Friday 9 April: It’s the Government’s job to promote a rational view of risk over AstraZeneca jabs

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/2021/04/08/lettersits-governments-job-promote-rational-view-risk-astrazeneca/

547 thoughts on “Friday 9 April: It’s the Government’s job to promote a rational view of risk over AstraZeneca jabs”

    1. Read that as “soulless”… better get me to Specsavers (other eyewrights are available).
      Morning, Bill.

  2. The Operation & The Roses

    A sexually active middle-aged woman informed her plastic surgeon that she wanted her vaginal lips reduced in size because over the years they’d become loose and floppy. Out of embarrassment, she insisted that the surgery be kept secret and, of course, the surgeon agreed.

    Awakening from the anaesthetic, she found 3 roses carefully placed beside her on the bed.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a832c23a8fccd2188d007838bfa3bdb0f8e95225da1222af9d2c128ac9484ecc.jpg

    Outraged, she immediately called in the surgeon. “I thought I specifically asked you not to tell anyone about my operation”!

    The surgeon told her he had carried out her wish for confidentiality and that the first rose was from him. “I felt so sad for you, because you went through this all by yourself.”

    “The second rose is from my nurse. She assisted me in the surgery and understood perfectly, as she had the same procedure done some time ago.”

    “And what about the third rose?” she asked.

    “That’s from a man in the burns unit – he wanted to thank you for his new ears.”

  3. Nicola Sturgeon blasts Alex Salmond over his failure to blame Russia for Salisbury poisonings. 9 April 2021.

    Nicola Sturgeon has criticised Alex Salmond over his failure to blame Russia for a chemical weapons attack on UK soil.

    The SNP First Minister said “all right-minded people” believe Russia was behind the poisonings at Salisbury and claimed she no longer recognises the Salmond she once knew.

    Morning everyone. Well she would say that wouldn’t she! It’s worth noticing here that Salmond hasn’t actually denied the Official Narrative, merely failed to support it with sufficient enthusiasm! In this day and age, as under the Inquisition, that’s enough to see you condemned!

    Though there seems little doubt that he was set up to provide an object lesson to those of similar wavering faith I’m not certain that the Borg have not underestimated their man here. Salmond has not yet replied to these accusations since he does nothing impetuous. Once he’s calculated the effect on his New Party and personal ambitions, he might come over really unpleasant as he also harbours the Scottish Virtue of Feud.

    The Salisbury Story itself, is of course, utter nonsense. It puts the Virgin Birth to shame. That two people come into contact with a “Military Grade” chemical weapon and then fall over together three hours later would not pass muster in an Agatha Christie novel let alone the Borg Gospel! Any avid Mystery reader would spot this anomaly straight away and the two supposed assassins arriving by train and then strolling round Salisbury for all to see, would have them groaning. After that as they say it actually gets worse! No one would even bother turning through to the last page to see who the villain was!

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-blasts-alex-salmond-23878863

    1. “Believe” – I prefer “know”. There is less opinion and more fact involved.
      As in “I believe I’m irresistable to women”, whereas I know I most certainly am resistable as that’s what the evidence shows.

      1. I hadn’t noticed that Oberst. One wonders if it’s a Freudian Slip or cynical Word Play to exhibit her superiority over the Riff Raff?

        1. mng Araminta. It’s wee Jimmie Krankie so certainly no Freudian slip, merely unable to substantiate her point. As Oberstleutnant eloquently put it, Krankie believes it’s a good point, but Krankie knows she’s spouting garbage, like everything else she utters. but what passes for MSM, will lap it up

      2. I hadn’t noticed that Oberst. One wonders if it’s a Freudian Slip or cynical Word Play to exhibit her superiority over the Riff Raff?

  4. Morning, all Y’all.
    Dull day, about zero. But – it’s POETS day, so things are looking up!

  7. Advance notification as usual of Government Policy Post Lockdown aka Zero Carbon Thermals and Netflix in bed and a bag of crisps in the car. Enjoy

    SIR – In Britain, 79 people out of the 20 million given the AstraZeneca vaccine developed thrombosis (in some cases, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis) – a rate of four in a million.

    By comparison, thrombosis can develop while taking the contraceptive pill at a rate of one to five women in 10,000 per year. Women who are pregnant or who have just given birth develop thromboses at a rate of one to two per 1,000.

    Out of a population of more than 21 million men and women between the ages of 20 and 44, fewer than 1,000 died from Covid in the year to January 3 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is a mortality rate of one in 20,000.

    Every medication carries a risk and rational people accept this. The job of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies is to advise politicians of the facts in simple terms. The job of politicians is to advise the population about the way forward. Neither has the remit to raise false fears, especially when the incidence of thromboses is so small that no conclusions on cause can be properly drawn by anyone.

    Gerald Orbell
    Ropley, Hampshire

    SIR – I have in front of me the information leaflet from a packet of standard aspirin tablets. Among the many possible side effects listed is the slightly frightening “bleeding on the brain which may cause a severe headache or stroke”.

    These tablets are sold in supermarkets, not even under the pharmacist’s supervision. They are taken routinely by vast numbers of people, often to treat symptoms that would disappear naturally after a couple of hours’ lie-down in a darkened room. There is no great clamour to have them banned or publicity campaign to discourage their use.

    Brian Gedalla
    Chartered statistician
    London N3

    SIR – The impression that the AstraZeneca vaccine is the only one associated with clotting problems is misleading. America recorded cases of apparent secondary immune thrombocytopenia (a deficiency in clotting) after the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, reported in the American Journal of Haematology.

    Christine Callingham
    Stevenage, Hertfordshire

    SIR – If, in order to get an alternative vaccine, under-30s are asked to drive further than they would have gone to receive the AstraZeneca jab, they will be more likely to die in a car crash on the way than have a clotting reaction.

    Ian Fraser
    Clyffe Pypard, Wiltshire

    SIR – The incidence of blood clots in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine is minuscule compared with the numbers administered. Nevertheless experts and authorities are right to explain in detail the risks and rewards.

    It is a pity the same logic was not applied to lockdowns. People have died in these periods from cancer, heart conditions and beacuse of the delays to medical procedures. Economic consequences of lockdowns will also affect life expectancy. These concerns should have been addressed with efforts equal to those made to analyse possible side effects of vaccination.

    Christopher Hunt
    Swanley, Kent

    SIR – I was moved to hear the story of Grace Spence Green (Life changing, Radio 4, April 7). Walking through a shopping centre, she by chance broke the fall of a suicide jumper, saving his life but sustaining severe injury (paraplegia) herself. While displaying amazing forgiveness, she said that, as it had happened to her, it was pointless for experts to explain to her that what had happened was incredibly rare.

    I wonder if we should look at rare, serious side effects of vaccines in a similar way: as the unintended sacrifice of the lives or health of an unfortunate few, in the process of making us all safer.

    Dr David Shoesmith
    York

    Threat to Irish stability

    SIR – Your Leading Article (“Excuses for disorder”, April 7) reminded me vividly of my one meeting with Michel Barnier, then the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, while supporting the then Northern Ireland Secretary on a visit to Brussels in June 2018.

    In the course of the discussions, I had to interject and politely explain to Mr Barnier that the 1998 Belfast Agreement did not make Northern Ireland a hybrid state, and that under the consent principle it is either fully part of the United Kingdom or of a united Ireland. The Agreement sets out no other option.

    I concluded by telling him that ignoring the views of a majority of the population in Northern Ireland risked undermining the very political stability established by the Agreement that he was purporting to uphold. His bizarre response was to accuse me, a Remain voter, of wanting no deal.

    What the episode underlined was the extent to which throughout the Brexit process the EU, America, and others have viewed the Agreement almost entirely through the prism of Strand Two – that is, relations North-South – rather than with regard to the Agreement’s interlocking and interdependent three strands, including the East-West dimension.

    As we near the 23rd anniversary of the Agreement (tomorrow), and have just passed 30 years since Peter Brooke first set out the three-stranded approach to Parliament (March 26 1991), this one-sided and dangerous nationalist-leaning approach by the EU needs more than ever to be corrected.

    Lord Caine (Con)

    Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1991-5 and 2010-19
    London SW1

    Best fork forward

    SIR – I am left-handed (Letters, April 8) only in the use of a knife and fork.

    This has the advantage that if the food is of the type that only requires a fork, it is already in the right hand.

    Mike Williams
    Eastbourne, East Sussex

    SIR – I am left-handed and still use a double-sided potato peeler (Letters, April 8) purchased from Harvey Nichols during a day trip to London about 38 years ago.

    The thing that used to be a problem for me was the first iron I owned, which that had the cord at the side, meaning that there was always a danger of ironing over it.

    Janet Haines
    Tilehurst, Berkshire

    And a packet of crisps

    SIR – I am much looking forward to the pubs re-opening on Monday. My 76-year-old spouse will, however, be waiting for me in the car park. Not having a smartphone, he is unable to check in on the NHS Covid-19 app.

    But I’ll take out a bag of crisps for him to eat in the car.

    Dr Jennifer Longhurst
    Surbiton, Surrey

    SIR – It is clear the Government gave no thought to the arrival of the blackthorn winter when allowing pubs to serve customers only outdoors.

    This cold snap comes every year and will be with us for at least another week.

    Michael Glover
    Dinton, Wiltshire

    Netflix in bed

    SIR – I am a 75-year-old solicitor, still working. I pay my BBC licence fee because I believe it benefits the country. BBC radio is the jewel in its crown, especially in bringing us news from foreign parts. From Our Own Correspondent is a good example.

    I rarely watch BBC television, as there are so many good alternatives. I never thought that I would be watching Netflix in bed at night.

    Jack Marriott
    Churt, Surrey

    SIR – The BBC not only disregards older viewers (report, April 7) but also older listeners.

    For years I enjoyed to my favourite big band music on Radio 2 late on Sunday evenings, presented by talented people such as Alan Dell and Malcolm Laycock. Great music.

    Clare Teal took over, but her programme vanished in January, following one by Don Black, also a very talented presenter.

    Have young presenters even heard of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and swing music?

    Margaret Paynter
    Preston, Lancashire

    Zero-carbon thermals

    SIR – I applaud Michael Fielding’s suggestion of “another jersey” to keep warm (Letters, April 7).

    In my early years of teaching science, the ancient heating system didn’t reach as far as my laboratory. In very cold weather I used to wear an old pair of pyjama trousers under my suit trousers. It was sheer bliss when I discovered silk long -johns.

    Roger French
    Pinner, Middlesex

    Genuflecting to rules about the length of skirts

    SIR – I smiled on reading that girls at the King’s School, Worcester, object to kneeling to have their skirt lengths measured (report, April 6).

    At my all-girls school in the 1970s when we knelt for our skirts to be measured, we didn’t think of “blatantly sexist rules”. It was just part of the bore of school life.

    Karen McCleery
    Kings Worthy, Hampshire

    SIR – When I was a sixth-form pupil at Wycombe High School in the early 1970s, I remember a young teacher coming into a lesson after morning break raging because the female staff had been asked to kneel in the staff room so that their skirt lengths might be checked by the headmistress.

    Elaine Culshaw
    Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire

    Census officials won’t take yes for an answer

    SIR – I complied with instructions to complete the census by March 21, which I did using the online form that they said was the preferred option.

    Since then I have received four letters in the post saying that I must complete the census or will be fined. I have also received two follow-up visits from officials asking me why I have not filled in my form.

    Keith White
    Wylye, Wiltshire

    SIR – I requested a large-print hard-copy form for the census form. I completed this on March 21 and posted it in the official envelope.

    In the following fortnight I received two letters demanding that I complete the form and a personal visit at home from a census official.

    Is the census yet another expensive government bodged job?

    Mike Ostick
    Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire

    1. Two days ago, I could not find the potato peeler, a “Y” peeler with yellow plastic handle. Thinking back, I realised that I had last used into peel appear a couple of days previously. A search of all the likely and unlikely places in the kitchen did not find it.. An assiduous and somewhat unpleasant rake through the general waste did not find it.
      I now have to find replacement, one that has not been made in China. On the other hand I could maybe try something easier, like finding the Holy Grail.

        1. Thanks. One of the new ongoing difficulties is finding out where things are made. Many companies do not reply to the question.

          1. Unfortunately I think they’re made in China but what isn’t these days? 🙁 They are however a damned good product (for once).

        1. Yes, thanks. I have tried knives (mmm.. sharp knives…mmm. Oh, excuse me.) I’ve also tried the round peelers (no, not fat policemen.) I prefer the”Y’ peeler as if it is used carefully there is less damage to hands.

    1. When compared with this man Boris Johnson is shown up as an ignorant, bombastic fraud.

  14. I see the MSM is reporting the recent troubles in Northern Ireland.
    That mere fact proves that the globalists are behind it.

    1. Interestingly, the reporting is increasingly saying that the riots have been caused by Brexit*. This is despite the fact that the trigger was the funeral of an IRA terrorist attended by any many thousands of people including at least one NI assembly member, in complete disregard of Covid-19 regulations. The Unionists are incensed that the police, the PSNI, did not intervene at any stage, before or after the event. No arrests have been made. It is also true that NI, as part of the UK, has been heinously betrayed by us in the Brexit “trade deal”. One worry is the involvement of the US, sticking their oar in. The Good Friday Agreement came about because the US threatened to send peacekeeping troops to NI. The pro-IRA President Biden might well be manipulated to offer “help”.

      * Just like the Brexit riots in the rest of the UK.
      https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/174E1/production/_113175459_bobby_storey_funeral50.jpg

  15. Biden’s Presidency Will Be Destroyed By His Foreign Policy. 9 April 2021.

    Dementia Joe and his coterie of enablers have embarked on a foreign policy that is likely to result in a new war that will endanger America and further a growing perception that the United States is weak and divided. There are three troublesome flashpoints (Ukraine, China and Iran) that could explode at any time and catapult our nation into a costly, deadly military confrontation. Topping the list is the Ukraine.

    The corrupt dealings in Ukraine over the last four years by Joe and Hunter Biden leaves them completely compromised and subject to coercion, even blackmail. With this as a backdrop the decade long effort by the United States to weaken Russia’s influence in eastern Ukraine has been revived with Biden’s arrival in the White House.

    Many Ukrainians from the western half of the country are the descendants and relatives of people who fought for the Nazis in World War II and they continue to commemorate and celebrate the Waffen SS units populated by Ukrainian men.

    Most Ukrainians in the West resent those in the East because of their historic ties to the former Soviet Union aka Russia. The millions killed in World War II in the Ukraine and Russia remain vivid memories and raw wounds. The Pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine (the Donbass), consists of the Donbas People’s Militia, the Luhansk People’s Militia and autonomous armed groups. They are designated as terrorist groups by the Government of Ukraine.Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama pushed policies to bring Ukraine into NATO; something which Russia perceives as an existential threat. Donald Trump moved away from that policy. Joe Biden has reversed course and is pushing forward with a policy that is likely to result in war between Ukraine and Russia in the coming weeks.

    We will keep a close watch on this. It could go ugly quickly. I pray that does not happen. Russia is still a nuclear superpower, notwithstanding the sustained propaganda campaign in the West to portray Russia as a doddering drunken Cossack. Russia is a serious nation. We should act accordingly. Pat Lang.

    The View from the States!

    https://turcopolier.com/bidens-presidency-will-be-destroyed-by-his-foreign-policy/

    1. the grand strategic interest that the US has is provoking a crisis that would put unprecedented political pressure on the EU to not buy Russia’s Sputnik V like the bloc’s top members are reportedly considering at the moment.

      The US, in using Ukraine as it’s “Lead From Behind” proxy, wants war with Russia due to a combination of domestic and international factors, including its ruling elite’s desire to distract from a slew of domestic crises. These include its efforts to stamp out the increasingly popular opposition through a series of witch hunts, attract emergency Western financial aid to facilitate their struggling economy’s recovery, and perhaps become important enough to the West that they can finally receive much-needed vaccines for their population that they’ve hitherto been denied for inexplicable reasons. Moreover, the powerful influence of ultra-nationalist (fascist) militias can’t be discounted either.

      US certainly never tires of causing trouble for Russia however and wherever it can. In the present context, any “continuation war” in Donbass could in theory impose unexpected financial costs on the country, among other potential consequences like serving as a pretext for more sanctions against it ahead of Russia elections. The US also hope it can manipulate the optics of the conflict that it’s arguably trying to provoke in order to pressure Germany to pull out of its agreement to finish the Nord Stream II pipeline, however far-fetched that outcome might be in reality.

      The same game using same roll out will end up weakening US further

    2. I spoke to friends in Moscow last night about this….

      They thought that nothing at all will happen between Ukraine and Russia and it will all peter out like these things usually do. They told that Zelensky is a total pratt trying to make a name for himself. They also said that a war would be a no contest as the Russians would annihilate the Ukraine forces in no time at all. The US getting involved is not on their radar either.

      Seems it’s our own MSM using propaganda to make something out of nothing which does seem par for the course these days..

      1. mng Honda, spot on. Since collapse of USSR / Berlin Wall / Cold War, US / UK then no longer had a target to justify military spending and were worried about loss of profits / prestige. Post crating muhajadiin which morphed into ISIS, [the next self created bogey man] aka War on Terror, post Demented Joe put in the comfy chair, all falling back to old game, old rules [it’s all they know] to attempt to maintain relevance which is withering on the vine weekly

        1. Privet…

          Just another bout of MSM scaremongering then. Afterall, the consequences of Biden getting the US involved is quite unthinkable.

      2. Rubbish. Putin is on a long programme to annex large parts of the Ukraine, one violent bite at a time.

    3. Jon Sopel last night was wittering on about Biden’s plans to tighten gun laws. Even he didn’t think they’d work.

      1. Sopel is not just an idiot he is seriously deranged and biased and incapable of rational judgement..

    4. Choosing between the Ukraine and Russia is like choosing between Hitler and Stalin. The Ukrainians, including those of Russian descent, may have a vile history and be vile to each other (think Catholics and Protestants in NI on steroids and crack cocaine), but at least it’s their country and Putin should stay out.

      1. Choosing between the Ukraine and Russia is like choosing between Hitler and Stalin.

        It is nothing of the kind and the “choosing” has already been done. Biden has opted to use Ukraine for a strategy that is hostile to Russia’s strategic, economic and security interests. In my view the Russians have had enough and they are not going to back down. There’s going to be a war of some kind. How bad depends upon how strongly the main protagonists feel about it.

        1. Yeah, the “you made me punch you in the face for looking at me in a funny way” defence.

      2. Morning Minty

        Our poor old country is in a real mess. I cannot believe scenes like that .

        How do they benefit Britain .. except for a X on the ballot paper on May the 6th.

        1. 331306+ up ticks,
          Morning TB,
          Is the fools romance set to continue on the 6th May, that is kissing X a lab/lib/con coalition candidate ?

          1. Dunno ,

            I know nothing about anything any more .

            I have been on Twitter ever since it started , it is a means of sharing info … yet when I criticise the Home Sec , I am banned .

            Feeling very defeated and fed up .

          2. 331306+ up ticks,
            TB,
            Look upon it as being recognised & honored,cheer up better times are coming.

          4. Use the tried and tested methods of writers in the late, unlamented Soviet Union.
            How about Pretty Flamingo or Pretty Petal?

        2. Morning Belle. We have fallen upon evil times and must console ourselves with the thought that we have also lived through the best of them!

        3. Yo T_B

          A fiddle

          How do they benefit Britain .. except for (Mr Rashid to put an) X on the ballot paper on May the 6th

          1. Morning OLT

            Oh yes , the volume of returners is terrifying , are they overwintering in Pakistan/ Bangladesh or where ever that is .. and do they still collect their state benefits .. Do they spend 6 months or more out of the country , is it a tax fiddle .

            Why don’t alarm bells ring ?

    2. I am perhaps going to cease to call myself “British” if it means being in the same pigeon hole as those portrayed. I may be “Scots” for I am, or I could be “English” as was my mother.
      How we have fallen.

      1. I’ve been English (despite Welsh ancestry) for years. “British” is a catch-all term.

  17. The lockdown rules from April 12: what you can and can’t do

    As lockdown restrictions are set to ease further in England on Monday, new data show cases have plummeted to a level not seen since July

    All very fine and nice
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f66ff999ef574db27d79520e7137bffbd1c1683432fdcc37b3c1157725a694a2.jpg
    How long before, “It’s all been changed.”?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/09/lockdown-rules-april-12-what-changes-covid-restrictions-lift/

    1. Don’t believe a word of that.

      Last night the MSM were wetting themselves with glee because the covid deaths “had shown a slight increase”.

      Brilliant – the start of the next wave. By June 21 – we will be in the grip of yet another confinement. To be followed by another one.

      2. Yo Bill

        Of course they will lock us up again after Ramadana dingdong

        Immigrants have far more latitude to live their lives than us Effnic Brits

      4. Strange isn’t it that mild middle class types who would normally frown on violent protest would now look on and shrug their shoulders.

        I predict a riot.

  19. With the release from captivity imminent, the MR and I thought we’d risk a trip by train to London to see Grand-daughter (whom we haven’t seen in person since November 2019).

    We thought we meet at a nice pub near Kings Cross station – outdoors and all that. Turns out not to be so simple. Need to book; need an app; need tests; need vaccine certificates. Masks, natch….

    Bugger that. We’ll take a picnic.

    2. We envy you. July 2019 was the last time we saw ours.

      We are being forced to have the vaccine, if we are ever to see them again, and judging by the additional requirements, notwithstanding being vaccinated, we may well not be able to afford the trip.

    5. I think that Christ would like them to find the boulder and put it back in front of his cave-like tomb after he has gone back in.

      I think he has decided that his mission to save the world has failed and he has abandoned the project altogether.

    6. What do you expect? We all knew he was left wing when he got the job and the Left has always wanted complete control.

    7. Seems that Tim [letters yesterday] isn’t the only Pope who isn’t infallible but is a feckwit!

    1. This shows Boris Johnson for the dishonest hypocrite he is.

      This is truly terrifying.

      1. 331306+ up ticks,
        Morning R,
        Many of us have been trying to point this out for years, not just johnson but the whole kit & caboodle inclusive of lab/lib.

        By the by sorry for your plight.

      2. Tyranny and Oppression is terrifying – until you become the person who is in charge of the Tyrrany and Oppression.

  24. Exclusive: Pub staff will check drinkers’ phones to prove they have registered with Test and Trace

    Pub bosses raise concerns that new rule will place additional burden on staff and could lead to abuse from customers

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/04/08/exclusive-pub-staff-will-check-drinkers-phones-prove-have-registered/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
    Not only no but Hell No!! Just FOAD

    Edit
    BTL nails it
    Deliberately designed to cause conflict & frustration so vaccine passports can be presented as a solution to a manufactured problem.

    So blatant!!

    1. 331306+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      Been the same for decades create a problem trigger it via the MsM then rhetorically seem to set about solving it, NO actual action to take place, ie DOVER.

    2. Everything today is designed to cause conflict….

      Adding violence to the divide and rule concept.

      1. They’re importing Third world violence – and making us pay for them to be here. The intention is VERY clear.

  25. For once I agree with Miss Greta Thunberg wants the Glasgow Climate Conference later this year to be postponed due to Covid 19.
    This would give BJ the opportunity to abandon his misguided Climate proposals. BBC Radio 4 News today

    2. Is it taking place in Glasgow?

      O the irony of all of our holding work meetings over Teams, Zoom etc even though we might just be a couple of miles’ drive from each other and the Climate Coference …the Climate Conference… taking place in person with the politicians and assorted wonks flying in from around the world

      1. It all seems to be happening in the UK this year, global conferences in Cornwall, in Glasgow – is there a purpose to this international to-ing and fo-ing – for an excuse to import varients from all over the world? See Mike Yeadon on scary varients by the way (not that scary, actually).

        1. All these elite planning the end of our future, globetrotting all over the place – Greta will NOT be happy with them.

    3. She said, ” why go to a miserable cold dump like Glasgow, where ABBA wrote that song saying they were sick and tired of the place and where I might meet that Sturgeon harridan, I hate women that are even madder than myself, when I could go somewhere with a nice warm climate “.

    1. Just like the Grand National….

      Long distance, many hurdles to clear and a great chance of falling off. They need the lockdown to last for ages yet.

      1. They didn’t expect the vaccines (if you can call them vaccines) to be ready so soon – they were hoping to keep us imprisoned and under the thumb for much longer.

        When does the revolution start and how do we join?

        1. How can I put this politely? The Revolution has already started and you are one of the victims.

          As for your residential courses, I am deeply sorry to hear that you and Mrs T are scuppered again.

      1. All the time, Rastus. Everything they say is said for a purpose, and not the purpose we think it is.

    3. Just like the flu, Belle, you can still be a carrier after you’ve been vaccinated.

    4. Seven Fully Vaccinated Residents Infected in Norwegian Retirement Home Outbreak

      The eruption astonished medical professionals and healthcare officials, as outbreaks of such scope among vaccinated people who are generally considered safe from the virus have never occurred in Norway before.

      Seven fully vaccinated residents at the Gystadmyr retirement home Jessheim have been diagnosed with COVID-19. In addition, five employees and two close contacts were infected in the ongoing outbreak.

      Municipal chief physician Laurence Jary-Vattøy in Ullensaker was amazed that so many fully vaccinated people have been diagnosed with the infection simultaneously.

      “It is surprising that so many have been diagnosed with the infection, despite being fully vaccinated,” Jary-Vattøy told TV 2.
      The first case of infection was revealed on Easter evening. Since then, the outbreak has grown in scope.

      “The residents were diagnosed with the virus two months after having received the second dose”, Jary-Vattøy stressed.

      The route of infection has not been identified and the infection tracking team in Ullensaker is struggling to work it out.

      So far, the municipal chief confirmed that three of the seven infected residents have been diagnosed with either the South African or Brazilian virus variant.

      2. Morning Harry. I have considered these outbreaks, and the Virus’s evasion of borders, might be part of a clandestine operation to keep it going, but it is probably a Conspiracy Theory too far!

    5. Well, yes, that has been known for some time, especially with regard to vaccine passports – the government has been messing with the publjc’s heads and hoping that they won’t put two and two together when they speak to the right hand,… and then the left hand. I am somewhat surprised the bbc are admitting it. I wonder why?

      1. An Asian pharmacist in a chemist shop came out with that little gem this morning .. I wish I had recorded it .

        So that is the reason why we will all be wearing masks from now until the end of kingdom come .

    6. More scare tactics – just to keep you compliant and housebound for a little longer.

      1. Then a little longer – then another little longer – then another etc etc. Just like the lockdowns.

    7. Microbiologists are now warning that those taking the ‘vaccines’ are liable to develop CJD. The means to population reduction is becoming even more devious than we thought.

      2. Afternoon corrie -Have you the source of this statement and which vaccines are the most likely to cause CJD.? This condition is quite rare and if the microbiologists are correct, then these vaccines are potentially dangerous.

    1. Sadly, Blighty is no longer in a position to be the world’s policeman.
      Though possibly a couple of RN ratings could rock up in a spare dinghy collected from the Kent beaches.

      1. 331306+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        Those two ratings along with a limpet would fit nicely in a mini sub.
        Jolly jack was pretty successful in regards to the Tirpitz.

      1. 331306+ up ticks.
        Morning VW,
        “Well, Bernie, what do you expect us to do? We can’t even control our own governance ” a slight alteration with I hope your consent.

      1. 331306+ up ticks,
        Morning HP,
        Also needed more so to hold a family together via an indigenous fisherman family head.

  29. Backlash as holidaymakers face paying hundreds of pounds per trip for Covid tests
    Families will have to pay £120 per person for ‘gold standard’ PCR kits for trips abroad under new travel guidelines
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/08/backlash-holidaymakers-face-paying-hundreds-pounds-per-trip/

    The bastards. The absolute bastards!

    They are determined to finish off our brilliant little enterprise. Even if we can run our courses this summer this could well finish them off before they even start.

    When does the revolution start and how do we join?

    1. Foreign holidays for the masses were cancelled under the great reset, although many people have been slow to realise that, they have been far to busy complying

          2. Don’t you believe it.

            Once they get UK residence permits/citizenship they will be off to their homelands on holidays, encouraging more to come and enjoy our hospitality and freebies.

    5. Years ago I frequently used to get letters published in The Telegraph until they installed the paywall. When the original ‘NOTTL’ blog emerged I read it daily and occasionally contributed to that too. Since that one folded I have enjoyed the daily dose of the indefatigable Geoff Graham’s NTTL blog since he set it up just over 5 years ago (is it really that long?).

      Many regular Nottlers refer to expecting their doors kicked in by the Stasi, but it doesn’t happen (does it?) despite their making all sorts of provocative statements, even invoking the N.. word and other Hate-Crime-worthy words from time to time.

      I cannot believe that GCHQ or other PTB are unaware of this daily blog. It struck me that we are all just a load of Grumpy Old* Men and Women (plus any Trans contributors who wish to put their hands up?) who complain bitterly about the status quo but never do anything practical about it, other than writing to their MPs (waste of time!) plus occasional attendance at rallies if they are near enough to home.

      So the PTB can safely allow the NTTL blog to continue, thus allowing its contributors harmlessly to let off steam and so feel better.

      *I apologise to those contributors who are under 70 and I look forward to any Nottlers’ ACTION comments with interest.

      1. Every contributor has been profiled and age taken into consideration…

        If you want to test the monitoring reaction, organise a protest march outside Westminster to bring down the government on this thread and stand by for a knock on your door early one morning.

        1. But when loads of foreigners come here – THEY can block the traffic in London, with their protests and marches disrupting thousands of people’s lives. Nothing said. And it is always about something “back home”.

      2. This is a matter of Judgement. The myth that the UK is a democratic polity must be maintained as long as possible so as to avoid a violent backlash. Nottl is quite a minor player and causes no real discomfiture to the Borg. Once all the sources of Power are within their hands they can then proceed as they wish! Very few on here will escape their eventual response!

      3. No names no packdrill, but I know of a case where someone posted a critical comment and a couple of days later there was a car parked outside with two people in it. Twenty minute interview.

    6. Years ago I frequently used to get letters published in The Telegraph until they installed the paywall. When the original ‘NOTTL’ blog emerged I read it daily and occasionally contributed to that too. Since that one folded I have enjoyed the daily dose of the indefatigable Geoff Graham’s NTTL blog since he set it up just over 5 years ago (is it really that long?).

      Many regular Nottlers refer to expecting their doors kicked in by the Stasi, but it doesn’t happen (does it?) despite their making all sorts of provocative statements, even invoking the N.. word and other Hate-Crime-worthy words from time to time.

      I cannot believe that GCHQ or other PTB are unaware of this daily blog. It struck me that we are all just a load of Grumpy Old* Men and Women (plus any Trans contributors who wish to put their hands up?) who complain bitterly about the status quo but never do anything practical about it, other than writing to their MPs (waste of time!) plus occasional attendance at rallies if they are near enough to home.

      So the PTB can safely allow the NTTL blog to continue, thus allowing its contributors harmlessly to let off steam and so feel better.

      *I apologise to those contributors who are under 70 and I look forward to any Nottlers’ ACTION comments with interest.

    7. I cannot understand why Malta is a “green” country for holidays. My son lives there and they are more locked down than we are having to wear masks at all times when out of the home. other rules were tightened up only last week.Its a massive con.

  30. So Mike Williams tells us he is left handed in his use of a knife and fork because the fork is in his right hand for eating food which requires that. It sounds to me like his excuse for chopping up his food and eating it like the Yanks do – a slovenly way of eating promoted by those on TV who weren’t brought up to use a knife and fork properly.

    2. Who is Mike Williams? Is he the brother of the tennis playing sisters?

          4. I’ve now a chance to listen to them – and much enjoyed.

            Two melodies which to which I am sure your arrangements would sound very good: For the Peace of All Mankind (Albert Hammond) and Uptown Uptempo Woman (Randy Edelman)

  31. Good Moaning.
    Before the Allan Towers taxi service fires up again, here is a Jan Moir snippet that made Oi larf.

    “Poor Ursula von der Leyen. One of the most powerful women in Europe, yet she was relegated to the sofa when President Erdogan of Turkey and a male EU chief assumed superiority and plonked their big male bottoms into the two best seats during a meeting in Ankara. ‘Ahem,’ said Ursula, although it fell on two pairs of deaf but comfy and well- upholstered ears.

    ‘Two sugars, love, and tidy up the kitchen while you are at it,’ said the men in unison. Well, not quite.

    Actually, they wanted coffee instead. I’m joking! Got any biscuits, doll? Desist, she is a career diplomat, the actual European Commission President.

    Could you nip out and get me a packet of ciggies, hen?

    Stop it, Jan.

    Still, you can’t ever imagine it happening to Margaret Thatcher, can you?”

    1. Morning!

      I can imagine Maggie T with head held high, looking down her nose and commanding, “You there! Get me a chair”. “Ahem” doesn’t quite cut it really.

      1. I doubt even a misogynistic fossil like Erdogan would have sat tight when Maggie sailed into the room.

    2. As one of the btl commenters pointed out in the Telegraph, Dr Ursula is the equivalent of the Head of the Civil Service, whereas Charles Michel is the political head, being President of the European Council.

      1. Sonny Boy made the point that an Englishman would have given up his seat for a lady woman.
        From my experience, even many of the maligned young males will still do that.

  32. Good morning.
    Dull, grey and a bit damp in Derbyshire this morning. 2°C and light rain.

  33. Right, walk into Cromford, pick up paper and bus to Matlock.
    Back 1ish.
    TTFN

  34. Latest DT headline:

    Travel news latest: France and Spain to be off limits as only handful of countries on ‘green’ list
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/covid-travel-news-holidays-abroad-countries-restrictions-spain/

    Update from my earlier post:

    That’s it. Our courses and income cancelled. It is clear that the PTB want to eliminate all small businesses completely

    We’re beginning to take this personally and are developing very strong homicidal feelings towards the Haystack Devil.

    1. Terrible news. I have always felt that there is a tsunami of economic doom hidden under the surface.

    2. Dreadful news Richard and Caroline.

      A plague, literally, on all their houses. Swine fever would seem appropriate.

    3. Dreadful news Richard and Caroline.

      A plague, literally, on all their houses. Swine fever would seem appropriate.

    4. We both feel for you. This is NOT a facetious suggestion. Have you thought about given intensive English courses to French children preparing for the Bac?

    6. RHS has been using online lessons for months as many of their pupils are scattered around the globe. Our grandson has friends in Canada, Hong Kong and Moscow. Even when the English pupils returned, the boarders continued with the arrangement, as flights and quarantine rendered the rest of the term null and void.
      Obviously, the lessons are not the same, but they did keep things going.

      1. Caroline has been running an online “A” level French course for four very well-motivated girls this week. She is giving five hours a day’s tuition and setting plenty of homework which she corrects immediately.

        She is a completely brilliant teacher and has mastered the online format very well. However she finds it exhausting and she finds the whole experience is not nearly as enjoyable or constructive as having her students physically with her. Language is, after all, about communication and physical proximity is very much a part of that communication.

    1. Perhaps the other MPs could send one to Boris encouraging him to add even more countries to the Red list?

    2. In Australia they do things differently:
      Section 44(i) of the Constitution states:
      “44. Any person who –
      (i.) Is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power
      …shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.”

  37. 331306+ up ticks,
    Of course he has, there is NO opposition within inhouse only pretendee opposition , fodder for fools.

    BORIS BUYS OFF PASSPORT REBELS WITH ’SUNSET CLAUSE’

  38. Update on The Coronavirus Act 2020 is Null and Void!

    To our Fantastic Supporters,

    Yesterday was eight long hard months to the day since we launched our FIRST Case against this corrupt Government of Occupation, as you know, we are still battling merely to get ‘permission’ to have a Judicial Review! This shows what we all know, that the system is rotten to the core, when they are able to put massive hurdles up to stop us even getting to Court.

    After we were refused permission in February we launched our SECOND Case last month in addition to the original Case. We now have a Court date on the 22nd April for the first Case. The second Case was needed due to the devious tactic of what we call ‘churning’, that is just merely taking a so-called ‘Regulation’ and copying and pasting it onto a new one and just ushering it through the system completely unchallenged and without any justification. This way they are avoiding scrutiny and are able to say that a Regulation no longer applies but really it has just been replaced with a new churned out one word for word.

    They are so arrogant that they think that the People do not see what they are doing, but we DO see! It is also a psychological warfare tactic of causing confusion and chaos with constant change. It makes it very difficult when you are trying to take legal action against them. This is why we have now had to launch a THIRD Case! We will be posting details of this very soon and again it includes fighting the ridiculous ‘rules’ stopping protest, the insane travel ban and much more! Who does Johnson and Hancock and this corrupt so-called Government think they are to tell us that we cannot leave the country if we want to?

    We are not prepared to put up with this tyranny based on lies and deception any longer!

    ** WARNING – WHATEVER YOU DO SAY “NO” TO THE SO-CALLED ‘VACCINE’ AND MAKE SURE ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY DO THE SAME! WE NEED TO STOP CO-OPERATING NOW!**

    It is more important than ever that people get to know about our legal action and it would be amazing if you could:

    Send this email to everyone you know and ask them to support our case to end this tyranny and insanity and,
    Share our link on Facebook: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/the-coronavirus-act-2020/.
    Also please donate anything you can to our campaign which is for all our futures.

    Thank you again for your help in our fight against Government tyranny and oppression. Together we can break down ‘Gates of Hell’, defeat the Dictators and take our lives and freedom back!

    Best wishes,

    The People’s Brexit

  39. Carl Heneghan
    The hidden death toll of lockdown

    The last patient I treated was 105 years old. She has lived through two world wars, a depression and at least five pandemics. It’s a real honour to treat centenarians. They teach me much about life: how it is and how it ends. I can also lighten the mood with my 80-year-old patients by telling them that they’re still young. It’s common to hear talk about an ‘ageing society’ being some kind of disaster befalling the country. Yes, people are leading longer, healthier lives now than ever before. Is this really a ‘demographic timebomb’? I’d call it the greatest achievement of our time. When my patient was born in 1915, average life expectancy was about 55. Thanks in large part to vaccination, the postwar years lifted life expectancy at birth from 70 to just over 80. We became better at treating heart disease and other basic killers. To keep pushing progress, we need better medicine and science: to understand what works, and what doesn’t. Which takes me to my day job.

    I’m a professor of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University, but work Saturday shifts as an emergency GP. This lets me see healthcare from both sides. Academics can make theoretical arguments for policy changes, but how does this affect patients’ lives? For example, rules on care-home visits were relaxed a few weeks ago. Nurses tell me it has made a huge difference; not just for morale, but for basic health. Patients with dementia can forget to drink, so if they get an infection they can easily die of dehydration. That’s why they need people to sit with them as much as possible to provide basic care.

    It’s hard to imagine, let alone measure, the side effects of lockdowns. The risk with the government’s ‘fear’ messaging is that people become so worried about burdening the NHS that they avoid seeking medical help. Or by the time they do so, it can be too late. The big rise in at-home deaths (still ongoing) points to that. You will be familiar with the Covid death toll, updated in the papers every day. But did you know that since the pandemic, we’ve had 28,200 more deaths among diabetics than we’d normally expect? That’s not the kind of figure they show on a graph at No. 10 press conferences. For people with heart disease, it’s 17,100. For dementia and Alzheimer’s, it’s 22,800. As with Covid, people can die with multiple conditions, so they can fall into more than one of these categories. It’s a complicated picture. But that’s the problem in assessing lockdown: you need to do a balance of risks.

    Evidence-based medicine might sound like a tautology — what kind of medicine isn’t based on evidence? I’m afraid that you’d be surprised. Massive decisions are often taken on misleading, low-quality evidence. We see this all the time. In the last pandemic, the swine flu outbreak of 2009, I did some work asking why the government spent £500 million on Tamiflu: then hailed as a wonder drug. In fact, it proved to have a very limited effect. The debate then had many of the came cast of characters as today: Jonathan Van-Tam, Neil Ferguson and others. The big difference this time is the influence of social media, whose viciousness is something to behold. It’s easy to see why academics would self-censor and stay away from the debate, especially if it means challenging a consensus. Academics who are tenured, like me, don’t have to worry so much about people pulling strings above us. This is the importance of tenure; it allows academic freedom. In a crisis, when tempers run so high, you need a variety of views more than ever.

    I’ve worked every weekend since the pandemic (apart from when I went on holiday, and when I caught the virus) and the GP work is busier now in urgent care than at the peak. Perhaps people are less afraid that the NHS will collapse, so more willing to seek medical help. Sunday is supposed to be my day off, but last weekend I got a text saying: ‘We have a high demand on telephones. We would be grateful for any support.’ These messages are hard to ignore.

    Over the last 15 years I’ve been to perhaps every care home in Oxfordshire. The quality of staff I’ve seen — in the big homes and small ones — has been nothing short of amazing. Those who work in our care homes really are the front line. But they rarely get proper credit for the work they do. Something like a third of Covid deaths have been in care homes, but how much of the £400 billion spent on the pandemic has gone into providing better care in these homes? When the pandemic is over, there will be plenty for the government to think about. We’re living longer: that, hopefully, won’t change. But how we care for these people: that has to change.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-hidden-death-toll-of-lockdown

    1. ” When the pandemic is over ” – – They aren’t EVER going to let it be “over”.

  40. More joined-up Covid thinking: hairdressers must only do short basic procedures. Because mixing with 1 customer in an hour long procedure is more dangerous than mixing with 4 customers in an hour?

    Whoever sets the current rules should be sacked for being gormless.

    1. That’s to give the repulsive Haystack the excuse for clinging to the straws on top of his horrible head.

    2. D1ckhead morons, the lot of them. It’s like permitting people who need to lip-reads being allowed to go maskless.

    3. I think it’s because Boris has to have a team of six working in relays when he has his done. A combine harvester would be more efficient.

    1. My heart goes out to Her Majesty. They were still so much in love with one another and he was her rock.

      Rest in peace, old troop.

    2. Very sad to see that the old boy has died – one of the few people who generated both affection and respect from us all. Not to mention the humour and the laughs he gave us.

      When the Queen dies Tony Blair will be appointed president for life – i.e. until he is assassinated.

      2. 331306+ up ticks,
        R,
        If the lab/lib/con/greens current supporter / voters have input he will be a walk in.

    3. He served this country wonderfully well even if it was only by being an awkward old bugger. RIP.

    4. Said what he thought, kept his mouth shut most of the time, full support to the Queen over decades, war service.
      Respect.
      Could have been a Yorkshireman!

  42. Just had to log in to Disqus as I’d reset my laptop. That ‘prove you’re not a robot’ check is ridiculous. I had to go through three iterations to identify traffic lights, cars and motorbikes from tiny fuzzy pictures.

    1. They’re not for security at all, they train AI to better identify everyday objects. They’re deliberately fuzzy as the AI is already pretty damned good at this, it already 100% recognises crystal clear and focused photographs of objects.

      You’re simply providing yet another coercive ‘free service’ to our overlords without your knowledge or consent.

      2. That’s reminded me to order some more tinfoil for the Sunday roast.

    2. They’re not for security at all, they train AI to better identify everyday objects. They’re deliberately fuzzy as the AI is already pretty damned good at this, it already 100% recognises crystal clear and focused photographs of objects.

      You’re simply providing yet another coercive ‘free service’ to our overlords without your knowledge or consent.

    1. I fear that without his support, the Queen will follow on before too long. RIP Phillip.

      1. I fear you may be correct. I hope not.
        I can’t help wondering if the Harry treachery was the straw that finally broke his resolve.

          1. I believe that he had views on actresses; “use” thereof and marriage thereof and that the two were incompatible.

          2. ‘One steps out with actresses, one does not marry them.’ Not the whinge was ever an actress of talent or fame.

        1. Charlie means well but he is such a wet rag. The country needs someone like Katie (running the show from the shadows) who has common sense, a strong will, a kind heart … and a closed mouth.

        2. Thats all I need, Green man pushing my idiot to go along the green path.

          The idiot Trudeau is already talking about covid bringing a great opportunity to have a financial reset, a few encouraging words from Charles and there will be no holding them.

      3. I share that view – however, he has been unwell for several years, and The Queen has kept calm and carried on.

    2. “He was a man, take him for all in all….”

      [Your MR will recognize the quotation.]

    1. I reckon both of them had film-star good looks…… And they have provided a great role model in having such a long, happy, marriage. I like the fact that they have had no money worries …. a great shame that the filthy-rich Blair monster took away the Royal Yacht.

    2. I reckon both of them had film-star good looks…… And they have provided a great role model in having such a long, happy, marriage. I like the fact that they have had no money worries …. a great shame that the filthy-rich Blair monster took away the Royal Yacht.

  45. I hope there isn’t a Diana-fest, but I trust he will be given a full State Funeral and to Hell with Covid restrictions.

    EDIT
    It seems he had already requested that he will not lie in state and there will be no state funeral as he did not want the ‘fuss’.

      1. Certainly – a lying in state followed by a full state funeral on a par with Sir Winston.

    3. I reckon they’ll have a private service at St. George’s Chapel, and then a full service later in the year.

      1. Far far more.

        He was an epitome of selfless loyal service she was an epitome of selfish self service

    5. Will Harry and Migraine come to the funeral?

      If that horrible woman does come and has rotten vegetables thrown at her it must be made clear that she is despised because of her behaviour and not because of her race.

      1. Lots of discussion about this in the DT letters. Concensus view is that he might come but she will hide behind the fear of having to fly while pregnant (ignore reminders of her baby party in New York).

        Just in case she turns up, best prepare a number of multi colour tomatoes to throw.

        1. Inscribed bananas may also be apposite. Mine might have reference to her finding and returning to her roots as Kunta Kinte (other spellings are available).

      2. I hope Harry attends, but without her.

        Anything that she did would be a distraction, bad enough that the Ginger whinger should be there to rake up enmity.

        1. Somebody ought publicly to spit in Prince Harry’s face in front of the television cameras to show the great contempt in which he and his wife are now held by the British public.

          1. Much as I dislike him, respect the position if not the man.
            Of course, if he had any integrity he would completely abrogate all his positions.

            That was the kind of disrespectful behaviour towards the POTUS, when it was DT, that I so disliked.

          3. Agreed.

            I still admire his work for the Invictus Games. A worthy legacy for anyone to be remembered by.
            It’s a pity he will be remembered for so many of the wrong reasons.

    6. I have an awful feeling that TPTB may try to have the funeral held out of reach and sight of the public. Just the sort of thing they would do. A great loss to the nation.

  46. I noticed with wry amusement that the Bbc inadvertently had a dig at Meagain by stating that the DoE had members of staff who had served him faithfully for ‘many decades’.

  49. As soon as restrictions are lifted, I reckon Brenda will be off to The Gambia for some R&R.

    1. I doubt it. After so many years, she will carry on literally until her last breath.

      Maybe go to one of her country homes and just fade into the background, leaving Charlie boy to do the pageantry.

  50. Brash and Trash will turn up. Brash dressed in full military rig (despite his illegal beard). Trash in deepest black (if you’ll pardon the word).

    1. I suspect she’ll use her pregnancy to give the funeral a swerve.
      It’s not a money grubbing baby shower, so not worth her attention.

    2. She wouldn’t dare to show her face in Britain. He will probably turn up, looking sheepish.

      1. I disagree. She is so vain, she would see being grief-stricken on global TV to be a cheap way of exposing her “brand”.

        1. She may turn up simply because it would be appalling taste to boo her at Prince Phillip’s funeral. She seems to love attacking people who, because of their position (and their manners) don’t or can’t fight back in kind. She’s a coward.

    3. Those opposing the visit of the repulsive pair should have T shirts and large placards proclaiming:

      IT IS NOT YOUR RACE

      IT IS YOUR VULGAR & DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR

      THAT WE OBJECT TO.

    4. Those opposing the visit of the repulsive pair should have T shirts and large placards proclaiming:

      IT IS NOT YOUR RACE

      IT IS YOUR VULGAR & DISGUSTING BEHAVIOUR

      THAT WE OBJECT TO.

  51. Police renew appeal for information on murdered Putin critic hours before his inquest today. 9 April 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/724c763389d7912b918c6648f76863c0aad06af378cb5f1ffa9bee40a547a81d.png

    Counter-terror police have renewed an appeal for information into the mysterious death of a Russian dissident, hours before his inquest is due to resume.

    Head of the Met Police’s counter-terrorism command Richard Smith said questions remain about the death businessman Nikolay Glushkov, 68, in New Malden, south-west London, three years ago.

    Just to break into these obsequies. I guess this has been dug up because judging by the message boards the campaign against Putin and Russia is not going too well! The frozen Mail Comments where only a single user is allowed is now a regular feature on anything to do with Putin or Russia. Stops all those nasty Putinbots outvoting the 77 Brigade Trolls. Lol!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9452849/Police-renew-appeal-information-murdered-Putin-critic-Nikolay-Glushkov-hours-inquest.html

      1. Sadly, Spikey, there are many such ignoramuses, though a lot of the blame may be directed at the parents and the schools.

  53. Spiteful EU has fanned the flames of division in Northern Ireland

    RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS

    I love Northern Ireland and most of its people, and find it heartbreaking to see the province in the news today not in commemoration of its centenary year but once again because of vicious communal violence.

    The law-abiding majority feel betrayed, and a new generation of young people is being encouraged by criminals to run amok, setting fire to buses and cars, throwing petrol bombs across the peace walls at neighbours with whom they disagree politically, and injuring anyone in uniform who is trying to stop them from wrecking the place. Until the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement this kind of violence was so normal that it was often called recreational rioting. But, although it may have become less frequent, it has never gone away.

    Two years ago, as she covered dissident republican violence in Derry, for example, the young journalist Lyra McKee was murdered by a bullet intended for police. This time, the riots are led by loyalists – and while the instigators have almost no political support, many Unionists share their grievances. Where dissident republican rage is driven by a desire to tear down British rule, loyalist anger comes from a belief that the British state is an appeaser of republicanism and abandoning them to the enemy.

    The Unionist politicians who wanted Northern Ireland to work after the Good Friday Agreement agreed to share power with Sinn Fein – many of whose political leaders are ex-convicts, all of whom eulogise IRA terrorism, and none of whom apologise for past atrocities. But they now feel the country is being run from the shadows by IRA veterans whose aim is to destabilise the province. The immediate trigger for this week’s violence is the failure of the justice system to deal with the arrogant flouting by the Sinn Fein leadership of the Covid rules everyone else is expected to obey.

    Last June, Sinn Fein leaders, including Michelle O’Neill, the Deputy First Minister, joined 2,000 others to attend the funeral of the intimidating ex-convict, prison-escapee and IRA ‘Director of Intelligence’ Bobby Storey. They even held a public meeting along the way addressed by Gerry Adams. At the time, the limit for the number allowed to attend funerals was 30 people – which meant the republican party was spectacularly disregarding the restrictions they themselves set for the rest of society.

    Yet, last week, after nearly a year of deliberation, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) decided not to recommend any prosecutions of the rulebreakers. And it was this decision that maddened the loyalist rioters. But while the PPS announcement may have been the trigger, the main driver of this anger is the fallout from Brexit. During Brexit negotiations, the EU, encouraged by the Irish government, cynically set out to weaponise Northern Ireland to scupper a deal or at the very least heavily punish the British.

    There was a perfectly feasible way through smart technology and a Trusted Trader scheme to have a virtually invisible border on the Irish/EU side. But Theresa May and her negotiating team caved in to the ludicrously exaggerated warnings about how a land border would lead to a resumption of violence and the death of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. By the time Boris Johnson took over in December 2019, the pass had been sold. And, to get a Brexit deal that worked, he had to agree to an arrangement known as the Northern Ireland Protocol which impedes trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

    Out of sheer spite, the EU has chosen to interpret the rules as inflexibly as possible and cause maximum disruption. And, to make it even worse, Sinn Fein have been crowing mendaciously about how this leads inexorably to a United Ireland. Brexit negotiator Lord Frost is working to ameliorate the damage but Unionists have a genuine fear that Northern Ireland is being cut off from the rest of the United Kingdom by an internal border because, once more, the Government has caved in to threats of republican violence.

    Though the scenes of violence this week are sickening and no one could condone them, it is hardly surprising that some angry loyalists decided to follow suit. Unionists don’t much trust British governments and constantly fear being sold out. Urgently sorting out the scandal of the protocol is the least Lord Frost and the Prime Minister can do to give the law-abiding and loyal Northern Irish people the centenary present they deserve.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9451163/EU-fanned-flames-division-Northern-Ireland-says-historian-RUTH-DUDLEY-EDWARDS.html

    1. Unionists don’t much trust British governments and constantly fear being sold out.

      I wonder how on Earth they got that idea!

    2. And Farage said it was a good deal!

      It is a total disaster and shows Boris Johnson and Michael Gove to be the treacherous architects of Britain’s complete and abject surrender.

  54. A couple of days spent chasing a parcel – a set of adjustable scaffold tower legs from Lewis Scaffold Towers.

    On the day it was due to arrive, I got a cryptic message on my voicemail saying that a parcel going to an address in Essex was undeliverable, and could I ring the depot. I did the following day, but was told that their depot did not serve Worcestershire, where I live, and there was nothing more they could do.

    The brave and stressed-out Hannah from Lewis Scaffold, probably working from home, tried valiantly to get to the bottom of this, and always answered the phone and was amazingly calm and serene and helpful through it all. Hannah’s voice was, in my imagination, a beautiful young woman, but in reality it’s probably a trans bloke of 50. All she got from the carrier was “your call is important to us”.

    So I decided to go in with guns blazing with an email to the carrier depot, copied to Lewis and the carrier HQ, and then went outside to pee on the roses. I think those nottlers familiar with sod’s law can guess what happened as soon as I released my bladder.

    A driver wandered through the open gate, so I had to swiftly conceal my person, which duly sent a warm stream down my leg.

    They couldn’t have timed it better – worthy of the office printer!

    Hannah is now sending me a satisfaction questionnaire, and I hope I can help her get a much-deserved payrise.

    1. You should have just carried on, Jeremy. With a cheery ‘be with you in a moment’. Different if it was a lady delivery driver i suppose.

    2. I’d ordered a card and bouquet from Moonpig to arrive today for my wife on our 33rd wedding anniversary. Whilst watching it about to be delivered on Yodel’s website, I had a notification that the delivery had been refused at the door because of damage – an utter lie! At least Moonpig is pulling out the stops to arrange a fresh delivery tomorrow.

      1. Congratulations on your 33 years.

        You married just a few days after Caroline and I did on 2nd April 1988 but you are ten years younger than I am!

  55. Well, which is it to be?
    A Covid secure funeral that we will only be allowed to witness on telly or Zoom? An unfitting tribute to man who fought for Britain’s freedom in WWII and gave unstinting service to this country for another 75 years.
    Or will Prince Philip’s last service to Blighty be a proper funeral where people will gather in their millions – officially or unofficially (chucking mourners into a Black Maria is not a good look, even for the Met) – and finally crush the rule of the current Major Generals?

    1. As stated earlier, Anne, nothing less than a lying in state with free and unfettered access to all those who wish to pay their respects, followed by a full-blown state funeral for a man of honour, as opposed to the 2,000 allowed to mourn at the funeral of an IRA terrorist and murderer.

      1. The Duke requested no lying in State and no State funeral. He didn’t want the fuss. I’m sure Her Majesty will honour his wishes.

        God rest his soul.

        1. Then it’s up to the individual to express their respect and gratitude in the time-honoured way, with glass in hand.

          2. I’m beginning to wish we had a flagpole, to flag at half-mast. Been plenty of need for that recently.

  56. Your move Joe..

    Tehran previously dismissed the US proposal for the Islamic Republic to return to abiding by the nuclear deal’s provisions, and to receive sanctions relief only after the international community verifies its actions.

    Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has stated that his country will only return to compliance with the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal) after it verifies that the sanctions against it have been lifted not “in words” but for real. Khamenei explained that such verification would include the sale of an oil shipment, concluded with an unimpeded transfer of payment for the sold crude.

    “Verification [of US’ sanctions removal] means [that Iran will be capable of] selling oil in an official manner, with ease and under normal conditions, and that the money will be received by Iran”, the Iranian leader elaborated.
    Khamenei went on to reiterate that the US must remove all sanctions from the Islamic republic, if it wants Iran to return to the full JCPOA compliance. He added that Tehran is in no rush in terms of Washington returning to the nuclear accord.

  59. 331306+ up ticks,
    With the sad passing Of Prince Philip RIP incorporate it into a people’s
    reset campaign, I cannot see in any way that would be an undesirable
    gesture and one we would remember.

    In short the people must be able to pay their respects without ANY
    politico’s input.

  60. Over on BB the lefty trolls are out in force disrespecting the passing of wartime hero Cdr. Philip…

    Perhaps his passing will arouse the true British so they wipe the lefty scum off the face of the earth.

    2. 331306+ up ticks,
      Afternoon H,
      The politico’s are playing it down already, No it will be a very low key affair.
      IMO best the politico’s stay away altogether and the people pay their respects in their own way.

  62. I asked my neighbour if he wouldn’t mind cutting down a Bay bush because it was becoming a monster and difficult for me to trim. He has all those electric gadgets like saws and drills and stuff.

    I had a dental appointment.

    When i came back i thought he would probably do it later as it was still there. I didn’t want to nag.

    I saw him just now and he told me he had done it and tidied it away. He saw the confused look on my face and had a lightbulb moment. He had cut down a rather fine standard specimen which was on the decking at the back of the garden leaving the monster untouched.

    :@(

          1. I won’t hold him to it. He’s a brilliant neighbour. They invite me to all their parties and i’ve got to know their family and friends very well.

          2. In which case try to forget is ever happened or make a joke about it.
            My children still tease me with lots of “Do you remember when dad….” from 30 + years ago.

      1. Oh well. Worse things happen at sea. Gives me an excuse to plunder the garden centre.

    3. Afternoon Phizz. You should reassure him! Such incidents can sometimes injure a relationship from the opposite end to what might be thought!!

      1. Good point. He is robust though. Ex CPO HMS Illustrious. It will probably be him making the jokes and having to reassure me !

  63. ‘Tony Blair says whole nation is ‘united in sadness’
    Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed his sympathy over the death of Prince Philip and said the whole nation is “united in sadness”.’

    When will this little creep just f.o. and die? If I wanted him to speak for me I would have voted for him. Now, he’s just another failed politician.

        1. I think BT was referring to the way Blair took up the Dianafest with his people’s Princess vomit.

        2. Whoops – Following on from your observations of ‘He who must not be named’ it was a genuine mistake on my part! Please be a little more specific

          1. Oh for heavens’ sake. My quote was what Bliar might say (and probably has) about the late Prince…..

        3. Whoops – Following on from your observations of ‘He who must not be named’ it was a genuine mistake on my part! Please be a little more specific

  64. BBC newsreader is left close to tears as ITV, Sky and other broadcasters interrupt schedules Daily Fail

    Yes, they’re weeping because it has interrupted their non-stop BAME and gender-bender propaganda programmes and distracted from their Irish, Scotch and Welch republican party recruitment drives.

    It won’t be long before his sisters links to the Nází Party are dragged up and the fact that his mother was held in a lunatic asylum for part of her life.

    3. Prince Philip is also an inconvenient reminder of a better, nobler country at a time when even the GBP is realising what an absolute shower is currently ru(i)inning the country.

  65. Thousands flee Caribbean island as volcano eruption ‘imminent’ 9 April 2021.

    Thousands of people on the Caribbean island of St Vincent have been ordered to flee amid fears of an imminent volcanic eruption.

    Around 16,000 residents in the so-called ‘red zone’ were told they need to leave immediately as La Soufriere volcano spewed steam and smoke.

    The warning was issued after the dome of the volcano, in the north of the island, could be seen ‘glowing’ and ‘fiery’ at night.

    You would have thought someone would have reported a “a big Glowy thing” before it exploded. They were all probably high or filling out their Windrush claims!

    https://metro.co.uk/2021/04/09/thousands-flee-caribbean-island-st-vincent-ahead-of-volcanic-eruption-14382272/

    2. Some friends of mine have booked a holiday there for Christmas and New Year. Their trip to Japan in March was cancelled of course and their holiday in Greece booked for May will be too but they never learn. These people seriously thought that taking the jab early would buy their freedom.

    3. I spent Christmas in 1984 on Bequia the island immediately to the South of St Vincent. The citizens of St Vincent had a reputation for violence and stealing from boats and so most of us avoided the place.

      We arrived at Bequia having sailed there from Barbados and we spent the two to three weeks after after our time in Bequia sailing in the Grenadines visiting such places as Mustique and the fantastic Tobago Keys. Grenada was as far south as we went before heading North again making a pretty comprehensive tour of many of the Windward and Leeward Islands. Here are the lyrics of a song I wrote which I sang to the accompaniment of my guitar as we sailed around adding new verses from time to time as we visited new places

      I sailed over to the Caribbean for the sunshine and the rum
      I saw lots of lovely coloured fishes and had me lots of fun
      But the worst thing about the Caribbean – the thing that I hate most
      Was the constant pestering that I got from the little boys in boats

      With their: Hey Skip, Hey Skip,
      Wanna buy some limes?
      I can introduce to my sister
      I can show you good times

      I spent me Crismass in Bequia, it was very nice
      Till the little boys came serenading – they said it was Paradise
      They said that they could mind me dinghy – They could do me laundry for me
      They could sell me grapefruit and bananas for lots and lots of EC

      So Hey Skip, Hey Skip
      Wanna buy some limes
      I and I wish you a rubby-dubby Crissmass
      We can show you good times.

      When we got down to Grenada the US army was there
      Wearing short pants and T-shirts and driving Jeeps everywhere
      They screamed and whistled and waved machine guns as they drove by past me
      It made me think that it is not true that worse things happen at sea!

      So Hey Skip, Hey Skip,
      Wanna buy some limes
      We can highjack you into a taxi
      We can show you good times,

      As we sailed up to the Pitons the boys approached with speed
      They said that a line tied to a tree was the very thing I need
      I said ‘I’m OK I can do it. I’m quite able to cope’
      They said: ‘If you don’t pay us ten dollars we’ll come and cut your rope.

      So Hey skip, Hey Skip
      Wanna buy some limes
      We can take you for a ride on the elephant
      We can show you good times.

      The French islands are rather different – no boys in boats out there
      But the way that the French all try to anchor drives me to despair
      You go to sleep in Martinique but a froggy ties a loop
      Around your anchor and your chain so you wake in Guadeloupe.

      Donc, Bonjour Capitaine,
      Voulez-vous de Brie
      Je peux vous donner vin et oignons
      Pour un très grand prix

      In Portsmouth in Dominica the boys are a real pain
      The little ones try to sell you coral – the big ones hash or cocaine
      They scratch your topsides with naily dinghies and offer you a river cruise
      But their mafia ensure that the competition go swimming in concrete shoes.

      Hey Skip, Hey Ship
      Wanna buy some limes,
      We can sell you some plastic scrimshaw
      We can show you good times.

      When we got to Antigua, the beautiful people were there
      Dancing to Wahdadli Experience and the Halcyon Steel Orchestra
      The white girls smiled at the Rastas – but the Rastas were too classy
      They did not want the white girls at all – they wanted Haïlé Sélassié

      So Hey Skip, Hey Skip
      Wanna Buy Some limes
      Arrow will play at the jump up
      We’re gonna have good times

      And so I’ll sail back home to England before the hurricane
      I’ll have to cope with sleet and snow and five knot tides again
      I’ll drop me hook in Salcombe to lose the Caribbean Blues
      But I’ll feel quite kindlily towards the little boatboys when I have to pay the harbour dues.

      So Hey Skip, Hey Skip
      Wanna buy some limes?
      I can introduce you to my sister
      I can show you good times

      1. Re your last verse.

        When i was in Budapest i was approached by the chanteuse in a piano Bar. It wasn’t very busy and so we were chatting at the Bar. She made herself ‘available’ and i politely declined though i did buy her Champagne. She said…’I have a brother’.

        Friendly people.

    4. All I could remember about St.Vincent was it popped up continuously in ‘O’ level history. It was one of those islands that during the C18 kept being shuffled backwards and forwards between France and Britain.

  66. Thousands flee Caribbean island as volcano eruption ‘imminent’ 9 April 2021.

    Thousands of people on the Caribbean island of St Vincent have been ordered to flee amid fears of an imminent volcanic eruption.

    Around 16,000 residents in the so-called ‘red zone’ were told they need to leave immediately as La Soufriere volcano spewed steam and smoke.

    The warning was issued after the dome of the volcano, in the north of the island, could be seen ‘glowing’ and ‘fiery’ at night.

    You would have thought someone would have reported a “a big Glowy thing” before it exploded. They were all probably high or filling out their Windrush claims!

    https://metro.co.uk/2021/04/09/thousands-flee-caribbean-island-st-vincent-ahead-of-volcanic-eruption-14382272/

  67. ‘The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral plans will be completely revised due to coronavirus restrictions and will be announced in coming days.

    Buckingham Palace sources said they would adhere to current guidelines, which allow just 30 mourners.

    Members of the public have been asked not to attempt to attend or participate in any of the events that make up the funeral.

    The Duke left strict instructions that he should have a relatively low-key funeral in his final wishes, swapping a formal lying-in-state for commemorations remembering his military ties and charity patronages.’

    So there you go. Cower in your hovels, plebs.

    1. My flag it at half mast. Far from cowering i will be saluting him his achievements.

      1. Me too Phizzee! I will be doing the same. A wonderful example of duty and stalwartness (is that a word?) and his dear wife was blessed with 74 years of his love. A truly good person.

        3. A master of wry humour and Political Incorrectness; he should be the Nottlers’ honorary Guru.

        4. I was fortunate to sail – and share the helm – on Bloodhound on the west coast of Scotland in 1966. She was then owned by the Duke of Edinburgh – with a Captain Drake (of that ilk) in charge !

          3. In 1962 Bloodhound was purchased for the Royal Family at the request of Prince Philip. In February she was sailed from Plymouth to Gosport to be refitted by Camper and Nicholsons and the work was finished by June. Prince Philip sailed Bloodhound with Uffa Fox at Cowes Week in August of that year.

            During royal ownership Bloodhound would accompany The Royal Yacht Britannia in the Western Isles when the royal family had their one true family holiday every year. She had a permanent crew of three, and one skipper was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. It was during these times that the young royals learned to sail on Bloodhound. When not in royal use, Bloodhound and her crew were chartered to yacht clubs across the country at a daily fee of £1 (later increased to £2) per participant, used to expose thousands of people to offshore sailing.

            In 1969 Bloodhound was sold by the royal family and Bloodhound then effectively retired from racing.

          7. You may tell the era by the sideburns, Maggie !!!

            I had a full-set beard at that time …

          12. My goodness , aren’t you so lucky to have a full head of hair , great photo . I expect the young chaps will have inherited your hairy genes as well 🤣🤣

          1. And an opportunity to marginalise the Monarchy and reduce its influence at home and abroad.

          2. That too.
            However, I hope the next few days will show the depth of affection that the Commonwealth has for the Queen and that there will be plenty of praise for how he supported her.

    1. He died at, I think, the early age of 38. Thank you, Town Hall weevils who hounded him to his death.

    3. It would have been unimaginable that he would have received such treatment in many countries other than Britain.

      Indeed, along with the great things that Britain has produced the sheer petty vindictiveness of its jobsworth, petty, small-minded officialdom must also be shown.

      2. Sunderland council’s trading standards officers couldn’t wait to get out there. A few sensible local authorities just looked the other way.

    1. Why did the repulsive Biden family receive so very little Media attention? In fact the lack of proper examination of the Bidens amounts to gross dereliction of duty.

  71. Re. telephone call from ‘Social Prescribing Link Worker’ NHS. to arrange app. today in local park at 3pm…

    After sitting in the park and waiting for 25 mins… Social Prescribing Link Worker…….didn’t show!

    My language is unprintable……..@)*#!!!

    WTF is going on!

    1. Could be worse. The message could have said “Meet me in the woods at midnight’…

    2. The Spectator today has an article by a writer describing how she was given an appointment for blood pressure tests to take place ON THE PHONE….

        1. You need an equivalent to the MR – who refuses to be dissuaded by harridans on the reception desk.

    3. What is a “Social Prescribing Link Worker”? Someone who gives you a prescription for meds, aka A Doctor?

      1. FK knows…
        They arrange walking groups ( great if you have a friggin’ Achilles tendon!) and lucky to get to the local friggin’ co-op! They also organise other social groups….painting FFS!

    4. I hope you didn’t get home and find the burglars had paid a visit! What the heck is a social prescribing link worker?!

  72. That’s me for this sad day. Sad, because a man who towered above many of his generation has gone. Someone who knew what service and duty meant. As I said earlier, we will not see his like again, and, I am sorry to say, his descendants are not a patch on him (apart from his daughter, of course).

    Another day of cheerless weather ahead.

    I leave you with this comment from a French neighbour from Laure:

    “This afternoon, I will recieve the first Astrazaneca vaccine here in Laure pharmacy.

    It’s very strange, in France many people refuse to be vaccinated with the Astrazeneca product because they have heard that there are some very rare cases of people who have had problems with venous thrombosis. Normally I should have waited before being vaccinated because I don’t have the age criteria or health problems but as the pharmacist didn’t want to throw away doses of vaccine once the vial opened, she suggested to me to get vaccinated since I had registered on a waiting list. French people are sometimes weird people.”

    A remarkable and charming lady – very artistic; keen painter and gardener and musician. Looks like someone who would run a museum. She was an air traffic controller!

    A demain.

    1. Seems the Johnson & Johnson vaccine also has the same blood clotting problem.
      Oh, my.

      1. The blood clotting issue must depend upon the individual not the vaccine given these statistics.

    1. ‘Upmost’ (instead of ‘utmost’) joins a growing list of mis-spellings alongside such words as ‘loose’, ‘should of’ etc.

    2. The DofE used to drive a black cab on his day off.
      It allowed him to express his feelings, and gradually other drivers followed his lead.

  75. Off to sober up before daughter phones….catch up on the news…

    Jeez that’s sherry’s bluddy good!

      1. Old Westminster £6 from Iceland….

        Philistine that I am I often blend it with Harvey’s Brisol Cream,

  76. The MSM in general and the BBC in particular have gone into mournfest, the latter remarkable for the depths of its hypocrisy and the falseness of its sorrow. Hugh Edwards can barely avoid dropping off while Nicholas Witchell looks merely constipated!

  77. Breaking News – Public Health Europe have just banned the Oxford AZ vaxx from being given to heads of royal families aged 99 and over

  78. Bought some rock hard Kiwi fruits this morning at the local supermarket ….(they were cheap!)

    Can I place them in the microwave to soften…..for how long?

    1. Just leave them on a windowsill.

      After about two weeks you can then throw them away

        1. I always found that they tasted of soap, until we were given a punnet because they were past their sell-by date. Being a cheapskate we accepted the offer and rather than waste them we tasted them.

          These were delicious, and we see them on many market stalls here, always looking the worse for wear.

          Yer French hoover them up, and having tried the manky looking ones I can see why.
          Never buy any that are solid, and never buy them if the stem is still looking fresh.

          1. I rather like the semi-sweet sharp flavour especially with bland cheesecake….They taste good in a mixed fruit salad with yoghurt and if too tart add a little honey..

          2. I’m now a fan of them.

            Properly ripened, they are delicious, and if they weren’t so good for me I would eat more.

    2. Cut in half,bake with brown sugar and rum(or sherry) in a microwave I suspect they would explade……….

    3. Bit late with this advice but just bung them in with the Christmas sprouts for a few hours.

    4. Might it be similar to a lemon, about 15 seconds to soften up (for the juice in the lemon).

    6. During a year I spent travelling, I worked picking kiwi fruits in NZ for three months. I never want to see one again.

    1. As we’re being a little irreverent:

      Breaking news:
      Wotmeagainmarkle has written:
      Prince Phillip (sic) was buried three days ago in a secret ceremony presided over by the ArchiePrick of Cunterbury.

  80. As an aside to the DoE.
    Re Covid, injections/tests/fees etc.

    Rastus wrote earlier that he felt it was getting personal.
    So do we.

    The cost of the tests for a family of four is more than three times what we charge per week to rent the cottage.
    Whitty, Vallance Ferguson, SAGE etc etc,

    Damn them all, damn their eyeballs, damn their careers, damn their pensions.
    May they be forced to be vaccinated with the vaccine that causes them the maximum harm.
    Unto their fourth generations.

    2. Can you advertise in Europe? Germany, Norway… hopefully less restrictive expensive.

      1. We’re on Trip Advisor.
        We get bookings from all over the world but the UK is fuck that, was normally 80%+ of our guests.

        1. Lord, I feel for you, Sos.
          For the same reason, we’re unlikely to visit UK this summer, that and the difficulty in getting out and back to Norway.
          That means elderly parents not visited since December 2019. The government action, backed up by state-sanctioned force, is worse than the virus.

          1. At current rate of “unlockdown” I suspect we won’t see our three remaining elderly relatives again.

          3. My mother, who died first, wanted the absolute minimum.
            No funeral per se.

            No mourners.

            The only one of us who attended the cremation was my brother, not my father, none of the other brothers and sisters, no grandchildren, no friends.

            Boxed, burned, urned.
            My father’s was similar, although he had a small memorial service.
            The family scattered their ashes together, which was their only request.

            I felt guilty that my father’s wishes for a boxed, burned, urned were not followed as he had requested.
            I was over-ruled by the others.

          4. Mother wants to be put in a basket and planted under a tree. If she dies before I can get to the UK, I have no idea what the result will be.

          8. Thank you.
            90, decrepit.
            95, fit as a flea but occasional hospital episodes,

            95, fitter than a flea but constantly tempting Providence.

            Who knows? the fitter they are the more likely they seem to be to do something silly.
            Once borders open we will get across.

          9. PS, we’re lucky that the lockdown is a two-edged sword.
            What we lose in income we save in not travelling.

          1. We don’t specifically, but TA does.

            It’s a shame in some ways that our reviews from French people, which have all been good, were not written in French. We are now getting a few French bookings because of recommendations by word of mouth, which is always the best source.

  81. Supper tonight. Waitrose corn fed free range roast chicken. Waitrose pre-prepped roast potatoes. Petit pois and Waitrose chicken gravy. Delicious. In 45 minutes. The lazy sod that i am.

    Champagne to toast his Royal Highness.

  84. ‘Thank you for your service… you will be greatly missed’: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pay tribute to his grandfather Philip on Archewell website as he prepares to fly back to Britain – but will Duchess come too?

    The Duke and Duchess of Sussex posted a two line message following news of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death

    Prince Harry has not been back to the UK since March 2020 and was last pictured with Philip on May 8, 2019
    Source today told Dailymail.com that Harry would ‘do his utmost’ to return to Britain for grandfather’s funeral

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9454659/Thank-service-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markle-pay-tribute-Prince-Philip.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwAR2lnz_MosuB4E_0PfUUejLsIDuqF8t8xTlum4w-5DTcUewrPK4S1G8pIDI

    Ice cold and bland unemotional response from those two horrible individuals in America

    1. Not wanting publicity, they post this on a website… how does that work again?

    2. Damned with faint praise. Better if they had said nothing at all rather than that heartless post.

    3. What a complete arse! I hope the little ginger tw*t is pleased with himself…

    4. One could imagine the MEEagainandagainandagain website in a few years time, after the very messy and expensive, for Harry, divorce:

      ‘Thank you for your service… you will be greatly dissed’

    5. That’s straight from the hand of Markle. Just wondering, is Harry still in this world or has he gone afore…. is she keeping up a pretence?

      1. Markle lives a pretence – most sociopaths do. What a horrible, cold message from “them” – although Harry doesn’t seem capable of writing or talking by himself any longer. What a wimp.

      2. Unbelievable cruelty .

        That Markle creature has sapped the compassion and life out of Harry .
        She has probably blitzed his brain, either or that she has drugged him to control him.

    8. Prob not. She’s very pregnant.
      Even if she weren’t, I wouldn’t have advised it. They would both get a terrible reception.

    9. Such an impersonal message – what an insult to Harry’s grandparents. I don’t think she’ll be back – but Harry should swallow his pride and come for his grandfather’s funeral.

  87. Good evening, all! I read this a few days ago and deleted it, but it does come close to answering my question of just WHY are black people so important and view themselves as victims in this country? This piece, from TakiMag, is written from an American viewpoint but I think that the principle it discloses rings true over here too. It IS a question of skin colour, to some. No more and no less.

    Apologies if this is repetition, but you know how it is…

    “The Radicalization of Black America by David Cole

    Following last week’s somewhat nostalgic column, several of my younger readers reached out to me expressing surprise over my positive recollections of attending majority-black L.A. public schools in the late 1970s and early ’80s. A few of them shared their own personal, intensely negative experiences. One reader sent me a recent Slate advice column in which a white parent described the torment her daughter endured at a majority-black school, and the black columnist responded with a lengthy defense of black kids who bully whites.

    Yep, it’s not 1980 anymore. And it’s no mystery why today’s “white students in black schools” are encountering a vastly different landscape than I did forty years ago.

    As I detailed last week, there was plenty of crime in my school; it was hardly a paradise. But there was no antiwhite hate. Now, you can debate whether there are certain traits in the black population that are immutable. But even if genetic determinism is your god and guide, the fact is, ideological hatred is not inborn or inevitable. Yes, in my high school there was criminality, and yes, impulse control issues often presented themselves. But there was no race-driven hostility.

    That part’s changed.

    Black Americans have been radicalized. And in the specific case of my own school, I can provide an exact date for when it started.

    Fall semester 1998. That’s when a shadowy org calling itself the African American Parent Coalition for Education Equity (AAPCEE) “appeared” at my alma mater: Alexander Hamilton High, or “Hami” to locals. Having already enveloped several neighboring schools like locusts, AAPCEE began a concerted campaign to sow racial strife at Hami. And even though these were the pre-social-media days, the methodology might seem strikingly familiar. White teachers were singled out to be “canceled” for saying the wrong things in class or using the wrong words about racial matters. One Jewish instructor was targeted for not teaching about slavery “correctly” (translation: He taught it accurately and not as “1619 Project” propaganda).

    Read more
    The academic achievement of the school’s white minority was used as “proof” of the school’s inherent antiblack racism. White students and teachers were presented as the enemy, and every minor misstep by any white became a “microaggression” of genocidal proportions. Basically, AAPCEE arrived at a majority-black school where everyone was getting along and told the black students, “Getting along is racist.” Students and administrators who objected to AAPCEE’s agenda were vilified, and those who went along with it were rewarded.

    In May 1999, the liberal L.A. Weekly sent a leftist black journalist—Erin Aubrey—to cover the AAPCEE controversy at Hami, and in a remarkably fair and objective piece, the likes of which we rarely see these days, the reporter concluded that AAPCEE and its allies were indeed the villains of the affair. Aubrey’s article documented how AAPCEE cowed the admins, teachers, and students who weren’t down with the group’s agenda. The hate-sowers spread outright falsehoods about white teachers. Black parents and students who defended the teachers were condemned or ignored, while black parents and students who supported the pitchfork-carrying mob were “amplified.”

    So what was AAPCEE? Was it an organic formation of concerned local “African American parents”?

    “Once you grasp the Mohammed analogy, it makes total sense that a Dr. Seuss book with an African caricature must be banned.”
    Very funny; it was as “organic” as Velveeta. AAPCEE operated under the umbrella of a well-heeled organization called “Communities for Educational Equity,” which was funded by the James Irvine Foundation and (since the early 2000s) the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    So there you go. A school devoid of racial disharmony all of a sudden gets jolted out of its cursed tranquility by a well-funded org with an agenda that offers reward to the black admins and teachers who play ball and punishment to those who don’t. And wouldn’t you know it? A non-radicalized school becomes radicalized.

    Well how’dat happen? Incontheivable!

    Last week, as Americans on the left and right were brawling on social media over mass shootings (“That shooter was white! No, that shooter was black! Wait, that shooter was Arab! Weee, what fun!”), a genuinely important story sailed under the radar. Remember Younes Abdullah Mohammed? He was the al-Qaeda recruiter who in 2010 tried to solicit the murder of the South Park guys because they were going to depict Mohammed as a cartoon (Comedy Central prohibited the portrayal in response to the threats). Younes served time in federal prison, and now—using his birth name, Jesse Morton—he lectures about the process of Islamic radicalization.

    On March 22, documentarian Andrew Gold interviewed Younes/Morton on his podcast. And the former jihadi outlined a principle regarding radicalization that has relevance beyond just Muslims. He explained that as a professional al-Qaeda recruiter, he never had a more effective tool than the Mohammed cartoons. “We must stop the infidels from blaspheming our sacred prophet” ignited radicalization-prone Muzzies more than anything else in his recruiter toolkit. Yes, more than “The Americans are bombing your babies.” More than “The West sells arms and sponsors wars against you.” More even than “The Zionists are occupying our land!”

    Those issues, as important as they are in the radicalization process, simply did not “motivate” as the Mohammed cartoons did.

    According to Younes/Morton, imams who knew that there’s nothing in Muslim law or theology that commands believers to kill infidels who depict Mohammed, purposely spread the lie that such a commandment exists, because it was a falsehood that could spawn a deeper hatred of Westerners, a greater willingness to kill, than something banal like “Their generals are bombing some villagers.” That message is less effective because Muslims like killing Muslims, too, and different varieties of Muslims war with each other every day. But the Mohammed cartoons, that was unifying. It spoke to a common identity shared by all Muslims, be they Sunni, Shiite, Arab, Asian, black, or white.

    Younes/Morton isn’t the first Muslim extremist to make that point. In 2008, black Muslim provocateur Amir Abdel Malik Ali said the exact same thing to a crowd of supporters at UC Irvine. As he explained it, the Mohammed cartoons, more than anything else, caused Muslims “all over the world” to “start thinking like an ummah” (a community bound not by geography but by a common faith—i.e., a common identity that transcends notions of borders and politics).

    “Something sacred to you—the thing that is the very core of your identity—is being profaned and disrespected by people who value their ‘free speech’ rights over your right to protect what is hallowed. Your identity commands you to take up arms.” That’s an argument that stirs passions and engenders hate.

    And there you go; now you have a “clash of civilizations.” More important, now you have decentralized person-to-person warfare, as opposed to centralized government-to-government warfare. A white guy in France or the U.K. can say, “I support bombing Syrians,” and he’ll be fine. But if he draws Mohammed, some individual Muslim, acting on conditioning rather than direct orders, will murder him (or try to). Guaranteed. No centralized command but countless autonomous radicals, all on the lookout for blasphemers to eradicate.

    Once you understand that principle, everything we’ve seen in the U.S. regarding blacks over the past few decades becomes instantly explicable. Black Americans have the highest levels of self-esteem of any racial or ethnic group in the country, yet arguably (on average) they have the fewest accomplishments to back up that narcissism. What a perfect group for leftist “imams” to target with the message that it’s your skin that’s sacred. Your holy skin makes you valuable, not your accomplishments. Those who speak disrespectfully of that skin are blasphemers; it’s your duty to eradicate them.

    Essentially, blacks are their own Mohammed. They are their own sacred icon, their own holy prophet. They may be Christian, Muslim, secular, whatever. But they must all fight to protect their hallowed skin from disrespect from infidels.

    This is the talking point that crafty race-hustlers are using to radicalize as many blacks as possible. And many of those hustlers, like the deceitful imams referred to by Younes/Morton, don’t buy their own lies (in fact, many of the radicalizers don’t believe in black skin sacredness at all because their own skin isn’t even remotely that color). Once you grasp the Mohammed analogy, it makes total sense that a Dr. Seuss book with an African caricature must be banned. And any white person who speaks improperly of blackness must be canceled. And any white professor or service industry worker who speaks anything but worshipful praise of black students or customers must be fired. They profaned the holy; the ummah must be appeased.

    This is why it’s pointless when a white person says to a black, “Hey, I get pulled over too! I get bad service in restaurants too! Whites like me get shot by cops more frequently than blacks!”

    Yeah, but you’re not sacred. Disrespect to you is not blasphemy.

    So what do you get in the end? A demographic group that considers outsiders—infidels—unworthy of speaking to or about the ummah. A group whose images must not be drawn, whose history is not to be discussed but in hushed tones of awe; a group whose music, appearance, clothing, and lingo must not be appropriated by the unclean. Forty million Mohammeds, vigilantly on the lookout for disrespect from the sea of heathens among them.

    A recipe for disharmony.

    And the ultimate goal? Well, it’s as Younes/Morton said. Fanatics are useful. Imams and emirs love nothing more than to create armies of the faithful who can be manipulated through their blind zealotry. We see that here, right now. Black sacredness is at present the single most powerful force in U.S. politics. From city halls to statehouses to Washington, D.C., to Hollywood and corporate boardrooms, it’s all about “Will this offend blacks? How do blacks feel about this?”

    Because if you disrespect the new Mohammeds, you might find yourself figuratively killed off (canceled) on social media or in the workplace, or literally killed off by rioters.

    Of course, as Arab leaders have discovered to their dismay over the years, you can’t always control the fanatics. You create an army of purity police looking to stamp out blasphemy, and there’s a decent chance that soon enough you’ll be the one who’s accused of offending the faith. It’s a risky strategy.

    And as for the Mohammeds themselves—black Americans—well, I’ll round things out by returning to Hamilton High. The attempts at black radicalization in the 1990s were all for nothing. The school is now majority Hispanic. Blacks barely count anymore, surrounded as they are by Latinos who don’t give two shits about their “sacredness.” The movement to radicalize Hami was undertaken at a time when blacks were the overwhelming majority, and it was undertaken by shortsighted race pimps who failed to foresee that demographic change would eventually make the entire effort irrelevant.

    A microcosm, perhaps? An outcome that’s fated to be replicated nationally?

    That it is.

    It’s also a lesson that blacks ignore at their own peril.”

    1. I linked to this the other day and my view is that it is spot on.
      The article that this one follows on from is equally pertinent.

      1. But it rang so true when I read it. There seems to be no reason that some people should be lifted, beyond the colour of their skin. They are belligerent here, and historically bellicose in their own homelands.

        1. In response to the recent attack on Asians, we are now hearing about groups organizing in order to stop being attacked because of their Asian ethnicity.

          1. Sikh fathers tried to meet out justice to mud-slime rapists of their daughters, some years ago. The Sikhs were the ones jailed.

    1. Had worse. At least, nobody die… Ah.
      :-((
      Had arguficiation with boss. Silly girl prefers to complain about no progress rather than getting on with work and, er, making progress. Ho hum. Wine makes it mostly better.

    3. Great – but sad – day sweetie!

      No BBC, no SKY;

      A PTG* monopoly …

      *Phil The Greek

      Lots of sincere tributes. sweetie … x

    4. Oh dear,

      What happened , are you okay?

      My Twitter feed still isn’t restored .. I have a lot of friends and contacts on there .
      I miss Twittering !!

    7. I had a dreadful day today. Let down, broken promises, by 3 different people, all of which cost me money.
      I don’t often have days where so many things go wrong. 2 out of ten.
      Must be something in the air!

          1. I know you’re concerned, rather than nosey, Maggie. It’s just not been a pleasant day one way and another.

          1. Yes, I know, but I really don’t think you want the unpleasant details. Let’s say it’s been a day of cleaning up all round.

          3. I took a leaf out of Plum’s book and hit the sherry! If I’d opened a bottle of red, I think I would have drunk the lot 🙁

          4. Sending virtual cleaners and a large bottle of something to mitigate the unpleasantness.

        3. It seems very odd to uptick a comment that shows distress, so have my sympathies for what they are worth and I hope whatever is bedevilling you is resolved asap —–

        4. It seems very odd to uptick a comment that shows distress, so have my sympathies for what they are worth and I hope whatever is bedevilling you is resolved asap —–

  92. Very little has been said in the MSM about Prince Philip’s love of sailing although Lacoste mentions here that he (Lacoste) sailed on Bloodhound an ex-12 metre class ocean racing yacht which the Royal Family once owned.

    However the Prince used to sail in Coweslip, a flying 15class boat, with Uffa Fox the designer, and then a Dragon keelboat called Bluebottle competing in the racing in Cowes Regatta Week

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e30b03fb0764a2e5b8945d43d7d5952040c32605c8aa817b5cc8e13183e39bf3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4aac1b01b09bdec592b8ef473e3d12cb838d3439632cea29b664ad951f6b880e.jpg

    .

    1. My mother and father used to sail against Uffa Fox in 14′ International Dinghies. Uffa Fox did the sail plan design on their boat called Joanna.

    2. Bloodhound was not an ex-12 metre class ocean racing yacht; she was a 19.2 m (63 ft) Bermudan yawl designed by Charles E. Nicholson and built by Camper and Nicholsons’ in 1936. She was purchased – at the Duke of Edinburgh’s request – by the Royal Family in 1962 .

      For several years, she accompanied the Royal Yacht Britannia on west of Scotland cruises. I sailed on Bloodhound in 1966.

      She was sold in 1969 and she was purchased by The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust in January 2010.

    3. Bloodhound was not an ex-12 metre class ocean racing yacht; she was a 19.2 m (63 ft) Bermudan yawl designed by Charles E. Nicholson and built by Camper and Nicholsons’ in 1936. She was purchased – at the Duke of Edinburgh’s request – by the Royal Family in 1962 .

      For several years, she accompanied the Royal Yacht Britannia on west of Scotland cruises. I sailed on Bloodhound in 1966.

      She was sold in 1969 and she was purchased by The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust in January 2010.

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