Friday 30 May: Sir Keir Starmer is in no position to give lectures on economics

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

505 thoughts on “Friday 30 May: Sir Keir Starmer is in no position to give lectures on economics”

  1. Good morning all.
    A dry night follow by an overcast start and 16°C on the thermometer and very little wind.

    1. When even dog walkers are alluding to frustrations with the current situation, then England is seriously fed up.
      Might even get to the stage of being really pissed off.

      1. Ultimately, a strongly-worded letter to the Times? Or maybe the local rag?

        1. They won't pass on the thoughts of the public Obs, it could start the real ball rolling.
          We have all had enough of these horrible political idiots both major parties.

  5. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,441 5/6

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  7. A VERY sensible letter from His Honour Jeff Blackett, Judge Advocate General of HM Armed Forces, 2004-2020

    War in Gaza

    SIR – Eight hundred lawyers and academics have written to the Prime Minister to say that the UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government. The letter alleges that genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, as a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring.

    This is a gross exaggeration. Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide lists prohibited acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. There is no evidence that Israel intends to destroy the Palestinian people of Gaza. Its legitimate intention is to destroy a terrorist organisation – Hamas.

    If civilian objects are being used for military purposes, as they clearly are by Hamas in Gaza, they become military objects and may be attacked, subject to the rule of proportionality: that is, ensuring that incidental loss of civilian life is not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. Many of the civilian deaths have happened because Hamas has unlawfully used civilian objects for military purposes and Palestinians as human shields.

    There will always be cases in armed conflict where commanders use excessive and disproportionate force, and the state has an obligation to prosecute them. No doubt Israel will take that obligation seriously.

    Denying civilians food, and thereby using starvation as a method of warfare, is unlawful. But even here there are two sides to the argument. Hamas has reportedly taken food provided in aid for its own purposes (even selling it to civilians in Gaza), and told people not to attend distribution hubs for fear of them being biometrically recorded by the Israel Defense Forces.

    No sensible person would deny Israel its right of self-defence. Rather than condemning Israel, the UK and the international community should be urgently helping it to achieve peaceful co-existence with its neighbours. A start would be the creation of a UN peacekeeping force to be inserted into Gaza, so that Hamas could be subdued and the IDF could withdraw.

    His Honour Jeff Blackett
    Judge Advocate General of HM Armed Forces, 2004-2020
    Midhurst, West Sussex

    A BTL Comment by Anastasias Revenge:-

    7 hrs ago

    His Honour Jeff Blackett – "Eight hundred lawyers and academics have written to the Prime Minister to say that the UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government"

    And where are these "eight hundred lawyers and academics" when it comes to pressing the Prime Minister to urge Hamas to release all the remaining hostages, living and dead?

    Nowhere to be seen – Gaza is a "cause célèbre" and, in turn, Israel must be the "baddie" regardless of reality.

    1. There is plenty of evidence that Israel intends to destroy the Palestinian people of Gaza. Its legitimate stated intention is to destroy a terrorist organisation – Hamas. Its actual intention is to use Hamas as a pretext and a bogey and a means to warrant the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza. Israel has set itself up as an extremely effective and nasty terror organisation, and what makes it worse is that they are denying Israelis knowledge of what they are doing (how many Germans during the Third Reich were aware of what was going on in Auschwitz?), and worse still dragging into the project all Jews worldwide, most of whom have no responsibility for this.

      Why else is the propaganda (or PR) constantly reporting the war being Israel (a recognised sovereign state) against Hamas (a proscribed terror organisation) rather than Israel versus Palestine or alternatively Likud Coalition versus Hamas? I am weary of all this spin, and trust none of it.

      This "Peace Proposals" demand the release of the Palestinians' last bargaining chip in return for the extermination to resume in 60 days. That is a promise, and they are pushing people to agree to signing their own death warrant.

        1. To be contrary, I'm pleased Jeremy posts as he does. It stops NoTTL being an echo chamber, and he does make valid points (I'm not informed enough to tell whether they are true or not, but that's not the point). Makes one think a bit, rather than just knee-jerk reaction, and that's good.

          1. Your earlier post has it right, Ob. If Hamas released the remaining hostages the killing could cease. If Israel then ceased its operations would Hamas still fire hundreds of rockets into Israel?

          1. The use of human shields by Hamas is something of which most of us here do not approve.

            The greatest enemy of Palestine and the Palestinians is Hamas.

            Israel has always tried to warn where they will attack but this seems to have been ineffective – the warnings have been used by Hamas not to move people away from danger but to use Palestinians as human shields putting them right into the line of fire. Hamas can then manipulate the statistics for their own propaganda.

          2. It must seem to many Palestinians that Hamas and Israel are on the same side. Both are extremely toxic and hard to shift. Their common intention is to perpetuate the suffering, and their propaganda each serves the other’s. Since I am on the side of neither, I weight each accordingly, and try to look at the facts. If I am in any camp, it is with the ancient Christian communities that are being hammered by both the Islamists and the Zionists. I personally do not care if they live in Palestine or in Israel, but do care about the breakdown in humanity that will rebound elsewhere if we persist in setting a woeful example.

            Constant warnings to move on, again and again, in a very limited space, do not mean much if the place where you are being directed to is no safer than the place you have come from. As for any Hamas operatives still in Gaza (most of the militants would have fled to their Arab sanctuaries, leaving mostly civil administrators such as medics, and organised criminals), then where do they hide, which does not contain civilians, bearing in mind that if they go where the Israelis direct them, they may as well be standing a sitting duck in no-man’s land with a target on their backs?

            One thing that does haunt me, comes from a subplot in an episode of ‘Yes Minister’ whereby an intractable diplomatic problem is sorted out by consulting the Israeli ambassador, who is not only wise, but extremely good at sorting out problems. A valuable friend indeed!

      2. What's your source of information regarding Gaza, Jeremy? You seem better informed than most.

          1. I was thinking more like how Hamas are thinking. Do they have their own website, newsletter, whatever? I'd like to compare their take on things with that reported spun in Western media, no longet known for it's open and truthful approach to reporting news.

          2. What I can get access to is this: From https://www.aftenposten.no/verden/i/Mnl3p5/hamas-avviser-israelsk-stoettet-vaapenhvileforslag
            Here is the translation into UK English by ChatGPT:

            **Hamas considers the proposal**
            Earlier on Thursday, Hamas stated that it was considering the proposal.

            "The leadership of Hamas has received Witkoff's new proposal from the mediators and is now assessing it responsibly, in a way that serves the interests of our people, provides humanitarian aid, and establishes a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip," the group said in a statement.

            According to *The Times of Israel*, Hamas is disappointed because the proposal does not include a guarantee that a ceasefire will be permanent. Nor does it involve Israel withdrawing from Gaza.

            **Approves new settlements in the West Bank**
            On the same day as discussions are taking place regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has approved 22 new settlements in the West Bank.

            This was announced by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, according to Reuters.

            The move comes despite threats of sanctions from countries including the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are in violation of international law.

          3. I think they may be a bit preoccupied right now, relying on whatever they can smuggle out to independent war reporters around. Al Jazeera may be a useful source. Since Israeli roadblocks forbid the entry of foreign journalists, we have to rely mostly on anecdotal evidence and footage taken on smartphones.

            I see a direct similarity between Hamas and the IRA. They are both fighting more powerful neighbouring overlords, claiming their own people’s right to self-determination, and both resort to provocative and often futile attacks to get their point across, and are a great irritation. They also have a paramilitary wing and a political wing (Sinn Fein), the latter being democratic and can be landed with the responsibilities of office. They also both have a strong religious element that conflicts with that of their foe.

            The IRA have assassinated a number of important people, such as the last Viceroy of India and a very close mentor to our present King, and a man who (Airey Neave) was involved with the Nuremburg trials and a very close mentor to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who herself was victim to an attempted assassination. If I recall, Yitzhak Rabin, an Israeli Prime Minister, was killed not by Hamas, but by zealots from the Israeli camp.

            I like therefore to compare and contrast the attitude and behaviour of the British armed forces during the Troubles, with that of the IDF in a similar position in Gaza.

        2. I reckon jM gets his information from Hamas propaganda, considering how biased and inaccurate it is. I've given up challenging him on the foul anti-Semitic falsehoods that he posts continually.

      3. If Hamas gave up their arms there'd be no more fighting – if Israel gave up their arms there'd be no more Israel

    2. Another eight hundred lawyers and academics who live in cloud cuckoo land. They should be directing their venom towards the causes of the problem in Gaza. Hamas and Iran.
      Not blaming the Jewish state because they are defending themselves and making a good job of it.

    3. O/T About 40 souls showed up at Wilton Windmill last evening, plus four dogs but no spaniels to sing to. {:^))

  8. 406529+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    What is posing as a "government" currently has no mind changing capacity it operates according to offshore orders.

    We either form a massive pressure, stop the boats today group,
    or go for damage limitations, and try to contain praying to allah at three times a day.

    The only reality at this moment in time within GB is the daily killing of innocents both physically and mentally.

    David Frost
    Only radical action can block Britain’s path to penury
    What is to be done? Here is a programme for a change-minded government

    Dt,

    David Frost
    Only radical action can block Britain’s path to penury
    What is to be done? Here is a programme for a change-minded government

    1. A bit of advice to point me in tye right direction if you can.
      A tree outside the boundary of our property had cause a lot of damage to our boundary brick wall. The land the tree is on belongs to the company who built our bungalow in the 70s but has been maintained by our local council.
      Should I talk to the company, the council or a solicitor to get it reinstated alternatively Citizens Advice or small claims court if they all play pass the parcel.

      1. The owner of the tree is responsible. If the land is still owed by the developer company, then it is they whom you should approach.

        (Remember that it is 30 years since I had anything t do with actual legal work).

        1. Thank you Bill that was my initial thought but the law works in mysterious ways.

          1. No sweat. So much has it changed that I would not be surprised to discover that all the law I was taught has been stood on its head.

  14. Morning, all Y'all.
    Cloudy. Snowed above 500 metres in south central Norway last night.

    1. Who remember the old,
      "Max Factor knacker lacquer,
      Gives your cluster extra lustre"?

  16. Morning All 🙂😊
    High cloud forecast for a sunny day 20 degrees.
    I can't be bothered to make comments about starmer, he's not worth the effort of all the finger parts. ✌️ that will do.

    1. I prefer the Merkin version – one central raised finger. Takes less effort!

  17. One of the few time's I've downvoted someone on here Jeremy.
    The IDF go out of their way to avoid civilian casualties.
    Unfortunately those civilian casualties are unavoidable given their use as human shields and propaganda fodder.

    1. But it does make for terrible "optics" – dead children all over the place. Can't be any fun for the IDF ground forces, either, seeing that kind of horror.
      I understand that Hamas rejected the latest US ceasefire proposal – likely as it required Hamas giving up hostages. Don't know the conditions placed on the IDF, likley to stop shooting and admit aid, possibly the UN. If Hamas were to give up the hostages (their only bargaining chip) then the fighting and killing could cease, and more Gazans will be alive tomorrow than otherwise.
      My thoughts are that Hamas see sufficient support in their position that they don't want to stop fighting, that the IDF killing civilians is OK by them as it helps their propaganda position as being the insulted party in this, Israel being the bully. Just like the cases when they shoot ino Israel from behind a school or hospital, knowing the IDF use a shock and awe approach to retaliation and many innocents will die – I've written several times to ask taht Israel change their response, and was delighted by the mobile phone bombs. That was excellent!
      If the US told Israel to ceasefire, then they would, as that's the source of their support and money. Cut that off, and they'd be screwed. But both sides need to give up something, not just one sided.

      1. Fron what I can find, it was a 60-days ceasefire dependent on the release of the 10 living hostages and the bodies of the dead, and Hamas didn't like it because it wasn't permanenet.
        Hate to break it to them, but permanenet ceasefire is the same as a peace agreement. The 60 days are to allow breathing space and negotiation of a more accurate long-term agreement, with the time limit to ensure that one side doesn't just drag it out forever.
        It looks to me that Hamas are relying on worldwide sympathy to stop Israel, but I doubt that will work. They should have accepted: resumption of hostilities, if done by Israel, would have strengthened Hamas' position noticeably. Of course, that would mean Hamas not shooting rockets into Israel, or taking more hostages, during the period, a habit they seem to find hard to break.

    2. Why then do they corral them into “safe spaces” only to bomb them on the pretext that they might be harbouring Hamas operatives? Has all the merciful intent of a cat playing with a mouse!

      I am appalled by the numerous uptickers and despair of humanity sometimes.

  18. I smell a rat. “a former Royal Marine and father of 3 has been charged after allegedly ploughing into fans during the Liverpool parade crash”.

    1. It seems strange to me that a former Royal Marine would panic as has been suggested. Perhaps he has PTSD.

        1. Also a possibility. It happened to my Gran and she ploughed into a wall – lucky not to hit the house behind it.

          1. When I worked on the boats, I was called in to investigate an incident on a canal near Nottingham. Canaltime was a timeshare company specialising in holiday narrowboat cruising, and had a fleet of 150 boats at the time. They have since gone bust.

            The yard had neglected the front bump stop – a bit of rope or cork at the front to protect the boat when banging into bridges – leaving a spike up for'ard.

            A guest panicked when approaching some moored boats and pushed the power leaver the wrong way, going hard forward, rather into reverse. There was a very new, very posh aluminium-hulled leisure cruiser called the 'Malibu', which the narrowboat rammed amidships, leaving a huge spike-shaped hole in the hull. It was all rather obvious, and not easy really to deny.

          2. There’s a TV prog on called Caught on Dash Cam.
            Those sort of incidents are rife.
            I wonder if that car had a dash cam ?

      3. As he is white and a former soldier and has an exemplary history – they will throw the book at him.

    2. Good morning LIR and everyone.
      Who could forget the fate of Corporal David Wood and Corporal Derek Howes back in 1988?
      Not condoning the accused's alleged actions, but it was interesting to see the quantities of litter after the street had been cleared of soccer fans.

      1. Looking at the films, it would seem that Liverpool 'fans' have same approach to life as the NI thugs.

        1. Back in the seventies when I regularly visited Liverpool I recall watching a street march, reminiscent of the marches which are a regular event in Northern Ireland. All down at heel
          ruffians trying to look smart and in step with each other.

          I always assumed Liverpool to have a large Irish contingent.

    1. The very sound of his voice sends my blood pressure soaring up to the ceiling.
      I can no longer listen to his smart arsy, put down approach to anyone who dares to question him.
      It would seem that even Beeboids and the Grauniad have had enough.

  22. He has no defence Ogga.
    He's also employed similar people to himself to stand alongside him.

  23. Ok. Next one. A letter criticising the Environment Agency cutting back riverbanks and roadsides to within an inch of their lives. The point the letter-writer makes is that the Agency puts badgers above ground-nesting birds.

    I have to declare an interest. If required to chose between badgers and anything, i would chose anything all day every day*. Including hedgehogs and ground-nesting birds.

    *. Edit. On reflection, i take badgers over our current Government and illegal immigrants and criminal asylum seekers (sic).

    1. The difference is that badgers are not and will never be aware that humans don't particularly like them.
      This week out in our car, sadly I've seen two dead badgers, a deer and several pheasants and at least three hedge hogs in the gutters.

      1. Yes, Eddy…countryside animals killed by traffic, people don't even pull over and move the dead animal to one side…leaving other vehicles to flatten them. Pretty sad.

    2. I think badgers can eat ground nesting bird eggs, so there will be fewer of those if badgers proliferate. Badgers also eat a lot of earthworms, potentially making soil less healthy. Badgers have very few enemies, they will fight quite ferociously if cornered. A number of years ago, they were the focus of causing tb in cattle, which wasn't true but many were gassed. I like them very much, they made a couple of setts here, with difference entrances – one of which is for their latrine, they are very clean animals. Not seen them for a few years, hoping they return.

      1. Powerful diggers, badgers. Firstborn had a sett on his farm, undermining the orchard. I dropped a large stone into the entrance, and the buggers just dug their way through the roof, leaving a gaping hole, and left to somewhere else. Good.
        Our neibouring suburm, very snooty, had a badger enter an old lady's house through the cat flap last week. The Wild Animal Authorities were called, trapped it and took it away, but only after it had trashed her kitchen, trying to escape.

        1. They're very powerful animals. A few years ago, one of my terriers caught a baby badger and turned it on its back. Luckily I heard the baby crying and ran out the house to pull her off it…mother badger barrelling up from the sett, not a doubt she'd have killed the dog. Neighbourhood farmer was fined for polluting local river putting cattle sewage into it, so started putting it down badger sett instead. Badgers welcome here far as I'm concerned, sufficient space. Guessing your neighbour claimed on insurance for new kitchen, every cloud etc……

        2. When I was in my teens, I went on a field course.
          The people running it had a young badger that they kept in the kitchen.
          It had shredded every cupboard, door and skirting board.

          1. Old poor old now not very well mentally Para friend ( nearly ninety ) told Moh and I that years ago during WW2 , a certain local pub used to serve badger meat , and he told me that it was preserved the way pork meat is , turning it into ham , and which the locals used to find very tasty as a meat substitute! (Moreton, Dorset)

  24. Good morning, all. Fair start to the day here and the forecast is for more of the same.

    Re the Liverpool tragedy, LIR, comment below, smells a rat and I'm a bit confused now that a man has been charged.

    My confusion is created from the alleged pictures of the dark haired driver of the car put up on X; also on X, the balding man pinioned on the ground on the passenger side of the vehicle and sprayed with some noxious substance by the police; the picture of the balding charged man, and finally, was someone covered and bundled into police van MP33 from the driver's side of the vehicle? The video isn't that clear but plenty of police milling around that side of the vehicle.

    Is the charged man the same man who was pinioned and sprayed by the police?

  25. 406529+ up ticks,

    I take that to mean it has the honest content to make indigenous peoples smile / laugh in an appreciative manner.

    Long may it reign.

    Dt,
    Clarkson’ s Farm, ep 5 & 6, review: more Carry On Cotswolds than Countryfile
    The Amazon Prime Video series continues with Jeremy reminding us that the show, for all its educational value, is really a living sitcom

  26. Today FSB has a writer new to us, published author KM Breakey who asks What Will Become of the White South African? This is an important question as it also affects us as we are in the front line of the Globalist attack on national identity and the white races generally. Please do read and leave a comment.

    Grumpy Graham Bedford givesinsights into his Grimbarian ancestry in The Downside of Tracing Your Family Tree . As you may imagine, the Bedfords of Grimsby seem to have been a cantankerous crowd. Please read and leave a comment, and let us now about your ancestry, regardless!

    Zhang Yingyue's, Chinese Jews and the Politics of Presence article about the thousand year presence of Jews in China and their prospects today is a must read folks, and don't forget to leave a comment. You'll probably learn something and, as an added bonus, it'll keep me out of the dog house.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 6.9%; Solar,7.1%: Wind 51.3%; Imports, 10.2%; Biomass, 6.1%, Nuclear 16.2% and Miscellaneous, 2.1%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Here in northeast Spain deep in the interior high predicted 38 degrees. Very sunny

  28. Beebsplaining
    12h
    Convenient the Liverpool driver was charged this evening as surely 2tier's skipfire of a speach would be headlines tonight 🤔
    "Addressing the Prime Minister simply as “Keir”, their man asked: “…on the wider issue of the opposition you’re now facing, do you think one of the problems is that Nigel Farage can approximate talking like a human being where you just resort to talking points and dodging questions"😳

    Who asked this, GBnews🤔 some faar right blogger🤔 No, The Guardian 😳

    He's toast

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2409220179e012b63471d1b5061e4cc415538a75c592452f42caef110479aed3.png

  30. First ten letters only one correct – next line 100%
    Wordle 1,441 3/6

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    1. Beat me.

      Wordle 1,441 4/6

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      2. Wasn't St George a Palestinian crusader? In which case, a red cross on a white background may also be equally valid.

        1. No, he wasn't. He was born in the third century AD in Cappadocia, which was Roman then and is now Turkey. The crusades were more than 700 years later and Cappadocia was never in Syria Palaestina.

          3. I've never heard of the Cappadocians – have I missed an episode of Startrek?

          8. Wiki has…

            "Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃəˌ -ˈdoʊkiə/; Turkish: Kapadokya, from Ancient Greek: Καππαδοκία) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir province.

            According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying a region from the Taurus Mountains to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea).[1] Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of mountains that separate it from Cilicia, to the east by the upper Euphrates, to the north by the Pontus, and to the west by Lycaonia and eastern Galatia.[2]"

          11. I have already watched Galaxy Quest quite a few times – got the DVD.😉

          12. Alan Rickman is a joy to watch.

            By Grabthar's Hammer, by the Suns Of Warvan, you shall be avenged.

          13. That reminds me – I must charge the battery for my rudimentary lathe.

    2. Is flag flying an offence?

      I certainly take exception to the rainbow 'Pride' monstrosity that is routinely flown in town centres these days, and I have reservations about the EU flag sometimes. However, I have myself flown the Kurdish flag in my garden in solidarity with those who cleared Syria of Islamic State and their plight with the Neo-Ottomans in Afrin. I have also flown the flag of St George, which so upset Lady Nugee once.

      It is a part of the democtatic process to signify support for a political party during an election campain, and is a good indication of local support when considering how to vote.

      I agree that flag flying, and objecting to the flag flying of others, is a benign way to express an opinion, and should not involve the police.

    2. There are warnings now to close your curtains because of health issues during hot spells.

      We close the curtains during times like this so we can see the TV screen whilst playing games.🙂

      1. These people are the worst of all. Trying to frighten people with their rubbish.

        1. They are just trying to frighten us by saying its curtains for us all – pull the other one!

    1. Even Starmer's shadow lies.

      The truth is he is more of a limpet than a stiffy!

  35. Good morning everyone .

    Mild day here , husband golfing .

    On Wednesday I had my appointment with the dentist to have my stitches removed from my gum after my rear molar removal 2 weeks ago .. 4 stitches! The dental practise I use is based in Poole, I have been a patient for years , my Denplan scheme has been running since Denplan started decades ago, and the subscription has escalated substantially over the decades , so even though I visit quarterly , extra charges are added , and my molar extraction which was then reclassified as a surgical intervention had a fee attached !

    Whilst I was waiting in the waiting room , and the nice thing about visiting an area which has a variety of European nationalities , and Chinese, ( one of the hygienists is the daughter of a Ghurkha ) a young chap was waiting for his check up, pleasant , sociable and clever..

    The chap was a Romanian , and Romania have just come through a rather tumultuous time re their elections .

    The young man told me that their fear of an unstable Putin resulted in a Liberal minded new President Nicusor Dan who promised more support for the Ukraine , but felt unhappy with the open borders and the country being flooded with non EU migrants .

    He also claimed that although it was okay to support Nato, but the EU were strangling the country with high bills , and corruption and the lack of jobs were crippling the economy in Romania , plus right wing politics were creating a negative effect on the country .

    The chap in the waiting room said he was an IT engineer , and Britain offered more opportunities than back home in Romania.

    Our conversation was interesting , but the great fear of Moldova and Romania was the instability of Putiin and his future plans .

    What do I know , short conversations are always interesting, aren't they .

    PS , my mouth still needs another couple of weeks to recover properly , but alt least I can chatter properly again!!!

    1. Perhaps you could consider changing your dentist.
      Denplan charges are graded on the state of your teeth. If your dentist is looking after them correctly you shouldn't be seeing year on year increases.

      1. The start time of Denplan is graded – and I have been with Denplan for years and previously the former owner of the practice had their own scheme. My teeth have been well cared for over my life – I have few fillings (apart from disputed ones which my original dentist did as fissure sealants when I was a teenager – I lost that battle and they all counted as fillings for Denplan purposes).

        My point is that from that start time my annual subscription goes up every year and is now costing me £35 per month. I have had no treatment in recent years apart from twice yearly hygenist descaling & polishing, and occasional x-rays. I see both the hygenist and the dentist twice yearly.

        1. Every 3 months in my case and the hygienist appointment is 20 minutes for a similar price.

  36. Good morning everyone .

    Mild day here , husband golfing .

    On Wednesday I had my appointment with the dentist to have my stitches removed from my gum after my rear molar removal 2 weeks ago .. 4 stitches! The dental practise I use is based in Poole, I have been a patient for years , my Denplan scheme has been running since Denplan started decades ago, and the subscription has escalated substantially over the decades , so even though I visit quarterly , extra charges are added , and my molar extraction which was then reclassified as a surgical intervention had a fee attached !

    Whilst I was waiting in the waiting room , and the nice thing about visiting an area which has a variety of European nationalities , and Chinese, ( one of the hygienists is the daughter of a Ghurkha ) a young chap was waiting for his check up, pleasant , sociable and clever..

    The chap was a Romanian , and Romania have just come through a rather tumultuous time re their elections .

    The young man told me that their fear of an unstable Putin resulted in a Liberal minded new President Nicusor Dan who promised more support for the Ukraine , but felt unhappy with the open borders and the country being flooded with non EU migrants .

    He also claimed that although it was okay to support Nato, but the EU were strangling the country with high bills , and corruption and the lack of jobs were crippling the economy in Romania , plus right wing politics were creating a negative effect on the country .

    The chap in the waiting room said he was an IT engineer , and Britain offered more opportunities than back home in Romania.

    Our conversation was interesting , but the great fear of Moldova and Romania was the instability of Putiin and his future plans .

    What do I know , short conversations are always interesting, aren't they .

    PS , my mouth still needs another couple of weeks to recover properly , but alt least I can chatter properly again!!!

  37. One of our more adventurous Jack Russells wandered off from the house and entered a badger set across the field.
    Thinking back, we were lucky that he merely needed a visit to the vet for a slice across his scalp.

    1. Direct Stena ferry service Liverpool- Belfast and everyone on board is drunk.

      1. Do I need your permission, jeremy? I upticked it because that is what has been happening!

        1. I cannot see it on Bob's comment though. Maybe it's been censored after an AI sweep on my comments? This is what I can see:

          "Bob of Bonsall 27 minutes ago

          A good summary of what is causing the food crisis in Gaza. "

          That's it.

          1. Right, OK.
            If you do not wish to watch the attached video, then fair enough.
            But do not expect me to spoon-feed you a summary.

          2. I cannot see the attached video. I don't know what you are using to upload it, but it is not showing here. I do block a number of malware javascripts when web developers do not have the decency to report what they are.

            It is bad netiquette anyway to rely on videos alone to make a point. Why should posters demand someone spend time trawling through videos for something that should, on a discussion forum, be expressed in a couple of lines of succinct text?

            I could play Cathy Newman, and second-guess, based on other posts you have made, and likely reporting from your camp, and comment accordingly, but first I wait for someone with the courtesy to offer a summary.

          3. Summary
            Hamas are stealing food, Hamas are blocking food supplies, Hamas are selling food given as aid, Hamas are shooting their own people trying to feed themselves, Hamas are telling people not to accept food.
            There you have it.

          7. Unlike Starmer’s government and particularly Hamas I don’t believe Truss set out to harm any section of the population.

          8. It's an X/Twitter video.
            I can see it here in Norway.
            The commentary is:
            "Hamas has stolen aid & blocked food access for months. When the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stepped in, Hamas spread lies to sabotage their efforts.

            This isn’t just a humanitarian crisis—it’s the result of Hamas’ complete control over Gaza."

          9. What food aid? It’s reported here in England that humanitarian aid has been held back for months by Israeli roadblocks at the border, who seem rather more effective at controlling aid lorries that they were of vicious Hamas-led fighters going the other way and back again after killing or kidnapping a number of political opponents to the Knesset Coalition.

            What food aid has the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation actually provided, and what military escort were they given or allowed to prevent looting, not least from rogue gangs, Hamas or otherwise? If not Hamas, then who on the Palestinian side has authority to distribute aid, and what protection have they got?

          13. As I said, that option is not open to me.

            Why are you turning so offensive on what is supposed to be a friendly forum?

          14. Words sometimes do not translate to print, jeremy. You were very peremptory.

          15. You were not rude Sue, that was a surprising and ridiculous thing for Jeremy to so casually throw out.

    2. Hamas have openly stated they are fine with martyrs from the civilian population in fighting their jihad. The soft headed West cannot comprehend the fundamentally alien philosophy they are dealing with.

  41. GB News Headliners to be axed soon? I watched it last night and the comedians seemed almost euphoric (recently there had been an atmosphere of impending doom) which leads me to believe the crisis is over

  42. Labour Minister Doubles Down on Hermer’s Comparison of ECHR Critics to Nazis

    Education minister Catherine McKinnell has doubled down on attorney general and Starmer’s Chagos surrender chum Richard Hermer’s claim yesterday that those who call to quit the ECHR are comparable to Nazis. Hermer said at the defence think tank RUSI yesterday:

    “The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when the conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by ‘realist’ jurists in Germany most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law. Because of the experience of what followed 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.”

    Questioned on Times Radio over the comments, McKinnell backed Hermer on his “thoughtful” speech, claiming that comparing ECHR critics to Nazis is a “characterisation“:

    “He gave a quite thoughtful speech about international law, about the UK’s place and upholding it, but also how we bring it forward into the current day and really support international law. Talk about withdrawing from international law only helps people like those who prefer a lawless world.”

    All this comes just weeks after Starmer launched his much-vaunted ‘immigration white paper’, promising to explore changing the law on how Article 8 of the ECHR – the right to a family life – is applied in immigration cases. Though if Hermer’s comments – supported by Labour ministers – are anything to go by, co-conspirators can safely assume that was just more waffle. Starmer’s lefty lawyer friend has truly let the mask slip…

    30 May 2025 @ 08:33

    *****************************

    Richard
    2h
    The ICJ ruled against the UK over the Chagos Islands, presiding was the Chinese judge Xue Hanqin, who was a Chinese diplomat and CCP party member.
    By blindly accepting the advisory ruling, Starmer and Hermer are without doubt in the service of a hostile, foreign agent and are therefore ipso facto traitors!

    RodPudney
    2h
    Why do some people insist that foreigners are superior to the British? They want us to be in the EU so that our parliament is neutered and believe that international law trumps our legal system which has evolved over centuries.
    Specifically re: the ECHR, it might have started with noble intentions but when it says that a rapist can't be deported it's clearly not working correctly.

    Pincushion
    2h
    Everyone who doesn't agree with the metropolitan blob is a Natzee, it's 6th form debating room stuff. I've discussed this with left wing friends before, that calling everyone a Natzee actually creates more Natzees, it creates a culture where legitimate rightish opinions are described in extremist terminology, so you basically radicalize normal people, enabling real Nazteeism to flourish.

    1. Ah. International law. 'Lawyers' who are accountable to no one tell democratic states that they must take dangerous 'refugees' in their many tens of thousands lest they be damned as rogue states based on Nazi-like foundations.

      Quis custodiet and all that…

    2. I could be a Nazi i suppose but then i would have to change my politics to the Left.

    3. So, that's the new idea, is it? Stop the illegal immigration, and you're a nazi looking to start a world war?
      Eff 'em.

    4. Hermer.. Lammy.. then Rayner.. in that order.
      Way worse than Starmer.

      "They should be made to wear the triple badge of shame of the 3Ps for deliberately undercutting a national position in negotiation with a foreign power. It puts them in the same category as Jeremy Corbyn and his consortium of IRA terrotists."
      David Starkey

      1. Paul Goodman
        The hard-Left are back, and ready to seize power

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/05/29/TELEMMGLPICT000405911100_17485433634840_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=1280 John McDonnell is toying with the idea of a putsch – or failing that, a green, socialist, Islamist alliance

        Politicians are adrift. They don’t know how to tell people the truth without frightening the horses – and perhaps it’s not surprising. Countries with ageing populations, low growth and high migration are unhappy ones, especially if, like Britain, they are running a trade deficit, debt at nearly 100 per cent of GDP, and a budget deficit all at once. We spend more on servicing our debt than on defence. This is unsustainable. Sooner rather than later, the bailiffs will come with the bill.

        Enter Labour. Its solution to these problems, during last year’s election campaign, was a single word: change. Or, to put it another way, throw out the Conservatives. Once they’ve gone, renewal can begin. Not just because Labour values are better than Tory ones, but because Labour people are, too. Nicer, kinder, gentler, they would – by their mere presence in government – generate national recovery. The result was spectacular: Labour won 411 seats. Two hundred and thirty one of those MPs were new to Parliament – over half.

        Now imagine yourself as one of them – elected, as you saw it, to distribute ever-larger subsidies to your grateful constituents (paid for by the taxes of those who don’t vote for you). First of all, you were ordered, in the wake of your triumph at the polls, to tramp through the lobbies in support of the two-child benefit cap – and told that if you didn’t, you would lose the whip. Next, only a few days later, came the news that this new Labour Government would cut the winter fuel allowance.

        Finally, some six months later, it was announced that £5 billion would be saved annually from the welfare bill by measures including reassessments for incapacity benefits for those capable of work, and the focusing of some disability benefits on those with higher needs. Your response would doubtless be – as many of theirs surely was – to look hard at yourself in the mirror. Did you really come into Parliament for this? To boost child poverty, let needy pensioners freeze and take away support from disabled people?

        Enter John McDonnell, once Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow chancellor. Like Corbyn, he’s a man of the hard Left. Unlike him, he won his seat in Hayes and Harlington under the Labour banner last year, only to lose the whip a few weeks later for voting against the two-child benefit cap.

        Earlier this week, he surfaced to call for a change of leadership: “Unless party members, affiliated unions and MPs stand up and assert themselves to take back control of Labour … we may not only lose a government. We could also lose a party.”

        McDonnell is an old stager who has been active in the Labour movement for most of his adult life, has sat in Parliament for over a quarter of a century, and is marinated in the arcana of the party’s rulebook, trade union networks and culture. He has nothing to lose and an acute sense of timing: shark-like, he can smell blood in the water. Last week, Sir Keir Starmer conceded that the winter fuel allowance cuts will be ameliorated. Don’t know where, don’t know when – but it will happen.

        This looked rushed. And it was. The classic means of executing a U-turn is to reverse the original decision: humiliating, certainly; expensive, usually – but at least closing down the problem (whatever it may have been) and moving events on. Instead, speculation will now run on: how many pensioners will gain from concessions? What will they be? How many will still lose out? The same destabilising process is at work over the two-child benefit cap. Sir Keir now says that Labour will “look at all options, always, of driving down child poverty”.

        He is caught in a trap of his own devising. By campaigning on the basis of change – but without a worked-through conception of what the change would be – Labour sacrificed depth for breadth. An Old Labour-type plan would have won the party fewer seats, but given it a clearer mandate. A New Labour-style plan might well have achieved the same. Instead, Sir Keir finds himself with New Labour-flavoured fiscal rules but Old Labour spending commitments. Something has to give.

        As it does, Labour will move further Left – under pressure from greens, independents, Islamists and the instincts of his own MPs. No wonder Angela Rayner, burnishing her own leadership credentials, is proposing further tax rises.

        And, let’s face it, McDonnell has a point: “The public got view of the distasteful sight of Labour ministers accepting gifts, tickets and donations from the rich and corporate carpetbaggers,” he wrote.

        There’s the rub. Labour people are no less vain, weak and vulnerable than anyone else – a lesson for its MPs to take to heart, as public contempt threatens to overwhelm them.

        **************************

        Arthur Gibson
        1 min ago
        Once the arson case gets underway, Starmer will be out. The Labour left knows this, and they’re jockeying for position, hoping to use the parliamentary majority for their own agenda. We’re heading for difficult times.

        1. The arson case will go through without any reference to Cur Ikea – except that he was the unfortunate, innocent victim.

          1. Oh the poor, wee, bairn with the face of an angel. So very unfair. I agree that he may not be mentioned in court but He'll be Ooot.

        2. "Not just because Labour values are better than Tory ones, but because Labour people are, too. Nicer, kinder, gentler, they would – by their mere presence in government – generate national recovery. The result was spectacular: Labour won 411 seats."

          Labour didn't win the election. It was given to them.

  44. I get the vid to play directly or it is avail on X. Sometime there seems to be hiccup in the system. Essentially, it talks about how Hamas controls the food supply. As an aside, I dont recall seeing a skinny terrorist on tv in Gaza.

    1. Thanks for that. I do not subscribe to X and was never on Twitter either. I find most social media horrible and getting worse each time they "upgrade" and introduce Cloud AI. I have even largely given up on Facebook now.

      As regards the food situation in Gaza, it is quite likely that in the breakdown of all civil administration in the province, due to comprehensive bombardment and constant shifting of population, organised crime has taken over and is largely stealing any aid that is allowed through the roadblocks. Of course, those in power are not going to go short, and this applies as much to Hamas as it does to the occupying troops, well supplied from across the border.

      That which does make it through is subjected to a crowd of desperate and hungry people who have lost all sense of civility and will just grab what they can. It is something I read about when visiting Auschwitz – if you wanted to survive, conscience flew out of the window, and it was all about grabbing and cheating.

      The Israelis themselves are using food as bait to entice the population south, so they can fence off the Northern real estate and then bomb the enemy population in their ghettos until they agree to disappear somewhere. It is just another example of the organised criminality that has overwhelmed this hapless and hopeless place.

      What it requires is a UN presence with sufficient force to over-rule Hamas and the Israelis and distribute whatever aid it feels is required. This violates the basic rule of Siege though – it is pointless conducting a siege when well-meaning outsiders are dropping food parcels onto the besieged.

      The question therefore is whether the UN accepts that Siege is a valid tactic of battle, and if they don't, what they intend to do about it.

      2. I was expelled from twitter some years ago. I was offered a return for a couple of "hail Marys" but decided that trying to prove a point in limited words with others who have entrenched ideas is an entire waste of time. So I remain outside the , but I can see links if others put them up but cannot log on and see or write comments.

      1. https://x.com/HonestReporting/status/1928133438902596062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1928133438902596062%7Ctwgr%5Ec9352276a62de58af2a51811a34dc0902c921e42%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dnottlt_i%3D496020https3A2F2Fnttl.blog2F3Fp3D4960t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fnttl.blog2Ffriday-30-may-sir-keir-starmer-is-in-no-position-to-give-lectures-on-economics2Ft_e%3DFriday203020May3A20Sir20Keir20Starmer20is20in20no20position20to20give20lectures20on20economicst_d%3DFriday203020May3A20Sir20Keir20Starmer20is20in20no20position20to20give20lectures20on20economicst_t%3DFriday203020May3A20Sir20Keir20Starmer20is20in20no20position20to20give20lectures20on20economicss_o%3Ddefaultversion%3D3eb2dc1b3e781d0381eac86715ab5f89

        1. Likewise (also with Phizee). I think Elon Musk has sunsetted my system!

          It’s the same principle as stopping someone paying for something with cash, because the requirement these days is to use cyber currency with a smartphone. I refuse to pay, so I don’t get to see the video. No great loss, probably.

        2. Not much different from parts of Africa, where the local big wigs grab all the food aid and then sell it to those it was meant for.

          1. I’d leave them all to stew.

            If their “leaders” had spent a fraction of the trillions of aid lavished in the last 70 years, they would have have running water, mains sewerage, decent schools to age 18 and be prosperous and successful countries instead of the cesspits we know them actually to be,

    1. Hugo Boss is so old school.

      The Dolly wears Prada.

      Harry is into Abercrombie & Fitch and the less said about that the better.

  47. Who knows? Hence my earlier comment about the unreliability of western media – and other media too.

  48. I'm feeling it.. Royal Marines regiment to be disbanded or DEI'd and the green beret banned.

    3. I have noticed a recent tendency to refer to "beRAY" – in the american usage. "Berry" is the right UK way.

      1. Should not the French pronunciation be the correct way? It being a French/Basque word.

  50. Narzty piece of work

    Attorney General forced to apologise for Nazi jibe

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2025/05/30/TELEMMGLPICT000415917869_17486037927890_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq7H6oUbwr7wd6naou-GYD8yBUes88cTWvvF7AGGDEzWs.jpeg?imwidth=1280
    Lord Hermer had said calls for UK to quit international agreements echoed emands by legal experts in 1930s Germany

    Charles Hymas
    Home Affairs Editor
    30 May 2025 12:34pm BST
    The Attorney General has apologised for “clumsy” remarks after comparing Tory and Reform calls to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to 1930s Nazi Germany.

    Speaking at the Rusi defence think tank on Thursday, Lord Hermer said calls for the UK to quit international agreements echoed similar demands by legal experts in 1930s Germany, who rejected international law and human rights in favour of state power.

    It sparked an outcry from leading Tories and Reform UK MPs, who called it disgraceful.

    On Friday, a spokesman for Lord Hermer said: “The Attorney General gave a speech defending international law, which underpins our security, protects against threats from aggressive states like Russia and helps tackle organised immigration crime.

    “He rejects the characterisation of his speech by the Conservatives. He acknowledges, though, that his choice of words was clumsy and regrets having used this reference.”

    On Thursday, Lord Hermer told the audience of senior security and defence experts that Labour’s approach to foreign policy of progressive realism was “a rejection of the siren song that can sadly now be heard in the Palace of Westminster, not to mention the press, that Britain abandons the constraints of international law in favour of raw power”.

    He said: “This is not a new song. The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes but can be put aside when the conditions change is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by ‘realist’ jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law.

    “Because of the experience of what followed 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.”

    Mr Schmitt is seen as an authoritarian conservative theorist who was a vocal critic of parliamentary democracy and liberalism. He supported the Nazi party, joining it in 1933, with his theories about state power providing ideological justification for the regime. He later fell from favour and was removed from official positions in the party.

    1. Remarkably stupid and insensitive man – even by the standards of most lawyers.

      1. So insufferably full of himself – even by the standards of most lawyers. {:^))

        How are your red ants today?

      1. So did Lucy Connolly apologise – fat lot of good it did her.

        Surely 'Lord' Hermer has done just as much, if not more, to incite hatred than Lucy Connolly did?

        1. Vile Harmer has done a wicked thing, and has got away with it. An absolutely evil man.

    3. Does he not know that the Nazis were hard Left? Or, like many Lefty people, is he pretending they were right wing and just slurring those he disagrees with?

      Heck even his playbook is tedious: accuse others of what you are. He doesn't know his history.

    1. Being 37% Irish, I always have some lucky white heather I could sell to you at a very reasonable price.

  53. French politicians have cancelled ULEZ zones all over France, wow, Trump still winning.
    Will some globalist environmental court tell them they are breaking the law?

    1. In Crawley
      now
      OT
      interesting stat doing the rounds, the EU spends more on Russian gas and oil than it gives to Ukraine

  54. Oldie but goodie.. and relevant to today's Andrew Bridgen bombshell tittle-tattle about 2TK.

    George Brown says to PM Harold Wilson "What shall we do about this Homosexual Bill?"
    Just pay it says Wilson.

    Andrew Bridgen teases a connection between three rentboys, Starmer and the assassination of presidential hopefull & Ukrainian lawyer named Andriy Portnov in Madrid.

  55. The other day Hat/Sputnik one/ formerly Pud etc……. told me that he would ask the Disqus admin to restore my upvotes (lost in 2020). i didn't think anything of it – but have just noticed I have 138091 instead of zero.

    Bill T's are back too – 398743. Has everybody got upvotes now?

      1. It seems we all have upvotes now – even Ogga, though his tally is not quite what disqus makes it.

        1. 406529+ up ticks.

          Afternoon N ,
          They trimmed me for 30000 before I went DIY
          if there is a discrepancy favoring me I will consider it as well deserved compo.

    3. I remember losing a lot of upticks around then. Some lefty IT nerd infiltrated Disqus and eliminated upticks for anyone 'Right of Centre' in a feeble effort to get them disqualified from accessing certain websites, or summat like that. I was reduced to a large negative number, I forget what.

    4. No.

      I think he may have looked for names he remembered and acted for them.
      You and I had visited his Sputnik One site, which is why we were first.
      He occasionally visits Nottle to have a quick look but seldom posts nowadays. He's not been very fell for some time.

      2. Did you lose all the upvotes in 2020? Have you just got them back?

        He’s not a well man these days.

        1. I did.
          Hat did it, I'm guessing when a post of mine was held before acceptance as a "zero" a few days ago, just before he did yours.

    3. Buenos dias, Señorita Minty. Como estás esta mañana? (PS – I was getting very worried about you.)

  58. No notice on yesterday's page and I had to go out. I asked around and you had vanished. I thought Ofcom had arrested you all.

    1. Geoff put the notice on today's page by mistake. But I always find if you click the banner at the top "Not the Telegraph Letters" it takes you to the latest page.

    1. Thanks Citroen1….all good, just got back. Vet is excellent, a young women, very organised. Still upset of course, but many happy memories xx

    1. Thanks, Sue…yes all super efficient and kind, vet is a young woman and on the case. Still upsetting to see an old friend go, we’ll meet again I think, just as we did the first time he clocked eyes on me :-))

        2. Handsome boy, kind eye and alert. Looks fit as a fiddle. What breed is he, LIR? and how old is he here?

      4. My condolences, Katie. It’s hard. I still miss my Oscar, although it’s nearly 18 months ago and I only had him just over two and a half years.

        1. They really get into your soul, don’t they. It’s said you’re either a dog person or a cat person. I think we know which one we are. Harry was 15 years middle of March. Spent the evening looking at old photos and videos. I’ve had heart warming messages of support from lovely nottlers and I thank each and every one, made this day easier and I will never forget the kindness shown to me. Kate x

  62. Just finished cutting the grass in the back garden sweating buckets. Strimming the edges next. After a bite to eat and some liquid refreshment.
    There's a good post on Facebook with a cartoon of starmer harmer and kahnt in cuffs being led off by plod.
    It asks what would do if this happened.
    Flag waving (Union Jack's) seems to be just ahead of going to the pub. And it might even annoy enough people to make them leave our country.

    1. A much darker example is the one of the old man standing at the top of some stepladders with a noose in front of him, saying to himself;

      'Now what was it I came up here for?'

    1. "Did I mention my boyfriend's called Zelensky"
      "Yes, you said he was a tool taker"

      "Bond, James Bond"
      "My word, James Bond! My Bond's Basildon, but not worth the paper it's written on.

  65. I see the latest canonised Irishman, St Gerald of Adams has WON his libel suit and been awarded £84,000 in damages (€100,000).

    While it is always pleasing to see the Beeboids kicked in the teeth – I'd have preferred it to be by a decent person rather that a known terrorist.

    2. I presume the Beeb will also have to pick up the legal costs of £2.5 – 4M!!

      The case was held in Dublin – what did they expect ffs…..

      Perhaps they should just ignore the ruling?

          1. Today's challenge is hard/long enough for them to allow two days to complete.
            No not a Starmer Zelensky Macron knobathon

          4. Bugger that, I’m only half decent at TriPeaks – best of luck! Let me know how you get on…..

          5. Urghhh!!!!
            Currently third in group but more mistakes than a Labour government.
            I did discover that rows are important in Pyramid.

        2. We house foreign criminals in 4 and 5 star hotels. Give them preferential health treatments. I don't see this as any different.

    4. The jury obviously believed the lawyers who said he wasn't ever an IRA member, merely a 'peacemaker'.

      A peacemaker with an address book, of course…

  66. Captain Sensible
    5h
    We can dream, but the one thing that the Civil Service is competent at, the one thing that brings out the energy and ingenuity of its members, is expanding and defending its numbers.

    2. Have said for a while, especially since lockdowns…our permanent (and unelected) government, Conservative/Labour are Tweedledee/Tweedledum. What's the point of voting?

    2. Interesting. MoH had a cold a couple of weeks ago with exactly that unusual symptom. She had to put a towel under her head in bed because the nose running didn't stop even when she was trying to sleep and without the towel the pillowcase got soaked.

  71. SpaceX will build the “biggest structure in the world” to house up to 1,000 of its 400ft-tall Starship rockets per year, Elon Musk has claimed.

    The Tesla billionaire and world’s richest man laid out his vision for “making life multiplanetary” in an update at SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas.
    Speaking to staff last night, Mr Musk said the company planned to build a “gigabay”, which he said would be “a truly enormous structure”.
    He said the building, designed for 1,000 Starships per year, would be “by some measures the biggest structure in the world”.

    The first so-called gigabay would be built in Texas, with a further facility in Florida as SpaceX seeks to launch multiple rockets per day in order to reach and colonise Mars.

    Mr Musk has said humans must colonise the Red Planet to avoid potential extinction risks, such as nuclear war or an asteroid strike, and that the colony would need to become self-sustaining.

    He said: “Having two strong, self-sustaining planets will be critical for the long-term survival of civilisation.”

    The billionaire further claimed the company’s Super Heavy booster rockets would one day be able to fly missions “every hour, maybe every two hours give a bit of extra time”. The Super Heavy boosters are the first stage of the Starship rocket. They are designed to be reusable, falling back to Earth after launching.

    He added SpaceX would ultimately need to launch 1,000 to 2,000 rockets to Mars in every two-year window to carry the cargo needed to set up a colony.

    Mr Musk is known for his bold claims and ambitious timelines, including his vision of sending humans to Mars by 2029. He said its first mission could include landing an Optimus robot on Mars.

    Mars is beginning to sound like an attractive proposition especially if all politicians are banned from travelling there!

    1. Was it Graham Hancock thought humans had possibly come from Mars, or possibly Sirius A or B. So maybe we already wrecked it?

    2. OR use a super-gigantic B Ark to put all politicians there?

      Except the real destination is the sun!

    3. At least you could have places of entertainment on Mars. A Moon base just couldn't have had a pub because there's no atmosphere, but a Mars bar has potential.

    8. No mention in all of this about how his ships will deal with deep space radiation levels, which would leave anyone taking an extended trip to Mars not at all well, to put it mildly. Unless he is going to encase them with lead, in which case he's going to need bigger engines.

  73. Poor little one at the rear needs feeding as well. Sadly no getting its share could be doing it a lot of harm.

  75. Wordle No. 1,441 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 30 May 2025

    Jargon for Birdie Three?

    2. Regular second starter word really delivered today – an absolute shoo-in birdie, that's three on the bounce! Wahey!

      Wordle 1,441 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Now – as I have said many times – I simply do not "get" Wordle. I am delighted that so many NoTTLers gain daily pleasure from it.

      My one question. Where has this pale mauve colour come from?

      1. One may opt to play in 'High Contrast Mode', Bill: bright red instead of green and pale blue instead of yellow.

        I have never seen a mauve option; perhaps its for Royalty?

          1. I think that's grey.
            But my colour vision for subtle, let alone fifty, shades isn't good

          3. When did you last have your eyes tested Bill or are you looking at the world through rose coloured glasses.
            Have a pleasant evening.

      2. I'm surprised you dont 'get' Wordle – as I recall you (and please correct me if I'm wrong!) are a big fan of the Times Crossword(s) (like me) and also an avid jigsaw puzzle man (like me) – ergo, you like puzzles generally so why dont you have a go at Wordle – unless of course you just happen to be rubbish at it!! Ha Ha!

        PS There's no pale mauve colour here – you must be pissed…..

    5. late to the party with a par.

      Wordle 1,441 4/6

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

    7. Well done, happy with a symmetrical par.

      Wordle 1,441 4/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
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  76. But to show their readiness to integrate I suspect they will call themselves Marslims?

    2. Living in the Marslums, mayhap?

      I can't see Brother Musk paying them any benefits, so no "pull" factor.

  79. I see that the "Noble Lord" posing as Attorney-General now regrets calling Tories (and others) "Nazis". Reminds me of the Growler calling them "scum" and Aneurin Bevan (you are all too young…) saying they were "vermin".

    Just bog standard Liebour charm.

    2. One would think one so learned he would understand Godwin's law.
      It won't end well. Rent boys fire bombing Starmer will be the least of it.

          1. Think Magistrates Court 6th June, Eddy? My bet, a nothing burger. The Establishment……

        2. A guilty plea for some minor agreed charge. Slap on wrist, rent boys disappear.

        3. More likely the D-Notice as was utilised to cover up the Dunblane shootings in which senior Labour politicians implicated were hiding under cover of their Freemasonic connections.

        4. Someone said they already put their plea in – guilty. So wrist slap and fine, fade away as you say.

    3. I remember Nye. My grandfather, who ran his own business, hated him and Labour with a vengeance.

  80. Another day nearly over. Hard work in the garden – filling pots with soil for the annual "out door display" – mainly Daturas and Thalia fuchsias. I know the MR has other plans which will be realised tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening preparing your application to be the next Attorney-General…

    A demain.

  83. From Coffee House the Spectator
    31 May 2025
    Coffee House
    Patrick West
    The real reason why academics write in gobbledygook
    30 May 2025, 1:54pm

    Why can’t academics write properly? Why can’t they express themselves in language that normal people can understand? These are questions that have echoed through the ages, and ones that still resonate today – so much so that even academics are starting to ask them.

    In an address to the Hay Festival this week, Professor Kehinde Andrews of Birmingham City University lamented how the work of so many of his peers is written in ‘devastatingly bad’, ‘mind-deadening’ and ‘over-convoluted’ prose. Taking one book as an example, he asked why it ‘kept using the word “quotidien”. What does “quotidien” mean? “Everyday”. Why not just say “everyday”?’

    While many will welcome this intervention by Professor Andrews, and many have for decades groaned at the tendency of academics to lurch into gobbledygook, this misses the point. Academics in the humanities today don’t write in order to be understood by the public, or even by their students. They write the way they do primarily to signal fealty to an ideology. Indeed, gibberish is intrinsic to that purpose.

    This has been especially the case ever since the advent and dissemination of postmodernism in the 1960s, one that was reliant on giving new meanings to old words – with Foucault talking of ‘epistemes’, meaning unspoken rules which govern knowledge – or just making words up, famously with Derrida and his neologism différance (look it up).

    If professors and students at universities couldn’t understand what these philosophers were actually talking about, then at least they could repeat the voguish words to give the appearance of intelligence, or parrot them to indicate tribal affiliation to an elite. These two base human compulsions have been the motors in the what the late Sir Roger Scruton called ‘the nonsense machine’ in academia, one that set off in the 1960s and subsequently went into global overdrive.

    Germany’s Bundeswehr bears no resemblance to an actual army
    Scruton was not afraid of difficult ideas or demanding prose, being an authority on Immanuel Kant, a thinker notorious for his difficult style, so he could well recognise when perplexing prose served not to illuminate fresh ideas, but to mask their absence. He saw it in Derrida, Foucault and in their countless contemporaries whom he wrote about in his 2015 work Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of The New Left.

    It is in his assessment of the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser that we see Scruton elucidate most concisely the true function of meaningless words and bewildering syntax: ‘His constant laps into nonsense is not, in the eyes of his disciples, a fault, but a deep proof of his intelligence. He provides a way of writing in which political allegiance is all that there is, but which also has the form of intellectual enquiry’.

    Scruton, a philosopher who was a master of prose and languages (he who would have read his antecedents in the original German and French), had inserted the word ‘disciple’ quite deliberately here. He knew that strange-sounding ideas can bewitch and entrance people, working in conjunction with a yearning to belong to a tribe imbued with a sense of mission.

    This is why wokery, that off-shoot from academia, is so fond of bizarre-sounding words and neologisms that the man in the street doesn’t understand. Hyper-liberalism represents a continuation of the same, elitist, tribal mindset. It’s no coincidence that the guru of woke, the transgender writer Judith Butler, is notorious for her opaque prose, a style in which ‘obscurity creates an aura of importance,’ as the philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum has characterised it.

    Today’s hyper-liberals use jargon and obfuscation for the same reason the dimmer type of postmodernist did: to signal affiliation to a class who appear to understand big words that you don’t. They have rolled out the likes of ‘intersectionality’, ‘heteronormativity’, ‘microaggressions’ not with the primary intention of making a point or changing your mind, but to make themselves look clever to their peers and superior to you.

    This is why they are given to weaponising words, either by using neologisms to identify their enemies – ‘terfs’ – or keep changing the conventions of language in order to catch out those they would like to cancel. If you innocently use the wrong pronoun, be prepared for punishment. If you use a dated word, even one that was formerly meant as a polite euphemism, such as ‘coloured’, you will face the consequences. And don’t even think of curiously enquiring of a stranger: ‘where are you from?’ In Ivy League and Red Brick universities that is an invitation to social death.

    Professor Andrews is on the right track when it comes to academic writing, but his lament side-steps larger questions that still need answering. Does higher education today teach you how to think, or what to think? And is the primary purpose of going to university to make you more clever, or make you appear more clever?

    Written by
    Patrick West
    Patrick West is a columnist for Spiked and author of Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche For Our Times (Societas, 2017)

    2. The great Richard Feynman said (words to the effect) "If you can't explain your (scientific) theory in simple words that your Grandmother can understand, then you don't understand it yourself".

          1. Are you KJ? I dabbled in nanotechnology for a short while (it's not often you read that…) and he is seen as the Godfather! Plus all the other stuff he's done viz a viz space travel etc..
            The man's a legend….

          2. Yes, Kate x..nanotechnology, as in dabbled – tell me more. Read Feynman’s autobiography years ago, a very humorous and clever scientist. I’ve he regretted his part in developing the bomb used Hiroshima although could see the necessity. Wonder what he’d make of DEI…

          3. Yes, Katya, I was involved in a company that offered nanotechnology coatings to outside surfaces to prevent erosion etc

            We did quite well for a short while (about 10 years ago) but the technology wasnt quite good enough to make a 'breakthrough' – surprisingly it still isnt!

          4. Loooong time since I’ve been called that, G4, nice to hear it again thanks x Was that similar to non-stick coatings on pans etc only an outdoor version? What did it look like, did it work on pebbledash or similar rougher surfaces? Sounds good, especially for northern climes where weather can ensure annual re-paint. Sorry to read it’s not available, would likely give it a try 🙂

          5. Yes, not dissimilar to non-stick coatings but as it was at the molecular level it could still make the surface 'breathable' – so external stone could be protected but still 'breathe' to avoid damp build-up inside.
            I'm sure it will breakthrough soon – Manchester University are world leaders in the development of nano-technologies…

      2. I liked the story of how he decided he needed a wife – I think he may have even advertised for one. Whatever, seemingly a long and happy marriage.

      3. Very true.
        I was at the memorial service for one of the world's great mathematicians.
        Another mathematician explained an aspect of his work so succinctly and so entertainingly that even the non mathematicians smiled and "got it".
        Though if truth be known none of us could see beyond the big picture that was painted.

          5. Ho Ho
            One of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society.
            Several Wikipedia pages devoted to him and his works.
            His particular field of maths is used in all sorts of areas and his research has been the basis of many of new discoveries.

            I felt more than slightly thicker than usual when I had lunch in Oxford with him and a few of his friends.
            Three of the other guests were Nobel prize winners!

          7. Nah, just sitting there.
            In fact the conversation was about current affairs.

            I only discovered their pedigree later.

            I knew him for nearly sixty years. I introduced my girlfriend, later my wife, to him more than 55 years ago.
            He never, ever, treated either of us as other than equals, even though we weren't.
            We were in touch every week.
            HG and I miss him greatly, he was a very clever, fine, and considerate man.
            He and I often lunched and enjoyed pints of Guinness together.
            He's created numerous undergraduate scholarships, PhD scholarships and reader positions at Oxford.
            He was offered various "honours", always refused, because I believe he didn't really approve of knighthoods and the like.

  84. From Coffee House the Spectator
    31 May 2025

    Coffee House
    James Tidmarsh
    How can France ban outdoor smoking?
    30 May 2025, 2:13pm

    Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, rising delinquency, failing public services, and riots in the suburbs, the French government has finally sprung into action – it’s banning smoking outdoors. Not entirely, of course, just in places where children might be. The new rules, coming into force in July, prohibit lighting up in any space ‘frequented by children’, which is as vague and self-important as it sounds. We’re told this includes parks, beaches, bus stops and pavements near schools. Where else? No one knows. What is clear is that the state is now more concerned with puffing parents, than with knife crime or collapsing hospitals.

    This isn’t really about second-hand smoke. It’s about control, dressed up as compassion

    The announcement came courtesy of the minister for labour, health, solidarity, and families, Catherine Vautrin, who described it, without irony, as a ‘new dynamic’ in France’s anti-smoking campaign. It’s hard to imagine a better illustration of political displacement. Unable to fix anything that actually matters, the French state contents itself with issuing €135 fines to middle-aged women having a Marlboro Light on a bench.

    The rationale is, of course, health. But the real objective seems to be moral purification. France is trying to smoke-shame us into righteousness. It’s no longer enough to discourage smoking, smokers must be pushed out of sight. What was once a vice is now treated like public indecency. This isn’t really about second-hand smoke. It’s about control, dressed up as compassion.

    The country once romanticised the cigarette as a symbol of insouciance and rebellion. France smoked with style. Remember Jean Gabin and Brigitte Bardot, smouldering through scenes, cigarette in hand. In the early 2000s, cigarette haze in restaurants, and even cinemas, was as much a part of Paris as zinc countertops and surly waiters.

    Germany’s Bundeswehr bears no resemblance to an actual army
    Now, though, the mood’s changed. Anti-smoking campaigns have been joined by aggressive taxation, with packs now averaging €12.70. That’s over twice the price of 15 years ago. And yet, despite the crackdown, France still insists on a cultural exception. Smoking may be banned at the beach, but on a café terrace, it will remain not just tolerated but ritualised. A Gauloise with your morning espresso will still, somehow, be part of the national DNA.

    Maybe the government realised it couldn’t quite get away with banning smoking on terraces. You won’t be able to smoke on a beach, but slide into a wicker chair with a noisette, right up against other patrons (children included), and suddenly your cigarette is safe again. The state may rule the streets, but the terrace belongs to the people. Ironically, café terraces are the only place where second-hand smoke bothers me. Perhaps it’s the wind always blowing in the wrong direction.

    This selective puritanism is uniquely French. It’s moral in tone and arbitrary in application. Britain, by contrast, treads a less dogmatic path. Smokers pay dearly for the privilege – on average £16.50 a pack. But smoking in outdoor spaces remains largely unregulated. Beer gardens and pub patios are still safe havens for smokers, and while some schools ban smoking nearby, there’s no nationwide dictate against smoking away in parks or on beaches.

    How France will enforce these new rules remains murky. Will gendarmes patrol parks, fining rogue pensioners with Lucky Strikes? Will lifeguards turn snitches over a stray Camel? France’s 2008 indoor ban saw uneven compliance at first. I recall getting into plenty of arguments at the time with smokers blatantly ignoring the new rules. This outdoor gamble feels even shakier.

    What began as health policy now feels like a moral crusade, or perhaps even social engineering. You’re not just lighting a cigarette, you’re committing a civic transgression. While this ban is dressed up as protecting children, its true target is the adult who still thinks they should be allowed to behave like one. Can’t adults decide for themselves if their beachside cigarette might bother anyone nearby?

    France’s technocrats, like their counterparts in Brussels and Westminster, have discovered that once you frame something as ‘for the children’, it’s nearly impossible to oppose. Resist it and you’re selfish. Question it and you’re dangerous. It’s about the symbolism. The adult must be reformed, the pleasure neutralised.

    This is what Macron’s government does best: a crackdown for the cameras, a reform for the press release. The real vice isn’t tobacco, its liberty taken too far. And perhaps that, more than cigarettes, is what the state wants to extinguish.

    So when in France, light up – if you must – but do it sitting down, espresso in hand, in one of the few places left where the government hasn’t yet confiscated adulthood. For now.

    Written by
    James Tidmarsh
    James Tidmarsh is an international lawyer based in Paris. His law firm specialises in complex international commercial litigation and arbitration.

      1. Has he just died, Sam Small? I thought he had died quite some time ago.

        1. He died in 1991. I posted the picture simply to demonstrate the contrast between a typical French man-of-the-world and today's wimps.
          (Yes, I know he was really Italian, but to most of us he was the Frenchman).

      1. I'm surprised I'm still alive having inhaled a number of those as well as a number of Gauloises!

          2. Have you ever smelled the stench of them and garlic on the Paris Metro in the early morning rush hour?

        4. Disque Bleu. I have to cough up to smoking those to look fashionable. Paid off sometimes, cough cough!

    3. That won’t go down well with those who like to sit at the pavement cafe and smoke while drinking their coffee.

    4. So the back of the bike shed is now a smoke free zone. What's become of the world?

    1. I almost had to scrape my old man off the ceiling when he read that! He was jolly cross!

      1. Every day every hour, our in some way our another our political idiots knowingly carry out even more damage to our country.

    2. "Abedi was jailed in 2020 for a minimum of 55 years for helping his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi kill 22 Ariana Grande fans in 2017. In 2022, he was given another three years and 10 months for attacking two officers at Belmarsh Prison."

      That'll teach him!

  88. Want your daughter to play cricket for England? Send her to private school
    With facilities good enough to make Test-playing countries jealous, elitism in the English women’s game is growing to match the men’s
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2025/05/27/private-school-pathway-womens-academy-cricket/

    BTL

    The trouble is that this shows how much better private schools can be than schools in the public sector.

    This is why Labour, which is philosophically and dogmatically committed to failure, despises private schools and wants to see them closed down.

    1. "Want your daughter to play cricket for England?"

      Gawd, no. Most of them marry each other.

      Edit. Batting for the other side ain't cricket.

      1. Apart from the alcohol it's not compulsory. As I explained the other day my mind kinda freewheels over words so they end up being contorted and there is nothing I can do about it. …..

        1. They are 'big' beers sos – most people would regard them as 'doubles'……

    1. Is there actually a Solsbury Hill? I always thought it was a derivation of 'Salisbury'!!

      2. Little Solsbury Hill (or simply Solsbury Hill) is a small flat-topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort, above the village of Batheaston in Somerset, England. The hill rises to 191 metres (627 ft) above the River Avon, which is just over 2 kilometres (1 mi) to the south, and gives views of the city of Bath and the surrounding area. It is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

        Solsbury Hill was an Iron Age hill fort occupied between 300 BC and 100 BC, comprising a triangular area enclosed by a single univallate rampart, faced inside and out with well-built dry stone walls and infilled with rubble.[7] The rampart was 6 metres (20 ft) wide and the outer face was at least 4 metres (13 ft) high. The top of the hill was cleared down to the bedrock, then substantial huts were built with wattle and daub on a timber frame.[8][9] After a period of occupation, some of the huts were burnt down, the rampart was overthrown, and the site was abandoned, never to be reoccupied.[10][11] This event is probably part of the Belgic invasion of Britain in the early part of the 1st century BC.[12]

        The hill is one of several possible locations of the Battle of Badon and shows the remains of a medieval field system. Part of the hill was quarried in the 19th century. In 1930, it was acquired by the National Trust. The hill was the inspiration of the Peter Gabriel song "Solsbury Hill", recorded in 1977.

      3. Yes there is, it’s a glorious place and not to be confused with Sudbury Hill which is a different place altogether.

  94. For those still awake, this day in 1962, I married the most beautiful woman in the world. Alas she was taken from me far too soon.

  96. Aw, that’s sad. I hope and pray that one day we’re all reunited with those we love.

  97. You were fortunate to catch her, and I'm sure it was a happy marriage.

    Recall the good times.

  98. Evening all. Been a lovely day. Sat out in a friend’s garden drinking coffee while the dogs played.

    As all the Labour governments have been fiscally incompetent, that Starmer, presiding over possibly the worst, should think he’s fit to comment on economics just shows how deluded he is.

  99. Well, that was a busier day than I planned.
    First had a 12:00hrs physio appointment about an old back injury* becoming more problematic, but before I left for that realised that I still had a couple of auction items to pick up from South Manchester, so headed off straight after seeing the physio who just happened to be a very pretty and delightful young lady.
    1½h to the auctioneer's and was back home just before 16:00hrs, despite the number of 35-40mph arse-draggers on 50mph roads!
    Going was a bit of a problem. Decided to use the new A6 via Dove holes and the Chapel en le Frith by-pass, only I got to the roundabout just after Dove Holes to find it blocked by Police Accident signs and a police car!
    So had to backtrack to Buxton and over the old A6, now the A5004 with one of the aforesaid 35-40mph arse-draggers in front who, at one point, was unwilling to get past a cyclist doing 25mph down the hill towards Whaley Bridge, even on straight bits of road with no oncoming traffic! Once the car between us realised he was not going to go any faster and got past him, I was able to get past myself.

    *I first "twinged" my back in the early '80s and, over the intervening decades it has occasionally reminded me that it is there, but on Wednesday, when I was sorting our the back of the van, it really began hurting and got me rather worried.
    As I was booked in for a diabetes check up yesterday I made the appointment for today then.
    Took a couple each of aspirin and paracetamol early yesterday afternoon, repeated it in the evening and this morning and, lo & behold, the back pain eased off!
    Still, the back problems are now on my medical records.

  103. And now it's time for me to go to bed. So Good Night all, sleep well, and I hope to see you all hale and hearty tomorrow morning.

  104. Morning All 🙂😊 so they say, early to bed early to rise and a good night's sleep. But have I won the lottery ?
    I'll never be wise. 😉

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