Friday 24 June: The chaos of strikes thrives when taxes rise and inflation undercuts incomes

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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639 thoughts on “Friday 24 June: The chaos of strikes thrives when taxes rise and inflation undercuts incomes”

  2. Breaking news: London Fire Brigade has been busy pumping out several floors of Broadcasting House this morning after the results of the by-elections were revealed. BBC staff have been wetting themselves in celebration of the defeat of Johnson’s Conservatives in Yorkshire and the West country. Normal propaganda service is not expected to be affected.

    1. Good morning Ped .

      How stupid can the Tories be by putting up yet another Mussie candidate , don’t they ever learn , because the the reason there is a by election is the previous Mussie Tory MP is now in jail for doing dirty things .

      The good people of Wakefield probably didn’t want another Muslim MP… there should have been a white candidate , like the Labour one .

      Wakefield Cathedral being famous for that lovely hymn

      For all the saints who from their labors rest,
      who thee by faith before the world confessed,
      thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
      Alleluia! Alleluia!

        1. I was born just a few miles north of Wakefield, and lived there until my early twenties. I would never go back, either.

        2. Our younger son lives in a village near Wakefield, and I think he’s in that constituency. I certainly wouldn’t want to live there. They only bought there because it was more affordable than north of Leeds. Cheaper for a reason!

      3. Tap into your computer
        Too Many White Christian Faces in Britain…D.Cameron…
        There’s your proof…

  3. The Conservatives and Boris must now know the writing is on the wall after yesterday’s by-election results. The West country Conservative candidate was considered by his own party to be useless as reported by Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday. Oliver Dowden , Conservative Chairman has thrown in the towel saying that someone must take responsibility for the disastrous position the Conservative Party is in. Boris still claims he won’t resign

  4. The elite assault on Britishness. Spiked. 24 June 2022.

    A timely report by the Centre for Brexit Policy argues that Britain’s ruling elites have become ‘obsessed with… “woke” dogma’ and are doing their best to hold back the UK from realising its potential. It argues that ‘the notion that we are a country in decline is deeply ingrained in our elites, especially in Whitehall and Westminster’. It rightly criticises the ‘dismal cosmopolitan mentality’ that dominates the worldview of the British ruling elites. This expresses itself, the report argues, through a palpable sense of loathing towards Britain and its history.

    This is as nothing to their hatred for the indigenous white population who they are actively conspiring to destroy; not only culturally and politically but as a people.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/06/23/the-elite-assault-on-britishness/

      1. Good morning.
        I hope you had a Happy Birthday yesterday.

        Are you in Wales now?

        1. Hi Bob.
          Yes, and no.
          Arrive Wales, striking airlines permitting, Monday 4th July, in the evening, and leave, striking airlines permitting, on 14th. Busy as F in the meantime, to clear the house.

    2. When we go, who will pay the taxes? No one really likes to talk about that fact. White heterosexual folk earn most of the money. If the state sets about eradicating us, what will the ticks feed on?

  7. On 14 February 2022, Dowden gave a speech in USA to The Heritage Foundation in which he criticised cancel culture, calling it a “painful woke psychodrama” which is sweeping the West and sapping its confidence, further saying that woke ideology is a “dangerous form of decadence”. He had made similar remarks to the Conservative Party Conference in October 2021.

    I WONDER whether Oliver Dowden could cut the mustard and replace Boris .

    I like the sound of him and his best principles?

    1. Woke is the result of some clever west-haters getting together and plotting their Marxist fascist take-over using psych methods, rather than economic weapons (strikes) and violence (wars). So far, it’s going really well for them, and the best of all, it’s the “useful idiots” propagating it. What’s not to like?

  8. Putin critic Alexei Navalny held in new prison with culture of ‘beatings and torture’. 24 June 2022

    Alexei Navalny, the Russian anti-corruption activist, has tweeted an update on his time behind bars after being moved to a new prison.

    The critic of Vladimir Putin was sentenced – in a case that Amnesty International described as a “sham” – to nine years in prison on embezzlement and contempt of court charges in March.

    Do the tweets run concurrent with the “beatings and torture” or are they reserved for the weekends? This is like reading that the Man in the Iron Mask used a Philishave 9000.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/alexei-navalny-tweets-prison-putin-b2107860.html

    1. Reminds me of Tommy Robinson being placed in a prison with Muslims who have a culture of “beatings and torture”.

      1. Yes, why are muslims only 3% of the population yet over two thirds of the prison population?

  9. Putin critic Alexei Navalny held in new prison with culture of ‘beatings and torture’. 24 June 2022

    Alexei Navalny, the Russian anti-corruption activist, has tweeted an update on his time behind bars after being moved to a new prison.

    The critic of Vladimir Putin was sentenced – in a case that Amnesty International described as a “sham” – to nine years in prison on embezzlement and contempt of court charges in March.

    Do the tweets run concurrent with the “beatings and torture” or are they reserved for the weekends? This is like reading that the Man in the Iron Mask used a Philishave 9000.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/alexei-navalny-tweets-prison-putin-b2107860.html

    1. Morning Ped. The Criminal Justice system like all the other Public Institutions is dying on its feet!

    3. Bournemouth used to be a wonderful town , full of retired ex colonials , real gentlemen , and ladies who wore nice hats , Bournemouth used to feel safe and sedate , there were department stores with lifts and respectful floor staff, nice hotels , places to hear concerts and a bandstand that played gorgeous music in the pretty park , bowling greens and tennis courts and and everything possessed a gentle ambiance .

      Since Tony Blair down graded all universities , and anyone could study for meaningless degrees , the poor town became night club orientated , cheap takeway food shops arrived , kebab etc Drug dealers moved in , and the town and it’s social standards deteriorated .

      Dross sped down from larger cities .. and the police then had their jobs cut out for them .

      Those nice tranquil gentle days vanished years ago .

    5. Good morning, Ped

      Don’t you understand it is racist to criticise and condemn drug dealing black murderers and Muslim child rapists? The fact that it was quite normal in the past to be appalled by such things shows just how much Britain needed to be culturally and morally diversified.

      1. Exactly. We should not criticise cultural norms. They are enriching a boring country.

    6. Automatic 50% off. If he behaves himself in prison he will get a further reduction. He will be out in 3 years 6 months.

  13. Good morning, everyone. A good night out yesterday so will now go back to bed for an extra sleep.

    PS: I have just read the Telegraph letters where a man writes to tell us how his wonderful wife went by train to London for a blood test, returned by train to put her three children under 6 to bed and, when they were asleep, boarded the train back to London to stay in a hotel overnight so as to be able to walk to the nearby London hospital for an operation during the train strike the following day. He is full of praise for his wife, the doctors who saw him, but less so for the rail strikers. What a “wuss”! He simply does not deserve such a wife. What was there to stop him from putting the children to bed himself after explaining that “Mummy has gone to London to see a special hospital doctor but will be back sometime tomorrow or the next day”.

    2. Maybe putting the children to bed was an important family ritual and he and his wife were damned if they were going to let the rail strikers mess that up?

      The children’s bedtime was an important time for us – but we were not as inflexible as this family. Each evening Caroline would read to one of the boys in French while I read to the other in English; when we finished a book we switched boys and if one book was finished before the other the time was filled in by reading poetry. Both the boys were fluent readers at the age of 4 and both of them are still ardent readers.

      1. I loved the bedtime story: Bath, then their choice whether to have 15 minutes in front of children’s TV or a story. Both equally acceptable to the adults, as it made adult time after 19:30 regardless. Reading the story was nice, and I’d occasionally annoy the boys by reading it with the book upside-down, or reading the sentences backwards… :-).

      2. My Mother just said go to bed. My parents never read to me. In spite of this i am a voracious reader. My Father was illiterate.

        1. I loved it when my father read to me at bed time but he did not do it regularly enough.

          I always identified with Arthur Ransome’s Roger; he was aged 7 in the first of the Swallows and Amazon books and I read it on my own when I was 7. I was the youngest youngest member of the family as Roger was until the baby Bridget, the afterthought, arrived. Mind you I think his older brother and 2 sisters were nicer to him than my elder sisters were to me.

      3. I applaud the way you and Caroline handled your two boys’ bedtimes, Richard, but I still think that the man was a “wuss”.

    3. Morning, EB. Judging by the BTL comments, you are not the first to make that mistake: it is the correspondent’s daughter.

  14. Make you mind up time?

    Boris says he staying on despite the by-elections – after all, he is just following the rules.

    Prince Charles tells Commonwealth heads to decide whether or not they want to be republics – because he doesn’t make the rules!

    2. Boris hasn’t done anything positive so what’s the point of being in office? He hasn’t cofnronted the Whitehall blob to properly diverge us from the hated EU. He continues a tax and waste agenda – heck, the online safety bill is a snoopers charter. A socialist agenda and an intrusive, abusive Left wing state. May as well vote Labour or Lib Dem. They’re all the same. All ruinous. All spiteful.

  15. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    A generous but humid 16°C here, with a few more degrees later, apparently.

    SIR – The UK workforce is 32.7 million and rising. Again, according to the font of all knowledge Google, union membership is 6.66 million and falling.

    Is this country really to be held to ransom by a minority mob? How I miss Margaret Thatcher.

    Simon Perks
    Poughill, Devon

    His last sentence is particularly apt, given the bad, but entirely predictable, by-election results. First job of the day is another short, sharp email to my MP…

    1. More unions are mostly entrenched in those industries paid for by the public. The Left hold governments up by demanding more from the productive in society.

    2. “Is this country really to be held to ransom by a minority mob?”.

      There are many “minority mobs” holding this country to ransom one way or another. HMG does not hold the reins of power.

  16. SIR – If Network Rail publicised the outdated working practices outlined by Oliver Gill, no one could doubt that things must change.

    It is not right, for example, that those working at Euston cannot be called over to King’s Cross if extra help is needed or that three men are required to do a job which could be done by one. This is madness!

    Patricia M Spong
    Newcastle upon Tyne

    It sure is, Trish! Such a ridiculous situation is the fault of a weak management over a number of years.

    1. Weak, exactly. This is what happens if you don’t confront an issue as soon as it arises – it become “the norm”, ingrained into the way things are one, and eventually when change is not only needed but screamingly urgent, that change cannot happen due to resistance of pretty well all involved..

        1. When I worked as a plater at Markham & Co in Chesterfield in the late 1960s, the company had its own small diesel shunting loco (for transferring large loads between shops). It was driven by one man and he was aided by another (the ‘shunter’). The engine driver was always the first man to arrive at work, some two hours before anyone else. When asked why he said it stemmed from the days when the shunting engine was steam and he needed to be there early to get ‘steam up’ before the working day commenced. He continued this practice after the company purchased the diesel engine through nothing more than force of habit.

          1. Having driven and fired a steam loco, I know what he means.
            The transition to diesel meant that all you needed to do to start work was an inspection round, fill the sandboxes, stick in the key and start. Fill the diesel tanks, and away, not hours waiting for the fire to warm (but not too quickly) the boiler and get a head of steam, coaling, checking water tanks, and so on.
            In the days of general steam, there were staff at the loco sheds who did all that, and many locos never had a cold firebox for a very long time, as it was better to keep a fire going at low level all night than let it go out then relight in the morning..

  17. Ukraine troops will have to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk, says governor . 24 June 2022.

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has just posted another comment on the decision of the EU to grant Ukraine candidate country status to Telegram. He writes:

    It is officially recognized that Ukraine is not a bridge, not a pillow between the West and Russia, not a buffer between Europe and Asia, not a sphere of influence, not a “grey” zone, not a transit territory. Not the border between orcs and elves. Ukraine is a future equal partner for at least 27 EU countries. Ukraine is a candidate for accession to the European Union!

    This is nonsense. Candidature simply means that their name has been added to the list! Even if they were to allow Ukraine entry, and that is pretty unlikely, it would still be ten years or more before they joined.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/jun/24/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskiy-hails-eu-decision-russian-forces-encircle-troops-in-lysychansk-kyiv-officials-say-live-news?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-62b54b868f083a9e112c7fc1#block-62b54b868f083a9e112c7fc1

    2. “Ukraine troops will have to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk, says governor . 24 June 2022”

      …and just when they were, according to the MSM, about to defeat Russia and send ’em packing.

      1. Strange that… every time they are reported to be on the brink of smashing the Ruskies they have to retreat or surrender en mass. Must be something in the water – or the MSM are feeding us a load of bow locks!

    3. Given the stampede of ‘young globalist leaders’ rushing for a photo op with the midget nazi i expect Ukraine to be fast tracked.

      Good morning, Minty.

      1. Could be. That may well annoy the Turks. (or Tuiurks.or Tyurks, or Tuiyrks).

  18. To our Boss Man:

    You no longer need to feel you are alone (or a Middlelandexile), Geoff. There are places called Graham all around the globe: most of them (natch!) in the good ol’ US of A. There is also one (possibly two) in Australia.

    https://geotargit.com/called.php?qcity=Graham
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham,_Texas
    https://vymaps.com/AU/Graham-Town-297278106978536/
    https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/816

    As for my name: it seems there are five (I thought there were only two) and all are in Yankland.

    https://geotargit.com/called.php?qcity=Barstow

      1. Indeed I did. I have no love for that force as I have personal experience of their loutishness and lack of discipline on picket lines during the 1984–85 miners’ strike. The current TV drama, Sherwood, whilst fictional correctly portrays the louts of that London force, when they were draughted in to Nottinghamshire, in a very true light.

        I must add, however, that at the time I also worked alongside officers from London’s other police force, the City of London Police, and they were more than a cut above the twats from the Metropolitan cartel.

        1. Good morning, Grizzly

          I wonder if you are as ashamed of the police as I am ashamed of the teaching profession?

          1. Good afternoon,Rastus. I am ashamed of those recruiting and mis-training the police, from the Home Office to the clueless graduate-entry clowns at the top. Most recruits want to do a proper policing job but are prevented from doing so by the Common-Purpose addled idiots who run their training.

          2. I take your point – but of course there are still some excellent teachers who became teachers out of love of their subject and desire to pass this on.

          3. Indeed, just as there are still highly professional bobbies, as well as members of many jobs who still take a pride in their work.

        2. Good morning, Grizzly

          I wonder if you are as ashamed of the police as I am ashamed of the teaching profession?

        3. Good morning, Grizzly

          I wonder if you are as ashamed of the police as I am ashamed of the teaching profession?

  19. https://order-order.com/2022/06/24/breaking-dowden-resigns/

    If there’s subtext it seems ‘you threw me under a bus to save your own skin. It was obvious these seats would be lost. The majority won over Brexit has been squandered. Every opportunity to dismantle the woke Left, to remove their support base, to end gimmigration, to reform welfare – by scrapping it, to get rid of the HRA, diversity acts, race relations acts, to properly begin reform of the NHS, to bring Sturgeon to heel, to cut taxes and set the economy back on track by shredding the public sector: all wasted.

  20. The latest exerpt from the current journal, Passing Three Score Years and Ten, and penned (keyboarded) last night:

    Royal Air Force Association – I was asked a cogent question by one of my NoTTLer friends, to the effect, “Glad you’re getting sorted. Is the RAFA place the one that’s been made into individual accommodation?”
    And my answer, “It certainly seems like and, what I’m offered, and shewn by the lady almoner, fits all my desired retirement and sheltered accommodation.

    I now have to fill out and return yards of (sometimes personal) bumf in order to secure it and think about furnishings that may be required – some I have, some Judy has donated but there’s still a shopping list that has to be filled and delivered.

    While in that area we took a day-trip out and viewed the Grey Mare’s Tail, probably the highest waterfall in Britain. And went on to St Mary’s Loch, very sublime with the sun shining on the water.

    One thing I have to remark upon is the genuine friendliness of the locals. On the that day we went for a drink in the Buccleuch in Moffat, and Dotty couldn’t have been more welcome with pannikins of fresh water for her and loving looks all around. The very same, on the next day, having passed the Grey Mare’s Tail and followed instructions, we found ourselves in Innerleithen and, looking for a hostelry on the road out, hove up to ‘The United Club’ where visitors (and Dotty) were very welcome. Enquiries as to the correct route to Moffat, where eagerly forthcoming and, amongst much friendly banter, we knew we were on the right road.

    Our stay at ‘Fox Cottage’ was exemplary of Scottish hospitality and will not be forgotten but, something that NOT be forgotten, is the blatant profiteering of petrol companies like BP.

    We filled up at the Benmar Services in Moffat for £1.879 (even that’s a helluva hike from the £.0.50p a litre from the early days of decimalisation.) but, compared to what was seen en route down south – and it was mostly BP stations, the prices were hiked up to £2.03 and £2.05 per litre. If that’s not profiteering, I don’t know what is.

    Seems I could be evicted from this place, tout suite, as I dared to down a whisky or two on our return – apparently, I’m such an ogre with the whisky upon me – so if anyone has a safe billet for a week or two until I may move to Moffat, I shall be very grateful. At the moment I have to deal with a termagant.

    1. Hi Tom

      Whiskey is expensive .. it causes all sort of conflicts and nausea.

      Moh and I don’t drink , but son who lives with us , does .

      My father drank , it was a way of life in South Africa..

      My dear father died from liver disease, he was 72ts old , it was a dreadful death. I flew out to be with him, not with standing the fact that my 3 siblings and his second wife lived out there .

      When bottles of hooch are used as an emotional crutch , there is no hope .

      Daddy died , the consumption of alcohol coupled with recurrent malaria killed him.

      He had not got over the shock of my mother being killed in a car crash in SA, she was 61 , and on her own driving her car . A drunk drugged up wretch caused the accident , drove into her . Thats it .

      His second wife enjoyed her drink … bad bad bad .. to have a drinking partner is the worse combination ever .

      My own late mother would have been horrified to have seen the rapid demise of my handsome loving father .

      1. Good morning, Maggie. “Whiskey” is a concoction manufactured in Ireland, Canada and America. The proper stuff, i.e. Scotch, is called whisky (no ‘e’) and I have never suffered any ‘conflicts’ nor nausea from drinking it in moderation.

        I will always check the label on a bottle and if I see the word whisky has an added ‘e’, then I will not buy the muck.

        Sorry to hear about the family crises but Scotch whisky is not to blame, only the inappropriate use of it by those that buy and drink it in quantity.

        1. Morning Grizzly

          Apols for spelling the unfamiliar incorrectly.
          Scotch Whisky was not to blame .. the bottle became a best friend and a routine habit , an easy fix for Dad , and a silent expensive killer .

          2. …as I’ve done over the lockdown periods and excessive ‘cabin fever.’

            I have coined a new meaning for the COPD I suffer from; Cold Old and Permanently Depressed.

          3. The trouble is that the drink makes it worse.
            I like a glass of wine but drinking to excess makes you depressed.

            I guess it upset Judy too.

          4. “Some drink to remember; some drink to forget.”

            (I always thought that this was what the Eagles sang – but apparently they sang dance rather than drink.)

          5. I can never understand why people ‘hit the bottle’ to blot out the world. One hangover is a terrible experience. People actively wishing to give themselves a permanent hangover is beyond me.

            I remember being sent to an abandoned slum one day to deal with a complaint of drunken squatters inside. I discovered a middle-aged couple in their late 40s/early 50s, semi-naked and in an alcoholic trance. I was astonished to learn that the male was a former magistrate and leading businessman of the area who had taken to the bottle after he lost his job. He was dismissed from the bench and his life took a never-ending plummet into despair. He lost everything (home, marriage, family, savings, prestige) but still had sufficient funds to supply his drinking. It was tragic to witness just how the once-mighty had fallen so far.

          6. Drinking to excess (I used to do it when I was stressed at work) does not necessarily give you a hangover. I never had one.

        2. Whisky and whiskey, along with donkey and pony, were words to use in spelling tests asking the pupils to add possession or plurals.

      2. In reply, Maggie, I can only repeat the letter I’ve just sent to RAFA after filling out, and sending, the yards of bumf yesterday evening.

        Good Morning, XXX, after two glasses of Scotch and a glass of Chablis, I was threatened by my Ex, with being dumped at Ipswich Homeless Hostel last evening.

        This after her having consumed the larger part of that bottle of Chablis and then settled into the remains of a bottle of Barolo. Admittedly she was naturally tired having driven the 352 miles back from Moffat.

        I’m asking if you can expedite my application, after changing the bit about harassment to ‘Yes’ – section 4, item 8 of the Application. Things are, unfortunately, getting nasty.

        I can only hope for a speedy result.

    2. Hi Tom

      Whiskey is expensive .. it causes all sort of conflicts and nausea.

      Moh and I don’t drink , but son who lives with us , does .

      My father drank , it was a way of life in South Africa..

      My dear father died from liver disease, he was 72ts old , it was a dreadful death. I flew out to be with him, not with standing the fact that my 3 siblings and his second wife lived out there .

      When bottles of hooch are used as an emotional crutch , there is no hope .

      Daddy died , the consumption of alcohol coupled with recurrent malaria killed him.

      He had not got over the shock of my mother being killed in a car crash in SA, she was 61 , and on her own driving her car . A drunk drugged up wretch caused the accident , drove into her . Thats it .

      His second wife enjoyed her drink … bad bad bad .. to have a drinking partner is the worse combination ever .

      My own late mother would have been horrified to have seen the rapid demise of my handsome loving father .

  21. The latest exerpt from the current journal, Passing Three Score Years and Ten, and penned (keyboarded) last night:

    Royal Air Force Association – I was asked a cogent question by one of my NoTTLer friends, to the effect, “Glad you’re getting sorted. Is the RAFA place the one that’s been made into individual accommodation?”
    And my answer, “It certainly seems like and, what I’m offered, and shewn by the lady almoner, fits all my desired retirement and sheltered accommodation.

    I now have to fill out and return yards of (sometimes personal) bumf in order to secure it and think about furnishings that may be required – some I have, some Judy has donated but there’s still a shopping list that has to be filled and delivered.

    While in that area we took a day-trip out and viewed the Grey Mare’s Tail, probably the highest waterfall in Britain. And went on to St Mary’s Loch, very sublime with the sun shining on the water.

    One thing I have to remark upon is the genuine friendliness of the locals. On the that day we went for a drink in the Buccleuch in Moffat, and Dotty couldn’t have been more welcome with pannikins of fresh water for her and loving looks all around. The very same, on the next day, having passed the Grey Mare’s Tail and followed instructions, we found ourselves in Innerleithen and, looking for a hostelry on the road out, hove up to ‘The United Club’ where visitors (and Dotty) were very welcome. Enquiries as to the correct route to Moffat, where eagerly forthcoming and, amongst much friendly banter, we knew we were on the right road.

    Our stay at ‘Fox Cottage’ was exemplary of Scottish hospitality and will not be forgotten but, something that NOT be forgotten, is the blatant profiteering of petrol companies like BP.

    We filled up at the Benmar Services in Moffat for £1.879 (even that’s a helluva hike from the £.0.50p a litre from the early days of decimalisation.) but, compared to what was seen en route down south – and it was mostly BP stations, the prices were hiked up to £2.03 and £2.05 per litre. If that’s not profiteering, I don’t know what is.

    Seems I could be evicted from this place, tout suite, as I dared to down a whisky or two on our return – apparently, I’m such an ogre with the whisky upon me – so if anyone has a safe billet for a week or two until I may move to Moffat, I shall be very grateful. At the moment I have to deal with a termagant.

  22. Morning, all! Cool today, with greyish skies, but I can’t complain; yesterday I mainly sprawled on the grass, reading, and swam in the lovely pool here.

    I’ve ordered a hard copy of Mattias Desmet’s “The Psychology of Totalitarianism” from an independent book shop in Norwich, and am looking forward to getting my hands on it (and meeting friends for what I’m sure will be an interesting evening full of laughter).

    This will be a seminal book in future (unless we can’t stop the tide, in which case it will probably be burned). I would honestly recommend everyone to read it; such a brilliant mind (much better on the page than in interview), and his theory explains SO much of what is perturbing in the world at present. I’d love to know what other Nottlers think.

    1. I would love to order a copy, atd, but I can’t bear any more gloom, hopelessness and despair, I really can’t. I have fallen down too many rabbit holes. I am exhausted, quite literally, by it all. Does it give any hope on how to get out of the predicament in which we find ourselves?

      1. I’m reading The Restless Republic; it’s about interregnum Britain.
        I now know the difference between Levellers and Diggers. The Diggers were rather sweet and the Levellers were the massed ranks of Corbynites.
        The 1650s were not a laugh a minute, but they have the advantage of not being Blighty in 2022.

      2. Yes; I ended up quite joyful. It has allowed me to move away from the conspiracy theories which seemed logical, and really joined the dots. So much makes sense now. He’s not saying that things are good, just offering a different perspective. I feel so much clearer mentally than I have for two years.

        1. Okay I might risk it then. My head is whirling, spinning from everything and I am concerned about our vax-jabbed sons.

          2. Thank you, I’ll send you a Twitter DM over the weekend – we are out for the rest of today at our younger son’s home so it will be tomorrow or Monday.

    2. Thanks for the advice, ATD, I shall look the book up and then give my views on it after I’ve read it. 👍🏻

    1. It’s so clean, so tidy. No screaming yobs, no graffiti, no muck or scuffs. There’s no lltter of any sort!

    2. Same as Singapore TB and absolutely spotlessly clean. Obviously not as many customers but an entirely different culture.

  24. The Tories have been utterly humiliated. If Boris Johnson stays, they are doomed
    To lose a 24,000 majority is an electoral disaster. Without change, the Conservatives are on course for a 1997-style wipeout
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/06/24/tories-have-utterly-humiliated-boris-johnson-stays-doomed/

    BTL

    Nigel Farage is largely to blame for the Conservative Party’s failure to capitalise on and finish Brexit being properly put in place: he should never have allowed Remainer Conservative MPs to be unopposed in the general election which gave us a Conservative government which was not committed to Brexit.

    Nigel Farage was treated with contempt and given no quid pro quo for withdrawing his Brexit Party candidates and so, when Brexit is reversed, Farage must not try to wriggle out of his responsibility for Britain going back into the EU and probably under even worse terms than before.

    1. Good morning Richard

      This an extract from m earlier comment ..

      How stupid can the Tories be by putting up yet another Mussie candidate , don’t they ever learn , because the the reason there is a by election is the previous Mussie Tory MP is now in jail for doing dirty things .

    2. Farage’s fallibility was reflected by the UK voting populace in 2019 in trusting the promises of Tory politicians.

    3. Imagine that Farage had not made his Brexit Party candidates stand down and as a result the Brexit Party had won just ten seats and were holding the balance of power?

      The NI Protocol would never have come into force; the fishermen would not have been betrayed and the evil presence of EU legislation would be well on the way to being eliminated.

      Yes, Johnson is a mendacious unprincipled fraud who is only interested in fornication – (he is a very nasty f*cker indeed) – but he could and should have been better restrained and when the chips were down Farage lost his nerve and look at the harvest produced by his
      pusillanimity.

      1. To play devil’s advocate to myself : the Reform Party candidates in both the by elections attracted very little support which suggests that Brexit is no longer of much interest to the British public.

        Is it now time to accept that the Remainers have won after all and the sooner we go back into the EU the better?

        1. Most people probably don’t care about whether it’s been done or not. Brexit is past and they blame the government for the shambles we now live in.

          1. The sad thing is that the Conservative Party led by Johnson did not even try to do Brexit properly so it was never even given a chance.

            Brexit was just an ego trip and a tool to enable a vain and narcissistic buffoon to be prime minister.

        2. Rastus, I don’t think that it will be “for the better”

          Ferocious punishment beatings will be handed out for quite some time to discourage other nations from leaving.

  25. Good morning all. An overcast start this morning with 11½°C outside.

    The van is loaded and I’m off on my travels for a few days. Stopping in Basingstoke to visit eldest daughter Saturday & Sunday, then I plan a few days meandering round Kent.

      2. Dull(ish) start, sun now crackin’ the flags, now taking advantage of the free electricity by getting all the washing done

        1. No rain yet so I hung out my washing a few hours ago and it’s slightly sunny now and windy so it should be drying.

          4. We used to have a washer-drier but the current one washes only. It’s not been a problem over the last 10 years.

  27. A discourse on “rights” and housing from Dalrymple.

    One of the confusions of the age is the conflation of what is desirable with what is a right.
    For example, it is clearly desirable that everybody should be housed decently: No one wants to see anyone homeless who does not desire to be, or to live in horrible conditions. But that is not the same as saying that everyone has a right to a home, for such a right would impose on others the duty to provide such a home irrespective of the person’s conduct. Since no home can be provided except at the cost of human labor, a right to housing is also the imposition of forced labor.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/less-than-adequate/

    And yes, I do realise that there are American spellings, it’s published in an American magazine.

      1. I used to enjoy his columns and look out for them, but now I tend to be less enthusiastic. I can’t put my finger on why I’ve changed my view.

  28. Late BBC presenter John Holmstrom was supporter of paedophile group, says documentaryD Fail

    He was also a close friend of an Eton master accused of abusing young boys. Raef Payne, who taught at Eton for 35 years and died in 2001, attended parties where men traded photos of naked children. Eton archives contain six boxes of correspondence between Payne, Holmstrom and other masters at the college.

    PIE (Paedophile Information Exchange) member Thomas O’Carroll, who was a former Labour Party member, Open University information officer and was once described as ‘one of the most infamous perverts on Earth’. John Holmstrom was a supporter of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) which asked him to pen the disturbing leaflet said ‘I am quite sure he was never involved in anything scandalous’.

    Bless me! Who would have thought that the BBC could have employed a paedophile pervert like Holmstrom for all those years? Whatever next?

    2. He’s in a hole lot of trouble, I don’t see how he has the balls to go through with this. What a dick.

  30. Bacteria the size of a worm discovered in swamp

    GIANT bacteria so big that they are visible to the naked eye – and can be picked up with tweezers – have been found by scientists, in a discovery which rewrites biology.

    The jumbo species Thiomargarita magnifica was found in the tropical marine mangrove swamps of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean, and is 50 times larger than the existing biggest bacteria.

    Researchers say it is so big in comparison to most other strains that it would be the equivalent of a human finding another human who was as tall as Mount Everest.

    Until now, bacteria were always thought to be micro-organisms, which could only grow to a tiny size and only be viewed under a microscope. But the new organism can grow up to 0.4in (1cm) and resembles a small worm.

    Marine biologist Jean-marie Volland said: “This is two orders of magnitude above what bacteria can theoretically achieve. It would be like encountering another human that is as tall as Mount Everest. They are quite puzzling, and it’s interesting that a single bacteria this large can hold its shape.”

    The big bacteria are also more complex than usual, with their DNA contained in a sac-like structure rather than floating inside the cell.

    Until now, the packing away of DNA in such a way was thought to be the preserve of humans, animals and plants.

    Shailesh Date, a bacteria expert, said: “This has opened our eyes to the origin and evolution of complexity in biological systems.” The research was published in the journal.

    Scientists consider that these bacteria are possibly the forerunner of the next form of high intelligence to emerge from its (non-primordial) swamp. Tests conducted on those bacteria have already shown that their IQ is several steps higher than that of modern-day Homo sapiens sapiens.

  31. The EU’s crumbling unity has given Putin another opportunity to win. 24 June 2022.

    Then comes Germany. Olaf Scholz, its newish chancellor, initially talked a tough game – pledging to spend €100 billion more on defence, buy American F-35s and abandon the newly-built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Russia. But the arms Germany promised have been slow in coming. Seven PzH 2000 howitzers, pledged at the start of May, were delivered this week. But there is still no sign of the promised rocket artillery and anti-aircraft tanks and Germany has vetoed attempts by Estonia and Spain to send their own German-made kit to Ukraine.

    There is growing suspicion in Berlin that Scholz is trying to play both sides, angling for a more Putin-compatible solution to the crisis. One of his senior advisers said this week that we should think as much about relations with Moscow post-conflict as we do arms supplies to Ukraine.

    It’s pretty easy to slag the Germans off for their attitude (well anytime actually) to Ukraine. Particularly, when like the US and UK, you have no real exposure to the sanctions! The truth is that Scholz has noticed that it is Germany that is going to carry the economic can for this and it looks as though it is going to be a pretty hefty one. He’s also noticed that Russia is by no means the powerful bogeyman that they all thought. When you add this to the idea that Ukraine, an utterly corrupt third rate state, is going to join the EU (something else that has to be paid for) you can understand his lack of enthusiasm!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/23/eus-crumbling-unity-has-given-putin-another-opportunity-win/

    1. Ukraine joining the EU would be quite funny. In many ways, it’s much like Brussels. Thoroughly corrupt, awash with bent money, no political opposition, people paying the price far removed from democracy dependent on foreign support!

      1. Not just a villain,a crime against humanity {:^))
        (except in the hands of George Formby)

      1. I’ve not, but will put it on the list. I admit I’m not a fan of his reliance on swearing in his films, but that might be my perspective.

        1. This is his best film since his first two and perhaps the only time I’ve seen Hugh Grant actually act.

    4. Would the old Ukraine – dishonest, corrupt and fascist – feel more at home in the EU than than new idealistic, wholesome, democratic and liberal Ukraine?

  34. ‘We cannot carry on with business as usual’: why I’m resigning as Tory chairman. 24 June 2022.

    It is with great sadness that I must resign as Chairman of the Conservative Party with immediate effect. Yesterday’s Parliamentary by-elections are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party.

    Our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings. We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office.

    It has been an honour to serve in your cabinets as Party Chairman, Culture Secretary and minister for the Cabinet Office.

    In particular, I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our excellent Conservative volunteers and staffers who work so tirelessly for our cause. They are the backbone of our great party and deserve better than this. Finally, I want to emphasise that this is a deeply personal decision that I have taken alone. I will, as always, remain loyal to the Conservative Party.

    There is no Tory Party and this man as Chairman bears as much responsibility for it as Boris!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/-we-cannot-carry-on-with-business-as-usual-why-i-m-resigning-as-tory-chairman

    1. Dowden supported Boris throughout and his reward for it was a ministerial salary by making him Chairman, a job with few responsibilities, and minister without portfolio, a job with no responsibilities, increasing his salary by 60-70k per year.

      1. We’ve come a long way from the days of Lord Hailsham and Norman Tebbit ….. travelling backwards.

      2. We have far, far, far too many ministers. Cabinet should be limited to defence, security and shared infrastructure. Nothing else.

  35. ‘We cannot carry on with business as usual’: why I’m resigning as Tory chairman. 24 June 2022.

    It is with great sadness that I must resign as Chairman of the Conservative Party with immediate effect. Yesterday’s Parliamentary by-elections are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party.

    Our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings. We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office.

    It has been an honour to serve in your cabinets as Party Chairman, Culture Secretary and minister for the Cabinet Office.

    In particular, I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our excellent Conservative volunteers and staffers who work so tirelessly for our cause. They are the backbone of our great party and deserve better than this. Finally, I want to emphasise that this is a deeply personal decision that I have taken alone. I will, as always, remain loyal to the Conservative Party.

    There is no Tory Party and this man as Chairman bears as much responsibility for it as Boris!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/-we-cannot-carry-on-with-business-as-usual-why-i-m-resigning-as-tory-chairman

  36. ‘We cannot carry on with business as usual’: why I’m resigning as Tory chairman. 24 June 2022.

    It is with great sadness that I must resign as Chairman of the Conservative Party with immediate effect. Yesterday’s Parliamentary by-elections are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party.

    Our supporters are distressed and disappointed by recent events, and I share their feelings. We cannot carry on with business as usual. Somebody must take responsibility and I have concluded that, in these circumstances, it would not be right for me to remain in office.

    It has been an honour to serve in your cabinets as Party Chairman, Culture Secretary and minister for the Cabinet Office.

    In particular, I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our excellent Conservative volunteers and staffers who work so tirelessly for our cause. They are the backbone of our great party and deserve better than this. Finally, I want to emphasise that this is a deeply personal decision that I have taken alone. I will, as always, remain loyal to the Conservative Party.

    There is no Tory Party and this man as Chairman bears as much responsibility for it as Boris!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/-we-cannot-carry-on-with-business-as-usual-why-i-m-resigning-as-tory-chairman

    1. One of my favourites:

      The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat,
      With an indolent expression and an undulating throat
      Like an unsuccessful literary man.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10039748ca00bace40cd9b3fcb7cee697d9c0c3a048315f1709c4cf4fa01f740.jpg
      And I know the place he lives in (or at least- I think I do)
      It is Ecuador, Brazil or Chile- possibly Peru;
      You must find it in the Atlas if you can.
      The Llama of the Pampasses you never should confound
      (In spite of a deceptive similarity of sound)
      With the Lama who is Lord of Turkestan.
      For the former is a beautiful and valuable beast,
      But the latter is not lovable nor useful in the least;
      And the Ruminant is preferable surely to the Priest
      Who battens on the woeful superstitions of the East,
      The Mongol of the Monastery of Shan.

    4. Ah, children. Eventually they grow up – or they become Labour voters.

      Ignorance at their age is expected and understandable. They don’t know any better. As they’re so self centred they can’t see that eventually the same demands for proscription will be applied to them in short order.

    5. Why not just ban all speakers at universities. Come to think of it, why not just ban the lecturers and the students as well and dedicate all the premises to the housing of illegal immigrants.

  39. The chap on the video I posted last night is called Terry Miles and he has his own YouTube channel whereby he goes around the country searching for pubs with a piano to surprise the locals with his boogie-woogie style of playing. This is another one he made in a Devon village pub:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljjWeHmeVE8

    1. Tee-Hee. I posted that last night. I may even have posted a video some weeks ago… Very good isn’t he?

    2. Red River Valley.

      From this valley they say you are going,
      We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile,
      For they say you are taking the sunshine
      Which has brightened our pathways a while.

      1. He did, just as he does in every pub he goes into. It was edited out of this one.

    4. If I ever went in a pub which had an organ I always used to ask if I could have a go, invariably the answer was yes and I could then get free beer for the rest of the evening from the punters (I’m talking 45 years ago)

  40. Welcome to the FSU’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week. As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture.

    FSU Comedy Night on 29th June – book your tickets here!

    London members are encouraged to get tickets to our Summer Special Comedy Night on Wednesday 29th June (here), where there will be plenty of opportunities to meet other members and the FSU’s staff. As this event is a fundraiser, it’s open to the public – so do please encourage friends and family to come along. You can share the Eventbrite link with them here.

    We can also exclusively reveal that our raffle prizes on the night will include the chance to go for a pint with the FSU’s General Secretary – Toby Young – a guided tour of the GB News studios in Paddington, and a collection of books curated by our guest acts on the night. We’ll also be unveiling our new ‘Unmute Yourself’ FSU badges – surely this summer’s must-have lapel accessory for any self-respecting free speech warrior – plus a selection of specially designed tote bags, featuring free speech quotes from the likes of George Orwell and Benjamin Franklin.

    The MC on the night will be Dominic Frisby, who has very kindly recorded this video to tell our members more about the event. Dominic will be performing a special set of comedy hits with his band The Gilets Jaunes – you can watch a clip of him reminding the audience what his preferred pronouns are during a Comedy Club performance here. Also on the bill is comedy crooner Frank Sanazi, described in the UK comedy guide Chortle as “the extravagantly offensive love-child of Adolf Hitler and Frank Sinatra”. Frank will be fresh from Glastonbury Festival, and readying himself for an attack on the Edinburgh Fringe. You can catch part of his set here.

    The link to book tickets is here.

    TRANS: When Ideology Hits Reality – register for our July speakeasy event here!

    We are delighted to announce that at our next Online Speakeasy, on Tuesday 12th July at 6.30pm BST, will be with journalist, campaigner and author of the Sunday Times Bestseller TRANS: When Ideology Hits Reality, Helen Joyce. Helen has been instrumental in opening up the debate about sex, gender and women’s rights. Helen will be interviewed by Dr Jan Macvarish, the FSU’s Education and Events Director.

    Register here to receive the Zoom link.

    The FSU’s forthcoming Regional Speakeasies

    Some of you may already have come along to our in-person meet-ups in pubs and bars, where members can socialise while discussing free speech issues. During late June and July, Regional Speakeasies will be happening in Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Oxford. You can check out the dates of these in the new Events section of our website, with more details being emailed to all members very shortly. Members are welcome to bring guests, particularly those likely to join the FSU!

    FSU writes to Nadhim Zahawi and Michelle Donelan

    The FSU has this week written to the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, and the Minister for Universities, Michelle Donelan, to thank them for introducing two essential amendments to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill that we campaigned for: first, removing the caveat “within their field of expertise” from Clause 1, so the new free speech protections apply to academics regardless of whether they’re speaking or writing about something within their field of expertise or not; and second, making it harder for “security costs” to be cited by universities or student unions to justify no-platforming a controversial speaker. We were also pleased to see Ms Donelan confirm in the House that temporary and visiting academic staff will be shielded by the Bill’s additional protections, another thing we’ve been campaigning for.

    In his capacity as General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, Toby Young wrote to the Education Secretary and Universities Minister this week to convey his appreciation. You can read his letter in full here, but it’s worth quoting the conclusion in full:

    While we may disagree on certain points – we are a non-partisan organisation – we are united in our common belief that freedom of expression must be protected and promoted at all costs. We will continue to work alongside you and your ministers to achieve exactly that. Freedom of speech is the foundational value on which all our other freedoms depend.

    You can read our briefing on the Bill here.

    National coverage of the FSU’s victory in its battle with Worcester College, Oxford

    The Telegraph carried news of a huge victory for the Free Speech Union this week in its long-running battle with Worcester College, Oxford. The FSU has “stood shoulder to shoulder with Christian Concern throughout this dispute,” General Secretary Toby Young told the paper.

    This is the news that the college has admitted it “misled” students after capitulating to an activist mob back in 2021 and cancelling a Christian event that had been due to take place on its campus. Worcester College, run by David Isaac, the former Chair of LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall (2003-12) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (2016-20), had previously apologised to students for hosting a Christian Concern training camp – known as the Wilberforce Academy. Mr Isaac then proceeded to cancel a second booking after a small number of students complained that they had been “distressed” by the presence of the Academy on campus over the summer months. In what the Mail described at the time as an example of cancel culture in Britain’s universities, Worcester College initially emailed students to acknowledge that the booking “was a serious failure that has caused significant distress” whilst promising to use the proceeds from the event for “diversity initiatives”.

    Toby first wrote to Mr Isaac in September 2021, pointing out that to exclude a group from holding an event on the College’s premises because of its Christian beliefs would be a breach of the Equality Act 2010. “Under section 29(1) of that Act,” he said, “Worcester’s response to student distaste at the Wilberforce Academy seems to amount, quite openly, to a policy of discrimination.” You can read Toby’s email, along with the Provost’s response, here.

    In March of this year, an independent review found “no evidence” for the allegations made by a fellow of the College, that “aggressive leafleting” had taken place and that conference attendees had made “unsolicited approaches” to staff and students to discuss controversial opinions on LGBT conversation therapy (Telegraph). As the review made clear, the College acted on these complaints despite staff and students being unable to locate copies of the leaflets, and despite Christian Concern stating that no leaflets had in fact been distributed.

    Following the report’s publication, Toby wrote again to Mr Isaac again, asking him to retract his apology, and withdraw the ban he imposed on further bookings by the Academy. “We continue to stand by Christian Concern,” he wrote, “and will provide whatever legal and financial assistance we deem appropriate should this matter escalate.” You can read that letter in full here).

    After these warnings that its stance was potentially discriminatory, the College has this week admitted that it was “misleading to suggest that Conference delegates or representatives of Christian Concern acted improperly in an email to students in September 2021”.

    In a joint statement issued with Christian Concern, both parties reaffirmed their mutual commitment “to the right to freedom of speech and religious belief and the dignity of all people”. In a world where “differing views are strongly and sincerely held”, the statement added, “it is important to come together and listen to each other. To that end, Worcester has invited Christian Concern to speak at a debate which will take place as soon as can be arranged.”

    As Toby pointed out in the Telegraph, “the mistake Worcester College made was to immediately capitulate to the demands of an activist mob and ban a group from its premises without properly investigating the allegations against it.” He went on: “We see this kind of institutional cowardice again and again, particularly in the higher education sector, usually motivated by a desire for a quiet life. The way to force these institutions to take their responsibility to uphold free speech more seriously is to make it clear that organisations like ours will create an almighty fuss if they don’t.”

    Students want more restrictions on free speech, says a recent HEPI poll

    Students have “become less liberal in their approach to freedom of expression in recent years”, according to a study published this week (the Times, Mail and Guardian). A poll of 1,019 UK undergraduates by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) suggests that they want more restrictions on free speech than their predecessors who came of age around the time of the Brexit referendum. Thirty-nine per cent said students’ unions should “ban all speakers that cause offence” – more than double the 16% found last time the survey was undertaken in 2016. More than one-third (36%) of the respondents also believe academics should be fired if they “teach material that heavily offends some students”, up from 15% in 2016. And when presented with the phrase “if you debate an issue like sexism or racism, you make it acceptable”, the proportion of students expressing some agreement doubled to 35% (up from 17% in 2016) – and the proportion expressing complete disagreement halved (down from 38% to 20%).

    As the report’s author, Nick Hillman, remarks, it is “abundantly clear” that “a high proportion of students have a very different conception of academic freedom and free speech norms than earlier generations and from many of those who legislate, regulate or govern UK higher education institutions”. Hillman charitably attributes this decline in support for free speech to the tough time students have had in the past six years – Covid, industrial action, the ‘cost-of-living-crisis’ – leading to a preoccupation with ‘safety’. Maybe so, Toby Young concedes in the Spectator, “but surely the main cause is that organisations such as Stonewall and Advance HE have successfully infected British universities with hard-left identitarian ideology under the guise of promoting ‘diversity and inclusion’”.

    The metaphor of infection is an interesting one – pursuing it, we might usefully ask how the malady ever managed to ‘take hold’ of its campus ‘hosts’ in the first place. Perhaps the beginnings of an answer are to be found in Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s The Coddling of the American Mind (2018). As its title suggests, the book is mainly concerned with the situation in the US, but it may well shed light on some of what is happening in the UK, too. The book charts the emergence of a culture of “safetyism” among so-called ‘iGen’ (i.e., the cohort of kids born from 1995 onwards). Coddled by parents while children, their lives subsequently delimited, scheduled and managed by a panoply of well-meaning, middle-class adults during adolescence, they arrive at early adulthood immature, unprepared for university life and incapable of resolving conflicts and difficult situations on their own. Challenging ideas, people, encounters, concepts, situations, subsequently come to be misrecognized as hostile and threatening to their safety or wellbeing. Haidt and Lukianoff’s claim is that, aided by highly risk-averse university administrators, iGens go on to establish campus cultures in which their instinctive, censorial impulses (“X offends me – no-one has the right to offend me”) are laundered through a style of therapeutic language that evokes such vulnerability it remains forever immune to scholarly criticism or intellectual challenge (“X threatens my wellbeing – no-one has the right to damage my health”).

    Amongst the recommendations Hillman makes to universities looking to challenge the free speech crisis on campus are balancing controversial speakers with other speakers with different viewpoints, supporting students’ unions to foster an open culture and reassessing formal procedures to ensure they are sufficiently robust. If Haidt and Lukianoff are right, it’s going to take a lot more than that.

    The Government presents plans for a UK Bill of Rights

    On Wednesday (22nd June), the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab unveiled a major overhaul of human rights laws with the draft UK Bill of Rights. It will effectively replace New Labour’s 1998 Human Rights Act, which incorporated the 1953 European Convention on Human Rights into UK law with the result that British courts have since had to take into account rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. According to the Telegraph, the bill will “make Parliament and the UK’s Supreme Court the ‘ultimate arbiters’ on whether and how to implement European court judgments”. As if to emphasise the need for the legislation, last week the (ECHR) granted an emergency injunction (a so-called rule 39 interim order) for a passenger on the government’s first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda until a High Court challenge on the legality of the government’s policy has been decided – this despite Britain’s High Court, three Court of Appeal judges and the Supreme Court giving the plane the green light for take off (Telegraph).

    Yet as the Justice Secretary himself was quick to point out in an op-ed for the Sun, curbing abuses of the human rights system is just one of the bill’s two “fundamental aims”. The other is to “strengthen traditional UK rights such as freedom of speech” – “under attack”, as he put it, “from expanding privacy law to stifling political correctness”.

    With the cancellation of the Kigali-bound flight still fresh in the memory, it was perhaps inevitable that in the media – and in the Chamber following Dominic Raab’s statement to the House – attention would focus on the questions the bill raises in relation to where the locus of judicial decision-making power on human-rights issues will lie once the legislation reaches the statute book.

    Some of the press coverage was, as Luke Gittos put it for Spiked, “hysterical”. The bill is racist, claimed some (Independent). It takes “a hatchet to the single most powerful rights tool this country has ever had”, claimed another (Guardian). Not so, shot back Lord Bellamy QC for ConHome. “This isn’t about rolling back on fundamental freedoms and protections in our country,” he said, adding that the UK remains committed to the ECHR. The issue is “simply that some provisions in the [Human Rights] Act have been interpreted as a duty to follow Strasbourg case law closely – leading to rulings that many people in our country invariably would not recognise as part of human rights”. This “undermines public confidence in the system and tends to give human rights a bad name”, which is why the Bill of Rights needs to “press the reset button” and make Parliament and the UK’s Supreme Court once again the “ultimate arbiters” on whether and how to implement European court judgments.

    On the issue of the bill’s other fundamental aim – “strengthen[ing] traditional UK rights such as freedom of speech” – it was left to the Mail and the Press Gazette to report that it would give whistle-blowers “extra confidence to speak to journalists”, with courts forced to meet “a higher bar before demanding that a journalist disclose a source’s identity”. At present, a court can order journalists to reveal their sources if there are grounds to show it would prevent a crime or is in the interests of justice or national security. An extra test will be added to the bill, ensuring that “a journalist will have to reveal a source only if there are exceptional and compelling reasons to consider it is in the public interest”.

    According to the Telegraph, ministers hope the bill will become law by the end of the year. The FT wasn’t so sure about that, warning that it “may face a choppy passage through parliament” – a view subsequently endorsed on Tuesday when the BBC’s Political Editor, Chris Mason, reported no fewer than four parliamentary committees already demanding the plans be “subject to the fullest amount of public and parliamentary scrutiny to ensure their appropriateness, practicality, and longevity”.

    In-house professional services now available to all FSU members at a discount

    Thor Holt is our in-house counsellor who provides pro bono psychological support to members when they’re in the eye of a cancellation storm. But he also provides other professional trusted counsel, such as finding investment for businesses in need, guiding stressed medics and lawyers through professional exams and helping people from all walks of life develop confident public speaking skills. You can contact him on WhatsApp +44 7906 321593 or on LinkedIn here.

    Fact and fiction – join Transgender Trend’s founder for a literary fundraiser!

    At a time when it is risky to question any aspect of gender identity ideology for fear of being accused of ‘transphobia’, Transgender Trend are hosting a fundraising event to “celebrate the pioneers who have had the courage to write and publish books on the issue” and it will feature, among other speakers, Professor Kathleen Stock, Helen Joyce, Dr Heather Brunskell-Evans and Milli Hill. Transgender Trend’s founder, Stephanie Davies-Arai, says that she has hand-picked books that, for her, “have facilitated public awareness and debate and sent a powerful message: authors have a right to freedom of thought and the subject of gender identity is not exempt from critique”.

    You can book tickets for the event here.

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    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member, please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture. You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Best wishes,

    1. It is funny that the Left have always sought to silence dissenting voices and the Right to enforce the consequences the responsibility freedom of speech provides.

    1. Good morning Anne

      Just as I was suggesting yesterday.. and now this article , thanks for the link .

      “I speculate but, by the good offices of Google, it transpires that polio is eradicated worldwide except in Pakistan and Afghanistan, thanks to Muslim fundamentalism and the Taliban. Could this be the problem? We have been the destination for thousands of immigrants from Afghanistan following the withdrawal of western forces In addition, in 2021 the UK finalised a treaty with Pakistan on illegal immigrants. In that year alone the UK granted more than 53,000 visas to Pakistani nationals. These included 9,700 student visas, representing a 78 per cent increase, and 4,600 work visas, a impressive increase, the British High Commission in Islamabad noted happily, considering the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdown did not deter that travel.

      What the British public deserves to know is whether this is a hyped up story about some insignificant vaccine shedding or whether our generous immigration and asylum policy is resulting in once vanquished diseases such as TB and polio being reimported to the country?

      The danger is that instead of demanding full medical checks of immigrants, the government puts more pressure on people to be constantly vaccinated whether they need it or not or whether the vaccines themselves are shedding the virus.

      In this case that is exactly what is happening – we all invited to get our polio booster. It is a win-win for big Pharma while not so good perhaps for our health?“

      2. Isn’t a far, far simpler approach to , well, I dunno… stop bringing in criminal gimmigrants?

  42. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/06/24/debt-time-bomb-disaster-tory-hopes-economic-revival/

    The reason we’re still in debt and the books aren’t balanced is because this government keeps spending money it hasn’t got. It’s as simple as that. Attempts to inflate it away, to tax it away are akin to lifting yourself out of a bucket by the handles.

    The solution is simple, but this government refuses to carry it out: Cut. Spending. Real terms cuts in state spending of 3-5% in every department are necessary and unavoidable. However these cuts need to be continued for 10 years or more to ensure a real terms reduction in state spending of 30-40%. Government is awash with our money. That needs to end. Taxes must be cut, the economy set free of the waste, incompetence and spite of the state’s taxes.

      1. The fundamental problem is capital accumulation which is a facet of capitalism which has to be dealt with to keep the system healthy.

        For forty years we haven’t bothered, and now we have a 1% that can buy half the globe and a 99% many of which don’t know how they will pay their next fuel bill or provide food next week.

        That’s the real price of inequality. Capital accumulation happens faster.

    3. Why do you worry over government debt in fiat currency we totally control?

      Why do you think the books must be balanced, they are running a country not a household, the correct analogy is a giant bank not a household.

      The inflation hasn’t been domestically generated by too much demand, demand is unchanged. It’s lacking supply in something everybody needs and can’t do without.

      Cuts simply cause unemployment and half-speed growth which is why we’ve got the champers out every single time they beat 1.5% annualised growth over the past dozen years. You can’t cut to growth, you can only cut into a deliberate recession like Thatcher did.

      Government is awash in its own money, it doesn’t spend yours. It takes your money from you to cause you to work for pounds not potatoes, to dent your demand so you don’t contribute too highly to inflation and to make you think about your behaviour. If you were not taxed a single penny the government could still provide all the services it does now but the average rate of inflation will be higher than 2%. That’s the trade-off.

      Cutting taxes now will increase demand at a time when supply can’t keep up with the current demand. Result:- more inflation.

  43. It;s not crazy to give British pensioners a pay rise…
    They get the worst deals in Europe…..
    says Stephen Glover D.Mail

    I read that as prisoners……!

      1. And will be again if all this strike action results in a general strike- which I suspect is a driving force.

      2. Prisoners of your own device.

        Many here voted for Boris, many wouldn’t listen that he’s useless.

          1. Could they really have been much worse.

            Can you name three decent policies since 2010?

            Have any Tory administration done anything they said they would do economically?

          3. Well they got voted in three times running. Some people must have been happy with them. Can’t say I ever met one though.

  44. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/23/dismal-truth-behind-why-many-brits-dont-want-work/

    Or, we could cut bennies and taxes and just leave people alone rather than adding to the tax credits and fiddling to benefit one group over another. Help all workers and boost productivity and just cut welfare. If folk complain, remind them it’s not their money.

    In the case of a single mother with children – where is the father? Why are they not contributing? Why are their parents not supporting?

    1. Bennies are 77 quid per week. A massive 4k per year. Just a day or two ago you were saying how hard it is to live on just 50k and how that’s not a lot of money. Imagine if you only had 4k per year with about half of it going on just gas and electric. The other half has to pay for council tax top up, rent top up, water, transport, food, flat services charges and ground rent ( not included in HB), phone and net.
      Good luck with that. See why they turn to crime? Nick a decent iPhone and that’s 3-400 quid in the bin.

  45. Severodonetsk: Ukrainian forces told to retreat from key eastern city. 24 June 2024.

    Ukrainian forces in Severodonetsk have been told to withdraw, according to the top regional official.

    The city is the focus of Russia’s invasion as Moscow tries to take control of large parts of east Ukraine.
    “Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn’t make sense,” Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai said.

    Russian forces have made advances in recent days and have nearly encircled the city, and its twin city Lysychansk.

    “They have received orders to retreat to new positions… and from there continue their operations,” Mr Haidai told Ukrainian television.

    One wonders how much of these forces are left?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61920708

    1. Dolly does chase big dogs. When they chase her she stops faster than they can and changes direction. While they go crashing into the undergrowth.

      Walking on the beach she saw her first horse. I wasn’t sure how she would react. She did follow it for a while but she came to me when called.

      1. Our border terrier had great fun playing a chasing game with a Great Dane on the beach at St Mawes in the 1950s – it was very comical to behold: the big dog took some time to stop but the terrier could stop and change direction on the spot. (I have told the story on this forum before)

    2. Is their story seldom told? Have they squandered their existence for a pocket full of mumbles?

  47. Anguish of young man who had sex organs removed on NHS then regretted it the same day… as he SUES NHS over gender reassignment surgery
    The unnamed man has said doctors did not warn him about the drastic outcome of gender reassignment surgery which has left him infertile and incontinent
    Campaigners say it is first medical negligence case over NHS transgender care
    He claims he was asked about surgery but delayed as he had doubts but went ahead over fears care he had been receiving for his gender problems would stop
    On Twitter, the man said that he had been effectively ‘castrated’ by the surgery
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10947483/Anguish-young-man-sex-organs-removed-NHS-regretted-day-SUES-NHS.html#newcomment

    I think it is only right that he should be awarded an enormous sum in compensation by the government.

    In fact don’t we all deserve to receive enormous sums from the government because they have encouraged us to believe that they should be responsible for everything and that we should not be responsible for any of our own decisions. So if that silly 25 year-old man had a willioscopy and his balls cut off it is the government and not the poor chap who should pay for the consequences. His responsibility is not just diminished – his responsibility for his actions is zero.

    1. Perhaps better still, sue the absolute backsides of the surgeons and any one else involved in this disgusting operation. And it might stop this sort of dreadful act being carried out again.

    3. They should be ordered to stitch his tackle to his forehead as a warning to all the other idiots who want to transit. Trouble is the streets would be infested with dickheads within months – and within days in BBC HQ and Parliament.

      1. What do you mean ‘within days?’ – BBC and Parliament are already overflowing with them

    4. He said he had “effectively been ‘castrated’ by the surgery”. If you have your tackle removed you HAVE been castrated, you idiot. Transgenderism is clearly a mental illness.

  49. Prince Charles expresses ‘personal sorrow’ at ‘slavery’s enduring impact’. 24 June 2022.

    The Prince of Wales has expressed his “personal sorrow” about “slavery’s enduring impact” and addressed the contentious issue of other Commonwealth countries cutting ties with the Royal Family in a speech at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda.

    At the formal ceremonial event in Kigali, which officially starts the leader-level CHOGM meetings, the prince called on Commonwealth leaders to join him in formally recognising the horrors of the slave trade and other difficult aspects of the colonial past.

    It was 200 years ago for God’s Sake!

    https://news.sky.com/story/prince-charles-expresses-personal-sorrow-over-slaverys-enduring-impact-at-commonwealth-meeting-in-rwanda-12639615

      1. Who is the bigger buffoon – Boris Johnson or the Prince of Wales?

        A pretty close call if you ask me!

        1. They were both infected with a deadly virus(to us) a very long time ago
          The WEF virus……..

      2. 17,000 British sailors in round numbers.
        “Sweet Water and Bitter” by Sian Rees is a well-researched book that gives the story of the operations of our Preventive Squadron over 60 years.

    2. Barbary Slavers and the Arab Slave Trade……..
      Just saying……
      There’s a reason Rule Brittania includes the line
      “Britons never never will be slaves”

    3. But less than 30 years since the genocide in Rwanda which he probably didn’t mention.

  50. Al-Beeb where the truth goes to die………

    BBC

    “
    Russian President Vladimir Putin has falsely claimed that Russian
    speakers in the Donbas have for years been the victims of genocide – one
    of the key justifications he uses for invading Ukraine.“

    So there you have it. All you need to know. The BBC have fact checked it.

    They don’t bother to elucidate or provide evidence for their claim. Just
    accept it, because you can trust us … seems to be their suggestion.

    1. Has the BBC ever fact-checked [sic] the truth of the slave trade as ‘genocide’?

      Genocide will go the way of fascism, a word so overused that it loses its meaning.

    2. I presume therefore that the BBC can’t read – as far as I recall the OSCE [hardly a Russian propaganda organisation] published a quite detailed report saying quite the opposite from the BBC report!

  51. Morning (just!) all,
    Not that it was widely publicised but, according to my chiropodist, the mask mandate in ‘healthcare settings’ was dropped sometime in May.
    However, the GP practice I have just left, prefers to keep some control over the very few patients it allows in. The chief bossy boots is continually posting hectoring notices on its farcebook page.
    The latest reads:
    “Dear Patients,
    Whilst Covid still remains a threat, we kindly ask that you continue to wear a face mask when entering the Practice. This is to protect our Patients and staff members who are vulnerable to the virus. We are aware that other health organisations have reduced their requirements of PPE but we agree that we must continue to remain covered to protect people, as is our duty.
    Sadly, there are still over 50 deaths per day in the UK from COVID.”
    Throughout, they have had a tent in the car park for seeing patients who can’t wear masks. Nobody is known to have used it so maybe everyone ‘complied’ though I wonder how they could maintain patient confidentiality through a flimsy canvas folly.

    1. ” …50 deaths per day in the UK from COVID…” That is over 18,000 a year. Really?

      1. Goodness knows where that figure came from. Even if it’s an official number, the vast majority won’t have died because of Convid.
        Anyway, they aren’t expecting people to think like that, just hoping to keep their patients cowed.

    2. That is total hogwash! Sounds like they should recruit that receptionist from hell that we had to deal with. It’s all about control.

      1. Receptionists should be redeployed to work on RNLI boats and certain hotels – that should deter lots of the illegal savages.

    3. Seeing patients may be their intent but the guys supporting the facility are obviously largely redundant.

    4. A contingent of nurses who were visiting Ascot were interviewed at the start of the Festival. They said that the rule about mask wearing had finally been ended and it was such a relief to get rid of the masks and to be able to talk to patients face to face again.

      1. I can imagine how pleased the nurses were. Shame on the local surgery for not following suit.
        Being able to see faces is essential for efficient communication for both patients and medical staff. Facial expressions can give so much information. A nervous patient can find much reassurance and comfort from a kind, sympathetic face on a doctor or nurse.

        Being able to see faces is also vital for speech and language development in babies and young children. One of our young grandchildren in Canada has a speech development problem. I was shocked when I found out that masks were mandated indoors when she started at kindergarten last September. She was still only 3. Not seeing the faces of teachers and classmates definitely causing issues.
        Goodness Conway.

    1. You never hear Muslim countries saying that we need more white Christians in the top jobs to create more role models.

        1. I hope it is not Covid but are you sure? It seems that the unvaccinated are far less likely to get it again than the fully jabbed are.

    3. The Tory version of Bliar. Just and other AH politico we could have been and would have been better off without.
      He set up free unrestrained travel from the middle east to almost any one who wanted to come here, he had them landed at military air bases and whisked off the prearranged destinations. I’ll bet none of them have done a days work or ‘earned their crust’ since, but have been pumping out kids via the NHS and living entirely off the British tax payers and will for the rest of their lives.

      1. The greatest mistake the Conservative Party made since the resignation of Blair was to select David Cameron rather than David Davis.

        1. Cameron was Eton-schooled; a glib speaker, trained by the 1922s who wanted him as ‘their’ man.

          Davis is just a bog-standard bloke.

        2. Cameron was Eton-schooled; a glib speaker, trained by the 1922s who wanted him as ‘their’ man.

          Davis is just a bog-standard bloke.

    4. We are offering the scum of the earth our jewel , this Sceptered Isle .

      This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
      This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
      This other Eden, demi-paradise,
      This fortress built by Nature for herself
      Against infection and the hand of war,

      This happy breed of men, this little world,
      This precious stone set in the silver sea,
      Which serves it in the office of a wall,
      Or as a moat defensive to a house,
      Against the envy of less happier lands,

      This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
      This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
      Fear’d by their breed and famous by their birth,
      Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
      For Christian service and true chivalry,

      As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
      Of the world’s ransom, blessed Mary’s Son,
      This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
      Dear for her reputation through the world,
      Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it,
      Like to a tenement or pelting farm:

      England, bound in with the triumphant sea
      Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
      Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
      With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:

      That England, that was wont to conquer others,
      Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
      Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,
      How happy then were my ensuing death!

      1. Alas, no longer a wall but a (back) passage for scrounging members of the soon-to-be, Caliphate Army.

    5. Would he say “Too many black Moslem faces in Lagos?”
      If not, then he’s a racist barsteward.

    2. Everyone who writes to me addresses me by my Christian name. Funny thing is, I don’t ever remember corresponding with most of them at all. My memory is failing, I suppose.

      1. If anyone other than friend or family calls me by my Christian name on the phone, I ask if we are acquainted, and proceed to inform him/her/it that it is the height of rudeness to address me in such an informal manner.
        It also annoys me when business emails use my Christian name. So far, I have managed to change my ‘details’ to include just title, initial and surname on some sites.

        1. When I logged on to a bank that I have been with for some time, It sent a pop-up message asking me to confirm details. I clicked on, read the details and confirmed. When I set up the details some many years ago I must have been in a bolshie mood. Suffice to say that I was not born in a South American country…

    3. Everyone who writes to me addresses me by my Christian name. Funny thing is, I don’t ever remember corresponding with most of them at all. My memory is failing, I suppose.

    4. Be careful Grizzly. Your suggestion could make you guilty of cultural appropriation unless you are a GoC (gangsta of colour).
      Would, ‘To whom it may concern’ offend anyone?

      1. What if they self identify as dogs or cats or some other non-human entity?

        1. In which case, we really need a term for “mentally deranged”, other than sir/ madam/ he/ she.

        1. My DiL seems to be easily offended and explodes at the tiniest thing, usually when she has twisted something I said.
          When their firstborn was a toddler, I gave some toy farm animals and a farmer. Though experience should have warned me, I was still shocked when she exploded at me for using ‘he’ for the farmer. Never mind that the vast majority of farmers are men.

          1. Why does your DIL explode … was she a troubled child with her own parents , does she have issues that are surfacing now ..

            She should show you more respect .

            It seems quite clear that she probably wasn’t invited to children’s parties .

            Can you remember that wonderful game and chant ” The farmer’s in his den”,

          3. These days, the line, ‘The farmer wants a wife.’ would work for female farmers too.

          4. These days, the line, ‘The farmer wants a wife.’ would work for female farmers too.

          5. I have no idea why she is like that but there is no respect whatsoever. Until he met her, our son was always lovely and considerate.
            She blows at other people too, so at least it’s not just me. She was once extremely rude to my mother-in-law. I was the only witness.
            Apparently one of her parents once warned her to treat him better or she’d lose him! Now there are children, and the way the older one (6) speaks to him is appalling.
            Buy hey-ho, I’m British so I am usual on safe ground discussing the weather. 🙂

          7. Keep us posted on your visit – you might need to let off some steam.

            We’ll be here to help save your saniity.

          8. Aw, bless you, that’s very kind. The need may well arise!
            A couple of months to go.

          10. If I didn’t have this outlet I might not be the sane and well-balanced woman that I am :0))

          11. I suspect a few of us might be in that category- I’ve certainly been a bit bonkers over the last several weeks.

          12. Only the last few weeks?? :0) You don’t have to be mad to be here – but it helps!

          18. Nope, just Canada. Damned colonials 🙂
            And she thinks the sun shines out of Turdeau’s rear end, fully supports jab and mask mandates along with all the other restrictions they have had – and still have.

          20. Hah, well if I was a rabid feminist this would make my tits twirl:

            I own my house outright. I spent blood, sweat and tears, eventually paying off the mortgage after I bought out my ex-husband, on our divorce.

            I am now hppily remarried. D’s name is not on the title of my property. I want to do a small lifetime mortgage deal and as part of that I am going to put D’s name on the title as joint owner – we have been together happily longer than I was with my ex- and D deserves it. After a lot of thought I had come to the decision that I was doing that anyway.

            So I got an application document from the lender – putting D’s name first as 1st applicant and me as 2nd applicant. It’s my bl**dy house! I’m the applicant (although D will be as well by the time it goes through)!!

            When I was much younger and buying my first property I got a clause deleted from my mortgage agreement on the basis that I pointed out that it was sexist for a professional single woman to have to agree to. Now, I can’t be bothered – I am not strident enough really to care.

            Someone who is still that insecure about being a female nowadays, has problems. Big problems.

          21. So are you going to send the form back and get them to reprint it? Or just not bother?

            It seems that as you are the applicant at the moment that you should get it changed as D is not yet the part owner.

          22. I am, but by the time the transaction is done we will both be owners. The paucity of some of these people is beyond belief, but as interest rates are going up by the day I will grit my teeth, as long as I know there will not be future repercussions. Plus we will both be owners by then. But, by gum, the people nowadays are poor, compared to what used to be the case.

          23. Hah, well if I was a rabid feminist this would make my tits twirl:

            I own my house outright. I spent blood, sweat and tears, eventually paying off the mortgage after I bought out my ex-husband, on our divorce.

            I am now hppily remarried. D’s name is not on the title of my property. I want to do a small lifetime mortgage deal and as part of that I am going to put D’s name on the title as joint owner – we have been together happily longer than I was with my ex- and D deserves it. After a lot of thought I had come to the decision that I was doing that anyway.

            So I got an application document from the lender – putting D’s name first as 1st applicant and me as 2nd applicant. It’s my bl**dy house! I’m the applicant (although D will be as well by the time it goes through)!!

            When I was much younger and buying my first property I got a clause deleted from my mortgage agreement on the basis that I pointed out that it was sexist for a professional single woman to have to agree to. Now, I can’t be bothered – I am not strident enough really to care.

            Someone who is still that insecure about being a female nowadays, has problems. Big problems.

          24. Couldn’t she have just painted the figure with long hair and/or a skirt (I can’t imagine a female farmer would wear that, but anyway)? Just never give anything with a model of a human again. Gosh, your poor son must suffer…

          27. I suspect that after we flew home, the farmer man may well have disappeared.
            I think my son does suffer. The way she used to speak to me even before they were married should have been a warning sign. His choice. From what I have seen of his in-laws, she probably gets her confrontational, strong-willed nature from her own mother.

          31. Not sure I would go that far. They both make us very welcome when we go for dinner once every trip, and the main thing is that they think highly of our son.

          32. Couldn’t she have just painted the figure with long hair and/or a skirt (I can’t imagine a female farmer would wear that, but anyway)? Just never give anything with a model of a human again. Gosh, your poor son must suffer…

      4. Let them take me to court then. I’ll simply stand there in the witness box and tell the world, “I’m nobbut an old, thick, fat, bald, smelly, stupid, pink Englishman who knows no better.” When cross-examined I’ll tell them, “I’m not very bright!”

        Joking apart, I’ve actually told cold-callers that I’m “not very bright”. They cannot hang up quick enough.

        1. One of my dear late aunties used to tell cold callers her policeman son handled that for her and he was just in the next room …..

        1. It wouldn’t offend the vast majority who are normal, decent people, just the ‘I -am-offended-by-anything-usually-on-behalf-of-some minority-group’ brigade.
          You are right – to WHAT it concerns :))

    5. How about Good morning. or afternoon, or even, evening.

      In true French style, one only says goodnight to one’s wife or lover.

        1. Hardly the opening for a letter of complaint, unless you are thinking of going round in person – with a whip!

  54. Just taken delivery of some compression stockings. Does anyone else have experience of wearing them?

    3. Yup. They are very comfortable. You may even wear them with shorts and sandals in summer and tell everyone you are German.

    5. Yes, when I had a massive heart attack and before Warfarin kicked in.

      Bearable/wearable.

    7. Alf does Phizzee. He wears one every day. I’ll tell him you’re asking about them but he probably won’t be back until late this evening. He has his specially made to measure coz he’s a bit taller than average!

      1. Thank you…

        ‘a bit taller than average’.
        That’s a big understatement ! He’s a good two feet taller than i am. :@)

    8. Good evening Phil. John here using vw’s iPad.
      I’ve been wearing one, on my right leg, for a number of years. I have to as I hade a DVT and Pulmonary Embolism 13 years ago and one of the arteries doesn’t work properly even though I’m on blood thinners for the rest of my life as I have a clotting blood condition.
      Make sure they’re not wrinkled and I find the easiest way to put them on is to pull the heal towards you so that the stockings turn inside out, apart from the foot. Then pull the stockings up your leg making sure they’re not wrinkled. Wea them during the day but taken them off at night. Hope that helps.

  55. From a link posted BTL in TCW….

    https://www.newagebd.net/article/117757/gates-foundation-vaccine-spreads-polio-across-africa

    MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates has made himself the global vaccine czar as
    his foundation spends billions on spreading new vaccines globally.
    While much attention has been given to the role of Gates behind the
    corrupt World Health Organisation in promoting radical untested
    coronavirus vaccines, the record of the Gates Foundation pushing an oral
    polio vaccine across Africa gives more sobering evidence that all Gates
    says and does is not genuine human charity. The UN has just recently
    admitted that new cases of infantile paralysis or polio have resulted in
    Africa from an oral polio vaccine developed with strong support from
    the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It mirrors what happened in the
    USA in the 1950s. This is worth a closer look.

  56. Right, that’s me logging off an heading towards Basingstoke.
    Van camping tonight, probably somewhere in Oxfordshire or Wiltshire.

    See you all later.

  57. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d985c3426fd4fd3298f3dc303a7cc2e5f4badd217d3d0fd330a35cc63471043e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff709f79fbd6a975dd88fac57cbe4a9703d981cb797d3210c6e2d191c530b555.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d5aa4bad1d63f3d6915b26f1f0e9b6e466b5ba48a34eb822dc49958e490d565.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1b3a1d7c2919752c44b3b2683d8ea89294f514a9c0e6e62c8f532c848b840252.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3673432c4af0d9d359ac022ce333ed8a99cf666b8a370b780611afaf8059906a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd6bc572c59fc85c16ef699f598bbed1b55b2ec90e8607f4650f53142f7addec.jpg

    3. There was a young maid from Madras
      Who had a magnificent ass;
      Not rounded and pink,
      As you probably think –
      It was grey, had long ears, and ate grass.

    4. There was a young girl with a beard
      Who said, “It is just as I feared!
      Two owls and a hen
      Four larks and a wren
      Have all built their nests in my beard.”

  59. England v New Zealand Match

    New Zealand 329 – all out .. England 27 for 9

    This score will be achieved in approximately six minutes from now.

    1. Thanks very much Ped – there are those who like to watch the highlights on TV without knowing that

          2. Opening batsmen crap again – why Root is popular I don’t know, he occasionally has a good bat but is unreliable

          3. He’s scored an awful lot of runs over the years. I’m sure the figures must be out there, but I wonder how many times he’s been the only difference between winning and losing?

  61. I emailed Uncle Bill telling him Nottlers were concerned about his wellbeing and when is he coming back…….He and the MR are in the South of France.

    ”Later. Maybe.

    In excellent heart and health.

    Just off for a walk along the sea”.

    I asked him if he was following Jesus. :@)

    3. Good to hear he and the MR are well, Phizzee. Thanks for asking on our behalf.

  62. Some companies are fwording stupid. My fitbit has been losing time. I go through the steps to fix it (none of which work) and end up removing it from their app.

    I try to re-add it. Does it work? Does it hell. Yes, Bluetooth is rubbish – it really, really is but their app gives no information on what’s going on, no feedback, nothing. Ok, most wouldn’t understand this, so let Android do the heavy lifting. What’s that? You are so appallingly written you won’t use the standard APIs? Ah, now I see the problem.

    I talk to their support guy and he goes through the most rudimentary ‘restart’ it routine and then gives up, saying ‘out of warranty, buy a new one.’

    If – IF he had tried, had put some effort in to helping me, had said… I can see this, do this.. now! then chances are I’d have bought a new device because I’d have had a good experience but no. Up theirs.

    Update as I wrote this: the bloody thing is working now.

  63. We drove to a farm this morning to buy some local produce.
    Total distance 46 miles.
    Petrol car did 46 mpg i.e. 4.5 litres @ £2 per litre = journey fuel cost of £9
    In an electric car doing 6 mikes per kWh @ £0.20 p per kWh = journey fuel cost <£1.60

    2. I like the idea of having an electric car. No gears, easier to drive, fuelling is at home rather than elsewhere. Preferential parking at work.

      Yet… our little runabout does about 400 miles to 40 litres. It’s adequate, cost us £9K. Aside from the cost, there’s upgrading the electricity feed to the house and knowing our luck something would blow up.

    3. The petrol car with regular maintenance will do 46 mpg for several years.
      The electric car new, cost two or three times as much to purchase. Each year of ownership its range will reduce because the batteries deteriorate. Evetually replacement batteries will exceed the cars value.
      I think we will stay with our diesel Landrover whose engine will last even longer than the petrol version.

      1. My Megane coupé diesel has 150k miles on the clock and returns 60mpg – no way will I replace it with an electric car

        1. My Peugeot 307 SW diesel has now 155k on the clock and also does 60mpg , I did think about replacing it with a Yeti, used car prices started to climb. so the idea was dropped . Mine really works hard and is a 06 plate .

          2. We use to have a 2 ltr auto diesel Passat. It was brilliant on a long run 55 – 60 to the gallon.
            I once drove all the way to Tuscanny.

      2. Ah the old LR I had a LWB 2.25 ltr series 2 petrol. It had a 65 litre long range tank on the rear left hand side and a 65 ltr water tank on the opposite sides, one over each rear wheel. The old ten gallon tank didn’t get us very far in 1979 when I was towing our 16 x 8 ft caravan from Adelaide to Northern Qld. I managed anything between 12 and 18 mpg. 🤭 and carried several emergency cans in the rear. I should have kept a record, but it was just something that we had to do.
        I can’t even imagine what it would cost today.

        1. Had a number of Landrovers over the years.
          Series III Lightweight being my favourite.
          110 safari.
          Discovery 200 series diesel (lasted a long time but spares were getting costly).
          Now on second diesel LR2 (Freelander II).
          If I wanted ideas for mods, Australia was the place to look.

          1. I could fitted another engine with much more power but it didn’t seem necessary before we set off.
            I had to replace the cluster layshaft in the gearbox. And reseted all the valves. But the old girl did the job. I worked with an Italian guy who owned a series 1 and it had been to the moon and back in mileage.

      3. I have a diesel 7-seat family car originally purchased for airport runs for children and grandchildren between our family home and their abode in Switzerland. It no longer does sufficient high speed milage to clean out sufficient soot in the diesel particulate filter and this will soon devalue the car by virtue of the accelerated build up of ash deposits which are not ejected during regeneration.

        I chose this diesel for its longevity but eventually discovered that the emission control exhaust components for Euro4 diesels presented insurmountable and costly maintenance issues.

        The warranty on a new EV will however last longer than my current driving licence.

        1. I can see why in those circumstances that you would consider an EV, but a big investment for short-term gain.
          As long as you can charge it economically and don’t do long journeys (especially in winter) a hybrid might be a good option.
          Until government change their tax rules on EV’s: very probable !
          Sorry I sound negative but from an environmental and economic point of view, EV’s seem to sit alongside wind generated electricity.

    4. Do let us know when your EV has done 88,000 miles and has environmentally “broken even”.

      2. If I ever get an EV I shall never do 88,000 miles.
        However I shall be able to environmentally break even because the latest off-grid solar panels can produce 1 kWh per day.
        Using a 12v battery bank as a float and connecting this to an 240v inverter I shall be able to accumalate up to 7 kWh per week for nothing apart from the initial cost.

        This amounts to over 40 miles range per week for a vehicle with outstanding acceleration, unsurpassed comfort and advanced instrumentation.

        Much better than even the latest mobility scooters.

          1. The planet can take care of itself as it has done for over four billion years.
            The planet may need humankind to sod off for its continued existence.

    1. With modern delivery systems, at least we won’t need to put up with the constant beeping of the box on the wall.

    2. This is now an alarming possibility – and is increasingly probable.

      For Boris – the boy who aspired to be World King – it offers a bizarre opportunity.

      The Chief Bear Poker could become Putin’s European Enemy-in-Chief in WWIII – thereby fulfilling Boris’s Churchillian fantasy …

  66. The EU is not bound by the ECHR, so why should the UK be?

    Why is it that nobody realises that the European Union (EU), as an entity, is not a member of the 46-member state Council of Europe.

    That means the EU as an institution is not bound by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), so individuals cannot put the EU before the European Court of Human Rights for any violations by the EU as a body.

    It also means that the EU Court of Justice, the (ECJ), is not bound by rulings from the European Court of Human Rights.

    This is despite all EU member states being required to join the Council of Europe in order to be a member state of the EU.

    The EU’s own 2009 Treaty of Lisbon requires the EU as a body, to be a member of the Council of Europe and to be bound by the ECHR.

    But, well over a decade later, the EU is still not a member of the Council of Europe.
    With the reason being, that back in 2014, the EU Court of Justice ruled that the EU joining the Council would not be compatible with EU law.

    That can be construed as, the EU will not agree to any challenge to its own supremacy.

    The UK now needs to follow suit and declare that membership of the Council of Europe is no longer compatible with UK law.

    Especially as Russia has withdrawn and been ejected from the council, but still technically remains a member until September 16 – meaning that the Russian judge stays in place, actively involved in deciding human rights cases. And that may have included the Rwanda flight ruling.

    Lester Taylor
    UK Independence Party Spokesman for Brexit and Northern Ireland

    1. Why HL ? Because the Brussels mafia hate us. And they enjoy making life as difficult as they possibly can for us. It’s as simple as that.

        1. Because our traitors in government don’t want to ignore EU rules – that’s why.

          2. Every now and then we should stir that expensive heap of compost that slowly rots in front of our eyes.

      2. And our government sucks it all up. And does nothing. Tw*ts.

        You know, sometimes I wish we had let them all stew in the two World Wars. They really don’t deserve what it cost this country.

      1. It’s still pushing out buds. Best it has ever been. The apple and the cherry have been a disaster. I blame the Tories !

        1. My apple trees are laden, but the June drop of my pears has been disastrous; there are hardly any left on the trees 🙁

    2. That is an amazing clematis. What is its name?
      Thinking of the next garden (when/if we get there).

        1. No. I posted some pics of jackmanii yesterday, it’s deep purple blue. I’m afraid I can’t remember the name of the maroon one you have though it’s equally good.

          3. Re: the fuchsias from Morrisons – I checked this afternoon and all the labels have Union flags on so they are British and not Dutch.

    3. I think I said this before but I love purple flowers- they are striking. Those are very lovely.

      1. Thank you kindly. It seems to be getting better and better. Even if you only have a small garden they can break up lines and create colour.

    5. Very nice. My clematis are blooming, too, but I don’t have any photos to post at the moment. I went out and dead-headed the purple ones this afternoon.

  68. It’s 24ºC here in Skåne, cloudless blue skies, warm sun and a light breeze. BBQ’s are going all around as this perfect midsummer weather has enhanced the mood at the traditional parties.

    Glad midsommar and Skål to all NoTTLers! 🍻🥂🥘

    1. Cheers ! Enjoy.
      Scallops, ham hock and quinoa with red rice. A few splodges of lumpfish caviar and a bottle of Monopole Champers that i was recently given by a Nottler… (foolish person !)

        1. What ! You gave me a liter of Gin that had a wearable bow tie on it ! Plus other treats.

          Hope your birthday is in the Autumn. Plenty of conkers around then. I’ll make you a necklace. :@)

      1. Thank you, Auntie Elsie. 1¼” thick rib-eye steaks; placed into a vacuum-sealed bag with olive oil, crushed garlic and thyme; then placed into a sous-vide bath at 53ºC for an hour before being placed on the BBQ over charcoal and cherrywood logs until smoky, charred on the outside and perfectly and tenderly medium-rare on the inside. Served with a mixed salad.

        3. I’ m drooling, Griz ….

          However, ‘a sous-vide bath’?? is above my pay grade …

          1. Plastic bag in hot water, with the air sucked out. If you don’t have the apparatus, try freezer bags (eg Ziplock) and squeeze the air out by and. Getting a proper vacuum is only needed if you are going to store before using.

      2. I love it also the smell of roasting meat. Not sure tonight- have steaks but may save them for tomorrow. Still very tired so we shall see.

      3. Most omnivorous people would disagree with you, Maggie. Meat sizzling is a sensation; especially when grilled by someone who knows what they’re doing.

        1. I’ll do a sizzle of meat and a fish wrapped in foil and greased with butter & herbs… lovely!

    4. You are lucky, Griz; in Argyll and Bute we had a max temp of19º – but overcast and dull all day :((

    5. Make the most of it Grizz and enjoy, it’s turned cloudy here from the south west and rain again. 🙄 typical English weather three sunny days and a thunder storm.

    1. Good for you, sweetie ! … x

      Wordle 370 5/6
      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟨⬜🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩$
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      I had a Bogey Five … and nearly ended up in the @x!&!

    2. A miserable six today.

      Wordle 370 6/6

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

    3. A par for quite a tricky one.

      Wordle 370 4/6

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

    4. Très bien.
      Wordle 370 4/6
      ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩
      ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩
      🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  70. HAPPY HOUR…. Busy Gardening!
    Of to clear up the rose prunings now it’s cooler…

    Liberals get in…….AARRGGHHHH!

    1. I think my sick sense of humour originated in the 60s with the question, “Would you be willing to have a Biafran baby for Christmas?”, with the “We usually have turkey, but…” .

      1. Yes, that’s rather like- “I like cats, just can’t eat a whole one.” Or summat.

  72. Scrap ‘unjust’ wedding fees to make marriage more affordable, urge vicars
    Charge of more than £500 to tie the knot ‘putting church weddings beyond the reach of the poorest’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/24/scrap-unjust-wedding-fees-make-marriage-affordable-urge-vicars/

    BTL

    We live in France but we got married in a Catholic Church in England 34 years ago. Of course Father Patrick, our delightful priest, did not ask us for any money but naturally we gave him what people told us was an appropriate sum and invited him to the parties after the service. We are still in touch with him and we made a point of going to see him when we were in England and introduced our two sons to him.

    By contrast the Anglican priest in the parish where I had grown up wanted an inordinate amount of money just for reading the banns and before even saying ‘Congratulations’ or wishing us well the repulsive little twerp of a vicar was after the money.

    This has left me with the lasting impression that the Church of England is a mean-spirited money grubbing outfit and the Catholic Church is far more civilised.

    1. Agenda 30 Global Sustainability. People who’ve had their genitalia removed can’t breed.

    2. …and what proportion of the population is made up of homosexuals and other quite queer people?

    3. What a strange coincidence that he’s out of the way for a few days after these terrible election results.
      It’snot anything special. 👃💥shame really.

    4. What a strange coincidence that he’s out of the way for a few days after these terrible election results.
      It’snot anything special. 👃💥shame really.

  76. Decided to re-watch the Color Purple. I wonder if Whoopie remembers her role in that film and realises it is mostly black on black. And that the Britain was instrumental in putting a stop to it.

        1. Mine was the Brontes.
          How are you getting on, Tom? Tough time you are going through.

          2. I’ve just read your tale of woes, Tom. So sorry for the mess in which you find yourself, and I hope the situation resolves itself happily for all concerned. My thoughts are with you.

          3. Thank you too, Sue.

            I don’t know how far you are from Moffat but we might end up as neighbours.

          4. You are closer to our daughter on the farm, but not so far from us! We’re just west of Falkirk!

  77. Paul McCartney hits Frome, Somerset before heading for Glastonbury.
    ITV News..

    News presenters listen up……………….it’s pronounced FRUME!

    1. One of my all time favourites, remember seeing Ella in concert in Birmingham, too many years ago!

        1. Of course we are…..beautiful as well!!
          How’s the face, healing well, I hope ;-))

      2. Two of my teenage favourites; I saw Ella with Oscar Peterson in Dublin c1966 …

    3. Beautiful music and lyrics, fabulous performances (vocal and instrumental), a superb arrangement and wonderful visuals – what’s not to like?

    1. An unlikely combination of Bluegrass Alison and Robert Plant. I loved their version of Black Dog.

  80. Great Britain is decaying before our eyes

    Of course people are furious: nothing works, nobody is working, and everything is going to the dogs

    CAMILLA TOMINEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 24 June 2022 • 5:00pm

    Britain isn’t working – and that’s surely the main reason why the Conservatives lost Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield.

    Debating whether Boris Johnson is still the Tories’ prize pooch is a bit of a dead cat right now. Because in reality these results speak less about “Big Dog” and more to the growing sense that our beloved country is going to the dogs.

    Take the Devon seat relinquished by Neil Parish after an internet search for tractors heralded an altogether different definition of the term “ride on”.

    Yes, partygate was a factor. Voters were still angry that a government which set a ridiculous set of rules then went on to break them while pretending that they hadn’t. It shouldn’t have happened, it was badly handled and it has consequently tarnished the Tories’ reputation as the party of law and order.

    Yet according to the activists who spent recent weeks leafleting the cul de sacs of this once “true blue” constituency, the number one concern on the doorstep actually had nothing to do with Westminster politics. It was a local issue concerning Tiverton High School.

    The state secondary, which educates close to 1,400 pupils, is falling apart. Last year, rain leaked through the roof of the English department, damaging GCSE coursework.

    Asbestos has been discovered in the girls’ toilets; paint is peeling off the walls; mould is growing on the windows. Unsurprisingly, the locals aren’t very happy about it. Instead of uniting around the Conservative candidate, Helen Hurford, parents, residents and local businesses launched a “Fund Our Tivvy High” campaign, backed by the actress Caroline Quentin, who lives nearby.

    As Adam Wishart, the convenor of the campaign, explained on Sunday: “This is one of the safest Conservative seats in the country. But people feel let down. They have been promised this school would be fixed for more than 15 years. It is rated a ‘good’ school but the buildings are 60 years old and not fit for purpose.”

    Tiverton High is just one of 8,000 schools believed to have been judged as in bad or poor condition by a government survey, carried out between 2017 and 2019, with 1,300 schools in need of immediate repair. Yet what has the Government done about it? It has commissioned another survey of the state of all school buildings, due to finish in 2026. Well, what better way to pretend you are taking action on something than to “launch a review”? Since last spring, just 100 schools have been chosen to be rebuilt, of which only four are in the South West.

    The feeling on the ground is clearly that safe seats have been taken for granted in favour of Red Wall marginals.

    Another big issue for Tiverton and Honiton constituents was the lack of NHS dentists. In an echo of last November’s North Shropshire by-election, when the Lib Dems also took the seat from the Tories, concerns about health – and specifically the lack of access to GP and dental appointments – once again came to the fore.

    This is obviously an issue across the country. There couldn’t be a better example of Britain not working than Natasha Waterfield, a Lincolnshire pensioner, this week being forced to remove her own tooth with a pair of pliers. Told to wait 18 months for an appointment in an area where just 32 dentists undertake NHS work for every 100,000 people, Ms Waterfield had no choice but to extract the tooth herself, bit by bit, over the course of an agonising three hours.

    These are the kinds of issues that really matter to people. And when the public perceives the Prime Minister as a liar, then they are even more unlikely to believe his boasts about “20,000 new police officers” or “50,000 nurses” or “40 new hospitals” when the local school is falling down and people are taking to their own pearly whites with tools from the garden shed.

    The picture was similar in Wakefield, where polling by JJ Partners found that there were more reasons swing voters chose Labour than just Johnson’s leadership. Thirty six per cent cited the fact that the Tories had “raised taxes on ordinary people” while 28 per cent pointed to the NHS backlog and 26 per cent referenced police cuts.

    There is clearly a perception, from the Red Wall to the Tory shires, that the UK has gone wrong. Life is becoming more difficult for everyone – and the Conservatives, the supposed can-do party compared with Labour’s crop of can’ts – don’t seem to be doing anything about it.

    While I appreciate there are forces that the Government can’t control such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has pushed the cost of everything up, not to mention coronavirus – this decay has still happened under its watch. It’s all very well blaming lockdown but since the entire political class decided to shut down the country, the onus is now on them to come up with solutions to the problems we now face.

    We have got travel chaos leading to mass disappointment over the summer holidays while the rail strikes are causing mayhem for the productive classes.

    In both cases, however, the Government’s response appears to be to blame the travel and rail sector for failing to prepare for post-pandemic staff shortages rather than acknowledging its own failures, such as the delay in widening the post-Brexit skilled workers visa scheme to plug the gaps with EU workers.

    Meanwhile, the NHS is so overflowing that people are living in fear or getting ill or, God forbid, even developing a mild case of periodontitis. If they do finally get through to the local surgery after playing an 8am game of fastest finger first, they then have to perform Jedi mind tricks on the receptionist to secure a face-to-face appointment before Prince George takes the throne.

    To be fair to surgeries – at least you can still physically call them. Sadly the same cannot be said of most other taxpayer-funded institutions which wouldn’t deign to give the people who pay their wages a telephone number, let alone have an actual conversation with them.

    A number of my girlfriends are still struggling with passport issues, including one who was told the best way to secure a fast-track appointment was to check the Gov.uk website at 3am. In the end, her tech-savvy husband resolved to create a computer programme to check for slots without her having to refresh it all the time and she finally managed to get one in Peterborough. It took her hours to get there though, because – and you must have noticed this yourself – there appears to be at least one set of temporary traffic lights on every route you take in Britain today, including our motorways which are all being dug up to make way for incredibly stupid “smart” versions that will only end up killing more people.

    Another reason Britain isn’t working is that millions of people who could work simply don’t want to. They’re either sitting around on benefits or retiring early on triple-locked pensions. Meanwhile, those of us who commute to work – when Mick Lynch and his fellow Marxists haven’t ground the railways to a halt – are forced to give an increasing proportion of our hard-earned cash to an Exchequer seemingly intent on taxing us more than even Jeremy Corbyn had planned.

    It’s bizarre that a fellow socialist like Lynch appears to be winning the argument on strikes while running rings around ministers and the commentariat. But then again, there’s a gap in the market for someone offering any alternative analysis on why Britain is broken and what needs to be done to fix it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/24/great-britain-decaying-eyes/
    _______________________________________

    BTL:
    Altec Lansing
    The culmination of 70 years of social paternalism (nanny state), fiscal incontinence and soviet-style nationalised industries/services. It’s not rocket science. It was only a question of when it all fell apart, not if.

    Jim Torrance
    And poor education for most people since the ’60s. Now we are reaping the “benefits”.

    John Corfield
    We need a pro-Brexit junta to take over from Johnson to declare a national emergency to sort out the channel invasions and the Northern Ireland Protocol; to hunt down the Remainer saboteurs and kick them out of the Civil Service, quangos and local government; to declare war on woke and make it a criminal offence to treat white peoples of the England as 2nd-class citizens; to arrest every rapist and child molester let off by the police in the northern and county towns and jail them for life, then take away their British Passports.

    I could then vote for the Conservative Party.
    _______________________________________

    Own up. Which of you is John Corfield?

    1. He missed out congestion charges for those who had to commute by car because the railways were shut down.

    2. Could be any one of us. I have to say that voting Lib Dem in North Shropshire has done absolutely nothing to improve ambulance waiting times, access to GPs or the ability (as I’ve showcased here in the last couple of days) to get a dental appointment. She does get her photo in the papers a lot, though.

  81. Evening, all. What concerns me about the by-election results is that the Lib Dems and Labour seem to be the beneficiaries. The LDs even won a council seat near Bridgnorth. People are not voting for alternatives (and I don’t mean the Greens). The Reform candidates would have lost their deposits. We are suffering from eco-lunacy which was started by the Lib Dems. Why would people vote them in to continue the misery?

    1. Ogga does have a point? People seem blind to the LibLabCon one party globalist coalition and just keep voting for their own demise.

      1. That was the impression I got. Why vote for more of the same if you want change?

    2. Tactical voting, Conway! They want rid of Boris the bad! They really don’t want the limp dumbs!

      1. It makes absolutely no sense to me to vote for something you don’t really want to avoid something you really don’t want!

          1. Yep, and they all seem to be in Westminster! And the Supreme Court in Washington DC.

      2. I don’t see how people can vote “tavtically”. Surely it would depend on knowing how others are going to vote. Doesn’t make sense to me

    3. Evening C,
      Tis what the lab/lib/con supporter / voters have been doing these last near four decades, without such dedication we could never have got into such a state of
      odious shite as a nation.

    4. Because they believe the eco loons are right and we’re all going to fry if we don’t stop driving, flying, burning coal and gas before 2050.
      And they are stupid enough to think that this country going back to the dark ages will save the world.

  82. And now the time has come for me to go…. bloody worn out again.
    I don’t like what is going on this western world right now….
    Sleep well Y’all.

    1. It’s a shame we Nottlers can’t have our own little island.
      Goodnight Lotl.

  84. Regarding the By election reversals for the Tories it seems likely that many true conservatives simply failed to vote. Of course the ridiculous Liberal Democrats will crow and the dead in the water Labour Party will claim a resurgence.

    None of this has anything whatever to do with the Parties. It has everything to do with the growing national despair with Boris Johnson and his utterly useless government. Promises are not broken but rather smashed to smithereens. No sentient being actually believes in the eco lunacy and many are finally waking up to the eco terrorism of ‘vaccines’ and lockdowns and the threat of vaccine passports.

    We have a government directed not by the people they are supposed to serve but by unnamed globalist bankers and corporations whose front man is the ludicrous Klaus Schwab character. A Nazi if ever we wondered what they resemble, him, Gates, Soros and Zelensky being the mere tip of the iceberg.

    We are witnessing pure unadulterated evil on a global scale. Eventually and very soon the entire corrupt system will implode. The future is not in globalist corporations and artificial intelligence. The future is rather in the reestablishment of personal contacts, face to face meetings with colleagues and friends, shopping at a local level via farm shops, the revival of market gardens, the preference for natural organic food as opposed to some construct made in a genetic farm laboratory or crops genetically modified to kill us all.

    We are free spirits in England and famous for it. We need to regain our purpose in life which is to learn, teach and lead. Boris Johnson is unable to learn, unable therefore to teach and unable to lead. He is, like his accomplices Biden (Obama), Macron and Trudeau a complete and total fraud.

      1. Thank you Conners.

        Just checked on the cricket test at Headingly. That left me with a warm feeling and that all is not lost, even when earlier in the day I had thought disaster loomed.

        It proves it just takes a few purposeful individuals with genuine intent to halt a decline and change direction. I am not really thinking just of cricket but of every walk of life.

        1. That is very true. All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.

    1. Thank you both so much. I am feeling older but friends say I ‘do not look 70’ which leaves me with a ‘rosy glow’.

      The past two years have taken their toll and I decided to retire. Now looking to move from our historic pile to something more manageable. I am just trusting that we have not left it too late given the volatility of the property market in these parts.

      Encouragingly we had a viewing today by a couple from London. The names were familiar and on checking they were an author and her partner who had just sold a house that was featured in Grand Designs in its early days. Both were very interested in the story of our place and tactile, touching the old oak and elm beams and boards. This place would be a complete opposite to their previous smooth concrete and timber edifice.

      Another viewing on Sunday.

        1. Ta NtN. I humbly approve of your sentiment. I also positively hope you can find the accommodation you need and that you may find renewal and happiness in a new home and new community.

          1. Thank you, Corim, that is a nice wish and I shall do all I can to live that dream.

        1. Thank you Jill. Much appreciated.

          Buying and selling houses in England is a nightmare. This I hope will be my last exposure before succumbing to whatever virus Bill Gates and his pure evil medico mates decide to unleash upon us plebs.

    2. Happy Birthday! Not sure which direction to face when singing it – am chez friends in Norwich – so I’ll just have to up the volume and hope for the best. Wishing you a wonderful day.

    8. Congratulations on a fine achievement :-)).
      Have a really great day from vw and me.

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