Friday 31 January: The democratic freedom to decide Britain’s policies is the fundamental point of Brexit

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as 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 blacklisted.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/01/31/lettersthe-democratic-freedom-decide-britains-policies-fundamental/

1,186 thoughts on “Friday 31 January: The democratic freedom to decide Britain’s policies is the fundamental point of Brexit”

      1. Morning, G. The star-spangled sphincter had to go. Today’s avatar is merely transitional. I have something else in mind for tomorrow and thereafter…

    3. A very good Brexit morning to you and all Nottlers. The day we often feared would never come. Democracy won!

    4. Nice one, Boss! And the avatar is the right colour, too, instead of the standard ‘escape’ yucky green…a nice way to celebrate our escape after 47 years lashed to an empire that is now failing…

  2. Siege of Sevastopol: dreadful conditions in British camp – archive, 1855. 31 January 2020.

    Crimea. January 12 1855.

    The suffering and misery endured by portions of the British army at this moment are beyond imagination. Sick men are lying in tents exposed to the weather, with nothing but a piece of canvas between them and the heavens. Here are the remarks of a medical officer of the second division. Dr. Marshall, in a letter to Dr. Hall, writes – “I beg to report that gangrene of the feet, from severe cold, is becoming of frequent occurrence among the men; five cases occurred last night (5th January) in the 55th Regiment alone. I regret to say that many men in this division have not yet been supplied with warm clothing, and in many cases men have only one blanket.”

    Morning everyone. The only good thing to come out of this war was the press coverage which for the first time enlightened the British People about the realities of Foreign Service in the British Army. Tommy Atkins was as always superb in difficulties and was, as he always is, let down by his officers and betrayed by the politicians. The true tragedy of the Crimea as opposed say to WW1 was that it was all avoidable. The cruelty, incompetence and indifference of the officer class to their peoples suffering made things far worse than they needed to be. One would like to think that this has all been corrected but there lingers the suspicion that it has only been ameliorated by the efficiencies of the modern world and that it lies latent ready for future implementation.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/31/siege-of-sevastopol-dreadful-conditions-in-british-camp-1855

    2. Instead of shivering in a tent, Lord Cardigan (the leader of the Light Brigade) used to sleep on board his private yacht in Balaklava Bay.

  4. Good Morning, all

    SIR – As a Remainer who believes that today marks the greatest act of national self-harm in British history, may I offer a word of comfort to the few Telegraph readers who may share my view?

    Recent analysis of the melting Antarctic glacier seems to prove that climate change is inevitable, and we are witnessing a sixth extinction which will sweep humanity away.

    Given that the extinction of the dinosaurs made room for our own species to replace them at the top of the food chain, two questions could fill the vacuum left by the Brexit debate. Which species will replace us? Perhaps the far more socially collaborative termite?

    And why on earth, when humanity should have been discussing whether and how our species and our planet can survive, were we so concerned about Brexit?

    Dame Esther Rantzen
    London NW3

    If anyone finds any marbles, please send them to Dame Esther. She lorst them.

    2. Dear Dame Esther,

      We were, and are, so concerned with Brexit because we, the British, resent being tricked into joining, free-willing, a lie that has turned into an undemocratic tyranny.

      We have found the escape route and, despite the antics of blind and ignorant fools like you, we are taking it.

      If you find the idea of a free Britain so repulsive, I suggest you forego the honours given you by the Sovereign and, as plain Esther Rantzen, either go to Germany and be persecuted or flee to Israel.

      Either way, Good bye.

    4. Relating climate change with Brexit is ridiculous. The two are addressable in different ways, Britain is leading the way in Europe on measures to tackle climate change and Brexit is being achieved. Just because she happens to be a remainer (just like the rest of NW3), bringing climate change into the equation demonstrates a level of flawed thinking that made her a remainer in the first place.

    5. She obviously doesn’t know that termites, as do ants, go on raids to adjoining termite/ant nests, kill and eat the occupants, and return home with slaves.
      Not my choice of a societal model.

    7. Daft old bint…and sufficiently concerned to write to the DT in order to slag orf Brexit. What part of ‘being ruled by unaccountable bureaucrats we can’t get rid of’ is so good??

      ‘Morning, Citroen.

    9. Perhaps the far more socially collaborative termite?

      Isn’t the EU’s/Globalist’s end game to reduce humanity, except for a small elite, into something like termites? The difference being that the mass of the population will be reduced to working away tirelessly for the good, not of the colony as a whole but for the controllers?

    10. Years ago she used to worry about the children. Except those in Rotherham, etc.

      Edit; I enjoyed Thats Life and used to admire her.

      1. ‘Childline’ was helpless/blind when Jimmy Savile was often just down the corridor and chalking up so many victims.

    11. Do some reading Esther and find out what ‘food chain’ means.

      Then look at the fate of the grass-munching dinosaurs when something with a bit more about it came out of the trees.

      Then look at what happens if you go for a walk alone across the African savannah and take no notice of those roars coming from beneath that acacia tree a couple of hundred yards away. You might find out that you’re not at the top of the food chain after all.

    13. This is remarkably ignorant.

      Under the WEEE we ship millions of tons of plastic waste to India and Africa. Why? Because the EU prevents us from generating the stuff so we lie and send it overseas to get a nice certificate saying it’s all been disposed of properly.

      Of course, Africa, being Africa, dumps it in the sea.

      That’s the fault of the EU. Solely the EU.

      As for surviving on this planet, the EU is, again preventing us from properly researching new technology and supporting such enterprise. You might blather on about ‘climate change’ but the simple truth is the EU is the biggest hinderance to next generation technology going. It is a pointless, unecessary bureaucracy.

      As for self harm – don’t be so bally stupid. It is throwing off the yoke of opprerssion, taxation and impotence.

      Dame Esther, you should know better than to use such daft terms.

  8. SIR – The Whitehall Blob estimates that HS2 will cost £106 billion (report, January 30), which is at least £1,500 per person in Britain.

    The majority of us will never use it. The Great Central Main Line could be resurrected for well under £10 billion and would achieve effectively the same aims. I thought that, in return for my vote, the new Government was going to sweep away the insouciant behaviour of Whitehall cabals, but decisions on Huawei and HS2 show it is simply business as usual.

    Geoff Ludlow
    Hythe, Kent

    1. SIR – When I was on the Railtrack board between 1995 and 2002, the Great Central Main Line (Letters, January 28) was known as the North‑South High Speed proposal; I wonder if the reasons that led the Department for Transport to abandon it in favour of HS2 remain valid.

      Sir Philip Beck
      Pilton, Somerset

  9. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Happy Freedom Day – well, almost.

    During the night R5 replayed some of its coverage of the Referendum result, now over three and a half long years ago. Oh, the shock and dismay was almost palpable!

    1. Good morning Hugh,

      Delighted you provided the Littlejohn link .
      A ‘must’read for everyone .. he has refreshed our memories beautifully.

    2. Morning, HJ.

      Nick Ferrari has just taken two calls from ladies who believe regaining our freedom is a mistake. One brought up the tiny island just off the coast of France trope and the other about how the EU’s control on all things e.g. quality of medicines etc will leave us at risk. Project Fear was certainly driven home successfully with some people.

      1. …and is still just about alive, although thankfully in the throes of a slow and ignominious death.

        ‘Morning, Korky.

        1. Many of us hoping that Johnson et al. will drive a stake through Project Fear’s heart and put us out of its misery, once and for all. If this Government continues with ‘business as usual’, the G5 nonsense has set a bad precedent, then we could struggle until someone ‘grips’ the situation and turns the UK onto a more radical and prosperous path.

          1. The starting point has got to be massive tax cuts and genuine hacks to the state. Also, the BBC needs dealing with. It’s a malignant tumour that’s nothing but poison.

    1. Morning Belle. It was always a Ponzi Scheme! They had to keep recruiting new members to keep it going!

    2. Possibly so, who knows what it would have looked like, had that been the case. But once Blair opened the gates and circa 30,000 pa net immigration became 300,000 the fuse was lit, guaranteeing that it would explode.

        1. Morning TB,
          Gerard Batten was warning of it back in 2005 rhetorically & in
          book form, mind as with many of us he is recognised as a far right racist.

      2. Welcome back, Girly, I hope you will stay for tomorrow’s celebrations when we’re really and truly OUT!

        1. Thank you NtN, I will be at the local hostelry at 11pm, I may pop in and say hello when I return home 😉

      3. Morning 70s,
        But remember all the intervening years since b liar there was ALWAYS support for the mass uncontrolled immigration parties, and the wretch cameron even upped the intake.

    3. The EU ambition was always a United States of Europe. We were sold a Common Market policy.
      Softly, softly catchee monkey.

      Christopher Booker : The Great Deception

    4. A great many variables and unknowns in the equation to have any certainty, Belle. However, with the constant of becoming a federal state controlling the result I believe we would not have been happy. A thousand years of separate development and the differences that have evolved would make our transformation into becoming just another state in a union impossible.

    5. Good morning all.
      Good point TB. Content with whom exactly?
      France? Germany? Belgium (whatever that is)?

  12. The Times (and its sour & humourless BTL commentators) seem to be making a bid to be adopted as the house journal of the BBC in the event of the demise of the Guardian. Today’s cartoon illustrates the Grimes’ bitterness, so out of touch with the electorate’s views as expressed in the GE, whereas the Graun’s at least has some humour.
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fb3f4d18e-4390-11ea-a083-1ec392b38124.jpg?crop=2804%2C1870%2C543%2C159&resize=685
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/23f99ce2051e311ff99f3b2ad66ce86ac1294aa6/0_0_941_574/master/941.jpg?width=940&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=90d7e6586be133e34c91d603eecc5ba0
    With luck the BBC will wither in the coming years so the Grimes will have gained nothing.

    1. It is to be hoped that the symbiotic relationship between the anti-British Broadcasting Corporation and the third-rate rag called the Grauniad will soon result in the destruction of both.

        1. Oh, I keep plodding on (well, I am a retired plod!), but spend much less time on here these days with my other interests of painting and woodwork. Got to keep the mind and body healthy. :•)

          It’s always good to hear from you, Girly, and read your excellent posts.

    1. Morning NtN, I could say I left her on purpose as she is deficient, her arms has started to deflate, especially her right one.

        1. That’s not Pneumatic, that’s bloody silicon!
          Must be a couple of pounds of the stuff on each side!

    3. ‘Morning, Nanners. Can’t help, I’m afraid; the thought of your pneumatic bird bearing down on me is far too much to bare at this time of day. Breakfast is far more attractive!

      1. ‘Morning, Hugh, it depends which parts you’re baring!

        Enjoy breakfast, safe in the knowledge that with me it all has to be lost memories.

        1. I’m pleased to note that you took the bait…I was hoping for the usual pendants’ revolt, but a little too early perhaps.

  17. We leave the EU tonight – but Europe is still alive in people’s hearts. Gaby Hinsliff. 31 January 2020.

    People who backed remain made and lost their case on more practical, hard-boiled economic arguments, steering clear of this muddier emotional territory. But as Britain reaches tonight’s point of no return from Brexit, it’s the deeper gut feelings that are bubbling up. The battle to stay in the EU was finally lost in December, but the debate about how we can stay European – how to keep the door open, preserve the social and cultural ties that bind, prevent Britain becoming a crabby and shrivelled country alienated from its own continent – needs blowing wide open.

    Well for everyone crying there’s another one and a bit cheering. This aside here is someone who is unable to see the essential difference between the EU and Europe. We’ve left one but we can never leave the other! One is a proto-fascist state and the other is a collection of Independent Nation States bound together by their mutual needs and histories!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/31/leave-eu-europe-britain

    1. Another daft bint who visualises us drifting away to mid-Atlantic as being cast out of the continent that is Europe.

    2. Good morning all on this wonderful day.

      However the first sentence in italics above isn’t true. Nobody in my opinion ever made out a persuasive case for staying in the EU let alone on “more practical, hard-boiled economic arguments”. I think if the British had been properly aware of the political intentions behind the EU we would not have voted to remain back in the 70s. But still … hopefully tonight will be the first step on a road back to our proper place in the world.

      1. In the 70s some of us were listening and fully aware of the political intentions behind the EU.

        How did it take so long nearly half a century for the British people to wise up…?

        1. Plum-Tart – The British people were too trusting. We assumed that our politicians were of the same calibre as our friends. We did not dream for a moment that they would actively work with foreign powers to bring the United Kingdom to its knees.

          Now we have a country split into 4 regions, with a very shouty Scottish lady demanding even further distance, a society structured to keep people in debt for most of their lives, and towns and cities overrun with those who want to see our British culture erased from the history books.

          There are still many good people who think that all of this was just an accident, and that our leaders did not realise that this would happen. The damage caused to our country has been great, but it can still be fixed. Imagine where we could have been if we had never joined the EU and had spent all of those hundreds of billions of pounds in our own country.

          We could be top of the world if we had had politicians working FOR our country. Now it is time to start building ourselves up again.

      2. The Remainers were forced to only talk about “economic forecasts” as there was nothing that they could say at all about the moral reasons for wanting to be a democracy again. They had lost the ethical argument before they began. It is such a shame for them that their economic doom-mongering proved to be distortions and lies, time and time again.

        1. Their problem was they were OTT with all their pronouncements – doom and gloom personified. And for me it wasn’t financial or economical reasons for wanting out, it was our governments making our laws – that was the crux of the matter.

    3. There’s a wonderfully batty, rambling letter from Esther Rancid in the DT.
      I’ll only post it if you feel your blood pressure can take the strain.

      1. anneallan – I have just read it at the beginning of this page. It has attracted some criticism from readers here already. 🙂

          1. Come along now, Annie, do keep up – try a double-strength espresso administered intravenously…that should do the trick.

      3. anneallan – I have just read it at the beginning of this page. It has attracted some criticism from readers here already. 🙂

      4. ‘Morning, Anne, scroll back a little and you’ll find it is already published here and attracted more than a few remarks!

    4. You want to listen to James O’Brien on LBC this morning – talk about crying in his beer – odious little git!

    5. ‘Morning, Minty, Gaby should have said:

      “…The battle to stay in the EU ignore and fight democracy was finally lost in December,..”

  19. Have Les Frogs heard of Douglas Adams, I wonder. It would be no surprise if their parting words tonight were ‘So long, and thanks for all the fish’

        1. Are you proposing to bottle it and flog it to the masses as an antidote to success? 😁

          ‘Morning, JBF.

    1. Morning DB

      Raining , windy and mild in these Purbeck parts.

      Moh was optimistic when he left the house to play golf 20 minutes ago.

      He may be back soon!

  22. D/Telegraph letters:

    SIR – Born a free man, I shall resume that status at 11pm tonight.

    Michael McGough
    Loughton, Essex

      1. Politicians tell civil servants what to do. If we are crippled by a disastrous trade deal when the government has an 80+ seat majority, then they won’t be able to blame the civil servants for it. That is not going to wash. We will be as free as our politicians want us to be.

      2. Politicians tell civil servants what to do. If we are crippled by a disastrous trade deal when the government has an 80+ seat majority, then they won’t be able to blame the civil servants for it. That is not going to wash. We will be as free as our politicians want us to be.

        1. Politicians tell civil servants want (sic) to do.

          Yes but do they do it Meredith?

          There’s many a slip twixt cup and lip!

          1. Araminta – There was the classic recent example with Theresa May and the shameful way she treated her colleagues. In public there was a Minister on show talking to the EU about our future, but in private Mrs May was working directly with our civil servants and the EU to come up with that Withdrawal Agreement. Undercutting the Minister to get things done. That deal was not an accident.

            If a civil servant disobeys or obstructs policy, then cut to the chase and remove him / her or send them to the vehicle licensing centre in Swansea. The idea of bowing to civil servants should be a thing of the past. We will never leave the EU, other than on paper, if they are left to work out the details.

            We can clear out the Common Purpose drones at the same time. With an 80+ seat majority the government can do what it likes. 🙂

          2. Araminta – There was the classic recent example with Theresa May and the shameful way she treated her colleagues. In public there was a Minister on show talking to the EU about our future, but in private Mrs May was working directly with our civil servants and the EU to come up with that Withdrawal Agreement. Undercutting the Minister to get things done. That deal was not an accident.

            If a civil servant disobeys or obstructs policy, then cut to the chase and remove him / her or send them to the vehicle licensing centre in Swansea. The idea of bowing to civil servants should be a thing of the past. We will never leave the EU, other than on paper, if they are left to work out the details.

            We can clear out the Common Purpose drones at the same time. With an 80+ seat majority the government can do what it likes. 🙂

          4. HJ, do not forget his solid gold job in the wider world. Not sure that a knighthood alone would fill the gravy boat to the brim.

  24. Fenwick to rent out part of West End store to survive high-street pinch

    One of London’s oldest department stores is turning some of its floorspace into offices as part of a plan to weather the crisis on the high street.
    The proposal by Mayfair institution Fenwick, a retail flagship on New Bond Street since 1891, was given the green light after Westminster council agreed shops are facing “exceptional” challenges.

    1. I used to love Fenwicks when it was an old, rambling site and had a lift like an asthmatic birdcage.
      Its sales were so good it was worth the time and train fare to travel up to London for them.
      Then they modernised it, and it became indistinguishable from all the others.
      I believe the Fenwicks in Colchester is also struggling.

      1. I remember the manually driven lifts, with an operator who yanked the brass gates open & closed, and moved a control lever to raise & lower – sometimes missing the stop slightly, so there was a step.

  25. Finsbury Park Tube fire: Victoria and Piccadilly Line chaos after Manor House closed

    Finsbury Park tube station was closed shortly after 7.30am this morning after a fire reportedly broke out.
    Commuters reported smells of “burning” and saw saw smoke coming from the platform.
    One person wrote on Twitter: “Any news about the fire at Finsbury Park just been chocked because of the fumes! No warning on Piccadilly line about the fire and had to get off at Manor House where again there was all smoke!”

  26. Guardian bans advertising from fossil fuel companies

    Guardian Media Group has banned all advertising from oil and gas companies

    The group said the decision may make its short-term future “a tiny bit tougher” financially, but that it is hoping some brands will be impressed by the stance and choose to work with it more as a result

    The ban, which began with immediate effect yesterday, will extend to the Guardian, Observer and Guardian Weekly in print as well as the Guardian’s website and news apps.

      1. Given the amount they are alleged to have paid to ferry someone by taxi on a 2 hour journey 3 days a week the Guardian should be stopping BBC ads but you can bet they will not

    5. If I was in charge of advertising for a fossil fuel company, I would rather place advertisements in the Beano than the Guardian.

  27. FWIW:- This morning I noticed a new commenter to the Telegraph Letters who was claiming inside knowledge of the true character of Terry Wogan, the commenter calls himself Big Bill. I wonder could it possibly be?

  28. Parmedics, nurses and pharmacists will be able to train as doctors in just three years under post-Brexit plans to tackle NHS staffing crisis

    Paramedics, nurses and pharmacists will be allowed to train-up as doctors in three years under drastic plans to tackle the NHS’s staffing crisis.
    The Government is hoping to take advantage of freedoms brought by Brexit to enable some medical staff to gain fast-track doctors’ qualifications.
    The radical measures, due to be announced next week, will be presented as a solution to the NHS’s doctor shortage, which is being worsened by a pensions standoff.
    Latest official figures show that the NHS is short of 11,500 doctors – equivalent to nearly one in ten posts being left vacant.

        1. Which would you trust more, Bill, a doctor who has spent seven years qualifying or one with just three years of study?

          I know where I’d rather go. Much the same as having a qualified mechanic service my car rather than a hobbyist nerd.

          2. Nurses and paramedics have already undergone several years training.
            There are many conditions that don’t need hyper qualifications. That’s why the closure of cottage hospitals was such a loss. Possibly 90% of ailments only need basic medical care.

          3. AS I understand it they will get about 3 years further training., As nurses, Paramedic etc they already have had most of the basic training doctors get. After the 3 years further training I would assume they would become juror doctors

            The only problem I see is we are also short of nurses and paramedics

          8. Many senior nurses and other specialists are “practitioners” who treat minor conditions. I think this is probably a good idea as most people accepted for this training would be very capable of doing more than they currently do.

  30. Surfer, 36, claimed £27k in disability benefits ‘while touring the world, competing in surf contests and playing a gig at Glastonbury’

    Small beer as far as benefits scams go. One has to wonder what checks are made when people apply for these benefits

    A musician, 36, got £27,000 benefits after claiming was too ill dress or wash herself despite allegedly saying she competed in a Boardmasters surfing competition, a court heard.

    October Hamlyn-Wright, of Newquay, Cornwall, is on a fraud charge after authorities found evidence of her jet-setting lifestyle.
    She toured Australia and Scandinavia, and played Glastonbury despite receiving the disability benefits across two years, it was alleged.

    This is despite providing a ‘considerable number of ailments and illnesses’ in benefit applications in New Malden, Surrey, in 2013 and 2015.

    In one claim form, Hamlyn-Wright said her joints became ‘extremely painful and swollen, affecting her movement and dexterity’, Kingston Crown Court heard.
    She allegedly required an assistant’s help for two hours getting ready and 60 for washing, Mr Prince told the court.

  33. How I was de-platformed by Durham University. Julie Bindel. 31 January 2020.

    In order to be allowed to attend the debate, which, as I have explained, is an unpaid gig, speakers were required to sign up to the ‘Durham University Respect and Inclusivity Agreement’; accept that extra security measures would be in place; accept that the Union Society President would make contact with the student union Trans Society in advance of the meeting to listen to any ‘concerns’; and accept that a senior member of the EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) team would attend the event as an impartial observer on behalf of the University.

    How ironic. A feminist de-platformed by Sexually Deviant Trolls!

    https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/how-i-was-de-platformed-by-durham-university/

    2. A marvellous morning to you Minty

      I am sending this to one of my very best friends who used to teach at Durham University. He will be deeply shocked.

  34. Dear Nottlers. Today is the day that Britain technically leaves the EU. I will not be convinced that we have really ‘got Brexit done’ until we are a fully independent, sovereign nation again. Nonetheless, I am going to the party in Parliament Square tonight to celebrate with Lord Farage. As another great man once said “This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

    The future is uncertain, but whatever happens we will face it on our owns terms and as masters of our own destiny.

      1. Thanks, will do. I attended the rally on 29th March 2019 and it was pretty good-natured. This time we are actually leaving though, so there may be some tensions running high from remoaners.

        1. Some Remainers might cause problems, if they are allowed to stay up that late and someone ties their shoelaces for them.

          1. It would be nice to meet some Nottlers in person! I’ve been a part of this wonderful community for about three years and it has got me through some tough personal times.

            If anyone is coming to parliament square, I’ll wear a red carnation in my lapel! 😃

          2. What area do you live in (just roughly)?

            What I have done is sometimes contact Nottlers if they live close to an area I am visiting (on holiday or whatever). At the last rally, some of us simply said that we were going and then contacted each other offline to meet up there.

          4. Some of us know where others live – it may be fun to see where others live.

            So we have:

            JewishKuffar – Croydon
            Hertslass -South West Hertfordshire.

            I wouldn’t presume to put other people’s areas. Perhaps people would like to add themselves…

          6. C’mn then. Join our conga!:

            JewishKuffar – Croydon
            Hertslass -South West Hertfordshire.

            I wouldn’t presume to put other people’s areas. Perhaps people would like to add themselves…

    3. Morning JK,
      “Masters of our own destiny” as once was prior to the three monkeys / and the big scam took a hand.

    4. We’re going up with our elder son. He’s already taken out a second mortgage for convenient parking.

  35. BREXIT DAY : Two (rather than Three) Cheers for that.

    1. We still know virtually nothing about Johnson’s ‘withdrawal agreement’;
    2. We still do not know when we shall be completely free of the EU with no strings attached
    3. We still do not know what Boris’s WA will cost
    4. We still do not know how much of May’s thrice rejected deal remains in tact
    5. We still do not have a trade agreement and the EU are trying to tell us we shall not get one this year.

    So will Johnson let us have that third cheer or are we still being buggered?

  36. SIR—Two of your reports (January 30) on the BBC’S latest round of cuts illustrate the broadcaster’s contradictory position.

    On one hand, it proudly announces that all newscasters – especially, it would seem, the more experienced ones – are “fair game” for displacement, on the grounds that it needs to focus on digital services because under-35s don’t care where they get their news from.

    Yet when Boris Johnson says that his Brexit Day speech will be produced by his own videographer, rather than a mainstream media organisation, the BBC throws its toys out of the pram and refuses to guarantee that it will air the speech. It doesn’t need modernisation – just a better strategy.

    Geoff Brown
    Potten End, Hertfordshire

    The BBC has never had “Newscasters” Geoff, and do you know why? Because they read the News (or, at least they used to), not chuck it at you. The BBC has Newsreaders.

    That idiotic term, “Newscaster” was invented by ITV in a move to be more modern. They failed!

    1. The BBC need to take the axe to BBC sport as well. There is even more waste and excess there

    3. The BBC has stated that BBC news employs 6000 people. How an earth do they need that many. I would have though a 1000 at most are needed

      A lot of it I think is every BBC TV and Radio station has its own news teams which is just madness.. It is the same with Sport and when you get jollies like the Olympics huge armies of BBC staff go

    4. And there was me thinking ‘Caster ‘referred to sugar as in sugaring the bitter pill that the news often delivered!

      1. And does the risible American “News Anchor” ensure that all the news sinks without trace?

        2. An anchor holds a chosen position no matter which way the tide runs or the wind blows, somehow that describes the BBC autocue readers to a T for me.

  37. Oh goody goody, the first coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the UK and the plane hasn’t even arrived.

      1. Nah, it will be compulsory and the two confirmed cases will be guests of honour.

        What better way to kill off as many leavers as possible.
        };-((

  38. Morning Each,
    Dawn on the day, of day release day,one day at a time,
    every day now will be a fight day IMO on two fronts, those across the channel and those on the home front.
    A well meant warning for peoples of decency, near four years ago we won the fight for the return of democracy & self respect then many trusted the political bastards, that cost us near four years of anguish due to treachery / lies / deceit and that was from our own politicians.
    Keep in mind there are still many of the same political bastards in play, they have just reversed their pro eu
    coat.

      1. Morning N,
        Peoples might very well know it but acting on it is entirely a different matter, they get waylaid by the three monkeys.
        We have the same elements in parliament as we have had for years just reshuffled,re-dealt, and awaiting.

    1. 11 Hours 49 ish minutes

      Freedom time is Midnight tonight: EUropean Time, which is an hour ahead of GMT

      1. Central European time; there’s also Eastern European Time; and I think the Eurocrats would rather refer to GMT as Western European Time.

        1. I believe they already have. It’s now called UAT, and whilst GMT and UAT may be the same clock time, UAT is a time zone.

          1. I like Zulu Time. Has a nice ring to it. a reminder of a time when we fought other people and no hard feelings. Cetwayo invited to visit Queen Victoria. Fishing boat design named after the Zulus.

      2. Freedom time is 11 p.m. GMT. Stuff EU time/Berlin time. It’s our time that matters to us.

        Edit: Pity we didn’t do it midnight GMT, but at least 11 p.m. is an hour earlier.

        1. I was replying to JB, who said that Brexit happened at Midnight and by counting the time remaining, he inferred it was GMT.

          It is 2300 Zulu, 11 pm GMT, or 23:00

  40. Helicopter in Kobe Bryant Crash Wasn’t Legal to Fly in Poor Visibility

    When the helicopter carrying the basketball legend Kobe Bryant crashed into a fogbound mountainside on Sunday, killing all nine people onboard, the pilot who was struggling to avoid the clouds did not have the legal authority to navigate with his instruments because the aircraft owner did not have the necessary federal certification, according to three sources familiar with the charter helicopter company’s operations.

  41. East-west rail line route chosen for new track to midlands

    Proposals for a new rail link between East Anglia and the south midlands have taken a major step forward – 40 years after they were first suggested.

    The East-West Rail Consortium has announced a preferred route for a new line to be built between Cambridge and Bedford, enabling the completion of the rebuilding of the Varsity Line to Oxford which was closed following the publication of the Beeching Report in the mid-1960s.

    Eventually the route is expected to incorporate the lines from Cambridge to Ipswich and Norwich, allowing passengers to complete new cross-country journeys without having to go through London.

    1. Allegedly the closure of the Varsity Line was engineered by an alumni of a Redbrick University who had a chip on his shoulder over the status of OxBridge.

  42. BBC Scotland continues to pour out its anti-Brexit propaganda. Interviews with hotel owners who won’t be able to get waiting staff. An interview with a young lady violinist who has obtained Irish citizenship so that she can play at concerts in the EU.
    It is perfectly clear that there were many people who believe the Remainer lies so frequently and strongly pumped out by the BBC with no contrary views ever being expressed.
    BBC Scotland also interviewed a number of EU people who are returning to the EU, especially Poland, because of Brexit. They interviewed a Scotsman in Belgium who had just married a Polish girl – what could he do – he wailed.
    All the lies have returned, being unnecessarily enacted by those who have fallen for the lies. Their greetin’ and sobbing is now another weapon against Brexit. The BBC have by no means given up their anti-Brexit propaganda. These results, people bewildered, worried and leaving here, and leaving the EU, for no reason other than the Remainer lies are the product of the “unbiased BBC”, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
    (Never a mention of the international protocol that protects residents (Vienna something?) as that did not suit the stories of doom.)
    Sell the BBC!

    3. They have no patriotism. If the BBC was owned by Russia or China there would be all hell let loose at their bias.

    4. Brexit day is being mentioned repeatedly on our Canadian CBC. They must get their news feed from the BBC, every mention always has a little human interest rider attached and it always starts “but not everyone is happy about Brexit. . .”.

      Oh for God sake autocorrect, I typed feed, not fed, not stores!

  43. From Alastair Stewart to Scruton, the public are fighting back against the cancel culture of the digital mob

    FRASER NELSON

    The backlash against ITN’s ousting of Alastair Stewart shows the dangers of firms embracing moral panic

    At the time of his death, Sir Roger Scruton was celebrated not just as one of the greatest philosophers of his lifetime but as someone who was able to defy – and expose – the mob. A Twitterstorm had erupted over words of his that had been maliciously twisted, and within hours he had been fired from his role chairing a government commission. But his treatment led to uproar, and his eventual reinstatement. Yet again, he made history: for once, the mob did not get its man.

    Now we have Alastair Stewart, dropped by ITN for making what it called “errors of judgement” on social media. He had been quoting Shakespeare, citing lines from Measure for Measure that included the words “angry ape”. The person he had been debating with was black, and a daft row ensued. It ought to have ended, at most, in an apology – where Stewart would have made the obvious point that no offence was intended. Instead, it ended his 40-year career.

    Over the years, we have seen the rise of what Americans call “woke capitalism”, where private companies are infected by the madness that started taking hold in university campuses some time ago. Typically, there will be a zealous Human Resources department that decides to become a cultural police force. Employees might be issued with rainbow-striped lanyards to celebrate ‘Pride’, or be invited to Black History Month. And if you hate identity politics, best keep quiet. You risk being painted as a bigot and, in the era of moral panic, to be accused is to be guilty.

    Marketeers, too, panic. Last year, Nike dropped a line of trainers after complaints that the design – an early flag of the United States – had been adopted by white supremacists. A shopping centre in Reading evicted Chick-fil-A, an American fast food chain, after complaints that it was somehow homophobic. Among the supposed evidence that it donated to the Salvation Army.

    The common theme, from Nike to the newsroom, is a complete failure to argue the case or to defend the truth. Does Nike regard the old Betsy Ross flag as a symbol of racism? Does anyone at ITN believe that Stewart is, in the slightest way, racist?

    But when moral panic takes over, truth never matters – and social media trolls take control. You can see them on Twitter picking targets all day, seeking companies gullible enough to respond to digital pressure.

    For example: “Acme Inc, are you okay with supporting the work of a bigot like Alastair Stewart?” The idea is to terrify Acme Inc into pulling their advertising. Or have them waver long enough to persuade the employer that the journalist is too much of a risk to have around, and ought to be let go. Or, in the parlance, “cancelled”.

    Throughout the election campaign, there were attempts to ‘cancel’ Boris Johnson. The online archives of The Spectator were deluged by Corbynites trawling 25-year-old articles for a quote here or there that could be taken out of context. Not so long ago, he was investigated by the Conservative Party itself on charges of Islamophobia after a joke he made in these pages about the niqab: a garment banned in several Muslim countries. But, again, facts didn’t matter. His critics just wanted to smear and destroy him.

    It doesn’t seem to have done him much harm. Indeed, an important part of his support will be from those who admire how he speaks freely, how he is unafraid to make jokes and use satire. And that he doesn’t apologise, or run scared of any digital mob.

    Of course, a politician who restricts his opinions and language to the rigorously-policed parameters of social media will never speak to the country. Failure to recognise this led Labour down a digital rabbit hole (along with much of the media) while the Tories won a historic majority.

    This is politics, of a new and potent kind. There are a great many voters who might not care about Brexit but who do care that the jokes they crack might be used to destroy them, or those they love. That without voting for it, we have somehow entered a world where everyone is one off colour joke away from career death. This matters more than a marginal tax rate or the fate of HS2. It’s a force against which targets have no defence: to be accused is to be guilty. And victims are everywhere.

    It can happen to Tim Hunt, the Nobel laureate forced to resign for an offhand remark about working with women. Or it could be Brian Leach, fired from Asda last year for sharing a Billy Connolly video which a colleague thought was Islamophobic. An American racing car driver recently had his sponsorship pulled because of remarks that had been uncovered from the early Eighties – but made by his father, not even by him.

    The irony is that this time, there was no army of social media trolls demanding Alastair Stewart’s head. His Shakespeare quote generated a bit of fuss, but not much. Perhaps ITN overreacted to a handful of complaints. In any event, it was a calamitous misjudgment because the fury is now directed at them – and the way one of their longest-serving journalists has been treated.

    There is a petition to have Stewart reinstated (as Scruton eventually was) signed by 17,000 – and counting. This matters, because it’s not how stories like his tend to end. When Scruton was first fired, it looked as if he’d join the many others unable to defend themselves or recover. But thanks to the work of his friend Douglas Murray, who uncovered the tape of the original interview he gave, everyone could see how carefully the philosopher’s words had been distorted – and how the lynch mob had worked. And they were appalled.

    There is much to learn from last month’s extraordinary general election. But one of the forces that took Johnson to No 10 is the backlash against ‘cancel’ culture and those who seek to destroy others for jokes they make.

    As for Alastair Stewart, he walks away not having been ‘cancelled’ but lauded by his entire profession. A sign, perhaps, that the power of the mob is waning – and that we might be slowly taking steps back towards sanity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/30/alastair-stewart-scruton-public-fighting-back-against-cancel/

  44. We now have confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the UK. There will be many more. The sick people will have been wandering around for a week infecting others. Some chap who came back from HongKong said that no one checked him or asked him any questions when he arrived. He had flown to HongKong from Wuhan to board a flight to the UK.
    The UK is bringing back potentially infected people, in defiance of reason. The action taken by the UK Government is risibly inadequate. Too slow, too late, too little. There was clearly an underlying assumption that it would not trouble us, as it was too far away. Taking no notice of the thousands of Chinese students who go home for New Year and then come back here, infected or not.
    Taking no notice of the fact that people will do their best to avoid checks, to avoid quarantine, regardless of the consequences to society.
    It is beyond understanding why anyone would actually believe that people will follow the stay at home quarantine protocols. Not if they need to slip out to buy milk!
    NHS Scotland is going to put suspected cases into isolation wards in normal hospitals. Given that our “normal’ hospitals are inadequate and often dirty with staff who have no understanding of hygiene, where wards are frequently closed for outbreaks of things such as poisoning/air contamination and novovirus it is not reassuring, given that there is currently pressure on bed space without an additional pandemic.

    * Not clear yet, but it looks to be spreading exponentially, with around 8 – 10 days for each cycle of increase.

    2. A doctor (who apparently knows about these things) here in Rikshospitalet – section for infection control was reported today as saying the virus is no more serious (and no less) than flu, and we don’t go around quarantining folk with flu. He also said there is little reason to panic.

      2. That kind of advice is not helpful. It results in minimum effort. Not prudent. Nor does he know, he is just guessing based on other viral events. Viruses have a capacity to modify themselves and that has been said of this one. Moreover, it may have been engineered to do exactly that, if it is, as is suspected, a biological weapon. A full on response, leaving nothing to chance is the only sensible option.
        I am bang in the bullseye for death, and the virus is coming here soon.

      4. Oberst – the way that the media have been going “maximum saturation” on the airwaves with first the Royals story and now this flu virus, you might almost think they are trying to distract attention from something else. That has been their normal mode of operations in the past.

        I read that 80,000 people died from flu in the USA from 2017-2018. I cannot recall the media swamping our airwaves with that story, unlike the way that they have with the death of a single American sports player, his daughter and some others recently.

  46. Just come home with the weekly shop.

    On the way back I passed a house where they have a flagpole in the garden from which they fly the flag of Northumberland.

    It’s at half mast.

    I can’t stop smiling. 🙂

    Wonderful stuff.

          1. They won’t be able to afford food or non-existent medicines by this time tomorrow in their sad little minds.

          2. No more foreign holidays.
            No more French exchanges for Jocasta. (Thinks back to rich school mates who did such stuff during the 1950s.)

          3. No more foreign food. We’ll all be forced to live on suet puddings and jam sandwiches for ever more.

          5. We might be able to buy decent fish in Scotland. At present the best fish goes to France. Oh, hang on. They’ll still want it, won’t they?

          6. Here in Sweden I’d kill for a nice piece of fresh haddock.

            [No haddock in the Baltic and the cod are getting scare too.]

          8. Have you ever tried it? About 50 years ago a work colleague, who was a keen angler, knocked on my door one Saturday teatime. He had a big sack that was writhing about manically. He said, “Have you got a tub or anything?”

            I produced a large enamel baby bath and placed it on the kitchen floor next to a pile of old newspapers, which I’d spread out. My friend emptied the sack onto the papers.

            It was a fully-grown, still alive and very angry pike. Half it’s length seemed to be its snapping mouth! He asked me for a carving knife, with which he killed it (during which it bit his thumb: a piece of pike’s tooth lodging in there for several months afterwards). He advised me to fillet the pike and leave it soaking in brine for about a day before cooking it and eating it.

            I have to say it was the most revolting thing I’d eaten to date. All it tasted of was mud.

          9. They are feisty, and I’ve not known anyone who would choose to eat one if there was any other option.

          10. I have. It’s not bad. White meat with only one extra row of ribs to worry about. You want one under 5 lbs, baked with black pepper and lemon in foil is how I used to do them. Dare say they need to be caught from clean water.

          11. All it tasted of was mud.

            My experience when a chap I worked with gave me a pair of trout he’d caught. Disgusting.

          12. They’ve been kept in the wrong place, if that’s the case. No reason why either trout or pike should taste of mud, they don’t eat it and they don’t live in it. They are both predatory fish, just like cod or haddock for that matter. If they tasted of mud they must have been kept in some muddy puddle somewhere and fed on pellets. I’ve caught thousands and eaten hundreds of trout. I still don’t know what mud tastes like, never having eaten it, but trout don’t taste of it.

          13. I’ve never eaten the pike or perch I used to catch in the Thames. My brother tried with perch, after keeping it in clear water for several days. He, also said it tasted muddy. A predator too, but the Thames can be quite muddy.

          14. My favourite is freshly caught sea bass; scaled at the bottom of the garden!; skin slashed; gutted and stuffed with spring onions and slices of ginger; then steamed for 10–15 minutes, Chinese-style on a bamboo steamer over a wok; then drizzled with smoking-hot peanut oil—with some sesame oil in it—infused with slices of garlic (this crisps up the skin). Eat with some stir-fried pak-choi, onions and bamboo shoots, all drizzled with a light soy sauce (Pearl River for preference).

          18. Properly cooked, one of mine too. I meant that IMHO bass is over-rated, maybe because a lot of it is farmed these days. When I was a lad we used to catch bass (& flounders) on Sunday mornings during the winter in Poole Harbour & have them for lunch, wild & fresh. They were OK.

          19. Bass fishing is one of my favourite hobbies. Lure fishing for them, I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to method. They fight very well and would put a ‘freshwater’ pike to shame.

          20. I was fishing in the lake district in a generally neutral pH lake one day and I hit a magnificent seam of perch. Never had anything like it before or since. One was one pound, two were a pound and a half and the best was two pound. I wasn’t even fishing for perch.

            The two pounder came home with me. A lot of scales to clean off and stop the water draining from the kitchen sink, spines to look out for. The flesh was edible, but nothing to write home about.

          21. We used to eat perch in Geneva, but always in a restaurant. I enjoyed it as fried fillets and frites and their stripes could still just be seen. Of course Lac Leman/Geneva was only 50 yards away and there was quite a busy fishing industry going on.

          23. A 2lb perch is a good fish. My best perch, taken on a spinner in the Thames, was, ahem, 4lb 2oz. The Richmond and Teddington stretches are renowned for decent fish though.

          24. The important thing when cleaning (gutting) a trout is to remove all the abdominal blood vessels attached to the spine, otherwise the flesh can be bitter.

          25. That’s the kidney. I always make a point of cleaning it our thoroughly, including those sockets in the vertebrae where it is inclined to lodge. As you say, it’s foul. The fashion is to cook red mullet with it (and the rest of the innards) in place – not for me. I tried it, (with just the kidney, not the digestive tract) and it’s a daft idea.

          26. I agree with you on trout. I simply do not like any freshwater fish. I prefer my fish white-fleshed (waycist!) and from the sea.

          28. If pike is caught in streams with gravel or chalk beds they don’t taste muddy. Better still, from freshwater lakes or reservoirs. The best pike come from lake Bourget in eastern France.

            I bought a large piece of haddock today. Good enough for Jehovah.

            Are no online delivery services you could use?

          29. Years ago, one of MB’s work mates gave him a pike which he had caught.
            I thought I’d just cooked the bottom of the River Stour.

          30. Pike are feisty, and I’ve not known anyone who would choose to eat one if there was any other option.

          31. You were prolly tasting the blood from his thumb.

            In Germany Zander (pike-perch) is a widespread favourite. Freshly fried in a light batter it is absolute delicious.

          32. I had pike when I was living in France. I didn’t think it was too bad, but the bones were horrendous.

          33. Grizz, I only had a few weeks in Stockholm back in the 1980s but I was amazed at the many different ways of preparing raw herring; I tried a few but I found all unpalatable. Do you eat it? If herring is the main fish available I can understand your desire for haddock, by far my favourite if I’m having fish ‘n chips.

          34. I absolutely love herring. Flopped in seasoned flour and fried for a couple of minutes on each side. Bread and butter with it.

            Keep all of that rollmop and other soggy forms.

          36. Despite popular belief, Korky, herring is only eaten, widely, at Christmas, Easter and Midsummer. It is available in jars, pickled in umpteen different flavoured vinegars and potions. Some are wildly delicious. I bought new one, a couple of months back, in a lime and ginger marinade. It was gorgeous. Tomato marinade is good, too. They are nowhere near as sharp as the traditional British “soused” rollmop herrings.

            Cod is also a favourite here (they call it Torsk). The supplies of fish are not as extensive as they are in Norway: Sweden only has the Baltic, Norway has the north Atlantic! Other types of fresh fish are flown in, on ice, such as turbot and hake as well as a few more species.

          37. I was there leading up to Christmas and the other celebration they have in December; we were invited to Ericsson’s party to celebrate that early event. That would explain the very varied selection of herring.
            I had a lovely piece of hake a couple on months ago in a very good, fairly local, restaurant. Cooked in a very light and crispy beer batter it was very good. Hake is underrated in England, perhaps if we get our waters back it will become more popular.

          38. When I worked in Ostfriesland, I did a complete oral reconstruction for a patient. In gratitude he invited me to supper where I found a table laden with at least a dozen dishes of differently prepared herring; some sweet, some sour, some hot (spicy), all absoluto delicious.
            When they heard I was leaving after 3 years to go to Sweden he & his wife (also a patient) invited me again for a repeat performance.

            Back in the Ruhrgebiet, German friends invited me to Boxing Day supper. The main dish was Heringstip, pieces of raw herring, apple, onion, etc., in fresh cream. My first instinct was to baulk, but, at that age prepared to try anything once, I found it really good. Cartons of Heringstip are available in Aldi/Lidl. Best served with cold boiled potatoes.

          40. Yummy proper fish and chips. I last bought some from the chippy by the harbour in St Mawes, but that was 2 years ago.

          41. There is a prog on Cornish fishing on iplayer at the moment. Last episode i watched featured St Mawes. The locals aren’t too keen on the tourists but need them to survive.

          42. Plenty of tasty variations on the good old suet duff, as my mother used to call it. Staple fare during the winter in the 50s and 60s, both savoury and sweet.
            Just Googled ‘duff’ and it’s old English for pudding; would you believe it?😎

          43. “Up the duff” = “in the pudding club”.
            Evening, Hatman (if you’re watching)

          44. No more foreign food. We’ll all be forced to live on suet puddings and jam sandwiches for ever more.

          45. But I was working in Paris back in the early 70s. Do you mean that will not be allowed any more?

          47. ‘You sad bastard’ might have been more likely.

            Followed by a good dose of ‘Suck it up’.

          48. There is a solicitor’s with offices on Newcastle quay which has a Mr. Hadaway as one of the partners.

    3. Northumbria fell in 866 AD when the Vikings marched in to York. Has someone only just told these people?

      1. The use of Northumbria in a modern context rather than as a historical kingdom is one of the things that sets my teeth on edge. I blame the tourist board for trying to reinvent history for their own selfish ends.

        When someone, usually from down the lower latitudes starts boasting about how they’ve been to ‘Northumbria’ for their holidays and how they’ve ‘discovered’ it, how it’s ‘hidden’ and all of that bollocks I can’t wait to ask them where they keep their time machine because there’s been no such place for over a thousand years, but Northumberland hasn’t been hidden at all. We’ve been here for ages and don’t need to be ‘discovered’ by some up-themselves tosspot.

        That flag is actually the flag of the county council in any case, they’ve just been using it for 20-odd years, since they lifted it from part of the (assumed) flag of Bernicia, although it did feature as part of my old school badge in the 1960s.

        1. The rot started with the destruction of the traditional counties in 1974.

          Time to restore them (along with Westmorland).

          1. That flag is officially for the old county of Northumberland and includes the bits that are now in the abomibation, Tyne & Wear.

  48. The Return of Project Fear –

    “Trump will insist NHS pays more for drugs in trade deal, says ambassador”

    Exclusive: President will put US firms first in UK trade talks, says Kim Darroch

    1. Gosh! Shock News – “American President Sticks Up for America!”
      Oh, wait. It is not a shock, and it’s not news.

    1. Can someone invite her on here. Who knows, it may even be an enticement for BT to return.

  50. ”The democratic freedom to decide Britain’s policies is the fundamental point of Brexit”

    That’s so great !

    What’s going to happen to OS though, 5 minutes walk to Downing Street ?

    Is that going to continue pouring ”democratic policies” into government as it apparently has been doing for decades ?

    ”OSEPI is the EU policy arm of the Open Society Foundations, a private foundation that has worked for three decades to promote vibrant and tolerant democracies.
    OSEPI works to influence EU policies based on our vision that open society values are at the heart of what the EU does, as a policy maker and as a funder, both inside and outside the European Union.
    The Brussels team provides evidence, argument, and recommendations to policy makers in EU institutions and member states, drawn from the Open Society Foundations’ work in nearly 100 countries.”

    https://twitter.com/brugesgroup/status/1182396851594694657

    1. Someone could always make the suggestion to them “The EU is just over there. You can move there quite freely and start to become citizens of the country of your choice. These are the benefits of living in a free country such as the United Kingdom. Why do you want to take our freedoms away and force us to live the way that you want us to?”

      1. Always makes me wonder why socialists and communists never want to move to a communist or socialist country but rather want to make this one the disasters those ones are.

        1. If they did, they would be able to live the extravagant, materialistic lifestyles they now do!

          See: Silly Allen – a daft tart whose career was built on daddy selling drugs to kids poorer than he ever was, who went to the Calais “refugee jungle” for publicity for a FLOP record yet has yet to invite a single refugee to stay at her home, paid for females to perform sex acts on / with her at a time when there were numerous exposees into Eastern European sex trafficking of vulnerable Baltic women – and pays a pittance in tax compared to the cleaners who have to swab her mansion. Had Corbin got into power with his anti semitic party, she would have been on the first private jet to the nearest EU tax haven!

    2. One comment – on the girl on the left’s poster.

      Your future career and dreams are within yourself, not a present from someone else.

      Take an example from those who realise this and who come here in their millions to make the most of the hand they’ve been dealt in life.

      2. She wanted to be able to go to Spain and look for work along with the 40% of their indingenous youth.

        Now she’ll just have to take her chances here.

    3. “We’ll be back”?

      Well, what are you waiting for? F•ck off there now! We have no use for you.

    1. Compulsory Wednesday night viewing for me, although the search for ‘Peter’ got a bit tiresome as it went on.

      ‘Listen, pet. The world’s population is being wiped out. It’s not all about bloody Peter.’

      I wanted to see some practical stuff. I couldn’t care about some probably dead Peter.

    3. Another good example of the Acorn Antiques school of acting that was typical in the 1970s.

      Dire!

  55. Does anyone know of a breakdown of Coronavirus victims’ ethnicity? Obviously the vast majority will be ethnically Chinese, but I’m just wondering if other ethnic groups have been infected yet. I’m alluding to the stories a few days ago about man made ethnically targeted science programmes.

    1. If it turns out that the Chinese were developing such a thing, experimenting on criminals, for example, but it escaped before it could be altered to attack only Westerners, that would be one of the most poetic-justice own goals of all time.

      1. Maybe the experiment has been successful and these flights out of China are bringing carriers of the westernized virus. Give it a week after the quarantine period and then we can talk conspiracies.

        Best Chinese disinfectant aerosol to spray around the plane just before landing, what could go wrong?

        1. Gawd, I remember the horrid sprays the cabin crew used to spray the whole plane with on flights coming home from West Africa.

          1. Similar to the roadblocks in Botswana in the 80s where they sprayed you and your vehicle to prevent the spread of tsetse fly. You stank of it for days.

        2. Do we even have an inkling what the quarantine period should be before an all-clear can be given.

          I believe HIV can remain “dormant” but transmissable for years before AIDS related illnesses kick off.

    2. I posted something about that. So far as is known all are ethnic Chinese. Interestingly, there are no names being given out that I have seen. This is very unusual. The MSM/BBC are always looking for pathetic backstories. There is usually a lot of detail.

        1. No, a proper radiogram, although an old lady a few doors down did have an old wind-up job that used to fascinate us. She never used it, just kept it for old times’ sake.

    2. I don’t want the Germans to suffer, or any of the EU countries. It’s the EU we’re leaving, not Europe.

  59. British Steel: France in threat to veto sale

    The sale of British Steel to Chinese firm Jingye could be scuppered by French intervention.
    Jingye agreed in November to buy the collapsed business for £50m and save about 4,000 jobs.

    However, the approval of the French government is required because British Steel has a plant in France that is considered a strategic national asset.
    Now French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has threatened to veto the deal, as first reported by Sky News.

    Mr Le Maire told Chancellor Sajid Javid of his intentions last week during a meeting in Brussels, government sources confirmed to the BBC.
    The Anglo-French row centres on British Steel’s plant in Hayange, which supplies the French railway network, including state-owned train operator SNCF.

    1. So, why exactly is it OK for UK strategic assets to be sold off, again, and again, and again…?

        2. Wasn’t Child Line the price she extorted from the Beeb for keeping quiet about that nice Mr. Savile?

    2. “Sir, signal just received from the wireless room, ‘Foxtrot Oscar’, message ends”

    3. Interesting. As Boris wants muted celebrations for Brexit. No Big Ben. No loud parties. But the Remainers can’t stomach it. They carry on being nasty, rude and stupid.
      How about we go into the churches and ring the bells tonight, light beacons on the hills….?

      1. They’ll get no mercy from me. Put up with enough shite from them for four years.

        Payback time.

    4. Someone promised to hang a similar flag on the cliffs, but no sign so far. Perhaps National Trust are keen to prevent. With any luck those responsible might get a little too close to the edge…

  61. Tried to buy some single use dust masks last night. Sold out. They are not sure when more will arrive.
    Will have to source some ABEK filters.

  62. -Breaking News Hot Off The Press

    – Huawei have just announced that they are opening a new 5G plant in Surrey near Bookham.
    They will be building their new smartphones there, the 5 O Danno range
    It will be known as the Huawei 5 O Bookham Danno

    More news to follow

  63. Russia Reports First Coronavirus Cases. 31 January 2020.

    Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus on Friday and said the infected people were Chinese citizens who had been isolated, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told reporters.

    One wonders if all the victims are ethnic Chinese? If so it would massively boost the theory that it is a bioweapon gone astray!

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/01/31/russia-reports-first-coronavirus-cases-a69123

      2. I thought it was a soft drink – a fluorescent red fizzy Irn Bru substitute for Sassenach consumption.

    2. Two patients have been quarantined in Newcastle after testing positive for the killer bug

      1. Two chinese tourists, who had been staying in a budget hotel inYork, transported to the RVI in Newcastle for treatment.

          1. We have expected new viruses for many years now. Our unit at Arrowe Park, near where I live on the Wirral has existed for at least 25 years to my knowledge, but with a low profile to help to prevent the panic that we are seeing from the ignorant today. It’s there because across the Mersey is a very large international sea port, and one of the foremost schools of Tropical Medicine in the country.

    4. “Which is why I remark,
      And my language is plain,
      That for ways that are dark
      And for tricks that are vain,
      The heathen Chinee is peculiar, —
      Which the same I am free to maintain.”
      — Francis Bret Harte

  64. Katie Hopkins’ Twitter account suspended. 31 January 2020.

    Hopkins’ account was still visible online on Thursday night, but Twitter said that Hopkins had been temporarily locked out of the platform for violating its anti-hate policy.

    A spokesperson for Twitter told the BBC that it was looking into complaints from anti-racism campaigners that Hopkins’ comments on the social media platform constituted hate speech.

    Here’s Katie, one of the few truth speakers in the public sphere being hounded out of existence by Neoliberal trolls!

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/31/katie-hopkins-twitter-account-suspended

    1. Perhaps Twitter needs to lock itself out for violating its own ‘Anti-hate’ policy.

      it’s funny to note that the Graudian’s article on Katy Hopkins is as long as their final plea for money.

      Go bust you incorrigible idiots.

      1. Morning Nan. I can see why Katie uses it as it is one of the few methods she has left to access the public but in my opinion it’s a second rate medium useful only for sound bites!

      2. Morning Nan. I can see why Katie uses it as it is one of the few methods she has left to access the public but in my opinion it’s a second rate medium useful only for sound bites!

        1. Never used it and never will. Home of sycophantic lefties, mainly.

          Only Katy and BoB seem to make sense on it.

          1. Cheeky bugger! I was suspended from Twitter by suggesting that the Police officer, who was chopped in the head recently, should have shot his assailant. Apparently it was inciting targetted violence – I’ll say it was!

          2. I was given a ban a couple of weeks ago, made an appeal on the grounds I was backed by science and was reinstated.

          3. ‘Morning, Paul, I’m not surprised you feel uncomfortable there.

            I have to grit my teeth to post on Ar$ebook but I’ve yet to be banned although I can be very forthright.

      2. Apparently her suspension is currently only temporary, but those for whom free speech is anathema will hope to make it permanent.

        ‘Morning, BoB (manners).

  65. Press Pad founder defends scheme’s £600-a-month rental fees for interns after backlash

    Being polite it does not sound to be much of a deal.
    terns with hosts who can provide them with accommodation and mentoring has come under fire for its decision to charge up to £600 a month for its services.

  66. FWIW:- This morning I noticed a new commenter to the Telegraph Letters who was claiming inside knowledge of the true character of Terry Wogan, the commenter calls himself Big Bill. I wonder could it possibly be?

  67. SIR – I visited a live market in Chongqing during a three-week tour of China. Wuhan (Letters, January 30) was on the itinerary. Although I have lived in the Far East for 19 years, the revulsion that overcame me during that visit has left me somewhat traumatised to this day.

    Perhaps it is the natural world rebelling against this tradition of mindless slaughter and disrespect for animal life that is causing the coronavirus to run rampant among us.

    Hilary Devenport
    Chester

    I have witnessed the same in Africa.. I was also traumatised and certain images will remain with me forever.

    1. …and certain images will remain with me forever.

      That’s the point of travel, Hilary, Dearie.

      1. What have you been eating for breakfast this morning .. you are so sour.

        I was exposed at a very tender young age to many horrors ..including riots and witnessing the result of riots and barbaric cruelty .

        1. 2/3L goat’s milk.

          I you read my extract carefully, you will see that I did not mention barbaric cruelty, but referred to images from travel n general.

          Now have another cup of coffee.

          2. So, (©Cathy Newmann) you’re saying you can retain your bad experiences whilst denying me the right to relish my good ones.

    2. Africans and Asians feel nothing for animals! (They’re not very keen on us either!)

    3. ‘Morning, Mags, despite China’s supposition that coronavirus originated in a wild-life food market, conspiracy theorists (and I may join them) are of the opinion that it was originally stolen from a Cambridge Scientific Laboratory and China, in trying to manipulate it for its own ends, let it escape from their virology lab.

    4. TB,
      The butcher shop in Uganda was the same spot you got your hair cut & not your throat as with the steers.

  68. Is there any truth in that the javid chap wants to erase the blot on the landscape HS2 ( the gravy train ) by a new title (to protect the guilty) as in, the Bisto Express.

      1. HS2 serves no real purpose and will soak up all the money available to spend on the railways as well as all the resource to maintain the existing lines. AS for the Norther rail network they can forget it if HS2 goes ahead

        I can see the HS2 cost going to £200B. Remember it is already over 3 times the original budget and it has hardly started to be built

        1. …and you asked, “What troops?” just a day or so ago.

          One thing, Ogga, that you are consistent about, is inconsistency.

          1. Morning NtN,
            Lack of our troops, as to opposing enemas.
            If you need any further assistance in deciphering my post let me know, always willing to oblige.

    1. I generally hold the Express in the same contempt as the Mail for hyperbole and egregious journalism but as with the Mail and this piece sometimes they print an outstanding article . I wonder how far it would get with The Guardian.

      1. I think if you were to glance at The Guardian’s front page today you would be left in no doubt about their mindset.

    2. Freddy is so right but the problem rests with those five groups he mentions. Will they work to make our departure difficult, or worse, a failure? IMO the establishment blob remains totally wedded to the EU project and will function to try and get us back in.
      One thing in our favour is that currently there is great unrest appearing across the EU. France, Spain/Catalonia/, Italy, all are experiencing major problems and probably the biggest challenge, mass immigration from the Third World being encouraged by the elites, will most likely see the unravelling of the ‘The Project’. It could become very messy and we must remain detached from it.

      1. ‘Morning, Korky, we watched Ed Balls in Euroland, as he visited Poland and Germany.

        He made a point of visiting those in the Right-wing political parties and it was obvious that he doesn’t/cannot/will not understand how the majority in the EU don’t like their controlling masters and will vote against them and for the voice of protest.

        The Polish Party, Law and Justice and the German AfD are both making inroads into their governments and you can be sure that the Brussels Dictators will try and put a stop to it.

        Mr Bollocks is due to visit France and will doubtless, try to get up Marine Le Pen’s nose. He has totally lost the plot.

        1. It is in this country Alf but one would imagine from watching this puerile sketch that Tea was Indian, Sugar Caribbean and Cotton American. A statement as false as the one they are denying! Tea originated in China. Sugar is Indian and Cotton was first produced independently in both Pakistan and Mexico. So far as I am aware none of these countries have claimed them as possessions! Here endeth the first lesson!

          1. I drink whisky, use heather-honey as a sweetener and I wear Harris Tweed, all fine products of Scotland.

            Mind you, I caution anyone wishing to follow my example – Harris Tweed underpants can be a wee bit scratchy until you get used to them.

          4. Cranachan? What could be more Scottish?

            Scottish (toasted) oats, fresh Scottish raspberries, Scottish honey, Scottish cream and (last but not least) Scotch whisky.

          6. Mexican Territory (possibly Mayan), Indus River Valley in Pakistan, and Egypt’s Nile valley:

            https://www.cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/story/

            “Arab merchants brought cotton cloth to Europe about 800 A.D. When Columbus discovered America in 1492, he found cotton growing in the Bahama Islands. By 1500, cotton was known generally throughout the world.

            “Cotton seed are believed to have been planted in Florida in 1556 and in Virginia in 1607. By 1616, colonists were growing cotton along the James River in Virginia.”

            “Cotton was first spun by machinery in England in 1730. The industrial revolution in England and the invention of the cotton gin in the U.S. paved the way for the important place cotton holds in the world today.”

        2. Silver Spoon make their sugar from sugar beet, but Tate & Lyle predominantly (if not entirely) make their sugar from sugar cane.

          1. Tate & Lyle may well be licking their lips as we leave the EU. Whenever we’re told that we pay the EU a member’s fee there is very rarely a follow up informing us of some of the other money they source from us. Here’s Tate & Lyle’s take on what being in the EU means.

            …Mr Mason argued that leaving the EU will put an end to the cheques the sugar-refinery business has to pay to Brussels before being allowed to sell its products.

            He said: “On some of the ships we buy, we face a tariff of around 35 percent.

            “The ship will arrive here at the dock in East London and as we are unloading it, before we are allowed to sell the sugar in the market to consumers, we have to send a cheque of around €3 million to Brussels.”

            Daily Express – EU Imposed Tariffs on Sugar

      3. Well, we planted the tea gardens in India and Ceylon. We developed sugar production in the West Indies. We made cotton into a major industry here and in India. We sold opium to the Chinese, ah, forget that last one.

        (I cannot open the video.)

  72. SIR – The Whitehall Blob estimates that HS2 will cost £106 billion (report, January 30), which is at least £1,500 per person in Britain.

    The majority of us will never use it. The Great Central Main Line could be resurrected for well under £10 billion and would achieve effectively the same aims. I thought that, in return for my vote, the new Government was going to sweep away the insouciant behaviour of Whitehall cabals, but decisions on Huawei and HS2 show it is simply business as usual.

    Geoff Ludlow
    Hythe, Kent

    SIR – When I was on the Railtrack board between 1995 and 2002, the Great Central Main Line (Letters, January 28) was known as the North‑South High Speed proposal; I wonder if the reasons that led the Department for Transport to abandon it in favour of HS2 remain valid.

    Sir Philip Beck
    Pilton, Somerset

    SIR – The Prime Minister could save more than £80 billion by abandoning HS2 and then spend it on delivering punctual local trains for working people. If he really believes in the North and the Midlands, he will be bold and cancel this bloated, ill‑conceived vanity project now.

    Rosemary Drinkwater
    Coventry, Warwickshire

    1. The Great Central was the last mainline built to London and it was built to a very high standard. We dont need super high speed. The latest generation of trains now being built are capable of a 150mph. That’s more than adequate for the small distances needed in the UK.

      Most people do not even travel by rail. It is less than 10% that do and about 90% of that is journeys under 50 miles

      The claims that HS2 will be a huge benefit to the North just do not stand up to examination

      What do you need to get high tech companies etc to move to the North? Well the critical thing is a good pool of people with the required skills, now in many cases those skills will be scarce in the North. HS rail link will do little to help. The best way is to relocate companies from the South. They will have a core of skilled people move with the company and the rest can be recruited locally

  73. Sir—This Sunday, 02/02/2020, will be the only palindromic date in our lifetime. There can only be 12 such dates, the others being 01/01/1010 and 11/11/1111 in medieval times, 12/12/2121 in the next century, and 03/03/3030 to 09/09/9090 in succeeding millennia.

    William Lyons
    Lincoln

    WRONG!

    SIR—William Lyons is wrong (Letters, January 31); February 20, 2002 was also palindromic. Moreover, I recall raising a glass in a Sydney restaurant at 20:02 20/02/2002.

    A Grizzly B

    1. Ha, ‘Morning, George, 2 days after that on 22/02/2002, I died.

      Fortunately para medics had been called, put the battery charger on me and restored my VF that had flat-lined.

      I give thanks for every extra day, month, year, I’ve had since.

      1. ‘Morning, Tom.

        Well, bugger me. That date was my 51st birthday, also celebrated Down Under. Your “second coming” has now lasted just shy of 18 years and let’s hope for many more. I’ll raise another glass to you on my next birthday in 22 days’ time. 🥃

    2. There are numerous examples, the man’s not looked beyond the obvious.

      Try 31/01/1013 and 22/01/1022, not to mention 12/02/2021 and there will be many others

        1. I know. You are forgiven (and my comment will now be removed). :•)

          [As long as you click on it again to make it gone!]

  74. European Union task force holds its first summit on fighting Russian disinformation. 31 January 2020.

    Still, after authorities linked Russian groups to misinformation campaigns targeting Brexit, as well as elections in France and Germany, the race is on to figure out a longer-term fix.

    This is a case of the frying pan calling the kettle blackarse if ever there was one. I’ve dined on EU lies about Brexit for the last three years but cannot recall a single Russian example to relate.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/30/europe/european-union-task-force-russian-disinformation-intl/index.html

  75. Electric car-sharing scheme scrapped in London after poor uptake

    French-owned Bluecity, which ran a fleet of distinctive red battery-powered cars, said its £5-per-half hour service was no longer financially viable after it secured deals with only three London councils. It will officially shut down on February 10.

    A second car-sharing club, German-owned DriveNow, is pulling out of London at the end of next month. It operated 130 electric BMW i3 cars out of a total fleet of more than 700 vehicles.

    Both services were “point to point”, allowing drivers to pick cars up, drive to anywhere in London and leave them there, in theory making it more flexible.

    However, they were plagued by disappointing take-up and the bureaucratic obstacle course of dealing with 33 local authorities

  76. Two family members who have tested positive for coronavirus in Britain were Chinese tourists who were staying in budget Staycity hotel in York – as officials launch urgent hunt for anyone who came into contact with them

  77. BREXIT DAY : Two (rather than Three) Cheers for that.

    1. We still know virtually nothing about Johnson’s ‘withdrawal agreement’;
    2. We still do not know when we shall be completely free of the EU with no strings attached
    3. We still do not know what Boris’s WA will cost
    4. We still do not know how much of May’s thrice rejected deal remains in tact
    5. We still do not have a trade agreement and the EU are trying to tell us we shall not get one this year.

    So will Johnson let us have that third cheer or are we still being buggered?

    1. Rastus, I suspect you know the answer to that, Huawei and HS2 are going to be indicators as to what sort of PM he will turn out to be.
      Cameron, May and Johnson, all tarred with the same brush.

    2. Well if we dont get one we go to WTO. I would bet though we will get a deal. The last thing the EU want is for us to go to WTO

    3. Morning R,
      My belief, well and truly rogered as a nation but well use to it.
      In point of fact we are now more of a slack Alice of a country.
      Just heard on the brussels broadcasting Co the assassin ex Pm
      candidate in the leadership farce, gove.
      I can see the same political tripe going forward jockeying as we type.

    2. BJ,
      The assassin / Pm candidate in the leadership farce, to confirm future treachery would be if he vowed, promised,
      or pledged it.

  81. For anyone thinking of having 40 winks this afternoon in anticipation of staying up late, or for anyone who likes gentle music, here is a beautifully relaxing song called “China Roses” by Enya. I picked a version with no lyrics on-screen or changing images, as they can distract from the music. I can have this type of music playing in the background at almost any time of the day or night.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNyL9Pchk6U

    2. Well, the UK stopped slavery and stopped the barbaric custom of suttee so he can shut up. Those were standards which were totally British..

  83. I was just re-reading our host’s note at the top:

    “now reinstated, but not as good as ours”

    How true, and even more so with the re-hash of the Telegraph’s BTL comments engine.

  84. The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has ruled that female MPs will be henceforth permitted to breastfeed in the Commons whilst the House is in session. This elicits two questions:

    1. Will television cameras be averted from women MPs engaged in performing this task?

    2. If a female MP, currently engaged in this activity, is called out by the Speaker to respond in a debate, will she stand to respond, in flagrante nipplo, or will the cameras again be diverted?

    4. Since the NHS now provides cervical screening for men with no cervix, why aren’t male MPs allowed to breastfeed their children in the HoC?

    5. No, she’ll have to pull the poor infant off with a resounding ‘Pop!’, carry out whatever sartorial repairs are possible in the time available, then resume feeding her offspring, desperately hoping that he/she is not the sort to hold grudges.

  85. Chlorinated Chicken

    It seems a fuss over nothing. Looking at US chicken prices as well they are not likely to be that competitive in the UK unless they dump them. A simple way around it in any case is to just clearly label them as Chlorinated

    1. When you go to the States, as I do occasionally, and you’re in a restaurant looking at the menu, do you say ‘I’d love the chicken, if only it wasn’t chlorinated.’?

      Me neither.

    3. He’s a cussed old bugger – which is why we like him!

      Caroline and I have tried to lure him back but with no success.

          2. Moh’s Hardness Scale:

            0: Southerner
            1: Talc
            2: Gypsum
            3: Calcite
            4: Fluorite
            5: Apatite
            5·5: Midlander
            6: Orthoclase feldspar
            7: Quartz
            8: Topaz
            9: Corundum
            10: Diamond
            11: Northerner

          5. It took you three and a half hours to respond, Philip, three and a half hours!

            I expect better from you! 🤪

  87. It was not part of their blood
    it came to them very late
    with long arrears to make good
    when the English began to hate.

    It has taken 43 plus 4 years ( it came to them very late) make this time count.
    Good penmanship Rudyard.

    1. Afternoon T-B – BBC Radio 4 lunchtime news saying they were staying in a Yorkshire Hotel.They are now in quarantine in Newcastle.

    2. I’m sure you will be delighted to learn that the sixth French victim is a doctor.

      He had treated a man with symptoms who has has now returned to China. Presumably infecting lots of people during his travels.

      I wonder how many other carriers have been globe-trotting by plane. I do so hope some of the globe-trotters went to Davos and passed the bug all around the self-selecting elites.

      1. Perhaps 400 million. That is the number of Chinese who move around at New Year. Mostly in China. But they fly from all around the globe. Perfect carriers. We don’t pay much attention to the Chinese, but there are lots of them. 2000 at Edinburgh University. There are thousands enjoying life on cruise ships at any one time.

          2. Oddly enough, if many of them really are carriers, I would find that slightly more comforting as it would suggest that it isn’t particularly lethal, merely unpleasant.

    3. Morning Maggie, On Radio Scotland this morning it was stated the’d gone to a hospital in the Wirral – my guess would be Clatterbridge or Arrowpark

      1. Maybe Arrowpark. Is that not the intended destination for quarantine of the people the Government are flying back here?

  89. From Alastair Stewart to Scruton, the public are fighting back against the cancel culture of the digital mob

    FRASER NELSON

    The backlash against ITN’s ousting of Alastair Stewart shows the dangers of firms embracing moral panic

    At the time of his death, Sir Roger Scruton was celebrated not just as one of the greatest philosophers of his lifetime but as someone who was able to defy – and expose – the mob. A Twitterstorm had erupted over words of his that had been maliciously twisted, and within hours he had been fired from his role chairing a government commission. But his treatment led to uproar, and his eventual reinstatement. Yet again, he made history: for once, the mob did not get its man.

    Now we have Alastair Stewart, dropped by ITN for making what it called “errors of judgement” on social media. He had been quoting Shakespeare, citing lines from Measure for Measure that included the words “angry ape”. The person he had been debating with was black, and a daft row ensued. It ought to have ended, at most, in an apology – where Stewart would have made the obvious point that no offence was intended. Instead, it ended his 40-year career.

    Over the years, we have seen the rise of what Americans call “woke capitalism”, where private companies are infected by the madness that started taking hold in university campuses some time ago. Typically, there will be a zealous Human Resources department that decides to become a cultural police force. Employees might be issued with rainbow-striped lanyards to celebrate ‘Pride’, or be invited to Black History Month. And if you hate identity politics, best keep quiet. You risk being painted as a bigot and, in the era of moral panic, to be accused is to be guilty.

    Marketeers, too, panic. Last year, Nike dropped a line of trainers after complaints that the design – an early flag of the United States – had been adopted by white supremacists. A shopping centre in Reading evicted Chick-fil-A, an American fast food chain, after complaints that it was somehow homophobic. Among the supposed evidence that it donated to the Salvation Army.

    The common theme, from Nike to the newsroom, is a complete failure to argue the case or to defend the truth. Does Nike regard the old Betsy Ross flag as a symbol of racism? Does anyone at ITN believe that Stewart is, in the slightest way, racist?

    But when moral panic takes over, truth never matters – and social media trolls take control. You can see them on Twitter picking targets all day, seeking companies gullible enough to respond to digital pressure.

    For example: “Acme Inc, are you okay with supporting the work of a bigot like Alastair Stewart?” The idea is to terrify Acme Inc into pulling their advertising. Or have them waver long enough to persuade the employer that the journalist is too much of a risk to have around, and ought to be let go. Or, in the parlance, “cancelled”.

    Throughout the election campaign, there were attempts to ‘cancel’ Boris Johnson. The online archives of The Spectator were deluged by Corbynites trawling 25-year-old articles for a quote here or there that could be taken out of context. Not so long ago, he was investigated by the Conservative Party itself on charges of Islamophobia after a joke he made in these pages about the niqab: a garment banned in several Muslim countries. But, again, facts didn’t matter. His critics just wanted to smear and destroy him.

    It doesn’t seem to have done him much harm. Indeed, an important part of his support will be from those who admire how he speaks freely, how he is unafraid to make jokes and use satire. And that he doesn’t apologise, or run scared of any digital mob.

    Of course, a politician who restricts his opinions and language to the rigorously-policed parameters of social media will never speak to the country. Failure to recognise this led Labour down a digital rabbit hole (along with much of the media) while the Tories won a historic majority.

    This is politics, of a new and potent kind. There are a great many voters who might not care about Brexit but who do care that the jokes they crack might be used to destroy them, or those they love. That without voting for it, we have somehow entered a world where everyone is one off colour joke away from career death. This matters more than a marginal tax rate or the fate of HS2. It’s a force against which targets have no defence: to be accused is to be guilty. And victims are everywhere.

    It can happen to Tim Hunt, the Nobel laureate forced to resign for an offhand remark about working with women. Or it could be Brian Leach, fired from Asda last year for sharing a Billy Connolly video which a colleague thought was Islamophobic. An American racing car driver recently had his sponsorship pulled because of remarks that had been uncovered from the early Eighties – but made by his father, not even by him.

    The irony is that this time, there was no army of social media trolls demanding Alastair Stewart’s head. His Shakespeare quote generated a bit of fuss, but not much. Perhaps ITN overreacted to a handful of complaints. In any event, it was a calamitous misjudgment because the fury is now directed at them – and the way one of their longest-serving journalists has been treated.

    There is a petition to have Stewart reinstated (as Scruton eventually was) signed by 17,000 – and counting. This matters, because it’s not how stories like his tend to end. When Scruton was first fired, it looked as if he’d join the many others unable to defend themselves or recover. But thanks to the work of his friend Douglas Murray, who uncovered the tape of the original interview he gave, everyone could see how carefully the philosopher’s words had been distorted – and how the lynch mob had worked. And they were appalled.

    There is much to learn from last month’s extraordinary general election. But one of the forces that took Johnson to No 10 is the backlash against ‘cancel’ culture and those who seek to destroy others for jokes they make.

    As for Alastair Stewart, he walks away not having been ‘cancelled’ but lauded by his entire profession. A sign, perhaps, that the power of the mob is waning – and that we might be slowly taking steps back towards sanity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/30/alastair-stewart-scruton-public-fighting-back-against-cancel/

    1. Yet the mob has won, as Mr Stewart has not been reinstated by his employers.

      No one has come out and slapped that stupid halfwitted, offense taking Lefty Shapland or whatever his name is.

    1. The whole of Europe (not just the EU) will have to ban entrants from China, for health and safety reasons.
      The whole of Europe (not just the EU) will have to ban entrants from Pakistan, just because it feels good.

      1. Europe needs to wake up, If Africa actually sees some of the effects it’s supposed to se as we continue to warm up – higher temperatures, crop failures, etc. – about a billion of them will be heading north.

      2. Glasgow.
        (Apols to NOTTLers in the western section of North Britain. I’m sure your ivory castles are dazzling.)

    2. I must have watched that clip 5 – 10 times over the years, but I have just noticed that the audience are sitting with their backs to the band. That must have been popular if they were fans. “Yes your favourite band are singing but you cannot look at them. Our camera hoist is banjaxed and we won’t be able to see the boys if you are standing up.”

      No wonder that some of them look as happy as Remainers.

  94. Eurozone economy barely growing at all

    The eurozone economy of 19 European Union countries barely grew at all in the final quarter of last year.

    A first official estimate puts economic growth in the region at 0.1% during the three months to the end of December 2019.
    Two of the eurozone’s largest economies shrank in the period: France by 0.1% and Italy by 0.3%.

    No separate figures for Germany have been published yet. But Claus Vistesen of Pantheon Macro says that on the basis of the data released so far, growth in Europe’s largest economy was about 0.2%.

  95. Woman airlifted to hospital after serious bus and lorry crash

    A woman in her 80s has been flown to hospital after a crash involving a bus, lorry and a car in Mersea Road, Colchester.

    Essex Police tweeted to say the road is currently closed to all traffic, including pedestrians, between Queen Elizabeth Way and Berechurch Hall Road.

  96. Video footage has emerged of a small dog being barbecued alive in a Chinese meat market. It was yelping loudly. I really suggest you don’t watch the video.

    1. No wonder I am xenophobic and an absolute cynic about everything..

      Decades ago , when we were all much younger , as children we assumed the Chinese captured and ate the neighbourhood cats and rats.. I bet there was some truth in that… as it is some Bxxxxxxxds murder and eat our swans and trap tiny birds in netting to eat.

      The barbarity we are witnessing these days has accelerated ..

      1. We are hearing more about it but it has always taken place.

        Perhaps this latest scare will force the Chinese authorities to do something about it. There is no more compliant nation than the Chinese.

        The Ebola outbreak was believed to have spread from bushmeat but nothing has happened to stop that.

      3. Back in the early ’60’s there was a very nice Chinese Restaurant in the middle of Birmingham – back when that area was full of nice shops and life. They got “done” when the health inspector found cat pelts round the back, so it’s nothing new.

        Fair put us all off the Chicken Chow Mein tho’.

    2. Thank you. I saw that in the DM and scrolled very quickly down. I am finding the graphic descriptions and photographs of cruelty to animals especially dogs in the DM heartbreaking, so difficult nigh on impossible to process and deal with – recently they have kept me awake in the early hours.

      1. PM, just the same as me .. I feel the pain far too much.

        Are they doing us any favours by printing such stuff.. and doesn’t enough cruelty and barbarity exist here .. thanks to the introduction of alien nationalities who think nothing about even eating baby chimpanzee meat .. The Bush meat trade here is not monitored , and meat is smuggled into Britain ..

        I hear that donkey meat is the latest taste for Asians ..

        So help me what on earth have Homo Sapiens become .. I expect there are cannibals amongst us in Britain .. it is all just so dreadful.

        1. In the defence of western culture we’ve moved on rather than “become” its those cultures to the east of us that have not moved out of their abhorrent practices in spite of so called civilising influences ( east in this context can include those European countries still trapping vast quantities of song birds for sport/food )

          1. Absolutely right – they are trapped in sticky lime all around the Med, not just in North Africa. No wonder they are becoming scarce here.

        2. The Chinese are decimating donkeys in Africa, which are a necessary beast of burden for country people. There are donkey slaughterhouses, and they are rapidly becoming an endangered species. they eat the meat and the skins are used for extracting some oil which is sought after for some remedy.

      2. I hate anything to do with cruelty to animals and purposely go out of the way to avoid seeing anything about it. I even mute words on Twitter so I don’t see these sort of things.

        1. I’m not against eating animals, but they should be offed as quickly and painlessly as possible. Not cooked alive. That is barbaric.

          1. The Chinese way of eating is traditionally barbaric. They seem to have no sense of empathy.`Perhaps that is why some nations seem to find it easier to be cruel than others.

    1. It is reported that Mr Farage made a brilliant statement today on a live interview, he said;

      “Britain is more than a star on someone else’s flag”

    4. The man of the hour, week, month, past 25 years.

      May he be able to put his feet up now and not be needed in the future.

        1. This is why I hope he is not needed again. If we are cheated by a 3rd Prime Minister in a row, then I will be out on the streets myself, every chance that I get. We will hammer the message home that we are leaving, if they are too arrogant to deliver it.

          If we need to do our version of the French Yellow Vests protests to get out of the EU, then I’ll be there.

  99. Lib Dem leadership election

    This looks as if it will be even more drawn out than the Labour parties one

    The Liberal Democrats are expected to wait until the summer to elect a permanent new leader after Jo Swinson lost her seat in the general election.
    Party bosses will meet on Saturday to hammer out a timetable for the contest, with the expectation that they may delay the start of the race until after the local elections in May.

    The contest had been anticipated sooner so the party could begin to rebuild ahead of the local elections.

    But senior Lib Dems are understood to be keen to see who is elected as Labour’s next leader in April, before deciding on who is the best candidate to replace Ms Swinson.

    1. Couple of bottles of fizz and then a conga line in and out of all the houses blowing our trumpets.

    2. Scottish Smoked Salmon , Waitrose own Sussex Vineyard “Champagne” in the fridge, British Beef Topside in the oven ,UK sourced veg, a good full bodied red from the Antipodes, homemade posset with raspberry jus ,a selection of British cheeses and the Radio 4 Theme tune lined up on the audio system. We’ll play it by ear from then on.

    3. Going out with my wife to a good Italian restaurant. We are still Europeans, which is different from being members of the EU.

      And… we were given vouchers as a Christmas present! Win-win all round!

    4. Fillet steak and salad, with some bubbly later, but not the good champagne. Will save that until December 31st, when we, hopefully, leave properly. Will be keeping a close and beady eye on the bastewards in the meantime.

      1. A glass of English sparkling for the 11th hour, with English bubbly or sparkling English apple wine (supporting two English industries at once here) – it is a lovely colour – for December 31st. And a very beady eye meanwhile.

        1. A glass of English fizz at 23.00, the rest tomorrow evening with poached salmon. You know the old silver teaspoon trick to keep fizz fizzy.

          1. I get my mothrr 1/3 bottles of Prosecco. She can have a “whole” bottle, without it going flat.

          2. We used to get piccolos (piccoli) of Prosecco in Germany, but it’s not British.

            Has to be British today, otherwise I’d be opening a bottle of the Widder.

          3. I have been celebrating with the help of our Colonial friends. Let’s not forget the Commonwealth, after all.

    5. Bottle of Champagne on ice……………… it’s a bit flat I opened it three and a half years ago!

    6. A Whisky or two for me and a Brandy or two for Mrs VVOF.

      Oh, and I am going to make a very rare trip to my Faceache page and post a picture and comment to mark the occasion.

      This is not intended be a small measure of gloating of Brexit finally happening, I intend to rub every democracy hating, sore loser, petulant remainers face in it. Just to show them all their efforts in overturning democracy in this country failed, and it pleases me no end.

    7. Just had a fry-up of pork chop, dry-cured bacon, black pudding, mushrooms & chips done in beef dripping, finished off with a slice of Christmas cake (yes it’s lasting).

      Later, Gin.

      Tomorrow, sirloin steak; Sunday, roast beef.

      1. They can fly now. Besides, everywhere has disabled access. And they certainly have a disability… Mental illness.

  104. Starmer’s vision of a federal country

    With four powerful federal assemblies undertaking much of the government, a federal Britain can reduce the size of the Commons and replace the House of Lords with a senate-type chamber, with new powers and elected by the regions on a PR basis. The federal structure must be accompanied by a massive devolution from Westminster, both to the federal assemblies and local government, bringing services like education, the NHS and transport, properly under local control.

    1. The federal structure must be accompanied by a massive devolution from
      Westminster, both to the federal assemblies and local government,
      bringing services like education, the NHS and transport, properly under
      local control.

      Was/is that not the EUSSR

  105. The ITV News are at it. Carrying out a voxpop in a market. They are asking people which EU food items that they can live without. Also an interview with a florist who was worried that she won’t be able to import flowers from Holland any more. Four years of MSM lies mean that most people have no idea what is going on.

    So, keeping it simple;
    1. We want to sell to them what we produce.
    2. They want to sell to us what they produce.
    3. There are international protocols that require trading to carry on as is, until changes are mutually agreed.
    4. Start reading at 1. again.

    1. …and all the supposed “problems” that people go on about never existed before Britain was in the EU, or even in the EEC.

      1. But now their will be remain leaning officials hell bent on showing that the UK cannot exist outside the EU.

        Just a few lorries held up while papers are checked, a misunderstanding on quotas and standards can make the cross border deliveries painful.

        1. I was having this conversation tonight; we can make a go of being free, of course we can. What we don’t want or need is people in power who want us to fail and make it seem that it’s too difficult or not working.

  106. Advertising spend with national newspapers will continue to fall year-on-year in 2020

    ow long before some of the National fold. Falling circulations and falling revenues and rising costs. They cannot defy gravity forever. Which be will be first to go?

    National newsbrands took £1bn of advertising revenue in 2018, the most recent full-year figures, down 2.7 per cent on the year before. Online ad spend accounted for £318m of the total expenditure.

    The latest report from the Advertising Association and ad intelligence agency WARC reveals ad spend on nationals is estimated to fall a further 2.5 per cent in 2019 and forecasts a drop of 3.3 per cent for 2020.

  107. COFFEE HOUSE – Ignore the Brexit day party poopers – it’s time to celebrate
    Brendan O’Neill – 31 January 2020 – 6:03 PM

    Don’t gloat. Don’t be too triumphalist. Don’t wave your flags too boisterously. Don’t say or do anything that might offend sad, pained Remainers, who will be huddled in their homes, looking with bemusement and concern upon the terrible new world that will be born at 11pm tonight.

    All of these warnings are being issued to Leavers today as we gear up for our Brexit Day celebrations. Be humble, we’re told. Be magnanimous. Be quiet.

    And the party-pooping isn’t only coming from Europhiles who think the end of our membership of the EU is tantamount to the End of Days.

    Like London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has expressed concern that after Brexit Day we might see a rise in xenophobic hate crimes.

    Yes, that’s right, Sadiq: us Leavers are a racist pogrom in waiting, just one Nigel Farage speech away from becoming deranged lunatics. Seriously, mate, give it a rest. Can’t you go one day without calling us racist?

    No, even Brexiteers are calling for subdued, timid celebrations.

    Good egg and ERG stalwart Steve Baker has party-shamed his fellow Leavers by saying he will quietly raise a glass to Brexit in the privacy of his own home rather than whooping and cheering in the streets, because he doesn’t want to upset people who voted Remain.

    This is all getting on my wick. I’m going to be honest: I want to gloat. Just for one day. Just for a couple of hours, in fact. I want to cheer the triumph of Brexit, bellow my delight that we won, and celebrate — loudly and colourfully — our hard-won leaving of the EU.

    There are two irritating things about the Brexit Day party-pooping. The first is the sheer gall of those Remain campaigners who are telling us to be nice and quiet and respectful of those who disagree with us.

    Pot, kettle, black! For three-and-a-half years hardcore Remain activists — not, it must always be stated, ordinary, good Remain voters — paraded through the streets like an army of sanctimony.

    They waved their EU flags like mad. They painted their faces blue and yellow. Emily Thornberry wore an actual EU dress.

    They waved placards declaring their intellectual and moral superiority to the dim throng. Placards boasting of how good they were at grammar in comparison with us. Placards telling us that newspapers and demagogues and Russian bots brainwashed us muppets into voting for Brexit. Placards moaning about ‘BREXSHIT’.

    To say these processions lacked decorum is an understatement of epic proportion. They were mass, noisy displays of middle-class arrogance.

    They were expressions, in fact, of what the great Barbara Castle described in the 1970s as ‘Euro-jingoism’ — the belief among intellectuals and the political class that being pro-European made them superior to many of their own fellow citizens and also to other continents. (Witness Europhiles’ disdain for America and its chlorinated chicken today, for example.)

    That was always the great irony of hardcore Remainerism (not Remain voters!): its adherents constantly referred to Leavers as jingoists, but they themselves engaged in some of the habits of jingoism. They often expressed the moral chauvinism that is a core component of jingoism more than Leavers did.

    And the second irritating thing about the attempt to suppress Brexiteers’ strength of feeling on this historic day is that it fails to see what is really being celebrated today: democracy.

    Look, I don’t really want to gloat. Well, not for very long. I certainly do not want to gloat over Remain voters: I have friends and family members who voted Remain. Good people. (Wrong about the EU, but good people nonetheless.)

    But I do want to revel in the triumph of Brexit. In the victory of this tough battle to ensure the enactment of the largest democratic vote in UK history. In the victory of the voices of ordinary people over the stubborn Brexit-blocking of an establishment that doesn’t understand those people or like them very much.

    That is really worth celebrating — with flags and cheers and music and dancing. The works. If it offends you, don’t worry — you’ll get over it.

    Humility, they’re calling for. Humility is a ‘low view of one’s own importance’. Hell, no. Today is a celebration precisely of our importance. Of the importance of ordinary people against an establishment that told us we were too thick and prejudiced to make big political decisions about the future of the UK.

    Brexit is the masses saying: ‘We’re important. We matter. Our votes matter.’ Save your humility for church. Today, celebrate your importance, the importance of your vote, and the importance of ensuring that democratic votes are always upheld.

    1. Marking the clock to see when the first reports of Remoaner bad behaviour start trickling in this evening… .

        1. “Pictures have emerged showing protesters setting off the flares and holding a huge banner over the busy Westminster Bridge. The banner reads: “Here to stay. Here to fight.””

          LOL – even when there are large crowds of the momentum thugs, you can see them visibly losing weight when a few football supporters start walking towards them with no smiles on their faces. This group from the story above… Are there 7 of them? Poor lambs. Someone should lead them to a warm place where they can have a seat and a cup of tea.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6869c3bed45c08c5519d9afe8f6d1a07e559939082fb3ea635f21e5005db2678.jpg

      1. Our next door neighbours finally removed their large EU banner from their upstairs bay window – it had been in situ for months but latterly occasionally falling down at the corners and looking folorn – so I will be having a good old gloat tonight. I hope they feel the vibes through the walls. It was, as Brendan O’Neill said, their declaration of “intellectual and moral superiority to the dim throng” that was irritating. No more!

      1. I’m going to have a good gloat in 11 months time when the desperate claws of the EU are finally prised from our Island and government.

        Or I’ll be one of those who quietly fade from online life, to embark on a new life full of adventure and excitement. All over this land of ours. 🙂

        2. We will always have something to say about the circumstances foisted upon us by the political class. Some things do not change. Stay with us 2(M).

          1. Don’t worry – I’m sure you’ll see many of us who “go quiet” appearing on the news. Briefly, anyway. 🙂

            Our country comes first, and our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents have worked so hard and sacrificed so much, to let it be given away by a few “yes-men” in suits. They have been told to take us out of the EU 4 times now. It is up to them if they listen now or not. There are more than a few who think that there would be no point in waiting around and telling them a 5th time. 🙂

  108. I note that despite the UK ceasing to be a member of the European Union today, there may be remainers who are likely to continue to wind up us leavers by flying the EU flag.

    As I understand it, flag flying rules mean that remainers who have up until now legally flown the EU flag will be required in future to get permission to do so because the UK will no longer be a member of that organisation.

    The rules suggest that from 11pm tonight a council has the right to require such a flag display to be lowered.

    Any comments?

    https://www.theukrules.co.uk/rules/legal/flags/index.html

    1. The banners of the Fourth Reich are still being displayed along Wood Lane in London W12. I’ll be pleased but very surprised if they’re taken down overnight.

      Hammersmith & Fulham Council won’t ask to have them removed, since they spent £27k of our council tax putting them up.

    2. As a Leaver, I have no objection to private householders flying the EU flag if they wish. One point made by the British public in 2016 is that we want to re-establish a proud and free sovereign nation, with any eccentric displays quite acceptable as long as they do not harm anybody. Public buildings are another matter though.

      I myself fly the Kurdish flag in my garden in solidarity to those veterans who gave their lives liberating provinces in Syria and Iraq, and in support of those in Afrin currently facing persecution.

      A month ago, a former bank (currently empty) in Great Malvern flew a rainbow “Gay Pride” flag right in the heart of the town. I didn’t like it, but I do not claim the right to force the owners of that building to take it down. I like even less any threats of criminal proceedings to be taken against me, on suspicion of the “hate” crime of homophobia for posting this comment here.

        3. They have also made a laughing stock of some of our most masculine names as well. Such as Lance and Tarquin.

          I have just tried to do a search for “stereotypical gay male names” to be able to list more examples, and the walls that I ran into are a first for me. Any link followed to a yahoo site shut me out right away. On reflection I suspect that that search for “gay names,” using those words, would made a woke lgbtxyz person pass out at its incorrectness.

    3. Flag-flying is not a very British trait. So people who fly the EU flag are literally showing their true colours.

      1. We don’t need to remember who we are, except where our forces facing an enemy are concerned. Our EU membership was a mere 50 year blip in our thousand year old history of independence. We know who we are.

    4. Being digital, they’ll struggle to wind me up.

      P.S. Let’s not descend to their level of pettiness. We’re on the road to the future and if they don’t want to come, it’s their lookout.

    5. The Scottish Parliament building will continue to fly the EU flag after a vote won by the miserable dog in the manger SNP.
      Perhaps Edinburgh Council will order it to be removed? (But don’t hold your breath.)

  109. Islington Council set to get £4 million to buy Clerkenwell Fire Station and build 50 homes

    Surely they are not going to demolish it and replace it with a modern eyesore. It looks as if it already has flats above it. The ground floor could be converted to flats as well but I guess that would be to sensible

    The mayor of London has approved a £4million grant so Islington Council can to buy the former Clerkenwell Fire Station and build 50 homes on-site.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46a5a8fefccc378aadf068bba792b4cee1cff47f1aa0fa9f909cb41dab038683.jpg

      1. Directly opposite Mount Pleasant sorting office. I was born and brought up about half a mile from there.

    3. What is the opposite of a virtuous circle?
      Here we have a fire station, closed to become flats, to be occupied by incomers, to be offended, to riot, to set fire to the area, to require a fire station.

    4. Just make the lower floors shops.

      It would hardly cost anything to replace the doors by plate glass shop fronts and surely you need more charity shops

  110. The wonderful news just keeps on coming…

    COFFEE HOUSE – Claire Perry to depart role as President of UN Climate Change Conference
    Katy Balls – 31 January 2020 – 5:56 PM

    Claire Perry, who is now known as Claire Perry O’Neill, is to leave her role as President of the UN Climate Change Conference, Coffee House understands. Over the summer, the former Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth had been nominated to serve as the President of COP 26 – for when the UK takes over the stewardship of the global effort to tackle climate change in a conference in Glasgow this November. However, a Whitehall source says that this will no longer be the case:

    ‘Everything to do with COP is being integrated with the SoS BEIS from this weekend. Clare Perry will no longer be involved. We wish her well after all her brilliant work.’

    In a organisational shake-up, the Business Secretary will have full charge of plans for the conference. That is currently Andrea Leadsom. However, with a reshuffle expected in the Commons in the coming days it could be someone else at the helm soon enough. The move suggests that climate change policy will be staying with BEIS rather than being moved as part of a Whitehall reorganisation.

    So, what does this mean for the government’s climate push? Her replacement is unconfirmed. When Perry worked as energy minister she played a critical rolling in the passage of the net zero legislation in the UK. While her credentials were suited to the role***, she is not viewed as particularly close to Johnson. A member of the one nation caucus, when Perry announced that she would not be seeking re-election as a Conservative MP, she said: ‘I have also been clear that I remain in full support of our PM and his brave Brexit strategy as I can see no alternative if we want to honour the Referendum result.’ She later had to clarify that she was not ‘throwing shade’ on Mr Johnson, insisting he was really ‘brave’.

    Coffee House has been unable to reach Perry for comment. But she has tweeted:

    ‘Very sad that that the role I was offered by @BorisJohnson last year has now been rescinded as Whitehall “can’t cope” with an Indy cop unit. A shame we haven’t had one Climate cabinet meeting since we formed. Wishing the cop team every blessing in the climate recovery emergency’

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

    [***No, she was spectacularly unsuited for that role. Citroen]

    1. Well down the agenda I should think – perhaps they’ll quietly cancel the hot-air meeting.

      1. You and I might not want to go to Glasgow in November, Jules, but all the UN delegates’ wives/etc. would love to do a bit of Christmas shopping in Blighty.

    1. Interesting that the UK flag was next to the EUrag.
      Probably so that the euratchiks got the right one to take down.

    2. It would be fun if we knew where we are in the Nottlers’ Shire. We already know where many live, butI wouldn’t presume to put other people’s areas. Perhaps people would like to add themselves…join the conga !

      JewishKuffar – Croydon
      Hertslass -South West Hertfordshire
      molamola – East Cornwall
      Sue Edison – London W6
      Oberstleutnant – Bærum, west of Oslo, Norway.
      ourmaninmunich – South Northamptonshire
      ashesthandust – East Yorkshire
      Delboy36 – East Dorset
      clydesider – North Yorkshire
      jillthelass – West Virginia via Essex
      poppiesmum – south Cambridgeshire but born and bred a Yorkshire lass
      Jenny – Durham-ish.

      P.S. The conga gets longa and longa.

          15. 15 mins from Durham……by car and not giving away too much. Beautiful city and proud to call home.

          17. It’s a great Uni too!! The Cathedral is a very special place for me and I love to go there – it is also of course the site for some of the Harry Potter scenes. My only problem at the moment is that the streets in the centre are so steep and I have a problem with my chair now. We can park outside the cathedral if we phone ahead to the site police.

          18. My father used to play the Cathedral organ. Way back in the 40s, I guess. Lovely Cathedral.

          19. It’s a small world……I may have listened to him and didn’t know. My goodness.

      3. As you and your hubby have already had a beer with me in my local in east Cornwall, Lass, you know. Home for a glass of wine now.

        1. I know, but other people might pass through. Just a thought. Can I put you in the conga above?

        1. Ahh, who were you in a previous Nottler incarnation? There are so many shedding their old personae…

        1. Evening cs – I spent some lovely time in Rosedale.(that counts as N. Yorkshire, doesn’t it?)

      8. I am in the kitchen, making marmalade and fruit crumble. I believe that The Master (Mr Harry Lime) is currently in Vienna (somewhere down in the sewers).

  116. Just put telly on to watch A Question of Sport

    Three BME, Two ‘whiteys’

    When are we WASPs going to get Racial Equality on the Bame Broadcasting Company

    1. In terms of top level professional sport that is probably about right.

      You don’t hear the Bameis complaining about that though, do you?

      2. Sorrry. I was talking about the ‘One Show’

        When I posted ‘QoS’ had not started

    1. “For the 100 years before the financial crisis, output per worker grew by about 2% a year on average but since 2010 it has slowed to 0.5% a year.”

      Um, what’s the word beginning with ‘i’?

      And perhaps that should be 10 years, not 100…

      1. Has the guardian worked out why that is, or has it called for more state spending and higher taxes? Which if they had a brain is why the economy has stagnated.

        Brown’s taxes added such fiscal drag on society only balanced by his massive waste of money on expanding the public sector. You can’t measure output, only new wealth. The Guardian no doubt thinks that high spending meant growth. It doesn’t. It’s not new wealth.

  118. A lot of emotion at pub ‘early doors’ this evening. I had to stay a bit longer than usual, ie an extra pint or so, to be nice to a self confessed ‘Remoaner’ who is a good friend. His wife had earlier texted him that she was going to be a bit late as the office was having a Champagne Brexit party. He was pretty rat-arsed when I left at 18:45.

    1. I have just toasted freedom and democracy with a nice glass of Aussie red – start as I mean to go on! 🙂

  119. For those lonesome Remainers who sit in sadness tonight, and who stare into what they assume will be the wild desolation of the years ahead, I recommend that they take a leaf from the American Airforce and Dr. Strangelove. This checklist will not answer all needs, but it is better than nothing. Especially if it IS the Russians who are behind us leaving after all, as they seem to believe.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a72e848852214b063518ab733d27595e72080c3b9c3ea52dfb84764ca2d2dec.jpg

      1. I read a story about the making of Strangelove and Slim was a last minute replacement for Sellers in that role (as well as his other roles). Apparently, they even had to get him a passport and when he rolled up to the set, it was complete with cowboy hat and boots.

    1. Any immigrant who does not believe in freedom of religion–and freedom to leave or change one’s own religion–should be barred from entry and barred from citizenship.

  122. The 47 years of EU membership will be personified by people that kept telling us we were rubbish,
    We were brainwashed into thinking that we couldn’t stand on our own two feet,
    We had to pool our sovereignty and lose our democracy,
    If we tried to defend ourselves we were literally Hitler,
    Foreigners were better,
    We didn’t want to work hard or do manual work,
    Our history was tainted by racism and colonialism,
    We polluted the planet by industrialising first,
    We owed the world an apology,
    We owed the world a living,
    Well lets hope all that will change and we put these people back in their box.
    And get a bit of self belief back.

        1. Yes – you hit the nail on the head –
          Stop apologising for being British
          Stop thinking we can’t achieve
          Stop taking orders from (in effect) Germany.

          Start self belief
          Start being proud of our achievements and continue to achieve
          Start being proud of being British.

    3. Evening B3,
      Tell me, currently how can anyone support / vote lab/lib/con at still retain self respect ?
      After what the Jay report revealed it surely cannot be done.
      They import paedophiles.

  125. Going to finish my book and come back in a while. Never knew I could get so emotional about this stuff.

    1. Oi Rik

      My Helo was on the back of HMS Victory when when that happened

      If only Admiral Lord Nelson had not tripped over that plaque that said

      Nelson fell here

      All would have been well

      1. My great great great grandfather supplied him with his coffin. Not sure if that’s a good thing.

  127. Joining the Common Market has been the biggest con* on the British people of all time. That wrong is about to be put right.

    * “It is only about trade, there will never be a united states of Europe”

    3. Free movement of people from God knows where, the utter PTB/Governent failure to conduct the most basic checks on the immigrants has left our society prone to invasion. It is high time our politicians woke up to the dangers they have enabled.

      Edited. Edited 2.

        2. Evening N,
          Not all the time, put the blame on the
          mass uncontrolled immigration parties &
          member / supporters / voters where it really belongs.
          Make a mistake once in the polling booth but please NOT again,again,& again.

      2. Immigrants: blame Blair mostly for encouraging the immigration of the orts and lees of the 3rd world, although hordes of Indian subcontinent immigrants had already arrived while politicians – except Enoch – slept .

      3. Evening C,
        To my mind it is well past the time the peoples woke up to the proven fact they are supporting / voting for proven dangerous politicians politicians & parties.

    4. They knew, Heath and Wilson both knew about the “ever closer union”. Then Major rammed the EU approval through on a 3 line whip by threatening to call an election if Tories voted against it, and since the polls showed they would lose, the Tory MP’s rolled over.

      Fyi, the official 1975 referendum pamphlet. Note the bit that nothing can be done without the approval of the Prime Minister.

      http://www.harvard-digital.co.uk/euro/pamphlet.htm

      1. Evening Jtl,
        Why did so many support / vote for the parties concerned since the mid 70s knowing full well as the years went by the country was deteriorating by the day ?

        1. FGS people weren’t as well informed then. Ergo, not so politically aware. Give it a break.

          What were you (or your parents) voting in the 70s?.

          1. HL,
            Did you give it a rest when voting lab to keep out tory or tory to keep out lab ?
            all the time that voting pattern was taking the country down the sewer ?
            Not well informed my bum.
            What did you vote in 2017 ? answer is optional.

        2. Dunno, We were part of the “brain drain” along with many others. At that time (Callaghan government), it looked like Britain was doomed. The multinational I was working for decided to stop its large planned investment in Britain due to what they saw as labour and social unrest, and there was a job in their HQ, so…..

          1. JTl,
            I stayed, could have gone to Aussie, didn’t , become an industrial tramp, pipework,
            Africa /Europe, onshore / offshore.
            EU rip off, lab/lib/con political hierarchy mercenaries,power, biggest shilling counts.
            I have been UKIP for many a year, at the moment internal troubles with the treacherous NEC but the real UKIP could not be faulted from the outset 28 years ago.

    1. Evening Rik,
      We lived in trees eating apples / pears / carrots anything edible via scrumping, partially to survive.
      Hole in the plimsoll going to school blanco over the sock.

  130. Just taking in this momentous occasion. I can’t quite believe we are here after almost 4 years…..it seems just like yesterday when I stayed up all night to listen to the referendum results on Disqus with a few others. I did not think it would take this long. Thank you Boris.

  134. Do we know any details .. let us be really honest … do we, or have we just cast our self adrift with out a competent crew?

    My MP isn’t letting on about very much .

    2. BBC is unwatchable so I turned to ITV. A better presentation, but his words are just gabbling waffle.
      There seems little point in watching anything. Everyone is playing low, and we know the script by now.
      You would not think that something good is happening in this country.

      2. We’ve seen off Spain (under Philip), France (under Napoleon) and Germany (under the Kaiser and Adolf). Seeing off Germany again under Merkel ought to be relatively straightforward; after all, they aren’t intending to bomb us, are they?

      1. My investments are looking very healthy. I think i can probably manage three holidays a year instead of two. Don’t think it will be France or Germany though.

          1. You may have noticed, Jenny. I’m a bit of a show off. I’m happy to buy the drinkies though ! :o)

          3. My pleasure. Just squeezed orange juice with the help of my trusty ‘Mexican elbow’ and English Fizz which is about to outperform many French Houses. Boff !

        2. Spain will be cheap, lots of empty hotels that the Brits cannot go to because their mobile roaming fees are so high.

          It might look like that empty Egyptian resort.

          1. The Egyptian resort was empty because Muslim terrorists were letting off bombs. It only happens about every four years. One can get a good deal when they try to tempt Daily Mail readers back and budget airlines start flying there again.

            Spain? Are you mad? I might bump into an English tourist on a package holiday !

  136. Hello Happy Nottlers!

    Who is going to watch what is going on in Lond – and on which Channel? I watch so little news on TVC now I don’t know the least worst one to tune in to.

    1. The BBC started off with a pro-Europe slant, so I switched to ITV. Nothing new.
      May watch cats on You Tube instead.

      2. Go to the top of this page, Tony. There is a live stream of Nigel Farage speaking to the crowds as the 11pm hour approaches.

    2. I expect our national broadcaster and dear old fucked up Auntie Beeb to mention it in the same way as they have covered two years of riots in France. Nothing.

    3. Good evening, Lass.

      ‘Mum’ posted [via The Telegraph.]
      I have been watching that [on here.]

        1. Good evening, Phizzee.

          1) ‘Lass’ wondered how events were shaping up in London
          2)’Lass’ hadn’t the stomach to watch said events on BBC/ITV.
          3) ‘Mum is busy’ posted a video [via The Telegraph] which
          showed the gathering in Parliament Square. that is what I watched!!
          [I don’t have a telly.]

          Q.E.D?

    2. We will always have Paris. Oh no we won’t !

      Bit of a shit heap now. Notre Dame and several thousand Churches attacked. No go areas and slum ghetto’s of people who will offer intimidation and violence.

  139. Please keep in mind especially tonight that it has not just been from 2016 that the struggle to exit started but for many it started 28 years ago via UKIP.
    Many of the peoples up until the 24/6/2016 were still supporting / voting
    lab/lib/con pro eu parties and had been doing so since the mid 70s.

    1. Not that long ago for me, ogga1, but I was one of the near 4 million in 2015 that scared the Cameron git into the referendum.

  141. Evening, all. Those remainers who kept harping on about the economy just didn’t understand. It was never about money; it was about freedom of action, sovereignty and the rule of (Common) law.

          1. The good news, watching the weather forecast, is that the UK is still in the same place, as is Europe. Weather on the horizon but no skyfall forecast.

  143. Posted before but somehow seems appropriate tonight>

    “Don’t Cry For GB Angela”

    It won’t be easy, you’ll think it strange
    When I try to explain how we feel
    That we don’t need the EU after all that you’ve done

    You won’t believe the signs
    All you will see is the UK you once knew
    Although debt distressed up to the nines
    At sixes and sevens with EU

    Brexit had to happen, we had to change
    Can’t live our lives under the EU heel
    Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun

    So we choose freedom
    Running around, trying everything new
    Not that that impresses you at all
    We never expected it to

    [Chorus:]

    Don’t cry for GB Angela
    The truth is we never liked t’EU
    Even through the Blair days
    And Brown existence
    (keeping the Sterling promise)
    We kept our distance

    And as for fortune, and as for fame
    We shall invite them in
    (Though the Remainers think they will be denied)

    The EU’s an illusion
    Its not the solution they promised it to be
    The answer was here all the time
    We leave EU and it frees GB

    Don’t cry for GB Angela

    [chorus]

    Have I said too much?
    There’s nothing more I can think of to say to EU.
    But all you have to do is look at GB to know
    That every word is true

    1. I thought for one horrifying moment that Halifax had been named the best place to live…

    2. Hey, Phizzee, can I conga you (see my answer to Jenny and The Final Countdown above).? You’ve told us all that your are a Fareham lad…

        1. Whatt’ya mean – that I can put your area or that your not concerned with conga-ing? :o) Oh dear, My profile is hidden since a troll followed me here – and another couple of people joined our little offline list.

          Just do a Control+F to search for Hertslass and you will see all my comments on this thread. I got it wrong – it was a reply to a Nottlers’ Shire post.

  152. The one thing that this historic event has proved, is that the B.B.C. is no longer fit for purpose. We are all heartily sick of having unacceptable biased propaganda rammed down our throats, and more than that, having to pay them for the privilege. Their reporting tonight was a disgrace.
    My memory is not so clear now, with advanced age, but I am sure there was a time when it was good and respected. That stopped a long time ago.

  153. Off to see if NtN’s prophecy about my very warm Fogarty quilt has come to pass. See you all tomorrow.

  154. Brexit ? All very desirable but it looks like bread and circuses for the masses as the Chinese increasingly rule Britain now.

    Hinkley Point.

    Huawei.

    Next up – HS2.

  155. Thought for the day:

    10 years from now, when Britain is the most successful country in Europe by a long way; I’m willing to bet that, rather like Germany where nobody was a Nazi or France, where everyone was in the Resistance, finding a Remain voter who will admit to it will be nigh on impossible.

    1. 10 years from now, when you can see the misty haze rising across Europe, and you can smell the smoke on the breeze as it crosses the Channel, then you might get the last of the Remainers start to understand why many of us voted to leave.

        1. I have seen that before, and read many essays on what is around the corner. So it is true. We almost made it the whole day only barely mentioning the i word. They are a depressing bunch of shrubs. I intend to forget them for the remainder of the evening. 🙂

    2. Don’t forget the millions upon millions of ‘counterculture hippies’ claiming they attended Woodstock in 1969… .

  156. Amazed that Sturgeon wishes to remain in the EU. The EU are unable to compensate Scotland for its loss of revenues. Get a real life you stupid bitch.

    1. Perhaps she does have medical and mental problems, I don’t give a damn. She ran the country on a ‘do anything to stay in the EU’ basis while telling the people who voted her in that she supported a ‘No deal better than a bad deal’. She can go to hell.

          3. And she probably thought that they liked her – rather than liking the fact that she was such a pushover.

          4. It was the kissy-kissy that got to me every time they met up, it told you exactly how it was all going to work out.

      3. No thanks to that ghastly hag. She did everything in the book to hamper and obstruct the vote of the British to leave the EU and give the blighters the middle finger.

    5. “I was almost able to destroy the WHOLE of the United Kingdom, and sell it’s people into unending slavery beneath their rightful European Overlords. I would have been so well rewarded… Now I will just get 2nd place and £10’s millions for only delaying Brexit for 3 years. Flow my tears at my misfortune.”

  158. Tonight looks quite joyous. Somewhat like the liberation of France. Where suddenly all were members of the resistance. You know who you are.

  161. A note that I’ll be posting in a certain place later tonight.

    I expect that some heads will explode when they see it. Let them.

    I’ve spent the past three and a half years being told that I’m a thick, racist, knuckle-dragging xenophobe who didn’t know what I was voting for, despite the government delivering £9,200,000 worth of pamphlets to tell us what they thought it was about.

    Well here is the news.

    I’m none of those, so suck it up.

    I’m Free.

    1. Well said! I still don’t understand the ‘racist if you are a leaver’ old chestnut.

      1. I’ve made a slight edit. I’ve changed ‘knuckle-dragging xenophobe’ to ‘knuckle-dragging xenophobic bigot’.

        The smuggerati will be foaming tonight and I hope to add to the suds.

      2. The remoaner thinking was Leaver = don’t like/want foreigners = racist. They were really that simple.

      3. I think it was about sovereignty, we are racist if we object to being ruled by another nation. Not exactly ‘racist’, but you know how flexible they are with the definition of this term.

  162. Thought provoking…

    ‘Don’t be too smug, my fellow Brexiteers – we may have won the battle but we haven’t yet won the war
    BENEDICT SPENCE

    31 JANUARY 2020 • 5:11PM

    We must be careful not to let celebration turn into triumphalism

    “We voted for Brexit.”

    That has been the refrain of Leave voters — pretty much our only one — for over three years. It has been the only one we have needed. It was said with surprise, then delight, and then, increasingly, with anger. Surprise that the result so many had dreamt of finally came to pass. Delight at the thought that, for the first time in a very long time, the rigidity of the political system many had come to despise might finally be changed. Anger at the reality that it would not do so willingly.

    “We voted for Brexit.”

    That was the refrain, up and down the country, of people of all walks of life, as the years dragged on. More and more, it became apparent that all those warnings many had dismissed as hysteria — that the establishment don’t listen, that the politicians don’t care, that your democratic rights, ultimately, were malleable at best — were not so far from the truth. Everywhere, people — yes, even Remainers — wanted to know why the ‘once in a generation vote’ wasn’t being respected.

    “We voted for Brexit.”

    That was the refrain in the build up to the 2019 general election. And only one party met that refrain with a response: ‘Get Brexit Done.’ Unsurprisingly, that is now the party of government. And finally, the people’s refrain has turned away from anger. Now, it is one of relief, but in some parts, it is one that borders on triumphalism.

    This is a dangerous stage for Brexiteers — now with the keys to the car, they are the ones who decide the direction to take the rest of the country. But they must learn the lessons of the past — and above all, the lessons of the failures of the UK’s Europhiles themselves. Brexit, after all, was a backlash — a response to a political doctrine that had fallen into the trap of arrogance and complacency. A movement that believed it knew better than all those who had gone before — the left, the right, and the people that voted for them — and that it could steer a third way.

    This was the age of the smug. The politicos and spin doctors who believed they had politics sussed: that they could boil everything down to a matter of thousands of people in key seats at elections, in order to secure the numbers they needed to keep their political machine rolling. With that, they could use their mandates to outsource the business of governance to people not accountable to the UK electorate. They took the veneer of Left and Right-wing politics, giving the illusion of choice. The fusty old institutions of the state, all flowing with this ideology, embraced the wheeze with vigour: Finally, a system that implemented their real views, but without leaving them exposed to the negativity associated with them. And the people? So what?

    We now know the price of that inability, or unwillingness, to listen. The pressure that was placed on both the Left and the Right became too much to bear. Both, in the last few years, have erupted back onto the scene. For now, the Right holds all the cards, while the other two lick their wounds. But for all we talk of a glorious 10-year stint in Downing Street for Boris Johnson, that does not guarantee success.

    Brexiteers need to learn from the mistakes of Europhiles if they are to avoid the sort of backlash they themselves have benefited from. And for that reason alone, the crowing cry of ‘we voted for Brexit’ must end, now. Those who have yearned for this moment for so long know all too well the resentment of feeling cast out, politically, in your own country. And they, more than anyone, know how galvanising a feeling it can be.

    The same arrogance that infected Remainers cannot fester among Brexiteers — the same superiority, the same sense of self importance. To do so would be suicidal — it was that incestuous, nepotistic, self-congratulatory way that turned the public against the EU, and against so many remainer figures.

    The problem is, the Tories — they who have taken on the mantle of delivering Brexit — have form in that same brand of arrogance and self indulgence. Who, after all, embodies the idea of the entitled establishment throughout British history more than the Conservative Party?

    Boris Johnson and his government must be clear that their single biggest responsibility is restoring decision making to bodies accountable to the British people — and then working to make those institutions better. That message must be hammered home again and again. Brexit, more than anything else, means accountability. It does not mean point scoring, favoritism of paternalism.

    If they forget this, having, as Johnson has admitted, ‘lent’ them this parliament, the public will punish them far more furiously than they punished the Europhiles.

    If you want an example of what that looks like, look no further than the current state of the Labour Party. Though we perhaps choose to forget it, Jeremy Corbyn came worryingly close to power more than once in the last few years. But, at its end, his accolytes are left empty-handed, utterly convinced that they got everything right, unable to comprehend what happened. Corbyn and his party failed to listen to what the public told them, failed to act on their mistakes, and closed ranks. For them, their own project, their own ideas, their own desires, were more important than those of the country’s, and the country scorned them for it. Not for nothing did we mock them for having all the trappings of a cult. To every critique would come no more a response than anger, denials, conspiracy theories.

    But fail to heed the lessons, and that way could very easily be the way Brexit heads. Fail to heed the shots the public have already fired across the bows , and that is the fate of the Tory party and Brexiteers. The onus is now on them not to let it be that, 10 years hence, it is they who will be found staring into their pints, insisting that it was not the project that was at fault, but that the public were wrong, or that what had been attempted was not ‘real Brexit – real Brexit has never been tried.’ Because, if by that point, ‘it’ hasn’t been done properly, it probably never will.’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/31/dont-smug-fellow-brexiteers-may-have-won-battle-havent-yet/

    1. IT has been called for by the real UKIP for nigh on 28 years only for the membership to be labeled far right racist, this is not to be confused with the ersatz NEc UKIP.
      It was not the lab/lib/con coalition party that gave the country the referendum or “nige” the master stabber it was the UKIP membership, lest we would like to forget.

    2. I totally agree re smugness , triumphalism etc. But your man in the street, your supporter of the evil ‘populism’ does deserve a moment of celebration. The BBC might turn it into a right wing Islamophobic bigoted homophobic riot, but a little steam needs to be let off.

      1. Church bells ringing and fireworks going off in our village🥳🥳🥳🎆✨🎆🎇✨

        2. Nothing happening here. Since the vicarette is staunchly pro-EU I didn’t expect the bells to ring.

      1. You’re welcome. TV will only have a few snippets. Not sure if many have seen the link though.

      2. Yes agreed, well done to us. The more they insulted me the more determined I became.

        Let us now realise we need to keep Johnson’s feet to the fire to ensure no sellout.

        That however is for another day, we deserve to enjoy this moment and soak in what we have achieved.

  172. I am raising a large single malt to all my friends in the UK.

    Skål! Cheers! Slainte!

    [I’m having a dinner party here in wogland (sorry: ‘Sweden’) with some dear, Right wing friends.]

    Life’s good, innit? I see the BBC is still asking the opinions of not very pale “English” people!

    The Grizzly One. xx

    1. Best news of the last 4 years. The second best being i apparently live in a town rated as 2 on the Halifax survey of best places to live in the United Kingdom. Lancashire didn’t get a place and Yorkshire came 6th and 7th.

      Now, what were you saying about Southerners, again? :o)

    1. 🍻 cheers everybody, we have taken the first step on a journey that will take the rest of 2020 to complete – 😀 hooray.

      Let us hope that Boris will come through for us as we wish.

  180. There are even fireworks going off down here in Cornwall. It is good to be free. If anyone now tries to keep us tied to the EU, it won’t be tolerated. 🙂

  182. It’s already started – Reports are coming in that BMW’s and Mercedes cars will no longer start, Bosch washing machines and tumble driers wont work, French letters won’t unroll

  183. Goodnight to all Nottlers friends. What a way to go, well done to all in Parliament Square tonight, such a celebratory atmosphere and thanks, of course, to the great Nigel Farage! 🍻🎆 and all believers.

    1. BBC versus ITV. Chalk and cheese. Channel 3 is excellent.
      Beeb got me to switch over after two minutes. Ursula van Leyen is the last face I want to see tonight.

    2. Sky News only took 10 minutes to switch to glum Remainers saying how bad it all is. I hope that someone records this night, so that these people can have their words played back to them 10 years from now with the question:

      “Do you see now that the Leavers were right all along?”

      1. Tonight I have sat on the sofa with my two young grandsons and we have watched history being made. I doubt I will see all the good that I hope will come but my grandchildren will. I hope they remember this night when they are older and the fact that their Gran saw it in with them.

        1. I wonder if, many decades in the future, this evening’s Brexit event in Parliament Square will be shown, just as we can now view the scenes outside Buckingham Palace at the end of WW2.

    3. LBC with Nick Ferrari in the chair is upbeat. Reporters in several places including the most keen Brexit town, Boston in Lincolnshire.

      Edit: Two Scots interviewed in Edinburgh were morose and one of them came out with the classic, “I’ll vote for independence so that we can rejoin the EU.” Genius, he doesn’t realise how daft he sounded.

      1. Show me a Scot who isn’t morose.

        About anything.

        PS The Nats don’t do logic. Their purpose of being is hatred of the English. I’m amazed they don’t get rounded up en masse for hate crimes.

    4. I noted that the reporter on the 6 o’clock news stated that UK businesses would face more paperwork [if we don’t get a trade deal]. He didn’t mention the other 90% of businesses who don’t trade with the rEU would save on reams of EU red tape.

          1. Of course you are, who could pick holes in such a statement.
            I bet you used the dog ate my homework in your youth, I admire such wisdom. 🤣

    1. The EU Army and how UK lads/lasses dodged a bullet…, Russian takeover of the EU…, Russian takeover of the EU Army… .

      Oh and that Irish fellow.

  187. Sophie Raworth on the BBC: “We are no longer EU citizens.”

    *sigh*

    Interviews: typically, their Leavers were the cheery old folk at a tea dance, the Remainers sad-faced family groups on the village green.

      1. I took an oath of allegiance to the British Crown in November 1973.

        I have never rescinded that oath [nor shall I].

        2. As you may be aware, mine was 28th January 1960 at RAF Cosford. Never rescinded, Your Majesty, you may continue to count on me.

      2. I didn’t take an Oath to any European, or any politician at all for that matter. 🙂

    2. Our ex (thankfully) daughter-in-law has just posted on twitface that she is heart broken ….

    4. I don’t listen to the BBC much, but the introduction to News Briefing on R4 this morning stated that we were leaving the EU “after 47 years in the Single Market”. Odd – since it began in 1992…

      I briefly heard ‘PM’ this afternoon, and they were playing a particularly funereal version of ‘Ode to Joy’. They never give up…

        2. The point is, they said we’d been in “The Single Maret” foe 47 years. The SM didn’t exist 47 years ago. In a similar vein, they were banging on about a glacier in Antartica a few days ago, claiming that melting of the same would result in “an increase in sea level of half a metre”.

          Life’s too short to do the sums – this conjecture is clearly a load of spherical objects.

  189. Good night all.

    A funny thing happened on the way to Cambridge today…

    … as I was on the guided bus at about the 1/2 way stage a dishevelled old boy got on with a holdall. Once seated, he opened the bag & produced 2 live ferrets! They crawled all over him, but didn’t leave him, i.e. no threat to anyone.
    Most passengers didn’t even notice, those who did were intrigued, except the lady sitting across the aisle from me. She was horrified until I assured her that they weren’t rats.

    1. I thought the full story of that was that he was prepared to do that rather than sign up to their restrictive demands.

  193. I hope Geoff puts up tomorrow’s letters at 00:01 tomorrow.

    We are going to need a full day for comments, laughs and happy times to remember.

    Geoff, you and Stig did a great job to get us where we are today. Let’s have tomorrow, February 1st 2020 as a day to celebrate our freedom.

    1. It’s my Birthday on the 11th. Far more important than this nonsense where imbibing is concerned !… ahem.

        1. Sod the card. Buy a pressie !.

          You won’t believe what i have for you my flower.

          It contains neither metals which are sought nor gemstones which are valued. …Ahem.

          1. Wait!…….Not the black leather quilted Chanel handbag
            I have coveted for ever, a real classic?…….Oh!! How very
            kind and generous you are ,Dear One. :-))

          2. Erm….. Smaller. Less expensive. And erm…..erm. and erm.. google quickly. Nope sorry. None to be had.

  194. BRENDAN O’NEILL

    31st January 2020

    A glorious victory for democracy

    We did it. Against all the odds. Against the barbs and defamations and underhand tactics of a hysterical establishment. Against a Remainer Parliament that had been hell-bent on reversing what we voted for. Against the best efforts of Remainer agitators at home and the bureaucratic machine in Brussels to prevent our democratic voice from being heard.

    Against all of this, we did it: we secured the UK’s exit from the EU. And now, on Brexit Day, on this day when the Eurosceptic wishes of the British people finally become a reality, let’s be frank about what Brexit represents: it is the most significant and stirring political achievement of the postwar period.

    As we approach 11pm, the moment at which the UK will no longer be a member of the EU, there is much discussion about what tone we should adopt in our celebrations of Brexit Day. Brexiteer Tory MP Steve Baker is calling for ‘magnanimity’. Have a quiet one, at home, so that you don’t upset pained Remainers, he suggests.

    Remainers, for their part, are furious about all the talk of parties. We’re rubbing their noses in it, they say. Everything from the Brexit Day gathering in Parliament Square this evening to Sajid Javid’s issuing of a commemorative 50p coin is being cited by the establishment’s bruised, Remoaning anti-democrats as proof of the vile populist streak in the Brexit movement. London mayor Sadiq Khan is even fretting that tonight’s Brexit bashes could give rise to xenophobic hate crimes.

    Of course he is. That’s how they see us: as a pogrom-in-waiting. As a racist blob. As an unthinking mass driven almost entirely by hatred of the Other. They’ve been hurling these insults at us, at the millions of men and women who voted for Brexit, for three-and-a-half years now.

    But all sides in the Brexit Day discussion are wrong. Baker and other timid Brexiteers are wrong to suggest we should play down the significance of this day lest we offend Remainers, and the Brexitphobic wing of the elite is wrong to say these celebrations are a screech of populist arrogance against the defeated side in the referendum. No, the reason this day must be marked — loudly, firmly and colourfully — is because it represents a glorious victory for democracy. What is being celebrated today is the defence of democracy against one of the greatest threats it has faced in modern times.

    One of the peculiarities of the Brexit era, and of the contemporary era more broadly, is that very small and very unrepresentative sections of society are in control of the political and moral narrative. So even as 17.4million people, the largest electoral bloc in our history, voted for Brexit, and stood by their vote for Brexit in the face of the most extraordinary campaign of demonisation that I can remember, still the Remainer elites got to write the story of Brexit.

    The powers-that-be — from the business elites to more than 70 per cent of MPs to virtually the entire academy and cultural sphere — were pro-Remain. And they used their influence in the worlds of commentary, letters and culture to paint a picture of Brexit as disastrous. As toxic. As fascistic. Or, at best, as very, very difficult to enact. The disjoint between public enthusiasm for Brexit and elite disgust with it was, at times, staggering.

    As a consequence, it became incredibly difficult to draw out the historic significance, the magnificence, of Brexit. Even those in public life who supported Brexit, no doubt feeling the pressure of the often deranged establishment narrative around Brexit, became defensive. Brexit was manageable, they insisted. It would be okay. ‘Get Brexit Done’, as the Boris Johnson campaign said in December — a tellingly apologetic slogan which, thankfully, was enough to win the support of vast numbers of Leave voters, but which implicitly played into the denigration of Brexit, the reduction of it to a difficult, pesky task. Hardly anywhere was there an assertion of the historic, epoch-defining nature of Brexit.

    So let’s do that today. Let’s now celebrate the meaningfulness of Brexit. It really cannot be overstated. Brexit is one of the finest acts of democracy in the history of this nation. It ought to take its place in the history books alongside the Levellers’ demand for universal male suffrage in the 1640s, and the mass march for democracy in St Peter’s Field in Manchester in 1819, and the Chartists’ agitation for the right of working-class men to vote in the 1840s, and the civil disobedience of the Suffragettes in the 1910s…

    Because Brexit, and, more importantly, the post-referendum battle to protect Brexit from the anti-democratic elites, shares something incredibly important in common with those democratic leaps forward in British history. Which is that it embodies the patient but determined assertion of ordinary people that they have as much right as the rich and the well-educated to determine the political fate of the nation. That belief in the rights of the people energised the men, women and children on St Peter’s Field in 1819, and the women who gathered outside parliament on Black Friday in November 1910, and also the millions of us who voted to leave the EU and take back democratic control. Brexit is in keeping, entirely, with the great democratic struggles of our history.

    Brexit did not only entail the British people reprimanding and rejecting the European Union and its anti-democratic ideology, which would have been wonderful enough. No, even more importantly than that, Brexit was a revolt against the domestic elites. Against the establishment that pleaded with us to vote Remain in 2016 and which devoted so much of its moral and political energy to sabotaging our vote for Brexit after 2016. Against a political class which, alarmingly, called into question the right to vote itself after the 2016 referendum and openly suggested that this mass vote should be ignored, erased, thrown into the dustbin of history.

    This is why the vote for Boris in December last year was so significant. That so many ‘Red Wall’ Labour strongholds fell to the Tories was the clearest sign that the people still wanted Brexit and that the working classes had finally broken from the Labour bureaucracy and asserted their political and moral independence. The December election was the first time in the history of the European Union that a people refused to allow their vote against the EU to be overthrown or stitched up, as tragically happened in Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Greece and elsewhere. Across Europe, under extraordinary pressure from Brussels, Eurosceptic votes have either been ignored or overridden. Not this time. The people of Britain voted against the EU and then voted against the EU and the British establishment’s attempt to crush our vote and to deny us our democratic rights. This was a genuinely stirring and determined defence of the ideal of democracy and the meaning of the vote itself. In response to the most explicit and hateful establishment campaign against democracy in living memory, the British people said: ‘No, no, no.’

    If that isn’t something to celebrate, I don’t know what is. Today, we should celebrate the British people’s defence of democracy. We should celebrate their perseverance and patience. We should celebrate the electorate’s capacity to think for itself, as captured in its constant refusal to fall for Project Fear or to heed the desperate overtures of the Remainer establishment. We should celebrate that the populist moment, the Europe-wide desire for greater people power, is not going away anytime soon. And we should celebrate the seismic shock that Brexit — that is, us, the voters — have delivered to a complacent establishment. We have called into question their authority, their power, and their unilateral right to impose their eccentric values and managerial tactics on the population at large. That battle isn’t over yet, by a long shot, but the first victory belongs to the demos.

    People fought and died for the right to have a real, impactful say in political life. And Brexiteers have done those people proud. I’m celebrating that.

    1. I’m not sure that’s a great image. Remainers will say: “Yep. Cast adrift and on our own, floating in the wind.”

  197. The one thing that this historic event has proved, is that the B.B.C. is no longer fit for purpose. We are all heartily sick of having unacceptable biased propaganda rammed down our throats, and more than that, having to pay them for the privilege. Their reporting tonight was a disgrace.
    My memory is not so clear now, with advanced age, but I am sure there was a time when it was good and respected. That stopped a long time ago.

    1. One decisive act Johnson could do is to announce the end of the BBC licence during the life of this Government, imagine what that would do for his standing.

      2. One decisive act Johnson could do is to announce the end of the BBC licence during the life of this Government, imagine what that would do for his standing. Fixed it for you…

  198. A second Brexit Day happens on 31/12/2020 when the transition period formally ends.

  199. Night night all and Happy Brexit. More than a thousand comments today, for all the right reasons.
    🍷😀🌛

    2. Goodnight Sue ..

      47 years has whizzed by!

      We didn’t change , but the EU did.. We knew there was a hint of madness afoot when they declared war on curved bananas!

      1. 47 years has have whizzed by!

        47 years for us, but a drop in the ocean for you. 😉

        Sorry, open goal.

  200. Today’s letters are up in the DT, Geoff. are we going to have a full 24 hours to tear them apart?

    Sorry if I pulled you from your bed, dear boy.

Comments are closed.