Friday 28 October: Rishi Sunak’s fracking ban further undermines Britain’s energy security

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

600 thoughts on “Friday 28 October: Rishi Sunak’s fracking ban further undermines Britain’s energy security”

  1. Good morning all.
    Awake since half four and after 2 hours tossing & turning, decided I needed a mug of tea.
    8½°C outside, currently pitch black, but at least dry at the moment.

  3. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A shorts-and-flip flops 18°C promised today for yer sarf (ok, sarfeast) coast and dry.  Decorating am and gardening pm…

    Today’s excellent leading letter:

    SIR – The new Prime Minister has promised to do whatever is necessary for the country’s best interests. However, he has also pledged to abide by the 2019 Conservative manifesto (“10 key Tory manifesto pledges that Rishi Sunak has promised to deliver”, report, October 25). Which promise does he intend to keep?

    To take one example, he has reimposed the ban on fracking. How does that sit with the desperate necessity to ensure Britain’s medium to long-term energy security? His immediate predecessor recognised that events which were entirely unforeseen in 2019 have shown some manifesto pledges to be less than sensible; yet Mr Sunak intends to plough on regardless. Presumably, he will not review the equally nonsensical and probably unachievable commitments to net zero by 2050, and ban on sales of new petrol and diesel-powered cars by 2030.

    No doubt, a fracking ban will help to retain a few votes in one or two Red Wall seats; and the other “green” measures will gain the approval of metropolitan liberals – most of whom would never vote Conservative anyway. But, while war still rages in Ukraine and energy prices continue to rise, how many votes will be lost in hundreds of other seats that are vital to Conservative success?

    His stubborn adherence to such policies may prove to be bad not only for the country but also for his party and personal ambition.

    John Waine
    Nuneaton, Warwickshire

    The BTLs, with only one exception so far, are not impressed.  Here’s a couple:

    Michael Staples6 HRS AGO

    Great letter from John Waine on fracking and Net Zero. Why are politicians so brain dead that they remain bamboozled by corrupted science and the green blob? There is no climate emergency. Climate change exists but there is no evidence that man is warming it up through the burning of fossil fuels.

    Nigel Wheatcroft5 HRS AGO

    For all the applause of Rishi taking over from Truss he seems hellbent on making things worse. You would have thought that he could see that you cannot rely on the outside world to supply your energy needs, fracking could do that….when winter comes and people get cold and the lights go out…the blame will be his.

    * * *

    Sunak: ‘We will take the difficult decisions’.  He fell at the very first hurdle, and probably the most important one of all – that of secure and affordable energy.  I expect more of the same.

      1. Agreed.
        Also, he appears to be back on the agenda. Tough times ahead as the agenda wasn’t designed to improve the people’s lot but to destroy societal cohesion, or what’s left of it after the CV-19 fiasco. Lying and political bullshit will not help him if people suffer this coming winter.

  8. SIR – The wretched and inhumane conditions at the Manston centre in Kent (report, October 27) is a crisis of the Government’s own making.

    It was told by officials a year ago that Home Office analysis predicted that in 2022 up to 60,000 people would come across the Channel seeking asylum in Britain. Ministers failed to take any meaningful action to cut the backlog of 100,000 cases so that the asylum system was not clogged up – despite officials giving them options to do so. They also embarked on a war of words with the French rather than seeking to find the right solutions.

    Robert Jenrick, the new Immigration Minister, must act immediately to ensure that men, women and children are not stuck living in limbo in dire conditions. It’s time to stop deflecting failures with cruel and unworkable policies such as the Rwanda scheme, and focus on creating a fair, compassionate and orderly system that treats people with humanity and dignity.

    Enver Solomon
    CEO, Refugee Council
    London E15

    From their website:

    “The Refugee Council is a leading charity working with refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK. Founded in 1951, following the creation of the UN Refugee Convention, we exist to support and empower people who have made the heart breaking decision to flee conflict, violence and persecution in order to rebuild their lives here in the UK.”

    Well that’s a load of old bollards because most of those currently arriving are nothing of the kind.  No doubt his organisation, and therefore his salary, relies on taxpayers’ money, making letters like this a necessary justification for his continued existence.  Not unexpectedly I can find no reference on their website to who or what funds them, and neither is there any information about Mr Solomon’s salary as ‘CEO’.

    A pithy BTL:

    Jimbo Jones1 HR AGO

    Enver Solomon

    CEO, Refugee Council

    I’m glad the conditions are unpleasant, but why are you interested? No one there is a refugee. They are all criminal economic migrants. None of your business.

    1. Isn’t it time that members of the Refugee Council were charged with the offence of encouraging and assisting criminality? Don’t they commit this act every time they advise an illegal immigrant to throw away his papers?

      1. I agree. This should apply to all those ‘charities’ who assist with this criminal activity when they get here.

      2. Perhaps if every illegal who arrives without papers is deemed to be Albanian and deported to Albania the same day it might stop.

      3. That may be the case with airplane refugees, but the boatpeople leave their travel documents with family or friends, to be posted to the UK later.

    2. “…we exist to support and empower people who have made the heart breaking decision to flee conflict, violence and persecution (in yer war-torn France, Belguim, Greece, Italy, Spain) in order to rebuild their lives here in the UK.”

    3. Surely a real refugee doesn’t throw their papers away, as they have a good and documentable case for asylum. They would also have whatever qualification certificates with them. It’s only those who have no case that throw their papers away but keep their top-notch Iphone, so nobody knows where to return them to.

    4. If we’d turned the lot of illegal economic migrants back and sunk their boats, Manston would still be a healthy place. I heard first hand from people living there how unpleasant the invaders made it.

    1. I remarked yesterday how the scum MSM are out in force determined to bring down Ms Braverman. Just another example from what was once a quality newspaper, now just another rag.

  10. SIR – I am normally appalled by the direction of the BBC, but Wednesday’s edition of The Repair Shop (Review, October 27) was excellent.

    It focused on the work done by the King to preserve Dumfries House and its activities, and served to highlight and emphasise the need for skilled people and their apprentices. These are vital if our industries are to be preserved and allowed to flourish. The episode should be shown in all schools as part of the careers education programme.

    Tony Quade
    Edinburgh

    Yes, it was well done, and the skills displayed by the various repairers were remarkable.  And even the King seemed much more at ease, too.

    1. Presumably it was made before he ascended to the throne.

      He could send his pens to the “repair shop”….

    2. Was that the programme where Kingy expressed an interest in apprenticeships?

      Probably he was unaware that teenagers under the age of 18 are unable to purchase many types of hand tool, one of the principal reasons why it is so much easier to import young workers from abroad.

    1. The OBR is not the sole guardian of fiscal truth

      The institution has a value, but its forecasts can be flawed so they should not be regarded as definitive

      ANDREW LILICO • 27 October 2022 • 4:58pm

      The Office for Budget Responsibility was set up under the Osborne Treasury, because the Conservatives in opposition had strongly questioned Gordon Brown’s and Alistair Darling’s growth forecasts. They had alleged that the Treasury produced politically biased forecasts that made tax and spend decisions seem more prudent than they actually were. For what it’s worth, I disagreed with that analysis. None the less, when they came into office, the Tories acted on that criticism by establishing the OBR.

      By providing an independent view that is based upon information not in the public domain until the day fiscal statements are presented, the OBR does probably speed up the process of interpreting those statements. Before the OBR we would often have to wait until the IFS or City forecasters produced their analyses to see how aligned their opinions were with the Treasury’s.

      But that does not make the OBR an ultimate arbiter or referee of Treasury decisions. It is just one forecaster with a relatively modest budget and its models have well-known limitations (for example, it takes little, if any, account of the “dynamic” impacts of tax and spending decisions upon long-term growth rates†). Other forecasters may take different views and the Treasury is under no obligation to regard the OBR’s figures as definitive. That is partly because economic forecasting is tricky. Data moves dramatically, so even a perfect expectation one day might have been overtaken a couple of weeks later. And because government policies can materially affect future economic outcomes, the OBR is not in a strong position to judge how committed the government is to its policies or how effective those of them that are politically contentious might be.

      We can see one very straightforward illustration of the limitations of regarding OBR figures as definitive in the discussion around the movement of the Government’s planned autumn fiscal statement from Oct 31 back to Nov 17. Because of the conventions the OBR uses for the data periods of its analysis relative to the date of statements, the OBR already knows that shifting the date those couple of weeks will leave its estimate of the Government’s underlying deficit £6 billion better off in four years’ time because of recent movements in gilts.

      But that doesn’t mean that the Government’s actual deficit will be £6 billion less in four years’ time. The idea the date of a statement should be moved because of this is to put the OBR convention cart before the decision-making horse. The OBR should publish different scenarios for how one might think of the structural deficit.

      One way those scenarios might differ might be the success of government policies in boosting the long-term growth rate of GDP. The Truss government had grand plans for achieving that. It would have made no sense for the OBR to estimate the long-term deficit without taking account of those plans. But since those plans were politically contentious, the OBR also couldn’t assume they would all work or all fail. It would have needed to have been instructed by the Treasury to assume for differing degrees of success of the growth boost.

      Some commentary now puts the structural deficit at around £35 billion. If it is really as little as that, that is well within the range of uncertainty of OBR forecasts and suggests that, though some spending cuts or tax rises may be needed, there is no rush about them – that can wait until after the recession.

      OBR forecasts can shift wildly. Between Nov 2015 and March 2016, the OBR’s forecast for 2018 GDP fell by over 1 per cent. Estimates of long-term GDP, upon which estimates of the structural deficit depend, could easily shift by enough, during a recession, to eliminate or greatly amplify a structural deficit of a mere £35 billion.

      Movements in gas prices are a further volatile factor. Whereas a few weeks ago the cost of the government’s energy package was estimated at around £160 billion per year, the combination of changing the timescale (the package now finishes in April) and the fall in gas prices means that could be closer to zero. An OBR forecast done in mid-Sept, in the run-up to the mini-Budget, would already be irrelevant – illustrating how daft the claim was that the lack of an OBR forecast was Kwasi Kwarteng’s big error.

      The OBR is a potentially helpful tool. But its forecasts are not definitive. And nobody should regard them as such.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/27/obr-not-sole-guardian-fiscal-truth/

      † This is why the Treasury budgeting model is flawed. No one can really estimate with any accuracy how tax and spending changes will affect particular areas of the economy. That requires a precise knowledge of every financial relationship within it. It’s as impossible as modelling for you-know-what all of the natural forces at work in the world .

    2. The OBR is not the sole guardian of fiscal truth

      The institution has a value, but its forecasts can be flawed so they should not be regarded as definitive

      ANDREW LILICO • 27 October 2022 • 4:58pm

      The Office for Budget Responsibility was set up under the Osborne Treasury, because the Conservatives in opposition had strongly questioned Gordon Brown’s and Alistair Darling’s growth forecasts. They had alleged that the Treasury produced politically biased forecasts that made tax and spend decisions seem more prudent than they actually were. For what it’s worth, I disagreed with that analysis. None the less, when they came into office, the Tories acted on that criticism by establishing the OBR.

      By providing an independent view that is based upon information not in the public domain until the day fiscal statements are presented, the OBR does probably speed up the process of interpreting those statements. Before the OBR we would often have to wait until the IFS or City forecasters produced their analyses to see how aligned their opinions were with the Treasury’s.

      But that does not make the OBR an ultimate arbiter or referee of Treasury decisions. It is just one forecaster with a relatively modest budget and its models have well-known limitations (for example, it takes little, if any, account of the “dynamic” impacts of tax and spending decisions upon long-term growth rates†). Other forecasters may take different views and the Treasury is under no obligation to regard the OBR’s figures as definitive. That is partly because economic forecasting is tricky. Data moves dramatically, so even a perfect expectation one day might have been overtaken a couple of weeks later. And because government policies can materially affect future economic outcomes, the OBR is not in a strong position to judge how committed the government is to its policies or how effective those of them that are politically contentious might be.

      We can see one very straightforward illustration of the limitations of regarding OBR figures as definitive in the discussion around the movement of the Government’s planned autumn fiscal statement from Oct 31 back to Nov 17. Because of the conventions the OBR uses for the data periods of its analysis relative to the date of statements, the OBR already knows that shifting the date those couple of weeks will leave its estimate of the Government’s underlying deficit £6 billion better off in four years’ time because of recent movements in gilts.

      But that doesn’t mean that the Government’s actual deficit will be £6 billion less in four years’ time. The idea the date of a statement should be moved because of this is to put the OBR convention cart before the decision-making horse. The OBR should publish different scenarios for how one might think of the structural deficit.

      One way those scenarios might differ might be the success of government policies in boosting the long-term growth rate of GDP. The Truss government had grand plans for achieving that. It would have made no sense for the OBR to estimate the long-term deficit without taking account of those plans. But since those plans were politically contentious, the OBR also couldn’t assume they would all work or all fail. It would have needed to have been instructed by the Treasury to assume for differing degrees of success of the growth boost.

      Some commentary now puts the structural deficit at around £35 billion. If it is really as little as that, that is well within the range of uncertainty of OBR forecasts and suggests that, though some spending cuts or tax rises may be needed, there is no rush about them – that can wait until after the recession.

      OBR forecasts can shift wildly. Between Nov 2015 and March 2016, the OBR’s forecast for 2018 GDP fell by over 1 per cent. Estimates of long-term GDP, upon which estimates of the structural deficit depend, could easily shift by enough, during a recession, to eliminate or greatly amplify a structural deficit of a mere £35 billion.

      Movements in gas prices are a further volatile factor. Whereas a few weeks ago the cost of the government’s energy package was estimated at around £160 billion per year, the combination of changing the timescale (the package now finishes in April) and the fall in gas prices means that could be closer to zero. An OBR forecast done in mid-Sept, in the run-up to the mini-Budget, would already be irrelevant – illustrating how daft the claim was that the lack of an OBR forecast was Kwasi Kwarteng’s big error.

      The OBR is a potentially helpful tool. But its forecasts are not definitive. And nobody should regard them as such.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/27/obr-not-sole-guardian-fiscal-truth/

      † This is why the Treasury budgeting model is flawed. No one can really estimate with any accuracy how tax and spending changes will affect particular areas of the economy. That requires a precise knowledge of every financial relationship within it. It’s as impossible as modelling for you-know-what all of the natural forces at work in the world .

  12. Russia deploys dozens of drones in two days – Zelensky. 28 October 2022.

    Western officials believe Iran has supplied a large number of drones to Russia, but Moscow and Tehran deny it.

    It comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia’s aggressive use of drones “appalling”.

    The top US diplomat accused Russian commanders of using the devices to “kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy the infrastructure they rely on for electricity, for water, for heat” during a visit to the Canadian capital Ottawa.

    This cant from the state that led their use and has probably still killed more people with them; without the excuse of war, than Russia has yet achieved in Ukraine.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63421603

    1. “…accused Russian commanders of using the devices to “kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy the infrastructure… – a bit like the NATO forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya and other sad places, then? Pot, kettle, black, Mr Blinken?

  13. SIR – I was totally unaware that a new lectern is made for each new Prime Minister (“Why Rishi Sunak has to use an old lectern instead of designing his own”, report, October 25), at a cost of between £2,000 and £4,000. The mind boggles at such a waste of money.

    Where are they all kept – and what is the collective noun for a group of lecterns?

    Rita Morris
    Sutcombe, Devon

    And so was I, Ms Morris.  What a fine example of the waste in Whitehall!  I wonder what else wastes our money when there is a change of PM??

  14. 366707+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    This is better understood when people realise his priorities are, and to whom he owes allegiance to, first & foremost is the WeF.

    No matter though his leadership will NOT alter the fact and standing of the party, that comes first…… as always.

    Sunak’s fracking ban further undermines Britain’s energy security.

    1. 366707+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      On humanitarian grounds the political overseers should insist that Government orchestrated invasion troops each bring a bottle of Calor.

      Ps rishi don’r give a shite he has a zillion pound muffler.

  16. Rishi Sunak’s fracking ban further undermines Britain’s energy security

    Rishi Nofrak knows that with energy independence comes nation state independence and proper democracy can flourish without being held to ransom.

    1. This is probably the main aim of the policy.

      Before he was prime minister, when he promised not to ban fracking, he was probably unnaware that Schwab, Gates and the other puppeteers holding the strings would be firm on this issue.

      The Conservatives under Sunak haven’t a chance of winning the next election which is why Gates is already cosying up to Starmer.

  17. Police solve less crime than ever, even as offences soar. 28 October 2022.

    Police are solving the lowest proportion of crimes on record – as overall offences have hit a new high.

    Only 5.4 per cent of all crimes resulted in a charge in the year to June, equivalent to just over one in 20 offences being solved, according to Home Office figures.

    That represents a fall from 6.5 per cent in the previous year and is just a third of the charging rate of 15.5 per cent seven years ago, when records began.

    The Police are of course just one aspect of a country in ruins. No public institution really works any longer. The Elites are so corrupt and vacuous that they are not only incapable of fixing it but don’t actually know! It is only by some freak of Circumstance, Politics and Culture that it still stands. This is rule by the Eloi. We await the appearance of the Morlocks!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/27/detection-rates-hit-rock-bottom-crimes-break-records/

    2. Morning Minty, how can people expect the police farce solve crimes and charge the offenders when they are busy kneeling with BLM, dancing with LBQT in the streets or busy feeding and watering XR and Stop The Oil protesters who are glued to the roads.

    3. Old MacDonald lost his farm
      Eloi, Eloi – Ho!
      Cause on that farm he had some cows,
      Eloi, Eloi – Ho!
      With a cow fart here and a cow fart there,
      Here a fart there a fart everywhere a fart fart,
      So Old Macdonald lost his farm
      Eloi, Eloi -Ho!

      1. The mad and extremely nasty prime minister of Holland, Mark Rutte, is planning to requisition more and more farm land in order to build housing for immigrants.

        1. Now Old MacDonald had a farm,
          Eloi, Eloi – Ho!
          And on that farm he had some pigs,
          so they just had to go
          With a Muslim here and a Muslim there
          Here a Mus, there a Mus everywhere a Mus Mus…
          Old MacDonald lost his farm
          Eloi, Eloi – Ho!

    6. Not that I wish to appear to support the woke elements of the police forces; if crimes are on the rise it is feasible that this year’s 5.4% of current crime charges is actually greater than the previous year’s 6.5% of charges.

      It’s still a poor show but publishing the actual figures, rather than percentagess, would give a clearer indication of the state of play.

      Oh, wait…

  18. SIR – I could not disagree more with Nick Robinson. Project 2000 was not a degree course, it was a diploma. I was fortunate to be in the trial group of 15 schools of nursing back in 1989 and trained at Bedford Hospital – it was excellent. I was also counted in the staff numbers on the wards in my final year and was very grateful for it.

    I went on to do my degree and progressed to become a ward manager.

    Mary Moore
    London E2

    Yes, as usual Sgt Bilko got his facts wrong. 

    From wiki:

    “Project 2000 was phased in as the primary choice for nurse training from 1990. Prior to then the government was spending around £770m on nurse training. Only around £71m was spent in 1991-92 on its implementation, when 14 Colleges of Nursing were added to the scheme. When the scheme began, universities did not charge any tuition fees and students were paid a bursary to support their living and training costs during the course.

    The scheme was implemented by the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC), itself created in 1983, which became the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2002.

    State Registered Nurses became Registered General Nurses (RGNs).

    State Enrolled Nurses were replaced with healthcare assistants, who had no official training and were neither registered.[1]

    Training

    Project 2000 student nurses studied for 3 years, splitting the time between class based learning, and practical placements. The first 18-month of the course was known as the common foundation programme and provided basic grounding in 4 nursing discipline: Adult, Child, Mental Health and Learning Disability care. This was followed by 18 months dedicated to the nursing discipline of choice. On successful completion of the course students were awarded a Diploma in Nursing relevant to their discipline.”

    My daughter went down the Diploma route, thus avoiding the crippling debt resulting from a university course.  In her own time she then achieved a Masters, and continues as a specialist paediatric neo-natal nurse.  There must be many like her who would still benefit from such a scheme, but for some reason successive governments are blind to the obvious advantages.

    1. Good morning Big Bum

      I like your reference to the physical similarity between between Nick Robinson and Phil Silvers! But Silvers in the role of Sergeant Bilko was gloriously funny whereas Robinson is a priggish bore.

  19. 366707+ up ticks

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    21h
    Ukraine – Is a false flag dirty nuclear bomb attack planned?

    An excellent 12 minute assessment by Senator Richard Black. Worth taking the time to watch.

    He also notes how Truss was removed so that the Globalists have a clear run for their agenda.

    US Col. Richard Black: “It’s Not Russia that is Planning an October Surprise with a Dirty Bomb”

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    22h
    Great article – worth taking five minutes to read.

    I have been saying these things since I started in active politics in 1992. The Conservative Party has never conserved anything in its history. The only true thing in their name is the word ‘Con’.

    This country has No patriotic party to represent ordinary people with a chance in hell of winning elections, & the MSM intend to keep it that way.

    The only solution would be for a political genius backed by tens of millions of pounds to arise – & Farage ain’t it.

    img
    There Is Nothing ‘Conservative’ About the Conservative Party, and Probably Never Has Been –

    https://gettr.com/post/p1vq1fk3348

  20. And now for something uplifting:

    Lt Col William Douglas, platoon commander awarded an MC for an audacious raid on enemy strongholds in Holland – obituary

    After retiring from the Army in 1969, Douglas taught at the prep school for Ampleforth College, where he was known as ‘the Colonel’

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    27 October 2022 • 2:45pm
    Lieutenant Colonel William Douglas, who has died aged 101, was awarded an MC for a daring attack in Holland in 1945.

    In March 1945, Bill Douglas was serving with the 11th Battalion The Royal Scots Fusiliers (11 RSF) and was in command of a platoon of D Company. An enemy force had infiltrated the position of 7th Battalion The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (7 DWR) near Haalderen, south of Arnhem.

    Douglas’s company was told to mount a raid to establish the strength and identity of German units on that most important part of the front. Widespread flooding, minefields and extensive barbed wire defences made the operation very difficult.

    In the early morning of March 10, in darkness, Royal Navy assault craft transported D Company up the River Waal to raid the enemy positions. Surprise was lost when a Belgian unit on the south bank, seeing craft moving up river, opened fire.

    As a result, the landing had to be made short of the intended one and in the skirmish to secure the area Douglas’s sergeant was killed; a section became detached in the dark and ended up with another platoon.

    The other two sections set about clearing the bank of the enemy, but after about 300 yards one of them was held back by enemy fire. Douglas’s depleted force fought their way from house to house until they, too, were pinned down by machine-gun fire from a farmhouse.

    Ordering his men to take cover, Douglas called for mortar fire dangerously close to his own position. This enabled him to push forward again. Having completed his task, he personally directed covering fire to enable the rest of the company to withdraw.

    All the enemy strong-points had been dealt with. Fifty-one Germans were killed, wounded or captured for the cost of three allied troops killed and eight wounded. Douglas was awarded an Immediate MC, his platoon corporal a DSM and the company commander, Major Leslie Rowell, an Immediate DSO.

    William Dewhurst Douglas was born in Bolton, Lancashire, on March 15 1921. Bill, as he was always known, was educated at Thornleigh Salesian College, Bolton, where he was head boy, captain of games for two consecutive years, and captain of cricket, soccer, athletics and cross-country running. As a runner, he was good enough to make regular appearances in the junior events of the Northern Counties Amateur Athletics Association.

    After leaving school, war and conscription were looming and he volunteered for the RAF. A minor eye defect ruled out his becoming a pilot, so he switched to the Coldstream Guards, He undertook six months’ basic training before going to Sandhurst.

    In March 1943, Douglas was commissioned into the RSF and posted to the 11th Battalion. Based at Chepstow, they were engaged in mountain warfare training in the Brecons before moving to Scotland to begin specialised training for a beach landing role. Early in 1944, he became second in command of B Company when they moved to Norfolk for further training for the invasion of France.

    On June 11 1944, the battalion, part of 147th Brigade, landed on Gold Beach at Le Hamel, Normandy. A fortnight later, they took significant casualties in the battle for Fontenay-le-Pesnel. Douglas gained a reputation as an enterprising patrol leader. He was often out at night, close to enemy lines, listening and noting their dispositions.

    In October, at Kruisweg, South Holland, it was reported that an enemy tank was making its way down a village road towards Douglas’s company. His men were in a large barn. There was not time to deploy them and they scattered in search of cover.

    Douglas grabbed a PIAT, a portable anti-tank weapon, and tried to conceal himself behind a low wall in front of a row of houses. He thought that he could not be seen, but was spotted by the German tank commander from his turret.

    The tank’s gun could not be lowered enough to fire directly at Douglas so it blasted the houses behind; he had to be dragged out of the fallen rubble by his men. His sergeant saw off the tank by engaging it with an anti-tank gun which he had pulled out of a blazing building. The sergeant was later awarded a Military Medal.

    Douglas was taken by stretcher to a regimental aid post and then transferred to the Canadian Military Hospital in Antwerp. His spinal cord was so badly damaged that it was feared he would be paralysed. Feeling in his legs returned, however, and within a month he had discharged himself from hospital, flagged down a supply truck and rejoined his battalion.

    In December 1944, the battalion was in an area of low-lying land between Nijmegen and Arnhem. Known as “the Island” because it lay between the River Waal and the Lower Rhine, in a cold, wet winter it was one of the most unpleasant sectors of the front.

    Douglas’s company became part of the force defending the road bridge at Nijmegen. One of their tasks was to drop hand grenades into the river at night to deter attempts at sabotage by enemy frogmen.

    In June 1945, after the action in which he was awarded his MC, he left the battalion, having volunteered for service against Japan. After the Japanese surrender, he was offered a place at Oxford but chose to join 1st Battalion The Northern Rhodesia Regiment (1 NRR) in the country’s Copper Belt. In April 1947, on a royal tour in Rhodesia, the King presented Douglas with his Military Cross in a ceremony at the Victoria Falls Hotel.

    He was granted a regular commission in the RSF and, after Staff College, he had a staff job at HQ British Somaliland District. In 1949, he re-joined 1 RSF in Dortmund, Germany. Subsequent staff and regimental appointments took him to HQ Scottish Command, Edinburgh, 1 RSF in Berlin and then Malaya during the Emergency.

    In 1958, in a ceremony in which RSF, as an individual regiment, marched off into history, Douglas was the last man to leave the parade ground. The following year, RSF amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry to form The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret’s Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment) or RHF. Douglas was the first commander of A Company.

    He saw further service at HQ Far East Land Forces, Singapore, and with 1  RHF in Malta before assuming command of 5/6 Highland Light Infantry. A staff posting to Nato HQ Izmir, Turkey, was his last appointment before taking early retirement from the Army in 1969.

    He then moved to St Martin’s Ampleforth, the prep school for Ampleforth College, at Gilling Castle in North Yorkshire. In addition to teaching History and Geography, he coached the boys in cricket, rugby and rifle shooting. Known as “the Colonel”, he was greatly respected and his passing will be keenly felt by many of his former pupils.

    Douglas was fortified by a strong Catholic faith, played golf and exercised his brain with regular games of bridge. In 2017 he was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in recognition of the part that he had played in the liberation of France.

    William Douglas married, in 1953, Olga Chapman, whom he had met in Edinburgh when she commanded 10 Scottish Battalion WRAC. She predeceased him. They had no children, but he was always a profound source of wisdom and guidance to his wider family.

    William Douglas, born March 15 1921, died October 6 2022

    A couple of fitting BTLs:

    Paul Davey13 HRS https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce83808b3e8eb51f8772dc6b1b8c2f1008dc1c9d4aaf7f4de33871846e16d01c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/36b9357d089cc5f0066d9faf990d956f65bf8b8a14c7a48e13d165ec6b3f27aa.jpg AGO

    “His spinal cord was so badly damaged that it was feared he would be paralysed. Feeling in his legs returned, however, and within a month he had discharged himself from hospital, flagged down a supply truck and rejoined his battalion.” What a man.

    Joseph Wyse8 HRS AGO

    And so the great ones pass. We are so indebted to such men and women of great valour. By their deeds and sacrifice we have our freedom. We must ensure that their names and mighty exploits are told and retold.

  21. Headline in today’s DT:

    “Rishi Sunak seeks ‘ambitious’ new migrant deal with France

    The new Channel deal could include bonuses to incentivise staff to meet targets on stopping boats”

    Permit me to translate: We will give the French yet more money to look the other way.

  23. Braverman’s return shows how deeply Sunak is in hock to the hard right. Polly Toynbee. 28 October 2022.

    Thank God Suella Braverman is back,” writes one Telegraph columnist. “Her determination to crack down on crime and illegal immigration undoubtedly chimes with the views of the country, and especially voters in the Red Wall. Thank God there is someone in the Cabinet to put forward those views.”

    How I wish. I’ve noticed quite recently an unhealthy interest in myself into wishing that there was at the very least some Far-Right movement on the horizon. There isn’t! A Marxist World is upon us and it spans the Earth from Communist China to the Neoliberal West with its Cultural Marxist doctrine. The only important exception to this rule is Russia. This is probably because they among all the nations of the world have once escaped it and have no wish to experience it again!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/27/suella-braverman-rishi-sunak-hard-right-labour

    1. Good morning, Araminta.

      You actually read the shite presented by Polly Toynbee? I’ve come across amœbæ with more brain cells than Toynbee. Whatever she spouts, on any topic, is beyond a vacuum.

      2. I had hoped to never hear of the vile Toynbee again – I thought she’d retired to her luxury pile in Tuscany [oh to be rich enough to be a Socialist!] during lockdown and gone quiet?

      3. Well said, Grizz. She, and the leftie rag she writes for, are both banned in Janus Towers. Pure poison!

      4. Well said, Grizz. She, and the leftie rag she writes for, are both banned in Janus Towers. Pure poison!

    2. What point is Toynbee trying to make ?
      It’s been demonstrated recently how easy it is to sack a cabinet member.

    3. Good morning Minty.

      I agree with you entirely but I think we fall into the trap of suggesting that any political party which held the views which were both common and acceptable 50 years ago would now be “extreme right.”

      I made the point in a post a few months ago that George Orwell was considered to be left wing – but now many of his sensible views would be considered extreme right.

  24. From today’s DT:

    “The Love Box in Your Living Room, review: Harry Enfield’s bewildering BBC send-up veered close to genius

    4/5
    Viewers not familiar with Adam Curtis’s documentaries may have been slightly baffled by Enfield and Paul Whitehouse’s spoof”

    I watched this yesterday (it’s on iPlayer) and enjoyed it. And it is not hard to see why it was shown after the watershed – the hanging of Muffin the Mule would have the squeamish running for their safe spaces! Some genuinely ‘laugh out loud’ moments, with Whitehouse and Enfield on very good form. Some exceptionally clever editing, too. It must have taken ages to produce.

    PS I still have my Muffin, although he needs quite a bit of mending. A task for those clever people at the Repair Shop perhaps?

    1. I used to have a Muffin puppet, but my mother threw it out (along with so many of my possessions that would be worth a small fortune today).

    1. Way to go, Dean! That ol’ swamp-donkey reminds me of the time I bummed a lift on a hand-cart, Hombre, and pumped it all the way into a Loosi-Anna ‘gator swamp. A bummer, but the cleanest I’ve been since the dust bowl got rained on, Dude. These days I just mooch a lift on the cow-catcher of ol’ Casey Jones’ iron horse, Man. A Bum-class season-ticket, Compadré.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ebwhu3nsM8

      1. Hey, Beatnik! Like Danny you want to Boogie in the Mud, Dude! Stay off old Casey’s loco, Hombre as he’s fixin’ to crash. Here is that old Papa Nes with a cautionary tale of crazy engineers driving fast to make up lost time and ending their time- getting to the terminus decades too soon, Man

        ,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9lclhNmi8o

  26. 366707+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Are these governing party political, in many cases multi house rodents
    playing open house to the invasion troops, are they asking their wives to clutch a potential rapist to her breast or their children to sit on the knee of a potential paedophile.

    Even as mad,bad & sad as this electorate is I do not believe in-house rapist / paedophiles will find much support, some but not a great deal

    If in doubt check out old Cleo.

  27. Would a family in the right mind with children invite a dinghy illegal migrant to live in their spare room.

    Going by the authorities refusal to take child rape seriously these days, would they say they the family brought it upon themselves?

    1. Morning Bob. Dragooning is the next step. This was invented by Louis XIV who placed his “Dragoons” in the home of the French Huguenots and told them to behave as badly as they wished until the Protestant Scum converted to Catholicism!

    2. Could any expert advise us whether your contents insurance is still valid if you have an illegal as a lodger?

      1. I mentioned that yesterday Janet.
        The insurance policy would alter dramatically.
        Can you imagine both going out shopping or a day trip and later being told that your house had been burnt down. Or a dozen had moved in while you were out. And hoomun riaghts loryars had shut you out. Help by your local police farce.

        1. I know of someone in his seventies who, several years ago, went for an extended spell in hospital and when he returned, in a taxi, his key did not work.
          Eastern EU nationals had occupied his house. What remained of his possessions had been thrown in the garden, and the ‘tenants’ showed the Police what they claimed to be a valid contract.

    3. This is what happens Bob, the government makes stupid decisions and on-going mistakes. Then try to shift the blame and responsibility on to the nation.
      We don’t want or need any extra people in our country. It’s full.

  28. Morning all 🙂
    The glow-ball is up there somewhere I caught a glimpse of it earlier.
    With his fracking ban it Looks like our new PM has started with his own policies regarding the future of the nation.
    And who voted for that ? Or him for that matter.

    1. 366707+ up ticks,

      Morning RE,
      Go to the root of the problem, he is just an addition to the long line of treacherous misleaders

      the major chap / the wretch cameron, / leg over clegg / treacherous treasa / the turkish delight .

      The root being the party tory in name only.

  30. Good morning, my friends. We seem to have an internet connection this morning but I don’t know how long it will last.

    The Tories face electoral disaster if they fail to get a grip on migration
    The appointment of Suella Braverman is a crucial sign that Rishi Sunak sees that the status quo is unsustainable

    DAVID FROST https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/d/da-de/david-frost/

    BTL

    If the Conservative Party had been serious about winning the next election it would have allowed Lord Frost to stand in the Tiverton by-election – which he very possibly would have won – and then enabled him to become party leader.

    Even though a Labour government would make the illegal immigration problem even worse the Conservative Paty will die because of its weakness and persistent failure on this issue.

    1. Conservative and UNIONIST Party, please. To be fair, Mr Sunak did use its full title during his victory speech.

      1. That was to divert attention from the fact that he is determined to betray Northern Ireland and fail to end the NI Protocol.

  31. Good morning, my friends. We seem to have an internet connection this morning but I don’t know how long it will last.

    The Tories face electoral disaster if they fail to get a grip on migration
    The appointment of Suella Braverman is a crucial sign that Rishi Sunak sees that the status quo is unsustainable

    DAVID FROST https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/d/da-de/david-frost/

    BTL

    If the Conservative Party had been serious about winning the next election it would have allowed Lord Frost to stand in the Tiverton by-election – which he very possibly would have won – and then enabled him to become party leader.

    Even though a Labour government would make the illegal immigration problem even worse the Conservative Paty will die because of its weakness and persistent failure on this issue.

    1. Dismantle it. Necessary tools include wire cutters, spanners, screwdrivers, pliers and gloves, and possibly a hammer.

  33. Good morning all

    Well we have now managed to get rid of the defunct Bosch washing machine , 14 years is not a bad innings.

    The rules and regulations for picking up broken white goods is horrendous .. all laid down by the government , and fees collected by local councils .

    The rules are that heavy goods must be collected from the doorstep.. If a freezer needs picking up , the collector requires a licence.. because of the CFC’sand disposal . The insurances are horrendous , and that licence to enter a house , which is issued by the police/ or local authority , forget which one .

    My son who is an electrician requires so many licences etc.. costs a small fortune .

    The hard working Brit has so many hurdles to overcome , no wonder everone is fed up .

    1. 366707+ up ticks,

      Morning TB,

      Especially to the police your son should say he was just off the boat at Dover.

    3. Dismantle it. Necessary tools include wire cutters, spanners, screwdrivers, pliers and gloves, and possibly a hammer.

    4. Dismantle it. Necessary tools include wire cutters, spanners, screwdrivers, pliers and gloves, and possibly a hammer.

    5. It’s always the same TB, too much interference from know all, no bodies sitting around a table with diverse opinions.
      Not too many years ago we had to send fridges and freezers to Europe to be decommissioned. We didn’t
      Now disposal is harder unless arranged for company delivering the new appliance to take it off your hands.

  34. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, Bad night last night but here’s today’s:

    Maxine’s Annual Exam

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e3eaf13403d6dc15e8bf49a95029f1e3446db03e72599b5d60a18d01043689c.jpg
    Our Yearly Dementia Test

    It’s that time of year for us to take our annual senior citizen test. Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it’s important to keep mentally alert.
    If you don’t use it, you lose it!

    Below is a very private way to gauge how your memory compares to the last test. Some may think it is too easy but the ones with memory problems may have difficulty. Take the test presented here to determine if you’re losing it or not. The spaces below are so you don’t see the answers until you’ve made your answer.

    OK, relax, clear your mind and begin.

    1. What do you put in a toaster?
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    Answer: ‘bread.’ If you said ‘toast’ give up now and do something else.
    Try not to hurt yourself.

    If you said, bread, go to Question 2.

    2. Say ‘silk’ five times. Now spell ‘silk.’ What do cows drink?
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    Answer: Cows drink water. If you said ‘milk,’ don’t attempt the next question. Your brain is over-stressed and may even overheat. Content yourself with reading more appropriate literature such as ‘Hello’.
    However, if you said ‘water’, proceed to question 3.

    3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?
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    Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said ‘green bricks,’ why are you still reading these???
    If you said ‘glass,’ go on to Question 4.

    4 Without using a calculator:
    You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales.

    In London, 17 people get on the bus.

    In Reading, 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on.

    In Swindon, 2 people get off and 4 get on.

    In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on.

    In Swansea, 3 people get off and 5 people get on.

    In Carmarthen, 6 people get off and 3 get on.

    You then arrive at Milford Haven

    Without scrolling back to review, how old is the bus driver?
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    Answer: Oh, for crying out loud! Don’t you remember your own age? It was YOU driving the bus!!
    If you pass this along to your friends, pray they do better than you.

    PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ec862d37f578dc51430f660057f5cc15570dac46c14b0dd9c26a5ce3b640a14.jpg
    Don’t Tell ME your answers or score, I have enough problems of my own.

  35. 366707+ up ticks,

    Health & safety alert,

    DT,

    Scientists reveal simple activities that can cut early death risk by a fifth

    Four being do NOT support / vote lab/lib/con/current ukip

          1. Quite old and very white…. at least it was three weeks ago when we were there. We mingled well.

      1. From Winnie the Pooh [possibly the Disney version??]:

        Rabbit hurries on and arrives at Christopher Robin’s house. He knocks on the door and then calls out, but there is no answer. Christopher Robin is Out, and just as Rabbit is about to leave he spots a piece of paper on the ground, with a pin in it, as if it has fallen from the door. Rabbit reads the paper, and this is what it says:

        GON OUT
        BACKSON
        BISY
        BACKSON
        C.R.

        A-ha! A note, a very important note, and Rabbit must of course relay its contents immediately to the entire population of the forest. Owl’s house is nearest, so he goes there first, and knocks on the knocker and rings on the doorbell, and eventually Owl lets him in. Rabbit explains to Owl that as, between them, they are the only animals in the forest with brain, the others just making do with fluff, it is they who must do any thinking that might be required.

        Rabbit shows the note to Owl. Owl is a little nervous about this, because although he obviously has more brain than, say Pooh, and he can spell his own name (WOL), and he can read perfectly well when he is not under pressure, it is a bit different when there is an expectant Rabbit standing next to you saying “Well?” all the time.

          1. Although I now notice that it doesn’t make clear whether the Backson in question was the spotted or herbaceous version.

        2. It’s been a long time since I had A A Milne’s books. 1st and 2nd editions, I gave them to my Granddaughter in Tasmania, so I’ve quite forgotten most of the content.

  37. Dalrymple on British “service”

    “The one characteristic that one can rely upon the British managerial class not to have is courage (cruelty being something else entirely).”

    Britain has pioneered a new kind of economy, having long since abandoned manufacturing as a way of paying its way in the world: a service economy without service. Indeed, the very word service raises hackles in Britain, for it implies hierarchy, the servant who provided it being by definition subordinate to the person for whom the service is performed; and in these prickly democratic, or rather radically egalitarian, times, such subordination is anathema.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/a-service-economy-without-service/

  38. Good moaning.
    What I hope is helpful information that I posted under the DT letters.
    A classic case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

    “The cryptic crossword and other puzzles have been redesigned. This means that there is a huge working ‘box’ but if you print off the puzzle for later, the print for the clues is miniscule.

    The way to print off the crosswords not is not to take them from the front page but to follow this method.

    Scroll down to Help Centre

    Click on Products and Services

    Click on Telegraph Puzzles

    Click on Puzzles

    Click on Cryptic Crossword (or puzzle of choice)

    Print. The clues will now be in the usual place and LEGIBLE.”

    1. The Telegraph’s “Medium” Sudoku puzzles have now been reclassified as “Regular”. When I wrote a letter of complaint to the sub-editor responsible, complaining about the use of that imbecilic Americanism, I simply received a “we note your concerns and will pass them on” dismissive reply.

    2. The Telegraph’s “Medium” Sudoku puzzles have now been reclassified as “Regular”. When I wrote a letter of complaint to the sub-editor responsible, complaining about the use of that imbecilic Americanism, I simply received a “we note your concerns and will pass them on” dismissive reply.

  39. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53234ce905bc673360bc664da4bad78e011957da00c98de1176d2400bdbad7af.png “… The person exposed their genitals …” followed by “They then walked into a shelter at the station and masturbated.”

    What manner of English is this, Daily Telegraph? Was this crime committed by Siamese Twins? “Their” genitals? “They” walked …? ‘They’ and ‘Their’ are plurals. Why not the (proper) “His/Her/Its genitals” and “He/She/It walked”?

    At least the hapless reporter got “railway station” correct. Is there light at the end of the (railway) tunnel?

    1. They? Their? So there was more than one offender?
      Reminds me of the joke about the woman shouting “Help! Grape!” A bystander said “Don’t you mean Rape?”, to which the woman replied – “There was a bunch of them”.

    4. Good morning Ursa Major

      I am always marginally irked when people cannot distinguish between plural and singular words. For example, everyone and everybody are both singular so it would be grammatically incorrect to say : ‘Everyone should do their work‘ and correct to say: Everyone should do his work. But this has given rise to a new problem in that people have forgotten that man is a term for the human species as well as a term to describe the male of the species so the term ‘his’ is not sexist in the pejorative sense. This leads us to having to say: Everyone must do his or her work which is clumsy

      1. Good morning, Rastaman.

        The English language becomes clumsier by the day in the DT. Do you know, I read an article just last week by Christopher Howse, who mentioned that he used to be the DT’s letters’ editor. I wasn’t aware that he had relinquished the post but, infuriatingly, I cannot find any reference, anywhere, about who has taken his place in that post.

        3. He stepped down from that position a few weeks ago. I did see it mentioned but have no idea who succeeded him.

        4. Christopher Howse is of retirement age (excludes politicians on big salaries) and I would guess that management are elbowing him out gently.
          Since he was de-lettered, the selected correspondence has become either dull or turgid. Lost its sparkle.

    5. Good morning Ursa Major

      I am always marginally irked when people cannot distinguish between plural and singular words. For example, everyone and everybody are both singular so it would be grammatically incorrect to say : ‘Everyone should do their work‘ and correct to say: Everyone should do his work. But this has given rise to a new problem in that people have forgotten that man is a term for the human species as well as a term to describe the male of the species so the term ‘his’ is not sexist in the pejorative sense. This leads us to having to say: Everyone must do his or her work which is clumsy

  40. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/718a1586916949efb0ec07a0a0192abf1f9b84ac702778a92ca7a7c0d9f0182f.png While we’re on the topic of genitals, Eleanor Mills (standing in for Judith Woods) is on the button with her very salient point about the neglect (and even abuse) by doctors, of the clitoris.

    Surely being careless during obstetrics and gynæcological operations, whereby all sensitivity is removed from this organ, is on a par with the female genital mutilation practised in third world countries.

      1. As a child a friend of mine had a record called The Button-down Mind of Bob Newhart. This told stories about a driving instructor and Sir Walter Raleigh. I enjoyed listening to it but I had no idea that there might have been a sub-text.

        2. I remember the bomb disposal instructions to his colleague over the phone. It went something like “this is very important, you have a choice of a blueish grey or a greyish blue, make sure you cut the right one”.

  41. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/718a1586916949efb0ec07a0a0192abf1f9b84ac702778a92ca7a7c0d9f0182f.png While we’re on the topic of genitals, Eleanor Mills (standing in for Judith Woods) is on the button with her very salient point about the neglect (and even abuse) by doctors, of the clitoris.

    Surely being careless during obstetrics and gynæcological operations, whereby all sensitivity is removed from this organ, is on a par with the female genital mutilation practised in third world countries.

  42. There is an article in today’s DT about the Prada footwear that the new prime minister wears. In this article Sunak is defended by his ‘bestie’ William Hague. This makes me agree with this BTL comment:

    BTL

    I don’t give a toss about the sort of shoes the prime minister wears but I fear that Sunak is going to turn out to be a baddie. That he is best friends with Little Willie Hague gives substance to my fear.

    Reminds me of the verse about the Irish Pig:

    ‘Twas an evening in November as I very well remember
    I was strolling down the road in drunken pride
    And my thoughts were all a’flutter so I ended in the gutter
    And a pig came by and lay down by my side
    Yes I lay down in the gutter thinking thoughts I could not utter
    When A colleen passing by these words did say:
    “You can tell a man that boozes by the company he chooses.”
    With that the pig got up and walked away.

    1. Sunak will ruin this country with tax hikes, more waste, more debt. They have no interest in restoring the nation. He’s just a globalist stooge installed to ensure the continued decline of this country.

      They need to go. All of them.

      2. Shirley if he is a Globalist puppet, then those pulling his strings would wish for a Labour government, sooner rather than later, in order to accelerate the decline of the country?

        1. Maybe Labour is not so corrupted, since they haven’t been in power for a while? (he wrote hopefully).

    2. Sunak is Brutus ..

      Anyone who stabs a fellow associate in the back is a real B—–d.
      A moral coward and some one who should not be trusted .

      That man is now operating something like a caste system .. it is his culture .. he will not give a tinkers cuss for us , the indigenous peasants or the retirees, as well as the hard workers who are the back bone of Britain .

      He will wear the best shoes and clothes , and feed upon fine foods , but he is treading on dangerous ground … because his ambition and world kudos
      means more than taking care of what really matters .

  43. Gosh, is it really only a week since Boris flew back from the Dominican Republic …. definitely falls into the category of “so last week”.

  44. ‘Whoever says Syria’s safe is a liar’: country’s tourist drive at odds with human rights record. 28 October 2022.

    Affordable, friendly and ready for tourists – this is the message behind a new drive to promote Syria as a holiday destination, despite a recent human rights report determining the Assad government was responsible for “crimes against humanity” and the Foreign Office warning against all travel to the country.

    In a bid to revive the country’s once thriving tourism industry before the devastating civil war killed thousands, levelled cities and drove 13 million people from their homes, the government has begun a concerted campaign to convince investors – and holidaymakers – that Syria has much to offer foreign visitors.

    The alternative to the Assad Government in the Civil war was ISIS; financed and armed by the West’s proxies though this was never mentioned in the MSM. Not one western Journalist dared report from their territory though portraying them as some sort of ideal democracy! They would then malign the legitimate government and yet roam the streets of Damascus unmolested.

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/oct/28/whoever-says-syrias-safe-is-a-liar-countrys-tourist-drive-at-odds-with-human-rights-record

  45. Elon Musk is new ceo of Twitter posting as Chief Twit. Let that sink in !

    I can’t get my head around this statement.

    Plans also emerged last week that Musk had
    plans to layoff 75 percent of the Twitter staff, leaving a skeleton
    crew of just over 2,000 employees, which experts say would make it
    difficult for the social media company to tamp down on what it deems to
    be ‘misinformation.’

    But it seems he is backtracking, as news emerged last night that he will not lay off that
    many, but plans on culling three quarters instead.

    Isn’t 75% three quarters?

    3. Musk said that the staff was welcome to work from home, as long as they weren’t working for Twitter.

  46. Well, chaps we’re having a terribly exciting day here in Jockistan! It’s 35 years to the day that we moved into our lovely cottage, and at 8.45 am 3 smashing blokes arrived to remove a lot of big trees! So far two horrible conifers, a rowan and half a plum tree have disappeared, leaving a much distorted fuchsia bush and some squashed lily of the valley! This afternoon a cherry tree will also go, as the roots are under the mono block and the garage! It’s quite a scene and they haven’t yet fallen in the pond! We’ll keep and dry the cherry wood for the stove. Will send pics when the rain stops! I may be some time!

      1. If it was I ‘spect we’d ignore it! We’ve been using non-smokeless fuel for…oooh….ages! Since we moved in, actually! The ghastly little woman? can go and do one!

    3. Why-aye, Mrs Macfarlane, pet.

      Whenever I prune my large cherry tree (another pruning is imminent), I store the logs for a couple of years to mature and dry, as you do. I then use mine on the BBQ and in the smoker. The sweet smoke that emanates from it makes delicious smoked bacon.

      1. You have prunes on your cherry?? You should meet our neighbour Irene who makes a lot of jokes about Alan’s plums!

        1. I might as well have, bonny lass. The bloody jackdaws get all my cherries. Nae plum trees here to joke about: I have to go scrumping for them (and quinces) at my neighbours.

    4. There is a superstition that felling a rowan presages a death – let’s hope it’s someone we detest!

        1. I really loathe the word “lawmakers”. It is bad enough in the USA – but it is no being used to describe Members of Parliament.

    2. Apparently they bankroll many research labs in China and the lab where Covid is alleged to have originated is one of them

      2. There is a genuine gay woman in this village who is a Lecturer in Oral Lesbian Studies.….. Dresses like a bloke, too!!

  49. Back from coffee with chums at a sooooper place which could easily be called: “Why Pay Less”. Bread roll cheese sangwidge = £4.80. Filled with sooooper people with noisy children with silly haircuts (half sodding term, innit). The couple + two brats at next table had coffee, soft drinks and “straw potatoes” … bill = £40. Then orf to a sooooper pub for a lovely lunch….

    Nice not to have to do that again. Ever.

    1. Good to be out and about. I didn’t know you had any chums !

      There is a coffee shop near me that does a cheese and tomato sandwich. I ordered one and they brought half of one to the table. They charge £3.70 per half. They caught me once. Never again.

      1. I fancied some Thousand Island Dressing the other day. But when I looked at the massive list of poisons and chemicals on the bottle’s label I decided to go home and make my own.

        I mixed some mayonnaise with a bit of Greek yoghourt and added a splash of tomato ketchup, sriracha sauce, a finely-chopped pickled-dill gherkin, a finely-chopped shallot, a dash of honey, and a sprinkling of apple-cider vinegar, salt, black pepper, parsley and smoked paprika. It is luvverly!

        1. Home made dressings like hollandaise, bearnaise and caesar are far superior to the gloop they sell in supermarkets.

          1. I make all my own dressings. I have pickled some French tarragon in white wine vinegar, which I use for the necessary reduction with a chopped shallot (along with extra fresh tarragon leaves) when making a traditional Béarnaise.

          2. Tarragon is my favourite herb. The mild anise complements chicken well.

            I do sometimes cheat if i’m feeling lazy but i make everything from scratch when i do a dinner party.

            I will be doing Christmas dinner (at lunch time) for the neighbours and some friends. I have ordered a Cockerel for a change.

          3. I always used to order a capon for Christmas from an excellent butcher’s outside Mansfield. Mick Maloney would bone out the capon (except for the drumsticks) then layer different meats and stuffing ingredients before sewing it back up so it looked just like a plucked fowl again. After roasting it was a cinch to simply slice it, like a loaf. Each slice having breast and back meat complete with all the stuffing ingredients. It was Mick’s take on the classic Chicken galantine and it worked very well. Utterly delicious.

          4. I have been watching Masterchef Australia. (tiresome). I fast forwarded lots of episodes to Gordon Ramsay week. His 3 Michelin Star chef from Gordon Ramsay London got the contestants to recreate his roast chicken dish. You bone out the chicken leaving the breast and skin intact and then pipe in a chicken herb mousse under the skin of the breast. Water bath for an hour and then 15 mins in the oven to brown the skin. Then served with a consomme made from the trimmings and also raw and poached vegetables…neatly turned.

            I considered doing that for my guests and decided i could do without the stress.

            I will brine the bird and cook in lots of butter… towards the end.

            My guests think i work miracles because i cook from a galley kitchen but it only takes a bit of planning.

          5. Your method of cooking a chicken sounds a lot like Simon Hopkinson’s. About a decade ago a poll was conducted among Britain’s top chefs to find out which cookery book they thought the best. Hopkinson’s Roast Chicken and Other Stories was voted, overwhelmingly, their favourite book. It is full of simple, delicious, but unpretentious dishes. His winning roast chicken recipe involves lots of butter, salt and pepper, a lemon, a clove of garlic, several sprigs of tarragon and thyme, and a 4 lb free-range chicken. I have cooked this many times (as has Elsie Bloodaxe) and we agree it is superb.

          6. I do have that book. A master of understatement. I also have Bibendum with Conran and Harris but it is not as good as Other stories.
            Simon seems to want you to know his mind where a dish is concerned and wants you to enjoy it as much as he does.

  50. Word of the Season.

    There is one word that makes its annual appearance each autumn and is seldom seen, if at all, outside this period. That word, which invariably refers to a glut of fruit or vegetables at the time of harvest, is ‘BUMPER’.

    Personally I find it a comical word but it seems it is the fashionable adjective for anyone writing in the newspapers about their crop. No one … ever … calls their harvest: bounteous, bountiful, abundant, plentiful, rich, large, great, enormous, massive, excellent, whopping, jumbo, exuberant, profuse, ample, prolific, overflowing, copious, generous, lavish, princely, magnanimous, munificent, plenteous, luxuriant or exceptional.

    Only “bumper”. Bumper is the “amazing” of astonishment and the “bunch” of collective nouns. I foretell that the OED will be only about nine pages in capacity in a few years’ time. Synonyms will have been consigned to history.

    1. Along with the teaching of English and the joys of language!
      How’s life, Mr. Grizz?

      1. Why, its canny though-but, Pet. Just had a nice home-baked toasted teacake with lashings (a bumper amount) of butter! 😘

    3. I do not like the phrase “the get go” rather than start, or the one you use in “go to” adjective rather than refer to. but there we go.

          4. If I ever find myself in Sussex I’ll treat you to a pint of Harvey’s best bitter, John.

    6. When I was young, I received the “Bumper Book of Funnies” or something like that – a large hardback joke annual.

  52. Welcome to the FSU’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week.

    The FSU would love to hear from you!

    Thanks to your support, we have been helping to defend our members’ free speech rights for more than two and a half years! But we rely on direct feedback from you to gain a deeper understanding of who are members are and where we should be targeting our support. We have put together a short survey to gather your thoughts and to tailor what we offer in the future. Please follow this link to complete the survey: FSU Membership Survey. We will share a summary of the results in a future FSU newsletter.

    The FSU Christmas Special – book your tickets here!

    Round up your comedy-loving friends and family for The FSU Christmas Special, a one-night-only extravaganza of comedy with a fabulous line-up, hosted in association with Comedy Unleashed – the home of free-thinking comedy. We are delighted to reveal that comedy legend Bobby Davro is our Master of Ceremonies for the evening. Bobby will be joined on stage by stand-up comedian, comedy entrepreneur and star of BBC’s They Think It’s All Over Lee Hurst, Comedy Unleashed favourite Mary Bourke, and comedian and GB News presenter Simon Evans. Join the fun with the FSU team and help us raise funds to defend freedom of speech. Please get your tickets by clicking here before they go on wider release. Tickets cost: £20 (FSU member full price), £15 (FSU member concessions), £25 (non-member full price), and £20 (non-member concessions)

    Register for our November speakeasy with Neil Oliver here!

    On 9th November, FSU General Secretary Toby Young will be joined in conversation by historian, author and television presenter Neil Oliver. After a successful career as a TV historian, Neil has become one of GB News’s most popular presenters, with social media clips of his monologues often clocking up several million views. He was an outspoken critic of the UK’s lockdown policy and has subsequently raised questions about the efficacy and safety of the mRNA Covid vaccines. Neil will be speaking to Toby about his transformation from pillar of the Establishment to anti-Establishment rebel. Members can register to receive the Zoom link here.

    Salman Rushdie suffered life-changing injuries in Islamist stabbing

    Salman Rushdie has lost the use of an eye and one of his hands following the attack in August by Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old Islamist who rushed the stage just as the author and British citizen was about to deliver a lecture in New York, repeatedly stabbing him in the neck, face, abdomen and back (BBC, Epoch Times, Express, FT, GB News, Mail, Times).

    Speaking to Spain’s El País, Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that the 75-year-old would survive the attack, but revealed for the first time the severity of the author’s injuries. “[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye,” Wylie said. “He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”

    “That Rushdie might never be able to type again is particularly stomach-turning,” says Tom Slater (Spiked). It was, after all, “his writing that put a price on his head in the first place”. His Booker Prize-winning novel, The Satanic Verses, attracted the ire of Islamists the world over after it was published in 1988. Hardline clerics, community leaders and protesters condemned it as blasphemous. Copies were burnt, protests organised, and effigies of the author hanged, until eventually this agitation caught the attention of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini who issued his fatwa in 1989, offering $3 million to anyone who would succeed in killing the author, or anyone involved in its publication and distribution.

    Rushdie’s memoir of the time he spent in hiding, Joseph Anton, begins amid the chaos of safehouses, loaded guns, death threats and round-the-clock Special Branch protection, but concludes improbably, some 13 years later, with the threat level against the pseudonymous ‘Joseph’ lowered and the police “spinning on their heels and walking out of his life” with an abruptness that “made him laugh out loud”. Now, suddenly, it’s as if the book has an epilogue, a sickening twist: they got their man – or rather, another of their men. Because as the author reminds us, while his own “nightmare was long”, others too were made to suffer. Joseph the fugitive “thought every day” of William Nygaard, the Norwegian publisher of The Satanic Verses, shot multiple times outside his home, of Ettore Capriolo, his Italian translator, stabbed in the neck, chest and hands, of his Japanese translator, Histoshi Igarashi, left to die in a pool of blood by a lift shaft at Tsukuba University; of the thirty-seven people killed when a mob seeking to murder his Turkish translator, Aziz Mesin, set fire to the Madimak Hotel in Sivas. It was, he said, “the world of books – literature itself – [that] was being vilified, shot, kicked, knifed, killed and blamed at the same time”.

    There are “few moments where the solitary nature of life appears more inescapable than when one is clinging to it”, writes Darren Anderson (Unherd). Salman Rushdie must surely know that better than anyone, he says – the grim truth is that even as he lies recovering in an unknown location, surrounded by medical professionals and loved ones, “he is, as he has always been, in this struggle alone”.

    Yet the theme of solidarity-at-a-distance, of vicarious support, the “friendly wave in his direction”, as Rushdie puts it, is rarely far from the surface in Joseph Anton. Towards the end of that novel, he recalls “a few blissful, carefree minutes” spent at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen with his friends, William Nygaard – at that point still recovering from the Islamist attack upon his life – and his Norwegian publisher Johannes Riis. Watching them riding the bumper cars, “shouting and smashing into one another like little boys”, Rushdie catches himself thinking that, in the end, all he wanted to know “was that he was at the centre of a group of people behaving as well, as nobly, as human beings can behave, and beyond that group at the centre of a larger narrative filled with people I didn’t know, would never know, people as determined as my bumper-car friends not to allow the darkness to prevail”.

    The thoughts of everyone at the Free Speech Union are with Salman and his family. Despite the many assassination attempts, the killings and the maimings of those associated with the publication of The Satanic Verses, the “impossible dream”, as he once put it, of an “ordinary, banal life”, Rushdie has rarely missed an opportunity to speak out on behalf of freedom of expression, a principle he has “embodied” – as the author Margaret Attwood put it in the wake of his stabbing – since Ayatollah Khomeini issued his decree. Embodied is right. The life-changing injuries he has suffered represent an attack not just on Salman’s freedom of expression, but on all of ours. We stand in solidarity with him now, and always.

    Joe Kelly fundraiser – show your support!

    Joe Kelly was convicted and sentenced in Scotland for contravening the Communications Act 2003, section 127(1)(b), which makes it a criminal offence to make an electronic post which is “grossly offensive”. Joe was at home on February 3, 2021, when he tweeted “the only good Brit soldier is a deed [i.e., dead] one, burn auld fella buuuuurn” along with a picture of Captain Tom. The tweet was only visible to his handful of followers for 20 minutes before he began to receive threats directed against him and his family and deleted it. It wasn’t fast enough, however: someone had already reported Joe to the police for his tweet. So began a long legal process (see Spiked for the full story and context).

    Scotland’s prosecution service decided to prosecute Joe, and despite his counsel’s best attempts to defend his right to free speech (which includes, as Lord Sedley stated, the “heretical, unwelcome and provocative”) he was convicted and sentenced to a community payback order. Having had his appeal denied by the Scottish Courts and having been labelled an “example case” to deter others from “pressing the blue button” and posting allegedly offensive content, Joe is now seeking to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

    Yes, Kelly’s tweet was offensive. But the right to offend is a crucial element of free speech, and it certainly shouldn’t be the business of the police or the courts to protect people from hurty feelings. That’s why this case is about more than Joe Kelly’s own fight for justice. It’s about ensuring this “deterrence” (i.e., “chilling effect”) on free expression does not materialise. And it is about ensuring Scotland is not left behind as the only country in the UK in which it’s illegal to say something “grossly offensive”.

    Joe’s counsel (Fred Mackintosh KC and Cameron Smith) will make the argument that a statement like that made by Joe by means of a public telecommunications system should not need to have artistic or political meaning for it be protected by the right to free speech laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights. If applied in the way that the Sheriff did in Joe’s case, the term “grossly offensive” is far too vague and his conviction will have a chilling effect. A person’s right to freedom of speech should not be subject to interference on this basis.

    This is not a radical idea – in fact, the Law Commission of England and Wales has urged the UK Government to scrap section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and replace it with another, less censorious law.

    Any donations made to Joe’s crowdfunder are to fund the legal expenses associated with preparation of an application to the European Court of Human Rights. If permission to hear the case at the European level is granted, it is hoped that the remainder of the case will be funded by the Court’s own system of legal aid.

    Join the fight and pledge your support here.

    University of York drops initials from email addresses in “trans-friendly” move

    The University of York has stopped using students’ initials for their emails and usernames. According to the Telegraph, the initiative is intended as a “trans-friendly” move, while the Mail report that “university bosses” believe the policy is “more inclusive”. The Metro, meanwhile, ran the story under the slightly misleading but undeniably entertaining headline: “Calling students by their names ‘too upsetting’.”

    For many years York had a policy of using the first letters of students’ first names and surnames when creating their official emails and usernames. But in a move that York’s LGBTQ+ Network describes as “a massive win for trans students” (The Tab), university bosses have scrapped the practice on the basis that too many people are changing gender or asking to change their names for other reasons. From now on, the University will use randomly generated letters and numbers to assign email addresses to students.

    Speaking to the Mail, the FSU’s General Secretary, Toby Young, said “it seems like a parody of political correctness gone mad – the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a Netflix series satirising the ideological capture of universities by woke cultists”.

    Maybe so, but would even the most imaginative of modern satirists have thought to build into the plot a computerised identification system capable of protecting students from the psychologically harmful effect of incorporating their own initials in their email addresses?

    To avoid inadvertently creating addresses and usernames that include profanity or hate speech, the University has made it clear that its new system will limit usernames to just three letters followed by three numbers. In addition, the University will no longer generate usernames using vowels or the letter ‘y’, thus ruling out virtually every known form of smirk-inducing, schoolyard naughtiness (e.g., “sex124”, “bum697”, etc.). Nevertheless, the threat remains of, say, an exclusionary “LGB” suddenly popping up without the “T” (Mail), or an “XX” letter combo triggering students with distressing thoughts of chromosomes and the female karyotype (Spiked). Thankfully, York seem to be alive to this danger – as the Mail reports, the University is now “asking students to report any combinations they think should be blacklisted”. (Although of course it’s highly unlikely that the University will be using the Mail’s term ‘blacklisted’ in any of its student-facing comms.)

    York has also been keen to talk up the idea that using initials, which can change if students alter their gender while they are studying, will make the institution “a more inclusive place to work and study”, while also “improv[ing] students’ experience”. Whether that’s true or not, what we can say with absolute, cast-iron certainty is that there won’t be any upside to this initiative for university administrators, who will inevitably spend hours every day answering queries from students who’ve forgotten what their randomly generated email addresses are.

    “Wouldn’t it be simpler,” asks Toby, “to just stick with the system that staff and students know and which everyone has got used to?” And if the University authorities want to cheer up trans students, “shouldn’t they just give them the money that they will inevitably have to spend dealing with the unintended consequences of introducing this crackpot idea”?

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    Best wishes,

    1. Sadly, Mr Young has been nobbled.
      Is there anyone here who can explain the difference between a Muslim and an ‘Islamist’? Apart from the spelling.

        2. Interesting, but in Canada a person who aids or abets in the commission of a crime is treated the same as a principal offender under the criminal law. So the ‘muslim’ could be the killer and the ‘islamist’ could be the sympathiser. Not much difference.

          What we need is a definition of an ‘islamist’, just as we work towards a definition of ‘terrorist’.

  55. A small cheer was heard in our house just now. The postman arrived. The HMRC have – for the first time in ten years – got the MR’s tax assessment correct. In many previous years, the arrival of that form has led to endless correspondence, complaints, complaint to HQ – threats of the Tax Adjudicator – and terrible heart problems…..

    This year – all is calm and satisfied!

      1. Nope. The HMRC and we agree to the penny. The small balance* will be paid by debit card in a trice.

        * In the past the Revenue have denied receiving the tax return. So, we ALWAYS send a cheque with some of the tax we know is due with the tax return. That cheque is always cleared. Therefore they have the return. QED.

      1. I fear so. It took us six months (including complaints to the top chap) to get them to send us a simple four page tax return. For some bizarre reason, one can no longer download the SA200.

  57. Army risks running low on anti-tank weapons as it emerges HALF of Britain’s stockpile of missiles which were donated to Ukraine STILL have not been replaced
    Britain has sent about 7,000 anti-tank missiles to help in the defence of Ukraine
    But there are fears the UK won’t be able to replenish its supplies of the weapons
    It comes as a defence minister warned Nato’s stockpiles were ‘insufficient’
    Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said it was time for countries to ‘tool up’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11364741/Army-risks-running-low-anti-tank-weapons-emerges-UK-replace-missiles-sent-Kyiv.html

        3. There is no hope for the future since every successive generation of Homo sapiens imbecilus is getting exponentially more stupid.

  58. More than 300 migrants trying to cross the English Channel needed to be rescued by Border Force and RNLI boats in rough seas as 2022’s record total nears 40,000
    Border Force and RNLI crews rescued 308 migrants in the Channel on Thursday
    It takes 2022’s number of intercepted migrant crossings to 37,801 in 930 boats
    RNLI boats from Dover, Ramsgate and Dungeness were involved in the rescue
    Strong winds causing rough seas had prevented crossings since Sunday
    By HANNAH MCDONALD FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 12:29, 28 October 2022 | UPDATED: 12:31, 28 October 2022

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11365011/More-300-migrants-trying-cross-Channel-needed-rescued-record-total-nears-40-000.html

  61. Sean Bryson
    @SeanSeanbryson
    Should the British Government declare a state of emergency and close our borders to all, except commercial traffic.
    Then stay closed until we have left ECHR, and the 1951 convention on refugees ?

    Please ReTweet to get a bigger sample of the population.
    We are being “Milked”
    Yes
    78.1%
    No

  62. EXCLUSIVE: Ukrainian refugee reported mother who took her in to the POLICE for making her do the dishes – before detectives opened a ‘modern slavery’ investigation and grilled her for hours

    Hannah Debenham, 42, warned Brits to ‘think twice’ before opening up homes

    She was accused of ‘modern day slavery’ by her guest after relations crumbled
    Ms Debenham and her husband were grilled for a total of four hours by police
    By LAURENCE DOLLIMORE FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 13:40, 28 October 2022 | UPDATED: 14:11, 28 October 2022

    An NHS mental health specialist who took in a Ukrainian refugee was reported for modern day slavery after she asked her guest to help out more with the dishes – as she warns would-be hosts to ‘think twice’ before offering up their homes.

    Hannah Debenham, 42, of Uckfield, Sussex, was under investigation for two months following the accusation, before the case was dropped this week when no supporting evidence was found.

    The mother-of-two was asked to ‘voluntarily’ attend Eastbourne police station where she was questioned by a modern day slavery inspector, which she branded ‘the worst day of my life’. Police also spent two hours at her home with her husband.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11361405/Ukrainian-refugee-reported-mother-took-police-making-DISHES.html

    1. An NHS mental health specialist who took in a Ukrainian refugee was reported for modern day slavery after she asked her guest to help out more with the dishes – as she warns would-be hosts to ‘think twice’ before offering up their homes.

      My sympathy for her is nil!

      1. ‘Uke hands can’t do dishes or they’ll rip off your face with wild green fairy wishes’….

      2. ‘Uke hands can’t do dishes or they’ll rip off your face with wild green fairy wishes’….

    2. Was the husband also accusing Mrs D of ‘modern day slavery’ because she asked him to help out more? Fairynuff

      1. Good point. MB usually makes the morning tea and coffee; I’d better not ask him to dry the dishes or plod could ruin my weekend.

    4. WTF ? Any self respecting responsible human being in uniform would have walked out and left the house.
      It seems we have robots dressed in blue uniforms now. PC Dixon would be horrified at the Dopey Wokies we have today.

      1. Sgt: “Any of you lot play an hinstrument?”
        Recruit: “Yes, Sarge.”
        “Sgt: “Well get over to the canteen – they want the pianner moved.”

    6. If she is a ‘mental health specialist’ she should have known better than to get involved with the refugee farrago. Ostensibly sane people can twist things, let alone ‘refugees’ who have possibly undergone unpleasant experiences.

    1. The BBC are despicable in juxtaposing Musk’s picture with a murderer. I think Elon should buy the BBC. They are cheap enough.

          1. The wonderful thing about Ze’s
            Is you can’t tell a he from a she
            But Ze can and Ze can
            Whoopee?!

          2. Ahh sadly they like to call themselves female actresses, female authors etc nowadays.

            Why, i have no idea.

            And yes, i think it’s ridiculous.

      1. Jane Austen would have wet her knickers. He’s Mr Musk the World’s richest man…..(and I suspect the Beeb’s Public enemy No2 after Donald T….)

          1. Not always – a single woman who is not detracted by her boyfriend’s lesser earning ability can be cleaned up on a divorce. I know from experience. And I was a good (according to my firm) lawyer.

            Edit – I was just probably too nice to believe that my ex would try to screw me for everything he could. I never want to hear the name Simon again.

          2. But did you have a watertight prenup?

            I was responding to the Pride and Prejudice quote/Jane Austen theme.

          3. I know xx

            I nearly wrote a huge piece on how my ex- tried to screw me on our divorce (at the time when I was going to SEN Tribunal to get help for our autistic daughter), where he didn’t help but tried to get what he could out of the house and things that I had bought and paid for (never mind that it was the children’s home). I deleted it, so nobody has to suffer that!

      1. And there’s the rub [pun intended], there is no “Berkshire Transport Police”.

        There is The British Transport Police (which covers the country’s railway network and docks) and there is the Thames Valley Police (of which Berkshire is a part).

      2. 366707+ up ticks,

        Evening M,
        I’m getting confused again, on the case is Dick of the yard or was that a yard of Dick.

        ,

    2. And yesterday he refused to say if he would allow Eddie Izard to run in an all women list.

  66. Went to a restaurant last night, . my companion is a very noisy eater. When she started drinking her soup, six couples got up to dance

  67. Went to a restaurant last night, . my companion is a very noisy eater. When she started drinking her soup, six couples got up to dance

  68. L’horloge tourne. Fin de saison. Just filled the 1000 litre (220 gallon – for JN) cubitainer – for one thing less to do in the Spring. Packed the pump away – what a joy the well has been through the drought. Never failed us. Took about 25,000 gallons out of it – probably more.

    Last but one picking of tomatoes. 14 raspberries – enough to put on tomorrow’s porridge!

    Lovely still late afternoon. Make the most of it – this time next week it will be getting on for sunset…{:¬(((((

    1. 27 degrees and sunny here. It’s playing havoc with wild plants that shouldn’t be anywhere near appearing for 5 or 6 months.

      1. There is a horse chestnut tree on the Green that has just come out into young leaf, with sticky buds here and there yet to unfurl. It is also displaying its white ‘candle’ blossom. It does give a sense of being confused and desperate, poor thing.

      2. I still have flowers out that I expected to be long finished. It’s been 17 degrees C here for pretty much the whole week.

        1. Ditto – and only down to 10ºC at night. Global warming, innit. Them pesky glaciers drying up…(yawns and drops off)

        2. It’s not the long lasting ones that concern me, but rather things that should not be appearing yet, e.g. my wild orchids

    3. Just a reminder that at the time of sunset today it is an hour out from real sunset time, which will be restored next week.

    3. Hopefully it will be a toss up which is remaindered first – the Doom Goblin’s opus or Harry’s book of sulks!

    4. Buying it and Harry’s whine, a few months after publication, might be cheaper than buying firewood.

  70. EXCLUSIVE: Ukrainian refugee reported mother who took her in to the POLICE for making her do the dishes – before detectives opened a ‘modern slavery’ investigation and grilled her for hours
    Hannah Debenham, 42, warned Britons to ‘think twice’ before opening up homes
    She was accused of ‘modern day slavery’ by her guest after relations crumbled
    Ms Debenham and her husband were grilled for nearly four hours by police

    DM Story : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11361405/Ukrainian-refugee-reported-mother-took-police-making-DISHES.html

    It seems that this story is going to put another nail in the government’s absurd scheme to encourage people to take illegal immigrants into their homes.

    As they say: “Guests and fish remain fresh for three days.” We often have our friends to stay and we often stay with our friends but is very important not to outstay you welcome.

    We have groups of students with us for up to two weeks but we often breathe a sigh of relief when Caroline and I are alone together again however agreeable our students are. But we have a separate detached house in our garden where the students are accommodated so the students which is a great relief.

    Here is Le Grand Osier with the students’ house to the left :

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3faba6f75384d366995d08074deca1c663cff03d25c0b226508581c09f05b6f4.jpg

  71. Par Four today …

    Wordle 496 4/6
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
    🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟩🟨⬜🟩🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Wordle 496 5/6

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

  72. The penny seems to have dropped in the US regarding our shady new Prime Minister. It is claimed that Rishi Sunak is an original investor in a company allied to Moderna. His succeeding interests from his investments is held in the Cayman Islands in a blind trust.

    Given that the ‘virus’ was leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, following gain of function research funded by the US (Fauci) and that Moderna has just a single product viz. Covid mRNA ‘vaccine’ it is alleged that Sunak may have a conflict of interest. The UK government, of which Sunak was Chancellor at the time, purchased billions of dollars worth of Moderna vaccines, the sale of which will have profited investors in that company.

    We know that Sunak is a rising star of Klaus Schwab’s school of megalomaniac idiots, CIA trained at Stanford, refused to disclose whether he has profited from UK purchases of Moderna Covid mRNA vaccines, has openly espoused his devotion to a digital currency and a surveillance state and (the clincher) supports sending billions in capital and armaments to a corrupt Ukrainian despot.

    The armaments we are sending to Ukraine are weakening by depletion our own UK defences in addition to costing us all an arm and a leg.

    Hopefully folk will ask more questions about Sunak and where his wealth has come from.

    1. So far his massive wealth has been attributed to his wife.
      Why are the people who purport to run our country so incredibly and blindly stupid.

          1. But the mugs (us) have no opportunity to challenge their lies – except by not voting at all.

          2. You’re not wrong. After that pratt major I even voted for Blair. But as millions of others learned he is/was one of the most accompanied liar on the planet.
            His pattern of deliberate disorder has caught on. They have all been at it ever since his shining example.

        2. And, Bill, what is missing is an alternative, right of centre party, that I think most NoTTLers would be likely to vote for, rather than the only available Lib/Lab/Con/Green mob, all of whom seem hell-bent on ruining the country we all know and used to love.

          2. Even at 78 – 88 – 98, I would like to leave this country, as a better place for my children, grandchildren, descendants

      1. Liz Wheeler is worth checking out on Rumble. She was banned from YouTube for a week or so for ‘medical misinformation’ or some such preposterous transgression which means that she has told the truth.

    3. Would he have gone into politics if he had been honest and straight.? Very few who are do.

      1. There are apologists for politicians but I believe them to be some of the greediest people on earth. Many go into politics owning nothing and leave with millions.

        In addition to innate greed most politicians lie incessantly. They are dishonest grifters for the most part as exposed by the Telegraph with its examination of their expenses scams, house flipping, claims for biscuits at one extreme and cleaning moats (and duck houses) at the upper echelons.

  73. More joys of diversity and inclusion (or the other way round)….

    “A Scottish woman who was branded a ‘fatty’ and a ‘prostitute’ by her sexist ex-boss who said he wanted ‘slim, smart girls’ in his office has been awarded £19,000 in damages.

    Aishah Zaman, 35, took Shahzad Younas, 45, to a tribunal after almost two years of derogatory comments and sexual advances at textiles firm Knightsbridge Furnishing Ltd in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.

    Employment judge Russell Bradley ruled the conduct had been ‘humiliating and offensive’.

    Mr Younas, who is married and spends most of his time in Pakistan as a political activist, sent Ms Zaman text messages calling her ‘motee’ – Punjabi for ‘fatty’ – and said he wanted ‘slim, smart girls’ in his office.”

    Note the names of the age old Scottish clans from which the parties come………

    1. That’s all lies and propaganda – unless we stop oil NOW – the world will die by next week.

      Surely you knew that???

      2. Please do clarify a point that I have been wondering about: why do you call Conway “Conwy”, when he has confirmed that he does not come from Conwy in Wales?

  77. Re the Great Reset – WEF and all.

    I said earlier that we went out to meet chums for (gold-plated) coffee. They are lifelong, old-fashioned Conservative voters. Published authors.

    I mentioned about the WEF coup to form the current goverrnent – and the plans to force electric cars, net-zero, make travel very difficult to discourage it etc etc etc. Also lockdown, the faux vaccine…. Forthcoming power cuts….

    They looked at me as though I was stark, staring mad….. And changed the subject….

    I gave up.

      1. This is true. The next time they hear it, they will remember, “But Bill was talking about this too…”

    3. Published authors you say?

      “Janet and John believe what they are told”

      “Noddy meets Big Ears and transitions successfully”

      1. Nah – they have actually written serious literature. That is why I find their mindless acceptance of what is happening so distressing.

          5. Then they ought to be aware how WWI was deemed to be inevitable and it only needed one excuse (the assassination) to set off a cascade of events.

          6. Then they ought to be aware how WWI was deemed to be inevitable and it only needed one excuse (the assassination) to set off a cascade of events.

        2. Because they excel at absorbing the received information without question If it comes from a hitherto trusted source of many, many years.

    4. Government propaganda has always been with us but is now presented in a much more sophisticated way and, more significantly, to a much more gullible public. The social meeja puppeteers are the new religious leaders, every message is received and believed, sometimes fact checked, but we all know who manipulates the fact checkers. There may never have been many scientists in the general population but as Grizz points out intelligence seems to be falling and most of the current generation are quite happy to “follow the science” as they haven’t a clue about most scientific concepts. It is depressing but as modern ideas are fed back into our schools and universities, there is no way out it would seem, apart from the medicinal bottle…🍺

      1. But, but I don’t understand science. I haven’t a clue why the light comes on when I flick the switch but I’m not irrational. I recognise objective reality. I smell a rat when the TV tells me there are ambulances filled with dying covid patients queueing up round the block and I walk down the road to Charing Cross Hospital and this normally buzzing busy major teaching hospital looks the most deserted I’ve ever seen it. I ask questions.

        1. I keep six honest serving-men
          (They taught me all I knew);
          Their names are What and Why and When
          And How and Where and Who.
          I send them over land and sea,
          I send them east and west;
          But after they have worked for me,
          I give them all a rest.

          I let them rest from nine till five,
          For I am busy then,
          As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
          For they are hungry men.
          But different folk have different views;
          I know a person small—
          She keeps ten million serving-men,
          Who get no rest at all!

          She sends’em abroad on her own affairs,
          From the second she opens her eyes—
          One million Hows, two million Wheres,
          And seven million Whys!

          The Elephant’s Child

          1. Oh lord; so mamy people quoted that to me as a child! I’ve only just realised that it wasn’t because it was a really popular poem… 🤣🤣

    5. Give up on them, in terms of any political or other such conversation. If they are your friends, better stick to mindless carp…

        1. You know how the CofE muddles along, Bill. If it isn’t working, do more of what caused the problem. After all, the ideology can’t possibly be flawed.,

          1. One of the chums I met today (see my boring comments – passim) has just become a churchwarden.

            He has been completely bewildered by the masses of completely unnecessary paperwork thrust upon him…..He has completed his four week compulsory “safeguarding” course (fr a congregation of ten – youngest early 60s) and was stunned by the pointless quinquennial survey… “Repair wall at end of churchyard (out of sight and reach of anyone) cost = £10,000”

            Also appalled by Janet and John “services” by the vicarette..

            I thought (unkindly) “That’ll larn you.,..”..

          2. I’m on the PCC – the new rectorette is full on with all the safeguarding, H&S and paperwork. Meetings that used to start at 7.30 and get through the business before 9.00 now start at 7.00 and finish at 9.00 with business held over to the next meeting 🙁 I foresee a lot of resignations if this continues.

          3. It’ll get worse. Until she finds there is no one left.

            When I started here in 1984, a PCC meeting took ten minutes in a chat outside the porch after a Prayer Book Service (remember them?)

          5. You know how the CofE muddles along, Bill. If it isn’t working WOKING , do more of what caused the problem.

    6. Well, I guess that video clip of Schwab boasting about how he pwns Western governments wasn’t on the BBC.
      Or the clip of Sunak at the last COP conference saying he was going to make Net Zero compulsory. Bet they passed over that video of him extolling the virtues of CBDCs as well.
      But surely they can’t have missed the sinosization of Oxford and Canterbury just this week??

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/394a5a31e148069705e92da18ecc9c6adc6e2b200c429f02960b959123e1f03c.jpg

      1. I am afraid they are simply blinkered. John, as he left, said, “Don’t worry – I expect we will muddle along – we always have”

        And he bet me a pound that there will be no programmed power cuts between now and 31 March.

        1. He’s correct, they won’t be programmed, they’ll random and irregular and will cause the maximum inconvenience to those who least deserve it;

          1. When I said “programmed” I meant deliberate – as opposed to tree falling on cable sort of powercut.

        2. Well he will lose the pound, because planned power cuts are now a feature of the system, not a bug (seriously).
          He is probably right that in the long term, we will muddle along. Up for grabs is, how unpleasant the next few years will be and how long the unpleasantness will last.
          In Germany, it lasted 13 years and a lot of people died.
          In Russia, it lasted seventy years and millions starved.

          I think we have a chance to influence that by resisting. But it would help if people would just wake up and realise that we are at war.

          1. We need intelligent people such as said chums to take part in the resistance. Not chance with these two…

          4. I think I need to get on with digging and fertilising my veg plots, ready for next year. I have the seeds already. They have already announced power cuts between 16.00 and 19.00 in the depths of winter.

          6. Mine, too. I shall have to stop being a dilettante and get serious. Trouble is, I’ve never enjoyed growing vegetables. Still, you can’t eat flowers (well, not most of them).

        2. I appreciate that, Lacoste, but I only started to like and enjoy popular music around 1963 (when I was 12) when Blues-based British bands started to emerge, like The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, as well as many other pop bands, such as The Beatles, Manfred Mann, The Kinks, the Small Faces and many others of the time.

          The 1950s early rock ‘n’ roll was, generally, not to my taste. Buddy Holly wasn’t my cup of tea at all, nor Little Richard. I like Elvis Presley, but prefer his later catalogue to the early “Hillybilly Cat” stuff.

          1. When I was 12 – in 1953 – I was a jazz fan; Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Big Bands – Bennie Goodman, Artie Shaw &etc.

            I also began to like Classical Music. I played big Hohner harmonica and Spanish guitar …

          2. When I was 12 – in 1960 – I liked John Leyton (Johnny Remember Me). It was the first record I ever bought.

    1. Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was violently beaten by an assailant wielding a hammer who broke into their home in San Francisco on Friday.

      Perhaps the ES may translate that headline into English?

  80. That’s me gone. very nice day. Nice to see chums…..(on top of everything else they are FULL Covidians…). Apart from my (foolish) attempt to be serious, we had a good chat.

    Then a delicious tin of Fish Soup from the cannery in Quiberon. Plenty left for another day. The MR plans to add her famous Fulmodeston Fish Pie mix to it and serve with boiled potatoes….

    Useful autumn work in garden. Very agreeable sunset. Now a glass of pink medicine and today’s crossword. Then we’ll warm up the telly and when the little green light is shining tune in to Harry Enfield and Paul White(hush my mouth)house. Wot they say is funny.

    A demain.

  81. Elon Musk has certainly stirred up the international censors. Radio 4’s 6pm news led with the story, including references to Trump, Kanye West, anti-semitism and the moves to regulate social media (implicit praise for the Online Harms Bill there). Eric Mamer of the EU Commission (not a commissioner, just a PR johnny) said: “There are certain activities which are not compliant with the rules, regulations and laws in the member states, things related to hate speech, to criminal activities, to terrorism etc…” So reasonable, Mr Mamer. Twitter users are all would-be terrorists, aren’t they?

    Mad opinions have always been expressed. Once upon a time it was pub talk and stayed in the pub – it was usually forgotten the next day. Social media has changed that – there may well be many people who wished it had never been invented! Nevertheless, the desire to control has also always been with us. Has the digital world made that more likely?

    1. I don’t do Twitter and only see it when someone posts it on this forum. I’ve heard though that D Trump will be back on Twitter this coming Monday.

    2. To your last question: yes.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if the EU (and our lot) made it so difficult for Twitter to operate here that they give up (like many American sites). I’m glad the best people I met on Twitter have become friends in real life; I don’t have to worry about losing touch with them.

    4. Is Mamer suggesting that these “certain activities” were never an issue before now?

    3. “After being taken aboard the exhausted British kayaker (pictured) was offered some water and a Snickers chocolate bar”
      “The Maritime Gendarmerie is currently carrying out an investigation on this topic.”

      Just what did they give him to eat?

  85. What is going on these days horrifies me. I cannot possibly understand the “logic” of this government. Stop these boats coming ashore.
    And now tent cities in parks…..give me strength.
    This country has gone insane.

    1. I couldn’t agree more. These people who consider themselves ‘in charge$ should be lined up and shot. There is no other alternative.

  86. We have just finished our dinner always some form of fish on Fridays. Reflecting on our day with three grandchildren this time. And our dog. We went to an area known as Norman’s Land. Huge open spaces and woodland. Acorns sticks leaves to kick, trees to climb for the 7 year old, games to play (hide and seek) doggo involved.
    Sunshine, benches for grand dad to sit on.
    All that work bringing up three sons, the rewards are wonderful. As its wonderful when their parents arrive to take them home. Phew.
    Is it bed time yet ?

  87. We have just finished our dinner always some form of fish on Fridays. Reflecting on our day with three grandchildren this time. And our dog. We went to an area known as Norman’s Land. Huge open spaces and woodland. Acorns sticks leaves to kick, trees to climb for the 7 year old, games to play (hide and seek) doggo involved.
    Sunshine, benches for grand dad to sit on.
    All that work bringing up three sons, the rewards are wonderful. As its wonderful when their parents arrive to take them home. Phew.
    Is it bed time yet ?

    1. I noticed the first person to congratulate Sunak on his success. Was Bim Afolomi. From banking. He’s also relatively new to politics. It was assumed he would have become an mp in a North London constituency. But he was rejected. Strange, as he should have fitted in perfectly.
      After Peter Lilley resigned his post in Hitchin and Harpenden this new MP was shoe horned into place. I believe the large tory majority has now diminished considerably.
      But he appears to be very friendly with the PM. Call me neurotic, but forgive me for being suspicious.
      He also appeared on TV for the first time ever, earlier this week.

      1. Just another ex Etonian lawyer. Married another lawyer who works in mediation.
        Remember Venn diagrams? Is there any Tory MP or peer who did not go to public school and/or Oxbridge?

        1. At least 90% probably have degrees in PPE – all taught through Common Purpose no matter what party..

          Time to expunge this rot.

      2. The UK government (and opposition) are now fully aligned with WEF diktats under the leadership of Rishi Sunak. King Charles III and royals prior to his incumbency are paid up members off the WEF and share its global governance aims.

        The unrestricted open borders policy of the repulsive Biden/Obama/Clinton regime in the US is matched by our own UK open borders policy. The aim is to destroy the nation state and impose global governance based on the CCP model and run by a thousand or so transnational corporations. The World Economic Forum is essentially a trade organisation comprised of the largest banks and fund management corporations.

        It is no coincidence that the WEF meet in China annually in addition to their Davos venue. China is the model for their odious intentions.

      1. I hope it works out better than the “Arab Spring” … at least there is a push away from the stultifying and tyrannical muslim oppression they have suffered. I fancy the people need some weapons to make the Revolutionary Guards less able to victimise and control.

        1. 43 years of ideological tyranny and now the people (the Arabs) are revolting.

          It just proves that you cannot force a population to meekly accept Muslim Ideological tyranny.

        2. I was having a pint with my brother just after coming home after working in Tunisia. He brought my attention to the TV news which showed footage of disturbances at Tunis main railway station. I had got off a train from the gas plant in Sfax only 36 hours previously. There had been no indication of what was to happen.

      1. Live fire used again’ as Iran protests swell
        Published
        23 hours ago

        Share
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        2022 Iran protests

        Security forces clash with protesters in Iran as people go to mourn Nika Shakarami

        By Raffi Berg
        BBC News
        Three demonstrators have been killed during clashes with Iranian security forces in the western town of Mahabad, state media has reported.

        The protesters reportedly targeted government buildings after attending the memorial ceremony of a man killed during unrest in the country.

        Security forces also reportedly opened fire at a cemetery near Khorramabad.

        Rights group Amnesty International says security forces have killed eight people since Wednesday.

          1. No, Tim, I think they are hell-bent on overthrowing the Ayatollahs. Hence the orders to fire on the mobs.

            Despite his tyranny, they were always happier with the Shah. They like not this ideological tyranny.

          2. The people were more free and westernised under the Shah but the Shah was a puppet of the CIA. It is always about oil.

    4. Persian Islamification was eventually achieved in 654 AD. It has never been able to completely subjugate the population: thay have a proud historical culture that Islam never fully suppressed.
      That is why books like ‘Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh: or the Persian Book of Kings’: is still a revered book of their cultural heritage.
      Ps. Persian Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world and has never been fully purged by Islam from modern day Iran.

    2. Why should I believe these “sources” who won’t go public? (Rhetorical).This would be bad enough from newspapers but from a tax funded brodcaster with an obligation for impatiality, it is disgraceful.

  95. What has happened to BBC journalism? It seems dead in the water, not just dead but embalmed by submersion in the deep like the remains of Colin Campbell.

    No questioning of Rishi Sunak’s shady past.

    No questioning of the latest ‘attack on democracy’ viz. Some chump supposedly attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer in a highly securitised property in an exclusive enclave Pacific Heights of an otherwise dreadful shithole called San Francisco created by er… Nancy Pelosi.

    I remember the last supposed attack on Pelosi’s residence which comprised spray painted slogans on her painted garage door. The graffiti artist had on close examination carefully masked the expensive brickwork surround to avoid the otherwise large expense of cleaning the brickwork. The garage door could be easily overpainted.

    These ghastly Democrats have no sense and little honour. Too much Disney in their diet.

    After 100 years of this BBC shit surely time is up on the Corporation. More reliable and accurate news could be gleaned from the graffiti scrawled on the walls of any local WC cubicle.

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