Friday 6 December: Starmer delivered yet more hollow soundbites in his ‘plan for change’

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

532 thoughts on “Friday 6 December: Starmer delivered yet more hollow soundbites in his ‘plan for change’”

  2. Good morning

    From Vigilant Fox:
    [US Secretary of State] "Blinken told Reuters that “getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary.”

    “They’re pushing for teenagers to be thrown into the fires of an unwinnable war like it’s nothing,” Caitlin Johnstone wrote in a scathing rebuke.

    She explained that the Biden regime is tossing the last of Ukraine’s youth “into the landmines and artillery fire just to keep this unwinnable war going for a few more months” because they want to “tie up Russia so that Syria can be turned into a smoking crater and allow the US war machine to focus its crosshairs on Iran and China.”

    “Whether they succeed or not, the fact that they even tried is so profoundly psychopathic it’s actually hard to wrap your mind around,” @caitoz blasted.

    “You won’t see anyone in Tony Blinken’s family headed to the frontlines in Ukraine.”"

  4. Morning. Reading the letters – this has to be one of the most arrogant i have come across in a long time.

    “Sir – – Your report (December 5) on mispronounced surnames struck a chord. My ancient English family name has a “g” that many pronounce as “guh”, despite me reminding them that they should have stopped pronouncing letters of the alphabet this way during primary school.
    This remark rarely pleased senior officers on morning parades.
    K Mungham
    Potto, North Yorkshire”

  5. I’ll leave this here, from Jamie Blackett:

    “Please let’s not get into hysterics about climate friendly milk.

    So much nonsense is written about burping cows and climate change, I suppose it is inevitable – somewhat ironically – that when dairy farmers try to reduce methane from cow burps, even that should become the subject of febrile conspiracy theories. The UK’S biggest milk processor Arla has been widely criticised for trialling an anti-flatulent supplement on 30 British dairy farms: Bovaer, a synthetic organic enzyme inhibitor, 3-nitrooxypropanol.

    I should declare an interest. Our free range cows’ milk is made into Arla cheese. We are not part of the trial because the cattle cake containing the supplement has to be fed continuously, so it is currently only for indoor, “zero-grazing” systems, which make up a large part of the industry.

    Some criticism of Bovaer, from the King’s organic farming guru, Patrick Holden and others, is levelled at the whole concept of keeping cows indoors on artificial feeds. I sympathise with that viewpoint but the reality today is that you would not have much milk for your coffee without the large indoor systems.

    There is a slow release bolus under development for cows like ours, which graze the green fields of Galloway. Will we use it when it becomes available? Maybe, we’ll see how the trial goes. That, after all, is the point of a trial.

    So, a few facts. First, our cows do burp methane, which stays in the atmosphere for up to 12 years and during that time is a greenhouse gas 34 times more potent (GWP) than CO2. How much methane actually reaches the atmosphere is unknown: probably much of it is gobbled up by methanotrophs – bacteria in our pasture that turn it back into oxygen.

    What we can measure is the 1-3 tons of carbon per hectare per year we are locking up in the soil by grazing the pasture. I really don’t think we are causing net climate change. However, scientific opinion thinks we are and if the cows burp less, because they are fed the bovine equivalent of Rennies, it will undoubtedly reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Zero grazing dairies, which don’t facilitate the carbon cycle as efficaciously as free-range systems, would certainly make a big dent in emissions by doing so.

    Secondly, Arla is not some global Big Food behemoth owned by shady private equity Bond villains, it is a farmer-owned cooperative which takes decisions based on what its customers want. The dairy industry has been blamed for climate change for two decades by everyone from governments to schoolchildren via Extinction Rebellion. Rightly or wrongly Britain has pledged to reduce methane by 30 per cent by 2030. This is an honest attempt to do what everyone wants us to do – reduce cow flatulence.

    Thirdly, British consumers are not the Bovaer canaries in the coal mine. It has been trialled for 15 years already and approved in 68 countries (including the UK actually) and is being used in 29 of them. It has so far proved to be safe and effective, reducing methane by 30 per cent. Consumers can be reassured that milk and meat are tested more rigorously in Britain than anywhere else in the world and any hint of risk would stop the trial. So, by all means let’s take a healthy interest in how our food is produced – but let’s not have an Edwina Currie-style egg hysteria about milk.”

    1. What a disingenuous article.

      "Safe and effective" oh that'll be alright then.

      They keep on and on about "conspiracy theories" but the data sheet saying it harms male fertility isn't a "conspiracy theory". Have any of these many trials they keep telling us about followed up consumers' long term health? No? Then I'll wait and see before I join their trial.

      There has not yet been an explanation of why this substance is only for lactating cows.

      "a farmer owned cooperative which takes decisions based on what its customers want" – Outright lie. We all know that it has been impossible for businesses to get funding unless they publicly demonstrate allegiance to the CO2 fraud cult. If they took decisions based on what their customers want, they would scrap Bovaer forthwith, or they would produce a line of milk guaranteed to be free of it.

    2. A farmer owned co-operative which takes decisions based on what its customers want.

      Rather weaselly Mr Blackett>>

      A more accurate statement would be "A Danish farmer owned co-operative" which wants to trial this chemical

      in Britain rather than in Denmark. I wonder why the Danes decided on that?

      Also he doesn't mention that in Britain cull dairy cows enter the food chain and it appears that cull cows are not

      being checked for any long term residues harmful to humans. I wonder why?

    3. A farmer owned co-operative which takes decisions based on what its customers want.

      Rather weaselly Mr Blackett>>

      A more accurate statement would be "A Danish farmer owned co-operative" which wants to trial this chemical

      in Britain rather than in Denmark. I wonder why the Danes decided on that?

      Also he doesn't mention that in Britain cull dairy cows enter the food chain and it appears that cull cows are not

      being checked for any long term harmful residues. I wonder why?

    4. Problem is, there has been, and still is, a shocking degree of lying and misdirection by those in authority and many organisations including my once-favourites, Salvation Army and RNLI, that all trust is gone. The result is, we the customer don't believe Arla that it's safe. Simple as that.

      1. Don't worry, Herr Oberst, you will have noticed that the Food Standards Agency has not made

        any comment or statement supporting Mr Blackett's claims. Again, I wonder why?

      2. Jordan Peterson' No 8 in his 12 Rules for Life:

        "Tell the truth – or, at least, don't lie."

        Like most children our boys were not always as truthful as they should have been when they were little. We tried to convince them that if you lie people will not believe you even when you tell the truth.

        Nobody believes politicians, scientists, doctors, charities, civil, servants any more. Their lies have been so blatant and brazen that trust has been broken so badly that it will take a very long time to be repaired.

    5. There is no climate emergency. Methane is just a harmless trace gas.
      We don't need all this meddling with our food supply nor do the cows.

    6. "…the bovine equivalent of Rennies…"

      Not a great comparison. Antacids often produce a satisfying eructation which consists largely of CO2.

    7. An extremely condescending piece. Wait until their lovely organic grazing herd is force fed "synthetic organic enzyme inhibitor, 3-nitrooxypropanol."

      I'm fairly sure that its use would disqualify the herd from using the term 'organic'.

      1. Cynical people will suspect that the Government will pressurise the Soil Association and

        the other organic bodies to agree that feeding this chemical to cattle is"organic".

        However, bear in mind that cow pats and slurry will enter the soil, and be washed into ditches,

        streams and rivers thus completing the contamination. You might even find that some of our

        water supplies come from rivers.

        Organic?

        Really?

      2. Technically, 3-nitrooxypropanol is an organic compound (it contains carbon atoms bonded to O, H or N), but its synthesis is I'm sure not in keeping with the 'organic farming' ethos.

  6. Morning dear Geoff and all pre-festive Nottlers
    Today's Short Tales – Sport themed

    My wife left me today because I'm more interested in football than her. We were married for six seasons.

    I went swimming in our local baths yesterday and had a wee in the deep end. The lifeguard blew his whistle so loudly I nearly fell in.

    At the Olympics I saw a man carrying a long stick and I asked 'Are you a pole vaulter?' He said 'No, I am German but how did you know my name was Walter?.

    I was at the Climbing Centre the other day but someone had stolen all the grips from the climbing wall. Honestly, you couldn't make it up.

      1. It’s good isn’t it. I’m seriously considering installing a US style mail box just so I can do that when it snows…

    2. 398153+ up ticks,

      Morning B3,

      I believe they are upset because the knighthood sword ceremony, they wanted the sword to travel in a lateral manner and not vertical, sort of seeking Islamic poetic justice,

    2. 398157+ up ticks,

      Morning JN,

      There lies the rub, time, look at the actions of that american chap, bidet.

      2. You may remember that in 2009 there was an underwater collision (insert alt. technical term) between a French submarine and a British one. Sort of hushed up, so I asked a retired submariner and he was quite peeved because he also wanted to know what had really happened, but the PTB wouldn't tell him.

  14. 398157+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    He is NOT of us and he cannot work for two masters, as are the rules of treachery.

    He is following his scripted part to the letter and, give him credit, has done so since he was granted the keys to number ten by the criminally insane tactical voter.

    Friday 6 December: Starmer delivered yet more hollow soundbites in his ‘plan for change’

  15. Starmer delivered yet more hollow soundbites in his ‘plan for change’

    These pledges reminded me of Milibands Edstone

    1. The IMF has told him that he can't afford it?
      Will come to Blighty soon, but only after the country is already ruined. Perhaps some of them will leave when it does. Last European country left standing will get them all!

  18. Good morning, chums and thanks to Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,266 5/6

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    🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Lots of options today!
      Wordle 1,266 5/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
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      🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
      🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
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      1. Lucky par four
        Wordle 1,266 4/6

        ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
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        🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
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  21. Quote of the Day
    Andrew Griffith, Shadow Secretary of State for Science and Technology and former FTSE 100 finance director said…

    “Securing investment is not about canapes and cocktails. The government must walk the walk. Threats to hike up taxes on capital gains, giving workers the right to start a job in the morning and sue their employer at an employment tribunal the same afternoon and the Chancellor trying to fiddle the definition of debt are all flashing ‘sell signals’ on the UK. We need a government that understands real wealth creators; not one which taxes with one hand and doles out subsidies with the other.”

    1. It might backfire because employers will be even more keen to avoid hiring anyone who looks like trouble. Why take the risk if they can sue you without even getting to the end of the probationary period?

      1. It's practically become illegal not to employ a non-indigenous over an indigenous already. Just one small step…

  22. Good morning all.
    Still dark, but the rain has stopped, it's a bit breezy which has partially dried the yard concrete and it's 4°C on the re-positioned Pantry Thermometer. Guess who dropped and smashed the Yard Thermometer!

    A run to Baguley for 4 x bottles of a rather expensive American Rye Whisky:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/27060f2d9419f1e5f770ae0a26c26f0c9f25276fbfecec0e88e8cdde21fcacd3.png
    Then to Lower Withington near Jodrell Bank for a few more bottles:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/28442f6814582f48f4f62cc83931199893f77414863cd1c613fd68bbc2a05d5c.png and
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad75b6d973b8d7b898654a8991ae193fa660fa97900d0f690c4af46c20b9833b.png
    Then off to Stoke so eldest daughter can visit Stepson.

    2. Whiskey
      Bob, a Pedant writes (again):
      When I lived in the USA, all whiskey was spelt with an e, like the word Rye.
      Personally I don't ever drink the hard stuff because my Doctoral Thesis was about the progression from Cirrhosis to Liver Cancer.
      But whatever floats your boat – and it looks like you have enough to float a small one. A Merry Christmas indeed!

      1. The yanks are notorious for their inability to spell anything, but the point is that ONLY the spirit distilled in Scotland may be spelled as WHISKY. All others are whiskey (whiskies). End of pedant rant.

  23. Morning, all Y'all. Sleeting, very miserable today. At home trying to get ready for Christmas, so will cheer things up soon by lighting the fire.

    1. I posted off a lot of my cards today and was in the process of finishing writing the rest when a friend turned up for coffee and a chat. As I was out to the concert after, I still have cards to write and put stamps on and I have still got to put the trees up, decorate them and decorate the house. I might have a day free next week in which to do it.

  25. I it is true about the beknighted (sic) Caliph – then the little shitbag must have released he "confidential" information himself.

      2. Get the RSPCA, cruelty to swine

        Why should the pig/pigess have to put up with Sad Dick Kunt?

    3. 'Morning Willum
      "June 21st to be renamed as Sir Sadiq Khan day, as a tribute to the shortest night."
      Oi Laffed

      1. Nicked and appended to image on FB. No doubt Nick Clogg will have alerted the fighting 77th Brigade and they'll be storming the bunker, or possibly the gorse, before I get to the back nine this morning.

    2. Clever man. Knew exactly what he was doing, and no one realised.
      A quarter of a century later.. and still not a single Tory worked it out. Cameron & Hunt cheered him on.

      1. A spot the difference how the Blob dealt with Tony's conviction.. then compare with Louise Haigh.

      2. At the time Brown was considered one of the worst PMs we had ever had and yet Cameron could not defeat him outright and had to sell what little was left of the soul of the Conservative Party to Clegg and the Lib/Dems.

      3. Some of us did. It wasn’t that subtle. But as usual we had no support. The dismantling of rhe justice system was loud and clear. As was the “reform” of the HoC and HoL. As was the war on non-Labour voters. The Human Rights Act, the Equality Act. Lots of us saw it but MSM and the Establishment was in lockstep with him and every effort to change was frustrated

        1. To me what epitomized his mean, vindictive and destructive intent was when he took the Royal Yacht Britannia from the queen. It was the only place she felt she could be herself with her family, free from prying eyes. So lacking in decency he stood with Elizabeth, in evident distress, while the boat was sent off, never to be used again.

          The man is filth and I wish nothing but ill for him. A creature who's career has been contributing to the downfall of this country. I wish that the death penalty was still in operation for traitors, he would be first in line.

    3. And he got away with it because all our political idiots are only really interested in what they can get out of it and nothing else matters.

      1. 397157+ up ticks,

        Morning R,

        Could very well be after a meeting in a park public toilet, wasn’t johno flashing his shirt tail on one occasion ?

  28. Morning all 🙂😊.
    Grey rain later no change grab an umbrella.
    The British government delivers more hollow sound bites. Well there is a surprise and most of the people living in this country thought they are absolutely useless at everything they come into contact with.
    Sunny now 9:20.

  29. Toby Young
    Why Elon Musk shouldn’t be kicked out of the Royal Society
    From magazine issue:
    07 December 2024

    In a notorious interview in the Sunday Times in 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson said, among other things, that aborting babies with gay genes was ‘common sense’ and that ‘all our social policies are based on the fact that their [blacks] intelligence is the same as ours [whites] – whereas all the testing says not really’. He also defended the explanation offered by Larry Summers of why there are fewer female professors in Stem subjects than male – there are more men at the right-hand tail of the IQ distribution curve. It caused such a furore that Watson was forced to cancel a forthcoming book tour, Nature ran an editorial saying his remarks were ‘beyond the pale’ and the trustees of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suspended him from administrative duties, forcing him to retire shortly afterwards. Yet at no point did anyone suggest he should be expelled from the Royal Society.

    Contrast Watson’s treatment with that of Elon Musk. In August, 74 fellows wrote to the institution asking whether the owner of X was a ‘fit and proper person’ to be a member of the society – a distinction he’s enjoyed since being elected in 2018 – for his technological achievements in space travel and electric cars. The president consulted m’learned friends and was told that Musk wasn’t in breach of the society’s code of conduct – an important consideration, since if he’s excluded because of his political views he might be able to sue for discrimination under the Equality Act. When this advice was communicated to the fellowship, there was a good deal of grumbling, intensified when Donald Trump won the US presidential election and announced he would appoint Musk as co-director of the Department of Government Efficiency.

    The discontent came to a head last week when Dorothy Bishop, an Oxford professor and one of the signatories of the original letter, wrote a blog post announcing her resignation from the society. After cataloguing Musk’s sins – ‘promoting vaccine hesitation’, ‘downplaying the climate emergency’ and ‘spreading deep fakes and misinformation’ – she said she could no longer comply with the code of conduct, which required her to ‘treat all individuals in the scientific enterprise collegially and with courtesy’, and that she did not wish to be associated with ‘someone who appears to be modelling himself on a Bond villain’.

    Bishop’s resignation has prompted the president to look again at whether Musk can be got rid of. But in the society’s 364-year history, only two fellows have been expelled, one in 1709 for not paying his dues, and one in 1775 for embezzlement. If Musk was kicked out for his controversial views, why not Watson, who is still alive? Indeed, if failing to treat fellow members ‘collegially and with courtesy’ is a breach of the rules, shouldn’t the other 73 signatories of the letter be given their marching orders? In 2020, Francis Collins, a fellow of the society and then head of the National Institutes of Health, called for a swift ‘takedown’ of the Great Barrington Declaration. The three original signatories included Sunetra Gupta, the recipient of the Royal Society’s Rosalind Franklin Award. Not exactly collegial behaviour. Wouldn’t he have to go, too?

    In her article, Bishop repeatedly accuses Musk of undermining the society’s mission to promote good science. But if challenging the consensus in a particular field is behaviour unbecoming of a member of the Royal Society, wouldn’t that apply to Sir Isaac Newton, the society’s president from 1703 to 1727?

    Like many self-appointed gatekeepers, Bishop seems to think that anyone with unorthodox views that put them at odds with liberal policy-makers has no place in the scientific ‘community’. In fact, one of the reasons public trust in science is declining is because people rightly suspect that any research that challenges metropolitan groupthink in certain key areas (climate change, sex and gender, Covid) is being suppressed. To restore that trust, scientific institutions such as the Royal Society need to step away from politics, not do the bidding of left-wing Torquemadas.

    There’s one more argument why Musk should not be kicked out. When he was elected, Musk had more conventional political views for a member of the elite. Until 2022, he was a registered Democrat. If he’s punished for holding less fashionable opinions, that sends a message to other members of the society: go against the grain and you will be excommunicated. That would be a bad look for a society that supposedly champions intellectual independence and free speech.

    3. The Human Genome Project found that there isn’t any such thing as the “gay gene”. Freud believed it was early childhood trauma, hence the “born this way” illusion and logically, how could it be inherited?

      2. This, and also that Watson was wrong to advocate abortion as a method of selection even if there had been a gay gene, of course. Perhaps that is why he survived in the RS; this statement would suggest that he is a eugenicist, like so many of them.

    4. Since Watson argued from a position of fact – the measurements showed it to be so, it wasn't made up, how can the RS grumble.
      Is it unacceptable to also point out that many more males than females are on the autism spectrum, autism being one factor that seems to ally with factual, mathematical thought processes.

  30. Friday 6th December, 2024

    DUNCAN MAC

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f366baa88979124417f865e8b143861fa026c8fe5ff4c223e435c47d3abc41d8.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f15108925be65a9a2608d8e25edca14c950fe7218c958fddb1d38927a117d0b9.png

    We haven't seen very much of you on the forum recently. Your pertinent and incisive comments are much appreciated so we hope we shall see rather more of you in the future.

    With best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    2. Happy Birthday, Duncan Mac! I'm sure I'm not the only Nottler who misses your contributions!!

    3. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Duncan Mac! You are missed on this site! 🥂🎂

  32. Morning! There’s just been a Labour minister on GBN claiming that Starmer offered tangible objectives. Nope, more empty platitudes.

    1. Yo Sue

      May I fiddle to get the truth

      There’s just been a Labour minister on GBN claiming that Starmer and Co received tangible objects from Rich People, in payment for
      objectives not yet satisfied

  34. 398157+ up ticks,

    For the foreseeable future hold council elections every 6 months
    making options for change HIGH on the agenda.

    Dt,

    Almost all councils allowing staff to work from home
    Employees at 97 per cent of councils allowed to not be in office at least one day a week, data obtained by The Telegraph suggests

  35. Доброе утро, товарищи,

    A bright start at Tighe-McPhee, westerly breeze, 5-7℃, rain and wind this evening as the next Atlantic-depression-with-a-silly-name arrives.

    Well, of course, what else did we really expect? It's what he lives for.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9f62a811821734c190f43382872da16650866d734aa13b948a1f891b0b6a130.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/06/keir-starmer-tax-rises-rachel-reeves-labour-badenoch/

    The way to crush the bourgeoisie middle class is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.

    Vladimir Lenin

    1. Thieves raid was just the start and a softening up exercise. A whole range of taxes will be gently nudged up in the next robbery. Those millstones are not going to fund themselves.

    2. It's the great muppet reaping – they want back all the wealth that we were allowed to earn and save over the prosperous period of the economic cycle just gone by. That's how they keep the peasants down.

    4. To be fair (why?), the government can't predict the future, so for example if the UK needs to gear up to fight a real war, then money will be needed for weapons, munitions, etc – taxes will have to rise.

      1. I would prefer they took it from NHS and social security. Stop paying for migrants, for example.

    5. It's what Labour has always done; tax and waste and ruin the economy. Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Blair, Brown now Starmer.

  37. The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Don't change inheritance tax relief for working farms”.

    Government responded:

    The Government’s commitment to farmers is steadfast. There is also an urgent need to repair the public finances in as fair a way as possible. The reform of the reliefs strikes the right balance.

    At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government took a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to restore economic stability, fix the public finances, and support public services. These were tough decisions given the situation inherited by the Government, but it has done so in a way that makes the tax system fairer and more sustainable.

    Inheritance tax is paid on the estate (the property, money, and possessions) of someone who has died. The most recent four years’ worth of data show that amongst agricultural property relief claims, including those that also claimed business property relief, 47 per cent of the total Exchequer cost of the relief went to the top seven per cent of claims. It is not fair to maintain such a significant relief for a very small number of claimants, when this money could better be used to fund our public services.

    That is why from 6 April 2026, the full 100 per cent relief from inheritance tax will be restricted to the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property. Above this amount, there will be 50 per cent relief so inheritance tax will be paid at a reduced effective rate up to 20 per cent, rather than the standard 40 per cent. The new system remains more generous than it has been in the past: the rate of relief prior to 1992 was a maximum of 50 per cent on all agricultural and business assets, including the first £1 million.

    This is on top of the other exemptions and nil-rate bands that people can access for inheritance tax too. This means that a couple with farmland, depending on their circumstances, can typically pass on up to £3 million to their descendants without paying any inheritance tax.

    Full exemptions for transfers between spouses and civil partners continue to apply. This means that any agricultural and business assets left to a spouse or civil partner will be tax free.

    Any transfers to individuals more than 7 years before death as gifts will continue to fall fully outside the scope of inheritance tax. Any tax related to these assets can be paid in instalments over 10 years interest free and it means landowners will not necessarily need to sell land or other assets.

    The reforms are expected to result in up to around 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, paying more inheritance tax in 2026-27. This means almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27.

    These are projections based on HMRC inheritance tax administrative data relating to previous years, which illustrate the distribution of claims where 100 per cent relief has been available on agricultural and business property. It is not possible to accurately infer a future inheritance tax liability from data on farm asset values. The number and value of affected estates, meaning how many estates making relief claims that would pay more inheritance tax as a result of the change, is affected by who the owners are, how many owners there are, any borrowing they have, and how they plan their affairs.

    These reforms should also be seen in the broader context of the significant existing support for the farming industry in the wider tax system. This includes the exemption from business rates for agricultural land and buildings, the ongoing entitlement for vehicles and machinery used in agriculture to use rebated diesel and biofuels, and the exemption from the plastic packaging tax for the plastic film used by farmers to produce silage bales. Furthermore, farmers are able to add together their profits from farming for two years or five years and be taxable on the average of those profits, building flexibility into their tax arrangements for difficult years.

    More broadly, the Government’s decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 provide £5 billion over two years for farming and land management in England which will restore stability and confidence in the sector, strengthening food security alongside nature’s recovery. This includes the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. Despite the difficult fiscal inheritance, £60 million of funding has also been prioritised for the Farm Recovery Fund to support farmers with the impact of severe wet weather over the last year.

    The Government’s commitment to farmers and the vital role they play in feeding our nation remains steadfast. There is also an urgent need to repair the public finances, but the Government has maintained very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others. The Government believes the approach to reform strikes the right balance between providing significant tax relief to farms and fixing the public finances in a fair way.

    HM Treasury

    Click this link to view the response online:

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700138?reveal_response=yes

    This petition has over 100,000 signatures. The Petitions Committee will consider it for a debate. They can also gather further evidence and press the government for action.

    The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the Government. Find out more about the Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

    Thanks,
    The Petitions team
    UK Government and Parliament

    1. "At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government took a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to restore economic stability, fix the public finances, and support public services. These were tough decisions given the situation inherited by the Government, but it has done so in a way that makes the tax system fairer and more sustainable."

      What's fair or sustainable about giving £millions/billions to Africa and Ukraine?

      2. Nottlers will undoubtedly remember that just about the first thing that Starmer did when

        he came to power was to fly to Ukraine and give Zelensky £2.5billion.

        You will notice that it was money, not tanks or other equipment made in Britain.

    2. Steadfast support.. repair finances.. right balance.
      .
      Translation: exact one-hundred-and-eighty-degree opposite.

      Farms will be destroyed. Payback time for the miner's strike.
      We will continue to spaff money with gay abandon.
      We will continue to tax into oblivion all the people we hate. The list is short n sweet.. private schools.. and private sector.

  39. Medley Time
    https://scontent-man2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/468843978_1121080719386733_4817493251891789396_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=kcZ8TwR0n4MQ7kNvgFmBR4w&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-man2-1.xx&_nc_gid=AeYO2sjrDoA0vHHS3kekfv6&oh=00_AYDLklLmhE82nlyfD89fA_spNSTvNepQD5JE7pm3B_fn1A&oe=6757DB1F
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7370032845fc3674056012c8182c74290446f007ee410c9a2ccb43b64c2e960.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1d8f9574e655e122dba873537edbd8442544dcaf08f7d76c1bd39312318b7cb.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f2503a1c7f1b54e30680e213e2c9225c9708380e3b9ca68459f342e2c6c0d30c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5cc61707bb7dbf2c90e88bc2d03183e037ca4ddae777555c284d325bd4c8cadd.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/590659e627ddda1f87b8070bbc993abf4c98edc16ac29acdda8497c91cbfc18e.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44d5abfa58ebd1fd99c6eea7acc5fac284087be7ee63d2f7f1035a3328e82b79.jpg

  40. Good morning Nottlers, 7°C and fair on the Costa Clyde. Rain forecast for this afternoon. I hope it keeps off, I dislike searching for my golf balls in damp rough.

    As an aside, a golfing buddie woke up early on Wednesday morning with severe abdominal pains. His wife called the doctor, who would not visit. She then called an ambulance, which was not available. Finally, their daughter drove them to the hospital. I'm unsure of the time frame but the abdominal pain was such that the stress brought on a heart attack/heart failure. The first his daughter knew was a nurse wobbling through to the waiting room to say, "He didn't make it."

    There will need to be a postmortem, because they never discovered the source of the pain in time.

      1. That was my thoughts, purely based on guesswork. Coincidentally, the NHSS booked me an AAA scan for next Wednesday. It’s being pushed at those who reach 65, which I did in September. Sadly, for my buddie his 65th wasn’t until next May.

  41. 398957+ up ticks,

    They have been in operating existence openly for 30 plus years, always finding majority voting support, namely they are the
    lab/lib/con. coalition party , with reform under wary, common sense scrutiny.

    There are four viruses going around Britain – which one have you got?

  43. Good morning, all. Sunny during daytime with worse to come.

    This is probably the clearest graphic describing the atmosphere and the gases that it is comprised of that I have seen. Why do PPE and Economics graduates, politicians et al. not understand the impact Nature has on the production of greenhouse gases compared to mankind?

    Clearly, their narrative, created by a person or persons unknown, has to be followed no matter what both the genuine science and independent scientists can expose as the real state of affairs.

    Methane, the other gas now being touted as a danger to life, hence the Bovaer outrage, forms a small part of the 1.38% shown in the blue circle.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4805a4c8e7f3211db64f7bf12257a96a9fd360211d9f557e55d0dd477a9f66fe.png

  44. Morning!
    Wordle 1,266 5/6

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

    1. Good grief – I beat all my family today, got it in three, don't know how that happened..(I always start with a rude word……) off to spelling bee now…

      Wordle 1,266 3/6

      🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  45. Morning All!

    The Left frequently argues that Britain has always been a nation of immigrants. Today in Free Speech Iain Hunter, with his usual clarity of thought, shows conclusively that the Left is, as usual wrong, and that Britain never was a nation of immigrants. His article, Who's Indigenous? , clearly shows that the basic make up of the British people was settled by 1066 and remained that way until very recently.

    The annual panic over the state of the NHS (bad to worse) is upon us – but what you don’t hear about is the strain put on it by immigrants, legal and illegal – many of whom have a government-given right to free NHS treatment. At the top the Today page we have a couple of polls asking if you agree that foreigners should get free NHS treatment, and a second asking if you have or will have the flu/covid jabs they are pushing.

    And don’t forget, on the Home page we now have a permanent Boycott Book , where you can leave a comment on companies you thing we should boycott, either because they have gone woke or because they provide lousy service, or both. We are constructing links to a list of such companies – and another one to a list of companies you think we should support.

    The Big Petition is still about 36,000 short of three million. Please sign and asked your friends and family to do the same.

    Energy Watch: Demand at 0800: 39.455 GW. Supply: Hydrocarbon = 28%; Renewables = 46.6%; Nuclear = 2.9%; Biomass = 5.6% and Imports 5.4%.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

    2. " ……. Please sign and asked your friends and family to do the same."

      Many of us here have probably already signed and I suspect that we cannot do so more than once without falsifying the petition.

    3. All done, Tom – I signed the GE one a while ago, also your petitions, thanks – I like those, am always in the majority:-)

    4. Douglas Murray pointed out in The Strange Death of Europe that in the 2000 year period prior to Blair throwing our borders open in 1997, no more than a few hundred thousand people in total came here. The numbers since are unprecedented. When my paternal grandparents came here in 1899, they walked straight in and were only naturalised in 1914, as that was when the law changed and required it for the first time. However, the numbers then were still very small and my grandparents learnt English and fended for themselves. Grandfather worked for Imperial Tobacco and later established his own wholesale tobacco business and bought a nice house in Llandaff, Cardiff. All without state benefits and without any formal education, beyond having learnt his trade. I'm tempted to believe that it's because the Jewish emigres of that time were so resilient that the socialist left hate them so much today?

      1. Very interesting Sue. I’m writing an article at the moment for FSB and it seems to me from government figures that since 1960 around 16 million immigrants have come here. That’s gross immigration, not the duplicitous net immigration they always quote.

        I agree about the Jews. The Left hates them and Israel because they are percieved as white and very successful.

  48. Once more onto the beach dear friends …..
    And our pm with all his 'promises' didn't once mentioned the biggest problem this country has to put up with, hundreds of thousandsof illegal invaders.
    Not a word.

    1. From The Grimes this morning – the political sketch:

      "Some of the invited journalists kind of wanted to know why there was nothing about immigration in his plan for change. It was kindly explained to them how stupid they were. This was the plan for change, “the measurable milestones for the missions, but the foundational stone on which the missions are built includes immigration as an integral part”.

      I confess I can’t remember much about the foundational stone. It’s possible it’s in Ed Miliband’s garden but I’d rather not know."

    2. Just been watching (for my sins?) replay of QT on Beeb website….Farage made that point, audience applauded, Campbell and Smith got quite sniffy. Came from Lincoln.

      1. Just watched it, I hate campbell more then blah. I don’t think they should ever be seen in public again.

          1. No, she’s probably worse.
            Although he will never be remembered for his productive action, at least he’s never caused any specific problems.

          2. Agree…wussna as my dad would say. Campbell you mean? wasn’t he involved in covering up the Dr David Kelly’s dossier as reported by Gilligan? – another Macavity..

          3. He was probably involved in a lot more things than we know about.
            Have you ever seen the film Ghost Writer ?
            Hard to know if it was actually true or not. I know what I think.

          4. I haven’t, but checked out plot precis. Definitely something murky. Farage seemed a little hesitant around him – perhaps my imagination, running away with me 🎶

  49. Got something useful done, at last. Domestic tidying, shovelled the slush off the path, SWMBOs car battery on charge, now time for coffee…

  50. Got something useful done, at last. Domestic tidying, shovelled the slush off the path, SWMBOs car battery on charge, now time for coffee…

  52. Good morning all
    I look after sponsorships and grants for our bowls club and receive an email every week giving details of current grants available. Below is a racist grant available from, what looks like to me, a racist organisation. Bet you couldn’t do that to support WASPs.

    Funding to Support Black and Global Majority Communities and Challenge Systemic Racism Across the UK

    04/12/2024

    African Health Policy Network (AHPN) is offering eight grants of between £20,000 and £30,000 for Black and Global Majority-led organisations across UK that are working to improve the health and well-being of Black and Global Majority communities whilst challenging and disrupting structural and systemic racism and racist practices.

    The Innovate and Sustain Black and Global Majority Grants Programme will support projects that holistically benefit communities, have achievable outcomes that can be delivered within a 16-month timeframe, and show how they will make an impact on one of the following themes:

    Organisational

    Shift beliefs and assumptions and change narratives.
    Facilitate ongoing learning and development leading to organisational strengthening.
    Introduce novel perspectives to current thinking and generate new data.
    Policy

    Change and improve policies, regulations, practices, and approaches.
    Challenge the norms in relation to funding, funding criteria, and funding/doner assumptions.
    Ensure that resources are distributed equitably amongst communities according to need.
    Communities

    Enhance the empowerment and greater self-assuredness amongst communities with lived experience.
    Establish new links and form alliances between players at all levels.
    Enhance the quality of interaction between all players at all levels.
    To apply, 75% of the organisation’s governing body members and more than 50% of leadership/senior management must be represented by Black and Global Majority communities.

    There is a two-stage application process. Groups must first complete an online expression of interest form before submitting a full application.

    The deadline to submit a Stage One application is 23 December 2024 (midnight).

    1. That's easy-peasy, Alf. With a few photographs and a short narrative, you can convince the PTB of AHBN that the sport of Lawn Bowls is already at the fore of reversing systemic racism.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b5ba16ab140c130b81ff0cc81cd6510a2b834e5b94ddfae6fd3197253458368.png
      The essence of the game is to hurl big virile black balls at a tiny, pathetic and stationary white ball that is always called "Jack". The big black ball that ends up closest to, and intimidating, Jack is the winner. Jack never wins. Thus it is the complete reversal of White Supremacy and you qualify for £20,000 to £30,000. Q.E.D.

    2. Ask them how black do you need to be and what proof is required. I sent that question to some organisation offering grants to black students, apparently no evidence was required.

        1. According to woke historical sources, Britain was brimming with dark faces in the past. So most likely, yes. More credible than changing sex as some seem to manage. I was actually asking the question about the grant for my Asian step daughter.

    4. I'd point out that there being more of something does not make it superior or even relevant. After all, there are billions more fleas and flies than humans, let alone black ones. They're still fleas.

  53. 398957+ up ticks,

    And so it came to pass, behold, another name change,

    Well meant advice, tread wary.

    Dt,
    David Frost
    Whisper it, are more Tories going to join Reform?
    There is only room for one party of the Right in Britain. Kemi Badenoch must act fast to ensure it is the Tories

    1. I think it will be the Tories ogga because Farage is alienating to many people who should be Reforms natural allies. Today alone, I have seen negative comments about Farage and Tice from from Connor Tomlinson, one of the Lotus Eaters, who is very influential among younger people on the right and another interview of Ben Habib with Paul Thorpe.

      1. I just watched QT repeat from yesterday, in Lincoln. Audience seemed quite supportive. I think Habib should be welcomed back – appeal to a broader church. (I've been a Reform member for a few months.)

        1. So have I but I will not be renewing my membership. I did not like Tice's comment about "that lot" and I did not like Farage's nasty comment about popping open a bottle of champagne because Ben Habib had left.

          1. Hear you, hope they’ve learned from that – if not, not a good look. Habib mentioned something about funding, and Farage/Tice being the sole beneficiaries as Directors of a Limited Company (Reform). More to come on that, perhaps – and another ‘not a good look’.

  54. Good Morning all. Sun in West Sussex. So much for the weather.
    Thought I would reproduce this article from Suella Braverman in todays Telegraph. There is not one positive comment on the subject of the article. Every single one is negative. So, at least the Telegraph readers understand who the enemy is.

    A minority of Muslims are demanding special treatment for Islam. This should be refused
    Shadowy new blasphemy laws are arising, allowed to blossom by institutional cowardice

    Technically speaking, the criminal offence of blasphemy was abolished in Great Britain by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act of 2008. Yet a growing number of incidents suggest that a shadow blasphemy law has crept into our national psyche, enforced not by statute but by a toxic cocktail of political correctness, identity politics, and institutional cowardice. This is not merely a misunderstanding of law and liberty; it is an existential threat to free speech and the fabric of British society.

    Eighteen months ago, Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield became the stage for a surreal and troubling drama. An autistic boy accidentally scuffed a copy of the Quran. What should have been a simple matter of pastoral care spiralled into a public reckoning. The headteacher summoned the police. A meeting akin to a Sharia tribunal unfolded in a local mosque, where the boy’s mother was compelled to apologise to an all-male audience, her son’s actions deemed so serious that the police recorded a Non-Crime Hate Incident. Such Orwellian absurdity should belong to fiction, yet it is reality in 21st-century multicultural Britain.

    This is no isolated case. From the Rushdie fatwa to the Batley teacher forced into hiding for using a cartoon of Mohammed as part of a lesson on free speech, a pattern is clear. The Prime Minister, far from defending the British principle of robust and open debate, appears to tacitly endorse this trend. When asked in Parliament whether he would consider banning the desecration of religious texts, Sir Keir Starmer promised to tackle “Islamophobia in all its forms.” What does this mean? In practice, it sounds dangerously close to endorsing a blasphemy law, privileging Islam above other religions.

    Let’s be clear: Britain is a Christian country. Yet there is no law protecting Christianity from mockery or insult, nor should there be. The principle extends to all faiths – or at least it should. Why is it acceptable to ridicule Hinduism but not Islam? Why are insults to Jewish symbols waved off, while a scuffed Quran becomes a police matter? How can Christians be arrested for silent prayer, while mobs cancel films deemed offensive to Muslims? Such double standards are untenable. They breed resentment, division, and ultimately the erosion of the liberties that define us.

    It is worth remembering that free speech does not come with a guarantee of comfort. It includes the right to question, critique, and yes, offend. To enshrine the sensitivities of one group above all others is to undermine the very pluralism that allows our society to thrive.

    This isn’t about Muslims as a whole. The vast majority are tolerant, peaceable, and keen to integrate. But within that community, a vocal minority demand special treatment for Islam – protection that no other faith enjoys. That demand, left unchecked, risks becoming policy. It already exerts a chilling effect on law enforcement and public debate.

    Consider the child sexual abuse scandals in Rotherham and Rochdale. Authorities turned a blind eye for years, paralysed by fear of being accused of racism or Islamophobia. More recently, Sir William Shawcross’s review of the Prevent programme revealed that fears of appearing anti-Muslim stymied efforts to tackle Islamist extremism. These failures are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a broader cultural malaise.

    Our institutions, from the police to the press, are increasingly cowed by identity politics. They see criticism of Islam not as a legitimate part of public discourse but as a threat to social harmony. This is not just wrong; it is dangerous. Without the freedom to critique and question, society becomes brittle, unable to address its flaws or adapt to change.

    The challenge is not to suppress difficult conversations but to have them openly and honestly. We must be able to discuss radical imams, gender inequality, and cultural practices within Muslim communities with the same vigour that we investigate historical sexual abuse in the Church of England. To do otherwise is not just hypocritical; it is harmful to the very people we claim to protect.

    The rejection of free debate in favour of enforced orthodoxy is tearing Britain apart. We cannot allow our cherished freedoms to be smothered by the twin threats of militant sensitivity and institutional cowardice. Our patriotism, our shared commitment to liberty, demands that we push back.

    The stakes are high. If we do not use our freedom to speak, we will lose it. And when that happens, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

    1. "This isn’t about Muslims as a whole. The vast majority are tolerant, peaceable, and keen to integrate".

      The evidence of my eyes and ears says otherwise.

      1. You don't hear any criticism of these Islamists from the wider Muslim community. Qui tacet consentire videtur.

      2. There is only one operations manual for muslims and it does not teach tolerance, peace or integration. They play the long game and in the last 50 years or so of mass immigration they have achieved a vast social and political influence in a christian country. It is only going one way.

        1. How much would you charge to take me and two small dogs on your boat to a place where they aren't…?

          1. Would have to apply the flat-earth theory and sail off the edge, otherwise they are everywhere although Russia and China might offer some sanctuary from the forces of jihad.

      3. That is a ritualistic sentence, the obligatory clap trap required when writing an article about the religion of violence.

    2. "This isn’t about Muslims as a whole. The vast majority are tolerant, peaceable, and keen to integrate." Yeah, right.

        1. It seems to me the crazies are gaining the upper hand. The lunatics are running the asylum, after all.

      2. But they are Conway, they are latter day hippies full of peace and light. It’s because of your white bigotry that you don’t appreciate that they are a tremendous asset to our country. ❤️❤️❤️

        1. Silly me! Why didn’t I realise that I am white indigenous Christian scum whose ancestors made this land what it is?

  55. "This isn’t about Muslims as a whole.
    This is about progressive liberalism.
    The Muslim community have been very honest & open about their intentions. They've even put it in writing for the hard of hearing.

  57. Lammy Reaches Out to Offer Mauritius More Cash as Labour Scrambles to Finalise Chagos Giveaway

    Starmer’s shameful Chagos giveaway – which would mean surrendering British Indian Ocean Territory to China-backed Mauritius – is still on life support after changes of government in both Washington DC and Port Louis. Multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations previously indicated that National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell’s last ditch trip to the Mauritian capital went down like a cup of cold sick with the new government there. One insider called it a ‘humiliating and desperate’ look for the British. Classic Labour…

    Now Guido hears David Lammy has directly contacted Port Louis once again in an effort to finalise the beleaguered agreement. Diplomatic sources speculate that Lammy will be forced to write Mauritius an even bigger cheque in order to save the deal – in an effort to seduce the new Mauritius administration. The original sum agreed between the parties has not been disclosed, even in Parliament. It must be stupendously big, and it’s about to get bigger…

    Meanwhile, the Mauritians have commissioned an independent review of the deal, presumably as a pretext to raise the cash threshold. British taxpayers need answers without delay, not to mention anyone who cares about UK security…

    6 December 2024 @ 09:17

    1. Altogether now.
      Repairing finances..
      Right balance..
      Taking on the “alliance of naysayers” and the bureaucratic “nonsense”..

      "This is not about sentimentality, it is about hard-headed realism,"
      "Time and again the best hope for the world and the surest way to serve our mutual national interest has come from our two nations working together. It still does."

    2. Altogether now.
      Repairing finances..
      Right balance..
      Taking on the “alliance of naysayers” and the bureaucratic “nonsense”..

      "This is not about sentimentality, it is about hard-headed realism,"
      "Time and again the best hope for the world and the surest way to serve our mutual national interest has come from our two nations working together. It still does."

  63. Baffled of Islington wonders why there is an outbreak on Ringworm across the nation in every single parish, hamlet and high street.

    18,624 Turkish/ Kurdish/ Armenian barber shops operating in Britain, an increase of more than 50 per cent on 2018. At least 665 opened last year alone.
    Almost identical establishments.
    Usually five similar barber shops in a row.
    Bright lights burning inside and a couple of barbers passing the time looking at their mobile phones.
    Cash-only businesses.

    2. One wonders what else these mobile phone hugging gentlemen are capable of spreading ?

      Hang on , Mohammed is the most popular baby boys name this year .. I guess the chaps have been pretty busy!

    4. They always seem to have very expensive cars attached to the business too. Barbers don't earn enough to buy fancy cars like that.

  64. I read this letter , and felt terrible sad .

    Submariner shortage
    SIR – The Chief of the Defence Staff is correct to highlight the growing threat from totalitarian nuclear-armed states (report, December 5).

    This brings into sharp focus the vital importance of Britain’s own nuclear arsenal, which has been continuously deployed at sea for more than 50 years. It is therefore alarming that, due to the very demanding nature of the job – both professionally and personally – there is a shortage of submariners, most critically command-qualified officers.

    Unless immediate action is taken to encourage and incentivise young officers to pursue this career path, which requires a huge level of commitment and personal sacrifice over many years, the Navy will no longer be able to deliver the nuclear deterrent, and there will be no point in building the next generation of multi-billion-pound Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines.

    Rear Admiral Philip Mathias (retd)
    Director of nuclear policy, 2005-08
    Southsea, Hampshire

    Seems like another world ago now , but when I was a student nurse decades ago , based at Royal Naval Hospital Haslar , the hospital was a hop skip and a jump away from HMS Dolphin one of submarine bases . HMS Dolphin officially closed as a submarine base in September 1998.

    https://www.coppsurvey.uk/hms-dolphin

    Most of us , student nurses, were given a tour of the internal goings on inside a submarine .

    In those days , 1960's , QARNNS (Naval nurses ) we were treated kindly and respected and shown how the Royal Navy got it together .. We visited some very old submarines as well as new ones. Life on board for the guys who served on them was so organised , efficient , tidy and dedicated .. but my goodness , the smell was something else !

    I consider those days were amazing , and we were so lucky .. Because those were the days before women were allowed to serve on board ships etc , so it was gorgeous being treated as guests for a few hours , and the men were so proud of their under water home that stayed under for maybe days and weeks , when necessary .

    What a shame our wonderful RN has been reduced and carelessly flung aside by the government .

    2. Some years back, we went round a WWII German sub in Hamburg (?).
      Apparently it was never deployed as we sank it in 1945.
      It was so pokey. Even a dwarf like me found it cramped and there was no way any of the men in our group could have fitted into the radio room.
      Half the boat was ranks of accumulators; much larger version of the things in cars and also, when I was child, in radios if you didn't have an electricity supply.

        1. My dad was very impressed by that film. Dad was on board the SS Anselm when she was torpedoed and sunk by Das Boot, the U96, 100 miles north of the Azores on 5 July 1941. Dad jumped and was rescued from the water. The water was warm of course, which helped. The portrayal of life on board the U96 fascinated him.

          1. I don't know how to make a suitable comment Sue , but crumbs alive , your Dad was a lucky man , but what a frightening experience , and an amazing story .. and here you are telling us this about your brave father .. almost first hand ..

          2. It makes you admire the mariners, both Navy and Merchant Marine who had to endure such warfare.

        3. When the U-boat was trying to creep past Malta, you suddenly realised you were rooting for the Germans.
          Damn good film.

      2. Got invited to a party on board a nuclear powered sub in Gibraltar. It was entertaining watching the local girls coming down the conning tower ladder in their short skirts. There was enough room in the centre for some dancing. Another time I got a private tour of the forward section with its torpedoes and launch tubes. Very interesting.

        1. I went on board Dreadnought when it was in Rosyth in the 60s – no way could I live in those conditions, hats off to those who do

    4. The course for selection as a submarine officer was called the Perisher, I believe, and was quite tough.

    4. He comes from Maastricht, a fine city where I was once stationed. His shows in that city show views of the cafes along the Vrijthof (main square) where his performances are staged. I can confidentially state that I have enjoyed many beers in every one!

  66. Good Moaning. Just about.
    It's sunny and I've had a good laugh; here is QUENTIN LETTS on Starmer's Nth relaunch, better known as "And a PM up a Gum Tree."

    "‘Reset’ was Downing Street’s preferred term, but in movies they say ‘take two’.

    That’s after the first attempt was a disaster, with the main actor pulling the doorhandle off, fluffing his lines and stepping on his leading lady’s hem, ripping her dress and leaving her starkers.

    ‘Back to the top, please,’ says the director. ‘And Keir, darling, remember you’re supposed to be prime minister, not a bloke come to read the meter.’"

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14163453/QUENTIN-LETTS-Starmers-parade-buzzwords.html

    1. I was lighting technician for a show rather a long time ago, where the leading man had to exit the stage through a door that opened inwards – and yanked the doorhandle off! He then ran round to the other 2 doors, trying to get off, but instead yanking the other handles off, too, in his panic! Fortunately it was a semi-comedy (that means it was a comedy show without humour), and that did get a laugh.

    2. He's worth reading, used to write for Spectator some time ago, think he and Nelson had 'words', or something.

  67. Ross Clark
    Sally Rooney is talking nonsense about climate change
    6 December 2024, 6:54am

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1200170163.jpg

    Two years ago, Time magazine named novelist Sally Rooney as one of its 100 most influential people in the world. In that case, the world will presumably be moving very quickly to abolish capitalism, because Rooney has declared it – not entirely originally – to be the root cause of climate change.

    Rooney really does seem to be asserting that it is a bad thing that agricultural yields increased beyond their medieval levels

    Carbon emissions, according to her, are leading us rapidly to ‘apocalyptic civilizational collapse’. Not that this is an especially profound observation in Rooney’s mind because ‘there is no longer much serious disagreement of this claim.’ But presumably she does still think the case for finishing off capitalism still needs to be made because she has devoted a rather large piece in the Irish Times to making that point.

    What’s killing the planet, she observes, is a ‘special kind of greed’ which emerged ‘puzzlingly late in the history of our species’. Capitalism, it is you.

    Where to start? Perhaps we might start there, in fact. Is capitalism really a recent invention? I thought that Jesus had to throw the money-lenders out of the temple, weren’t they capitalists? Not according to Rooney, who seems to think that capitalism – which she seems to define as a fatal addiction to growth – only began some time after 1600. Before that, ‘the same fields produced the same yields in 1600 as in 1200’. There does appear to be some support for this thesis, as least in the context of England – according to a paper published in the Economic History Review in 1991, the year Rooney was born. But that rather misses the point. Rooney really does seem to be asserting that it is a bad thing that agricultural yields increased beyond their medieval levels. That is not just being anti-capitalist: it is romanticising the poverty of the distant past, a luxury which people tend to indulge only when they have a full stomach.

    Industrial societies certainly produce more greenhouse gases than primitive ones, but do capitalist ones spew out more than communist ones? Maybe Rooney is too young to remember the belching chimneys of the Soviet Union, but between the late 1950s and 1990, Russia (to quote figures which detach it from the rest of the Soviet Union) was the world’s second largest emitter of carbon dioxide. In 1988 its emissions peaked at 2,670 Mt of carbon dioxide. Three years later, communism fell – and with it Russia saw the sharpest drop in carbon emissions experienced by any country in modern history, enough to make Ed Miliband swoon with admiration. Within seven years they had nearly halved to 1,480 Mt. Admittedly, this was not all for positive reasons – some of it was down to economic decline. But a lot of it was down to the abandonment of wasteful industrial practices. Capitalist societies inevitably end up with a greater responsibility towards the consumption of resources because they punish wastefulness mercilessly.

    Let’s brush over Rooney’s climate catastrophism, like her lazy assertion that ‘destructive storms are increasing in regularity and intensity’ – no, naming storms doesn’t make them more frequent or worse. Over the British Isles the trend is actually in the opposite direction: with a falling trend in extreme wind speeds. Neither has there been any increase in Atlantic hurricanes in 200 years.

    But I do love this bit of Rooney’s thesis: apparently, it is not the fault of ordinary folk that carbon emissions have risen; it’s just those nasty capitalists. ‘Growth,’ she writes, ‘is the principle of the capitalist not the consumer’. If last year we bought ten shirts and this year we bought 14 it wasn’t because we wanted them; we were just somehow duped into buying them. Listening to Rooney you would never think that anyone ever eagerly lit a coal fire to warm their homes or filled their car with petrol; it was the coal-mining capitalists alone who were responsible for the resulting emissions. Were it not for them we would have been happy going cold.

    As for the capitalists who are building the wind farms, solar farms, electric cars, LED lightbulbs and all the other stuff which is helping reduce emissions industrial societies, I’m not sure where they fit in Rooney’s worldview. Her thesis is drivel. Sadly, I fear it may be influential drivel, but thankfully I don’t think she has the world’s ear quite as Time magazine imagines she does.

    ***************************
    Lordly Mightly
    3 hours ago
    She is an embarrassment to Ireland. A whiny, neurotic, self-obsessed, woke, purveyor of maudlin sentimentality who is confused by her success. She knows nothing about anything except her writing. The literary equivalent of Bono.

    1. She studied English at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where she was elected a scholar in 2011. She started (but did not complete) a master's degree in politics there, completing a degree in American literature instead, and graduated with an MA in 2013. Not much of a background in science, then!

      I did love "the literary equivalent of Bono"

    2. She studied English at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where she was elected a scholar in 2011. She started (but did not complete) a master's degree in politics there, completing a degree in American literature instead, and graduated with an MA in 2013. Not much of a background in science, then!

      I did love "the literary equivalent of Bono"

    3. Bono is one of those very wealthy capitalists who imagines himself virtuous on account of his charitable ability to prop up poverty in the third world and punish the masses in the industrial world. Is that what the WEF mean by "stakeholder capitalism"? Idiots like Rooney theorise in a vacuum without recourse to facts which invariably demolish their argument.

      1. I recall the economist Jeffrey Sachs saying he'd travelled on a flight with Bono – he said Bono would be very important in near future (or similar). I wondered what the heck he meant, now I see it.

    5. All those ultra-socialist mines, coal-fired power stations, steel mills, tractor factories and so on in the USSR, China and so on, so not responsible for CO2 emissions and pollution generally, to the extent of rendering land unusable by heavy-metals fall-out. Assuming CO2 is a problem, of course.
      What a berk.

    6. She's not quite understand that markets and demand drive capitalism, has she? What is wrong with these stupid Lefties?

    7. I haven't read it all, I can't be bothered. But why don't these prolific moaners go to the middle east and China and all the other countries that have hundreds of thousands of carbon burning vehicles on their roads. And wave their arms around and shout at them.

      1. Or fuck off back to Ireland and rejoice in the paradise that it has become grace a entitled twats like herself

    1. Agenda of the UN?
      What? Next you'll be claiming Starmer has thrown £300 million of a blackhole at them.. then inserted their court above parliament.

  69. Rare ‘danger to life’ red weather warning issued. 6 December 2024.

    A rare red weather warning has been issued ahead of the arrival of Storm Darragh this weekend.

    The Met Office has warned that parts of Wales and the south west of England could experience significant disruption and a “danger to life” owing to 90mph winds on Saturday morning.

    We are doomed! Doomed I tell ye!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/06/met-office-red-weather-warning-storm-darragh/#comment

  70. Ed Conway on how Net Zero policies are deindustrialising Britain…

    … the shift from fossil fuel energy to low-carbon energy has unequivocally pushed bills up. How could it not? For most of the past two decades wind turbines were far more expensive than fossil fuels. So a complex cocktail of charges — renewables obligations, feed-in tariffs, contracts for difference, emissions trading schemes — were bolted on top of wholesale energy prices to tax polluters and subsidise green schemes. In Germany all those costs were passed on to domestic customers; here in the UK they are shared with heavy industry, which, by the way, is part of the reason Britain is deindustrialising faster than every other developed economy.

    1. The Frogs are as irritating as hull.
      But that seems to be cruel and unnatural punishment.
      Bring it on.

  72. I'm sitting in the Swindon GWH – mother has an appointment for a lung scan…..or so she thought.
    It was yesterday.
    They're seeing her anyway thank goodness.

    1. Muslims are allowed to live and work in Israel:

      Citizenship. Arab citizens of Israel have the same legal rights as Jewish citizens. In 2023, the Israeli Arab population was 2.1 million people, making up 21% of Israel's total population.

      Apartheid you say……..

  77. Backed up by CHat GPT:
    "As of recent estimates in 2023, the Arab population of Israel is approximately 2 million people, making up about 21% of the country's total population. This includes Arab Muslims, Christians, and Druze who are Israeli citizens.

    Most Arab Israelis live in specific regions, including the Galilee in northern Israel, the Triangle area in central Israel, and parts of the Negev in the south. There are also significant Arab populations in cities like Nazareth, Umm al-Fahm, and in mixed cities such as Haifa, Jaffa (part of Tel Aviv), and Lod."

  80. This is last week's CM column.

    Revealed: Sir Keir Starmer's guilty secret – he doesn't like politics

    The Prime Minister does have an ideology. He believes human rights should be our religion and lawyers its high priests

    Charles Moore • 29 November 2024, 5:10pm GMT

    Why is this Government so useless? It is not a rhetorical question, a prelude to denunciation (though there is plenty to denounce). It is a question I want to try to answer.

    The charge sheet includes – in no particular order – Lord Alli's gifts of suits, spectacles, Wellington boots and penthouse flat; the ending of the winter fuel payment; the ceding of the Chagos Islands; the increase in employers' National Insurance and the dropping of its threshold; the imposition of inheritance tax on family farms and family businesses; the Labour Party workers who went to campaign against Donald Trump; the Cabinet disarray about assisted suicide; Rachel Reeves's CV; the rise and fall of Sue Gray; the mere presence of David Lammy; Louise Haigh.

    Apart from the fact that all the above involve avoidable mistakes, does a single thread run through this ragbag? Some critics discern an ideological consistency. They say the Government is much more Left-wing than it admits and motivated by an animus against anyone – except for businesses too big for Labour to dare touch – who tries to make an independent living.

    There is an unattractive ideology lurking here – and I'll come back to that – but it does not explain the ineptitude. If Sir Keir Starmer really were red in tooth and claw, a substantial minority in his own party would now be rooting for him.

    Instead, almost no one praises him or his government, except for those literally paid to do so. Can you remember that distant period three months ago when people said that "the sensibles" were back in charge?

    I suspect the key to this mystery lies elsewhere. There is much talk nowadays about Britain's de-skilling in vital trades and professions – digital know-how, engineering, GPs, language proficiency, the Civil Service. It feels as if the same has happened in a skill in which the British have traditionally excelled: democratic politics.

    Politics is a hard school, but it is not like training for accountancy or for Sir Keir's profession, the law. It has few written rules, no body of printed learning, no settled career structure, no tenure and its only pass-or-fail exam is the ballot box.

    The way you got trained for politics used to be in the House of Commons. But since Tony Blair's "family-friendly" hours and the routine use of the "guillotine" to curtail discussion of government Bills, it has become possible to have a political career without ever seriously scrutinising legislation or being fully tested in debate. MPs used to learn their trade through the hierarchy of their party tribes in Parliament, but now, what with Covid, social media, feeble debates and the proliferation of individual offices and aides, they have become more like sole traders, frantically signalling their wares in an overcrowded market.

    Thanks to the growth of Civil Service control and of "independent" regulatory bodies which hedge in elected politicians, it is even possible to be a government minister without learning how to make real decisions. Thanks to the ever-greater concentration of power in No 10, you can now be a Cabinet minister without being captain of your own ship.

    It has become apparent, since Labour came into office in July, that it does not, in functional terms, understand the difference between government and party. Perhaps foreseeing this problem, Sir Keir stole Sue Gray from the Civil Service to be his chief of staff. But when he reached Downing Street, Ms Gray lost the internal battle. Now almost all the important positions there are held by party people not by officials. So almost nobody understands how to make Whitehall work for the new government as it should.

    People who excel at politics thrive on its uncertainty and risk, like good sailors enjoying a storm. They also relish the implication of the word democracy – that it means communicating with the people. The giants of the past 50 years – Thatcher, Blair, Boris; Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Trump – all positively wanted to go out and reach the voters. Some preached; some seduced; some reasoned; some joked, but all were drawn to the smoke of battle and the roar of the crowd.

    Sir Keir Starmer is not like that, and nor is Rachel Reeves or most of his other senior colleagues. Before he became the Labour leader, and worked under Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir devoted his greatest energies to trying to reverse the largest democratic vote in our history, which was for Brexit.

    As leader, as an election campaigner and now as Prime Minister, he seems to dislike both reasoned argument and tub-thumping. On the very day she was forced out of office in 1990, Mrs Thatcher spoke for her government in a no-confidence debate. "I'm enjoying this!" she exclaimed, although she already knew she had fallen. Sir Keir is now, in theory, at the height of his power, with an unassailable majority, yet he does not seem to be enjoying politics one bit.

    This column has occasionally advanced the theory that the best way to test a leading politician is to imitate the method used by P G Wodehouse's famous fictional fathead, Bertie Wooster. Bertie discovers that if you go up to someone and say, "I know your guilty secret", you immediately gain power over them. First-rate politicians pass this test: they never cower. It is not relevant here whether they actually do have a guilty secret: it is a question of mentality. Their toughness is such that they just brush you aside.

    All the above-mentioned leaders pass this test. Several other prime ministers – John Major (who did have a guilty secret), for example, and Theresa May (whose only one was running through a wheat field) – fail it.

    I fear Sir Keir fails the Wooster test. In his otherwise inexpressive face, his eyes show fear, not, presumably, of personal scandal, but rather of the exposure, inevitable at the top level of politics, of what you really think.

    Sir Keir was the country's chief prosecutor. The working assumption of any public prosecutor is that he is right and his opponents are bad and wrong. That is a bad assumption in politics. It means that, for Sir Keir, all questioning of his policies and actions feels like an affront rather than an opportunity. It is why, though he is an intelligent man, he never says anything interesting: there is nothing he wishes to discuss. A good politician is one who is energised by political challenge. Not Sir Keir.

    In his legal background is his ideology. Sir Keir is of that school of Leftish thought which sees judges, not elected politicians, as the ultimate arbiters of government. The Attorney General, Lord Hermer, recently issued new guidelines to ministers which allow government lawyers, instead of offering legal advice, to instruct ministers that it would be inappropriate to proceed with a legally high-risk policy. Starmerism, if there is such a thing, is founded on the belief that human rights should be our religion and lawyers should be its high priests. The fundamental reason he is useless at politics is because he hates politics.

    By being so bad at politics, he creates a political vacuum in his own party. Given his enormous majority, it will be filled by a Labour rival, not by a change of government. The most likely lad, in the sense that he is on a mission which enthuses his own troops, is Ed Miliband. Unfortunately, the effect of his net zero mission will be to destroy the affordable energy upon which all citizens and Britain's few remaining economic strengths depend.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/29/starmer-loathing-politics-miliband

    David Starkey has been making the same observation about Starmer for some time, just as most of us have been making the point about ignorant MPs – ignorant in the proper sense of the word, knowing nothing about anything, totally unsuited to making decisions affecting the nation.

    Starmer's greater failure is his inability to understand what makes a nation. It is a people united by ancestry, history, language and culture and occupying a particular territory. The greater the level of unabsorbed immigration, the lesser the nation. Ours is fast waning.

    1. Starmer is not a good politician because a good one actually believes in something: country, nation, ideology. Starmer is a void. An empty space. Conviction is beyond him because he doesn't care about anything. He's a lawyer.

      The rest of the front bench are too stupid to understand what they're doing anyway.

    2. Someone remarked to me tonight, over mulled wine and mince pies, that Starmer doesn't want anyone to have any initiative; he wants the state to take over everything except big business.

      1. Starmer has already said he prefers Davos to Parliament. Small and medium sized businesses mean nothing to him. Corporations are all he cares about.

  81. This is last week's CM column.

    Revealed: Sir Keir Starmer's guilty secret – he doesn't like politics

    The Prime Minister does have an ideology. He believes human rights should be our religion and lawyers its high priests

    Charles Moore • 29 November 2024, 5:10pm GMT

    Why is this Government so useless? It is not a rhetorical question, a prelude to denunciation (though there is plenty to denounce). It is a question I want to try to answer.

    The charge sheet includes – in no particular order – Lord Alli's gifts of suits, spectacles, Wellington boots and penthouse flat; the ending of the winter fuel payment; the ceding of the Chagos Islands; the increase in employers' National Insurance and the dropping of its threshold; the imposition of inheritance tax on family farms and family businesses; the Labour Party workers who went to campaign against Donald Trump; the Cabinet disarray about assisted suicide; Rachel Reeves's CV; the rise and fall of Sue Gray; the mere presence of David Lammy; Louise Haigh.

    Apart from the fact that all the above involve avoidable mistakes, does a single thread run through this ragbag? Some critics discern an ideological consistency. They say the Government is much more Left-wing than it admits and motivated by an animus against anyone – except for businesses too big for Labour to dare touch – who tries to make an independent living.

    There is an unattractive ideology lurking here – and I'll come back to that – but it does not explain the ineptitude. If Sir Keir Starmer really were red in tooth and claw, a substantial minority in his own party would now be rooting for him.

    Instead, almost no one praises him or his government, except for those literally paid to do so. Can you remember that distant period three months ago when people said that "the sensibles" were back in charge?

    I suspect the key to this mystery lies elsewhere. There is much talk nowadays about Britain's de-skilling in vital trades and professions – digital know-how, engineering, GPs, language proficiency, the Civil Service. It feels as if the same has happened in a skill in which the British have traditionally excelled: democratic politics.

    Politics is a hard school, but it is not like training for accountancy or for Sir Keir's profession, the law. It has few written rules, no body of printed learning, no settled career structure, no tenure and its only pass-or-fail exam is the ballot box.

    The way you got trained for politics used to be in the House of Commons. But since Tony Blair's "family-friendly" hours and the routine use of the "guillotine" to curtail discussion of government Bills, it has become possible to have a political career without ever seriously scrutinising legislation or being fully tested in debate. MPs used to learn their trade through the hierarchy of their party tribes in Parliament, but now, what with Covid, social media, feeble debates and the proliferation of individual offices and aides, they have become more like sole traders, frantically signalling their wares in an overcrowded market.

    Thanks to the growth of Civil Service control and of "independent" regulatory bodies which hedge in elected politicians, it is even possible to be a government minister without learning how to make real decisions. Thanks to the ever-greater concentration of power in No 10, you can now be a Cabinet minister without being captain of your own ship.

    It has become apparent, since Labour came into office in July, that it does not, in functional terms, understand the difference between government and party. Perhaps foreseeing this problem, Sir Keir stole Sue Gray from the Civil Service to be his chief of staff. But when he reached Downing Street, Ms Gray lost the internal battle. Now almost all the important positions there are held by party people not by officials. So almost nobody understands how to make Whitehall work for the new government as it should.

    People who excel at politics thrive on its uncertainty and risk, like good sailors enjoying a storm. They also relish the implication of the word democracy – that it means communicating with the people. The giants of the past 50 years – Thatcher, Blair, Boris; Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Trump – all positively wanted to go out and reach the voters. Some preached; some seduced; some reasoned; some joked, but all were drawn to the smoke of battle and the roar of the crowd.

    Sir Keir Starmer is not like that, and nor is Rachel Reeves or most of his other senior colleagues. Before he became the Labour leader, and worked under Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir devoted his greatest energies to trying to reverse the largest democratic vote in our history, which was for Brexit.

    As leader, as an election campaigner and now as Prime Minister, he seems to dislike both reasoned argument and tub-thumping. On the very day she was forced out of office in 1990, Mrs Thatcher spoke for her government in a no-confidence debate. "I'm enjoying this!" she exclaimed, although she already knew she had fallen. Sir Keir is now, in theory, at the height of his power, with an unassailable majority, yet he does not seem to be enjoying politics one bit.

    This column has occasionally advanced the theory that the best way to test a leading politician is to imitate the method used by P G Wodehouse's famous fictional fathead, Bertie Wooster. Bertie discovers that if you go up to someone and say, "I know your guilty secret", you immediately gain power over them. First-rate politicians pass this test: they never cower. It is not relevant here whether they actually do have a guilty secret: it is a question of mentality. Their toughness is such that they just brush you aside.

    All the above-mentioned leaders pass this test. Several other prime ministers – John Major (who did have a guilty secret), for example, and Theresa May (whose only one was running through a wheat field) – fail it.

    I fear Sir Keir fails the Wooster test. In his otherwise inexpressive face, his eyes show fear, not, presumably, of personal scandal, but rather of the exposure, inevitable at the top level of politics, of what you really think.

    Sir Keir was the country's chief prosecutor. The working assumption of any public prosecutor is that he is right and his opponents are bad and wrong. That is a bad assumption in politics. It means that, for Sir Keir, all questioning of his policies and actions feels like an affront rather than an opportunity. It is why, though he is an intelligent man, he never says anything interesting: there is nothing he wishes to discuss. A good politician is one who is energised by political challenge. Not Sir Keir.

    In his legal background is his ideology. Sir Keir is of that school of Leftish thought which sees judges, not elected politicians, as the ultimate arbiters of government. The Attorney General, Lord Hermer, recently issued new guidelines to ministers which allow government lawyers, instead of offering legal advice, to instruct ministers that it would be inappropriate to proceed with a legally high-risk policy. Starmerism, if there is such a thing, is founded on the belief that human rights should be our religion and lawyers should be its high priests. The fundamental reason he is useless at politics is because he hates politics.

    By being so bad at politics, he creates a political vacuum in his own party. Given his enormous majority, it will be filled by a Labour rival, not by a change of government. The most likely lad, in the sense that he is on a mission which enthuses his own troops, is Ed Miliband. Unfortunately, the effect of his net zero mission will be to destroy the affordable energy upon which all citizens and Britain's few remaining economic strengths depend.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/29/starmer-loathing-politics-miliband

    David Starkey has been making the same observation about Starmer for some time, just as most of us have been making the point about ignorant MPs – ignorant in the proper sense of the word, knowing nothing about anything, totally unsuited to making decisions affecting the nation.

    Starmer's greater failure is his inability to understand what makes a nation. It is a people united by ancestry, history, language and culture and occupying a particular territory. The greater the level of unabsorbed immigration, the lesser the nation. Ours is fast waning.

  83. Village newcomer complains about church bell chiming all night
    Tony Partridge, 68, says the ‘unnecessary’ hourly toll at St Andrew’s in Helpringham is keeping him awake
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/06/village-church-bell-chiming-overnight-helpringham/

    He should go and live near a Mosque and hear the wailing calls to prayer five times a day.

    We spent time on our boat in Turkey and when we were anchored in Fethiye we were adjacent to the mosque. There were three different imams who gave the calls through a very crackly but extremely loud PA system. We got to be able to identify which of the three was broadcasting and we called them respectively Bob 1, Bob 2 and Bob 3.

    Why Bob? Because the reggae singer Bob Marley's group of disciples were called the Wailers.

    2. Dog Rescue had it's kennels in countryside, only two cottages nearby with manager living in one…guess what when someone else bought adjoining cottage..that's right, knew about the dog rescue when purchasing, similarly to village newcomer above – would have seen proximity to church (also, if purchased, solicitor should have raised in searches).

          1. We get a lot of that. Somebody came to the parish council meeting and complained that he came to the country for “peace and quiet”. Um …

          2. Countryside – traffic (mostly cars, delivery vans)…and lots of people, walking, talking…and church bells Friday practice and Sunday service…😂

          3. Don’t forget the smells! Somebody living next to a farm complained to the farmer that what was sprayed on the fields next door was killing stuff in their garden. All that had been spread was slurry.

          4. Ah yes, I remember it well…some villagers banded together a few years ago to complain about the smell, don’t think it ever amounted to much tho 😀

    4. “He should go and live near a Mosque and hear the wailing calls to prayer five times a day.”

      lol that will never happen because complaining about a wailing mosque would be racist!

      (Sic)

  84. Gosh – just as well I did go into the garden. Intending to cut up the remain bit of dead tree at the woodstore, found a TREE had fallen against the woodstore. Rapid work with ladder and saw saved the day (and the roof).

    Now trying to get feeling back in my hands…. There is no wind and it is not cold – just chilly.

          2. My pore brane finds these things difficult to follow.

            As the main issue is that I have Raynaud's disease – nothing really prevent the fingers (and hands) from draining of blood and causing quite a lot of discomfort.

            Old age, matey – it'll catch you soon….

          3. I wonder whether to swap my arthritis and useless fingers for your Raynaud’s.
            The fingertips get numb very quickly in cold weather and there are days when I can’t even use the nutcrackers for my daily walnuts without gritting my teeth.

          4. Sorry to hear that Sos. Have you considered employing a daily on a Saturday to do all the cracking between the thighs as needed?

            Asking for an illegal immigrant…

          5. I prefer my nuts to be eaten daily.
            err,
            perhaps I should rephrase that, people will think I’m nearly as awful as you.

          9. You have my sympathy. I do not have Raynaud's but i do have similar symptoms because of the blood clots in my legs. My left foot like ice and no feeling. The clots also causing cramps in the muscles of the lower legs. Not as bad as Reynaud's as blood can be forced to flow by exercises. Painful as they can be.

          10. Think Fagin, Bill, then imagine an added little teacosy like thingy to cover the fingertips if the worst comes to the worst.

  85. I had lots of errands to do this morning , locally and of course a trip into Wareham .

    Very busy but calm sunny morning .. cloudy as well and 11c.. no breeze , swans and ducks on the Frome , and just lots of happy activity .

    There was a chugger / Big Issue seller , chap with hardly any teeth , Romania , he told me .. Very poor country he told me , why are you here in the UK, and why are you selling the Big Issue ? He shrugged his shoulders .. as it is Christmas nearly , I gave him a handful of loose change .. probably about a £5 worth , a little more than enough for 4 tins of tomato soup and a loaf of bread .. Looking at it that way , I felt dreadful , but satisfied it was at least something .

    NO , I am not a soft touch , and I know about counting pennies . I only receive half a pension , much less than £100per week. .. and I am quite frugal really.

    How did Romanians have access to the UK, and are we really a dustbin for everyone from Europe as well.

    The lady at the checkout where I shopped commented about the Big Issue chap . She said she was born and brought up in Isleworth decades ago , but has lived in Dorset for 30 years , and she told me she visited there recently .. Isleworth and Hounslow are similar to India .. full of Indians .. She said that the old Edwardian homes and the area where she went to school are no longer the lovely memory she had as a child .

    There are loads of places that I would love to visit again , but I don't want my memories ruined .

    1. A few years ago I made the mistake of going back to the place I lived as a teenager. My teenage years were very happy, and a memorable time, but quite a few stresses as my father had to close his business down and we had no money. But going back was the biggest mistake I made as it had all changed, and of course the memories were only that, just memories. Memories cannot be relived. So now I don't go back to previous places.

    2. I don't know if it still applies, but BI sellers can register themselves as Self Employed and automatically become eligible for a range of benefits.
      And guess who forced that onto the then Government of the Day?

          1. So he starting interferring long before he became a bloody politician.
            I thought Wilson ruined lots of people's employment rights with his SET. Selective Employment Tax.

    3. I'd like to return to the Isle of Dogs, but suspect that the experience would only be profoundly depressing – as you describe, Belle.

    4. Years ago, Belle, I grew up in Ham and Teddington. Then the IOW for a few months, then RAF for a couple of years, back to Teddington, followed by Twickenham and Geneva for a couple of years. Then Richmond, Teddington and Richmond again. Followed by Isleworth ffor 6 months after we sold in Richmond, then 20+ years now in Cornwall. My poor current wife had to do both of the last 2 moves with the 2 kids without me as I was working in the marine seismic industry. I would only return to London now to see my brother.
      As you say, the place was a different country.

      1. So true Mm,

        My parents and siblings cleared off to SA for good in 1967. after living in black Africa .. Even SA is a hole now.

        My dear relatives are farmers in N Yorks , but I have had old aunts and uncles who lived in Bradford , Wakefield and Leeds area , my goodness what has happened there?

        Parents had a base in Walton on Thames after we were evacuated from Egypt in 1956 .. my father's company homed us in SW18 for a while .. emergency accommodation .. and there were many West Indians .. freshly arrived I guess..

        Husband comes from Southampton .. busy city and always had an ethnic mix, lots of Indians etc.

        Bournemouth used to be quite alright .. but it is now spiv and drug ridden and the university , so called, has attracted diversity from all over and the rest and the town is scruffy , major department stores gone , everyone was smart , had an old colonial feel , and was quite civilised .. no longer… just rather flash sadly .

        I can't really cope with the diversity there , so very rarely go there anymore .

        1. There aren't many places in Africa where one feels really safe. A beautiful place with a wonderful natural history. Possibly, and probably, the birthplace of the human race. Unfortunately, the Dark Continent is still just that. I remember when I worked onshore in Nigeria and other places the instructions of how to head directly to an embassy or airport to clear out if one was ever in a serious situation. Still had some good times there.

  87. Caption Contest (Change of Plan Edition)
     https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2178496c2105856f1ffbcf529499320a8c860d41ed94c30ca9cad525431741d7.png
    *********************************************************************

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/121c4716e4c8120ee904444f8ca85f742f35f30ac2d71274bd82d6d7d8f1aa81.png
    Ernest Nowell
    Dover Sentry
    2h
    Starmer and his Cabinet are all examples of Post Turtles. They are found on top of fence posts. Nobody knows how they got there. They certainly didn’t get there by their own efforts. They are doing nothing useful whilst they are there.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bbd01b1596521e566a034f7614dd3013a01ff3932dbf56b14047c4e60c7c4d96.png
    Gary Laconic Jr.
    2h
    "I'm now less popular than Gregg Wallace."

    Bruce Everiss
    2h
    Victoria Sponge and 2TK celebrate Christmas.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e280495f9df40e501c0125954d1e11de38dbd91f2f87ce01c5dfe3634afe514.png
    TTSK and Lady Victoria Sponge
    Bruce Everiss
    43m
    That is an old photo from our (borrowed) house just after the conference where Lady Vic modelled some of the presents from admirers (one admirer) – I haven't seen her since. I am also trying to get in contact with Boris to apologise about calling him a criminal on Wednesday but apparently he has been missing for about the same amount of time as my wife. Very odd!

    2. I don't keep up with all the things happening, but can I assume that Lady Victoria Sponge is his wife?

  88. Safely back home with eldest daughter and auction purchases.
    Quite a decent day's drive. Stepson is OK-ish but VERY reluctant to leave his flat.

  90. The world is roughly divided into two main groups:

    i ) Useful idiots who go along with whatever that MSM and the politicians want them to believe – such as man-made climate change, the evils of carbon and the efficacy of the Covid jabs;
    and
    ii) Conspiracy theorists who are villainised , despised and ridiculed and feared by the PTB and the MSM for being right.

    Many of the Nottlers are in the second category!

      1. I do believe this nonsense comes from the back room trade deals that are never publicised. Dirty deals to grease wheels.

        I just can't believe my local supermarket can sell me a pineapple for 69 pence.

        I know there are agreements to support farmers in these exotic regions but it isn't them that are getting the benefit.

    2. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,266 4/6

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

    3. No yellow divots today

      Wordle 1,266 3/6

      🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Just back from 5 0'clock club. A 3, but achieved late this morning. Wordle 1,266 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  93. The explosive truth about the origin of Covid-19 may finally be about to emerge

    Trump’s new lieutenants, Jay Bhattacharya and John Ratcliffe, are convinced that a lab leak was probably the source

    06 December 2024 10:30am GMT
    Matt Ridley
    It is now five years since people in Wuhan started dying from a mysterious new form of pneumonia that spread like wildfire, overwhelming every blockade put in its way. But the election of Donald Trump may be about to transform our understanding of how the Covid pandemic began. An insider tells me explosive documents may come to light – so long as they do not expose intelligence assets in China. The foxes are in the henhouse.

    Trump cannot change the intransigent refusal of the Chinese authorities to investigate what went on in the world’s leading laboratory for studying SARS-like viruses in bats, which happened to be in Wuhan. But his lieutenants, especially the health economist Jay Bhattacharya – nominated to head the National Institutes of Health – and John Ratcliffe – nominated to lead the CIA – are convinced that a lab leak was probably the source of the outbreak, and are determined to unblock the obfuscation inside the American bureaucracies, where some of the funding and expertise for the key experiments originated.

    A new report from a subcommittee of the House of Representatives complains how government officials “obstructed” its work in multiple ways, and lays out in gobsmacking detail just how much senior officials allegedly have schemed to prevent information emerging: frustrating freedom of information requests, redacting documents and misleading journalists all in an attempt to “help put down this very destructive conspiracy [theory]” that Covid started with a lab leak – in the embarrassing words of one of Bhattacharya’s predecessors, Francis Collins.

    Incredibly, for instance, one of Collins’s senior bureaucrats, David Morens, is quoted in the report as seemingly describing how not to write emails that might be made public: “Hopefully no problems with the emails that came to me at my NIH address. I deleted them quickly and hopefully didn’t reply to any.”

    Senator Rand Paul will now chair a crucial Senate committee, giving him subpoena power. It was Paul who was told by Dr Anthony Fauci during a previous hearing “you do not know what you are talking about!” on the topic of whether the US government had funded gain-of-function research in China. The new House subcommittee report concludes, however, that it was Fauci who did not know what he was talking about: “Dr Fauci’s testimony to Senator Paul misled the public regarding the funding of gain-of-function research at the WIV.”

    The committee lays out how Peter Daszak, head of the EcoHealth Alliance, the conduit by which US taxpayer’s money flowed to Wuhan, allegedly misled the committee, helped to shift gain-of-function experiments to China, and set out to shut down speculation that those experiments led to the pandemic. As a funder and collaborator of the Wuhan lab, Daszak was under an obligation to demand access to lab notebooks and viral samples from Shi Zhengli, the head of the lab in question, but, according to the committee’s report, failed to do so.

    Shi Zhengli spoke this week, by Zoom, to a conference in Japan on “planning for the next pandemic”. Shockingly, the organisers of the Japan meeting excluded Hideki Kakeya, a genomic expert who had asked searching questions at a previous meeting, on the ground that he was “disruptive”.

    I discovered that this was untrue: the organiser of the previous meeting Nishimura Hidekazu told me he behaved in a “gentle and gentlemanly manner there and asked questions normally”, while one of the organisers of the current meeting Maoyen Chi admitted to me that Kakeya’s “anti-China policy” played a part in his exclusion, as did the fact that “he is notorious in the field of science related to Covid, such as its origin”.

    In other words, parts of the scientific establishment are still trying to censor some scientists and protect others who have been uncooperative in helping us understand how a virus killed more than 20 million people. That is a strategy that is bound to backfire.

    The viral vector engineering expert Alina Chan of MIT and Harvard (my co-author) recently wrote “Scientists shouldn’t be censoring themselves. We’re obliged to put all the data out there. We shouldn’t be deciding that it’s better if the public doesn’t know about this or that. If we start doing that, we lose credibility, and eventually we lose the public’s trust.”

    For many observers, the entire episode has revealed a dark side to science, where groupthink and propaganda trump reason and evidence. As one expert on viral outbreaks who had competed with Daszak before the pandemic, Alex Washburne, put it last week: “The rampant promulgation of such motivated reasoning in science is undermining everything, from trust in science to even the quality of our scientific enterprise.”

    The virologist Simon Wain-Hobson of the Pasteur Institute in Paris takes a similar view: “The public is thirsty for science and can’t get enough of it. They just want to know a little more of what we know. That’s not a big ask. Whenever evoking pandemic preparedness or anything else scientific, don’t censor the right to free speech and thought. Ever.”

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

    Michael Hills
    4 hrs ago
    A blind man on a galloping horse could see it came from that lab, but the "follow the science" people chose to gaslight us by lying through their teeth.

    StepBy Step
    4 hrs ago
    Reply to Michael Hills
    Yes, sack the gaslighters and ban them from similar work in future. We must be able to rely on scientists to tell the truth.

    Farmer George
    3 hrs ago
    Reply to StepBy Step – view message
    I still want to know where that initial propaganda came from of people falling down in the streets. That seems to have never been challenged and was never replicated. V dodgy and a smoking gun.

          1. Info can also be found on Daily Sceptic and other bloggers, Bill. Scary thing is, they did it once, they'll try again….

          2. They are already planing a "quadrudemic" KJ. They really are out and out runts of a different initial consonant. I will be intrigued to see the level of compliance when the glob next cries "Wolf!" . Gates has informed us it will be late winter/early spring of next year, IIRC.

          3. Gates can Foxtrot Oscar. Quadruple that when it comes to farmland. I read Carl Heneghan most days, he knows the score.

      2. Carl Heneghan/Trust the Evidence been all over it for a long time. Also journalists on Daily Sceptic.

    2. It is now five years since people in Wuhan started dying from a mysterious new form of pneumonia that spread like wildfire, overwhelming every blockade put in its way.

      Nottlers knew about this straight away. Rik put up the photographs.

      1. Nottlers knew from the beginning the photos and videos were fakes. Do we all get to join Tommy? I can think of worse company. I could have a beer with him.
        I would sooner spend my last days in the company of such men than those who rule us.

        Reminds me of the gladiator speech.

        “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next”.

        For as long as we live or they allow us to live we will not forget how they enriched themselves. How they awarded multi million pound contracts to their friends. How they used taxpayers money to scare those same people to death. How they used psychology against their own people.

        How they tried to guilt us and still do with non stop messages about taking even more of their not safe and effective drugs.

    3. Forget Wuhan, it could well have started closer to my home at a level 4 lab in Winnipeg.

      Chinese scientists who happened to have connections to Wuhan worked at the Winnipeg lab. They smuggled virus samples out of the Canadian lab and sent them to Wuhan.

      It took forever before trudeau banned the scientiste and the government went to extraordinary lengths to conceal evidence about what the scientists had been working on.

    5. When I saw the film of people in China, walking normally along the street and suddenly falling down dead, I knew it was all a hoax. It was nearly as funny as a Buster Keaton film, but not as well acted.

    1. Unlike the one who, seeing me knee deep trying to clear the gully in the lane in front of the house, drove at high speed through it, drenching me to the skin (and I was wearing waterproof clothing).

      1. Same happened to me. It was a Royal Mail van from where i had just picked up a parcel from the depot. I walked back totally drenched and gave them the hairdryer treatment. With lots of swearing.

      2. Technically that constitutes an assault, so if it happens (I know, too late this time), take the reg. number and report it to the police. They should take some kind of action against the driver.

      1. And the EU has banned selling the kill drugs to America much like the UK got rid of the death penalty. I'm beginning to like the Sauds !

          1. Under their very tight laws the wife (Christine Grady) head of NIH and BIO ETHICS) wouldn't be able to approve her husband's drugs to the FDA.

  96. That's me for today. At least it didn't rain or blow a gale. At least I was able to do ladder and saw work to rescue the woodstore from what could have been a disaster.

    Tomorrow – Christmas Fair at the church. So, natch, heavy rain and gale forecast. Fingers will be crossed.

    Just read the furore about Welby and his "speech" followed by his "apology". Would be nice if the next ABC was a Christian. Just saying…

    A demain

  97. From Coffee house, the Spectator,

    Arriving on stage to accept ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards, Nigel Farage gave a warning to the Westminster establishment. ‘I’ve got a bit of a shock for you,’ he said. ‘If you think that I and four other people – the newcomers into parliament this year in the general election – were a shock, I’m very sorry but at the next election in 2029 or before, there will be hundreds of newcomers under the Reform UK label.’

    He added: ‘We are about to witness a political revolution the likes of which we have not seen since Labour after the first world war. Politics is about to change in the most astonishing way. Newcomers will win the next election. Thank you very much.’

    ‘I think about Nigel
    Farage a lot,’ says one
    government figure

    While many of the attendees laughed off Farage’s claims and went back to their wine, he had hit on an acute concern in Downing Street. As Keir Starmer struggles to get a grip on government, some in Labour are anxious that his shortcomings could see voters move to the right. ‘An anti-politics mood is spreading across the country,’ says a minister.

    Ahead of the election, Labour aides said that they would face one of the toughest inheritances in living memory. Five months in, most of the party still can’t quite believe how badly it has gone. ‘I’m not panicking yet,’ says one aide. ‘But I might soon.’ The Prime Minister ends the year with collapsing approval ratings, a fall in business confidence and his first cabinet resignation in the form of Louise Haigh, who stood down following the revelation that she had a fraud conviction (which Starmer knew about).

    In a sign of the increasingly febrile mood in the Labour party, Haigh’s exit is being viewed as suspicious by parts of the Labour left. ‘They never accepted Louise, she was an odd fit,’ says a party figure. ‘It’s all very convenient.’ Another source points to the fact that Haigh, who represents the soft left, had protested about spending cuts ahead of the Budget as a reason why Downing Street may be breathing a sigh of relief that she is out. She has been replaced with the Starmer loyalist Heidi Alexander. ‘Morgan McSweeney is a Stalinist without the left-wing bits,’ says one Labourite, referring to Starmer’s chief of staff. Downing Street strongly denies any foul play, of course.

    There is, however, cautious optimism in 10 Downing Street that things can be turned around. The Prime Minister has time on his side. In No. 10, many of the problems to date have been blamed on the last chief of staff, the career civil servant Sue Gray. She is accused by her former colleagues of messing up the preparations for government and denying Starmer a clean start. Rumours that Gray is still in line for a peerage are landing badly with Labour staffers.

    With McSweeney, Starmer’s long-standing aide, now in the role, a series of events are planned to get the government back on the front foot. The first is Starmer’s speech on his government’s priorities. This has been widely branded as a ‘reset moment’, yet Downing Street aides erupt at the mention of the r-word. ‘It’s not a reset,’ says one senior government figure. ‘How can an event that’s been in the diary for months be a reset?’ Either way, the idea is to turn the government’s ‘missions’ from broad concepts underlying its aims – on living standards and NHS waiting lists, for instance – into clear goals for Whitehall.

    Ministers believe such goals are achievable if the state is reformed. That will be an uphill endeavour. ‘This country is on a downward trajectory,’ says a government aide. ‘We need to reverse that.’

    It all feels a little familiar. Didn’t Rishi Sunak try to turn the tide on his party’s fortunes by bringing in tangible goals – his ‘five priorities’? They quickly became an albatross around his neck. When Sunak made progress on one target, it was seen as small when set against his failures on the others. But Starmer’s allies say it’s different for him. ‘We have four years to get this done,’ says a government figure. ‘Rishi had to make a desperate attempt as he had no time.’

    Next comes the spending review, which is due in June. An official launch is expected in the coming weeks. Rather than wait for leaks or letters, Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to get ahead of the agenda and set out what the government plans to achieve. The promise of reform will be a necessary accompaniment to any spending requests. Ministers already think the Treasury exerts too much political power. The vacuum in No. 10 in the beginning of the government meant much of the politics fell to No. 11. ‘We’ve basically been governed by Treasury civil servants for three months,’ says a Labour MP – pointing to Starmer and Reeves’s decision to enact a series of policies known to be favoured by Treasury officials, from cutting winter fuel to the crackdown on inheritance on land.

    Could the new Cabinet Secretary change that? Simon Case was this week replaced by Chris Wormald – who was previously permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care. Wormald beat candidates including Olly Robbins, the former Brexit negotiator, to the job. In Whitehall, he is viewed as a safe pair of hands – even if he lacks some of the flair of his rivals.

    Yet there are already signs that more joined-up thinking is needed. The week Reeves appointed a new Covid corruption officer, Starmer made the man who is likely to have had oversight on many of the pandemic contracts his top sherpa. Wormald lacks foreign policy experience, but the idea is that Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, will make up for this in his role as national security adviser. Powell played a key role in the controversial Chagos Islands deal, however, so the jury is out on him.

    All this points to wider concerns in government. Ministers are struggling to bend the machine to their will. ‘You realise that you need to not ask civil servants for their advice, but tell them what you want,’ says a government aide. Labour high-ups are aware that if they don’t succeed, the Reform party leader’s prophecy may well come true.

    ‘I think about Nigel Farage a lot,’ says a government figure. ‘It’s not impossible he is in government in a few years.’ So Starmer’s attempted reset isn’t just about his own fortunes. It’s about what happens if the whole left-wing project fails.

    Katy Balls
    WRITTEN BY
    Katy Balls
    Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.

    1. I hope the next one is called Caliana. Just so the muslims know the weather might be a bit windy and wet. And to put all their fake vapes, battery chargers and fags on the top shelves of their mini supermarkets.

        1. I was waiting. Didn't bother to edit.

          Some texts are read backwards.

          Who am i to argue…………………………………………………………………

          3. We had an amusing discussion with a French artisan who was doing repairs.
            We were talking about the differences in medication between France and England and he described how an Englishman he knew had eaten the suppository rather than do as the French do for constipation.

  99. Well what a lovely start to the weekend. Not that the weekend is any real difference to the rest of our week. Number two son and their wonderful, five in February, son popped in and made our day. My wife and I always have Fish and chips with minty peas on Friday. He did like some of the chips that were offered……too many 😉
    We are so happy he's getting cleared of leukemia.

      1. We love it, it’s such a fantastic relief for everyone and especially for his wonderful parents. They have travelled many hundreds of miles for him to have the fantastic treatment.

  100. Thought for the day:

    Wouldn't it be splendid if all those pushing the ineffective vaccines were imprisoned and used as guinea pigs for all new vaccines to test efficacy and long term side effects.

    Let's start with Hancock, Fauci, Whitty and all the other drug pushers.

    1. Matt was doing so well…

      There is no and there is no and there is no…and that is after you have waited 20 hours for a bed.

      My nephew with Leukemia is often in a bed in a corridor. He is responding to treatment well but how will he fair with all the Winter Flu and

      1. Had a young relative with it, initially diagnosed anaemic, bloods high% leukemic when finally admitted…a long haul with scary moments but fully recovered. Good luck to your lad and family, wish you well.

        1. He is responding well but i think life expectantcy is shortened.

          Thank you for your comment.

          1. My relative started age 10, out of school for a good year or more..still going strong more than a decade later, no setbacks. Hope and pray the same with your little chap…all the best to you, Kate x

          2. Thanks Kate.
            He is around 30. He is a nice lad though he has had difficulties. Too much to go into here but he got into trouble in his teens and i wonder if his condition was undiagnosed and affected his behaviour. Not trying to make excuses but it does make me think.

            Best of luck to you and yours.

            BTW. He didn't hurt anyone.

          3. I suspect you’re correct, Phiz. From what you say, sounds typical I’ve read/been told about other boys (undiagnosed autistism). Seems more prevalent boys than girls, too. He sounds a decent lad, good luck to him. I think modern life can be difficult for children/teens/young people, social media bullying etc, the need to conform, and all on top of being locked down for months on end – to say nothing of vaccines (was he vaccinated btw, if so did it have any effect on him?)

    1. I remember a Nottler comment suggesting the possibility of Gregg having an undiagnosed neurodiverse condition which could result in an unfair interpretation of his unorthodox utterances of a sexual nature.

      1. Probably it was me !!!

        As far as making lewd suggestions and pinching girls bottoms i think that a better defense than muslim rapist bomber slasher killers having mental issues.

        I may be wrong.

        1. There are actually some legal sports where throwing in the towel is an acceptable part of the came. It is likely to occur after unexpectedly being faced with a heavy left and right

  107. You can tell things arenæt going well when you see an article like this in the Telegraph:
    "Ukrainian special forces ‘capture 12 Russian soldiers’ in fresh Kursk advance
    As Odesa faces renewed attacks down on the coast, we lead with the downfall of a multi billion pound Russian money laundering system, and we interview the front man of Ukraine's most famous and influential rock band, Okean Elzy    .
    06 December 2024

  108. Winter is here with a vengeance so a view of Spring. April this year:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c6c6f4cd7539b8768cb195827df190ffac490c8517eb90759320c90ff2ed510.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30dfbeafd15a4dffb91c082b65f1db64cea893a0a26bb71e43922fe7cb2dea9d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c6640a9eaa5a6a7ea996da009c61e15e8268b614edacf006ad63e0dbdd7548dc.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3197e54dc25b847afcf70f0ac16bdbc42f436c5c26d326e74316a91cd5bea761.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f47dd2d216bbb9ba949872bef6cc1bc4d55c0cf45f05ba0da844a9cdb268eec2.jpg

      2. We have a viburnum and an abelia in flower. And soon will have sarcococca which has a wonderful scent but the flowers are insignificant.

    1. From the Daily Telegraph

      A deal with Reform would kill conservatism
      A merger would create a different kind of Right-wing politics that would not be welcomed by current Tories

      Stephen Davies06 December 2024 12:32pm GMT
      Latterly, the idea that the Conservative and Reform parties should enter into an electoral pact, or even merge into one party, has been attracting attention. The idea behind it is straightforward.

      There is a single body of Right-wing voters in the UK. At the last election that vote was divided almost evenly between Conservative and Reform, with the result that, because of the way the electoral system works, a swathe of seats was lost to Labour and the Liberal Democrats. If it was reunited you would have a winning formula.

      This argument is seductive but wrong. An alliance or merger would destroy actual conservative politics in the UK and replace it with a different kind of Right-wing politics, one that would not be welcome to most current Conservatives.

      The practical objection is that a merger is unlikely anyway, and would not yield the anticipated electoral results. Nigel Farage and Reform have no reason to agree to one. Their aim is not to reunite the Right but to destroy the Conservative Party and replace it, with a different kind of politics.

      They would only agree if it was actually a takeover. Currently, they are building a genuine mass party with a proper campaigning machine. It makes much more sense for them to cannibalise the Conservative Party and absorb it in small bites, one MP or prominent activist at a time. Why change a strategy that is working?

      Also, the assumption that the two parties’ voters can be easily or simply combined is mistaken. There are many Conservative voters who would not support a party produced by merging with Reform – they would likely abstain or vote for the Liberal Democrats. An even larger proportion of Reform voters hate and despise the Conservative party and its politics and would also not transfer.

      This is not just a matter of being really, really angry about the late government’s record on immigration. It is a more profound rejection of historic conservatism.

      The voters who support Reform and the emerging identity of that party, represent a kind of radical right politics that has precedents between 1890 and 1940 but has not been represented since. It combines nationalism with support for a strong state and a rejection of the establishment and a desire for radical reform.

      It is certainly Right-wing by various standards but it is not conservative. This is a politics of reconstruction, not conservation or restoration. It is a form of Right-wing radicalism similar to that of the MAGA movement that has now taken over the Republican party, or the many parties of that kind on the Continent. How should Conservatives view the appearance of this politics?

      The essence of conservatism is to protect, preserve, and reform the established and settled order, to conserve the inheritance of the past while adding to it, so as to transmit it to future generations. This is not incompatible with dramatic action to achieve those ends or with action to undo harmful innovations that have not ‘taken’ and restoring an older order.

      It is not compatible with a politics that sees the established order as irredeemably corrupt and looks to pull it up – a Right radicalism – just as much as its left equivalent.

      The challenge for Conservatives is to find a politics that speaks to those ends and is in tune with the aspirations and outlooks of enough voters to win elections. There is a very long and rich history of conservative and Conservative thought and politics to draw on. What the party does need to do is to move on from the politics of Thatcher, which currently dominate all sides of the party but in different ways.

      That is not a matter of repudiating her legacy but of looking to other parts of the conservative tradition. Merging or cooperating with the kind of politics Reform represents is not the way to do that.

    2. Really? He should immediately announce he is feminine non binary !

      With pink nipple tassels and a side of black pudding.

      With sprinkles.

  110. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    A famously elitist members’ club, a 900-year-old meat market, and a traditional old barbershop may not feel like they have much in common. In fact, they didn’t – not until the last week or two, when they all simultaneously closed in their disparate parts of London. The first closure, that of the Groucho Club, has been widely covered in these pages, generally with an overtone of chortling. After all, it is hard to feel sorry for a place that is notoriously exclusive, boasts a world-class art collection, and charges members £1,500 a year for the privilege of eating near a Damien Hirst – or indeed eating near Damien Hirst.

    It is the city that survived the Black Death and the Blitz, the Great Fire and Gordon Brown

    And yet, as a long-standing member, I will robustly defend the Groucho. Because it is fun. Because it opens late. Because it has been around for decades. Because that art collection is magnificent and soothing. Because – yes, if you can afford it – the Groucho wants you to enjoy yourself. And because it’s a pivotal part of Soho which is potentially closing for good (inshallah, the Groucho survives). Soho is a crucial part of what makes London London. And it is all of London that feels like it is declining, changing for the worse, even dying.

    Take the second closure, the meat market. This, of course, is Smithfield in Farringdon, which has been butchering pigs, filling sausages, and swinging cow carcasses like dead gangsters in a Scorsese movie since the time of Henry II. For evidence of how old Smithfield is: if you’ve ever wondered why the pavements of Islington are so weirdly elevated, it is because, centuries ago, they were raised above the dung and mess created by the herds of livestock trampling down to Farringdon’s Gate of St John.

    Now, after nearly a thousand years of meat cleavers, burly porters, 8 a.m. pints of Guinness and decades of that brilliant clash between sleek, rich, chic financial London and ruddy, visceral, malty, offal-and-oatmeal London, the market is to shut its oddly delicate Victorian gates forever. Appositely, it will be replaced by a museum: the Museum of London.

    And what about that third closure? It is, yes, just a barbershop. But it is my barbers, on the rugged Primrose Hill borders. I’ve known it for yonks, and the amiable boss could make my hair presentable in 16 minutes. Now he’s gone, and one reason he’s gone is the competition from approximately seventy billion ‘Turkish barbers’, which line the streets near me en masse, only outnumbered by vape shops with fascias so garish they would be rejected in Nairobi as unsuitably vulgar.

    But am I imagining this whiff of wider decline, and narrowing, even death? Let’s focus on the nightlife, because there we have stats. Between 2020 and 2023, more than 3,000 of London’s ‘night economy businesses’ closed their doors. At the same time, dozens of nightclubs have vanished – Tiger Tiger to Madame Jojo’s. Even sadder for a world city with a great drinking culture, London pubs are shuttering at a faster rate than anywhere in Britain.

    Of the pubs that do remain, they face ever more hostile councils and busybodies. The Sekforde pub in Clerkenwell opened in 1829. Now its neighbours have complained so fiercely about the jolly sound of evening drinkers, this historic boozer risks losing its licence. Perhaps the curtain-twitchers should have considered the prospect of street chatter when they bought a house next to a pub? And the Sekforde is hardly unique. Add staffing problems and the cost-of-living crisis, and it is not uncommon to find pubs in central London closing at 9 p.m. or not opening for half the week.

    Underlying demographic trends are also, of course, at work. Take London boroughs like Tower Hamlets and Newham, which are now 40 per cent and 35 per cent Muslim respectively. As Muslims don’t drink, it is unsurprising that the pubs in these areas have closed even faster than elsewhere. At the same time, younger people – of any religion, or none – are much less likely to drink than their hog-whimpering parents. Around a quarter of 16- to 24-year-olds don’t drink at all.

    Personally, however, I can’t help feeling that the disappearance of good-time London, its slide into depression, even intimations of death, must also be linked to political leadership. After all, for a decade London has been led by a beige, joyless, teetotal homunculus, a man so dedicated to Not Having Fun he bans bikini ads from the Tube.

    Mayor Sadiq Khan has also, until recently, been assisted by one Amy Lamé, who was paid up to £130,000 as Night Czar. And what happened under the reign of the capital’s Night Czar? Well, almost 1,000 bars and clubs in London have closed, for a start. Maybe the Night Czar should have been called the Early Evening Czarina, or even the Sultana of Stay Home, Then We Won’t Be Stabbed.

    We have a new PM, too, the Honourable Member for Anhedonia, who makes Khan look like Falstaff crossed with a young Elton John. For Keir Starmer (who doesn’t dream, never eats meat, cannot name a favourite book, poem nor Christmas movie), a ‘good time’ is becoming prime minister just so that he and his wife can grift some free designer saucepans – like one of those rich middle-aged couples who can’t wait to book into a struggling historic three-star hotel just to steal the tiny soaps and hand towels.

    So, yes, London is more depressing than it was. No getting round it. But as a Londoner, I refuse to yield to despair – or to any sense of death. Why not? Because it is London. It is the Smoke, it is the city that survived the Black Death and the Blitz, the Great Fire and Gordon Brown. When I climb Primrose Hill at dusk, I can look out over a skyline that simply did not exist 40 years ago. Some of the new skyscrapers are gauche and ugly, but some are glorious.

    There are also solid reasons for optimism, amidst the darkness. London is easily the best city in Europe for start-ups (‘despite Brexit’), indeed it is second only to New York, globally. London also boasts more tech unicorns (new tech companies worth over £1 billion) than any city in Europe. And, fundamentally, London’s young population is growing, fast. There are good reasons to dislike the changes that can come with this, but on a basic level a growing population is much better than the opposite. New York City, for instance, is shrinking.

    As for my own personal feelings, when I heard that my barbers was gone, I stomped down to the high street in a huff – and I went to one of those Turkish gaffs. Inside, the guy gave me an excellent cut, told a funny deadpan joke (‘That will be £90, Sir’), burned the hairs off my ears, and I was out within 15 minutes. So it turns out I found a good new barber quite quickly. In the same spirit, I believe London will throw off her sulks, her glooms, and her grey politicians, and she will return. She always does.

    WRITTEN BY
    Sean Thomas
    Sean Thomas is a bestselling author. He tweets from @thomasknox.

  112. 398157+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    Circular Logic: Housebuilders Demand More Migrants to Build Houses for Population Boom Caused by Immigration

    Blinkered Logic for idiots: Housebuilders Demand More Migrants to Build Houses for Population Boom Caused daily by foreign invaders

    The governing "tool" operating instructions under WEF / NWO / RESET agenda / with royal seal.

    1. Given the high greenie standards new houses have to be built to migrants who don't have the skills should be trained in thatching and wattle and daub.

      1. We have plenty of slurry to construct the walls, the migrants will feel at home, alhamdulilah.

      2. My mediaeval cottage has parts in wattle and daub and is thatched with longstraw. Thankfully it is oak framed and comparatively sturdy.

        I prefer my comfortable home to anything produced by the likes of Barratts, Taylor Wmpey and Abbey Homes.

        1. I understand that older cottages (especially if listed) can be rather cold. How do you get round that insulation?

    1. I wouldn't worry about it. They just want you to get used sirens going off. And the people working from home will be fine when their pagers go off.

  114. A reminder to those who pop in and browse through Nottler comments
    The UK, an Island made of Coal surrounded by a Sea full of Gas with the highest fuel bills in Europe. Importing Oil, Gas and Coal

    1. The irony as well, that we were brilliant steel producers. Never mind, Belle, after the fall of current humanity we'll still have those natural resources beneath us (if any native Brits are still around to utilise them).

      1. What is the weather doing down your way , Mm… I expect it is pretty stormy, are you protected or exposed .. we have a few bungalows behind us then fields .. so straight in to us so to speak.

        The wind is quite fierce and noisy here and so mild .. unbelievable ..

        It was almost this time last year during a gale that the dog pulled me over into the lilac bush , during night time wees , and I ended up on top of a huge hedgehog .. my jeans were penetrated by prickles .. and on the Saturday morning I ended up in A+E, swollen painful leg , anti tetanus jab and 10 days worth of antibiotics !

        1. Ndovu has a lot to answer for. Meant to be 55mph winds here from the west, but our valley runs northish-southish so fairly protected. Having said that, I thought I just heard a tile sliding down the roof. Tomorrow, 70 mph north-westerly winds predicted. I pretty much don't worry anymore. Oscar doesn't like the wind though, so he'll need a cuddle.
          I understand the dog pulling you along though. There are 20 dodgy, muddy, awkward steps down to the river path and I have to be careful I don't end up in A&E. Take care, Maggie.

          1. Good night Mm, yes , stay safe , and I hope your tiles stay put as well

            We have what is called a Rosemary roof .. clay tiles , it is a miracle how they stay on , some have slipped and it is a real job to slide them back up/in .

            Sleep tight , and Oscar as well 😊🐾🐾

          3. Those are plain nib tiles and depending upon the roof pitch alternate courses should be twice nailed with alloy clout nails.

            Lower pitches are less vulnerable so nailing every fourth or fifth course suffices. Verges and eaves should be twice nailed.

      2. I remember driving down the A1 and seeing the night sky emblazoned by the steelworks at Consett.

        We produced the finest steel used in all manner of constructions from warships on the Tyne to British Standard Beams and Joists manufactured in Middlesbrough for the Tyne Bridge and later Sydney Harbour Bridge. Our standards were applied all over the globe and we should be proud of our industrial achievements.

        Home produced steel and special steels are a vital requirement for any nation state. Virgin steel is necessary in many applications and can only be produced with coking coal. Our idiot governments have accordingly shut down the two furnaces at Port Talbot putting thousands out of work and risking our defence industries.

  115. Gale is hammering us from a westerly direction .. mild 14c.

    Amazing really. Another brutal wind .

    126,768 Signatures

    Is this storm a Michael Fish moment .. is it more serious, not as serious or just a big breeze?

  116. Evening, all – if anyone is left, that is. I've been out at a Christmas concert (another one? I hear you cry). It was very enjoyable. The choir from my old church is now freelance, so it was good to catch up with old faces. I took my 93-year old ex-RAF chum and he really enjoyed it (I had to "work" doing things as I am on the committee).

    Starmer is nothing but hollow soundbites. He hasn't a clue about practicalities like getting the skilled workmen to build the houses he's foisting on us. I saw a headline in one of the papers when 2TK complained it was bureaucracy that was causing a shortage of housing. No, you pillock! It's the numbers you're importing daily. It's a simple matter of supply and over-demand.

      1. Good to see you, Pip. It was; a good mix of Christmas music. The choir sang carols a capella and there was a jazz trio for variety.

        1. I don't know how you do it. I can barely get out of the house for lunch. Even with no alcohol involved !

          1. Kadi gave me a look tonight as I put my coat on as if to say, "not AGAIN!" I was to be out again tomorrow, but the place I was going to visit has shut due to the possible weather. It's blowing hard as I type.

          2. They can convey so much with a look. Much more than our PM. If he were a dog we wouldn't know what he wanted.

            And that right there is the problem. He doesn't know either !

      2. I'm still here, an ale or two over at the pub. Met a few funeral attendees who had been in there since lunch. I admire their stamina.

    2. Starmer is a woodentop , and utterly clueless ..

      Building anything these days one needs licences and skills .. son is an electrician, more or less industrial and the certificates and licences he requires are quite costly ..

      Building contractors are quite tightly knitted .. any nonsense and you are out on your ear .. standards are pretty high… (oh yes they are , some say, oh no they are not … well it is panto season , and Starmer is as stupid as Jack who climbed the Beanstalk .. thick as hell .

    3. …getting the skilled workmen to build the houses

      Then there's the additional 13,000 fully trained, and hopefully fit – no tubby types, 'community' police officers. The latter is such a new innovation, except that we had that on the council estate I was brought up on in the 1950s – 1960s: a sergeant and a constable with living and office accommodation – now sold off and turned into flats – who patrolled on bicycles until the provision of a motorbike (Velocette water cooled?).

      Will Starmer's/Cooper's 'community' police officers live amongst the people they will be charged to serve?

      2. Will they be of the same make up as the people they are supposed to serve? We had the same in my village when I was growing up; Constable Bosworth lived in a police house (with police station attached) in the middle of the village. He patrolled regularly and knew everybody – who was okay, whom to keep an eye on etc. We could leave our doors unlocked and sleep in peace.

  117. Just random people in the pub who engaged us in conversation because they were completely out of it. But very nice.

    1. That reminds me of the best dance nights at Heaven.

      I still think i missed something. The funeral?

      1. Pre xmas is a good time to book hols, just a few ideas for the year so far. Maybe some winter sun in Jan needed and later to Mrs Pea's homeland in June and a foray to Bali.

  118. Nothing to do with us, just a bunch of drunken old chaps who had lost a friend and their transport was late…. so another drink filled the time.

  119. Oh. I see. The best wakes are drunken wakes. Always annoyed me with my family it would be a cup of tea or nothing.

    2. The family had a good bash a few weeks after my father died this day last year. But everone is so dispersed these days it rarely gets out of hand. I'm 70 next year, but planning to go away for the occasion.

    1. Good night. Dogs secured under my quilt.

      Though i think they can hear the neighbours playing Boney M. They seem to have all the mooves.

      1. I’ve been relatively unaffected by the storm; the wheelbarrow blew over, as expected, and the furled parasol is now resting on the bench, but apart from that, all seems to be as normal.

  121. Atkinson takes hat-trick against New Zealand

    Gus Atkinson became the 14th different bowler to take a Test hat-trick for England

    Stephan Shemilt
    Chief Cricket Reporter in Wellington
    6 December 2024

    Gus Atkinson took the 15th Test hat-trick by an England bowler to rattle through the New Zealand tail on the second day of the second Test in Wellington.

    Pace bowler Atkinson bowled Nathan Smith off an attempted leave, had Matt Henry fend to gully, then trapped last man Tim Southee lbw.

    It continued an astonishing first year in Test cricket for the 26-year-old, who took 12 wickets on his debut against West Indies at Lord's in July.

    The 26-year-old followed up with a century and a five-wicket haul at the same venue against Sri Lanka in August.

    Atkinson's burst wrapped up the New Zealand innings for 125 and left them 155 runs behind England's 280.

    It was the first hat-trick by an England bowler in Test cricket since Moeen Ali against South Africa at The Oval in 2017 and the first in an away Test since Ryan Sidebottom against New Zealand in Hamilton 16 years ago.

    Overall, Atkinson became the 14th Englishman to take a Test hat-trick – Stuart Broad has two.

    In all Test cricket, Atkinson's is the first hat-trick since South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj against West Indies in 2021.

    Atkinson's three wickets in three balls is also the first hat-trick taken at the historic Basin Reserve.

    New Zealand resumed on 86-5, 194 adrift. Brydon Carse needed only 10 balls of his spell to take Tom Blundell's off stump and, in the same over, nightwatchman Will O'Rourke was plumb lbw.

    Smith and Glenn Phillips attempted a counter-attack, adding 29 in 27 balls, before Atkinson's magic moment.

    Smith was looking to leave, but extra bounce had the ball ricochet off his bat and down on to middle stump.

    Number 10 Henry was defenceless against a brutal lifter and Southee, with the field set for a short ball, was hit in front by one Atkinson speared in.

    Atkinson joins Moeen, Broad and 19th century spinner Johnny Briggs as the England players to achieve a Test century and a hat-trick.

    Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq, Harbhajan Singh, James Franklin, Irfan Pathan and Sohan Gazi have also done such a double.

  122. Men's International Test Match Series – Day 2 of 5

    New Zealand Close England
    125 all out (34.5) 280 all out (54.4)
    378-5 (76.0)
    England lead New Zealand by 533 runs with 5 wickets remaining

  123. Men's International Test Match Series – Day 2 of 5

    New Zealand Close England
    125 all out (34.5) 280 all out (54.4)
    378-5 (76.0)
    England lead New Zealand by 533 runs with 5 wickets remaining

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