Friday 5 September: The Angela Rayner debacle has exposed Britain’s ludicrous tax system

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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715 thoughts on “Friday 5 September: The Angela Rayner debacle has exposed Britain’s ludicrous tax system”

  1. Good morning, everyone. A Par for today's Wordle.

    Wordle 1,539 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,539 4/6

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        1. I particularly disliked him when he kept (back door) importing foreigners into our country through our airforce bases. My father was a proud member of the Royal Airforce.

        3. Cameron and May between them ripped out the few guts that there were left in the Tory Party.

          And Clarke and Heseltine between them were allowed to stifle the party so it could not breathe for far too many years.

    2. Is Reform re-forming the Tories? Is importing politicians who were members of a party/government that failed the Country when they held power a good idea? Leopard, spots…

      1. Ah but Reform isn't democratic, it's Nigel's way or the highway. Which actually makes sense.
        Advance UK claims to be democratic and allows anyone to join. These parties end up being wet.. eventually, or just fringe.

    1. I always think of you people in Norway when I see our recent weather moving north east.
      It's sunny here today so you might be in for a decent weekend. 🤗

  6. Morning all,

    The wind speed is low enough for a Channel crossing out of Hove this morning.

      1. The last photo of the tattooed whale was that it was hitching a lift to Calais to seek asylum.

  7. Good morning, 14°C, partly cloudy with a light south westerly breeze on the Costa Clyde. Golf shall be fun this morning; with my swing that's a given.

  9. Morning all! It's bright and sunny here! Won't be here for long as I'm off to Switzerland for the weekend…… going to see my younger son in his new home. It's a much more complicated journey than going to Nairobi.

  10. Morning all! It's bright and sunny here! Won't be here for long as I'm off to Switzerland for the weekend…… going to see my younger son in his new home. It's a much more complicated journey than going to Nairobi.

  11. 412318+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    In your worst nightmares a term of 150 years going on
    forever of starmer ruling would surely be the ultimate in horrors.

    Dt,

    Iain Duncan Smith
    The West must wake up before Xi’s new world order becomes our reality
    Here in Britain, the Labour government refuses point blank to confront this enormous threat to our freedoms

    1. We look at Xi’s new world order and at what our globalist politicians are creating in the West and it’s very hard to spot any differences

    2. Squirrels. China is going through huge internal power shifts. The Tories, Labour, Reform, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats are a far greater threat to our freedoms – not that we have many of those left.

  12. Good morning all.
    A fine dry start to the day, 11½°C, bright & sunny with scattered cirrus cloud. Forecast to stay dry but clouding over later.

  13. 412318+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    May my grandfathers axe on receiving a new head on the replaced shaft still be considered to be my granddads chopper ?

    Dt,
    Nadine Dorries defects to Reform on eve of party conference
    Former culture secretary says ‘Tory party is dead’ as she announces move.

    Which begs the question is the reform party the tory (INO) party, reformed.

    leading one to strongly advise the need for a back up,
    anti treachery, just in case, safety net party, as we cannot afford this coming time to act in criminal haste
    and repent forever, that route gets children raped & abused, and peoples seriously injured & killed

    1. Dorries is an absolute flake. She is of no use to any political party.
      Her book "The Plot" is sub-standard Geoffrey Archer.
      She is also the the begetter and obsessive nurturer of the Online Safety Act.
      She is totally incapable of considering the law of unintended consequences.
      Reform should keep her at arm's length if it wishes to be a serious political party.

      1. Interesting, Anne. I must admit I found her Boris obsession questionable but was unaware of her book.

    2. Typical Nadine. She knows that 'Political Party Conferences' are Fun Times where everybody lets their hair and a lot more down. She'll cause trouble.

    1. As clearly stated many times by members of this government, including the PM, they are girding their loins to "smash the gangs", end the invasion and everything will be just fine. The problem is that there is insufficient "girding" to go around, China, as with much of the World's resources, has the monopoly on girding and aren't releasing supplies. Ergo, it's not the government's fault.

      As for being just fine, it is nonsense when tens of thousands of unknown, unvetted and culturally ignorant young men are already installed here.

    2. Good evening, Ogga,
      She openly admitted to knowing some policemen were guilty of some of the rapes, but she wasn't immediately sacked? The vile old dog (with apologies to all old canines) should not only be sacked (with loss of pension rights), but she should be arrested for her part.

      1. 412318+ up ticks,

        Evening MIB,

        I would say you are right on all counts also it must come under an aiding via knowledge & abetting charge.

  17. Good Morning!

    The Preston Park Panther is back with a short article, MIKE ADAMS GETS RIGHT UP MY NOSE , (because he's a polymath, workaholic, successful businessman, nutrition expert, scientist, microscopist, AI expert, is fluent in Mandarin and is a libertarian freedom fighter. He also has the world's toughest dog). In the short video Mike talks UBI and SOL, which I'm sure you'll all know are Universal Basic Income and Solana, a crypto-currency. It's stuff we all need to know about folks for survival, so give it a go.

    In That McCarthy Moment , John Drewry ably argues that the Fly the Colours movement may well turn out to be such a moment, when some magic words or happening turn the tide and what appeared to be a well-entrenched tyranny or dogma collapses and rapidly withers and dies, as did Senator McCarthy's absurd anti-commie crusade. Pray God John's right.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 30.5 GW, sourced from Gas, 23.8%; Solar, 7.3%: Wind 28.4%; Imports, 16.4%; Biomass, 8.3%; Nuclear 13.1% and Miscellaneous, 3%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Eventually Lefties will make this unlawful.. causing distress, inciting a pogrom, being divisive. Five armed coppers and a trial without a jury.

      1. We know from history how that pans out.

        Just as with high taxation people find ways around.

        High tax on alcohol and cigarettes created a booming black market economy. Ask your local Turk barber for details.

        Of course these entrepreneurs were never going to stop there. Any business needs to diversify to stay relevant. So it doesn't stop at fags and booze but opens out to drugs and guns.

        Draconian laws will have a similar effect. People will find ways around.

        And it won't be pleasant.

    2. That young lass singlehandedly shamed Police Scotland. The Scottish Government and the corrupt media.

    1. Farage did very well. Can you imagine if it were Starmer in the hot seat facing that barrage of prejudiced nonsense?

      2. He annoyed me. He had several chances to educate the buffoons who obviously know nothing about the British political system but made it all about him. For example. He could have pointed out that no one in this country "runs for PM" that we vote for a party. He could have easily refuted the nonsense about Reform being a fringe party by quoting the latest figures about who would win a general election. But no, he paraded his ego instead and that is why if he becomes PM he will be a disaster.

        1. I think he was playing a game. At the end of it he came out looking good because he tried to answer the questions but every time he started he was harrangued.

        2. If you were to put aside for a brief moment your hatred of Farage, you might understand that he wasn't there to give Congress a lecture on the UK's parliamentary arrangements but to talk about the threat to freedom of speech on both sides of the Atlantic.

          The session lasted more than three hours. Do you have a transcript of everything he said during that time?

          1. I do not hate Farage. I simply think he is dishonest and in it for himself. Having known him since he ran UKIP I do not think my distrust is unfounded. My point is he made it all about him. I think that is pretty obvious from his performance there and it has been obvious to those of us that were members of UKIP which he destroyed by his petulance because it was doing very well without him. He is a saboteur.

            No I have not seen a transcript. But if you can find one I would be most interested in reading it. But you are wrong on your observations because my point is he could have short circuited much of the bombast on the Democrat side, by pointing out facts. But in what I have seen, he failed to do so.

            By the way. I have found the entire session of the hearing which I posted a few moments ago. It includes the entirety of what Farage said and what all others in the hearing had to say. I am going to listen to it. in two instalments. Because 5 hours of it is a bit much straight.

          2. I could have used 'distrust of' or 'disappointment with' but it amounts to the same thing – a near monomania, shared by others on here. 'Controlled opposition' is another charge thrown at him. I wouldn't have used 'petulance' or 'saboteur'. Farage isn't the Messiah…

            I am certainly puzzled by some of his recent actions but he has always been better at the set piece than the head-to-head. This is why he was so effective in the EU parliament but weak in the HoC and sometimes in the media.

            The main point stands though: from some very limited extracts, you jumped to conclusions. There are other interviewees as well, by the way.

            Edit: I see you've found an even fuller version of the video than I did!

    2. Johnson – an oral avalanche of etymological inexactitude. A diaphoretic downpour of verbal diarrhea.

  22. Polish President Karol Nawrocki ordered the European Union flag removed from his office, and now, other officials have followed his example, Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

    It's a start.

  25. Morning All 🙂😊
    A Sunny 13 rising to 20 later.
    The Angela Rayner debacle has exposed exactly what we already know, we have a lot of people in politics who are only interested in what they can get out of it. It probably covers more than 50% of them.

    1. It has also exposed how dire and complicated the British tax system has become.
      But too many people make a comfortable living out of the deliberate confusion for any simplification to happen.

    1. I wish I could rid myself of the suspicion that they are getting rid of Rayner in order to clear the way for Prime Minister Khan to take over when the Ukrainian boys' trial makes Starmer's position untenable.

      1. Yes , yes yes , I expect there is an Islamic brotherhood plot in the offing ..

        Rayner , who would have thought she had come so far yet the evil potion of power tainted her , yet the gravel voiced chancellor who I regard as a great pretender still wields a powerful illusion despite her stuttering admission of loyalty to Angela .. and of course, Mrs Balls staying smirkingly shtum ..

        They are all witches of a modern age .. listen to them cackle on !

        1. Khan is destructive enough on his own! Mrs Balls would swoop in and grab the top job if she could. What a ghastly bunch they are!

          3. Proverbs 31:10

            Who can find a worthy woman? For her value is far above Ruby's. Who shall find a strong woman? the price of her is far, and from the last ends.

            Even if Reeves, Rayner and Cooper changed their names, respectively, from Rachel, Angela and Yvette to Ruby you would still get a far better deal from the proverbial Ruby.

        2. Actually, we might be forced to face the unthinkable; the awful Rayner might be the best of the bunch! :-O

    1. W
      16 hours ago
      “Mr Starmer, let me make this clear, you’re not leaving this studio until you answer the question: Will you sack the lying ginger cunt if she’s found to have broken the ministerial code?”

      O
      16 hours ago
      The ‘further advice’ arrived on Wednesday morning and she had the foresight to get the court order lifted on Tuesday evening? Something the Blackbelt Barrister says is a very unusual timeframe as these things usually take a number of weeks.

        1. On the bright side, If she keeps her cabinet position she will be a permanent toxic presence as a reminder of the ethical deficit and hypocrisy of this gumment.

          1. Yes, and she might even have to pipe down a lot – given that her own culpability will be thrown at her at every opportunity.

  29. Cool and grey but clear skies.
    Another threesome:
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    1. Four here
      Wordle 1,539 4/6

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  30. Grimes

    Companies sacking workers at fastest pace in four years
    Bank of England figures reveal the cost of Rachel Reeves’s £25 billion payroll tax raid

    AI interns offered $35,000 a month by XTX Markets
    The trading empire of the billionaire Alex Gerko dangles a financial carrot to attract tech talent

    1. My poor son (just about to enter his 3rd year at Uni) is fruitlessly applying. The competition is tremendous. He said the Barclays grad scheme opened yesterday and there were 70,000 people applying. I don’t know how many jobs – but not that many

  31. The new EU Entry/Exit System will require travellers from outside the EU to register their biometric details, such as fingerprints and facial scans, when entering the Schengen Area. This system aims to enhance security and streamline border control procedures. You can only apply on line. If you don't have internet – tough luck. You can only stay for 90 days and not return for six months. You have to tell them where you are staying on the first day of entry and it will run out if you don't have three months left on your passport. It is more complicated than that but you get the gist.

    Liars, thieves, rapists, murderers and perverts leaving the Schengen area for the UK need not comply and will be given free food and accommodation in 4 star hotels with added protection from the national Police Farce. If you are suffering from some exotic infection or mental affliction the NHS will be at your disposal and free of charge, of course. – and you can stay as long as you like.

    Welcome to the Fourth Reich and its vassal state. Enjoy your stay.

    Note: If you’re taking a ferry or Eurotunnel train from the UK (e.g. via Dover or the Eurostar from London), note that French border police conduct exit checks on the UK side – so EES biometrics will be collected before you depart Britain in those cases.

    1. As I mentioned the other day, I believe the system will crash on Day One.

      There will be enormous queues at EUSSR airports as tens of thousands of arriving passengers are made to wait for many hours days, even -before being "processed".

    2. I have dual nationality and twin passports. When I enter the UK I show immigration my British passport. When I return to Sweden I show them my Swedish/EU passport.

      1. I have an Irish passport too. It took me an hour to get through UK customs last time. 60 mins queueing because of those in front and 10 seconds at the booth.

    3. Not a problem for me. My passport has long since expired and I have no intention of renewing it as I do not foresee a reason to visit any other country, nor do I have any desire to do so.

  32. The role of bad law in Graham Linehan’s arrest

    SIR – There can be little doubt that the judgment of the senior officer at Heathrow who directed five officers to arrest Graham Linehan (Letters, September 4) was so poor that he or she should be suspended pending an inquiry.

    It was a stupid mistake. Mr Linehan is a well-known public figure with a fixed address. If some action was considered necessary, he could have been invited to attend a police station.

    However, a greater crime is the hypocrisy of the politicians and policymakers who have enacted and continue to support these absurdly vague and restrictive laws, which keep police from their primary objectives.

    The Metropolitan Police – in which I formerly commanded both the firearms branch and the Flying Squad – should be embarrassed, and the Government should be ashamed.

    Roy Ramm
    Great Dunmow, Essex

    Suicide squad……..Attack ! ©MontyPython.

    2. The Trans Lobby/Mob have wheedled their way into the perlice. Via what route connection I know not. Big truncheons.

      1. Zack Polanski has apologised for claiming to have been able to help women increase the size of their breasts using his mind.

        The newly elected Green Party leader, while previously working as a hypnotherapist, offered a session to increase an undercover newspaper reporter’s breast size and improve her body image.

        And, asked about the claims following his landslide leadership win, Mr Polanski said “I apologised for that 12 years ago,” before apologising again.

        2. A Green Party leader with a former career as a boob whisperer.

          Of all the things I had on my bingo card for September, that wasn't amongst them….
          Still I suppose it stops us talking about interest on long term bonds.

    2. On "Question Time" tonight, not that I listen to it generally. I imagine he will demonstrate that he is completely barking.

    1. A Python I should not advise,—

      It needs a doctor for its eyes,

      And has the measles yearly,

      However, if you feel inclined

      To get one (to improve your mind,

      And not from fashion merely),

      Allow no music near its cage;

      And when if flies into a rage

      Chastise it, most severely.

      I had an Aunt in Yucatan

      Who bought a Python from a man

      And kept it for a pet.

      She died, because she never knew

      These simple little rules and few;—

      The Snake is living yet.

        2. I have given a copy of this book to each of my sons and to one of my nieces with whom we stayed last month.

          Most of the Tastey Tribe recite Belloc's verses to the delight or exasperation of those who are obliged to listen!

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fef6beb4b15de89ad0edeb53170e60a799b01b75e997963c065765e0319fdf13.jpg
          I found this book on the Abe Books site which is a good source for second-hand books.

          This particular edition contains all Belloc's cautionary verses – some collections do not and it is always frustrating to find that one of one' favourites has been omitted.

          1. I've been using the Advanced Book Exchange (ABE) for years. They have a worldwide reach.

            I have sourced books from there that I had been attempting — fruitlessly — to find for decades beforehand.

  35. Everything that is currently wrong with the way this country and its citizens can either directly or indirectly be traced to the introduction of "Common Purpose"!

    Convince me I'm wrong?

        1. We know you are guilty. Everyone is now presumed to be guilty. No point trying to prove you aren't.

        2. Tut. Don't be so impatient. Wait until the weather gets colder; then you will get a year's free food, accommodation and all your heating bills paid.

    4. It's a Leftist blob of multiple organisations. The fabian society, common purpose, civil society – you name it.

      They're a cabal who have infiltrated the public sector specifically to destroy the country. This is why government must be prevented from doing anything unless the public agree to it.

    5. OPENLY traced back to Common Purpose, but the Marxist infiltration predates that by a considerable time.

    2. She said that the plan was to discharge her yesterday, but they often change at the last moment, don't they…hopefully we will hear soon.

      1. I was told at 7.30 am that I was being released. It was not until after 4 pm that the bit of paper materialised….

        1. For some reason, often the pharmacy is the delay, as it doesn't have the medication; strange as surely hospitals either have a more varied stock or would have instant contacts to get the necessary drugs.

        2. Positively accelerated, that is Bill! I wasn't discharged until Monday afternoon from Friday midday – as the pharmacy was closed.

          In a hospital.

          2. It just seems so odd. You'd think they'd want to get you in, treated and out in as short a time as possible.

            Instead, hospitals – the NHS generally – seems to be in a sort of time warp where there is 'no time'. All the clocks stop once you walk through the door. It's probably why there aren't any.

          3. Too many patients, Bill, insufficient staff (go overseas as soon as qualified, better pay and conditions), crumbling infrastructure, travel a distance to see the specialist you need. List goes on. Best not to say what I think about GPs, bit early in the day.

          5. I was ready for discharge on Saturday, but I wasn’t released until Monday because I was admitted as a surgical patient moved to a medical ward and could only be discharged by a surgical doctor. They didn’t work at the weekend. No wonder we have a shortage of beds.

        3. I had a similar issue. I was dressed with my bag packed sitting on the end of the bed.

          All morning.

          Every single nurse or whatever was told loudly that if they didn't arrange my discharge immediately i would remove the cannula myself and then leave.

          A nurse eventually responded and told me if i did that there would be blood everywhere.

          I told her that would be her problem not mine.

          She hurriedly began filling in the paperwork that no one would read as i walked off the ward.

          I took the cannula out when i got home.

          I can be quite tetchy if i haven't had a smoke in a while.

  37. Lifted from another place.

    Heavy weather
    2 minutes ago
    I reprint two very pertinent legal points re the Rayner tax dodging.

    Under UK trust law, trustees cannot purchase from or sell to the trust unless the trust deed explicitly authorises it or the court approves it.

    Why is no-one pursuing this?

    The valuation of the A-u-L house appears reverse-calculated to provide sufficient money for the deposit for the flat purchase. This is a contrived arrangement and infringes the Finance Act 2013 test.

    This is referred to as – The double reasonableness :
    Whether entering this arrangement 'cannot reasonably be regarded as a reasonable course of action in relation to the relevant tax provisions, having regard to all the circumstances'.

    The 'circumstances' include the policy behind the tax provisions, whether the arrangements involved 'contrived or abnormal steps', and whether they were 'intended to exploit any shortcomings' in the tax provisions.

    In particular, if the only (or dominant) purpose for any contrived or abnormal steps is to minimise tax, and in particular to exploit shortcomings in tax laws, it is likely that they may be found to be abusive. The two tranactions together therefore appear abusive and may amount to tax evasion

    2. Was the money advanced to Rayner as a punt on house prices rising?
      However, if so, that would not benefit the poor lad unless the house was sold. And then the money would be needed to provide adapted accommodation and a fund – possibly for decades – to tend to his needs.
      Given the time scale involved, would the NHS payout have run into a £million or more?

    3. Whatever happened, however she went about it, absolutely nothing will happen. She won't face any consequences, she will remain in post and she will get away with it.

      Her tax avoidance is a natural, normal, sensible reaction to appallingly high taxation. The problem is her hypocrisy. Normal people know Leftists are hypocrites to the core but Lefties like to deny it. They can't now.

      1. I agree. With the votes they have, and CS backing, likely to become our permanent government. Some of my family have never voted, along with many many others – get out and vote first chance you get, everyone.

          1. This is the question of the day, NT. We are in a bind because right-leaning votes are split between Reform and Conservative. Myself, I can no longer vote Conservative (a few reasons, Johnson not least, notice he’s making noises off stage yet again), I cannot vote for Badenoch I think she’s too weak – although I like Philp and Jenrick. I don’t entirely trust Farage, nevertheless I will be voting Reform as seemingly more in tune with what I personally think and believe, especially the hot button of immigration and leaving the ECHR. So should you vote with your head or your heart – only you can answer that :-)) Good luck, Kate.

          2. I found at the last election no candidate deserving of my vote. I fear the next election will offer me the same choice.
            My days of voting least worst are over. I will play no part in legitimising their failure.

          3. I fully concur. Although any incoming government will claim legitimacy by virtue of winning more seats than any other party, a miserably low turnout would be an ever-present blot on such pretensions.

          4. 412318+ up ticks,

            Morning NT,
            A nother, than lab/lib/con and the best of the worst, that is the current spite seeking trend.

          6. 412318+ up ticks,

            NT,
            I’m up for a new political build such as Ben Habib & Rupert Lowe coming under the Farmers Food and Freedom Party umbrella,
            as a fall back party in regards to the Reform party actions in the near future.

            All political freedom eggs in one political party basket IMO is a no no.

        1. Not quite right, Kate.

          Orcas, in common with other toothed whales (narwhal, sperm whale), are apex predators that kill and eat many other fish, marine mammals and cephalopods. They do not eat krill or plankton.

          Only the baleen whales do that.

          1. You are quite right, as ever, Grizz. Got my whales mixed up! So where are we on the breeding….? Let me know! :-))

  41. 29 Feb 2024 — There is currently press speculation that Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner failed to pay CGT on her house sale.

    It seems that Angela has form from before last year's general election when it comes to dodgy tax declarations involving property deals.

    1. We can imagine the clamour for resignation if she was a Conservative, Rastus. Lay odds on her not falling on her sword. Otherwise, 'good morning' 🙂

  43. While we worry about Angela Rayner and other squirrels
    "this week saw plans advancing for a non-dollar (and G7) currency area incorporating the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, and those nations in the queue to join, representing 70% of the world’s population." (Alastair MacLeod)

    They're going to have a new gold-backed currency system that excludes the heavily indebted USA, EU and GB.
    America is already grabbing Europe's industries and importing gold, while European and British governments import migrants.
    It's Europe and Britain that will be toast. Whatever your financial strategy is, better realign it towards "thriving in a third world country."

    1. All swept under the carpet. It doesn't help that most people don't understand the tax rules involved.

      What would be interesting is if Reeves announces the inheritance tax allowance falling to 675K – just where Raynor had her house valued for sale.

      Clearly, the bint avoided tax because she's a hypocrite. The fervent Left will desperately protect her because they're all bent too. Expect cries of 'oh you're just a misogynist or, you hate women or other tripe.

      The middle ground will demand taxes be reduced because of plain fairness. This too will not happen as the Left think what you earn is theirs by default.

      Everyone will lose, Raynor will get away with it – just as Blair has.

  45. 29 Feb 2024 — There is currently press speculation that Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner failed to pay CGT on her house sale.

    It seems that Angela has form when it comes to dodgy tax declarations involving property deals.

    2. Being the eternal cynic, she's seen the way the wind is blowing and wants back on the gravy train.

    3. Me too!
      Not a bad looking body indeed. Were I single and not suffering erectile disfunction, I'd not say No if given the chance.

  47. If higher taxation is a boon to the nation as we are told, necessary to deliver the NHS we need, the education our children require, the fiscal stability so desirous, then why did Ar Ange, who can evidently afford to pay it, seek so to avoid it?
    Broadest shoulders and all that.

    1. If- IF! taxes were spent on education, defence and healthcare, with attendant infrastructure such as roads then I doubt anyone would mind. We'd have the brightest children going, the most advanced, efficient healthcare imaginable.

      But it isn't. far too much, like a man carrying a bucket of water – is sloshed over the side in backhanders, inefficiencies, deliberate waste, nonsense, anti market suppression, tax fiddles and nonsense like the rail franchise.

      The public sector is a game of two halves. On one, you've the Cartwright's, efficient, motivated, experts. Our Bill was such. On the other you've the Humphrey's. Obstinate, refusniks, awkward squad.

      Cartwright is, alas, an expert. He doesn't play the system. Humphrey, however, is the system. He will continue to rise and rise, troughing away and receivingunwarranted accolades for chumming with the right people.

      The CS is 80% Humphrey and 10% Cartwright. We want to keep the Cartwrights, the Humphrey's want to get rid of them as they hinder the plan.

  48. Hi all from Bristol Airport 🙂 I'm waiting for my scalding hot coffee to cool down a bit.
    Security was different – belt & jacket off but no toiletries display.
    Anything happening?

    1. Where do you fly to? Looking at the departure board – there don't seem any Swiss destinations…

      1. Flying to Zurich then train to Basel. GreasyJet times were late evening so flying via Swiss. 14.15 departure so have a bit of time here.

    2. I've just done a large glass sweet jar's worth of sloes for sloe gin.
      These came from a nature reserve near RAF Fairford.

        1. So, that’s quite a pay drop – I wonder if that affects her mortgage [if she has one] on the Hove property??

          2. Good luck, Geoff:-) If you ever watch YouTube might like to see the latest on people smuggling from Pam Bondi – what I call an Attorney General.

  50. Depressing comments on the BBC report on Ukraine, which also mentions that idiot Rutte saying that western troops in Ukraine are nothing to do with Russia! The BTL comments are virtually all for continuing the war and/or anti Trump,

    1. Vladimir Putin has vowed that any Western troops deployed to Ukraine will be treated as a 'legitimate' target by Russia's armed forces.

      The chilling threat came just a day after Kyiv's allies said they had signed up to a plan that could see foreign soldiers stationed in Ukraine to guarantee any future peace deal.

      Two dozen nations, led by Britain and France, pledged on Thursday to form a 'reassurance' force on land, at sea and in the air to monitor a potential settlement.

      Rayner is more important

      1. I don't think it is a "chilling threat" at all. When you put yourself in the middle of a war zone what do you expect, tea and biscuits? Put yourself into that sort of situation you thoroughly deserve what you get.

        1. The implication is that if Russia targets British/French or other NATO troops it could amount to a declaration of war for our idiot leaders to accept

      2. Far as I can make out, sos….Putin thought he had a deal with the West to never have NATO on the Russian border, but this is what happened when Biden Jr told Biden Snr about the money to be made from aluminium stocks in E. Ukraine. Putin went nuts, Donbas has the all year round deep water port he needs to export grain. If Putin had backed down/backs down now, the West could easily be dealing with someone even worse than Putin. As it is, Russia is now cosying up to China, maybe someone in MI6 or similar knows where that could lead. Taiwan be the first clue, perhaps. This is only what I read, perhaps you know differently, have a different take? Happy to know if you will plse post? Thx, Kate.

        1. I think the West has been baiting the bear all across Europe. I very much doubt that Putin wants Chinese style socialism in Russia.

          Read Barbarossa: How Hitler Lost the War by Jonathan Dimbleby, there are some dreadful negotiating similarities.

          2. I hope you "enjoy" it.
            It is understandable why Russia is as it is regarding Germany etc (read EU there).
            The war was unbelievably savage, on both sides.

    2. Rutte is 58 and unmarried. One of his elder brothers died of AIDS. It would be interesting to know what his 'partner/husband' thinks.

      1. Another like Fonda Lyin, who failed dismally in their own country and were parachuted into other posts that don't require democracy??

  51. Bright outside (boo – as my eyes are phenomonally sensitive to it) and warmish. El Warqueen is outside writing as there's not a lot of wind, the dogs are flopped out on the patio bit where it's cooler.

    Despite being told I am deficient in vitamin D I really don't enjoy warm bright weather so will huddle indoors. Might show a bit of leg to the scareball but nowt else.

    Washing to get on though!

    1. Take Vit D3 supplements. Doesn't cost much, and for me, since I started a few years ago, I haven't had a cold, either.

    2. Can you take a supplement, wibbling? I take a B12 one (Lamberts), seems to be helping with memory a bit. I read a piece on memory problems post-vaccine which are caused by spike protein (I have no idea what that means). Good luck.

      1. I've a 40,000 thingy dose of vitamin D. I'm taking that. Definitely slower than I was. I think, being honest, much of that is down to being overweight due to the enforced loafing.

        1. Post-vaccine I take a B12 supposedly aids memory, I think it helps – I’m much slower too, and I think lockdowns had something to do with that, a lazy time. Whole episode bizarre – paying people to stay at home, not work – apart from supermarket workers and others. No surprise really, politician calibre of Johnson in No.10.

  52. A large sweet jar half filled with pricked sloes, dark brown sugar added to about half the volume of sloes and then topped up with 1½ bottles of Tapper's Gin, a distillery that went bust some years back and, of whose product, I bought a dozen bottles at auction a couple of years ago.

    Still got at one sweet jar's worth of sloes to sort out as well as a couple of kilos worth of plums to convert to jam.

    And that is BEFORE I do anything with my own apples!

  53. I didn't know it was allowed, but I've just applied for an "Overseas Vote" in the UK. Let's see what happens – breath not being held!

    1. Might have to send in copy of passport or similar, Paul – I did when changing my vote to digital (I'm in the UK). Good luck 🙂

      1. My chest hurts and I’m tired but apart from that, the nursing home have taken over monitoring me plus there are follow up appointments at the hospital in the coming weeks. A young woman came to help me shower this morning and they look in on me at regular intervals.

      1. Yes, she insisted on York Minster. The only other royal wedding there was in 1328. Edward III and Philippa of Hainault.

    4. Oh that is sad. Wimbledon was never the same after she stopped presenting the prizes. One of the few sympathetic people in public life.

  55. Thought for the day.
    Presumably when Zelensky conscripts Ukrainian men they need training before they go to the front line. I believe he is finding it harder and harder to conscript Ukrainians.

    Kill two birds with one stone.
    Deport every illegal immigrant in Europe to Ukraine to be conscripted.

    That might stop illegal gimmegration in its tracks.

    1. What would stop it stone dead is not paying welfare for ten years for any immigrant – legal or criminal.

      Give them nothing, make them pay for services. For the ones we want, this would be considered acceptable. It'd stop the criminal gimmigrants dead.

    1. Looks impressive, but step forward and cut and the bloke in the air is watching his intestines fall out.

  58. 412318+ up ticks,

    Angela Rayner resigns from Government

    Big ange has legged it then, a new wardrobe and a few bob to the better.

      1. If only she had listened to The Legal Beagle…

        Angela Rayner ignored two warnings over tax advice, a report by the ethics has revealed.

        The Deputy Prime Minister resigned on Friday after a Telegraph investigation exposed her tax affairs.

        The inquiry came days after admitting that she had failed to pay a £40,000 tax bill on the purchase of her seaside home.

        She initially blamed the legal advice she received before referring herself to the ethics watchdog and HMRC.

        But The Telegraph disclosed claims by Ms Rayner’s lawyers that they had been made “scapegoats” and not given her tax advice.

        In his letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial interests, said: “It is highly unfortunate […] that Ms Rayner failed to pay the correct rate of SDLT on this purchase, particularly given her status and responsibilities as the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and as Deputy Prime Minister.

        “She believed that she relied on the legal advice she had received, but unfortunately did not heed the caution contained within it, which acknowledged that it did not constitute expert tax advice and which suggested that expert advice be sought.”

          1. I know you're joking, Phiz…aren't you…(hasn't she fallen out with Corbyn?) Edit: just watched an interview of her talking on Good Morning Britain or similar. At least you know where you are with her, which is more than we can say for Starmer – and one of the things she points out about him.

          2. Maybe.

            Stoma could make her Chancellor at the Treasury. With her proven mathematical ability she would be a shoo in.

          3. I think she said Starmer was a ‘manager, not a politician’…seems like she got that right :-D…

    4. Interesting. Now her job has changed and her salary too, she clearly cannot afford the mortgage so…. will the bank reposess?

  60. I wonder which Labour supporter will offer her a very part-time but extremely well paid job, to shore her up in the wilderness months before Starmer is forced to bring her back into the fold.

        1. Who downvoted, and why?

          It's a beautiful carriage, but I am confused over the ended. Did someone walk really, really slowly along it?

        2. Does anyone remember the broad-beamed, bouncy, beautiful, brown as a berry bumpkin

          Belle of Barnstaple?

        3. The carriages of the Brighton Belle were known as rough riders before they were withdrawn…

      1. "Glib and Oily Mandy's lies and mortgage I could not excuse
        Twice I sacked the sleazy bugger though his spittle shone my shoes."

        [From the song about the populist prime minister from a minor public school]

        And 25 years on the glib and oily one is now the British ambassador in America.

        I wonder where the ginger growler will be besporting herself in 25 years?

        2. That doens't stop them picking up six or seven 'roles' at 1 day a week where they sell the country down the river for special favours.

      1. Beautiful, Lewis. I wish I had such green fingers. Alas, I have very little talent or, more honestly, patience in that regard.

    2. Reminds me of Benny Hill's song: The Garden of Love

      Now the rockery's a mockery, with weeds it's overgrown
      The fuchsia's gone, I couldn't face the fuchsia all alone
      And my tears fell like raindrops from the sky above
      And poisoned all the flowers in my garden of love

    1. And when Lucy Connolly who had lost her little son reacted to the brutal murder of three little girls with a tweet she was thrown into prison for 2½ years.

      By the way, what is the usual prision sentence for tax evasion involving £40,000?

      1. What is the minimum prison sentence for tax evasion?

        Prison sentences vary from 6 months to a life sentence.

        1. For tax evasion? Oh, the state has a special rule for it. I believe it's vastly more than rape and murder. One bloke has been in jail – solitary, forbidden books, writing material, television for such. It is a spiteful and bitter punishment the state metes out when it is defied.

      2. Al Capone got 11 years for a total tax evasion of $215,000 in 1931 – currently c £158,000 but, coincidentally, about £45,000 then!

        So, on that basis, Ange should be going down for a 10 stretch!

      3. She was sentenced to 31 months in prison but served about 10 of them. She has been released on licence, with conditions attached, until the remainder of the 31 months is served.

        Rex -v- Lucy Connolly

        His Honour Judge Melbourne Inman KC
        Recorder of Birmingham

        Sentencing Remarks

        1. Lucy Connolly you have pleaded guilty to the offence of distributing
        material with the intention of stirring up racial hatred.

        2. Sadly this is one of a number of cases that this court has had to deal with
        arising from civil unrest following the very tragic events in Southport on
        the 29th July 2024.

        3. As everyone is aware some people used that tragedy as an opportunity to
        sow division and hatred, often using social media , leading to a number of
        towns and cities being disfigured by mindless and racist violence,
        intimidation and damage which has been summarised by the prosecution
        today.

        4. It is strength of our society that it is both diverse and inclusive. There is
        always a very small minority of people who will seek an excuse to use
        violence and disorder causing injury, damage, loss and fear to wholly
        innocent members of the public and sentences for those who incite racial
        hatred and disharmony in our society are intended to both punish and
        deter .

        5. At 8.30pm on the 29th July of this year you used the social media
        platform, then known as Twitter, to publish the following:
        “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the
        bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government
        and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these
        families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it”

        6. When you published those words you were well aware of how volatile the
        situation was. As everyone is aware, that volatility led to serious disorder
        in a number of areas of the country where mindless violence was used to
        cause injury and damage to wholly innocent members of the public and to
        their properties.

        7. Your message was widely read – it was viewed 310,000 times with 940
        reposts, 58 quotes and 113 bookmarks.

        8. By the time you were arrested on the 6th August of this year you had
        deleted the account. From enquiries made by that police they were able to
        establish that the individual tweet the subject of this offence remined
        available for at least three and a half hours.

        9. The police were however able to trace other tweets that you had sent both
        before and after the 29th July which included further racist remarks. On
        the 5th August, the day before you were arrested you sent a WhatsApp
        message which included “..raging tweet about burning down hotels has
        bit me on the arse lol “ which is commonly understood to mean laugh out
        loud.

        10. You also messaged that if enquiries of you were made, you would deny
        you were responsible for the message and if you were arrested you would
        “ play the mental health card “.

        11. I have to apply the Sentencing Council Guidelines for this offence.

        12. In relation to your culpability this is clearly a category A case – as both
        prosecution and your counsel agree, because you intended to incite
        serious violence.

        13. In relation to harm it is again agreed, correctly, that what you did
        encouraged activity which threatened or endangered life and therefore
        falls within category 1. There is also further relevant factor in relation to
        harm in that you sought, and achieved, widespread dissemination of your
        statement by posting it on social media.

        14. The starting point after a trial is therefore one of 3 years imprisonment.

        15. There is a further significant aggravating factor namely, the timing of the
        publication when there was obviously a particularly sensitive social
        climate. It would be difficult to think of a more sensitive such time than
        during the evening of the 29th July of this year.

        16. All of those factors would require a significant increase in the sentence
        beyond the starting point.

        17. As to mitigation. You are now 41 years of age. It is clearly a mitigating
        factor that you have no previous convictions. I have also read the
        character references on your behalf from those who know you. They
        speak of a caring person including those for whom you acted as a child
        minder for their children. You have a good family and a young daughter
        who is undoubtedly missing you terribly. I also take into account that this
        will be the first time you have been in prison and present circumstances.

        18. In relation to the offence I have regard to the fact that although it was
        widely read, you did not repeat any such statement and in due course
        deleted it and you sent some messages to the effect that violence was not
        the answer.

        19. You have had tragedy in your own life with the loss of your very young
        child some years ago. I have read the psychiatric report from some twelve
        years ago as to the psychiatric difficulties you then suffered.

        20. I accept that you still very keenly feel that loss.

        21. There is no recent psychiatric evidence and whilst you may well have
        understood the grief of those who suffered their own tragic losses in
        Southport you did not send a message of understanding and comfort but
        rather an incitement to hatred. There is no evidence of any mental
        disorder having any material affect on you committing this offence.

        22. Similarly whilst I accept you regret your actions and I have been referred
        to messages in which you say that you disagree with racism and violence,
        it is clear from the evidence of your own words in the days following
        your actions, what you said to the police and what you said to the
        probation officer that you have little insight into, or acceptance of, your
        actions.

        23. I have to balance all of those factors.

        24. The minimum sentence after a trial would have been three and a half
        years imprisonment.

        25. You pleaded guilty at the Plea and Case Management hearing and you
        are therefore entitled to a reduction in that sentence of twenty five
        percent.

        26. The sentence on count 1 therefore is one of 31 months imprisonment.
        You will serve forty percent of that sentence. When you are released you
        will remain on license for the balance of the sentence and if you fail to
        accord with the terms of the license or commit any further offence you
        can be returned to serve the balance of the sentence.

        27. I make a deprivation order in relation to the digital device seized.

        28. The victim impact surcharge will apply.

        https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/R-v-Lucy-Connolly.pdf

  66. Rayner has gone, lets hope it will not be the last. No comments allowed of course on the BBC.

        1. I see you can comment on the Mail article – here's a sample "Best news in ages. Now for the rest of them. Reeves, the "genius" economist is next. Then we need to know more about Lord Ali and the arsonists at Starmers."

    2. When I was teaching at a school near Lyme Regis one of my bachelor friends and colleagues was always looking for female companionship and so we nicknamed him The Rutter.

      An old girlfriend of mine said she had a friend who was looking for male company and so, like Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse, I thought I ought to do a bit of match-making.

      I asked them both to meet me at The Mason's Arms – a pub near Axminster. We had a drink or two and I was delighted that they seemed to have hit it off. I was thus pleased to hear that they had arranged a date the following week for a drink and supper at The King's Arms.

      The romance might have blossomed and then bloomed had not the Rutter gone to The King's Arms in Crewkerne while his potential paramour had gone to The King's Arms in Chard.

    1. My hand writing is atrocious as well. Tremors don't help and I don't practice it as I should do.

    3. Comes across as fake and very controlled to me. Very even size and pen control, huge tails to the y and g.

      1. Doesn't handwriting which slopes to the left denote insecurity? (Not sure, but some NoTTLers may know.)

      1. I doubt it. I imagine a lot of false names were used and the vet was caught because he didn't cover his tracks well enough.

        That poor dog.

    1. I suppose we already have a non muslim tax in the UK. After all, muslim don't work, so our non-slammer tax is income tax, NI, business rates… the 50 or so others.

      1. What is worrying about this is that it is one of the most prominent forms of Islam in the UK and has represented and been a danger to us for a long time. But, of course, the government pretends that it is fine. Nothing wrong, carry on as normal despite the fact that it is associated with several terrorist attacks in the UK.

  71. Just got back from a lovely sunny walk in the open countryside and back to the car park through the shaded woods. Found two familiar benches from our dog walking days.
    Rayner gone, ha ha ha. Next…..on the list.

  72. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/30000-homes-faulty-insulation-government-backed-scheme/

    I hate to say it, but UK houses are built for UK environments: damp, wet, windy. That means they need to breathe and bring in air. That's why they're often draughty.

    Cramming a home not built for insulation – and you can do so, multiple layers of insulation with air gaps, air bricks, vents under floor and so on just traps moisture. In our cold, wet environment that means mold.

    We got around this by using lots of energy to heat our homes and, yes, to an extent making them warmer, but builders then cottoned on and rather than making big, airy houses with proper ventilation they made glorified tall terraces and called them three bed houses which, yes; made them warmer by making the rooms smaller and trapping air and thus, moisture.

    1. Our first home together over 51 years ago had suspended timber floors up and down stairs.
      During our first winter I remember lighting the open log fire in our dining room and the light weight small rug started to flap on the front edge. The draw from fireplace caused a massive draught from beneath and through the polished none T&G (butt edged) wooden flooring.

    2. I've just read that article, and it includes a reproduction of Keir Starmer's hand-written reply to her resignation letter. The thing that struck me most of all is that Starmer's handwriting is awful. He can't write joined-up letters in words, with the majority being single letters unattached to those either side. The occasions when two letters are written linked together are a small minority. It's like reading the handwriting of a ten-year-old.

      I'm not expecting elegant calligraphy in the circumstances of a hurried personal note, but the lack of fluidity is striking.

      2. " It's like reading the handwriting of a ten-year-old."
        Speaking as someone whose handwriting is less legible than Starmer's, I find your comments appallingly prejudicial. I was caned on the hand at the age of six for my handwriting yet it never "improved" though the standard of my written grammar and spelling has always been very high.
        I've had a lifetime of these petty prejudices and of my character being judged by my written English.
        My annual reports when serving in the Army often described me as "highly articulate" so I'm grateful I was being judged by my performance at work, not some petty bigotry casting slurs on my character due to my handwriting.

    3. I've just read that article, and it includes a reproduction of Keir Starmer's hand-written reply to her resignation letter. The thing that struck me most of all is that Starmer's handwriting is awful. He can't write joined-up letters in words, with the majority being single letters unattached to those either side. The occasions when two letters are written linked together are a small minority. It's like reading the handwriting of a ten-year-old.

      I'm not expecting elegant calligraphy in the circumstances of a hurried personal note, but the lack of fluidity is striking.

      1. A
        1 hour ago
        She’s up a gum tree now, and no mistake. She’s lost her ministerial salary. She has to find another £40,000 plus a penalty of £12,000. She’s already borrowed to the max (on her salary). Moreover, she sold a share of the Birmingham house to a trust at what looks like a huge overvaluation, which is a clear breach of fiduciary duty if she’s a trustee. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!

        1 hour ago
        Will the free coat be on fleabay🤔 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/41049cfb66a2487c2808aa4b12975a99b14815a5d493999593417341c823274c.png

          10. There is a photo in the print version of The Times today of Melania Trump wearing a very similar (and equally hideous) outfit in white. Sadly, I can't find it anywhere online.

            Leaving the "fashion" aside, I cannot understand women who wear trousers which are an inch longer than their legs and the "cuffs" trail along the ground. The garments can't last more than a couple of outings.

          11. They are not meant to last. They are the latest fashion statements…however ghastly.

            I know you are aware that women in the spotlight being criticised for wearing the same outfit more than once.

        2. But they will not throw the book at her as they would have done if anyone other than a Labour politician had made false valuations for a trust and had tried to evade £40,000 in tax.

          We shall be expected to show mawkish compassion for poor Ange who didn't mean to do any harm and had tragic family problems which had distracted her and warped her judgement.

          However we should on no account show sympathy or compassion to a tweeter who was heartbroken at the slaughter of three little girls when she had lost her own little child and this had warped her judgement.

          So Now we don't just have Two Tier Policing and Two Tier Justice we also have

          TWO TIER COMPASSION.

  77. 412318+ up ticks,

    Small Island, BIG PROBLEM,unless we have a complete reversal of our current stance as a nation then the only option left, sad to say, is bloody mass civil unrest,even then it has taken since the Jay report
    until now to maybe protect the children, even going so far as putting their welfare before the parties.

    As for the housing issue, if we do away with foreign invaders demands, hey presto the pressure is OFF of
    accommodation, incarceration, medication,& education.what surprises me is that the majority of the electorate has not thought of this over these last thirty plus years of voting.

  78. I just found this. It is the entire hearing on censorship that Farage gave testimony to. 5+ hours. Enjoy! But also this is what Musk has to say about him. Elon has his number.

    Musk said Farage is "weak, runny sauce" who "will change nothing of significance politically."

    Instead, Musk is getting behind the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and his allies in the U.K.

    "Why are police in Britain arresting citizens for social media posts instead of stopping child rape?" Musk asked in one post on X.

    "Throw them a white feather."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIvu0MmjWHs&t=89s

    1. I have the feeling that Elon Musk is correct about Farage, he's never actually done anything constructive.

        1. Depends on the polls.
          Best position in 2028 would be Advance UK neck & neck with Reform.
          Reality; Reform leading polls on 42.. Advance UK on 4%.

          In which case you have to go with the Muslim-lovin, Tommy-hatin, Trans supporting limp wet sauce.

          1. His father was a Pakistani and his mother was an English vicars daughter. However, Ben is entirely English in his attitudes and education. His father, by the way, was an atheist not a Muslim.

          2. He (Ben Habib) is just lovely. I do not understand why reform has done a hatchet job on him. The same applies for Rupert Lowe. Madness.

          3. Totally agree with you. Reform has done a hatchet job because both men were tall poppy’s threatening Farage. It is an old pattern with Farage. He must be top dog.

          4. I don't have a problem with foreigners. I have a problem with foreigners who hate us and want to kill us.

        3. They all have plenty to say but when it comes to proving that they are actually worth it…..something else usually happens.

    1. He's got a massive problem and by his own making and not the faintest idea in any shape or form what to do about it.

      1. I don't know if he understands he has a problem. He's surrounded by incompetents who all agree with his idiotic ideology.

        They want to destroy the economy. They want to ruin things. They seem determined to force managed decline and keep lying about trying to do the opposite.

      1. The one on the left, General Zhang Youxia is now in control. A couple of weeks ago his army rolled into Beijing and removed the military in charge of protecting Xi. At the moment there is an argument about who is going to take control. In the mean time Xi is a placeholder negotiating how he will depart. He wants guarantees that non of his family will be harmed and that he can retire peacefully. At the moment it appears to be the two men in the second photo that will be his successors. The reason there are two of them is because the Party has decided that it is not good having one man controlling everything because Xi has made a disaster of China. It is on the brink of ruin, economically and socially. So no more concentrating power by one man. https://chinapower.csis.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Chinas-Central-Military-Commission-After-the-20th-Party-Congress-min-1024×1024.png

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aad60a34dc5036506b954ae970b8c016ee6c3dda8b259c24ec75e235c58998b0.png Wang Yang and Hu Chunhua to Jointly Succeed Xi?

        1. Those images remind me a little of the magazines which were once devoted to movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood. Other than the chap, bottom left, their complexions belie their ages.

        2. All speculation I’m afraid. It might be true, but then again it might have bit of truth or none at all. The Chinese don’t know, and the Zhongnanhai watchers don’t know. Some paid pundits in the MSM profess tom but they are usually proven wrong. In any event that video is almost certainly pure spin.

          1. Well, when all watchers appear to be in harmony you can conclude that something approximating what I have reported is going on.

          2. Something is going on, for sure.

            3 September, the celebration of the end of WW2 (https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/article/xi-jingping-celebrates-end-world-war-two-and-his-own-power) and Xi seemed to be in charge, chatting with Putin about organ transplants and living to be 150. 13 September is the next big day in China, the anniversary of Lin Biao’s (the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party) mysterious death in a plane crash. Zhongnanhai watchers’ speculation is running wild.

          3. As I said. It has apparently been agreed to keep him for now as a ‘place holder’ until the dust settles. The intention is to settle the matter at the fourth plenary session of the CPC Central Committee in October.

      1. I think she brought along her own crayons.
        They let her sit at the back and colour in during Cabinet.

          1. Angela Rayner's nickname in Westminster is apparently "Crayons". The reason is because she can't spell or write very well.

      1. I quite understand why he vowed to stay and make it work, yet resigned in short order. He feared that people would vote in the referendum, not on the merits or otherwise of the UK's membership of the EU, but as a device to oust him from Downing Street. As for the immediate resignation, what credibility would he have had leading the UK's negotiations to leave the EU when he had campaigned vigorously against the idea?

        As for holding the referendum in the first place, it was a poorly judged attempt to prevent the Conservative Party losing electoral ground in the face of growing support for UKIP. He gambled on winning the referendum, putting UKIP back in its box and forming a government after the next General Election without the support of the Liberal Democrats. The referendum was an electoral ploy on his part and not so much acting on a moral imperative to seek public opinion about the UK's EU membership. Had he been confident about winning the next General Election, he wouldn't have held the referendum.

          1. From certain angles, that's true. "We [the Conservative Party] will implement [unenthusiastically and in a manner of speaking] what you decide."

  84. While pruning (yet again) one of the wisterias, this occurred to me.

    Rayner's pay will be halved to £94,000. She has to pay the SDLT of £40,000 plus (probably) a penalty of £12,000. Unless she found £800,000 lying in the gutter – she must have a hefty mortgage. Indeed, I believe she said she did – but as she lies most times she speaks, who knows?

    Would it not be ironic (not least just desserts) if she found that she was unable to afford the Hove palace? And then, to make matters worse (or, from our standpoint, better) found that the Dinner Lady had so effed up the housing market that she was unable to sell.

    It is also said that the Hove place was vastly over-valued – so any sale might mean a capital loss of a couple of hundred grand.

    Now, wouldn't that be an enormous tragedy?

    5. There was a story that she was worth £4m+, mind you, now that she has lost her status, I would have thought getting that for an old banger is going to be difficult.

  86. Breaking news
    Angela Rayner has formed a new party:

    "Sleaze and Corruption United March", SCUM for short

    She's getting numerous defections from all sides of the Commons

    1. At the current rate of increase she will form a government soon.
      A spokesperson said "see you next Tuesday suckers"

      Edit for word

    2. At the current rate of increase she will form a government soon.
      A spokesperson said "see you next Tuesday suckers"

      Edit for word

  87. NHS surgeon had his legs cut off for ‘sexual gratification’ Torygaff.
    A surgeon has been jailed for 32 months after it emerged he froze and amputated his legs for his own sexual gratification.
    Truro Crown Court heard that Neil Hopper, who was married with children, had harboured a long-held sexual fetish to have his legs amputated.
    He pleaded guilty to fraud and also to possessing extreme pornography purchased from Marius Gustavson, who was described as “The Eunuch Maker” after being jailed for leading an extreme body modification ring. Gustavson, who lived in north London, carried out penis removals and other extreme amputation procedures, which were filmed and then uploaded online.
    Hopper's former patients are now demanding an independent inquiry to establish whether any of them may have had unnecessary surgery.

    Beyond comprehension!

    2. Is it the surgical process that provides the gratification or the prolonged absence of legs? With one, the gratification is short lived. With the other, painful priapism must be the outcome.

    4. Er… For the avoidance of doubt, I could have plodded on with weekly diabetic foot clinic visits, and having small bits of offending tissue being lopped off. I was offered surgery on my lrft ankle, which would have frozen it in the "right" direction (no guarantee it would stay there) and I would have been out of action for six months. "What if we draw a line under it, and amputate it", I asked. "Three months", was the reply, " but you're not supposed to ask that".

      My decision was partly based on the disruption that a six month absence would cause the parish; it may have threatened my "Grace and Favour" verger's cottage. Within a week of the due date of amputation of the left foot, it became appatent that the right foot also had issues which would undoubtedly need surgery. Hence the BOGOF deal. I have no regrets. It was the right decision, but absolutely nothing to do with sexual gratification. Just saying…

      It's rather ironic that the Parochial Church Council has unilaterally (with the exception of the Rector)
      decided that i should be retired at the end of this month. I'm to be replaced by volunteers. It won't work, but it's not my problem. I have a new place of worship in mind, a short walk from Guildford Station. Or – after 54 years of playing in churches with modest resources, I might make a weekly or monthly "pilgrimage" to English cathedrals, where worship and music is "done proper". Thanks, Ange…

      1. The thought never crossed our minds.

        You should meet up with Bob of Bonsall. He can sing it and you can play it. Go on tour even.

        You'll make millions.

  89. Graham Linehan accuser ‘is disgraced transgender police officer’ Torygaff

    Lynsay Watson, a former Pc, was fired for gross misconduct after harassing free speech campaigner.
    Former Pc Lynsay Watson, who was born Alex Horwood, was sacked by Leicestershire Police for gross misconduct in 2023 after allegedly harassing a free speech campaigner and critic of gender ideology.
    Watson has a well-documented history of calling on police forces to pursue criminal investigations of campaigners who are sceptical of the belief that self-identification, and not biological sex, determines what a man or woman is.

    And yet the police chief, knowing her his past history, decided to send five armed officers to arrest Lineham.

    It get crazier by the hour.

    1. A deliberate attempt to silence someone who holds a different opinion. It would seem that activists report opponents to the police for 'causing offence', plod turns up with a group of constables (obviously no real crimes being committed elsewhere), victim is arrested and cowed into keeping their opinion quiet in future.

      1. Not very bright are they? You would have thought they would be more circumspect after the Alison Pearson farago.

        On Remembrance Sunday too !

    2. And yet the police chief, knowing her past history, decided to send five armed officers to arrest Lineham.

      "…her past history…" Per???
      Presumably you are referring to the Cock In A Frock, in which case should is not be "HIS past history"???

  90. How do you deal with this? From a Labour voter…

    Forced out predominantly by the Tories. Angela Rayner should have used the money she saved on stamp duty to set up a company that got millions from her own government to make crap that doesn't work and put the cash in the Cayman Islands. What on earth was she thinking?

    1. As someone pointed out IQ100 is the average so there must be enough people below that to balance out the clever types! Mind you Halfcock isn't in prison yet ….

      1. Sad thing is Labour types refuse to be honest with themselves. They know she's a crook but they can't stomach it. It'd mean looking at themselves. Lefties cannot do that.

    1. Then King Lammy Umburto the First when he marries Charlie, and Camilla is sent into exile. As husband of Charlie he will take precedence, and anything else he wants too.

  95. The IQ of the Deputy Prime Minister is considerably lower than it was yesterday.

    From The DT:

    David Lammy is set to replace Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister in the wake of her resignation over her tax affairs.

    Mr Lammy is also set to move from Foreign Secretary to head the Ministry of Justice in Keir Starmer’s sweeping reshuffle, which will also see Yvette Cooper leave the Home Office.

    Well-placed figures in Whitehall told The Telegraph that Ms Cooper is switching from Home Secretary to take over from Mr Lammy in the Foreign Office.

    Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, is expected to take over from Ms Cooper as Home Secretary with the task of tackling the small boats crisis and accelerating the closure of asylum hotels.

    The Prime Minister made the sweeping changes to his top team after the resignation of Angela Rayner as his deputy and Housing Secretary.

    Ms Rayner quit her Government roles and as deputy Labour leader after a Telegraph investigation exposed her tax affairs.

    Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, is seen as the most likely candidate to replace Ms Cooper.

    The decision to move Ms Cooper from one of the four great offices of state, if confirmed, could turn out to be one of the biggest changes from this reshuffle.

    Downing Street and Home Office sources are remaining silent on Ms Cooper’s future. There has been no public confirmation of a change, meaning that uncertainty remains.

    Her expected removal from the Home Office follows a public battle with Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, when budgets were set during the spending review.

    More than 50,000 people have reached Britain by small boat since Labour took power 14 months ago.

    Sir Keir and Ms Cooper had vowed to close all remaining asylum hotels by the end of the current Parliament amid nationwide protests in the past few weeks.

    As well as the migration crisis, Ms Cooper was also home secretary during the Southport riots and the resurgence of the rape gangs scandal.

    It comes after Sir Keir sacked Ian Murray as Scotland Secretary and Lucy Powell as Leader of the House of Commons.

    1. The IQ of the Deputy Prime Minister is considerably lower than it was yesterday.

      That takes some doing!!!

  96. Judging by stuff in the DT online, Cur Ikea Slammer is rapidly moving the deckchairs on his Titanic government. The Pencil Monitor to be Foreign Sekertry; some Slammer woman to join her brethren at the Home Office.

    The lunatics really ARE running the asylum…

    2. My memory at my advanced age is struggling to cope with all these changes. I hope my GP doesn't check my memory by asking me who is the current Deputy PM, the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, etc. The only one I know is that chap who claims he is the PM.

        1. We have been truly f***ed!

          And haven't had to wait until Saturday night for it to happen to us as it did for those at the Ball of Kirriemuir.

    2. She weighs much less than Lammy. Miliband insisted on the reshuffle to reduce aircraft fuel consumption.

  98. Just the person to be in charge of keeping more devout Muslims out of the UK!

    In a 2024 interview with Gabriel Pogrund of The Sunday Times, Shabana Mahmood was described as a "devout Muslim". She said, "My faith is the centrepoint of my life and it drives me to public service, it drives me in the way that I live my life and I see my life."

    2. Just listening to the latest “Heretics” podcast. Andrew Gold’s guest is South African Rob Hersov.

      …“Islamification of Africa is happening north to south, funded by the Saudis, you know, their mosque going up all over the place, and they're attracting young, hopeless, disparate young men, and then Islamifying them. And if you, I mean, this is a rough number. I've read it somewhere that if only 10% are radical, there are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world.

      That's 140 million Islamists. They want to kill you and kill me and kill you guys, too. Yeah.

      That's a massive number, and it's spreading through Africa. Even South Africa has a 2% Muslim population. And until recently, the Muslims, the Jews, the Christians in South Africa, all gone on very well.

      Lived together, worked together, very, very moderate, decent people of all cultures and faiths. They've been radicalised. Yeah.

      It's not Islam, is it? It's political Islam.

      It's highly political.

      It's the last 30, 40 years.

      And it's funded by Iran.

      Yeah.

      It's funded by Iran. Iran's winding everyone up.”

      From heretics.: The Anti-White Apartheid in South Africa No One Is Talking About – Rob Hersov, 4 Sep 2025
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/heretics/id1515932214?i=1000724142656&r=3192
      This material may be protected by copyright.

      1. I knew him in Hongkong. Great guy.
        There's no way out of this.. the time to leave was yesterday.

    1. I suppose at least it gets him away from letting the nation down while abroad. Though the Pencil Monitor will be no better.

          3. I hope so too. That train just may have departed though – there are now calls for a memorial to the people kidnapped by Arab and African slavers from Britain.

  102. And that's another sweet jar full of sloes, sugar and gin. All in all, I've used nearly 7 litres of gin so far this year!!
    Lucky I got it cheap at auction!!

    1. Sounds lovely, Bob. It'd be a nice one to have under the stairs. Instead we have a rack of computers.

        1. I have steeped golden raisins and figs in cognac. Sitting at the back of my fridge when i invite someone to lunch. Only when they are not driving of course.

    1. The instant Zionism is raised as one of the Devils incarnate I'm afraid you lose me.
      Other bits I can agree with, but these people tend to be antisemites/state of Israel haters not promulgators of a Zionist world.
      The Jews don't want world domination, the Muslims, on the other hand…

      2. At the time of Balfour and the origins of a ‘Home for the Jews or Jewish State’ senior Rabbis were against the proposal.

        They were against the idea of being concentrated in a specific region and merely wished to assimilate with others including Arabs whether in the land we call Israel and for that matter throughout the countries of the world.

        The idea of Israel as a specifically Jewish state, to the exclusion of other religions and peoples, is the result of the practice of Zionism.

        1. Strange how every other culture, race, religion and political system is allowed its own country apart from the Jews.

          And yet the Jews in the areas around Israel were there millennia before more modern countries.

          I strongly suspect that the Rabbis against foresaw how ready the Muslims would be to wipe out Jews and Judaism.
          Concentrating the Jews would facilitate that.
          You ignore the fact that Israel does NOT, work to the exclusion of other religions and peoples. I fact it’s the most “open” of the countries in that part of the world.

          1. I agree that most Israelis wish to remain an open country and to live in peace with other peoples. I could not defend what the leadership is doing in Gaza.

          2. The only defence I can see for their actions there is that until Hamas is utterly eradicated they will continue to attack.

          3. I have every sympathy with the Israelis who have been under constant bombardment from the Arabs for decades. It will take a greater statesman than the present version of Trump to solve this problem.

        1. At a guess, Bill….’she’ll be back’….in some kind of political employment…watch that space 🙂

  106. Wordle No. 1,539 3/6

    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 5 Sep 2035

    Cruise with Birdie Three?

    3. Well done. Must have had a similar start word.

      Wordle 1,539 2/6

      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  110. Something really trivial to take our minds off the appalling fact that David Lammy is now the deputy prime minister, that Shabana Mahmood is the home secretary, that Yvette Cooper is the foreign secretary, that Keir Starmer is still the prime minister and that Rachel Reeves is still the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

    Times have changed but when I was a boy I was told that it was 'rather common' for women to have their hair dyed and that women should not have below shoulder length hair after the age of 21.

    Was I misinformed?

    One of my sisters had long hair which she dyed back to its original fair colour as soon as it started to go grey; the other let her hair go grey naturally and kept it above shoulder height.

    Caroline hasn't a single grey hair and has never dyed it. She wears her hair at shoulder height or slightly above.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ece2ad8127f9ef39fe3d655a029102f63643f8b057010afc6edea3c3bad43e6.png

    I think that the Princess of Wales would look better with a hair cut.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2939d3f8cbc7bd2c946f39648ee5d486b244b2e6f70e19b4debe03a1f368bb7b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62eb79741f7cf6a7858c924b6fed0c2e3345029af87a4f01aa61d074fa778a85.png

    2. Well, I had a significant amount of grey hair in my 20s, which I deemed unfair therefore I’ve been colouring it ever since. As for length, I have curly hair that doesn’t hang down. It gets wider, which is not my preference. For women of my age group (60+) hair tends to be less aging if it’s neither too long nor too short.

          1. Annie and some of the gang are doing Francatelli in St James's first. Sue probably won't be ready for that one so we will do Claridges in the New Year.

            You're paying you cheeky bugger !

          3. Next time you are over i will buy you lunch. Annie is a wizard on the vouchers. Dining out in Mayfair for a three course lunch for £30 is a steal.

            The reason being Labour has scared off all the money people and the restaurants are empty.

          2. I got some looks when i did the Billy Idol look. Got me on the VIP club list on more than one occasion.

      4. And if it's lighter rather than darker. For many years my hair has been a 'golden oak' with all the various shades of that tone encompassed, but as I have aged it has darkened rather than whitened. It is not flattering to an ivory ageing skin tone, so I have it highlighted from time to time.

        I hope you are well on the way to recovery, Sue, I've not been around for a days, and that you are feeling more comfortable.

    3. Ah but Rastus as a man you are not privy to most women's dying and makeup secrets…if you can't spot that it's dyed then it's not common, I would say.
      The below shoulder length hair is a difficult one. Some women can get away with it, others can't.
      I think Sue makes a good point about the most flattering hair being neither too long nor too short.

      That is the least flattering photo I've ever seen of Kate, I think – her hair looks not only lighter but very voluminous. Altogether too much. But I think she's lightened it because it's easier to go gracefully grey if hair is a bit lighter.

    5. You've chosen the least flattering picture of her new look that I've seen.

      I think that she's tall enough and slim enough and her complexion is good enough to wear it that bit longer, I think she's an attractive woman.
      But then I'm a judgemental, male chauvinist pig.

    6. Looks like a wig or hair extensions.

      Both my late sisters had long hair up until their teens when the Beehive and hairspray cans with the face of Barbara Windsor on them became fashionable. Apparently the blonde tart was a ‘glamorous star of stage and screen’ from memory. What I and my two brothers had to put up with!

      My mother would plait their hair which would hang down to their backsides. That was truly a labour of love. When the hair was finally shorn it was placed in a clear plastic bag and displaced more useful items in the sideboard drawer.

    7. Yes, I agree.
      Given her age and position, the time for flowing locks is past.
      They lack gravitas.

      1. I disagree. It has a dignity when worn up and when down carries youthfulness. It suggests someone content with how God made her, rather than chopped and changed by stylists, according to the dictates of fashion.

        I never liked the brown-and-curly like a hat you cannot take off, which I associated with horn-rimmed glasses and women of a certain age. Nor do I like the regulation bob which all senior Labour women have, which makes them look as robotic as they think.

        I remember reading some of my Gran's women's magazines in the 1970s. There was an article of some women in their forties alongside photos of them taken twenty years earlier. They actually looked younger in the 1970s than when it was the done thing to look like your mother from an age when nobody had long hair.

        My inspiration was my first girlfriend, who was French. She never cut her hair from the day we got together, and nor did I. I met her eleven years after we split up, and her lovely brown hair was a foot longer. She told me six months ago, when I rang her up to tell her about my mother passing, that it was still the same as it always was. She didn't even go grey, even though she is now 68.

        1. Jeremy, she has had a lot of work done on her teeth both before she married and during one of her maternity leaves, we have not seen her natural hair colour for around twenty years and goodness knows what other work she has had done. Natural she is not. Not that I blame her, the press and public will scrutinise every tiny perceived flaw.

      2. Looks like we’re alone, Anne! I think she looks ridiculous – her hair is far too long and ‘big’ from her scalp.

      3. I think otherwise. That hair can be wound up into a bouffant that can take that heavy crown. With a few pins of course.

    8. At 40 something (she'll bop me otherwise) the warqueen has long hair she wear in these loose ringlets. I can't keep my hands off her. She's had all sorts of hairstyles but i like this one.

  112. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0aff96af70efb6ca4cf669407d7f3c430cec3d57a0cd60984ce31663f3905481.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a67479d014e7c07a8619e056bb93cb3a4601265d09ae1627ba56582b68763da3.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/831876aca3f56119176df5103c7769dc2947405c62e2fa5b491e9a36d3b69615.png Back in March I decided to prune my out-of-control unruly hazel shrub. I took out my small chain-saw and set to work. "That'll show it", I bragged!

    Last week it said to me, "Oh, yeah?"

      1. Back in Briston I had a wisteria growing up the trunk of my laburnum. The first time the laburnum flowered I was astonished to seen that half the blooms were yellow (as expected) but the other half were lilac! It took me some time to work out why.

  113. Labour has over four hundred sitting MPs and it appears that everyone is far too hopeless to challenge the totally useless and inept Lammy, Miliband, Cooper, Mahmood and Reeves for a top job.
    Where is all the talent?
    Why keep shuffling the same failures over and over?

  114. Evening all . I am happy to be proved wrong. I was sure Rayner would slide out from under and keep her job, Labour being as sleazy as it seems to be.

    On a personal note, I had a great day at the races with good friends, but my tipping was abysmal. I had one winner (and that wasn’t at the meeting I was attending) and lots of others were only placed. In this instance you lose some and you lose some!

    1. I detected that the Essex Advisor rather regretted having to find her guilty – sorry, that she had had a slip of memory. Reading between the lines, he tried to find a way of suggesting a gentle tap on the wrist…

      Personally – as a boring lawyer – I'd like to hear that one of His Majesty's Judges has decided to have a closer look at the trust fiddle "arrangement", that enabled the crooked Growler to sell her share in the "trust for her defective child" for money which the trustees (of which, no doubt, she is one) had to raise – thus depriving the beneficiary of part of an income-producing fund .

      And then there is "missing" Capital Gains Tax on one ofher eariler property deals.

      And the Council house…

      Gosh it must be so hard to keep all these things in the air at the same time, eh?

      1. It would have been a lot easier if she had ‘taken advice’! I do think there is much more to come out….

      3. It must have been an interesting story of how she got compo from the NHS for a birth at 23 weeks. Normally, life is not viable at that stage.

  116. Open house on Farage at the BBC today. On The World At One, Jonny Diamond curled his lip when asking Reform's Jake Berry about Farage's North Korea reference. This evening, on PM, Evan Davies had a laugh and a joke about elections with Labour's Clive Lewis, who told the listeners that he wouldn't take lessons from someone as authoritarian as NF. Lewis is of the opinion that the Labour Party is not left-wing enough now that the Stockport Slapper has left and that the Deputy Leader should be elected.

    3. However Westernised muslims say they are, the qur'an cannot be modified or adapted for the modern age. They are still camel herders at heart.

  118. Well, that's me gone. More wisteria pruning accomplished. More attempts to prevent effing muntjaks eating our shrubs.

    I wonder how soon the NEXT Liebour scandal will take to manifest itself…

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – prolly.

  119. Major Cabinet changes at No 10 have taken the mainstream media by surprise. However, the continuity of the UK was captured live on BBC News this afternoon as Larry the cat was seen casually padding into No 10 as the door opened to maintain his official role as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.

  121. Jeremy Clarkson posted on X:

    “We paid for Angela Rayner’s education. We paid her wages when she worked for the local council. We paid her wages when she became an MP. We even paid the settlement that enabled her to buy a house. Tax payers have funded every aspect of her entire life.”

        1. Why?
          We can't really help how we were brought up.
          My objection to her is political rather than social.

          2. I don't disagree on that score, but equally there is a hypocrisy that on one hand raising your status is good, but don't you dare think you've made it into "our" social status, you're still an oik.

          3. Oh! My heart is bleeding for her….so pleased she made it in the face of overwhelming opprobrium! 🥱

          6. She's an oik because she hasn't worked a day in her life for it. It's been one trough after another, with someone else paying for her.

          7. I suspect she's actually worked bloody hard for what she has.
            I dislike her intensely but don't try to suggest she's not worked.

    2. We also support her 'disabled' son was he the one she was pregnant with when she left school ?

      1. No, he was born about 18 years ago when AR was about 27 years old. Very premature, then he tragically suffered a brain bleed some weeks later.

  122. I don't suppose I'm the first but Lammy deputy PM……WTF starmer is definitely in hate mode and taking the piss out of our country, its culture and social structure now the economy.

      1. So true and the chocolate teapot has taken some stick as well.
        The problem is by using lammy as his deputy he's provided a barrier for himself.

    2. Yes, no love lost for the UK…could he possibly have done a Commissioner deal with Tusk. Farage will campaign for another vote, and he'll get some support, but many think Brexit never happened even though we voted to leave, and the boats will keep arriving. I've voted ever since I could, but now thoroughly disillusioned with the whole lot of them, uncertain I'll continue to vote ever again. Reform will split the Tory vote, neither will be able to form a Government, and so Labour will continue. Perhaps I'll feel more positive tomorrow, after Ovaltine and sleep……'night Eddy x

  123. Oh, the cynic in me. When Shabana Mahmood told the Lords Constitution Committee recently that Britain has an extreme interpretation of the ECHR and that Europe sees the UK taking a 'maximalist' approach to human rights, she was simply trying to make herself more acceptable as Home Secretary by pretending to be a sceptic. Max had already made his mind up and tipped her the wink.

    Any hint of a softening up by Labour on the immigration issue with her at the Home Office will make the atmosphere in the country even more tense, which might well be Max's strategy: "Look! Even more racism from the far-right! We told you they were dangerous. Here are more laws to silence them!"

  124. Just been putting away my zyder making gear.
    Lots of people have offered me apples but I've had enough of it very tyring to do.
    Besides I was treated to a couple nasty bites problems with having a wildlife pond I guess. Anthisan will sort it.
    Feet up now bed in an hour or so. So goodnight all. 😴

    2. I like Anthisan too, Eddy – many harvest mites this year. Alternatively, use undiluted TCP liquid on a cotton bud, acts quickly.

      1. When I pop over to the UK I stock up on Anthisan, TCP, Dettol and Germolene; nothing similar of which are available in Sweden.

          1. There is indeed an amazon.se, Kate, unfortunately the franchise is run by a clique of amateurs and there is a limit on the number and type of goods I can source from them. There are also limitations imposed by Swedish Customs on what I may import; also the taxes and import duties can be high.
            It is sometime cheaper and more efficient for me to order certain goods from amazon.co.uk.

          2. Hear you, Grizz – I hate shopping, of any description (does that make me a rarity?)…was one of Amazon UK’s first 50 customers, they sent me a gift – some sort of wooden puzzle. I buy everything online from groceries to clothes and everything else. An American friend living UK went for an interview with Amazon uk, he said they were very tough people. Bezos tells a story of the first order outside of relatives they received, he and three others initially set it up, were wandering around asking each other ‘who’s mom is this’!

      1. Amazing harvest and we will still be buying them in from forgien parts to sell in supermarkets.

  126. Greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭. It's been a long day and I'll be going to bed soon. My son's new home is beautiful 😍.

  127. Daily Telegraph crossword compiler on top form today. In their quick crosswords the first two or three across answers form a pun which is often amusing. Today's three answers (you don't need to know the clues) are TOOT, EAR, KIA. You have to say it aloud and is all about various things happening today at Number 10.

  129. I'm amused that the Press suggests that Lammy is ousted.
    Presumably he agreed to his new position.
    Although, given how thick he is, perhaps he didn't understand.

    Keir's Cabinet bloodbath: David Lammy's face says it all as he leaves No 10 after being ousted as Foreign Secretary – and Yvette Cooper is axed as Home Secretary

    I would be interested to know what the pecking order of Cabinet positions really is.

  130. There is a hint of equivocation in this but it shows that Fraser is growing up. In June, on The Moral Maze, he stood four-square behind Israel and its attacks on Iran and Hezbollah.

    I'm no fan of Mary Whitehouse, but she was right on all the big things

    The infamous campaigner understood the detrimental impact of normalising pornography and sexual violence

    Giles Fraser
    5th September 2025, 4:01pm BST

    Mary Whitehouse was cancelled before being cancelled was a thing. Viscerally homophobic, preachy, uptight, middle England – she called for the word "knickers" to be removed from The Beatles' I Am The Walrus, was outraged by the suggestiveness of Chuck Berry's My Ding a Ling, believed that the BBC was the heart of moral darkness. Hers was a tireless campaign for wholesome family entertainment. "If only they were all like that nice Mr Savile" she once explained.

    But the mood music on her has started to shift. A new production by the Left-wing gay playwright Caroline Bird seeks to humanise her, to see things from her point of view. This comes after the Bodleian Library made a home for her gathered correspondence in 2018, and Samera Ahmed, having gone through her papers, followed up with a BBC Radio 4 programme that argued we ought to understand her in another light. "I think there is much to admire in this formidable woman," Ahmed claimed.

    For all her faults, there is indeed much that Whitehouse was right about. She understood that the pornification of the public realm would have a profoundly detrimental effect on both young boys and girls. Back in 1975 she was way ahead of her time in warning that technology "can reach a point where man is incapable of arresting the forces which he has released." And she was rightly horrified by the violence to women that was being imagined even on children's programmes like Dr Who. In one episode, broadcast in April 1965 at 5.40 pm – so in a prime-time children's slot – a women is given a knife to kill herself and her child so that she wouldn't fall into the hands of hostile soldiers. Whitehouse understood that porn and sexual violence were becoming normalised in the public sphere, and normalised even for children.

    Despite being a staunch ally of Margaret Thatcher, she did not hold back even against what she saw as the darker aspects of market forces. "Pornography is the dirty face of capitalism". For such comments she has received the (obviously qualified) admiration of Left-wing gay anti-porn activists like Julie Bindel who knows a thing or two about being cancelled. When Bindel saw Whitehouse speaking to a hostile crowd at Leeds University in 1980, little did she know that one day she would be in her shoes. "She was a brilliant speaker, formidable," Bindel says. "I remember sitting there, thinking, 'God how does she do that?'"

    For all this, Whitehouse was often blind to the failings of her friends and allies. And not just Saville. Whilst the Christian barrister John Smyth was successfully prosecuting Gay News and others on her behalf in the 1970s, he was serially abusing young boys in a shed at the bottom of the garden. But there again, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said he didn't know what his friend was doing either. And the BBC were themselves fooled by Savile.

    Bird's new play seeks to do what all good writing should encourage: to help us appreciate the complexity of human motivation and to see ourselves even in the unlikeliest of others. Back in 1990, Salman Rushdie wrote a fascinating little pamphlet with the very Whitehouse-eque title "Is nothing sacred?". "The title is a question usually asked in tones of horror," he points out, arguing that "the idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas – uncertainty, progress, change – into crimes". This is the progressive case against Whitehouse. But by the end of his reflection, Rushdie concludes that the novel (and the play) is itself a kind of sacred space because it is where different values and perspectives can talk openly to each other. And we need to protect this space more than ever.

    That's why cancel culture is so inherently philistine. It's a preachy thing to say, but given this is about Whitehouse, perhaps I will be forgiven: even those we find most difficult have something to teach us.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/05/im-no-fan-of-mary-whitehouse

    1. Reminds me of a saying:

      Two men sit talking. First bloke says :

      "I lived this long because I don't drink, don't smoke, haven't dabbled with women and I'm a vegan. Tomorrow I'm celebrating my 95th birthday.'

      Second bloke says: '"How?"

      1. A chap drives past an Indian reservation and sees a sign telling him that an Indian medicine man can answer any question.
        He stops, goes into the tepee and asks:
        "OK, what did I have for breakfast?
        The Indian replies "bacon and eggs"
        The man is staggered that he knew and drives off.
        Ten years later he again drives past, sees the tepee and stops.
        He enters and politely he says "How"

        The Indian replies, "over easy"

  131. Raynor's salary has just collapsed by a good 60K. She's going to get a huge tax bill – unless she continues her fraud, which she no doubt will.

    Faced with a tax bill, debt and a collapsing salary surely the bank will say 'Oi, Raynor, leave that flat alone!' and reposess it?

    1. She'll just move into the most expensive residence and claim it's her Parliamentary home and get it all on her expenses.

    2. We can hope.

      Compulsory purchase at the lowest possible price. Say £50,000.

      That would be a harsh thing to happen to anyone.

      Excepting the fact that is exactly what they are planning for farmers…allotments…green spaces…and even greenbelt land.

      1. They were charged. One of them who was due in court was run over and killed the day he was supposed to appear. And yes, he was a paki policeman.

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