!
    There was sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll
    The pill and miniskirts
    We smoked, we drank, we partied
    And were quite outrageous flirts.
    Then we settled down, got married
    And turned into someone’s mum,
    Somebody’s wife, then nana,
    Who on earth did we become?
    We didn’t mind the change of pace
    Because our lives were full
    But to bury us before we’re dead
    Is like a red rag to a bull!
    So here you find me stuck inside
    For 4 weeks, maybe more
    I finally found myself again
    Then I had to close the door!
    It didn’t really bother me
    I’d while away the hour
    I’d bake for all the family
    But I’ve got no flaming flour!
    Now Netflix is just wonderful
    I like a gutsy thriller
    I’m swooning over Idris
    Or some random sexy killer.
    At least I’ve got a stash of booze
    For when I’m being idle
    There’s wine and whiskey, even gin
    If I’m feeling suicidal!
    So let’s all drink to lockdown
    To recovery and health
    And hope this awful virus
    Doesn’t decimate our wealth.
    We’ll all get through the crisis
    And be back to join our mates
    Just hoping I’m not far too wide
    To fit through the flaming gates!

    1. I loved James Taylor’s version of this song. The chord progression is fun to play on the acoustic guitar.

      2. James Taylor’s version was superb but not too different a treatment from Carole King’s version. This has made me think about songs where two totally different treatments have each been excellent. I can’t think of many but I know that NoTTlers can.

        Mr Tambourine Man: Bob Dylan, the Byrds
        With a Little help from my Friends: the Beatles, Joe Cocker
        First Cut is the Deepest: Cat Stevens, Sheryl Crowe (plenty of other versions as well)
        Red, Red Wine: Neil Diamond, UB40
        ‘O sole mio: Caruso, Elvis (It’s Now or Never)

        Edited to get rid of an aberrant apostrophe.

        2. Ticket To Ride: The Beatles, The Carpenters.
          The Mighty Quinn: Bob Dylan, Manfred Mann.
          All Along The Watchtower: Bob Dylan, The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
          Here Comes My Baby: Cat Stevens, The Tremeloes.

          My favourite version of The First Cut Is The Deepest is by P P Arnold:

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

          2. Yes, you have jogged my memory of some superb songs with two excellent but different versions. How different can “Ticket to Ride” be but still great? P.P. Arnold was, I recollect, the first to record “First Cut is the Deepest” – the Rod Stewart version is pretty good, too.

  66. New government testing site shut off after tests ran out in two minutes. 24 April 2020.

    The Government has apologised after home test kits for key workers ran out in just two minutes on Friday morning.

    A gov.uk website, set up for key workers to order home kits and book drive through coronavirus tests, reached full capacity by 10am when the website stopped accepting applications due to high demand.

    The Department of Health tweeted: “We apologise for any inconvenience. We are continuing to rapidly increase availability. More tests will be available tomorrow.”

    It’s not really necessary to say anything. This is where twenty years of recruiting people on their ethnic diversity and sexual orientation gets you.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-uk-cases-latest-deaths-essential-workers-test/

  67. A lot better than the Mash Report

    BBC4 Tonight

    Queen: Rock the World

    1BBC Four HD | News

    Documentary following the band as they recorded their sixth album, News of the World, and made plans for a tour of the US. Back in 1977, broadcaster

    Bob Harris was granted exclusive access, conducting interviews with all four members, as well as filming them at work in the studio, rehearsing their North American Tour. Until recently, the documentary was never completed and the footage lay unused in the archive. The film is supplemented by footage shot in the summer of 2017 as Brian May and Roger Taylor took Queen back to the US with Adam Lambert as lead singer

    Queen: The Legendary 1975 Concert

    BBC Four HD | Music 11.00 Tonight

    The rock band in performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on Christmas Eve in 1975, featuring early singles including Liar, Keep Yourself Alive,
    Now I’m Here and Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as Brian May showcasing his guitar skills in Brighton Rock

    1. Compare Queen with the likes of Sam Smiths wailing dross and see how far we have fallen.

        1. I think learning to ride and handling a lance would be more of a challenge for me than skewering that poor little thing to win the hand etc of the maiden advertised!

    7. It’s okay Rik; having ignored St George’s Day yesterday, R4 this morning mentioned Ramadan and Eid instead…bastards. Patriotism is obviously a dirty word.

  71. 318530 + up ticks,
    UK Church Offered To Cover Up Cross And Image Of Christ …joynews.co.za › News
    Friday, April 10, 2020. JOY! … offered to cover up an image of Jesus and a crucifix in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
    Not of my persuasion but never the less old vic better have a stokers ticket at hand for future reference.

        1. I did. And replied. Am utterly gobsmacked as they say that this was a true report albeit last year Truly an upside down world. Apparently it did not actually happen but bad enough that the intention was there.

      3. 318530+ up ticks,
        Afternoon V,
        Try Googling, vicar cover up Christ for month of ramadan.
        Seemingly not the first time.

  72. A post from Phizzee about the Type 45’s sitting idle at anchor struck a chord…………..

    For years the Royal Navy has been involved in anti-drugsmuggling patrols in the Caribbean with great success,many intercepts taking place in International Waters

    Now I know the ships are bloody useless in warm water but surely the channel is cool enough??

    We have several yachties on board who have commented that the cross channel gimmegrant run is a nonsense and they are being dropped off from “motherships”

    Time to intercept.board under arms, and arrest these criminals,there can be no legal objection.if it’s good enough in the Caribbean it’s good enough here!!

    Meanwhile the Border Farce……………..

    https://twitter.com/SimonJonesNews/status/1253611907233308673

    1. The problem will never be solved until the politicians and police are determined enough to take on and defeat the vested interests. But with a corrupt set of politicians and police that will never ever happen.

    2. Back in 1982, the ‘War Canoe’ that i was on, was responsible for £12,000,000 worth of drugs being intercepted

      EDIT we were in the Windies and our EW (Electronic Warfare- Gollies) bods listened in on radio messages and it all happened from there

      1. 318530+ up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        It was on par with the fastest cake in the world
        the scone.
        Manipulating the peoples hearing / not hearing material in action.

  75. Lionel Shriver
    Real problems erase fake ones
    From magazine issue: 25 April 2020

    Last week, a friend quoted a two-year-old email of mine: ‘I’m starting to root for a plague or world war to purify western culture, burning to cinders all the petty, neurotic, witch-hunting cliques with the white heat of real problems.’ Depressed by my own foresight, I wrote back: ‘The trouble with this solution is that then you still have the real problems.’

    Yup. But since the real problems aren’t going anywhere any time soon, and we’ve so little to celebrate while the world goes to hell without the comfort of even a hand basket, let’s consider the possible benefits.

    I’ve often remarked that identity politics is the product of prosperity. The movement’s nitpicking about undetectable-to-the-human-eye ‘microaggressions’ is an indulgence, most commonly among affluent white people hungry for the illusion of having problems (and enemies) for a sense of meaning. By definition, neurosis is the gratuitous invention of problems, and now properly unimaginary problems are dropped off daily on our doorsteps (please retrieve with latex gloves), with more than enough to go round for everybody.

    Arguably, humanity by nature requires challenging obstacles to overcome in order to feel purposeful, so that when societies become too coddling, too safe and too comfortable, they also become neurotic: they construct make-believe problems to chafe against, like scratching-posts for pets.

    This isn’t to dismiss racial friction — identitarians’ leading obsession — as already sorted or trivial. Should these panic-driven lockdowns continue, we’re seriously inching towards at least partial societal collapse. In a more Darwinian environment, disparities of power will really matter: who has stockpiles of food, who can defend their property, who can command resources like energy. When faced with inability to buy groceries or pay the rent, minorities at such palpable disadvantage will not give two hoots about removing statues of university benefactors who profited from the slave trade. Should unemployment continue to skyrocket in the US, the fracas over Confederate monuments is bound to evaporate.

    We might be gladly shed of confected problems whose gestural solutions, like tearing down statuary, don’t improve anyone’s life. But once again, when you solve fake problems with real problems, then you’re stuck with the real problems.

    After commentators’ initial we’re-all-in-this-together rhetoric about disease being the great leveller, race has resurfaced as a source of division during the pandemic (even if I predicted it would in an interview weeks ago; as a cynic, I’m really sick of being right). In the US, Covid-19 has proved more lethal among blacks and Latinos; in the UK, among blacks and Asians. It’s possible that a tragic genetic proclivity will emerge. An aggravating factor in the US is minorities’ reduced access to good healthcare. But doctors on Covid wards say that one underlying condition especially apt to produce a dire outcome is obesity. This is awkward. Patronising liberal apologists often blame the American correlation of race and fat on ‘food deserts’ in low-income neighbourhoods, but the phenomenon isn’t as simple as an inability to buy broccoli. It’s having no interest in eating broccoli — just like George Bush.

    ‘Inequality’ is likewise poking its familiar head above the parapet once more. In the popular conception of lockdown, poor and low-skilled workers are living on top of one another in cramped flats, up to their necks in dirty laundry and crying babies, while posh families are swanning about their vast estates picking bluebells and nightly getting pissed on claret. Uber drivers can hardly work from home, while many in the executive class seem so contented at their bedroom laptops that we have to wonder why we ever had offices. But within the year, we may silence the long-standing left-wing complaint about unjust distribution of wealth with the solution many a Corbynista seemed to relish: making everyone broke. It won’t be a nice life, but it will be fair.

    As we’re told social distancing may remain the form until a vaccine is found (ergo, prospectively forever), #MeToo is finished. Sexual harassment from two metres away doesn’t cut it. Aside from spouses sheltering cosily in place while other established couples beat each other purple after failing the ultimate suitability test, there are no relations between the sexes. With young people obliged to court by bullhorn, the issue of ‘consent’ is nugatory. Consent to what? And of course we’ll have no more abuse of power by handsy corporate higher-ups because there will be no companies.

    Lots of lefty lingo may seem irrelevant and old hat in the newly scorched economic landscape, from white saviour narrative
    to heteronormative. But there’s one perfectly apolitical word that I’m dying to quash, if not make illegal: vulnerable. As its forerunner inappropriate went viral for being so usefully vague, vulnerable has grown so popular because it can refer to practically anybody: children, old people, poor people, women, the disabled, minorities, kids with free school meals, wards of the state — not to mention the at-risk population for Covid-19.

    Anyway, I figure some lexical fads burn themselves out in such a bonfire of over-usage that newscasters can reach for no other word: ‘I’m vulnerable to the vulnerability of the vulnerable, Cathy, are you vulnerable, too?’ ‘I’m vulnerable to vulnerable vulnerability, but not as vulnerable to vulnerability that’s less vulnerable than the truly vulnerable, Jon.’ Eventually you’ll turn on Channel 4 and it’ll be, ‘Vulnerable, Cathy! Vulnerable vulnerable.’ ‘Vulnerable, Jon! Vulnerable vulnerable vulnerable. And that’s all from us. Good night.’ Beyond that point, anyone who says vulnerable will be shot.

    As for the identitarian crowd, have pity. When you’ve been perpetually outraged over trifles, it’s a real shock to suddenly have good reason to be outraged. When your concern for minorities has been overwhelmingly linguistic, it’s a real shock when you suddenly have bloody good reason to be concerned about minorities. When you’ve claimed for years that society as currently arranged is ‘unsustainable’, it’s a real shock when suddenly society really is unsustainable — and one of the first things that’s unsustainable is your job.

    1. “Vulnerable” is particularly irritating when people fail to pronounce the “l”. One of my bugbears.

      2. ‘Morning, A & D, I’ve plenty of those, many of which consist of putting the em phasis on the wrong syl lable. Notably controversy and the long ‘i’ in privacy. As for furlough, what’s wrong with on leave?

        1. There’s a form of pronounciation that leaves the “l” out of the word entirely, so the car maker becomes “Voakswaggon”, the town where Garlands lives is “Oaney”, and so on. Dunno why people do that.

    1. A week ago I had a brief discussion about this possibility with a former Lab Technician. It struct me that if you can reduce the virus load in the larger tubes the body’s immune system might be in with a better chance of dealing with the virus in the nooks & crannies. I hope it is successful.

          1. Unless a criminal lawyer/duty solicitor, what would a lawyer know about a late shift?

            9-5 men.

        1. IMO, the problem is Trump’s loose use of ‘disinfectant’ and ‘injection’, which many people have interpreted incorrectly to assume he meant ‘injecting disinfectant’. It really just illustrates the fact that he doesn’t have medical or even scientific training – which is why he has advisors.

          1. And also that people have just jumped on those two words, without reading the wider context of what he was thinking. Anything to discredit him.

        2. That does not imply that he knew about that research project.

          Many homes have UV water treatment to kill bacteria and viruses in their well water. In some ways it is surprising that UV light has not come up before.

          TDS, I just don’t believe that the braggard is the world’s saviour.

        3. That does not imply that he knew about that research project.

          Many homes have UV water treatment to kill bacteria and viruses in their well water. In some ways it is surprising that UV light has not come up before.

          TDS, I just don’t believe that the braggard is the world’s saviour.

  78. Diane Abbott’s diplomat son James Abbott-Thompson threatened her with scissors then attacked NINE medics and police while hooked on crystal meth. 24 April 2020.

    Diane Abbott’s diplomat son threatened her with scissors and attacked nine emergency workers when hooked on the drug crystal meth.

    The terrified MP called police begging for help when James Abbott-Thompson began chasing her round her house with the scissors while claiming he had a gun in his dressing gown.

    He bit one officer as he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act with drug-induced psychosis.

    Diplomat son my ass. A pound to a penny he’s schizophrenic!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8246919/The-violent-rampage-Diane-Abbotts-diplomat-son-James-Abbott-Thompson.html

    2. I read your first line (without my glasses) as: “While police looked on…”

          1. A crazy woman waved a blunt knife at police in Oslo a few years ago, so they shot her in the stomach. She lived.

    4. Crystal meth, a favoured substance among certain people here, does generate irrational and violent behavior. Same community, same issues, both sides of the pond.

    3. A priest invites Muslims into his church to say Muslim prayers, while Christians (and people of other non-Muslim religions) are banned from entering Mecca.

      2. Mecca isn’t worth a visit. Think cheap & scruffy shopping mall with nowt to buy.

      3. Not just that, but the muslims have the affrontery and ingratitude to say a prayer which undermines Christianity – in a Christian church.

        Those people are the pits – but then, as the song about the woman and the snake says “you knew what I was when you took me in”.

          1. They could have told him one thing and done another. Anyway, the priest probably didn’t think that they would be as devious and ungrateful as they were.

          4. The priest shouldn’t have invited a heretical sect into the church in the first place (except for the purposes of conversion and baptism).

    2. The middle couple took it and were bleached.

      Gosh, Mags – I can remember the pail of Milton for the boys’ nappies……proper Harrington squares with muslin linings – all to be washed, dried and re-used…!

      1. My son-in-law called the Harringtons Muslims! Surprised he didn’t get a visit from Plod!

        1. Some years ago on mumsnet, one mother posted that she was going out to buy some muslim clothes.
          People got quite concerned, thinking that she had converted without telling anyone.
          Muslin cloths of course…

      2. Yes Bill, and good afternoon , I saw a bottle in the chemist shop and my memory went back decades . I had a copuple of dozen Harringtons nappies which lasted forever , plus the muslin squares as well .. 2 buckets on the go , and then the burco boiler and wringer , I was always proud of nice white nappies , and also NO nappy rash on the babies .

        1. And children were toilet trained at a much younger age. Now they are wrapped in the super comfy “pull ups” and feel no discomfort when they fill their nappy.

          1. Mine were both born in December, so the summer when they were about 18 months was a good time to let them run about with bare bottoms.

          2. My mother believed that any child who could walk should be dry. She succeeded with three of her four children. Apparently I walked at eleven months and was obedient.

          3. And their “carers” leave the packages for the rest of us to trip over. Or shove them down the lav.

        2. Those nappies were far more environmentally friendly than the disposable ones everybody uses now, filling up landfill sites.

  81. Chickens coming home to roost in yer France.

    Toy Boy (as with other world “leaders” (spit) started out six weeks ago with his “we are at war” speech – ordering everyone to stay at home on pain of being shot by the ever present police. “This is life and death” etc etc – frightened the shit out of most of the population, especially younger ones who have never known anything except the peace which the EUSSR has brought to Eurp (sic).

    Then, two weeks ago, retreating somewhat, he said that on 11 May, there would be a partial opening up. Primary schools would re-open.

    Now, parents and teachers are saying, “Over our dead bodies You told us this was life and death and frightened the shit out of us. Well, we are still shit-scared and will NOT go anywhere near a school until the world is entirely safe again.”

    Collapse of Toy Boy and yet another of his un-thought through policies.

    Not knocking the parents – for I can see the same reaction in the UK. Frighten the masses and they stay frightened.

    1. It’s always easier to switch a panic on that it is to switch it off again once you’ve started it.

    2. The photos comparing 2015 and this year are hardly convincing. The first is taken three weeks later in the year so the crop is more advanced. That in the second looks more like wheat or barley.

    3. There is less money in it now. And bioethanol is not a good use of cropland. Why does the Mail seem to think it is a dandelion?

  84. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/04/24/politics-latest-news-government-pressure-reveal-exit-strategy/

    ”

    Home tests site won’t reopen until tomorrow, DHSC confirms

    Applications for coronavirus home tests have been shut off less than

    four hours after the scheme was opened, on the back of “significant

    demand”.

    The site, which opened at 6am this morning as the Government widens

    the number of people who can seek tests, was shut by 10am. It won’t

    reopen until tomorrow.”

    Once again the NHS demonstrates that it is not fit for purpose.

  86. Third hand report of a chap in his early 70’s admitted to hospital very ill; given oxygen; recovered, and now at home. Whilst in hospital a number of patients on the ward passed away. A priest attended one to give the Last Rites. When he finished he asked this chap if there was anything he could do for him. He was told politely to go away…

    1. I wouldn’t welcome a priest either. Or a Rabbi, Immam, Shaman, witch doctor or any of the rest of that ilk.

      1. Keep going – I believe the NHS ‘recognises’ at least 52 religious denominations….

          2. Church of Country Sports? Thought not, although I’ve been a member since before the Hunting Act.

          4. I could and would should I be put in such a state of trial. I put “English” in “other” if it isn’t an option 🙂

          3. And a wee splash of unchlorinated water to get the alcohol down to about 40-ish % so I can actually drink it.

  89. While NHS management have moaned about their difficulties in supplying and delivering supplies to hospitals within a country well covered by road, rail and air networks this man succeeded with a job that by today’s reported standards of performance would have been insurmountable. Failure was not an option for Major General ‘Grocer Alf’ Snelling.

    The operational area of the Fourteenth Army was about 100,000 square miles, or rather larger than Great Britain. The terrain and its roads and railway have been describ­ed. Half a million men lived and fought in this jungle; how they even lived there is one of the miracles of this war. Every day Fourteenth’s famous Major-General of Adminis­tration “Alf” Snelling, had to feed 500,000 soldiers plus 300,000 coolies. He planned to have his own farms, 18.000 acres of them, sited well forward. One in Manipur was so well forward that the Japs overran it. On these farms Snelling grew vegetables, ducks, pigs, and goats. He set up a factory aiming to salt 20,000 lbs of fish per day, and mobile breweries to slake the strengthened thirst. It was still necessary to bring in by rail, road, air or water 1,800 tons of food each day. The different tastes, habits and religious customs of British, Indians, Gurkhas, Africans made the ration problem more complex.

    How Admin Troops Backed the Fighting Men

    1. That picture shows what looks very like a lifeboat. It does not look like an armed patrol boat, as one might have expected.

      1. Even the Sandbanks ferry has stopped running , and now several Isle of Wight ones are curtailing their schedules.. We have no buses here , and the trains are really practically a non event.

    3. And Priti Awful has sent every single one of them packing, of course. Back to nice, safe, confined France.

  93. Just deteted an email from Nectar asking me to donate my Points at a ‘Covid Charity

    No way

    2. I can’t remember how long I have had a Nectar card. The other day a filling station chappie told me how many thousand points I have…they turned out to be worth less than fifteen quid. Wow! Mrs HJ: “Try not to spend it all at once.”

      1. I got a tenner off the shopping when I used it at Sainsburys before Christmas. Unlikely to get any more points as the local garage has stopped giving them.

      2. I managed to accumulate enough points to buy a dining table, a bathroom cabinet and a spice blender. I wait and take advantage of when they do their double up offer.

    3. I get regular emails from various loyalty schemes I am member of (mainly for petrol/diesel) asking me to donate my points. They can take a running jump!

    4. I think that may be a spoof. I’ve seen several suggestions on those lines. But life in C21 Blighty is so mad, that it is quite possible she did make that claim.

    5. And when it is concluded that the disease was specifically designed by the Chinese to kill Africans, so the Chinese could take over the Dark Continent, what will she bleat?

    6. It is a travesty that Doreen Lawrence, who has frequently voiced her dislike of Britain, is in the House of Lords.

  95. Just about to place something in the oven for dinner. I got very confused with my
    days yesturday and thought it Friday all day long. If excepted that today is actually Friday,
    I assume lock down has done this to the little grey cells.

  96. I’ve just been reading about where C19 first attacks the body and a thought came to me.

    Has research into Covid-19 take into account the once very common treatment of removing children’s tonsils and adenoids?

    Most of the children who automatically had what were thought to be useless anatomical time bombs, would now be in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

    The tonsils stop infections travelling further into the body and the nose and throat are the virus’s first port of call.

    1. Apparently, when they removed my tonsils they left a bit in (I got tonsillitis when I was an adult). Perhaps I’ll be okay then (or maybe that’s why I recovered in February).

    2. During my childhood I suffered repeatedly from tonsillitis. The junior doctor at my surgery recommended a tonsillectomy but he was overruled by his senior partner. Consequently my suffering continued, until I reached the age of 14 (when I was considered to be an adult). By this time the senior GP had retired and the junior now headed the surgery. I was promptly sent to hospital for a tonsillectomy.

      I was in the ward for five whole days. They told me that infants are in and out in a couple of days but the surgery for me (a putative adult) was more severe. I have rarely suffered sore throats since this operation.

      A website on the topic (by Matthew Hoffman MD) asserts that: The tonsils are part of the lymphatic system, which helps to fight infections. However, removal of the tonsils does not seem to increase susceptibility to infection.

      https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/picture-of-the-tonsils

      Whatever the rights and wrongs of tonsil removal I can say, from personal experience, that I was well shut of mine.

      1. I was well shut of mine, too; they were constantly infected. I was in hospital for three days. Regime was strict and parental visits were forbidden. The food was awful, too – even at this distance in time I recall how foul it was!

        1. I had mine out when I was six, following on from whooping cough the previous year. I can well remember how painful it was – and I had to go to theatre before the other kids ‘cos I was the only one who didn’t cry when they gave us the premed. The food was vile and it was too painful to eat it anyway.

          1. Ditto on the age, but I got my whooping cough in hospital after I’d had my tonsils out.

          2. For some reason I got whooping cough in my 30s, when pregnant with twins. I was petrified that I would cough them out…

        2. I remember the first food they gave me after the op: dry toast!

          Apparently it was to scrape away the dried blood left in the throat post op.

          2. My wife was expecting ice cream but was given crisps, apparently for the same reason.

        3. I was promised icecream afterwards. And I got it. One MEASLY scoopful, once, was all I got. Rationing was in force of course, but at the age of 7 I resolved never to use the NHS (which had recently started) except for A&E… The Anaesthetist was a friend of the family too. That’s socialism for you. Later in his career, he discovered an excessive liking for self dosing with anaesthetics and had to retire early…

          1. I think I must have had icecream (if so, it was the only edible bit of the meal), but after so many years I can’t be sure. I do remember trying to gargle with this pink liquid and failing miserably.

      2. I was 25 when I had mine out! Had tonsillitis at least 6 times a year. When I asked the ENT bloke about the op and whether it was worse as I was older, he said that the only difference was that I would have a larger vocabulary with which to describe the pain! He was quite right!

          1. When he came to see me after the op he told me that he was glad I couldn’t speak! If looks could kill….!

      3. My uncle had his removed when he was in his 60s and it was then a serious op , he was in hospital for ages

      4. If tonsils become chronically inflamed, then removal is the only choice. Therefore, the operation will be done on older children or young adults whose systems are being depleted by constant, low level infection.

    3. We were living on Merseyside at the time, and tonsil and adenoid surgery was almost a rite of passage. The description of Scouse being an adenoidal accent was humorous, in that almost no-one had any.

      After a few go rounds with tonsillitis, mother inquired about surgery and the doc said no, they are there for a purpose. Next time I had tonsillitis, he made me just deal with it, no-antibiotics. Lucky or not, it subsided and I have never had it since.

      These days, if you have to have any lymph nodes removed, they are adamant about “not risking” that area, i.e. if they came out of for example the left arm pit area, no blood pressure measurements taken on that arm, and definitely no needles in that arm.

      1. I had tonsillitis several time when I were a sprog. I think practically everyone in my age group had their tonsils removed. My parents asked about a tonsillectomy for me, but the GP was well before his time; he explained that the infections showed that the tonsils were actually doing their job. They were catching the bugs before they descended deeper into the body.
        I can only add that every time MB (who had a tonsillectomy) gets a cold it ‘goes to his chest’. This doesn’t happen with me, and I tend to give infections a swerve or get them in a very mild form.

      2. I had tonsillitis several time when I were a sprog. I think practically everyone in my age group had their tonsils removed. My parents asked about a tonsillectomy for me, but the GP was well before his time; he explained that the infections showed that the tonsils were actually doing their job. They were catching the bugs before they descended deeper into the body.
        I can only add that every time MB (who had a tonsillectomy) gets a cold it ‘goes to his chest’. This doesn’t happen with me, and I tend to give infections a swerve or get them in a very mild form.

  97. 318530+ up ticks,
    Some good could come of all this, in many respects, hyped up sh!te, and that is stay 6′ away from the lab/lib/con coalition candidate in the polling booth.

    If you have no self respect but retain the capacity to think, then think of your kids future.

    1. It will make no difference Oggy! Their brains have turned to mush after twenty years of propaganda!

      1. 318530+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AS,
        Sad to say there ain’t no learning the hard way
        as it is to late when the head is looking up from the bottom of a basket in the market square in
        ……………………….Acton.
        Bloody Nuisance really having to change old quotes as,
        No fool like a headless old fool.

  99. We just watched a repeat of a car programme on TV. (We do this to be near the front door so that we hear the postman when he comes. And if you believe that, you’ll probably believe Hancock’s diary updates. No, you were right the first time. We are very lazy and very, very listless.)
    During one commercial break there was one of the nice new “Save the NHS” adverts on. It was followed immediately by an advertisement for a legal firm specialising in medical negligence cases. Perfect! Wonderful!
    “Save the NHS” became “Sue the NHS”.

    1. I wonder if the lawyers paid extra for the juxtaposition or if ITV deliberately did so.

      1. Daytime ITV is saturated with such ads. I am no longer prepared to tolerate any adverts at all. From any source.

        1. I never watch daytime telly. Husband only does if it’s sport. No sport – no telly.

          1. I haven’t watched it in yonks. Except when i’m on my back at the dentist. Don’t have much choice then.

            I have an extensive library of films and TV series that i like. I have over 1100 films on a drive and about the same for TV. Not an advert in sight.

            The only other progs i watch are Masterchef, Great British menu and sometimes Saturday Kitchen with Matt Tebutt.

          2. ” Except when i’m on my back at the dentist” … hmm, too much information…{:¬))

          4. No telly at my dentist. We watch very little these days & we’re not into films. We tend to watch the Saturday night Scandi dramas on BBC4 as they are usually good, and wildlife or vet programmes. Last night we watched the last in the series about the North Yorkshire Steam Railway.

          6. The only telly in the day for me is the Six Nations. And that is beginning to pall, now that it appears anyone from any country can “qualify” to play for some other country.

            I do watch the Trooping – if only to see how poor the dressing of the Foot Guards rapidly becomes!

            I’ll go and have a lie down.

        2. I watch so little TV that I wasn’t aware of the coverage.

          It doesn’t surprise me, given how successful compensation culture appears to have become.

      1. I’ve read that a few US citizens in the past have ended it all by swallowing Draino. (Other drain cleaning products are available)

        2. I also read of some Asian persons forcing bleach down their daughter’s throat when she tried to disobey orders for an arranged marriage.

          2. What would Lammy say?

            “Nngrhh racist, grunt, white priviy ledge, snuffle nnngrrhh, I looked and looked and all I could see was my mirror”

    4. Listerine started out as a surgical disinfectant, then it was marketed as a floor cleaner, and then as a mouthwash.

      1. I’ve used Listerine for knocking on 40 years and was horrified to find out that Johnson & Johnson have stopped producing Listerine Original.

        2. I discovered that mouthwash had discoloured my teeth for decades. My dentist got me to stop using it 2 years ago. The hygienist was startled by the difference it made.

          1. Yeah, but you’re a fish, for heavens sake.

            It’s thanks to fish like you that pun threads start and we all have to wash our mouths out!

    5. Quite amazing that manufacturers should have to do this because of the word’s of a complete imbecile.

  104. Some people trafficking networks in Spain appear to have swung into reverse, with Moroccans paying €5,000 to be smuggled out of one of Europe’s worst-hit coronavirus hotspots.

    Before the pandemic, migrants crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in the opposite direction, bringing thousands aiming to reach the European Union from Africa and further afield every year. Now, while that is ongoing, people are also going in the opposite direction, south from Spain to Morocco, to escape the virus and sidestep restrictions on international travel.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/24/trafficking-networks-go-reverse-moroccans-pay5000-leave-coronavirus/

    1. Once we overtake the French death toll, the Channel traffic will be reversed. Anyone got any RIBs for sale in the garage?

      1. Hell the smugglers made a fortune on one way tickets, they will really clean up when the bus is full in both directions.

  105. Q: So what did you get from today’s Downing Street Press Conference?

    A: Well, we’re at or past the peak, and there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, and we shouldn’t worry our silly little heads – the Cabinet, relying on “the science”, has matters well in hand.

      1. Thanks Stephen.

        Normally the boats would all be at sea and there would be people milling around on the quay. Not these days.

        The moorings in the river are empty and the small boats that would be moored are all hauled out.

        1. This Virus is a real tragedy. This morning I learned from an acquaintance that her & her husband’s best man (59 years old) had retreated with his family to Cornwall before the lockdown but he became ill with the symptoms he isolated himself in the wooden cabin in the garden. Meals being left at the door communications by phone. He was finding it very difficult. Earlier in the week when his wife couldn’t get him on the phone she went down to the cabin and found a note on the door stating: Do not enter. Call the police. The poor chap had committed suicide.

          3. My next door neighbour who lives alone is finding it very hard. She’s desperate for company.

          4. My mother is feeling it hard, too. Even a friend can’t visit. At least the phone works now.

          5. MOH is very depressed, too, but has been since before the lockdown owing to not handling the health issues very well. That doesn’t help my state of mind, but what can I do?

          9. That is true and I value that safety valve. I can also get out and walk my dog, which is an absolute godsend.

          11. I’m hearing similar from so many different places.

            But we must save the NHS.

            Yeah, but at what real cost?

          12. She’s an ex-nurse – they’ve asked her again to rejoin the register – at 70, and awaiting heart surgery.

          13. Unbelievable isn’t it?, although the NHS probably would not know.

            I’ll bet they would work her ’til she dropped too, rather than give her her operation now.

          16. I am really sorry to hear that. It’s devastating when that happens to someone you love.

  107. I just received an email from the hotel chain that we normally use: Hurry, special bonus 40% more points above your normal bonus points. As if anyone had the option!

  108. ‘Afternoon, Peeps.

    You might imagine, as I did, that staff in an NHS maternity department would be provided with gowns and the rest of the anti-Covid gear? Not so…our local ‘Birthing Centre’ (ugh) isn’t scaled for such luxuries, so some sewing ladies in Hailsham, East Sussex, set to and made them, the Hospital Friends having supplied sufficient fabric, at a cost of £350, to make gowns for everyone, including the volunteers. Well done the Hailsham Ladies (but not so the NHS).

    1. Presumably lots of the mothers to be are wearing burkhas anyway – so gowns would be superfluous.

    2. I’m sorry to report that the young NHS professional, (whose partner is asthmatic), whose work involves discharging patients from acute hospital wards has not been supplied with PPE. 🙁

  110. I just received an email from Lloyds telling me my Standard Savings account, there’s about £100 I’ve left there just to keep it open, is to decrease its interest rate from 0.10% Gross/AER to 0.01% Gross/AER.

    2. Be grateful that they are paying you £100 for every million you invested AND that they are earning something of the order of £250,000 for lowish risk lending.

        1. If only.
          It’s less than the typical pre-approved overdraft rate for the average borrower .

          I chose a nice round number, the reality is much worse.

    1. There’s a documentary on BBC2 tonight about Hubble which I shall record and watch at leisure!

  112. The chief executive of London’s Heathrow Airport has written to health secretary Matt Hancock demanding mass coronavirus screenings at all British airports after the government has insisted on keeping Britain’s borders fully open with no restrictions in place.

    The Daily Mail revealed on Thursday that John Holland-Kaye had written the letter calling for a set of measures which could include temperature checks or antibody tests. He also suggested requiring all airline passengers to carry documentation proving they are medically fit to enter the country.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/24/heathrow-demands-mass-arrivals-coronavirus-screenings-airports/

    1. I really cannot see the point of keeping us all in lockdown when 15000 people a day are arriving unscreened, and let out into the population unquarantined every day. We might as well get back to what passes for normality and take our chances.

      1. In a few weeks they have managed to get most of the population believing and acting that virtually every other person is a walking virus time bomb.

    3. This is why we should reject the lockdown it just not fair. The first thing that should have been stopped should have been all public transport and air flights in and out of the country.

      1. Otherwise there is absolutely no point to to the lockdown, if the purpose of the lockdown is to prevent the spread of disease. Therefore one can only assume there to be an ulterior motive to the lockdown if people are allowed to enter the country from elsewhere and not be tested or quarantined at the very least.

        1. They just want total control and we will have to work very hard to get it all back.

      2. They were never going to stop public transport because of the green myth. They would have had to encourage cars in London, for example.
        The authorities don’t want to admit that there are any disadvantages to public transport.

        The flights into Britain make sense actually, since Europe became the epicentre of the infection. If the epicentre shifts, then it would be madness to allow flights from it. They should have stopped flights from China right at the start, but was we know, that would have been racist.

  113. Radio 4 6pm CV news. From the top:
    – new testing scheme
    – lockdown
    – death of the nursing twins in Southampton
    – James Dyson and ventilators
    – international efforts on drug treatment
    – Trump

    And then, 14 minutes in:
    “China rejects calls for an independent international investigation into the origin of the virus, describing them as politically motivated.”
    The deputy ambassador in London had been interviewed earlier and part of that tetchy interview was included.

    Let’s not be beastly to the Chinese!

      2. The Chinese know precisely what they have unleashed on the world. This Covid-19 is merely a dress rehearsal. It is a mild dose of the viruses they have created. Expect worse.

        I just trust that Trump will stop them.

    2. I get a sense that people are just going to start going about their lives once again with or without state approval. The takeaways in town are reopening and doing a roaring trade. We will all officially be socially distanced but that will fade by the end of the first day. There seems to be an acceptance that the great shut down was over the top. And all those ventilators, I expect that they will be put away with all the beds from the Nightingales. They will need a big cupboard.

        1. Lockdown was always a nonsense. This is because those in lockdown have to obtain medicines and supplies and this inevitably means either leaving home or else accepting home deliveries from others.

          Those wretched fliers delivered by our postmen for crap pizzas and other culinary misdelights are also a major concern if as likely contaminated by Covid-19.

          The people providing the home deliveries, the shelf stackers and delivery drivers might all carry the infection virus so the policy is clearly ill thought out and damaging to both the economy and our national sense of well-being.

      3. They have, Next week will see massive change as many more go about their business.At last.

      5. I noticed a lot more traffic on the road today and even called for a sausage, egg and mushroom cob. The owner said he hadn’t missed a day at all and only been warned by the police not to let a large group build up. A few days ago he was that busy he ran out of food before dinner time.

      1. The couple that swigged the aquarium cleaner turned out to be Democrats, I heard.

        1. There’s a thing here – the more education you have had, the more likely you are to vote Democrat. Especially true of university grads. If you dropped out of school or were poorly educated, and in a “gig economy” job, you are more likely to support the Republicans, especially the alt right fringe groups, the “god and guns” brigade for example.

          p.s. saw a big sign on a “rural” pick up truck a few weeks back with election posters on the side:

          Vote Pro-Life
          Vote Pro-Gun

          Given the US’s horrendous rate of murder by firearm, quite the non sequitur.

          2. There are far too many “Oxford Educated Idiots” in positions of power and influence in this country….

          3. Completely and utterly agreed.

            Your perspicacious observation of one of life’s fundamental truths does you credit.

            writes an unbiased Cantab man

          7. Not really, when you consider that Oxford and Cambridge educate a subset of the cleverest people in Britain.
            What I do find a bit worrying is that while I was at Oxford, I came across three people who really weren’t intelligent enough to be there. Two of them are in Parliament now, and one is in the Cabinet.
            The third one tried to become a Labour MP but they wouldn’t have her.

          8. The red-necks vote red – but are the graduates any more intelligent for their education?

          10. President Trump is working on it. If human life is recognised from conception then a foetus is an American citizen from conception. It will outlaw all abortion at a stroke.

          2. Agreed.
            He’s one of the few cartoonists where I can instantly remember lots of cartoons that fit the bill when things in the news are silly.

      2. Like the array of door knobs on the geriatric ward doors, designed to confuse addled oldies.
        We rescued visitors, office staff, occupational therapists, doctors ….. and then haired off across the fields to round up old biddies who’d sussed which knob actually opened the door.

    2. That would be the muslim community, relations with whom are so much more important than raped children, would it?

  120. Evening, all. I only intended to read, not reply, but I got drawn in, so belatedly I’m remembering my manners and greeting you all. Will have to take a short break soon, though. I need some stuff from the shops and have been advised that it’s quiet around 18.30.

      1. I hope it went well and you managed to get everything on your list – if you didn’t have a list, shame on you! 🙂

        1. I didn’t go…….:0(( OH offered me another cup of tea……….. so I didn’t go and we had ommettes for dinner. Nice ommeltte and a glass of wine – what could be better? Still, I will have to go tomorrow now.

        2. He writes a list of things he needs – I get those plus all the usual things we need every week, which don’t need to be listed.

  121. I think CM has a nice big garden…

    With the right leadership restored, the British public will get through this crisis

    CHARLES MOORE

    The remarkable behaviour of the people is bringing us through a crisis that threatened to be far worse

    Now that we have had more than a month of this at full intensity, people are reviewing the situation. If you believe the media, especially the BBC, you may well feel on the edge of collapse. When I talk to friends abroad, that is what their media – which reflect ours – tell them is happening here.

    I am convinced this is misleading. Although many of our media’s stories are right, most of their tone is wrong. At the daily coronavirus press conferences, the established media have what they like best – a set-piece in which they can try to catch ministers out. Following the hierarchy beloved of our supposedly egalitarian trade, the first questions are always handed to the BBC and ITV. They demand feeding. Ministers get trapped by their agenda – the faux-drama about PPE from Turkey, whose delay seems to be have been caused (unreported by the BBC) by the Turkish producers, the obsession with targets. My impression is that most people find these inquisitorial sessions pointless and depressing. Do they have to be every day? Do they have to drag on when there is nothing to say?

    Goodness knows, many things remain grim. I think particularly of care homes, whose patients and staff enjoy fewer protections than those in hospital. In the worst cases, such homes have lost a third of their residents to Covid-19. For many who survive, April 2020 may be remembered as the most traumatic month of their lives. But, in the wider picture, Britain is coming through this.

    “Count your blessings,” says the old rule. We should do so not only because it is good for the soul, but also because it will teach us some things we need to know. As we count them, we should recognise the insidious difficulty we all face. It was well put to me by the chairman of an NHS Trust: “People talk about the Blitz spirit; but it is different this time. Then, we had not been invaded. Now, we have been. With Covid, it is as if a Nazi were lurking on every corner.”

    Here are some of the bad things which could have happened, but haven’t. Early on, the reasonable worst-case scenario for deaths was half a million. On current showing, we might not reach a tenth of that figure. Similar calculations suggested that intensive care beds could be eight times oversubscribed, meaning that thousands of patients would die in corridors or be turned away.

    Nothing remotely like this has happened. Somehow, 40,000 NHS beds were freed up. Most have not had to be used. No one seeking treatment has been refused it. Imagine if we had been so badly organised that when the Prime Minister became ill he could get treatment only by grabbing an ICU bed needed by another patient. We never got near that.

    Other major blessings include the fact that panic-buying was quickly dealt with and everyone can get the necessaries of life; that more than enough ventilators appeared; that broadband provision has produced digital solutions unattainable five years ago; that HMRC can agree furloughing applications within two days and start paying in less than a week. [Not convinced by all of these claims…]

    Behind all this lies one other blessing: the public are behaving well. Precisely because we are behaving well, we do not realise how great a blessing it is. Of course we social distance, wait in queues, volunteer to help. Of course we don’t riot or try to insist on having medical treatments that can wait. Of course we try to keep our children amused – even educated – at home, to shop for the self-isolated, and check on the elderly parents we are not allowed to approach.

    We have been asked to stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives. This is exactly what about 99 per cent of the population has tried to do. You cannot buy social discipline like that. You cannot even compel it. It is a cultural achievement, a mark of civilisation. [Is it, CM? Or is it as Jonathon Sumption argued?]

    More controversially, I would argue that the Government has been sensitive to the importance of this social cohesiveness. At each turn, it has moved at roughly the pace the British people could accept. Some argue we should have locked down earlier. They cannot be proved wrong, but remember that people need to understand why they should surrender their cherished freedoms before they agree to do so. If you think back to early March, they weren’t ready. I would not have fancied the chances of turning away the crowds at Cheltenham races. Yet the next week, because of changing facts, people were ready to sacrifice the Grand National.

    One can fault the Government on many individual items – PPE shortages, useless antibody tests, bureaucratic logjams – but at no point, yet, has it come adrift from popular consent. The public want ministers challenged on difficult points, but, unlike the media, we have no desire to hound them. [Pop over to the Garudina to witness the cyber-lynching.] In December’s general election, they were decisively chosen. We want them to get it right, not to gloat when they get it wrong.

    Now we enter the next phase. Different messages are needed, but the same public consent. Take the NHS itself. The success of Covid provision has been so great as to become almost embarrassing. Doctors in the system tell me that many of their colleagues outside the ICUs are bored. Some even go home early. The public have been so well convinced that hospital is a dangerous place that some hospitals are almost half-empty. “That’s never happened!” exclaims one bewildered doctor.

    And so, by a useful irony, one of the first symptoms of an easing of lockdown will come this weekend from the NHS. The message will be that many hospitals are now safe and that people should return for their cancer treatments and heart checks, and go to their GP if they are ill. Senior NHS professionals will start talking about “learning to live with Covid” – acknowledging that the invading power will not suddenly vanish, but can be worked round.

    This ought to give Boris Johnson the cue he needs as he returns to full work next week. (Not too full, I hope. Friends who have had it advise no more than five hours a day at first.) He is acutely aware of two apparently contradictory things. The first is that – as the scientist leading Sweden’s bold experiment with “herd immunity-lite” puts it – “We know so little”. The second is that the life, health and prosperity of an entire nation must not be held indefinite hostage by a virus, however nasty. The over-70s cannot be condemned to a life of solitary confinement, nor businesses destroyed, nor the young kept back from a start in life.

    The Prime Minister therefore has to move cautiously, but move he must. We consented to lockdown because we could see why it was necessary. We shall consent to easing it for the same reason. The problem, as one health executive expresses it, is that “It’s much easier to declare something unsafe than to declare it safe.”

    On the whole, the trends are now favourable, but I do not see how the Government can foreseeably meet its fifth criterion for ending lockdown – that there will be “no risk of a second peak”. There is risk in every choice we make. It is the task of leadership, more than of experts, to navigate us through these risks. For reasons beyond his control, we have not had full leadership from Boris recently. We need it next week.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/04/24/right-leadership-restored-thebritish-public-will-get-crisis/

    1. “Protect the NHS” – well, we’ve done that – now it’s time to get people back to work.

    3. “No one seeking treatment has been refused it.” Oh, really? Really? Is that the same as being told not to seek it?
      “…at no point, yet, has it come adrift from popular consent.”

      Actually, old sport, I am compelled and coerced, and threatened. How is that understood to be consent? Give me gun, and find out!

  122. I am off – time for a little drinky-poo.

    A demain. I shall be mainly potting up basil seedlings..

    Have a fun soirée at a distance.

  125. I see the Rohingyas have made a reappearance on the 10pm News – perhaps even the Beeb is getting tired of the same old news every night, with only one topic.

    2. You really could not make this up. The Labour Party lost the plot years ago and are now going through the death throes.

      I hear the death rattle.

      2. My worry is that whatever worries and reservations we Nottlers have about Keir Starmer the electorate at large will think that he is so much better than Corbyn that they will give him the chance of power.

        Even if Boris Johnson leads us out of the pandemic and restores the economy just as Churchill led us to victory in the War we must not forget that Atlee won a thumping majority of 154 in 1945 – a far greater win than Johnson got in 2019.

  128. They are now blaming the Cheltenham race meeting in March for the higher numbers of cases in Gloucestershire compared with the rest of the South West.,

  129. Q: So what did you get from today’s Downing Street Press Conference?

    A: Well, we’re at or past the peak, and there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, and we shouldn’t worry our silly little heads – the Cabinet, relying on “the science”, has matters well in hand.

    1. “the Cabinet, relying on “the science”, has matters well in hand.” So totally SNAFU, then?

      1. The anti vaxxers will be like the windows 7 users – left out in the cold.

        Don’t forget the moves to make vaccine certificates mandatory for once common things like flying. No vax, no go anywhere. We already have police checks controlling who crosses provincial borders, some US states have done the same thing – papers please.

        I do not believe that Gates is into such a scheme, he made a pot full of money and is simply giving something back. (just in case he really is behind it and is as vindictive as Trump).

      2. Gollox to Vax, what about the anti

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