Friday 7 May: Patients unable to see their GPs face to face can find that their illness is misdiagnosed

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/06/letterspatients-unable-see-gps-face-face-can-find-illness-misdiagnosed/

632 thoughts on “Friday 7 May: Patients unable to see their GPs face to face can find that their illness is misdiagnosed”

  2. Hillary Clinton: ‘There has to be a global reckoning with disinformation’. 7 May 2021.

    The former secretary of state warns of the danger to democracy of lies flourishing online – and says big tech’s wings must be clipped.

    Her bid for the White House was engulfed by a tidal wave of fabricated news and false conspiracy theories. Now Hillary Clinton is calling for a “global reckoning” with disinformation that includes reining in the power of big tech.

    The former secretary of state and first lady warns that the breakdown of a shared truth, and the divisiveness that surely follows, poses a danger to democracy at a moment when China is selling the conceit that autocracy works.

    Morning everyone. Like er Steele’s Dossier and the Russian electoral support for Trump? The lies in this piece are an epic scale; they speak not so much to self-deception but paranoid psychosis!

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/06/hillary-clinton-guardian-disinformation-big-tech-facebook

    2. Like the fabricated news of Hillary landing in Sarajevo under sniper fire??

    3. I sense a desire to censor everything that isn’t put out by the State.

      Another leaf taken from 1984.

      1. Am I the only person who looks at the second photo and feels only envy for their freedom? Car’s suspension might not last long though!

        1. I do – until I think what the girls have been put through before they reach puberty.

          1. Ugh. Is that common in Kenya? I thought it was further north. Kenyan girls have a very bad rep for being loose (undoubtedly not merited by many of them) on the Continent.

  4. Good morning everyone.

    As we wake up the stories of the French blockade of Jersey, Northern Ireland on the verge of resumption of the Troubles and the City shut out of the European banking system, I begin to wonder – was Boris’ Brexit Deal quite as ‘oven ready’ as he claimed? It seems to be blowing up in his face on all fronts. Perhaps the time has come to do what we should have done in the first place, accept that the EU is not our ‘friend and partner’ but a hostile enemy. They tried to block vaccine supplies, have blockaded one of our territories and threatened to turn off the power. What are these, if not acts of war? We need to rip up the Withdrawal Agreement/NI Protocol and walk away. There is a whole world out there beyond the narrow shores of Europe.

    1. 332458+up ticks,
      Morning JK,
      Many of the post referendum actions via the tory (ino) party have pointed this out since the outset.
      IMO that is why Gerard Batten showing
      a success ongoing with his year leadership stance of the real UKIP had to be taken down.
      The treacherous nEc / farage combo run a successful campaign, succeeding in giving johnson the shout while in the case of “nige” standing down a good % of his opposition.

      Real UKIP always called for total severance, controlled immigration etc,etc.
      The herd get what they vote for so odiously the political circus will continue.
      The tory (ino) win hartlepool I believe they will come to believe they have simply swapped one monkey for another.

      Real UKIP far right my @rse, so far right more like.

    2. I would blame the French fisrt of all. just look at their history. No friend of Britain.They never will be. A country that venerates their own H1tler.

  5. Thought for the day: Why those now vaccinated will continue to be required to wear a mask (from ZH)

    “People would actually begin to associate non-masking people with safety, while mask-wearing people would signal danger. The danger of the unvaccinated.

    The government has just lost all control.

    Do you really think these people will give up their newfound power so easily? I’m afraid not.

    I imagine that their Big Tech partners are working furiously building a mandatory vaccine passport system as you read this.

    Until that is up and running, you can expect the regime to continue requiring all people to wear masks, especially those who have been “vaccinated.”

    1. Yesterday, walking to my polling station, more than 1 in 10 of people I saw were wearing masks in the open air with no-one around them. I saw several elderly people, surely fully vaccinated by now, walking slowly and clearly struggling to breathe with one on, including a man that stopped, turned away from us and hugged a wall as we passed 2m away. I was repeatedly appalled and saddened by the madness, cruelty and craven submission.

      I chatted to over half a dozen people I knew in town, all wearing masks outdoors. When I broached that IMO the masks do as much harm as good and were unnecessary, required only as a psychological tool to get us obeying the other rules and see the authorities doing something, I was surprised by all agreeing with me then walk away still wearing their masks. Bonkers.

      1. By agreeing with you, you presented them with questions they preferred not to answer rather than giving them answers they couldn’t question

      2. My wife was working on the front garden when a couple who live down the street passed. They asked whether she and I had ‘had the jab’ yet, to which my wife replied that we had not and would wait a year or two to monitor side effects in those that have been jabbed.

        The couple replied that they would be giving us a wide berth in future to which my wife replied “Thank you”.

        Regrettably those who have submitted to the coercion and allowed themselves to have poison injected into their arms remain blissfully unaware that they themselves pose a greater risk to the ‘un-jabbed’ than we do to them.

        2. We are about a millimetre away from the sheep among the vaccinated majority turning on the unvaccinated minority and telling them that anything bad that happens to them is their own fault for not obeying orders.

          Great answer, btw.

      3. My wife was working on the front garden when a couple who live down the street passed. They asked whether she and I had ‘had the jab’ yet, to which my wife replied that we had not and would wait a year or two to monitor side effects in those that have been jabbed.

        The couple replied that they would be giving us a wide berth in future to which my wife replied “Thank you”.

        Regrettably those who have submitted to the coercion and allowed themselves to have poison injected into their arms remain blissfully unaware that they themselves pose a greater risk to the ‘un-jabbed’ than we do to them.

      4. Yo, Dale,

        And apparently (here in Hertfordshire, at least) the actual paper voting slips in our local elections are in some cases being quarantined for 24 hours. How ridiculous is that?

      5. I’ve noticed this phenomenon too. People know they are being had, they know they have been on the receiving end of a psychops campaign, they know the vaccine is experimental, they know they have very little chance of dying of covid, they do not agree with vaxx passports etc…but they are still queuing up to be vaccinated.

    2. …and as Sky News points out, the Government charges VAT on PCR tests.

  7. More seismic scribbling that never made the Richter scale. Richard Booth likes his ice cube supplier but not his toothpaste supplier. Brian Gedella paid for some headed paper. Tony Hambro has a hissy fit – they’re having a hard week:

    SIR – Two weeks ago, I rang my local surgery at 8.30am, as a large swelling had appeared on the inside of my knee. The surgery gave the date as January 2021 in its recorded message and said it had closed and was operating from another surgery in a neighbouring village, with reduced appointments. I finally got through there at 4pm and was told by the receptionist there were no more appointments for that day and I should try again the next day at 8.30am.

    I told her I was not prepared to sit on the phone all day again. She said there was a link on the website to request “e-consult”. There wasn’t, but I found it myself via a search engine. It took some time to complete the online form with all my personal and medical information and it suggested I include a photo of the problem, which I did.

    I was called two days later by a physiotherapist who obviously had not seen the photo or details. I described the problem, and he diagnosed bursitis of the patella and told me to elevate the leg and apply ice packs.

    After a week, nothing had changed and, fortunately, I was able to speak to a retired orthopaedic surgeon who lives locally. He came to my home and diagnosed a cyst, which may need surgery. How I will see a GP in person to get referred to a practising surgeon is anybody’s guess.

    Amanda Malas
    Hartley, Kent

    SIR – Face-to-face GP appointments have continued throughout the pandemic in our part of France, as have annual cancer monitoring and any investigative MRI scans, X-rays or ultrasounds. Masks are worn and appropriate sanitising is carried out.

    Following these procedures, you either walk out with the results in your hand or receive them within 24 hours. Consultation times for GP and hospital appointments have been slightly extended to reduce the possibility of queues. Why the disparity between France and the UK?

    Christine Clegg
    Saint-Aubin-le-Cloud, Deux-Sèvres, France

    SIR – The NHS is not, nor has it ever been, a Covid-only service (Allison Pearson, Features, May 5). GP appointments have been available throughout the pandemic.

    It was right, to cut the chances of catching Covid and protect our patients and workforce, that some NHS appointments had to take place online. However, appointments continued to be conducted in person, and patients who need to see a doctor face to face should always be given this option.

    More than half of appointments are still face-to-face, and this number is increasing every month, as the restrictions placed on our lives to reduce Covid transmission are lifted.

    As a GP I know that online appointments are not for everyone, but they are welcomed by millions and are widely available. Video consultations help people to describe symptoms quickly, and allow a clinician to triage a patient to the right service. In January, there were more than two million online consultation requests submitted to general practice and about 155,000 video consultations.

    In a recent independent survey, the majority of people reported receiving appropriate care, and more people than not said they would be happy with future consultations taking place remotely. However, everyone working in primary care remains committed to ensuring face-to-face appointments continue to be offered. They are at the heart of what we do.

    Dr Nikki Kanani
    Medical Director of Primary Care
    NHS England
    London SE1

    SIR – My GP surgery, while refusing to offer anything like a proper caring service to patients, is more than happy to provide my wife and me with letters on surgery notepaper confirming that we have been vaccinated (required by the Israeli embassy to accompany requests to enter the country). But the surgery will charge me £30 per letter. Nice work if you can get it.

    Brian Gedalla
    London N3

    Soldiers betrayed

    SIR – The Armed Forces Covenant has been breached by successive governments. The latest example is the recent (now collapsed) trial in Northern Ireland (Letters, May 6).

    One wonders why this has to be, and the only explanation is that it is for political reasons. This must cease, otherwise we will no longer have any Armed Forces.

    Jack Marriott
    Churt, Surrey

    SIR – The trial of two elderly ex-paratroopers in Northern Ireland was nothing short of a national disgrace.

    These men have been hounded for years. We sent them into danger and they did their duty. We owe them our thanks and support, not the stress we have caused.

    I understand that there are more prosecutions (or should I say persecutions?) in the pipeline. Thousands of pounds have been spent and a very honourable government minister has been lost. I am ashamed – for our country, our government and our legal process – that we allow this to go on.

    Patricia Reeves
    Newport, Isle of Wight

    Porn via social media

    SIR – The news that two thirds of teenagers are watching pornography on social media (report, May 5) is distressing.

    Ministers must confront social media companies through robust new duty-of-care legislation. However, they must not stop there. Given the massive proliferation of online pornography, its degrading content and its accessibility to young children, age-verification checks for those seeking to access commercial porn sites are essential.

    Such controls have been approved by MPs and peers, so there is no excuse for delay. Through combined action, both on social media and pornography providers, the UK can truly claim the mantle of “world leader” in online safety.

    James Mildred
    Chief Communications Officer, Care London SW1

    Made in China

    SIR – I was delighted to see that my bag of ice cubes had “Made in Britain” proudly emblazoned upon it.

    Depressingly, my tube of toothpaste was (just visibly) “Made in China”.

    Why?

    Richard Booth
    Ringmer, East Sussex

    French fishing rights

    SIR – The French seem to think they have a right to fish in Jersey waters and land their catches in France without impediment. However, the French refuse fish caught by Jersey fishermen from the same area, on the basis that the water is not up to standard.

    The former Bay of Granville agreement wrongly permitted the French to issue licences to all and sundry, with no control by Jersey. This has been corrected by the agreement reached by the UK with the EU and subsequently approved by the government of Jersey.

    The French can fish our waters if they can prove they have the right to, in accordance with this agreement. They seem unwilling to do so.

    Edward Trevor
    St Helier, Jersey

    SIR – I am a customer of Électricité de France. Whatever the rights and wrongs of fishing permits, the threat to disconnect the supply of electricity (report, May 5) to Jersey is shocking.

    It is not only a form of bullying but is also a type of collective punishment – illegal under international law. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids it.

    I won’t renew my EDF contract.

    Tony Hambro
    London SW1

    The Bard at his best

    SIR – In 2016, I saw an RSC production of King Lear (Letters, May 4). The props included rocks with anti-Brexit slogans, which I felt was an arrogant display of the company’s political view.

    I decided to avoid future RSC wokefests. Instead, I bought a BBC DVD set of 37 Shakespeare productions from about 40 years ago. The plays feature the best talent of the 1970s and 1980s, they are in period costume and the words can be heard clearly. I now have hours of pleasurable viewing.

    Don Webber
    Bembridge, Isle of Wight

    Golf on the wild side

    SIR – While seconded to the 4th (Uganda) battalion of the King’s African Rifles, I also enjoyed many rounds of golf at Jinja, beside Lake Victoria (Letters, May 5).

    We always had two caddies – one was there to stop pied crows picking up the balls. There was also a club rule that players could move a ball without penalty if, as frequently happened, it landed in a hippo’s hoof mark.

    Major Iain Grahame (retd)
    Lamarsh, Essex

    The demise of handwritten wedding registers

    SIR – The registration of marriages solemnised in churches has now been changed in the most fundamental way since wedding registers first came into existence during the Tudor period.

    While I applaud the inclusion of both parents’ names (report, May 4), I deplore the wretched nature of this new normal. The couple and their witnesses now merely sign a sheet of paper, which clergy send to the register office. The newlyweds then receive another piece of paper from the registry to say they are married.

    No more registers, no handwritten marriage certificates, just dreary printouts. A true sadness.

    Rev Michael J Maine
    Cuckfield, West Sussex

    Lincoln fought a civil war to preserve his Union

    SIR – D A Glass (Letters, May 5) compares Scotland to South Carolina and asks what would happen if this state were to break away from the United States. We already know the answer. In December 1860, against the constitution, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, and a bloody civil war
    followed.

    The Acts of Union of 1707 said that “the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall forever after, be united into one Kingdom by the Name of Great-Britain”, and that “the united Kingdom of Great-Britain be represented by one and the same Parliament” – although that ended with the Scotland Act of 1998.

    I am not advocating civil war, but if Tony Blair had shown Abraham Lincoln’s determination to preserve his Union, we would not now be seeing the dismemberment of ours.

    Nicholas Young
    London W13

    SIR – Ben Riley-Smith (report, May 1) suggests that Boris Johnson is prepared to take the SNP to the Supreme Court to stop a unilateral second referendum, but this would be a stopgap. There has to be some finality over this issue.

    I believe the Government should agree to a new referendum, but on revised terms. First, a higher threshold must be met before change can take place. In 2014, only 44.7 per cent were in favour of independence. Countries with written constitutions typically require a two-thirds majority before it can be amended.

    Secondly, no further referendum should be allowed to take place for a set time. If the SNP had stuck to its commitment in 2014 not to revisit the issue for a generation, much angst and division could have been avoided.

    These arguments apply to any referendum on a constitutional question. Had a two-thirds majority been required in the Brexit vote then Britain would still be part of the EU, a result that might have been more easily accepted within the UK, including in Scotland.

    Stephen Parkinson
    London EC1

    1. How I will see a GP in person to get referred to a practising surgeon is anybody’s guess.

      I would just settle for seeing a GP Amanda!

    2. Dr Kanani is pulling our legs–

      Our local GP surgery closed for about six weeks, with just a recorded announcement to go to your local A&E if you are unwell.

    3. Revd Michael Maine raises a good point.
      I had no idea church registries had been sidelined in the recent legislation change. This is of course paving the way for churches not to be automatically allowed to conduct marriages any more.
      What’s the big deal? You can still have your wedding in the church, you just have to pop into the registry office for the real marriage, they will say.

      Yet another destruction of our way of life.

  8. ‘Morning All
    Lineker,what can you say?? All the years of endless preachy leftard wokeness and it turns out he is either guilty of tax evasion or at the very least the most aggressive tax avoidance possible………….
    A perfect symbol for our hypocritical times……….

    2. I have often made the point that our presumption of innocence is being destroyed by people who are dismissed from their jobs before anything has been established in court.
      However, if the BBC sacked Lineker immediately before the case even goes to court I might make an exception to my point.

    1. Unspeakably vile. This is the cruel product of a society that has lost all touch with reality.

    1. The picture certainly looks as if the patient is about to be fed into a large oven.

      Familiar or what?

  13. US deploys extra warplanes to protect its troops withdrawing from Afghanistan. 7 May 2021.

    US officials said before the withdrawal began that they expected the Taliban to attempt to interfere, even as the insurgents continued pressuring government forces, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan.

    “There continue to be sustained levels of violent attacks” by the Taliban against Afghan security forces, Milley said, speaking alongside the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, at a Pentagon news conference. He said there had been no attacks against US or coalition forces since they began pulling out of the country at the start of the month, and he described the Afghan forces as “cohesive”, even as speculation swirled around Kabul’s ability to hold off the Taliban in the months ahead.

    This place is going to fall apart faster than Vietnam in 1975 and for pretty much the same reasons. It’s just an American Glove Puppet!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/07/afghanistan-us-warplanes-protect-troops-withdrawal

    1. What is often overlooked is that many young men enjoy going out with guns and shooting at each other. I had a colleague who had been living in Beirut. He was a member of the falange at the time. He told me that they would get into their trucks and drive to the opposition territory and start shooting (mostly without any targets). The opposition would turn out, climb into their trucks and chase them away with wild exchanges of gunfire taking place. Some time later, an hour or a couple of days, the opposition would carry out a similar raid.

    3. Who is the most repulsive person on this planet? Schwab and Soros must be contenders.

  16. Lord Ricketts, former UK Ambassador to France, was on BBC* Classic FM radio yesterday afternoon regarding the brouhaha in Jersey. He expressed sympathy for the French fishermen as their livelihood was at stake. We live in a looking glass world, right enough, when people such as he gain glory and well-paid sinecures for supporting the enemy.
    No politicians expressed any sympathy for British fishermen when their livelihoods were taken alway from them completely, not once but three times, in order that the fish could be handed over to EU fishermen.

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

    Erratum *

  17. Last weekend I saw an episode of the 50-year-old TV series ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ where the prim and innocent servant Rose Buck found herself caught up in a Suffragette protest, smashing the windows of some rich man, and ended up being force-fed in prison.

    A few days after this episode, after many months of lockdown an historic building museum, Avoncroft in Bromsgrove, was finally allowed to admit paying visitors and do something about recovering from the loss of income.

    The night before it opened, a gang moved into the place and smashed it up. All the windows, many of it using irreplaceable historic glass, were smashed. So too were the interiors of the Nail Maker’s Cottage, the Toll House, the Edwardian Shop and the mission church. Much valuable antique pottery (where until 2007 nearby Worcester had an ancient porcelain factory) and glasswork (where until the same period nearby Dudley was a world leader) was destroyed.

    The destruction was done with some force and passion, similar in ferocity to the attacks on Jewish heritage in Germany during the famous ‘Krystallnacht’ in the 1930s.

    I have a personal connection with one of the buildings. I was in the congregation of the last service at the mission church when it was at Bringsty Common, near Bromyard in Herefordshire before it was dismantled and sent to Avoncroft.

    The police issued a crime number and asked if anyone saw anything. They might investigate, but don’t count on it if it was an act of jihad, or BLM racist and colonialist “anti-racism and anti-colonialism”.

    At the Police & Crime Commissioner election yesterday, I was offered four party candidates. I have heard from none of them, and spoiled my ballot paper writing on it “Party politics has no place running the police”.

    The local public have had a whip-round, so the museum can tidy up and open up what’s left to the public soon. Everything is boarded up right now. They have a bit of a problem sourcing traditional glass, since most of this has been destroyed by property developers in modern times, and the traditional industries closed down and sold off for executive housing.

    History understands the reasoning behind the Suffragette campaign. Can someone here please explain the reasoning behind the smashing up of Avoncroft?

    1. Oh bugger. The volunteers & workers must have been in tears.
      Sounds like the Taliban/ISIS destruction of pre-Islamic artifacts that they seem to delight in so much.

      1. I think in some people’s minds, the contents of British museums ARE pre-Islamic artefacts!
        (note, the museum destroyers are unknown)

    2. Can someone here please explain the reasoning behind the smashing up of Avoncroft?

      Morning Jeremy. As the power of the incomers waxes the destruction of the existing state will increase. The Conquerors of Rome, the Vandals, have bequeathed both their name and methods to their successors!

      1. I still do not fully understand why politicians of all the main political parties are determined to destroy our way of life by encouraging other cultures which are hostile to our own to come and take over.

    3. Yo jM

      we were there a few years ago

      They have (had?) an amazing collection of Red Telephone boxes, some designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1926.( he also designed theWigwam…
      Liverpool RC Cathedral)

      1. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed the Anglican Cathedral of Liverpool.

        Paddy’s Wigwam was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd. It sits over the crypt of Sir Edwin Lutyens’ cathedral which was abandoned after WWII.

    4. I spoilt my paper as well by saying ” Voting for none of these , PCC’s salary could support at least 3 more much needed policemen”

      2. I took a big felt tip and only had room for NONE.and one diagonal line through the tick boxes.

    6. I’ve been to Avoncroft. A fascinating place. Were they out to wreck our heritage?

  18. Good morning from a bright & sunny Bursledon ‘twixt the M27 and the Hamble!

    Had a decent, if somewhat convoluted drive down yesterday via The Chiltern Brewery, https://chilternbrewery.co.uk/ First time I’d been there for a few years but still going strong.

    1. Looks good Bob but pricy at nearly £3 a bottle,at my levels of consumption bankruptcy would loom…….
      My lockdown discoveries are Black Sheep Ale and Jail Ale(how appropriate)
      Widely avaiable at £1.50(4 for£6)

      1. My local micro brewery sells at £2.50 a bottle but I would rather give my money to them and help keep a local firm going. I do miss my Augustiner (Helles and Edelstoff) from Munich though – that costs around €0.80 a bottle – sadly I ran out in July 202 after my last refresh run in February. Just goes to show how much we give the treasury in tax on beer in this country…

        More importantly does anyone know how much beer I can bring back from the EU without paying additional duty since the end of the withdrawal agreement?

    3. Morning Bob

      Moh’s late parents lived five minutes away from Bursledon. We haven’t back for five years .

      Places change and the traffic is even more hectic of that I am certain .

    4. Thanks for the tip – I shall call in as I continue my walk West – East along the Ridgeway – Got as far as Chinor last year…

  19. Hartlepool…………snigger
    Con 15529
    Lab 8589
    Lib D 349 (not a typo)

    1. Wait for BPAPM to start crowing about the “success of Tory policies and the wonderful handling of the plague”. Bastard.

    2. Out of nearly 74,000 voters, the figures show just how people hold politicians in such low regard. I would like to see how many NOTA would have got if the option was on the ballot paper.

        1. 332458+ up ticks,
          Morning AWK,
          No reason as I have already posted it cannot be added in a neat manner in felt tip en masse.

      2. Yo vvof

        Mr Rashid must have been on Holiday, or the votes were submitted by the ‘local Frenchmen’

    3. Added this to the Guardian’s collection of wailing comments in response to Hartlepool election result:

      ‘Think the ‘kneeling’ picture has done considerable damage. Think he might be regretting jumping on that bandwagon now’.

      Not sure how long it will be before it gets deleted.

        2. 332458+ up ticks,
          Morning VVOF,
          As posted yesterday,
          Neil starmer would be more apt.

        3. A pity that the ‘non man one’ is wearing tights, not black stockings…………….

          Coorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr As Terry Scot would have said

        4. Main thrust of Guardian comments seems to be insulting the intelligence of electors who voted the ‘wrong’ way. My ‘kneeling’ comment was described in one reply as ‘stupid’.

          1. which you take as a compliment and able to respond the reply was written in the “wrong way”. Until you get shadow banned or blocked

          2. Engaging in discourse with a Guardianista is ,as I think Robert Heinlen said , like trying to teach a pig to sing “Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig”

          4. Engaging in discourse with a Guardianista is ,as I think Robert Heinlen said , like trying to teach a pig to sing “Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig”

        5. Main thrust of Guardian comments seems to be insulting the intelligence of electors who voted the ‘wrong’ way. My ‘kneeling’ comment was described in one reply as ‘stupid’.

        6. I’d bet good money that more copies of that shameful incident exist than the number of votes Labour garnered yesterday.

        7. A million hard drives every day show this photo and they say Kneelz Meanz Lozz.

    4. The Reform Party did very badly. Another feature of Hartlepool was the number of candidates with ” … also known as….”

      1. The common narrative that’ll continue to be painted, indoctrinating the propaganda. Future entities will be suppressed / marginalised

          1. outside “transexual Brighton” the Greens may as well campaign under the phrase “Bring out your dead”. Oh, that’s what Demented Joe did

      1. #metoo. What was the Harlepool turnout? None of the newspapers appears to give that info. Can’t think why…

    6. How long before some halfwitted lefty insists that the Tories lost as they only garnered 15,529 votes out of a potential 50114

      1. Like AmFagash in the BTL comments under the tellygraff letters.
        A legend in his own bogland.

        1. I find the Pillock from the Hillock fascinating , either he/she/they/them is/are suffering from an advanced Dunning-Kruger effect blended with an hearty dollop of cognitive dissonance and a splash left wing bigotry or he/she/they is/are a wonderfully creative person playing silly burghers with us sensible folk.

    7. Perhaps Starmer should consider doing what he is in place to do i.e. provide an Opposition to the most awful government of my lifetime. That he appears unable to achieve this aim is because he believes in the policies that the awful government is implementing, he is in fact, a controlled opposition.

      Add in the fact that Labour, surely a misnomer in these troubled times, have totally abandoned the people it claims to represent; eagerly support the importation of people to replace their former support base and have moved to supporting any and all woke ideas e.g. the infamous kneeling. Labour is dying on its feet and Starmer will not be capable of breathing new life into the near corpse as long as he’s got a hole in his ar$e. Labour voters moving to the Tories, especially the current bunch of charlatans, will live to regret their folly. They had a choice for change but exchanged one failing tribe for the other failing tribe.

      1. I couldn’t agree more, Korky. Trouble is, BPAPM will take the demise of Liebour as proving the enormous popularity of his shower.

  21. “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers medical experts.” (Apols to the Bard)

    1. the only difference I draw between the two Barney is Lincoln et al [Puritans] with US Constitution based it on closely defined lines of UK principles so as to ensure those at top of the power tree [elite] are “protected”. Blair on the other hand, having climbed the ladder is simply trying to rip it up and keep tighter grasp on power. Johnson et al are merely highly paid NCOs

      1. Can we arrange it for T Blair to go to the theatre when they reopen? A balcony seat would be good.

          1. he couldn’t enjoy it sos, he was requested to get Blair junior out of the cells for being “drunk and incapable” – again

        2. Short range shot for someone named Booth. Do we know of a Booth who may get close to him?

        3. Short range shot for someone named Booth. Do we know of a Booth who may get close to him?

    2. It may be an “excellent”letter, but it ignores almost all pertinent circumstances. England held a tight grip on the Scottish commercial throat. The vote was confined to members of the Scottish Parliament, mostly aristos. No ordinary person had a vote for anything. The Scottish commissioners who negotiated the Union were effectively, and blatantly, bribed. Even so, the majority obtained for the Union fell short of two-thirds.
      The Act of Union was so unpopular that there were riots in the streets of Edinburgh and martial law was declared. In England the Union was apparently welcomed. (Scotland had the same representation at Westminster as did Cornwall.)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707#Scottish_voting_records

    4. Lincoln was willing – and did – use the military to get his taxes through.

      Perhaps not Blair, but Brown would be a better comparison?

  23. Nicked Insightful comment

    “The tories failure to implement boundary changes is starting to make
    sense. They want to beat the sewer party, but they dont want them
    obliterated. They still need a credible bogey man to frighten the
    voters. If they reduced the number of MPs from places like Birmingham
    and London the Labour party would cease to exist as a real threat. They
    have to maintain them as a credible threat otherwise a real conservative
    party might arise.”

    1. currently no political [in the loose term] party is going to challenge Conservatives or Conservative In Name Only, unless real opposition is coordinated within which, what passes for Labour [old variant not “new”] would be a major player. Aside political names / colours, HoC is essentially one party [all in for themselves] within the current system.

    2. currently no political [in the loose term] party is going to challenge Conservatives or Conservative In Name Only, unless real opposition is coordinated within which, what passes for Labour [old variant not “new”] would be a major player. Aside political names / colours, HoC is essentially one party [all in for themselves] within the current system.

    1. 332458+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      Them old Chatham boys knew how to build a ship.

      Victory was designed by Sir Thomas Slade and built at Chatham Dockyard. Over 2000 oak trees were used in the construction of the hull – equivalent to 60 acres of forest. The final cost was £63,176 (over £50 million today).

      1. Even in the 1980’s Chatham Dockyard was not a good place to park a warship, well for the crew anyway

        We had to use shoreside ‘heads’ Toilets as the ship had no Cludgie Holdink Tank

        At night, you had to pee in a furkin great bucket, whic was emptied every morning, by the Duty Watch

        1. 332458+ up ticks,
          Morning OLT,
          Good place for a pint then.
          Some years back they done a “Wooden Walls” theme showing
          the navy them days & the construction of the ships.
          When you went in a life size model sitting on a pile of timber said “so you want to join the navy a” then a very good tour of the theme commenced.

          A Chatham boy.

        2. When I first started sleeping aboard the boat when I made voyages the boat had no lavatory so it was:

          Bucket and Chuck It!

          Mianda, our current boat has two lavatories aboard but the chore of pumping out means that I often still resort to the bucket when I am out at sea.

          Apparently many people who drown as a result of falling overboard are found with their flies undone. Eric Tabarly, the well-known Breton single-handed sailor, was foolhardy and did not wear a safety harness when alone in the cockpit at night. Sure enough his body was recovered from the Irish Sea with his flies undone.
          Most skippers have strict rules on wearing safety harnesses when alone in the cockpit at night and as far as peeing over the side is concerned the rule is: One hand for the boat, one hand for the willy.

          2. In my case the hand on the willie is to keep it out of the water or fouling the propeller

        3. When I first started sleeping aboard the boat when I made voyages the boat had no lavatory so it was:

          Bucket and Chuck It!

          Mianda, our current boat has two lavatories aboard but the chore of pumping out means that I often still resort to the bucket.

          Apparently many people who drown as a result of falling overboard are found with their flies undone. Eric Tabarly, the well-known Breton single-handed sailor, was foolhardy and did not wear a safety harness when alone in the cockpit at night. Sure enough his body was recovered from the Irish Sea with his flies undone.
          Most skippers have strict rules on wearing safety harnesses when alone in the cockpit at night and as far as peeing over the side is concerned the rule is: One hand for the boat, one hand for the willy.

    3. She is having a (helo) Flight Deck fitted as we speak

      The masts will be fitted with big hinges at their lower end and will be folded down for Launch/Recovery of Whirlwind Mk 7

    4. And 40 years later it was still one of the most powerful vessels afloat.
      I very much doubt the same will be able to be said of the Brown white elephants.

      1. It would be fun to abandon these horrible things on stilts which have replaced the elegant racing yachts of yesteryear to compete for the America’s Cup with vessels like Nelson’s Victory. It would be a challenge to set a spinnaker or two on the down wind leg of the course.

        (I never miss a chance to post a picture of Raua from the days when I used to race as well as dawdle.)

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9300c85802f1e7ae650bdc75bc7f9f2d93908201892b7ce4155789a8a6e16bf5.jpg

  28. Oh dear, the Conservatives get almost twice the votes of Labour. The Reform and Heritage candidates get more votes than the Greens and the Lib Dems.

    Where now, Sir Kneel Starmer and Ed Davey? Blame it all on bigots, racists and misogynists then carry on as normal?

      1. Replacing the electorate is an ongoing process, gathering momentum, you might say.

      2. and next step will be under the banner of “construction investment”, new short term holding facilities for illegal economic migrants. New voters welcome

      3. 332458+ up ticks,
        Morning JH,
        I am beginning to think the politico’s are completely innocent.

        1. Yes, the Labour apologist on this morning’s Sky News certainly insisted on that

      1. I put up a nest box a couple of years ago which remained vacant. I moved it facing different positions…still no luck. This year I Ieft well alone…..still no takers…..
        Maybe they just don’t like me….!

          2. Swift boxes are fairly specialised but starlings are not so fussy – we have cameras in our boxes and the brood of three starling chicks are good entertainment. Not as many as last year though, we had two boses occupied and nine chicks fledged.
            Great tits and blue tits take well to boxes but need a smaller entrance hole.

            We still have only one pair of swifts after ten years (it took five years to get this pair) and we’re hoping they will arrive back next week.

  31. She Drinks, She Smokes, She WHAT?

    An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman were talking at work.

    The Englishman says, “I was tidying my daughter’s bedroom the other day and I found a bottle of vodka! I was shocked! I didn’t know she drank!”

    “You know what?” said the Scotsman. “I was tidying my daughter’s bedroom the other day and I found a pack of cigarettes! I had no idea she smoked!”

    “Well, that’s nothing…” said the Irishman. “I was tidying my daughter’s bedroom the other day and I found a pack of condoms… and I didn’t even know she had a dick!”

  32. Chinese up to their nasty cold hearted tricks again.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57013197

    A craze in which pets are sold in mystery parcels has caused outrage in China after a number of animals were found dead in a vehicle on Monday.

    The “blind box” craze sees people order a box containing an animal that is then sent to them through the post.

    On Monday, 160 distressed cats and dogs were located inside a courier company’s truck in Chengdu.

    It has prompted calls for action on the phenomenon as well as on the purchase of animals online in general.

    According to Chinese law the transportation of live animals is prohibited, but “blind boxes” are incredibly popular, state media reports.

    A range of the boxes containing animals such as tortoises, lizards and rats have been reported for sale on sites such as Taobao.

      1. On Monday animal rescue group Chengdu Aizhijia Animal Rescue Centre said it had intercepted a vehicle carrying 160 dogs and cats, all under three months old. It said a number of them had died.

        The group posted video footage of the boxes piled up to the ceiling of the truck on social media site Weibo.

        “The cargo box is full of screams from cats and puppies,” the group wrote.

        Volunteers stayed with the animals throughout the night, feeding them and giving them water, while they underwent health inspections.

        The rescue centre announced on Thursday that it had managed to bring the animals back to their base for resettlement and a further 38 were receiving medical treatment.

        The courier company involved, ZTO, said the person in charge of delivery safety in Sichuan province has been suspended and his annual performance bonus had been deducted. It confirmed that it had broken China’s postal regulations and apologised to members of the public, People’s Daily Online reported.

        ZTO also said it had launched additional training regarding postal safety and national animal protection.

        The incident has caused outrage on social media with people calling for a boycott of such boxes and buying animals online. The phrase “pet blind box” has had millions of views on Weibo.

        “Have we made any achievements in the rescue and management of stray animals? Now there is a pet blind box industry?” one user wrote.

        Another wrote: “Let’s talk about boycotting pet blind boxes again. What they need is a home, not an uncertain possibility”.

        State media Xinhua described pet “blind boxes” as a “desecration of life” and said courier companies and e-commerce platforms must “strengthen self-examination and self-correction”.

        It also called on buyers and sellers to have “more goodwill and more respect for life”.

        1. “The courier company involved, ZTO, said the person in charge of delivery safety in Sichuan province has been suspended and his annual performance bonus had been deducted. It confirmed that it had broken China’s postal regulations and apologised to members of the public, People’s Daily Online reported.”

          It would seem the panic is over.

        2. There are people in China who do care about animal welfare, but the vast majority just have no idea of the cruelty involved in such things as this. You only have to see the way people throw things at animals imprisoned in concrete enclosures in zoos to know they are a very backward nation in some respects.

          1. Have you ever seen chickens in Britain being transported from the broiler house to the processing plant?

          3. I might be wrong(there’s a first time for everything!) but i don’t think Finland has a broiler chicken industry.

  33. Good morning, my friends

    I can sympathise, up to a point, with the French fishermen who are complaining about the paperwork involved with the fishing waters around Jersey. Nobody, including ourselves in our own business, is very happy at having his or her way of earning a living radically destroyed by forces over which we have no control.

    This sympathy is, however, mitigated by the fact that the British fishermen were betrayed by Mr Heath without any of the leniency afforded to EU fishermen in this latest dispute.

    Many of us suggested that, if Britain had gone for a proper “no deal” Brexit fishermen from France would not be ruined overnight but would be obliged to scale down their operation over a period of five years or so but that licences could be bought from Britain.

    This sympathy is further mitigated by the fact that many people in the EU have done their very best to punish British business with vindictive, petty, and obstructive paperwork.

    So, to borrow from Corporal Jones, the French and other EU countries like to ‘put it up’ the British but are far less happy and don’t like it at all when the British are perceived to have retaliated and ‘put it up ’em’ instead!

    1. I think ‘turnabout is fair play’. The EU destroyed the UK fishing industry with it’s paperwork, now the EU has demanded expensive licencing and documentation from all sides. It didn’t have to. It wanted this to control what we could do, and where. The unintended consequence is that the French now have te same odious idiocy that we’ve tolerated for far too long.

      1. Ah, but the French never view it like that when they are the ones adversely affected. The notion of fairness does not exist in the EU.

      2. Heath gave our fishing away to the EU…..

        Off the Cornish coast the UK share is approximately 10% of haddock and 8% of cod whereby the French Government secured around 70% of each stock.

        1. 18 hours ago Orca’s aka killer whales spotted off the coast of Cornwall
          They were spotted on Wednesday by members of Cornwall Wildlife Trust off the west coast, near the Minack Theatre.

  34. Looking at some of the reports of the local elections it would seem that the only people who thoroughly dislike Boris Johnson and his odious government are real Conservatives!

    1. mng Rastus. The use of local elections to cover the tracks ahead of the G7 circus and phase II Great Reset; 22nd June lockdown deferred / cancelled, jab passports, winter jabs semi mandatory mode. Not helped with majority of woke population MSM indoctrinated and half asleep [unwoke?] until it’s too late

    2. Yes, his move to the left has certainly hoovered up a lot of Labour votes

    2. Best larrff i’ve had for ages.
      Hartlepool………….. “Who hung the monkey” ?

  39. A woman goes to the vets with her labrador and gets talking to the others in the waiting room. Another woman asked what was wrong with her dog, she replied that every time she bent down her labrador tried to mount her and have his way. The other woman said ” Surely a behavioural expert would be better – why bring him to the vet? She replied – “To get his nails cut!”

    1. I’m very impressed you’re able to keep accurate tabs on Diane Abbott’s movements / appointments. Well done

    2. Likewise the chap who discovered the barmaid in his local wasn’t averse to the attention of a large canine. He took her home and introduced her to his German shepherd, told her to prepare and she did, then to her surprise told the dog to sit and then said right i’m going to show you one more time. ………..i’ll get to the cellar and change the barrels.

    1. Strange that the BBC are never interested about the repression of freedom in this country?

    2. Excellent,….. Oily Gorin her reputation goes before her.
      Parts of the BBc needs putting down.

          1. And just to further wind the licence fee payers up, last night they had that horrible little turd John Bercow on QT last night.

          3. I had to turn it off i though he’d never shut up, his sardonic grin is enough the raise the hackles.

        2. Well i rather like BBC 4 Uncle Bill, they have some excellent arts history and music programmes, but not Bob Ross, although i appreciate his talent.

    3. The chap speaks good English – and was not bothered about the Orful Goerin.

      On the other hand, he IS a ruthless dictator!

      2. And she didn’t have ‘an accident’ i’m sure it went through his mind.

  41. Good morning & happy Friday all Nottlers, looks like Labour is taking another well deserved pounding in the Elections! I don’t get the Beeb ( not that I’d watch it ) on my cable subscription but I get the BBC Clone – Sky News International & its Wog presenters are definitely depressed by their beloved Labour taking a beating ! Never mind just too bad, enjoy some patriotic music with a subliminal meaning for the Wogs who have invaded the UK & the damn French !
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5aeClRY4kA&t=38s

    1. When i was at secondary school in Hendon i used to cycle past her house on the way in and home from school.
      She lived at the bottom of the road called The Downage NW4 the house was a 1930s style with a flat roof.
      She didn’t wave once from the window 🙄
      It was also latterly where those charity people were using the facilities, can’t recall her name something like Batmanjellie, weighed about 25 stone.

      1. Happy Friday Eddy. 1930’s style with a flat roof probably means it is a Bauhaus style house, Tel Aviv where I live has lots of Bauhaus styled buildings dating from the 1930’s, some in poor state but some well preserved or restored. They are a very elegant & usually in white.

        1. Yes indeed also not far from where i lived in NW7 another famous family lived in a house of a very similar design.
          Meet the Frayn family Michael the author and playwright and his younger brother Keith, Emeritus professor at Oxford.
          I was in the same class as Keith at junior school. Probably aged about 8 or 9 I even went home to his house for tea once after school.

        3. I was lucky where we lived in NW7 our local Pub the Adam and Eve attracted such then celebs, as Boxer Terry Downes and actor Patrick McGoohan. But i remember a Kiwi bar maid chucking a pint over Downes he must had said something rude. My mother was raised in a house in Hendon and The Compton family lived next door she went to school with Dennis. The famous cricketer. In a shop where she worked in Mill Hill Broadway Patrick Troughton one of the Doctor Who’s often came in. You might have heard of Moshe Frey, he once had a website. He was one of the people brought out of Nazi Germany by Schindler. He and his family lived in Hendon I was a carpenter and joiner i sometimes worked for my uncle who was a local builder, in the early 70s we built and extension to his home. He and his wife were lovely people.
          I am still in touch with at least half a dozen childhood friends one who by chance now only lives half a mile from where i live in Hertfordshire. He also knew Keith Frayn at our junior school.

      2. How do you get three cannibals and three nuns across the river in a boat with a rower and two seats for passengers if you can never leave two cannibals at any time with only one nun?

        1. Take 2 cannibals across. Come back. Take 2 nuns across. Come back. Take remaking cannibal and nun across.

  47. After humiliation in Hartlepool, where now for smalltown detective DI Starmer? 7 May 2021.

    BELOW THE LINE. (It’s better than the article!)

    GochujangForever

    Starmer has a mountain to climb in solving a problem for Labour that is arguably of its own making.

    Analysis as to the cause of the party’s ’s diminishing fortunes often seems to overlook the fact that political outcomes are not decided by the rational and reasoned calculations of automatons, but by the often flawed and emotionally driven actions of individuals.

    The crushing defeat in Hartlepool – a once solid-as-rock Labour enclave – shows just how pronounced the people living there feel betrayed and abandoned by a party that once acted as their voice and fought for their concerns.

    In recent times, the face behind Labour has morphed into what many people regard as a deeply unpleasant picture – with the mask well and truly slipping after the Brexit result. It should be noted that the most frequent and vitriolic attacks launched at those expressing a desire to leave the EU (all 17.4 million of them) were, and still are perpetrated by overt Labour supporters.

    Individuals, families and even whole communities continue to be denounced as stupid, or otherwise having acted out of deeply unpleasant motives – with no possible way of defending themselves against the charges. As each and every one of these insults land (with zero objection shown from Labour members, many of which enthusiastically joined in with the attacks) the image is cemented of a party supported and run by people that not only don’t care about them and their opinions, but also hold them in contempt.

    With not so much of a word of an apology for the above, and fronted by a man involved in all of it (and of course instrumental in attempting to overturn the result itself), now when these people see the red rose of Labour, or Starmer on his campaign trail – their first thought is not ‘What can they offer me? should I vote for them?’ but – ‘Why would I want to be on the side of, or have anything whatsoever to do with a party so stuffed full of people who hate me?’.

    It turns out that while it might seem a good idea to insult well over half of the voting population, this has consequences, and whatever direction Starmer takes, the damage has already been done.

    Anyone complicit in this should give themselves a big pat on the back for playing their part in ensuring that the Tories will now be able to operate unhindered for the foreseeable future.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/07/humiliation-hartlepool-smalltown-detective-di-starmer

      1. 332458+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AWK,
        A gorilla could be running the (ino ) tory party makes little odds, major, cameron, clegg,
        may,johnson, the electorate vote for the suit & NOT the content.
        Main aim of the electorate is to vote in to keep out regardless of
        party policies / odious actions.

        1. which is why previous election manifesto publications [and ones before that] are mere toilet paper. the only policy driving anyone in HoC is “me, me, me”. Up and until the time all political parties are held accountable to what they sign up to, and campaign on then deliver or attempt to within full public scrutiny, it’ll be a revolving door of pot plants wearing whatever colour rossette.

          That said Hartlepool will have some alarm bells ringing in CCHQ as it’ll be the portent of things to come. “Tory donors” won’t want to back a losing horse regardless of how MSM try and spin it. Once they get the sense [ie; their own money] is disappearing, the chains would break. That is if there is any sensible contender who unifies credible messages direct to people and bypasses the standard MSM. Basically no indentity politics .

          Like the 2016 EU referendum, peoples’ minds were made up beforehand and didn’t need anything from political talking heads or MSM. And, having clearly seen the wrong direction May was heading, the party members selected Johnson. 2019 election as everyone knows, he was the best of the worst playing political musical chairs involving idiots in cheap suits.

          Then came the C-19 scam and everything around it, he’s now in same territory as “Call Me Dave” and May, MSM will ignore that. The primary aim of electorate in voting is to vote for whomever best represents and stands up for, their interests, not someone parachuted in [ilegal economic migrant] with qualifications of jiu jitsu from a wheelchair or cake making with their toes, who, if elected, then swans off to scam their expense account [watering the potted plant analogy] ignoring constituents. CCHQ will know this as will constituency offices that their core base is eroding offering no coherent policy and those elected have long ago, cast themselves adrift and pursuing their own ponzi scheme agendas using MSM to keep pushing deception.

      2. Like many people I wrongly thought that Boris Johnson was better than the other candidates for the Conservative Party leadership because he made the right noises about Brexit.

        But very quickly I saw that these noises were an opportunistic pretence and when he managed to avoid giving any details of his Withdrawal Agreement (apart from banal ‘nonsense’ such as brilliant and ‘oven ready’) and did not dare get interviewed by Andrew Neil I realised that he has feet of clay.

        Another thing which made me doubt his sincerity over Brexit was his refusal to discuss matters openly with Nigel Farage or to come to terms with him. But of course even Farage is now revealed as a vain poseur owing to his capitulation over not fielding Brexit Party candidates even in Conservative seats held by remainers in the last election. If anyone still had a lingering trust in Farage this must have been blown away by his rapid support for the Johnson Brexit trade deal which, day by day, is being revealed as a catastrophic capitulation.

        Most Nottlers have already seen Johnson for the amoral fraud he is. He is not cuddly at all but a ‘very nasty piece of work’. It is taking the general public far too long to see this too and it would appear that there is no strong and honest person in the Conservative Party who is prepared to replace the Bonker.

        1. It did seem for a time that Jacob RM was very promising one way and another. But alas his star soon faded too. Can’t think of anybody worthy of the office of PM in any of the parties. Not good, eh.

          And it is not really good news that the. ons have won Hartlepool which such a majority. They will all be thinking how wonderful they are and they are not. Not good for what calls itself democracy.

    3. What Starmer should have done was get some tips from Ed Milliband on how to make a nice big stone with his pledges engraved on it.

      Oh, wait…

  48. After humiliation in Hartlepool, where now for smalltown detective DI Starmer? 7 May 2021.

    BELOW THE LINE. (It’s better than the article!)

    GochujangForever

    Starmer has a mountain to climb in solving a problem for Labour that is arguably of its own making.

    Analysis as to the cause of the party’s ’s diminishing fortunes often seems to overlook the fact that political outcomes are not decided by the rational and reasoned calculations of automatons, but by the often flawed and emotionally driven actions of individuals.

    The crushing defeat in Hartlepool – a once solid-as-rock Labour enclave – shows just how pronounced the people living there feel betrayed and abandoned by a party that once acted as their voice and fought for their concerns.

    In recent times, the face behind Labour has morphed into what many people regard as a deeply unpleasant picture – with the mask well and truly slipping after the Brexit result. It should be noted that the most frequent and vitriolic attacks launched at those expressing a desire to leave the EU (all 17.4 million of them) were, and still are perpetrated by overt Labour supporters.

    Individuals, families and even whole communities continue to be denounced as stupid, or otherwise having acted out of deeply unpleasant motives – with no possible way of defending themselves against the charges. As each and every one of these insults land (with zero objection shown from Labour members, many of which enthusiastically joined in with the attacks) the image is cemented of a party supported and run by people that not only don’t care about them and their opinions, but also hold them in contempt.

    With not so much of a word of an apology for the above, and fronted by a man involved in all of it (and of course instrumental in attempting to overturn the result itself), now when these people see the red rose of Labour, or Starmer on his campaign trail – their first thought is not ‘What can they offer me? should I vote for them?’ but – ‘Why would I want to be on the side of, or have anything whatsoever to do with a party so stuffed full of people who hate me?’.

    It turns out that while it might seem a good idea to insult well over half of the voting population, this has consequences, and whatever direction Starmer takes, the damage has already been done.

    Anyone complicit in this should give themselves a big pat on the back for playing their part in ensuring that the Tories will now be able to operate unhindered for the foreseeable future.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/07/humiliation-hartlepool-smalltown-detective-di-starmer

  49. 332458+ up ticks,
    Are the peoples of hartlepool an independent nation within a nation they not only voted for a mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile importation
    ( ongoing via DOVER) party, they doubled their need for more of the same.

    Maybe decent peoples should consider sending their children overseas as in WW2 because they are NOT safe under this electorate / political overseers.

    1. We are not safe from gimmegrants whichever political party is in power. The voting system is geared towards no new party being allowed in to the mix.

      1. 332458+ up ticks,
        Afternoon VW,
        And so it shall continue UNTIL the diminishing indigenous peoples say NO more.

        They, the herd are currently condoning the DOVER reset, replacement in their face campaign they are, via the polling booth calling for more of the same and fair play the governance parties are supplying it on a daily basis.

        The party before family/ Country voter MUST eventually find themselves stateless, & loveless.

      1. Well, let’s have him as Labour leader then, a big gobshite would make a change from a reptile. The puppet masters won’t change.

        1. I knew him from way back when I was on the Sth Africa WC bid for 2006. For reasons unknown [other than some sort of bag man] he was always floating around behind the scenes in the late Tony Banks offices. they were all told vote for SA. Burnham took the Septic Bladder brown envelope c/o sponsors Kirch. Put him in charge of Labour, no issue, it’ll be like watching shit through a goose, gone in a week

        2. I knew him from way back when I was on the Sth Africa WC bid for 2006. For reasons unknown [other than some sort of bag man] he was always floating around behind the scenes in the late Tony Banks offices. they were all told vote for SA. Burnham took the Septic Bladder brown envelope c/o sponsors Kirch. Put him in charge of Labour, no issue, it’ll be like watching shit through a goose, gone in a week

    5. he would turn out in Perthshire, his first and only Q “what’s in for me?” Outside that he can galvanize support, depending on what he “trousers” up front

    6. Andy Burnham? Andy Burnham?? The man who took a wrecking ball to the NHS in his area?

      Just the ticket.

  54. Police hunting killer of PCSO Julia James release picture of man they wish to trace. 7 May 2021.

    Detectives hunting the killer of PCSO Julia James have issued an image of a man they believe could be key to the investigation.

    Assistant Chief Constable Tom Richards from Kent Police said: “We are now in a position to release an image of a man we would like to speak to.

    “We firmly believe he has information that could help this investigation and we urge him to come forward.

    “We are also appealing to the public or anyone who knows this individual to please come forward with his details.

    Don’t do it Pike! They’re fishing! Many years ago there was a murder committed locally and the Police appealed to anyone who was in the area at the time to come in and tell them if they had seen anything. One man came forward, hoping to be helpful, and was promptly arrested and charged with the crime, then later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Five years later the man really responsible, on being arrested on another matter, confessed! Moral! Never volunteer!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/07/police-hunting-killer-pcso-julia-james-release-picture-man-wish/

  55. Saudi Official Confirms Talks With Iran: ‘We Hope They Prove Successful’
    Head of policy planning at the Saudi foreign ministry Ambassador Rayed Krimly has confirmed that Riyadh and Tehran were holding direct talks.
    Earlier media reports suggested senior Saudi Arabian and Iranian officials engaged in direct talks in Baghdad on 9 April seeking to resuscitate relations, with the Financial Times citing unnamed sources as saying the talks were “the first significant political discussions between the two nations” since ties between the two influential regional powers were frozen in 2016.

    Later, Iraq’s president Barham Salih that his country indeed hosted direct talks between representatives of the two sides “more than once”.

    This was the reason the US killed General Soleimani with the drone strike in Baghdad airport.He was the go-between setting up the meetings.
    The last thing Washington wants is for Iran and Saudi burying their differences.

    1. Harry, your final line’s the key. Washington knows Saudi’s oil deposits are depleting, so need to keep them in the mix before they economically cut them loose.

      1. Its got bugger all to do with Saudi oil…it goes much deeper.
        Iran is a central hub in China’s Belt and Road.

        1. Saudis will be cut loose, that’s a given. BRI has walked all over the region and the LNG line with Iran, Eastern / NE parts of Afghanistan are pumping, with Pakistan also seeking its slice and US can’t break the stranglehold. their fear being India sides with BRI and unties the noose further

          1. On a completely different topic.
            Back in the 60’s i went to boarding school with two white Kenyans..Roger Dunn and “Paddy” Aitcheson.
            They would be mid-70s now.
            Have you ever come across these names in Government or industry?

          2. Dunn sort of rings a vague bell, something to do with CMC [Landrover as it’s now known] senior management. CMC was headed up by Tiny Rowland. Second one no recollection

          6. that helps. The tit bit info helps the crowd here with their mental trigger. Unless either of them owned money to the KCs somewhere down the line

  56. Non-shock in Orkney! Astonishing status quo maintained! Lib/Dems surprise no one! Yes, the Lib/Dems of Orkney have elected a Lib/Dem to the Scottish Parliament. An amazing lack of a turn round. Orkney has been Liberal and subsequently Lib/Dem for ever. Well, unbroken line of Liberal MPs since Jo Grimond in 1950. Jo Grimond held the seat of Orkney and Shetland for 33 years.

    2. Well the Kalashnikov was superior to the M14 and M16 during the Vietnam War! Perhaps the Vaccine is as well!

      2. 332458+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AS,
        Superior in the in the pursuit of killing, perhaps the vax……..

        1. Strangely,its used in 60 countries but i’ve never heard of any problems with it…have you?

          1. 332458+ up ticks,
            Afternoon HM,
            In the forces arms department none.

            Regarding arms in the medical vaccine context twiley
            to say ………yet.

          2. If there was the slightest whiff it would be all over the Western MSM.

          3. 332458+ up ticks,
            HM,
            As I said, to early yet, besides suppression is a major tool of the enemas AKA the MsM.

    4. I don’t believe that Russia’s Sputnik vaccine is more reliable than that of Pfizer but I can testify that the AK47 is 100% reliable, I was issued with a captured one during the 1973 Yom Kippur war to supplement my Uzi, and the AK47 never jammed or suffered misfeeds even during sandstorms. We were issued with them as an emergency measure after having too many jams with our issued FN FALs that were the IDF’s standard battle rifle at the time, After the war they collected up the AK47’s & issued us with the M16A1’s which had begun arriving from US stocks, the M16A1 unlike the original version the of the M16 which was used during the Vietnam war, proved like the AK47 to be 100% reliable in IDF service.

      1. Hi Hatman. A full account of the difficulties and scandals associated with the original M16 can be found in Max Hastings: Vietnam: An Epic History of a Divisive War.

        1. Yes I know, most of the problems related to the non-issuance of a rifle cleaning kit to the troops in the field & the change of the type of black powder used in the 5.56mm cartridges – done for cheapness when large amounts of rounds were needed in combat conditions unlike peace time usage mostly on the range where in addition the rifles were cleaned after firing. The M16A1 model came with a cleaning kit in the buttstock, a better chromed barrel which did not foul up with gunpowder residue anywhere like the earlier model & we in the IDF used our own IMI made ammo which was of a higher grade than the standard US made ammo at the time.

  58. I have just found my new supplier of meat, poultry and game. Bought a pork meat box.

    It was the best roast pork and crackling i have eaten in a very long time.

    The crackling was out of this world.

    All the animals are free range and wander around the New Forest. No antibiotics or growth promoters. The lambs and the chickens eat on meadows and are not cooped up all the time.

    I’m going to try their bacon next as they say they don’t add anything to it. Sizzle not drizzle as they say.

    I highly recommend. The way meat used to taste.

    https://www.newforeststores.com/

      1. I never stop thinking about food but i only eat once a day. It’s why i’m a svelt 9 1/2 stone.

        1. What, no porridge for breakfast? Very good for cholesterol control.

          2. Ah, Philip, the same three course breakfast I used to have, a cup of tea, a cigarette and a damned good cough.

    2. You should write a nottle page of food suppliers, Phizzee, be our chief tester and reviewer and report back, save us from making mistakes. Sounds delicious, by the way. I’m off for a look at the site right now.

      1. You can easily find high quality producers of most things in the UK on google.

        Cheese, meat & charcuterie. Wine and tracklements. Not forgetting Cornish fish and crustacea, the best in the world. The list is endless.

        Better than buying from Les Frogs. Price is sometimes an issue if on a tight budget but always good for a special treat.

    3. Looks like the business is based in Burley, but pigs often lived ‘free range’ at Bramshaw; we used to call it Pig Village.

      1. For different produce they use surrounding farms. The pigs eat the acorns. Pannage. Tasted superb.

      2. I recommend Farmison’s too. The steak is the best I’ve ever tasted.

    7. Aha. I just had a delivery from them yesterday. I have put it in the freezer as I’m away tomorrow and so wont be around to eat it. I ordered belly pork, some bacon and some sausages.

      Looking forward to having some of it next week.

    2. Why do these idiots pull such stupid stunts? Corby sitting on the train floor, Starmer kneeling… eejits.

      1. They know it appeals (is compulsory) to the tiny number of woke/transgender/green/bames etc with whom they associate.

        They neither know nor care about the other 99%.

    3. Why do these idiots pull such stupid stunts? Corby sitting on the train floor, Starmer kneeling… eejits.

          1. it was a one way street and had to connect with voters and quickly “take a knee”. that must be buried in the small print somewhere in the Highway code

  61. 332458+ up ticks,
    Let’s face it under nige the brexit party was always a tory (ino) top up group, unintentionally by many even so done the job assuring johnson an 80 seater, some say, “good old nige” many tell the truth.

    Boris Wins Seat in Parliament from Labour as Brexit Party Vote Goes to Tories

  62. Sadiq Khan moved ahead of Shaun Bailey in the race for City Hall this afternoon.
    The Labour incumbent had received 38 per cent of the votes counted by about1.30pm today, with his Tory rival on 37 per cent. Mr Bailey had started the day with an early lead over Mr Khan, due to the fact that thecounting of votes was progressing more quickly in Conservative strongholds.
    Mr Bailey had initially gathered 40 per cent of the votes counted by 11.30am, as opposed to 35 per cent for Mr Khan. The final result is not expected to be declared until Saturday evening.

    Gotta get them postal votes sorted…

    1. they ran out of knives to open the postal votes. Leave it til tomorrow then it’s OT @ time ½ plus removing fingerprints off knives

    3. The cargo plane from Bangladesh with the votes was delayed in bad weather but don’t worry it will arrive in time to propel Sad Dick to victory !

    4. “Where are the keys to Mr. Rashid’s lock-up?”
      “What, I thought I gave them to you. Have you searched every pocket of Fatima No. 3’s handbag?”

  63. In the Scottish elections there has been a higher than average turnout. More ballot boxes had to be rushed to polling stations. Hmmm.

      1. Will each quarter of William Wallace get a vote? Five votes, if you count his head.

    2. Has that album got his tune… ‘woman is the nigger of the world’? and has anyone complained about the N word yet.

      1. 332458+ up ticks,
        Evening Anne,
        England, due to the efforts these past three decades of the
        combined efforts of the lab/lib/con supporter / voters we are leading the field in the race to the bottom.

    2. She should be pleased that Black Barbies are considered more valuable than White ones, of course they come with an authentic copy of a police record sheet.

      3. Any name consisting of multiple random letters squished together ie Alayesha, Klay, Brayndun, Eraneta, Moneesha, Wayneesha, ….Pick your own…

    5. I looked up Barbie doll prices on Amazon. There’s a black one there at £188 so hers is cheap. But then there’s a white Barbie at £541 and theres no effective difference in price between black, white and mixed Barbies outside of collectors pieces.

      But then facts have never mattered in race debates . . .

    1. “Reason unknown?” Tut, tut – not enough Liebour ballots discovered….yet.

        1. MP Damian Collins has been told at his constituency office this am by larger than usual crowd at his office – political posts no issue depending on votes. Under no circumstances no Nigerian Police Commissioner or it sends clear, wrong signal, matters will then be dealt with locally. He got the point crystal clear, now it’s down to waiting for outcome on Monday

  68. 332458+ up ticks,
    Be interesting to see how many islamic following new mayors we have to complete the dot joining Countrywide.

    As with grandads axe regarding ownership, when you replace the head then the shaft granddad can no longer lay claim, same with Countries, 51%.

    By the by the dot joining shape will be the outline of a bloody big mosque.

    1. once it starts forming shape of Magen David you’ll know the touchpaper’s been lit. And they won’t highlight their own turf, too obvious, but points on map to specifc areas will. And their first line of defence will be British custom = druids etc. But they will be connected

    2. HP I cant use your link as it has one of those Spam adverts from Yahoo that wont let you view the page till agree to accept their terms & cookies

      1. you have to turn them all off then it opens. I went through this the other day when HP posted a yahoo link. BTW I didn;t find suitable replacement for Postman Pat video c/o Youtube

        1. I am a basic tech illiterate, I can field strip an Uzi in the dark but can’t get on with a smart phone & a lot of other techie things

          1. anything from septic land when it says accept, look for reject, follow process. If n/a bin tab. I’ve never used a smartphone, nor will I

      2. Sorry. I’ve looked and looked but I can’t do anything to change it, as the source is hidden.

  71. 332458+ up ticks,
    Hartlepool proves Boris Johnson is the Tories’ greatest asset ( obviously can’t spell ARSE).

    The Conservatives didn’t just win, they humiliated Labour, so much so that any Tory now hoping to replace the PM should think again.

    That has done it, am now putting finishing touches to sandwich board, the end of old blighty is very nigh.

    2. I get that they have to provide data on all the guff, but did they just use the same sheet size and print using that?

      I appreciate that’s cheaper. Less set up, config, everything but still.

      1. 332458+ up ticks,
        Evening W,
        They use seemingly one sequoia = one box, or 2oooo31
        bum wipes.

        1. Thought so because somewhere in my subliminal I recognise Bath stone and the window sill and configuration of shop front and first floor sash.

    1. Much as I dislike Starmer, I tend to judge many politicians by the quality of the enemies on their own side.

      Starmer’s are the scrapings of a cesspit.

      Perhaps he’s better than I thought.

      1. No he is not. He was an inadequate barrister, an appalling DPP; a champagne socialist – who gives neither a jot nor a tittle for the people who – once – would have voted Labour.

        2. I think Labour should put forward David Lammy for leader and Miss Dianne as his second. Couldn’t be any worse than the rest of a shitshower of a Labour Party. At least we would get a laugh as the ship of state sinks. :@(

        1. Mixed emotions.

          If Starmer destroys Labour, that might be a good thing; but only if it allows a genuine division between Left and Right and gets the CINO’s replaced by real conservatives.

  77. That’s me gone for this weird day. Sunny but cold morning. Massive 15 minute hailstorm at 2 pm – left lawn quite white. Then sunny and cold – again.

    Potted on 30 brassica seedlings. Sorted out flower pots. Amazing how many quite different round 4 inch pots there are. One would have imagined that there would be a standard one throughout the industry. Not so, apparently.

    Watching the China on Film Episode 2 on PBSAmerica this evening – also tag end of excellent docu on the Festival of Britain.

    A demain – in the rain.

  78. Ooops … think my second jab has caught up with me. I don’t feel ill in any way, but halfway through walking Spartie this afternoon, all the energy seemed to drain out of my toes. We plodded home and MB is doing the cooking.

    1. Check your blood pressure and make sure you eat something. Then go to bed without the bottle of Gin. :@(

          4. Indeed.
            That tells us how old you are too.

            Of course Phizzee and the youngsters would assume it stood for something else.

            };-))

    8. Can I ask which one did you have. I keep hearing the 1st jab gives unpleasant side effects but the 2nd jab with the AZ has little side effect. I am told it is the other way round with the Pfizer vaccine.
      I don’t know if that is generally true, it was with me but then I am told I am rather special. :¬)) I think they mean it in a nice way.

      1. I was fine after 1st Pfizer but had a day of exhaustion after the second jab.

        1. Good to hear, obviously it affects only some and in a different way.

      3. AZ. It’s just an overall lack of oomph. On the plus side, it means MB has cooked and washed up.

  79. Just seen the Mail – article about useless places one can visit – but expect huge queues etc – that little wanqueur Shapps – added:

    “..that travellers were ‘crucial’ to rebuilding the UK’s economy….”

    I expect he’ll want to reflect on that….

  80. The working class just kicked Starmers Arse
    Hartlepools turned blue at last

    1. A blue bottomed baboon is an ape not a monkey…

      They don’t hang apes in Hartlepool.

      1. They would if that ape Starmer turned up there. He was lucky to get out of Cornwall with his testicles.

          2. Thanks I’ve got one……I saw the film ‘Chainsaw Massacre’.
            That could come in handy so I bought one!

          4. You can borrow one of mine. The battery one ought to be adequate.

    2. They will have no time for knee kneelers and all the woke rubbish , they probably feel betrayed by labour piling migrants on a heap up north .

    3. It couldn’t help Labour that the ‘Reform UK’ candidate was John Prescott.

    4. Mind you, with the way the current Cons are woke, green and fiscally incompetent, you would hardly know the difference.

    1. Dear oh dear.
      I suppose she thinks her co-religionaries would treat her with sensitivity if she parachuted into Helmand.
      Cup-cake, indeed. That was the nicest thing an instructor could call her, by far.

    2. In any other setting I would agree with her about being called ‘cupcake’ but the whole point of this programme is to push your buttons to see what you can put up with before snapping.
      Knob.

      Oh, and about the rest…

      A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: ‘SAS: Who Dares Wins is now in its sixth series. “All the recruits are fully aware that by being part of the programme, they will be immersed in an authentic SAS Selection experience. 
      ‘They are fully briefed about what to expect and encouraged to watch previous episodes of the series, where they will see that all recruits are treated the same, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity.”

    3. Dear Lord! How many more whinging moronic slammers do we have to listen to? Why do we even give them air space? If you really don’t like the way we live here, then bugger off to somewhere you might fit in.

  84. 332458+ up ticks,
    Dt,
    Britain to be Covid-free by August, says vaccine taskforce chief

    Honest ?

    Trials finished,
    How about, to be shelved for future use in manipulation & control.

    Question everything.

    1. I am still here Plum , thanks for asking .
      Been mobile , and out and about , but still have a pain in the back of my head , low down left hand side , not feeling quite right .

      I felt fine before my 2nd jab . Hope it goes as quickly as it came .

        1. Old age , ye Gods , I guess it creeps up on one .

          This vaccine was meant to protect me , not make me think it is going to kill me .

          1. Small wonder, Mags, that many on here seem to have taken agin these untested jabs and fear what long-term after-effects there may be with the jab companies given immunity from legal action against them.

            Sorry, but I’m one of the anti-vaxxers.

  86. You may remember reading of the collapse of Northamptonshire County Council and the shake up of local government in the county. At our end, the three borough councils (Wellingborough, Kettering and Corby) and East Northants DC have been united into one unitary authority, North Northants. The voters clearly weren’t put off by the Tories presiding over the end of NCC. With 24 of 78 seats still to declare, the Conservatives already have control.

    Jocko Land has predictably returned a few Labour councillors, while the Greens won all three seats in a Kettering ward after campaigning against plans to build another warehouse park that will require the felling of ten acres of woodland.

    EDIT:
    West Northants, the other unitary authority created alongside NNC, was taken by the Tories with 28 of the 93 seats still to declare. That includes Northampton, which always had a strong Labour and LibDem representation even when held by the Blues.

  87. That’s better.
    Just back from dinner out – celebration of SWMBOs birthday. Not actually allowed to sit in the restaurant, we were outside under their awning, no alcohol allowed (makes the virus turbocharged, don’cha no?) but a lovely chatty time all the same. Waitresses came out with a plate of ice cream balls and a firework, and sang Happy Birthday! So nice, it was.
    :-D)

  88. Evening everyone .

    The clouds are building up, dogs have had their second reasonable walk/ gallop of the day .

    Moh is full of beans after playing golf this morning and I just feel really whacked and still have a pain in the back of my head on the left hand side .

    We took the dogs to another local heath /rough land / nature walk area where there are some beautiful looking wild? horses and a herd of Red Devon cattle grazing on the far perimeters late afternoon .

    This is a public area , but the fashion is to graze a few mild mannered cattle and horses to attract insect life , which of course are very thin on the ground because animals are pumped full of antibiotics and other such stuff , so no surprise at the lack of creepy crawlies that SHOULD be attracted to piles of rotting / fresh gooey animal excrement .

    A couple of people caught us up and sternly advised us to put our dogs on their leads, they were nature wardens !

    We had a discussion about ground nesting birds … fair enough , but am I being unreasonable to point out that grazing cattle on heathland and a herd of horses trampling everywhere are far more of a danger to ground nesting birds than a couple of fairly obedient dogs who love a gallop?

    1. World is full of people who insist you do as they say, Belle, and stop whatever it is you are doing.
      Have you had a medical opinion about your head pain? It’s been days now, you should get it attended to.

      1. Seeing a doctor is difficult , I checked with village pharmacist yesterday , which was the day after the jab .
        Side effects can be headaches etc.

    2. You’re correct, Belle, the cattle and ponies do a lot more damage. The dogs when they go off piste generally use the smaller tracks and paths that the rabbits, foxes, badgers and deer et al create. Any self respecting ground nesting bird would not make a nest on one of these tracks.

      1. You are absolutely correct MM, the dogs sniff out the tracks of where creatures have rubbed along , my dogs just want to follow nice smells with their noses .

    3. From Twitter, Belle. You are not alone.

      “Dizzy Cherry blossom@Fizz_og
      Mam & 2 of my sisters all got their 1st jabs in March/April. Mam – 63, now suffering with headaches & blurry vision, 1 sister – 34, getting pains in back of her head & the other sister – 39, currently being monitored for 24 hrs on an ECG for heart flutters.”

    4. Is that on the side where you had the troublesome tooth? The lurgy may be seeking out a weak spot.

      1. Hi Anne,
        Sadly not , it is the other side .
        My first silly knee jerk reaction was is it a sign of an imminent subarachnoid haemorrhage.

        I lay in bed last night telling myself not to be afraid !

        1. Brains don’t have pain receptors. You won’t feel a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage. My Father had one, and he felt nothing.

  90. This will gladden the hearts of many Nottlers: “Gary Lineker in £5 million tax battle with HMRC”
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gary-lineker-5million-pounds-tax-battle-hmrc-freelance-match-of-the-day-b933772.html
    HMRC claims it is owed £3,621,735.90 worth of income tax and £1,313,755.38 in national insurance contributions from the TV star.
    This relates to work he performed for the BBC and BT Sport from 2013 to 2018.
    Mr Lineker is the highest-paid BBC star, earning £1.75million in the financial year 2019 to 2020.

    2. I’m stunned and disappointed! No! That’s a complete lie! I hope the creepy, smug, big-eared sh*t gets very thing he deserves, plus a load more!

        1. Thanks pm. He makes me want to wring his scrawny jug-eared neck! And he left his wife and disabled son…

          2. To think,he was always Mr.nice guy….never had one caution to his name.Who’d have thought.
            Even the real Mr.nice guy Bobby Charlton was sent off once.

          3. Towards the end of his career, rumour has it that whenever warned he responded with:

            “Do you want to be remembered as the only one who sent me off?”

          5. When I was a lad, players like him were known as goalhangers and treated with contempt.

          7. My response would have been:

            “Once I’ve done it, lots more will too; so off you go”

          8. The fact that he never had a caution only goes to show that he never made any tackles.

          11. I think that you’ll find, young man, if you do your research, that Bobby Charlton was never sent off during his entire career.

            He was only cautioned twice and he wasn’t even aware of one of those.

          12. You’re probably right.I have it in my mind something happened against PNE….Maybe it was a caution….
            But my main point is Bobby Charlton was a truly decent bloke.Not dross like Lineker.

          13. I agree wholeheartedly. According to various sources Charlton was cautioned when England played Argentina in the quarter finals of the 1966 World Cup (but, for some weird reason, he didn’t find out about it at the time), and he was also booked in a league match against Chelsea.

            He later became manager at PNE for a short while but was not successful in that role.

          14. Me too. The only reason Walkers Crisps use him for their ads is because he played for Leicester City and Walkers are based there.

            In his playing days Leicester City were a middling to lower table club.

          15. If you read The Times BTL comments – he has done nothing wrong. The only sinner (according to self-appointed tax “experts”) is the BBC which deliberately contracted with the smug crisp eaters “company” in order to avoid (the BBC, that is) paying an addition 13.5% in NHI….

          16. His smug, self righteous priggery makes me want to punch him. So convinced that he knows better than anyone else – a truly offensive excuse for a man. The day he left his wife and disabled son without a backward look, did it for me.

      3. Mr.Goody Goody has been caught out.Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke.teeheehee.

    4. Much as I dislike Lineker, £1,313,755.38 in national insurance contributions?????

      That’s a scandal, when so many get everything for zero contributions.

          1. There is, but it refers to the income level, rather than what he must pay.

          2. That is what I thought, so presumably it must relate to something other than his own income, employees perhaps.

          3. Maybe. But it seems they are attacking him for doing what a lot of sole traders do – using a private company to employ themselves instead of self employment. If he really works for others besides the BBC then he’s a legitimate freelance.

          4. Assuming Walkers and Goalhanger Films aren’t owned by the BBC.

            My guess would be that it’s the film company that is the source of the problem, they certainly adopt aggressive accounting models.

    1. Righty, cold water time from el grumpo (I’ve done nigh 4000 calories today).

      The Conservatives won not because they’re any good, but because they’re now New Labour lite in blue.

      Labour have moved so far Left they passed Lenin, or utterly self serving metro elite. The Tories are now just as woke, faux green yesweallknowitsataxscam big state, high tax, welfare waste, anti improvement and anti business as Labour were in the 90’s and early noughties.

      TL:DR Hartlepoolers have just elected the same party they usually would.

    2. Well, I shall record ‘When Harry Met Sally’, sweetie; its a classic ! … x

      1. Lost in Translation does it for me. Scarlett Johanssen and Bill Murray.

        Failing that, the film of Bridges of Madison county. First time i sat the wife down to watch that and I screamed out ‘go to him you stupid woman!’… well, 9 months later junior was born.

    3. If you can, watch Primal. It’s a ‘cartoon’ but the depth is phenomenal.

      I’d also recommend Invincible – but that requires a stronger stomach.

      As sad as it may appear, but I’d rather re-watch the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes and Rumpole. Or Jeeves and Wooster. Or Yes Minister.

      None of those masterpieces will be coming back. The Ministerial Broadcast still has me reaching for the codeine as I laugh too much.

  93. Just a passing thought,
    If the former Labour voters that have been wrong all their lives are now voting Conservative
    What does that say about the Conservatives?

    2. It says nothing much about the ‘conservatives’ but demonstrated the uselessness and irrelevance of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer and his collection of race baiting misfits.

  94. Yesterday, I got a message via Patient Access regarding vaccine passports, how everyone was working to bring this marvellous new innovation and how we would all need a vaccine passport to go about our daily lives and isn’t it all going to be wonderful when our freedoms are returned to us, which we can buy with our lovely shiny new vaccine passports. I deleted the message. Today, I deleted Patient Access. Patient Access was to be for my benefit, not the state’s benefit to push its message up close and personal under my nose in my home whilst I am breaking my fast with a bowl of honey nut shredded wheats.

    1. I used to use Patient Access, but last time I tried it didn’t seem to work. Our surgery sends a text when it wants me to have a jab. So far I haven’t bothered with the shingles one, although apparently one can get it again. I hope you have fully recovered now. They haven’t said anything about vaccine passports – why on earth would they think we’d be thrilled to have one?

      1. The general impression was that they are thrilled, hoping to generate ecstasy in the unthinking flock. The message was a generalised on from Sarah Jarvis who is, I think, a tv doctor – I learned from a Twitterer, who also got a message. P’sdad didn’t get a message. I originally downloaded the app as I had been informed that one could make appts through it without having to phone. I found that that facility had been de-activated anyway at our surgery, and I am so rarely at the surgery I decided it was all a pointless exercise, and if it is going to be used to invade my home I don’t want it.

        Thank you – I am feeling much better although the rash is taking a long time to heal. I have heard you can get shingles twice but I don’t know anyone who actually has had it more than once. I suppose if you get it in your thirties (as our son did, he had six months off work suffering from burn out and came down with shingles mid-way) then perhaps there is a possibility you will get it again thirty or forty years down the line.

        1. I think the fact your son got it when he was run down indicates it appears from dormancy when the host is below par. Which is presumably why they offer it to 70 year olds as immune systems decline with age.
          I found the rash took about three weeks to clear up, it left some scars but they’ve gone now, but I was very tired for several weeks afterwards.
          We were due to stay with John’s niece the weekend after it appeared, so I checked to make sure she was happy with that and that the boys had had chicken pox already – and her elder one (aged 11) had not only had chicken pox but also shingles a few months before our visit, so she was not at all worried I’d pass it on. I think it’s unusual in one so young.
          I think our surgery stopped using Patient Access – I used to use it for repeat prescriptions and stopped when I no longer needed them. When I tried to use it some time later it didn’t work. They just send a text.

          1. It is nearly three months since the ‘blobs’ became evident, they still haven’t healed over but they are getting smaller now. They haven’t actually caused me a lot of distress except for being itchy and simply just being there. I remember the chicken pox scars took a long time to heal, they were a good deal itchier. Apart from lacking in energy I feel I have got off fairly lightly shingles-wise, I would have suspected it might not have been that had it not been for pain in around my right ear. I remember my mum had that too, she described it as a feeling as if a crab had got fixed to her ear and was digging its claws in. I recognised that description, I remembered it from thirty years ago not having thought about it since. She really suffered with that and the shingles, I was fortunate to have it for a few seconds a few times a day for several days. I think the vit D which was prescribed when I fractured my ankle in 2019 may well have assisted in strengthening my immune system, I am usually really ill with these sort of things.

            I have not heard of someone so young as your great nephew getting shingles, that is very unusual.

    2. I used to use Patient Access (the online version, not the app) to re-order my medicines. When I was switched to another surgery, that facility ended.

    1. The best news yet .. wonderful . I bet you were thrilled.

      I have heard 2 cuckoos in 2 different places near here ..all is not lost … there is always hope ,and delight .

      1. I posted a little video on Facebook. Very exciting – summer is acumin!

        We don’t hear cuckoos here, now – not for years, sadly.

    2. Wonderful! I watched the RSPB showing its flight from east Africa, it gave me goosebumps. I have seen swallows and house-martins this year around here, last year we hardly saw any. When we first moved in here we must have had ten pairs of house-martins nesting in the eaves, sadly they all dwindled over the years.

      1. Just to let you know that the peregrine falcon at Nottingham Trent University has just hatched its first chick! Worth a look on webcam!

      2. I haven’t seen either, yet, though J saw a swallow yesterday.

        We don’t see the martins nesting, but normally, they gather here on the wires in their hundreds at the end of August.

      3. There is a massive increase in birds of prey, they are now over protected and they are reducing the ammount song birds etc. every year .

    4. Great, I haven’t seen or heard one so far, still early, especially with the cold spell and lack of flying insects. Lots of swallows though

      1. Last year they didn’t arrive home till the 20th May – we’d almost given up hope, as they normally arrive about the 12th.

  96. https://order-order.com/2021/05/07/shadow-cabinet-member-resigns-over-local-election-results/

    Khalid might walk the streets of his constituency, but I doubt he would get a balance of what the country needs.

    Considering the demographics of Birmingham, and that nigh a third of his constituency are ethnic minorities, given the welfare dependence of that community I expect what they will want is more welfare and state spending (on them), higher child benefit and open borders and more spending on translations and for the police to go away.

    Forgive my poor temper here. While I admire his resignation on principle, he – unless he is a total moron – knows what the problem is. You don’t need to ask people – or if you do ask his constituency, you will get entirely the wrong result, but then, that’s why they vote Labour.

  97. Why I, as a teacher, had to leave the National Education Union over facemasks

    I left my lucrative career because I wanted to help children. I can’t belong to an organisation which has so little regard for them

    PAUL WALTER

    Ten years ago, I left a secure and well-paid industry job because I wanted to make a change to young people’s lives. Until recently, I have never regretted my decision to become a secondary school teacher. However, during the current pandemic, the teaching unions’ disregard for children’s welfare and indifference of some of my fellow teachers often make me feel guilty by association. As a professional trained in mathematical modelling (†) and data science, spending my days in classrooms, I am acutely aware of what the actual risk level is, both for young people and staff. I also witness the emotional suffering of children caused by promoted, and often enforced, wearing of face masks in school.
    [† I don’t think you should own up to this!]

    For a classroom practitioner, the negative impact of prolonged mask-wearing on focus and concentration is plain to see. It would be relatively easy to measure the effect of masks worn for several hours on cognitive performance in a controlled trial. One could argue that subjecting children to such an experiment would be unethical – and I would agree. If this is the case, what can we say about subjecting millions of schoolchildren to these harsh measures for weeks without even collecting data to assess their potential harm?

    The schools are not only there to educate young people in academic subjects. If this was the case, they could just as well function remotely – with substantial investment in IT equipment for every child and educators’ willingness to embrace new technologies (the latter being vehemently opposed by the teaching unions). Have we considered the impact of children unable to see their friends’ faces on developing empathy and peer relationships? Their lack of exposure to non-verbal communication and long-term effects on their mental health? These impacts are visible to us, teachers, through our professional experience but much harder to quantify.

    We are teachers because we want to educate and protect young people, prioritising their needs over our own. The life path we choose is a path of service. Eight years ago, I joined the ATL union, later to become part of the NEU, believing they would be a supportive community of professionals united by the common cause of working for children.

    During the recent coronavirus crisis, the NEU launched itself on a path towards the polar opposite. First, they campaigned to keep schools closed for as long as possible. When they succeeded, they lobbied for reducing even remote contact time. In Autumn, they advocated further closures, and recently, face coverings. All their recent actions hindered the important safeguarding role of education professionals. During lockdowns, many children suffered abuse, facilitated by increased unsupervised Internet activity. Let us not forget that subtle non-verbal communication through facial expressions is often a key signal indicating a child needs help.

    The letter sent by the NEU to the Education Secretary, advocating for keeping face coverings in classrooms beyond May 17th, was the final straw that drove me to terminate my union membership. I am now fully confident that the NEU no longer represents me. Instead, it has become a political organisation with no connection to classroom teachers and their mission, needs, or priorities.

    Even the supposed benefits of face masks are not evident in school settings where non-medical coverings, not designed for long-term use, are worn for several hours a day. It is not uncommon to see a child manipulating their mask with dirty hands or even picking it up from the floor before wrapping it over their face. The focus on mask-wearing has reduced the commitment of students and colleagues to less visible but more impactful safety measures, such as hand hygiene, ventilation and avoiding crowds. Ubiquitous masks create an atmosphere of fear, fed on by the teaching union activists for their political gains.

    The baseline school safety measures introduced in Autumn combined with asymptomatic lateral flow testing (‡) provide a far more than sufficient safety net for anyone worried about infection. The risk the coronavirus poses to children is no greater than playing contact sports or cycling to school. Let us not sacrifice our children in the name of irrational fear.
    [‡ Mass screening is unnecessary and the antibody test is in its own way as unreliable as the swab test.]

    I am no longer a member of the NEU – and I only regret I waited this long to come to this decision. I cannot belong to an organisation campaigning for unjustified measures bordering on child abuse with a clear conscience. I appeal to all my professional colleagues to resign their union memberships and to stand for what is right in this clash between the self-serving unions and our children’s wellbeing

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/07/teacher-had-leave-national-education-union-facemasks/

    1. The people responsible for the lockdowns, mask mandates, coercive insistence on pushed novel gene therapy jabs and the ruination of many thousands of small businesses will eventually pay for the havoc they have deliberately wrought on our nation, and nations around the world.

      Johnson, Hancock, Whitty, Vallance, Van Tam, Ferguson and the rest of these bastards will face justice.

      Just you try to push your vaccine passports and the Nuremberg Trials Version 2 will do for you scum. A faux ‘victory’ over an inept Labour Party in local elections should not give you Tories necessary cheer. You are hated and despised and will pay a price for your corruption and treachery and crimes against humanity.

    2. The people responsible for the lockdowns, mask mandates, coercive insistence on pushed novel gene therapy jabs and the ruination of many thousands of small businesses will eventually pay for the havoc they have deliberately wrought on our nation, and nations around the world.

      Johnson, Hancock, Whitty, Vallance, Van Tam, Ferguson and the rest of these bastards will face justice.

      Just you try to push your vaccine passports and the Nuremberg Trials Version 2 will do for you scum. A faux ‘victory’ over an inept Labour Party in local elections should not give you Tories necessary cheer. You are hated and despised and will pay a price for your corruption and treachery and crimes against humanity.

    3. The people responsible for the lockdowns, mask mandates, coercive insistence on pushed novel gene therapy jabs and the ruination of many thousands of small businesses will eventually pay for the havoc they have deliberately wrought on our nation, and nations around the world.

      Johnson, Hancock, Whitty, Vallance, Van Tam, Ferguson and the rest of these bastards will face justice.

      Just you try to push your vaccine passports and the Nuremberg Trials Version 2 will do for you scum. A faux ‘victory’ over an inept Labour Party in local elections should not give you Tories necessary cheer. You are hated and despised and will pay a price for your corruption and treachery and crimes against humanity.

  101. Dear Keir,
    The Labour Party was formed to support the working classes, not the upper-middle-dinner-party-chattering classes of North London. The people aren’t terribly impressed with your work at the CPS, ignoring calls to charge Jimmy Savile, suppressing prosecutions of organised mass paedophilic rape gangs and representing various criminals in expensive cases against the British government and people over the years.

    We’re also not awfully impressed at your ‘taking a knee’ (what the hell was that all about?) in support of a Marxist organisation that had the backing of only a tiny and revoltingly vocal minority of people in this country.

    We know that you and your MPs did not represent your (former) voting base, demonstrated clearly by your trying to engineer a remain vote in the EU referendum and when that battle was lost, by then trying to sabotage that vote for years afterwards instead of implementing the will of the people.
    It’s probably worth mentioning that in general most of us aren’t awfully keen on being taxed more so that that money can then be thrown in the direction of those who could work but choose not to or overseas, instead of being spent on genuine needy causes at home. Just a passing observation.

    You may also want to look at uncontrolled immigration, something cheerfully brought in to engineer votes for a Labour government in the 1990s which has hugely changed the demographic and societal makeup in many traditional Labour voting areas….. that has been a lot less popular than you may think with the people who live in those areas, Keir. Not that most of them can say anything of course, because if such things are even mentioned in passing, your far left screeching rabble of followers immediately shout ‘racist’ and close down any reasoned debate. Can you guess which party all these people affected by this stuff are voting for now? Clue: It’s not you.

    In short, although you think you do, you do not know better than the suppressed and put upon majority. Your rabid supporters are loud and think they are a majority, but they are not. What they actually are is a bloody awful mob who completely p*ss off the majority of the population while loudly agreeing with each other and being constantly amazed that anyone has the gall to disagree with them.

    Guess what buddy? This is still a democratic country and whilst we may live in some justified fear of expressing our beliefs due to the now accepted fascist level of control of public opinion imposed on us from both government and the unrepresentative media, every few years we get a vote and can make our feelings clear. Based on the election results now and in December 2019, you might want to think about that.
    All the very best xxx
    ……..the comments on this should be super great fun. Are we all ready for the hysterical screams of racist, gammon and God alone knows what else from the minority described above who just cannot accept that they are in a minority and not in the right. Pass the popcorn someone……

    2. Terrific, Mags, in the face of that (and knowing it’s all true) one would expect a man of any honour would resign and apply for Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds.

      But we know he won’t, being the craven he is. He is so desperate to cling to any shreds of power that may exist in his warped mind, that he will continue to lead the Labour Party down the road to Perdition and it cannot come soon enough for him – and them – to reach their destination.

      All that’s left is to rid ourselves of this Conservative (in name only) Party and get a proper centre-right party to rise, phoenix-like from the ashes of hitherto broken government.

    3. They shouldn’t confuse volume of shouting with approval of the subject. Silent majority isn’t just a phrase.

  102. Evening, all. The toll from misdiagnosis and even more, missed diagnosis, will be greater than that from Covid.

        1. To make it – I don’t agree with smashing it in a cathedral. It shouldn’t be there.

    1. Morning, AWK.
      Keeping well, I hope.
      Triumph for Blue Labour, I see. It’s fun when cats get among pigeons, but bugger-all changes as a result.

      1. mng, all good here, sun’s up early, warm enough. Agree other than closer to what’s left of old political parties morphing into a “one party state”, another reason to give MSM wide berth aside catching their strapline. I’ve got the live game drive on in background, some leopard’s chowing on a giraffe

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