Friday 6 March: Don’t let coronavirus fear get in the way of sensible advice to self-isolate

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/06/lettersdont-let-coronavirus-fear-get-way-sensible-advice-self/

586 thoughts on “Friday 6 March: Don’t let coronavirus fear get in the way of sensible advice to self-isolate”

  1. I was able to see the letters and thought this multi-signatory letter a good start to the day.

    SIR – We have all worked with Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, either formally or informally, in recent years, or been involved in campaigning with and for her. Between us we have seen her in all her varied public roles – as a minister and MP, in and out of office, during elections and campaigns, often at times of stress and high emotion.

    We do not recognise the picture that has been painted of her this week. She is certainly a tough, assertive and effective leader, but even under extreme pressure she has never crossed a line or lost her temper. She expects high standards, but is always professional. She gives her all for this country and deserves far better treatment than she has received. Those of us who have been employed by her at difficult times in our lives – during illness, a personal crisis or bereavement – also know how caring and compassionate she can be.

    We are shocked that she has been the target of an extraordinary campaign of gossip and smears, conducted by anonymous individuals via secret briefings and innuendo. It is surely wrong that anyone can be publicly traduced on the basis of malicious rumours spread by people who refuse to reveal their identities or even provide verifiable facts – all the more so when those like us, who know and have worked with her, say that the picture being painted is utterly false.

    We are fortunate to have a strong, effective Home Secretary. She is right to ask tough questions of senior civil servants at the Home Office, which has hardly covered itself in glory in recent years. Most people would agree that the culture that produced scandals like Windrush must change.

    It is vital for our democracy that good ministers cannot be brought down by smears and gossip when they attempt to tackle serious issues in their departments. Far from the unjust treatment she has received this week, the Home Secretary deserves the wholehearted support of the people of Britain as she attempts to turn around the performance of a vital but notoriously dysfunctional department.

    1. Thank you for sharing that. I would hate to see the one strong person in the cabinet fall to innuendo, the country needs more people like the Home Secretary, in my humble opinion.

    2. Morning

      Labour are full of spite and malice .

      I reckon they are vote catching for the horrible little London Mayor .. and are still persuing their Remain agenda .

    4. Are the police searching for the perpetrators of this ‘hate crime’ and Pritiphobia? 🙂

      1. Take a wild guess.
        An ethnic lady from a hard working family. A woman who went to grammar school and became a Conservative.
        How very dare she be so uppity as to not play the perpetual victim card!

        1. This is why Crosland sought to destroy the grammar school system. He hated – viscerally – that those who went to grammar schools became Conservatives.

          A bit sad really, but then labour have never, ever wanted people to succeed. That’s why they’re so desperate to raise taxes. It keeps people – especially the poorest – poor.

    1. I understand the Queen has had to isolate herself from her ageing husband, because of the risk of catching extreme old age, and the very dangerous possibility of living to be over 100 like her mother.

      I am 64, but terrified of catching old age from the hale and hearty in homes around Malvern. Should I avoid the town?

          1. Morning OB

            I was referring to my 12 year old spaniel .. still the lad , but rather creaky .. and of course my parrot who is 36 years old .. who is very much the lad..

          4. My 16-year-old terrierist is still keen for walkies. He’s just stopped trying to start WW3 when he sees another dog. Whether that’s because age begets wisdom or his eyesight is failing, I’m not sure 🙂

    1. At first sight, this is a cartoon ridiculing Joe Biden. But note the toilet lid drawn on the top of Donald Trump’s head. They just can’t resist a dig at the US President, can they?

      1. ‘Morning, Elsie, in truth it’s the Times and the cartoonist who possess “shit for brains.” Pardon my French.

        1. S’not, Tom. Grauniad. But Grimes and Torygraff are equally rude about Trump, as often as not.

          1. Thanks, Citroen and Good morning, My apologies for incorrect attribution but the cartoon gives no clue to origin and your usual source has been the Grimes as you call it.

            Time was (pun intended) when the Times was known as The Thunderer – today it barely makes it as The Squeaker.

  4. Slow start this morning. Spent two hours late yesterday evening looking for our dog who’d decided to go for an explore. He came home at 12.30, just like a teenager.

    1. Thanks to public hysteria whipped up about paedophilia a generation ago, the burden of proof required for DBS blacklisting is merely that malicious hearsay makes it to a police notebook. The penalty is for life and not subject to appeal. It is much stricter than that applied to criminals.

      It was only a matter of time before this sanction was applied to other non-criminals, such as bolshie nottlers.

      1. ” bolshie nottlers.”
        A turn of phrase to treasure,I resemble that remark
        Cheers Jeremy

      2. I’m still convinced that the recent Carl Beech affair was pursued because those in authority knew it would fail and thus deter others from investigating other allegations of paedophile activity in the Establishment.

    4. From yesterday’s discussion:

      https://www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/inline-images/003_c_0_0.png

      US vs UK: Nationwide the US FBI only recorded 7,120 bias-motivated incidents which were ascribed to 6,266 defendants (2018 data, 2017 data is similar). In contrast, the number of hate crime cases sent to the CPS by UK police was 12,901 in 2017-18 (14,151 defendants), and 10,749 in 2018-19 (12,828 defendants). That’s almost twice as many “hate crime” cases in the UK versus the US in 2017, not even accounting for the fact that the UK is less than one-fifth the size of the United States by population.

      https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/topic-pages/offenders
      https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2017/topic-pages/offenders
      https://www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/CPS-Hate-Crime-Annual-Report-2018-2019.PDF
      https://www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/cps-hate-crime-report-2018.pdf

      In terms of the actual crime committed in either the US or the UK, it may be simple (non-physical) harassment and/or intimidation. Not to trivialize these crimes, the data suggest that extra-ordinary amount of effort is going towards aggressively prosecuting non-physical offenses. Shouldn’t CPS be concentrating on violent crimes, first and foremost?

      It might be better for the UK to adopt a US-style of “hate crime” enforcement. In the US, there very clearly is no such thing as a “hate crime” per se; what the US allows is a “hate crime enhancement” penalty for known transgressions of the law.

      http://disq.us/p/27qs37l

  7. Western forces in ‘race against time’ to prepare West African states for advance of jihadists. 3 March 2020 • 9:30pm.

    Security officials in the Gulf of Guinea say Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo are under an increasing threat from insurgents.

    Morning everyone. Yes we are coming to help you so if you are smart you will join your relatives and head for Europe!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/04/western-forces-race-against-time-prepare-west-african-states/

      1. There is an excellent 4 page article on the Madness of Socialism in the Spring edition of the Salisbury Review that dropped through my letterbox which touches on “No-Platforming” and “Safe Spaces” in our Universities.

      1. This was from a book of limericks published in the 1950’s by The Olympia Press in Paris.

        Please do not read it if you don’t like rude limericks.

        An affair involving an oyster
        Sent the Countess of Clewes to a cloister
        She preferred it, she said,
        To the Count in her bed
        Being longer and stronger and moister.

    2. Owen Goode of Dejardins Way, Pershore, denied two counts of possessing extreme pornography when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday.

      Morning Jeremy. Shouldn’t that be Peshawar!

    3. Even as I suggested a couple of days ago. Surely these should be recognised as simply another form of marriage? There is no depravity that is beyond the bounds. Is there really a specific law that covers this?

        1. I thought for a second you wrote “menage a huitres”. That would be bit fishy.

      1. In California they have about one million people and several thousand COVID-19 testing kits.
        A 1% test availability doesn’t give the US much chance of discriminating between the two.
        One might as well take a Trump hunch.

    3. At the point when you can no longer speak into the telephone receiver to ask for an ambulance is the point when you know you’ve been Corvid!

    1. Good morning Peddy

      British weather is amazing .. yesterday it poured cats and dogs, and roads were almost impassable with floods .

      This morning bright sky , sunshine and we had a heavy frost in the early hours.. An outside bowl of water for the birds was frozen over .

      1. ‘Morning, Belle.

        I saw the heavy swirl of rain on the weather map yes’day & rocked with glee. 😉 We had cloud all day.

  12. How woke illiberalism is killing the academy. Spiked. 5 March 2020

    ‘…our academic pursuits do not exist in isolation from the hate, racism, and violence that continue to play a powerful role in US politics and in the social and legal arrangements that endanger the safety and wellbeing of people of colour throughout the country. We wish to reaffirm that our role as scholars and educators centrally includes the fostering of a culture of inclusiveness and mutual respect that prizes our diversity rather than seeing it as a threat. Such a culture depends on a willingness to listen carefully to other viewpoints, and to engage critically with them, in ways that respect norms of reasoned argument and the use of evidence. Particularly in the context of emotionally and politically charged issues, it is crucial to respect the right to freely express and argue for one’s views, especially when they are controversial or run counter to popular opinion. But when disagreement takes such forms as bullying, racially charged attacks, and the glorification of violence against those with whom one differs, then speech is no longer primarily a matter of the expression of ideas, viewpoints, or opinions, and an invocation of the right to free speech is a distraction from the real issue. There is a crucial difference between speech that makes claims and articulates ideas, and speech that demeans, intimidates, or harms others. Such hostility has no place in academic life. It is our responsibility as scholars not only to condemn and repudiate hatred expressed in speech and other forms of action, but to model forms of discussion that manage criticality in a spirit of open inquiry, committed to acknowledging and thinking through the difficult histories and difficult present in which we are all embedded.’

    The above is an extract from a “proclamation” issued by 40 Professors at the University of Chicago; who to put it bluntly wish to suppress opinions that they do not like. I’ve put it up because by some happenstance it neatly illustrates the schizophrenic thought processes of the “Woke” Brigade, in Academe. First there comes the assertion of virtue, (in bold type) their adherence to the tenets of multiculturalism and inclusiveness and of course Free Speech, and then (in italics) its denial in the very same paragraph.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/06/how-woke-illiberalism-is-killing-the-academy/

    1. It’s the foaming at th emouth hypocrisy that gets me.

      Do not exist in isolation from the hate, racism and violence…

      Firstly, it is not hate, it is hatred. Secondly, that is a pointless statement. Hatred is a powerful emotion. Its use here is demeaning and absurd.

      They demand evidence for such racism – yet they can’t see that they are engendering it. Only them. They are encouraging racism and violence. Their very language is offensive and confrontational. It pits one side against another, with them assuming virtue. They demand free speech – but only while it suits them, yet don’t seem to be able to accept that they’re the ones formenting this unpleasantness.

      All they do is prove that the Left are twisted, vicious and evil. So consumed with their own ego and with creating an enemy they cannot see that they are the very enemy they seek to destroy.

      But then, perhaps they do but can’t admit it. Was it Goebbels who said ‘accuse others of what you yourself are guilty’?

      It is deeply saddening that these ‘academics’ are so twisted they canno longer see clearly. But then, they’re Lefties.

    1. I thought it was understood that the FCO had gone ‘native’ i.e. Arab/islam supporting around the end of WWI.

          1. One of my favourite films.
            I have often thought the uselessness and tribalism of the Arabs, portayed in the scenes negotiating who does what in the conquered city, was an indicator of things to come.

            T.E. Lawrence must have been an inspirational leader

    2. We would not like it if Erdogan paraded pictures of Gallipoli and the Dardanelles at a diplomatic conference in Turkey.

      A line from Chaucer which I found interesting came from the Wife of Bath’s Prologue. A portrait of a man slaying a lion was described and then the question was posed of what the picture would have looked like if it had been painted by a lion.

      It depends where you stand. There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so as a rather wise dude put it.

      1. Quite frankly, I would like a bit more appreciation of symbolism by our politicians.
        Pussy footing round these types and worrying about their hurtie feelings doesn’t seem to be cutting the mustard.

      2. If they did we could reflect on the mistakes that even great leaders like Churchill may make. We could also reflect on the unflinching bravery of our men in such horrendous conditions that victory was impossible and survival unlikely. If such reflections do not straighten the shoulders and stiffen the backbones of our diplomats then we’ve sent the wrong ones.

  15. Following Michel Barnier press conference today, The Daily Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent has a highlighted a potential shift in the EU’s stance on fishing.

    Although Mr Barnier signalled there are several differences between the two, he suggested a there could be a compromise.
    Mr Crisp said: “Barnier hinted at compromise from the frankly unsustainable EU position on fishing, which is a pre-condition of the trade deal.
    “‘We are ready to seek out a balanced solution.’
    A senior EU official later confirmed that the European Commission could ask EU member states to agree to a less strict deal if a compromise could be found.”

    I think we will reach a deal on Fishing but we will be taking back control of our fishing grounds. Any deal ill be on our terms and not the EU’s nd the EU will not get the access to our fishing grounds as generous as at present

          2. Thank goodness everyone’s treating the EU as a plural, otherwise the ghost of my English teacher would come back to haunt me.

  16. Home secretary Priti Patel has ordered officials to explain what has happened to a long-awaited review into the ethnicity of grooming gangs, HuffPost UK has learnt.

    A frustrated Patel has been met with “obfuscation” from Home Office officials when asking about the probe, which campaigners believe is crucial in tackling child abuse and helping the fight against far-right racism.

    Her predecessor Sajid Javid ordered the review in July 2018 amid concerns about gangs of mainly Pakistani-heritage men carrying out child sexual exploitation (CSE). But the Home Office was later accused of holding up the work and faced criticism for insisting it would remain internal.

    Patel assumed the review would be prioritised as Javid, whose parents were from Pakistan, gave several high profile interviews after ordering the probe in which he said the abuse made him “feel angry”, and that the men had “disgraced our heritage”.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/exclusive-priti-patel-orders-officials-to-explain-status-of-grooming-gang-review/ar-BBZI0xC?ocid=st

    Perhaps, now Sir Philip has resigned ….

    And this would really put the cat amongst the pigeons on the Labour benches …

    1. LD, we need lots of cats, certainly one for the Labour Party, several for the Police Services and even more for the Social (Non-Safeguarding) Services. All of these ‘Services’ turned their attention away from the, mainly young, girls and instead chose to support ‘diversity’ and protect a community comprised of many who support a culture that is inimical to our own. Those responsible need to be named, shamed and kicked out of public service with the loss of all pension rights.

      1. Unfortunately it is almost impossible for them to lose their pension rights – at least it is very difficult.

    3. Javid said the men “disgraced our heritage”.

      Speak for yourself, matey…

    1. 32,384 at 9 am , 6 March. Really this suggests that a lot of the public do not agree with the Home Office …

    2. 32,384 at 9 am , 6 March. Really this suggests that a lot of the public do not agree with the Home Office …

          1. The petition will be cancelled. If a response result is made, then the response will be ‘we’re following home office advice’ with no explanation.

            If it goes to a debate in parliament then that’ll be ‘we’re following Home Office advice’ and that’ll be the end of it.

  18. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: If coronavirus results in the collapse of more airline companies, the solution will be easy – we can just let a wind-powered train take the strain…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8081049/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-No-planes-Let-wind-powered-train-strain.html

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/03/06/00/25605070-0-image-a-79_1583454805272.jpg
    While it’s a fun idea to imagine the Greta child as a weathergirl, once you’ve seen her forecasting scattered showers of fire and brimstone, there’s nowhere else to go, writes RICHARD LITTLEJOHN

    1. And to think that her parents say they inflicted her on the world because it made her happy. (And them rich, natch.)

  19. Good moaning: I think this cropped up briefly yesterday.
    Stay Classy. Good to see Godwin’s Law being given an outing.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/05/mother-woman-bit-pilot-cockpit-pushchair-row-removed-court-blaming/

    Mother of woman who bit pilot removed from court after blaming Adolf Hitler for daughter’s conviction

    Mary Roberts, 53, shouted in court: “Adolf Hitler is still ruling England and Mussolini is still ruling England and the innocent”.

    By Phoebe Southworth 5 March 2020 • 11:56pm

    The mother of a plane passenger who bit a pilot in the cockpit following a row over a pushchair was removed from court after blaming Adolf Hitler for her daughter’s conviction.

    Henrietta Mitaire attacked the captain of a Swiss airline aircraft after it arrived at Heathrow Airport from Zurich on May 2 last year.

    The 23-year-old, who was angry that she had been told to put her three-year-old’s pushchair in the hold before take-off, pushed Captain Guido Keel to the floor before scratching, kicking and biting him.

    Mitaire claimed she had acted in self-defence but was on Thursday convicted of assault following a trial at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court. She was handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

    Her mother Mary Roberts, 53, was also accused of assault after she tried to intervene, but she was acquitted after a two-day trial.

    Roberts had to be removed from the courtroom following her acquittal after she shouted to the public gallery: “Adolf Hitler is still ruling England and Mussolini is still ruling England and the innocent”.

    District judge Deborah Wright praised Captain Keel for “remaining calm in the face of a very forceful onslaught” on the plane.

    Mitaire, of Queen’s Gate Place, South Kensington, was ordered to pay him £1,000 compensation and £1,500 in court costs, as well as abide by a tagged curfew

    1. Queen’s Gate Place is quite a smart address for a 23 year old woman with a child aged three.. Does she have a high income, perhaps from modelling?

    2. Queen’s Gate Place is quite a smart address for a 23 year old woman with a child aged three.. Does she have a high income, perhaps from modelling?

    3. “Mother of woman who bit pilot removed from court after blaming Adolf Hitler for daughter’s conviction”
      That, Anne, is Shirley the headline that defines our present state of civilisation.

    5. Queen’s Gate Place is quite a smart address for a 23 year old woman with a child aged three.. Does she have a high income, perhaps from modelling?

        1. I was hoping for an informative comment from kaypea, who is a pilot. I was surprised that these two harridans were even allowed on the aeroplane. Parents with babies toddlers etc are generally allowed to push the pram thingy to the door of the ‘plane; there it is folded and handed over to groundcrew and placed in a particular area of the hold. Had she hidden something in the structure of the pushchair?

      2. Good morning ashes and dust

        Why the down vote?

        Where do you stand on the government not publishing the results of the enquiry into child rape in ‘the public interest’.

        Have you thought about signing the petition to have the information released?

        [That the truth should be silent I had almost forgot. – Enobarbus in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’]

        1. I don’t down vote, but there are times when a down better reflects what one thinks about what one sees in the image than an up does for person posting it.

          Perhaps there should be a third choice to tick:
          Scumbags.

          1. I don’t down vote either – but if I did I would be happy to explain why.

            Very seldom do I agree with Amber Rudd but I think it disgraceful that she should be ‘no platformed’ at Oxford University just as Jordan Peterson lost his position at Cambridge because of his ‘unacceptable’ views.

            Free speech is a pretty fundamental issue and I think it is an excellent thing that both up-voters and down-voters can be identified on sites which supposedly encourage debate.

          2. Apart from the vendetta aspect (See BT) I agree.

            As the proud owner of thousands of down votes I am zeroed, so it doesn’t affect me anyway.

          4. We are the zero heroes. My profile doesn’t even mention upvotes or downvotes – let alone put them at 0 or minus.

      4. Partner the girl off with Abbopotamus’s son. They would make a lovely couple.

    1. 316923+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      Sorry to say og but if we are continuing supporting mass uncontrolled immigration the we must invest in more chains as in, on
      movable items ie charity buckets etc and ankles in penal gangs.

    2. “.. Diversity strength..”

      And all that bollox. Don’t lock them up. Flog them. Repeatedly, daily. Fifty lashes daily for 6 months should be decent restitution. Oh, and have their parents pay back the money they stole twice over and, if they refuse to do the flogging, flog them as well.

      1. They may have some trouble where block votes are not allowed. Also, it’s all written in ENGLISH.

    2. Already signed and distributed. The count is ticking up at a fair old pace.
      I realise that Parliament probably treats them with disdain, but the drip drip effect is harder to ignore.

      1. 316923+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        The answer to the politico’s
        treating the peoples request’s with disdain is to use the ballot
        booth & return the complement
        NOT condone it, as is always the way, try something different.

        1. And do what? We’ve elected – according to the Left – an evil racist xenophobic government which is doing the suppressing.

          Labour created and endorsed this criminality so they won’t want the report released. What’s the point in voting?

          1. 316923+ up ticks,
            W,
            What, knowing their past record for sh!tting on their supporters
            induces the peoples to continue to support lab/lib/con ?
            What was the point in supporting lab/lib/con when you are very near certain you are going to be sh!t on ?
            What is the point in supporting lab/lib/con when you know once again you have been sh!t on?
            I don’t know, maybe after the best part of 40 years of swallowing sh!te the electorate have found a taste for it.
            In regards to mass uncontrolled immigration & evil consequences of mass uncontrolled immigration, they,lab/lib/con are a coalition.

    3. The fact that they do not want to release it tends to indicate what the report shows

    5. Just looked at the map; I’m proud to announce that my area contains the highest percentage of signers.

  23. Will Coronovirus caused a worldwide recession? Or will the panicky, scare-mongering reaction to this latest health scare cause us to voluntarily shut down our economies?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/02/28/coronavirus-fallout-could-spark-recession/

    My own company recently said that all international business flights are being cancelled. The vast majority of our staff are UK-based and would never take a business flight. Why not just tell the few senior executives that this applies to privately, rather than the whole company? Just one example of a our recent approaches to all challenges which is “AAAAAHHH!!!”

  25. Off topics

    My first wild orchid of the season has just come into flower. Spring has sprung.

    1. Considering that we are only just in March, parts of my garden are already looking very spring-like, with buds and flowers out.

      1. This one is about a month earlier than I would expect.

        My outdoor arum lily (?) has been in flower for a few weeks now, but I have to keep it covered in fleece when there’s a risk of frost. The quince flowered weeks ago. All the usual spring stuff, daffodils and the like, have been out for ages.

        For me the orchids are the flowering highlight of my year.

        1. We had a really hard frost last night; this morning the hellebores were laid out. They perked up when the temperature rose.

          1. They are often resilient.
            Our early plums have already bloomed and the petals are long gone. The slightest hint of a frost in the next few weeks, and no plums

          2. They are often resilient.
            Our early plums have already bloomed and the petals are long gone. The slightest hint of a frost in the next few weeks, and no plums

        2. We had a really hard frost last night; this morning the hellebores were laid out. They perked up when the temperature rose.

    2. Not here it hasn’t.
      Patiently waiting to fill pots and window boxes with summer flowering plants.

      1. I fill ours with dafs, crocuses, tulips hyacinths, etc and top off with miniature pansies and the bulbs grow through and look OK until April/May when we pot up the summer stuff, mainly geraniums.

        I buy immature plants rather than grow from last year’s cuttings

  26. It is looking lik the UK government may ban the Italy UK friendly which is sensible

  27. I have finished my books of 2nd class stamps, and bought a book of 6 first class stamps this morning .. £4.20. I nearly fainted .. and they are going up again soon. What a way to run a business. I asked whether the PO in our village store sold many, the answer was no!

    I handed over a fiver , and the assistant then cleansed her hands with hand sanitizer .. The village feels shut down .. no one seems cheery .. it is like the sword of Damocles hanging over us all. .. and it is a pleasant Spring day .

    Globalism , yes globalism will probably be responsible for the demise of us all .

    Tell me to cheer up please.

    1. Most of these panics are grossly over-done.

      The vast majority of the people who catch it survive, and of that vast majority most get mild symptoms not as bad as a “standard” ‘flu.

      As they say: “Keep calm and carry on”, cheerfully.

    2. Good afternoon Belle. It is indeed a lovely sunny day – at last.

      Our daughter has a cushion that says, and I recommend it, “Keep calm and drink champagne”. Get cracking!

    3. Cheer up, Maggie! Remember, every day you’re above the turf is a good day.
      ;¬)

    4. Walking the dog this morning on Kit Hill in the pouring rain. Horrible conditions and me and my dog were both miserable. At one point I said out loud to him, “It can only get betterrrrrr!” as I slipped and went arse over tip. God’s truth, and I got covered in mud but lucky it was a grassy stretch and not a rocky part.

      1. You were very lucky Mm..

        Our garden is saturated .. dry day today .. Yesterday was hell on earth .. flooded roads .. as I said earlier the Channel just dumped itself down on us !

        1. Lucky in some respects perhaps. I’m just watching the Indian runner ducks swimming at the bottom of the garden. Unfortunately we don’t normally have a pond at the bottom of the garden.

          2. Yes, Belle, we’ve had them for a few years. Nice eggs when they can be bothered to lay.

      2. You were very lucky Mm..

        Our garden is saturated .. dry day today .. Yesterday was hell on earth .. flooded roads .. as I said earlier the Channel just dumped itself down on us !

    5. Cheer up T_B, I have spent the morning pressure washing the drive, that used all the water in my water butts. As you say a very pleasant morning, sunny and not at all cold.
      I have now cast an eye over the lawn with a question forming, is it possible to do the first cut of the season?
      I will go in for lunch and give myself a good talking to, you silly sod VVOF, stop these ridiculous thoughts! 😊

      1. The plumber arrived late morning to fix a leak in the cold water pipe in the garage .. he needed to replace some old pipe .. which he did successfully .

        We also had a leaky tap in the kitchen .. it was old and seized up so he replaced the whole tap unit , nice large nozzley bit and two different shaped tap handles … very swish .

        After wards we took the dogs in the car for a walk in the sunshine .. there we saw twitchers looking for incoming migrating osprey . i heard one the other day.

        Came home did a bit of hoeing in the flower bed , soil too wet .. now drinking tea .. Moh fiddling around in the garage removing old water softener system ..it is at least 35 years old .. it was a real fiddle faddle maintaining it .

        Lovely Spring day , fields are flooded , BUT the skylarks are singing and the air smells of manure!

        1. That sounds like a nice productive day you both had.
          I managed a light cut on the lawns, a sure sign that better weather is on its way but like yourself the flower beds will have to wait.
          I get impatient at this time of year, the promise of better weather to start to get things done in the garden, but still not quite there yet. You would think at my age I would realise it will happen at the right time, ah well time for a cuppa and read how our betters still can’t run the country for our benefit.

    6. Hysteria will be, not globalism.

      People make more of evvents than they should with none of the facts. It makes us frightened and frightened people are cowed and obey more easily.

    7. I was working behind the counter at an electrical wholesalers and a customer came in and asked if I had any transistors.

      “Sorry mate” I replied, “I haven’t got any sisters, but I’ve got a brother who’s a bit camp”.

    8. The sensible approach in my view is to go down to alternate day deliveries. It almost halves the costs. Most post now is not urgent and there are many alternatives for urgent items. The current approach of keep putting up stamp prices will not work

    9. Cheer up Belle….you could be stuck on a cruise liner.
      Emails are quicker….it’s the digital age/technology….hate it!

      Peace and Love brother..

    10. Good morning Belle
      As I said earlier quoting the film Bridge of Spies.
      Q. Are you worried?
      A. Would it help?
      Of course the answer is no as there is very little you can do.
      In the words of Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society. Carpe diem. Sieze or live for the day.
      Edit diem for deum

  28. Q: Are Grooming Gang members really guilty of bullying behaviour?

    A: Better ask the top Home Office civil servants.

  29. A discussion from yesterday and my response from this morning:-

    Bill Jackson • 16 hours ago
    Another 2 Grenfell fraudsters
    These two appear to be white British
    https://www.standard.co.uk/…

    AndyCochrane65 Bill Jackson • 16 hours ago
    Dishonesty isn’t limited to the BME community. It’s an equal opportunities trait.

    Bob of Bonsall AndyCochrane65 • 14 hours ago
    But the vast bulk of the Grenfell frauds have been carried out by the Cultural enrichment.

    AndyCochrane65 Bob of Bonsall • 14 hours ago
    Yep. What’s the ethnic profile for fraud across the whole country?

    Bob of Bonsall AndyCochrane65 3 hours ago
    Given that the UK is still, despite the Labour & Tory Parties’ worst efforts, an overwhelmingly white country, I find that a most remarkable stupid question.

    To which I will not add:-
    Fraudulent activity is, of course, not limited to the minority groups in the UK.
    However, when one compares what percentage of the population those minorities hold and the percentage convicted of fraud, there does appear to be a HUGE imbalance between them.

      2. And some people use statistics to deliberately confuse others.
        It irritates the shonet out of me when criticism of the Rape Gangs and their Labour supporters is met with the claim “Most Rapists Are White”.

        1. A year or so ago a news report from Germany featured a big demonstration by women of all ages, classes and persuasions. They were greatly concerned about their safety because of the rapidly rising number of sexual assaults by certain immigrants invited into the country by the kindly Chancellor.

          The reporter interviewed a young white couple – early 20s, identifiably male and female and exuding an air of smug righteousness. Said the young woman in a dismissive tone: “White men rape women as well, you know.”

          She appeared to regard the demonstration as a fuss about nothing. A bit like Rotherham, you could say…

          1. What is the statistical breakdown of crime committed by ethnic group, I wonder:

            https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/number-of-arrests/latest#by-ethnicity

            in 2017/18, the biggest difference in the arrest rates between Black people and White people was in Dorset (where Black people were almost 12 times as likely to be arrested as White people), followed by Cumbria (where Black people were 10 times as likely to be arrested as White people)

            Black people had the highest arrest rates per 1,000 people in every police force area for which there was data

            the arrest rate for Asian people was nearly 3 times higher than the rate for White people in West Mercia

            the arrest rate for people with Mixed ethnicity was 3 times the rate for White people in Essex, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire

            in London (the Metropolitan Police force area), 53% of people arrested were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined (the highest percentage out of all police force areas) – by comparison, 40% of the population of London was from these combined ethnic groups at the time of the 2011 Census

    2. There’s a simpler way of putting it: we have more than enough home-grown criminal filth so why import more?

  30. We’ve just received our council tax bill for 2020. The highest increase (you’ll notice none has remained the same!) is for Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner. 3.8%. FHS what on earth do they do? Our police aren’t investigating crimes (and the c virus is a wonderful opportunity to do even less). SCC up 2%, SCC Adult social care 2%, Woking BC 2.1%.

    Full charge is £2928.59. Thieving bar stewards!

    1. If Jeremy Corbyn had won, the mansion tax for what looks like a Band G house might be as high as £10,000.

    2. If Jeremy Corbyn had won, the mansion tax for what looks like a Band G house might be as high as £10,000.

    3. Just waiting for a letter from the buggers, last year was £2,664 or thereabouts.

    4. Interesting. For a Band F property, Woking are charging you £354.55, compared to Guildford at £255.41. Even when I add in the Parish precept at £53.31, mine works out cheaper. I find that surprising; would have expected Guildford to be the greater rip-off merchants.

      1. Have you seen the carnage in the centre of Woking recently Geoff? Someone’s got to pay to clear up the mess! We have Ray Morgan to thank for that. I’m surprised too that Guildford’s figure is lower.

        A very rare visit to the site for you Geoff – hope you are well.

  32. This corona virus if it was a real threat would be the answer to the prayers of the EU Remainers, it wasn’t so long ago that they were openly talking about waiting until the old people die off so that they could have another referendum .
    I suppose those that want to free up more housing and the climate druids would be pleased as well.

    1. Morning Bob

      Funny how Communism spreads it’s nasty mindset and bugs .. We are now in the control of a Communist generated virus which may take economies down to rock bottom . I bet the Labour Commies are well pleased with that.

  33. With the fuss over Priti Patel in the news, it’s worth listening to this again from 2013.

    Reflections with Peter Hennessy: Lord Tebbit

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0376x76

    It really gets going at about 20 minutes when Tebbit talks about government departments, what they’re for and what they think they’re for (notably the FCO), and how to deal with them (firmness and good humour). Patel should listen to this.

    His remarks about Attlee and Ernest Bevin might surprise some.

    Who was the IRA man whose collar was about to be felt: McGuinness or Adams?

    Was NT the greatest prime minister we never had?

    1. Good morning DB

      Ours are frozen as well . The bowl of water for the birds was frozen over , yet yesterdays weather was hideous . Roads from here to Dorchester were flooded yesterday.. and the Bakers Arms roundabout was awash when we had to get to an appontment at Poole hospital.

      3. Bob, that is a brilliant idea! First let Ursul set a good example by having 50/50 men and women equally representated right across the board in the German armed forces, and when that works, full 50/50 within the EU Commission.

    2. Which means that every woman who has earned her place will now be forced to tolerate one who hasn’t. Which demeans women who’ve achieved through merit.

      What a stupid, gormless action this is. But hey. It’s the EU

  36. Noughts and Crosses

    Douglas Murray dissects the show admirably

    Now, once again, the insults come at the hands of the BBC, which

    imagines that this racist country of ours needs its national broadcaster

    to go some way to correcting its licence fee-payers’ outrageous racial

    prejudice. So it is worth remembering where we are in the UK. Not where

    the BBC and its favourite authors imagine us to be – but where we

    actually are.

    We live in a country in which the Home Secretary is the daughter of

    immigrants. Where the Chancellor of the Exchequer and numerous other

    members of the government are what is now known as a “persons of

    colour”. A country where the Royal Family has black members. Where the

    highest offices of state and all the major professions have celebrated

    black leaders. Racism is so absent from British society that all of this

    has happened with zero negative comment; nobody in any position of any

    prominence has said that any of this is bad or wrong.

    So absent is racism from our society that when the country does want

    to hound somebody for being racist they have to search and find some

    elderly broadcaster or disc jockey who has said something on social

    media which could be interpreted by a dishonest and ungenerous person as

    potentially being seen as racist.

    https://unherd.com/2020/03/noughts-and-crosses-is-an-ugly-work-about-racism/

    1. “… all of this has happened with zero negative comment; nobody in any position of any prominence has said that any of this is bad or wrong. ” They wouldn’t dare; they’d be out of a job!

  37. Listen to Norman Tebbit on how to handle a department.

    The Priti Patel saga has made a compelling case for reform – but does Boris want the headache?

    FRASER NELSON

    Failings in the Home Office and across Whitehall are obvious, yet Brexit is likely to prove a far bigger problem

    Until a few weeks ago, Priti Patel’s biggest political problem was her inability to stop smiling. “I can’t see why you’re laughing,” Andrew Marr once told her during an interview: he later accepted that her face defaults to a friendly demeanour. Now, we’re told, this smile was concealing a monster. One that snarls and swears at civil servants, when not throwing files at them. Big accusations, which have led to a formal investigation. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that the future shape of government depends on the result.

    For a good many Tory ministers, this is not about the Home Secretary but about whether the Conservatives are able to govern. “There is no doubt in my mind that we’re facing an orchestrated campaign to get rid of a minister because of her agenda,” says one. If she was known to be a bully, the Tories would not be so worried. Their fear is that her real offence is to be demanding, in the same way that Michael Gove and Dominic Raab are demanding. And that, if she falls, other ministers will be next.

    Boris Johnson was elected after three years of bedlam, when the phrase “Conservative government” seemed to be a contradiction in terms. The period is known by some Tories as the “anarchy”, when ministers were at war with each other over Brexit. All this while, the civil servants ran government departments. Now things have changed, ministers are back – but with No 10 firmly in control. To the Prime Minister, the situation is urgent: Brexit will be complete on December 31 and reforms are needed. So if ministers are curt, it’s because time is a factor.

    Ms Patel’s critics would put it another way: that she is a hanger-and-flogger, chosen as Home Secretary to reassure Tory target voters about robustness on law and order. She was never a very competent minister, they say, prone to anger because she ends up out of her depth so regularly. To have the permanent secretary of her department resign, and then threaten to sue the government because of the way he was treated, is proof of a woman fundamentally not up to her job.

    Her supporters detect in all this a hint of sexism, perhaps worse. Why, they ask, is this Asian woman pilloried for behaviour that would be considered unremarkable amongst men? All this is standard political warfare. What is unusual – almost unprecedented – is to have the civil service involved.

    I’ve spoken to various people who have worked with Ms Patel. All acknowledge that she can be demanding and plain-spoken: “robust” is a word used a lot. Many ministers are sanguine about civil service underperformance and even joke about it. Not her. Why, she has asked friends, do we see some Whitehall “director-generals” paid almost twice as much as Cabinet members but never held accountable? Why should it be possible to fail upwards in the civil service, messing up a project – then getting promoted, to mess up another?

    Her outlook informs her approach to government. If there’s a disaster in her department, and she’s told by her officials that her disappointment will be “fed back to the team”, she has been known to say this isn’t good enough, and that she’d like to know the name of the relevant official. During such conversations, strong language might be deployed. “Not my way of doing things,” says one former ministerial colleague, “but nothing you wouldn’t hear in any normal company. And certainly not bullying.” This last point is now the subject of the Cabinet Office investigation.

    If she has been guilty of bullying – in the proper sense of the word – then of course she should resign. “But if ‘bullying’ is defined to mean curt, then it’s a tool that can be used to get rid of any of us,” says one minister. One of the accusations, for example, is that she “belittled” a civil servant by cutting him out of email chains. In a daily diet of anonymous briefings, it’s impossible to guess the truth. If the Prime Minister keeps his promise of holding a quick inquiry, we should know soon enough.

    It’s not as if the Home Office can afford such distractions. In the next few months it needs to design and implement a new immigration system, agree new crime and justice deals with the EU and redesign border control in a way that works for the three million European Union nationals living in Britain. From the department that brought us the Windrush scandal, perhaps the most egregious example of government failure in recent times, it’s quite an ask. Windrush itself made a strong case for a complete overhaul of the Home Office.

    The question in No 10 is whether to go further and overhaul the whole of government. Dominic Cummings has long wanted to rewire the system, to the alarm of many ministers who think the civil service works well if handled well. Michael Gove was not stopped from revolutionising schools: he was able to wangle the Whitehall system to get a lot of his chosen people in the education department. No 10 is considering giving ministers more powers to choose both civil servants and outside experts. A big step towards a US-style system.

    Another No 10 idea is to stop civil servants skipping from one project to another. At one stage, the Universal Credit welfare revamp had gone through five “senior responsible owners” within the space of a year. The Treasury loses a quarter of its staff in an average year. The civil service teams that handle spending reviews usually see an attrition rate of 90 per cent from one review to the next. To suffer a churn of this rate is to lose institutional memory. Big mistakes – and “omnishambles” budgets – are far more likely.

    But to reconstruct the civil service now, while hurtling towards a Brexit deadline that the government has promised not to move, would be too much. Many around the Prime Minister see the fate of Ms Patel as a fight he cannot afford to lose, but other ministers wonder why he ever allowed things to get to this stage, with so much else going on. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, he’ll have to do Brexit with the civil service team he’s got – not the one he wishes he had.

    The scale of the challenge is as big as anything faced by a peacetime government: such blow-ups are inevitable. The Patel saga has been an embarrassment and distraction but, given the pressures ahead, there will likely be worse to come.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/05/priti-patel-saga-has-made-compelling-case-reform-does-boris/

    1. “It’s not as if the Home Office can afford such distractions. In the next few months it needs to design and implement a new immigration system, agree new crime and justice deals with the EU and redesign border control in a way that works for the three million European Union nationals living in Britain.” This is precisely why it’s happening. How better to stop unpalatable change?

    2. Thank you.

      In fact thank you to all people to post articles that the rest of us wouldn’t be able to access.

  40. ‘Stop hiding’: Rudd hits out at Oxford students who no-platformed her

    What is the point in debates at universities now when they only allow people who agree with them to the debate ?

    Former cabinet minister Amber Rudd has condemned “rude” students at Oxford University after she was no-platformed from an event with just half-an-hour’s notice.

    The ex-Conservative MP, a former home secretary and work and pensions secretary, saw a planned appearance at an International Women’s Day event cancelled at short notice on Thursday night.

    It came after some students had criticised the invitation for Ms Rudd to appear at the “in conversation” event due to her handling of the Windrush scandal – over which she was forced to resign – and the policies she supported while in government.

    1. You can’t have a debate with only one side.

      Without an opponent to present an opposing view it’s not a debate it’s a sermon.

    2. I thought the Windrush fiasco was a result of the HO Civil Servants’ destroying landing cards?

        1. Was that the one who oversaw the “non-deportation-upon-release” of foreign prisoners fiasco?

    3. The “in conversation” event seems to have become a “not in conversation” event … which somehow reminds me of my first wife ?! – who was keen on feminism …

  41. Seafood salesman spared jail over smuggling £53million endangered eels out of UK

    Do they seriously thing they will recover much of this money ?

    A seafood salesman has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence after smuggling more than £53 million worth of endangered live eels out of the UK.

    Gilbert Khoo, 67, transported the rare elvers from London to Hong Kong, hidden underneath chilled fish, between 2015 and 2017, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

    Khoo, of Chessington in Surrey, was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment on each of three counts of evasion of a prohibition on the export of goods. Each sentence was suspended for two years.

    He was also found guilty of three counts of failure to notify movement of animals.

    But no penalty was imposed on him at today’s sentencing because hearings to retrieve the proceeds of crime will take place in the future.

    Khoo was caught after Border Force officers found 200kg of the European “glass eels”, which are on the verge of extinction, at Heathrow Airport, in the first seizure of its kind in the UK.

    2. 316923+ up ticks,
      I would say it would be hard to get a grip on the movement of eels, then again if patience was employed these
      young eels will return to Heathrow of their own accord.

    3. How do you transport £53 million worth of endangered live eels out of Heathrow–without anyone noticing?

    4. How do you transport £53 million worth of endangered live eels out of Heathrow–without anyone noticing?

  42. Elizabeth Warren ends her 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. 5 March 2020 • 4:02pm.

    Elizabeth Warren, once a frontrunner in the Democratic contest for the White House, is dropping out of the race, according to US media.

    Yes she’s “dropping out” or more accurately the money taps have been turned off. The rest have all been canned as well so this leaves us with Bernie and Joe; well Joe actually since Bernie may not know it but he’s one of the Walking Dead! So are they going to go up against Trump with a candidate who can’t remember his own name? It’s possible I suppose but one wonders if they are clearing the deck for a ringer! Mrs Clinton for example! Would they really try to bring her back? Well the Political Elites have abandoned things like Democracy so maybe.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/05/elizabeth-warren-ending-2020-democratic-presidential-campaign/

      1. Now there’s a thought Polly that had not occurred to me. Joe gets sick and Mrs Obama fills the gap!

        2. I’ve long thought that MO was a potential candidate, but I think that after HC, the Democrats have realised that DT will be a two term president. I would not be at all surprised to see her stand in 2024.

        3. Many people think that Mrs Obama is truly wonderful. I suppose she thinks that herself and has said so on her book. I may have missed something, but I am not aware that she has accomplished anything in her life at all out of the ordinary.

          1. Successful in academia, with some experience in city government. Undergraduate work at Princeton University (B.A., 1985), graduated with law degree from Harvard Law School (J.D., 1988). Worked for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, became the assistant commissioner for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. Returned to academia to became associate dean of student services at the University of Chicago.

  43. 316923+ up ticks,
    You can almost hear the busy,busy hummmmmm, it was really stretching credibility, it is hardly credible, beyond belief, really hard to believe, amazing,how many times the bloke on R4 used incredible in the same sentence
    describing the establishments input to keep us safe.

  44. A RE-RUN OF THE 2013 DARWIN AWARDS

    Eighth Place

    In Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve his car keys.

    Seventh Place

    A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who “totally zoned when he ran”, accidentally jogged off a 100-foot high cliff on his daily run.

    Sixth Place

    While at the beach, Daniel Jones, 21, dug an 8-foot hole for protection from the wind and had been sitting in a beach chair at the bottom, when it collapsed, burying him beneath 5 feet of sand. People on the beach used their hands and shovels trying to get him out but could not reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost an hour to free him. Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital.

    Fifth Place

    Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed as he fell through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burgling. Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth to keep his hands free rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.

    Fourth Place

    Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed as he won a bet with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets into his mouth and pull the trigger.

    Third Place

    After stepping around a marked police patrol car parked at the front door, a man walked into H&J Leather & Firearms intent on robbing the store. The shop was full of customers and a uniformed officer was standing at the counter. Upon seeing the officer, the would-be robber announced a hold-up and fired a few wild shots from a target pistol.

    The officer and a clerk promptly returned fire, and several customers also drew their guns and fired. The robber was pronounced dead at the scene by Paramedics. Crime scene investigators located 47 expended cartridge cases in the shop. The subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds. Ballistics identified rounds from 7 different weapons. No one else was hurt.

    HONORABLE MENTION

    Paul Stiller, 47, and his wife Bonnie were bored just driving around at 2 A.M. so they lit a quarter stick of dynamite to toss out the window to see what would happen. Apparently, they failed to notice that the window was closed.

    RUNNER UP

    Kerry Bingham had been drinking with several friends when one of them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from a local bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more excited, and at least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30 AM. Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge, they discovered that no one had brought a bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and pointed out that a coil of lineman’s cable lay nearby. They secured one end around Bingham’s leg and then tied the other to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and tore his foot off at the ankle. He miraculously survived his fall into the icy water and was rescued by two nearby fishermen. Bingham’s foot was never located.

    AND THE WINNER IS….

    Zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt (Paderborn, Germany) fed his constipated elephant 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally got relief. Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded.

    The sheer force of the elephant’s unexpected defecation knocked Mr Riesfeldt to the ground where he struck his head on a rock as the elephant continued to evacuate 200 pounds of dung on top of him. It seems to be just one of those freak accidents that proves… ‘Shit happens’

    IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPORTANT TO THANK THESE PEOPLE FOR REMOVING THEMSELVES FROM THE GENE POOL.

    1. ‘Morning, Tom.

      I once dealt with a case of burglary committed by the teenage son of a Windrush-generation family. This family lived in a semi-detached house and they all knew that their neighbour possessed a large, ferocious Dobermann Pinscher dog.

      That being said, the son decided to burgle the neighbour’s house. He did so by going up into the roof space of his own house, removing the breeze blocks of the partition wall separating the two properties, climbing into next door’s roof space, then attempting to drop down via the ceiling hatch into the neighbouring property in order to commit the burglary.

      Unfortunately for him, the dog was waiting and it latched onto his leg as he frantically attempted to climb back through the hatch. When the neighbour returned home to find his roof hatch open, and blood in the hallway he called me to attend. I never had such an easy detection. Jarvis Ellis would have been a frontrunner for the Darwin Award.

      1. In the UK, the dog would be put down and the owner jailed and forced to pay the burglar compensation.

    2. “…
      47 expended cartridge cases in the shop. The subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds…”

      Either the shop was massive, or yanks are rubbish shots. A case in point that they shouldn’t be allowed guhnz.

      1. Or, it proves the point between being able to calmly fire shots at paper targets and the effects of increase in adrenaline when a target may actually fire back at you. Not to mention, other than John Wayne and Audie Murphy, most pistols are not too accurate over more than 10 metres.

      2. Dear wibbling, did you not grasp the importance of the sentence, “No one else was hurt”?

  46. Flybe’s collapse could be ‘first of many’ airlines

    The failure of Europe’s biggest regional airline Flybe could be the start of more casualties, analysts predict.

    Flybe’s collapse “will likely be the first of many in 2020,” said James Goodall, transport analyst at Redburn. “We expect that the demand destruction caused by Covid-19 accelerated its demise and we believe further airline bankruptcies should be expected in the coming months.”

    Airlines could lose $63bn to $113bn in revenue from the slump in passenger traffic globally this year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday. It previously predicted losses of $29bn in an estimate last month.

    1. Since this collapse is due to far more than a nasty little orgasm oops ortokrkt does it again – , may we question why there’s constant pressure for more airports and extra runways?

      1. Morning all.
        It’s all about pulling in the punters and making loadsa munneey you know that 😊
        It’s such a shame little Greta hasn’t realised this yet, but perhaps the people who are funding her daft campaign are amongst the richest on the planet. And let’s be honest you don’t become mega rich by being a greenie.

    2. Good morning Bill

      How gleeful you must be at the collapse of private businesses. Of course in many cases excessive tax has been one of the main contributing factors.

      But how many need to collapse before it interferes with your HMRC pension?

    1. Good morning all
      I’m working on the basis that if I get it I’m unlucky and if I don’t get it I’m lucky.
      Did you see the Russian spy in Bridge of Spies when Tom Hanks says to him “Are you worried”? And he says “Would it help”. Now that’s what I call perspective.

      1. Here is a precis of the situation as JH see it.

        1. We have advanced to Phase III animal trials. This is astronomical
        progress. compared to a literal 10-year estimation it takes to cultivate
        new vaccine types.

        2. The epitope and virus genome have been sequenced; advancing research for the vaccines by a dramatic amount.

        3.CDC and WHO are doing everything in their power to contain the viral,
        well, contagion. Air carriers have suspended all flights (assuming
        to/from China and even connections as countries are updated.)

        4. Community transmission is possible in the United States, but the risk thusfar remains low.

        5.Over 20,000 have responded to treatment and recovered. The death toll
        remains at 2,000. Yes, it will go up, because that can’t stagnate from
        75k infections and simply not prove to be fatal to certain members of
        the population.

        6. I would be more worried if this killed in a
        matter of hours as much as it infects in a matter of minutes. Yes the
        incubation time is long. However. 80% of people present with mild
        symptoms- that number is going up by the way. You get infected? Limit
        exposure to others, call your hospital before coming in, and practice
        self-isolation following discharge.

        7. The virus’sreproductive number, or r-naught, is estimated at 2.3 for now. That
        means every two people can infect three more. Measles? Was 18. This is
        not 1330’s Europe, nor 1918 Spain. This is 2020, and we are decades more
        advanced and prepared to handle the majority of whatever outbreaks are
        thrown at us, unlike Hollywood which loves to glamorize on Humans and
        our fear of the unknown and existence-threatening disease X. Makes for a
        good popcorn flick, honestly.

        8. I stay away, AWAY AWAY
        from any media unless it is CDC, WHO, or academically peer reviewed in
        any way, shape or form. Be informed with facts, not fear, and educate
        others with your sources. Fight disinformation, because that is as
        lethal as the virus.

      2. That was an excellent film. Turns out that the Russian spy actor is a lefty in real life, but then that is par for the course.
        The student recued by Tom Hanks’ character had his obituary in the Telegraph quite recently.
        And above all, the story is a lesson for anyone involved in any type of negotiation.

  49. Right everyone I’m venturing out into Coronavirus World where your survival hinges on whether any of the other bus passengers have been on holiday to China recently, or has someone else handled the Domestos bottle before you!

      3. PT, I read It started to spread via the local market in Wuhan.
        It was said workers at the labs remove animals for human consumption that have been used in experimental processing. Sold on to stall holders and hey presto……😨
        That might have been part of the story in Dean Koontz 1981 novel The Eyes of Darkness, where he writes about a terrible virus Wuhan 400, that escaped from Wuhan.

      4. It looks like an ideal biological weapon insofar that it may have the potential to decimate the population of an enemy but nevertheless could possibly disperse fast enough for an invading force to take over without fear of contamination.

        That is one of the reasons why a Wuhan biological lab source is postulated in which case it would be an ironic own goal.

        Whether or not COVID-19 behaves like that is an open question.

      5. It looks like an ideal biological weapon insofar that it may have the potential to decimate the population of an enemy but nevertheless could possibly disperse fast enough for an invading force to take over without fear of contamination.

        That is one of the reasons why a Wuhan biological lab source is postulated in which case it would be an ironic own goal.

        Whether or not COVID-19 behaves like that is an open question.

      7. PT, I read It started to spread via the local market in Wuhan.
        It was said workers at the labs remove animals for human consumption that have been used in experimental processing. Sold on to stall holders and hey presto……😨
        That might have been part of the story in Dean Koontz 1981 novel The Eyes of Darkness, where he writes about a terrible virus Wuhan 400, that escaped from Wuhan.

          1. I got my librarian wife to order me a copy it ain’t arrived yet. There’s a virus about you know 😊
            And I absolutely agree with everything you have said.
            As we watched the news tonight, the overwhelming factor is that older probably working class people are dying from this virus.
            People who probably never actually go anywhere. But are dying, yet we see reporters in the thick of and they are never effected political figures are never effected.
            The wealthy are never effected.
            I can’t exactly put my finger on it but something doesn’t add up.
            How’s yer fascia hold up these
            days ? I’ve just been making some alterations for my elder sister is stuck the skitting back with the same adhesive. It’s the best I’ve ever used.
            Now where was i ? …….Back to my large glass of Ozzie Shiraz. Bed before ten 🍷🍷🕙

        2. Comment from D/Express

          Brilliantly put. I too think this virus is man made or manipulated by Chinese.. not the people.. but the government.
          Last year the Chinese lost a massive contract over 5G security concerns.
          China stated then that the USA would suffer as a result and warned of very serious consequences for refusing to do the deal.
          I believe the virus was then released… and to see its results it was tested on the Chinese people…. lets face it the Chinese government don’t really give a damn about its people.. they are a pawn that needs to be sacrificed in order to achieve the result they want.
          I also believe they have the anti virus but are holding it back until the virus has caused mayhem within the global markets (markets are dropping worldwide) China has a massive surplus of rare metals and other materials that they do not need to mine for.. but the rest of the world does… the overall gain is too China. It will become more pwerful on the world stage than any other country. it has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
          I too will be called loony and a dreamer of doom and gloom.. but I think I’m not far from the truth as is the author Paul Baldwin.

    1. According to the figures, of the 147 cases in England there are:

      29 in London
      24 in the South East
      22 in the South West
      21 in the North West
      13 in the North East and Yorkshire
      12 in the Midlands
      11 in the East of England
      15 not yet confirmed

  53. A salutary tale that may help to explain why the NHS is permanently ‘short of resources’.
    A friend’s brother went in for day surgery to repair an inguinal hernia.
    After the op, he needed a pee, but was still feeling a bit whoozy after the anaesthetic.
    He asked for a bottle but the nurse insisted he use the loo which was not next to the recovery room.
    While there, he lost his balance and fell – among other damage, he broke his collar bone . He then spent another week in the hospital.
    So, for the sake of dogma, the NHS had to provide care for 7 days instead of 12 hours.

    1. Another claim against the NHS for negligence. £millions are spent by the NHS on such claims.

    4. A similar tale.
      A patient sent home too early after a hernia op results in complications.
      Back to the hospital where said patient develops sepsis. Recovering slowly
      after a lengthy stay in hospital.

      2. My acquaintance had a second similar op (left after right). Subsequent to his previous experience which had included the wound being infected he was somewhat wary. After the op he was placed in a ward of six beds, three on each side. In the opposite bed was a recovering drunk who was coughing, hawking and vomiting. He asked to be moved as he thought the having a wound in a ward where germs were being belched into the air was not a good idea. He was moved, and then decided to leave. He discharged himself with the help of young doctor who supported his decision. The young doctor was clearly dismayed by the standards of the hospital and made it clear in a quiet way. My chum had no infection or any abnormal after effects this second time.

      3. Sat in triage for four hours passing blood. Eventually just vomited it up. Nothing gets you seen faster than spattering the floor in vino veritas.

        1. My wife had a similar issue several years ago. Straight into A&E to see a doctor, emergency transfer to regional hospital then operated on the next day.

          Public health systems can perform well (much to the disgust of our southern neighbours). Many of the staff are from the UK so it is not the people that are causing problems. Could it be that there is a more worrying loss of empathy and willingness to help out?

    5. Someone I know had a similar op. As he come round back in a ward after the op a nurse said if you need the loo, let me know and I’ll help you through to the lavatory. Some time later he did need the loo and pressed the button for nurse. A (different) nurse turned up and refused to help him walk to the lavatory, instead offering a bed pan (or bottle).
      He refused and the nurse left. My acquaintance then crawled on the floor to the lavatory. Apparently nurses are oblivious to the fact that grown men, even groggy with anaesthetic and in some pain, really do not wish to attempt to use a bed pan.
      In the same ward he was lying in bed contemplating his imminent departure when a patient was brought back from theatre. A short while later he heard the patient choking and summoned a nurse. One eventually turned up. He did wonder what might have happened had he not pushed his button for help.
      Nurses on duty are not in wards as they are in little gossiping gaggles at a station far down the corridor.

      1. Or, as was the case when I had my caesarian and was in pain after the op. (I was on morphine), in the nurses’ room…

    6. He should have wet the bed.

      My wife was in hospital and requested a bedpan and her nurse said she would rather my wife wet the bed.

      1. I’ve not had that treatment in the local hospital, but stories like this make me glad to blow grandad’s money.

        1. She was heavily pregnant at the time.

          The truly exasperating part of this one is that she was in hospital on bed-rest have neurological tests because she kept falling over. She’s always maintained it was the shift in her centre of gravity that was causing it but the doctors were concerned and wanted to be sure.

          She’s small and it was a relatively large baby.

    7. He has a case against them. They must have known he was still under the influence of the anaesthetic and at least guided him to the loo and waited for him if they didn’t want to wash a bottle out.

      I had an operation on my lower spine. Not a complete success. Bleeding wouldn’t stop. 12 hours later they had to call an ambulance to take me to another hospital to correct it. Nearly 40 hours nil by mouth. When i came round after the second op i was on the ward. It was in the early hours. I buzzed the nurses station and got no response. I buzzed again and a nurse finally arrived and told me off. I asked her in a croaky voice for some water. She put a jug at the end of the bed where i couldn’t reach it. I again fell asleep. When i came round for the second time i asked the patient in the next bed if they could get it for me. Later in the morning another nurse came round to attach a drip. She said in a surprised voice “Oh, you should already have had one of these”. Also, they didn’t want to provide a district nurse as i actually lived in the next county. I eventually had to have two more operations. There is a lot more to this story but i don’t want to think about it.

      Good morning.

      1. The, it can do no wrong if only it had more money, defenders of our glorious NHS will always say that all our stories are anecdotal.
        Well, there are far more anecdotal stories telling of similar problems for it to be just individual bad luck.

        1. Shovelling tenners into a furnace will keep you warm but only as long as the things burn for.

          The NHS needs reform so it is more efficient, not to be given more money.

        1. I was a long time recovering and only wanted to forget the whole nasty experience. I really should have put in a complaint but i was not in a good state of mind.

          1. That’s understandable, Pip.

            Unfortunately a lot of medics and employers get away with things because their victims are simply too worn down…

          2. After all the pain and discomfort i went through, the wound took 4 months to heal. As it was at the base of my spine i was unable to sit upright.

            The incision was four inches long and it was deep enough to expose the bone.

            The dressing was an absolute nightmare and impossible to self administer.

            It was made from a chemical compound and a catalyst.

            You had to pour one into the other and wait a few seconds for it to begin foaming and then pour it into the wound.

            As it foams it creates heat. That made me cry out in pain everytime. It felt like i was being branded.

            The district nurse said they were too busy to continue dressing it for me and i should ask a neighbour to do it.

            I had a bit of a hissy fit over that and they gave in.

            I could write a book about the whole gruesome experience.

          3. That is disgraceful behaviour by the district nurse.

            I’m sorry these painful memories are being opened up again. Try to put it behind you. I know that I would be furious – but being furious just festers and is harmful to nobody but us.

            For years I have been furious with a gold-digging b!tch who scooped both our father’s and our mother’s estates. And with my stupid father who married a woman 27 years younger than he and let her take over. However, I have to try and forget (I will never forgive), as being angry does me no good.

            Sp most of the time I forget about it. Just sometimes…grrrrr.

    8. In those circs., if refused a bottle, I would have furtively pissed on the floor.

  54. Barbara Martin: Original Supremes singer dies aged 76

    Barbara Martin, an original member of 1960s US pop group The Supremes, has died at the age of 76.

    The Detroit singer was with the group when they signed to Motown Records in 1961 and sang on most of their first album, Meet the Supremes.

    The news of her death was confirmed by the band on their Facebook page.

  56. Best sausages…Good Housekeeping

    In my quest for the perfect sausage I found analysing the contents
    time consuming to say the least.

    Caramelised Onion British Pork Sausages – Deluxe – 400g
    pork 85%, caramelised onion 4% (brown sugar, red onion, red wine (sulphites), onion, water, white wine vinegar (sulphites)), water, onion, fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, thiamin niacin), salt, sugar, onion powder, white pepper, dried sage, drid chives, black pepper, _sodium metabisulphite, yeast, ascorbic acid. filled into natural pork casings.

    Has anyone tried vegan sausages?

      1. I tried Tesco’s when they were on offer…..Disappointing .

        The local butcher’s sausages are made from sawdust . I dropped one on the floor once …
        it literally bounced!

          3. You don’t need coronavirus to appreciate them!

            Anyway they are from the SW.

  57. Well icebergs may or may not be melting, but the Thunberg seems to be growing….
    From Honest John:
    “The dealership that has supplied my last three Mazda MX-5s alerted me that car prices will be increasing soon and a new MX-5 would probably cost an additional £3,000. Such increases are being initiated by the Government, they said. I do not recall any reference to these price increases in the press. What have I missed? AL

    It’s not the UK Government. The EC has imposed corporate average CO2 limits on car manufacturers. If their corporate average CO2 exceeds 95g/km in 2020 they face fines of 95 euros (£81) for every additional gram for every car; they will have to pass at least some of this on in their retail prices. That is why there is now so much emphasis on electric cars, which reduce each manufacturer’s corporate CO2 output….”

    My present car emits a fairly frugal 111g/Km and no nitrous oxide due to Ad blue – which is why under former VED rules my duty is only £30 pa despite it being a 190bhp car…

    1. How about your barge, or do you run that on high-sulphur bunkers whilst smiling benignly at the people on the towpath and trying to look very green?

      1. No just plain old Red Derv….However, now that I’ve fitted Solar Panels I don’t have to keep the engine running whilst in locks to charge the domestic battery bank so my lungs really appreciate the change!

        PS With a hospital silencer fitted most folk on the towpath can’t hear the engine running at all. Many think the boat is electric powered!

        1. Ah, you may find yourself paying more for red derv in future. I have heard (via the farming grapevine) that there are plans to eliminate the discount.

          1. It’s the sodding EU ruling – supposed to have been implemented at the end of January. I’m hoping the UK will ignore it.
            I have to declare the percentage of fuel used for propulsion and that is charged at the full road use duty & VAT….

          3. Not likely. Alister Jack, Scottish Secretary, said that the reason they did not bail out Flybe was because it was against EU rules.
            It is clear that we will toe the line subservient until the end of the year, if not longer.

      2. No just plain old Red Derv….However, now that I’ve fitted Solar Panels I don’t have to keep the engine running whilst in locks to charge the domestic battery bank so my lungs really appreciate the change!

        PS With a hospital silencer fitted most folk on the towpath can’t hear the engine running at all. Many think the boat is electric powered!

    2. How about your barge, or do you run that on high-sulphur bunkers whilst smiling benignly at the people on the towpath and trying to look very green?

    3. Booger. I’ve been looking at getting an MX-5 RF for a couple of years. Looks like I needn’t bother any more…

    2. How exciting! There could be escape chambers like on submarines. People would leave the tunnel via the chambers and pop to the surface to bob about in the North Channel. Fishermen could be paid a per capita bonus for any escapees that they rescue.
      Unfortunately, this tunnel notion was suggested by Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary.
      Is this the same man who in last two days said the Government could not support Flybe because of EU rules? Hence making it clear that he is rather devoid of political intelligence, regardless of any arming, storing, engineering or aeronautical expertise.
      He has made it evident that the UK is still falling into line with EU rules that no one in the EU has ever paid any attention to. This weakens the hand of our negotiators. Had he any sense at all, he would simply have said that a commercial analysis indicated that Flybe was unviable and that would not change, therefore it would every imprudent to lend them any money at all.

      1. Yes very boring compared to the excitement of cars and lorries being blown over in high winds. The other problem as Scotland discovered recently is Ice. Ice builds up on the suspension cable and becomes a big risk to vehicles should it fall

        1. When we were in England a few weeks ago, many bridges were closed because of the high winds.

          You would think that lessons might have been learnt from that.

        2. Cars and lorries can never be blown off a structure that is phsycally impossible to build because of engineering constraints, however high the wind.

  60. One patient tests positive in the Vatican, at the heart of Europe’s worst-hit country

    1. WE ought to be a 100% screening anyone coming to the UK that has visited Italy

      1. 316923+ up ticks,
        BJ,
        Bout 40 years plus in some cases to late, TB is back with a vengeance mass murder,rape /abuse, still it is what was called for over the years via the polling booth, so the peoples should be content.

      2. My neighbours recently returned from holiday in Italy…..I haven’t seen them since.

        Should I make enquiries…..?

        1. Well Currently it appears anyone going from the UK to Italy is met by the military and they are compulsorily screened. Not sure if it applies across all of Italy

          1. Confused of Canada asks!
            What is the point of checking people going into an infected area?

          2. Because officially the UK is now designated a high risk country by the WHO

          3. That’s only because it’s like the DT – black and white and red all over.

          4. Confused of Canada asks!
            What is the point of checking people going into an infected area?

    2. WE ought to be a 100% screening anyone coming to the UK that has visited Italy

  61. RuPaul’s Drag Race star apologises for ‘trauma and pain’ after allegedly impersonating a casting agent

  63. Income tax being cut in Wales from April

    OK I am using a lot of spin but it is basically correct. Westminster is ineed cutting the income tax rates in Wales

    Basic rate 10%
    Higher Rate 40% to 30%
    Additional Rate 45% to 35%

    1. Is this speculation by someone, I would have thought that such a dramatic reduction would be kept as a punchline in the budget.

      1. As I said I am using spin. Those rates are indeed correct but they are the minimum levels the Welsh Assembly can reduce rates to it also means the Westminster funding is also reduced by that amount

        It means the Welsh Assembly has the powers to reduce the tax rates in Wales by the amounts shown below. But if they did they would have a big revenues shortfall. From their rates 2020/212 budget it appears they will maintain the Welsh Income tax rates at the same level as the English rates. What they will do if England decided to vary its rates remains to be seen. The UK budget which nowadays largely only applies to England is next week

  64. The Government and NHS seem to be taking a very Cavalier approach to Coronavirus

    In my view they should screening NHS staff on a daily basis and certainly staff that have been on holiday abroad. They should also be wearing face masks. This is more to protect patients being infected by hospital staff

  66. A Short Note On Coronavirus COVID-19 By Walrus. 5 March 2020.

    I attended a private briefing today on the Wuhan Coronavirus (the virus) that I think I should share with the Committee. This information is as reliable and accurate as it gets. I should have taken notes. I apologise in advance for errors and omissions.

    Comment: The virology timeline dates I saw indicated a very tightly linked set of actions by China, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and researchers once the alarm was raised.. By that I mean that China and the WHO responded and acted almost immediately – within one or two days, as new information was received and have and still are actively and openly communicating and assisting with further research.

    In my opinion, such openness, honesty and actions are totally inconsistent with any of the multitude of conspiracy theories currently advanced.
    So much for the virology…….

    On the epidemiological front, there is also interesting news. The first is researcher opinion that this virus has probably been circulating at least in November and possibly in October. It is also believed that the mathematical models show that there are perhaps Ten times the cases world wide than are officially recorded. This partly because some cases are asymptomatic and currently available tests indicate false negative results. This is good news for the case fatality rate if proven because it is ten times less lethal than we currently estimate.

    The researchers believe that the virus originated in Bats (notorious RNA Coronavirus carriers) and then infected Wuhan wet market produce – Pangolins, which then infected people. The initial cases were a group of men in the Wuhan wet market -which is also the cause of the error that the virus attacks men more than women, there are few female market workers. The apparent evidence for this is that large quantities of the virus have been found on the trading floor of another Wuhan wet market – the original Wuhan wet market was perhaps disinfected and its now demolished. (So much for the “bio weapon” BS.)

    The best prevention against getting this virus is simple: WASH YOUR HANDS REGULARLY AND DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE. The virus lived on surfaces for at least Nine days. Things like public door handles, lift buttons, stair rails, supermarket trolleys, etc. that are touched by thousands of people daily are going to in all probability carry the virus. The virus can’t get through dry skin, but if you rub your eye or suchlike the virus can get at your living tissue. Faeces may also be a route. Clean toilets. Mask are a waste of time and money except in special situations.

    https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/

    1. Not very helpful really. The worst possible response to any crisis is to play it down. If you are wrong, you have expedited disaster. If, on the other hand you react promptly and do at least four times what you think might be required for the worst possible scenarios, then if you are wrong you will merely have spent a little money unnecessarily and expended a little extra energy. But you will have saved the day.

    3. Mask are a waste of time and money except in special situations

      I assume the ‘special situation’ is when someone is carrying the disease? Given that CV symptoms may not show for over week – or in some ‘Typhoid Mary’ scenarios, never – surely logic dictates that everyone should wear masks to reduce the chance of breathing or coughing out virus contaminated body fluids?

  67. hat would we do without Wind & Solar . Wind 7% Solar Estimated at 1% but probably overstaying it

    1. I remember thinking ‘Job well done.’, and wondered what the fuss was about.

    2. IRA supporters and apologists constantly harp on about the extra-judicial ‘shoot to kill’ policy of the British Army, yet they clearly don’t see the hypocrisy of the IRA having exactly the same policy.

  71. Ahem
    The general refusal of our media to explain why the police were called
    to Centre Parcs, or ask why they then let a child molester leave the
    scene whilst at the same time arresting the assaulted girl’s father,
    does not bode well for the rough diamond that is Tommy Robinson.

    It seems that the most difficult thing for our would-be elites to understand, is that Tommy Robinson is not an individual, he is a phenomenon.

    I have met many Tommy’s over the years, on jobs and in pubs, at football
    matches and on the streets and you can see images of their forebears in
    every photograph of those who fought for the freedoms which many of us
    now are prepared to throw away.

    He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and there are many things we might try
    to change about him, but only a lazy coward would deny that he is brave
    and determined. The point is that you don’t need to like Tommy Robinson
    to listen to what he has to say.
    https://primaryaccount.blogspot.com/2020/03/uk-whose-side-are-you-on.html

    1. The point is that you don’t need to like Tommy Robinson to listen to what he has to say.

      On the first count, I don’t, but on the second I certainly do.

      And he’s right. It’s a great shame that those doing the right thing can’t get a more photo/ MSMediagenic spokesman. Too often the MSM shoot at the messenger, ignoring the message.

      1. Even if he were a beauty pageant winner and the product of a charm school, they’d still shoot the messenger and ignore the (to them unpalatable) message, sos.

  72. Evening, all. The PTB seem to be taking a “don’t take any risks” approach with Coronavirus. My Grand Lodge has issued advice that meetings may be cancelled for the foreseeable future (largely because the majority of members are in the vulnerable age group). We shall have to wait and see, but as my local paper observed, we are about to celebrate 75 years of surviving death and destruction on a daily basis and we may not be able to do so in case someone coughs!

    1. It’s going to accelerate some demises, but so do many things, like alcohol, smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise. Better to fight it by trying to ignore it as much as possible.

      2. I take the view that I am going to go some time, that’s inevitable. I take reasonable hygiene precautions, but if I get it, one of two things will happen. I’ll either recover or I won’t. If I recover, there’s no need to worry, if I don’t recover I can’t worry! I’ve already survived two bouts of (different sorts of) ‘flu this year. I’ve had the ‘flu jab as well. I try to eat healthily, so it’s really in the lap of the gods.

    2. We have been told that the masks won’t stop the virus. Almost no one washes their hands properly, anti-bactericides or not. Not that they would have any effect on the virus.

      I know elderly and in particular people with underlying conditions are more vulnerable but people should not panic. If one of your Lodge members is feeling a bit under the weather then they should just stay home anyway.

      I hope you have a good anniversary anyway and you could possibly postpone if people are worried. It’s the year not the day that is important.

      1. I suspect any aged Lodge member who was under the weather wouldn’t come anyway; most of them refuse to drive after dark!

        1. At the lodge local to me one of the great things they do is the members support local charitable events. A favourite restaurant of mine the Chef Patron will do a menu in January midweek and lodge members and their wives will fill the restaurant.

          £5 from each diner to a set menu of £25 goes to the local charity. We have a raffle and an auction as guests are asked to bring something. Boxes of chocs and bottles of wine, often a bottle of good single malt.

          I always do well at the auctions lol. The time but last i put in a painting copied from a Vetriano and outbidded another local and favourite restaurateur. Always a fun night.

          We raised £1500 for the https://www.alex-lewis.co.uk/

          He was there on the night and was inspiring.

          My point is…don’t be scared.

          2. After such a debilitating disease, Alex is truly inspirational and an exceptionally good role model for others who have suffered so much. The loss of limbs is bad enough but it also affected his face…he lost his lips.

            I might add….I myself am not a Lodge member but the only Charity i am prepared to support is at local level.

            To mirror my posts……..How many of those fit young men flooding across the Turkish border into Europe have any injury …at all. Given they are fleeing a war zone. No need to answer that.

          3. I’ll answer it anyway.

            Every country with a border with Turkey should put an even stronger physical border 20 metres back from the political border.

            They should then say that any man found within the 20 metre dead-zone will be shot.

      3. Hello Phizzee,

        I noted on another earlier forum
        your understanding that a
        brickyards in Fareham had supplied the bricks for the construction of the Royal Albert Hall.

        Evidently some ascribe the supplier to a brickworks in Fareham. I checked my assumption from local knowledge that the bricks were supplied by Ballingdon Brickworks in Sudbury Suffolk.

        I copy and paste the following:

        BRICKS TO BUILD THE ALBERT HALL
        M.D.P.Hammond

        I was amused to read on page 7 of Information 28 that a brick and tile works at Fareham, Hampshire were said to have made bricks which were used in the building of the Albert Hall.

        I have been told that brickworks which were at Chingford, Essex and another brickworks at Ballingdon (near Sudbury on the Suffolk/Essex border) also made bricks for the Albert Hall. The latter bricks being transported from Ballingdon by barge down the River Stour to the sea and then along the River Thames. It is possible that all three (or perhaps more) brickworks supplied bricks for building the Albert Hall.

        Perhaps a member may wish to research into what bricks were actually used in the construction of this well known building.
        Incidentally, Eli Cornish who was a
        well known brickmaker in Sible Hedingham, Essex made the bricks for many buildings including 16 Churches in North London. The bricks were red bricks and were marked E.C.C. or H.B.Co. The mark E.C.C. was used by Eli Cornish to distinguish his bricks from those made by his relation Edward Cornish
        (E.C.) elsewhere in Essex. H.B.Co. was Hedingham Brick Company which was owned by Eli Cornish in the early 1900’s. Eli Cornish
        made bricks at Hedingham on his own account between 1886 and 1932

        Does anyone know the location of these 16 Churches please or any other buildings constructed with Hedingham bricks?

        January 1983
        Adrian Corder-Birch

        1. We appear to be in dispute.

          Besides local folklore i have two sources to support my claim.

          Wiki. The proposal was approved, and the site was purchased with some of the

          profits from the Exhibition. Once the remaining funds had been raised,

          in April 1867 Queen Victoria signed the Royal Charter of the Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences which was to operate the Hall and on 20 May, she laid the foundation stone.[3]

          The Hall was designed by civil engineers Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers and built by Lucas Brothers.[4] The designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres but had also been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at the South Kensington Museum. The recently opened Cirque d’Hiver in Paris was seen in the contemporary press as the design to outdo. The Hall was constructed mainly of Fareham Red brick, with terra cotta block decoration made by Gibbs and Canning Limited of Tamworth.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall

          And.

          In the construction of the solid fabric by Lucas Brothers,

          however, the hall proved very satisfactory. (Lucas’s clerks of works were

          William Hemsley and Sankey. (fn. 173) ) At

          least some of the wrought-iron girders were, like other iron used at South

          Kensington, from Belgium. (fn. 174) The

          concrete floors, supplied by Fox and Barrett, were of fireproof

          construction. (fn. 175) The main wall was 3

          feet 2 inches thick, of picked Cowley stocks laid in Portland cement, faced

          with red bricks supplied by William Cawte of Fareham, pointed with dark grey or

          black mortar. (fn. 176) Scott described the

          facing bricks with relish: ‘they are very heavy and hard, having, if I may use

          the expression, a metallic looking and slightly conchoidal fracture, are little

          absorbent, and are for beauty of tint unsurpassed by any bricks in the

          kingdom’. (fn. 177)

          https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol38/pp177-195

        2. We appear to be in dispute.

          Besides local folklore i have two sources to support my claim.

          Wiki. The proposal was approved, and the site was purchased with some of the

          profits from the Exhibition. Once the remaining funds had been raised,

          in
          April 1867 Queen Victoria signed the Royal Charter of the Corporation
          of the Hall of Arts and Sciences which was to operate the Hall and on 20
          May, she laid the foundation stone.[3]

          The Hall was designed by
          civil engineers Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D.
          Scott of the Royal Engineers and built by Lucas Brothers.[4] The
          designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres but had also
          been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at
          the South Kensington Museum. The recently opened Cirque d’Hiver in Paris
          was seen in the contemporary press as the design to outdo. The Hall was
          constructed mainly of Fareham Red brick, with terra cotta block
          decoration made by Gibbs and Canning Limited of Tamworth.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…

          And.

          In the construction of the solid fabric by Lucas Brothers,

          however, the hall proved very satisfactory. (Lucas’s clerks of works were

          William Hemsley and Sankey. (fn. 173) ) At

          least some of the wrought-iron girders were, like other iron used at South

          Kensington, from Belgium. (fn. 174) The

          concrete floors, supplied by Fox and Barrett, were of fireproof

          construction. (fn. 175) The main wall was 3

          feet 2 inches thick, of picked Cowley stocks laid in Portland cement, faced

          with red bricks supplied by William Cawte of Fareham, pointed with dark grey or

          black mortar. (fn. 176) Scott described the

          facing bricks with relish: ‘they are very heavy and hard, having, if I may use

          the expression, a metallic looking and slightly conchoidal fracture, are little

          absorbent, and are for beauty of tint unsurpassed by any bricks in the

          kingdom’. (fn. 177)

          https://www.british-history…

        3. Both Wiki and The British History site support my claim .

          We appear to be in dispute.

          Besides local folklore i have two sources to support my claim.

          Wiki. The proposal was approved, and the site was purchased with some of the

          profits from the Exhibition. Once the remaining funds had been raised,

          in
          April 1867 Queen Victoria signed the Royal Charter of the Corporation
          of the Hall of Arts and Sciences which was to operate the Hall and on 20
          May, she laid the foundation stone.[3]

          The Hall was designed by
          civil engineers Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D.
          Scott of the Royal Engineers and built by Lucas Brothers.[4] The
          designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres but had also
          been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at
          the South Kensington Museum. The recently opened Cirque d’Hiver in Paris
          was seen in the contemporary press as the design to outdo. The Hall was
          constructed mainly of Fareham Red brick, with terra cotta block
          decoration made by Gibbs and Canning Limited of Tamworth.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…

          And.

          In the construction of the solid fabric by Lucas Brothers,

          however, the hall proved very satisfactory. (Lucas’s clerks of works were

          William Hemsley and Sankey. (fn. 173) ) At

          least some of the wrought-iron girders were, like other iron used at South

          Kensington, from Belgium. (fn. 174) The

          concrete floors, supplied by Fox and Barrett, were of fireproof

          construction. (fn. 175) The main wall was 3

          feet 2 inches thick, of picked Cowley stocks laid in Portland cement, faced

          with red bricks supplied by William Cawte of Fareham, pointed with dark grey or

          black mortar. (fn. 176) Scott described the

          facing bricks with relish: ‘they are very heavy and hard, having, if I may use

          the expression, a metallic looking and slightly conchoidal fracture, are little

          absorbent, and are for beauty of tint unsurpassed by any bricks in the

          kingdom’. (fn. 177)

          https://www.british-history…

  74. Just in case anyone thought that police harassment was only directed at Tommy Robinson, or was a “conspiracy theory” :

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OSBH4H65uLA
    Jonaya, a young woman who has the misfortune of living in Manchester under the jurisdiction of the Manchester Police, and why she is suing them

    “My name is Jonaya, I am a Youtuber who documents political events and issues concerning the police. In 2018 I began reporting death and rape threats from religious extremists to Greater Manchester Police. They consistently refused to investigate and even threatened me with arrest when reporting the threats. The police then attempted to maliciously prosecute me on two occasions- both times they failed miserably. Today I would like to draw your attention to the first incident which resulted in me receiving serious injuries and a consequent hospital admission.”

      1. That was what I thought.

        There was an earlier video of hers that I watched, where a police officer assaulted and arrested a woman who was being interviewed. She was later found dead in her cell, I believe. The police officer was charged with assault and dismissed from his job.

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrVqMcu3v8&bpctr=1583503542
        There’s a warning on this video, and you don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to.

  75. Q: Does the reduction in the price of Brent Crude Oil from $70 to $45 per barrel in recent months strengthen or weaken the case for the Conservatives’ surprisingly extreme green agenda?

    A: Stop asking embarrassing questions

  77. Good evening, Chums.

    Whilst JB (BT (c)] has been slagging off our Country [yet again!]
    I have spent an enjoyable afternoon, with two elderly friends,
    making sloe gin; we have entirely different methods of
    production;-
    he thaws the sloes and then pricks each sloe with
    a silver pin….seven times, covers with sugar and then gin;
    approx. one third sloes, one third sugar, one third gin.
    by volume.

    I put the frozen sloes into a container:-
    1 pound sloes.
    1 pint gin
    8 ounces sugar.
    Agitate to dissolve the sugar,….. on a daily basis.

    Both of us leave the brew for ten weeks and then double
    filter twice. The resulting liquid is, truly, one of God’s gifts
    to us……….but my version is still the best!!!

    1. Good, better, best.
      Never let let it rest
      Until your good is better
      And your better best

      (c) my grandmother.

        1. True.
          But.
          Tell that to the guy at the end of the broken supply chain when his life depended on it.

    2. You and your chums should form a co-operative.

      ERM…!!! Where is my bottle !?!… :o)

    3. I stick the sloes in a plastic bag in the freezer. Pricking the skies is not necessary because when you add them to the gin the thermal shock causes the skins to fracture. I use sugar, cheap gin from Tesco or similar and add blanched almonds for extra taste. It is a good idea to invert the Kilner jars at monthly intervals but keep for a year.

  78. Gridwatch: wind power just 6% of the total electricity being generated right now.
    Renewables overall currently total less than a third of national demand.

    https://gridwatch.co.uk

    (Edited. Damn that autocorrect….)

    1. Don’t forget that ‘renewables’ includes the burning of hundreds of square miles of wild American forests in the furnaces at Drax and Lynemouth. Irreplaceable wild forests.

      A new definition of ‘renewable’

      1. No, not really. The word has been bastardised with its twin “sustainable”.

      2. Some good news is in.
        Parts of the North Pennines are about to be re-treed by the Woodland trust, mainly broad leaf species that were removed during the lead mining periods. Used as fuel during the smelting.

      3. Some good news is in.
        Parts of the North Pennines are about to be re-treed by the Woodland trust, mainly broad leaf species that were removed during the lead mining periods. Used as fuel during the smelting.

    3. The first time I saw ‘glass eels’ were after I’d caught a yellowfin tuna off West Africa as it thrashed on the deck. 12 or 15 see-through ‘things’ with 2 black dots at one end were vomited up. At first I thought they were some sort of jellyfish but on closer inspection I could see a tiny internal organs. Amazing things when you realise how far the little beggars journey to where they’ll grow up.

  81. 316923+ up ticks,
    Dozy bastards & others had better, gotta, check out china first before zero is ever achieved.
    You overpower China politically or force of arms then get back to the sane peoples in the UK.
    Otherwise DO try to keep the twatology down.

  82. Incredimail have just announced it is closing their email facility in mid March .

    How easy is it to use another server still using one’s email other than Gmail .. what other servers are there .. we have used Incredimail for ever

  83. Second person in UK dies from coronavirus

    It seems unlikely he has been abroad

    he man was understood to be in his late 80s, had underlying health conditions and died at Milton Keynes Hospital.

    Doctors are awaiting official test results to confirm if it was a case of COVID-19.

    Other patients on the ward were isolated this morning while a deep clean was carried out, Milton Keynes Citizen reported.

    Hospital staff who nursed the patient are also said to have gone into isolation.

    A detailed contact tracing exercise is now being conducted to trace anyone who came into contact with him in the days before his death.

    1. “Other patients on the ward”? I thought that suspected cases would have been in isolation?

      2. Probably only last minute symptoms as the guy must have been in hospital for another reason.

          1. I just saw a figure of just 20,000 tests for COVID 19 have been carried out in the UK. Doesn’t sound a lot to me.

          2. Certainly does not sound like they have been screening new patient automatically. Ir seem to be the height of stupidity not to screen patients at present before putting them on a ward. . If COVID 19 gets onto a ward fort the elderly or a cancer ward or an intensive care ward their could be deaths

  85. I went to my local
    Screwfix outlet today, I over heard a conversation between a decorator and the staff member. Amongst other items He wanted a pack of dust masks.
    The assistant told him they had none in stock no other branches had any, nor was it possible to order any, now all sold out. It’s all getting quite ridiculous.
    But apparently in a laboratory in Bedfordshire work is underway in development of a vaccine and 20 min virus test kits.
    Boris paid the lab a visit today.

    1. Dozy buggers might as well walk around with a traffic cone on their heads for all the good a dust mask will be at stopping a virus getting to them.

      In the meantime people who need a dust mask to do the job a dust mask is designed for are being put at risk of lung damage from inhaled particles because of panic-buyers.

        1. The masks medical staff wear is more to prevent the staff passing on germs etc to the patients

      3. I wear a dust mask when I’m raking out the ash from the Rayburn and filling the hods. If I didn’t, I’d have lung problems in no time. You can see the particles in the air in sunlight.

    2. Dozy buggers might as well walk around with a traffic cone on their heads for all the good a dust mask will be at stopping a virus getting to them.

      In the meantime people who need a dust mask to do the job a dust mask is designed for are being put at risk of lung damage from inhaled particles because of panic-buyers.

    3. I tried Screwfix. They seemed to have removed them all for home delivery but many are still available for click & collect but it will be looking at local branches so if you want them best thing is to go online and check the stock at local branches and use click and collect as that will receive the stock for you. There may be a lmit as well of about 4 or 5

  86. I don’t often visit my local Building Society but did so today to pay in a cheque (rebate from Thames Water having had a smart water meter imposed with not much choice in the matter). Given the queue and the fact that one of the 3 till positions has been abolished since my last visit, I had plenty of time to take in the recently upgraded interior with at least £3000 of new furniture. In my view the previous interior was perfectly acceptable. It’s no wonder my Society is paying the square root of fluck all interest on their savings account….

    1. Savings rate always used to be about 1% below the mortgage rate which indicates they should be about 2%

        1. Thats quoting a basic deposit savings account . Most account would pay a lot more

          1. More rubbish.

            You can’t make money on such small margins, even in a comparatively low credit risk market such as domestic mortgages.

    2. Savings rate always used to be about 1% below the mortgage rate which indicates they should be about 2%

    3. Water Meters are another scam. Claimed they would reduce most peoples bills instead thy increase them. I am not ware of any Smart Water Meters they are just Water Meters

      1. The fact that you are unaware of something does not mean it doesn’t exist. Oh, and my water bills are far less than they would be if I was paying water rates.

        1. Not exactly smart though it just shows how much water you have used same as any other meter

          1. I believe it is smart enough to enable the water supply company to increase prices on a daily basis should there be a need to ration water in a drought….

        2. Not exactly smart though it just shows how much water you have used same as any other meter

      3. If as a single person that is domiciled in a residence they own then the water Bill is much cheaper.

      4. If as a single person that is domiciled in a residence they own then the water Bill is much cheaper.

  92. Just back from Morrisons,shelves of everything I was interested in piled high,not a sign of a shortage of anything,methinks the media are ‘aving a laff at this point
    Did see my first masks though,strangely 3 asian ladies masking up as they LEFT the supermarket
    No.me neither………………………

    1. No long life milk available yesterday, and no sign of any cheap paracetamol.

      Of course, we’d need to buy triple strength dosage to deal with parrotpestapol

    2. I did our weekly shop this morning. Everything was as normal on a Friday morning.

        1. Morrisons?… MORRISONS?

          Do they even sell disinfectant?

          Apologies to Morrisons fans…

    4. I went to replenish my stock of paracetamol and ibruprofen (to dull the pain I suffer) and there wasn’t a packet to be seen at my usual store. I am not yet out, but I’ll try again another day before I am.

          3. They’ve got a cafe you can get a sandwich and a cup of coffee at. Not used it myself, but it looks popular. Should set you up for the trip home.

    5. I was in Sainsbury this arvo and they had sold out of bogrolls. The lady at the till said it had been fully stocked at lunchtime.

      Lucky for me i have 800 packs of 16’s in my attic. I’m gonna be rich !!!

      1. Waitrose in White City the same. Loads of food, no bog rolls.

        So if I get flu, should I munch on buttered bog roll? Is that the new miracle cure?

        (I don’t have anywhere to store the stuff so it’s tough if I run out.)

  94. Dear God,

    Now the busy day is done,
    Father , Bless us and everyone,
    Keep us safely through the night,
    Until we see the morning light.

    Amen

  95. The row over Priti Patel is about who is in charge: government or bureaucracy?

    CHARLES MOORE

    Rumours about a minister determined to reform a failing department should be regarded sceptically

    In 1980, when she had been in office for a year, Margaret Thatcher experienced two contrasting events. On the 5th of May, on her orders, the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy in Princes Gate, London, rescuing the hostages held there and killing their terrorist captors. The next day, she gave a dinner at 10 Downing Street for all the permanent secretaries (i.e. head civil servants) of the government departments. She was trying to galvanise change with a message of “You and I can beat the system.”

    It was a rotten evening. The mandarins resisted, telling her, in effect, “We ARE the system.” Mrs Thatcher turned to her Cabinet Secretary and whispered, “They’re all against me. I can feel it.” The contrast between the can-do SAS “boys in black” and the can’t-do “men in grey” was painful to her.

    The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is the greatest Thatcher admirer in the present Cabinet. She will be nurturing similar feelings today. A woman outsider trying to bring about serious change in matters such as post-Brexit immigration, and to see through roughly a third of the legislation coming before Parliament this year, she is facing obstruction from officials. Indeed, her situation is worse than Mrs Thatcher’s, because she is also facing character assassination.

    From the day Ms Patel announced her points-based immigration system three weeks ago, she has been the target of anonymous denunciations in the media. She is alleged to be a shouting, swearing bully. Now the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, has launched an investigation “to establish the facts” as to whether she has broken the Ministerial Code. The code says “Ministers should be professional in their working relationships with the Civil Service and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect.”

    Additional accusations have been dragged up from the two other departments in which Ms Patel has already been a minister. This is supposed to imply that she has a record as long as your arm. It seems, however, that no formal complaint against her has ever been made. We are in the realm of rumour. We do not even know whether there are any facts to “establish”. So the Cabinet Secretary’s investigation involves going round departments seeking complaints, like police going round looking for evidence without knowing whether a crime has been committed.

    This seems a bad system: it is, literally, asking for trouble. It is against the interests of good government if a Cabinet minister can, without hard evidence of serious wrong-doing, be put in political limbo while the people who are supposed to serve ministers sit in judgment on them. This is part of the modern mania for “compliance”. Everything has to be codified; everything has to be formally investigated, which means being taken over by officials. It gives too much power to people we, the public, cannot control, and takes power away from the people we have elected. Wherever possible, we want government to get on with its work. That is the true public interest.

    Obviously it is important to behave courteously to civil servants. Most of them are conscientious; many are essential. It is a vanity of modern politicians to imagine that they could run the country without massive official backing. There is a vast range of expertise, detail and administration that no elected politician, or his appointees, could possibly have time to master. A current example is the preparation for health emergencies. If we did not have a permanent staff of health officials and experts planning for such contingencies, hundreds of thousands might have coronavirus by now, and arrangements to treat them and prevent further spread would not exist.

    But it is also true that civil servants should live up to their name. They serve: they do not rule. If you bear that in mind, you must regard the behaviour of Sir Philip Rutnam, the Home Office’s permanent secretary until last week, as very strange indeed.

    Last Saturday, Sir Philip invited the media to come and film him while he stood under an umbrella in a London park. He had never made any formal private complaint about Ms Patel to her or anyone else, yet here he was, attacking her. He announced that he had been offered lots of money to go quietly, but would not do so. Instead, he would bring an action for constructive dismissal in the courts. He said he had been the victim of “a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign”. Ms Patel had denied any involvement in it, he said, but “I regret I do not believe her.” He was therefore resigning. Sir Philip’s lip trembled.

    As I watched Sir Philip’s performance, two things struck me. The first was that he was behaving like a politician not a civil servant. He was deliberately going public and making himself the story. By in effect calling Ms Patel a liar, he was trying to bring her down. Presumably he calculates that she will be too frightened to go before an employment tribunal. Such behaviour is way beyond his pay grade (although, be it noted, under our odd system, he was paid much more than the Home Secretary, with a much better pension and infinitely greater job security). It also represents an extension of the “lawfare” increasingly used, especially on the Left, to bypass elective government and conduct politics by other means.

    The second thing that struck me was that Sir Philip and his like are losing. His conduct was that of a desperate man. A previous inquiry after the 2018 resignation of Amber Rudd when, as Home Secretary, she gave inaccurate evidence about deportation numbers to the relevant Commons select committee, found that she had not been properly supported by the Home Office (perm. sec. Sir P. Rutnam), which kept giving her wrong information because its officials did not know the facts. The report by Wendy Williams on the Windrush scandal is due soon. Sir Philip already knows what is in it. It is thought not to read well for his Home Office. He may have felt he was running out of road.

    I am not speaking so much about the individual, however, as about the generality. Theresa May’s three years of government were, in an odd way, a golden era for civil service power, because there was such weakness at the top. Most of the senior officials were profoundly hostile to Brexit, and saw this as their chance to prevent or compromise it. With so little lead from ministers, they also felt they must take charge of their departments while the politicians squabbled.

    Since last December’s general election, all that has changed. The Government has a big majority. Brexit has happened and is being followed through. These changes have massive consequences for government policies, and it is the job of civil servants to recognise that and implement them.

    The current battles in Whitehall are sometimes represented as a struggle between a careless Boris Johnson and a brutal chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, against the forces of proper process and decency. Clearly it is never right to bully, belittle etc. Possibly Ms Patel can be too sharp-tongued – though it may simply be that she is, as Kipling put it, “more deadly than the male”. But that is not really the point. In the battle between bureaucracy, victimhood, litigation, and “compliance” on the one hand and democratic responsiveness on the other, our elected Government needs to win.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/06/row-priti-patel-charge-government-bureaucracy/

    1. So, did Putnam jump before he was pushed? Also, is there an equivalent to the Ministerial Code for Civil Servants?

  96. Good evening Nottlers!

    From Spiked – if our government is out of 1984 and Brave New World, trans women (i.e. men) demands are out of “The Wonderful O” by James Thurber. This is scary – these people need to be stopped.

    “How ‘woman’ became a dirty word
    Trans activists are demanding the erasure of womanhood.

    This Sunday is International Women’s Day. I’ve got to confess, I’ve never been much of a fan. It’s always seemed like an excuse for middle-class women with good jobs, fat salaries and nice lives to revel in smug self-pity. There are lots of reasons to want to see the back of this yawn-fest. But the idea that ‘women’ is an offensive term that needs to be redefined or, better still, erased from our vocabulary? Give me a break.

    And yet, this is exactly what is happening. Earlier this week, to mark International Women’s Day, Sefton Council on Merseyside raised flags outside Bootle and Southport town halls. Woke flag-raising is a thing now. We’ve all become familiar with the rainbow flag to signify gay pride, but there is also a flag for bisexual pride; a blue, pink and white flag for ‘transgender day of remembrance’; and a purple, green and white flag to signify genderqueer. There’s even a flag to represent the asexual community: its design was agreed through a multistage vote, natch. So, what flag to fly on International Women’s Day?

    Sefton council went with a flag declaring, ‘Woman, noun, adult female’, which seems fair enough. However, this simple, brief definition raised the ire of one man, Adrian Harrop. Harrop, a GP and LGBT activist, is always quick off the mark when it comes to outrage by proxy. He tweeted at Sefton Council, ‘the flag you’re flying at the moment is a hostile transphobic dog whistle’. Another man, Sefton councillor Leo Evans, raised the alarm with those in charge of flags and responded to Harrop: ‘@seftoncouncil is and should be an [sic] diverse and inclusionary council, not one that seeks to exclude anyone.’ And that was all it took. At the behest of men, the flag to mark International Women’s Day was removed and apologies were issued. And now we all know: Sefton is an ‘inclusionary’ council as long as it is not uppity women who expect to be included. They can be insulted as ‘dogs’.

    It’s not just on Merseyside that International Women’s Day is now considered ‘problematic’. At Leicester University, students have planned a week of festivities – but the word ‘woman’ is nowhere in sight. Instead, students are celebrating ‘International Womxn’s Week’, a move instigated by their trans-woman women’s officer, Dan Orr – a biological male, otherwise known as a man. In a newsletter to students, the university explained: ‘We use the term “womxn” as a more inclusive spelling of “women” that includes any person who identifies as a womxn.’ So that’s clear. The category of women no longer refers exclusively to adult females; rather, it has expanded to include any man who feels like calling himself a woman.

    This new definition of womanhood was spelled out by Lola Olufemi, a feminist and ‘organiser’, in a statement read out at a recent conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ruskin College’s inaugural Women’s Liberation Conference. Olufemi helpfully explains that ‘woman is an umbrella term’ under which anyone supportive of her worldview can ‘gather to make their demands’. It takes an unbelievable degree of arrogance to impose your own definition on words and, in so doing, exclude females who were fighting for women’s rights before you were even born. The consequences of this redefinition were soon made clear: an actual woman – the feminist, author and professor, Selina Todd – was effectively No Platformed from the conference after Olufemi refused to speak if Todd was on a panel. When ‘women’ becomes ‘an umbrella term’, females are silenced.

    The word ‘woman’ has become blasphemous. At Edinburgh Science Festival, a talk by American author Maisie Hill on ‘period power’ was billed for all ‘humans with uteruses’. Women suffer a double humiliation: first, they are reduced to their reproductive organs and hormones, and then they are dehumanised as a group that cannot be named.

    When women cannot name themselves, they cannot make collective demands or make their voices heard. The cartoonist Stella Perrett has regularly had her work featured in the Morning Star. Her most recent work, ‘endgame’, shows an alligator telling newts in a pond: ‘Don’t worry your pretty little heads, I’m transitioning as a newt.’ The Morning Star initially published this cartoon before retracting it from its online editions and issuing an ‘unreserved’ apology for any offence caused. A longstanding female contributor and an important discussion on women-only spaces could both be expelled and apologised for like a bad smell. Now that’s offensive.

    Back in 1963, Betty Friedan described the unhappiness experienced by American suburban housewives as ‘the problem that has no name’. Second-wave feminism kicked off with women defining their experiences and putting a name to their frustrations. Women have come a long way in the intervening decades. We have won legal battles for reproductive rights, equal pay, access to education and all sectors of employment; many women have thrived and some now outperform men when it comes to pay and work. But making women into a group that has no name risks turning the clock back on all these hard-won victories at the behest of a tiny group of bullying men, cowardly officials and young women fortunate enough to grow up in a society that not only has gender equality, but has also flattered their every whim. We cannot let them win. For this reason, for the first time ever, I’m going to raise a glass to International Women’s Day.

    Joanna Williams is a spiked columnist and director of the think tank, Cieo.

    1. Bust as they pretty much claim women don’t really exist how can they have an International Woman day after all they seem to be try to claim that men and woman can give birth and that woman can have male genitalia and men female genitalia

      1. They don’t claim that women as such don’t exist, just that “women” is necessarily inclusive of trans-women. So that “women”, meaning those women who are exclusively non-trans. is now an irrelevant term. Or at most a kind of sub-sex.

    2. Bust as they pretty much claim women don’t really exist how can they have an International Woman day after all they seem to be try to claim that men and woman can give birth and that woman can have male genitalia and men female genitalia

  97. The Avro Vulcan……………
    More 4 repeat
    Sparked the memory of being at an airshow (Biggin?) with my dad and the absolutely deafening low level pass
    Edit Just watched the test pilot do a bloody Immelmann!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Hellfire!!!!!!!!What a beast,how sickening this is the last flight,funded by public money,as per usual our overlords know the cost of everything and the value of nothing……………
    The legal aid wasted on vile rapist dross that should of already of been deported would fund keeping this triumph flying 100 times over
    I hate them,I really do

    1. We went to see the last Vulcan flight when it did a tour. It flew up over the Cheviots and across Berwickshire. Amazing!

        1. That’s great! I got so excited between trying to watch and take a photo at the decisive moment that I photographed the ground…

          1. In the late 70s and through most of the 80s we lived on the flightpath as they came in off the North Sea. We had them low over our house several times a day, along with Buccaneers, Jaguars, F111s, A10s, early Tornados, Phantoms, all sorts. The kids loved rushing out to see them. The noise was intense at times, but always brilliant. Sadly missed.

    2. That would take me back to RAF St Athan and having to stop everything for the noise and vibration, that and the fact everyone wanted to go outside and watch the takeoff.

  98. Off topic practical suggestion.

    If you are worried you can’t get lavatory paper, head to the chemist/supermaket and buy a good stock of nappysan, or similar.
    Use flannels/towels etc for your ablutions and place the used ones in the bucket of nappysan mixture.
    Wash at “boil wash”.

    No need to panic about bog-paper

    1. Good evening, Sos.

      Why is it that every ‘disaster’ is heralded by a shortage of lavvie rolls?

      2. 316923+ up ticks,
        Evening G,
        Bloody idiots have never used dock leafs, natures kiss to the BUM.

        1. A lot of people these days cannot recognise a dock leaf (as illustrated by the case last year of a boy rubbing a giant hogweed leaf on his nettle sting).

    2. A Newspaper in Australia recently printed an 8 page pull out , each page printed with dotted cut lines so you can create your own bog paper…’No worries mate.’…

      1. Have you ever handled an Aussie newspaper?

        Why do you think they employed dunnymen?

  99. Rounding it to the nearest whole number:

    How many cases of coronavirus have been identified in the UK, relative to the total population of the UK?

    zero, assuming zero is a whole number!

  100. Oh, FFS!
    ://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4732477c0d62d50ca5a7e5deac8ea034d74b70853788345e59964a17ccdf22f7.jpg

      1. She’s going to cause far more suffering to humanity, one way or another, than this poxy Chinese virus.

Comments are closed.