Friday 28 June: Why has defence been given such short shrift during this election campaign?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

621 thoughts on “Friday 28 June: Why has defence been given such short shrift during this election campaign?”

    1. Heavens above, tsc really did make that statement.

      it might suit the farmers, I wonder what the dei government bureaucrats would say.

  4. SIR – Ed Cumming asks: “Who does David Tennant think he is?” (“Privileged and liberal but happy to silence those with whom he disagrees”, Features, June 27).

    He is one of many luvvies who think success in their day job gives them an opportunity to display their Leftist, woke credentials.

    Political parties of all colours have always been keen to attract support from celebs – think Steve Coogan, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson – not to mention football commentators. In the United States, a B-list actor even became president.

    Martin Henry
    Good Easter, Essex

    Reagan was a giant even then. Today, he would be a colossus.

    1. Good morning, Minty. It looks like Geoff posted Friday's page at around 1am today. It's looks like he's having a well-deserved lie-in. I personally shall now go outside and do an hour's gardening whilst the outside temperatures are more bearable.

    2. Good morning, Minty. It looks like Geoff posted Friday's page at around 1am today. It's looks like he's having a well-deserved lie-in. I personally shall now go outside and do an hour's gardening whilst the outside temperatures are more bearable.

  7. Good morning, chums, and thank you Geoff for Friday's NoTTLe site. An interesting Wordle result for me today.

    Wordle 1,105 4/6

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  9. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story

    Politics and The Family

    A little boy goes to his dad and asks: "what is politics?"

    The dad says: "well son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me Capitalism. Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the Government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the People. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense."

    So, the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his nappy. So, the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

    The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think that I understand the concept of politics now."

    The father says, "That’s good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is
    all about."

    The little boy replies, "Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in Deep Shit."

  10. 388958+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Friday 28 June: Why has defence been given such short shrift during this election campaign? even the voting majority of fools can recognise a set up allusion.

    Post the actions of treacherous "miranda" the political park toilet ghoul ( wanna good time mister) PM, things have got worse on a DAILY BASIS.

    Even your current lab/lib/con supporter / voter has not the brass neck to try and defend the defence issue at the same time as giving succour to the foreign enemas BIG TIME via 5* hotel treatment, etc,etc.

    We have as a nation no need to go seeking overseas,. other culling material, we have established it firmly on home turf via the polling stations.

    NEVER has a criminal received such support as that found within the British badlands, actually being paid and allowed paedophilia to take a firm grip within society is one odious issue, having received shelter from the paedo umbrella department as revealed by the JAY report for the "good of the party and diversity.

    Via the bent twisted majority voter actually, in my book, offering up their kids for the sake of diversity regarding other bent twisted bastards in PIE.

    2. In Co Fermanagh for a few days, after yesterday's storm, overcast and cold.

  14. Why has defence been given such short shrift during this election campaign?

    Why has net zero been given such short shrift during the election campaign?

    2. Perhaps because Reform want to cancel Net Zero and Farage doesn't think the Ukraine deserves the West's Crusade.

  15. It's good to see the so called right wing mainstream media are now out to smear Reform.
    You would understand it from the BBC, Channel 4 and the Guardian.
    They must be very afraid, very afraid indeed.

    1. I agree with you how very tiresome it is for off-the-cuff remarks to be whipped up into something that is worse than genocide, whilst genuine crimes, such as the mass fraud conducted by major institutions such as finance houses and the Post Office go unpunished. How many burglars caught and convicted in the last three years? How many stabbings resulted in anything more than an indulgent tut-tut from social justice warriors? All this guff about privatised business putting in the necessary investment upgrading Victorian infrastructure, put in when the world's population was less than a quarter of what it is now, has led to the totally negligent behaviour of regulators allowing these business interests to pocket forced collection of money from householders as they close down reservoirs and allow raw sewage to be routinely pumped into our waterways.

      That said, what has put me off voting for Reform has nothing to do with media behaviour, but simply over the quality of their local election literature. I wanted to hear who their local candidate is and what he has to say. I don't want slogans or national pre-prepared party statements shouting at me things I know very well already, such as their feelings about excessive immigration.

      These ring hollow with me.Two very determined Tory Home Secretaries, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, have very similar views about immigration, and yet however hard they tried, they got nowhere addressing the issue. What makes Reform think they could do any better? I want an answer, not slogans.

      1. That's really not much of a reason to reject Reform. They haven't had much time to get their act together with leaflets. Nor do they have the resources of the large parties.

        1. Anyone standing for Parliament, even an Independent with no party resources, is capable of addressing the constituency electorate with answers to the two key questions: 1. Who are you? 2. What are you going to do? They could be handwritten and posted up in a shop window for all I care, and if they make sense it would win my vote.

          In 1992, John Major, frustrated by his very professional campaign team inherited from Thatcher, grabbed a soap box and stood on street corners answering these two questions. The turnround of his support in that election from that moment on was remarkable.

          To be fair, this is the approach Farage takes when he gets going, and may well win the Red Wall over, but here in West Worcestershire I want to hear rather more from Chris Edmonson.

          1. So write to him and offer your help. Maybe he hasn't done this before and is unsure.

          3. Tell me where in West Worcestershire they are holding one, and I’ll endeavour to get there.

      2. From what I read, they had very little money to fund the campaign, unlike the monster uni-party. So you are being very unfair. Why couldn't you have offered to do a website for their local election literature given you feel so strongly – and you have the IT skills?

      3. Most of Reform UK candidates are self funding and relying on local help with leaflets etc. If you want to find out about him/her go to a local hustings.

        1. The last time we had a local hustings was in 2015. These days, the parties rely on the TV debates from the leaders. The leaflet I got only had pictures of Tice and Farage.

          1. We had to print off our own Reform leaflets starting with a ‘Head Office’ template example. The national Reform postal leaflet drop has oddly not happened here.

          2. I remember not long ago you mentioned your constituency, could I ask you for it please?

    3. I get the impression that the MSM are actively looking for gaffes from Reform candidates, or digging up incidents from their past. They don't seem to be doing this with the other parties…

  16. Vladimir Putin’s latest escalation has hit far too close to home. 28 June 2024.
    .
    Russian hackers have caused chaos in the NHS and put patients in danger. This month, one of the most serious cyber attacks we have ever faced hit London hospitals and GP surgeries by locking pathology service providers out of their own IT systems. This has forced more than 1,100 operations to be postponed, including cancer treatments and organ transplants. Thousands of outpatient appointments have been cancelled and vast numbers of patients’ records stolen, some of which have been published on the dark web. They include results of blood tests for cancer and HIV.

    This is propaganda for children. Farage has cast doubt on the raison d'être for the war so we must make the peasants feel that Putin is a personal threat. He’s attacking that wonderful institution the NHS. Ergo we must send more missiles to Ukraine. One could point out that even if he were doing so he could hardly exceed the damage caused by the stupidity and incompetence of the political classes.

    P.S. No comments allowed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/28/putin-latest-escalation-has-hit-far-too-close-to-home/

    1. Why would those pesky Russians bother to 'hack' the NHS IT system? On past performance of government IT systems, it would as effective as firing a torpedo at the Titanic as her stern was already rising from the water.

  17. That went well for Joe Biden?
    Cue: the media primed to suddenly "discover" that Joe has dementia.. then fast track "anointment" of Michelle Obama as Democratic Presidential Candidate.

    2. How did they miss that ?
      Oh I think I understand what has been happening.
      The biggest problem is that the 'THEY' has been thinking that nobody has noticed.

      1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        Presidential debate: Joe Biden was painful to watch
        Comments Share 28 June 2024, 6:42am
        These weren’t the Lincoln-Douglas debates. They weren’t Kennedy-Nixon. If those were graded ‘A’, then this was ‘C-minus’, at best. Both candidates filled the air with hyperbole. Trump led the way, as usual, calling everything he did ‘the best ever’, and everything Biden did ‘the worst’. He doesn’t favour shades of grey.

        Biden responded in kind. He was right to emphasise Trump’s hours of silence during the 6 January attack on the Capitol. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to repeat what he surely knows is a lie about Trump’s comments after Charlottesville. And he kept going, trying to link Trump directly neo-Nazis.

        It could have been worse. The CNN format was far better than previous debates. Keep it. Ditch the audience and allow only one mic at a time. The moderators’ questions were fair and tackled the big topics, as they should have. The debate would have been more informative if each candidate had time for a second rebuttal. That would have encouraged more debate over several major issues. Perhaps they can make that change next time.

        What will stick in voters’ minds?

        Most popular
        Douglas Murray
        David Tennant’s pride and prejudice

        First, Trump is the same guy they either loved or hated the last time around. He hurt himself with inflated self-praise, bombastic language and turning his criticism of Biden up to 11 each time he spoke. Still, his performance was far better than his first debate in 2020, when he repeatedly interrupted Biden and came off as a bully. He avoided that trap this time, partly because of the format, partly because he didn’t disregard the rules. Trump’s major plus was that he drove home his main points about inflation, immigration, the economy and foreign wars.

        For Biden, the message is far darker. Frankly, it must have been painful for many viewers to watch. They could see a man who is simply too old, infirm and cognitively challenged to perform the world’s most difficult and dangerous job for the next four years. In fact, he doesn’t look fit to do it now. Unfortunately for him, his party and the country, those problems will only get worse.

        Biden’s visible difficulties raise the grim possibility that he might not finish a second term and would give way to Kamala Harris. Voters, faced with that prospect, have consistently said, ‘No!’ Asked for a second opinion, they said, ‘Oh, God, no!’ Expect Trump and the Republicans to pound that home. They’ve already begun rolling out advertisements with that theme.

        Biden’s biggest problem wasn’t just that he nearly went blank 14 minutes and 22 minutes into the debate and, less obviously, during his concluding statement. It wasn’t just that he seemed to say Trump had left him with 50 per cent unemployment. Those gaffes mattered mostly because they turned a spotlight on Biden’s insoluble problem: he is a man in obvious physical and cognitive decline, a shadow of the man who campaigned in 2020.

        The president looked dreadful and sounded hoarse. At times, his face looked blank, like those painted eggs where they have sucked out everything inside. It’s obvious why he refuses to take cognitive tests or hold press conferences. What the public saw on the debate stage made it all visible. Unavoidable.

        Biden’s supporters, led by his wife, Jill, respond that the two candidates are roughly the same age. That’s true, but it’s misleading. The issue here isn’t age alone. The issue is the terrible damage age has wrought on Joe Biden. Ninety minutes on stage made that visible. Trump has made occasional mental slips on the campaign trail — though none in the debate — but he is obviously more coherent and mentally fit than his opponent.

        In sum, the debate probably left viewers with the feeling that both candidates are sticking with the issues that help them, selling them the way they always have. Nothing new there. Nor is there anything new with Trump’s personality or energy, whether you like them or not. There’s nothing new about Biden’s policies, either. He says they are working just fine. Polls show voters don’t think so. What is new is what voters could finally see on stage: what the White House has worked so diligently to hide. Biden is in rough shape. And it won’t get better.

        1. Poor Joe: breaking up mentally isn't any fun, and seeing yourself deteriorate makes it worse.

          1. He should have retired gracefully and left the next elections to a younger candidate.

        2. I don't like Biden or his politics but I detest the Democrat manipulators (Obama & Co) who put a demented old man up for this debate.

        3. It must have been really pathetic for the BBC and the rest of the left wing crowd to have to admit it wasn't the best. I think it is a ploy to force him out of office and install another muppet, like Kamalhumped Harris or Obama II.

      2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        Presidential debate: Joe Biden was painful to watch
        Comments Share 28 June 2024, 6:42am
        These weren’t the Lincoln-Douglas debates. They weren’t Kennedy-Nixon. If those were graded ‘A’, then this was ‘C-minus’, at best. Both candidates filled the air with hyperbole. Trump led the way, as usual, calling everything he did ‘the best ever’, and everything Biden did ‘the worst’. He doesn’t favour shades of grey.

        Biden responded in kind. He was right to emphasise Trump’s hours of silence during the 6 January attack on the Capitol. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to repeat what he surely knows is a lie about Trump’s comments after Charlottesville. And he kept going, trying to link Trump directly neo-Nazis.

        It could have been worse. The CNN format was far better than previous debates. Keep it. Ditch the audience and allow only one mic at a time. The moderators’ questions were fair and tackled the big topics, as they should have. The debate would have been more informative if each candidate had time for a second rebuttal. That would have encouraged more debate over several major issues. Perhaps they can make that change next time.

        What will stick in voters’ minds?

        Most popular
        Douglas Murray
        David Tennant’s pride and prejudice

        First, Trump is the same guy they either loved or hated the last time around. He hurt himself with inflated self-praise, bombastic language and turning his criticism of Biden up to 11 each time he spoke. Still, his performance was far better than his first debate in 2020, when he repeatedly interrupted Biden and came off as a bully. He avoided that trap this time, partly because of the format, partly because he didn’t disregard the rules. Trump’s major plus was that he drove home his main points about inflation, immigration, the economy and foreign wars.

        For Biden, the message is far darker. Frankly, it must have been painful for many viewers to watch. They could see a man who is simply too old, infirm and cognitively challenged to perform the world’s most difficult and dangerous job for the next four years. In fact, he doesn’t look fit to do it now. Unfortunately for him, his party and the country, those problems will only get worse.

        Biden’s visible difficulties raise the grim possibility that he might not finish a second term and would give way to Kamala Harris. Voters, faced with that prospect, have consistently said, ‘No!’ Asked for a second opinion, they said, ‘Oh, God, no!’ Expect Trump and the Republicans to pound that home. They’ve already begun rolling out advertisements with that theme.

        Biden’s biggest problem wasn’t just that he nearly went blank 14 minutes and 22 minutes into the debate and, less obviously, during his concluding statement. It wasn’t just that he seemed to say Trump had left him with 50 per cent unemployment. Those gaffes mattered mostly because they turned a spotlight on Biden’s insoluble problem: he is a man in obvious physical and cognitive decline, a shadow of the man who campaigned in 2020.

        The president looked dreadful and sounded hoarse. At times, his face looked blank, like those painted eggs where they have sucked out everything inside. It’s obvious why he refuses to take cognitive tests or hold press conferences. What the public saw on the debate stage made it all visible. Unavoidable.

        Biden’s supporters, led by his wife, Jill, respond that the two candidates are roughly the same age. That’s true, but it’s misleading. The issue here isn’t age alone. The issue is the terrible damage age has wrought on Joe Biden. Ninety minutes on stage made that visible. Trump has made occasional mental slips on the campaign trail — though none in the debate — but he is obviously more coherent and mentally fit than his opponent.

        In sum, the debate probably left viewers with the feeling that both candidates are sticking with the issues that help them, selling them the way they always have. Nothing new there. Nor is there anything new with Trump’s personality or energy, whether you like them or not. There’s nothing new about Biden’s policies, either. He says they are working just fine. Polls show voters don’t think so. What is new is what voters could finally see on stage: what the White House has worked so diligently to hide. Biden is in rough shape. And it won’t get better.

  18. That went well for Joe Biden?
    Cue: the media primed to suddenly "discover" that Joe has dementia.. then fast track "anointment" of Michelle Obama as Democratic Presidential Candidate.

  20. Labour won’t stop the boats. It’ll send migrants to your village. 28 June 2024

    God knows who all these people are and what their real business is in our country. After all, many deliberately arrive with no documents, jettisoning passports and other identification before they clamber into the rubber dinghies. Some may indeed be real refugees who deserve sanctuary. One day, maybe they will even make a positive contribution to our society – though there is little evidence to suggest that most are high-skilled in anything other than the enterprise it takes to cross continents and deal with criminal gangs.

    It would probably be easier to admire or approve of any of these sentiments if it were not for the MSM's silence over the last fourteen years.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. I suspect I am in the majority by believing most firmly in having no confidence in either Starmer or Sunak. Because of the ineptitude of Conservatives since they lost the crutch of their Liberal Democrat whipping boys, Starmer is predicted a landslide on a popular vote less than Jeremy Corbyn achieved in 2019, let alone 2017 when he denied Theresa May her majority. He calls this "CHANGE", when in reality all he is offering is more of the same, but much worse.

      I approach 4th July with great trepidation and hope and pray that what befalls the country is a situation whereby neither Labour nor Conservative can be let loose on the levers of power, even if this means a spell of parliamentary anarchy until the nation can sort itself out properly.

    2. We are not allowed to call illegal immigrant 'illegal' now because the phrase might cause offense.

    2. "You mean to say or rather the alley cat once sang to his followers who went to the moon I mean said to the wall America is not great you know and Putin might threaten Taiwan if we vote for Kamala Harris I mean Trump likes to sniff pussy or was it the alley cat I forget… I forget… I forget. Er."

      After an historic address like that, how could you not support the man?

        1. Actually, I made it up and invite others here to improve on it with their own slant on Bidenesque gibberish.

  22. Failed:
    Wordle 1,105 X/6

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    2. Oh dear ,

      It's all those repeats of "Ice cold in Alex" again .

      We are not Spain either unless of course we are adopting siesta time .

  24. Good morning all .

    Cool breeze and cloudy sky, 14c.

    How about this story , it has happened to me as well as probably to some of you ..

    ‘Royal Mail delivered my Christmas cards… during a heatwave’
    Pensioner surprised to find season greetings through his door in June as company says items can sometimes be ‘temporarily misplaced’

    As temperatures hit their highest for the year so far, Christmas was the last thing on Alistair Bishop’s mind.

    But after his postman dropped four weathered-looking envelopes through his letterbox in the run-up to this week’s heatwave, he discovered seasonal greetings were waiting within.

    Two of the cards with date stamps from December 11 and 12 arrived on June 22.

    Alistair Bishop from Northwood, Middlesex, said two more cards which were also sent in December arrived on June 24, one of which was from the US.

    Royal Mail said it was “uncertain what happened” but conceded that sometimes items are “temporarily misplaced”.

    It claimed deliveries can be delayed because mail has been lost in the bottom of a postman’s bag.

    The postal service said 99 per cent of first and second-class items posted by the last recommended dates were delivered in time for Christmas last year.

    Mr Bishop said: “I received two cards on Saturday 22nd and two further cards on Monday 24th, two have been date stamped and they were sent 11th and 12th of December. One card had come from the US. No seagulls in sight.”

    It comes after Royal Mail wrote to residents of a coastal town apologising for delivery delays blaming dive-bombing seagulls for the inconvenience.

    Householders in Liskeard, Cornwall, received a letter from the Royal Mail warning them that the aggressive birds have been impacting postal deliveries in the area.

    Mr Bishop, 72, added: “I know Christmas cards will be on sale soon, I just thought my friends were sending me their thoughts in case of my demise before Christmas 2024.”

    He said his postman had since been to his house to inspect the envelopes and is reporting back to their manager. Royal Mail said it was investigating the matter.

    A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We deliver billions of letters successfully every year. During the last festive period, 99 per cent of first and second-class items posted by the last recommended posting dates were delivered in time for Christmas.

    “At times, while large numbers of letters move through our network, a very small fraction may be temporarily misplaced, such as hidden at the bottom of a mailbag. We will be looking into this isolated incident, and while it is uncertain what happened in this circumstance, we will always ensure any found letters continue their journey to the customer.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    Jo Harrison
    10 HRS AGO
    Except that I have recently posted two first class letters.
    One from the main post office in my city of Norwich to Edinburgh first class tracked. It took three weeks to arrive and on the day I got a call to discuss the letter after the call I checked the tracking, it showed it being deposited at the sending main post office three weeks earlier and hadn't moved.
    Second letter just a few days ago sent again from the main post office in Norwich to Brighton, it took eight days first class.
    Yes some letters can get displaced that I accept but everyone is reporting the kind of problems I have outlined above, not lost letters or letters taking months but just about all letters taking a week or more to arrive.

    Reply by Stephen Holloway.

    SH

    Stephen Holloway
    8 HRS AGO
    The post is a bit hit and miss these days. Post from Wrexham seems to take weeks to get to Hants. On the other hand second class mail from Manchester arrives next day. Strange.

    1. It's a crap service these days for a hugely inflated price. They don't have anything like the volume they used to deal with years ago.

    2. Probably something to do with faults with automation, or simply "Don't give a damn about Christmas".

    3. The thing that I find unbelievable about that account is that the envelopes had legible date stamps on them. Everything that I receive has either no date stamp at all, or an illegible blur of cancellation printing.

  25. Good morning all .

    Cool breeze and cloudy sky, 14c.

    How about this story , it has happened to me as well as probably to some of you ..

    ‘Royal Mail delivered my Christmas cards… during a heatwave’
    Pensioner surprised to find season greetings through his door in June as company says items can sometimes be ‘temporarily misplaced’

    As temperatures hit their highest for the year so far, Christmas was the last thing on Alistair Bishop’s mind.

    But after his postman dropped four weathered-looking envelopes through his letterbox in the run-up to this week’s heatwave, he discovered seasonal greetings were waiting within.

    Two of the cards with date stamps from December 11 and 12 arrived on June 22.

    Alistair Bishop from Northwood, Middlesex, said two more cards which were also sent in December arrived on June 24, one of which was from the US.

    Royal Mail said it was “uncertain what happened” but conceded that sometimes items are “temporarily misplaced”.

    It claimed deliveries can be delayed because mail has been lost in the bottom of a postman’s bag.

    The postal service said 99 per cent of first and second-class items posted by the last recommended dates were delivered in time for Christmas last year.

    Mr Bishop said: “I received two cards on Saturday 22nd and two further cards on Monday 24th, two have been date stamped and they were sent 11th and 12th of December. One card had come from the US. No seagulls in sight.”

    It comes after Royal Mail wrote to residents of a coastal town apologising for delivery delays blaming dive-bombing seagulls for the inconvenience.

    Householders in Liskeard, Cornwall, received a letter from the Royal Mail warning them that the aggressive birds have been impacting postal deliveries in the area.

    Mr Bishop, 72, added: “I know Christmas cards will be on sale soon, I just thought my friends were sending me their thoughts in case of my demise before Christmas 2024.”

    He said his postman had since been to his house to inspect the envelopes and is reporting back to their manager. Royal Mail said it was investigating the matter.

    A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We deliver billions of letters successfully every year. During the last festive period, 99 per cent of first and second-class items posted by the last recommended posting dates were delivered in time for Christmas.

    “At times, while large numbers of letters move through our network, a very small fraction may be temporarily misplaced, such as hidden at the bottom of a mailbag. We will be looking into this isolated incident, and while it is uncertain what happened in this circumstance, we will always ensure any found letters continue their journey to the customer.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    Jo Harrison
    10 HRS AGO
    Except that I have recently posted two first class letters.
    One from the main post office in my city of Norwich to Edinburgh first class tracked. It took three weeks to arrive and on the day I got a call to discuss the letter after the call I checked the tracking, it showed it being deposited at the sending main post office three weeks earlier and hadn't moved.
    Second letter just a few days ago sent again from the main post office in Norwich to Brighton, it took eight days first class.
    Yes some letters can get displaced that I accept but everyone is reporting the kind of problems I have outlined above, not lost letters or letters taking months but just about all letters taking a week or more to arrive.

    Reply by Stephen Holloway.

    SH

    Stephen Holloway
    8 HRS AGO
    The post is a bit hit and miss these days. Post from Wrexham seems to take weeks to get to Hants. On the other hand second class mail from Manchester arrives next day. Strange.

  26. Morning all 🙂😊
    Not as sunny as it was earlier.
    Why has defence not been mentioned ?
    Probably because it no longer exists. The idiots in Wastemonster and Whitehall have been following some sort of adgenda set out by the 'THEY'. And obviously don't care how our culture and social structure is wrecked.
    That my friends is precisely why we shouldn't be voting for any of the establishment.

    1. Yes, I think they want us to align with the EU and hand over our defence to them – and the lives of our conscripted young. The EU are self-important, self-serving liars – we should be afraid.

  27. Angela Rayner breaks it to you gently.. "every borough, every shire must take its fair shar of migrants".

    What comes next?
    Kenyan Lilian Seenoi-Barr Mayor of Derry says "Irish patriots are terrorists who must be dealt with.."

    1. “A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.”
      ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

      1. Good morning, Maggiebelle

        Huxley stole this from John Milton's Samson Agonistes: written in 1671.

        “But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt,
        And by their vices brought to servitude,
        Than to love Bondage more then Liberty,
        Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty        ”.

        As true today as it was in the 17th Century!

    2. No thought of letting the people decide what a fair share is eh? Round my way almost everybody would say it is no migrants at all.

  28. Good morning all (and the 77th),

    Cloudy morning at Castle McPhee, wind West, 13℃ rising to 18℃.

    Off to the River Lambourn to assist with the weed-cut this morning. I'll leave you with this inteview with Naomi Wolf which should underscore what we're up against.

    https://www.youtube.com/wat…

  30. Morning all.
    Some of you might know that I'm setting up an online magazine, Free Speech Backlash. I had hoped it would have been active yesterday, but I had bought a new server to put it on, and we started to transfer the site, which is fully ready, to the new one yesterday morning. Apparently it normally takes only a few minutes, but it can take over 72 hours for all he internet's servers to find it. Unfortunately, it's taking longer, and some servers still point to the old site/server with just the welcome message. But we are nearly there, and I'll let you all know when we are done. Hope you'll join us.

    1. Aye, the data will move, but getting the DNS records updated depends on traffic. I'll give it a looksee later on.

      1. It’s all well over my head Wib, my computer just goes to the old page, but my son’s goes to the live site. I’ll be grateful if you can let me know what you see. freespeechbacklash.com.

          1. Thanks As. If I click it it goes to the old site. A DNS, or DNA thingy. But I’ll get there.

          3. In the UK Free Speech is unwell:
            There's a crack in the Liberty Bell
            But keep your Arms Strong
            And we'll right this grave wrong
            And braze up the fissure as well!

        3. I found my way there, but not yet worked out how to inflict comments.

          Fascinating bit of arch pedantry there in the "Definitions and Style Guide" which will need going through and lampooning. Never underestimate the Bolshie Brit's appetite for fun! I'm not sure I have the talent for breaking all the rules, certainly not in one sitting, but I might give it a go when I have nothing better to do. I don't even know what 'segue' is, but if I doze off, it might come to me.

          1. Thanks Jeremy. The comments are at the bottom of each article, and can be accessed directly by clicking the ‘comments’ button at the top of the article. And i really do welcome constructive criticism, robust debate and counter-arguments, so please, lampoon away.

          2. An uninterrupted transition from one piece of music or film scene to another.

            Example of segue:

            'Allow one song to segue into the next'

          3. The best example of segue is the uni-party; they morph seamlessly into one another. Another one is the way the woke naively view the world: borderless.

    4. Good morning Tom. Having found your new site (good luck, by the way!), and having logged in, I find that the comments facility is unavailable to me unless I use an ‘i’ device?

      The same happens here, the limitations of the iPad keyboard, for the longer posts, make me ‘lose the will to live!

      I guess this is a Disqus glitch, as the same thing happens here. (Any clues Geoff G?)

      Now I must go and lie down in a darkened room to recover.

      Thanks!

      Vince aka Sailing Gypsy.

  31. Five here

    Wordle 1,105 5/6

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

    1. I was lucky.

      Wordle 1,105 3/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  33. This election revolves around Farage – despite the MSM conspiracy of silence
    Kathy Gyngell https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/this-election-revolves-around-farage-despite-the-msm-conspiracy-of-silence/
    June 28, 2024

    "THE news that should have been on the front page of the Telegraph yesterday and leading all the headlines (but wasn’t) was that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is on course to win 18 seats at the general election, according to the latest polling."

    BTL

    18 seats – big deal!

    Remember in 2015 UKIP won more votes than the the SNP and the Lib/Dems combined : result SNP + Lib/Dems – 64 seats; UKIP 1.

    For many years the Lib/Dems wanted PR (Proportional Representation) but as soon as a party such as UKIP or now Reform arrived on the scene they saw that they were far better off with FTTP (First Past The Post).

    So for as long as the Conservatives, Labour, the Libs Dems and the SNP want to keep FPTP what chance has Reform got? Reform could raise their share of the vote by another 10% and still not be able to be in government.

    Our voting system is unfair, unjust and undemocratic but will the existing PTB (Powers That Be) ever want to lift a finger to change it?

  34. I posted this just now on Aussie Spectator, which so far has not new-improved its commenting system:

    "The best illustration of Starmer's character is over the Regents Park hedgehogs.

    From once being a much-loved and abundant creature, numbers of hedgehogs have plummeted since the 1970s and they are now endangered.

    Sir Keir Starmer's constituency is Holborn & St Pancras in North London. Within it is Regents Park, a green space that includes London Zoo. Since the decline of the species, a hedgehog sanctuary was set up next to the zoo, the only one in London.

    Initiated by Labour in Gordon Brown's time and eager pursued by the Conservatives, a large amount of public money was borrowed to build a high speed railway from London to Birmingham. This was intended eventually to spare London financiers the indignity of staying in a Northern guest house when making money in the provinces, since they could go to a meeting and back in a day at speed and in executive comfort. It is known as HS2, and has since been cut back to go from Gospel Oak, near Wembley Stadium and Curzon St in Birmingham, where there are no onward connections without a taxi ride to New Street.

    Where do the hedgehogs come in? Well, in order to build the first link of the railway (since abandoned) between Euston and Gospel Oak, the contractors needed somewhere to park their diggers. Where better than to bulldoze the hedgehog sanctuary and put it there? At election time, Sir Keir Starmer, eager to get elected, pledged to do all in his power (and he is a former Director of Public Prosecutions) to oppose the plan and find somewhere else for the contractors to put their diggers. He would lie in front of the bulldozers if necessary, and so he was duly elected.

    Once in Parliament, he voted in favour of HS2 and in favour of the clearance of the hedgehog sanctuary. He suppressed all subsequent reporting of this, and I think you will find it gone very quiet online about hedgehogs in Regents Parks in the last ten years."

    1. Perhaps they've just seen Afghanistan's last match in the T20 World Cup cricket.

  40. Of course they promise change, but in an Orwellian twist of pledge, will do all in their power to suppress it.

    This was a central part of the election fifty years ago on my 18th birthday. A change of Government occurred then because of the refusal of the Heath Government to honour the electorate's mandatory verdict on FPTP Buggins Turn system of election whereby 6 million people were allowed just 14 MPs representing their party in Parliament. Despite being the youngest voter in the country, my own vote was disregarded. Of course, Wilson's minority Government refused to honour it either, staggered on for a few months and then got a small majority at the next election enough to tide them over until Thatcher took over.

    I have already laid out a few days ago the even worse anomaly in 2015 which was directly responsible for the failure of the Parliaments of 2015 and 2017 to honour the 2016 Referendum on membership of the EU, and the inevitability of the Johnson landslide of 2019.

    1. In theory, you could have 50%+1 votes in each constituency leading to election of whatever MP. So, 650 people would choose the government. Out of 65+ million people. Not so democratic.

  42. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/labour-wont-stop-the-boats-itll-send-them-to-your-village/

    Six times during the latest BBC election debate, the Labour leader refused to say. Looking blank-faced, the best he could offer was that any new arrivals would be “processed”. Under pressure, he made vague noises about “returning” those found not to have a valid asylum case. As Sunak rightly pointed out, since many claim to be from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, that means negotiating with the ayatollahs, the Taliban and the tyrant who used chemical weapons to gas his own people: President Bashar al-Assad.

    Starmer’s deputy, Angela Rayner, has shed rather more light on the matter, revealing that Labour is hatching a disturbing plan to distribute asylum seekers more evenly across the country. It sounds very much as if every council will be forced to accept quotas, and to build the additional housing required. It remains to be seen how this will go down in places like Devon, Cornwall and Oxfordshire, among all the affluent supporters of parties like the Greens that support open borders. How will they react when their pretty villages are despoiled by cheap new housing for young men who don’t speak English?

    If the polls are to be believed, voters will very soon see this lunacy for what it is. The pretence that any of it will work simply cannot be sustained. Swept into power on a tidal wave of frustration with all the problems unlimited immigration brings, a Starmer premiership will begin to sink the minute it begins.

    LC

    Les Cloches
    2 MIN AGO
    Its not just the boats.
    16.8% of UK residents were born in a different country.
    16.8 %.
    And, they want more !!

    Comment by Neil Jones.

    NJ

    Neil Jones
    4 MIN AGO
    In America the 4 July is known as independence day. Let's hope we don't come to know it as 'the beginning of the end' for British culture.

    1. I am as English as they come but I was born in the Sudan and now live in France.

      However I am white and my English lineage goes back for centuries which makes me statistically irrelevant and (just as did Starmer, Sunak, Davey and Farage) I went to a private, independent school which is bracing itself against the vindictive VAT imposition.

    2. Well, as Churchill said after el-Alamein, we've (already) had "the end of the beginning".

    3. Good morning Belle,
      As well as having their "pretty villages are despoiled by cheap new housing for young men who don’t speak English" , they may finally have to face reality when their daughters, wives and mothers start being harassed, or worse, by these savages.

    4. It is ironic. When the pilgrims first arrived in the US (as we now know it); or the Spaniards/Portuguese in LatAm; etc etc the native had no idea what would end up befalling them. But we have history to tell is what will happen. We are the native American Indians. It’s that simple.

  43. The word on the street is that the racist ranter of Clacton is an actor. The implication is that this is a set up, but I find that hard to believe (megasarc).

  44. I have just posted a comment on Tom's new site. It has come up in my notifications so it must be fully operational.

  46. I am writing to complain about the lack of anti-British propaganda on the BBC. I note recently that it has dropped from 23,5 hours per day to only 22.9. The Hong Kong division of the World Service failed to denigrate Farage (spit!) on at least two occasions in June. There are 24 hours in a day and, as a loyal member of the Labour Party, I expect better service from our main news media. Get a grip!!!!! Clive G. Prodnose (Pronoun 'Them').

    https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.B1I7o84rYyN7OID1h-JIwQHaEK?w=304&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.1&pid=1.7

    1. Spectator doing its best to lower votes for Reform. Usually by attacking Farage (never attacks Reform's policies because they are so sound and well thought through, incidentally). Today's offering attacks candidates for Reform who have been found guilty, in the parallel court of woke justice, of various misdemeanours. I commented that these Reform candidates, who they are attacking, are not even MPs and there are a huge number of present MPs from the uni-party who have been embroiled in controversies and they are actual MPs – many of them long-standing. And these Reform candidates have had to be rushed in due to our inept and thoughtless PM calling a rushed General Election. And it goes without saying that the very vast majority of Reform MPs are fine, upstanding, decent people. Can we say that about the uni-party, who have sat by whilst the country has been subjected to gross abuse at every level – for decades.

  49. Almost 61 years ago to the day I attended the funeral of Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar [26 Jun1963]. It took two people just to carry his major medals and awards. I was in K Bty at the time, stationed at Perham Down, and supporting the School of Artillery almost every day. Alanbrooke was one of the most important men in WW II. As Chief of the Imperial General Staff he was advisor to Churchill and also a controlling hand when Churchill had some of his more gung-ho ideas. His son died in 1972 and the title passed to his half-brother who has no heirs so the title will become extinct. Foreign kings, emperors and dictators have mighty monuments and shrines, even though they were often the cause of war and ultimate losers. Alanbrooke has a simple tombstone and a few barracks named after him – it's the British thing. He wouldn't have wished it any other way. The way things are going with our cowardly politicians even the barracks bearing his name will soon disappear. I think it a wilful scandal. Shame on them.

    https://scontent-cdg4-3.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.18169-9/11692543_10153519996169954_7497293682349503504_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=a74216&_nc_ohc=JjKX0dcteGsQ7kNvgFIgS2F&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-3.xx&oh=00_AYD3Ext9WVxVj2AEqN12o4PXSRlIk-F1sYrsoF5MFTubLg&oe=66A5CF95

  50. I am not allowed to mention Nigel Farage or Katie Hopkins in my daughter's house. Nor send any WhatsApp messages referring to them.

    I have been in Poland since 3 June. My daughter has sent message that my youngest granddaughter has her 'Prom" tonight (they all dress up like barbies).

    Wondering whether to ask if that girl's school a mile away in Selly Park with lots of black-draped.muslim girls also has a 'Prom'.

    1. Say it and apologise relentlessly, as in: some positive anecdote about Farage followed by … "Oops, sorry. Mentioned Farage there, but I think I got away with it."

    2. My response would be if i can't speak my mind freely there is no point in speaking to you at all.

      I can be a real bastard at times.

  51. 'Morning All
    Well this is awkward……..
    https://x.com/LadyRebecca_1/status/1806473230317666442
    "A lie is around the world before the truth has even got its boots on"
    Rest
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/216162b52d3ace6bc1e8ffbef14f171ae5f4ced303e8b15f2480f51fcd1c7e80.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8d8fe10f4e640040ecf6a757e1de30d6377aab6bad16e5c2f1ae41bafde2d99.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/289061b7f821e70695201ea5faba8bcc16f2deb856593ad9e23bbb093a2e8264.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec8244c151091b0138c49f8a2b5b4e86be090d1b124cd300da05d6fdf7ac0483.jpg
    Bossing it!!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d798c863004b25900f3b31d7f2967b20806fca6269c2bc9bbe8f485e85ed1e1a.jpg

  52. Good morning again,
    I'm delighted to say that my new on-line mag, Free Speech Backlash is now up and running (freespeechbacklash.com). Please check it out. It's not a rival to this excellent site, though you can linger for a chat if you wish. We have articles on a wider variety of subjects, and are looking for contributors. I'll be on the site on and off most of the day, most likely to be found on the Daily Gossip page.

      1. Welcome, and many thanks. Constructive criticism welcome. Can you see the comments section on the site, as there might have been a glitch earlier?

        1. I looked at the Gossip page and found the comments eventually – I hadn't scrolled down far enough.

          1. For reasons I don’t understand, it’s the only page that doesn’t have a direct link to comments at the top, something to do with the links to all the newspapers.

      1. Thanks KJ, hope you’ll be a key part of the community. Any advice or constructive criticism will be welcome. I’ll be hanging around Gossip Corner on and off most of the day. Scroll right to the bottom for the comments.

        1. Tom, I will definitely try. I’ve been cancelling various subs (Spectator etc) so hopefully more time. Gossip Corner sounds good 🙂 Hope you get lots of other supporters too, Kate 🙂

    4. Tom. Can I suggest you put a notification on Conservative Women as well.

      1. Thanks, I’ll try. I put one in the DT, but I’m sure that my posts don’t get put up, as they never, ever attract a reply or up or down ticks. Can anyone who does post in the DT oblige?

      1. I have no idea what any of that means, but I will pass it on to someone who will.

  53. Go for it with a cat amongst the pigeons attitude. Show her who is the boss in the family!

  54. Now is the season for ad-hominem attacks and most of these are aimed by the left and the BBC at people like Nigel Farage or at Tommy Robinson and the few right of centre politicians who are in the wilderness in the Conservative Party!

    To enter into the spirit of the times here a few ad-hominem attacks from me! GB News's pet Lefties such as Benjamin Butterworth, Michael Crick, Amy Nickel-Turner, Rebecca Reid, Tessa Dunlop, Nina Myskow and others are so repellent than I can only imagine they are selected for their arrogance, unpleasantness and absurdity in order to put viewers off the left altogether.

    1. I take your point Rastus but I've never heard of any of those nonentities as I don't watch telly. Not even GB News.

      1. If you saw them I am sure you would agree!

        They all work for Rentagob and earn their commissions by being offensive and stupid on air.

        1. Nice work if you can get it! If I had my time again I think I’d prefer something a bit more worthy of attention.

      2. Morning Ndovu, yes it's simple. People who have nothing to say you just bypass. There's not enough time to waste in life by dwelling anywhere near them.

      3. And me, Ndovu – apologies, posted reply to James G before I scrolled down and saw your post!

      1. I don't recognise any of the names Rastus mentions, James – maybe I'm mixing in the 'Right' circles:-)

    3. 100 upticks if I could, Rastus. Butterworth in particular is the very embodiment of a snotty kid. as for Nickel-Turner, vacant bimbo guaranteed to jump to the extreme left on any issue.

    1. we really want to know what you're thinking at this point.
      If I were an American..
      I'd keep any impure thoughts towards the Biden crime family or big pharma.. to myself unless I had a career death wish.
      They are well psycho, in power and dangerous.

      I also take this opportunity to put it out there on record.. Mr Xi Jinping is a really great guy.

    2. I'm thinking Jill Biden and co should be prosecuted for elder abuse, and the poor old boy should be retired forthwith.
      One has to ask, what do they gain from this freak-show?

      2. Morning Ndovu. I am more interested in who actually runs the United States. I suspect that it is a kitchen cabinet with Mrs Biden to guide her husband and the chiefs of the various parts of the administration. I doubt that there is anyone from the military.

        4. There is clearly some cabal making decisions on his behalf. He couldn’t make a cup of tea.

    3. Biden was incapable of walking off the stage. The 'First Lady' had to come and guide him off. Trump turned to his right and strode off.

      https://x.com/GandhiAOC/status/1806591353775608070

      The Dems must now be in 'extra panic' mode. How could the Dems conceivably steal the election and claim that Biden defeated Trump fair and square? It would be a preposterous claim to make as Trump is already streets ahead on nearly every polling metric, and now this shambles.

      1. I have no idea. It’s just what this ‘study’ is claiming. Of course, they could be ‘selecting’ subjects that they know could ‘prove’ their case.

    2. Don't know the reason for that but I do know that the most violent domestic relationships are those between lesbians. I suppose we can see that as indicative of tension/stress and other negative traits that are well known for causing illness and cutting life short. Seems to me too that an inordinate number of lesbians, in my experience, are obese which would tilt the scales 😁to a shortening of life as well. Not saying that all lesbians are fat but if a large portion of them are then that would account for higher number of deaths in that demographic.

      1. That could figure. Bullying of school girls by other girls is known to be more vicious than bullying between boys.

  58. I am really hoping that next Thursday Reform voters are vastly more motivated than much of the Labour and LibDem polling support to actually turn out and vote. Many seats are going to be 3 or 4-way marginals where the winner will receive less than 35% of the vote.

    2. Let's hope for a really wet day. Puts off the uncommitted when it's teeming down.

    3. Let's hope for a really wet day. Puts off the uncommitted when it's teeming down.

  59. we really want to know what you're thinking at this point.
    If I were an American..
    I'd keep any impure thoughts towards the Biden crime family or big pharma.. to myself unless I had a career death wish.
    They are well psycho, in power and dangerous.

    I also take this opportunity to put it out there on record.. Mr Xi Jinping is a really great guy.

  60. Indeed, I was greatly encouraged to learn that Washington and Gateshead South currently has Reform projected to win.

      1. We are lucky enough here in Falkirk West, Scotland to have a Reform candidate! And he’s a farmer!

        1. Farmers pretty fed up with being told to wild their land instead of crop-growing. Very similar in Europe. If Labour are elected and go for wilding, we'll be up the creek.

          1. Denmark saying yesterday that they intended to charge dairy farmers £80 per cow, to stop them farting! How dim can these idiots get?

          2. How dim can they get? I'd say they've barely scratched the surface yet. Things won't start to improve until at least half the world is starving and trying to live off bugs and synthetic food.

          3. They should tell the truth and admit it’s yet another tax. Make themselves even more ridiculous by stating farting/methane reason.

          4. I was wondering how charging the farmers money stopped the methane production?? Is it like ULEZ when charging money makes the ‘pollution’ go away?

          5. It wouldn’t/didn’t is how, Sue. Unless they somehow stopped the ‘wind’ problem…there’s an idea, recycle it to produce electricity – much more efficient than oil (not). As you say, very similar to ULEZ. It’s bx. Only thing to stop it is if they somehow got rid of cows, but then the methane problem would still be present as it comes out of the sea (sea mountains/volcanoes).

          6. That's great news for the Portuguese cork grovers, who have been struggling since they put wine in screw top bottles.

            One cork judiciously placed should stop the farts. I await the official EU standard for such an effective way to comply with the law.

            I believe that if attached to a pipeline to a central collection depot, it could provide renewable energy – non-fossil gas. I suppose they'd call it Green Gas, but Brown Gas might be more accurate.

          9. Labour hasn't a clue about the countryside (other than that they think it's racist, of course).

          10. At last got Disqus to work on reply (couldn’t reply to your last msg re dog, yes he’s had a darned good life..:-) I suspect many people don’t know about countryside, know a few here likely to get lost if they ventured out. Mind, I’ve done it myself one time when I lost sight of the sun trees blocked it out – bit scary for few mins 😀 As for racism, it’s a bit like offence – some people look for it just to take it..

          11. Labour hasn't a clue about the countryside (other than that they think it's racist, of course).

    3. Until the last minute “postal votes” come in. Wasn’t there a scandal about people being paid £10 to vote as directed? Expect lots of Labour postal votes to be delivered on the afternoon of 4th July.

    2. I was told yesterday by a DT commenter that people using ‘MSM’ are uneducated and stupid, as no one uses it any more! Delighted to see I’m not alone in my ignorance! 🤣

    3. There's little difference between the MSM and getting the news off social media these days.

  62. I was going to meet two friends for coffee this morning…………. one called off last night as her partner was in A&E with a high heart-rate, having gone in for an injury; the other this morning suffering vertigo and feeling sick.
    So now I'm going to pick up a prescription for her as she was able to get a call-back from her doctor.

      1. Not too bad – I got the washing out before I went – the pharmacy was on the ball, the doctor had phoned say the patient was unable to collect it herself and they had it ready for me. I took it round and she’d been able to get out of bed and come to the door but still felt shaky and nauseous. Then I went and did our shopping. Came back, read the local paper and then spent an hour two out in the garden tackling some of the overgrowth.

        Knackered now, so catching up here. Will send the girls a What’s Up and see how things are now.

        1. Well done, Ndovu…friends like you worth their weight 🙂 Have a good evening catching up, whatever your preference:-)

        2. Well done, Ndovu…friends like you worth their weight 🙂 Have a good evening catching up, whatever your preference:-)

  63. I am Android user, or Microsoft, and have no problems with Disqus at all.

    1. I just had to press on the D for Disqus and I was in. My phone is Android but this laptop uses Firefox for Linux.

  66. If I was a Trump supporter I would be praying for Biden to carry on campaigning for as long as possible.

    He's the Republican's greatest asset at the moment.

    If Biden carries on to stand, I think the Democrats' best chance is to get Harris off the ticket and replace her with a much stronger potential President, so that Democrat Americans know they are voting for someone who might be competent.

    2. Michaela in the wings, sos…husband will choose someone compliant as her deputy dawg.

        1. You heard it here first, sos….but if not her, then who? (please don’t say the cackler)….

          1. A repeat of an earlier comment.
            As a candidate out of left field, ho ho, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan might be a surprise choice, either as a potential candidate or a potential V-P.
            If she could persuade either Cory Booker or Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to stand on her ticket she might cause a surprise.

          2. Thanks….I look forward to seeing/hearing them (I haven’t so far, suspect they need more airtime, will search for them later, time permitting)…

      2. You could be right KJ – billed as the "unity candidate" or some such nonsense. Note that she has stayed away from all Biden campaigning on the grounds that she thinks to Biden's have treated Hunter's ex-wife, with whom she is apparently very friendly, badly. If anyone believes that I have a bridge or two going begging 😆

        1. Excellent, can see you on form as ever…I don’t know what “unity candidate” even means, possibly good job it’s not me standing for election 😀 You either stand for something or you don’t?

          1. Do any politicians these days stand for anything? Even the few who do very rapidly get side-lined because the ones we actually see are having their strings pulled by unelected "others" who we don't see.
            This goes back a long way – all the way back to one T Blair. I am sure you will remember how very rapidly both Frank Field and Kaye Hoey were side-lined.

          2. I do indeed remember FF/KH (never seem to hear her voice now, used to be on GBN occasionally). Think I remember mentioning Blair’s Institute piece on Unherd. He’s what’s known as a ‘bad piece’. Currently pulling Starmer’s strings, and we’re more than likely going to see and hear more of him.

          4. Dagnabbit missed that. Not been watching as much recently, must catch it on Chromebook when TV on different channel.

    4. You guys are lucky to have missed that disaster of a show. The little snippets of Biden defeating Medicaid are just the extremes, the whole thing was embarrassing to watch.

      Trump wasn't perfect. If there had been a live opponent, his comments would have appeared shallow and incoherent. He stil needs to cut the ramblings if he wants to win the middle ground. At least he didn't alienate ths audience by attacking bidens mental state – there again he didn't have to!

      Even cnn had it in for Biden.

      1. I would venture to suggest that had Trump had a worthy opponent his own performance would have been different, and better.

  67. Ah Bless it's Glasto time again the great gathering of the young middle class wankeratti all shelling out a mere £360 to party behind thousands of metres of "Super Fortress Fence" to keep out undesirables while calling for Open Borders and Refugees Welcome
    The hypocrisy is staggering (but not unexpected)

    1. 360 squid?! worth every £…not…sound sometimes poor, can see the 'best' of them on the Beeb.

      1. I can imagine very few things I would enjoy less – I'd be happy to pay £360 to stay away 🤣

    3. The only evidential leads presented in this video as to the function of these poles are alopecia and John Swinney.

  69. I thought a mistake to have this debate because the Democrats could panic, get rid of Biden, and put someone else in that could cause problems for Trump. To be honest, no one comes to mind but I would err on the side of caution for the sake of prudence. By all means have the debate but at a time much closer to election day when the Democrats could do little about it. What could happen if they get rid of Biden worries me. Don't rock the boat!

    1. I've not watched any of it, and only heard around 10 or 15 minutes of the 'debate'. Largely sounded a waste of time. What a choice to put before the American people. But then, my preference would be RFKJr and many people don't like him or his policies either (I don't have an American vote).

      1. I like RFKJr as well but he doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades. The deep state (the world-wide one) would see to that if he ever came within a whisker of the White House. He speaks the truth and we can't have that. If all else failed there'd be a bullet with his name on it.

        1. Mirror my thoughts, as ever. Fully with him especially re: vaccine stance. He’s very popular, everywhere he goes, but then so was his father and uncle.

    2. They actually have some viable people, but the infighting would be a treat to watch.
      I don’t know what the legal position would be as far as people who stood on a Biden ticket for voting at the convention and Harris was standing ex-VP. Perhaps they would have to go for Harris legally.
      It could get interesting.

    1. I saw it too, Phizee…can it be true, why did no-one else intervene, because the boatwas sinking? Not certain I could have resisted giving him at least a kick you know where before I succumbed to the waves.

  72. She has said she would not run again but if she did she would be very bad for Trump. The proverbial cat amongst the pigeons.

  73. Didn't you just love him when he cried on GB News because something fell over/sound wasn't fixed. And he didn't seem able to best Ms Sturgeon.

  75. Just read the story. How perverse can you be to rape and murder a girl because your own daughter has drowned? This man deserves no mercy but, unfortunately, the death penalty no longer exists in Eutrope. Second best, solitary confinement for the rest of his life with absolutely no human contact of any sort.

  76. Let’s be clear where blame for this Tory disaster really lies
    Defeat is imminent. Our focus must turn to how to bring real conservatives together after the election

    David Frost https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/lets-be-clear-where-blame-for-tory-disaster-really-lies/

    "Since the autumn reshuffle and the disastrous mistake of returning to Cameronism (including by bringing back the man himself), since the persistent failure to do what was necessary to control the small boats problem, disaster has been inevitable."

    BTL

    "Let’s be clear where blame for this Tory disaster really lies."

    Yes only a moron would have brought back Cameron – the only worse thing would have been to have brought back May, Major and Hague as well!

    But the rot began to set in the moment Brexit was bungled and you – Lord Frost – must take your share of the blame for that.
    Why, in God's name, did you surrender to the EU over Northern Ireland and UK fishing waters when you had said you were adamant and would never budge on these matters? And then to make things even worse Sunak abandoned Northern Ireland continuing to be a part of the UK with his Great Windsor Betrayal.

    I would add that Lord Frost should have joined the Reform Party the moment Sunak signed up to the Windsor Surrender. It was his last chance to regain any credibility. He should then have done a Hogg or a Wedgewood Benn and resigned his peerage leaving himself free to stand as a Reform Party candidate.

    .

    1. Good post, Rastus. I thought he seemed to disappear when things got a little too hot re Brexit. Do you remember the old Sharpe novels …'can yer stand'….

    2. It was in Frost's capacity as CEO of the Distillers' Company. that he wrote an article before the Brexit referendum in which he supported the case for remaining in the EU's Single Market and said that leaving it would be "fraught with economic risk".

      Frost was the United Kingdom's Chief Negotiator for Exiting the European Union during the Brexit negotiations in 2019 which resulted in the revised Brexit withdrawal agreement.

      Hand picked by the turds in office to get the worst possible deal and leave the door open for a return to the clutches of the EU.

    1. commentator on C4 hit job on Farage.
      I completely suspected it. It looks a complete hit job. No way would a canvasser talk about msques/Wetherspoons. Interesting that a Pride police car drove past one of their "canvassers". What's a rainbow festooned police car doing in Clacton?

      1. "What's a rainbow festooned police car doing in Clacton?"

        Coppers from Brighton on a day out?

    2. commentator on C4 hit job on Farage.
      I completely suspected it. It looks a complete hit job. No way would a canvasser talk about msques/Wetherspoons. Interesting that a Pride police car drove past one of their "canvassers". What's a rainbow festooned police car doing in Clacton?

    3. If it is a hatchet job, channel 4 news should be put under OFCOM investigation immediately

          1. nope.. same as BBC.. great organisation just wrong staff. Line up every executive and make them wear a pink conical hat then send em off to Avdiivka or Haiti for a sabbatical.

  79. You couldn't make it up.
    Reality v. imagination.

    "Mr Biden chose to ignore the wide criticism for his shaky, fumbled performance and instead told reporters: “I think we did well,” as he visited a Waffle House for a post-debate meal ."

  81. BBC still broadcasting lies about reform activist. Headlines in USA, Ireland and many other countries, and all UK papers and broadcasting organisations of course. Edit: 21+ minutes accusing Reform rep of recruiting and encouraging people like Parker. Farage given 30 seconds to deny it.

        1. I think the party’s leader would be very angry about being deemed as not being nice.

          1. lol!!! you are correct, but just because they want to be seen to be “nice”, doesn’t mean they are!!!!!

    2. In the party leaders debate the BBC paid each audience member after being thoroughly screened, £150 of licence fee payers money and told them not to heckle. Hardly a random selection.

  84. Rishi Sunak speaks of ‘hurt and anger’ at daughters having to hear Reform activist’s racist slur about him. 28 June 2024.

    Asked about the comment, one of several racist and homophobic comments made by Reform UK activists in Clacton and filmed by an undercover Channel 4 News reporter, Sunak said:

    When my two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign to Nigel Farage calling me an effing [P-word], it hurts and it makes me angry, and I think he has some questions to answer.

    And I don’t repeat those words lightly. I do so deliberately, because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is.

    A little predictable. I wonder how much the “Racist” was paid for this piece of political theatre? I'm not sure that even if it were true that it would be as effective as these people think.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jun/28/uk-general-election-live-reform-campaigners-filmed-secretly-making-racist-homophobic-slurs

      1. Imagine my surprise!
        Actors act. Something Laurence Fox's supporters would do well to remember…

        1. Curious that both Fox and Brand have been accused of sexual assault and now appear on the same channel.

    2. for me the 'script' was appalling and 6th Form-esque.

      "The PM? String im up, he's a Paki. Too good for im.
      "I'm oft darn to Spoons for me good old full English.
      "Knees up mother Brown..
      "Migrants? Line em up, mow em down.
      "Two World Wars and one World Cup.

      dead giveaway.

    3. I feel the same as you about it. It rings false and simply panders to the prejudices of guardian readers and the BBC who think that that's how Reform voters talk.

  85. I have a sneaky feeling that something has been found out about Biden, his son and some cash or sex scandal that is too serious , too evil, for him to remain as President and leader of the Democratic party. Watch this space.

      1. Trump's colouring is a little strange but you need make-up if you are in front of cameras all the time. Biden looks like a ghost.

    2. I think it's pretty well known what Biden is up to. The contents of Hunter Biden's laptop including child pornography have been common knowledge for some years. The media just chooses to look the other way.

  87. The Democrats are hoping that Biden will remain a viable candidate for presidency based on his record, his record, his record, his record…

    … er, what was I commenting about? 🤔

      1. My initial reaction is oh ffs.

        But clearly the fashion industry is out of control and I for one won’t care if i never had to “do” fashion at all. Maybe i am a “transman” after all, as i cleart do not conform to gender stereotypes (norms) lol what a load of nonsense.

        I suspect most people wash their clothes too much. Not me. What a waste of time and money. My mum bought into the “wash at 30 degrees” nonsense and had to get a new machine recently as the old one clogged up. She tried to have it repaired as she is, by definition, old school but apparently this happens a lot.

        Like the “saving the planet” condensing boilers which need replacing every 10 years, whereas the old ones could be repaired and many still working 40+ years later. But no, 4 boilers good, one boiler bad. Or something.

        And cars. And power stations. Etc.

        2. I only wear t-shirts, socks and underwear once. They they get a wash on 40 degrees. Nothing else gets washed until it pongs or has food stains on it.

          There was a scandal not long ago where a maternity unit were washing everything at a low temperature to save the planet. Babies died because at that temperature the bugs all thrive.

      1. 1.5 million people in Varanasi region, all p*ss*ng and sh*tt*ng into the Ganges every day, not to mention the millions further upstream. I doubt it makes any difference whether the clothes are washed once a month or once a year.

        India = 1,441,719,852 Rsoles – very few sewage systems . UK = 67,961,439 mostly covered . . . except for 650 member of the commons and 781 members of the House of Lords – no control of those Rsoles whatsoever.

        1. After the floods they also had to string a net across the river to catch all the bodies of people who drowned.

      2. 1.5 million people in Varanasi region, all p*ss*ng and sh*tt*ng into the Ganges every day, not to mention the millions further upstream. I doubt it makes any difference whether the clothes are washed once a month or once a year.

        India = 1,441,719,852 Rsoles – very few sewage systems . UK = 67,961,439 mostly covered . . . except for 650 member of the commons and 781 members of the House of Lords – no control of those Rsoles whatsoever.

    3. It looks very much like it.

      Does WEF Want To Restrict People From Washing Clothes?!

      Posted by Dr. Adrian Wong Date: June 27, 2024

      Did the WEF issue guidelines restricting people from washing their clothes?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

      Claim : WEF Wants To Restrict People From Washing Clothes!

      People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claims that the WEF issued guidelines restricting people from washing their clothes!

      Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!

      Klaus Schwab Wants To Ban People Washing Their Pants More Than Once Per Month

      Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum (WEF) has issued guidelines regarding how often the public should be allowed to wash their clothes, including underwear and gym clothes.

      The WEF has already ordered compliant governments to move towards a future in which citizens will be restricted from buying more than a small number of new items of clothing per year.

      Now, according to Schwab, the threat of climate change means people no longer have the right to wear laundered and clean clothes.

      Citing a new study, Schwab’s World Economic Forum (WEF) is urging governments to clamp down on people who wash their jeans and pants more than once per month, and their sweaters more than once per fortnight.

      Does WEF Want To Restrict People From Washing Clothes?!

      Truth : WEF Is Not Restricting People From Washing Clothes!

      This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…

      Fact #1 : WEF Did Not issue Any Guidelines On Washing Clothes

      First, let me just point out that the World Economic Forum (WEF) did not issue any guidelines on how often people should wash their clothes. The WEF certainly did not restrict people from washing underwear or gym clothes!

      If the WEF actually issued such guidelines, or even attempt to restrict people from washing their clothes, it would have been reported widely. Yet there has been no report of such a restriction anywhere by any reputable media outlet. That’s because it was all made up!

      Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article provided no evidence to back up its “fact checked” claim.

      Fact #2 : WEF Video Was About What Scientists Are Saying

      The People’s Voice article is based on a WEF video called “Scientists Are Urging Us To Wash Our Clothes Less To Help The Planet“.

      If you watch the video, you will realise that it is merely telling us what scientists at the Society of Chemical Industry are saying about the impact of washing clothes on CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, and the waste it introduces into waterways.

      Scientists are urging us to wash our clothes less to help the planet because Landry has a “huge environmental impact”.

      70% of the CO2 emissions generated by a cotton t-shirt come from washing and drying it. Laundry also puts detergents and microfibres into waterways, which is damaging to ecosystems.

      Too much washing also wears out clothes faster, meaning more are sent to landfill. The EU alone produces 2.2 million tonnes of textile waste a year.

      Experts at the Society of Chemical Industry say we shouldn’t wash clothes after every wear…

      They say jeans shouldn’t be washed more than once a month, jumpers once a fortnight, and pyjamas once a week.

      The exceptions are underwear and gym clothes, which should be washed every wear.

      If using a machine, try lower temperatures and shorter cycles.

      As you can tell, the WEF video isn’t about restricting people from washing their clothes, it’s about educating them on the impact that washing clothes too often can have.

      Fact #3 : Video Was Posted Almost 3 Years Ago!

      The People’s Voice article appears to suggest that this happened recently, I should point out that the WEF posted its video almost 3 years ago – on 29 September 2021.

      It must either be a really slow day at The People’s Voice, or it took them more than two years to realise this…

      Fact #4 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Fake News

      The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.

      Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.

      Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:

      Did 13 Countries Sign WEF Ethical Global Famine Treaty?!
      Did Putin vow to shut down adenochrome supply chain?!
      Did British MP Warn Of NATO Dirty Bomb False Flag Op?!
      Is US Building Secret Detention Facilities For Dissidents?!
      Did Sperm Counts Fall Rapidly After COVID Vaccine Rollout?!
      Did Scientists Discover Off Switch For mRNA Vaccines?!
      Did World Leader Confess To Poisoning People With Vaccine?!
      Did Elon Musk say US voting machines are designed for fraud?!

      https://www.techarp.com/articles/wef-restrict-washing-clothes/

      1. That is very dishonest "fact checking"
        Sure the WEF is not restricting people from washing their clothes, but only because they have no direct power to do so.
        They are trying to put pressure on people to wash clothes less frequently (it is disingenuous to claim that this video was merely trying to make people understand the impact of washing clothes), and as many of our politicians are frequent visitors at the WEF, yes, this could end up in our legislation at some point.
        The WEF represents the same people behind net zero which is currently making our lives expensive and difficult, and the sooner this nonsense is put aside the better.

  89. 388958+ up ticks,

    This is one DOM reason for dissolving the lords.

    Sir Tony Blair tells Labour to ‘show no complacency’ in surprise visit
    Former leader says ‘there is no point being in politics’ unless you deliver change in pep talk at party HQ

    Legend,

    DOM, Dirty old man.

  90. I know exactly how you feel. My son did all the tech work, and he goes on about TTL’s DNS’s, chache issues and so on. I just nod my head and try to look clever.

    1. Her supporters will say: "Ah, but it says 'successful asylum' seekers."
      We say: "That will be all of them under a blanket amnesty."

      1. She somehow manages to look completely vacuous along with the bat-shit crazy. I don't know how she does it.

  92. In the end…..
    I've just spent nearly two hours trying to contact several hospital departments that i have been to in connection with my knee problem. Out of sheer frustration I rang 111 and spoke immediately to a nice kind and very helpful lady. She passed on a number for the hospital and all I got on the other end was robotic…. do this do that put a number in I didn't have, blah blah blah. So I found an email address for the department and sent it. Fingers crossed. But the NHS really is in need of some better form of organisation. It's diabolical.
    After the injection last Monday, the pain in my knee is now unbearable, paracetamol are not strong enough and of course I couldn't get an answer from my GP practice. You are number 6 in the queue. From previous experience that could have been 40 minutes.

    1. That's terrible !

      I doubt your email will be answered. Call the Hospital switchboard and get them to put you through to the department you need.
      You can buy co-codamol over the counter. Stronger than paracetamol.

      1. NB Co-codamol shouldn't be taken for more than three days, though it's great as temporary pain relief.

        1. Really? I didn't know that. But then i never read the inserts anyway.

          I am actually prescribed it as an acute medication. I often have to take it daily.

          After my cervical three diagnosis the consultant said it wasn't serious enough to operate on even though i was in great pain. He recommended i take Tramadol on an open ended prescription. I think they are trying to kill me.

          I should have accepted the prescription and sold them on the black market !

          I solved that problem with a TENS E-Stim and gentle yoga. Thanks YouTube !

          When i next saw the consultant he asked how i was managing and i told him about the TENS. He said that was a good idea, Not that he had recommended it ! They are all just drug pushers.

          1. I queried the beyond three day veto with my gp some time ago who said it was ok as long as you didn't self-treat an undiagnosed problem, in that continuing to medicate with (Solpadeine in my case) co-codamol could lead to the masking of something more serious. Poppiesdad took Solpadeine for three weeks or so during his bout of shingles four years ago. Of course it is not a good thing to use these things for months on end. I have just had an email from a friend who said she had been taking it since 2015….! and was taking herself off it.

          2. Thank you for that.
            I know it can mask problems.
            I only ever take one or two before bed and not every night. I found it gives me constipation if i take it too often on top of other niggling problems.

          3. Yes, that too…. I am taking one at night at the moment and especially when I am achey at the end of the day and my torn cartilage is causing me grief (torn after chasing Rico-doggo round the garden last October). I convince myself that is the reason – it is, sort of – but it is really because I want a good night's sleep which the codeine provides so far.

          4. Or…

            Cocktail shaker.
            Ice.
            two shots raspberry Vodka.
            One shot of Chambord.
            Two shots of Baileys.

            Shaken.

            Who wants to go to sleep ! :@)

          5. One of my doctors said I could keep taking co-codamol and not worry about the 3 day instructions. I, on the other hand, was not keen on being addicted to codeine. I ignored him and only use them for three days in a row.

          1. I felt that way earlier.
            We are both in the wars at the moment, Good lady had very expensive dental treatment Tuesday.
            It seems as if something she had done about twenty five years ago was bodged and is now causing a lot of pain and costing a fortune to put right.

          2. I felt that way earlier.
            We are both in the wars at the moment, Good lady had very expensive dental treatment Tuesday.
            It seems as if something she had done about twenty five years ago was bodged and is now causing a lot of pain and costing a fortune to put right.

  93. Sam Melia was sentenced to two years in prison for printing & distributing migrant stats on a sticker.
    C4 and sub-contracted production team.. conspiracy to undermine the democratic process?

    Electoral Commission says.. nah.

    2. Strictly speaking: In January, at Leeds Crown Court, Melia was found guilty of distributing material intended to stir up racial hatred and encouraging racially aggravated criminal damage ( https://www.spiked-online.c… not for printing & distributing migrant stats on a sticker. Nonetheless, even if it can be argued that the verdict was technically correct, the sentence was unduly harsh.

      1. Thanks Stig. You win the award for our very own Nottle fact checker. You add a large dose of rationalism.

    3. 1/ "I'm not an actor.." Andrew John Parker to DT.
      2/ comes out of nowhere.
      3/ adopted his cheeky but rough cockney cab driver persona, instead of his normal mode.
      4/ Imdb CV boasts "secret filming".
      5/ who speaks like that to a TV camera.

      Odds drop to 4/5 on for funding coming from Far left terrorist group Hope-Not-Hate.

      2. Such a blatant attempt to blacken Reform just laughable. The blob is getting really desperate.

    4. 1/ "I'm not an actor.." Andrew John Parker to DT.
      2/ comes out of nowhere.
      3/ adopted his cheeky but rough cockney cab driver persona, instead of his normal mode.
      4/ Imdb CV boasts "secret filming".
      5/ who speaks like that to a TV camera.

      Odds drop to 4/5 on for funding coming from Far left terrorist group Hope-Not-Hate.

    1. It seems to me that the sheer weight of events is leading many of Europe's youngest generations to skip the "woke socialist" phase.

  95. “The Mayor of London’s blanket 20mph speed limits in the capital have cost motorists stuck in traffic jams an extra working day every year, figures have suggested. Delays on roads managed by the Greater London Authority increased by 6 per cent between 2019 and 2023, analysis of Department for Transport data by The Telegraph found. It comes after Sadiq Khan introduced his Vision Zero policy in 2018, which included pledges to cut the capital’s speed limits to 20mph.
    SADIQ KHAN’S blanket 20mph speed limits in the capital have cost Londoners stuck in traffic jams an extra working day every year, figures have suggested.
    Delays on roads managed by the Greater London Authority (GLA) increased by 6 per cent between 2019 and 2023, analysis of Department for Transport (DFT) data by The Telegraph found.
    It comes after Mr Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, introduced his Vision Zero policy in 2018, which included pledges to cut the capital’s speed limits to 20mph.
    This was fully achieved by 2020, Transport for London (TFL) has previously said, adding that lower speed limits mean fewer people are killed or seriously injured in traffic collisions. On average, Londoners travelling by car or taxi faced delays of 104.5 seconds for every mile travelled in 2019.
    By last year that had increased to 110.8 seconds per mile, according to DFT data published on Thursday.
    With the average London car racking up 5,600 miles a year, over a 12 month period those seconds of delay add up to 9 hours and 48 minutes.
    It means Londoners now spend the equivalent of an extra working day per year stuck in traffic jams.
    Meanwhile, average speeds on A-roads controlled by the GLA decreased from 14.2mph in 2019 to 13.6mph in the calendar year 2023.
    The authority did not respond to a request for comment.
    Nationwide, Britain’s roads got worse during the financial year 2023-24 ending in March, according to the latest DFT figures.
    Delays on England’s motorways and major A roads reached record levels, with journeys on the nation’s strategic road network (SRN) being delayed by an average of 10.6 seconds per mile travelled in the 12 months to the end of March. That is the longest delay in records dating back to 2015, although the DFT said the delay figures are averaged out over time and so do not reflect the impact of congestion.
    Rod Dennis, senior policy officer for the RAC, said: “It’s concerning to see annual delays on motorways and major A-roads appear to have hit an all-time high, but this is perhaps a further sign of just how important vehicles are to people’s lives.
    “There could be a number of reasons for the increase, including higher traffic volumes – which are well on their way to returning to pre-covid levels – and the impact of roadworks, including the rolling programme of adding new refuge areas to smart motorways.”
    A spokesman for National Highways, which is responsible for the SRN, said a “number of factors” contributed to slower traffic. “The make-up of vehicles on the road is changing, with more HGVS and larger vehicles together with less cars. This brings average speeds down.
    “Our programme of improvements will result in long-term benefits for motorists – shorter and more reliable journeys as well as safer and smoother roads.””

    FEWER!!!

  96. Also, this, from our friend the jug-eared crispseller – Al Beeb made a mistake taking him off the air

    “GARY LINEKER has said the BBC knows it made a mistake by taking him off air last year.
    The decision by Tim Davie, the director-general, to suspend Lineker from Match of the Day for posting a critical tweet about the Government’s migrant policy caused a crisis for the broadcaster.
    Lineker’s colleagues in BBC Sport downed tools, and Mr Davie was forced to apologise to licence fee payers for a day of programme disruption. Lineker returned to the screen the following week.
    The presenter has previously called the incident “unfortunate” and joked that it was “a lover’s tiff ”. But in an interview with Rot magazine, conducted over a long lunch, he was more forthcoming. Asked what he was doing when the controversy blew up, he said: “You’ve waited ‘til I’m drunk before throwing that one in. I was eating at [Marylebone restaurant] KOL when I found out they’d taken me off the show.
    “But they made a mistake. They know that. I think they recognised that. It was one of those things, but we’re fine now.”
    Lineker said that “common sense prevailed” and he resumed his place on the BBC….”

  97. Let's go full CBDC what could possibly go wrong……….
    Nationwide, HSBC, Barclays and Virgin Money were among the firms apologising to people over the issues, while Lloyds customers also reported problems.

    Some customers claimed salaries had yet not been paid in and they were unable to pay bills as they found themselves locked out of online banking apps.

    Customers were left furious and those banking with HSBC said they should be paid £100 compensation. Some pointed out how they were unable to visit their local branch because it had closed, while others said they had to urgently pay their bills.

    The system powers online banking by enabling people to send money digitally, or via phone or in a branch, between banks and building societies who use it. Payments up to a certain limit usually arrive within seconds, although can take up to two hours.

    HSBC said there had been a 'separate payments issue affecting multiple banks', while Nationwide blamed a 'third-party payments issue' for the glitches.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13580063/HSBC-banking-app-glitch-payday-Virgin-Money-Nationwide.html

    1. Testing, testing, testing?
      OK folks, we now know the customers won't storm the branches immediately, let's make the next one a longer outage.

      I wonder how long it will be before incoming passengers just knock over the security gates at airports?

  99. Cynical thought for the day.

    America conjures up a fake crisis which Joe Biden solves with great skill, diplomacy and decisiveness, saving the USA or some other part of the world from a catastrophe.
    This will prove he is still up to the job.

    Fearmonger's thought for the day.
    Iran gets its allies to make a united and simultaneous attack on Israel and the only solution is Israel going nuclear, Biden has to choose, Israel or Iran.

    1. Having an actor with a latex mask on would have been child's play. Those things have been good enough to fool people since the 90s. If they'd wanted to carry on the Biden charade, you'd think that's what they would have done.

        1. That is amazingly good.. I wonder though if you were sitting next to her on say…a park bench in daylight would you be fooled?

          1. There are just two features of her prosthetic which stand out as casting enough of a shadow of confirmation of her womanhood to cast without a shadow of doubt that I was not sitting in broad daylight next to Emma Watson. 😉

    2. Hmmm
      Cynical Rik posits this
      Biden has been a mumbling idiot for years and is clearly not capable of winning the election no "fix" would be remotely believable
      So why now?? so he can be replaced by someone like the Cali governor who will "surge in the polls" making the next hijack believable

      1. That's a lot of pre-printed postal ballots they're gonna have to destroy and replace.

    3. Here's Scotty's take on it

      🆂🅲🅾🆃🆃🆈 🎸🔥
      @ScottyGoesAgain
      It's plain and obvious that the actor playing the role of "Biden" has been tasked with ensuring that Trump wins in a landslide.
      Patriots won't fight in WW3 for Sleepy Joe, but many will for Donald.
      I think that's part of the strategy here.

    4. I wonder if Biden's condition will deteriorate very suddenly over the next month or so and a substitute will be found.
      Is that a job for the CIA?
      Or do they need to consult the Clintons for guidance?

      2. The problem they have is that if Biden steps down or is amendment 25thed Harris steps up, so he has to be kept in place until the elections
        They can get him not to stand but stay in office until the election, which solves the Harris problem, if little else.

    3. To think that this dim -witted plonker is going to be our prime minister in a week's time fills me with utter dismay.

      The simple question the woman puts to him is :
      "Will all biological men be banned from women only spaces such as changing rooms and lavatories?"

      The fact that he refused to give an unequivocal answer should fill every woman who plans to vote on 4th July NOT to vote for this absurdly muddle-headed idiot.

      How did this dull dolt ever pass "O" levels let alone become a qualified lawyer?

    4. Well done, Jane…if only someone had also asked him about the Rotherham girls when he was DPP. I wouldn't believe a word Starmer says. I especially liked her saying she wouldn't believe the twaddle coming out of his mouth.

    5. Way to go Jane well done. Politicians go armed with the answers no matter the questions!

      1. That's because he never wants to commit himself any more – he's been caught out lying too often.

    1. How do you like my friend Clara? (It's probably a trap) –
      Not really my type.
      Sorry Clara, no threesome.

    2. I usually keep the sound off on video clips especially animal ones – but that was amazing!

  105. Today's Evening Standard newsletter Jack Kessler:
    I don't think he's a Trump fan .

    Many years ago, I missed out on a job because I lost my temper. It was one of those awful 48-hour interviews with workshops, team tasks and worst of all, a three-course dinner bang in the middle. I didn't scream or get abusive, but I did let my frustration get the better of me about something or other. Given my strong scores in earlier rounds, all I needed to do was smile, exude an air of calm and the gig was mine. I couldn't do it.

    I was thinking about this experience as I woke up to the news that Joe Biden effectively set his podium alight at the first US presidential election debate. Biden, 81, also had only one job: to demonstrate to the American people, particularly those living in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona, that he is not too old to be president. The stakes were somewhat higher but the outcome the was same: he couldn't do it. He and I failed not because we didn't understand the assignment, but because of who we were. I was young and yet to hone a neutral tone and listening eyes. Biden is old, and while he managed to mask it in previous debates and various State of the Union addresses, he couldn't on this occasion. Sometimes we fail, even if we only have one job.

    For what it's worth, Donald Trump is a convicted felon who incited an insurrection in the US Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. From tariffs to alliances, his policies would further undermine the global rules-based order. He is frequently unintelligible. His Supreme Court nominees have overturned the constitutional right to abortion. He has overseen vast conflicts of interests with regards to the presidency and his businesses. He has been found liable for sexual abuse.

    In other words, there are worse things in the world than appearing old on television. Still, given the widely understood threat of a second Trump presidency, shouldn't that incentivise the Democratic Party to nominate the best possible candidate? The warning signs were there when Hillary Clinton ran but at least in 2016, few thought Trump could actually win. There is no excuse for such complacency this time around.

    To be clear, Biden has been a successful legislator, from passing the historic Inflation Reduction Act to the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, while overseeing a booming economy and corralling the West in the defence of Ukraine. Yet all this would be seriously, perhaps fatally undermined if his legacy were ultimately a Trump re-run.

    The notion that Biden might not be the candidate in November seems otherworldly. The steps required to reach such a destination are many and fraught with danger. First, Biden himself would have to voluntarily relinquish the nomination. Then, Vice President Kamala Harris, even less popular than Biden, would have to be persuaded not to run.

    Next, the entire party would have to swiftly rally around a single candidate, whether that be Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or anyone else. I mean, have you met the Democratic Party? This is why we have primaries. At the same time, doing nothing seems equally unfathomable.

    Last night's events have also provided a fascinating insight into the mindset of partisans, which in this particular bun fight I guess I would have to self-identify as one. There had been so much pushback from Democrats over any reporting, most notably from the Wall Street Journal, that Biden was "showing signs of slipping". Suddenly, in the space of a 90-minute debate, practically everyone seems to agree this is a problem.

    Want cheering up? The only good thing that might come out of last night, one former Obama campaign aide suggested, is "if it gets Biden not to run… otherwise, it's bad."

  106. A Bidenesque Drive!

    Wordle 1,105 X/6
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    3. Why do you get different colours?!
      Wordle 1,105 3/6

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    4. Boring par here. (How do you change the colours?)

      Wordle 1,105 4/6

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        1. Eek!
          Wordle 1,105 4/6

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      2. Me too
        Wordle 1,105 4/6

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    5. The colour isn't helping

      Wordle 1,105 6/6

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    6. Just back from the pub, trying to get myself back to normal. Happy with a 3.

      Wordle 1,105 3/6

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    7. Your colours have gone funny! What's with the blue and orange? Bad luck though – looks like you had two shots at it….

      I suppose I should be grateful for a bogey 5!

      Wordle 1,105 5/6

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      2. In my case it was "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try try again…"

        Wordle 1,105 6/6

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        1. Nice one lassie! I’ll bet you that fourth guess had you a-whooping and a-hollering!!

      3. In my case it was "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try try again…"

        Wordle 1,105 6/6

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      1. I am watching <i>The Great British Bake-Off</i> on food channel and it has just been mentioned that "The trick is knowing when to take the tart out".

        Is that what you mean by the men being better in the kitchen?

        1. Sorry to disappoint, wasn’t in connection with baking none of them go for that…but everything else, main meal, starters, chasers etc But I take your point about being taken out, tart or otherwise 🙂

      1. staying mum. Not your sort of staying mum obviously, >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>runs away.

  110. Meloni accuses EU of acting like an ‘oligarchy’ with appointment of top jobs. 28 June 2024.

    Giorgia Meloni accused European leaders of acting like “an oligarchy” by stitching together backroom deals to divvy up the EU’s top jobs.

    Addressing parliament in Rome, the Italian prime minister accused the EU establishment of continuing to act as if the political landscape had not changed after the European elections, held in early June, which saw a big swing to the Right.

    They are an oligarchy. Lol. The EU is more dangerous to the indigenous people of Europe than Russia and China combined. It is the world’s real Evil Empire.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/26/eu-oligarchy-betrayed-voters-appointment-top-jobs-meloni/

  111. Driver who killed motorcyclist 'blinded by tall roadside grass', inquest hears

    Motorist Anne Louise Jones's sight was blocked by rewilding left by local council to grow for bees when she crashed into Idris Jones

    28 June 2024 • 3:42pm

    A driver was blinded by grass allowed to grow tall for bees when she hit and killed a passing motorcyclist, an inquest heard.

    Care home worker Ann Louise Jones was leaving work on a country road when her sight was blocked by the grass, left unmown by council workmen "to allow bees to breed".

    Idris Jones, a 55-year-old motorcyclist, died after a crash when the car pulled out of the care home without seeing him, an inquest heard. He would only have had two and a half seconds to see Mrs Jones's white Vauxhall, according to a police investigator who called the collision "unavoidable".

    Mrs Jones had just finished a shift at the Cerrig Cornel care home when she reached the end of the driveway. She said: "The grass was really high. He came so fast around the corner. He just smashed into me. I tried to get out of the driver's side but couldn't. I have never been in an accident before. I got out of the passenger's side. I think I was a bit dazed and a bit shocked. I came round and saw him on the road. I rang 999."

    Ian Thompson, North Wales Police forensic collision investigator said the local council did not cut the grass at that junction in May or June "to allow bees to breed". He added: "In my opinion, this collision was unavoidable."

    The inquest in Caernarfon said at the moment Mrs Jones exited the driveway onto the A493, Mr Jones was "unlikely to have been in view". His mother Sarah Jones said: "It was a great tragedy to hear about Idris's passing. It has been a huge loss for us as a family. He cared for me dearly."

    Kate Robertson, senior coroner for North-West Wales, said Mr Jones, who had been riding a red Suzuki motorbike, died from severe chest trauma due to a road traffic accident near Llanegryn, North Wales, on May 29 last year.

    She concluded the death was due to a road traffic accident.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/28/motorcyclist-killed-after-grass-left-to-grow-for-bees/

    Here's the location, with the lane to the care home on the right.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65570b0bcd4dd2f9377abf6ba88d9abc62b28b99e21491d91801131d2a0c8659.jpg

    1. They were both at fault. The biker was going too fast for the conditions to stop in time and the car driver should have slowly nudged out to make herself more visible !

    3. Where I live has a very similar junction, and I worry every time I pull out. Most times there is nobody around the blind bend, but there have been enough times over the years where had I pulled into the road, I would have been hit.

      I think the main culprit are those bins, It should be possible for an emerging vehicle to swerve into the verge with an emergency stop at the last minute, allowing the motorcyclist to swerve the other way and avoid a collision. Those bins prevent this being possible, so the car has no choice but to go straight into the main road.

      What I would do here is to clear a space to the right to put the bins and allow the verge to be used in an emergency. Where I live, there is a layby at this very spot, and I have driven into it when something came at me fast round the bend.

      I don't think cutting the grass short would have helped here.

      1. The bins weren't mentioned. I suspect in this photo they were there only on that day for collection. The buildings are about 80-100 yards up the lane. I doubt the staff would running up and down several times a day to dispose of rubbish.

      2. I wondered about the bins, but WS's explanation seems right.
        Trimming back the lower branches on the trees would help.

        1. The wide-angle lens used by Google exaggerates the distance from the lane to the bend.

    4. Where I live has a very similar junction, and I worry every time I pull out. Most times there is nobody around the blind bend, but there have been enough times over the years where had I pulled into the road, I would have been hit.

      I think the main culprit are those bins, It should be possible for an emerging vehicle to swerve into the verge with an emergency stop at the last minute, allowing the motorcyclist to swerve the other way and avoid a collision. Those bins prevent this being possible, so the car has no choice but to go straight into the main road.

      What I would do here is to clear a space to the right to put the bins and allow the verge to be used in an emergency. Where I live, there is a layby at this very spot, and I have driven into it when something came at me fast round the bend.

      I don't think cutting the grass short would have helped here.

    5. The driver of the car emerging from the right could have avoided this by simply winding the front windows down and listening for oncoming traffic. It was a motorcycle, wasn't it?

    6. The driver of the car emerging from the right could have avoided this by simply winding the front windows down and listening for oncoming traffic. It was a motorcycle, wasn't it?

    7. "Driver who killed motorcyclist 'blinded by tall roadside grass' …"

      Driver who killed motorcyclist 'unsighted' by tall roadside grass', perhaps?

    8. I'd say the bushes are the main problem and need cutting back by a good couple of feet.

  112. I have the new series of 'The Bear'. Great acting and some good story lines. However i haven't got to it yet because as is my wont when i get a new series i rewatch the last episode of the previous one. In that episode Jaimie Lee Curtiss had a cameo and i was reminded of the episode 6 in season 2 where she played Donna Berzatto matriarch of the family.
    Which i am going to rewatch now. Slow meltdown into insanity.
    JLC got an Oscar for her performance in Everything, Everywhere, All at once but that was a sinister character with a lot of prosthetics.
    In 'The Bear' her acting is raw and at times painful to watch. Worth watching as a stand alone even if you don't watch the series.

    1. Didn't she audition for a part in the proposed Bollywood remake of the film she did with John Cleese, Michael Palin and Maria Aitken: "A Dish Called Chunda?

  113. Quote of the day..

    Steve Fritchley & Jovan Owusu-Nepaul.. the real deal.. Labour don’t need no actors.

    1. Dr Who has himself been reincarnated into the opposite sex and even has two hearts.

      "It's sex Jim, but not as we know it – if I knew the reason for being born like that my name would be Doctor Spock!"

      1. Ooh you've gone deep again. Me idiot.

        On a personal aside you are coming to my party in August aren't you? Say yes !

        1. I couldn’t possibly comment – all I can say is that I have to go with the flow as I’m on diuretics.

          1. #metoo. i keep a bucket by my my bedside too.
            See Hertslass if you want to visit.

      2. As far as I am concerned all actors are tinged with a narcissistic streak , by nature those involved in the arts are lefties , that has been my experience , their disciplines are not mine .

        Anyone who melts into a role by acting , has no sincerity or real purpose except to deceive and entertain. .

        These people are Svengali people , they coerce and mesmerise , and create an illusion of reliability .

        Look at the influence on society they have , and actors love their role as influencers ..

        Corrupt wicked people , some world leaders , and many sweet talking influencers have ruined the weakest idiots in society ..

        Actors are given Knighthoods and Damehoods .. but what have they really done for society except to get rich from their adoring fans ..

        Nah , charisma works for many , Svengali destroyed Trilby … and we are her ,

    2. They're going to bed – they've all got their pyjamas on (but why do they need nightshirts as well?)

    5. The day the Earth stood still?

      Oooops, didnt see below! Great minds etc (duh!)

  118. – And the winner of yesterday's tv Presidential Debate was –

    Joe Biden's life support team

    1. Biden would have done better if he'd gone on with a pair of underpants on his head, a pencil up each nostril, and repeating "wibble, wibble".

    3. The Humanoid Robotics team have certainly reached an impressive degree of realism in emulating degenerative AI animatronics.

  119. The garden has gone mental this week: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/42121b6ce2a40da541a126ed7fd94fd0187c974aa8858b0fd7b7e9173f12023f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/218343eb5dad92e5c8dd3c669cee88aad95259ffac1c79ebd4eef7ee3c64ac6b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79b1c909a33ae43982d9ec0e7e75a6b9d2de07c6d9b78266dc07a887d5f1cf66.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/396b5efec5a3b30a5902f7a8f2801a088e5708137336f597873e2b1ce559cc99.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4742a6387eebf44010bccf514e2626789862b327fb1067c0decc5785be5be91d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/690146164338c3bbc3eea835cff2fd6355c62fd3a6a32d5160bd64856a4813ad.jpg

    1. Nice one.
      Not a natural but i do have some minor successes………….then they die. :@(

      1. I don't do a lot, plant them, feed and water them, and that's about it.

  121. I am wondering if the lead up to this election is actually legal. Given the outstanding facts, that the media is determined to deny the presence of all of the leading candidates. Surely this should not be allowed to happen. What right do the three larger parties, with the aid of our left wing media, have to totally monopolise the build up, obviously with the assistance of MSM.

  123. I do that too. Then they die. Not entirely true. I have tomatoes and chillis and even a marrow thing but even though i spend time and money including half ton of horshit i still don't get anywhere much

  124. Labour's private school tax raid 'likely illegal'

    Keir Starmer's flagship policy could breach human rights law, top lawyers warn

    28 June 2024 • 3:20pm

    Sir Keir Starmer's planned VAT raid on private schools is likely to breach human rights law, The Telegraph can reveal.

    The Labour leader risks falling foul of European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) law over his party's flagship policy, one of Britain's top constitutional and human rights lawyers has warned. Lord Pannick, who has taken on some of the UK's most high-profile court cases, backed legal advice warning that making private schools subject to VAT was likely to breach ECHR law.

    He told The Telegraph: "It would be strongly arguable that for a new government to impose VAT on independent schools would breach the right to education. That is because all other educational services will remain exempt from VAT and the charging of VAT on independent schools alone is designed to impede private education, and will have that effect."

    The KC and crossbench peer said that the Labour policy risked breaching two articles in the ECHR which protect the right to education. He referred to legal advice written in response to Labour policies as far back as the early 1980s, when the country's most senior lawyers warned that plans to end tax exemptions for private schools or abolish the institutions altogether would likely breach international human rights law to which Britain is signed up.

    Previous leaders of the party have floated the idea of taxing private schools as part of plans to integrate them into the state sector. Under former party leader Michael Foot, the Labour manifesto of 1983 pledged to "charge VAT on the fees paid to [private] schools".

    The policy to abolish the schools was eventually shot down by senior lawyers, who argued it could be at odds with the ECHR and spoke specifically about the risk of imposing VAT.

    While Sir Keir has ruled out abolishing private schools, he plans to force the institutions to pay business rates and 20pc VAT on tuition fees.

    In an unearthed legal opinion from 1987, seen by The Telegraph, the late Lord Lester and Lord Pannick, prominent human rights lawyers, concluded a government "could not lawfully prohibit fee-paying, independent education or remove the benefits of charitable status or impose VAT in respect of such education" while a member of the court.

    A foreword to the opinion written in 1991 by Lord Scarman, who served as a Law Lord in the precursor to the Supreme Court, said it would "encourage a challenge which could be mounted by taking the argument to the [ECHR]… if ever a government should seek to abolish or discriminate against [private schools]".

    The opinion was jointly written by Lord Lester and Lord Pannick as advice for the Independent Schools Council (ISC) and later published in its journal. Lord Pannick confirmed his belief that the argument still stands today.

    It has been suggested previous Labour proposals to impose VAT on private schools under Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot's leadership of the party were dropped following an earlier legal warning in 1982. Writing in The Times in 2019, Lord Lester said: "In 1982 [Lord] David Pannick and I advised the school governing bodies that Labour's plan would violate the European Convention on Human Rights and its first protocol. Our opinion was published. No one disputed our advice and the policy was dropped."

    The policy failed to appear in Labour's next manifesto at the June 1987 election under Neil Kinnock's leadership. The legal opinion was given in April of that year. Lord Kinnock, however, told The Telegraph he did not recall any such proposals and that he was unaware of the legal opinion.

    The legal advice was issued before a New Labour government passed the Human Rights Act 1998 which enshrined into UK law the rights contained in the ECHR. The revelations call into question whether Sir Keir is prepared to battle the courts over the controversial policy. Labour had previously said it would look into abolishing private schools under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

    Sir Keir, who opinion polls say is poised to enter Downing Street next week with a large majority, has long been an ardent supporter of ECHR and criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for suggesting he would quit the court were it to rule against the Rwanda plan. In a speech in December, Sir Keir said the ECHR was an "achievement, not just of this nation, but of Winston Churchill and the Conservative Party that brought peace and protection to the world".

    But it is believed Sir Keir's headline education policy is likely to contravene two key articles in the ECHR. These are Article 2 of the First Protocol to the convention and Article 14, which protect the right to education and against attempts to remove or impede the right to access a broad range of schools.

    Jeremy Hyam KC, a human rights lawyer, said: "It is clearly arguable that if the state imposes VAT and removes [the] charitable status of private schools without proper analysis of the likely effects on the sustainability and economic viability of such schools, the effects may be so destructive of the ability of such schools to continue to exist that it is a disproportionate and unlawful interference with the right of plurality of educational choice protected under the ECHR."

    Lord Pannick was asked by the Government to help draft the bill to support its plan to deport channel migrants to Rwanda last year, but reportedly warned its chances of securing the flights would be severely limited. In 2020, Lord Pannick appeared on behalf of Shamima Begum in the Supreme Court's judicial review brought against then home secretary Sajid Javid, who banned her from returning to the UK for legal proceedings regarding the removal of her British citizenship.

    The KC also successfully represented Gina Miller in her case against the Government over whether the prime minister first needed approval from Parliament before triggering the UK's exit from the European Union.

    Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, called in Lord Pannick at the height of the Partygate scandal in March 2023 to advise on his assessment by the House of Commons Privileges Committee of whether he knowingly misled MPs.

    Gillian Keegan, the secretary of state for education, said: "Labour have already admitted their ideologically motivated tax on education will arbitrarily lead to larger class sizes and now it has emerged they have been warned their policy is discriminatory and breaches human rights law. Make no mistake, taxing education is unprecedented in this country. No one who cares about our children's education would ever put politics before pupils, but it is clear that for Labour no price is too high in their pursuit of the pernicious politics of envy."

    A Labour Party spokesman said: "We do not agree with this assessment, and we are confident that our plans are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Labour will invest in delivering a brilliant state education for children in every state school by recruiting over 6,500 new teachers, funded by ending tax breaks for private schools. "Independent schools have raised fees above inflation for well over a decade and do not have to pass Labour's proposed change on to parents."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/labour-private-school-tax-raid-likely-illegal/

    2. I get the impression that this policy is just a diversion to distract people away from the real tax rises they have planned

  128. Donald Trump is going to turn Starmer's Britain into an international laughing stock

    The UK is heading Left, just when the rest of the world is turning its back on net zero and mass migration

    CAMILLA TOMINEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 28 June 2024 • 4:20pm

    Grandfather Robert Blackstock, a retired engineer from Nottinghamshire, became the "Brenda from Bristol" of this election campaign when he asked Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer during Wednesday night's TV debate: "Are you two really the best we've got to be the next prime minister of our great country?"

    Like the woman who responded to Theresa May's snap election in 2017 with "not another one!", this 74-year-old spoke for a nation that appears to be on the brink of some sort of political harakiri. The mood seems to be: "I can't bring myself to vote for the Tories even though I know Labour will be even worse."

    But if we thought things were bad in the UK, spare a thought for our transatlantic brethren, who are having to choose between a man facing a custodial sentence and a president who cannot finish a sentence. It's enough to make "broken Britain" look like BarbieLand.

    After Joe Biden's near catatonic performance on Thursday night, accurately described by Tim Stanley in this newspaper as not so much a debate as a "medical emergency", Donald Trump is looking increasingly likely to serve a second term in the White House.

    Assuming that Biden isn't replaced – and let's be honest, the Democrats have known about Sleepy Joe's fragile state for quite some time now – it hardly seems fathomable that Americans could choose the doddery 81-year-old over Trump after this. The Democratic demand for any Republican nominee to be "morally" fit for office loses its potency when voters are wondering if their actual president is fit for office, full stop.

    One thing's for certain. Should The Donald return to the Oval Office in a cloud of orange smoke, it will leave a potential Labour government in a very uncomfortable place, which could have significant ramifications for Starmer's first year in No 10, if he does triumph on Thursday.

    Indeed, Britain is about to get a Left-wing government at the precise moment when not just the United States but many other Western nations are moving sharply to the Right too.

    Is it really going to feel savvy for the UK to push full-steam ahead towards net zero, for instance, when America could soon be prioritising economic growth and Europe is already reining in the Greta Thunberg fan club?

    Trump has made no secret of his desire to embrace oil, gas and cheaper energy. In Europe, meanwhile, green parties took an absolute drubbing in the European Parliament elections earlier this month, casting doubt over the future of the European Green Deal.

    Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, launched the plan to much fanfare in 2019 as a response to a surge in "climate emergency" scaremongering. But it has since become a target for Right-wing parties, who blame it for some of the bloc's economic woes in the wake of farmers' protests, inflation and rocketing energy bills after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

    Critics have long claimed that arbitrary net zero targets are a recipe for bankruptcy, but now electorates around the world seem to be waking up to the fact that they are in danger of making them poorer and colder.

    Not the Labour Party, however. This week, The Telegraph revealed a secret recording of Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, admitting that Labour's plan to decarbonise the economy could cost "hundreds of billions" of pounds.

    Mr Jones told a public meeting in Bristol that private capital would have to be used to upgrade infrastructure, but "public subsidy" would still be required alongside that. It was already going to be a hard sell to taxpayers – but it will be even harder if Britain's energy bills remain among the highest in Europe – and vastly bigger than Americans' bills under a second Trump presidency. Can the UK really afford to be an international green outlier?

    On migration, Britain is similarly going to appear completely out of step with the international mood. Labour looks set to continue with its slavish devotion to international courts and conventions at the expense of a populace that has long been demanding more robust border controls. While this has not been the "immigration election" that Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, had wanted, the subject has dominated conversations during the campaign, with polls suggesting that immigration is a priority issue for about two in five British voters.

    How will Starmer's kowtowing to his legal friends look in the face of Trump potentially ordering mass deportations and the French contemplating a referendum on migration, should Marine Le Pen's National Rally secure power? We would widely be considered the softest touch in the West, a hand-wringing international laughing stock as everyone else responds to voters' concerns and gets a grip on who can enter their country.

    If Trump wins again, America will start pushing back against the excesses of woke. He is even said to be planning a free national "American Academy" that bans "wokeness or jihadism", funded by punitive levies on other universities. By contrast, if Labour wins power, we can expect Britain to double down on extreme trans policies, critical race theory and all the other divisive nonsense pushed by the so-called "progressive" Left. Kemi Badenoch, the women and equalities minister, this week described Labour's new Race Equality Act as "morally repellent", because it would classify the workforce by race.

    Labour has also committed to making it easier for people to change their gender legally and ban so-called trans conversion therapy – even though the shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has admitted he was wrong to say in the past that "a trans woman is a woman".

    When the rest of the world appears to have changed its thinking on this issue, we have Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, suggesting that a trans woman with a penis should still be able to use a woman's lavatory.

    But perhaps the biggest worry is how Starmer will perform on the world stage opposite Donald Trump 2.0. Is the Labour leader really up for taking on the mantle of leading the free world's defence of Ukraine, if the US decides to take a step back? How will Labour react if Trump ridicules a Left-wing British government, which he is likely to do if past performance is any guide?

    Obviously, Starmer could go full Sadiq Khan or David Lammy, who have called the former president "a poster boy for racists" and a "neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath" respectively. But that would destroy the special relationship, and where would that leave the UK then?

    If Thursday night's US television debate has blown up Biden, then a Trump presidency could be about to do the same for Starmer's fledgling Labour administration.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/28/trump-will-turn-starmers-britain-into-a-laughing-stock/

    Trump v. Lammy. I can't wait!

    1. Doubly uncomfortable for Sir Kneelalot if Farage manages to win Clacton. Just imagine, every time he pronounces on America from the dispatch box Trump picks up the phone and asks Nigel what's going on.

      1. Currently, Oddschecker is making Nigel Farage between (minimum) 2/11 and (maximum) 1/8 on to win Clacton.

        1. Very encouraging. I don’t keep up with betting. Perhaps I should, since bookies are often way ahead of the game. Personally I’ve a feeling he will anyway.

          1. They were pretty good on the referendum I seem to remember. I prefer Oddschecker to the polls, although they must be using the polls to some extent.

    2. I'll be very happy next Friday morning if Reform UK have achieved 5 or more MPs. Trump winning in November would be an excellent result. Nigel Farage, currently, is (very) odds on to win Clacton.

      1. Apparently Edward Oakenfull, who dropped in this afternoon to leave some posters and leaflets, may be on course to take Derbyshire Dales off Sarah Dines.
        Hopefully, even the Labour hotspots of Matlock and Wirksworth will not be able to stop that.

          1. No, I saw it – so sorry I got distracted and then forgot as more came in (my inbox seems to get an awful lot). will reply tomorrow, am going to bed now!

    3. I don't think Europe or America is moving Right. I think it's moving back to the centre as folk realise how utterly useless and immersating socialism is.

      The problem is the entire system is set against democracy. That's why the Left so entrench anti democratic and supranational government – to stop there being any disruption to their hegemony.

        1. As in pocketing taxpayers? Yes, socialists have always done that.

          What's funny is we DID pivot to the Right. We voted for Brexit, we dismissed the political class, we said 'this is what we want'. The state has wasted 8 years putting every single barrier, blocker, cost, treaty and cretin in our way to ensure we see absolutely no benefit from it whatsoever.

          The Lefties squeal that Brexit was a mistake – it wasn't. Thinking the state would carry out the changes was. It should have been a turning point of utter and complete structural reform where the old order, the entrenched departments were torn down.

    4. I don't think Europe or America is moving Right. I think it's moving back to the centre as folk realise how utterly useless and immersating socialism is.

      The problem is the entire system is set against democracy. That's why the Left so entrench anti democratic and supranational government – to stop there being any disruption to their hegemony.

  130. This Channel 4 thing. If it was political sabotage then surely it's illegal unless they also do the same to every other political party?

    A sting operation on Reform is nasty. That said, I want to vote for people who love this country, who actually give a damn about it. Not for people who hate or even love one bit of it.

  131. The moment we all thought The Fakir was a bit…odd. This was just days after he was appointed Chancellor. What did he think he was doing? Sucking up to the British because of their fondness for tea by the bucketful? It could equally have been interpreted as mocking, even if unintentional. It certainly upset some folk who mistakenly thought Yorkshire Tea were advertising for the Tories – at least that provided us with some amusement.

    We're not laughing now.
    __________________________________________________________________
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af6200f3dc8f30f14c40b594365a2c429e21cb847662ccc1194fa7fcf3848230.jpg __________________________________________________________________

    1. That pot won't stretch to 3 mugs, let alone the half dozen in shot. I don't want staged photos of him making tea. I don't care if he prefers espresso or eats gravel. I care if he reduces the tax burden, makes it easier to start a business, buy goods, cheaper to get about, make, sell and buy stuff.

      He's made everything harder, more expensive, cost us more money with no return whatsoever for the crushing taxes he levies. He's knifed two PMs to get a job he couldn't do.

      1. Sunak was selected by his masters, who prepared the way for the knifing. Perhaps by agreement with all concerned, for the eager consumption of the public and their own nefarious agenda.

      2. Sunak was selected by his masters, who prepared the way for the knifing. Perhaps by agreement with all concerned, for the eager consumption of the public and their own nefarious agenda.

    2. That pot won't stretch to 3 mugs, let alone the half dozen in shot. I don't want staged photos of him making tea. I don't care if he prefers espresso or eats gravel. I care if he reduces the tax burden, makes it easier to start a business, buy goods, cheaper to get about, make, sell and buy stuff.

      He's made everything harder, more expensive, cost us more money with no return whatsoever for the crushing taxes he levies. He's knifed two PMs to get a job he couldn't do.

  132. The moment we all thought The Fakir was a bit…odd. This was just days after he was appointed Chancellor. What did he think he was doing? Sucking up to the British because of their fondness for tea by the bucketful? It could equally have been interpreted as mocking, even if unintentional. It certainly upset some folk who mistakenly thought Yorkshire Tea were advertising for the Tories – at least that provided us with some amusement.

    We're not laughing now.
    __________________________________________________________________
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af6200f3dc8f30f14c40b594365a2c429e21cb847662ccc1194fa7fcf3848230.jpg __________________________________________________________________

  134. Nigel did a good job on LeftyQuestionTime tonight – despite the dreadful Fiona Bruce harpy. Looks like they'll have to find multiple actors/plants/vegetables to try and derail Reform's momentum. Go Nige Go!!!!

  135. He is sometimes OTT but Dan Snow on the Terracotta Army is worth a watch.
    On Channel 5 now

  136. That was taken three months after the accident, by which time the grass had obviously been cut.

  137. That was taken three months after the accident, by which time the grass had obviously been cut.

  138. I see BBC had their usual national socialist audience wheeled in for tonight's Question Time
    Einstein's definition of insanity
    Keep watching the BBC while expecting a fair unbiased outcome

    1. I like the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result – but, believe it or not, there is no record of Einstein ever having said it – although it always sounds as if he should have!. He did enough good stuff elsewhere to mitigate that…..(apart from the nuclear bombs obvs….)

    2. Interesting to see Question Time live. Here at the seaside in Valencia BBC1&2 available.
      They certainly sought to give Farage a hard time. All water off a duck’s back.
      I think he almost won them over in the end. At least they desisted in their intents to paint him as an evil racist.

        2. I’ve just visited the Loch Arkaig website for the first time since one of the chicks died, and now the beautiful Dad Louis has been missing since Wednesday, presumed ill, and the WTS people who maintain the trees and woodland, and ring the osprey have had to go and leave mackerel close to the nest! The mother Dorcha has fed the chicks and herself, but I’m heartsick.

  143. Off you go. Rip this to pieces.

    Labour's race equality act will import the worst of America's culture wars

    It is clear to me that their plans will only divide Britain further

    RAKIB EHSAN • 28 June 2024 • 5:06pm

    With all signs pointing towards a massive Labour majority, the UK is at risk of being subjected to American-style racial identity politics on steroids.

    The party's big idea is introducing a new "landmark" Race Equality Act. According to the Labour manifesto, it will "enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority people, strengthen protections against dual discrimination and root out other racial inequalities". Party chair Anneliese Dodds, who has served as shadow equalities secretary, has said that the new legislation will "tackle structural racism at source".

    While Labour have been anything but detailed, elements of their wider plans have emerged – and it is clear to me that they would do more harm than good when it comes to race relations and equality of opportunity in modern Britain. For example, companies large employers will be subjected to ethnicity pay gap reporting.

    Now consider a company with experienced white-British leadership that takes on younger ethnic-minority workers who are just starting out in their careers. Even though it is more racially "diverse" and "inclusive" as a result, the pay gap data would appear to grow worse – potentially disincentivising the search for youthful, talented, and enterprising non-white people who could add value to such firms, with everyone losing out.

    The Equality Act as currently written has led to a swathe of spectacular financial claims against councils, by allowing for claims for financial redress when different jobs with different gender balances are paid differently within the same organisation. Extending this principle to race would be a costly catastrophe – a fitting summary of Labour's plan.

    The problem with the party's race equality act is that it intends to introduce it in a society which already has world-leading anti-discrimination protections on the grounds of race, ethnicity, and religion. We do not to be split into groups, measured, and then told that any disparities are the result of structural racism or deeply held societal prejudices. What we need is a more mature conservation on why disparities exist.

    There is a grave intellectual deficit at the heart of the contemporary British Left's thinking on fairness and equality. Labour's proposed Race Equality Act may be well-intentioned, but will ultimately serve to weaken our multi-racial democracy.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/28/labours-race-equality-act-will-only-divide-britain/

  144. -If only they hadn't stolen the election to give Obama a third term.
    Trump would be coming to the end of his second term,
    There would be no war in Ukraine and Israel
    There would be no mass migration.
    There would be no prospect of a third world war with Russia,
    No net zero madness or woke gender madness.
    The world would be at peace.
    And there would be another election in November with younger smarter people standing.

  145. Oh no , that is tragic , terrible news , what happened I wonder ?

    There are some evil people who do horrible things to our wildlife ..

    I really cannot cope with things like that .

    All of our wildlife is struggling and competing for a well earned life .

  147. Neither can I Belle. It’s so shattering, and following on from the Loch of the Lowes sadness.

    1. I am very pleased for Tommy. Can I ask if anyone has posted or will post again sections of the Trump/Biden debate? It seems that Biden was less than competent, and that as a result, the UK MSM is ignoring this debate as if it never happened.

  150. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless all you Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

  151. This afternoon , after motoring here there and everywhere doing various tasks , and after giving the spaniel a nice run on the heath , we called in to Durdle Door carpark just to look at the sea , which was calm below , and azure in colour , slightly hazy horizon , and the outline of Portland Bill in the distance across the bay

    https://lulworth.com/visit/plan-your-visit/parking/

    As you can see by the carpark prices , wow , how steep are they , so we just hung around , sucked in the view and then came on home .

    I am not being a motor head junky , but both MOH and I rhapsodied lyrical over the gorgeous cars parked in that very very chalky dusty car park , hundreds of them , top whack expensive 23/ 24 plate motors costing tens of thousands … and driven by Asians .. hundreds of them , I mean it.

    The owners of a landmark attraction on the Dorset coast have blamed “culturally diverse” tourists for “degrading” the beauty spot last summer and have called for a new countryside code to be introduced ahead of lockdown lifting in April.

    The Lulworth Estate owns Durdle Door, a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast, which is one of the county’s most famous attractions.

    After the lifting of the first lockdown, the estate claims the area was overwhelmed with daytrippers from outside Dorset whose behaviour caused “environmental degradation that has never been experienced”.

    “These visitors were mainly on day visits from cities, not travelling a short distance but sometimes driving four or five hours for a day out at the beach. With no foreign holidays, whole cities decamped into rural Britain,” reads the letter, reports the Times.

    Visitors in the summer were also guilty of lighting fires, writing graffiti and fly camping, it says.

    “We earnestly do not want a repeat of this for the upcoming spring and summer as delicate environments cannot sustain the level of degradation they received in 2020,” said the estate.

    It claimed that many of the daytrippers who would normally have gone abroad on holiday were clearly not familiar with the “leave no trace” culture of visiting the British countryside.

    Dorset's police chief has warned that those try to enter the county while the “stay local” messaging remains in place will be turned away.


    In a letter to the Government Petitions Committee, the estate pointed the finger at “the younger and more geographically and culturally diverse cohort” for leaving behind tonnes of rubbish that took weeks to clean up, including human faeces.

    1. Its a good financial deal to have aged relatives on pensions and benefits living with you, as yer effnicks do. Its win win, but few Brits have sussed the financial gains. Stuffing your rellies in care homes cost vast amounts of money and no benefits. A lesson to be learnt..

      1. Yeah , in principle , but try looking after a straying demented nearly 90 year old , and mopping up floors , and wiping bottoms , and looking for lost false teeth, and stopping the kitchen catching fire , and temper tantrums , bathing , washing , endless washing , wandering and escaping … when you are in your sixties / seventies .. dealing with falls.. is exhausting .

        All the love in the world does require a large team , not just one individual , old age , demented old age is a nightmare .

        People say it is easier to bung a loved one in a nursing home in Thailand or the Philippines for half / quarter the price !

  152. Good evening everyone and now goodnight. Wishing you all a deep, refreshing and dreamless sleep making way for a new tomorrow. Off into my basket with that hope for me, too. x

  153. Well double excitement tonight as an old girl collapsed just prior to the climax of the reunion, where we are supposed to sing the school song. I feel robbed. Plus, i have battery issues (discovered at 6 pm) which is a long saga and wasn’t going to be a problem as mum was willing to take me and picked me up and dad is going to lend me his car for 3 days. But when i got back at 10 pm the car was doing all sorts of funny things. Anyway we have stopped the funny noises and weakly flashing lights and the RAC will come on Tuesday to fit a new battery. Hopefully that will fix it. Early start tomorrow- a pleasant short but long drive to Knighton followed by a fairly brutal 17 1/2 mile march northwards. Wish me luck and good weather!!!

  154. Well double excitement tonight as an old girl collapsed just prior to the climax of the reunion, where we are supposed to sing the school song. I feel robbed. Plus, i have battery issues (discovered at 6 pm) which is a long saga and wasn’t going to be a problem as mum was willing to take me and picked me up and dad is going to lend me his car for 3 days. But when i got back at 10 pm the car was doing all sorts of funny things. Anyway we have stopped the funny noises and weakly flashing lights and the RAC will come on Tuesday to fit a new battery. Hopefully that will fix it. Early start tomorrow- a pleasant short but long drive to Knighton followed by a fairly brutal 17 1/2 mile march northwards. Wish me luck and good weather!!!

  155. Evening, all. Have had a busy day, rounded off by an evening race meeting. I don't really like evening meetings because they go on too late for me.

    Defence has been given short shrift because once we're back in the EU it'll be the EU army that will provide the armed forces. They'll have no connection with this country whatsoever – just the way the PTB like it.

  156. Well chums, that's me for another day. Good Night, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

    1. 'Morning, Geoff and thank you for all the work and effort you have put in to keep us all going. Well done!

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