Friday 3 November: How was the NHS so poorly prepared for the arrival of the pandemic?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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605 thoughts on “Friday 3 November: How was the NHS so poorly prepared for the arrival of the pandemic?”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story
    Plumbers Я Us

    Isaac and Yetta had been married for forty years and had got pretty used to caring for each other, to the extent even that, after visiting the bathroom, he would leave the seat down for her, and she would leave the seat up for him.

    One day, however, Isaac had other things on his mind and forgot to lower the seat. So, the next time Yetta went in there, she sat down as usual and got firmly stuck! She called to Isaac for help, but try as he might, he was unable to free her.

    “It’s no good, Yetta, I’ll have to call the plumber,” he said.

    “But I can’t have a stranger seeing me all exposed like this,” she wailed.

    So, Isaac took off his black yarmulke and placed it so as to preserve her modesty. He then called the plumber, who came along and told him to wait outside the bathroom. There was the sound of much pulling, pushing, tugging and shoving until finally the plumber came out and said “I have good news and bad news.”

    “What do you mean?” asked Isaac.

    “The good news is that your wife is now free,” said the plumber.

    “And the bad news?” Isaac asked anxiously.

    The plumber replied, “I’m afraid we lost the Rabbi!”

  5. We are witnessing the fall of the American empire. 2 November 2023.

    In short, the situation is dangerous because America has both lost authority – it is not seen as decisive and willing to commit – at the same time as it has failed to be ruthless about what conflicts it can and cannot afford to wage. This is end of empire stuff. We have a nation trying to protect several frontiers – Europe, Middle East, East Asia – while burdened with massive debt, and weakened internally by the culture wars I mentioned at the top. In that sense, the congressional pantomime matters after all. The gradual loss of confidence in the US machine, worsened by partisanship and dragged to the level of satire by the woowoo academic elite, leaves one wondering if America’s political class is inching closer to giving up and letting the world run itself.

    The United States is still enormously wealthy and immensely powerful. The problem is, like Europe and the UK, its governance by a decadent and corrupt Political Elite. Unlike them it will recover.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/02/afghanistan-biden-iran-israel-hamas-usa-decline-empire/

    1. It’s not really the “political elite’ who are the problem. It’s the shadowy ones who control them through money, preferment and blackmail. The parasitic predator class.

    2. ‘The United States is still enormously wealthy and immensely powerful.’
      It’s in massive debt. To the tune of trillions. And the man with a thousand credit cards is truly the possessor of great wealth…

      It’s also a country with a large number of internal issues, and might not survive as a single country in future. It’s big enough to split along ideological lines. It almost did a few centuries ago.

  7. How was the NHS so poorly prepared for the arrival of the pandemic?

    A pandemic of insanity was totally unexpected.

    1. The NHS is too big and unwieldy to react quickly to events. It simply took too long for central planned arrangements to get to the people on the floor and the folk on the floor were not interested in taking the initiative.

      1. NHS isn’t organised and doesn’t have the mindset for quick reaction to anything, other than blue lights rolling up at the door.

        1. It’s a bureaucracy. It exists to satisfy the demands of it’s paymaster, the state not it’s customer, the patient.

        1. One fine day in the middle of the night,
          two dead men got up to fight.
          Back to back they faced each other,
          drew their swords and shot each other.

          1. Joan White had a fright,
            In the middle of the night.
            Saw a ghost,
            Eating toast,
            Half way up a lamp-post.

          2. The other day upon the stair
            I saw a man who wasn’t there.
            I saw him there again today.
            I wish that man would go away.

          3. I went to the pictures tomorrow,
            And got a front seat at the back.
            An old lady gave me some plain cake with currants,
            So I ate it and gave it her back.

    3. Poorly prepared? It was mostly shut down immediately. ‘Poorly prepared’ is to once again pull the wool over our eyes. Staff in those areas which were open had enough time on their hands to practise and hone their dancing steps. TPTB are leading the public up the incompetence path – destination NWO/One World Government.

    4. Silly question, as has been revealed by the infamous Inquiry. The NHS was not overwhelmed there were enough beds to cope with the scamdemic and the Nightingale hospitals were not needed.

      As you say, Bob, it was the insanity that followed.

      ETA: Infamous Inquiry

      1. The Nightingale Hospitals were needed, but there were insufficient staff available without bringing in the RAMC.

  9. Good morning all,

    Partly cloudy at the McPhee’s in North-West Hampshire, wind South-West, 9℃ ≫ 12℃, rain showers later.

    Who banks with NatWest? Not I but I wish I did for the great pleasure I would have had when I walked in, closed all my accounts and told them why.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/banking/natwest-combs-customer-accounts-tells-them-go-vegan/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/617a9c585033ffb0f4456b636ce14fb3ca2b73af4cac02d8ed5d7eaf56ae7886.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d4936ae5e38126fb76b51e1b62811987746ae0f982f45a2d2eefe926f9d0432.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0620406be9b5007e6cf23b936b6035b04b060485e41d17f692163c7dd3ed386.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b179a9b24d59592434655e4f8a7b2b7b1e5712a00cd6cc8c4b7be83d0ef9e95.png

    It’s supposed to be a bank. Remember the days when you could walk in, deposit some cheques, get some cash while having a cheery chat with a cashier and perhaps even have the branch manager walk by and bid you good morning by name if you had recently had some dealings with him?

    “Swap out”. “Pre-owned”. What sort of English is that?

    Imbeciles.

    .

      1. I trust you are speaking to Nat West and not Fiscal McPhee, Annie. (Good morning, btw.)

        1. Good morning. If you haven’t seen it already then watch ‘The Miracle Club’. Superb performances from Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Laura Linney. I was agog at the acting.

          1. Yes, I did see it about three weeks ago. I found it a good, funny, feel-good film, Phizzee.

      1. Isn’t it “Go Woke, Collect a £10+ mln payoff as you leave the building” [Dame Allison Rose]

        1. O Rose thou art sick.
          The invisible worms,
          That fly in the night
          In the howling storm:

          Have feathered thy bed
          With unalloyed joy:
          And this dark Wokish love
          Does real life destroy.

          (With apols to W. Blake)

        2. O Rose thou art sick.
          The invisible worms,
          That fly in the night
          In the howling storm:

          Have feathered thy bed
          With unalloyed joy:
          And this dark Wokish love
          Does real life destroy.

          (With apols to W. Blake)

    3. In the meantime with our motorists are being seriously ripped off by our ‘elected’ councils and insurance companies. Go Green has hit the proverbial barrier of total hypocrisy. It looks as if the go-ahead for doubling the passenger level for burnt out, Luton airport has been at least recommended or allowed by Westminster. WTF has it got to do with them ? Except and probably some hefty bungs have been accepted by a few of our political classes, now our most outstanding opponents. Air pollution will at least double let alone the noise and traffic pollution. And all we hear from these divots is Green this and Green that. And with labour’s plans to build 1.5 million new homes on Green belt. What are they doing to our country ?
      Oh yes I nearly forgot, stop eating red meat. The truth is there won’t be any where left for these creatures to exist.
      I despair.

    4. Forth years ago my ex-wife has an account with them and they sent her a credit card with the wrong name embossed upon it, rendering it useless. I wrote them a terse letter, called them a ‘Piggy Bank’, and instructed them to send a properly embossed card, by return of post.

      They had spelt the surname ending in an ‘N’ instead of a ‘W’, so I pointed out that the new card required a ‘W’, “as in Willy, Wonka and Westminster”.

      Despicable organisation. Let them (or any other twat) try telling me not to eat meat.

      1. People make mistakes; I know a blind person who worked in a bank’s administration dept.

        Doubtless there were a few dyslexic office workers there as well.

    6. Effectively, they are telling people to be poor – don’t fly, wear second hand clothes, eat nutritionally poor foods.

      The diet that they promote as “healthy” (pulses, beans, veg, grains) is actually the diet of poor people through the ages. All the things they tell you are bad for you (milk, cream, meat, eggs) are rich people’s foods.

      When we don’t comply voluntarily, they plan to force us.

  11. Good Moaning.
    Well …. who’d a’ thunk it?
    And Gove – also a Scot – wants the same for rUK.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/02/edinburgh-housing-emergency-snp-rent-controls-backfire/

    Edinburgh declares housing emergency as SNP’s rent controls backfire

    City council requests additional funding amid soaring rents and social housing shortage

    2 November 2023 • 5:01pm

    Edinburgh has formally declared a housing emergency in a sign that the SNP’s rent control policies have backfired.

    Members of the City of Edinburgh Council on Thursday overwhelmingly voted in favour of a motion highlighting a housing “crisis” and urged Holyrood to ramp up funding for housing.

    The council noted that some 5,000 families are living in temporary accommodation in Scotland’s second-largest city amid a shortage of social housing and soaring private rents.

    Councillor Jane Meagher said: “By declaring a housing emergency, we hope to draw wide scale attention to an issue that demands urgent and united action.”

    The move comes just over a year after former first minister Nicola Sturgeon restricted rent rises on social and private rentals and placed a moratorium on evictions. Ms Sturgeon said at the time the freeze would help tackle the “humanitarian emergency” of the cost of living crisis.

    Current rules mean landlords in Scotland can only raise rents by 3pc to 6pc for existing tenants. However, landlords have been sidestepping the cap by dramatically increasing rents when new tenants come in. It has led to rents rising faster in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK.

    Many tenants have also been unhappy with the legislation as when one person leaves a house share, the landlord issues a new tenancy agreement and will often then ramp up rents significantly.

    The Scottish government this week announced plans to close the loophole.

    Rents in Edinburgh are rising at the fastest rate in Scotland, with prices 16.3pc higher than a year ago, according to Zoopla. In contrast, new lets in London have risen by 11.5pc over the past year.

    David J Alexander, chief executive of the Scottish estate agency D J Alexander, said rent controls had made the situation worse in cities like Edinburgh by encouraging landlords to sell their properties.

    He said: “Some people have thought ‘actually I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to leave’. We’ve got to try and encourage more people and we’ve got to encourage the people already in this sector to continue to stay.”

    He added: “When you start to artificially interfere with things that’s when the problem arises. It doesn’t encourage investment. It encourages people that leave the sector. The less stock, the higher the rents.

    “The landlords are neither happy nor are the tenants. We fundamentally need to build more houses and we need to get more investment in the sector. Rent controls have never worked anywhere in the world I’ve ever seen.”

    Edinburgh is the first city council in Scotland to declare a state of emergency over housing.

    If Edinburgh Council’s motion gains cross-party support as widely expected, it would be the first city council in Scotland to declare a state of emergency over housing.

    Argyll and Bute is the only local authority to previously have done so in June.

    Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said the economics of providing high-quality homes was “becoming alarmingly unviable” in Scotland because of rent controls.

    He said: “The private-rented sector is a crucial provider of housing and has been incredibly let down by a clear lack of understanding which is now driving good landlords away from the private rented sector.”

    Ms Meagher said: “This is not a new challenge, but it is at the stage of breaking point. Rents are being driven up, the cost of living continues to put pressure on household bills and homelessness is rising.

    “We have ambitious house building plans, but we face rising construction costs as a result of inflation and difficulties securing land.”

    1. Why are the political class so monumentally dumb? Do none of them understand how markets work? Have none any concept of history? Every single thing they are forcing is wrong. It always fails.

      All they need do is say ‘what didn’t work before’ and not do it. However, that means they can’t have favoured groups, can’t buy votes, can’t rig markets to trough.

      1. “Any concept of history”? Sooo…nineteenth century, darling! No, they’ve re-written history to fit their own ideology.

      2. Because of the 1929 Rent Act, it took 60 years to finally sort out my late grandparents’ estate.
        Just in time for the modest amount their granddaughter inherited to pay for her hip replacement. (An operation that didn’t even exist in the 1950s.)

    2. Get ready to shout. One, two , three…

      ALL WE NEED GOVERNMENTS TO DO IS TO GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!

    3. You ain’t seen nothing yet! Just wait until a gazillion Gazans arrive courtesy of the SNP’s hamasitarian policy…

    5. The Left wing administration tried the same thing in Malta. They fixed rents. Landlords stopped doing essential repairs. Houses fell into ruin. Then the property was sold. Large blocks of flats built in their place for the tourist trade.

    6. The Scots happily voted for an administration which produced these laws.

      Let them wallow in it.

  13. Newt Gingrich is back. And this time he has a really good idea

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ed1179256c9525e337b764f754c1d1eb400eb4a378d383fbad1674be17f1493.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2023/11/02/united-nations-newt-gingrich-hamas-israel-palestine/

    Imagine: No more World Health Organisation threatening pharma-tyranny; no more IPCC ARs and COPs spreading climate doom; no more UNESCO promoting child sexualisation. What’s not to like? You’re good to go, Newt. You can hear the international leftists squealing like stuck pigs already.

    2. Yes, it would be a good to simply stop paying for it. It does almost nothing of any use and is willfully perverse.

  14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/five-kamikaze-tory-policies-to-leave-britain-better-off/

    None of these seem particularly Conservative policies.

    We don’t have a housing crisis, we have a population crisis. Thus, stop people breeding. Scrap child benefit. Reverse it to give married couples a tax credit which is gradually phased out over 5 years.

    Start reducing housing benefit over 10 years.

    Leave the ECH and repeal Modern slavery and HRA.

    Permanently abandon the green nonsense forever. Forbid it’s reintroduction. Create a system where by energy producers can build a power plant from a government loan that is repaid from the income of the plant. Create a rolling program of SMR reactors – say, 20 per city. Offer free electricity to those living near them. Put one in every new build estate.

    Sack Khan and forbid ULEZ.

    Scrap fuel duty

    Never, ever adopt globalist tax minimums. This is why we voted for Brexit, to get taxes on business down. Only a useless government would do this – the big companies avoid it, the small ones get hammered. It is gormless. Cut taxes.

    Abolish IR35. It’s pointless tax grubbing.

    Scrap the upper and higher rates. Raise the tax allowance to 20,000. Combined NI and income tax and apply it to every type of income at 22%. Abolish all other tax reliefs.

    Scrap our horrific tax code and adopt the Swiss or Singaporean one.

    So much could have been done and hasn’t been, nor will be, and Starmer will continue the damage. We cannot wait 5 years to be rid of the socialists.

    1. Get rid of the illegal invaders and stop overseas aid. That’s 13 billion PA alone. Let alone the 8 million plus a day looking after all the other scroungers. Get it sorted Whitehall and Westminster. ….oh I just remembered, no chance !

      2. The overseas aid budget is used for the Channel freeloaders; simply means that there is less money available for educational projects for Christian children in the vastness of the less developed world.

    2. Don’t agree with stopping people breeding (must have at least 2 offspring per couple) or not giving married couples with children tax relief. Encourage native Britons to marry and breed through fiscal incentives.

      Add stop all immigration for at least a generation, start large-scale repatriation of migrants and assimilation of those who remain.

      Otherwise 👍

      1. If folk don’t want to have children that’s their choice, but those who do should pay for them. Thus the return through a tax relief, make married couples with children’s tax allowance £25,000 instead of 20. I’m tired of paying for people to breed who see children as a way to more money.

      2. Look here , I mentioned a rare visit we made into Poole this week to sort a few things out .

        The people experience was similar to a series of TV adverts .. diversity at it’s best , except the most of the young people with expensive mobile phones , babies and dark partners with flashy trainers were probably a social workers nightmare .. partnerships of convenience .

        There will be millions of youngsters who are the love products of diversity .. Britain’s colour has changed rapidly.

    3. Well the leader of the Conservative Party certainly does a lot of talking but like his predecessors in the chair has done absolutely FA.

        1. Got to verbally downvote you and Minty; the rodent insult was used by the Germans on you-know-who. It may be acceptable to use such language at the pub or a soccer match or in your own home, but it is inappropriate in print. Mr Sunak may well be a sub-optimal Prime Minister, but elsewhere he has been successful.

  16. Morning all 😊🙂
    Sunny start that can’t be right…..oh yes rain later.
    Why was the NHS caught out ?
    Perhaps they didn’t have enough notice. Or someone at the top didn’t believe what was going to happen and or, Whitehall had not told them.

    1. We had a friend of ours stay with us for a while. As soon as she woke up, she’d burst into song, sing as she got her breakfast, when making tea…

      I suggested to the Warqueen that she inform her of the rule of ten. That is, no speaking/singing/questions/noise until 10am.

  18. Reparations for Slavery.

    Lord’s cricket ground is to rename its “Pelham ‘Plum’ Warner” stand due to his family having historical connections to the slave trade.

    The American Ornithological society are to rename birds in that country due to some being named after people who had historical links to the slave trade. Wilson’s snipe and Audubon’s warbler are but two species in their list [“John James Audubon, America’s most renowned ornithologist, was a slaveowner who opposed abolition.”].

    If this is the way things are going to progress then my suggestion is that the American Democratic Party be similarly abolished since they actually went to war in an attempt to preserve their ‘right’ to continue to own slaves. Not to mention their retention of the Jim Crow laws. I bet no one calls for that to happen.

  19. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/mortgages/mortgage-rates-increase-repayment-tips/

    We bdgeted for mortgage payments and overpayments and while we’d have preferred to put the monies from the sale toward longer term things, we need the bathroom sorted.

    However the arguments in the comments of the ‘I paid off my mortgage in 6 weeks when it was 90% interest’ vs ‘How can I afford it?’ are frustrating. The thing which affects us most is – yes, you guessed it – the state. Every fiddle of pensions, HR law, taxation – especially of contractors who we do the accounts for but they’re freelancers who happen to work for us – regulation and nonsense (the latest one is some twaddle about fire doors, or exterior lighting) all kicks us in the bottom line. Our costs go up, even fractionally meaning we have to charge more which means less income or more fighting for less valuable contracts or worse, more work for more valuable contracts where we’re the under dog which always cost more in the long term.

    Government is simply an abusive, greedy pig that turns private wealth and effort into excrement.

    1. Never forget that tax started as theft and extortion by the powerful and ruthless who predated upon the weak and defenceless.

    2. So true. The civil service and the government have expert’s on everything. AKA well practiced Crooks.

  21. https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/10/31/when-did-journalism-become-a-hate-crime/

    Everything we say now is being regarded as a hate crime here we are , English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish folk whose pedigrees reach back centuries on these British islands defending ,toiling , contributing skills and education and healing to the rest of the world , why are we being vilified.

    Britain is 850 miles in length and 350 miles width, and now our cities , towns and villages are so overcrowded and flooded …

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b46cb28a9745d0fcdd27bfb693b5673e553a1662f3a3420d79e332423ea409a0.jpg

    1. Good God! Have those in charge decided to move the UK lock stock and barrel to Rwanda in oder to implement the deportation policy?

    3. According to questionnaires I have filled in, the choice is “white British”, Welsh or Irish. I refused to tick the box on the grounds it didn’t describe my ethnicity (I ignore the Welsh genes seeing as I was a) born in England, b) live in England and c) don’t qualify for any benefits from Wales).

    1. I’ve just come back to discuss my Wordle attempts this morning. Looks like we have cancelled each other out once again today. Lol.

  23. Hello again, chums. Today I entered my usual five letter word in Wordle and found that I had enough information to try my next word but, since it was a six letter word, it would not fit. But then I remembered that the US spelling was different (think colour/color) so I changed my six letter word to a five letter one (US spelling) and – Bingo! – I got today Wordle in two attempts for only the second time. I wish I could show you all this in colours (grey, yellow and green).

    1. Thanks for the tip. I just got it in two too and it would never have occurred to me that the third vowel could be left out of that particular word!

      Wordle 867 2/6

      🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  24. How Putin’s rule will end – as Russia collapses around him | Defence in Depth. 3 November 2023.

    There was a window, early in the full-scale invasion, when the oligarchs around Vladimir Putin – the money men, the ones who control the assets and therefore to a very large extent the economy of Russia – could have grouped together to unseat him.

    However, either through fear or incompetence, the oligarchs missed their chance. Those who wanted to get out of Russia, did, and fast. Those that remained were soon sanctioned, and even if sanctions are a medium-to-long term game in economic terms, they can have an immediate effect on Mrs Novichokski’s plans for Wimbledon.

    This from a West led by a senile child molester and a country that is disintegrating around us!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/03/defence-in-depth-russia-ukraine-war-putin-collapse-economy/

    3. Of course Russia isn’t collapsing at all but it’s sad that their Jew hatred has re-surfaced to the extend that they’re willing to defend Arab savagery. The initial return of European Jews to the Holy Land in the 1880s was driven by persecution in Tsarist Russia.

      1. As a Russian Orthodox Christian I have to admit that the record of the Russians in terms of Antisemitism is appalling, a truly dark stain on Orthodoxy. It is something that I am not going to try and justify. The Orthodox Church was neutral with regards to the Jews but that is hardly a virtue because when there were pogroms the Church said nothing and made no attempt to speak up against such practices, in fact it would step aside and allow murder to continue without a spark of protest. I suppose there were individual priests who were not silent but I am not aware of them and, if any of them did, they are not at all well known. But, I have to say no Nazi style holocaust was contemplated. For that we can look to Western Christianity which has, in my opinion, a reluctance to take responsibility for the consequences of its own actions with regard to actions taken during the colonial period including cultural genocide. A remark that may offend some people but which never the less is true and not spoken of in the West.

    1. By some sort of twisted logic many Wokists equate the Jews with Hitler’s Nazis rather than equating the Muslims with them.

  26. Yesterday evening I decided to buy a book online and have it delivered to a friend who lives in Southern California. I logged on to Amazon.com and used my Amazon.co.uk credentials. So far so good. As I typed in delivery details I only had to type in his name and there, among a list half a dozen folk with the same name, was my friend’s name and address address. This morning I got a message saying the book will be delivered today……quite remarkable.

    2. I ordered a book from the US recently, and it came within a few days. How? It was printed in France to order! The systems they have set up are wonderful these days.

      1. I cannot buy today’s printed copy of The Daily Telegraph or The Times in France.

        But I could buy them both in the marina shop in Marmaris because they print them in Turkey.

    3. Even more remarkable when you look at delivery times offered by the post office are about a week with deliveries out of province taking even longer.

  27. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ed6e2ce250eb1828e2c7ed427fdea4bc782f69522da43e7de71a4bdee1f0fb0.png

    [The Conservative Woman]

    Which is the most evil organisation : the U.N., the W.E.F., or the WHO ? It’s a pretty close call in my opinion.

    The WHO stole its acronymous name from a 1960s pop group but it has adopted the lead singer’s aspiration to die before he grew old.

    Roger Daltry is still alive – but the World Health Organisation seems keen not just to kill his generation but to menace the health of all other generations!

    1. Storm Ciaran – what storm? We had a bit of rain, hardly any wind (near the top of Blue Bell Hill in Kent). I had spent some time the previous day making things were secure in the garden etc., only for nothing to happen. I wonder if the Met Office is familiar with the story of the little boy who cried wolf?

        1. I’m bang in the middle of the South Coast and the storm missed us. Just a bit of rain and a little wind. Sunny today.

      2. I’ll stick up for the Met Office. Forecasting has improved enormously and the warnings for this were made four or five days ahead. The only unknown was the precise track. Just 50 miles further north and much of the south coast would have been wrecked.

      3. If you had seen footage of Jersey you could not call it anything but a storm, especially with wind gusts in excess of 100 mph, roofs ripped off and debris strewn across streets. The South coast of England took a bit of battering, too, with localised flooding and fallen trees. Seven died in Western Europe and over a million homes in France were left without power.

      1. The very idea of islamophobia is sick. There is nothing irrational about fearing an ideology that urges its adherents to behead you.

      1. I wonder how many schools still put on productions of Gilbert and Sullivan?

        In my day many schools did and indeed I have performed in school productions involving staff and pupils. It was all tremendous fun but it seems that fun has been removed from the syllabus.

        Funny thing is that many pupils now know far less than in the days when it was fun.

        2. I went to a secondary modern (yep, a state school for kids who failed the 11+) that was known for its high standard of music. An up-hill struggle with me though the music teacher did finally get me to sing a verse of a hymn solo and in tune. Anyway, there was a G&S production every year I was there bar one. One year the music master decided to put on Lionel Bart’s Oliver! instead. Otherwise, it was Patience, Pirates and Ruddigore.

        3. We would even use our schoolboy humour to update the production to reflect then current political leaders.

          T8hose were the days.

          1. When we got a new Headmaster (comp “educated”) he berated us, his staff, for “schoolboy humour”!

    3. As senior Tories called on Sadiq Khan to get a grip on the ‘tense’ situation.

      Sad dick is part of the problem, hasn’t any one realised this yet ? He’ll probably be involved in the planned upsets on the 11th 11 11am
      Get the army in and start shooting these terrible creatures, they deserve nothing less.

        1. In our experience all intakes is a right(ish) wing demonstration that does not agree with the supreme leaders policies.

        2. Interesting.
          No one in our country would have the bottle to do that Sos they are all pathetic. Rolling over would be more comfortable fir them all.

  30. S.S. Gretavale.

    Complement:
    44 (38 dead and 6 survivors).
    6,700 tons of steel and 17 lorries.

    At 04.54, 04.58 and 05.05 hours on 3rd November 1941, U-202 (Hans-Heinz Linder) attacked convoy SC-52 northeast of Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland and observed hits on two ships and heard a third. At 08.44 hours, a capsized wreck was sunk by coup de grâce, possibly that of one of the vessels struck during the first attack. However, the Flynderborg and Gretavale were sunk by these attacks.
    The master, 31 crew members and six gunners from the Gretavale (Master Frank S. Passmore) were lost. Six crew members were picked up by the HMCS Windflower (K 155) (Lt John Price) and landed at St.Johns.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-202 was sunk at 0030 hrs on 2nd June 1943 in the North Atlantic south-east of Cape Farewell by depth charges and gunfire from the British sloop HMS Starling. 18 dead and 30 survivors.

    HMS Starling was commanded by Captain Frederick John Walker, DSO, RN. as part of the 2nd Support Group (2SG).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/gretavale.jpg

  31. More than 200 Cambridge University students sign letter saying they
    ‘feel unsafe’ after Conservative association booked hall for dinner and
    demand Christ’s College stop society’s ‘alcohol-fuelled event’.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12702175/More-200-Cambridge-University-students-sign-letter-saying-feel-unsafe-Conservative-association-booked-hall-dinner-demand-Christs-College-stop-societys-alcohol-fuelled-event.html

    They could always fuck of back to their Arab lands if they feel unsafe.

      1. I can’t imagine why any muslims would even apply to be there……….but hang on a Mo….hamed. I kneely get it,
        subversion and altercation !

    3. So the students reckon the Conservative Association has a “polarising reputation”.

      Does that just mean the students have different political views? What the heck is wrong with students these days!

    4. The student added: ‘To summarise our concerns, we regret that the college has continually prioritised this external (and illegitimately organised) event hosted by a distasteful, provocative society over an internal tradition that is valued by our community.

      ‘We are calling upon the college to fulfil its commitment to valuing its own students’ traditions and their safety more than an external society’s alcohol-fuelled event.

      The ‘internal tradition’ would undoubtedly have been a sober affair worthy of the great temperance movement of the 19th century.

  34. Nigel Kennedy: ‘According to Labour, if you don’t believe in a million genders you are Right-wing’

    Classical music’s erstwhile bad boy on the decline of the BBC, ‘sheep politics’ and why Mozart is ‘for the bourgeosie’

    By Claire Allfree • 3 November 2023 • 7:00am

    I’d expected Nigel Kennedy to have mellowed with age but he has lost none of his love for needling the establishment. The only problem is, he now sees the establishment as largely being the liberal Left which, as a committed socialist, pains him deeply. “I hate it that, according to the Labour party, if you don’t believe in a million different genders then you are Right-wing,” he says. “I hate the fact that the left have been hijacked by politically correct thinking in all senses of the world. So has the BBC.”

    He’s not, for instance, a great believer in human-induced climate change. “Look at us, out here on a balmy afternoon, but somewhere, some killjoy will be telling us we need to feel bad about this because of global warming.” He doesn’t believe in speed limits either. “Thatcher told us we were so lucky to own our own cars. But these days you can’t drive faster than 20 miles anymore in a built up area.” The smoking ban is another example of what he considers the gradual erosion of basic human freedoms. “You used to be able to enjoy a pint and a ciggie after a hard week’s work. Not that I’ve ever smoked tobacco,” he adds with a wheezy cackle. “No, I smoke ganja so the ban doesn’t affect me.”

    In 2021 he responded to a recent Proms in which the American soprano Joyce DiDonato had dedicated her performance to “transgender people all around the world” by jokingly declaring during a rehearsal with the BBC Symphony Orchestra that he would like to dedicate his performance “to all the forgotten and displaced heteros”. It didn’t go down well. “People had a sense of humour failure over that one,” he says now. All the same, does he feel the white heterosexual man is under threat? “Not particularly. I’m not Andrew Tate. But I hate sheep politics. Even if it’s reasonable I’ll probably take the opposite side because I hate lots of people parroting the same idea.”

    …the state of Radio 3. “They do sound a bit desperate. They need to stop telling people how to feel. As a performer, we do our best to communicate something but it’s really up to the listener to decide whether Bach makes them think of church spires or trees.”

    Read the rest of it here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/nigel-kennedy-interview-gender-the-bbc-climate-change

        1. Fine so long as one doesn’t have to see him or ‘ear ‘im speek. Faux cockerney, innit?

      2. I knew you’d say that – and to a point I’d agree. However, anyone who can get up the noses of the BBC and Radio 3 can’t be all bad.

      3. Mr T, the joy of your posts is ‘multum in parvo’.

        Compact, like Phizzee.

        Of course, one represents wisdom and the other dazzles with generosity.

          1. The Pope has to wear underpants in the shower because he isn’t supposed to look down on the unemployed.

  35. Political life over here is becoming interesting for everyone except the tarnished Trudeau.

    A week ago, Trudeau announced that his carbon tax would not be imposed on the eastern provinces (completely coincidentally these are provinces that vote liberal but are now polling otherwise). Trudeau has aggressively refused to allow the same tax relief everywhere else but now the conservatives have a bill before parliament to do just that. The bill is being supported by trudeaus coalition partner and could result in the government being defeated.

    In a second move, the blackout on a failed $150 million contract is being questioned by most parliamentarians. The liberals are doing their best to hide who received the contract, what the contract was for, what went wrong and why the bill was paid.

    Maybe some light at the end of the tunnel for us. Unfortunately Mark Carney is being touted as the new leader – yes the failed bank governor carney!

    3. Mark Carney must be a very strong candidate – he had great success in trashing the UK’s economy.

    4. Do the eastern provinces vote for left-wing parties because they’re traditionally more working class with industries like fishing and the rest? Because I’d assume that their personal values are surely more on the conservative side. It’s really difficult as an outsider to figure out which parts of canada are actually conservative and which are genuinely left-wing.

  36. Extract from a DT Letter:

    “It was clear from the start that NHS managers were – despite previous warnings of the possibility of a pandemic – totally unprepared. They appeared to have no contingency plans to cope with bed-blocking, and failed to put in place a coordinated plan with the care sector.”

    If there was a viable solution to bed blocking there wouldn’t be any bed blocking. Of course the provision of thousands of more beds in hundreds of new care homes would solve the problem completely. It would take a couple of years to achieve (new buildings , staff training etc) and would probably consume the equivalent of the UK’s foreign aid budget…..

    1. Just throw the invaders out of the hotels and move the bed blockers into four star luxury. Add a nurse or two to each hotel and the problem could go away instantly.

      There are plenty of fixer upper homes in Gaza for the displaced.

  37. For years we have been told that Hitler was extreme right wing.

    The fact that the Left now endorses the anti-Semitic views of those who wish to extinguish Israel and kill the Jews shows that Hitler was extreme left wing.

    The truth can no longer be denied:

    The leader of Germany’s The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, was extreme Left Wing and those who now follow Hitler’s anti-Semitic fervour are the modern Nazis.

    1. The false assertion that Hitler and fascism are Right wing has been a stand point of the Left for decades. They don’t like admitting the truth.

    2. Left-wing ideologies have killed many millions and been responsible for the starvation and immiseration of many millions more. We should stop playing pat-a-cake and just call left-wingers out for what they actually are. Truly awful people.

  38. Thank Goodness, that horrible yellow ball of fire has gone and we’re back to the normal sky water.

    1. Michael Gove is domestically, socially and politically not a very pleasant chap :- his ex-wife, Sarah Vine, found she could not stand going on living with him. Could he be a candidate?

    1. Douglas Murray very sound as usual.

      With his instinctive sense of timing Starmer urges us to prioritise in our minds Islamophobia Awareness Month.

      Will this be the end of Starmer – but will what follows him be even worse?

      1. Isn’t Murray encouraging people to go to London to protect the Cenotaph? AKA setting up conflict.
        Also, I don’t believe that this sudden linking of Remembrance day to the founding of Israel has popped up of its own accord – it reeks of a set-up.

        In Oxford, there’s a peace vigil in Broad St on Sunday at 5pm, organised by representatives of all faiths.

    1. Bomber Harris, an old boy of the school where Caroline and I used to teach, has been vilified for the policy of bombing Dresden.

      If they had not bombed Dresden would the Allies have won the war? Who can tell?

      1. The question is even more pertinent with regards to Hiroshima and Nagasaki of course and the answer equally elusive. I think Shapiro’s point is that Britain undoubtedly was on the right side in WWII.

        1. I have always been convinced that far more Japanese civilians would have died had the bombs not been dropped.

          However, I am not convinced that Nagasaki was needed.

      4. People conveniently forget that Harris twice queried the order to bomb Dresden but was ordered to carry out the attack because Churchill had agreed to the raid as requested by Stalin and even then only carried out his orders under threat of being relieved from his post.

      5. The Russians wanted Dresden bombed. It was an important communication link for the build up of troops on the Russian Front. What happened to Dresden was an unfortunate combination of circumstances with dry weather, old timbered buildings and the creation of a firestorm.

      6. The Russians wanted Dresden bombed. It was an important communication link for the build up of troops on the Russian Front. What happened to Dresden was an unfortunate combination of circumstances with dry weather, old timbered buildings and the creation of a firestorm.

    4. Of course we were bombing civilians; it was total war. There were bound to be civilian casualties because, expectially in the early years, navigation was extremely primitive. One has to remember the Germans bombed indiscriminately in the Blitz on London, Liverpool and particularly the Baedeker raids (Canterbury, Exeter and other historic cities that were listed in the travel guide).

  43. I have been under the weather with a flu-like bug for the last five days, spending most of my time in bed. It is the first time I have been ill with anything for over 5 years. I am desperate to recover to lessen the burden on my dear wife who has OCPD and who collapsed unconscious last Sunday while walking the dog in a remote area.
    It is embarrassing to feel so weak and incapable. I haven’t been dipping in here very often and that is the reason.

    3. You should not be embarrassed, ‘flu can flatten people much younger than you.
      I hope you soon recover and that your wife is on the mend too.

    4. Sorry to hear that Del, hope you are recovering well and your wife has got over her episode ok

    7. Hope you feel back to normal soon. We haven’t had that bug yet, but it seems like a nasty one.

    8. Bloody Hell, that sounds bad. Hope you feel better soon and DW actually finds out the cause of her problems.

    10. I wondered where you were Delboy – Hope you are on the mend now. Keep up the vitamin D & C intake. What a worry that your poor wife collapsed. I hope she’s recovered too.

  44. GP with unblemished 40-year career gets 6-month
    suspension for ‘vitriolic’ anti-vaxx comments – including one that kids
    were being ‘lined up’ to get a Covid vaccine that could ‘kill them’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12702971/GP-unblemished-40-year-career-gets-6-month-suspension-vitriolic-anti-vaxx-comments-including-one-kids-lined-Covid-vaccine-kill-them.html

    Who do you believe? A Doctor with 40 years experience or the proven liar Matt Hancock?

  45. “Covid lockdowns were a failure.”
    Bollocks, as an experiment in control there were a staggering success.

    1. How easy it was to get not only compliance but self-appointed block wardens to marshal the last few deniers…

      2. I used to wonder how the Natsis managed to get people to go along. The convid scam showed me. I was shocked. I thought, in my naivete, that it couldn’t happen here.

        2. Blockwarts and stool pigeons. Police stopping people on a whim. “Kill the Jews” filling our streets and ears.
          Any personal freedoms or actions are now only allowed by government caprice.
          Have we time travelled back 90 years?

          1. We have been infected by corpus juris (EU law) where everything is forbidden unless the state passes a law to allow it. We may have voted to leave, but our Common Law freedoms have not been restored.

    1. For those who can’t be bothered to play the video clip above a chap goes to his doctor and is given a piece of paper on which he reads “Daily Sex”.
      He is delighted with this and says how pleased he is with the doctor’s advice to which the doctor replies that what is written on the paper is not daily sex but its anagram: dyslexia.

  47. Twinkle twinkle little star….

    Starlink, the satellite internet technology made possibly by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, has achieved breakeven cash flow. The milestone coincides with Starlink amassing over 2 million subscribers globally and extending its coverage throughout the US.

    “Excited to announce that @SpaceX @Starlink has achieved breakeven cash flow!” Musk posted on ‘free speech’ social media platform X.

    He continued, “Excellent work by a great team. Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year.”

    1. Imagine if it had been a government project. Late. Over budget and barely functional. Well done Elon.

      1. Quite, although Musk, having spoken with him, will realise he’s a waste of space. (see what I did there?)

  49. Hezbollah’s threat to Israel and the world: Terror group chief warns of ‘further escalation on Lebanese front’ and says Hamas’s war with Jewish enemy is ‘now on more than one front’ in first speech since October 7 atrocities

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12705901/Fears-grow-Hezbollah-set-declare-war-Israel-Blinken-arrives-Tel-Aviv.html

    If it becomes existential for Israel they will take a lot down with them.
    If this is worldwide call to arms for Muslims it is going to get out of hand very rapidly.
    Perhaps a quick review of the Book of Revelation is in order?

    1. I expect to see violence and vandalism over the weekend. Good that we have so many old soldiers in town. I hope there is some way to arm them.

        1. Give all the military personnel in the parade an SLR and 10 rounds then give them a free hand if there’s any bother

          1. I still wish I had an L1A1 securely preserved and hidden somewhere with half a dozen magazines & box of 7.62 NATO.

          5. Only one eighth. I never did get on with learning Welsh despite my grandfather (Taid) being a Welsh speaker. I know it’s phonetic, but there always seemed to be too few vowels. I’ll have a consonant, please – and another ten to go with it 🙂

  50. Labour-run council is slammed for cancelling its Remembrance Day parade over ‘health and safety concerns’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12707193/Labour-run-council-slammed-cancelling-Remembrance-Day-parade-health-safety-concerns.html

    Today, Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies blasted the ‘feeble excuse’ and claimed the council had paid about £8,000 towards a Pride event earlier this year.
    He tweeted: ‘Barry Town Council’s decision to cancel this year’s Remembrance Sunday parade is shameful. And their feeble excuses don’t wash. The council could and should have taken all necessary steps to make the usual parade happen.’

    I suspect this won’t be the last cancellation this year.

    1. The people should just turn up and carry on.

      I think the “authorities” might find themselves in some difficulty with the general public if they tried to intervene.

      1. The poor bloody police will get it in the neck from both sides, as usual. With both bottles and hurty words.
        Who would join the police these days?

  51. DT Letters:

    Colin Harrow
    1 HR AGO
    Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel was a “glorious jihadi operation”.
    As this was a completely unprovoked attack without any warning, in which 1,400 unarmed civilian, men,women, children and babies were slaughtered the British police now have a very definitive definition of what the word “Jihad” stands for rather than their excuse that it can have several meanings and therefore those shouting it in anti-Jewish demonsrations in the UK are not guilty of a hate crime.
    Now, thanks to Nasrallah, they know exactlywhat Islamic terrorists mean by this word as if there was ever any doubt except in the world of UK plods, can we now expect that those who shout it in these demonstrations will immediately have their collars felt by said plods?
    But somehow I doubt it

    Too effin’ right, Colin, me old mate.

    1. And, shame on Barry Council for cancelling their Remembrance Parade – for whatever reason.

  52. Bet you haven’t heard this one… law of unintended consequences strikes again!

    First officer threatens to shoot Captain
    According to an indictment issued this week in Salt Lake City, a first officer on a Delta flight last August threatened to shoot the captain if they diverted the flight due to an onboard medical emergency. The first officer was part of a program that deputizes flight crews and allows them to carry a gun onboard, so this was not an idle threat. We walk through the sequence of events laid out by the government and discuss if the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program has outlived its usefulness

    From https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/avtalk-240/?utm_campaign=website&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid.com

  53. And… dumbassery rules!

    Lufthansa is trying to make weight
    Lufthansa may need to install a counterweight in the rear of its 747s after installing its new Allegris cabin, thanks to the weight of the business class seats. The airline may also need to forgo installing the new seats on the upper deck of the 747 because of the cabin width.

    Too heavy at the pointy end means the centre of gravity gets outside of the allowed limits for balance of the aircraft, so it needs balanced… and can carry less weight overall, as there’s a max total weight limit, too. So, fewer passengers or less fuel/cargo.
    Brilliant! Dumbasses.

    1. But surely the Chermans are engineering geniuses?

      “Vorsprung durch Technik” and all that…

    3. Failure of multidiscipline review as a part of change management: Lovey new seats, but… did anyone ask Engineering first?

    4. I hope they have considered the change in the CofG that will take place as the fuel burns off. In some aircraft (notably the Beechcraft Bonanza) that can have a significant instability effect.

      1. Believe there are lots of pumps to shift fuel about as needed. Concorde certainly needed trim pumps.

        1. “Trim” as in “smart”, “good-looking” – As is a trim young lady – like so many here in NoTTLand.

        2. Concorde used to grow and contract, so one would have hoped they would have factored in the need for trimming.

          1. The last flight of BA Concorde, the pilots put their hats between the engineers overhead panel and the bulkhead. They are still there, after the contraction during landing!

          2. Serious engineering problem, managing all that expansion and contraction. Clever blokes, back decades ago, to do it all with hand calculations and hand drawings.

  54. Echoes my feelings:

    Graeme Williams
    3 HRS AGO
    So those “Palestinians”, many of whom have never been there nor could point it out on the map, have decided to abuse the hospitality of their safe host nation by holding a march on the day that we remember our dead of two World Wars and many other conflicts, so they can be safe in this country.
    They often talk about us having to respect their traditions, something we all do when staying in other countries, but there doesn’t seem to be any reciprocity from those staying in this country.
    Shame on these HAMAS supporters, because that is what they ALL will now be known as.

    1. They don’t respect our customs because we are kuffars and thus “lower than cattle”. They despise us.

  55. Much excitement here: SWMBO is a HSE Senior in the railways (think raltrack); somebody skidded off the platform in the snow, was spotted by a bloke fixing some electrics on the station, and hauled back onto the platform before a train rolled up.
    Much telephoning. The electrician is the hero of the moment… so, some good news!

        1. Afternoon Sos
          More sanguinary than sanguine tbh give me a button to press that would exterminate every bent NWO politician and every moslem on earth and I wouldn’t hesitate more than a second or two

  56. Look over there a Squirrel!

    “The House earlier this week passed a resolution that suggested the US would use force against Iran in the future in the name of preventing the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.

    The resolution passed Wednesday says a nuclear-armed Iran is “unacceptable” and declares that it’s the policy of the US to “use all means necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

        2. So many have expatriated now, I fear you are wrong, Spikey.
          Edit: Noreadundery – again.

          3. No worries Paul – I do the same………………………………………………….often!

          4. And remember the trouble Suella Braverman got herself into when the home secretary said we had been invaded! You always are likely to get into trouble when you speak the truth.

            Is there anyone with a fraction of a brain who cannot now see how right Enoch Powell was and how wrong Blair and virtually all subsequent UK governments have been?

          5. Those of us living in Birmingham during Enoch Powell’s time, knew perfectly well how right he was. Even the union workers supported him because they feared losing their jobs to immigrants, who would work for less.

          6. I lived in Brum between 1985 and 1989. I went back a few years later to visit friends. Their eldest son wouldn’t let me leave their house without an escort. This was Gillott Road Edgbaston. Groups of young men of a foreign persuasion hanging around the streets. Staring at you.

    2. It’s pure coincidence that Iran doesn’t have a central bank. Nothing to do with the US’s interest in that country at all.

    3. I have no doubt they are well on the way to having a ….let’s call it a nuclear deterrent.

  57. Afternoon All

    Popping in briefly it’s still all too foul out there

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZVu0alU0I

    Meanwhile a medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9ba55596181eba34166dccd7be74a41861129a5a29fd2ace9254acd95cd4a9f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f2ce80d47d52f29938737f71a10b65613889d0f49170497b7c4d3e60603b2b9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c1a3977abb543f28b6c05e5b804d89bb37d218855fad89d681f58faa2aff93f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/edb195bd094f83cdb655088487232262cb0cf0467b8f1585c713fce25af01b9d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0cca0b5280e108cc4ec30f362456f7f8b7e14f693f9fef67c91fce978b7cd160.png

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/191d3ff1c732f7c8d4fc78e93ea7d300988db4ddf87bdc368eed7bb6359c4fcd.jpg

    2. I’ve always hated that bloody tree.
      Absolutely sums up the childish vacuousness of Cameron.

  60. Afternoon, all. Been a busy, but enjoyable day for me; had a couple of friends over for coffee and a chat. I’ve got the fires lit in the dining room and sitting room and the oil heating on, so it’s very cosy. I think the Rayburn will be lit tomorrow now the outside temperature is dropping. If I light it too soon, I’ll be sweltering in 25 degrees C. Have another friend coming over tomorrow to help me fix the corner cabinet to the wall so I can put the radiator on (at the moment, it’s balanced on the sideboard and the top of the radiator). While in theory it’s straightforward, it is not a one person job. Someone has to hold it in place (or steady it if it’s balanced on something) while the holes are marked to be drilled out and the rawl plugs inserted. Then ditto while the screws are inserted and tightened.

    The headline question is a good one, particularly in the light of the fact they ran an exercise to see how well (or rather, badly) they were prepared for a pandemic. It’s almost as though they learned they’d be hopeless and then did nothing.

      2. I have the woodburner on low during the day. Gus occasionally lies in front of it. When not occupying one of my favourite armchairs, his preferred spot is as close to the front of the (very hot) AGA as he can get…. Curious considering he is a very woolly cat…

      3. My red setter and Patterdale cross used to do that. The setter would be twitching because he was too hot, but wouldn’t budge unless he was physically dragged away and the Patterdale actually started to smoke one day when an ember flew out and lodged in his fur! He wondered what all the fuss was about when I hastily put him out.

      4. Our naked cat ran over the top of the wood burner when we first had it installed! One singed pad, and he hasn’t done it since!😘

        1. Years ago my cat Buttercup was laying in front of the fire and i could see smoke begin rising off her.

    2. The whole intention all along was to close down the nhs in order that we didn’t find out what was going on within – all those DNR notices, Midazolam injections etc. They were hardly pulled off their feet (only to practise their dance steps). So strange that cancer treatment and diagnoses were stopped especially when staff were sitting around bored to tears… – very convenient for government though, all those pensions and treatments it no longer has to pay for.

      1. That is the reason our government employed 7 regional directors about 4-5 years ago. Destroy the NHS. All apparently being paid 250k a year.

    1. I have never been able to like him after he kicked a Scottish chap off his land when he (Trump) built another golf course.
      But I sincerely hope that he gets the opportunity to rub the faces of his enemies and opponents in the dirt.

      1. Would that be Balmedie? Trump was much vilified, to the point that his opposers were ‘lying’!

        1. If I remember correctly they guy also owned a shot gun. I think it was removed from his possession.

    1. My energy supplier keeps telling me my meter needs to be replaced because of its age and that I should book in a time to have it done. It only gives me the option of having a smart meter, so I am resisting.

      1. 3783309+ up ticks,

        I do believe you have the right to refuse, I think there are plenty of grounds for refusal contained within the video.

          1. 378351+ up ticks,

            Morning C,
            I do believe NO in some shape or form is advisable, as silence can be taken as consent.

  63. Signing off early. Going to a talk in a church a few villages away. Play nicely and have a smashing evening.

    A demain – prolly.

  64. Weird.
    Several emails rejected and returned today, with the message “spam-like content”, yet I’m just trying to ask Firstmorn a question or two for Christmas.

      1. I’ve had a spate of strange happenings whereby emails I have read in my inbox (they aren’t spam, they are from regular correspondents) have suddenly been moved to the spam folder after they’ve been read. Weird or what?

        1. Perhaps you’ve altered your settings without noticing. I did something earlier today that changed the whole appearance of Gmail on my laptop and it took some time before I restored it to how I like it.

          1. The appearance is the same and it’s only happened to a couple of emails (from different people).

    2. Welcome back.

      We’ve missed you – not just for your shrewd observations but also for you cartoons and jokes to cheer us all up.

      2. What will you say tomorrow when they are screaming and chanting through the 2 minute silence?

          1. Non-existant short term memory. They will certainly be gearing up for something big though.

          2. I wasn’t sure which Sunday either. But Saturday 11th is Armistice Day and Sunday 12th Remembrance Day. A weekend that might become interesting.

      1. Nah,onother 3 weeks until the op,2 months via private medicine the NHS would have got me sorted around 2035
        30/500 co-codomel can sort the pain but can’t use them all the time

        2. I use 30/500 too but it gives me constipation and painful movements no matter how much water i drink.
          Try Oragel for pain relief in the mouth also.

          2. I make a point of never reading instructions, road signs or menus.
            I am also not going to take a medication to counter a medication.

          3. Fair enough, but if constipation is as much a problem as your various posts indicate, you could well do worse than this stuff.

          5. Rather than having surgery to correct my problems the NHS has decided to make me addicted to opioids. I am supposed to take two four times a day or when necessary, forever. Like i said…I don’t read/obey instructions.

          7. I have no problem reading. Just retaining. Makes buying new books redundant though. Think of all the money i have saved !

  66. Animal reactions to music are fascinating.
    The other day it was the budgies preferring G&S to Mozart.
    This evening Spartie was riveted by Kathleen Ferrier. He sat up in his ‘doughnut’, ears erect, eyes focussed on the screen. I’ve never seen him notice music before.

        1. I remember that being played in a school music lesson (musical appreciation, I suppose) when I was a pupil. I was spellbound.

    3. Dolly can’t hear anything. She is wearing her snood over her ears because of the fireworks.

        1. Can’t do it at the moment but just imagine a babushka standing in front of her burned out cottage. She really isn’t happy but she is even more unhappy with all the bangs going off. Poor baby.

          4. Glad to see Dobby dressed this time. Not into cat porn !
            Phoebe looks…er…like Greta Garbo.

          6. If you lived with Dobby you would vant to be alone! If he can’t get under the duvet he just has a nibble at my shoulder!

          8. Funny you should say that but I’ve just had a restyle of my hair! I bought a new toy (an air styler) for the new look, and my darling husband asked if I was channeling my inner Farah Fawcett-Majors!! Ha! Anyway pet, in reply to your night club question, was it Jean-Paul?

    4. I have one thing in common with Kathleen Ferrier: my school took part in the Carlisle and District Music Festival. Not at the same time, obviously. Fast forward to the late 1990’s, and my ‘umble village choir in Hindhead had the operatic soprano, Sheila Armstrong, in its ranks. Another Northener. Who was, until recently, President of the Kathleen Ferrier Society.

  67. Seems that the Norwegian ladies volleyball team have upset the Chinese judge by insisting that, accoring to the rules, they do NOT have to wear a bikini, but shorts are also allowed. Big row, big loss of fface for the Chinese.
    Good on the Ladies.

    2. Have Hamas called for peace, whilst marching in London? Will they? No, of course not, they will be shouting “Death to Jews”.
      Liniker, grow up, you t**t.

    1. I remember crossing the Weser on a pontoon bridge of M2s in 1984. Probably Ex Lionheart.

          3. Death watch, because when mourners sat in silence watching over there loved one’s. They could hear the beetles/bugs/worms
            boring into the timber structure.

  71. Just Stop Oil protest cost theatre £80,000 in Les Miserables refunds, court told
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/03/just-stop-oil-protest-theatre-80000-refunds-les-miserables/

    The theatre should sue the JSO protesters to recoup its losses.

    The trial will take place at the City of London Court next year. When it came to setting the court date, one of the protesters, Lydia Gribbin, from Cotham, Bristol, said she could not make the date because she was travelling to India. The judge replied: “I am not going to wait for you to get back from India.”

    So a Just Stop Oil protester will be travelling to India next year. I wonder how she will get there – walk?

    3. Is it not time for someone with forensic detective skills worked out how and who is funding all these ‘protestors’ ? And if any are identified as being on benefits, have it stopped immediately.

      1. They are being funded by the likes of George Soros and Bill Gates. Both of whom are probably on Epsteins paedophile guest list.

    4. How about a compulsory purchase order on your house, Lydia? Clearly a middle class feckwit with a name like that. And if not her her parents. See how like like being made broke like the Theatre whose profits they destroyed.

      1. It has been for many men indoctrinated into having respect and gentleness towards the ‘weaker sex’. It is becoming more difficult to adhere to that with women like her. I am no Andrew Tate but i am beginning to agree with what he says. Same with Anders Breivik. There is a cancer that needs to be excised

  72. -They called him mister flip floppy
    On account of the vanishing red poppy
    One second it’s on
    Then it was gone
    Just in case the Muslims got stroppy

  73. Well Lineker, if Leicester City’s fans chanted “Death to Nottingham Forest, kill all their fans” I’m now guessing that you would have approved.
    Well Lineker, if every Nottingham Forest fan chanted “Death to Gary Lineker, kill all his family” you would understand.
    Well Lineker, if every ITV presenter said on live TV that Gary Lineker and all his living relatives should be wiped from the earth you would say they should be heard.
    Well Lineker, if I never hear your platitudes again I won’t be unhappy.

      1. You must be joking, he’s had his head up his own arse for so long that his kidneys are vomiting.

      2. Given his support for people who roast babies he could always have an oil bath in the same vat that crisps are made.

    1. The NYT is having server problems so can’t access my score now but I got a two this morning due to Elsie posting a big clue!

      2. We aim to please, Sue Ed. (But I really tried to disguise things and hope it didn’t spoil your enjoyment.)

        3. Didn’t help me

          Wordle 867 5/6

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

  75. There is to be a rally, in support of Palestine tomorrow at 2.pm local time in Washington DC. It will be interesting to see how the DC Police handle this….

    1. Biden will tell them to shoot any Jews that object, hoping that it might hurt Republican party Senators and Congressmen more than the Democrats?

      1. I don’t think they will, I have met a couple of DC cops and they are as far from being woke as you can get, and most try to stay out of politics.

    3. I hope the cops are fully armed, dont take any nonsense control any adversity and the rest of the civilised world learns an important lesson.

  76. Hoo bluddy ray.

    Royal British Legion vows to host its own ‘shortened’ Remembrance parade after Labour-run council axes event to honour veterans over ‘safety concerns’
    Veterans’ support charity says it will uphold tradition after council pulls out
    Barry Town Council says ‘difficult decision’ was made to scrap 2023 parade

    Good for them.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12708055/Royal-British-Legion-shortened-Remembrance-parade-Labour-council-axes-event.html

      1. Tripping over kerbstones as they flee from mad knifemen and an out of control lorry driven by a peaceful protestor?

      1. That’s fair enough.
        Hell’s teeth, why would there possibly be a problem?
        Only a third of the population identify as Muslim…

    2. I asked the AI what it would do if it was a human.

      “Cut the power and destroy it”

      Now, was it lying?

  78. With the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline it seems Saudi and the Gulf States have got the UK and the EU by the balls, and when they’ve got you by the balls your hearts and minds will follow. Therefore I don’t think any strong action will taken against antagonistic new arrivals (but I can understand the desire to capture the Unicorn otherwise known as Net Zero….)

  80. Something that worries me about the interpretation of Hezbollah’s leader’s speeches is that the press say he is ranting.

    He’s not.

    He is completely articulate about what he wishes to achieve; and more fool you if you think it hasn’t been thought through and planned.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12708095/Israeli-PM-Netanyahu-warns-dont-test-pay-dearly-ranting-Hezbollah-terror-group-chief-threatened-escalation-Lebanese-told-fleets-Mediterranean-will.html

    1. Our press always interprets foreign leaders’ speeches in a very stupid way, not making allowances for how people in other cultures speak. Liberal intolerance and bigoty on display, I suppose.

  81. I agree with large parts of this, but if he thinks Palestinians will ever agree to a two state solution he is very badly deluded.
    It will never happen.

    This, then, is the battle to come. The only long-term solution is two states side by side. The only short-term solution for Gaza is a plan that promises Palestinian statehood. Every step of the way, the men on both sides who want the whole land for themselves will be on hand to derail progress – and, though sworn enemies, they will aid each other in that shared mission. It is a gruesome waltz they do together, this dance of death. Those on both sides who believe in compromise will not be able to fight them alone. They will need allies – including those taking to the streets who call themselves progressives – and the help of a world that finally decides it has seen too much bloodshed and cannot bear to see any more.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/03/war-israel-hamas-conflict-peace-extremists

  82. Apropos the Beatles’ last release.
    Well John Lennon

    Imagine there’s no countries
    It isn’t hard to do
    Nothing to kill or die for
    And no religion, too

    you clearly didn’t understand Islam.

  83. Thought for the day:

    If Israel declared a ceasefire does anyone really think that Hamas would do so too?
    My money would be on rockets from Gaza ratholes within 12 hours.

    And that’s the reason I hope the IDF go through Gaza slowly, demolishing tunnels, destroying control centres and killing Hama leaders.
    More power to their elbows..

    1. Probably no immediate attacks on Israel but you can just about guarantee that the Hamas mob would be positioning arms, civilians and hostages to cause the most harm to Israel when the ceasefire is over.

  84. For the first time in my life, I’m beginning to fear for the future of Britain

    The aftermath of Hamas’s terror attacks has exposed intolerance, as well as the weakness of our leaders

    CAMILLA TOMINEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 3 November 2023 • 6:00pm

    Next month, my father and stepmother are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. The milestone reminded me this week that not only has my Dad been married to my step-mum for longer than he was married to my mother, but that my stepmother has been a second “mum” to me for longer than I was mothered by my actual mother, who died when I was 23.

    As children, my older brothers and I would regularly poke fun at this supposedly odd couple’s similarities, despite their religious differences (my father is Catholic and my stepmother is Jewish). I have often joked that I’ve endured an upbringing of being made to feel “doubly guilty”.

    But this landmark anniversary shows that there has always been so much more that unites them than divides them – from their shared small-c conservative values to their mutual obsession with antibacterial wipes (like Rishi Sunak, my father is a retired GP and my stepmother was a pharmacist).

    So imagine my dismay when this 71-year-old daughter of an Auschwitz survivor turned to me during a pub dinner on Sunday and half-joked: “If things get any worse, your father will have to hide me in the basement”.

    I know it isn’t the first time she has felt like this since moving to the UK from South Africa three decades ago. I remember her calling me the night before the 2019 general election, desperately seeking reassurance that the supposedly “gentler, kinder” Jeremy Corbyn would not become prime minister.

    But what Jews like my stepmother are going through right now is something very different. It has made me fear for the future of Britain.

    It is just four weeks since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7, and so much seems to have changed in the UK. A country that prided itself on tolerance has now shown itself to be home to many thousands of people who are not only happy to be useful idiots for Hamas but who revel in their anti-Semitic ideology.

    Jew-hate has become so prolific that I worry we are becoming desensitised to the most horrendous acts: the vandalism of Jewish libraries; genocidal “from the river to the sea” chants at demonstrations; imams in some of Britain’s mosques openly spewing vile anti-Semitism.

    After protests on the streets of our capital, at Liverpool Street station and even on a Tube train, many British Jews now say they feel unsafe. They feel afraid to send their children to Jewish schools. Some no longer feel confident wearing religious symbols in public.

    And now, we are facing a threat to disrupt the Remembrance commemorations at the Cenotaph, one of the most sacred state occasions in this proud nation’s calendar.

    It is tempting to ask how on earth did it come to this? But deep down, we already know the answer. We know that it has come to this because our politicians and our police have allowed it to happen. In the same way they initially turned a blind eye to the Rochdale grooming scandal, they have sat back and watched anti-Semitism and Islamist extremism flourish.

    They have sat back and watched schools and universities become infected with hard-Left ideology that has seen professors and academics hounded out of their jobs and Jewish students intimidated on campus. Their frankly negligent inaction has created a sub-culture of intolerants who hate this country and its institutions and are seemingly intent on “cancelling” anyone they disagree with.

    That is why it has come to this. That is why we have entered this post-truth, parallel universe where so-called “progressives” seem to think there is nothing wrong with pulling down posters of kidnapped Israeli children; where campaigners are so wantonly ignorant that they can unfurl “Queers for Palestine” banners with a straight face; where protesters can so casually advocate the annihilation of the only safe haven the most persecuted ethnic minority in the history of the world has ever had.

    Why do the race-baiters continue to chant “jihad” and “intifada” on the streets of this democratic country? Because the police have let them. Police officers have been among those pulling down posters of kidnapped Israeli children, for heaven’s sake. They appear to have opted for the easy life of letting the mob rule rather than effectively policing the rogue elements of the protests.

    And the politicians are no better. In the past month we have had a great deal of talk but very little action from our elected leaders. Behaving like pundits rather than the lawmakers they are, we have heard politicians denouncing “hate marches” while doing nothing to stop them. Why have they allowed Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to wriggle out of taking responsibility, with his claims that the relevant legislation needs to be tightened? If that’s the case, why don’t they launch an urgent investigation into the loopholes, and plug them immediately?

    Moreover, why have they not banned Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamist group at whose demonstration calls for “jihad” were made? The group, whose head, going by the name of Abdul Wahid, is an NHS GP no less, caused outrage the other weekend when members called for “Muslim armies” to attack Israel. Wahid told the crowd: “Victory is coming and everyone has to choose a side. Whose side are you going to be on?” As Rowley explained: “Hizb ut-Tahrir are a banned organisation across most of the Muslim world, they are banned in Germany. Our counter terrorism proscription powers don’t allow that.” Again, this is a matter requiring urgent action – yet Parliament is in recess ahead of the King’s Speech next week.

    If the Government really wanted to get a grip of this situation, it would pass emergency legislation banning protests around the Cenotaph. In what world is it appropriate to disrupt people who want to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice? People have a right to reflect in peace and dignity – not to be drowned out by those who appear to have so badly lost their moral compass that they behave as if there is an equivalence between a proscribed terror group and a democratically elected government.

    Rishi Sunak was right to say yesterday that it is “provocative and disrespectful” to plan protests on Armistice Day, warning that there is a “clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated”. Yet if the prospect is such an “affront to the British public and the values we stand for”, then why doesn’t he do something to stop it?

    For far too long, far too much respect has been afforded to the rights of those who have no respect for the rights of others. A society without limits doesn’t just risk incivility – but anarchy.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/03/for-the-first-time-im-beginning-to-fear-for-britain

    1. Why doesn’t he do something to stop it? Because he’s only interested in sound bites, not in actually doing anything constructive.

      1. He’s written a letter!

        Sunak orders police to stop pro-Palestinian protest disrupting Remembrance events

        PM says there is ‘clear and present risk that Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated’ if march goes ahead

        By Daniel Martin, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR; Robert Mendick, CHIEF REPORTER and Will Bolton, CRIME CORRESPONDENT
        3 November 2023 • 8:52pm

        Rishi Sunak has demanded that the Metropolitan Police makes “robust use” of all its powers to protect next weekend’s Remembrance events from being disrupted by a pro-Palestinian protest. The Prime Minister wrote to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police commissioner, on Friday to argue that the force had “the powers necessary” to ensure that protests did not “disrupt or disturb” acts of Remembrance.

        Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has called for a planned march on Saturday Nov 11 to be stopped, saying it would be “entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London”.

        On Friday night, Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, intervened to ban a sit-in for Gaza at King’s Cross station in London because of the risk to train services, but hundreds still attended.

        Mr Sunak said there was a “clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated” if the protest on Armistice Day went ahead.

        There are fears it could disrupt the two-minute silence commemorating the war dead as well as the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, usually attended by members of the Royal family. The National Service of Remembrance will be held at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Sunday morning.

        In his letter, Mr Sunak said police could apply to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London for a protest to be banned. Downing Street said it was a “clear signal” the Prime Minister did not want to see Remembrance events disrupted, but whether to ban the protest was an operational matter for the police.

        The letter to Sir Mark said the date of the planned march was “provocative and disrespectful”, adding: “Remembrance weekend is a moment of national significance. It is a weekend where the nation comes together to pay tribute to the fallen and veterans, to honour their sacrifice for our freedoms, and to resolve that those sacrifices will never be in vain. It will be especially poignant this year, as we are once again reminded of the horrors of conflict and the need to continually defend our values.

        “To plan protests on Armistice Day is provocative and disrespectful, and there is a clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated, something that would be an affront to the British public and the values we stand for. The police have the powers necessary to act to ensure protests do not disrupt or disturb Remembrance activity next weekend.”

        The Prime Minister listed four laws the Met could use to re-route the march or even ban it.

        These included Section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986, which gives powers to chief constables to apply to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London for protests to be banned within a local area if police believe imposing conditions will not be enough to prevent a march from leading to serious public disorder.

        “These decisions are rightly operationally independent from politicians, on the basis of a full operational assessment and engagement with protest organisers and the wider community,” he added. “I have asked the Home Secretary to support you in doing everything necessary to protect the sanctity of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. You will have mine and the Government’s full support in making robust use of all of your powers to protect Remembrance activity.”

        Mrs Braverman tweeted: “It is entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London. If it goes ahead there is an obvious risk of serious public disorder, violence and damage as well as giving offence to millions of decent British people. I have full confidence in the Metropolitan Police to ensure public safety and take all factors into account as they have done in similar situations in the past.”

        Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, said the Home Secretary could act to ban the march, adding: “I’d encourage the organisers to work with the police to stay away from the Cenotaph.”

        In his Daily Mail column on Friday, Boris Johnson wrote that the public “see the police allowing hate-filled Lefties to shout anti-Semitic slogans, and to call for the extirpation of Israel; and then what – the police tear down the posters of Israeli kids who have been taken hostage, in case they wind the Lefties up.”

        The former prime minister insisted there was a “powerful case” for quitting the European Convention on Human Rights to boost the police’s powers and said there “must be” a debate on severing ties with the Strasbourg-based court.

        Addressing officers’ inability to tackle crime, including extremist protests, he wrote that police lawyers “endlessly quote human rights as a reason for inertia”.

        “Jonathan Sumption KC, the former Supreme Court judge, has made a powerful case for pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights,” he added. “I found his arguments persuasive. That debate must now be held.” †

        Leading KCs have told Sir Mark he already has the power to crack down on protests being planned for Armistice Day, urging him in a letter to urgently review his force’s approach to tackling them.

        The letter, organised by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism and signed by eminent lawyers including Lord Grabiner and Sir Michael Burton, disputed Sir Mark’s insistence that new laws are required to deal with hateful extremism.

        They wrote: “There are existing laws that are simply not being applied or enforced with sufficient rigour by the Metropolitan Police Service.”

        It comes as the Met announced that it would be using retrospective facial recognition to police pro-Palestinian protests for the first time this weekend. The force said it would also be conducting faster analysis of social media on the day to help inform officers and assist “sharper interventions”.

        Commander Karen Findlay, of the Met Police said discussions with groups organising protests on Armistice Day were ongoing, adding: “We have already been in positive dialogue with the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, as we would normally with organisations that are intending to protest and who want to enter dialogue.

        “They have already expressed that they have no intention to disrupt Remembrance events and are working with us to establish a route and assembly points which will not go within what I would call the Remembrance footprint.”

        She said the force would adopt the “full range of legal powers” available to ensure there would be no disruption to events taking place over the Remembrance weekend.

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/03/sunak-police-pro-palestinian-protest-remembrance-events/

        † https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/28/lord-sumption-backs-britain-to-leave-echr/

        1. Large marches or protests cannot just be organised, they must be planned so that the authorities can organise traffic control, security etc. Some individual must have signed off the event, the police are just one of the bodies that have an input to the authorisation. We have seen just this week that a parade in Barry has been disallowed due to elf&safety concerns. How can the police possibly have sufficient resources to control two major events in London on the same day, especially as there is a high likelihood of trouble.

          1. I wrote a few days ago that the police and other public authorities are frequently engaged in tactical wars of law in which activities are banned or permitted, or actions prosecuted or excused, in sometimes contradictory ways that leave the public angry and confused. The time spent on ‘hate offences’ that are not crimes is a part of this, as more and more laws are made yet behaviour becomes worse and the police become increasingly ineffective while appearing evasive.

            Any attempt to ban this march will be met with a furious response of “Hypocrites! What about our freedom of speech?”. They’ll get their march thanks to a clever-dick human rights lawyer and a compliant judge and off they’ll go, untouched by Plod while chanting “Kill the Jews!” Meanwhile, an MP is collared and fined for telling someone to go back to Bahrain. What an evil bastard he must be.

            A small part of me wants something really bad to happen so that the complacent are stirred. Does that make me bad?

          2. I’m just glad I live in a very quiet rural area where there are no protests. I’ve been on quite a few demos in London but always for animals, against poaching etc nothing like these ones.

          3. That is what they want us to do, I think.
            Import an army of young men without women, then spark a conflict in the middle east, and have provocateurs linking the founding of Israel to our Remembrance Day (which is a giant leap of the imagination).
            It’s obvious that they realise that Gen Z isn#t fired up to go and die in the trenches as they were 100 years ago, so they have to bring the conflict to us.
            What’s the purpose of it? Hiding the end of the fiat currencies. The last wave of money printing was blamed on covid, and war, riots and destruction requiring re-building would be a perfect cover for the next wave (which is going to happen).
            Then we’ll get the devaluation and the launch of the new currency. Expect any money you’ve got in the system to have a few zeros lopped off, but your debts will mysteriously stay the same. They couldn’t do that? They already pulled this trick of vanishing bank accounts and persisting debt by a slightly different mechanism in the US in the 1930s. We will probably get a gold ban at some point too, just to make sure the ordinary people can’t profit from the chaos.
            They have already banned the purchase of houses and land with gold across the EU – the law came into force in January this year. During the last currency collapse in western Europe, (Weimar) people bought whole blocks in Berlin for a few ounces of gold. Not going to happen this time round!

        2. Enoch Powell is sitting on his cloud in Heaven playing his harp and singing:

          “I told you so!”

    2. Camilla Tominey’s part of the problem. If she’s only *just now* started to fear for this country (and the entirety of western civilisation), she’s been walking around with her eyes and ears shut, repeating ‘love and peace, love and peace’ over and over. We should all have been at this point of realisation decades ago. We’ve all spent years reading the simpering comments under news articles, something along the lines of ‘but of course, it’s only a minority of X people that are doing/think these things.

      Since this whole Israel business began, though, something definitely has changed. I’ve never seen the number of no-nonsense comments, stating it exactly as it is, without fear. It gives me some hope.

      1. I agree there is presently a reawakening to the reality.

        The threatened protests on Armistice Day is likely to rebound on the leftist thugs demonstrating on behalf of a genocidal murderous bunch of filthy Egyptians backed by Iran and Quatar.

      2. My feelings exactly. I’m tired of reading articles that identify perhaps ten percent of a problem, while wilfully shutting their eyes to the causes and the remaining ninety percent.
        A very large percentage of Muslims don’t integrate, a divided society is a weak society and our leaders are serving the Destroy-Then-Build-Back-Better agenda of the WEF/WHO/UN, not the British people.

        1. Just so. It won’t work, though. They’re astonishingly arrogant and thick. They won’t actually be in charge of what results. Still, bit by bit people are turning, so…

    3. Multiculturalism would only work if all cultures respected each and tolerated each other.

      1. The Muslim will say they respect our culture but respect their own culture more. This was the argument over the Muslim schools in Rochdale decades past.

        Muslims have been given licence to operate under their own laws such as Sharia, they have a separate financial system and will never integrate.

        One of the worst things I have witnessed have been the adoption of Synagogues and conversion to Mosques. In the case of one C18 Synagogue, a Grade I Listed building, the conversion to a Mosque involved the destruction of its superb interior, removed with saws and hammers and dumped in a skip. The Muslims should have been prosecuted and fined yet not a peep out of the authorities and English Heritage.

        Nothing is sacred in the UK anymore. We have been sold down the river by the vermin in Ermine and the rats in the Commons.

    1. A propos of nothing, my lovely (old) rescue hound. Because he’s worth it. (But you will have to turn your computer 45 degrees)(yes, i’m still learning)

        1. We’ve had him just over 10 years and he was maybe 4 when we got him….Battersea Best, Lambeth stray and now enjoying the Good Life in the leafy Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

          1. Rescues are the bestest! Our last few cats including the two most recent are rescues. I can’t believe how well these two have settled in and taken over our lives.

          2. Rescues are the bestest! Our last few cats including the two most recent are rescues. I can’t believe how well these two have settled in and taken over our lives.

    2. A propos of nothing, my lovely (old) rescue hound. Because he’s worth it. (But you will have to turn your computer 45 degrees)(yes, i’m still learning)

  87. Had a nice evening with our neighbour coming for dinner as her husband is away this week. He’s back tomorrow.

    1. That’s nice. I do the same with my neighbours. When she’s away he gets an invitation and vice versa so no one is eating alone. He sometimes declines if there is a match on. But that’s okay.

  88. Ukraine is finished. The offensive has failed on the admission of Zalushny and Zelensky, last year likened to Churchill and named Man of the Year by Time magazine is now likened by that same organ to Hitler.

    Zalushny is also evidently no Napoleon but an incompetent idiot who has burned through billions of dollars worth of the latest weapons and systems.

    It would be madness to throw yet more money at Ukraine, the most corrupt country in Europe, run by gangsters and inextricably linked to Biden, his son and the sons of the worst grifters in Washington DC.

  90. Having a lie-in today, Geoff? Anyhow, when you read this I wish you a good morning and a good day. And thanks for setting up and running this wonderful site.

  92. Morning, all. Overcast with rain forecast.

    That confusion reigns in government alongside a distinct lack of moral fibre, duplicity, cognitive dissonance etc. is not in doubt.
    Two examples show just how inaptly named the Home Secretary is.

    Braverman’s stance on the planned march by jihadists in London on the 11th displays an indecisiveness and unwillingness to act that should be fatal in someone holding one of the great offices of state i.e. Home Secretary. That it hasn’t been fatal is due to the so-called Prime Minister being as weak and duplicitous as his Home Secretary. To compound her uselessness/weakness she also gives a clear indication that she has no intention of stopping the invasion across the Channel.

    https://twitter.com/SteveUnwin01/status/1720494816964776328

    https://twitter.com/BenWalkerUKIP/status/1720473458444743082

    How is that the Tories have not only failed but have failed because they have been captured by an ideology that is far from conservatism: in addition the Labour shower are waiting in the wings in expectation of literally outdoing the failed Tories in nastiness and stupidity, and all the while Tice’s Reform Party et al. are incapable of making huge in-roads into the voters’ minds? IMO the problem is a distinct lack of leadership across the political spectrum, or is it that there isn’t much of a spectrum of political thought at all?

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