Friday 6 August: Self-funding care-home residents are forced to subsidise local authorities

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/08/05/letters-self-funding-care-home-residents-forced-subsidise-local/

628 thoughts on “Friday 6 August: Self-funding care-home residents are forced to subsidise local authorities”

  4. Morning to all when appearing: Today’s DT “Friday offering”:

    SIR – Roger Bootle’s thoughtful analysis of the problems associated with funding social care misses a salient point: all self-funding residents pay over the odds for their care in order to subsidise those who rely on local-authority support. This is due to the fact that local authorities will not pay a realistic fee to
    the providers, leaving the care homes with no option but to charge the self-funders more.

    The argument that the employed young should not be taxed in order to allow the elderly to retain wealth for their heirs is valid, but it is also grossly unfair that the elderly people who need care should have to subsidise others who cannot afford it.

    As the daughter of a mother who had to pay nearly £1,000 a week for her care home, I believe that most self-funding residents and their families would be keen to have this anomaly addressed by the Government as soon as possible.

    Georgina Stanger
    Caerwent, Monmouthshire

    SIR – A better solution to the question of how to fund social care would be to introduce intra-generational taxation by taxing landlords, who are often older, on the gains they make from feeding off the incomes of the young.

    By charging national insurance contributions on rental income (worth £130 billion), the Government could raise about £15 billion a year. By also charging NICs on dividend income, a further £8 billion could be raised.

    Social care would be funded by the old for the old, without the need to raise taxes from the young.

    Liz Emerson
    Co-Founder Intergenerational Foundation
    London SE24

    SIR – The social care sector is currently engulfed in an unprecedented employment crisis.

    Each year, we are losing 34 per cent of this crucial workforce due to low pay. Despite the real value that front-line care workers bring to the national economy, estimated to be about £46 billion, they are among the lowest-paid in society, often earning below the UK Living Wage of £9.50 per hour. A new report commissioned by Community Integrated Care found that many would be paid at least 39 per cent more – about £7,000 a year – if they had equivalent roles in other publicly funded sectors.

    The Government needs to give an immediate and fair pay rise to all front-line care workers and implement a strategy to ensure parity of pay with other publicly funded roles. If not, we face losing the very people who are the backbone of our society.

    Mark Adams
    CEO Community Integrated Care
    Widnes, Cheshire

    SIR – As a 93-year-old lady, I was rather nervous of venturing out after lockdown, but took my courage in both hands and went out for breakfast at Wetherspoon’s. It was beautifully served and cost only £5. Hope restored.

    Miriam Silver
    Eastbourne, East Sussex

    Secret documents

    SIR – I and my colleagues on the board of Veterans for Britain are alarmed to learn that Pentagon sources are so disturbed by the UK’s failure to prosecute and dismiss Angus Lapsley for his major security breach that it brings our reliability in “Five Eyes” into question.

    We are also deeply concerned about the implications for national security of such leniency over laxness in handling classified information.

    What more does Mr Lapsley have to do to jeopardise national security to be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, as more junior officials have been for lesser offences (for example, Richard Jackson in 2008)? Why was this Government ever considering appointing such a person to our ambassadorship to Nato? Why is Mr Lapsley reportedly still in the frame? Why does the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office appear to be shielding him?

    The Lapsley case is bigger than one man, but one man must be prosecuted and, if guilty, dismissed.

    Major General Julian Thompson
    Chairman of the Board, Veterans for Britain
    London SW6

    Stuck in Afghanistan

    SIR – Much has been written about the plight of military interpreters left in Afghanistan. Their treatment by the Taliban is shocking.

    Please also spare a thought for those who were involved in projects across the country in the civilian sphere. In 2011, I worked on an archaeological project on the site of an ancient copper mine in Logar Province, to allow the commencement of a Chinese-operated mine that was meant to fund the reconstruction of the country.

    I have recently received a number of requests from my colleagues to help them leave the country, as they fear for their lives. It is heartbreaking.

    Guy Cockin
    Barlaston, Staffordshire

    SIR – We have a “mentioned in dispatches”, signed by Winston Churchill, that we bought in a bric-a-brac sale about 40 years ago.

    It records the gallantry of a lieutenant in the Border Regiment, Territorial Foot. The heading is: “The Afghan War 1919.” Each time I look at it, I shake my head and wonder.

    David Billington
    Formby, Lancashire

    The logical language

    SIR – I support the teaching of Latin in state schools (Letters, August 4).

    At my grammar school in the 1950s, it was necessary to achieve a qualification in Latin in order to enter Oxbridge. As a pupil mainly interested in the sciences, I initially studied it reluctantly. But it soon became apparent that it had a logic, which appealed to my analytical mind, and I enjoyed it. It also left me with a love of Roman history and Greek mythology.

    As my Latin master put it: “Latin promotes logical thought and instils the virtues of civilisation.”

    John Moore
    Lymm, Cheshire

    Simply irresistible

    SIR – When Ocado replaced my preferred shower gel with an alternative brand, I was intrigued to read, among other claims, that it “helps guys get the look that gets the girls”.

    My wife of 42 years felt I should accept it, given these benefits.

    Perhaps the world is not as politically correct as I thought.

    Paul Vince
    Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire

    Testing travel rules

    SIR – My wife and I recently returned from a holiday in Greece. Prior to leaving we dutifully obtained, at €30 (£25) each, negative Covid test certificates. We also bought our day-two test package online at a further cost of £198, enabling us to complete our passenger locator forms.

    On arriving at Gatwick Airport border control, we were directed straight to the electronic passport machines, then sent to collect our luggage. Nobody asked to see any of the documentation we had so carefully completed, and at significant cost.

    While we were very grateful for the smooth passage, we now wonder why returning holidaymakers are being put to so much additional cost. Should we even bother to complete our test kits when they eventually arrive?

    Graham Burden
    Liphook, Hampshire

    Granny revamp

    SIR – When helping children learn to read, my sister noticed that older copies of a book showing “children having tea with grandma” depicted them sitting at a kitchen table laden with home-baked treats. Grandma (Letters, July 31), plump and rosy-cheeked, was wearing an apron, round glasses and had her hair in a grey bun.

    In the new books, the illustration showed the children walking with a slim woman, beautifully coiffed and wearing a tailored business suit, as she guided them into a smart patisserie.

    That’s how grannies have changed.

    Janice R S Sinclare
    London N12

    Cromwell’s club

    SIR – The Cavalry and Guards Club on Piccadilly has Oliver Cromwell’s stick (Letters, July 26).

    Before turning his attention to political matters, Cromwell was a cavalryman, but was quickly promoted from leading a single troop to being one of the commanders of the New Model Army, before eventually becoming Lord Protector in 1653.

    GTC Musgrave
    Westcott, Surrey

    Bug brained

    SIR – Joseph Kerrigan (Letters, August 4) worries that all insects are becoming bugs. I am a birder. Those who study moths are, confusingly, mothers. I hope entomologists remain entomologists.

    Charles Gallimore
    Braunston, Rutland

    Britain’s thatchers need a helping hand

    SIR – You report that “thatched roofs could vanish in 20 years”.

    The reasons given are very real. Climate change is having a serious effect on the husbandry and harvest of thatching straw. Reaping and stooking – which ripen the straw to allow effective grain removal and develop its strength – are being hampered by the heavy rain and wind.

    Machinery is antiquated and often should have been decommissioned years ago but, at present, it is the only means of processing the straw. Developing new binders and threshing machines would be prohibitively expensive for a relatively small market.

    In Britain, thatched roofs are mostly made of two materials: cereal straw and water reeds. We produce some home-grown water reeds of very good quality, but unfortunately production has been too low to satisfy demand and the cost of importing is escalating.

    There are other suitable materials for thatching, and, though it is difficult to accept a change to tradition, the resulting roofs can be hard to tell apart. The National Thatching Straw Growers Association is trialling the growing of ancient varieties of wheat, and many farmers are growing triticale, a wheat-rye cross.

    Hazel wood is also a vital component of a thatched roof, but we have seen a decline in the production of home-produced spars as cheaper imports are squeezing coppice workers into a corner.

    However, while thatched roofs are indeed at risk, thatchers are passionate about their craft and determined to keep it alive. Investment in thatchers, producers and affiliated crafts is essential, as is funding for safer, more reliable machinery.

    Climate change must be recognised, and new straw varieties that can cope must be developed before it is too late.

    Andrew Raffle
    Director and secretary, National Society of Master Thatchers
    Coleorton, Leicestershire

    SIR – Your report highlights the need for national conservation bodies and local authorities in rural areas to support the policy that requires thatchers to use longstraw.

    We are losing longstraw roofs at an alarming rate, not because there is a shortage of the material but because it is very labour-intensive to work with. Those who wish to speed up the thatching process choose alternative materials and gain a financial advantage over the traditional longstraw thatcher. Every time local councils fail to take action against a breach of policy for thatched roofs, another longstraw
    roof is lost.

    Without support for longstraw, roofs are undergoing changes that may not be particularly noticeable but will signal the death knell for this most important thatching material and method.

    Catherine Lewis
    The Thatching Information Service
    Ware, Hertfordshire

          1. Indeed, Annie. The more people who follow her lead and pluck up courage to overcome the past 18 months of Project Fear the better.

        2. Went to The Justice Mill for breakfast one summer, in Aberdeen. Firstborn & I had to wait for the doors to be unlocked (08:00), yet when we got in, there were already rosky-cheeked old geezers sitting at the round tables surrounded by empty pint mugs! How does that work? Did they stay overnight?
          Breakfast was excellent, though. Full Scottish, plus good juice. Good price, too.

          1. mng Obl – answer probably a “lock in”. Did similar arriving at pub door in Dunfermline at 08.00, door opened [ringing doorbell – very technical], wnet in ordered pint, being English, thought it wise to stand a round for the 3 old guys sitting next to the fire. When remembering breakfast [was past 11am], it turned out as a form of brunch. Great place, good company, bad hangover later

          2. They may have been night workers who got a special deal. Meat industry workers would be drinking pints at breakfast time.

          3. When I worked in London, office was by Borough Market. The Market Porter pub was open at about 06:00 and served brunch and a pint or several to the market workers.
            Excellent boozer. Magic bacon butties, excellent Fuller’s ales. Sigh…

      2. Maybe when I am 93 I’ll value going outside on my own for something as simple as breakfast. It could be that I don’t know how bally lucky I am.

        1. The full English breakfast at Côte is really good. They do other breakfasts too.

    2. If the government’s plans for the Covid aftermath are the same as the 2016 proposed plans for a pandemic, then those of us over 70, if seriously ill, will not live long enough in care homes and hospitals to worry too much about the costs.

    3. I must be getting cranky and old, but I don’t understand this desperation to ‘go out’, be that for dinner, for breakfast or on holiday.

      The folk going away – only to find themselves suddenly stuck in a ‘red list country’… what did they expect? The government cannot be trusted.

      1. we’re all to varying degrees old cranky, wired to the moon, it’s standard virtue signalling on abstract, subjective issues as part of Project Fear. The only “Red List” countries are the ones doing the most virtue signalling, when challenged for evidence / facts, they go mute

    4. How much social care could be funded by the £100 million they paid for one footballer, whose £10 million a year personal salary is somewhat over the National Living Wage offered to someone with similar talents working in the care sector?

      1. Ms Emerson seems to be suffering from that well known Lefty disease of ‘envy’. She forgets that Landlords have already paid gross amounts of tax and that is why rents are high. Why do the Left struggle to put 1 and 1 together?

        I appreciate they don’t understand basic economics or even go out of their way to avoid it, but really, it smacks them in the face every five minutes. How can they keep ignoring the evidence in front of their eyes?!

        1. Any more charges related to rental housing will be passed on to the renters, who will be the ones who pay.

    5. Re Social care at home – same story. SS have rates well below the private contribution, and the agencies are quite open about it.

    6. Re Angus Lapsley leaving sensitive documents at a bus stop.

      What on earth was he doing at a bus stop? !

        1. Yet another hindoo hypocrite. What other western country has loadsa foreigners in its government?

        2. I presume our PM flew up to Moray yesterday for his visit only to discover that an oil field in the Atlantic off the Shetland Isles is about to be developed. He doesn’t seem to worry about his carbon footprint.
          His deluded Zero Carbon target and policies are now under scrutiny and hopefully the folly of it all will soon be revealed.

          1. Doesn’t matter Clydesider. This isn’t about the environment or ecology. It’s about controlling the population as a tax soak. Nothing else. They know it, we know it. The lie perpetuates.

          2. It’s time we hit back, wibbles. We need to put the politicians in their place – the servants of the people.

          3. Referism, recall, direct democracy and the removal of universal franchise.

            You could Brown back under those aegis and I’d love it. He’d be powerless! Every single abusive tax grubbing law he passed we would over turn and punish him with. He’d be defeated and broken as he was forced to implement every tax cutting, business friendly policy going. His statist land grab shredded away to nothing.

        1. The daft ranting of this racist organisation is tiresome. The Left wing obsession with labelling, of treating people as merely a series of ‘issues’ rather than a whole human being, to remove agency, dignity and responsibility, to, quite literally dehumanise the person into nothing but a collection of ‘issues’ about which to complain and demand is disgusting.

          The Nazi’s did this. So did Stalin, Mao – any lunatic psychotic desperate to eradicate the individual and create a mob under one banner.

          Perhaps going without will do them good. It might show them how much they have.

          1. agree, what they haven’t sussed is in the minds of English people, they’re already tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapping and don’t exist and never have, as a viable entity

        2. The “discrimination” is of their own making. If they don’t want to be vaccinated, so be it. No one is FORCING them not to.

          1. Word-pairing is a favourite device of totalitarians or in this case interns [Racism / Discrimination]. It’s everywhere once you start to look. Standard emotional echo chamber sounds trying the “divide / rule” agenda

          3. You say that, Bill, but in truth the coercion is there. The banning from events without testing and vaccination. No doubt soon going into the office unvaccinated will be hindered, then it will be getting a job at all.

  9. Apple has just announced that it will scan private accounts in iMessage and on iPhones and through the Cloud for inappropriate images that flag up with their database algorithms, and report owners of such devices to the police.

    This surveillance is similar in nature to the “track and trace” system employed by the British Government at huge financial cost to the public in order to carry out health surveillance.

    It is being spun as tackling child abuse, and no doubt it will shortly be used against suspect terrorists (even though Turkey regards all Kurds as “terrorists”, even those who cleared out real terrorists from Iraq and Syria). The Iranian morality police regards any girl considered underdressed to be fair game for arrest and attack from vigilantes. How long before any evidence of homophobia, islamophobia, misogyny, white privilege, sexism, transphobia, voting Leave or simply being “inappropriate” will be subject to this sort of surveillance?

    It is one reason I refuse to own a smartphone or use the Cloud.

      1. Indeed. I turn on my Nokia 1100 only when I cannot find a working phone box and to receive security code texts from my bank. I tell delivery drivers to use my landline if they want to get through. It also plays nifty tunes in 8-bit.

        1. I use my Nolia 1100 in much the same way.
          However it reached the limit when Amazon started using two step verification and they sent a url insread of an allphanumric code to confirm my account.

        1. Much obliged.

          It’s interesting how this would hold up under the US constitution – right to search and seizure. Is Apple exempt on the basis of being a private company?

          Maybe, but if it went to trial?

          The insidious bit is the searching of documents. Pattern matching against images of particular nudity and what not – even consensual – aren’t too difficult, and text is even easier. The Left will no doubt support this, but when the very tools of oppression are used against them, will they be as delighted?

          Why is this needed? What is it trying to solve? Child abuse? Yes, sounds great – but we’ve already seen the state protect abusers and actively attack those pointing that out.

          It’ll all be by a judge, they’ll say – don’t trust that, either. Government’s love this statement, as if judges are incorruptible when they’re as easily bought at the next johnny.

          In teh meantime big fat state insists on importing and paying for the very criminal element responsible.

        2. Much obliged.

          It’s interesting how this would hold up under the US constitution – right to search and seizure. Is Apple exempt on the basis of being a private company?

          Maybe, but if it went to trial?

          The insidious bit is the searching of documents. Pattern matching against images of particular nudity and what not – even consensual – aren’t too difficult, and text is even easier. The Left will no doubt support this, but when the very tools of oppression are used against them, will they be as delighted?

          Why is this needed? What is it trying to solve? Child abuse? Yes, sounds great – but we’ve already seen the state protect abusers and actively attack those pointing that out.

          It’ll all be by a judge, they’ll say – don’t trust that, either. Government’s love this statement, as if judges are incorruptible when they’re as easily bought at the next johnny.

          In teh meantime big fat state insists on importing and paying for the very criminal element responsible.

      1. I still have a fountain pen. The only instrument, apart from a keyboard, that can make my writing legible.

  10. There was no ‘outburst’ of racism after the Euro final. Spiked. 6 August 2021.

    A couple of weeks later, and we have a better understanding of the truth of what happened. There was no wave of racial hatred. There was a tiny, ridiculous trickle of it. If the events following the Euro final showed the ‘vile depths’ of British racism, then we should be very pleased with ourselves as a nation. Because racism in this country clearly isn’t very deep at all. The UK Football Policing Unit has been investigating the hate-speech incidents in the wake of the final and it has judged that 207 online comments were potentially ‘criminal’ — that is, they could be said to be stirring up racial hatred. Of these, just 34 originated from within the UK, leading to 11 arrests. The vast majority — 123 — came from people overseas. What’s more, it turns out the defacing of the Rashford mural was not racist. The graffiti said ‘Shite in a bucket, bastard’, with a cock and balls pointing at Rashford’s mouth. Infantile, sure, but not racist.

    I think we settled this on Nottl the following week! It was, like the BLM protests over George Floyd orchestrated by the Borg.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/08/05/there-was-no-outburst-of-racism-after-the-euro-final/

    1. Morning Minty, it appears we still have a way to go to banish our racist tendencies, otherwise why would the Premiership and Championship football teams only this week decide to continue to take the knee for the coming season?
      Virtue signalling I hear you say, no never, you could knock me down with a feather, I’m shocked I tell you, shocked!
      I look forward to hearing the support that will be expressed by their fans, or not as the case may be.
      Wendyball, well named IMHO.

      1. the benchmark’s been set and gauntlet thrown down by olympic canoeists that managed to conduct the whole tournament while “taking the knee”

      2. The FA should call a halt to this. Taking the knee just provokes the fans and the players must realise this.. The fans are there to watch a football match.

        1. I suspect the FA are the driving force behind this, they are well named as they have sweet FA awareness of what the fans feel.

      3. The fans who disagree with this have two options;

        1. Boo loudly during the whole ridiculous spectre or
        2. Better yet, stay away and deprive the kneelers of their overblown salaries.

  11. Good morning, all. Useful rain in the night. More follows.

    Millions dead by Sunday. Again.

  12. Good morning from a totally wet & foul Derbyshire. 10°C in the yard and it’s chucking it down.

    We’ve had 6 police cars screaming past us since before 08:00, four to begin with then a later two. Apparently something happened up Pikehall according to the Dearly Tolerant’s road search.

      1. I’m heading off to Derby soon to rob t’Lad of more of his topsoil and also to check up on mentally ill stepson.
        I expect to get wet!

    1. There was a piece about this on BBC’s Open Source last night. Even I was surprised at its prejudiced nature! Plenty of both Anti-Urban and anti-Tucker and how the Far-right were at odds with everyone else in Europe!

      1. am awaiting the next Tucker installment on this as he mentioned it at end of clip about Hungary elections next year and “Western interference”. Orban’s language was crystal clear, the neolibs don’t like it, hence the BBC slant

      2. Odd how the vast majority of people are suddenly ‘far right’. Despite the BBC’s frantic labelling, they’re just creating the very opposition they want to label.

        If not wanting gimmigrants, if opposing gay marriage, if believing nations should protect their borders, if government should be constrained and servile then 95% of the population are ‘far Right’. The Left are a bunch of noisy, squabbling brats who make a lot of noise but are really a pathetic, nasty mob.

        1. they’re sticking to labels that they can shout about in vain attempt to make their point. People hear them and ignore them which winds them up even more

      3. If you want to see some BBC driven anti Hungary propaganda, try watching the Baptiste series – Sunday evenings! It seems the country is in the grip of far Right thugs!!

        1. I enjoyed my time in Budapest.

          Never felt safer in a city.

          They don’t allow begging without a license.
          The streets are clean. Almost no graffiti. Plenty of cheap public transport. They have a cheap tram network. The elderly travel free.

          The elderly also receive regular food parcels if they need them.

          Hardly any Police about. No sirens going off at all hours.
          The only weaponry in evidence was soldiers guarding the Parliament building. They were polite and approachable. No private security in evidence.

          People were smiling, friendly and courteous. And would stop and help a stranger if requested. (normally for directions).

          Compare and contrast with any English city.

  15. How is the Government going to stop the boats? 6 August 2021.

    Almost 500 migrants reached the UK by small boat on Wednesday, bringing the total for this year to over 10,000. To the Left, which wants open borders, any attempt to fix the problem is inhumane – but if you want a fair migration policy, an “anyone who makes it can stay” approach is madness. These crossings are dangerous; they are facilitated by criminal gangs; and once here, migrants are likely to slip into the underground economy, to become victims of exploitation. Moreover, the UK, like any other country, has a right to decide who gets in and who does not, especially in the current situation. The pandemic has proved the necessity of a well managed immigration system. Given that Britain has the natural advantage of being an island, it is surreal that we are unable to control our borders.

    You have to laugh at this whether it is Naiveté on a Cosmic Scale or something more sinister. There is absolutely no intention by the “Government” of preventing this flow. It is deliberate. It is designed to change the ethnic mix of the UK irreversibly. It is the end of the English and eventually the White Race!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/08/06/government-going-stop-boats/

    1. ‘Morning, Minty, “It is the end of the English and eventually the White Race!”

      …and the fat-cat, pompous, domineering MPs themselves.

    2. Morning Minty ,

      Once again , bad dreams interferred with a required good nights sleep .

      Moh is playing golf again today , he has had a very busy energetic week with lots of competitions every day.

      Today he is playing in an RNLI charity match,, he signed up to it weeks ago , but feels quite bloody minded now , as do the others who are taking part .

      We all know the beautiful hymn … Eternal Father strong to save .. but the people smugglers in France are capitalizing on our philanthropic natures , and now seem to be hell bent on making lots of money removing asylum seekers from France , sending them across the Channel to the UK knowing that the RNLI are a new taxi service with powerful boats .. funded by you and I , with CEOs who earn twice as much as the PM.

      Changing the subject slightly, WHO are the Taliban … who funds them , are they the same as Isis.. Does their funding come from Pakistan.

      Do we have Taliban sympathisers in the UK, are there large communities who fund raise for them, how come there are many many Asian millionaires in the UK now .. Are the Taliban strict Sharia, why are some of our banks hosting Sharia accounts , why is there Sharia law in the UK , and now with thousands of people coming across the Channel , they seem to be being integrated into established communities easily …

      We are now a hoist to our own petard , and our Britain is being neutralised in front of our eyes.

      1. Aftn [here] TB. Re Taliban – https://www.cato.org/commentary/how-washington-funded-taliban# / https://www.groundreport.com/us-is-the-largest-funding-source-to-the-taliban-in-afghanistan/ it all started way back with Russian occupation in Afghanistan and US funding / weapons taken in by UK SAF to support mujhadeen [OBL was trained in Hereford]. Us mantra was to give Russians their own “Vietnam”. Moving on, proxy fighting groups [funded] were used as militias in Libya during attempt to overthrow Gadaffi. As usual septics tried to reallocate Libya weapins to Syria without paying which resulted in the Benghazi CIA consulate getting whacked. Weapons, some proxy forces moved to Syria [Syria Free Alliance] via Turkey. Posted this earlier but has some reference https://orientalreview.org/2021/08/05/2001-the-moult-of-the-american-empire/ bottom line of who the Taliban’s godfather [and US hegemony approach] https://28pages.org/2017/05/28/zbigniew-brzezinski-godfather-of-al-qaeda-and-taliban-dead-at-89/ this is a snapshot, hope it helps

        1. No one seems to question the integrity of the very fit well clothed young foreign males who are coming to our shores illegally .. It feels like an invasion . We just don’t know who these people are ..

  16. How is the Government going to stop the boats? 6 August 2021.

    Almost 500 migrants reached the UK by small boat on Wednesday, bringing the total for this year to over 10,000. To the Left, which wants open borders, any attempt to fix the problem is inhumane – but if you want a fair migration policy, an “anyone who makes it can stay” approach is madness. These crossings are dangerous; they are facilitated by criminal gangs; and once here, migrants are likely to slip into the underground economy, to become victims of exploitation. Moreover, the UK, like any other country, has a right to decide who gets in and who does not, especially in the current situation. The pandemic has proved the necessity of a well managed immigration system. Given that Britain has the natural advantage of being an island, it is surreal that we are unable to control our borders.

    You have to laugh at this whether it is Naiveté on a Cosmic Scale or something more sinister. There is absolutely no intention by the “Government” of preventing this flow. It is deliberate. It is designed to change the ethnic mix of the UK irreversibly. It is the end of the English and eventually the White Race!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/08/06/government-going-stop-boats/

  18. Bloody hell – just looked out of the kitchen window – and there, in broad daylight, at 7.45 am – bold as brass – a muntjak browsing under the hedge ten feet from the front door..

    Night before last it was munching its way through the roses.

    I have no interest in shooting – but I could make an exception…..

  19. 336363+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Friday 6 August: Self-funding care-home residents are forced to subsidise local authorities.

    Especially within a hundred miles radius of DOVER cost of keeping those escaping from france hotel bills must be met somehow.

    Surprises me these type party’s / overseers have not
    introduced a robotic job that can be trailed around old peoples homes that upends them (old peoples) and gives them a thorougher shaking to see just what is being concealed.

    I do tend to look upon these overseers and minions in a romantic fashion as in a multitude of pimpernels setting forth returning to these Isles after saving peoples escaping from freedom.

    As a show of confidence in these overseers we really should call a General Election tomorrow the electorate will oblige, once again, and retain these politico types / party’s forever, plus.

    1. I don’t want to throw rocks at Boris. I don’t wish any MPs harm. I do wish they’d act in our will rather than their own.

      1. they’ve created the pathway, so they have to expect it eventually, the alternative is passive resistance and nothing changes. It’s coming

    1. If he were personally sent the bill to provide for these gimmigrants, would he feel the same? Let’s say we mandate that as he has a four bedroom house, he takes on, oh… 50. And in his garden as well. Would he still promote their frantic arrival?

      1. 336363+ up ticks,
        Morning W,
        I believe it is down to what the pillow whisper believes
        is whats crucial.

    1. This is a story of London folk. Ordinary people, living extraordinary lives with the twists and turns of fete. My mum was my role model. I loved her contentedness. Her steely strength when needed. Her generosity to all she came in contact with. Her talent too gave me a real desire to create my own place in this world. She proved to me that we could do anything we wanted as long as we had faith in the future and a willingness to work hard. I miss her terribly.

      It is a Lost World of a Free, Independent and United people. Destroyed by the Political Elites in the cause of the Chimera of a Socialist Utopia.

  23. 336363+up ticks,
    A product via pillow whispering in number ten,

    Energy bills to soar by £139 for millions of households from October
    Around 15 million Britons are expected to fork out more money on energy after rise in wholesale prices hits suppliers

    The question should really be asked “how long can the herd stand still for this continual milking to subsidise more fronts”

    Much more of the likes of the DOVER invasion say could really see the herd breaking into a trot, canter, gallop, full on stampede or then again taking a knee position, my trust in the electorate is to say the least, shaky.

  24. Labelling people who refuse to be vaccinated (like me) with the negative appellation of “unvaccinated”, is precisely the same gloomy and adverse manner in which we label those who do not smoke tobacco as “non-smokers”.

    Time for a rethink, methinks, and turn those doomster epithets into something a tad more positive.

    Fresh-air rejoicer v Polluted airway enthusiast.
    Clean constitution advocate v Dope dummy.
    Realm defender v Invasion assistant.
    Two sex normality v Weirdo plague.
    Balanced dieter v Nutrition avoider.

    There must be others with the same positive bent.

  26. Peter Hitchen on FARAGE GBNews programme last night. What an unusual, unpleasant person he is. Talks down his nose. He and NF didn’t appear to get on well and NF cut him short.
    NF had 2 people debating banning petrol and diesel cars. The person against the policy laid out the cons of the policy with details of the pitfalls ahead. The pro banning greenie was optimistic and swept over the pitfalls more or less saying all the problems can be resolved without telling us how..

    1. Peter Hitchen is a plastic, wannabe, failed and much inferior version of his late brother, Christopher.

      1. Morning Grizzly – I looked up Christopher Hitchens as I had never heard of him probably because he was a left winger. He gets a good write up on the internet. Died of oesophageal cancer in Houston Texas.

        2. Morning, Clyde. I think he got less Left-inclined towards the end. His “Hitch-Slaps” of the pompous were the stuff of legend.

  27. Good morning, my friends

    I posted this late last night:

    Universities set own entrance exams amid A-level chaos
    Chancellors say they cannot rely on grades handed out by teachers during the pandemic as objective

    Camilla Turner and Lois Turner DT https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/05/universities-set-entrance-exams-amid-a-level-chaos/ ,

    In government the executive, the legislature and the judiciary must be independent of each other to avoid conflict of interest. By the same token teachers should not be asked to assess the work of their own pupils for public exams.

    A BTL comment

    As a teacher my job was to do the best to ensure that my pupils achieved the best grades they could in public examinations; as an examiner my job was to be objective and impartial.

    My wife and I left teaching in schools when GGSE with coursework presented us with a conflict in interest. When we were asked to assess our own pupils for examination grades how could we achieve the best possible grades for our own pupils while being objective and fair. Also we knew that some teachers would be far too generous in their assessments while others would be far too strict putting some pupils at an advantage and others at a disadvantage.

    We now run our own residential courses for students of French in France. Our job is to try and see that our students do as well as they possibly can; assessing the grades which they are given is up to an independent examiner.

    3. We are having to cut down a fruit tree which was killed by a deer stripping off its bark.

    4. They are absolutely delightful.

      Remember that when you barbecue them that the flesh can be quite dry, so lots of basting required.

      1. They eat the roses; eat the veg; eat the leaves on orchard trees. Utter animal terrorists.

  29. Don’t Touch

    An elderly man lay dying in his bed. In death’s agony, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favourite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs.

    He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled downstairs.

    With laboured breath, he leaned against the door-frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven: there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favourite chocolate chip cookies.

    Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?

    Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture. His parched lips parted: the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.

    The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when his wife suddenly smacked it with a spatula…

    “Fuck off” she said, “they’re for the funeral.”

  33. Now time for a coffee. Out early to get slow puncture in tyre repaired – managed it, and now back at the farm for coffee & roof work.
    Morning, all Y’all!

      1. I will learn from your experience, O Master.
        Morning, Bill. Not a fan of ladders, so we have wheeled scaffolding instead. Not 100% replacement, but pretty good.
        Photos later. Coffee now.

      1. Copy / pasted : Revealed: Robert Dingwall axed as government advisor

        This week, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which sets the UK’s vaccine policies, recommended that 16 and 17-year-olds be offered the Pfizer vaccine – leading to speculation that the jab could soon be offered to even younger age groups. Speaking at a press conference on the issue yesterday, the deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said his sense was that it is ‘more likely rather than less likely’ that the list of children eligible for the vaccine would broaden.

        It’s an interesting development given that just a fortnight ago the JCVI recommended against vaccinating over-12s unless they were particularly vulnerable to the disease. So Mr S was intrigued to hear that the Nottingham Trent Professor Robert Dingwall had been asked to leave his role advising the government on the JCVI Covid-19 sub-committee.

        Dingwall has been outspoken on the topic of child vaccination in the past. In June, he stated: ‘Given the low risk of Covid for most teenagers, it is not immoral to think that they may be better protected by natural immunity generated through infection than by asking them to take the
        possible risk of a vaccine.’

        When approached by Mr S, the professor confirmed that he – along with several JCVI Covid-19 sub-committee members – have indeed been let go. Dingwall also told Mr S that: ‘Although social media and other sources have particularly identified me with scepticism about the idea of
        vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds, in the present state of knowledge, this view was not by any means an outlier in discussions
        within the committee’.

        A PHE spokesperson told Mr S that: ‘The JCVI is a group of independent experts who discuss the latest available evidence to reach decisions on how to best use Covid-19 vaccines to protect the public. The main JCVI committee has provided all advice and recommendations to Ministers on Covid-19 vaccines. The committee is united in its efforts to reach a consensus in order to provide robust advice to Ministers on how best to continue preventing hospitalisation and deaths from Covid-19.’

        But with Dingwall’s departure, the wind now appears to be blowing in only one direction when it comes to vaccinating children.

        1. ‘The committee is united in it’s efforts to reach a consensus…’ by removing those who won’t join the ‘consensus?

        2. ‘The committee is united in it’s efforts to reach a consensus…’ by removing those who won’t join the ‘consensus?

    2. “A woman on fire in the street”
      Jeez, what have the bastards done to our society

      1. The family of a woman who died after being found on fire in the street have said they will miss her “every moment of every day.”

        Sarah Hussein, 31, was severely injured from burns when she was found ablaze on East Street, Bury, at about 19:30 BST on 31 July and died later in hospital.

        Locals had run to help her and wrapped her in a wet duvet.

        Three men, aged 24, 26 and 34, who were arrested have been bailed pending further inquiries, police said.

        ‘Devastated’
        A tribute from Ms Hussein’s family, who live in Pakistan, said: “Sarah was the person in the family that everyone turned to for help and support both financially and emotionally.

        “She was a very nice, kind, polite person who worked hard every day to support us all.”

        They said they were “devastated” and “feel helpless being so far away”.

        “We will all miss Sarah every moment of every day.”

        Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said detectives were not looking for anyone else in connection with Ms Hussein’s death and the investigation continued.

          1. Mustn’t upset slammers. Had they been remanded in custody, there might have been threatening demonstrations….

          2. We must mustn’t criticise cultural norms. They didn’t know it was a against infidel law to immolate brides.

          3. Hmm, Even if you’re a Muslim in England, you still have to abide by ‘infidel’ law.

            It’s called integration, innit?

            If you don’t like it, then eff orf.

        2. If her family live in Pakistan, how come they weren’t missing her before this incident?
          And in what way was she supporting a family living thousands of miles away?

      1. She was probably imported as a bride. Marrying someone from the home country and bringing them here is a significant factor in the exponential rise of people here with Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage.

      2. Get her here – the rest get the right to follow with hands out – just like the dinghies are full of men – multiple wives/kids/family eager to come and destroy.

    4. If you roast them in the road, you don’t have to paint the parlour.
      Was she married, and if not, as a Pakistani national why was she living in the UK?

  37. IOC Investigates Anti-LGBT Slurs Against Olympic Athletes on Russian TV – BBC. 6 August 2021.

    During his two decades in power, President Vladimir Putin has sought to distance Russia from Western values, including liberal attitudes toward homosexuality and gender fluidity. Last year, Putin signed a series of constitutional amendments into law which, among other things, formally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

    Though Russians’ attitudes toward LGBT people have improved somewhat) over the past decade and a half, recent polling still shows three-quarters of Russians opposing gay marriage.

    Improved? Who says?

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/08/06/ioc-investigates-anti-lgbt-slurs-against-olympic-athletes-on-russian-tv-a74713

    1. Who says? The same sort of person who says that “Everyone knows that a man transitioning into a woman IS a woman”.

      1. Gosh. Not only can it tell the time or whether you are standing or sitting in a pub, it now knows dues dates as well.

    4. She’s a “Consultant Obstetric Physician and Nephrologist, Company Name Barts Health NHS Trust, Part-time”. How few hours do these part-timers put in and how can they be credible in senior positions? Also, her speciality is kidney disease in pregnancy. That’s very specific.

    5. She’s a “Consultant Obstetric Physician and Nephrologist, Company Name Barts Health NHS Trust, Part-time”. How few hours do these part-timers put in and how can they be credible in senior positions? Also, her speciality is kidney disease in pregnancy. That’s very specific.

    2. Cheetahs are unbeatable in the sprints, but I’d take a grey wolf any day in the endurance events.

        1. I am shocked, poppies mum, shocked I tell you. I never thought you ate horse meat for your main course at meal-times.

          :-))

          1. Horsemeat is OK.
            Fermented horse’s milk is not! Had to wash mouth out with copious volumes of vodka after “being polite” and drinking some (Kazakhstan, some years ago).

          4. Are you sure, Paul, it was horse’s milk and hadn’t been ‘milked’ from a stallion?

          6. It’s very tasty, Elsie, as I’m sure that like me, in France, you would get some from your local supermarket and enjoy cooking and eating it. Whatever you do, please don’t put crumble on top.

          7. Very good, Tom. Rest assured that I only put crumble on top of my desserts, and not on the main course.

          8. Hey, Auntie Elsie. The red goosegogs on my bush are now ripe. Time for a goosegog crumble, methinks?

          10. Send some and I’ll make you some. I picked my own gooseberries from my garden a month ago and – along with more donated to me by a friend – make a fabulous one. Mind you, it was so yummy that I kept on helping myself to more and more portions, with a resulting weight gain.

          14. Good morning, (just) Elsie! I cannot, and never will, eat horsemeat. The very thought makes me shudder with horror. It is something akin to cannibalism. I find it impossible to eat any meat that I was not introduced to as a child. There is a farmshop not too far away that sells its farmed crocodile meat, ostrich meat and other such esoterica (is that a word?) – it farms its own beef, pork and lamb but I haven’t seen horsemeat (thank heavens) for sale. There is a restaurant on site.

            I know you were only teasing me though.

          15. I tried horsemeat in France 40 odd years ago – and also frogs legs – never again.

          17. Snails and frog’s legs, yes; crocodile and ostrich quite good; locust a step too far! [But they do come with their own toothpicks]

          18. I’ve eaten all of those except the croc and thoroughly enjoyed them. In Greece I used to lead snail-hunting expeditions after a shower of rain. You take them to a local taverna, they feed them on cabbage to cleanse them & then serve them up with a robust sauce a couple of days later.

          20. Think of the people who shove oysters down their throats. No wonder they shove them down as fast as they can…

          22. You have to chew them, Lass. Very tasty, especially with a drop of Chablis in the shell.

          23. I had bear in what was Yugoslavia – deli-style so cut very thin. It tasted like beef to me.

            And (yuk yuk yuk) “sea cucumber” in Hong Kong. Sea slug…

          24. Tried the sea slug in Singapore to save face (which is v important in Chinese culture) but never again. Like chewing salty vulcanised rubber. The Chinese have very weird tastes.

          25. It’s the nails from the horseshoes that I find off-putting….{:¬))

            I tried alligator in Florida. Tasted what I imagine a handbag would taste like…

          27. Crocodile is YUKK!
            Think of aerosol chicken… flavour is OK, but the consistency of slightly foamed snot is truly awful.

          28. I can’t stand the sight of foam on a dish. To me it makes the meal appear regurgitated.

          30. Poppiesmum: A local butcher around here sells Welsh Dragon sausages! Not too bad, but a rather spicy for me.

    3. No worries, the authorities can disqualify the cheetah for not wearing shorts – a violation of the rules. Oh, wait – they didn’t disqualify the Danish team pursuit team, who all wore illegal kit, so maybe the cat will be OK?

    4. Then after the cheetah…sorry mancat won the race it made lunch of the also rans…

      How is your sister doing?

  44. Another Bolton story

    AN abusive husband assaulted his wife after his arranged marriage turned violent, a court heard.

    Preston Crown Court heard how Khuram Shezad, 35, subjected his wife to four years of physical and mental abuse between 2016 and 2020.

    Victoria Lewis, prosecuting, described how the arranged marriage was “never a happy one” with Shezad, of Burnaby Street, Bolton, telling his wife she was fat and ugly and mocking her for being short.

    The couple had two children but Shezad told his wife she was a “bad mother” and accused her of having affairs with other men.

    Ms Lewis said she became increasingly isolated with Shezad preventing her from seeing her family and by 2017 he began to become violent.

    During one incident Ms Lewis described how Shezad’s wife was trying to park her car in the couple’s drive when he began shouting at her and grabbed her by the neck.

    “On June 15, 2020, Shezad and his wife had an argument,” said Ms Lewis.

    “He wanted her to call the housing association to get the gutters outside the house cleaned out.

    “She told him he could phone them and he became angry at this saying he was not the type of man that listens to women and threatened her with divorce.”

    Ms Lewis described how the argument escalated the next day when Shezad’s wife feared he would confiscate her passport.

    “He became angry and smashed a plate and with one of the broken pieces started slashing her arms and legs with the shard,” said Ms Lewis.

    “As a result she sustained several wounds and she went downstairs and phone the police.”

      1. I had a peep at some of the news in many of of the Northern enriched areas .. the plice must be runoff their feet with all the terrible events that occur .

        Looks like a different world, but having said that , the entitled enrichment and diversity crimes are now appearing in our area more frequently

    3. We come for a better life – nope – same life – better conditions paid for by someone else.
      She phoned the police – paid for by us – and presumably used the NHS – paid for by us too.

    1. Most of the population is already suffering ‘significant cognitive deficits’ – covid or no, it’s all part of the plan.

    2. Hi AWK Zerohedge is a neo-Nazi orientated & Russian controlled propaganda website . I have known for some time that a number of the Nazi’s who were banned on Disqus post on there but just last week I learned from one of my mods from the UK , Scradje that Tyler Durden is not an American but an imposter .
      Scradje 5 days ago http://disq.us/p/2il8j4t
      It’s owned by a nazi rat named Daniel Ivandjiiski, who writes under the name of ‘Tyler Durden’. He sees it as his role to promote kremlin-originated anti-Semitic conspiracy bullshit.

  46. COP26: Alok Sharma criticised for international – and quarantine free – travel

    The president of the UK’s upcoming climate change conference is under fire for reportedly travelling to more than 30 countries in seven months.

    The Daily Mail said seven of the places visited by Alok Sharma were also on the Covid red list – but he used an exemption available to ministers to not have to quarantine on his return.

    The government said face-to-face meetings were “crucial” ahead of COP26.

    But Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford called it “inexplicable”.

    He said all government ministers “have to demonstrate that we too mean business” in tackling climate change if they want the public to follow suit – and travelling so often “doesn’t advance the cause”.

    Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman Sarah Olney also criticised the government’s quarantine exemption policy, saying it showed there was “one rule for them and another for everybody else”.

    What do world leaders need to agree to stop climate change?
    Johnson faces backlash over Thatcher mines comment
    How serious is the government about COP26?
    Which countries are now on the green list?
    The Daily Mail also claimed Mr Sharma held a meeting with Prince Charles days after returning from Bangladesh – a red list country – before going on a visit to a primary school.

    The newspaper said the meeting with the prince was held indoors and without masks.

    Mr Sharma is currently in Brazil – a red list country – and has tweeted that he is having “constructive meetings”.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58112621

    UK citizens are advised not to travel to red list countries “except in the most extreme of circumstances” – but if they do, they are required by law to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days at a cost of £2,285 for one adult.

    Breaking this law can result in a fine of up to £10,000.

    However, “Crown servants” – or government ministers – are exempt from this rule if they travel to carry out “essential government work”.

    Lib Dem Ms Olney said the policy should the government had “fallen completely out of touch with the concept of decency”.

    She added: “While Alok Sharma flies to red list countries with abandon, hard-working families can hardly see loved-ones or plan holidays as the government changes travel rules on the hoof.

    “People are sick of the government giving themselves get-out-of-jail free passes while the rest of us stick to the rules.”

    The government said Covid tests were taken frequently by Mr Sharma and all members of the delegation, and measures were put in place to ensure social distancing at all events.

    1. There is nothing these ridiculous puppets can do to stop ‘climate change’…… they know this of course – it’s all theatre to keep the masses cowed and compliant.

        2. And for two days this week we have been subjected to the DT’s massively OTT coverage of some shy, publicity averse woman’s 40th birthday!

          2. #MeToo, J, and then only for the crosswords, pub quiz and the games – the rest goes into the recycling.

        3. I seem to have read that porker about the Gulf Stream at least a decade ago. As for “foreign pests” they have been here for decades, Bradford is a good example.

          1. Yes, Al Gore trotted it out in his film in 2006. Within 10 years London was to be submerged under very cold water due to the movement of the Gulf Stream. (I was about to write, “freezing cold water” but that would be ice, woudnllt it!) The timescale is always 10 years but the decades slide by.

    2. “How serious is the government about COP26?”
      Very. Be assured that armed police, and “security” teams will search hundreds of premises, commercial and domestic, without warrants. The surroundings of the conference location will be closed to all traffic. The roof-tops around the hotels and conference location will be occupied by snipers.

      1. Does COP stand for copulation on the grounds that we are about to be royally fucked?

  47. COP26: Alok Sharma criticised for international – and quarantine free – travel

    The president of the UK’s upcoming climate change conference is under fire for reportedly travelling to more than 30 countries in seven months.

    The Daily Mail said seven of the places visited by Alok Sharma were also on the Covid red list – but he used an exemption available to ministers to not have to quarantine on his return.

    The government said face-to-face meetings were “crucial” ahead of COP26.

    But Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford called it “inexplicable”.

    He said all government ministers “have to demonstrate that we too mean business” in tackling climate change if they want the public to follow suit – and travelling so often “doesn’t advance the cause”.

    Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman Sarah Olney also criticised the government’s quarantine exemption policy, saying it showed there was “one rule for them and another for everybody else”.

    What do world leaders need to agree to stop climate change?
    Johnson faces backlash over Thatcher mines comment
    How serious is the government about COP26?
    Which countries are now on the green list?
    The Daily Mail also claimed Mr Sharma held a meeting with Prince Charles days after returning from Bangladesh – a red list country – before going on a visit to a primary school.

    The newspaper said the meeting with the prince was held indoors and without masks.

    Mr Sharma is currently in Brazil – a red list country – and has tweeted that he is having “constructive meetings”.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58112621

    UK citizens are advised not to travel to red list countries “except in the most extreme of circumstances” – but if they do, they are required by law to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days at a cost of £2,285 for one adult.

    Breaking this law can result in a fine of up to £10,000.

    However, “Crown servants” – or government ministers – are exempt from this rule if they travel to carry out “essential government work”.

    Lib Dem Ms Olney said the policy should the government had “fallen completely out of touch with the concept of decency”.

    She added: “While Alok Sharma flies to red list countries with abandon, hard-working families can hardly see loved-ones or plan holidays as the government changes travel rules on the hoof.

    “People are sick of the government giving themselves get-out-of-jail free passes while the rest of us stick to the rules.”

    The government said Covid tests were taken frequently by Mr Sharma and all members of the delegation, and measures were put in place to ensure social distancing at all events.

  48. Good morning all and now for something completely off topic.

    I following a recommendation on humourous reading, from either a fellow Nottler or Puffin, and purchased ‘The Stretchford Chronicles: 25 Years of Peter Simple. It is indeed a humourous read marbled with some more poignant passages.
    One from 1971 caught my eye, showing that although our lives and country have changed in so many ways since the 1950s there have been some constants through the years;

    Hand-out
    “In late 1919 more than nine tenths of the Soviet Union was occupied by he British, Americans, anti-Bolsheviks, White Russians and their allies. Lenin and Trotsky were fighting for their lives in the remnants of their country around Moscow. More than 13 million Russian men, women and children died from starvation, disease and armed force during the Allied Intervention and the Civil War it did so much to bolster.”
    This is an extract from the bBC’s publicity hand-out for a television programme, “The Forgotten War.” I can say nothing of the actual programme, which may for all I know, give a reasonably fair account. But for sheer bias and partisanship the hand-out could hardly go further. That it merely repeats the accepted myths of this period of Russian history is no excuse. Isn’t it one of the supposed fictions of the bBC to educate, to “make people think”, as the Leftisits say?
    Who would imagine from this hand-out that the White Russians, anti-Bolsheviks and their allies were fighting in 1919 to defend the legitimate government against Lenin and Trotsky, who by conspiracy and terror had usurped power in “their” country?
    Who would have imagined then that for their defence of that legitimate government against the Bolsheviks, the allies, including Britain, could be accused by the British Broadcasting Corporation 50 years later of having practically caused the suffering and death of 13 million Russians?
    And who would guess from this hand-out that if the allied intervention in Russia had succeeded (as, given determination and realisation of what was at stake, it would have done) the subsequent history of Russia, Europe and the World would have been immeasurably happier?

    1. These ‘handouts’ and their dubious ‘truths’ have been used to ‘educate’ the masses for the last 50 years at least – and we can now see the results.

    2. Our intervention in Russia was solely to boost the sales of Rolls-Royce armoured cars. (Which ran on tyres made from rubber from our enslaved colonies.)

    1. I see that the BBC now has a “fact check” section on its website! They obviously “don’t do” irony.

    1. Oh, believe you me: that is FAR from “Only in America”. That mindless idiocy is now a global phenomenon.

    2. I once told a judge in court that if Lady Justice was to appear in front of her. She, Judge Craddick by name, would have her thrown down the steps of the court house like a whore. I was then threatened with contempt of court to which I said, do it if you don’t like the truth. This piece of work, a corrupt judge if ever there was one, backed down.

        1. That is not all I said. That was, perhaps, the most polite remark. The thing is that when you know the person in front of you is a crook and a cheat you have a choice, either capitulate to them of fight back. It is incumbent on all of us, in my opinion, to fight. For every inch you give to tyrants petty or otherwise, they will take your ground until you have nothing to stand on and you must, therefore, accept the position of a serf to a corrupt system. It is your fear that feed these people and they are afraid of people that will not succumb to it and I will not do that because I’m far to bloody minded and when I’m right, I’m right and will not back down.

    2. “Fix” as in “mend”, or “fix” as in “Fix me a drink”? ie, cause, or cure.

        1. Unfortunately. Bromide (without his knowing) should have been part of his staple drinkie poos, years ago. AND his father’s. Think what the world could have been saved…!

    2. Also notable that only some schools taught Latin and Greek and the majority were illiterate.

      Now English is taught and the majority are still illiterate.

      Some oaf was arguing that ignoring homonyms was an ‘evolution’ of language. Same for grammar. After complaining I was insulting gay people, he was soundly slapped repeatedly around the electronic face with the evidence that he was a moron.

    3. This was written by a schoolfriend in my autograph book when I was at school.

      Latin is a language,
      Dead as Dead Can Be,
      First it Killed the Romans,
      Now It’s Killing Me.

      All are dead who spoke it.
      All are dead who wrote it.
      All are dead who learned it,
      Lucky dead, they’ve earned it.

      Which of course just isn’t true .. as everyone in medicine and law knows .. it is a beautiful language really

      .

      A

      1. The modern version, ie Italian, is indeed beautiful, and can be used every day to order food and seduce the opposite sex.
        Latin is, IMHO, a total waste of time.

      2. Oh, it is! We hear the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei sung in Latin at church most Sundays. Occasionally the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis too, depending on the musical setting, though Evensong is more commonly in English. Apparently the fake Pope Francis has been trying to kill off the Tridentine Mass but seems to be succeeding only in dong the exact opposite.

        1. We were taught Latin chants at school , despite the fact it was Cof E, , I guess could say it was lovely reliable traditional old C of E. Canons , Padres and Bishops .

          I really love to hear them sung so beautifully .

          Sadly happy clappy here , which isn’t very palatable .

          I just remember things how they were.

          3. Remember things as they were TB – it is only going to get worse. A LOT worse. We are old enough to see what is coming – and the treachery of our own govt. The woke idiots cannot – or refuse to – see what is the inevitable outcome of the govt actions. The woke will, if lucky, die of shock, when the tipping point comes and the immigrant invasion, fully explode into violence. I really hope there is an eternal hell for those organising this NWO.

        2. Occasionally our choir sing the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in Latin. I love to hear it. When I’m saying the ugly, modern Creed and Gloria, I can’t help thinking of the Latin version.

    4. And what is the main reason for this? Deplorable, lamentable standards in teaching of course.

    1. The same applies to the UK. Do I understand it? No. I simply presume the state is taking revenge on those people who voted for Brexit. After all, as Lefties they’re likely racist and thus assumed we were as well and are using illegal gimmigration to further their own ends. After all, they’ll never personally suffer the consequences, will they?

  66. Good grief!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58016738

    The real life mdoern slave trade is actually being raised! And… I can’t quite believe it….The slaver is… black! Not a white, hetero sexual man!

    Dear life, I need to lie down! A film based on reality to discuss a serious issue that doesn’t paint white men as evil? And the BBC has a review of it?

    Great Scott!

  67. 336363+ up ticks,
    Could call this the mousetrap political plague as I can see it being long running, as a scam far more successful than the eu rip off.

    As for variant labels we have every city, town,village, hamlet to go through yet.

    We could short cut the current political fiasco by going straight to the source of the fear,doom & gloom political pushers, the 650 odious political variants, not via the NHS but by the polling booth.

    What must be acknowledged by the electorate is, the well proven fact that if you vote for a proven SH!TE party you will guarantee getting an ongoing SH!TE party, is the last three decades NOT proof enough ?

    1. Our youngest son has covid he’s okay and staying at home now, his job involves some daily travel on public transport and contact with lots of different members of the public, he had previously had both jabs which what ever the MSM likes to refer to it as, it really proves (imho) it’s not a vaccine.
      Any one who has received a double dose of vaccine would not catch the virus and would never need a booster or even two boosters. The variant model has been thrown in as defence against the obvious and rather stupid mistakes that have been made. ……….and as usual blame the public…..it’s all their fault.

      1. 336363+ up ticks,
        Afternoon RE,
        My true belief is that if not manufactured in a lab, is a nasty strain of flu that has been politically tailored from
        fear & deceive material to suit political purposes.

        I also believe the repress,reset, replace plan has been
        insidiously slithering into place these last three decades,
        under cover of the vote lab (ino) keep out tory, vote tory (ino) keep out lab mode of voting.
        Best wishes to the lad.

        1. The virus is actually in the jabs.

          The supposed Covid 19 virus was simply the usual assortment of cold and influenza infections jumped up by a fraudulent medical profession to be something novel.

          Face masks are injurious to health and suppress the immune system.

          1. ….in preparation for the jab. Of course. I hadn’t thought about that until just now.

        2. The virus is actually in the jabs.

          The supposed Covid 19 virus was simply the usual assortment of cold and influenza infections jumped up by a fraudulent medical profession to be something novel.

          Face masks are injurious to health and suppress the immune system.

      1. 336363+ up ticks,
        Afternoon SE,
        Give credit where due, a large percentage of the electorate have worked hard over decades regardless of their welfare proving the political overseers right.

  68. Afternoon all.
    Well, that all worked out fine and dandy. After much consideration and various advice I decided to to go to A&E, arrived and dropped off around 11am Wednesday.
    The usual entry examinations over, they put me in a single room with a fine view of the area where all the incoming action takes place and it was very busy.
    Several professionals came to see me and I was plugged into various pieces of equipment, heat monitor very noisy. The Cardiologist stood by his letter I had received back in June and he phoned me in the afternoon. It took him by surprise when told him i was in the hospital, but later sent part of his team to thoroughly examine me. I had with me the email I could not manage to send to him and gave it to the doctor he was very impressed with all the information I had provided. baring in mind it spanned over areas of tow trust. And then went to work on it. He also agree with my suspicion that the first and second episode of my Afib was caused by the covid jab, confirming that it was something they had already experience. The third was caused by some sort of stomach bug similar to Noro virus passed through our immediate family. I was then put on a ward overnight for observation and fed and watered.
    The doctor discovered that the reason I was having difficulty breathing was caused by fluid accumulation in my lungs, when the ticker is not working properly this does happen. Through a canular a nurse injected a small amount of liquid I asked what it was, she said this will make you pee. Not half,……. what an experience that was, a bit like the after effects of an 8 pint plus session at the pub. Needs must, all though the ward WC was close by, I also became well practiced a peeing into the recycled cardboard ‘bottles’ when on the ward in bed, Not easy.
    Thankfully Out yesterday afternoon around rush hour, my Moh had to park where she could and I was absolutely soaked in a heavy rain shower finding my way to our car. Home now with another supply of medication which seems to be working and a forth coming appointment with the cardio clinic coming soon. Very happy with the treatment front line NHS first-class, lovely chatty nurses and who else works 13 hour shifts these days ?? Not our GPs. Or the management i’m sure. And what a bonus I slept for 12 hours at home last night with only one visit to the ‘bath room’.

    5. Good on you, Eddy – just keep on keeping on and don’t let the buggers get you down.

    6. Excellent! How good for you both. Now, time to relax and get back to feeling much better…

      Warm wishes.

        1. I did not intend to make light of it to be annoying. But missing such a big target suggests a degree of incompetence, or very sub-standard equipment?

          1. Neither it was a fire power demonstration to let us know that they have rockets to spare aimed at us & also used to distract from the riots that are taking place daily in Lebanon

          2. I would imagine that Iran has been supplying most if not all of the weapons and transport being used by the taliban and he rest of the medieval minded islamic trouble makers across the middle east.

    3. Could, not will, take no notice. Like the Great Barrier Reef. Its fully recovered and nothing said about it.

  74. Kabul echoes to chants of ‘God is Great’ as citizens turn out on roof tops to shout defiance against Taliban. 6 August 2021.

    As smoke and gunfire were still drifting into the evening sky above Kabul earlier this week following an attack on the defence minister’s house, an insistent new sound began to rise over the Afghan capital.

    While security forces finished off the attackers, thousands of residents took to the streets and rooftops to shout “God is greatest!” in a display of defiance against the militants and support for Afghan troops.

    Is this like Clap for the NHS or Kneel for the Blacks? One suspects that the Taliban will be as impressed as Nottlers were!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/06/kabul-echoes-chants-god-great-citizens-turn-roof-tops-shout/

    1. Er – isn’t it Friday? When the slammers kneel and pray and shout “Halloo Akbar”??

    2. If one was fairly certain that the Taliban will eventually form the new Government of this Stan then one would probably be on the roof top chanting ‘God is Great’, making sure your neighbours could see and hear your chanting!

    1. Another reason to cancel child benefit. However, dare we ask – where is the father? Does she even know who it is?

      1. Yes, muv obviously has enough money to go travelling to parties, and for lashings of make-up (presumably to get someone to give her aanother sprog), but couldn’t think of looking after her child. Disgusting piece of filth.

    2. This case proves the idiocy of the species. On a just planet this cow would be placed in a locked room and deprived of food and water for six days too.

      After six days, her hideous carcase could be chucked on the compost heap where it belongs.

    3. And Social Services were where? 10 previous occasions of leaving a helpless baby unattended.

        1. Oh dear – maybe an early night – I’m going to have one.

          I’m going to steward on a run tomorrow and have to be up early. TBH, standing in the rain for 1 1/2 + hours stewarding is not my idea of fun, but I am doing it to help D’s weekly running group out.

          Angelic little me! :o)

  76. Apart from empty gesture politics, Labour has little to contribute to race relations

    Making tweaks and additions to particular sections of the Census is unlikely to solve racial problems

    RAKIB EHSAN

    The Labour Party’s shadow justice secretary and identitarian-in-chief David Lammy has once again demonstrated how little he and his party have to contribute to the race-relations conversation in England.

    Taking aim at the latest England & Wales Census, Lammy bemoaned the absence of a ‘Black English’ option on the form. This is to a degree understandable, when one considers that respondents in Wales had “Welsh Black” and “Welsh Asian” categories available to them.

    However, Lammy’s suggestion undermines the specific existence of an English ethnic group – one that can trace its early-medieval origins back to the collective Anglo-Saxon historical population that helped to establish the Kingdom of England by the early 10th Century. It is also worth noting that an England-based respondent could easily express their ‘Black English’ identification by responding “English” to the question on national identity and selecting a Black ethnic category (that is very likely to carry personal significance). Indeed, according to a January 2021 poll by ICM Unlimited, 75 per cent of Black Brits attached importance to their ethno-cultural identity – a percentage higher than that for both racial and religious identity.

    After peddling racially-loaded narratives surrounding the tragic Grenfell Tower blaze and striking parallels between the Conservative Party’s European Research Group (ERG) and Nazi Germany, it is safe to say that Lammy is not considered by many to be a credible good-faith actor in our country’s race-relations debate. But his attack on the design of the 2021 Census tells a story of a modern Left which is anything but a mature and inclusive force in debates on racial identity and national belonging. The reality is that the Labour Party increasingly comes across as an amateurish band of moaning activists who are devoid of credible policy proposals in the racial-equality space and bereft of decent ideas on how to integrate England’s diverse communities into a cohesive whole.

    Making tweaks and additions to particular sections of the Census is unlikely to cultivate stronger feelings of English national belonging in Black communities – if that is indeed the intention. In order to foster a truly inclusive multi-ethnic ‘Englishness’, then building on our cultural sense of fair play and delivering on the traditional English promise of equality of opportunity needs to be at the heart of it. Employment opportunities are integral in this context. Black people – especially British-born of Caribbean origin – are traditionally one of the most disaffected social groups in England. Institutional reforms which strengthen state-citizen relations – whether it is in the spheres of politics, healthcare, or law enforcement – have the potential to generate feelings of national belonging.

    The exceptional contributions made by post-war Black migrants who helped to rebuild English cities following the devastation of WWII, should be better emphasised in our national story of determination and resilience. And we should not shy away from framing current-day multi-ethnic successes in England as specifically English enterprises.

    The Labour Party leadership should do away with the empty gesture politics, respect its traditions rooted in social solidarity, and adopt a more constructive approach to discussions on English national identity. But I suspect this may be a bit too much to ask for.

    Dr Rakib Ehsan is the author of the forthcoming book ‘Manufactured Grievance’ (June 2022 publication)

    It’s quite a step for a man of Mr Ehsan’s background to accept the possibility of the existence of the English as an ethnic group but then he goes and spoils it with his remark about black immigrants rebuilding English cities post-WW2.

    It’s also worth noting that he drops ‘Muhammad’ from his name when writing for the media.

    And no comments allowed.

  77. Tom Harris all over the place, as usual.

    His coal mines remark may have been crass, but Boris had a point about Thatcher’s environmentalism

    The notion that she, as a science graduate, had no grasp of the link between carbon fuels and climate change, is demonstrably untrue

    TOM HARRIS

    It was something of a facepalm moment (as social media users apparently say) for Conservative Party strategists.

    Boris Johnson had been let off the leash and relished the opportunity to be himself, with a typical – and to many, offensive – quip. During a visit to Scotland, the Prime Minister was invited to set a hard deadline for the ending of the extraction of fossil fuels. I imagine he chuckled inwardly at the next thought that came into his head before heeding the advice of the devil on his left shoulder and actually said it out loud: “Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”

    Now, just because a lot of Johnson’s political opponents will have been inwardly gleeful at this crass statement, just because they will have relished an opportunity to pour moral indignation upon his head, does not mean that his comments were anything other than cruel and insensitive.

    The 1984/85 miners’ strike may have been an epic struggle between industry and state, a struggle that defined the politics of the decade, but to hundreds of thousands of families and communities, it was a struggle for survival. Children went hungry and only survived because of the generosity of those who raised money for embattled coalfield communities. The state benefits that miners’ families might ordinarily have helped see them through that dreadful year were ended by the government, on the basis that the National Union of Mineworkers would use its own funds to provide that support. Except the NUM’s finances had been diminished and then sequestrated, and benefits not reinstated as a result. And so children and their parents were forced to survive on charity.

    That, not the tired arguments about economic productivity of this or that mine, was the reality of the strike. So it’s hardly surprising that, away from the cynical, rehearsed indignation of Johnson’s political opponents, there are many who feel genuinely angry at the prime minister’s typical but inappropriate levity on the subject.

    Since he raised the subject, however, it’s worth revisiting the basis of his jocular claim that Margaret Thatcher closed 115 coal mines in the space of 11 years in order to prevent climate change (Labour prime minister Harold Wilson leaves Thatcher trailing in the league table of mine closures, having dispensed with 253 pits during his time in office – more than any other post-war government).

    It hardly needs pointing out that the reduction of carbon emissions did not enter her or her advisers’ heads, even for a second, when they were surveying the coal industry at the start of the 1980s. At the time the only arguments that were given air time were economic ones.

    And yet no honest appraisal of Thatcher’s premiership is complete without acknowledging that in 1988, she became the second world leader (after Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland the previous year) to raise the threat of carbon emissions to the global climate. In a speech to the annual dinner of The Royal Society (of which she was a Fellow), she pointed out that thanks to increasing populations and increasing used of fossil fuels “we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself.”

    According to Thatcher’s official biographer, Charles Moore, “The possible effect of consequent melting ice, Mrs Thatcher explained, had been ‘brought home to me at the Commonwealth Conference in Vancouver last year when the president of the Maldive Islands reminded us that the highest part of the Maldives is only six feet above sea level’.”

    She added: “Stable prosperity can be achieved throughout the world, provided the environment is nurtured and safeguarded. Protecting this balance of nature is therefore one of the great challenges of the 20th century and one in which I am sure [the Royal Society’s] advice will be repeatedly sought.”

    Regrettably, Mrs Thatcher, in retirement, reneged on much of her former progressive thinking in this area (as retired politicians are frequently wont to do). Nevertheless, the notion that she, as a science graduate, had no grasp of the link between carbon fuels and climate change, and viewed this policy area from only an accountant’s perspective, is demonstrably untrue.

    It’s worth making a two more points while we’re here. The great political philosopher (and occasional actor) Michael Caine, while appearing on the Wogan chat show during the strike, said that while in Britain, a miner will claim that “I’m a miner and I want my son to be a miner”, his American counterpart will say, “I’m a miner and I want my son to be a geologist”.

    While this sounds like a rather simplistic analysis of the social debate at the time, it was certainly true that the NUM regarded working class aspiration as a poor relation to the importance of maintaining mining jobs for future generations. It wanted future generations of young men to spend their working lives as their fathers had: in a dismal, dangerous, back-breaking, environment. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the government’s industrial strategy in 1984, few people now regret that coal mining is no longer an option for working class school leavers.

    Also, let’s remember that two years after the end of the strike, when colliery bands proudly led their defiant, defeated troops back to work, Margaret Thatcher led her party to a third election victory with a majority of more than 100. And in Scotland, where Boris Johnson dared to tread yesterday with his dubious and irreverent humour, the Scottish Conservatives outpolled the SNP by 300,000 votes and by seven seats to three.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/06/coal-mines-remark-may-have-crass-boris-had-point-thatchers-environmentalism/

    Mrs Thatcher didn’t ‘renege’. She saw that a credible scientific theory was not backed up by the data put forward.

    1. I note the Foreign Office has travel advice for the Maldives in particular regarding Covid but the Islands are still not under water all these years later.
      So it was just a “could, perhaps, might” theory then.

      1. The REAL possibility that the Maldives could sink beneath the waves will have more to do with plate tectonics pushing the bit of ocean floor they sit on into a subduction zone and sinking beneath them rather than the waves rising above them.

    2. I didn’t realise it was a joke, I thought he had made a good observation.
      It’s now being described as potentially BJ’s Ratner moment.

      1. One wonders, Stormy how, without coal, we shall make steel – for armaments, washing machines, cars and the like.

        Oh yes, we’ll import them from third world companies, supposedly belching CO² into the atmosphere, to the detriment and demise of the planet – if you believe the climate change activists like Boris, who is following the Carrion agenda.

    3. You do that just to wind me up, don’t you, you ******!
      Grr! :-))
      Lovely looking pies, Grizz!

    4. They look lovely – I’m surprised you cooked them and then put them in to freeze – I do it the other way around. Have i been doing it wrong all these years?

      2. No. Both ways are perfectly OK. I find it easier to cook them then freeze them. When I want one, I take it out of the freezer, thaw it out, then pop it in the over at 80ºC for 25 minutes and it tastes freshly cooked.

    5. They look lovely – I’m surprised you cooked them and then put them in to freeze – I do it the other way around. Have i been doing it wrong all these years?

    6. Are you heating Grizz. They look just like the pics you put up a few months ago. 🙂
      They look, lovely though, I’m very envious of your skills.

      1. The last lot, D-cup, were chicken curry pasties. This lot are Kate & Sydney. The recipe is from Carl Smith, chef at The Windmill in Mayfair. It’s simply the best steak & kidney I’ve ever tasted.

      1. One seriously injured.
        Sound like an idiot lost control on a bend and met someone else going the other way.

          1. Possibly one of the events held regularly up there.
            The Y Not Festival is a regular event up there, though postponed last year and further set back this year.

      1. Looks like a F1 car that has been driven by someone who happens to be leading the championship who isn’t a Mercedes driver.

      1. My mantra around here is Twenty’s plenty !
        Narrow lanes /roads and heaving with lycra clad cyclists/ elderlies on expensive electric bikes , cows / riders on horses and walkers .

          2. IT matters not – the important thing is that you have my technical expertise!

        2. #WeToo, Maggie, all roads out of the village are single track with (supposed) passing places. Many of these have been made, over the years, by motorists themselves – the Highways agency are useless.

      2. 60 limit up there.
        At least one of them was doing well in excess of 60 and on wet roads.

  80. Welcome to the Free Speech Union’s weekly newsletter. This newsletter is a brief round-up of the free speech news of the week.

    BBC threatens opponents of trans ideology

    The BBC has been widely ridiculed after BBC Sport threatened to report commentators on its website who questioned whether Laurel Hubbard, the biological male who identifies as a woman, should be competing against women at the Olympics. Emma Webb, our Deputy Research Director, told the Mail: “By threatening to report offensive posts to the police, the BBC has not only failed to discharge its duty of impartiality, it has actively sought to silence a debate about women’s rights that is of high public interest.” In the Critic Rob Jessel and Madison Smith said the BBC has crossed “from puffery to pure propaganda” in its coverage of Hubbard.

    FSU member James Esses was forced off his psychotherapy course – after three years of study and spending tens of thousands of pounds – because he’d expressed concerns on social media about children being fast-tracked into gender reassignment. A crowdfunder James launched so he can take his course provider to court quickly raised the money he needs. You can read an interview with James in Spiked.

    Julie Bindel rails against employers who ask their staff to state their preferred personal pronouns in UnHerd. She says the pressure is “as offensive as it is unnecessary” and a form of sexist bullying. “My advice to anyone being asked to include pronouns in email sign-offs, meetings or wherever, is to politely refuse. The more of us that refuse to go along with this offensive doctrine, the better.”

    A feminist solicitor in Sydney who provides pro bono legal advice for women on low incomes has lost her accommodation grant after local politicians downgraded her tenancy rating because of her affiliation with gender critical feminist groups.

    Patrick Kidd roasts the Guardian for not including JK Rowling’s birthday in its celebrity birthday column because of her gender critical views. “Still, at least they found room for Dean Cain, the 1990s Superman actor, Victoria Azarenka, world No 15 in tennis, and the jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell,” he writes.

    Legal updates

    A train conductor sacked for comparing the UK in lockdown to a “Muslim alcohol-free caliphate” will be able to take his case forward to a full employment tribunal after the judge ruled that his secular worldview was protected by the Equality Act.

    Another welcome ruling came in the case of lawyer Nirosha Sithirapathy. She had claimed that her manager asking about her personal life in connection with a new post in Switzerland constituted “sexual harassment”. Judge Emma Hawksworth did not accept that argument and said in her ruling: “The comments were unfortunate and awkward. However, we bear in mind the importance of not encouraging a culture of hyper-sensitivity or of imposing legal liability to every unfortunate phrase.”

    Andrew Tettenborn of our Legal Advisory Council spoke to BBC Radio Wales about the Government’s planned reform of the Official Secrets Act, which would significantly jeopardise freedom of the press. (The proposal is that journalists who publish official secrets would become liable for prosecution.) You can listen to his comments here from 21 mins 50 seconds. Separately, Andrew wrote for Spiked about the case of the Grenfell Tower effigy and the Law Commission’s proposed reforms to the Communications Act, which we’ve given a qualified welcome to: “The state has no business prosecuting those who make jokes in vile taste to their pals at private parties, nor those expressing their views to a closed group of friends.”

    Teachers told to promote social justice

    Teachers in Scotland have been instructed to promote “social justice” in a move condemned as political indoctrination that will make pupils “conform to a rigid set of beliefs”. New guidance published by the General Teaching Council for Scotland instructs teachers to promote “social justice, diversity and sustainability”. It says teachers and pupils must “acknowledge Scotland’s place in the world, our history, our differences and diversity, our unique natural environment, and our culture based on social justice” and that social justice must “underpin our… thinking and professional practice”.

    Ed Dorrell writes in the Independent about polling he commissioned that found considerable public opposition to “decolonising” curriculums. He concludes: “We should perhaps avoid complaining that there are, for example, too many ‘dead white men’ in literature set-text lists, and instead focus on making the canon bigger and more inclusive, not less. The British public evidently believe that young people should learn about cultures other than their own. But they also like traditional subjects and traditional works of literature.”

    Meanwhile, the state of academic freedom in our universities is so poor that historian Niall Ferguson is thinking of starting a conservative university. Writing in UnHerd, Peter Franklin says this is a bad idea: “We don’t need a ‘right-wing university’. Rigorous scholarship and open debate should be the key principles, not ideological conformity. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel here, we just need institutions that respect and uphold basic intellectual freedoms in the manner in which our universities once prided themselves.”

    Culture War

    Ed West argues in UnHerd that conservatives have left the field in the culture war and the battles of the last decade have really been struggles between rival factions of post-1968 progressives.

    The Charity Commission has rejected a complaint against Barnardos for publishing a blog post on “white privilege”. The complaint was lodged by the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs and peers who labelled the post “ideological dogma”.

    Un-cancelled artist Jess de Wahls writes for UnHerd about how artists have lost their courage: “Having grown up in East Berlin – a breeding ground for its own type of severe authoritarianism – I am increasingly aware of the parallels between today and the censorious regime that shaped most of my grandparents’ lives and my parents’ formative years. There is a creeping anxiety towards expressing any thought that could be perceived as criticism or scepticism towards an orthodox narrative. You can be punished, socially ostracised and fired at a moment’s notice. In effect, nobody is free from the consequences of their speech.”

    The Vegan Society has been rocked by resignations amid a row about whether veganism is a form of “cultural appropriation” and whether the society is a “safe place” for “young, black, queer or any other marginalised people”. We’ve heard of the Left eating itself, but not vegans. Isn’t that against their principles?

    All Premier League clubs will take the knee after a consultation, and Trevor Birch, chief executive of the English Football League, said: “The message is clear – prejudice and abuse – whether in the street, in the stadium or online has no place in society – and the EFL will not accept it. Football is a game with many opinions. But those who do not share our opinion on removing racism and discrimination from our game are not welcome.” If any of our members get into trouble for booing this gesture when the football season resumes, they should get in touch.

    Newspaper editor Allister Heath bemoans the decline of the American Presidency in the Telegraph, with Joe Biden and those around him embracing “the anti-democratic worldview which now dominates universities, big business, government and cultural institutions, [where] free speech is dismissed as violence, conservatism as fascism and differences of opinion as ‘micro-aggressions’”. And while we’re on the subject of America: self-proclaimed “First Amendment auditors” are filming altercations with the police to expose “police officers who don’t honour their oath to the constitution”.

    Meanwhile, Russian theatres are being investigated to ensure their compliance with a new national security decree. It’s as if the Berlin Wall had never fallen.

    Defending street preachers

    Stephen Wigmore has written a piece in the Critic in defence of the eccentric street preachers who, by exercising their right to free speech, are standing up for that right on all of our behalfs. Let them be silenced, he says, and you’ll be next. Also in the Critic, Noel Yaxley takes up the case of Hatun Tash, the Muslim-turned-Christian preacher and critic of Islam who was slashed in the face at Speakers’ Corner a couple of weeks ago. (You can read our letter to Cressida Dick about Hatun Tash here.) FSU New Zealand, our sister organisation, has spoken out in defence of street preachers likely to be targeted under the country’s new “hate speech” proposals. Police in New Zealand are already claiming preachers are “very close to the line”.

    The lab leak theory

    Ashley Rindsberg in UnHerd asks whether the New York Times stifled the lab leak theory because of the paper’s commercial relationships with China.

    Tech and social media

    Piers Morgan cries foul over Google’s censorship of his comments about gymnast Simone Biles, claiming it’s a threat to all of our free speech. Pity he failed to notice the online censorship of lockdown sceptics, such as Oxford professor Sunetra Gupta, Harvard professor Martin Kulldorff, Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya and Nobel Prize winner Michael Levitt.

    Twitter and Facebook have been criticised after a large study found that 90% of antisemitic posts stay online despite being reported.

    Laura Freeman writes in the Telegraph that Wikipedia has reduced people’s knowledge, leaving users reliant on a narrow selection of sources and the decisions of left-leaning editors.

    Substack has acquired Letter, a free speech platform.

    Sharing the Newsletter

    You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Remember, all of our work depends on our members and donors. Sign-up today or encourage a friend to join and help us turn the tide against cancel culture and censorship.

    Best wishes,

    1. If you saw the mess they left in the highlands (especially those without toilets) you’d be all for banning them Grizz. You don’t have to see the laybys up here you can smell them

      1. I did mention the decent ones, Spikey. It’s only the scum element who act in that way.

        1. No wonder the Republic of Ireland doesn’t want them. After the way that country has treated us, its people (Pikey or otherwise) should not be allowed to come over here preferentially, and should certainly not have the vote here. Actually, it’s irrespective of the Quisling mode of successive Irish governments.

          1. The RoI doesn’t want them – just like France doesn’t want those at Calais – they use the same solution.

          2. Yes, but many Pikies are Irish. And could be deported if our archaic laws were changed.

          3. If the UK government won’t stop gimmegrants invading via the channel, what hope they actually do anything about Pikeys?

          4. The RoI doesn’t want them – just like France doesn’t want those at Calais – they use the same solution.

        2. A lot of what you call ‘decent people’ leave shite and litter in the laybys – you’d be surprised. Most of Europe ban wild camping and you have to go to designated sites which have facilities for waste disposal – unfortunately our councils up here won’t spend the money on proper facilities or I’m sure the problem would mostly disappear. I’ve even watched a guy taking a dump at the side of the road in full view of passing traffic and the other day I had the misfortune to recover a car from a layby which had driven through a giant orange turd, it was all over the wheels and ended up on the back of the truck. I had to wash the ratchet straps and hose down the truck before I could drive it again.

  82. A larf from this week’s eco-freak, leftie Spectator. Last week there was a long article describing, in detail, the unspeakable shit-hole that South Africa has become under the impressive direction of the ANC. A reader (who clearly lives on different planet) writes:

    “Sir: Having just returned from six months in South Africa, I think Andrew Kenny’s analysis is spot on (‘Letter from South Africa’, 31 July). The country needs a bold new vision for education and opportunity. The basis for the former exists and the latter should be fostered by massive public works, new cities, houses for all and no more shacks, rebuilding the railways, embracing solar power. This, along with a trenchant eradication of corruption, would start a journey towards becoming the first-world country South Africa deserves to be.

    David Potter

    Donnington, Newbury”

    Potter by name – Potty by nature.

    1. He’s right about eradicating corruption, but I suspect he didn’t mean what I’m thinking!?

    2. I think he is hinting at a new Colonisation…… ( I think the Chinese will get there first…..)

  83. Isn’t there something slightly off-message in the fact that the DT’s ‘Women’s Football Reporter’ is a bloke called Tom Garry?

    5. Is the men’s football reporter called the men’s football reporter or just the football reporter?

  84. Isn’t there something slightly off-message in the fact that the DT’s ‘Women’s Football Reporter’ is a bloke called Tom Garry?

  85. And it came to Pass….

    “Unvaccinated citizens of France and Italy are set to face tighter restrictions after officials ruled in favor of COVID-19 health passes for those attempting to enter restaurants, bars, and hospitals, as well as travel.

    In France, the country’s top constitutional authority on Aug. 5 agreed with most aspects of a new law that requires citizens to carry a special COVID-19 health pass from next week onwards.

    A health pass is only given to those who have been fully vaccinated, recently recovered from an infection, or recently tested negative from the virus.

    The new restrictions mean residents will only be allowed to access cafes, restaurants, and, in some cases, hospitals, if they show the health pass.

    While the pass has been in effect in France since July 21 for cultural and recreational venues, including cinemas, concert halls, and theme parks with capacity for more than 50 people, the new law vastly extends its application.

    The Constitutional Council also ruled Thursday that the passes would be required for long-distance travel by train, plane, or bus, The Associated Press reported.

    It also approved a ruling that health care workers should be vaccinated against the virus by Sept. 15 and hospital visitors will also require a health pass.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/france-italy-to-roll-out-covid-19-health-passes_3936211.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge

        1. And the French. The last, very large demo in Nice (last week) was described in the local paper as a “motley crowd…”

    3. Excellent BTL comment in The Spectator – about an article asking how the hypocrite hindoo “Minister” Sharma could avoid the covid rules:

      “Because this is not and never has been about Covid-19. The evidence is now overwhelming. We have been subjected to a global psyop – instigated by the UN, the WEF, the WHO and their financial backers – huge asset management firms like BlackRock and enormously wealthy individuals like Bill gates.

      They have used a seasonal respiratory virus – probably one that was ‘enhanced’ in a laboratory – to reset the global economy along what they see as ‘sustainable’ lines. In order to do this, they have long known that they require direct, political control of every member of the world’s populations. The CCP’s digital passport and social credit system has given them the opportunity to realise this aim. The first aim of the last two years has been ‘vaccines’ and vaccine passports.

      Most importantly, they were clever enough to realise that, in order to achieve these aims, certain politicians needed to be removed, certain scientific and medical opinion needed to be censored and the independent and free media – the most important check on power – needed to be paid off.

      This psyop is starting to unravel under the weight of too many contradictions:

      NPIs like lockdowns and face masks are still on the table, despite countries and states like Sweden and Florida debunking any evidence of efficacy and despite the enormous societal damage they have already inflicted.

      The PCR test used to create the ‘casedemic’ cannot distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 and type A or B Influenza – which miraculously disappeared in 2020/ 2021 .

      The FDA has admitted that SARS-CoV-2 has never been isolated – giving lie to the discovery of ‘variants’.

      A document under the heading of John Hopkins University and the WEF reveals preplanned ‘variants’ every month until 2023 – standby for ‘epsilon’ and ‘zeta’ coming soon, followed by ‘eta’, ‘theta’, ‘iota’ and ‘kappa’ this autumn.

      Countries are rolling out ‘vaccine passports’ despite the fact that these ‘vaccines’ cannot prevent infection or transmission. There are now more Covid ‘cases’, hospitalisations and deaths amongst the ‘vaccinated’ than the unvaccinated.

      We are injecting children with a biologically active agent, for which there is no long term data, for a disease that does not effect them, in order to protect adult cohorts against a disease for whom the average age of death is beyond life expectancy. This, despite the fact that there are now already more official, vaccine deaths in these age groups, than deaths from Covid-19.

      Why is the head of the JCVI in the UK Chinese? And how is he able to recommend these ‘vaccines’ for children, whilst at the same time being unable to provide the evidence for this recommendation.”

      1. I have thought for some time that Boris Johnson was a globalist plant.

        The monstrous clown is too keen at promoting the ‘vaccinations’ which are the means by which the evil globalist cabals intended to spread the viruses and which are the actual source of all mutations and infections.

        The annual flu vaccines were the means by which strands of cold virus were planted in many so as to be ’detectable’ by the fraudulent RT-PCR tests.

  87. 336363+ up ticks,
    Did you know,
    Mental stress from the workplace can also cause karoshi
    this is now a serious problem among indigenous forgers
    so in regards to the lab/lib/con governance coalition NOT being klbosheed / karoshi will become a very serious issue, and decent peoples may just as well nail one foot to the floor.

  88. Grandson was 18 on 1st August and today received summons for Jury Service. Is that a record?

        1. Have you ever watched the sheepdogs waiting their turn in the field?
          Very often their eyes will be fixed on the current competitor and they will often give little barks as if to say, “NOT THAT WAY YOU BLOODY IDIOT” and “OH BLOODY HELL! YOU’RE MAKING A RIGHT HUMAN’S BREAKFAST OF THAT!”

  89. I threw a ball for my dog Dolly tonight.

    A bit extravagant i know but she is 5 and looked awesome in her gown.

          5. I think the look on the girl’s face as she imagines her Mum with a cucumber is classic!!

          6. Mother in law feeds Mongo under the table.

            She’s been asked not to, mainly because she doesn’t understand that while he might like things, he shouldn’t eat them.

            It’s weird, we’ve offered her a cottage thing if she sells her house in Wales but no, is happy in the spare room. The stuff in the ‘spare’ room is now everywhere else and as that was the Warqueen’s office – she’s now in mine – it’s making things difficult.

  94. That’s me gone for today. Strange weather – sunshine and lots of showers. Tomorrow is supposed to be fine until 1 pm – so Coffee at the Crossroads from 10 am onwards in Fulmodeston Churchyard should be fine and dandy. See you all there. The MR’s famous LEMON CURD will be on sale……

    A demain.

    3. Oi, Bill. That’s not good enough. After you and The Pushy Nurse met up some years ago I have always fancied a trip North to meet you in person at last. But now you have not given me enough warning for a meet-up. You, Sir, are a Bounder – and a Very Silly Sausage to boot!

  95. Had a text come in 5.50pm. Make an appt with the “clinician of your choice” at the surgery
    – – I didn’t even know we had more than one at the surgery – never mind know who the hell they are. I’ll ring tomorrow – – 30+ mins in the phone queue presumably – and get them to ring me back. Fed up of it all now.

    1. I had a letter today copied to my Doctor about my conditions and medications from the Haematology department. That Doctor retired three years ago and some of the information was incorrect. I just filed it with the rest. Can’t be arsed.

      2. All encompassing term depending whether appt will be with a doctor, a nurse, a chiropodist, a psychologist etc

        2. I had a dental appointment today. I need a filling, but the dentist won’t do it; it will be with the “therapist”! Sort of like a souped-up hygienist. Can they do it today? No, of course not. Appointment is for the end of September! Time was, you went to the dentist and if you needed a filling, they did it.

    1. 2000 years of fighting invasion and building a culture, society and a decent world for our children.

      Labour get in, the Left infest the state and that society is destroyed in less than 20 years by the same invaders we’ve fought for so long. Get. Rid. Of. Them. Pack them into a shipping container and dump them off the coast of Africa. Just get shot.

    2. 2000 years of fighting invasion and building a culture, society and a decent world for our children.

      Labour get in, the Left infest the state and that society is destroyed in less than 20 years by the same invaders we’ve fought for so long. Get. Rid. Of. Them. Pack them into a shipping container and dump them off the coast of Africa. Just get shot.

  97. Waddya think NoTTlers….should Geronimo be saved?

    Alpaca Geronimo’s death sentence:
    Stars fight for the animal’s life.This adorable alpaca was at the centre of an extraordinary row yesterday over an order for it to be killed.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b89088fd5b1ac6000001bdbe2c8c17158193e505a873b71fdb2831a91332afc7.jpg

    The Department for Environment had said woolly Geronimo poses a threat because he has tested positive twice for bovine tuberculosis.

    1. Put it in a rubber boat and float it to Dover – easy peasy – free for the rest of its life.

    2. Probably someone from Newham who gave it to him. Set the snipers on them. Do Abbot and Lammy first.

    3. Geronimo had four skin tests before he was exported from New Zealand all of which were negative. The animal then had two blood tests and a skin test in the UK which were all positive.

      https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/george-eustice-chris-packham-government-people-new-zealand-b949543.html

      New Zealand has some of the most stringent measures in the world to avoid biological contamination.
      They can have Geronimo back subject to their own confirmation that the animal meets their importation standards.

      1. It might have a variant, so just to be safe…shoot and kill Geronimo.. and all the people in the village. Can’t be too careful.

    1. Warbeast got herself stuck under the floorboards once. Couldn’t turn around, didn’t seem to know how to back up.

      She was only a kitten, but I think that was the only time I’ve used main force to tear up a floor board. Hearing her crying in terror was awful.

      2. Did you consider a harpoon of some sort? Didn’t need to be like a grappling hook just something to snag the little beastie…

      3. Did you consider a harpoon of some sort? Didn’t need to be like a grappling hook just something to snag the little beastie…

      1. 336363+ up tick,
        Evening AOE,
        Victoria Aikin Lincolnshire MP s old chap grows it to export to the USA for medical purposes.

      2. 336363+ up tick,
        Evening AOE,
        Victoria Aikin Lincolnshire MP s old chap grows it to export to the USA for medical purposes.

  102. Evening, all. Paying for care homes is a sore point at the moment. I pay a welfare charge in with my council tax and then I’m expected to pay care home costs despite being under the limit because I haven’t actually paid for the work to be done on the house yet.

    1. Hi Conway,
      Worth mentioning that CHC assessment can be like a souffle, your hopes soar then collapse; if that happens, it is possible to appeal. PS I am not sure what stage you have reached in the process.

      1. We are at stage 2 now (DST assessment on Monday). We got through stage 1 okay (lots of As). I am hopeful that we have at least a couple of Severe ratings and possibly, if I can manage to convince them, a Priority (it would otherwise at least be a Severe making three of that category). If I can get them to admit the Priority then the award is automatic. Two or more Severe ratings should lead to a recommendation (and decision) of eligibility. The trouble is, they won’t want to pay (whether they ought to or not), so I suspect it will be a struggle to get them to admit to the severity of the conditions.

        1. We had over 3 years of financial worry re my husbands mother who needed extra care for her vascular dementia .. The fees for her care in the care home were horrendous .

          We had to sell her house . She had been living in her own home , but had been in and out of hospital , and when she was in her own home , she required care 4 times a day , which turned out to be inadequate , and our property on various levels wasn’t suitable for any lengthy stay here . We were subsidising some of the care in her own house .

          Councils regard anyone with their own home as property rich , no matter how little you have in the bank .

          Her property wasn’t worth very much, she and her late husband had lived there for 60 years .

          Poor old dear had over 3 years in the care home , she did very well, but was nearly 92 when dementia took her finally .

          2. I can’t begin to imagine how hard (and stressful) this is for you, Con. I guess it’s the worst thing you’ve ever had to deal with. All I can say is that my thoughts and prayers are with you. J

    1. Love the way the bass player fans himself to cool down at the end. Either that is real hot jazz or perhaps he wants to join the fan girls – or maybe they are the ones who are raising his temperature.

      :-))

  104. Sod it!
    After picking up 65 bags of topsoil from t’Lads, assisted by him & his lodger, then getting it unloaded, assisted in that by Student Son, I shifted 15 bags up the garden.
    I’m now knackered so I’m off to bed to attack the crosswords!

        2. Well, I did take a risk on waking Peter Anderson too, since he had wished us all good night two hours ago! My apologies, corinmobile.

          1. Not a problem Elsie. Peddy retired an hour ago I think.

            My hours of attentiveness to Nottlers are influenced by commitments to other endeavours, such as sorting out the pumped drainage to my property and other practical measures as the house is presently on the market.

            It is a bloody nightmare but hopefully Charlie Binder will sort it for us. Charlie is the owner of the drainage engineers, Binder, and could not have been more helpful, strong as an ox. Even lifting an old iron manhole cover single-handed.

    1. Boris needs urgently to die in a ditch as promised. He could take his floosie with him for all the use they are. Two more evil people would be difficult to find outside of the globalist masters and the SAGE mob.

      1. He would block the ditch and cause global flooding. A pyre would be better. At least then we could toast marshmallows and any other detritus and have a sing song.

    3. Just before the next general election Boris will drop out in favour of Rishi who has secretly been shafting Boris’s last mistress after divorcing Carrie.

      They are all in it together

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