Friday 24 January: The state’s failure to halt rising knife crime brings shame on Britain

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

896 thoughts on “Friday 24 January: The state’s failure to halt rising knife crime brings shame on Britain”

  1. Good morning, chums, and thanks to you too, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. And FIRST!!!

    Wordle 1,315 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,315 4/6

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  2. Good morning Geoff and NoTTLer chums. And a FIRST for Elsie!
    While Sir Jasper is in hospital, here is a Today's Tale to cheer him (and you lot) up.
    A little old lady was walking down the street, dragging two plastic garbage bags with her, one in each hand. There was a hole in one of the bags, leaving a trail of £20 notes on the pavement. Spotting this, a police officer stopped her: "Ma'am, there are £20 notes falling out of that bag."
    "Darn!" said the little old lady. “I’d better go back and collect them. Thanks for the warning."
    "Well now, not so fast," said the cop. "How did you get all that money? Did you steal it?"
    "Oh no," said the little old lady. "You see, my garden backs on to the car park of the football stadium. Each time there's a game, a lot of fans come and pee in the bushes, right onto my flower beds. So I go and stand behind the bushes with a big pair of shears and each time someone sticks his thingie through the bushes, I say: "£20, or off it comes!"
    "Hey, not a bad idea!" laughed the cop. "OK, good luck! By the way, what's in the other bag?"
    "Well,” said the little old lady, "not all of them pay up…"

    1. Bob3, you are Winnie the Pooh, and I claim my three bob (3Bob, geddit?) postal order. Lol. (Good morning, btw.)

  4. The state’s failure to halt rising knife crime brings shame on Britain

    I bet if it was mostly white people doing it then something would have been done very quickly
    Especially if was was to immigrant children

    1. Not impressed by the ambling delivery of Steve Schwartzman, Chairman and CEO of the colossally-wealthy and powerful Blackstone Group. Reminded me of Biden.

      1. roughcommon, I found myself shouting at the screen: "Get on with it! What is your question?!?!?" (Good morning to you, btw.)

      2. Is he there to fulfil a Diversity Quota?- His surname does translate as Blackman….

        Morning Rough and all…

    2. Davos village ? World economic fore – arm. Known as Spectre in the Bond Films.
      A place no normal person would venture into.

  8. Amazon ‘delivered knife to parent of Southport killer’. 24 January 2025.

    Amazon delivered the Southport killer’s knife to one of his parents, it is understood.

    The Amazon driver who delivered the knife used in the murders handed the package to an adult at Axel Rudakubana’s home address who was visibly over 25, according to the retailer.

    Are we going to have Jeff Bezos up in front of the beak? This is just deflection designed to get the Government and Starmer in particular off the hook.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/23/amazon-delivered-knife-parent-southport-killer-rudakubana/

    1. It gets worse, Rachel from Accounts was able to order, without supervision, a copy of 'Economics for Dummies' from Amazon! Just look at the carnage she has unleashed.

      This whole Amazon angle, covered in lockstep by the client churnalists of the supine media, is an attempted deflection from the horrors of the Southport debacle whilst pushing for censorship/digital ID.

  9. So, what happened in Plymouth a day or so ago?
    Morning, all Y'all. Snow & stormy last night.

        1. If it's the man named (immediately) by the BBC, it took me only 6 minutes to find his current address in Plymouth. He MUST be white if they have released his name already.

          2. His mother's maiden surname is Mark, so if she's still around, she won't be difficult to find and ask for photos.

  10. Apparently all the wind turbines will be shut down because of too much wind
    Why don't they rename them moderate breeze turbines instead.

    2. I looked into this before the last storm, apparently the windmills will function up to 50 – 55mph before auto-breaking/braking is applied. How this functions when gusts vary from below the threshold to substantially above the threshold, as wind does tend to do, is a mystery.

      A brake on to a brake off scenario repeated with gust strength variations would surely break the things.🤔

      Performing better today than recent days although the output has dropped from around 60% earlier this morning. Have the brakes come on or have some been broken?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2bfa286c2a7e2c05c4e2a3ddcc914d687f584d0014520bc4039283d788120dad.png

      1. So what you're telling us, Korky, is that our entire 'fleet' of turbines is break-dancing?

  12. Morning all 🙂😊
    Horrible out side but 9 degs.
    Two absolutely careless and useless government's in succession have now wrecked our country.
    I live in fear for the safety of our lovely grandchildren.

    I'll be back later on.

  14. Morning NOTTLers. Can we please thrash this out today, once and for all?

    I am of the opinion that Jan 6th was not an insurrection, rather it was provoked by the FBI and hyped for political reasons by the Democrats. As evidence, i cite the “misinformation” around the number of deaths (one on the day, shot by a USPlod) and the footage I watched of the “insurrectionists” walking round the White House.

    edit. The Capitol of course.

    My dad and I argue about this. But here is a letter in today’s Terriblegraph, reigniting the topic:

    “– In many ways I welcome Donald Trump’s new term as president.
    However, anyone who believes in the rule of law should be appalled by his decision to pardon even those rioters who attacked police officers on January 6 2021 (report, January 22).
    Ian Hibberd
    Truro, Cornwall”

    So, can we get to the bottom of this? Insurrection or fit-up? Evidence for/against?

    1. Fit-up. Too many analyses identifying individual state employees in the crowd, videos of peaceful sightseeing in the White House other white building according to Citroen, doors being opened by staff, actions by senior Democrats etc. This has been deeply researched in the US.
      Anyone who still thinks it's an insurrection must be a BBC viewer.

    2. What Lefties doing some shenanigans!?
      If they are quite happy to facilitate the industrial gang rape of their own children.. then quite frankly anything goes with that lot.

      As for "pardon even those rioters who attacked police officers".. Trump answered that by reeling off a couple of 100 examples of BLM antifa etc.. being let off.

    3. However, anyone who believes in the rule of law should be appalled by his decision to pardon even those rioters who attacked police officers on January 6.

      Morning MIR. This distinction between the general amnesty and those who "attacked" the police i.e those who pleaded guilty to such was widely made in the MSM. The point here is that, even more so than in the UK, people plead guilty because they simply cannot afford to defend themselves. They have to reckon on losing and suffering the Double Whammy of leaving their families destitute while they are inside. This is one of the reasons for the very high conviction rates in the United States. We do not know under the present Starmer Regime how many UK citizens were refused access to State Aid in their defence. Judging by the numbers almost certainly most of them.

      1. Some who haven't pleaded guilty have been held for four years, often in solitary confinement. Those who authorised these incarcerations must face justice.

    4. https://x.com/BehizyTweets/status/1725619557937631544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1725619557937631544%7Ctwgr%5E42362a26ba365c4502683d0c0e13b0116ea20ba8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dnottlt_i%3D355620https3A2F2Fnttl.blog2F3Fp3D3556t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fnttl.blog2Fsaturday-18-november-the-free-world-owes-ukraine-its-continued-and-unwavering-support2Ft_e%3DSaturday201820November3A20The20free20world20owes20Ukraine20its20continued20and20unwavering20supportt_d%3DSaturday201820November3A20The20free20world20owes20Ukraine20its20continued20and20unwavering20supportt_t%3DSaturday201820November3A20The20free20world20owes20Ukraine20its20continued20and20unwavering20supports_o%3Ddescversion%3D95c5f54d652b3a9f59f3cb30d7904a9e

    6. Fit up. Why else would 'Biden' pardon the J6 committee before they faced questions in court about their legitimacy and their apparent destruction of, unhelpful, evidence?

  16. The Perils of Abusing Leverage
    https://dailyreckoning.com/the-perils-of-abusing-leverage/
    I do not know anything about leverage, and so would not be tempted to use it like the unfortunate person whose NVIDIA investment is charted in this article! But the story is told many times over in every mythology and religion – don't be too greedy or you end up losing it all.
    I thought the writer's idea of giving children a small amount to play with on the stock market was not a bad one. With modern apps, you can do that.

    1. Leverage allows you to "day trade for a living". Brokers offer anything from x30 to x3000 your cash. The problemo occurs when, for instance like Jan 15th 2015, the Swiss Central Bank decided to dump its euro cap.

      The repercussions of Thursday’s drama were being felt across the globe on Friday. In New Zealand, Global Brokers NZ said it was closing down as it could no longer meet local regulatory requirements and in New York the US foreign exchange brokerage FXCM was scrambling to raise funds to avert collapse. Shares in FXCM slumped 40% ahead of a formal announcement about its future after it admitted it faced $225m of losses.

      It also knocked out West Ham's shirt sponsor.

      1. Makes me sweat just thinking about it! Could do it with my employer's money if it were part of my job, not with mine!

        1. What is astounding is the jump / drop in values when you unpeg. Just think of the untold damage Italy has had to suffer being pegged to the DM/euro.

          Swiss Franc leaped an unprecedented 30% against the euro.

  18. Fit-up. Too many analyses identifying individual state employees in the crowd, videos of peaceful sightseeing in the White House, doors being opened by staff, actions by senior Democrats etc. This has been deeply researched in the US.
    Anyone who still thinks it's an insurrection must be a BBC viewer.

  19. I didn't see any footage of “insurrectionists” walking round the White House. There was footage of them walking around the U.S. Capitol building which houses Congress. It is also white.

    1. D’oh. You know what i mean.

      In my defence i am trying to work and engage in meaningful discussion. It’s hard to task, let alone multi-task.

      1. The crucial point is that, because it was Congress and not The White House, the building's Security Staff were under the command of the ghastly Nancy Pelosi who refused offers of assistance from Trump.

  22. As for the Plymouth stabby.. simply apply the infamous Ann Coulter's Law.

    Coulter's Law states that the longer it takes the news media to identify a stabby in UK, the more likely he will be called Muhammad.

  23. Good morning all.
    Dull, windy, dry and a tad less cold this morning with 6.8°C a quarter hour ago. Max & Min for yesterday were 9.5°C and 25.°C.

  24. Good morning, all. Wet and breezy here.

    I'm sure that Grizz will agree with the use of beef tallow, maybe not so much with the fries.

    I wasn't sure what the difference is, if any, between beef dripping and beef tallow as both are fat. Google informs that tallow is rendered from suet around the organs, especially the kidneys, and dripping is from the remaining muscle fat etc. I've been using dripping for roast potatoes and yorkies for a while and Atora suet for dumplings, Christmas puds etc. Another step forward on my education in the world of cooking.😉

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a833648024bb2f60f886b2fe5e3575adf8a3b33a2d4f27caa1cf1965b6efd3b.png

  25. 400468+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    I repeat my yesterday's post, the WHOLE FAMILY AND CLOSE FRIENDS deported, unless we greatly risk retaliation attacks.

    The children of tis nation have been at risk since the creature that crept out of the crypts toilet pan MATILDA blair laid out the welcome to the worlds paedophile child rapist and killers.

    How many years ago was that, and lest we want to forget, he and his evil ilk found support via the polling
    stations, Year on, year on, year under the banner party BEFORE CHILDREN & COUNTRY.

    This current odious killing creature tells us quite clearly that killing begets killing the trend is in place and WILL be acted on in future only fools would think otherwise.
    Fences and door codes are of NO USE. the defense of ENGLISH children in the main must start in calais, be strongly fortified mid ENGLISH CHANNEL, TODAY.

    Amazon ‘delivered knife to parent of Southport killer’
    Delivery giant says its driver saw recipient was over 25, but will investigate how Axel Rudakubana circumvented its age verification processAmazon ‘delivered knife to parent of Southport killer’
    Delivery giant says its driver saw recipient was over 25, but will investigate how Axel Rudakubana circumvented its age verification process

    Rhetorical crap, tis the evil end user that is the main problem,MASS DEPORTATION is the answer in regards to the kids future welfare.

        1. The 18-year-old accused of carrying out a knife attack at a dance class in Southport is set to go on trial in January.

          Axel Rudakubana, of Lancashire, appeared via videolink from HMP Belmarsh for a plea and trial preparation hearing at Liverpool Crown Court but he was not asked to enter any pleas to the 16 charges he faces.

          https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dmy7jvnnlo

      2. Let me be very clear.. anyone that starts a tweet with Let me be very clear.. should be locked in a cell and made to listen to Sir Keir's nasal gushings 24/7.

      3. Really Dan their lives will not be in vain ? Hasn't that already been said at all the other terrorist attacks and killings ?

  26. Today in FSB’s GB Views, Grumpy Old Git Graham Bedford brings us back to the irritations of everyday life as we find in modern cars and driving on modern roads.  Read his Cars and Driving Annoyances here and tell us yours, or any other aspect of everyday life that gets on your nerves,

    If you want irritations of a more, er, global(ist) nature there’s Beware the Big Corporations and two short articles , Cover Up Kier Crawls Under the Cover of an Inquiry, Still Evading the Truth , and COVER-UP KEIR AT HIS FINEST that will do the trick.

    Energy watch 07.20. Demand: 38.125GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 20.5%; Wind 46.9%; Imports 13.5%; Biomass 4.6% and Nuclear 10.3%. Solar: 0%.

    The wind has picked up a lot, but can still only supply less than half of demand.  Of the nominal demand of 38GW, Britain can only produce 31GW, so we are having to rely on imported power from five continental countries.

    And please remember that FSB is a reader’s magazine, and relies on contributions from readers, so if you have something you want to say, please do write an article. It does not have to be a long one and no topic is taboo.  Please think about it.

    2. Can they just not see how bad this looks? If i were them, i would pretend to care and then quietly sideline any agreed actions. But sticking your fingers in your ears and chanting la la la we’re not listening is incredibly poor optics.

      1. Being the type of people they are they acted accordingly.🤮

        Any other behaviour would have been a sham. They wouldn't want to be labelled hypocrites, now would they?

  29. What I know about what we always used to call soccer could be inscribed on the rim of a threepenny bit, but I struggle to see how government regulation could be of any benefit to anyone, apart, of course, from the bureaucrats involved.

    1. Perhaps we should just accept that they are, first and foremost, people who feel a need to meddle in anything and everything.

      1. That's second – no, first – nature to socialists. But it was a Conservative government that introduced this idea.

        2. When did we last have a Conservative Government. As I have said elsewhere the only hope for Conservatives is for the Party to go into liquidation leaving their current MPs free to seek re-election for other parties.

        3. That’s as maybe but currently there isn’t much separation between the ‘big’ two: other parties prone to meddling are available.

    1. Explanation provided in the comments..

      So we now know he wrote this originally looking in a mirror.

  32. @LizKershawDJ
    Just in case anyone still needs convincing that Govt departments colluded in delaying charges against Rudakubana and that the PM and his ministers have been selective in telling us the truth and suppressing information….
    Source:
    @thetimes

    "Government delayed Southport suspect terrorism charge over riot fears"
    The Merseyside Police, ready to charge Axel Rudakubana with terrorism related offences, including possession of a biological weapon, were finally given approval (as confirmed by the Chief Constable on October 29th) by the Crown prosecution service on October 15th. As many as 1,000 riot police were immediately placed on standby amid fears of fresh public anger and disorder in response to the new information.
    But the CPS first had to seek the go-ahead from the Attorney General whose consent is required in the case of such offences
    And the Attorney General withheld consent for a further 2 weeks
    Why? Because at this time a Metropolitan Police marksmen was on trial for murder after fatally shooting a suspect. His trial was still ongoing and Government officials were told that a guilty verdict would likely result in his fellow firearms officers going on strike.
    So the Attorney General’s office withheld consent until the not-guilty verdict and only then did the CPS announce the new charges on 28th October.

    1. When he turned up and plonked that wreath and ignored the people, this was the trigger point re the riots . He clearly didn’t care and it was a photo op.

      1. He cared… But moreso for the local mosque which he visited afterwards to tell them how they would be protected.

          2. All the background that I've seen seems to suggest the family were practising Christians.
            Islam is relatively uncommon in Rwanda (although perhaps that's why they sought asylum).

    1. They are dangerous, Rastus, and lethal to wildlife. Horizon I see here used to have five, then three, then two – now none, good. They should be completely banned, taken down and disposed of as well as possible. Have a neighbour who now thinks our valley should be used for hydro power – the hillsides are insufficiently high, rainwater is absorbed by them, and we live on a very gentle flood plain.

  34. What a flat, toneless monotonous voice he has.

    He has no presence – it defies belief that he was successful as a lawyer.

    2. If he was a successful lawyer he would have continued to practice instead found an admin job as DPP and made a hash of that as well.

    3. I've read previously that, as a barrister, he was good with judges but not good with juries. That seems about right.

  35. Good morning all

    Bit of a breeze last night , not much , quieter now , blue sky showing . 10c , still a yellow weather warning ..

    Bird feeder containers still intact , swaying slightly .

    Can we blame the weather on Amazon?

  36. Good morning Nottlers, it's 7°C and very breezy on the Costa Clyde this morning. 25 mph winds with up to 50 mph gusts according to the XCW site. As opposed to the 50 mph winds with 80 mph gusts they were 'forecasting' until about 22.00 last night. Consequently, schools are closed, busses aren't running, bin collections are postponed untiled tomorrow, and many businesses are shut until 17.00 this afternoon. Even the golf course is closed!
    It seems the government's panic alarm was sent to phones (I turned off alerts before they held their first 'test' last year) and the usual subjects have dived under the duvet.

    Hope all is well in your area; it could be worse, Starmer might visit you for 19 seconds before blaming the mythical far right.

      1. As vw says, if Amazon ran the country everything would be done efficiently and on time.
        No, I’m not recommending it but she does have a point.

        1. Once, years ago, Amazon sent me something I had not ordered. They dealt with the problem so efficiently that I asked them if they'd care to run the NHS.

          1. I ordered the wrong rear wiper for our grandson’s car. It was the wrong and I asked to exchange it. The sent the new one but didn’t want the wrong one back. No doubt costs more to process it than it was worth. Good result all round.

          3. Exactly, Joseph. I think a similar day will come, the NHS will become private service one way or the other. Many if not most NHS hospitals have a separate ward for private patients – convenient for consultants who have both private & NHS patients. We are in a General & Medical scheme with others similar ages, health issues etc. Husband has used quite a few times with various health issues incl replacement hip (back on tractor few weeks later).

          4. I order lots of things through Amazon. Any time i encountered a problem i was refunded no questions asked and they didn't even request the item back.

        2. Friend of mine joined Amazon early days, when they got their first order they were asking each other 'who's mom is this from'…first Christmas I got a wooden puzzle gift, I was one of their first UK customers. I've always hated shopping, my mum loved markets and would drag me round perhaps something to do with it. I buy everything online. Now, I'd say Amazon are likely No.1 retailer UK.

    2. Is this really the country that gave the world so many fearless adventurers and explorers?

      I despair!!

    1. There is little doubt that the climate is changing but what proportion of that is down to CO² output is open to dispute.
      There are far more pieces in play, which are not able to be controlled by mankind, not least of which is the big shiny thing in the sky.

      Mankind could stop breeding so fast, could stop deforestation, could stop mucking about with the atmosphere seeding clouds or trying to block out sunshine, but doesn't.

        1. That's where I've placed my bets too.

          The problem is that glowball warming scientists fanatics only look where the sun doesn't shine.

        1. I'm not sure it's true, but I recall reading somewhere that CO² levels over the industrial period are as low as they've ever been and that if they are rising it's a good, not a bad thing.

          Edit, I forgot to add that your article suggests Ice ages coincide with very low levels.

          1. I could root around for an article but we are indeed at a very low level. In fact we are getting into the danger zone where there will be a literal threat to life if it continues. I have written before that most plants should be 3 times the size they are. In effect, as levels of Co2 have dropped so plants have become stunted because the developed in a CO2 rich environment. That is why when grown in greenhouse in which CO2 is pumped in, plants grow to a phenomenal size. They are actually growing to their normal size, evolutionarily speaking.

    2. Exactly what the lovely Mr Paul Homewood has been telling us for a long time through the medium of his blog. And as anyone with eyes to see can tell, there's been an uptick in C02 leading to larger crop yields, increased numbers of wildlife etc (think 'dinosaurs'). However, that wheel is now turning, as it always does, and we are in for change. Buckle up….

  38. There are only two possible ways in which the Reform Party and the Conservative Party could join forces:

    i) All leftish of centre remainer MPs should be expelled from the Conservative Party immediately;

    ii) The Conservative Party should go into liquidation and the current MPs should seek re-election in by elections either as Reform or Lib Dum candidates.

    Genuine Conservatives must realise that, as things are, it cannot and must not go on.

    1. 'morning, Rastus 🙂 I cancelled my membership some time ago, and joined Reform. Others will do similarly, or stay, whatever is their choice. Badenoch did herself and the CP no favours by getting into a membership numbers spat with NF – showed her judgement is off. Did better this week at PMQs but not by much. CP needs a Thatcher, no-one in sight far as I can see. Otherwise, have a lovely day, Kate x

      1. I don't know, Ndovu…but I suspect a proportion of the online swirl around this man is confected, and may prejudice the case, therefore there could well be a general online block ahead. I have my own suspicions, which I'm only discussing offline for now.

      2. No he wasn’t tried as he pleaded guilty. Normal practice in my experience, as a Court Usher. Many plead not guilty but change their plea when the witnesses turn up at court. If the witnesses don’t turn up, as often happens, they stand a better chance of being found not guilty.

    2. Good morning Lovely Verity

      Please would you let me know from where this extract comes?

        1. I know it’s been deleted Belle! I saw it a few days ago and then….it disappeared!

          1. I certainly read about this somewhere but the PTB are desperate to suppress the truth as much as they can.

    4. A question I have posed several times is why the Rudakabanas did not return to the bosom of the family back in safe Rwanda.
      Surely they and the choirboy would feel so much more settled in their own culture.
      Answer there comes none.

    5. I had read that Jack Straw blocked early extradition requests by Rwandan authorities. I have no link, and an unaware if further extradition requests were attempted.

  40. Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
    By each let this be heard,
    Some do it with a bitter look,
    Some with a flattering word,
    The coward does it with a kiss,
    The brave man with a sword!

    [Oscar Wilde]

    I wonder if there is a long-standing, faithful member of the Conservative Party with integrity who can at last see that the Conservative Party must die and who has the courage to wield the sword.

    Jacob Rees-Mogg you must be the executioner.

  41. I am surprised that the angelic choir boy didn't claim to be completely mad by his brief. But I suspect that he may have said in the investigation that it was all deliberate and in the name of allah, as he declared to the judge after sentencing. Any bets on how long he lasts inside..

      1. There are other convicts.
        They have all the time in the world to plot and plan.
        And the lifers have little to lose.

  42. Strong winds continue BUT there is a touch of Sun and it seems to be milder out – certainly G & P are happy to go outdoors which they were not yesterday!

  43. Only a couple of possible answers after first guess:
    Got it right: Wordle 1,315 2/6

    🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  44. Off topic unless how bad the Labour party is is on topic. Did Mike Amesbury ever get sentenced? Can anyone remember?

    1. Judge adjourns case to 24 February and tells MP for Runcorn and Helsby he is leaving all sentencing options open

      1. Three months suspended – 20 hours of communidy service – £100 fine and £50 victim surcharge (whatever that is supposed to mean).

        You read it here first.

  45. Dontcha just love progressive liberals in important positions of power..?

    Demented radical fanatical Muslim states in writing he received package containing Al Quada training manual.. delievered to address by taxi driver 10 miles away he had never been to before without checking internet. Confirms he is a radical fanatical Muslim terrorist. And yet and yet..

    Southport attack was not an act of terrorism: Met Police chief Mark Rowley

        1. Thus – an ideal candidate for any of the top positions – Met Perlice, Archbish of Cant, Prime Monster etc etc

  49. COUNTY CONUNDRUMS

    SIR —Recent letters (January 23) have discussed whether or not Rutland should remain a county.

    Rutland is a tiny place, comparable to Snowdonia or the New Forest National Park. There are no cities. A large proportion of the community is made up of people either in farming or the military.

    This place may be pleasant, but it is not a success story to be emulated; throw a border around any of the nicer parts of Britain and the same would be true, perhaps more so. A fully staffed county council – or any of the trappings of local government – is an absurd waste of money.

    Alex Petherbridge
    Oakham, Rutland

    If we were to insert common sense into the Rutland conundrum then surely the answer would be to compromise.

    Rutland could be reintroduced into Leicestershire but retaining its identity, similar to the regions of LIncolnshire (Lindsey, Holland and Kesteven)
    or the Ridings of Yorkshire.

    A similar conundrum is, why is Sussex split into two separate counties? Each having its own administrative infrastructure and all the concomitant
    and unnecessary waste of money that entails. The land area of a combined Sussex is just 1,461 square miles, making that only the ninth largest
    county in England.

    Yorkshire: 5,679 m² [North Yorks: 3,341 m²; East Riding m²: West Yorks m²: 783; South Yorks: 599 m²].
    Lincolnshire: 2,693 m².
    Cumbria: 2.613 m².
    Devon: 2,590 m².
    Norfolk: 2,080 m².
    Northumberland: 1,936 m².
    Somerset: 1,610 m².
    Suffolk: 1,468 m².
    Sussex: 1,461 m².

    1. Population of Sussex is 1.7 million which is quite a lot. Meanwhile here in Surrey,, the County Council elections due in May will probably be cancelled.

  50. G'day all,

    Well that's Storm Eowyn through Fiscal's Folly: when's Storm Donald arriving?

    Some blue sky, wind South-West and down to 20 mph, 7-8℃.

    Storms are gathering for the hospitality industry, though.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03572a5f5563946e08b2cdfc668f2c96e99dde2d06859e87d0cf85fcc7c33bd2.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/survive-25-small-businesses-scramble-collapse-labour/

    I put it to these people that if they think that Rachel from Complaints' budget is going to make life difficult for them then that is not an error, it is the aim. Whatever is the outcome of any particular policy decision which emanates from the left then that is what it was designed to do. They need to start saying so.

  51. G'day all,

    Well that's Storm Eowyn through Fiscal's Folly: when's Storm Donald arriving?

    Some blue sky, wind South-West and down to 20 mph, 7-8℃.

    Storms are gathering for the hospitality industry, though.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03572a5f5563946e08b2cdfc668f2c96e99dde2d06859e87d0cf85fcc7c33bd2.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/survive-25-small-businesses-scramble-collapse-labour/

    I put it to these people that if they think that Rachel from Complaints' budget is going to make life difficult for them then that is not an error, it is the aim. Whatever is the outcome of any particular policy decision which emanates from the left then that is what it was designed to do. They need to start saying so.

  52. G'day all,

    Well that's Storm Eowyn through Fiscal's Folly: when's Storm Donald arriving?

    Some blue sky, wind South-West and down to 20 mph, 7-8℃.

    Storms are gathering for the hospitality industry, though.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03572a5f5563946e08b2cdfc668f2c96e99dde2d06859e87d0cf85fcc7c33bd2.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/24/survive-25-small-businesses-scramble-collapse-labour/

    I put it to these people that if they think that Rachel from Complaints' budget is going to make life difficult for them then that is not an error, it is the aim. Whatever is the outcome of any particular policy decision which emanates from the left then that is what it was designed to do. They need to start saying so.

  53. Good moaning.
    Especially if you're a teacher fancying a duvet day.
    I know this is from the Waily Daily, but ……
    51st STATE ….. NOW!!!!!!

    "However Mr Miliband, the former Labour leader, is still popular with one jet-setting senior public figure – King Charles.

    The environmentally conscious monarch is said to 'love' Mr Miliband's efforts to make the UK greener.

    The Times today reported that the King had praised Mr Miliband and his work to another senior Labour figure.

    Charles's environmentalism is well-known. Last November, Mr Miliband was among ministers, campaigners and business leaders who attended an international sustainability reception he hosted at Buckingham Palace.

    Others who attended included Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Environment Secretary Steve Reed."

    1. Confirms he’s a bad judge of character and getting involved in politics will be the end of the monarchy.
      Another stab in the back for our once great country.

      1. I thought this interesting because this guy is even more a royalist than I am. But I really do not think what goes on is the kings fault. As this says, even if he wanted to act against Starmer he has to ask Starmer first. In short the monarchs teeth have been removed in this country, far more than any other Constitutional Monarchy in Europe. This is not the kings fault, it is his mothers.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09kV8XejOJ4

    3. You wanted to send my blood pressure through the roof didn't you!

      Charles joined in the public pressure on Liz Truss to resign – as we now know, probably for wanting to curb the Bank of England's power.
      He is not fit to be King.

        2. At the time, there was a video circulating of Charles meeting Truss at an official engagement and muttering something like “Are you still around? Dear oh dear…”

          1. That made me cringe. How dare he? He's never had to do anything to raise himself up. His head's full of whispering grass.

    4. Prince and now King Charles, famous for travelling the world on jets and ships and smiling at and talking to people.
      International sustainability ? That apparently is only relevant for Northern Europe and specifically the UK. Not other parts of the world where fossil fuels are still consumed more than readily.

  54. The schools are closed here, the doctors surgery sent me two messages yesterday to warn that they would be short of staff, and that phlebotomy would be closed, and the council helpfully messaged to say there would be no bin collection! Alan also got a wailing siren on his phone! Today it’s wet and pretty windy, and one of the bins has fallen over. Other than that, not very different to January weather!
    Whoever said that the weather is being weaponised is dead right!

    1. The next shock to the system could be it for the pound…I hope it's not this storm, as I have a LOT to do in the next two weeks involving international travel

      1. 'It must have bin love,
        but it's over now
        It must have bin trash
        but I lost it somehow…'

    3. Meanwhile, I'm just nipping into town to do odd bits of shopping (hope the fish van's there) and have coffee and a gossip with Sonny Boy Snr.
      The real lure is Caffè Nero's cinnamon buns.

    4. How long will the bin have to wait for an ambulance to arrive?
      Will you sit in the corridor with it for 24 hours?

    6. Started out windless and blue sky which has now progressed to dreich and a breeze. Woodburner lit. Cat in bed. 😘

      1. Breeze? Breeze? It’s pretty awful here now! The brown bin has fallen over again and the black box of bottles has upended itself on the hellebores and ended up in the pond! What joy!😘

    7. Overnight rain here turned to a bright and breezy morning but now becoming gusty, albeit remaining dry and bright.

  55. Typically we see news reports telling us all about terrible weather, trees are down, debris is flying around and reporters standing out in the open telling us about it !

      1. Strangely, i find that quite appealing. At least there isn't much chance of bumping into phone thieves, stabbers, rapists, Keir Starmer or Khan.

      2. Actually if you take a look at Rwanda on Google earth pro you'll see that it's fairly modern and well laid out.

    4. Messy, but the fiend's father runs some sort of online mail order company, which might explain the large Amazon boxes.

  58. Sunny today but it feels colder, it's actually 9C. But the cat ventured out even though it is wet out there and water has been driven by the wind through the porch to the front door itself. The wind has now stopped.

    This was in my feed today, I hadn't seen it even though it has been up since November. But, to my mind, it speaks to integrity and honesty, something although I know it is contentious to say it for many of you, I believe, Nigel Farage has neither.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-jcJzGYC0

    1. I've seen similar Utube videos, also from Habib. I think in one (I could possibly not be correct it was him) mentioned the funding of both UKIP and Reform, in that both were Limited Companies with Tice and Farage as Directors, thereby enabling them to withdraw said funding – this is quite legal, and they can spend it as they wish. Some may say they should put said funding into the movement that enabled said funding. I wouldn't comment on that, people can make up their own minds – I repeat – I have no evidence for this, could just be online rumour mongering.

  59. David Frost
    We have no clue how many people live in Britain – and Starmer doesn’t care
    The news that one in 12 people in London is an illegal migrant is likely to be an under-estimate

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/23/no-clue-how-many-people-live-in-britain-starmer-doesnt-care/

    John McQuillan
    just now
    "We have no clue how many people live in Britain – and Starmer doesn’t care"

    99% on your watch.

    Comment by Charles Wilson.

    CW

    Charles Wilson
    2 min ago
    Supermarket bosses reckon the population of the UK is nearer 80m. Much more than the 65-70m often quoted.

    1 new reply
    show new reply
    Comment by J C Clarke.

    JC

    J C Clarke
    2 min ago
    They came here under the Conservatives Too late too pretend you care..

    Comment by Airey Bolzak.

    AB

    Airey Bolzak
    3 min ago
    Without serious deportation , even if you stopped all immigration today , the rate of reproduction within certain communities far outstripping our own , we're pretty much stuffed .

    Comment by Mustak Ali Patel.

    MA

    Mustak Ali Patel
    4 min ago
    National ID card is the only answer.

    Comment by Kevin Burke.

    KB

    Kevin Burke
    6 min ago
    I would say in London 1 in 12 is an underestimate it's more like 1 in 10 or even higher

    Most of them work for delivery companies, who knows if they're claiming benefits as well-certainly not this government

    Few if any of these people share our values and a lot of them are involved in shoplifting, violent crime and scams

    Comment by Geoff Winn.

    GW

    Geoff Winn
    6 min ago
    The whole thrust of this Labour Government borders on Anti-Britishism.

    Starmer & his Goons have done nothing for the Country since they were elected, it fact everything they've done has been diametrically opposed to British Interests and the welfare of it's own Population.

    The only beneficiaries appear to be those who are immigrants, who's excessive and growing numbers are the direct cause of our collapsing NHS, ineffective Policing & Justice system, collapsing economy and Social Housing crisis.

    1. The rest of us have known that for years!

      Edit: and no, a national ID card is NOT the solution, Mr 77th Brigade. Deportation, and making less terrorist-friendly lawsares the solutions.

      1. Those of us with valid passports and driving licences do not need ID cards as well – but there are many who should be registered as aliens.

    2. Blair's foul purpose is working out as year succeeds to year:
      Blair's foul purpose is working out, and the time is drawing near;
      Nearer and nearer draws the time the time that shall surely be,
      When England shall be filled with the scum of the earth
      As the waters cover the sea.

      (With apologies to Hymns A&M)

        2. Just saw yours, Sue. My comment in no way meant to cover all Scots, but I got a bit fed up with some Scottish people who lived close by always supporting "anyone rather than the English" – given that they were living here, I found that a tad irritating, even though some were good friends. They obviously thought that they were being witty and Mel Gibsonesque.

          1. Ah but….I’m not Scottish! I’ve lived here for nearly 50 years and I’d move back home in a heartbeat!

          2. I never knew…”home” would be very, very different though, unless you came from a place that hasn’t been ruined by successive governments, counsellors, developers or immigration. I just didn’t want my comment to lend itself to any misinterpretation.

          3. Not at all, Tine! I’m here because I married a Scotsman, and both our daughters and their families are here. The remaining family in the North East died last year so there wouldn’t be anything there but memories! I’ll just hang on to them! Not that I’m unhappy here, it’s just not mine! My sister in Greece is the same.

      2. And those Scots who still support "anyone except the English" will eventually cotton on to the fact that the anyone that they will eventually get are far, far worse than the English.

    3. I agree with most of what David Frost says but the comments were correct in that the Tory government he was part of are much to blame for this increase in immigration.

      1. JUdging from the "Can't do" attitude that springs up at every problem in the UK, it's an everybody problem, not just Tory or Labour. See below, for speech by Churchill for an example of positive thinking, and Donald Trump immediately after his inauguration – a pile of Presidential orders, and "Make it so!"

    4. 4 min ago
      National ID card is the only answer.

      Oh, yes? So, then you need to check it. Who will do that, and at what occasion? Then if found to be missing or forged, what then? Will everyone have to show ID when they board a bus, buy a coffee, pay a bill? What's the penalty? Deportation? There's already whingeing about the number of flights required, and to where, anyhow? Holding (=concentration) camps, then cargo ship hold to… where?
      It's a tad more complex a problem. Let's learn from the experience of the USA when they start to solve it under Trump.

      1. If you have a cat or dog, they're probably chipped. Humans will likely follow, starting with newborns. Brave New World upon us. Animal Farm been with us a while.

    5. I especially like the one that states that it's a bit much for Tories to complain – as so much of it happened under their watch. However, two wrongs don't make a right, and Labour should not use the Tory misrule as an excuse.

  61. Don't!
    We once moved into a flat after a wealthy Egyptian man had lived there. We were young and penniless and got a cheap deal on the rent in exchange for cleaning the flat!

  62. "My memoirs … ah, my memoirs!"

    Kind Hearts and Coronets is on telly this afternoon on Film 4 at 1635 GMT (Freesat Ch 300 and an hour later on Ch301)

    There are far worse things to do on a miserable day that to sit in front of the box and watch this!

    1. The copyright in Kind Hearts belongs to Studio Canal in Paris. They bought the film library at Pinewood.

      1. Canal have a few things on Netflix, I think? Good to watch. (Currently re-watching Lillehammer, also good.)

  63. All Starmer's lot seem to be bent

    Attorney General helped unfreeze assets of al-Qaeda terror suspect

    Mohammed al-Ghabra is still sanctioned in Britain and America but has never been convicted of any offence and always denied wrongdoing

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/01/23/TELEMMGLPICT000409291799_17376653237500_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqUa2thMnvKQadTDM5oFKzfIBaZKwVQaCcGMe8NJ-Iq1g.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Mohammed al-Ghabra was accused of having arranged for the leader of the failed London suicide attacks on July 21, 2005, to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training
    Janet Eastham
    Acting Religious and Social Affairs Editor
    24 January 2025 7:14am GMT

    The Attorney General helped the Treasury to unfreeze the assets of an al-Qaeda terror suspect linked to the 21/7 London bomb plot.

    In January 2010, Lord Hermer successfully fought for Mohammed al-Ghabra, a suspected terrorist known as “moneymaker”, to have his financial freedom restored.

    This Supreme Court victory caused chaos for Gordon Brown’s Labour government, which subsequently rushed through new legislation allowing it to re-freeze the assets of suspected terrorists.

    The revelation comes as the Attorney General is facing mounting allegations of conflicts of interest.

    He has refused to declare whether he recused himself from advising ministers on issues relating to his former clients, including Gerry Adams, the ex-Sinn Fein leader.

    As Sir Keir Starmer faces accusations of a “cover-up” over Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, questions are now being asked about his Attorney General’s record of defending terror suspects.

    Sanctions still in place
    Mr al-Ghabra, 44, was accused of having arranged for the leader of the failed London suicide attacks on July 21, 2005, to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training.

    The Syrian-born British citizen had come to the attention of authorities during investigations into a foiled plot to blow up aeroplanes departing from Heathrow with liquid explosives.

    He is currently still sanctioned in both Britain and America but has never been convicted of any offence, according to previous reporting, and has always denied any wrongdoing.

    In December 2006, Mr Brown, the then chancellor, froze Mr al-Ghabra’s bank accounts after the UN Security Council named him on its list of terror suspects.

    He was also designated someone who “provides material and logistical support to al-Qaeda” by US authorities.

    In a statement at the time, HM Treasury said: “Al-Ghabra has organised travel to Pakistan for individuals seeking to meet with senior al-Qaeda individuals and to undertake jihad training. Several of these individuals have returned to the UK to engage in covert activity on behalf of al-Qaeda.

    “Additionally, al-Ghabra has provided material support and facilitated the travel of UK-based individuals to Iraq to support the insurgents’ fight against coalition forces.”

    In January that year, Lord Hermer was one of the barristers acting for Mr al-Ghabra in a challenge to the asset-freezing order.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/01/23/TELEMMGLPICT000408963034_17376653637810_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq9k_NRcUxd_vb3GsOEtUiIl5NUcTKNHKqy85KLqtvPLE.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Lord Hermer has come under mounting pressure in recent weeks Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe

    Part of the arguments for releasing his assets heard by the court at the time was that Mr al-Ghabra had been unable to buy shoes for several months.

    In a landmark decision on Jan 27 2010, seven Supreme Court justices ruled that ministers acted unlawfully in imposing financial restrictions without a vote in Parliament.

    Lord Hope of Craighead, the deputy president of the court, said that those affected by the asset-freezing, including Mr al-Ghabra, were in effect “prisoners of the state”.

    He added: “This is a clear example of an attempt to adversely affect the basic rights of the citizen without the clear authority of Parliament.”

    Despite the ruling in his favour, officials briefed at the time that he remained a person “of great concern” to counter-terrorism agencies in the UK and abroad.

    Mr al-Ghabra is currently listed on the UK sanctions list as being subject to an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban under regulations that impose financial penalties on people designated by the UN as being associated with al-Qaeda.

    ‘I am not the banker’
    In an interview with The Sunday Times in January 2007, Mr al-Ghabra questioned why MI5 had repeatedly accused him of being a terrorist “moneymaker”.

    He said: “If I am the money-maker and this is why they have decided to put the sanctions against me, how could I have so many financial problems myself?”

    Mr al-Ghabra said that MI5 was wrong to connect him to any terrorist activities. “I don’t have the capability of supporting anyone financially, barely myself … If anyone has the evidence, please show it to me. I am not the banker.”

    During the interview he also said his association with Haroon Aswat, a terrorist linked to the London bombings on July 7, 2005, was entirely innocent, saying he was “shocked” to see Aswat’s picture on television after his arrest.

    Mr al-Ghabra had previously been charged with fraud and possession of a document or record that could be useful to terrorism. He spent nine months on remand before being acquitted in July 2004.

    Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP and Telegraph columnist, said: “It speaks volumes about Keir Starmer’s judgment that he brought his friend Lord Hermer into the heart of Government.

    “Hermer’s old client list reads like a list of Britain’s enemies, and the Government is yet to explain how it will handle conflicts of interest between the Attorney General’s relationship with his former clients and his responsibilities in Government.”

    On Wednesday night, Lord Hermer reiterated that “by long-standing convention”, whether a law officer had advised ministers – and the content of such advice – “is not disclosed outside government, as is reflected in the Ministerial Code”.

    In a written parliamentary answer, the Attorney General said that barristers operated under the so-called “cab rank” rule and represented clients irrespective of their views.

    He added: “In general, there has always been an established rigorous system in place within the Attorney General’s Office to ensure that a Law Officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest.”

    On Thursday, his office told The Telegraph: “The Attorney General’s role in government is to provide impartial legal advice.”

    1. Will it be taken further, Supreme Court or better still the ECHR and be overturned.

      That would underline who really rules us.

        1. I was surprised that Patrick Christys had a piece last night on whether it should have been the rope. Not long ago that would have been a sure way to get banned from Twitter and certainly wasn't discussed on air.

          1. I've never been in favour of capital punishment since it was abolished in the '60s. But for useless and terrible people like the Southport devil and poor Sara's horrible father it would be appropriate.

          2. It was banned outright post Ellis, plenty evidence there. I'd bring it back, depending on evidence. Injection, as in States.

        2. The judge was not a happy bunny over the restrictions over his sentencing powers.
          He explained the problem – in very measured tones but he left you in no doubt about his feelings on the subject.

    2. To be fair.. could be from either side of the Progressive Liberal PIE Leftie/ Militant Kill All Kaffir Islamic Alliance

  66. Just been told that the chip in MoH's car windscreen isn't repairable. Once the repairers have sourced a replacement windscreen the car will have to be driven to their repair shop in town as once the new screen is in place "the windscreen camera will need to be recalibrated". Chap said new windscreen units are over £1000 these days . It's a good job the car insurance covers 85% of the cost!

    1. What happened to it? A few years ago, my rear screen shattered just as I got into the car – so it was still on the drive and I wasn't driving somewhere. The windscreen part of the insurance was very efficient – it was replaced quickly and cost me very little.

      1. Stone thrown up by the car in front whilst driving on a motorway….I think gone are the days of a £50 excess for replacing standard plain windscreen…

        2. I had one shattered at 70+ on the M6, closed eyes, punched a hole through it and steered onto hard shoulder. It was one of the old Triplex ones which is why I was able to punch a hole – a laminated one wouldn't have shattered. Still scary though

        3. A garden fork fell off the back of a lorry in front of us and there was no way to change lanes.

          Fortunately it hit the tarmac and bounced straight over the top of our car. Just for a moment it looked as if it was going to arrive points first on our windscreen; a brown trouser moment for both of us.

      2. Trust you were ok, Ndovu….many years ago I worked in a florist, we did various arrangements etc…windscreen shatter pieces could be used for 'water-type effect' in displays. Not recommended, can be quite sharp.

          2. It happened in July 2020. The repair job was quickly and efficiently done and most of the cost covered by insurance.

        1. Kwik Fit only do assessments and small repairs, apparently (just been informed by HWTHMBO). National sound a good bet, as does your cover @ 85%.

  67. A new generation of ignorant nutters is coming to the fore…

    University Union Boss Tells Millionaires to Leave UK

    University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady popped up on Newsnight to back her fellow socialist, Rachel Reeves. When asked about the exodus of millionaires fleeing the UK—the equivalent to over half a million taxpayers—she gave a classic ‘eat the rich’ response:

    “If the millionaires aren’t paying sufficient taxes, I don’t see what the problem is with them leaving.”

    Never mind that their departure leaves a gap in the Treasury to invest in higher education without hiking tuition fees—something she’s spent the last two months wailing about.Meanwhile on the Southport attacks, she bizarrely suggested an “epidemic of misogyny” was partly to blame for the killings. Not the most convincing lecture…

    24 January 2025 @ 10:06

    1. Sadly, unionists continue to demonstrate how stupid they are. I suggest a union tax, whereby if you work for a union you pay 90% tax.

      Suddenly there wouldn't be many unionists. Would they understand the problem then?

    2. Well yeah..Newsnight, we keep paying the tv licence/tax for your salaries, and you keep insulting us. Bargain.

        1. Ah Alec…I stopped ours, but Him in the Workshop wanted to watch MotD so renewed it, in his name 🤪 As if there isn't more footie on Sport Channel or whatever it's called, also subscription. I'd have to be paid to watch either, as you prob guessed x

    3. When the crash happens and we are all suffering
      it will be of some small comfort to remember
      that there is no more money left to pay Jo Grady's salary.

  68. A new generation of ignorant nutters is coming to the fore…

    University Union Boss Tells Millionaires to Leave UK

    University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady popped up on Newsnight to back her fellow socialist, Rachel Reeves. When asked about the exodus of millionaires fleeing the UK—the equivalent to over half a million taxpayers—she gave a classic ‘eat the rich’ response:

    “If the millionaires aren’t paying sufficient taxes, I don’t see what the problem is with them leaving.”

    Never mind that their departure leaves a gap in the Treasury to invest in higher education without hiking tuition fees—something she’s spent the last two months wailing about.Meanwhile on the Southport attacks, she bizarrely suggested an “epidemic of misogyny” was partly to blame for the killings. Not the most convincing lecture…

    24 January 2025 @ 10:06

    2. Was the death Stephen Lawrence a racist killing or the outcome of a drug dealer patch quarrel? One which his mother Doreen didn't want made public.

    3. Alex.. you need to do your baby thang & get it out of the way pronto.. then replace Sir Nigel as leader of Reform, and take on the mantle as UKs all guns blazing Trump.

  70. Millions warned of imminent danger as Storm Eowyn set to batter UK with 100mph winds. 24 January 2025.

    Four million people have been warned of imminent danger from Storm Eowyn, which is set to bring 100mph winds to the UK on Friday.

    Schools have been forced to close and rail services axed, with people urged not to travel under a rare “threat to life” red weather warning.

    Aghhhh! We’re all doomed!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/23/four-million-warned-imminent-danger-storm-eowyn-100mph-wind/

    2. Reminds me of trying to put up a frame tent in the South of France when the Mistral was blowing. It's the only time I've had to nail the frame down as well as the canvas.

  72. A recent email from C4M, the Coalition for Marriage…
    Apparently the destruction of the family is not yet complete – there is more work for the uniparty to do.

    "The Law Commission’s surrogacy proposals … surrogate mothers could be erased from birth certificates, replaced by the ‘commissioning’ parents. This amounts to recording a lie about who the child’s mother is. The woman who carried and gave birth to the child would have no legal recognition.

    Furthermore, the proposals would advance the commercialisation of surrogacy by allowing open advertising for surrogate mothers for the first time. Lies have consequences, and often it is women, especially those from poorer backgrounds, who suffer most…. At C4M we call on political leaders to resist this drift away from reality. "

    Other recent changes, such as allowing two women to put themselves down as the child's parents, tend not to favour genetic reality. So erasing the surrogate mother would appear to be contradictory in favouring the genetic parents – if indeed they are the genetic parents, as the child could be ordered out of a catalogue!
    More anti-human, satanic nonsense.

      1. If the water boils then it's too hot for good coffee, if it doesn't boil it's not hot enough for good tea…

        1. We use to take our travel kettle on holiday in Europe. It nearly knocked off all the power in the small hotel in Venice.

          1. Gaily into Next Door's garden,
            Blows Ndovu's bra and pants …..
            Hastily she now retrieves them
            Thankful they've not gone to Hants.

    2. Usually, high winds blow straight over the top of the valley with us, at the bottom, only getting occasional gusts.
      Today, it's a South-Westerly so it's coming straight up the valley.

  77. Novak Djokovic retires injured and gets booed by Australian fans
    Ten-time Australian Open champion receives a hostile reaction following shock retirement from semi-final against Alexander Zverev
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2025/01/24/novak-djokovic-retrirement-alexander-zverev-australian-open/

    BTL

    Reminds me of a story told by Clement Freud. When he went to the passport control at the airport in Sydney they asked him if he had a criminal record to which he replied: "Is it still obligatory?"

    The trouble is that the descendants of the original settlers from the UK have never learnt how to be gentlemen.

          1. That’s because of your pure and innocent nature.

            If you want to go ‘dark’…spend more time with me !

    3. I was never much of a Novak fan, preferring Roger, until the whole Covid vaccine thing kicked off in (funnily enough) Australia. Now i am a huge fan and it’s a shame he’s had to retire injured from the Open.

    1. Child killers don't do well in prison.

      I hope they make him share a cell with Ian Huntley.

      Give them both a knife and slam the door.

          3. 400469+ up ticks,

            HL,
            There is collusion betwixt guards and inmates, more so when mindsets are aligned.

          5. 400469+ up ticks ,

            Hl ,
            This case will be seriously taken apart as, in my book it should be.

            I hear what you are saying and agree,he will be well protected but, everybody in nick is reachable.

    3. And some of his victims would not have reached 60 by then.
      Because they were killed or had their lives shortened because of his actions.
      He should never be released.

  79. Blimey. I need oxygen; preferably a stiff G&T.
    Popped into Colchester this morning and it has a not only a new shop, but one worth visiting – Søstrene Grene.
    Full of the sort of things that Danes know you don't need but they know you will buy. Huge stock of arty and crafty stuff plus all the usual Scandi goodies.
    Sonny Boy Snr bought liquorice fudge to earn brownie points with his Beloved. (Pass. I loathe liquorice.)

    https://sostrenegrene.com/en-gb?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACy85pipKFk0v4Rozn9Efig4O2H71&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg93F-biOiwMVyqVQBh0o6DtkEAAYASAAEgLlPvD_BwE

    1. That's the sort of shopping i do. Then go have a nice lunch

      All the grocery stuff gets delivered. Can't be bothered with supermarkets unless i'm buying the odd fancy thing from Waitrose.

    2. We have a Søstrene Grene in our local centre. Good to walk round, good for cheaap stuff and some arty things too. SWMBO makes a point of visiting every time we're in the centre.

  80. https://rwandajustice4genocide.org.uk/celestin-ugirashebuja/

    Please read this thoroughly .. and then draw your own conclusions .. when you see a significant name !

    In December 2006 Ugirashebuja was arrested in Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton, Essex, by UK police, acting on a request by the Rwandan government. who requested his extradition for trial on suspicion of murder and for planning or incitement to commit genocide of Tutsis between 1 January 1994 and 12 December 1994. Three other Rwandans were arrested at the same time (Charles Munyaneza, Vincent Bajinya (Brown) and Emmanuel Nteziryayo). The accused were held in Belmarsh prison, South London, while the extradition case was heard at Westminster Magistrates Court (September 2007 – May 2008) before District Judge Evans. Ugirashebuja had a number of very senior barristers acting for his defence including now Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer, Edward H. Fitzgerald, Rachel Kapila, Patrick C. Hill and Rebecca J. Wright. Legal aid fees were at least £183,000.

    And who else?

        1. Tax paying Brits get nothing anyway. Wastrels and those being washed up deliberately upon our beaches get a lot of bennies.

    2. Some interesting articles on that website. Certainly our current Prime Minister knows more than he wants us know.

      1. Our PM not only knows more than he wants us to know, he has also done much more than he wants us to know.

  81. A bit blustery up the "garden". A lot of mushroom trays, waiting to be filled with sticks, blown around, so I've got the restacked and weighed down.
    Wind direction is from the South West so, for a change, we're getting the airflow straight up the valley instead of blowing over the top.

    1. I was just listening to the reports on traffic around the country. Lots of trees and trucks have been blown over and many roads are closed.

    1. The world economic fore – arm, as I suggested earlier aka spectre.
      I'm surprised Vlad hasn't already put a spanner in their works.

    1. Given that most Home Office staff are slammers – who could be surprised at the "blunder"?

    1. Again this is something the Conservatives began in 2022. They have been just as bad as Labour in so many instances.

      1. The trouble is that Labour see that as their Get out of jail free card for everything. They haven't quite cottoned onto the idea that two wrongs don't make a right.

  87. Trump Bans Central Bank Digital Currencies in Pro-Privacy Move

    Trump issued an executive order yesterday called “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” which is set to stop the Securities and Exchange Commission’s repeated persecution of the crypto/blockchain industry. A regulatory taskforce is being formed to provide regulatory clarity for the booming crypto industry…

    On top of moves to support “a vibrant and inclusive digital economy and innovation in digital assets, permissionless blockchains, and distributed ledger technologies” the executive order takes aim at Central Bank Digital Currencies:

    “(v) taking measures to protect Americans from the risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States, including by prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States.”

    The order signals the administration’s intention to effectively ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC, which is bête noire of financial privacy fans. They give the state absolute control over any and all of an individual’s private transactions…

    The EU’s response has been to swing the other way. European Central Bank board member Piero Cipollone says today that the ECB should go ahead with proposals to implement a “digital euro.” Naturally…

    24 January 2025 @ 14:57

    2. Because they have a new scam using Bitcoin/Tether to hoover up US Treasuries, and CBDCs have been a resounding failure where they've been introduced?

      If I were a sneaky, power-crazed member of the parasite class, I'd probably want to get the digital id well embedded in society before I sprang the CBDC on people.
      Oh look. They've just launched a digital passport in the UK and in the EU where it masquerades as a digital health insurance card.

    1. From Chat GPT, summary of FARA:

      The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a U.S. law enacted in 1938, aimed at requiring individuals or entities acting as agents of foreign governments or foreign political interests to disclose their activities, financial relationships, and other relevant information to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The goal is to provide transparency about foreign influence on U.S. politics, policy, and media.

      Key points of FARA include:

      1. **Registration Requirement**: Individuals or organizations representing foreign interests (like governments, political parties, or foreign corporations) must register with the DOJ within 10 days of agreeing to represent them. This includes providing detailed information about their activities, finances, and any propaganda they may distribute.

      2. **Disclosure of Activities**: Registrants must disclose any political or public relations efforts conducted on behalf of foreign entities, including lobbying, media campaigns, and other promotional activities.

      3. **Exemptions**: Certain activities are exempt from FARA registration, such as diplomats or consular officers working in an official capacity or those involved in purely commercial activities not related to political or public relations efforts.

      4. **Penalties**: Failing to register or making false statements under FARA can lead to civil or criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment.

      The law is primarily aimed at preventing covert foreign influence on U.S. domestic affairs and ensuring that American citizens and officials are aware when foreign entities are trying to sway public opinion or policy.

  92. Lol. There was some discussion on here recently on Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) and someone suggested qualifying oneself to do one’s own EPC.

    My husband is worrying about our rental and i suggested he does the course (which I wouldn’t have thought about). He said he is often asked whether he does them. I am now strongly encouraging him. 👍

  93. Just risked a turn round the garden. It is sort of mild in a chilly, breezy way. Won't last, of course. The uplifting thing is to see the snowdrops coming out. We have many thousands and they aways make one feel that better times lie ahead.

    2. I can never remember the difference between the snowdrops' successors: aconites and celandines.
      They are both yellow and daisy like.

    4. We have two shrubs that have wonderful aromas in flower at the moment. One is Daphne Jaqueline Postill who’s bouquet fill the back garden and at the front of the house, north facing, we have a number of Sarcococca that have insignificant flowers but the aroma is heavenly.

        1. Obers – I have planted (some years ago) Iris unguicularis and another winter (I think Siberian) Iris whose name I cannot remember. They are so beautiful and they flower in the snow. One of them starts in late Nov and the other kicks in later (it is flowering now). They are my lifeline during the darks days when I find myself fighting "suicidal ideation".

        2. My hellebores have been out for a few weeks and today I noticed an anemone de Caen is about to flower. We have snowdrops, but not in Bill's quantities.

  94. Just popping in to recommend an article by Melanie Phillips about Trump's choice of Steve Witkoff as his special envoy to the Middle East. I think it's free to read.

    It includes the following:
    "In the Islamists’ world, no agreement is anything other than a stratagem to defeat their enemy — with deceit divinely mandated as a means to advance the Islamic cause.

    The Witkoff view of the world doesn’t appear to factor in that Islamists aren’t motivated by self-interest. The prospect of peace and prosperity for the region means little to people who believe that they are the warriors of God himself in purging the world of Israel, the Jews and the Christians, and conquering it for Islam."

    Source: https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/the-art-of-the-deal-or-the-rout-of

  95. Wouldn't it be easier to list the organisations that didn't know about this vermin?

    "The Southport attacker was under NHS mental health care for years before he carried out the murders of three young girls, a hospital has revealed.

    Alder Hey Children’s Hospital said that Axel Rudakubana was treated by its services between 2019 and 2023.

    It said, however, that by February 2023 he had stopped engaging with mental health teams entirely.

    The revelation will raise questions about what the NHS knew about Rudakubana’s state of mind in the years before he carried out the atrocity in Southport last July."

    1. Best to lay off his "mind" (aka state of madness). How his "legal team" (spit!) were persuaded to allow him to plead guilty – is quite beyond me.

      1. The 'legal circles' in which Starmer moved before becoming leader of the Liebore would have dirt on all shady lawyers and expertise in being persuasive.

    2. Given what they knew about the murderous evil bastard he should have been tagged and under constant surveillance.

      Why wasn't he?

  96. Had a proper consultation with my cardiologist this afternoon. Very nice French lady. I now have the full picture. The good news is that from December to January my ejection fraction (heart capacity) increased from 34% to 46% (normal is 50%+). Bad news is there are two issues and they may be separate. The Afib, which can be controlled with medication and the moderate to serious leaky aortic valve, which may require intervention. She wants to see me again in two weeks time at St Mary’s for an MRI scan. Hopefully by then the tooth will have healed. It’s possible for an infected tooth to impact on the aortic valve but she said the Echo would have revealed that and it didn’t.

    1. I seem to remember that ailing teeth or gums can lead to heart problems.
      Best of luck.
      2025 has not exactly started brilliantly for you.

          2. For general consumption i prefer a Cremant. Moet is over rated and expensive in comparison.

    6. Fingers crossed for you Sue.
      They can do wonders with heart surgery these days including keyhole.
      Wish you well on your next visit.

      1. She did say that there is a less invasive way of fixing it now, that leaves a smaller scar than full on open heart surgery.

        1. They can do minimally invasive surgery nowadays where they make a small cut between ribs and do their magic. There is also the method they used on Mick Jagger where a new valve was inserted through a catheter, that sounds easy peasy!
          Last thing you want is the full chainsaw cut, I have a six inch scar running down my chest.

        2. I think I said I had 2 stents inserted in June and my heart is strong. The heart MRI I had showed an ejection fraction of 67%. I also had an atrial ablation in October 2014 that cured my AF. Both carried out with sedation under day surgery.

    7. This time last year I was "stented".
      Touch wood all is going well, I hope you are similarly fixed for the better.

    8. 34% to 46% is good progress, heading in the right direction.
      Your consultant seems to be looking after you. I wonder if she is as appalled as us that St. NHS is bad as it is – from what I have heard, the French healthcare is far superior to that of St. NHS.

  98. Don't care in the community?

    An immediate propaganda piece was put out about the father and how he stopped the little shit killing everyone at the school.

    More of the usual nonsense like queer Keir dropping the wreath and gone in 20 seconds to then go to the mosque and promise them millions in protection.

    Which contrasts with the Muslim Council telling the Police that they can Police themselves.

    I am so angry.

    1. Why the heck do muslims have a Muslim Council here? And why should the police or anyone else take any notice of what it has to say?

      1. I found it illuminating (not really) that he dropped the wreath as if a cobra was about to bite him.

        He knows. We know.

  100. Ethiopia demands that King Charles returns ‘immoral’ treasures

    Addis Ababa plots crusade to reclaim artefacts from the Royal Collection amid hopes that Labour will be more amenable than Tories

    Craig Simpson
    Arts Editor, in Addis Ababa
    24 January 2025 1:12pm GMT
    Ethiopia will demand the return of an “immoral” hoard of treasures owned by the King, The Telegraph can reveal.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/01/24/king-charles-ethiopia-return-treasures-royal-collection/

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

    Michael Hudson
    1 min ago
    Reply to Lynne Carlisle – view message
    Message Actions
    They only get the glittery bits and pieces if they take all the Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants and descendants back
    *
    *
    I should have added "and we'll thrown in our Monarch and sons for free"

      1. Bob, I think the young girl is saying"Mum, I'd like to go into an area/ district I don't know at all and do something completely new". Her mother replies "Bah, go into the kitchen and do the dishes/washing up". (Not sure what the word "vaissele" means.)

          1. Nah – La vaisselle = the dishes.

            Faire la vaisselle = Wash up the dishes (or, as you put it).

      2. Bob, I think the young girl is saying"Mum, I'd like to go into an area/ district I don't know at all and do something completely new". Her mother replies "Bah, go into the kitchen and do the dishes/washing up". (Not sure what the word "vaissele" means.)

      3. Ah! Mom, I'd like to go somewhere I don't know and do something completely New

        Well! Go to the kitchen and do the Dishes

      4. Mum, I'd like to go to a place I don't know and do something completely new! Bah! Go into the kitchen and do the washing up!

    3. Oh my goodness! Is that storm damage? It’s a mild 10 degrees C and only a 10 mph wind here.

      1. It’s been gusting at 70/80mph! It also veered to the north and we’ve had some very hard hailstones!
        Edit for hyperbole!

  105. One is a person assisting a priest in a religious service or procession. The other is what vests used to be made of.

  107. Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen.

    I have always disliked cowardice, not the physical type strangely because God knows we all have a limited amount of that, some with a lot, some with not so much, but all with a finite amount that over time exposure to mortal danger will exhaust, and I accept that some of you may disagree with this. No, it is moral cowardice I dislike, the inability to own up to a mistake and mitigate against the affects your mistake has caused.

    Sir Keir Starmer falls precisely into this category, a moral coward of the first order, he is the archetypical modern soy drinking, corrupt, in all senses of the word, disingenuous, amoral, Godless, and here I hesitate to use the word ‘man’ as I like to think, and others will say yea or nay to this, that I am a man, Sharpie’s Mr. S. is a man, the late much lamented Mrs. Tyler’s Wat is a man, Wooshy, Sparks, and all the other males I have met from another parish are men, and rightly proud of it, however Starmer is most certainly not. He is weak and the rabid cowardice he suffers from has rotted his soul to the core.
    The drill bit of my emotional response has cut through mere hatred and is now firmly into a layer of visceral loathing to an extent that I didn’t feel even for the Bliar creature. however I cannot blame him for this emotion because surely it is my responsibility, and mine alone, but loathing him like I have never loathed anyone before is something I will have to answer for when the time comes.

    1. During my adult life, I have endured 4 Labour governments.
      To put it mildly, I have been unimpressed; I did my level best to help boot them out as I could see the damage they were doing to this country.
      However, never, ever have I felt the visceral loathing I feel for this lot. I detested Blair and all his works, but even he was marginally less loathsome this bunch of vindictive incompetents.

    2. Console yourself that obnoxious though they all are, unless they utterly bankrupt the country, and pass laws that prevent it being rebuilt they can't get close to the overall long-term damage caused by Blair and his wrecking crew.

  108. Rowley bending the knee to Islam and BLM?
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/police-dogs-met-budget-cuts-sir-mark-rowley-b1206873.html?lid=ybnlcl0qypgz&utm_medium=email&utm_source=braze&utm_campaign=News_email_2025-01-24&utm_term=ES_News_Daily_CDP&empar=a5a4791040899364e61ef9f1d5449150a9c0012b4e500bdb121b158033542c2a

    The Metropolitan police may have to cut the size of its police dogs unit due to budget cuts, the force’s commissioner has admitted.
    Sir Mark Rowley ruled out culling the unit entirely but indicated it was one of the areas likely to be targeted as the force tries to limit the feared loss of more than 1,000 officers.
    There are thought to be about 230 police dogs working with Met officers, including 70 able to be used for public order, 12 for search and rescue, 50 to detect explosives and 40 able to detect drugs and guns.
    Asked on LBC on Friday by a former Met officer whether the dog unit was set to be axed, Sir Mark replied: “We have to make these tough choices.

    Tough choices, sound familiar?

      1. My immediate thought as I read the opening comment but you beat me to it.

        Suspicious, moi? You bet!

    5. Perhaps if they spent less time trawling through social media accounts they would need fewer desk jockeys and could sack them rather than the dogs??

      1. Vicious little beasts chihuahuas, kept by the kind of people who train Pitbull’s as a hobby, because they’re gentler.

    9. These euphemisms are becoming more obvious by the day. The whole, rotten lot of the troughers at the top need to be sacked and replaced by competent people prepared to do their job without fear or favour

    1. We have rain on frozen ground. Traffic all screwed up… thank goodness I cleared snow from paths etc before the rain, so there's less to be heavy or form ice.

  110. Wordle No.1,315 3/6

    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 24 Jan 2025

    A pancake Birdie Three!

          1. Funny – I don't have Autocorrect. All errors are my own unaided ones…though I blame a carp kyebroad.

          3. The AI got in the way of the correct answer… it's one thing I have learned in Norway, to make the cases agree.

    2. Well done Rene! Sloppy error at guess 4 means a bogey today…. Doh!

      Wordle 1,315 5/6

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

      Reminds of the great Kenny Everett character – Sid Snot;
      'People say these shoes are crepe – I think they're OK!
      (PS How on earth in those days did he get away with a character called Cupid Stunt???)

      I'll get me brothel-creepers…….

    3. I fell flat as well
      Wordle 1,315 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Good job.
        Wordle 1,315 4/6

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

    7. Well done, late on parade here.
      Par for me
      Wordle 1,315 4/6

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

    1. Some pretty nasty people that they are rounding up. A just released report claims that there are around 500,000 illegals working in new york state so there is plenty if room for more arrests.

      I am in the US next week, I think that I need to keep some ID with me so that I can show that I have the right to be there (well for now, I expect visas will be required if Trudeau kept up his pissin' contest with Trump).

      Trudeaus latest threat of retaliation against Trump is to threaten tariffs on imports of Heinz ketchup (yes really, that will scare the bejebus out of yer Donald).
      The only issue with this earth shattering move is that Heinz make their products for the Canadian market in Canada.

      1. What brand of idiot is Turdeau?
        Does the Canadian Heinz ketchup have as much sugar as the American recipe? I'm fairly sure the Canadian one has more sugar than the British version – our grandies turn their noses up at it here!

    2. Question.

      What would it take for that to happen here.

      Known criminals walking around unmolested.

      Mark Rowley needs to go before a court of public opinion and answer

      1. We need to become the 51st. State.
        Given the paucity (to put it mildly) of British politicians with brains and a spine, I can see no other solution that not end up with a Russian style revolution.

        2. As the days of Empire are long gone “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. Then we can join America.

  112. Here's one for you: SWMBO and I are discussing where we could go, just the two of us, for a romantic weekend. It occurred that we haven't done that for about 20 years, just work and work. No romance at all, not even a weekend away just the two of us.
    Problem is, where to go that we haven't been before – preferably warmer than Norway, too. Any thoughts?

      2. And from Monaco, you can get a train every half hour to Ventimiglia -with its wonderful indoor market.

        2. The MR has had another (brilliant) idea – I’ll send details to you tomorrow. Clue = Southern Spain.

          1. Thanks, Bill. I appreciate it – we're out of ideas that aren't too hot and within the reach of a flight there 'n back over a (long?) weekend.

    3. If you're after a tranquil time together with fine food and excellent wines I can thoroughly recommend this place.

      An hour south of Turin/Torino surrounded by vineyards and with Barolo a few miles away.

      The manager, Riccardo, is a brilliant host with a wine cellar to match.

      Tota Virginia

    4. You are a bloody idiot ! Work is important but not the be all and end all.

      It is why i always arrange dates in the coming year for lunches and parties. Lunch with Nottlers and garden parties. Dinner on the heritage steam train and other stuff. You need down time.

      How about paying someone to do a candle lit supper where both of you are the guests. Like a date.

    6. The Island of Symi; 70 minutes by ferry from the port of Rhodos.

      In Symi, formerly the centre of natural sponges, the ferries are owned by ex-pat decedents of former sponge merchants!

      Symi Town is delightful!

    8. Carcassonne is fun, stay in the old town, head down to the Saturday market and wander round the "new" town but spend the majority of your stay exploring the old parts.
      Lots of pleasant restaurants and plenty to explore not to mention cosy hotels.

    9. Lucca, in Tuscany.. medieval walled city, just beautiful, Puccini's birthplace, excellent restaurant in La Buca di Sant'Antonio… Not too big to enjoy in a weekend.

    10. Sonny Boy Snr and his Beloved spent last weekend in Malta; Valetta to be accurate.
      Warmer than here but not overwhelmingly so.

  113. That's me for today. Have started a new medication. It will be interesting to see whether I survive the night…

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – perhaps….

      1. Possibly his Afib medication. I’m on Digoxin but I think Bill was prescribed something different. Digoxin is actually a herbal remedy, taken from foxgloves, which has been around for hundreds of years.

  114. Good grief! The local Co-Op that I posted a picture of, is on the front page of the DT! Not a pretty sight!

    1. Nothing else in the news, Sue. No siree, nothing else to see, move along now and focus on the Climate Catastrophe

  115. Apparently – according to some woman they spoke to on the Beeb – climate change is causing an exceptionally strong Jet Stream which is what caused the storm. They had to get that in, didn't they!

    3. FFS Ndovu! It's Climate Emergency, not Change! We must atone, right now, particularly the white British dross that have cause all this utter disaster.

        2. It's Global Warming!/Climate Change!!/A CLIMATE EMERGENCY!!!/A CLIMATE CATASTROPHE!!!!/CLIMATE ARMAGEDDON!!!!!/GLOBAL BOILING!!!!!!{insert latest panic & scare mongering catch phrase here}

        1. You're not entirely to blame; I've got the fire lit (I decided not to light the Rayburn in case the electricity went off and I couldn't run the pump; my knees are currently in no state for me to be constantly running upstairs to run a very hot bath to stop the water boiling in the tank).

    4. They also reported that the Southport devil was under mental health care for 4 years.
      The fact that his defence didn't plead insanity makes me think there is even more to the cover-ups than meets the eye.
      What's going on?

      3. Yes, the immigrant murderer of those two poor students and the other man in Nottingham 2 years ago (Victor Colchrane?) got away with playing the mental ‘elf card

      4. I've had a really nice French red tonight, half a bottle. I've had a few thoughts on what is being covered up. There have been rumours in connection with Starmer having had an affair with a child as the result. There have been rumours that the 'Southport devil' is not the child of the two adults whom the media have named as the 'parents'. Farage has said that the truth of the matter is 'explosive', that it would blow your mind if it comes out. Is it possible, is it just possible that….? (In vino veritas, by the way!)

        1. Your second sentence is a little ambiguous, popsma! ( Joking. We need to know the truth on this, too. Bojo was not spared, was he?)
          Your further speculations are pretty much in line with mine. Is Farage a man or a mouse, I ask myself – for God's sake publish and be damned. We are all reeling from the stench of fish and would like some sunlight upon all the layers upon layers of lies.

          2. I am relieved that your train of thought is very similar to mine and I therefore need not self-diagnose as quite absolutely bonkers! On the other hand…. !

          4. It is well past the time that we tell the truth without fear and demand the truth from those that presume to rule over us (those that we employ to serve us). This cannot go on.

  116. Okay I've had a few too many wines, but here goes

    It's coming home, it's coming home, freedom's coming home,
    It's coming home, it's coming home, freedom's coming home,
    Reform tops the polls, Farage's smile is beaming.
    The Liblabcon are bust, the WEF are reeling.
    35 years of hurt, In our hearts,
    Thatcher's handbag is still gleaming,
    Major, Blair, Brown,
    they all made the us frown.
    May, Boris and Rishie demeaning.
    For they all messed up our leaving.
    It's coming home, it's coming home, freedom's coming home,
    It's coming home, it's coming home, freedom's coming home,

          1. Ortigia, by Siracusa… my favourite place on earth. Wines, food, history, weather, Italians/Sicilians…

          2. We very much enjoyed Palermo. I think the hotel we stayed in was the Grand Hotel, which was used by the British during the war.

          3. We were centred in Taormina.
            The wonderful gardens were created by a Scottish lass with an interesting history who bagged herself a Sicilian count.
            And the Roman theatre is quite something.
            We also took a trip up Mt. Etna; the landscape higher up is like being on the moon.

        3. I've just been heavily involved in a bottle of Lindemans Bin 45 cab sav, 2021. Delicious.

    1. President Donald Trump is a business man and a deal maker.

      That was quite a shock to those who always expected their 10 %

      Trump would expect you to earn it.

  120. I actually find it hard to understand why both this creature and our government have not been hauled before the courts yet, based on malfeasance in public office, dereliction of duty and high treason.

  121. The Courts are stuffed full of people like Blair and Starmer.

    It in the long term is unsustainable.

    What always happens is 'rivers of blood'. Theirs.

  123. I see politics like the tide coming in and going out.

    A natural force. Unstoppable.

    The tide is turning.

  125. Horrendous thought for the day:

    I wonder how many more potential Axel Rudakubana's there are, currently being cared for/monitored by social services and known to the police and Prevent?
    I fear there may be hundreds, just simmering before they explode.

          2. Hence the endless appeasement of Pislam by all political partys all terrified that the Imams will order them to kick off together
            Fear just corroding fear

  126. 'Night All
    Let's celebrate a rare win
    "We Did It: The Climate and Nature Bill Has Been Stopped

    I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped prevent the progression of the Climate and Nature Bill today. Your efforts, whether through emails to MPs, sharing information, or raising awareness, have made a huge difference.

    Through immense public pressure, the government was forced into a late night deal with backbench MPs to block a vote on the Bill. The hearing has been adjourned until July, but in reality, it is unlikely to see parliamentary time again.

    A special thank you to Bernie Spofforth (@Artemisfornow ), Bev Turner (@beverleyturner ), Leilani Dowding (@LeilaniDowding), and Catherine Evans from the Freedom Alliance (@UKFreeAlliance) for their tireless efforts in raising awareness and fighting to stop this dangerous legislation.

    I would also like to thank Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) for attending the debate in person to register opposition to the Bill, an important contribution at a critical moment.

    This is a victory for common sense, accountability, and the power of grassroots action. Let us take this momentum forward to continue defending the values we stand for.

    Thank you all for your incredible support. "

  127. And again. My bolding.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14322243/It-YEARS-police-uncover-Axel-Rudakubanas-internet-history-Southport-massacre.html

    The detective who led the investigation today revealed his frustration that it could take 'years' for search engines to supply the data they hold.

    However global tech giant Google hit back, saying it would have been able to pass on any information it held within 'days or weeks' had officers gone through 'established channels'.

    Following the horrifying killings of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in Southport last summer, police seized multiple electronic devices from Rudakubana's family home in the nearby village of Banks.

    Examination of a Lenovo tablet found that minutes before setting off, the killer had researched the April 2024 Sydney church attack, in which Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and five others were stabbed, on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

    But while he was found to have downloaded a host of documents and leaflets about some of the 20th century's worst atrocities, detectives say they have been unable to access his deleted browsing history because the dance studio murders weren't declared a terrorist incident.

    Something is rotten in the State of Keirmark.

    1. The detective is either incompetent or a liar. The channels for this type of information gathering are long established.

  128. Afternoon.

    Note to self: When putting home brew white wine though a soda stream, remember to rinse out the nozzle so it doesn't get gummed up 4 days later.

      1. I might just cut to the chase next time, and fill the air compressor with the stuff.

    1. There will be a name for that cocktail. There’s a name for every random combination of ‘something’ and alcohol.

      “So it’s come to this. I’m drinking Gin and tap water. Oh, it’s a Flat Rickey, that makes it all right, yes? Oh, and if I add a slice of bread to it, it’s called a ‘Bakers Flat Rickey.”

      I find it strangely comforting.

        2. Originally from Red Bank. It’s the steep hill out of Grasmere and over into the Langdale valley.

          Left there when I started travelling around to build up experience of cooking – there’s only so much you can do with scampi in a basket, or Cumberland snossage. Finished off my time in the UK working at Le Manoir for Raymond Blanc – then went from country to country (great to chat here the other night about time in Norway!) to do the same. Ended up here in Canada about 20 years ago, and retired to growing the food instead.

          I still do one or two jobs a year to give me some legitimate income to keep the CRA off my back (we live on barter up here). This New Year I was working down in Cape Codd at a private function with a purchasing budget of $300 a head to play with. Sounds a lot, but then again the tickets were $5000 a head starting price. Gives me enough to take it easy and focus on the farm for the rest of 2025.

          1. Know Red Bank well! Once spent several very wet days Youth Hostelling around Grasmere, Elterwater and Ambleside with my lovely friend Anne, when we were 16! Had a ball, albeit soggy, and met some fabulous people!

          2. Me too. My maternal ancestors are from Cumberland. Blenkarn is the name, from Dunston and…. hazy memory here…. Long Martin.

          7. Thanks, Phiz. It was a really good time in my life – and probably why I stayed a confirmed batchelor – at least until my mid-40’s when a gal in a truck picked me up as a hitchhiker on the roadside of Highway 11 in Ontario. Ended up marrying her, and here I am.

            🙂

  133. Evening, all. Still here after storm Eowyn and so far, unlike lots of the county, the electricity is still on, although it has flickered occasionally. If I disappear without trace and without saying goodnight, you'll know what's happened. I've just booked the first of my holidays for 2025. I have yet to decide where I'm going for the others, but I'm going to go racing for the first.

    The state's failure to do so many things that it's supposed to do brings shame on it, not the country. Just reading a book on Thomas Wyatt's poetry at the moment and "change" in the 16th century was not something positive. It seems we've gone backwards.

  134. Never forget Starmer spent longer on his knees to honour a drug dealer than he did laying a wreath to those butchered little girls.

  135. Eleanor Maguire, neuroscientist who studied cabbies’ brains to explore the secrets of memory
    ‘I am absolutely appalling at finding my way around,’ she said. ‘I wondered, how are some people so bloody good and I am so terrible?    ’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/01/22/eleanor-maguire-scientist-cabbies-brains-memory-obituary/

    Eleanor Maguire, who has died from cancer aged 54, carried out groundbreaking research on human memory, making headlines with her study of London black-cab drivers which challenged the prevailing view of the brain as, at best, static and, at worst, constantly being diminished, whether by knocks, ageing or hangovers.

    Eleanor Maguire spent her career exploring how experiences forge memories, who we are and how we think and navigate. From the moment she set out on her scientific journey, her motivation was personal. She told Roger Highfield, The Daily Telegraph’s science editor at the time: “I am absolutely appalling at finding my way around. I wondered: ‘How are some people so bloody good and I am so terrible?’

    She scanned the brains of 16 London black-cab drivers, who had spent an average of around three years learning the Knowledge, the tens of thousands of streets in London. They had a larger hippocampus than control subjects, particularly on the right side. The longer on the job, the larger their hippocampus, showing that it plays a key role in storing spatial memories.

    Eleanor Maguire would win a share of the highly coveted Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the Nobel prizes, and over the years received hundreds of media inquiries about this work, which she augmented with experiments that were meticulous and ingenious: bus drivers do not have the same enlarged brain area, reflecting their restricted routes.

    Only half of trainee taxi drivers pass their final test of the Knowledge and, gratifyingly, she found that they had the greatest hippocampus growth. After tracking down retired cabbies – “they are so hard to find because they never seem to retire” – she found that their hippocampus had shrunk because it behaves like a muscle: use it and it will grow, and vice versa.

    Studying a working hippocampus was tricky. Because a brain scanner is room-sized they will not fit in the back of a cab. She devised navigational tasks on a screen inside a scanner, after her colleagues succeeded in a monumental job adapting a PlayStation 2 video game, The Getaway, which contained a simulation of London’s streetscape. Her studies found that the hippocampus is most active when the drivers plan their route.

    The article /obit is quite long , but fascinating , clever girl , but what she achieved in her short life is amazing .

    1. I am good at navigating (normally I only have to go somewhere once and I can find my way there again), but MOH was dreadful. I'd never known anybody with a worse sense of direction. I ascribe my ability to spending a lot of time as a child finding my way across country.

      1. Men are better at problems involving three dimensional space than women, aren't they?
        I am no good at finding my way around.
        But if you mentioned to my father that you were travelling anywhere in Britain, he would immediately tell you to mind the tricky T junction or the 40 zone!

    2. Excellent, Belle, I'm shocking at routes and turnings. A bit ironic when my last job in marine seismic surveying was as a navigation processor.

      1. Hello Mola 😉😊

        Hmm , I guess underwater graphs , bouncy sounds and things like that are rather different to house numbers and street names and roundabouts x

  136. Off to Australia anyone?

    Qantas
    Pros: Qantas has the most elegantly understated yet luxurious first-class cabin ever created.

    Cons: The new first suites are only available on four routes: London and New York to Sydney and Melbourne.

    How much? Likely return fare from London to Sydney: £16,000.

    Vanessa Hudson, who runs Qantas, has an enviable problem. She is trying to work out how profane a fare she can charge for the greatest aviation experience since Concorde dipped its beak: first-class non-stop from London and New York to Sydney.

    The first cabin on the Qantas Airbus A350 that will make the 21-hour journey starting in 2026 will be the best-ever created.

    There will be six large enclosed suites, arranged in a 1-1-1 formation across the front of two rows of seats in the four-class jet. Each will come with a 2ft-wide reclining seat, separate 6ft 6in-long bed, wardrobe, 32-inch TV, and dining table that can comfortably seat three people.

    Glug glug , speechless .. and look at the competition!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/worlds-best-first-class-cabin/

    1. A snip at £380 per hour – I doubt you could get a barrister for that sort of money these days….

    2. Whispers: "And now it's time for your all-inclusive drinks package . Oh you seem to be asleep in your 6 foot bed in front of the 32-inch TV. You snooze you lose."

      The horror of falling alseep on take-off and waking up before landing realising I could have been in the seat next to the toilets for 5% of the price would be too worrying for me.

    4. For a non-stop 21 hour flight that's the only way I could fly back to Australia. I would go mad in the middle of a row of 3 seats. Restless leg syndrome was always a nightmare on long haul flights.

      1. I remember flying to Hong Kong when I moved over there for a while. Economy class, "Firecracker" it was called for some reason. 18 hours (and 1 hour stopover in Bombay where we couldn't get out of the 'plane because of cholera).

        For the first 9 hours I sat next to an Indian chap and we played chess on my little portable chess set, but I got rather tired. He got off at Bombay and I thought "Great I can doze now"…but his seat was then taken by a very nice Chinese chap – who chatted all the way to Kai Tak.

      2. Leg room is hopeless and my goodness cattle class is terrifying .. I have only travelled club class once .. that was to SA .. and the individual I sat next to stank ..

        1. Cattle class to Sao Paulo last September was cramped and exhausting… and then we had a connecting flight to Cuiaba. Coming back was worse though. Food was dreadful. The trip itself was amazing though.

    5. For a non-stop 21 hour flight that's the only way I could fly back to Australia. I would go mad in the middle of a row of 3 seats. Restless leg syndrome was always a nightmare on long haul flights.

  137. I can't swear this is true but I hope it is….

    "JUST IN: US President Trump after terminating Dr. Anthony Fauci's taxpayer funded security detail

    "They all made a lot of money, they can hire their own security… I can give them some good numbers of very good security people."

    Boss!!

  138. That's me for tonight. Thanks for the suggestions for romantic weekend, will review fully tomorrow when less inebriated!
    God natt, alle sammen!

    1. I think Buenos Aries is probably a bit too far for a romantic weekend travelling from and back to Norway, but hey….

    2. Just buy her something precious and hide it in a Chinese takeaway on Friday evening.
      A long weekend in southern Spain could cost £££s judging by Norwegian airfares, and there is no guarantee of good weather before Easter. However a week would make more sense, visiting Donana, Sevilla, Cordoba for example.

      1. There's a vulgar comment just waiting to come out but I've not been here long enough to say it.

      2. One where children and dogs aren't around. I love them all dearly, but if someone offered to take them for a weekend it'd be rather nice.

      3. Us neither, so we're guessing. Warm, sunny, just us, good food & wine, attractive surroundings would be a good start.

  139. Good evening all from warm Benidoom, though we

    are quite looking forward to getting back to Costa del Skeg

    1. I spent a lot of time on a farm between Caldbeck and Sebergham, and I worked at the Cumbrian in Carlisle!

          1. Nope, didn’t know it. After a google, is that the one like a castle – now called the Carlisle Station Hotel?

          3. Yeah – I thought so as well!

            We shall assume that I am none the wiser, but I am better informed.

  144. You will be pleased to know that DR Saturday letters page is now open

    Boss will we quickly follow them?

  145. Not done much today but I might have sorted out my lack of attention from the NHS and my knee problem. But I'm not sure yet.
    Number one called in with his lovely daughter. She's 5 going on 15. Such fun.
    Her dad has to travel to Australia and New Zealand on business in March for 12 days.
    Sydney, Gold Coast, Adelaide, (where he was born) Perth and Auckland. A busy fortnight.
    Good night all 😴

  146. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Before the US election in November, there was unanimity among the Irish political classes that Kamala Harris would comfortably win. This support for Harris was matched by a casual disdain for Donald Trump. Before becoming Taoiseach, Simon Harris had dismissed Tump as nothing but ‘an awful gowl’, which essentially means someone is a moron. Ahead of the election, he posted a picture of a baseball cap from the Kamala Harris campaign, with the caption ‘If the cap fits…’

    The future seemed rosy for Ireland: the Democrats would win, the Fine Gael/Fianna Fail coalition would continue as before, and the natural order would be maintained. Well, we all know what happened next.

    After years of dunking on Trump, reality has kicked in for the Irish political class

    Now, after years of dunking on Trump, reality has kicked in for the Irish political class. First to distance himself from his previous comments was Simon Harris himself, who was quick to inform anyone who would listen that he had only called Tump ‘an awful gowl’ in ‘a lighthearted manner’. When asked if he would apologise to Trump for the remark, Harris replied that he had already had a ‘great conversation’ with Trump following the election and added, perhaps more in hope than expectation that, ‘I believe President Trump would grasp the context of these humorous remarks.’

    Even before his inauguration the Trump effect was on display. Following the Irish general election, part of the new regime’s programme for government was the hugely controversial Occupied Territories Bill. This Bill would not only ban any imports from Israeli firms operating in the West Bank, it would also make it an offence for any Irish person to assist or help any Israeli company and anyone convicted of such an offence faced up to five years in jail and fines of up to €250,000. Originally drafted back in 2016 the Bill was particularly popular with left wing politicians.

    But what would the new President think? Former Irish ambassador Dan Mulhall warned that the Trump administration would ‘take a very gung-ho approach to such a move’, while former Irish envoy to the US Congress, John Deasy said: ‘When it comes to the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington, it’s true to say that if they put their minds to it, they have so much influence, could they damage Ireland? Yes they could, they are an incredibly influential group.’

    The Trump team had promised to sanction any country which blocked any form of trade with Israel. So, even before Trump had taken office, Irish politicians faced their first test of nerve – go ahead with the Bill and face the wrath of Trump or do the sensible thing and kick it into touch? Thankfully, they saw sense. Three days after revealing the Bill at the Fianna Fail party convention, the current Taoiseach, Michael Martin, withdrew it in its entirety, saying that that the drafting was ‘unconstitutional’ and the whole Bill needed a massive rewrite. It remains a mystery that what was deemed constitutional on a Wednesday should suddenly be deemed unconstitutional by the Sunday.

    Interestingly, at the same time, the government also adopted the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism, in what has been interpreted by many as yet another attempt to get back into Trump’s good graces.

    After Trump’s inauguration, both Harris and Micheal Martin sent letters of congratulations. There was almost a pleading tone to the Harris missive, as he reminded Trump of his previous investments in Ireland and its people ‘through his magnificent golf links in Doonbeg’. Unfortunately, a shared appreciation for golf may not be enough.

    Trump’s new Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, has already launched repeated attacks on the sweetheart tax deal that exists between the US Big Tech and Pharma companies who have made Ireland their European base of operations. In November he said that, ‘it is nonsense that Ireland, of all places, runs a surplus at our expense’.

    Ireland now finds itself exposed on two fronts and the government knows it. It is utterly dependant on America tax revenue while deeply embedded in the EU. If the current war of words between the two powers turns into something more serious, then Ireland will be the first and most obvious casualty.

    More than 250,000 Irish people are directly employed by US companies, with hundreds of thousands more relying on these firms indirectly. The billions they provide in tax revenue is the fuel which keeps Ireland’s otherwise moribund economy on the road. If they go, any hope for future Irish prosperity goes with them and it would a be a genuine national disaster.

    Simon Harris has already announced plans to ‘beef up’ the Irish embassy in Washington and the next big test will be the traditional St Patrick’s Day meeting in the White House.

    Contrary to popular opinion, this meeting is not just a photo-op. It’s a week-long opportunity for officials and diplomats to have unparalleled access to their American counterparts and is the most important part of the Irish diplomatic year. The level of welcome they receive at the White House may well be a foretaste of what it to come.

    Written by
    Ian O’Doherty
    Ian O’Doherty is an opinion columnist and writer for the Irish Independent.

    1. Oh dear.
      Boston and Chicago will be suffering cognitive dissonance. (Though as Democrat fiefdoms they will probably be in mourning for the next 4 years.)
      I wonder if the green dye will be flung into the river with such gay abandon this March?

      1. Hello Anne.

        Boston voting Dem is like Islington voting Labour.
        Chicago voting Dem is like Rusholme voting Labour.

        But yes, the Irish heritage seems to run through both equally.

        "I'm Irish you know, to be sure!"
        "Ah, so your great Grandad also once spent a weekend in Dublin."

  147. From Coffee House, the Spectator,

    As the new Labour government continues to struggle with voters, support for Reform UK only seems to be growing. New survey results released today by pollsters Find Out Now sees Nigel Farage’s party top the charts – beating both its Tory and Labour rivals. Talk about moving into pole position, eh?

    The new data – taken from a sample of 2,380 adults quizzed on Wednesday – shows 26 per cent of Brits back Reform UK, an increase of one percentage point since the 15 January. Coming second to the Farage-founded group is the Conservative party, with Kemi Badenoch’s boys in blue on 23 per cent. Meanwhile, in yet another set of poor poll results, Labour trails in third place on 22 per cent. The Starmtroopers just can’t catch a break these days…

    Analysis by the pollsters suggests that Reform has not only managed to retain all of its general election support, but has enticed voters in from other parties. In fact, according to Find Out Now, Farage's party has won over a fifth of 2024 Tory supporters and just under 10 per cent of those who backed Labour last year. And almost half of those who didn't vote in the July poll – but who say that would 'definitely vote' this time – have been won over by Reform UK. How very interesting…

    A jubilant Farage has taken to Twitter to celebrate the results, tweeting excitedly: 'This is just the beginning.' Mr S would remind readers that this is just one survey whose results have not yet been replicated by other pollsters – but it will certainly worry Sir Keir Starmer's army as it struggles into its seventh month in power with an unpopular leader and even more unpopular policies. Will Reform's popularity continue to surge? Stay tuned

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

    3. Odd how violent attacks by muslims that trigger violent responses against muslims are suddenly 'terrorism' (when they're nothing of the sort) yet the muslim atrocities never are.

      Clucking bell I hate the entire hypocrisy, arrogance and spite of the state. When will they learn? The muslim is the enemy. Why do they protect that vile stone age cult?

      1. The first deportation flights have already begun under President Donald Trump and raids have rounded-up migrants accused of 'heinous' crimes ranging from pedophilia to terrorism.

        The White House shared images of illegal immigrants lining up and being loaded on military planes for departure on Friday, with the president's widespread crackdown speeding up.

        ‘President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences,’ Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on social media.

        1. Why we aren't doing the same is beyond me. Those carrier craft could cram hundreds in their holds. All we need do is fly over the Sahara, open the doors and shoot any who don't jump. No need to land. We could have endless flights running 24/7 to get rid of the sewage.

  149. Reform tops national poll for first time in wake of Southport sentencing
    Nigel Farage says party has ‘all the momentum in British politics’ with chairman claiming it is ‘headed for government’

    Whether you like him or loathe him the end of the established parties would be a good thing IMO…

    1. (On my way to bath and bed).,… I do not think that this has anything to do with Mr Garage.

    2. Reform will struggle to get anything done.

      So much needs to be unravelled to stop the state hindering their every move. You've got constant legal challenges from organisations funded by the state. Then you have laws, endless red tape preventing the removal of those organisations and layer upon layer of fighting statists desperate to keep themselves in a job.

      Just unravelling the mess to get to a point of governance would take a decade. Then making changes and getting things done another decade.

      This is why the emergence of genuine AI that can literally do everything at once is so important.

      2. Come out the ECGR, repeal rgd Climate Act and the Hunan Rights Act and the Equalities Act and whatever is tying us via Northern Ireland to the EU , lower VAT and NI and abolish the BBC licence fee……etcetc

  150. I’d be worried about how it taste with gin on metal.

    There again, upon reflection, earlier I suggested I might run my home brew white wine through an air compressor, so I shouldn’t throw stones.

        1. A vibrant (in the traditional sense) life. She was great fun and very well-liked at Grays.

  153. Yeah. Makes sense. The largest alcoholically degenerate population isn’t rugby players, rig workers, or even lawyers and politicians. It’s chef’s and those whom one day aspire to retire with money and be one.

    Law just gives you an extended chance of earning enough to do that, whilst still being young enough to have a functioning liver.

    1. I have to say I admire your heartfelt and deep cynicism . (That's a compliment by the way…)

      1. Thank you! You really do have to work hard at something while you’re doing the washing-up at Le Manoir at 3am in the morning.

    2. This person was a very capable lawyer – but had a liking for the Inn's rugby. And also became well-known for her culinary knowledge after she stopped lawyering.

      She was actually also a great character.

    3. Too late for me to say sweet dreams, but if you get this tomorrow, I hope you had a restful and pleasant night's sleep.

        1. Oh dear, I would have thought you’d sleep like a log given the amount of physical work you do.

          I’ve found banana tea (gently boil a whole banana in its skin for about 10 minutes in 1/2 pint water – you can use the banana itself as a smoothie next morning) helps sleep. Plus some lavender oil rubbed on my wrists and temples. I used to toss and turn a lots of the night but these seem to have helped.

  155. Mongo barked today. We did the charity thing at the hospice. I was merrily chomping my way through a packet of custard creams and mugs of tea and I felt an awakening in the force as the air compressed followed by the shockwave of his bark. The noise followed after. Then another and another. Great bellowing, booming walls of noise.

    Nurses followed the sound and just after there were a lot of old people disoriented and crouching over a little fellow who'd had a fall and wasn't breathing.

    Once people were there the chap was put back on an oxygen mask, eased upright and helped back to consciousness – he'd just fainted. Mongo was lauded as the hero of the hour for making enough noise to be noticed.

    He has his uses.

      1. He's alright. Has a tendency to destroy furniture. Still thinks he's a lap dog. The Warqueen will lie on me, then Mongo will hop up and want a cuddle too.

  157. Furniture looks like the aftermath of a hurricane, 'but if saves just one life'.

    It's a carte blanche dog win. Prepare to be exploited. But less so than a cat.

    1. Most – all – of our furniture I bought to hold me up, so it's pretty sturdy. And yes, he is a bit of a hero. It's all part of his therapy training.

      1. Very interesting, Wibbling. Do you think it’s part of his training that ‘speaking up’ is a good thing when they pick up on other humans distress?

          1. Hey Conway! Yeah, my pack of German Sheps don’t quite know why they all bark at the sky when a bird flies over, but they do. It goes back to a Jack Russell terrier that only one of the GSD’s was alive to meet – and the JRT took it personally when a hawk grabbed one of ‘his’ hens. From that point on, he watched the sky for hawks, like an, err, hawk. The behaviour was passed down. I’m a biased Dog Person.

          2. Mongo doesn't really bark that much. He's come in with a butterfly on his nose and looking ver cross eyed as if not sure what to make of it.

            One of the scenarios they do is finding someone lying on the floor and then he's taught to bark at that. It can be a bit funny when folk sun bathe but he's pretty clever and understands when to and not.

            The other two are fairly quiet too. Lucy yips a bit. Oscar is still wary of strangers.

          3. Oh wow, so it’s more of a positional response – and selective? Very impressive.

            Thanks, W.

          4. Hello, DC

            I've only seen you on here today, but to be honest I haven't been on that much lately because of STUFF elsewhere. So hello and it's nice to see you here.

          5. Hello, H. About a week or maybe 10 days or so for me. Found the place via some other folks who post here and ‘elsewhere’. Good to meet you.

          6. He rarely gets confused. Part of it is if someone's moving, if they're fitting. He's just gone through a fair few scenarios, mostly behaviour in crowds and with people moving around.

          12. Can't remember what they are called. But they are massive, giant. The size of a grizzly bear. I think they might have Canadian origins.

          13. I, too, am a biased dog person. I am slightly hard of hearing and my doorbell is literally that; a bell. If people only "ding" it, I don't always hear it, but Kadi lets me know in no uncertain terms that there's someone at the door! The side effect of this is that sometimes he gets a bark on; if we are out and he sees something suspicious (like somebody walking along the street, with or without a dog), he will start barking and from then on, he'll bark at everything that moves, some things that don't and even sometimes some things that don't even exist! He's part Cairn – says it all!

  158. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this – the 2nd reading of the truly terrible Climate and Nature Bill (Private Members' Bill) was adjourned today until 11 July. The wording in the Bill was deliberately ambiguous in order to destroy completely our way of life, end the ownership of private property, end the sale of 'fossil' fuels, commandeer farmland and so much more. Let us hope it is buried come July, but stay alert. It had enormous support from 1700 MPs, NGOs and celebrities. We have Starmer's very weak standing to possibly thank for this respite. Every cloud ……
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/24/uk-climate-nature-bill-dropped-deal-labour-backbenchers

      1. I had to look at it twice, after all, the number of MPs is not quite a third of that. It seems that the Bill was brought to Parliament by a group with the name of Zero Hours, which has the whiff of Soros and Gates about it. However, the public have had a stay of execution for the time being. Our MPs are scientifically illiterate and in thrall to their own propaganda.

  159. From the Daily Mail

    Chilling CIA documents may reveal why the 'Deep State' has always feared the release of the John F. Kennedy assassination files.

    A 12-page report, signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in 1962, details a secret plan to commit heinous acts against American citizens to justify war with Cuba in the 1960s.

    Code-named Operation Northwoods, this top-secret plot proposed enacting terrorism on US cities in a what is known as a 'false flag operation', before blaming Cuba in order to fool the Americans into supporting war efforts to oust communist Fidel Castro.

    'We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington,' the document states, among dozens of other violent ideas of how to incite American hostility against the island nation.

    US officials even proposed killing their own soldiers, writing: 'We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba,' and, 'casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.'

    JFK rejected Operation Northwoods when it came across his desk and was shot.

    A conspiracy theory surrounding JFK's assassination claims he was killed by Israel which allegedly controls the US 'Deep State.'

    Now, President Donald Trump has promised to release all classified documents relating to JFK's assassination, which could potentially lead to more shocking revelations about the US government's activities during the 1960s.

    Code named Operation Northwoods, this top-secret US military plot proposed killing innocent people and enacting terrorism on American cities, then blaming Cuba for these crimes

    1. Mongo looks a lot more dishevelled than that fellow though. And gormless. I tried taking photos of them as we had one of them all laying together curled around Lucy but had the Warqueen in it so bit nervous of her privacy.

  161. I have some Amazon knives lights. They are LED and I bought them because they have a setting that makes them a rather realistic 'candle effect'.

    Thing is, the candle effect is the fourth of four settings.

    Setting 1 is a Nik Tesla style lightning effect as per: Mad Professor.
    Setting 2 is an on/off on/off effect – with adjustable timer. I guess it might appeal to those on a tight budget.
    Setting 3 is an Always On setting – as in 'you should have just bought a normal light.'
    Setting 4 is the candle effect.

    Every time I turn them on, I have to flick the light switch on and off eight times to achieve the candle effect.

    I can only assume that the manufacturers also own shares in light switch companies.

    1. He is – as is Oscar and Lucy. Their Mum is still going strong at 11. It's funny when Mongo visits Marion, the breeder who owns his mum that he's really quiet and well behaved. If he gets excited a quick bark and he's all contrite.

      That he outweighs her by about 2:1 is irrelevant!

      1. You have 3 of these Eating Machines? How wonderful. I’m a bit of a one-dog man, and that’s German Sheps – but I have quite a few. You mention weight – what do they come in at?

  163. 400469+up ticks ,

    Pillow ponder,

    May one suggest that the whole year be given over to being islamic awareness YEAR & study deeply the evilness that has been introduced to these Isles through polling stations via the lab/lib/con coalition AKA the islamic brotherhood.
    This continuing voting pattern has cost children's lives,
    at best raping & abusement, continuous murder, life threatening injuries, over the decades.

    https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1882527581523915114

  164. They are a dodgy collection of chancers and grifters. Carpetbaggers that will bee the death of us all.

    1. The climate cultists never want to live in the world they demand of others. They, like the rest of the Left believe nothing will really change but magic and rainbows will replace everything we rely upon.

      They are just Lefty hypocrites. It's got nothing to do with energy, ecology or even science. The green cult are just communists who want power over others.

    1. We didn't deserve or elect this government – it was the people who didn't bother voting at all who let this lot in by default.

      1. 400469+ upticks,

        Evening N,

        I do beg to differ
        This ,what passes for a government is a continuation of ALL odious political overseers since the demise of Mrs Thatcher (RIP)

        Tribal / family tree / party before Country voters have ruled the day ever since the Thatcher passing.

          1. 400469+ up ticks,

            N,
            I don’t doubt you in the least I agree, but it still does not excuse
            the continuous voting pattern of the past, that, has been the building blocks of our countries odious current stance,

      2. That's me. The first time I chose not to vote in a General Election. Had I chosen then, and if I choose or are compelled to vote ever again, I will choose whichever candidate I consider to have the least chance of winning, regardless of their political persuasion.

      1. 400469+ up ticks,

        Evening DC,

        In the distant past someone started culling up ticks,so I took up doing my own accounting.

        1. Jeepers. How does that even happen? Massive bot downvoting or something? Thanks for the answer.

          4. Proud to be so. One of the great and surely unintended consequences about the destruction of the Speccie BTL community is that one ceased caring (if one ever did) about such fripperies

          5. It was a bot,it didn't stop at zero but kept going until you were such "low reputation" every post went to moderation unless you were white listed
            It doesn't matter here as we all are but to post at GP Breibart or the Speckie I had to create a new account hence Rik Returns

  170. Well, chums, it's bedtime for me. Good Night all, sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

        1. And tomorrow, Ndovu, you will be a beautiful Elephant Hawk Moth (my favourite moth and it's not an easy choice)

    1. Snuffen zi vell, dear Connors. I will also shortly be snuggling in my basket. We have rolling power cuts here, the most annoying bit being that our ridiculous burglar alarm (which I thought disabled) goes off every time the power comes back on. How I hate it all, all of it.

      1. I have risked lighting the Rayburn and hope we won’t have a power cut or I’ll be running boiling water to save the tank. The last time it got too hot I had water coming through the kitchen ceiling and the pump packed up. I can do without that again.

  172. Right, folks, time to say goodnight. Just got to fill the hot water bottles and I'll be snug as a bug in a rug.

    3. Night, C. Only 7pm here but I departing to the kitchen to drink fine wines and whisky soda stream white wine special from a sticky nozzle.

        1. Heh heh. I had the ‘good’ idea earlier in the week to run my home brew white wine through the soda stream….

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