Friday 7 June: Labour’s evasiveness on tax bodes ill for hard-pressed households

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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701 thoughts on “Friday 7 June: Labour’s evasiveness on tax bodes ill for hard-pressed households”

  2. Good Morning after the PM came home early from the D Day gathering.
    11C, blue sky and sunny unlike D Day.

  3. GOOD MORROW, GENTLEFOLK. TODAY’S (RECYCLED) STORY

    In Dubai, They Forgot One "Little” Thing!

    The modern Arab world!! You have seen those architectural wonders of Dubai.

    However, none are hooked up to a sewer system!

    The two-minute video below passes a line of poop trucks and never gets to the end of the line. What were these people thinking?

    An unbelievable amount of sewage is generated by the new high-rises and there is no place to dispose of it. Camel sense seems about right!

    Dubai doesn't have a sewage system for all those big new buildings so they haul it all away in tank trucks.
    Look at the number of tank trucks that are waiting to dump their load.

    This is amazing. They wait for days to dump their load.

    You would have thought that by building all those huge skyscrapers they would have enough sense to put in a sufficient sewage system to haul away all that crap.

    You would imagine that those building that look amazingly beautiful were built on a well-planned system of utilities. But, that's NOT TRUE!!

    Watch the following link:

    http://www.youtube-nocookie… "

    1. To be fair, all that sand, soaked with seawater, isn't the best place for iron pipes, and I expect it moves a lot, so ceramic and cement pipes will just be one leaky tunnel. And an endless line of shitwaggons gives all the Pakis something to do.

        1. Stainless in aerated seawater is a) expensive and b) corrodes and cracks, especially if welded. Just as bad with stagnant seawater, you get oxygen cells that make things worse. Titanuim works OK, but is very expensive and difficult to weld. Polyethylene would be OK, I guess.
          Amongst other things, I worked as a materials engineer in offshore industry… and nuclear.

          1. Never mind expense, Paul. What about the cost of the buildings themselves? And Polyethylene might be the cheaper answer.

          2. Morning Paul IIRC we used nitric acid grade stainless developed by our own boffins

  4. Morning, all Y'all. Bright sun, small ground frost overnight. We might reach 8-10C, if we're good, with hail due later today. It's 2 weeks to midsummer, and I'm still wearing jumpers daily. Where's all that fcukking glowball warming the eejits keep banging on about?

  5. Ukrainian refugees have just come back to Norway after taking vacation in… Ukraine. Whilst in fear of their lives, apparently. Now, they are in arrest, likely to be deported ASAP. Taking the piss, so they are.
    The wogs did the same some years ago, and got the bum's rush, returned to sender. If you are in Norway, on the taxpayers dollar, you are to be in fear of your life back home – not sponging and taking vacations where they will, apparently, off you as soon as they see you.

  7. Nigel Farage will do more to hand Labour power than anyone since Tony Blair. Fraser Nelson. 7 June 2024.

    The same is true for voting Reform. The intention may be to give the Tories a reminder to improve, but the effect will be to make a Starmer government stronger and more firmly entrenched. It would lead to an even more imbalanced parliament and a greater temptation for Labour’s worst elements.

    The Tories have made too many mistakes for me to cast a vote for them with any enthusiasm. But in this ugly baby contest of an election, they can still claim to be the least bad option.

    Globalist creep.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/06/uk-general-election-nigel-farage-labour-party/

      1. You're usually right, Johnny. Hope you are this time – UK politics needs stirred up properly, and that would help a great deal.

    3. Don't care, frankly. None of the "legacy parties" will get my vote. It's Reform or scrawl NOTA across the paper.

  9. Sunak is in place to destroy the Tory party a vote for Tory is a wasted vote. They are a spent force.

    1. 388237+ up ticks,

      Morning JN,

      No worries the auxiliaries are slithering into place.

  10. Labour’s evasiveness on tax bodes ill for hard-pressed households

    But the leader is in touch with the poor because his dad was a toolmaker or was it stoolmaker?

    3. His grandfather was a gamekeeper. Watch him destroy shooting and finish off the destruction of hunting. Fishing, of course, is authentically working class. Perhaps the Banwen Miners should hunt him down.

  11. The Telegraph’s pub poll: ‘Britain needs a strong leader like Thatcher or Blair’. 7 June 2024.

    “We want someone to lead us into battle. A Churchill.” Richard is an undecided voter. He knows there’s no Churchill on offer at the forthcoming general election, and isn’t especially thrilled about the alternatives.

    Like the seven others sitting with him in a Wolverhampton pub, the 38-year-old voted Conservative in 2019, but remains undecided on who to support this time. “Across all parties, nobody has come out and ignited something in my mind and [made me say] ‘yes, those are the people for the job’,” he says, dejectedly.

    The population of Wolverhampton, you will all no doubt be surprised to learn, is exclusively; white, middle aged and overweight.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/06/general-election-2024-focus-group-wolverhampton/

    2. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, Wolverhampton's high British Asian population, the British Muslim, British Hindus and Sikh communities are more numerous than the national average. It has the largest percentage of Sikhs in England and Wales and less than 50% of the population are Christian. . . but about forty other towns and cities are attempting to pass that target.

    3. If they are white and middle aged, they must be bigots. Probably drive white vans and fly the flag of St. George.

    4. I am very surprised to hear the population of Wolverhampton is exclusively white. I go racing there occasionally.

  12. Peter Hitchens, people say you're always right.
    Ah, but unfortunately always too late..

    "… it's astonishing to watch so many people in modern Britain determined to ensure the election of a Labour government even though they don't support it. People are so relaxed about it. What does it matter. Well it does.. it's an important moment.

    I am constantly reminded of how I felt back in 1997 when everybody around me said well what does it matter if we get Blair gets in? Let's give him a go, he looks nice. I said No. He's not nice. And it wasn't nice.
    He started with an extraordinary brutal raid on private pensions from which it never recovered.. ended the independence of thw BofE, the bizzare appointment of Alistair Campbell & Jonathan Powell to give civil serpents all the power they needed, and not accountable to either houses of parliament.

    I promise you when Starmer gets in there will these types of things about to happen. They are vigorous with radical ideas and are geared up to restart the extraordinary ambitious Blair project to transform the country with a green frenzy and continue the sexual revolutionary agenda DEI stuff at expense of anything else.

    We are dealing with dogmatic egalitarian spitemongers.."

    1. Not only that but he completely changed the legal system and removed all accountability from parliament.

      1. They keep things hidden. Never discussed or even revealed. Just put out bland feel good statements.. "change.. change for the better of Britain.. better place.."
        Not that there are any decent journos left to probe. I mean.. take a look at these three plum preserves..

        The News Agents on Apple PodcastsEmily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall – three of the UK's top journalists – host an award-winning daily news podcast: The News Agents.
        top journalists.. my a r se.

      2. They keep things hidden. Never discussed or even revealed. Just put out bland feel good statements.. "change.. change for the better of Britain.. better place.."
        Not that there are any decent journos left to probe. I mean.. take a look at these three plum preserves..

        The News Agents on Apple PodcastsEmily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall – three of the UK's top journalists – host an award-winning daily news podcast: The News Agents.
        top journalists.. my a r se.

    2. 388237+ up ticks,

      Morning K,

      Miranda would be well suited in the running currently, he has historical form after his showing in Bow street.

    3. But the wretched “Conservatives” did absolutely nothing to reverse it.

  13. Morning all! It's bright and sunny and we have an appointment at the tip. Then the shopping and then load up the car for Charfield fete tomorrow – the first outdoor event of the season. Hoping for a fine day. 🙂

    1. You might be lucky. More cloud than today but little chance of rain according to the BBC. So take your brolly.

      1. We spent yesterday evening getting the tombola ready with 90 year old Ken. He and our lovely Pam who died in December always sourced and ran the tombola for our events. He won't be there tomorrow as his daughter is taking him away for the weekend. But he will be with us for later events.

    1. Some bloke has been setting fire to cars in East Oslo. Don't forget him.

    2. Would you beweeve it, Wallace wivs at 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan, wiv is wog, Womit? His first love was wool shop owner Wendolene Wamsbottom.

    3. Would you beweeve it, Wallace wivs at 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan, wiv is wog, Womit? His first love was wool shop owner Wendolene Wamsbottom.

  17. 388237+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The pub poll comes across as up the poll , Mrs Thatcher I can understand but "Miranda" no bloody way.

    The onboard politico's we are suffering now are, in the main wanna be felons, that situation has been so since the political
    demise of Mrs Thatcher (RIP) and the current cartel are screaming out for court appearances, for services rendered.

    As for the paras, being passport checked on landing, no surprise
    there, in my book and to bring things to a true feelings head maybe forming a defensive square and politely refusing the request could have been the answer.

  19. Good morning, chums, and thank you Geoff for today's NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,084 5/6

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    1. MB started the day off with a chuckle over bleary-eyed osprey.
      That site is giving him great pleasure.

    2. First recorded in 1928, McClintock said that he wrote the song in 1895 (When he was 11? ). The original was about enticing a kiddie into the life of a hobo and contained a rather naughty word.

    1. 388237+ up ticks,

      K,

      Bear in mind,Tsunami has been known to kill
      the innocent.

  26. Statues of military figures could be removed from square. 7 June 2024.

    Statues of military figures could be removed from a Glasgow square over their links to slavery.

    The council launched a review of public artwork following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, and a list of historical figures linked to empire and slavery was drawn up.

    How I hate these people.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/06/statues-of-military-figures-could-be-removed-from-square/

    3. If 'they' want to, they can find the most tenuous link to slavery, whether it be positive or negative, if it suits an agenda. Utter scum.

    4. “Khan consid­ers tow­er­ing statue of African god­dess to mark vic­tims of slave trade.

      SADIQ KHAN could erect a 40-foot high statue of an African goddess to commemorate victims of the slave trade.
      The Mayor of London pledged £500,000 to fund a public artwork which will serve as a memorial to the transatlantic slavetrade.
      A statue of an African deity is among the designs that could be chosen as a permanent memorial.
      The statue depicts Nana Buluku, a deity principally worshipped in the Kingdom of Dahomey, and is adorned with images of the Benin Bronzes, which were created for slave-trading African royals.
      It is one of six proposals for an artwork at West India Quay, on the site where a statue of Robert Milligan, a slave trader, was removed in 2020 after Black Lives Matter protests.
      Mr Khan said: “A lasting memorial to the victims of transatlantic slavery is long overdue.
      “I’m proud that this first memorial of its kind in the UK will commemorate the victims of this barbaric practice and help educate Londoners and visitors on the role London, and the UK, played in the trade of enslaved African people.
      “It is essential that London’s public spaces reflect our city’s stories, celebrate our leading figures and achievements, but also commemorate and acknowledge the parts of our history some would rather forget.”
      The statue of Nana Buluku by Zak Ové depicts a goddess worshipped by the Fon people, who founded the Kingdom of Dahomey, a power which enslaved its own people and its neighbours, and protested against British efforts to stamp out slavery. Nana
      Buluku is central to the religious practices of Vodun, which were carried across the Atlantic by the African diaspora. On the statue are adornments depicting the Benin Bronzes, artworks
      looted by British forces from the Kingdom of Benin, a west African power which profited from the slave trade. A range of designs was chosen by committee from a longer list of submissions,
      after Mr Khan’s pledge last year to fund a memorial for the victims of slavery.
      Other designs include statues depicting children carrying London buildings built with the profits of the slave trade, and a 20-foot-high depiction of a cowrie shell, which was used as currency in west Africa. Another features a large pavilion instead of a statue, while a more traditional design copies the diagrammatic layout of a slave ship during the Middle Passage, the voyage from Africa to the Americas.
      The final proposal is a stone sculpture intended to represent a ripple of water.
      Dr Debbie Weekes-bernard, the deputy mayor for communities and social justice, said the final monument would “serve as a poignant reminder of London’s role in this cruel practice, educate visitors and pay tribute to the millions of people who lost their lives”.”

      1. "social justice" – another warped term – true social justice would prioritise the rights of an indigenous (or at least one that can trace several generations in a country and fully integrated at that) population and merit over undemocratic 'positive discrimination'.

  27. Good morning all and troops of the 77th,

    Sunny morning at McPhee Towers but soon to cloud over. Wind wafting around West, still cool at 9℃ going up to 16℃.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dccd96da33cf5c73d76ea47ff9fc66c04ac7a8fc7bea4e9b79e0e0762bce3e25.png https://www.telegraph.co.uk…
    It's all so transparent when you are privy to some inside information. Nelson starts this with a 'hit' on Tice. His mate at the 'Speccie' is/was James Forsyth who is husband of Allegra Stratton, one-time press secretary of PM Johnson but more importantly he is also 'bestie' of Sunak and God parent to his children – and his Political Secretary. Both are Wykehamists. So Sunak briefs Forsyth who briefs Nelson et voila!

    First we destroy the Tories. Then we destroy Labour between now and the next GE.

    1. The top Ten Thousand.
      See Alice Perkins of the PO inquiry, better known as Mrs. Jack Straw.

      1. Well spotted Anne, the ongoing stench that rises from that lying cheating dishonest cabal, is nauseating.

    2. Unsubscribed from Spectator due largely to Fraser Nelson's deluded traitorous views (now he is trying to coerce the mis-use of votes to further political mayhem created by him and his ilk, in the first place). I've resubscribed due to the election as I think, 'Why should the Spectator get away with producing anti-Brit bilge which supports bad politicians?'. Glad I did as there were three articles the other day traducing Nigel Farage. Reform needs all the support it can get and I think they deserve online support in any way. There are more wokesters subscribing to the Spectator now. Their lack of intellect beggars belief. Such as they need to be challenged, I think. As soon as election is over, I will be unsubscribing.
      And I've noticed how wound up I get reading most of the Spectator output. So I won't miss that. They either miss key stories out or warp many of the ones which they cover. Some writers are excellent but they are in the minority. The Spectator just does not connect the dots between their type of ruinous, faux-urbane fetish to deify all migrants (no matter from where they hail) and the continuous destruction of our country. The Spectator was instrumental in the elevation of the clueless Sunak to the position of PM.

      1. The fact that the legacy parties and all 'my way or the highway' lefties are trying their damnedest to crucify Farage and anything about Reform shows how rattled they are. Good.

  28. I know that, despite your modesty, my fellow Nottlers are a clever lot. So explain in simple terms how Taylor Swift's record breaking tour will add to the British economy. Surely, every pound that her fans spend on tickets and merchandise is a pound that they would otherwise have spent elsewhere. On top of that, the money that Ms Swift makes will go to America, where she lives.

    1. The Edinburgh gig will certainly add to the local economy as the homeless are turfed out of B&Bs so fans can be accommodated at scandalous prices

    2. She does have a lovely face but it is clear the voting is rigged to get these results. The only surprise is she isn't a he.

      3. I use the Lady of Shalott scale when judging the attractiveness of a woman's face based on Sir Lancelot's comment .

        ... "She has a lovely face;
        God in his mercy lend her grace,
        The Lady of Shalott."

        People will say that I am a tad biased but my Caroline scores 10/10!

      1. Quote.
        'I've always wanted to spread positivity, and this kind of put me in a position to do exactly that.'

        Come on, NOTTLers, get creative. All comments to be suitable for family reading.

        1. I don't wish to spread negativity but with her positivity it would be shocking

    6. 388237+ up ticks,

      Morning Anne,

      There is enough there to create a great multitude of bulls to stampede.

    8. She couldn't miss Alabama…if she entered the atmosphere at Warp2, she'd obliterate the entire USA.

    11. My daughter lives in Mobile, Alabama,it is a Republican State, supposed to be 'The Heart of Dixie', can't be more conservative if you try. But this joke illustrates why Trump is so popular. Like the UK Conservatives the Republican Party has been usurped by the same decedent political correctness as the Democrats. Many Republican hold true to their conservative values but many, called RHINO's (Republican in name only) do not. As here in the UK, the establishment no longer represents the good sense of the people but is concerned with its interests only.

    1. She's a BBC employee. The culture of the organisation practically demand that attitude.

  31. Guten Morgen:
    Wordle 1,084 4/6

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    1. The Today programme was making the most of Sunak's blunder and for once in my life I was with them.

      Plenty of people have been criticised for describing The Fakir as not really British. This proved he fails to understand what true Britons really think about D-Day and other commemorations. The charge is upheld.

    2. No=one should be allowed to be PM unless they have an indigenous grandparent. And I say it for this kind of reason: a PM needs to understand our culture and our people. And it's no good saying we don't have a culture or it is too nebulous to be meaningful. That isn't true – a few minutes conversation will alert you to where someone is likely to come from. Maybe one day that won't be so but I think it a long long way away. The Indian culture is too different and he will have been brought up in a very non-British household. He will have no awareness of the significance of D Day. None. Secretly, he'll be wondering what all the fuss is about. And those who call themselves 'globalists' still belong to their home cultures whether they want to or not. Can you imagine Blair, Keir, or any politician who have or have had grandparents born here, from any party, doing such a thing? Except of course, for the anarchists who would do it on purpose and who are increasingly slithering into our free for all, so-called government.

  34. Well, I thought that, for once, the JWK spoke quite well yesterday – no mention of climate change or diversity. He appears to be unaware that schoolchildren have been taken on trips to the battlefields of France and Flanders for at least the last 40 years! And the timing of the Red Arrows could not have been more perfect. Considering they are flying at about 5 miles a minute – it could easily have been too early or too late.

    Could have done without the pop singers, though.

    By the way, there appeared to be NO passport control of the lads who waded ashore at Asnelles early yesterday morning. A shocking lapse by the French.

    Sunak never sounds convincing. Just reading words someone has written for him. Not does Woke William.

    Sun persists here. May risk going outdoors.

    1. Laws are only applied to the law abiding – and then in draconian abuse. They're not applied to the criminal because that'd be unfair.

    3. I cannot remember which particular ceremony one of the female singers was performing at but she had an irritatingly excessive vibrato. I'm not sure she was pitch perfect, either.

    4. It would have been a nice gesture if the King had the time to meet each veteran and personally shake him by the hand and thank him. There aren't so many left now, it wouldn't have taken so much time.

      2. What have the old gits done to deserve that? They put their lives at risk for their country, not some wet offspring of a true patriot.

    1. Gays give up the ability to have children and shouldn't be allowed to adopt. A child needs a mother and father.

  36. Morning all 🙂😊
    I had a bit of a job logging in here today.
    Lovely sunny Friday morning, little wind. Out side that is.
    Labour's is evasivness is growing because they are going to screw all hard working UK taxpayers and their families in order to supply the extra money they will need to support all the further illegal invaders they plan to let in. Someone has got supply the system with the money to keep their non working but totally government dependant supporters in good shape all round.
    It's the usual political con trick.
    But having said that Reform has stated that they are going build more homes on green belt and agricultural land. They need to think about how that will affect their support.

    1. From Madrid
      Yesterday 36 degrees

      Madrid / Weather
      Excessive Heat Warning State Meteorological Agency 25°C
      Friday Sunny High: 36°C Low: 18°C

      1. I heard Spain is suffering from an extensive drought at the moment, they need me to come over. Eddy, aka rainman.

        1. I went to a movie premiere last night. Whilst we were in the premises they told us the heavens had opened. Little sign of water when we came out on our way to the bar. Hadn’t reduced the temperature at all either.

      2. 30 is enough for me.
        Late 70s south of Adelaide 43 shade. Over 30 at night.
        I hated it we stayed in for 3 days with the Air Con on.
        Christies beach was busy at night.

    2. Labour will not mention personal taxes when elected.

      They will first of all press the "class envy" button by announcing a windfall tax on selected evil capitalist 'fat cat' corporations, while carefully pointing out that it's just a 'one off' in order to calm market nerves and that it's been forced into doing it because of the parlous mismanagement of the previous Conservative administration. Once they've got people used to the idea that, "tax is good, m'kay", they'll be saying that everyone has a moral duty to contribute more. You know, as in "All of us" will have to pay more. Those who pay tax should get a vote, e.g. 16-year olds, immigrants without UK citizenship, European visitors who work here, etc.

      You know the drill ..

  38. I don't blame Sunak for skipping the appalling Eurofest "commemoration" yesterday. I DO blame him for apologising.

    1. He apologised because he realised people took it as an insult to our history, not for the actual missing the event.

          3. No decent man would inflict Net Zero on people, or record mass immigration, or record high taxation, or all the other woke insanity Sunak has imposed on us.

        3. A highly educated fool, who rote learns and has a good memory, but lacks understanding.

        4. I've read him as being described as completely lacking in political 'nous' – which I guess is the politician's equivalent of common sense.

      2. Morning Ndovu. You're very generous. I'd say rather that it was a cold hard apology issued as a result of him realising he'd made a tactical mistake during an election. The fact he didn't realise it might be a problem is simply because he's so very out of touch.

    3. Anniversaries of one's parents are always sad. Thinking of you today.
      My own dear old Dad, who wasn't even old in his mid 50s, died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1984. I was not long married, and he never got to meet his grandchildren, but their arrival gave my dear Mum a new lease of life.
      I wonder what our late fathers would have had to say about the current state of this country and current 'issues' – they certainly wouldn't recognise our country.

      1. My father also died in 1984 at 70 years old. I remember he used to take the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mirror, 'to see both sides' he would say.

  40. Good morrow good people!
    A bright start with a tad under 7½°C on the yard thermometer.

    An X-Tw@ter Comment on this video:-
    https://x.com/BeardedBob7282/status/1798989546534863104

    Bearded Old Codger
    @BeardedBob7282
    ·
    1m
    I've long said that the Conservative rank & file party members needed to get a grip of their party and oust the Blairite clique that Mr. "Coward" Cameron installed as the Party Leadership and imposed as on the constituencies as candidates.

    Sadly, they've left it far too late.

    1. Is that because of the party, or people voting for the party, not for the candidate? However it's a bit moot as government increasingly wants to 'keep it in the family'. It doesn't like constituency groups choosing their own man. It far prefers to impose a candidate (usually a spad) to ensure the party line is followed.

      That sets the tone of the party and thus it's policies.

      1. Its why all of Con / Lab / Lib / Green / the Civil Service were 100% in favour of staying in the EU.

        Big Europe-wide elections with millions and millions of people voting in inconsequential elections, just like the ones they're playing at currently on the Continent. The most pathetic thing is that Sunak and Kneelalot are so out of touch that they really do think that's what is going on this month too with the UK election.

    2. Then they need to tear down the old party and erect a new one in it's place.

    1. I don't think it's that per se, rather than he prioritised the political side over the national. It shows what is more important to him. Being honest, if the other lot could have crept off early they would have. Not one of them cares about the event or realises that it really means. They're all crooks.

      1. Yes, Biden, Macron and the rest of the globalists photoed on the beaches of Normandy are only there to show themselves and to pretend to be patriots. But they are no such thing. By their actions you shall know them, and all their actions show utter contempt for their own people, which they are trying to destroy by means of mass immigration.

        2. Turdeau was smirking his way through the event too, prominent position in the photos too.

      2. He has now apologised for making that mistake. I don't suppose he intended to disrespect the D Day vets, but he thought being there for part of the day would be enough. He misread the room – thought the politics took priority. After all, it wasn't his history.

  42. 388237+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten,

    10 Minutes worth listening to.

    The President of El Salvador sums up the problems of the Western World.

    He saved his country from the drug gangs that terrorised it. He defied the Global Elites & won.

    We need leaders like this.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxo92I…
    'Who elected George Soros to dictate laws?': El Salvador President Bukele blasts global elites

    El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele received a rock-star welcome on Feb 22 at a conservative gathering outside Washington. He urged people to "unapologetica…

    http://www.youtube.com

    1. But he’s excused – he’s ill, old, demented, Irish, American….whatever it is today!

    2. But he’s excused – he’s ill, old, demented, Irish, American….whatever it is today!

    3. It is a fact that Americans can only become their country's president if they are multi-millionaires.

      OK so far?

      Are there no filthy-rich Yanks who have no ambition, whatsoever, to become president but who would like to sponsor a poor chap — one with oodles of intelligence and common-sense — to become a president of substance?

      1. But but but, any US citizen can become President, Grizzly. Americans are always telling me this when demonstrating to me how undemocratically class conscious we Brits are.

        2. Not if they were born outwith the US of A, though. It's why Bojo was ruled out.

      2. No need, Trump will be President. And if that doesn't happen, batten down the hatches.

      3. And How did Obama become president?
        He couldn't even be sure where he was born. He must have lost contact with his mother somehow.
        And all his ex associates at his US Schools and colleges. When asked No one could remember him.
        But somehow he made it to the top.
        With his 'wife' Michael and their adopted daughters.

  46. Can anyone tell me why the Nazi warmonger Zelensky was there. He couldn't even be bothered to put on a suit. The military uniform would have been a give away with its SS badges.

    My grandfather was in the lead minesweeper that went ahead of the fleet. I had more right to be there than he did.

    1. The world would be well served by getting rid of ALL the top politicians in EVERY country.

      All replacements would then be forewarned that any attempts to follow the paths taken by their predecessors would elicit exactly the same purge.

      2. And stop what happens behind the scenes so that they are slotted in place.
        They are all contemptible.

    2. That's the question I asked a couple of days ago.
      What he or his country have to do with D-Day ? Zilch-linsky.

      1. He was there to remind us of why such sacrifices have to be made in order to confront murderous tyrants. Putin is today's Hitler is the message they are trying to put across and that preparations are in hand to drive the monster's evil forces out of poor little Ukraine just as we did to Hitler's 80 years ago.

    3. Ukrainians used to laugh when he played the President in his comedy series, do you think any of them are laughing now?

  47. His faux designer "battle dress" is just another way of him demonstrating what a clown he really is.

    1. The Indian roads are a nightmare – whole families with no helmets on, riding motorbikes at speed; lorries racing along hooting…..potholes even worse than here.

  50. IMO The Sunak D-Day thing is a big distraction.

    Yes, it's bad in and of itself, in lots of ways, but compared to any of the top 100 actual issues we have in the country? Not so much.

    If Labour are allowed to focus on this in the media and at the debates for the next umpteen days instead of answering questions about what they would do with the levers of power, Starmer is further enabled to get the keys to Downing Street without having to account for himself.

    1. Quite correct.

      Both Sunak and Kneelalot would love to keep "the debate" at this level. That way no one will be talking about Conservatives' failure in tackling migration or Labour's thinly veiled tax plans. In the end though, both of them think anything promised or suggested during the next few weeks is to be ignored after the election. It's all just so many words in a river of other words spewed out for the plebs until one of them gets past the dreaded date. Neither is telling us what they'd do, but one thing's for certain and that is that they would both do the same thing as each other, since they're both running left leaning parties these days.

      1. Quite so. Indeed the worthlessness of the hot air and the manifesto was made real back in 2008 when a court case against Gordon Brown showed that politicians will never be held legally to account for abandoning, ignoring or reversing their manifesto commitments.

        It's just the grimmest of theatre.

      1. They are not mediocre at all.. they are very adept at achieving their sinister goals.

          1. They are the most adept articulators of the machine working in their backgrounds. Best fit, not best brain is what gets you to the front of a herd, I find.

      1. When we see the decendant of one of the causes of all those terrible deeds carried out, it makes one wonder about some the more disingenuous attributes of the occasion.

      1. One would think someone with his wealth would know how to dress properly. Those trousers are an inch too long.

  52. A few days ago a short video was posted of crosses by the roadside. Each cross represented a murdered South African farmer. I think it was Sue or Anne??? But who ever posted it. could you post it again or tell me where to find it. Thanks an awful lot.

      1. Thanks so much sos, it was the first one but I’m going to use both.

  53. And they will blame Farage for the Conservatives being completely demolished.

    In fact Farage should be praised rather than blamed for wiping out the Conservative Party – but he must not be allowed to hog all the praise – Sunak, Johnson, Hunt, Gove, May, Osborne and Cameron must be given their share of the credit.

    1. Its "your truth" Bill; therefore, we're led to believe a timelessly valid certainty.

      Tool it is then!

  59. Clouding over and turning chilly. Again… Grrr.

    A brief walk in the garden showed that NONE of the 40+ dahlias we panted have grown. None. Double grrr.

    1. Aha, I'm glad you mentioned dahlias.

      Did you take them up for storage last Autumn? I've given up on that, since during the past ten years it's only been cold enough during one particular year to justify it. They've sprouted regularly, nevertheless.

      This year, same as yours. Bar one, they have actually rotted in the ground and it's not particularly wet in these parts, either and it hasn't frosted despite the odd air frost at any point, either

      The one that is still going is sticking to its usual pattern of growth, although everything in the garden is a bit late to flower while lasting longer in bloom. There are four roses in that bed too and I think for next year I'm going to get three new bare roots to replace the dahlias.

    2. Statistics selectively used, and, as pointed out, changes in surveillance, including locating sensors in places that will collect 'correct' data.

        1. There's no way of knowing unless one has access to the source data. I cannot tell in Stevenage what temperatures are like in the rest of the world.

  61. And in other news …… I see the two vital things that the world is reporting are (1) Hughie Westminster's wedding. (2) A wendyballista with silly hair not being picked for Engerland.

    Glad to see that the priorities are right.

    Oh, and just noticed that Cur Ikea Slammer is saying that: "Rishi Sunak will have to answer for choice to leave D-Day event". Another non item.

    1. At least cursed harmer has his priorities right:

      Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer remained in Normandy for the international ceremony and was pictured in talks with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

      /sarc

  62. And in other news …… I see the two vital things that the world is reporting are (1) Hughie Westminster's wedding. (2) A wendyballista with silly hair not being picked for Engerland.

    Glad to see that the priorities are right.

    Oh, and just noticed that Cur Ikea Slammer is saying that: "Rishi Sunak will have to answer for choice to leave D-Day event". Another non item.

  63. Any advice? A friend is buying a house and has the following communication from her solicitor:

    “I also note that there is a pending application against the title and I await further information about this.”

    1. Possibly there is a charge against the property from debt or a care home

  64. Popping over to South of Paris for a wedding.
    P&O cancelled the ferry because of strike action in France. Of course there is.
    Promised the next available boat.
    Then after an hour's queue the Police aux Frontières gave us back 5 passports out of the 6 we gave them – mistake noticed at the P&O booth.
    They wanted us to go to queue for another hour to ask for it back.
    Thank God our customs officers went to get it. The police officer told him we'd driven off before he'd finished checking. Blatant lie. Never trust the popo – I should know.
    We've now been at Dover Ferry Port for 3 hours.
    Boarding soon.
    Nice weather for it.

  66. Is it just me, by the way, or is literally everything Ambrose Evans-Pritchard says diametrically opposite from reality?

    He seems to live in a bubble of received wisdom built on a foundation of nonsense.

    It would take all day to even enumerate the things in his latest column that are unmitigated bumwater, let alone to deconstruct and demolish them.

    1. I don't read him, but straw men are all in vogue these days. Sounds like he uses them.

    2. His record on prophecies is pretty much as dismal as they can get. The only people who have beaten it are the Jehovah's Witnesses. i.e. Total failure.

  67. "WHY are so many foreign nationals working in the Home Office? Does that not strike anyone as suspicious?"
    https://x.com/peterstopcrime/status/1798635761186578743

    And a petition about deporting alien criminals, which, unfortunately had to be closed when the election was announced.
    All foreign nationals including ex asylum seekers and UK passport holders with dual citizenship, who are sentenced to imprisonment of 12 months or more, to be mandatorily deported unless otherwise ordered, affected parties will be offered 75% discount on sentence.

    More details
    The deportation decision should be made by the sentencing judge, not the Home Office and isn’t appealable. This doesn’t preclude any other appeal based around the conviction.

    In the instance of UKBA 2007 sec 33(2), if the deportee wishes to appeal on these grounds, the appellant must be held in secure accommodation and not released until the decision is made. No ECHR appeal can start until the earliest date of release has been reached

    The government's response, presumably at 10,000 signatures:
    "Government responded
    This response was given on 15 November 2023
    The Home Secretary already has a statutory duty to deport foreign nationals sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment, unless an exception applies. This change is therefore unnecessary.    But these alien criminals are NOT being automatically deported.
    https://x.com/peterstopcrime/status/1703128216515301625

  69. We left ours in the ground – as we have always done. Insulated against global warming frost. Not a sausage. My head gardener is applying her mind to some other planting. Roses may be an idea

    1. Yes I too put the insulation on top of I suspect any cold coming in. I think it’s generally to do with dampness this year.

        1. Yep, I only remembered once I examined the tubers and found them rotten.

      2. Whereabouts are you? The MR goes to Keep Fit classes – and one of her fellow sufferers has a rain guage. He reported that in the last five months we have had 60 inches of rain…..

        1. Just north of Debenham. We’ve had a deluge like most but being comparatively high up water goes away quickly. That said, down in Debenham they’ve had bad flooding in spring.

          Generally Suffolk and Norfolk receive benefit / disbenefit from heavy rain depending on how you look at it if there are westerly winds. We get clouds but a lot of the time the rain has already fallen out of them passing across the midlands, SW and Home Counties. Our worst rain in fact has come about from northerlies arriving via the Wash and down through Norfolk. It’s looking lush now but we’ve not been overwhelmed this year. Our “normal” is extreme dryness in summer.

  70. He refers to Starmer as "the safest pair of hands on the planet."

    Parody that!

    1. What???? The man is clearly deluded insane. He, and Starmer, should be securely locked up in a lunatic asylum for the real danger they pose to this country.

  71. 388237+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Tories ‘will probably disappear’ as Reform ‘annihilates’ party, Dorries claims.

    Look upon it as a pit stop and a quick name change, then off we go again on the race to the bottom.

    The chameleon type politico's of the tory (ino) party were top flight lizard activist but they could very well lose the title to one greater.

    1. Isn't forgiveness one of the key features of our Christian ethos whereas there is no room for forgiveness in the harsh Islamic culture?

      What would Nigel Farage have to do and say to win your forgiveness?

      I would say that if he could bring himself to admit sincerely that his treatment of Robinson and Batten was unfair and unjustified might be a good beginning.

      1. 388237 + up ticks,

        Afternoon R,

        He done irreparable damage via treachery in pursuit of furthering his own ego in the main, regardless of consequence.

      2. Christian ethos of forgiveness is all very well, but I cannot fathom the most stupid Christians who 'forgive' the slammers time and time again, no matter how heinous the crime.

        1. Jesus didn't forgive unconditionally. Even the woman caught in adultery was told to "go, and sin no more".

  72. Here's a petition to stop perverts (drag creatures) story time in libraries and schools.

    "Why are children being exposed to over-sexualised adult content in places designed for family-friendly activities?
    Public libraries and museums are booking drag performances that are highly inappropriate for children. These performances feature sexualised costumes and content that invert fundamental truths.
    Gloucestershire Library services have hosted Drag Queen story hour events and more of these events are planned throughout the UK.
    Drag is historically a form of burlesque for gay men. Its very essence involves sexualisation.
    This kind of content has no place around children, especially in public spaces funded by taxpayers! These performances indoctrinate children in the LGBT agenda, exposing them to over-sexualised content and adult concepts.
    This is highly damaging to young minds and should be deemed abuse.
    We must ask Lord Parkinson to end drag queen story hours in public libraries, museums, and schools.

    Why have we allowed June to be taken over by the LGBT mob? Disturbingly, in recent years, the LGBT crowd has been targeting younger and younger demographics. They believe that if they don't get to children before they reach the age of 6, it is harder to ‘teach’ them about ‘queerness’ and ‘gender fluidity’. This is clearly about twisting the perception of reality in young, impressionable minds!
    Rainbow 'Pride' events for children are scheduled in various locations. We must stand up and protect our children from this abuse.

    It is time we put a stop to drag queen story hours once and for all. Children subjected to these performances face damage to their psychology and welfare
    Exposure to these ideas at such a young age plants seeds of confusion and discomfort with one’s body. It leaves children open to exploitation and grooming. It is disgraceful that libraries are funding this with public money.

    Sign our petition asking Lord Parkinson to end drag queen story hours immediately.
    This is an opportunity to use recent advancements against gender ideology to stop Drag Queen Story Hour.
    Public concern about the sexualisation of children is rising. Government guidance in schools is finally starting to reflect that. The recent Cass review clearly shows that we can make a difference.
    Thanks to CitizenGO pressure, 'The Family Sex Show' was cancelled in 2022. This is our opportunity to win another battle!
    We need to let children be children.
    Getting rid of drag queen story hours is a step towards that.
    But we need to act now before it's too late. We can only succeed with a major effort.
    We must ask Lord Parkinson to end drag queen story hours immediately.

    More Information:
    Gloucestershire Library Event Page: https://gloslibraries.uk/event/quedgeley-library-drag-queen-story-hour-uk-01-06-2024

    https://www.citizengo.org/en-gb/fm/13244-end-drag-queen-story-hours-in-public-libraries-and-schools?dr=23669947::844c68bc995f14054cd4bed64a103b15&utm_source=em&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_content=em_btn&utm_campaign=EN_GB-2024-05-28-Local-NA-ZRE-13244-Stop_Drag_Queen_Story_Hours_in.03_AA_Relaunch_1&mkt_tok=OTA3LU9EWS0wNTEAAAGTkGHTjCfTxXP4yVoCMzVuSut5yfjBS_G28EZAVPMrW3cr4Q4IBIMM4DqnKlvXrvdkNk_8XyFAluP4MKJ8BIKn-5aWQZoYAHDTXBEkTy4dXcp-j_qEFA

    1. When the paedophile information exchange was shut down it became Stonewall. The entire attitude has been to make it legal for perverts to abuse children.

      1. Yet deluded parents still think it acceptable to take their children with them to pride parades and drag grooming storytelling. They don't even try to hide their 'we are interested in all ages' sickness – on the contrary, they seem to advocate for 'the younger, the better.'

    2. The petition is irritating, repetitive and grasping MumIB; I shall not sign it!

      2. It is, but it represents the anger around these harmful and inappropriate events.

    1. That "child" that performed is smoking and has an adult face.
      Is it a poison dwarf?

      1. Bloody revolting, whatever it is. Box them up inn shipping containers and dump them in the Sahara.

    2. The plane has a look of Dougal from the Magic Roundabout. Is it his long lost sharia sister?

  75. Incoming ministers ‘will face UK public services on brink of collapse’. 7 June 2024.

    In a direct challenge to Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to come clean with voters, the Institute for Government thinktank said most state services are performing worse than at the time of the 2019 general election, and “substantially worse” than when the Conservatives first took office in 2010.

    The IfG said it was not plausible for the victorious party on 4 July to stick to current spending plans at a time when the performance of hospitals was arguably the worst in the history of the NHS, prisons were at crisis point, and councils were shutting libraries and cutting back on waste collection and social care.

    Well considering that this is the Guardian that is not a bad prognosis.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/07/incoming-ministers-will-face-uk-public-services-on-brink-of-collapse

    2. Service, yes. Not the state machine behind them. There's plenty of money. It's just not being spent on things the public want. If windmill subsidy were ended and the taxes on oil and gas revoked and a proper market for energy restored energy could be cheaper.

      If the government scrapped the equality act the nonsense of diversity also stops saving everyone a fortune. If the criminal invader gimmigrants were deported that'd save another 8 million a day. If council management salaries were controlled that'd save another 100 million. If most of the unnecessary quangos were shut down even more would be saved.

      It's not complicated. It just means shredding the state.

      1. It's not even the state. Governments keep outsourcing and outsourcing policies and decisions to quangos, charities, councils, the judiciary, and companies with vested interests. The government has watered down its reach to such an extent that it is now ineffectual. A whole host of unaccountables brazenly thumb their noses at us, on money funnelled to them by our inept government – because it does not want to be seen responsible for making 'mean' decisions. Govt has thoroughly abnegated itself of its responsibilities. We might as well be governed by AI and referendums. Seriously, this would be better.

    3. Not for want of people administering these services though, that’s for sure

  76. Shocking misreporting of a peaceful, family-friendly event. 7 June 2024.

    Robinson’s November arrest was another example of the Metropolitan Police’s ‘two-tier’ policing in which often violent or disruptive groups favoured by the ‘progressive establishment’ (such as Black Lives Matter, Just Stop Oil, and the ‘pro-Palestine’ horde) are treated with deference and courtesy while those such as British patriots celebrating St George’s Day are subjected to the harshest treatment. It was but the latest in a long line of attacks on Robinson that he and others have written about. It prompted Robinson, who has produced and presented a number of documentaries, to make one more, ‘Lawfare’, on this theme and on censorship, to screen at a rally in London. Last Saturday crowds gathered in Parliament Square to see it and to hear him and others speak.

    The MSM response was predictable. The ‘far-right racist and thug’ caricature of him, the smear required to criminalise, demonise and censor him out of society, was taken up by the media before the rally had even begun. The fact is that he is an embarrassment and indeed a threat to the establishment’s multicultural mores, denial and blind eye to the consequences of uncontrolled immigration and Islamism. Robinson was the first to expose the (mainly Muslim) grooming gangs and officialdom’s cover-up. He has continued to expose threats posed by leftist and Islamist extremists. Worse, from the establishment’s point of view, he has a large following. He is popular. They are not.

    There’s some coverage of Tommy’s last demonstration in this article. The quoted Police tweets with their Institutional bias are particularly interesting.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/shocking-misreporting-of-a-peaceful-family-friendly-event/

  77. Shocking misreporting of a peaceful, family-friendly event
    Norman Fenton ; https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/shocking-misreporting-of-a-peaceful-family-friendly-event/

    This article about the shocking way in which Tommy Robinson has been treated by the police, the PTB and the MSM is worth reading
    BTL

    Now is the time for Nigel Farage to show generosity of spirit and humility. He must apologise to Tommy Robinson and agree that they have many views in common – especially on the mass immigration of those who loathe our laws, social norms, culture and religious and ethical beliefs.

    If Farage is man enough to do this he will win much respect.

  79. Fraser Nelson in today's Telegraph is beseeching voters not to abandon the Conservative party, because of the dangers of a Starmerite government.

    All well and good; but if Mr Nelson wants to see the type of person who have brought the Tories to the edge of the precipice, he should stand shoulder to shoulder with his chum James Forsyth and have a good look in the mirror.

    1. Then the Tories should have provided a reason to vote for them. They should have differentiated themselves from Labour. Instead wee had Hunt gloating he had adopted a Labour tax policy.

      No. He can do one.

    2. That the same Nelson who has been slagging off the Tories week after week in the Spectator?

    3. My thoughts too. He blames Nigel Farage but it is he and his ilk who installed Sunak and who have also championed the stupid voter unfriendly policies which have made the Conservative Party unelectable. On one of his Spectator podcasts Fraser Nelson stated immigration is a success in our country – as evidenced by the fact that there are no riots on the streets because of it. He's a very stupid man. Too many stupids lead our institutions and hire and promote each other.

    4. Not having read the Speccie for quite a long time and being less aware of the u-turn element here, what struck me first was the ongoing pretence that the two wings of the uniparty offer real alternatives.

  80. By the way, yesterday, His Majesty's Ambassador to France was dressed as though she was popping out to the shops then going on a family picnic. Dreadful.

    1. Any pics, Bill? Can’t find any!
      Just found something on farcebook – did she stick her fingers in the electric socket? And who did her make-up? 🤦🏻‍♀️

      1. In April 2021, the Government nominated Rawlings for the role of British Ambassador to France, to take office in summer 2021.] News of her appointment coincided with reporting that for the first time, every British ambassador or high commissioner to a G7 country would be a woman.
        In addition to her previous Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2022. She was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in September 2023 in connection with His Majesty’s State Visit to France in 2022.
        https://www.gettyimages.fr/detail/photo-d%27actualit%C3%A9/british-ambassador-to-france-menna-rawlings-delivers-photo-dactualit%C3%A9/1241143751

        A lot of awards for a relative newcomer? I'll bet she was probably very good at working late at the office.

        1. It simply cheapens the awards. What value is there in an award that can be given unearned to such a creature as this.

          1. 2021: "every British ambassador or high commissioner to a G7 country would be a woman."

            Gormless Joris Bohnson was PM at that time. I wonder what fat, manipulative female companion might have ordered him to do that?

        1. The 2023 photo – does she hail from Middlesbrough? Maybe not, as those pyjamas and dressing gown look too posh for that place.

          2. Just a southern version of Middlesbrough with money and lefty indoctrination?

          4. Isn’t Middlesbrough considered ‘posh’ by inhabitants of Billingham?

          5. If it is, I can’t imagine why! There’s even an area called Billingham Bottoms!

          6. Billingham Bottoms – how quaint!
            I’m sure the whole area has gone down since the 1970s. At the time MH was born, that part of Middlesbrough was, much like most ‘working class’ areas of the time, ‘respectable’ and well kept. It is now, by all accounts decidedly rough.
            When I was a student, I went to stay with a friend from Stockton. The mother really thought she was a ‘cut above’ (she was also a hairdresser!) just because they lived in Stockton and not Middlesbrough or Billingham. To me, the whole area looked depressing and run-down, even in the 1970s.

          7. My aunt and uncle lived in Norton! V. naice! Uncle worked for ICI in a senior role. I met my husband in Thornaby, when he was a long term inmate at the Golden Budgie (Eagle) hotel!I was assistant manager! Ah! Memories! We were married 41 years ago last Tuesday!

  81. ‘Sir Fear Starmer’ is only party leader not to sign up to BBC interview
    Conservatives say Labour leader should ‘grow a backbone’ as no date yet set to meet with presenter Nick Robinson
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/07/keir-starmer-only-leader-not-sign-interview-bbc-election/

    BTL

    I think he is aware of how badly he comes across when he is interviewed on television and he is wise not to subject himself to such exposure if he can possibly avoid it.

    The most astonishing thing about the man is that in spite of being dull, uninspiring and banal he not only was the Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013 but he also became the leader of a main political party.

    People with personality inadequacies should find him a great source of inspiration and hope.

    1. Presumably that is a fag paper he is trying unsuccessfully to insert between the two cheeks of the same arse?

  85. Well, that's about as far as I can get, going through Mother's papers and finances. Emails to pension company and solicitors… clarity needed in documentation, and which is the latest edition.
    Found lots of pictures, certificates and so on… left me feeling down and gloomy. Mother not in a position to take a call today, and now it's too late for today (her tiredness exacerbates her dementia after lunch), and all those moments of family history that's all past. Even pictures of grandparents who died before I was born… all these relatives I never knew. Ah, well. Sigh! 🙁

    12. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

      Biden had f'd off for his afternoon nap so dozy was missing from the photo op..

  87. I also found my YouTube playlist made for the 40th wedding anniversary party we had planned – that was to be 2 years ago, but the urgencies of settling Mother into her care home, clearing and selling her house meant that party never happened, we were in Wales and not at home. That's also saddening, II'd hoped to have a thrash with parents and old friends. I hope we can keep it for the 50th… in 8 years time. Meanwhile, enjoy this track – it's in Danish.
    https://youtu.be/IKqSDLRQ9Dg?si=tUQcdCyhH8IsAcZT
    And this – auf Deutsch
    https://youtu.be/LIPc1cfS-oQ?si=_QyaA878IQBsg6Lg

    1. I know it's someone else's (Fraser Myers) but it could not have been put more succinctly than this:

      "Is Rishi Sunak trying to lose the General Election? It is starting to feel like a very real possibility. After all, short of stealing a puppy from an orphan, or arranging a firing squad of NHS nurses, it is hard to think of a more hamfisted, more tone-deaf, more downright antagonistic move than flouncing out of events commemorating the D-Day landings."

    2. This interview shows what an automaton he is. He has learned a few sentences by heart – and simply trots them out over and again. He doesn't even give the impression that he knows what he is saying.

      1. You see Bill, when we used to receive calls from the subcontinent from outsourced phone companies like Talk Talk or car insurance or something like that, you know they were speaking from a script , and Sunak appears to be speaking from a manual written by Clement Stone or Dale Carnegie.

        How to Win Friends and Influence People or Success through a positive mental attitude .. I have seen it all before , because once upon a time I enjoyed a selling course with an American company , expenses paid for 2 weeks in a luxury hotel , several decades ago … everything boils down to closing a sale/ talk with a Mcabe nod!

    3. Glad to see you are quoting from The Hunting of the Snark?

      Starmer and Sunak are snarks but Farage has emerged as a boojum who makes the others disappear!

      Snarks would not approve of many of us here because our use of puns would put a grave expression on his face. For those who wish to hunt the snark here are the five ways by which you can identify the beast:

      "Let us take them in order. The first is the taste,
      Which is meagre and hollow, but crisp:
      Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist,
      With a flavour of Will-o'-the-wisp.

      "Its habit of getting up late you'll agree
      That it carries too far, when I say
      That it frequently breakfasts at five-o'clock tea,
      And dines on the following day.

      "The third is its slowness in taking a jest.
      Should you happen to venture on one,
      It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:
      And it always looks grave at a pun.

      "The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines,
      Which it constantly carries about,
      And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes—
      A sentiment open to doubt.

      "The fifth is ambition. It next will be right
      To describe each particular batch:
      Distinguishing those that have feathers, and bite,
      From those that have whiskers, and scratch.

  92. The sham-democracy of the European Parliament shames the EU. 7 June 2024.

    With voting starting yesterday in the Netherlands to elect the new European Parliament (EP), to last until Sunday (France, Germany, Italy etc.), some 450 million citizens of the 27 should, in principle, express their political will. It’s more like 400 million, actually, abstention being usually higher than in national elections, which tells its own story. And the likelihood is that even with a projected rise of Right-wing parties, the full makeup of the EP won’t change much. So are the Euro-elections any use at all, apart from producing life-size polls on the (un)popularity of each national government?

    It serves its purpose which is to thwart the will of the European People.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/07/the-sham-democracy-of-the-european-parliament-shames-the-eu/

    1. As has been pointed out many times, members of the European 'Parliament' cannot initiate legislation nor can they vote to remove the commissioners who can, so it cannot be described as a democratic institution.

      2. Precisely so and it cannot be repeated enough, lest people forget. They've got similar mini versions lined up for us in Britain with their so-called, "citizens assemblies".

    2. As has been pointed out many times, members of the European 'Parliament' cannot initiate legislation nor can they vote to remove the commissioners who can, so it cannot be described as a democratic institution.

    3. The parliament itself is just a talking shop to pass rafts of legislation on a brief show of hands (I've been to Strasbourg). There is no debate, just "yes, no, abstain" in a constant stream.

    1. Superb find, Johnny.
      How many vessels does the RN have now against then – the likely don't have that many spoons!

      1. 80 apparently. Less than one tenth of the number involved in D-Day. And that wouldn't have been the full Order of Battle of the RN in 1944.

      1. What gets me about these chaps – they were so matter of fact about it. Even though each takeoff might be the last.

        Homage to your father.

      3. My father went over on a landing craft on D Day 3 and went all the way into Germany.

      2. If I lived near there, I wouldn’t touch the place with a bargepole after such offensive promotion.
        If these people kept what should be private, as private, nobody would know what their ‘habits’ were, instead of which, the militant exhibitionists of dubious moral character feel the need to continually shove it in our faces morning, noon and night.

    2. ..as well as an outdoor adventure play park, cafés and grab and go kiosks; and an unbeatable family friendly atmosphere.. the perfect excuse to embrace and celebrate the LGBTQI+ community and formally reject your biological family, and join our Found Family cult, and of course severing all ties with mum & dad forever.

      1. The fifth commandment: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee (Exodus 20:12).

      1. Language ‘evolving’ is one thing, having ‘new’ language for small minority forced on or mandated (re-education courses) is not the same at all.

        1. Quite. The BBC runs courses on bullying which carefully avoid the worst kind of bullying prevalent today. Compelled speech which robs people of their moral probity by forcing them to lie.

    4. If you live in that area perhaps you have been to Glastonbury. I visited recently and saw an extraordinary number of sad old hippies along with shops selling magic crystals to the gullible. A very odd place indeed.

      1. I lived far from there! Sounds like some people never grew up. But as long as they keep themselves to themselves, that's ok.

  97. "Russian judge known for punishing the Kremlin's foes is found dead after falling from a high window in Moscow"

    Gosh – Russians are careless with windows, aren't they?

    2. Extraordinary how many Russians seem to manage to fall out of them. Probably poorly designed windows assisted by too much vodka, and definitely nothing to do with Putin at all.😂

        1. He is too nice to be a politician , he has a disabled son , and appears to be a very loving caring father ..

          He is the social service side of politics .. yes a good thing , but people do require a hard no nonsense politician , similar to Maggie Thatcher .

  99. Lidderally.. a fight to the death.

    Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney during the Clinton administration says President Trump will die in prison if he loses the 2024 election.

    Lefties pushing their luck, as always. Anyway, another one to add to the Trump list.

    1. And for those that follow the markets will be ataken back by yet another dollop of grotesque data manipulation by the Biden crime family, with the Nonfarm payrolls report (May) just out a couple of hours ago..

      Next up the federal government to count people on welfare and disability as 'government workers'.. dropping unemployment to less than zero.
      (and didn't MidAtlantic John clap like a seal at the wonders of Bidenomics).

    2. And for those that follow the markets will be ataken back by yet another dollop of grotesque data manipulation by the Biden crime family, with the Nonfarm payrolls report (May) just out a couple of hours ago..

      Next up the federal government to count people on welfare and disability as 'government workers'.. dropping unemployment to less than zero.
      (and didn't MidAtlantic John clap like a seal at the wonders of Bidenomics).

  100. The fly-tipping scandal that brought down Labour’s Welsh leader. 7 June 2024.

    Vaughan Gething lost a no-confidence vote after accepting a campaign donation from a convicted polluter – here’s how the story unfolded

    Worth a read. This guy is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg with apologies to all dogs.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  104. A radio station in Australia ran a phone in competition to find the most embarrassing moment in listeners lives.
    The final four were:
    4th Place:
    While in line at the bank one afternoon my toddler decided to release some pent up energy and started to run amok. I was able to grab hold of her arm after receiving looks of disgust from other patrons.
    I told her that if she didn't start behaving herself, right now, she would be punished. To my horror she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening. "If you don't let me go right now, I will tell grandma that I saw you kissing daddy's willy last night."
    After this enlightening exchange, the silence was deafening. Even the tellers stopped doing what they were doing.
    I mustered the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow.
    The last thing that I heard as the doors closed behind me were screams of laughter.
    3rd Place:
    It was the day before my 18th birthday. I was living at home, but my parents had gone out for the evening, so I invited my girlfriend over for a romantic night alone.
    As we lay down in bed after making love, we heard the telephone ring downstairs. I suggested to my girlfriend that I give her a piggy back ride down to the phone. Since we didn't want to miss a call we didn't have time to get dressed.
    When we got to the bottom of the stairs the lights suddenly came on as a whole crowd of people yelled SURPRISE.
    My entire family – Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins as well as my friends, were standing there. My girlfriend and I were frozen in a state of shock and embarrassment for what seemed an eternity. Since then no one in my family has planned any surprise parties.
    2nd Place:
    A lady picked up several items at a discount store. When she finally got to the checkout she learned that one of the items had no price tag or bar code.
    The checkout girl got on the public address system which boomed out across the store for everyone to hear. "Price check for Tampax super size."
    But it got worse. Someone at the rear of the store apparently misunderstood the word 'Tampax' for 'thumbtacks' and replied in a business like tone, his voice booming over the same public address system. "Do you want the kind that you push in with your thumb or the kind that you belt in with a hammer."
    1st Place:
    And the winner is……
    This happened at a major Australian University during a biology lecture.
    A professor was discussing the high glucose levels found in semen. A young woman raised her hand and asked. "If I understand you correctly, you are saying that there is as much glucose in male semen as in sugar?"
    The professor responded yes adding some statistical data. Raising her hand again the girl asked. "Then why doesn't it taste sweet?"
    After a stunned silence the whole class burst out laughing. The poor girl turned bright red and as she realised exactly what she had inadvertently said, she picked up her books and without another word walked out of the class.
    However as she was heading for the door the professors reply was a classic.
    Totally straight faced, he answered her question. "It doesn't taste sweet because the tastebuds for sweetness are on the tip of your tongue and not at the back of your throat."

    1. They all tickled me but I cannot help suspecting that the one placed 2nd is a fabrication.

        1. Thinking about it, would a toddler be that articulate?

          Sorry to be such a cynic, Spikey.

          1. Not at all Stig it's certainly suspect as most of these internet thingies are

      2. The one placed third definitely is. I heard that one forty years since in the UK.

    2. It just reinforces the incompetence of all those LibDems who are posing as Conservatives.

  107. "Davey’s ‘gimmicky stunts’ will pay off, says Vince Cable
    Sir Ed Davey’s “gimmicky” campaign stunts will pay off, his predecessor-but-one has said."
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/07/general-election-latest-news-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer/

    BTL

    Some people we laugh with because we hold them in affection; others we laugh at because we hold them in contempt. Whatever Foolish Old Vincent Cable and Witless says he must know that most people hold Davey in contempt.

    1. "most people hold Davey in contempt" – especially those whose plight he ignored when in a ministerial post with responsibility for the Post Office?

  108. A fruity Party Four!

    Wordle 1,084 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I copied it as a par four on my phone but that was a cheat as it took me five tries on the laptop. The edit was because guess three was a forbidden word entered because the clues it gave were helpful.

      Wordle 1,084 5/6

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

    2. 5 today.
      Wordle 1,084 5/6

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

      1. "Botanically speaking, the xx is a fruit, but some kinds are often considered vegetables. Most xxs belong to the genus Cucumis, but there are also some that belong to Benincasa, Citrullus and Momordica. The muskxx belongs to Cucumis, while the waterxx belongs to Citrullus."
        QED?

        1. Now I know what the five letter word is. Not that it matters, I don't do wordle.

          3. I know. I was trying to be funny. (note to self – must try harder…)

      2. Nice one, Geoffrey – boring par over here!

        Wordle 1,083 4/6

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

    4. I think I got a par this morning, does anyone else forget the word entirely once they've done it?

      Wordle 1,084 4/6

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

      Yes, a par.

      1. Yes, I do, and when I post on here later I've always got to go back to Wordle to see what I did! Must be old age creeping on…..

        1. Exactly! Might not just be old age, rather, I think that so many possible words are passing through your head that the last one just disappears into the previous possible ones.

    1. 388237+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Seriously check out those doing the sentencing
      probably of the same persuasion.

      1. I once 'endured' one at Heathrow on a shuttle from Manchester – they called it a Category 3 landing – totally blind because of dense fog, they gave us all a Cat3 tie for men, scarf for women. Pretty scary!

        1. Ditto at Geneva – in the days when it was the only major furrin airport equipped with the kit to allow blind landings. VERY glad when it was over. Though there are worse places to expire than Switzerland!

        2. We had that wonderful experience at Heathrow once.

          Ladies and Gentlemen. Although we have landed safely, there is zero visibility so you will not be able to leave the airport for a while.

          Why do they always build airports where it can be foggy?

          1. The captain on my flight was tremendous;

            Ladies & Gentlemen, yada yada yada, but dont be concerned, the next thing you will see will be the runway, Intercom clicks off.

            Intercom clicks back on again: Hopefully!!

            Everybody on the plane fell about – I laughed so much I almost dropped my rosary beads!

          2. My father tells me in the war they built a couple of airstrips in Wolverhampton in foggy areas, and I remember them building housing estates on them when I was little (70s/80s?). Perton and Pendeford.

          3. Wolverhampton airport is situated at Halfpenny Green – several miles from Wolverhampton. Old RAF station, rather than Easyjet.

          4. My father tells me in the war they built a couple of airstrips in Wolverhampton in foggy areas, and I remember them building housing estates on them when I was little (70s/80s?). Perton and Pendeford.

    2. Moh and I experienced that with no 2 son decades ago taking off from Port Harcourt in an Islander aircraft( small thing) the pilot had forgotten his sunglasses and appeared to been taking off blindly and haphazardly !

      We prayed .

  111. Rishi is overdoing the baton passing to Labour with the D Day outrage,
    He'll drop it soon
    And Farage with pick it up and sprint over the finish line

  112. Tidying up.. Laurence Fox's Reclaim stands down and offers funds to support Reform.

    2. I watched an intriguing video which pointed out that Laurence Fox is an actor, and actors play roles. Apparently Fox draws a salary of 500K for running Reclaim but I haven't verified that independently so don't know for sure if it's true.
      Reclaim gets media coverage, which automatically puts it into the controlled opposition category.
      So this announcement shouldn't really come as any surprise.

    1. And the idiots didn't even wonder why some silly old bat might be carrying a fire extinguisher.

      1. Just imagine if the woke hair (sic) to the throne had been killed…. An awful lot of lessons would have to be learned…

        1. I suspect that a jihadist will have seen that and be drawing their own conclusions too.

    2. Had something similar to that happened 30 years-or-so ago, then Gene Hunt and I would have dispensed some good old-fashioned 'advice' that would never have been forgotten by such cretins.

      That 'advice' would have followed them all the way to the dock!

    3. Had something similar to that happened 30 years-or-so ago, then Gene Hunt and I would have dispensed some good old-fashioned 'advice' that would never have been forgotten by such cretins.

      That 'advice' would have followed them all the way to the dock!

    4. "However, for countless millions around the world there is no future unless we come together to stop oil and gas. That's why we are demanding that the next UK government work with other countries to phase out fossil fuels by 2030."

      How do you reason with people as retarded as this?

      1. You really do have to wonder at the level of their intelligence, don’t you? Have they really thought this through – no oil or gas at all? Ffs. I just cannot fathom how stupid people can be.

    5. That was unbelievable. The sanctimonious JSO tossers get a free pass.
      What sort of narcissistic hysterics set out to ruin someone's wedding?

  114. Afternoon, all. Been a lovely sunny day so I've cracked on in the garden. Am now completely shattered and looking forward to a glass of red.

    Anyone who knows anything about Labour governments will know that, regardless of their evasiveness, their tax burden will be high and fall heavily on hard-working families.

    1. Hullo there, Conwy. Five minutes to go to refuelling.

      A peculiar day. Sunny morning gave way to clouds and dreariness. Poked about and found a huge école maternelle of slugs. Dozens of the blighters. Trying to keep the greenhouse under control. It is now completely full of stuff that should have been planted out a month ago. It is the wretched low night time temperatures. 11C tonight but down to 7º promised for early next week.

      1. We had blue-black clouds boil up while I walked Kadi, then they disappeared to be replaced by blue sky. No rain. Prosit!

    2. As I replied to another NoTTLer – the MR goes to keep fit classes. A chum there as a rain gauge. He told her that in the last five months, we have had 60 inches of rain hereabouts….

        1. Eric Olthwaite – Is he the one that put his shovel next to his other one?

          1. Eric Olthwaite: boring little tit. It was Howard Molson who had a new shovel and put it next to the old one.

            It were a Spear & Jackson No 3, steel scoop, brass embrazure.

            Even the white bits, in his mother’s black pudding, were black.

          2. Howard Molson – of course!! I also get him confused with Gordon Ottershaw of 'Golden Gordon' fame – great series!!

    3. Britain now deserves what is about to happen.

      My selfish fear is that the £ will collapse utterly, destroying what pensions I have, and the country will go bankrupt

      2. Fortunately, my pensions are not denominated in GBP.
        That noted, I would hate for armageddon to happen to the GBP.

          2. Best you pray China doesn’t invade Taiwan and that Zelensky doesn’t set off WW3

          3. WW3 won't help anything, except for arms sales… maybe a portfolio rebalance…?

        2. The only good news is that the Canadian dollar is falling faster than the pound so my very limited UK pension will probably still be enough to buy a bottle of gin.

        3. Honestly, I have got to the stage where I would welcome “On the Beach”.

  115. Sharp intake of breath! I didn't know that google translate used that word!

  116. Rees-Mogg calls on Sunak to do election deal with FarageFormer business secretary issues plea for an electoral pact between the parties as Reform polls just two percentage points behind the Tories https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    I feel rather sorry for Jacob Rees-Mogg. He is philosophically and politically far more in tune with Nigel Farage than he is with Rishi Sunak and yet he cannot see that the logical, sensible and most honest thing for him to do would be to resign from the Conservative Party and join the Reform Party. His sentiment for what the Conservative Party used to be is clouding his judgement.

    I have a a similar sentimental problem in that I have supported the RNLI for over 60 years but I should stop doing so because I disapprove most strongly with it running a free ferry service for illegal immigrants.

    It is now time for JRM to leave the Conservative Party and for me to cancel my direct debit to the RNLI.

      1. Mogg had the chance to be PM but wouldn't go for it, now he could join and stand for Reform.
        Which is a shame because I like him, but alas Conservatives always let you down, it seems.
        Well since Thatcher anyway

        1. Poor old JRM is the victim of irrational inverted snobbery.

          He must now see that if he wants a future in politics he can no longer stay in the Conservative Party – he must join Reform.

          1. I disagree. He failed to follow his own judgment. He allowed himself to be led by the nose. Now he is paying the price for that duplicity.

      2. The time for the Conservatives and the Reform/Brexit Party to work together was in 2019.

        The failure of Johnson to respect Farage's Party has led to a disastrously bodged Brexit and the surrender of Northern Ireland and UK fishing waters to the EU.

        1. That action led to the election of dozens of LibDem/Socialists in disguise, and we've been paying the price ever since.

          1. But we weren’t to know that at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

          2. You may not have, I was certain it was a mistake.

            The very least Farage & co should have done was to agree not to stand where a true Brexiteer was incumbent.

      3. They may have to get together to stop labour from further wrecking our country.

        1. Too late.
          What is now needed is a few voices of genuine opposition in parliament to show is being done to the country.
          More of the same, quasi socialist, nodding donkey Tories won't do so.

  117. I can't help thinking that Sunak was set up deliberately, was too stupid to see the trap and walked straight into it.
    I would love to know who made the arrangements.

    1. Never be the first to leave any gathering – the people who remain will start talking about you.

        1. “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about” – Oscar Wilde.

    2. Probably some embryonic spad who thought D Day was Diversity Day, or some such.

      1. No British Prime Minister should need "advice" on to how to behave on D-Day. Let alone on this particularly poignant D-Day.

    3. I don't think he operates like that. He is his own blinkered (but terribly clever!!!) self.

      "The diary says I have to be at X at 3 pm. So I shall be at X at 3 pm".
      "But, PM, you ought to be elsewhere that time on that day."
      "The diary says I have to be at X at 3 pm. So I shall be at X at 3 pm".
      "But, PM, don't you think it might be tactful to alter your planned itinerary?
      "The diary says I have to be at X at 3 pm. So I shall be at X at 3 pm".

        2. I have wondered the same thing.
          He was born here so knows that D-Day is a special day; particularly this year which is, in reality, the last commemoration when actual participants attend.
          I suspect he is past being nerdy and, as you say, is autistic.

      1. Yes, I know a lot of supposedly very, very intelligent people who can only be regarded as stupid, judging by some of the mishaps that befall them.

  118. That's me for yet another half wintery day. To think that it is only 14 days to the Longest Day……and the sodding nights start drawing in….

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

      2. Just had an email from my brother asking he could pop in after rugby on 5th. October!
        When I saw 5.10 I had to check with him in case he'd only mentioned the time and not the date.

    3. Console yourself with the thought that it's a couple more months to the Hardest Day (18/8/40).

  119. They are all talking about you while you are there. They know you are deaf !

  121. Computer made out of human BRAINS could solve the world's energy crisis – here's the scientist making science fiction reality
    There is a lot of fear about robots replacing human. But maybe it should be the machines worrying about us.

    Swedish scientists have created the world's first 'living computer' that is made out of human brain tissue.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13494193/Worlds-computer-human-brains.html
    Scary

    It composes of 16 organoids, or clumps of brain cells that were grown in a lab, which send information between each other.

    They work much like a traditional computer chip – sending and receiving signals through their neurons that act like circuits.

    But what makes them special is that the living machine uses less energy because living neurons can use over a one million times less energy than the current digital processors currently used.
    When compared with the best computers in the world, such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise Frontier, the scientists found that for the same speed and 1,000 times more memory the human brain uses 10 to 20 watts -compared to the computer using 21 megawatts.

    One megawatt is equal to one million watts.

    Read More
    Scientists invent 'Brainoware' computer that uses human neurons and tech hardware – as they move one step closer to merging man and machine
    article image
    The living machine was developed by scientists at FinalSparks, which focuses on creating solutions with biological neural networks.

    Dr Fred Jordan, co-CEO of FinalSpark, a startup the focuses on creating solutions with biological neural networks, told DailyMail.com: ' This idea is common in science fiction, but there hasn't been a huge amount of real research into it.'

    Organoids are tiny, self-organized three-dimensional tissue cultures made from stem cells.

    Such cultures can be crafted to replicate much of the complexity of an organ, or to express selected aspects of it like producing only certain types of cells.

    Scientists take the stems cells and cultivate them for about one month until they form features like neurons.

    FinalSparks mini brains were built from an estimated 10,000 living neurons, about 0.5 mm in diameter
    The organoids are trained with doses of dopamine – when they perform tasks correctly they get a stream of the chemical as a reward.

    Scientist administer dopamine by exposing a certain area of the brain organoid to light – similar to how it is released in the human brain when a certain region is activated.

    The mini brains are surrounded by eight electrodes that measure activity in the organoids, and the researchers can send current through the electrode to influence the neuron.

    These electrodes perform the dual role of stimulating the organoids and recording the data they process.

    The organoids are also housed in a microfluidic incubator that acts as a mini plumbing system for tiny amounts of liquids, providing nutrients to the cells, and are provided nutrients necessary to keep them alive.

    The incubator keeps the organoids at body temperature and automates the flow and maintenance of cellular media, providing a stable environment free of bacteria and viruses.

    The cells in the 'living computer' live and die within 100 days, clumped together in a 3D organoid structure.

    But they are similar to the ones in real human brains, and have similar electrical activity.
    'The neurons in your brain will live for about 80 years – you have the same ones when you die as when you are born. We are not as good as nature at keeping them alive, so they live for 100 days.'

    And scientists just grow new organoids to replace the dead ones.

    The team recently launched the brain computer as an online platform enabling global researchers to conduct experiments remotely on biological neurons in vitro.

    Already, three dozen universities have expressed interest in using the platform

    Jordan described the 'living computer' as 'wetware' because – like actual human brains – it's somewhere between computer hardware (i.e. the chips which process information) and software (the programs that run on the hardware).

    'We call it 'wetware' – I don't know who created the word – but the brain is between software and hardware,' Jordan said.

    'In computers, you have a clear separation, you run different software on the same hardware.
    'But in our brain, in order to learn anything, you physically change the hardware that makes the synaptic connections. So we need a new word, and 'wetware' makes sense because cells need a wet environment to survive.'

    The world is in the middle of an energy crisis due to fuel shortages, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions and the transition to renewable energy.

    Not to mention the rise of AI that is predicted to use 29.3 terawatt hours per year – one terawatt is equal to one trillion watts.

    what are the next steps?

    For now the company's focus is on cloud computing, in particular the energy-hungry data centers which drive AI.
    Labs and universities all over the world are already connecting to FinalSpark to test the hardware.

    Later this month, Jordan will visit he world's first 'biocomputing' conference will take place in Vienna this month, with visitors from Australia and the U.S: 'I don't think the organizers knew how few of us there are,' he laughed.

    He said that ever since publishing his findings, the phone hasn't stopped ringing: 'A lot of people are calling to offer me money,' he said.

    Another potential breakthrough is a new understanding of the human brain itself, which may lead to cures for diseases.

    The technology to create organoids is relatively new, and there has been little research into the idea of turning human neurons into a computer before.

      2. I said to Alexa the other day (because I'm a bit strange) – 'Alexa, open the pod bay doors please'

        She replied: 'I'm sorry Dave, I cant do that, I'm not Hal and this is not A Space Odyssey' Honest! Try it yourself

        3. I tried “Alexa, why don’t I have any success with women?”
          She replied “I’m Siri”.

    2. Wait until they try to power down one of these brain cell machines, the woke will be out screaming about murder of a sentient being.

      1. Not if the power down was called an abortion.
        The woke would be delighted.

  122. This is a rather long article but you only really need to go half-way through it. A case of OLD LABOUR, OLD DANGER.

    Revealed: Starmer's plan to hand power to unions – copied from Corbyn's manifesto
    –
    The Labour leader's recent statements echo those of his former boss, despite attempts to promote his party as 'changed'
    –
    Gordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR and Ben Wright • 7 June 2024 • 4:25pm

    Sir Keir Starmer will rehash Jeremy Corbyn's plan to hand power to the unions by copying policies from his infamous 2017 manifesto, Labour documents show.

    The Labour leader has quietly published plans to give trade unions a stranglehold on workplaces in a move that economists say will cost jobs, especially among the young.

    Sir Keir intends to scrap the law that ensures minimum service levels on railways, in schools and in hospitals during strikes. It means unions will once again be able to bring the country to a halt with crippling walkouts.

    He will make it easier for unions to carry out strike ballots – just as Mr Corbyn proposed – and will hammer small businesses by giving workers full rights from day one, increasing the minimum wage and banning unpaid internships.

    Other policies that are almost identical to those proposed by Mr Corbyn include a near-total ban on zero-hours contracts, a new body to police equal pay and a more generous parental leave regime.

    However, even these Corbynist policies on union power were not extreme enough for the powerful Unite union, which refused to endorse the manifesto and is pushing for an even tougher clampdown on employers.

    Unite, which is Britain's second biggest union, is understood to have specifically demanded tougher rules on so-called fire and rehire.

    Back to the 1970s

    In some respects, Sir Keir's plan – contained in a document called Labour's plan to make work pay – goes even further than the 2017 manifesto, which at the time was described by critics as Mr Corbyn's plan to take Britain back to the 1970s.

    The 24-page dossier, slipped out two days after Rishi Sunak called the surprise general election, promises a "right to switch off", so that employers will not be able to contact their staff out of hours.

    It also promises an "enforcement body to enforce workers' rights", with trade union and TUC representation, which will have powers to inspect workplaces and take employers to court.

    The fact that the document was published after the election was called suggests that it will form part of Labour's election manifesto, due next week.

    Economists expressed surprise that, given the UK economy's many problems, Labour had chosen to focus so much regulatory effort on one of the country's undoubted bright spots: jobs.

    Employment among under-65s has risen from a high of 73.2 per cent under New Labour to 74.5 per cent today, while unemployment has fallen from above 5 per cent in 2007 to just above 4 per cent today. The number of people in employment currently is at a record high.

    'No ideas of his own'

    Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, said: "Keir Starmer is just rehashing old Corbyn policies, because he hasn't got any ideas of his own or even a plan.

    "These proposals would hammer our small businesses. Starmer claims Labour have changed but they haven't.

    "I have spent the last two years as business secretary fighting the unions and their bad policies. Labour will always put the demands of these trade unions over the needs of our entrepreneurs and business owners.

    "On tax, on business, you cannot trust the policies of Keir Starmer."

    Sir Keir has previously said that the 2017 manifesto was Labour's "foundational document", praised its "radicalism" and said: "We have to hang on to that as we go forward."

    He subsequently expelled Mr Corbyn from the Labour Party in a row over anti-Semitism, but has never abandoned his determination to hand more power to Labour's trade union backers.

    'Socialist self-management'

    In an article for Socialist Lawyer magazine in 1987, Sir Keir wrote: "Unions could aspire to a role of socialist self-management, whereby the authority of managerial prerogative and the interests of capital would be challenged and rejected, being replaced by a unionism following the model of workers' cooperatives, controlling the mode of production.

    "[In this model] there are no managers…unions would constitute agencies responsible for the administration of industry and to the wider society."

    Tom Baldwin, a former Labour adviser and biographer of Sir Keir, said: "There are lots of business people who think that Starmer will be just like Tony Blair. He won't be.

    "Blair was a free-market globalist. Starmer will take an approach that is far closer to Joe Biden's and some social democratic leaders in Europe. He will be far more interventionist than Blair."

    The document says Labour will "remove unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity" and will "end the Conservatives' scorched-earth approach to industrial relations".

    Repeal the minimum service act

    Labour will repeal the Trade Union Act 2016, the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

    The minimum service levels legislation, passed by the Conservatives last year, gave employers such as schools and railway companies legal powers to issue a work notice to unions specifying the workforce needed to meet minimum service levels during a strike.

    It has helped to keep train services running and applies to health services, education, fire and rescue services, nuclear installations and border security.

    On proposed strike action, Labour will also "remove the antiquated rule that means that unions must show that at least 50 per cent of workers are likely to support their claim before the process has even begun" and will introduce electronic balloting of members.

    There will be a new duty for employers to inform all new employees of their right to join a union.

    When Sir Keir launched his Labour leadership campaign in 2020 he said "we walk with the trade unions" and released a video highlighting his support for the unions during the print workers' strike at Wapping in the 1980s and for the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1990s.

    'It's just naive'

    Ryan Bourne, an economist at the Cato Institute in Washington DC, said: "Higher pay, more security, and greater flexibility are all things workers want, it's just naive to assume you can mandate them without consequence.

    "The European experience with more employment protection, restrictions on firing, and more powerful trade unions is higher unemployment, especially for the young.

    "The US and Britain have more lightly regulated labour markets than Europe. These not only help promote employment, but give firms more margins to adapt to things like minimum wage hikes.

    "Smother these options through more employment protection and new 'rights' and wage floors will start costing jobs."

    An employment law specialist at Willans solicitors said: "Labour's proposals for employment law reform are rather substantial, and could have significant legal and practical implications.

    "[Day one rights] is perhaps the most significant change proposed by Labour, because, if the qualifying period for unfair dismissal rights is removed, it will dramatically impact the way in which employers can tackle dismissals of short-term employees and alter the way tribunal claims are approached."

    'Sources of concern' for business

    Alexandra Hall-Chen, the principal policy advisor for employment and skills at the Institute of Directors, said the IoD had been consulted by Labour over its plans and while "there is support for some of the areas of reform, others remain sources of concern for the business community".

    Ms Hall-Chen added: "Much of the potential impact of the package will not become clear until the individual policies are fleshed out in the event of a Labour government."

    Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "These are important issues so it's crucial that the voice of business continues to be heard, and Labour are in listening mode.

    "Our members wholeheartedly recognise that their employees deserve high standards of protection. However, any changes to legislation, must be consulted on and must be proportionate.

    "Firms must be given adequate time to prepare for any changes and guard against any unintended consequences."

    A close eye on Labour plans

    One business lobbyist said: "We're keeping a very close eye on Labour's plans to repeal the Trade Union Act 2016 and the Minimum Service Levels Bill.

    "What we really don't want is for any new government to be tearing up tons of legislation that needs to be slowly backfilled with case law over time."

    A Labour spokesperson said: "After 14 years of Tory failure, which has cost business and workers dearly, this changed Labour Party will make work pay.

    "Our pro-business, pro-worker agenda will boost productivity, help grow the economy, and level the playing field for business – helping to raise living standards for Telegraph readers across the country."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/07/keir-starmer-manifesto-jeremy-corbyn/

  123. – Lasted five minutes watching the debate
    Farage on with all the lightweights.
    He looks out of place.
    Like an A streamer put in with the dunces

  124. Quote of the day:“Nothing in this country works any more, the health service doesn’t work, the roads don’t work, none of our public services are up to scratch; we are in decline, this will only be turned around with boldness – we will only recover our position through economic growth, that will only come when we get away from just half a dozen multinationals dominating the thoughts of our politicians and allowing real entrepreneurialism to flourish”.
    Nigel Farage

    1. Nothing will change until government spending is slashed and the national debt is paid. While spending is high, debt is high and borrowing is high. While borrowing is high, the World Bank sets the agenda, not the government or the electorate. If you want to borrow, you do as you’re told.

      1. Nothing will thrive until taxes are cut and arduous (mainly EU inspired) regulations are slashed.

      1. He's never happy but when he's grumbling and even then he's not best pleased!

  125. Quote of the day:“Nothing in this country works any more, the health service doesn’t work, the roads don’t work, none of our public services are up to scratch; we are in decline, this will only be turned around with boldness – we will only recover our position through economic growth, that will only come when we get away from just half a dozen multinationals dominating the thoughts of our politicians and allowing real entrepreneurialism to flourish”.
    Nigel Farage

  126. I'm watching the England Iceland game at Wembley. Score 0 England 1 Iceland 25 mins gone. I'm suddenly feeling all sort of Icelandic.

      2. I don’t think Dopey Wokey Southgate will last much longer. It’s turning into West indies and Africa vs Iceland now. I’m not paying much attention any more.

      3. Nah, Grealish and Maddison, two great players I might add, have had a rotten run of form at the end of the season and didnt deserve to go.
        I think Southgate has been quite brave selecting highly promising youngsters instead.
        He's still a disaster though……

        1. I would of picked Grealish as a press in emergency button. But if he is not in form, and I hear he wasn't playing much at City then tough titties.

          1. Pep didnt even bring him off the bench when City needed some firepower in the losing FA Cup Final game!

    1. I tried Andouillettes once when I was working in Lyon.
      As the writer suggested, locals will warn you but oh no I went ahead with my lunch.

      Only once.

      3. So why do they keep on making them? There must be enough of a market for it to be worthwhile for someone…or is it a case of the once-only consumer?

    2. Are those the ones that look like dongers? What are they made of? (I'm sure it's something offal, but it can't be what it resembles, can it?)

    3. Alf had andouillettes once when we were on holiday in France, he likes sausages, and said they were disgusting.

  131. Just back from hospital. Had angiogram and 2 stents inserted in left coronary artery. Didn’t have sedation as it would have meant an overnight stay. Quite a tough time with a lot of pushing and pulling but it will settle down over the next couple of days.

    1. Wow, Alf! Delighted to see you, and to hear you’ve been sorted out! Can’t quite believe you didn’t have sedation! What a man!

    2. As if by magic!
      I hope it settles down quickly.
      If they offer rehab, if it's anything like mine, go for it.
      Pleased to see you back.

    4. Wow , so brave and tough , well done Alf .
      All done now , so a bit of taking it easy will be good medicine , don't you think.

    5. Take it easy Alf and let it happen.
      I hope it all comes together for you matey.

  132. Well, despite my better judgement, I watched tonights Election debate – at times it seemed like Nigel versus the other 6 – Penny M looking fit but a bit vacuous, Angie R getting all her words wrong, that Green woman who looks like Amanda Abbington, Daisy whatsername from the LibDems with the bad teeth, and those two hideous looking blokes from Plaid and the SNP.
    They all seemed to think immigration was a fantastic thing (thunderous applause from the carefully selected BBC audience), apart from Nige.
    The summing up was brilliant – Nigel came on last and opened with 'Unlike the other 6 – I dont need an autocue! – a killer line that drew gasps from the audience.
    Rock on Nige… Go Reform, it's happening!!

    2. The other 6 are all from the same mould.
      They go to a meeting with the answers they’re going to give and the questions are quire irrelevant.

    3. Sounds like a cult meeting with an uninvited member of the public stumbling in. Member of the public thinking "WTF are this lot on with?".

    1. Didn't watch it. Been busy getting everything ready for our first outdoor event tomorrow.

  134. Farage mopped up tonight.

    Also it takes some real doing but I loathe the SNP more than the liblabcon

  135. Well a few jobs done in the garden. More on the way.
    I think England's performance at Wembley tonight reflects on the state of the nation.
    Diversity is not the whole answer, even if the referee is on you side. Pathetic.
    But well played Iceland the poor English supporters are already leaving the ground. As I am leaving the ground floor. 5 minutes of extra time.
    Good night all.
    Well played Iceland.

  136. Pathetic England managed a couple of attempts on target. Nothing.

    Let's hope the dress rehearsal is the opposite of what's to come.

  137. Britain is a great country being ruined by its incompetent governing class
    –
    Rishi Sunak's massive error in coming home early from Normandy plays into Nigel Farage's hands
    –
    CAMILLA TOMINEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR • 7 June 2024 • 3:16pm

    I did worry that last week's column, when I suggested that Rishi Sunak may be on the brink of making an extraordinary comeback, wasn't going to age particularly well. They say a week is a long time in politics, but in this case that's proved to be an understatement. Following Nigel Farage's resurgence and the Prime Minister's disastrous decision to leave the D-Day commemorations early, it's fair to say that my column now looks about as prescient as David Icke.

    Forget Theresa May claiming "nothing has changed" in 2017 as her campaign collapsed around her. This extraordinary blunder is up there with Gordon Brown's 2010 hot mic moment, when the then prime minister called Rochdale voter Gillian Duffy a "bigoted woman" behind her back, not realising he was still being recorded by Sky News.

    The trouble for Sunak is that his hasty departure from the Normandy beaches, where thousands sacrificed their lives for our freedoms on June 6, 1944, doesn't just look disrespectful; it looks politically incompetent. Even his apology seemed flimsy: "On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer." A phrase involving Sherlock Holmes springs to mind.

    What on earth were he and his advisers thinking? It wasn't even a complicated call. The question was a simple one: should I remain at the 80th anniversary of a remarkable feat of bravery that laid the foundations for the Allied victory against Nazism? Or should I return to the UK early, apparently merely to conduct a pre-recorded TV interview?

    It wasn't just a problem that our last remaining veterans, some over 100 years old, had managed to go the distance; even German chancellor Olaf Sholz recognised the importance of attending the later international ceremony at Omaha Beach. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was also there, for pity's sake, and I think we can all agree he has some pressing matters to deal with at home.

    Moreover, this was the last major commemoration those D-Day heroes are likely to be able to attend, which gave it an added poignancy that appears to have been lost on Downing Street. Unfortunately, for the "Ready for Rishi" brigade, this will go down as one of the biggest PR disasters in British political history. They want 18-year-olds to do national service – but didn't ensure that the Prime Minister stuck around until the end of the day. It's mind-blowingly feckless.

    Yet sadly, it is simply another example of something we've grown used to: a governing class that is incapable of getting the basics right. As the Prime Minister was performing his mea culpa on X – of all places – the Government had David Johnston, the children's minister, out on the airwaves trying to sell the Tories' pledge to allow households earning £120,000 a year to keep all their child benefit.

    A simple manifesto promise to land, you would have thought. But when asked how much the child allowance is, Johnston was unable to answer. "Er… That, I'm afraid, I don't know. It's actually not a Department for Education policy," he told Nick Ferrari on LBC. "I should have found out before I came on here," he conceded. But this really isn't rocket science.

    And don't for one minute think it will get any better should Labour take power, as the pollsters are increasingly predicting. On my Sunday morning GB News politics show, I have asked four different shadow ministers – Wes Streeting, Bridget Phillipson, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper – how they will cope with the predicted exodus of private school pupils into the state sector as a result of Labour slapping VAT on school fees. Will they build temporary classrooms in our already overcrowded state schools? None of them has been able to answer this most straightforward of questions.

    Money Saving Expert's Martin Lewis hit the nail on the head on Good Morning Britain this week when he asked Labour's Jonathan Ashworth how the party would deal with the "black hole" in Britain's finances. When he couldn't elicit an answer, Lewis commented: "You can increase debt, which you've said you won't do; you can print money, which would be inflationary; you put up taxes, which you've said you won't do; or, you could cut spending, which you've said you won't do, which means if you can't do any of those, we're living in fairy-tale land."

    All of which plays nicely into Nigel Farage's hands. Because it taps into the central tenet of Reform's campaign: that we are led by a bunch of out-of-touch amateurs incapable of fixing a Britain in which nothing works any more. When he announced he was taking the helm of Reform and standing in Clacton on Monday, he said he intended to lead a "political revolt", insisting that the political status quo "doesn't work".

    He added: "Nothing in this country works any more, the health service doesn't work, the roads don't work, none of our public services are up to scratch; we are in decline, this will only be turned around with boldness – we will only recover our position through economic growth, that will only come when we get away from just half a dozen multinationals dominating the thoughts of our politicians and allowing real entrepreneurialism to flourish".

    Even those who find Farage's rhetoric on immigration uncomfortable will struggle to disagree with this analysis – which will appeal not only to those in the red wall but the blue wall, too. As the D-Day debacle shows, our governing class is riddled with incompetence. And it's an incompetence and mediocrity that has spread right across the rest of the public sector and quangocracy.

    You can't get HMRC to pick up the phone to you. If your local area is anything like mine then the roads are constantly being dug up – often with little or no prior warning – while potholes are left unfilled, or when they are finally filled, filled in badly with temporary grit which doesn't remotely resemble actual Tarmac. The NHS regularly messes up appointments, sending letters to patients after they are meant to have been seen. The authorities seem incapable of doing anything to stop teachers flagrantly flouting rules on teaching woke nonsense in the classroom, while universities have allowed our supposedly brightest minds to run amok with their intimidating anti-Israel encampments.

    There seems to be no agility and no ability to think ahead among our rulers. Instead, we appear to have become a country lurching from one crisis to another, ruled by an establishment class that is itself constantly embroiled in chaos. So it's perhaps little wonder that, when Farage comes along and points out the basic problems we're facing, it resonates with the public.

    I can't bear talking about Britain like this. I love this country and everything it stands for – exemplified by D-Day. But voters deserve better.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/07/britain-is-a-great-country-being-ruined-by-its-leaders/

    Tom Harris has also written about Sunak's early flight home:

    This D-Day cock-up is final proof that Rishi Sunak is an embarrassment to Britain
    –
    There is no one else to blame: it is his own judgment that has let the country down. Is this his idea of national service?
    –
    Just when you thought the Conservatives' election campaign couldn't get any worse, the Prime Minister chose to snub veterans by leaving the D-Day commemoration event in Normandy early. He did so in order to be interviewed by a broadcaster. Then he apologised. Those are the bare facts, and, frankly, it's difficult to know where to start with this.

    Had we not been in the middle of a general election campaign, there can be little doubt that letters from Tory MPs demanding a vote of no confidence in Rishi Sunak would be dropping on to Graham Brady's desk like confetti. Much can be forgiven of our political leaders, but choosing to attend a TV interview instead of spending just a little more time with the heroes who fought to liberate Europe 80 years ago falls into the "unforgivable" column.

    It's about judgment. Shouldn't we be able to expect the Prime Minister, of all people, to prioritise the nation's tributes to those who fought and died for their country? D-Day commemoration is just one day a year; with each annual event, the number of veterans diminishes, and so the very presence of those who are still with us becomes ever more precious. No political event or appointment could ever compete with the profound duty to honour them.

    Why didn't Sunak realise this? Why didn't anyone in his entourage of advisers realise this?

    Who, after all, is to blame for this inconvenient clash of diaries, the conflict of the anniversary of D-Day with the prosecution of an election campaign? Perhaps we should blame General Eisenhower and Winston Churchill for their lack of foresight? Or could it be that when Sunak made the unnecessary decision to call a summer election he was unaware of the sacred nature of June 6?

    The Prime Minister can blame no one else; not the media, not the Labour Party, not even his own party. It is his own judgment that has let the country down. The Conservatives have undoubtedly lost support as a result of this shambles, but that is less important than the fact that the prime minister, our head of government, didn't think that those unbelievably brave and self-sacrificing men deserved any more of his time.

    But theirs is more precious than yours, prime minister. Why didn't you already know that?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/07/rishi-sunak-has-disgraced-our-d-day-veterans/

    "Why didn't Sunak realise this?"
    No one will dare to say why…

  138. Think of every bit of the guts that you would throw away and mince it up.

    And that would probably be better.

  139. evening all. Alf is home after having two stents put in this afternoon and will likely have another when he has his follow up appointment in 2/3 months. Had it done without sedation to avoid staying in overnight. Very very tired after both of us being up so early this morning and, yesterday, he’d had a call from the hospital to say it may not go ahead today as there were so many inpatients but to prepare as instructed and then wait for a call. Waiting around is tiring! Call came about 10.30 to be there by 11.45. I was awake at 4.40 this morning too.

    Anyway he seems ok and now watching England footie that I recorded. Prolly not worth watching on past experience. I just hate all the shirt pulling and free kicks “earned”.

    Night night all. Have a great sleep tonight and see you all over the weekend.

      1. I tried tom for a while, Conway, but in the end decided 'use it or lose it'….so still voting, still complaining 🙁

        1. I'll vote (I've got a Reform candidate as an alternative, not that I am convinced about Reform, but it's a protest vote); I'm just not watching any of their lying performances while they try to con me into voting for them or reading any MSM.

          1. I think they know it, Conway….the same old phrases, have the grace to look a bit shame faced now and again. I’ve thought for a while, and now believe…Civil Servants pretty much run government, no election there of course, just ginormous pensions….

          2. Understood. Reform is not just a protest vote though. Try to meet the Reform bloke/woman and see. They're desperate to talk to their constituents.

          3. It is as far as I’m concerned. They are unlikely to get anywhere here, but I’ll give them my vote and encourage my small C conservative friends to vote for them, too. I don’t particularly like their proposed tax on immigrant farm labour unless they also massively cut welfare and make people work on the land instead of being paid to do nothing. I’d far rather they re-introduced the Seasonal Agricultural Workers System (SAWS).

          4. You can’t get a party that is 100% to your liking. I don’t agree with all their policies. Just most of them.

          5. They are also happy to build on the green belt. I really disagree with that. Still, if I'm going to vote at all, they are the least worst.

          2. Yes, thank you. The usual creaks and dodgy joints, but still enjoying life as best I can as far as the PTB will let me.

    2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      Nigel Farage will be disappointed by his BBC debate performance
      Comments Share 7 June 2024, 9:53pm
      It had been called the dinner party from hell. A seven-strong convention of the also rans. But only one dinner guest really mattered: Nigel Farage. The populist politician’s last-minute decision to stand as a Reform candidate in Clacton has struck fear into the hearts of Conservative MPs across the country, but especially in the 60 marginal seats that Professor John Curtice says Reform could help the Tories lose on 4 July.

      The surprise of the night was a new coalition on electoral reform between Farage and the Lib Dems
      But none of tonight’s participants in the BBC debate were going to allow the debate to turn into the Nigel Farage show. He was largely closed down by the other six politicians who were determined to paint him as an anti-immigration ‘bigot’ as the Plaid Cymru leader, Rhun Ap Iorwerth, put it, who would privatise the NHS as soon as look at.

      Farage did actually say the NHS model is ‘broken’ and called for insurance-based funding as in France. He got in some Trumpist jeering. Sir Keir Starmer is ‘Blair without the flair’, he said, and he branded the PM, ‘Rishi slippery Sunak’. He also said Angela Rayner is the real Labour leader.

      But the audience didn’t warm to Farage’s claim that this is ‘the immigration election’ and that it is causing a ‘population crisis’. The SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, earned one of the few spontaneous outbreaks of applause for saying we need more immigration not less. No doubt Farage will think the audience was rigged by the BBC globalists.

      Penny Mordaunt agreed that with Farage that ‘immigration is to high’ and warned that there would be ‘uncontrolled immigration under Labour’ because they have ‘no plan’. Angela Rayner also seemed to agree with Farage that immigration is too high and blamed 14 years of Conservative government for it. Her plan is a border force and scrapping the Rwanda scheme.

      Rishi Sunak’s early departure from the D-Day commemorations was inevitably the first question from the audience. Was the Tory leader of the house, Penny Mordaunt, a naval reservist, going to defend her leader? Not a bit of it. ‘What happened was completely wrong and the PM has rightly apologised to everyone’. Nigel Farage said the PM’s ‘desertion’ of the D-Day event revealed him as ‘an unpatriotic Prime Minister’.

      The liveliest exchanges of the evening, if you could call them that, were unsurprisingly over Sunak’s £2000 tax bombshell, which has blown up in the Prime Minister’s face after the Treasury permanent secretary, James Bowler, suggested the costing was misleading. Mordaunt tried to mobilise the tax artillery but it led to an incoherent shouting match between her and Angela Rayner. ‘That was terribly dignified wasn’t it,’ said the Green co-leader, Carla Denyer. It wasn’t.

      Mordaunt accused Rayner of voting to scrap Trident. She denied it. ‘We will keep (the) nuclear deterrent’, she said, though only this week the Labour deputy leader said that ‘she hadn’t changed her mind on nuclear weapons’. Stephen Flynn too called for the abolition of Trident. He also unveiled a new SNP slogan: ‘It’s Scotland’s wind and Scotland’s waves’, he said, that is powering the green energy transition. Everyone supported the transition except Nigel Farage who said it was too expensive. Mordaunt had a poke at Labour’s new state owned energy company, GB Energy. It stands for Giant Bills, she said. Boom boom.

      The surprise of the night was a new coalition on electoral reform between Farage and the Lib Dems’ deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, though neither of them seemed very interested in celebrating it. Cooper tried the old trick of accusing the big parties of being unable to keep their promises. That was until the moderator, Mishal Husain, asked her if she remembered that promise about abolishing tuition fees. Ouch.

      1. I imagine it was a shouting match. I don't watch these things as the participants merely restate their positions which are already known.

        1. "Immigrants have been good for the country!" – Greenie
          "Bigot!" – Taffy

          That was my lot…

          1. All of the other parties attacked Nigel Farage for broaching the topic of immigration. Tells you all you need to know about how traitorous and untrustworthy they are. As for the audience…they clearly do not represent the majority. Sounds like a set up. They knew he would mention immigration so they probably primed certain audience members to respond like that. They cannot keep the majority silent forever.

          2. There are few suggestions of getting the lazy off their backsides and into work or training, thus negating the need for an ever increasing population.

          3. Some of them are priced out of work. We also know (reported on here recently) that barely one-eighth of recent immigrants are workers, the rest are their dependents.

      2. Very, very hard work. The audience was found guilty on their allegiances by their applause moments. They only just avoided booing and hissing Farage.

      3. The audience was hand-picked not to agree with Nigel on immigration (and every other common sense policy, come to that).

      5. "But the audience didn’t warm to Farage’s claim that this is ‘the immigration election’ and that it is causing a ‘population crisis’. The SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, earned one of the few spontaneous outbreaks of applause for saying we need more immigration not less. No doubt Farage will think the audience was rigged by the BBC globalists."

        No doubt at all.

        1. And I should imagine that the vast majority of voters think that Farage is right and Flynn is wrong.

          1. The general consensus when I speak to people while I'm out with the dog is that there are far too many for the country to cope with.

    3. You must be a glutton for punishment, molamola.

      PS – After reading rob232's review of the BBC 7 party debate below, I take back everything I posted above, molamola.

      1. Listening to personal attacks and accusations as opposed to admitting the county is in an awful state and what changes need to be implemented.

  141. I have just watched the last fifteen or so minutes of the footy. Only three white players on the pitch for Ingerland.

  142. And I'm off to bed.
    A couple of phone calls ref. Step-son exposes the total clusterfuck that is NHS management.
    Stoke Mental Health Services can not get information from Derby Mental Health Services because they use different recording systems.
    To say I kicked off verbally is to put it mildly. HOWEVER, I did so whilst making the person I was talking to understood I was not criticising them, but the upper echelons of NHS Mis-Management and using humour at the same time.
    I got the impression that, by & large, they agreed with me.

    Goodnight all.

    3. Grattis på födelsedagen, Bleausard. Hope it's a splendid day.👍🏻😊🥂🎂

    1. ' Morning, Geoff and thank you for all the sterling work you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

  148. Darren Grimes posted this:
    "The middle classes voting for the Green Party have no idea just how vile that party is. This isn’t a protest vote, it’s pure political poison.
    The Green Party isn’t the merry band of eco-warriors they like to pretend to be. Once known for hugging trees, they’ve now taken a swerve into a swamp of extreme and bonkers policies that make them look more like a bunch of loony ideologues. Far from being a safe protest vote, the Green Party is a breeding ground for the politically deranged.
    Case in point: Green Party officials were recently caught with their trousers down, investigating their own candidates just hours before the nomination deadline. Why? Because an investigation uncovered that nearly 20 of their prospective MPs had been peddling vile antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media. We’re talking about claims that Hamas's atrocities were a false flag operation orchestrated by Israel, comparing Zionism to cancer, and branding the hostage-saving Israeli Defence Forces as “genocidal maniacs.” One candidate, Kefentse Dennis, even supported a pro-Palestinian protest that disrupted a remembrance service at Auschwitz. Yes, you heard that right – Auschwitz.
    In any sane political party, such revelations would trigger an urgent rethink of candidate vetting. But with the Greens, this isn’t a glitch – it’s a feature. Their extreme positions aren’t anomalies; they’re the standard. The Green Party has been hijacked by hardline ideologues who are steering it straight off a cliff.
    Look at their track record where they’ve had even a smidgen of power. The coalition between the Scottish Greens and the SNP crumbled pathetically when their pie-in-the-sky climate targets predictably failed. Not only that, the Scottish Greens refused to endorse the Cass Review's findings on the NHS’s gender services and expelled members for stating the obvious – that “sex is a biological reality.”
    In Brighton and Hove, the Greens lost control of the council after a period of chaotic mismanagement, including a ludicrous plan to rewild urban streets. And their policy proposals? Completely off the rails. They’ve suggested banning electronic credit from banks, legalizing al-Qaeda membership, and rationing meat and dairy. This isn’t governance; it’s the ramblings of a political madhouse.
    The Greens' political agenda is far more dangerous than it appears. Their quirky exterior masks a party teeming with sinister intentions. The rise of internal antisemitism within their ranks shows that their supposed harmlessness conceals much darker, more malevolent motives.
    So, let’s stop kidding ourselves – the Green Party isn’t the voice of environmental sanity. They’re extremists, cranks, and utter lunatics, and it’s high time we exposed them for the dangerous charlatans they are."

    Unfortunately, those middle class lefties see no problem with what they perceive as 'the right' way to vote.

  149. Latest news from Sodom-on-Tyne. Newcastle United has banned A 34 year old 'gender-critical' lesbian supporter from all matches until 2026. Allegedly, the Club, the North East's second favourite football team, ran a “secretive” four-month probe into the fan for her 'gender critical views' and claims that she had been “openly transphobic”. Hilariously, Newcastle United is owned, in effect, by the government of Saudi Arabia.

    The 'gender critical lesbian' fan has also launched a High Court bid to stop the police force, who questioned her over claims of transphobia. from supporting trans ideology. Northumbria Police interviewed Ms Smith under caution, but did not pursue legal charges.

    A bad lot, them up the road.

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