Friday 30 December: This is the worst possible moment for the West to flinch over Ukraine

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

759 thoughts on “Friday 30 December: This is the worst possible moment for the West to flinch over Ukraine

  1. The global backlash against Vladimir Putin has rejuvenated democracy. Fraser Nelson. 30 December 2022.

    In the end, authoritarian regimes stumble because they are authoritarian. Without debate and dissent, it’s harder to spot and correct errors. The arguments and protests that make democratic politics so messy are a feedback mechanism. Without this feedback, governments end up embarking on – or wedded to – calamitous mistakes.

    This has been a pretty miserable year for Britain – but Ukrainian courage has made it a good year, perhaps even a decisive one, for the free world. We now have the widest democratic alliance the world has seen and a few more reminders why democracy, for all of its flaws, remains the world’s least-bad option.

    GROAN! Free World! You have to wonder how anyone living in the UK could write such stuff and still sleep at night! There is no Global Backlash against the Ukraine War, the vast majority of the world’s polities are sitting this one out!

    Democracy in the West and particularly in the UK is essentially dead! That country that gave Freedom to the world is now a failed Police State whose institutions have collapsed and where professing a Christian Belief will see you arrested. Where the MSM (as here) spout Globalist Propaganda. The Calamitous Mistakes are here also, HS2, Net Zero, Mass Immigration etc.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/29/global-backlash-against-vladimir-putin-has-rejuvenated-democracy/

      1. Morning Lewis. I’ve noticed quite recently that Nelson has also become a Woke spokesman for the Globalists.

  2. 369502+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Currently ANY moment is the worst moment to flinch or not to flinch whilst deeply observing Ukraine, the reason being that whilst
    deeply observing Ukraine you are neglecting to observe what actions the WEF creatures are taking in your name via the polling booth in dismantling these Isles.

    Friday 30 December: This is the worst possible moment for the
    West to flinch over Ukraine

  3. ‘Morning, Peeps.  Yesterday’s dry, sunny day didn’t really happen, and today it’s more rain all morning.

    Another DT article on the BBC.  I’m hoping our failing broadcaster may be become the subject of a campaign in ’23:

    BBC dramas ‘warping modern Britain’ by ‘allowing Left-wing bias’

    Some shows such as EastEnders and Vigil described as being close to propaganda due to criticisms of Brexit and government agencies

    ByGordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR29 December 2022 • 9:00pm

    The BBC is “warping modern Britain” by allowing a Left-wing, politically correct bias to infuse the storylines of drama series, a new report has said.

    Some shows are described as being close to outright propaganda because of their criticisms of Brexit, the police, capitalism, the nuclear deterrent and government agencies.

    The Campaign for Common Sense reviewed more than a year’s output of BBC drama and found that the corporation was presenting a version of the UK that few viewers would recognise.

    As well as lecturing viewers on topics including climate change, the BBC indulges in its own form of social engineering by over-representing minorities, the report suggested.

    One former culture secretary said the corporation was at risk of alienating viewers by “retreating into some minute view of the world” that bore no relation to the experience of licence fee payers.

    It comes after a separate report accused the broadcaster of “rewriting history” by using documentaries to promote a woke agenda.

    The BBC is currently the subject of a mid-term review of its royal charter, ordered by former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who warned that reforms might be needed to help it achieve greater impartiality.

    In October last year Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, launched a 10-point plan to improve impartiality, promising that the BBC would regularly review its output to make sure shows are reflecting a range of viewpoints.

    The report by the Campaign for Common Sense argued that Mr Davie still has a long way to go to make good on his promise.

    Among the series examined in the report is Vigil, a detective drama set on board a Trident-armed submarine in which a Russian spy infiltrates the crew.

    The Government and the security services cover up major incidents, and one anti-nuclear campaigner declares: “There’s no way our Government can claim that these weapons are safe and secure. It’s time to get the nukes out of Scotland.”

    Feargal Dalton – a councillor for the SNP who is a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, despite serving on a Trident submarine during a career in the Royal Navy – acted as the drama’s senior script consultant. He has in the past described nuclear weapons as “despicable”.

    In an episode of EastEnders, Brexit is likened to Covid by the character Sharon Watts, who throws a glass of water in someone’s face and says: “We’ve had Brexit and Covid, we don’t need you here.”

    Conspiracy thriller The Trick pits heroic climate change scientists against climate sceptics, oil producers and the centre-Right. It features a monologue warning that humanity has “around 10” years to prevent climate collapse and endorsing the efforts of climate activists who “understand what needs to be done”.

    Meanwhile Liverpool-based police drama The Responder, starring Martin Freeman, features a cast in which almost half of the police characters are black or Asian – despite the fact that Merseyside Police has just 0.5 per cent black officers and 0.4 per cent Asian officers.

    Other dramas highlighted in the report include Rules of the Game, The Capture, Industry and Sherwood.

    John Whittingdale, the former culture secretary, said: “There is a widespread problem, which includes drama, of highly political statements being made on BBC programmes which would be instantly regarded as unacceptable if they were made in news or current affairs programmes.

    “Day after day it is a drip-drip, and in some ways it is more insidious than the effect that biased news coverage would have, because it is never questioned, people just accept it.

    “The consolation for viewers is that there is now a large variety of drama available from other sources such as streaming services, but the BBC needs to be careful to maintain its broad appeal, because the more it retreats into some minute view of the world, the less relevant it will be to viewers.”

    The Campaign for Common Sense, which champions free speech and tolerance, was founded by Mark Lehain, who went on to become an adviser to Nadhim Zahawi when he was education secretary.

    A spokesman for the Campaign for Common Sense said: “Too often in BBC dramas you can see only one side of an argument presented. And it’s usually the side of a liberal, Left-wing, woke viewpoint that has more in common with the echo chambers of Twitter than the majority of licence fee payers who are forced to fund the BBC’s output.

    “The BBC needs to understand that not everyone signs up to a world view where the bad guys are the police, Brexit, and Conservatives.”

    A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC’s world-class, critically-acclaimed dramas are enjoyed by huge audiences, year in year out. We work with the very best creative talent who represent all corners of the UK and reflect different views and perspectives, while also providing brilliant entertainment and escapism.

    “Cherry-picking a handful of examples in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content.”

    Commentary: BBC must rise above the banal, dreary politics of woke

    By Gareth Roberts, former BBC scriptwriter

    The Campaign for Common Sense report on BBC drama makes for grim reading – just as the grindingly miserable shows it reports on made even grimmer viewing.

    It provides receipts to prove that the BBC has transformed from broadcaster to an HR department that happens to have some channels attached – less an auntie, more of a scolding polytechnic lecturer.

    It is amusing to see the sheer volume of this stuff catalogued so meticulously – every sneery reference to Brexit, every cliched denunciation of British tradition, every painful shoehorning-in of the banal, dreary politics of woke. I know woke as a word to describe this has become low-status and déclassé, but we have as yet no alternative for the ideology that ate liberalism.

    There is no fragility or sensitivity in these shows, which are aggressive and full-throated. The section on EastEnders comes as light relief, and that should tell us all something.

    The modern world is often terrible, and police (The Responder) and clergymen (Inside Man) are often awful in real life, so depicting them as such in those shows can hardly be considered misleading. If you squinted very hard you might even think those two shows, both much smarter and better than the rest covered here, could be seen as a conservative critique of institutional decay.

    What is really the point here is sins of omission. We see fictional bent coppers and dodgy vicars and nasty Tory MPs in BBC drama, but we never meet bent charity CEOs or dodgy environmentalists or nasty human rights lawyers. Upper middle-class people like us are good, the suffering helpless poor are victims – except when they answer back and become fascists – pre-Blair Britain was a grey cultural wasteland teetering on the verge of Nazism.

    The report also highlights unrealistically high levels of ethnic casting, but this strikes me as an issue only because viewers are expected to believe simultaneously that ethnicity doesn’t really matter at all, and that it’s the most incredibly significant thing about a person.

    It’s easy to castigate the BBC for its narrow output, and they do deserve it, but the big problem is much wider. The other broadcasters and the streamers all have exactly the same issue. I think this is partly down to a temperamental difference.

    The very few Right of centre TV creatives I know are, like me, not interested in writing about things we are sure about, or dishing up stick people rather than characters.

    The problem isn’t that writers express their opinions. There is nothing wrong with socially concerned drama written by blinkered progressives. There is something very wrong when socially concerned drama written by blinkered progressives is all that there is.

    I can attest most of these people are amenable, think that woke just means being liberal and “nice”, that what they are saying is obvious, and that they have no familiarity with, or often even the sketchiest knowledge of opposing arguments.

    It has become a cliché, but all this diversity leads to everyone becoming exactly the same.

    The BBC has merely followed the herd of all the other Western elite institutions – it’s not their fault that the upper middle-class creative sector has gone globally barmy. However, the entire point of the BBC is that it is constituted to avoid such ovine behaviour. It should be aware of it and above it, and strive actively to widen the palate, provide for every view, not doing what everybody else is.

    Reading through the report, my main takeaway is how this stuff fails on its own terms. To change the world, you have to change people’s minds – and that certainly isn’t happening with BBC drama, which is merely continual repetition of acceptable, high-status conformist opinions. To hammer in what must always be said and what must never be said, again and again.

    1. The BTL posters are really getting stuck in to what must be their favourite subject…here’s just a flavour of today’s venom:

      Neil McEvoy46 MIN AGO

      “Cherry-picking a handful of examples in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content”

      Go on then – cherry pick some counter examples. Where and when have centre-right views been presented sympathetically?

      M O Fr1 MIN AGO

      As a black Brit let me ask one question

      Will there be more middle aged white men on TV

      I hope so I do miss them

      Peter Gristwood44 MIN AGO

      Not just the BBC, is it? Look at any TV advert and count the number of ‘families’ like those in the old Bisto adverts

      J Murray44 MIN AGO

      The BBC is the broadcasting arm of The Guardian and has been an insidiously dangerous and entirely untrustworthy organisation for quite some time.

      There isn’t a single arm of its output from The Archers to Match of the Day and all points between that hasn’t been warped by its Woke, left-wing brainwashing.

      Time it was closed down..

      David Bewick59 MIN AGO

      have a look at the call the Midwife Christmas special. A black woman and a Bangladeshi woman giving birth in Tower Hamlets in 1967?

      John McGibbon23 MIN AGO

      In crime dramas, even in essentially ethnic monocultural areas like Cumbria or Shetland, there has to be an overrepresentation of black/Asian or female characters playing successful or senior character roles. If there are white males it’s usually as a bumbling detective being overshadowed by a “smarter” minority character or more commonly as the criminal. As a result its usually easy to guess who the criminal is early in the series.

      It’s no longer acceptable to show a black criminal character it would appear.

      M L Taylor15 MIN AGO

      When I was a child, we would play spot the Ford or guess the next colour of the car, coming on the other side of the road. Now as a family, we play spot the white man in adverts, or guess the number of adverts it will take before we see a white, married, couple. Sometimes, well most of the time, you have to go to bed before you can fulfil the last one.

      Jacqui Jay31 MIN AGO

      Im sick and tired of having to watch dramas where it seems mandatory that at least half the characters are from ethnic minorities…….there ive said it. I believe in equal representation, not positive discrimination.

      * * *

      Remember, folks, the unofficial slogan of the BBC:

      “We are never wrong”.

      1. The advertising agencies are complying with ESG requirements. If the companies want to avoid the wrath of the Leftwaffe, all ‘families’ will comprise black dad, white mum (or for bonus points, a male mum) and a mixed bunch of kids. It’s the future as forseen by the followers of the Schwabstika.

        The nuclear family has been defused…or so the Leftwaffe suggest.

    2. The BTL posters are really getting stuck in to what must be their favourite subject…here’s just a flavour of today’s venom:

      Neil McEvoy46 MIN AGO

      “Cherry-picking a handful of examples in thousands of hours of output does not constitute analysis and is not a true representation of BBC content”

      Go on then – cherry pick some counter examples. Where and when have centre-right views been presented sympathetically?

      M O Fr1 MIN AGO

      As a black Brit let me ask one question

      Will there be more middle aged white men on TV

      I hope so I do miss them

      Peter Gristwood44 MIN AGO

      Not just the BBC, is it? Look at any TV advert and count the number of ‘families’ like those in the old Bisto adverts

      J Murray44 MIN AGO

      The BBC is the broadcasting arm of The Guardian and has been an insidiously dangerous and entirely untrustworthy organisation for quite some time.

      There isn’t a single arm of its output from The Archers to Match of the Day and all points between that hasn’t been warped by its Woke, left-wing brainwashing.

      Time it was closed down..

      David Bewick59 MIN AGO

      have a look at the call the Midwife Christmas special. A black woman and a Bangladeshi woman giving birth in Tower Hamlets in 1967?

      John McGibbon23 MIN AGO

      In crime dramas, even in essentially ethnic monocultural areas like Cumbria or Shetland, there has to be an overrepresentation of black/Asian or female characters playing successful or senior character roles. If there are white males it’s usually as a bumbling detective being overshadowed by a “smarter” minority character or more commonly as the criminal. As a result its usually easy to guess who the criminal is early in the series.

      It’s no longer acceptable to show a black criminal character it would appear.

      M L Taylor15 MIN AGO

      When I was a child, we would play spot the Ford or guess the next colour of the car, coming on the other side of the road. Now as a family, we play spot the white man in adverts, or guess the number of adverts it will take before we see a white, married, couple. Sometimes, well most of the time, you have to go to bed before you can fulfil the last one.

      Jacqui Jay31 MIN AGO

      Im sick and tired of having to watch dramas where it seems mandatory that at least half the characters are from ethnic minorities…….there ive said it. I believe in equal representation, not positive discrimination.

      * * *

      Remember, folks, the unofficial slogan of the BBC:

      “We are never wrong”.

    3. I haven’t watched any of the programs mentioned in this article. I must be a racist, bigoted, brexiteer, climate change denier.

      1. ‘Morning, Phiz. I saw some of Vigil, but it was pretty bad and I gave up before the end of the first episode. And now we learn that the script consultant was an SNP councillor and CND supporter…no wonder he was hired!

        Incidentally, it’s a bit rich of Whittingdale to be moaning about the BBC – as Culture Secretary his White Paper in 2016 promised all kinds of reforms, including the ending of the licence fee in 2022. That obviously went well, didn’t it? In reality he just rolled over in the face of opposition from the BBC and the result was a pitiful few changes, none of which brought the leftie-liberal woke monster to heel. His reward for such abject failure? A Knighthood of course.

        1. Whittingdale foolishly laid out his battle plan. The 68ers at the bBC swatted him away without breaking stride. As the bBC felt secure enough to renage on their deal of inflation matching tv tax rises as long as the over 75s were not charged, I don’t see why HMG don’t turn around and tell the bBC that they have two years to go to subscription, crack on!

        2. I said at the time that Whiitingdale was about to take sterner measures agsinst the BBC but Cameron and Osborne needed the BBC onside for the Brexit campaign so he had to go soft on them. Only my theory.

          1. Mine too, although I thought that more Tory ministers may have been generally nervous about the coverage leading up to the next GE.

      1. Exactly. Are we supposed now to be grateful to or impressed by the mainstream media throwing us a small sop of understanding?

    4. If all this is known why is the bbc still allowed to charge a
      licence fee ?
      If they still insist in propagandaising
      everything, let them try pay to view.

      1. I gave up on the bBC fully around 2003…it was infrequent at best. Then five years ago as the tv tax demand landed on the doorstep, I gave up the ‘pleasures’ of livestream tv. Admittedly, my viewing was restricted to reruns of Frasier and the occasional film, so hardly a hardship.

        I get a letter from their ‘enforcement division’ every month. These highlight the fact that if I watch livestream tv I need to pay the bBC tv tax. A fact of which I am fully aware. My ‘problem’ comes when the bBC thinks the only alternative to this is to provide my details as a non-viewer. Thats like me informing Boeing that i won’t be flying this year. The bBC sales database is not a census, much as they may want it to be.

        As an aside, it would be interesting to see a map overlaying the non-payment areas of the country.

        1. My latest missive from the BBC stgarts off: “We’re giving you 10 days to get correctly licensed”.
          Well. BBC, I am correctly unlicensed.
          I also had a reminder to renew my driving licence – just a reminder, no stern threatening words. No other organisation could get away with this language.

        2. My latest missive from the BBC stgarts off: “We’re giving you 10 days to get correctly licensed”.
          Well. BBC, I am correctly unlicensed.
          I also had a reminder to renew my driving licence – just a reminder, no stern threatening words. No other organisation could get away with this language.

  4. Morning all. A good crop of letters re the ULEZ, questioning who voted for it, why it’s being implemented despite local opposition, how it’s destroying businesses and wreaking havoc for old and disabled people, sports matches which will be cancelled as people do not want to drive just inside the zone and how queues of stationery traffic hardly being conducive to improved air quality. Is it all really a money making scam? Indeed.

    This is my favourite, but I fear Mr Williams will not win:

    “Sir – Far be it from me to take issue with the health experts writing in support of Sadiq Khan’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone scheme (Letters, December 27), but it does strike me that if we take their argument to its logical conclusion we shut down most economic activity in exchange for wonderfully pure air.

    In the meantime I will continue to appeal against my Ulez fine for visiting Mortlake crematorium in August. Will crematoria be next on the hit list? Clive Williams Upper Basildon, Berkshire”

    1. Mediaeval air quality was not what Khant and his robber barons think it was. (I can only assume that social conditions c. The Black Death are what they aiming for.)

      All cooking was done on open fires, and mediaeval cities smelt appalling: they were ringed with ditches containing rotting animals – much of it the rubbish from the shambles inside every urban settlement.

      Graveyards were bursting with corpses. Sewerage systems were …. well, mediaeval. And human waste was used to fertilise the fields.

          1. And plenty of those places overseas.
            Where they plead for help. But never commit to helping them selves.

  5. A headline in today’s DT:

    “Sir Tony Blair courted Vladimir Putin despite officials’ doubts

    Former PM was keen to reach out to the Russian president and give him a seat at the top table, newly released archives show”

    I do hope the Bliar creature has some investments in Russia that are now worthless!

    1. TBF to Blair (Nurse!!!!!) the treatment of Russia during the 1990s stored up the trouble that we are now facing.
      A little less triumphalism and a little more understanding would have gone a long way.

          1. So seeking for further amusement, they paid and went into the zoo Where there were tigers and elephants and Putin, and Old Ale and sandwiches too… …Not showing a morsel of fear, Young Volodimyr took his stick with its ‘orse’s ‘ead ‘andle And poked it in poor Putin’s ear. You could see that Vlad really didn’t like it, for giving a kind of a roll He stepped over the boundary, and swallowed parts of Ukraine whole.

          2. A reasonable portrayal of a Stanley Holloway original, though ’twas written by Marriott Edgar (1932).

          3. Yes, Tom, and Marriot Edgar was related to Edgar Wallace although I don’t recall the full details. I need to look it up.

      1. Bliar was hoping to repeat Mrs T’s success with Gorby. However, that might have been a little over-optimistic with Putin having been a senior officer in the KGB…

    1. A scandalous waste of taxpayers money. They could have bought thousands of rainbow flags and stickers for that.

  6. SIR – Madeline Grant accuses Labour of having “student union” policies, but at least it has policies.

    After 12 years in office, what do the Conservatives have to offer? The party is intellectually bankrupt and bereft of ideas. A student union is better than a headless chicken.

    David Miller
    Chigwell, Essex

    Mr Miller, I have no idea what policies, if any, the Labour Party has.  However, they don’t really need to have any at all, do they, given the chaos, the confusion and the record taxation of this Conservative (in name only) government.  All that Labour has to do is sit back and await the next GE in Jan ’25 as this lot hands it to them on a plate.

    1. Politicians are all useless they don’t have policies, they just polish their ‘trophies’ until they fall apart.
      Then someone has to clear up after them.

      1. That would be the more sensible time of year, but I’ve heard it said more than once that they will need as much time as possible in order to survive…

  7. SIR – Your obituary of John Bird caused me to smile virtually all the way through.

    If ever there was an example of television that deserves to be repeated it is Bremner, Bird and Fortune. I recall the pleasure it gave me – and I am sure countless others – to see George Parr (the establishment figure played by either Bird or John Fortune) being mercilessly interviewed week after week. I hope that the message of the show’s satire lives on.

    Keith Francis
    Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire

    Hear, hear!  I sincerely hope that Ch4 will be putting together a tribute to some of the finest political satire I can remember – and without endless slebs popping up to state the bleedin’ obvious.

  8. SIR – How is it possible for the proposed Ulez expansion to be implemented from August 2023?

    A sizeable majority of Londoners do not want it, yet their views have been completely dismissed.

    This is surely just a thinly veiled tax on motorists to fund Transport for London. It will hit people trying to work in and around the city. I also know of sports clubs just outside the M25 that are deciding not to play in various London leagues as the costs are prohibitive.

    Len Curtis
    Cuffley, Hertfordshire

    Then the ‘sizeable majority of Londoners’ need to vote out this slippery little power-mad lawyer at the first opportunity, Mr Curtis!

    1. Some of the Local Authorities involved are opposing the enlargement and may not adopt the policy.

    2. You won’t vote him out, he cheats.
      That destructive little PO shiite needs arresting and locking up.

          1. Yes! About 03:00 – straight to my lovely bed!
            Just collected two cross moggies from the cat hotel. They are now our roaming the frozen landscape, stretching their legs after ten days chokey.

      1. If ever a region of the UK was in desperate need of it’s elections being VERY closely monitored, it’s Greater London.

        1. That snivelling little bastard denied the London Jewish communities right to vote, blaming an administration error for them not getting their ballot papers delivered.

          1. The Electoral Commission should have immediately nullified the election and ordered it to be re-run.

          2. He knew he would get away with it. He probably has influence over that as well.
            A few years back I was having a few beers with some friends. One being an ex high-ranking copper. He told us his son-in-law was one of kahnts armed security officers. We reached for our wallets. And said how much ?

    1. Black bag collection post Christmas can pose problems for those with large families: I put out my solitary, one month to fill, black bag on Wednesday before I went out. On my return there were two bags outside my home. Bit cheeky but my neighbours are good people so not a problem for me.

      1. I’m too lazy to schlep out in my dressing gown and slippers at stupid o’clock to put out the black bags. (Thank you, foxes.) I find it easier to drop the bags off at the tip when I’m passing that way.

  9. Right! I’m back folks. I slipped down to the Supermarket early to avoid the Rain later! I’ll have a look around now!

  10. Morning, all. I’m getting over a dose of some lurgy or other: sore throat, some sneezing, headache, aching joints and painful sinuses. It appears, hopefully, to be short-lived as I’m feeling a bit better this morning after 36 hours or so. I’ve hit it with increased levels of vitamins C & D, zinc and quercetin.

    The Net Zero mob aren’t doing too well on the publicity side of their campaign. Dodgy politicians who are also totally uneducated in the realities of creating their electric utopia are the very worst of people to try and sell their ‘green’ agenda. The science is against them and bar a miraculous breakthrough in technology will remain against them.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/977e4ce5d425c606c8c052e1fe33213624f91900a8e9c90ddcdd59fd9b568519.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3fb7b30b9488ff9665bbc4bba0a7b584f5ba2b0f93f1f3bb3a07981f39ea483b.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b73ac581c6751e7bbd0d64b94776c290048104b35fbe715a1eea485a67ec0710.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d03776fe174478699e771596c31a0727f0287f8ee229800988ba643b4b384d01.png

      1. Switzerland did appear in the piece on The Highwire. Apparently Switzerland needs imports of energy over the winter period. I expect you would know why their hydro doesn’t function so well during the winter months. Freezing?

        1. Like Niagra just now..
          Problem is, there’s plenty flowing water under the ice, but no new water being added as it’s falling as snow, which doesn’t flow in streams and rivers to hydro dams, as the water is stiff & cold (next lesson: egg-sucking for geriatrics). So, you can’t easily top up the reservoirs until spring – and so, run them at summer electrcity production, and they’ll soon run dry… Oops!

  11. Is it just me or are more celebrities popping their clogs at the end of this year than previous years

        1. Morning Sue. Yes anyone who falls out of a window in Russia has supposed issues with Vlad. That 200 people a year in the UK perform the same act draws no such conclusion that they are the victims of some dastardly Westminster plot!.

          1. It is probably the CIA who are bumping off these oligarchs to make Putin look bad. They are already attacking Russian infrastructure. If that isn’t an act of war i don’t know what is.

          2. Morning Phizzee. Yes that conclusion has crossed my mind. Still there is no actual evidence of hostile acts by anyone. I suspect that it is more the manipulation of data.

          3. Folk really have no idea of the stress and emotional strain running a business entails. The bigger it gets, the more regulation there is to deal with, the more your decisions impact other people, the more stress, hassle and annoyance you get from big state.

            Business believes that as it takes the risk, it is due the profits. Government believes that business exists to fund it. Government iswrong but uses force to get what it wants. This is why so much effort is put into controlling people.

    1. What constitutes a “celebrity” has diminished rapidly over the years, so there are far more available to die off and be written about!

      1. When a TV prog is announced as celebrity ‘what ever’, I like to check to see if they are recognisable as celebrities.
        More often not than are.
        Perhaps we are running out of them.

        1. Equally likely is that there are now so many such TV prog is announced as celebrity ‘what ever’, that the barrel needs scraping even harder.

  12. The New Nazis are on the march. 30 December 2022.

    Before March 2020, we were encouraged to make comparisons with history’s monsters such as Adolf Hitler and his Nazis. But today’s New Nazis, a depraved mix of the United Nations (UN), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), World Economic Forum (WEF), Chinese Communist Party (CCP), public health officials, pharmaceutical companies, social media giants, mainstream media and politicians, have cleverly sidestepped such comparisons by claiming both the moral high ground and control over world health. Consequently, all that has been abnormal these past two and a half years is normalised, the ultimate end game appearing to be UN Agenda 2030.

    It is easily forgotten that what Hitler’s Nazis did was also in the name of public health; they demonised Jews as ‘unclean’, called them untermenschen (‘inferior people’) and blamed them for spreading disease, claiming that national health and purity had to be protected. The New Nazis, in the name of public health and safety, aided by plenty of useful idiots, dehumanise, demonise and cancel anyone who dissents from the green agenda, Covid Cult and its vaccine zealotry. They have locked down entire populations and removed all freedom in this name; hurting the poor most.

    True in essence though I’m not certain that Nazism is a viable comparison. The Globalists for example are virulently anti-nationalist. Their aim is “One World” devoid of any loyalty to the Nation State and its demographics. They seek a seething mass of humanity that exists only to consume.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-new-nazis-are-on-the-march/

    1. Mussolini said that fascism was defined by the partnership between large corporations and the government.

        1. I disagree. Where we are now is a socialist failure. A massive government dedicated to crippling the economy for it’s own ends – stuff what business needs or wants.

          However, those businesses then set about circumventing government policy – BMW Mini, for example moving to China. Bosch doing the same.

          1. Remember that the WEF said some years ago in the notorious “you will own nothing” presentation that the dollar would cease to be the sole reserve currency and would be replaced by a basket of currencies.
            They are quite happy with all this bickering between nations – it’s not disrupting the plan of de-industrialising the west.
            As to why they are doing it – if I had to guess, I’d say that the big profits in the coming century could be made in newly industrialised countries, so the banksters want to own them, and thus stay on top of the world.
            Up til now, the majority of industry was in countries that they controlled since the late nineteenth century.

      1. Yet that’s corporatism, where big government is in bed with big business – the two fuelling each other. One to legislate competition out of business the other to continue to fund big government.

    2. Hitler was a national socialist. The followers of the Schwabstika are international socialists i.e. communists. Hence why ‘independent’ Sage et al were in lockstep from March 2020.

  13. Ho ho ho,
    If we could see this coming why didn’t the Governments?

    The electric dream is becoming a nightmare because of high demand for the chargers and poor maintenance of them. Now it feels a cash-strapped government has lost the drive and will to provide much-needed support. If Tesla can build so many chargers, why can’t UK plc? Parliament has decreed that, by 2030, no more diesel or petrol cars can be sold, yet it admits there will be 190,000 fewer electric chargers than they promised by then.
    Worse than that, many analysts fear that the National Grid will not be able to generate enough electricity to power the chargers they do install — and the way things are going all these new cars probably won’t be able to rely solely on wind or solar energy.
    Personally, I’ll give it a year and, if it’s still this bad, I’ll be borrowing a petrol car to go and see Grandma.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11583677/Why-Britains-electric-dream-driving-distraction-One-motorist-reveals-how.html

          1. Until we institute quantum entanglement and portal travel that’s a nonsense pipedream of the mindless!

      1. They never learn Phiz because they are more ignorant and arrogant than anything else on earth. They’re all plugged into the same outlet.

      1. Quite.

        Worldwide there are roughly 12 million electric cars and over 1.2 billion other cars on the roads.

        Do the world leaders truly believe that there are the raw materials to produce and regularly replace well over a billion electric cars, let alone provide the generating capacity to keep them there? rhetorical questions.

        The reality is that to try to go electric, transportation will be strictly rationed. Hence the new push for 15 minute cities and other such nonsense

        It strikes me that nobody does even the simplest back of an envelope calculations before setting out policy.

        1. Politicians are morons. This is well known. Their policies, mostly unworkable are introduced not to achieve an end result but to get headlines.

          Being ignorant of simple things such as supply and demand they assume everything can arrive at no cost – because there is no cost (to them). They think themselves all powerful, important, as if they alone are managing the economy, society. In reality, they are jumped up, slow witted, infantile meddlers sharing a slug’s brain.

        2. Talking of the back of an envelope, I saw figures on here or GP regarding the Royal Mail fleet of vans. Currently there are 41,000 ice vans with a running cost (according to the back of a beermat figures) of £230M pa. Moving to an all electric fleet was estimated to be £800M+ pa. This is madness.

  14. Morning all 😉 😊
    It was a pleasure to get back into bed with ‘a nice cup of tea’ as we refer to it.
    But now a rumbling tum suggests breakfast.

  15. On the subject of Nazism raised earlier. a cheerful note (not) for today. From NRK – Edith Notowicz, Norway’s last Auschwitz survivor who was taken there aged 15, selected by Mengele (the rest of her family were gassed) and sterilised without anaesthetic.
    Tough lady; it’s her 94th birthday today.
    A reminder, if one was needed, of what Nazism involves.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d577b284d04692268ff7d911fbd4ae8ed1b8338d0bbb941b33d10e775dfe2dbb.jpg

  16. 369502+ up ticks,

    Does that mean that when RESET is finally established via the ballot booth will there be a controlling panic button in parliament.
    to activate the herd into panic mode at any given time.

    Dt,

    It’s too late to stop China’s Covid nightmare. But the rest of world shouldn’t panic just yet
    While the effects will be felt globally, the full force of the re-ignited virus will likely be felt inside rather than outside the country

    This info. seems To positive, as if orchestrated

    1. Morning Oggy. Without wishing in any way to endorse China can I say that it has become the new Russia in the MSM!

      1. 369502+ up ticks,

        AS,
        Agreed, a great deal of skulduggery can be achieved under the “look at china” tag neglecting to look at Dover etc.etc.

    2. Thing is, if people are kept afraid for too long, eventually they stop being afraid and you have to keep ratcheting up the scare story.

      1. 369502+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        I believe the overriding fear is voting
        outside of the lab/lib/con coalition sphere en masse.

        for at least three decades the voting majority have been supporting / voting for a defunct party name.

  17. Good morning.
    Here’s an interesting blog that seeks to answer historical questions about the origins of the banker manipulators, and analyse parallels between their previous activities and the various “crises” today.
    There is a very long but fascinating article about the Great War.
    https://winteroak.org.uk/acorn/

  18. Police: 1,800 officers recruited under Boris Johnson scheme ‘have resigned’. 30 December 2022.

    More than 1,800 police officers recruited under Boris Johnson’s manifesto pledge to increase numbers have reportedly already resigned.

    Johnson had promised to add 20,000 police officers to forces in England and Wales by March 2023 in an attempt to address the austerity cuts introduced by his Conservative predecessors.

    One imagines that these were the people who wished to actually serve their communities catching real criminals and found the company and the Woke requirements uncongenial!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/30/police-1800-officers-recruited-under-boris-johnson-scheme-have-resigned

      1. This is yesterday’s failed missive to the letters’ editor at the DT:

        Get the police back on the streets!

        SIR — Of course the police are failing to solve millions of thefts (report, December 28) there are none of them patrolling the streets. This was not Sir Robert Peel’s intention. He would have strongly opposed the police’s remit being changed from public servants to governmental pawns. He knew only too well: the prevention of crime and disorder, by a physical presence, is a far superior objective and fewer crimes will be reported as a direct consequence.

        An urgent return to Peel’s Nine principles of policing is well overdue. What is the point of educating constables to degree level if this makes them incapable of detecting crimes? Ditch the graduate-entry scheme; sack all those academics at the top; and recruit officers who are capable of positively interacting with the public and getting to know the habits of the criminals.

        Failure to return to basics is to capitulate and this will clearly show that politicians have no interest, whatsoever, in reducing crime.

        A Grizzly B.

  19. Very disturbing FOIA info on vaccine batches in Australia. It appears that some batches were potentially dangerous. We get an explanation as to why manufacturing problems might be catastrophic with this new technology that was implemented at breakneck speed. This sort of problem is most likely not confined to Australian manufacturing but may be a function of the whole programme itself.
    https://rumble.com/v230jdk-australian-covid-released.html

    1. I thought Mike Yeadon wrote about the ‘bad batches’ two years ago? Have they only just noticed?

      1. Well, that’s the point. This info has been extracted by careful questioning but if you watch the video, the killer part is that Pfizer reserved certain batches for Pfizer employees only! Pfizer and the authorities must have known there were problems- it has taken two years to find the smoking gun.

        You can just watch the last ten minutes of the video to get a feel for how shocking- and criminal this is. They extended the shelf life of the “death batches” specifically for those that were earmarked for the disabled or the young- more than double the time that was decided for adults. Why? It is monumentally horrible. As he said earlier- these vaccines were supposed to be kept at sub-zero temperatures but it seems they were then allowed to be kept for 70 odd days once thawed out- if used on the vulnerable!

        1. I don’t think I want to watch that.

          At the beginning there was a lot about the need for sub zero temperatures but then it appeared unnecessary. The whole scam is shocking – so Bourla gets a medal.

          1. The conclusion of this video and I have followed Chris for a while- he’s not known for hyperbole, is that a blanket Covid vaccination programme is criminal- given what we now know. You may recall, as well, that in the early stages, companies reckoned they would not be making money from this roll out. Indeed, taxpayers’ money would be involved and now we see stratospheric profits being made and new manufacturing contracts between UK, Australian and Canadian govts with Moderna but details being withheld from scrutiny. Dr John Campbell who has 2.6 million subscribers on YouTube has called for a suspension of the programme in the UK. here- on Rumble- not YT he presents the reasons he feels this should be done: https://rumble.com/v22ugd2-time-to-pause-covid-mass-vaccination.html

        2. howbadismybatch showed pretty conclusively that the batches released to the public were being used for toxicity testing (I think was the phrase used by Mike Yeadon).
          I suppose it’s only to be expected that they picked the control batches for themselves.

  20. Good morning, everyone. Back from a week over Christmas with daughters, granddaughters and great grand daughter. Probably our best family Christmas. On Christmas Day there were 5 dogs in the house. All behaved perfectly.

  21. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/12/29/british-politics-revolving-door-rubbish-just-look-2022/

    Ianucci has a point, but goes about it the wrong way. His charity aims to support children in poverty. Yet.. they’re not. They are the offspring of parents who don’t have enough money to support them. A demographic who don’t plan their families, who pay no attention to the cost of a child and who breed, then demand the state support them. Of a demographic less likely to be supported, endorsed and validated by Telegraph readers I cannot think.

    As for revolving door – Brown took over from Blair without an election. He forgets this – conveniently. Also ignores Mandelson’s thrice return to number 10 after repeated corruption, fraud and theft. In addition ignores the sofa government Blair introduced. He blames Brexit yet refuses to acknowledge that every energy has been put into stymiing it rather than using the opportunity it provides.

    And no. No one looks back at Theresa May’s tenure positively.

      1. Good morning Hugh, In modern society, too many people take absolutely no responsibility for their ‘choices.’ I thought that a few years ago, child benefit was to be restricted to the first 2 children that each woman bore from that point on. Obviously that will take a few years before the offspring of already large benefit breeder households become adults but no doubt those restricted in future to child benefit for only 2 children will have their ‘income’ made up with other benefits, and so the cycle will continue.

          1. Business (and breeding) as usual then. After all, such a sensible policy would have attracted claims of waycism by deliberately targeting certain effnic groups who are already outbreeding whitey. I’d rather support chavvy British benefit breeders than a single slammer brood.

      2. Good morning Hugh, In modern society, too many people take absolutely no responsibility for their ‘choices.’ I thought that a few years ago, child benefit was to be restricted to the first 2 children that each woman bore from that point on. Obviously that will take a few years before the offspring of already large benefit breeder households become adults but no doubt those restricted in future to child benefit for only 2 children will have their ‘income’ made up with other benefits, and so the cycle will continue.

    1. There are some families that will never look after their children regardless of how much money is pumped into their bank accounts by the government.

  22. Good morning my friends.

    Jeremy Hunt’s tax raid to trigger biggest wage squeeze in a century
    Chancellor’s actions expected to help drive £880 hit to real disposable incomes

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/12/30/jeremy-hunts-tax-raid-trigger-biggest-wage-squeeze-century/

    Some people posting their comments under this article are blaming Brexit for all our woes. But I am glad to see that this poster has wiser judgement than most of the other posters!

    Another BTL from Percival Wrattstrangler contesting a Remainer’s nonsense.

    With the whole of the civil service and most of our treacherous MPs determined to thwart democracy and Brexit then is it surprising that Brexit is not succeeding as it should? Imagine putting Ben Stokes, Joe Root and James Anderson and all the Cricket team in strait jackets and then expecting them to win a test series against Pakistan in Pakistan! Set Brexit free and it will flourish as our cricketers have done!

    The way that the Conservative MPs ditched the Party members’ choice of leader to impose Sunak upon us shows that democracy and what people vote for can be ignored. The current regime is hastening the aim of their master, Schwab, to hurry along the arrival of the Great Reset.

  23. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s story:

    Signs of the Times

    Sign in a Gynaecologist’s Office:
    “Dr. Jones, at your cervix.”
    **************************
    In a Chiropodist’s office:
    “Time wounds all heels.”
    **************************
    On a Septic Tank Truck:
    Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels
    **************************
    On a Plumber’s truck:
    “We repair what your husband fixed.”
    **************************
    On another Plumber’s truck:
    “Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.”
    **************************
    On a Church’s Bill board:
    “7 days without God makes one weak.”
    **************************
    At a Tyre Store
    “Invite us to your next blowout.”
    **************************
    On an Electrician’s truck:
    “Let us remove your shorts.”
    **************************
    In a Non-smoking Area:
    “If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.”
    **************************
    On a Maternity Room door:
    “Push. Push. Push.”
    **************************
    At an Optometrist’s Office:
    “If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.”
    **************************
    On a Taxidermist’s window:
    “We really know our stuff.”
    **************************
    On a Fence:
    “Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive!”
    **************************
    At a Car Dealership:
    “The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment.”
    **************************
    Outside a Car Exhaust Store:
    “No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.”
    **************************
    In a Vets waiting room:
    “Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!”
    **************************
    In a Restaurant window:
    “Don’t stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up.”
    **************************
    In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
    “Drive carefully. We’ll wait.”
    **************************
    And the sign at a
    RADIATOR SHOP:
    “Best place in town to take a leak.”
    **********************
    Sign on the back of another
    Septic Tank Truck:
    “Caution – This Truck is full of Political Promises”

    1. Good morning. Having a giggle – best way to start the day ….. especially when sleep has ended at 5 a.m.!

      1. She was only the fishmonger’s daughter but she could lie on a slab and say ‘fillet’.
        She was only the Colonel’s daughter but she knew what Regiment.

    2. An undertaker chum was asked why he was nice to everyone. He leant in toward me conspiratorially and said: ‘Everyone’s a potential customer.’

      And yes, their ‘black’ humour is to hide the misery of the whole process. How do you balance detachment with human sympathy?

      1. It seems to be par for the course across the board now. It’s part of their system, how they work, how they get away with what they do.

      1. And I don’t think he’s wrong.
        Going back a few years Big Pharma tried to ridicule and drag through the dirt a doctor now professor Barry Marshal https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=7380ac4309322793JmltdHM9MTY3MjM1ODQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xMzNlMTMyNS1lMzgyLTY1NjgtMzk0YS0wMWFmZTIzOTY0ZGEmaW5zaWQ9NTE3NA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=133e1325-e382-6568-394a-01afe23964da&psq=Australian+Professors+who+questioned+stomach+ulcer+medication+&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXVzdHJhbGlhbmdlb2dyYXBoaWMuY29tLmF1L2Jsb2dzL2RyLWthcmwtbmVlZC10by1rbm93LzIwMTYvMDYvYXVzdHJhbGlhbi1icmVha3Rocm91Z2hzLXN0b21hY2gtdWxjZXJzLw&ntb=1

      1. Good morning Phizzee

        You are usually quick on the uptake unlike the train carrying the three wise guys which took several years to get to the point!

      2. They were late because they had first travelled to Mexico, where the name is quite common. 😉

        1. Seems feasible. Around 40 years ago, a fellow Airman sent a letter to his then girlfriend, now wife, in Fife. Either his handwriting was very poor or the Royal Mail were have a laugh as it arrived weeks later, via Fiji.

          1. My village shares its name with a village in Norfolk. Many is the time that, despite having a Shropshire postcode, my mail has been sent via Kings Lynn.

    1. “Police said they believed the incident was racially motivated.”

      If Tracey Emin had done it, it could have been explained away as a work of art.

        1. True, the things you see in India as soon as you leave the posh part of a city. Not to mention Africa.

  24. Andrew Tate arrested ‘for rape and human trafficking’ in Romania
    Ex-kickboxer and his brother detained after police raid their luxury villa in Bucharest

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/30/andrew-tate-reportedly-arrested-romania-following-human-trafficking/

    I saw this chap being interviewed on Talk TV by Piers Morgan just before Christmas and again on GB News. Until then I had never heard of him so I have no credible opinion as to whether he is a goody or a baddie and whether he is being set up. The only thing in his favour is that he is loathed by the woke MSM, the establishment and has been banned from most of the social media platforms.

    Do any Nottlers have any views on him?

    1. He is in what I would term as a dodgy business, but given his spat with the Weather Goblin I would not be surprised if he’s been set up.

    2. He may be controlled opposition like Jordan Peterson, but different.
      It’s part of their war on men and masculinity. Peterson knows exactly what he’s doing, Tate is just being used.
      I suspect that Tate is just some loudmouth who is easy to knock down, so they’ve built him up for young men to admire, and will now destroy him. He has said some fairly obnoxious things about women, and now everyone seems to think that the doom goblin got the better of him in a verbal spat, though her reply was in my opinion no more than a silly, pathetic insult.
      Tate is bigged up by the mainstream media – you see him mentioned in the Mail for example, which makes him suspect.

      1. “Tax you into poverty to stop the sun being hot”. Like it. The saddest thing is how many people think Greta writes her own Twitter posts.

  25. To all those lovely NoTTLers

    … Who responded kindly to my post, yesterday, telling of the life, career and untimely death of a very special police officer, one of whom I was honoured to know personally.

    Thank you all. Your comments were much appreciated, and I shall pass them on to his family.

    Grizzly 😘

    1. My belated condolences, Grizzly. 64 is no age for someone with a healthy lifestyle. There was an exceptionally aged marathon runner who was, or will be, in the obits, but I have never been convinced that endless jogging is good for health unless you have a runner’s physique.
      It is the youngsters for whom I cry, even if their own actions may have contributed to their demise. A 41 year old mother was fatally stabbed near Brisbane, not knowing that a halfway (to Hell) house had been established a few hundred yards away.

      1. Thanks, Tim. I am certainly eager to discover the cause of his early demise.

        I remember reading, some years back, that the chappie who popularised ‘jogging’ (as opposed to formal running) died while out … ‘jogging’.

        1. Jogging – an activity with an effort level between walking and running, and slower than both.

    2. I didn’t post it at the time, but I will now, Grizz (better late than never). It seems we were fortunate to have such a person around and I’m sure he will be sorely missed.

  26. Well that got a bit damp! The rain eased off so I’ve been busy!
    First, I managed to drag the lump of sycamore that rolled into the pond yesterday. It needs cutting into manageable bits but that will wait a day or two.

    Then I cleared all the other bits of log, first carrying them 40y or so to the footpath, then strapping them to the sack barrow to get them over the dam and the road. I now have a goodly heap of logs for splitting and stacking, a small number of them requiring further sawing first.
    If the weather eases off this afternoon I’ll be swinging the axe for an hour or two ready for when I’m ready to start stacking the next lot.

  27. Indian leather companies accused of enabling Russia’s war effort. 30 December 2022.

    Russia and India have longstanding ties and Narendra Modi’s government has not joined western countries in openly criticising Moscow over the war nor stopped Indian companies trading with Russia.

    Trade has instead boomed by 413% as India has become one of the biggest purchasers of cheap Russian crude oil and Russian manufacturers increasingly look to India to supply crucial goods that can no longer come from the west

    This would be a part of Fraser Nelson’s “Global Backlash” one assumes. The truth is that the US Proxy War against Russia is being carried out by the Europeans who are also taking most of the flak from it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/30/indian-leather-companies-russia-war-effort

    1. Fraser Nelson is from Scotland, and his wife and children seem to be Swedish. His outlook and output has always been reasonably balanced, although recently there have been a few wobbles in the direction of global socialism. For editorial independence you need wealth and grown up children, hence Taki and Matt Ridley are able to share their opinions.

          1. That photo was taken when she was awarded an OBE. When meeting the Queen he wore nothing but sheer tights with reinforced bikini top under her skirt. She claimed the Queen was amused by the picture. She was later awarded a DBE – which idiots recommended those?

    1. She once sent me a couple of bottles of good red wine.

      A German woman who worked for Westwood was a friend of my neighbour in Briston. My neighbour’s house was only occupied for a few months of the year so he let it out to friends. The lady was expecting an urgent delivery of some work documentation to my neighbour’s address and she asked if I would be kind enough to accept it at my home address. Since this caused me no problem I accepted. Vivienne Westwood showed her appreciation with two bottles of a decent claret.

        1. I don’t know the full story of Assange but it looks like he is a victim of US political/military vengeance. They do not like the truth being revealed about their dodgy and deadly dealings.

    2. She was a CND activist, vegetarian, donated £300,000 to fund the Green Party, climate change activist. She described Corbyn as “a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism’. In November 2016 in a staged protest to encourage use of renewable energy, Westwood and her son Corré, burned an estimated £6,000,000 worth of his punk rock memorabilia archive on a barge on the River Thames. She wasn’t all bad!

        1. The thing about design at that level is all about concepts and what you can make the materials do.

          The audience were just showing how dumb they were.

          1. If you aren’t used to seeing concept clothing, then you’re unlikely to appreciate the finer points of the design. Same with the concept for anything. So, I’d say they aren’t dumb – but maybe the producers set her up, with a fair idea of what would happen with a non-fashion audience?

          2. I think some of these designers are extracting the urine from people. Why not make something people can relate to and perhaps they won’t laugh then.
            I’ve seen concept cars that are beautiful. See the latest Audi advert.

          3. Then the critics are no better. Do the critics belong to some sort of nepotistic club? Of course they do so that they can continue to be invited for Champagne and canapés.

          4. I’ve thought for many years that designers are contemptuous of women and this kind of “fashion” demonstrates that perfectly. To me designer clothes should be elegant, something any ordinary woman would love to have. This stuff is just laughable.

          5. It is the ideas that trickle down to the High St. Not the designs. Imagine a large piece of silk. It drapes. Now print peacock feathers all over it and find a way to stiffen it and you have couture.

    3. £150 million fortune. £50 million business empire and £18 million property portfolio. As you say…Many did.

    4. I remember she did adverts for carpets, dressing up models in carpet. I thought that was clever and aesthetically pleasing.

  28. It’s only a week since the hellish snowstorm over Christmas showed what winter can be like.
    Today however, we expect temperatures up around 10C and rain. I expect there will be floodwarnings and cries of global warming by new year.

  29. “The global backlash against Vladimir Putin has rejuvenated democracy”
    Frazer Nelson: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/29/global-backlash-against-vladimir-putin-has-rejuvenated-democracy/

    Percival Wrattstrangler on the money again with his BTL comment.

    Tell that to the remoaners in parliament and the civil service who are doing their very best to cancel Brexit.

    Tell that to Conservative MPs who kicked out the democratically elected leadership candidate, Liz Truss, and put the beaten candidate, Sunak, into Downing Street and had the person who came last in the initial leadership vote, Hunt, installed as chancellor.

    Peter Mandelslime was right when he said we are now living in the post-democratic age.

    1. What “global backlash”? North America and Europe is not the world. Not even the greater part of the world. The Global South has become closer to and ever more reliant on China and Russia. The Middle East is turning away from the USA.

    2. Sorry, Richard, it took me ages, sifting through the BTL comments to identify who Percival Wrattstrangler is.

  30. 369502+ up ticks,

    It was blatantly obvious and confirmed when treacherous treasa triggered the nine month delay, then began the great slide into the shite bog. courtesy of the lab/lib/con/current ukip coalition party.

    WE won a victory, job done, NO need of UKIP now, back to supporting the old lab/lib.con pro eu coalition party, THEY HAVE LEARNT THEIR LESSON was the cry of the day tripping freedom fighters, now we witness excess deaths & injury’s mounting daily
    and compensation being paid to confirm atrocities had been committed.

    That farage chap would prove to be a fine pretendee leader of a preiendee opposition party.

    Post
    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    1h
    More a case of Brexual Perversion.

    HM Govnt never had any intention of implementing a full EU exit. The intention was to delay, impede & reverse the Referendum decision.

    The MSM propaganda campaign is to say Brexit didn’t work & soften us up for re-entry. However, it won’t be full membership, more some kind of associate membership like Switzerland.

    Full membership would mean European Elections with MEPs, & they won’t want a repeat of UKIP in some form. Unless perhaps Farage is being groomed as a puppet managed opposition anti-EU leader?

    Translate post
    Brexual healing? EU and Britain dream of a fresh start in 2023
    Brexual healing? EU and Britain dream of a fresh start in 2023

    Officials on all sides optimistic of a new year breakthrough.

    1. 369502 + up ticks,

      O2O,

      Officials on all sides optimistic of a new year breakthrough.

      Read as ALL bent political bastards will be pushing the RESET line and the lead steer of the UK electorate will no doubt turn its head
      in the political bastards favour and the zome type majority will follow.

    2. Yes, a breakthrough whereby the country is so crippled by government debt, government taxation, government policy and government deliberate refusal to take advantage of Brexit that government actions causes the collapse of the economy, ‘forcing’ (unnecessarily because it’s all government’s fault) us to a third party who government than says ‘Oh, we have to do as they say, there’s nothing we, government, can do about it.’

      Absolving them of public blame – because people are thick and giving them the ideal outcome they’ve engineered these 6 years and counting.

      Of course, when this happens, I’ll kill them all.

  31. What an extraordinary irony it is that far more socio-geopolitical information is available today than ever before in recorded history, but propagandised quantity buries truthful quality time after time.”

    John Ward.

    Here’s his piece which also includes how he was partly responsible for getting John Bird to play a Zulu in a ciggie advert back in the day….

    https://therealslog.com/2022/12/29/staying-real/

    1. Neither should be there. Comically, the modern Nazis – Lefty ‘progressive’ fascists – are the ones forcing ‘di-worse-ity’ on Paris now.

      On the rioting – it’s almost – kill one of ours, we get 100 of you. There’s only one way to stop that: eradicate them all and stamp the boot down on the remainder.

        1. Don’t recall massive Jewish rioting. The Nazis just hated Jews (and there’s plenty of that still around), saw them as a convenient scapegoat, and away you go. Easy (final) solution.

          1. The word eradicate gave rise to my comment. I think it was a bit close to the edge though. Apologies to Wibbles.

          2. I’m wrong vastly more than I’m right, and when I start ranting if no one tells me I’m a blthering halfwit I’ll never learn, understand and improve. I’ll become a Lefty!

        2. A poor choice of words on my part. The Left, as they stand, cannot be allowed to continue making life miserable. We need low taxes, industry, energy, a much reduced and interfering state controlled by the citizen. An end to massive uncontrolled gimmigration, wokery, climate change fanaticism, restrictions on speech, the trans lobby shut down, radical reductions in welfare and a much, much tougher criminal code, one where ‘after three, throw away the key’ is applied.

          If the Left are given an inch, they take 50 miles and destroy everything. That cannot be permitted. Man was not meant to live like this, scraping along, paying for others to have something they cannot, worried about jobs and energy bills, while a useless government robs them of 70% of their income to give to an invasion fleet. It’s wrong. Far too many things are back to front. We course correct by stopping the Left completely.

          They’ve never stopped in their eradication of others – such as the Jews, intelligensia (Stalin, Mao) – and for once we need to stop them before they set about another slaughter of millions in the name of their demented ideology.

          1. Oh yes, the problem is big government. When everyone has a vote they vote for more for themselves. As there are always poorer people, poorer people vote to be poorer (because they don’t understand economics). Politicians, desperate to keep their vote offer them what they want – but the problem is, what they want isn’t what they need – which is why they are, and are kept; poor.

          2. …before they set about another slaughter of millions.

            By way of the Covid Jabs – well, it’s one way.

        1. You may think that, I could not possibly comment!

          Comes from being married to a teacher of English….!!

      1. An apostrophe is also a literary device used in poetry – it is often an exclamation, admonition or observation such Literary apostrophe addressed to someone or something that is not actually present. e.g.s:

        ‘Death be not proud’
        ‘Oh happy horse to bear the weight of Antony’
        ‘Frailty, they name is woman!’
        ‘Hello Darkness, my old friend!
        ‘Duplicity, soul sister of Despair.’

  32. We have two dustbins. Green for recycling; black for rubbish. (There is also an option brown one for garden waste).

    I m delighted – and relieved – to see that the black bin (which is as black as yer hat) has been renamed a “Grey” bin.

    Just in case anyone might be, er, offended…..

    1. John Major might be offended.

      They have started charging to take away green waste here. Do you not have a patch for a compost heap on your vast estate?

        1. Here ‘green’ waste is garden trimmings.

          At the back of my property is an overgrown unused railway embankment. Mine and the neghbours garden waste all gets chucked up there. I have also thrown lots of wildflower seeds there and mushroom spores.

          1. Ah – that is for the brown bin hereabouts. Though, obviously, we don’t need one. Our black bin for anything that is NOT recyclable goes out about once a quarter.

    2. Gosh! Our black box is for bottles, glass jars and small electrical items! We managed to miss out on a grey waste ‘caddy’ and it goes on the compost! We also have a maroon bin for plastics, a blue bin for paper and cardboard and a green bin for general waste! The brown bin is for garden waste! It looks like a small village at the gate!

      1. That’s the people’s republic of Scotland for you…………

        Frankly, I believe that much of the recyclable stuff is dumped in the North Sea.

      2. We have a déchèterie within 2 minutes drive so we only need to use the black bag as all the rest can be dumped in an appropriate section there. I have filled two trailer loads of laurel clippings this afternoon which I have taken to the vegetable part of the place.

      3. We have a black bin (our own) and a green box for cardboard and a green bag for plastic and bottles. Also a grey caddy for food waste. (a small amount of bones).

      4. We have a green bin (garden waste), a black bin with a purple top (recycling), a blue bag (paper) and a black bin for general waste.

  33. As the year approaches it’s end, I urge you all to take care of yourselves and avoid accidents, because spare parts for old models like you are no longer in stock!

    1. When I was a teenager, facial enhancements were limited to acne. These days nothing short of shrapnel will do.

          1. ?

            I was relatively lucky as the teenage spots I had as an adolescent cleared up after my Fifth Form “O” level year and had never been too bad in the first place. Mens sana in corpore sano as they used to say in Rome.

          2. I think that that’s what the ‘Edit’ function is for, Sos.

            But the original is still visible to me – try refreshing.

          3. You’ve just proved my point.

            When the use of the “edit” utterly changes the comment, so that the reply appears to be strange, the least the poster can do is to explain.

            It’s not like a small typo, which an edit is fine for, but a total change to the post.

          4. If the thread is refreshed, and most people refresh it to be sure they are seeing the latest versions, it will have changed.
            Are you saying that you never refresh the page throughout the day?

            That could well explain why so many of your posts are irrelevant to the current part of conversations.

        1. Gawd Anne! I didn’t realise it was Wossies daughter! I thought you were joking about the Yuppie ‘Flu!

          1. Might do some good. People will be motivated to take in homeless people rather than rapine muzzies.

      1. I’d love to see that happen. Plonk them on lots of places like Sandbanks, so the bleeding hearts can have the full benefit.

      1. I remember one of Bob Dylan’s early songs from the 1960s:

        Now I ain’t lookin’ to compete with you
        Beat on, cheat on, mistreat you
        Simplify you, classify you
        Deny, defy, or mystify you
        I don’t want to integrate, masticate, or promulgate,
        Desiccate, or Vegetate
        Legislate or fascinate
        Ruminate or masturbate,
        All I really want to do
        Is baby, be friends with you

        1. Methinks you’ve mischievously added a college’s common room rag-week version of Dylan’s lyrics there, Rastus.

          Mr Zimmerman’s original lyrics are thus:

          I ain’t lookin’ to compete with you
          Beat or cheat or mistreat you
          Simplify you, classify you
          Deny, defy or crucify you
          All I really want to do
          Is, baby, be friends with you

          No, and I ain’t lookin’ to fight with you
          Frighten you or tighten you
          Drag you down or drain you down
          Chain you down or bring you down
          All I really want to do
          Is, baby, be friends with you

          I ain’t lookin’ to block you up
          Shock or knock or lock you up
          Analyze you, categorize you
          Finalize you or advertise you
          All I really want to do
          Is, baby, be friends with you

          I don’t want to straight-face you
          Race or chase you, track or trace you
          Or disgrace you or displace you
          Or define you or confine you
          All I really want to do
          Is, baby, be friends with you

          I don’t want to meet your kin
          Make you spin or do you in
          Or select you or dissect you
          Or inspect you or reject you
          All I really want to do
          Is, baby, be friends with you

          I don’t want to fake you out
          Take or shake or forsake you out
          I ain’t lookin’ for you to feel like me
          See like me or be like me
          All I really want to do
          Is, baby, be friends with you

    1. The headgear is awful. However I think their clothing is quite elegant, just the wrong ladies wearing them, particularly the blue outfit.

      1. Not very photogenic. Patterns a bad idea, I think.
        And the pretzl hat was a terrible idea…iconic though!

          1. I think she’s very attractive! There’s no mention of thyroid trouble which would explain her eyes. Perhaps she’s just got large eyes!

  34. For anyone who subscribes to Amazon Prime I can recommend the documentary The Watchmaker’s Apprentice All about watchmaker George Daniels and his apprentice Roger W Smith both had to learn 32 different trades to make all their watch components themselves (except the springs). Mr Daniels’ hand crafted watches command a fabulous price one sold in 2012 for £1.3 million. It’s no wonder he was able to own and race 13 historic motor racing cars. Not bad for a working class boy made good!

  35. Hello from a Saxon Queen with longbow and Axe .

    Tomorrow for NYE we’ll be having Venison Sausages for dinner ( cooked in red wine with a touch of stock, shallots, field mushrooms, thyme, juniper berries and a little redcurrant jelly ) served with creamy mash and veggies.

  36. Over Christmas we’ve been watching
    Cadfael
    101 Dalmations ( the original animated )
    The Lady Vanishes
    The Goodies
    And The Good life.

    All better then modern rubbish .

  37. Welcome to our ad-free, tracking-free version of Healthline
    We detect that you are in one of the member countries of the UK/EU/EEA, which is now subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Unfortunately, a tracking-free version of our full website is currently unavailable in these countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to this market

  38. Having made a few posts this afternoon I’ve had to go back and edit typos – I wondered if it was a recognised medical condition rather than a lack of proof reading before hitting the post button…

    If Yuo’re Albe To Raed Tihs, You Might Have Typoglycemia

        1. My dear fellow – just recruit a new keyboard operator.

          Hundreds are available every day – just pop down to Dover…

    1. All the right letters, just in the wrong order. On my phone it’s a combo of fat fingers and predictive text.

  39. 369502+ up ticks,

    Call them what they are, @rseholes them find a suitable name for the odious paedophiles.

    Dt,
    Scottish police call paedophiles ‘minor-attracted people’ in major report
    Campaigners see the contentious term as attempts to rebrand paedophilia as a harmless sexual preference

  40. I note that the world famous, “true gentleman” and truly sporting wendyball player has hung up his boots.

    Reading the obituaries, he may have been an ace chap on the field but was an absolute bastard off it – especially to ladies.

  41. Travellers from China must show that they are fully vaccinated or have a negative Covid test.

    Has it escaped the notice of the people setting the rules that being fully vaccinated doesn’t stop you having it, nor does it stop you transmitting it.

    1. Is this new news? Earlier HMG was saying it was pointless because ONE MILLION people in the UK have it ….

      Unless it is seasonal ‘flu and/or a bit of a cold, of course…..(sarc)

      1. Thanks, Maggie. I roasted some meaty pork bones then placed them in the pressure cooker with some chicken stock, two onions, a carrot, 20 black peppercorns and two pig’s trotters. Steamed under pressure for 45 minutes then strained gave me two pints of concentrated, unctuously delicious porky jelly. I have frozen (in cubes) the extra jelly for future use.

    1. 🎵 Give me pies give me sweet little pies 🎵

      Got a recipe for us Grizz? I find the MM ones too dense and not very tasty.

    2. Don’t eat them all, Grizzly. Leave a couple for me and I shall be over in a Jiffy bag. (Cheaper than paying thousands for a rubber dinghy.) Lol.

  42. That’s me gone for this dreary day. Cold and wet to start with – ended up mildish and wet.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. This is the Biden administration. I think the mental health case on the left is Secretary for Health and the pervert on the right is Sam Brinton on at least two occasions stole women’s luggage at airports. Sam Brinton was also deputy for getting rid of Nuclear Waste !

    2. In ”On the First Day of Christmas” it should be “Two cocks in frocks” instead of “Two Turtle Doves”.

      1. Sam got fired. The old man is still in position.

        It is no wonder ‘they’ are bigging up the threat of the ‘far right’. It is obvious what is going to happen if they keep this shit up.

    3. Richard/Rachel Levine, on the left, informed the good folk of Pennsylvania that they should not take ivermectin because, “you’re not a horse”. I know at least two who took him seriously.

    1. Perhaps Police Scotland should just dress their little ones as JonBenét Ramsey and go walkabout in Bradford. After all, Minor Attracted doesn’t always mean the Paedo wants to rape and kill them and bury them in a shallow grave after setting them on fire……they just want a friendly cuddle.

      1. Ever seen the movie Little Miss Sunshine? A good and funny movie but casts a light on the sordid side to these nasty child beauty pageants.

    2. With a collarless black shirt, he is the image of a Nazi thug; a million miles from the image of Sir Robert Peel’s police force.

      1. You should have seen Robocops and -copette in Gatwick yesterday.
        One of them was so concentrating on looking well ‘ard (slight stubble, aggressive expression, MP36 at the high-ready, like he was about to be ambushed) that he had no brain capacity left to close his mouth.
        Firstborn nearly went over to Jawdrop’s mates to ask them to stop inadvertently pointing their machine pistols at us (known as “sweeping”) as they hung round outside the Wetherspoons pub in South Terminal. If they’d done that, even with an unloaded weapon in a civilian club, they’d have been thrown out. But – criticise these clowns and you end up in the smelly stuff.

        1. OB, as I have mentioned before , those type of armed Robocops were down here in Dorset , policing the Weymouth and Portland sailing Olympics 2012..

          They were aggressive , loud and frightening .. they forgot they were here at the seaside , yes , amongst ice cream eating grannies and grandads looking at the naughty postcards and children riding donkeys.

          1. The inattention with, what I presume to be a loaded machine pistol, is unforgiveable. Too easy to shoot someone negligently, which is why us civilians have much instruction and zero tolerance for sweeping.
            But, hey, the Oslo police regularly have negligent discharges – one shot his car, for example, whilst messing with his sidearm in the parking garage, shooting a hole in the floor of the car. Us civvies would lose our permit for such crass carelessness.

          2. The inattention with, what I presume to be a loaded machine pistol, is unforgiveable. Too easy to shoot someone negligently, which is why us civilians have much instruction and zero tolerance for sweeping.
            But, hey, the Oslo police regularly have negligent discharges – one shot his car, for example, whilst messing with his sidearm in the parking garage, shooting a hole in the floor of the car. Us civvies would lose our permit for such crass carelessness.

        1. Twenty years after Charles Dickens died. (I am not related to The Inimitable, though.) Lol.

        2. Twenty years after Charles Dickens died. (I am not related to The Inimitable, though.) Lol.

          1. Not sure but her husband worked for John Brown on the Clyde and that was a reserved job- so maybe it was there. She hated it!!
            He lost an eye in an accident there and died when I was 6 months old so I never knew him.

      1. I think my maternal grandparents must have been born in the late 1880s to early 1890s but I’m told my paternal grandparents were aged 25 and 27 when they left Russia in 1899.

          1. I don’t know a great deal. They were already married and had two children and sailed to Grimsby but first lived in Glasgow, then moved to London (my dad was born in Bethnal Green in 1907) and finally settled in Cardiff. He was a tobacconist and she a jeweller. They were naturalised in 1914, when the law first required it.

          2. I think so, yes. Odessa was a heaving, prosperous, multicultural city and violence against the Jews was rife. My dad insisted that his father came here because there was a job lined up and for no other reason.

          3. Europe really created many problems .

            Last year Moh and I sent our DNA away to Memphis … https://www.23andme.com/en-int/

            We were amazed , and in shock to find how accurate the results were when they returned to us a few months later .

            Moh found he had 4th generation antecedents who were of German extraction with other pathways .

          4. Definitely 1901 yes and possibly the others. One of my cousins did most of the research and she’s dead now but my brothers are retired and interested. They’ve made contact with descendants of dad’s uncle, who continued the journey to the US and settled in St Louis, Missouri.

          5. 1911 is interesting as it asks how long the marriage has lasted and how many children born alive and if any have died. You can find unknown children that way.

          6. I have a dear friend in St. Louis. He emailed me during the world cup chortling about how well the US was doing then….
            I must reply to him;-))

          7. Good to know, Sue, that people ARE interested in their genealogy. I found, with the aid of many other genealogists, that I could trace on my Mother’s side, my ancestry back 50 generations to AD 530 and a King in Sweden called Egil who was born in that year.

            On my Father’s side, I can only go back to 1580. Our records, before that are not good. I have to ask, why?

            If I can help, contact me. Hertslass has my e-mail and I give her permission to divulge it to you. Contact her and ask.

        1. That would be the same as my grandparents who were all born between 1870-75. My dad was born in 1905 and my mum in 1908. The span of time hardly seems possible.

          1. My grandparents were born between 1872 and 1883. My Grandma who lived with us for a while was born in 1878 and died in 1955. Granny in 1883 – she died in 1970. My paternal grandfather died in 1931 and my maternal one in 1950. I never knew the grandfathers.

          2. I knew only my paternal grandfather, who died when I was three. It is strange to think that I – and some of us here, perhaps most of us – have physically touched hands with direct relatives who were born in the century before the last one. The next generation, that is my parents’ generation, lived so much longer, mostly into their late nineties and early 100s. As my aunt said (my father’s sister) “if I’d known I was going to live this long I’d have paid more attention to my pension” although she had no need to worry, she was well taken care of by her husband’s pension. Even at 97 she was baking for her birthday party. My poor father was the anomaly, he died suddenly uwhen he was 63 from complications of Type 1 diabetes.

          3. It’s good to have known one’s antecedents. I never knew any of my grandparents but genealogical research has shewn that it would have been a useful conversation.

            I’ve tried to write my Grandpa’s biography as if I were there, but it’s exceedingly difficult.

          4. My father died at 39, and his father at 50. But there are long-lived genes in that side of the family. Several over 90, even in Victorian times. My father’s surviving cousin will be 97 in February. Her father (my grandfather’s brother) lived to be over 90, as did his mother. Sadly my Gt Grandmother lost four of her five children to TB (including my grandfather) and most of her siblings too. I think she could have been a carrier. She outlived all her siblings. One who emigrated to the USA remains untraced – he just seemed to disappear.

            My mother died at 80, of cancer. Not so many long-lived relatives in her family. Her mother came to live with us when she was about the age I am now. She died at 76, in 1955.

  43. How to build the perfect snowman

    If we get lucky and the weather delivers a big fall of snow, Katy Birchall has the best recipe for building a splendid snowman that will be the envy of your village.

    Should we be fortunate enough this Christmas to wake up one morning to a tranquil landscape covered in a blanket of fresh white snow, let’s not dawdle — it’s time to get to work.

    The perfect snowman won’t build itself and, if you’re going to beat Jerry-from-next-door’s pedestrian attempt, then you need to get out there sharpish before he encroaches on your snow under the guise of wishing you a ‘Merry Christmas’. Nice try, Jerry.

    Before you get going, there’s a vital pre-match routine to follow. Preheat your body temperature with a cup of tea and a bacon roll. Once satisfactorily fuelled, gear up in appropriate waterproof outerwear that will withstand the tough conditions into which you’re about to venture — that beloved pair of wellies with the barely-noticeable hole at the toe has no place here.

    After that, it’s time to venture out.

    Okay?

    Now read this wonderful link and instruction manual on snowmen x

    https://www.countrylife.co.uk/out-and-about/how-to-build-the-perfect-snowman-250974

  44. A missed put for a par 4

    Wordle 559 5/6

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

    1. I can’t count my score because I googled wordle and one of the hits was, “today’s answer is…”

    2. Par or was it a birdie, I’ll only remember when I paste it. Let’s see.

      Wordle 559 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      Yay!

        1. Mine was a double Bogey Six 🙁

          Wordle 559 6/6
          🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
          ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
          ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜
          ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
          🟩🟩🟨🟩🟨
          🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  45. Utterly off topic

    We have just opened a jar of fruits in local liqueur, produced by Vielle Distillerie Clovis Reymond, 24140 Villamblard France

    Apricots, cherries, plums, and other fruits.
    We have stored it for a special lunch.
    The best of its kind that I have ever tasted.
    Our guests are in for a real treat.

    1. If it snows and your guests can’t make it, can you sent a bottle or two to me, please? Lol.

      1. I would if I could, but if you think I’m man enough to separate HG from that nectar, you’re badly mistaken!

      1. I’ve tried doing similarly, but nothing I did, delicious though some of them were, even get close to this product.
        It’s a relatively small local distillery and the jar was given to us as a gift.
        I will be returning!

      2. The most delicious homemade wines I’ve ever tasted were beetroot and damson. They were indistinguishable from many a decent red.

        1. A farmers wife gave me some wheat wine she had made with using a bread mixing bowl and floating yeast on a piece of toast on it . It was fantastic.

      1. Villamblard is a largeish village for this area.
        It has a splendid brocante/bric-a-brac weekend each year and a superb general store that sells agricultural utensils that are normally hard to find.
        One of the joys of this region is how many artisanal places like this one, that there are.
        Everything from paper works to walnut oils, from liqueurs to hand-blown glass.
        We love it here.

      1. If the rest of their produce is even half as good as this evening’s fruits it will be outstanding.
        I owe my friend a huge thankyou for introducing us to the company.

        Next up is another he has introduced us to.
        https://www.maisonguinguet.com/pages/notre-histoire

        Their chocolates are really special.

        We also have cherries in liqueur from a different local supplier to enjoy, I’ll report back in due course.

  46. Well, that’s it. Now to sign off and watch MOBY DICK (the Gregory Peck version). A good night to you all, and sleep well. I hope you all awaken fully rested.

      1. As it turns out, Sos, it wasn’t wise. I expected the 1950s version, which had Orson Welles as the preacher. But it seems this is a much later re-maker in which Gregory Peck makes a guest appearance in the Orson Welles part. Maybe tomorrow I’ll see if it is available on YouTube. Good night, again, all.

        1. Postscipt. The original (1956) version is available on YouTube, so – after a good five hours’ sleep I am up again and will watch it now.

    1. I wonder if he realizes that if he wants to take up American citizenship, he would have to give up all titles first? Only then could he claim dual citizenship.

        1. And Count Basey. And what about Prince?
          Edit: I see jillthelass has the correct spelling – Count Basie.

          1. Life is a glorious cycle of song,
            A medley of extemporanea,
            And love is a thing that can never go wrong
            And I am Marie of Romania. ( I am, I tell you, I am.)

        2. The wonderful Duke Ellington was given the title by his band, because he was considered a real gentleman! Or so the story goes, as was Count Basie.

    2. He’ll spin it out as long as possible. His title is the only thing she is after- using it to cash in on insulting his family by playing an invented racism card. Once he stops being Prince Twonk, there goes her platform and reason for being with him.

      1. She’ll carry on for while, claiming that the removal of the titles is racism, and lots of Americans will believe her.

        1. No, I don’t think Americans will believe her, I have yet to meet anyone here who has sympathy for either of them, especially amongst the younger people.

          1. It sold papers. There’s a sad truth that every time someone complains in a comment about the ginger and narcissicist the paper has adverts loaded which is it’s objective. The more folk whine, the more it sells. The only way to get rid of them is for people to stop engaging.

          2. Daisy Clarkson seems to think well of her. I assume that’s down to ignorance and immaturity, being able to identify an abuser complaining about being a victim than an actual victim. Daisy Clarkson is also a woman, so is likely empathising – ironically, something that the narcissist cannot do.

          3. That’s interesting.
            It may be that you associate with Nottler types, but the fact she’s losing favour with the younger group bodes well for the Royal family.

          4. I noted that Dinesh d’Souza’s daughter has given the Sussex duo a useful idiots award in her podcast (standing in for her father).

            I too believe the Americans hold the same or very similar views about this wretched money grabbing grifter couple as us in Britain.

          5. I noted that Dinesh d’Souza’s daughter has given the Sussex duo a useful idiots award in her podcast (standing in for her father).

            I too believe the Americans hold the same or very similar views about this wretched money grabbing grifter couple as us in Britain.

    3. They can’t take the Prince title away, and if they take away the Sussex one, then Meghan will be Princess Harry, and I’m sure the RF don’t want that.
      In any case, the titles are fluff, the important thing is that they are in the succession. Would be better to remove them from that. Harry is not in any way qualified to be head of state.

    4. In some US celeb rag, the blessed couple have been musing about giving up their titles.

      Maybe they heard of something coming and want to preempt the move.

  47. I note that in the USA the Democrats are hounding Trump for tax returns.

    Let’s make it a global legal requirement that all tax returns for all elected officials at State level and their spouses and children’s are made public too.

    Come on Zelensky, come on the Bidens, Macrons, Sunaks etc etc etc etc et bloody cetera.

    1. I believe it is already the case in Norway that everyone’s tax returns are viewable on line including the PM’s.

      1. I agree with this up to a point.

        Tell the crooks who the less well known “rich people” are and who do you think they’ll seek out?

      2. PS
        Can you call up our very rich Norseman’s?
        I suspect he’s nearly as “comfortable” as Phizzee-the-wealthy, and may even be getting close to Thomas-the-golden.

      3. Yup.
        It’s the summary, not the details.
        The papers typically publish searchable lists based on your postcode, age, etc, and the top however many income, fortune & taxes paid.
        Open-ness prevents the festering of corruption.
        Here’s a snip from our local paper for my postcode (I’m not in the top-anything, don’t earn enough)
        (Skatt = tax, formue = capital assets, inntekt = income)
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d423bf95f37b25dc340bdac48ba219a6a3ca930aae372fc5199530bb493e408.jpg

        1. Ontario publishes a sunshine list of all public service employees earning over $100,000. It only shows salary and expenses claimed, no tax details

          It s a very long list!

        1. To show that your money is legit. Ref Zelensky – how does a clown/prime minister amass so fantastically much money?

          1. Well the U.K. has been sending loadsa money to Ukraine, as well as munitions etc. The USA has too. That’s not a bad start!

      1. It should be, and if there’s a problem it should be the IRS, not the court of public opinion that does the investigations and prosecutions.
        This whole thing is political and it’s wrong.

        1. There are so many lies and smears about Trump, and now nobody believes anything the other party says, so the only solution is for The Donald to prove he is telling the truth, after all. Cards (tax returns) on the table.

          1. Even using every avoidance scheme presented to him by his advisors, and let’s be real here he doesn’t do it himself, Trump has probably paid more tax than 99.99% of Americans.

      1. Trump made relatively small loans to family members and these attracted interest. Another ‘nothingburger’.

        Trump can now ask Congress to request the tax returns of the Biden Crime Family, Pelosi Mafia Family, and the rest of the deeply suspect Deep State.

        2022 has been a thoroughly shit year thanks to the likes of Biden whose master is obviously the communist Obama. Hopefully 2023 will be an improvement provided that the Republican Congress can grow a couple and pursue the fecking bastards.

    1. It’s his age, and probable poor hearing. When asked what he should do about these criminals, he said “Pardon?”

        1. Yo sos

          Crooks do not need to vote, “On Line Operatives” (hackers?) take care of the result

    2. Bill Bryson explains in ‘Notes from a Big Country’ that a federal offence can ruin a career, even for something minor such as being caught aged 18 with a ‘joint’ in a motor vehicle. The sort of criminal activity which might qualify a Briton to become a member of parliament would disbar an American youth from any sort of employment within the public sector, even, BB’s example, as a temporary mail sorter at Christmas.

  48. Now, just to show that I am a kind and decent lady….we had a bottle of sparkly in a gift bag for the handy man here at the Home for Deranged Gentlefolk.
    I saw him out the back this morning and called him- he came running over thinking we had a problem.
    I gave him the gift bag and said it was a small thank you for all the jobs he’s done for us of late. He was so touched and his face lit up. Thank you said he. Whack it in the fridge and open it tomorrow and happy new year I said. He was tickled pink.

      1. We’d had it ready for ages but the staff were off over Xmas, of course, but he was here today and I caught sight of him. He’s also a very affable bloke and MH likes talking to him when he’s been here.

  49. Evening, all. Very late on parade today. I went to visit a friend who’s housebound due to having had a foot op and didn’t get back til quite late, then I caught up on Boxing Day’s racing.

  50. Oh heck, swore I would not eat another thing today- just stuffed another sausage roll in me mouth. Go away festive season !!

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