Monday 1 April: Any decision on assisted dying should not be made by clinicians alone

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

808 thoughts on “Monday 1 April: Any decision on assisted dying should not be made by clinicians alone”

  1. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    DESERT STORY

    A nun and a priest were crossing the Sahara Desert on a camel. On the third day out, the camel suddenly dropped dead without warning. After dusting themselves off, the Nun and the Priest surveyed their situation. After a long period of silence, the Priest spoke. ‘Well, Sister, this looks pretty grim.’
    ‘I know, Father. In fact, I don’t think it likely that we can survive more than a day or two.’

    ‘I agree,’ said the Priest. ‘Sister, since we are unlikely to make it out of here alive, would you do something for me?’
    ‘Anything, Father.’
    ‘I have never seen a woman’s breasts and I was wondering if I might see yours.’
    ‘Well, under the circumstances I don’t see that it would do any harm.’

    The Nun opened her habit and the Priest enjoyed the sight of her shapely breasts, commenting frequently on their beauty. ‘Sister, would you mind if I touched them?’…
    …she consented and he fondled them for several minutes.

    ‘Father, could I ask something of you?’
    ‘Yes, Sister?’
    ‘I have never seen a man’s penis. Could I see yours?’
    ‘I suppose that would be OK,’ the Priest replied lifting his robe.
    ‘Oh Father, may I touch it?’

    The priest consented and after a few minutes of fondling he was sporting a huge erection.

    ‘Sister, you know that if I insert my penis in the right place, it can Give Life.’
    ‘Is that true Father?’
    ‘Yes, it is, Sister.’

    ‘Oh Father, that’s wonderful … Stick it in the camel and let’s get the hell out of here!’

  2. Wonderful view of the Third Quarter moon, Becomes a Waning Cresent on Wednesday

    2. If only the crescent were permanently waning. Then we’d get rid of islam altogether.

    2. Good morning, Minty. I think you are Mr & Mrs Rastus, and I claim my five bob postal order. Lol.

  4. Good morning, chums. I awoke early today and, as I finished “pumping the bilges” as BoB would say, there was a terrific pounding on the front door. At first I thought it was the police who had confused my address with that of Stig after his comments last night; what are you trying to do, Stig, get Geoff sent to jail and get this site closed down? But when I opened the door there stood an enormous White Rabbit who hurled chocolate eggs at me, pinched me in the nose, and then punched me in the stomach. I have only one more thing to say about this event: April Fool! In conclusion, I got today’s Wordle in 3 – and that is NOT an April Fool. I posted it at the tail end of yesterday page.

      1. Good morning, JD. I’m not that keen on chocolate, really. I much prefer a slice or two of cheese, either on its own, or with pickled onions on a slice of Ryvita.

    3. …what are you trying to do, Stig, get Geoff sent to jail and get this site closed down?

      It behoves us all to remember that Geoff does not have the resources to defend Nottl against even a minimal prosecution.

      Morning Elsie.

      1. Exactly, Minty. Which is why Stig’s post (talking about Margate) late on Sunday night quite surprised me. (Good morning, btw.)

    4. …what are you trying to do, Stig, get Geoff sent to jail and get this site closed down?

      It behoves us all to remember that Geoff does not have the resources to defend Nottl against even a minimal prosecution.

      Morning Elsie.

    5. Good Morning Elsie

      Wordle 1,017 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟨🟨⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I chose what I thought was the more common of the two possibilities….gah!
        Wordle 1,017 4/6

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

    6. I thought such language was acceptable. After all “wogs” and “coons” are posted without a murmur.

      1. The term Wog was once a compliment as it stood for Western Oriental Gentleman after Far Eastern men who copied the way gentlemen, in particular business men with whom they traded, of the west dressed – suits etc.

  5. Good morning, chums. I awoke early today and, as I finished “pumping the bilges” as BoB would say, there was a terrific pounding on the front door. At first I thought it was the police who had confused my address with that of Stig after his comments last night; what are you trying to do, Stig, get Geoff sent to jail and get this site closed down? But when I opened the door there stood an enormous White Rabbit who hurled chocolate eggs at me, pinched me in the nose, and then punched me in the stomach. I have only one more thing to say about this event: April Fool! In conclusion, I got today’s Wordle in 3 – and that is NOT an April Fool. I posted it at the tail end of yesterday page.

  6. Havana Syndrome investigation links Russia to mysterious brain injuries. 1 March 2024.

    A secretive Russian intelligence unit may have been responsible for Havana Syndrome, the debilitating sickness which has struck US diplomats, spies, contractors and their families, an investigation has found.

    Research by The Insider, an independent Russian investigative website, the German news magazine Der Spiegel and the CBS documentary series 60 Minutes has pinned the blame on the GRU’s Unit 29155.

    Members of the unit are alleged to have used sonic weapons, using radio frequencies to target their victims’ brains.

    We are dredging the Propaganda Swamp here. I assume that this is a counter to the Russian claims about the Moscow attack. This story has been comprehensively debunked over the last twenty years. Even the CIA have denied it.

    One of the officials said that even in geographic locations where U.S. intelligence effectively had total ability to monitor the environment for signs of malicious interference, analysts found no evidence of an adversary targeting personnel.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/01/havana-syndrome-intelligence-report-weapon/

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/04/01/havana-syndrome-investigation-brain-injury-russia-cia/

  7. An early April fool’s joke in the DT…

    The Conservative chairman has branded Reform UK leader Richard Tice a “threatening bully” as a row erupted between the two parties.
    Richard Holden’s remarks were in response to Mr Tice telling a Tory MP to “pipe down” in a heated exchange on social media.
    It came after the MP had said that Reform had more than a “few rotten eggs” in response to a tabloid report that a handful of its candidates expressed support for Tommy Robinson and shared social media conspiracy theories.

    ‘Silly man’ Mr Holden wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “What a threatening bully Richard Tice is exposing himself to be. Silly man.”

    Mr Tice told The Telegraph: “I think it’s fair to say that full-scale war has broken out between the Tories and Reform. “We can either focus on policies, or we can focus on trying to verbally kill each other. The choice is up to the Tories.
    “They’re going to end up with less than 100 seats and that’s part of my mission.
    “They’re not going to bully me and my candidates.”

    1. What’s the April Fool, JD? “Less than” instead of “Fewer than”?

    2. “Pipe down” is bullying now? This says a lot about the state of mind of the ranks in the Conservative Party.

    3. Gosh, aren’t they all frightened of Tommy Robinson, even the very name. That should tell us something; they fear an underground world of morlocks that is just waiting to take over when provocation becomes too great; that is what they think of ordinary decent people.

      1. Good morning, Sir Jasper. She thinks that she is blonde. If that is so, why does she dye her roots and eyebrows brown?

    6. In 1765 she would have been in the riots, calling, “Give us back our eleven days”.

    2. The Rabbie Burns aficionados will need to drop ‘A Man’s a Man for a’ That’ from their repertoire before Humza Yousless and his Stasi batter down their doors.

    1. Jump to content
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      Inside the net zero row plaguing the Welsh countryside

      From lapdances to turbines, Wales has become Britain’s new energy battleground
      Jonathan Leake 1 April 2024 • 6:00am

      Wales Net Zero

      It looks tranquil, but Wales’ countryside has become Britain’s new energy battleground – where lucrative wind farm developments are generating not just electricity, but neighbourhood rows and punch-ups at public meetings.

      Farmers have even allegedly been offered lap dances to surrender their land to turbines.

      It follows a change in Welsh planning laws that has encouraged a surge in planning applications for giant wind turbines up to 800 feet tall – 2-3 times larger than any yet built in the principality.

      Protest groups have sprung up in towns and villages from Anglesey in the north to Powys in the south – each fighting their own battle against what they see as the onslaught of the turbines.

      “The impact on the Welsh landscape will be devastating,” says Julie Richards, campaigns officer at CPRW, the Welsh countryside protection charity. “Our cherished and beautiful landscapes are being altered forever.”

      One of the most controversial – so far – is the Twyn Hywel Wind Farm on Mynydd Eglwysilan, a 1,200-foot hill in Caerphilly, near Pontypridd, where Bute Energy’s plans for 14 giant turbines have provoked uproar and lurid allegations in the local community.

      The minutes of an emergency public meeting called last August by Nelson Parish Council, recorded lurid claims about a landowner alleging he was offered inducements to lease his land. Bute strongly refuted that allegation and the minutes have since been amended to remove the claim.

      But councillor Gill Davies, 84, who sits as an independent on Nelson council, said the proposed wind farm would be a disaster.

      She said: “Renewable energy is a good idea but destroying our landscape to produce it is too high a price.

      “Wales has enough low-carbon energy already. The power from this wind farm will all be going to England, the money will go to the company and we will get nothing. And then the English wonder why we Welsh get stroppy.”

      The arguments are not just about landscapes. Wind farm construction means drilling massive holes in the ground to install concrete foundations. It also means laying cables and building sub-stations. Usually a brand new road is needed too – so the construction phase often has huge impacts.

      Once built, wind turbines can cause further disruption through “flicker” – caused by sunlight reflected off moving blades – and low level vibrations transmitted in the air or ground. Such prospects mean Welsh planning meetings have become heated or even aggressive.

      Tim Smith, founder of Motvind UK, which works with anti-wind farm protest groups across Wales, recalls a local farmer punching a project manager on the chin at the start of a public planning meeting last year.

      “The farmer had lost his some of his rented land because the landowner wanted to lease it to a windfarm. What he did was wrong but it was threatening his livelihood.”

      Mr Smith is part of Save Gaerwen, a group fighting a “monstrous” wind farm project in Denbighshire, north east of Bala.

      RWE, a German energy firm, wants to erect nine turbines each standing 660 feet tall – five times the height of the tallest local church.

      RWE’s project newsletter admits that 77pc of local people are opposed to the project but said it still planned to go ahead.

      Another Bute scheme, at Aberedw in Powys, will benefit the family of former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who now goes under the name Alexandra Pettifer.

      Her brother Harry owns the 6,000-acre Glanusk Estate plus the 4,000 acres of land on Aberedw Hill where Bute wants to install 18 giant turbines that could earn him up to £500,000 a year.

      Locals, reports the Mail on Sunday, are furious at losing their views with little compensation – and at the further threat of a string of pylons being built to carry the power from the windfarm to customers in England.

      Ms Richards said the spate of applications for giant new wind farms followed the Welsh government’s new rules on wind developments. Until 2020, wind turbines were relatively small – less than 350 feet high.

      However, in 2020, the Welsh government published its new policy, “Future Wales – the National Plan 2040”, with three crucial changes to the planning regime.

      The first was that “large” wind energy developments should be decided by Labour ministers, not councils. “Large” meant anything over 10 megawatts – equivalent to just 2-3 turbines. It means almost all wind farm applications are now approved in Cardiff.

      The second change introduced a “presumption in favour of large‑scale wind energy developments” – meaning more and taller turbines – up to 820 feet in height. Such massive machines were previously only deployed offshore.

      Ms Richards said: “Developers are pushing this to the limit. The vast majority of new wind farm proposals are over 650 feet with some at 820 feet. Existing wind farms in Wales are half this size.”

      The final key change was to create “Pre‑Assessed Areas for Wind Energy” – meaning vast tracts of Welsh countryside are deemed suitable for wind farms, whatever locals might think.

      Ms Richards said: “These changes have opened the flood gates to developers, such as RWE and Bute Energy. But it’s Bute that has by far the greatest number of proposals.”

      Bute confirms that it has 10 “energy parks” in planning with another six in the pipeline. And it also wants to build a network of pylons across Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, to help carry its power around Wales and into England.

      The largest is Lan Fawr, a wind farm in Ceredigion, where Bute wants to install 40 turbines, each with a capacity of 6.5 megawatts and standing up to 800-feet tall from ground to blade tip.

      The company is already facing opposition from campaigners in Powys, who say its turbines and pylons will destroy beautiful landscapes.

      Its three founders, Oliver Millican, Stuart George and Lawson Steele, said in a statement that they set up Bute to “leave a legacy for future generations … because climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world”. The company accounts showing they shared remuneration of £1.1m in the year to March 2023.

      A Bute spokesman said: “If approved, our 16 projects would represent £3.2bn investment in infrastructure, producing a total of 2.1 gigawatts of clean green energy. This is enough clean electricity to power 2.25 million houses.”

      For protest groups, however, the key issue is the number and size of turbines. Data from RenewableUK Cymru, the Welsh wind industry’s trade body, suggests there are already 220 operational wind projects in Wales comprising 1,010 turbines with a collective capacity of 1.3Gw.

      That’s theoretically enough to power 900,000 homes, but the intermittency of wind means the real output would be a third of this. So their total output equates to a single fairly small power station.

      Another 33 projects have planning permission and so will add 154 turbines to the total. A further 16 projects are awaiting planning consent, potentially adding another 104 – making a total of 1,268 turbines.

      Jessica Hooper, director of RenewableUK Cymru, the Welsh wind industry’s trade body, claims most people living in Wales have a warm welcome for wind turbines on their hillsides – and don’t think they spoil the view.

      “Last year RenewableUK Cymru commissioned a Welsh poll which showed that people living closest to wind farms are the greatest supporters of wind power. While the majority of Welsh respondents (65pc) said they support onshore wind, with only 9pc opposed, approval ratings rose to 72pc for those who live within five miles of a windfarm.”

      A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Our policy and planning system supports well-designed renewable projects based on extensive public consultation.”

      Such claims outrage protesters who also warn that the Welsh government’s manipulation of planning rules is a trial run for what will happen in England if and when Labour wins power.

      England has seen almost no onshore wind developments for a decade after a rural backlash over the destruction of treasured landscapes forced the Conservative government into a U-turn.

      But last year, Sir Keir Starmer pledged to more than double onshore wind – from the 15GW now to 35GW by 2030.
      RenewableUK, the British wind energy trade body, estimates this would mean installing up to 3,000 large new wind turbines across England.

      Asked what would happen if local communities across England also objected, Sir Keir added: “There has to come a point where, if we’re going to move forward, we don’t have simple individual vetoes across the whole of the country.”
      Labour, he said, he would “back the builders, not the blockers”.

      1. I didn’t think we were allowed to post anything that long, but you don’t care, do you, you rebel. 🙂

      2. Gill Davies should not blame the English, who are as pi$$ed about windmills as the Welsh, but instead government and eco-loons who promote this stuff. And – the edited minutes were probably correct the first time.

      3. Is all this upheaval and nonsense in order to reduce CO2, which we need much more of?

      4. A Bute spokesman said: “Blether blether…This is enough clean electricity to power 2.25 million houses.”

        This is a phrase that has me clenching my fists. It’s used unthinkingly by broadcasters. How many homes for how long per day and so on? Completely unqualified and unquantified.

      5. A Bute spokesman said: “Blether blether…This is enough clean electricity to power 2.25 million houses.”

        This is a phrase that has me clenching my fists. It’s used unthinkingly by broadcasters. How many homes for how long per day and so on? Completely unqualified and unquantified.

    2. BTL Comments:-

      Gilbert Bellairs
      8 MIN AGO
      Wouldn’t take a big bullet hole through a blade to destroy a turbine on the odd day its moving quickly.

      R. Spowart
      5 MIN AGO
      Reply to Gilbert Bellairs
      Message Actions
      I’ve often though of that myself, but where does one get a Boys Anti-Tank Rifle from nowadays?

      R. Spowart
      2 MIN AGO
      Message Actions
      Yet, we are told, “The Science Is Fixed”!
      And every time that is uttered Trofim Lysenko chuckles in his grave.

      1. Something for the Blade Runners to turn their attention to, when the ULEZ cameras have gone.

      2. Lysenko was ultimately interred in the Kuntsevo Cemetery, Mosco. I wonder what the ‘sevo’ part means.

        1. You can email them to see if they meet your requirements. You don’t leave it until you get off the plane !

          Some of the limo services will even do your shopping for you and place it in your apartment ready for when you arrive.

  13. Morning, all Y’all.
    Brilliant sunshine! Chilly for the moment though, but +12C forecast. will have to get my creaky frame in action and actually do something shortly, but first another coffee.

  14. Good morning everyone .
    Spring –
    Sometimes , when Spring drifts in
    Dispenses with winter and it’s icy season
    When the seasons instinct
    Proffers a flower to enamoured bees
    And the leaves between showers
    Whisper their secrets to glimmering light

    Then may you see birds , on skittish air ,
    Those careless plovers
    Cresting their passion on erratic wings
    High in raptures of rhapsoic flight
    As they climb but tumble
    From the sun’s warming clasp

    Then may you see them, in the winds embrace
    As Lapwings, cry like derision
    Over jilted pasture
    When the sky made frantic
    By their fleet attention.

    1. Morning Angelina and all.

      For a few minutes yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of watching 6 Buzzards wheeling languidly high in the sky over the house before they drifted away out of sight….

  15. Why I have come to deplore the Church of England under its current leadership. 1 April 2024.

    To this day, senior Church of England figures have failed to acknowledge the cruellest excesses of lockdowns: the hideous isolation of vulnerable care-home residents subjected to months of solitary confinement “for their own good”; the misery of crazed social distancing rules at funerals; the sickening forced separation of loved ones from dying relatives or partners giving birth. So far from being appalled by the grotesque abuse of power, Welby seemed almost impressed by the might of the state at the time. Instead of injecting some balance into the crazed culture of fear, he penned a feeble article in which he argued that it was up to local communities to determine their response.

    We will be living with the poisonous legacy of this disaster for decades – yet Welby has said almost nothing about the many millions of people of all ages in this country paying the price. He seems more interested in the plight of asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and unidentified descendants of 18th-century slaves. The recent decision by the Church to pay out up to £1 billion in “reparations” for its association with the slave trade some 300 years ago sums it all up. While hard-pressed parishioners donate precious pennies to repair crumbling spires and leaky roofs, Welby and his acolytes are presiding over what must be the most expensive and misguided display of virtue signalling in history. What next – compensation for descendants of victims of the Crusades? Best not give him ideas!

    One of the best diatribes against Welby that I have read.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/i-deplore-the-church-of-england-under-current-leadership/

    1. It is and the hierarchy have gone to war against rural parishes, seeking to withdraw clergy, abolish them and close smaller churches.

      1. So, what do they gain by such actions? I guess the Church has a huge capital reserve invested, as well as much property that can be lquidated to the advantage of the incumbents.

        2. They haven’t been recruiting or training enough vicars to man the rural parishes, but rather massively increasing Diocesan HQs. The number of proper vicars is expected to fall another 25% to 5500 over the next few years. It’s a driver of falling congregations, closing churches and wholesale withdrawal from the country parishes to the towns. Now they cannot even get vicars into the smaller towns. Around here the many churches in and around Axminster cannot recruit a new paid vicar.
          As the church finances collapse – Exeter Diocese is running a £2 million deficit for example – they respond by cutting vicars rather than hierarchy which perpetuates the decline – and the temptation to cover the gap by flogging off rural churches and vicarages becomes too great to resist.

          3. Technical question JD, why is there a need for a hierarchy in a Protestant church? It seems contradictory.

      2. Converting them to mosques.
        Our history is on the line.
        Our brave grandparents and parents, kept hitler out. But our current idiots are effing up everything they come into contact with.

    2. A BTL Comment:-

      R. Spowart
      JUST NOW
      Message Actions
      I refer to Welby as “The Archpillock of Canterbury” with the “a” of Canterbury replaced by a different letter.
      His appointment by the Coward, Mr. Cameron, was, I am certain, under the orders of the WEF Globalists Mr. Cameron seems to be so keen to cosy up to in order to destroy the Church of England.
      Sadly, he appears to be succeeding in this task all too well.

        1. He’s only continuing the work set in motion by that unflushable turd in the shitpan, Tony Blair.

    3. Unforgivable – he is unlike to escape Hell but this doesn’t worry him because he does not believe in it! And he closed churches and then buggered off to his holiday home in France during the pandemic. He gives not a toss for Christians or Christianity.

      1. Fortunately the Government declined to close mosques during the lockdown, so

        Muslims were afforded spiritual support during that time.

  16. Brilliant sunshine today with a clear deep blue sky but somewhat cold .
    The birds are singing, the geese nearby are making a racket, i can hear the deer in the woods and the badger has been bashing the garden gate again.

  17. The old school fete staple of sponsored woodlouse racing has been dealt a blow by the Equality Act.

    In order to fulfil Diversity quotas, necessary to avoid charges of child abuse for false and hate-filled indoctrination of children that would get a lifetime entry on the Enhanced DBS record, schools have been instructed to complete an ethnic and sexual orientation survey for competitors, mark the woodlouse with the appropriate colour code for gay, lesbian, trans, queer and black, and ensure that a correct proportion of each category wins the races.

    This leaves a problem, since the woodlice themselves refuse to self-identify, and legal advisers suggest that enforcement of the rules may be difficult. An emergency parliamentary debate is expected today.

  18. The old school fete staple of sponsored woodlouse racing has been dealt a blow by the Equality Act.

    In order to fulfil Diversity quotas, necessary to avoid charges of child abuse for false and hate-filled indoctrination of children that would get a lifetime entry on the Enhanced DBS record, schools have been instructed to complete an ethnic and sexual orientation survey for competitors, mark the woodlouse with the appropriate colour code for gay, lesbian, trans, queer and black, and ensure that a correct proportion of each category wins the races.

    This leaves a problem, since the woodlice themselves refuse to self-identify, and legal advisers suggest that enforcement of the rules may be difficult. An emergency parliamentary debate is expected today.

  19. G’morning all,

    Lovely morning at McPhee Towers, wind in the South-West, 6℃ with the climate cult forecasters promising 12℃ today and staying dry after the heavy overnight rain.

    I can’t make my mind up whether or not this is an April fool?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f732b248f416cc3de17c2601145872c74a1107a939500dea297a9db47aba7346.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/01/edinburgh-castle-gun-made-quieter-amid-health-safety-rules/

    I suppose it’s possible to have a quieter bang with a slower-burning charge – they could just go all the way to a fizzle and phut. Still, it’s intriguing that the British Army has an Envirnomental Noise Team – if it does that could explain why it can’t fight any more. I’d have thought making a loud noise had a useful military purpose – you know, make their ears bleed.

    Speaking as one who went to school in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, we quite liked the One O’clock Gun every day. It signalled to us boys that there were ten minutes to go to the end of the lunch break and we’d better think of making our way to the first afternoon class.

    Perhaps that’s why I’ve got tinnitus these days.

    4. That castle ought to be pulled down; it is such a threatening building.

  20. Morning all 🙂😊🌞
    What a lovely morning, it all looks very bright outside as the sun reflects in fresh puddles and from the wet leaves and grass.
    ‘Assistant dying’ could be very useful if it was first set up and tested in Wastemonster and Whitehall.
    Much relief would be obtained nationally and very much appreciated…….I’ll get my coat (shroud) 😉😵‍💫

    1. Trafalgar Square would offer a handy site with adequate space. No need to drag them to Smithfield or Tyburn.

        1. The Smithfield Elms were the gallows. The stake pit was just outside the church gatehouse. In the Middle Ages it was conveniently close to the Tower of London. The summer fairs and jousting tournaments seem to’ve been held on the same site.

          2. That too. William Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield. The place of execution moved to Tyburn during the reign of Henry V.

    2. I don’t know where the Hell you are, but it’s bloody cold dull and drizzly here!
      Good morning by the way.

          1. Yes Bob, it’s much improved now and the carpark is usually very full.
            They sell locally produced flour, from Redbournbury mill. Which makes better bread than the commercial brands.
            I seem to remember that you bought some.

  21. Mr Sunak has ruled out holding a general election on May 2, the same day as the local elections, and referred to an election in the second half of the year as his “working assumption”.

    Despite his party’s polling woes, the Prime Minister remains upbeat about its prospects and has declared he will win the next general election.

    I have been trying to decide which is the traditional April Fool’s fake story in the DT and decided this is so surreal it must be it.

    2. One would think that if you wanted a decent turnout you would hold both the local and general elections at the same time in the same place. Perhaps he’s hoping for a rainy day in September to blame their poor/disastrous results on the weather.

      1. Indeed he did. Under the protection for liars of Parliamentary Privilege, no doubt, Rishi-Washi stated at the despatch box that the vax were ‘safe and effective’.

    4. Why is he delaying it? Is he planning another budget? Another pretence of helping the public?

      The only thing that would possibly help is a raft of policy scrapping, a huge hike in the tax allowances, the abolition of net zero, a complete removal of all the criminal immigrants infesting the country and seeing boats forcibly towed back to Frogland – or fired upon to the same result.

      Sunak has absolutely no intention of doing any of that, so what’s the point? Get on with it. Then we can change one bunch of socialist fools for another and give Reform the run they need for next time around.

      1. Sunak will get on with the GE when he knows that a clause in the Assisted Dying bill will allow an assisted death in the event of Labour winning the GE. He already knows that the electorate would approve of an assisted death should the Conservatives remain in power.

    5. When has an incumbent Prime Minister ever said that he/she will lose the next General Election?

  22. – Will Scottish people be allowed to post on this group any more, for fear of arrest?
    Will they still be allowed to hate the English?
    Don’t worry though, it’s all a WEF initiative and we will get it in England when Labour gets in.

    https://scontent.flhr10-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/435066025_2462002573986125_1410228405829387591_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=tLx6BTrYCKEAX-gLICV&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr10-1.fna&oh=00_AfBH2n99HkYXeSSTnawv96HApFvsNSO9-btnWrI5SJ_Wjw&oe=6610185E

    1. Morning! As I understand it, you can be as offensive as you like as long as you’re only offending truth and decency.

    2. Apparently, the legislation is worded so that someone posting comments that can be read in Scotland will be deemed to have made those comments in Scotland!

    1. It may will be. thay can maximise their payoffs, as they must know they will lose .

  25. https://thecritic.co.uk/how-dark-can-humour-be/

    I found this article refreshing. How dark can humour be – laughter – even about morbid things is what makes us human . Humour is quintessentially English – to be able to laugh The Greeks used tragedies to ask big qiestions and Shakespeare used them profoundly . Politically Correctness has ruined humour which is a total shame.

    1. I believe that you need to have a certain level of intelligence to appreciate, and be humorous.

  26. Good morning all.
    A dull and drizzly start to the month of April with a chilly 3½°C outside on the Yard Thermometer.

    2. Wasn’t there a tradition during State funerals to muffle the guns, lest they wake the pigeons, who would then crap over the black clothes of the attendees?

    3. Same as putting a pillow over a pistol acts as a duff silencer, how about using a politiian for this gun?

    1. It reminds me of that absurd mural that they used to trash the standing of unapproved Labour politicians. This was the one with four hook-nosed shylocks playing Monopoly. I always thought that this stereotype as silly and anachronistic as Lord Snooty representing the upper classes. Big Money bank robbers since the 1980s would be yuppies, first with filofaxes, then with laptops, and now with smartphones, drive SUVs and may even be female clerics.

  30. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/an-age-that-rejects-god-ends-up-killing-its-old/

    A n excellent article by Mr Tim Stanley. An age that rejects God ends up killing it’s old. He says that Matthew Parris embraces assisted dying with such enthusiasm, boundless insanity and eloquence that ones doubts are confirmed. Mr Stanley says that Parris believes our moral code has changed because of a ‘ weakening grip of Christianity ‘.
    Killing becomes inconcievable if one belongs not to man but belongs to God.We spend millions keeping the very sick alive out of human sympathy – because we are raised in a Christian civilisation that considers life as sacred.

    1. Paywall. Can’t read it.

      However, I have noticed that Deacon has changed from rather a superficial, trivial scribbler to a man who writes sound sense.

    2. As I posted here yesterday: “Matthew Parris is a seriously inadequate person who seems to suffer from constant cerebral malfunctions.”

    3. You are made in the image and likeness of God, this I firmly believe. But the idea that you must suffer at the end is just plain absurd. God is love, not torture. The logic of your position is that we should do nothing. To alleviate the pain is surely interference with Gods intentions, if it isn’t, then what is it? If you are in pain then god wants it, does he not? Why is choosing your own end any different from administering pain killers to the point that a person lingers, like a vegetable, or as a mass of pain, any better?

  31. 385254+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 1 April: Any decision on assisted dying should not be made by clinicians alone

    Monday 1 April: Any decision on assisted dying should not be made at all, it is screaming out to be abused and abused it surely will be in very short order.

    This time of year we are suffering the political overseers in westminster that was catering for a foreign ideology above its own Christian following, in the biggest example of “assisted dying” ever seen and going to be seen on this planet.

    These political creatures that keep getting re-elected via the polling stations with the peoples being asked ” do the peoples want them re-elected” and the majority cry in unison, YES
    re-elected them.

    Abuse took up serious station four decades ago and was given succour and nurtured via peoples of the blair stance and a multitude of willing followers.

    In the main the children are the real sufferers running the gauntlet via paedophilia, sexual mutilation, learning mutilation,
    leading in many cases adult mental issues.

    The adults should have the capability to asses, judge, and know better.

    This political set up currently will push assisted dying for their own ends, but they do find assisted living is NOT on the RESET agenda, far from it.

  32. A note to all my Scottish brethren, I am so sorry it has come to this. Your insights will be missed. I hope to see you on the other side.

    1. Everyone up here hates Yousless Yousef so nothing is going to change especially in my household

  33. “Guten morgen my little Rishi, is Klaus”…

    “Oh good morning, Herr Schwab, how kind of you to spend your extremely valuable time calling your adoring and obedient puppet, little me. How can I help you today, Sir?”

    “Destroy Britain!”

    “Yes, of course, Herr Schwab, it is being done!”

    3. Don’t you know anyone who might get close enough to him to do the job and save the population.

  34. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/lord-heseltine-redraw-england-historic-counties-50-years/#:~:text=Lord%20Heseltine%20has%20said%20his,counties%20from%20the%20municipal%20map.

    ‘ Ripping up England’s Historic Counties Doesnt Go Far Enough ‘ Insists Lord Hestletine .
    He says he has no regrets about redrawing boundaries and abolishing several counties from munciple map.

    What an odious little stupid meglomaniac and narcissist . I am a member of the Association of British Counties – a society dedicated to celebrating and promoting the 92 historic counties of the United Kingdom and the important part they play in our culture, heritage and geography, rooted in history and indigenous public understanding . we seek to fully re- establish the use of historic counties as the standard geographical reference frame of Britain and their use in cultural, social and sporting activities.

    1. Several years ago, I suggested that the test of true Englishness was that the English, perhaps more than anyone except the Swiss with their cantons, identify with their counties rather than being English, or their race, their religion, their sexual orientation, their class, their political loyalty or which end of the egg they eat from. I was born in Middlesex, grew up in Surrey and have lived in Worcestershire for the last thirty years. Everything else is subordinate to this.

      You belong to an association that extends this foible to other parts of the UK, but I wonder if the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish or the offshore islanders carry the same loyalty to county. In Wales, there is a huge gulf between North Wales and South Wales, with Pembrokeshire being thought rather English. Likewise with the Scots, there is Highland, Lowland, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Ireland has its counties, but I suspect the Irish identify more with one of their four provinces.

      It is also perhaps the surest indicator separating the indigenous English from the settlers and their descendants, something not considered in the US-governed international-approved definitions of human categorization (sic): black, white or hispanic.

      1. I was born in Gloucestershire. I live here and always have done apart from a few years when my first husband was a soldier.

        1. One reads in the paper, “So-and-so, of Tyne & Wear…” Is So-and-so a fish, in which case I hope he lives well upstream, and in which river?

      2. I was born in Worcestershire, but spent time in Essex and the County Palatine (Durham). Now I’m ensconced in the northern part of the largest inland non-metropolitan county in England.

        1. Good morning Mr T and everyone. Nevertheless Lord H helped to produce three lovely daughters. One of them somehow knew me as a ‘good morning’ acquaintance, and was always well mannered, friendly, and of course good looking. (opposites and all that)

        2. A sharp aside from Alan Clarke? Putting the dog strangler back in his place.

        1. The word Hess in French means (volonte de nuire) desire to cause harm.
          Fits his ongoing and nasty attitude perfectly.

    3. This story was reported on not so long ago and was featured on here. It’s been repeated because it’s 50 years ago today that the reforms were implemented. Local government has always been problematic, particularly the argument over urban v. rural (didn’t someone discuss that on here recently?). Economic development and population growth in the 19th and 20th centuries didn’t coincide with the old county boundaries. However, was it necessary to change the old counties, even if attachment to them was a bit sentimental? No. Surely a management structure could have been created that kept the names prominent in people’s minds but which overcame some of the practical diffculties.

      What we ended up with wasn’t always better and was often more expensive. Here in Northamptonshire, not one of England’s biggest counties, we had seven district/borough councils as well as the county council. Following the financial collapse of the latter, we now we have two unitary authorities which are already struggling.

      Heseltine was always a sh!t. And down at the south end of the county where he lives, much nearer to Oxfordshire than to Northampton, the locals are still waiting for the Farthinghoe by-pass to relieve their village of heavy lorries and to spoil his view.

      1. I don’t think counties are used much for demographic counts any more – there are things such as LSOAs and MSOAs – Lower/Middle Super Output Areas etc

      2. That EU fanatics like Peter Walker and Heseltine were driving it tells me all I need to know.

    4. This story was reported on not so long ago and was featured on here. It’s been repeated because it’s 50 years ago today that the reforms were implemented. Local government has always been problematic, particularly the argument over urban v. rural (didn’t someone discuss that on here recently?). Economic development and population growth in the 19th and 20th centuries didn’t coincide with the old county boundaries. However, was it necessary to change the old counties, even if attachment to them was a bit sentimental? No. Surely a management structure could have been created that kept the names prominent in people’s minds but which overcame some of the practical diffculties.

      What we ended up with wasn’t always better and was often more expensive. Here in Northamptonshire, not one of England’s biggest counties, we had seven district/borough councils as well as the county council. Following the financial collapse of the latter, we now we have two unitary authorities which are already struggling.

      Heseltine was always a sh!t. And down at the south end of the county where he lives, much nearer to Oxfordshire than to Northampton, the locals are still waiting for the Farthinghoe by-pass to relieve their village of heavy lorries and to spoil his view.

    5. While Heseltine is indeed scum most people would wipe off their shoes, the boundary reforms were needed ifonly for democratic purposes. There should be the same number of people in each constitutency.

  35. Cold and miserable, with rain in the offing. I often wonder why Robert has a thermometer that is a yard long…!!

  36. Buogiorno tutti.
    Pinch punch

    I’m back from Brighton – it was lovely. I didn’t realise it was such a big place.

      1. Unfortunately not. Mama wasn’t up to it. We did manage to drive a little around the area so had a peep down some of them.

        1. Did you see the Pavilion? It’s too early for the racing and the beach is very pebbly (and I expect the sea was cold).

    2. You left too early.

      Today is the start of International Pooper Scooper Week.

      We’re sure that Brighton Council will put on suitable celebrations.

    4. Apparently the hard Left communist Greens are determined to re-wild the entire city.

    5. Are you still ‘a lass’ then Stormy

      The lifestyle of the town did not rub off onto you then

  37. https://conservativehome.com/2024/04/01/the-debate-over-the-historic-counties-goes-to-the-heart-of-what-it-means-to-be-a-conservative/ An article from ConservativeHome . ‘ The debate over historic counties goes to the heart of what it means to be Conservative ‘
    . My villiage with it’s Conservative voters is to be ripped up and the same for many others- your excuse would be ‘ Lib Dem councils ‘ as far as im concerned that’s what the fake Tories happen to be. What a sickening article .

  38. https://conservativehome.com/2024/04/01/the-debate-over-the-historic-counties-goes-to-the-heart-of-what-it-means-to-be-a-conservative/ An article from ConservativeHome . ‘ The debate over historic counties goes to the heart of what it means to be Conservative ‘
    . My villiage with it’s Conservative voters is to be ripped up and the same for many others- your excuse would be ‘ Lib Dem councils ‘ as far as im concerned that’s what the fake Tories happen to be. What a sickening article .

  39. ‘Anyone but Sarah Vine’: Mystery over Gove and the disappearing invitation to Scoop premiere
    Levelling Up Secretary’s ex-wife speculates that his friendship with writer may be why the invitation to gala event was allegedly withdrawn
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/invite-to-premiere-rescinded-as-michael-gove-dated-producer/

    There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face said King Duncan when he had been betrayed by the rebellious Thane of Cawdor on whom he had built an absolute trust. Macbeth, another man whom Duncan trusted implicitly, was then rewarded with Cawdor’s title.

    Yes, we can be deceived by appearances but judging by their faces I cannot believe that either Sam McAlister or Michael Gove has a shred of decency between the pair of them.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b81ff045940ae03408965f5a27fd31235a507b1d34006aafa100f58bc8c18315.png

    (Give me Evelyn Waugh and William Boot any day!)

    3. I know where Michael Gove was yesterday morning. To be fair, it was apparently he who insisted that churches should stay open during the second lockdown, not the CofE hierarchy.

    4. I think he’s like any other politician: A power crazed, egotistical, sadistic, spiteful, greedy, amoral, monomanical slightly psychotic bag of effluent.

  40. ‘Anyone but Sarah Vine’: Mystery over Gove and the disappearing invitation to Scoop premiere
    Levelling Up Secretary’s ex-wife speculates that his friendship with writer may be why the invitation to gala event was allegedly withdrawn
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/invite-to-premiere-rescinded-as-michael-gove-dated-producer/

    There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face said King Duncan when he had been betrayed by the rebellious Thane of Cawdor on whom he had built an absolute trust. Macbeth, another man whom Duncan trusted implicitly, was then rewarded with Cawdor’s title.

    Yes, we can be deceived by appearances but judging by their faces I cannot believe that either Sam McAlister or Michael Gove has a shred of decency between the pair of them.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b81ff045940ae03408965f5a27fd31235a507b1d34006aafa100f58bc8c18315.png

    (Give me Evelyn Waugh and William Boot any day!)

  41. ‘Anyone but Sarah Vine’: Mystery over Gove and the disappearing invitation to Scoop premiere
    Levelling Up Secretary’s ex-wife speculates that his friendship with writer may be why the invitation to gala event was allegedly withdrawn
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/invite-to-premiere-rescinded-as-michael-gove-dated-producer/

    There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face said King Duncan when he had been betrayed by the rebellious Thane of Cawdor on whom he had built an absolute trust. Macbeth, another man whom Duncan trusted implicitly, was then rewarded with Cawdor’s title.

    Yes, we can be deceived by appearances but judging by their faces I cannot believe that either Sam McAlister or Michael Gove has a shred of decency between the pair of them.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b81ff045940ae03408965f5a27fd31235a507b1d34006aafa100f58bc8c18315.png

    (Give me Evelyn Waugh and William Boot any day!)

  43. The journey from airport to flat is arranged. It is the occasional outing while we are there that I am thinking about.

    Your advice is greatly appreciated.

    1. Oh, I see. You’re welcome.
      Depending on when you are going it would still be better to arrange the day you want them and give advance notice.
      If you are there on a festival weekend of which there are many you may have some difficulty.
      Mdina is worth a visit.

  44. I would like Yousless Yousef and Leo Varadkar to be incarcerated in the same cell. Both loathe the English so they would be happy enough.

    1. Yes, it was actually fixed last night. The LA boffins seem to work on a Sunday after all, even at Easter.

  47. I think you always need an oversight body to prevent individual vicars and churches going mad, as has been a problem with non conformism. The problem is the hierarchy seem to be set of transforming the CoE into a top down woke version of the GCC.
    The CoE hierarchy could be cut by 80% or more and the parishes wouldn’t notice the difference other than fewer demands for money and paperwork.

  48. That Sunak believes they’re going to win the GE, Ma’am.
    PS Take the gramma ishu up with Mr Tice.

    2. Not a protected characteristic of the Scottish hate policy, for one thing.

      Delingpole is right – the greens are just communist authoritarians. They don’t really care about anything except their own tedious, demented fascism.

  50. King pays surprise tribute to ‘that awful’ BBC man
    Veteran BBC journalist, 70, tells of surprise at kind messages from monarch as he leaves corporation after 48 years
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/03/31/kings-warm-tribute-retiring-nicholas-witchell-bbc/

    BTL

    The King was right first time: . Witchell is an awful man.

    Now if the King can change his mind about Witchell – when he used to be right – then perhaps he should now change his mind about something where he used to be wrong! Man-made climate change is a myth and Net Zero is a total scam – let us hope he will see sense!

    1. I imagine Charlie is just being decent or, more likely, that this sort of missive is mandated. Whether it is meant or not is a different issue.

      For all the money, the flash cars, big houses the Monarchy live life in a cage.

      Climate change wouldn’t be an issue if the fundamental problem were resolved – the complete lack of democractic control. Every problem this country has comes back to big government being able to do whatever it wants without restriction or consent. Remove that and most everything starts working as the public want it to.

      1. When they keep begging on TV for money “to cure cancer by research” I can’t help thinking that Charlie should donate a million or so. He’s rich enough. Wills can chip in, too.

    2. The purpose was never the vaccine. It was the fear. The exercise of power over others to achieve an end goal of control.

  52. I’ve just seen a good April fool gag on ITV. A lady who had paid £1.50 for a huge vase that was later valued at £30,000 was being interviewed over her purchase. When the male presenter ‘accidentally’ nudged it and it fell and smashed. His co -presenter wasn’t in on the scam and she seemed so upset.

    2. Horse and Hound printed a good AF joke aimed at dressage divas; they claimed that, along with well preserved woolly mammoths (that bit was true), they had found a prehistoric horse and rider. The horse had tiger skin leg wraps and saddle cloth plus ear muffs all made from the same skin and the rider’s jacket was similar. The first known example of “matchy matchy” 🙂

  55. Morning to all. Yesterday was chaos. I was quite unaware that the clocks went forward yesterday, figured it out when I thought it was 6 in the evening and it wasn’t. Caticus Khan suffered a feline epileptic seizure to add anarchy to the day and I managed to misplace my Easter egg and my hot cross buns, so chocolate deprivation and bun denial. Thus it goes, but, at least, unlike almost all of you, I have another Easter to celebrate 😁

    As for todays letter. I look forward to the law being changed. I would rather die peacefully than suffocate to death which is my fate if heart failure doesn’t get me first. That people like the Cant of Canterbury have a say in the matter does not fill me with confidence that competent people are in charge of decision making on such a sensitive topic. I have no doubt too, that those who are directly effected by the decision will not be consulted, they are, of course, irreverent to the politicians and the unctuous religious who will decide. But it should be a fundamental right to go when you want. Either you are an autonomous individual or you are not and having the right to die taken from you is the ultimate denial that you are an autonomous person. Your freedom is merely tokenism. Usurping your right to die is the ultimate expression of: “You will own nothing and you will be happy.” the State decides The ultimate assertion that your rights are an illusion, noble sentiments and declarations of the rights of the individual not withstanding.

    1. If the State decides, that means that you are the property of the state. Not good. I’m mine ((c) Marvin the paranoid android).

        1. Yes thanks. Recovering from Easter Saturday. A rather raucous lunch. A crowd of Military folk. I was good though. I only had two G&T’s and a small glass of Malbec with the meal.

      1. Hi Conway! I go up and down, as it were. I go up but the plateau always seems to be lower, if you get my drift.

  56. Now away to local pub to advise them on solving some issues with HSE inspection they had recently.
    Play nicely!

    2. Speaking of HSE, the sodding bin men turned up today. The waste calendar says tomorrow, but of course, they’ve not bothered to see that and of course, my bins weren’t out.

      2. Our brown bins (garden waste) were collected today. I suspect that they are going to be well used for the next two collections, as after that South Ayrshire Council have demanded that households pay £50 per annum for a permit – on top of the recent council tax hike.

        1. Up from £35 last year! And we’ve lost our beautiful floral clock! ‘Too much work”!

    3. I used to do that as well, Paul, as part of the Business Consultancy. to ISO 9000, 9001, 9002 but I started on BS 5750, many years ago.

      2. Like many of these things, problem was mainly of knowing what to actually do, since the guidance isn’t there, and not being a pecialist, the Publican wasn’t sure where or how to start. In actual fact, he has most things in place, but was off ill the day of the audit, or he’d have got away with very few bad marks.
        Now he’s much happier and relaxed, since he’s got a good idea of how to address the problems, and it’s not so much work as he feared.
        Got a couple of London Pride’s out of it, too! What’s not to like!

    4. Back now. Problem is one of getting the documents and precedures, certificates etc in a tidy format, so that the working environment laws are easily confirmed. No major crisis, but an amount of homework for the publican.

  57. Must get to Tesco…

    But before that, anyne else noticed how the national socialist party up in Scotland are behavinng exactly as their namesake used to?

      1. Last night, by popular consent we watched V for Vendetta. Three quarters of the way through the utterly apolitical (being able to avoid the taxes and paying no attention to society) Warqueen said ‘is this a documentary?’

    1. It’s always pakistani muslims who are paedophiles. The state doens’t like me saying that, and no doubt there’s a hate crime awaiting, but it is the simple truth. There’s a problem in that demographic and it needs to be burned out – literally.

  60. ‘Morning All

    Ahem…..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d10564fd5dceb2af5a7f01a0957ed1a1a5d981115e9bb5d389b38b7cf172b056.jpg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aeaddc1f1234bdca367c94271316c965a05ecc40855e0ffca5b4ffef32644b37.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/941c74f70c71c6b5ff3afeccfa5871b6ae075f0df579f0c33fd9a378bed5b118.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a2d7239ecd47e91a16c83fb30658ea7c002d4ef89526d4ec4b3749637ec03a3.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1aff502126c09946a8d8f137b4b9e4474a4ea85c4dac724f3a67c962eafd2eaf.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b48259efabd9d76f5b5fe4f60306e8a99bfdd55f1c18af713a18ba584d45a31.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0e0ddc5c388350b4636116d2536d7137e24996467311cb08b2f37ad2f6dbd5d.png

    1. I’m getting tired of being told it is unfair for Junior to have two parents, as if this isn’t the norm and why it is the reason he does well academically against the diversity.

  62. It’s all about what’s downunder Downunder.

    Australia’s Left-Wing Govt. Celebrates Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2024/03/albanese-wong-640×480.jpg

    Australia’s left-wing Labor government has joined U.S. President Joe Biden and issued gushing praise on Easter Sunday for the “Transgender Day of Visibility.”

    Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong, the country’s first openly gay female parliamentarian, gave the public affirmation on behalf of the government led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

    Their backing came even as Christianity remains the largest single religion in Australia, with a total of 43.9 percent of the nation-wide population identifying with a Christian denomination in the 2021 census.
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/03/31/australias-left-wing-govt-celebrates-easter-sunday-as-transgender-day-of-visibility/

  63. https://i0.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/img_0113-1.jpg?w=1000&ssl=1

    No jury would believe Angela Rayner’s account of her controversial property dealings, leading barrister claims
    By MARK HOOKHAM

    PUBLISHED: 00:38, 31 March 2024 | UPDATED: 13:34, 31 March 2024

    A top barrister last night said a jury would be unlikely to believe Angela Rayner’s account of her controversial property dealings.

    Rebecca Butler, a specialist in family and criminal law, said evidence shows ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that Labour’s Deputy Leader was not living at her council house in Stockport – despite being registered there on the electoral roll.

    Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Ms Butler, a barrister at Great James Street Chambers in London, warned that Ms Rayner could have broken electoral law if her property on Vicarage Road was not her primary address.

    Knowingly providing false information on an electoral registration form is an offence, which can carry a six-month jail sentence or unlimited fine.

    Ms Rayner has said the house in Vicarage Road, which she bought under the right-to-buy policy in 2007, was her ‘principal property’ from 2009 to 2015, but would ‘spend time’ at her husband Mark’s home about a mile away in Lowndes Lane.

    But neighbours at both properties insist she lived at Lowndes Lane throughout.

    ‘The media does need to pursue this,’ Ms Butler said.

    ‘On the balance of probabilities she was living with her husband. Beyond reasonable doubt?

    ‘She’s living with her husband and her brother was her tenant. Why would the neighbours lie?

    ‘It would be beyond the bounds of credibility for people to believe she wasn’t living with her husband and father of her children. A jury would take a hell of a lot of convincing.’

    1. I’m a bit confused about the electoral law element of this matter.I thought it was an offence to NOT enter your name on the electoral register for a property you inhabit unless you declare exemption on grounds it is a second home. On those grounds Ms R would have to enter her name on the register for her principal residence but would have also had the option to enter her name on the register of the second home if she were splitting her time between the two. This is how students end up on the register for their parental address and for their university address and can choose which constituency to vote in for a GE but can vote in both for council elections. It may seem implausible she was splitting her time but she did own the house so it’s not quite like the false residency claims that underpin vote harvesting. The problem seems to me to be much more one of whether or not she misrepresented matters in order to avoid repaying any of the discount on her council house purchase and/or to avoid paying any capital gains tax.
      Maybe she could be called upon to give a statement to the HoC and Hattie can then pore all over it and decide whether or not she has wilfully misled anybody.

      1. Thing is, you can lie in the Commons and not be challenged on it.

        What should happen – tax inspectors investigate the claims on the assumption it was not her main home – as that’s what she denies. She then pays that tax and keeps quiet.

        After all, she’s all for people paying taxes they don’t have to.

  64. 385254+ up ticks,

    For 800 years, commoners have nurtured the forest. Now they are being forced out

    For 800 years plus a great deal, commoners have loved & nurtured these Isles, and now, via the their choice and voting pattern are consenting to being forced out.

  65. BBC admits its weather app highlights the worst of the forecast

    Broadcaster says its smartphone service deliberately chooses the gloomiest weather each day for its ‘headline symbol’

    Danielle Sheridan • 31 March 2024 • 8:41pm

    The BBC’s weather app selects the gloomiest forecast when choosing symbols for the day, it has been revealed.

    Meteorologists at the corporation have confirmed they pick the symbol that summarises the day’s weather based on the dreariest part of the forecast.

    The BBC, which updates its forecasts every hour, said: “The day symbol reflects the weather conditions likely to have the greatest impact on people’s lives.”

    It told The Sunday Times that while this may place emphasis on a “short, specific spell of weather”, it is designed to be “read in context with the broader picture and hour-by-hour detail, which changes according to the latest data”.

    Until 2016, the Met Office provided forecasting for the BBC. MeteoGroup, the largest private-sector weather company in Europe, now has the contract.

    The Met Office has a different approach for selecting symbols to coincide with the weather. It told the paper: “Symbols on [our] forecasts online and on our app are the result of a blend of different forecast models to give the most accurate symbol of the weather possible.”

    It comes as the Met Office said March received “above average” rainfall across the UK, with parts of the South West and West Midlands receiving the highest totals.

    It cautioned that it was “unlikely” the UK rainfall totals for March 2024 will exceed the total of 132 millimetres (5 inches) of rainfall recorded in March the year before.

    This is despite Easter weekend having proven to be a wash out, with the Environment Agency having issued 132 flood alerts across southern England for the weekend.

    A band of heavy rain is set to move across the UK on Monday.

    Gill Haigh, the managing director of Cumbria Tourism, told The Sunday Times the weather symbol on the BBC forecast could interfere with business.

    “Businesses can be frustrated when the headline symbol looks like it’s going to rain while they’re waiting in good weather to welcome customers and people aren’t coming because the weather symbol has indicated a more pessimistic picture than the reality,” she said.

    “If it’s OK between 10am and 3pm, which is the time most people will be visiting, but raining throughout the night, that really isn’t going to be a concern for a visitor. So it’s really important that the weather forecast is not only accurate, but it’s a true reflection.”

    The BBC emphasised that the selection of the day’s image does not affect the accuracy of its forecasting.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/31/bbc-weather-app-chooses-gloomiest-forecast-each-day/

    Two observations:

    i. Many online ‘apps’ give a misleading picture with their sun/cloud/rain symbols. To get a proper forecast you need to know what the weather is actually doing and that requires watching the presentations. This, admittedly, is very trying, as presenters OVERSTRESS words and syllABLES at RANDOM places IN senTENCES. They also use adjectives that have little to do with the weather e.g. rain ‘fringes’ into the south-west. Dear little Tomas has been referring to ‘rugged’ clouds recently. I bet he likes it rugged…

    ii. All BBC weather reporting – in the more general sense – is guilt-tripping propaganda.

    1. The BBC build ‘climate change’ into their forecasts. That’s why they’re wrong.

    2. The weather app on my phone often tells me it’s sunny where I live. A quick glance out the window shows it’s raining sticks. Needless to say, I prefer the mark I eyeball method for determining the weather.

  66. Hard work . . .
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    5. Ah thanks for sharing the pain. I saw all of the early birdies and felt overwhelmed

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      1. Agreed. Just done it – double bogey! Phew, indeed…..
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    1. “This content doesn’t seem to be working.” (Typical beeboid behavious)

        1. When I did that – “This content doesn’t seem to be working.” – was the message!

  69. JK Rowling dares police to arrest her over SNP’s new hate crime law. 1 April 2024.

    JK Rowling has challenged Scotland’s police to arrest her under the SNP’s new hate crime laws after stating that a series of high-profile trans women are men.

    The Harry Potter author, who lives in Edinburgh, tweeted: “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.

    “I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”

    I’m not sure that they will be up for that. Rowling is not only smart, famous and lucid but fabulously rich. Better to pick on some schmuck!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/01/jk-rowling-could-investigated-misgendering-snp-law-scotland/

    1. Go Jo! I’m not fond of her politics, but it has bitten her on the bum!

  71. Putin’s railway through occupied Ukraine ‘almost complete’, says Kyiv’s spy chief. 1 April 2024.

    A 450-mile railway line Russia is building through occupied Ukraine is almost complete, Kyiv’s military intelligence chief has warned.

    “Russia has actually been building a railway for over a year now to connect with our temporarily occupied southern territories. This process is almost complete, and it could pose a serious problem for us,” Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrainian state television.

    Another nail in Ukraines coffin.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/04/01/putin-railway-through-occupied-ukraine-almost-complete/

      2. If you want to be marched out of your home at gunpoint (and sent to Siberia if you object) and have it demolished with little compensation…

        1. Much the same happened here. If you refused to leave they sent in the heavy mob.

        2. HS2 threatens that anyway, doesn’t it? In reality of course it’s not about building a railway. It’s a money laundering scheme.

          2. It’s an EU scheme, part of TEN-T. Mind you, when the EU army is sent in they will be able to move the troops quickly (just as the Autobahns were built for that purpose).

      3. If you want to be marched out of your home at gunpoint (and sent to Siberia if you object) and have it demolished with little compensation…

    1. Ironically [you bothered] so that people *could* do that.

      However, a better question is to point to the legislation that prevents other people mocking and deriding these wasters. That’s what has gone wrong.

  73. Oh i do like Sainsbury’s online shopping. Today’s delivery had one substitute which was fine. Except it dated March 31st Cod in Mornay sauce & £4.96.
    I had also ordered scallop and king prawn gratin in shells. They delivered another version which didn’t have the prawn so i got that refunded too.
    Tomorrow is a free fishy lunch. :@)

      1. I’m not picky in general but the Supermarkets will always refund their mistakes.
        I got a leg of lamb free this time last year because it was dated on the Saturday meaning on the Sunday when it was for it would be one day out of date. I knew there would be nothing wrong with it but whinged all the same.

        There is such a thing as a free lunch !

          12. I rarely complain in restaurants unless they have got it horribly wrong. Wine is another matter.

  74. Re vaccination deaths and side effects.

    If the doctors and commentators are so wrong about the vaccines why aren’t the vaccine makers suing them?

    1. From a verse of the Hypocritic Oaf:

      So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without COVID immunity among you, let him first withdraw treatment for her..

  75. Good ole BBC – Radio 4 Prime news time dedicated to promoting Muzzies and denigrating Israelis. World class prejudice, Worth every penny of your compulsory license fee. (sarc)

  76. As if the Krauts don’t have enough problems.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13258871/Germany-legalises-cannabis-Berlins-Brandenburg-Gate-spark-Smoke-celebration.html

    Germany today became the biggest EU country to legalise recreational cannabis, with thousands flocking to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate overnight to light up joints in celebration.

    A huge crowd packed the streets around the famous monument in the German capital toting cannabis plant-shaped placards and banners that read ‘we don’t want to be offenders!’

    The throng of marijuana enthusiasts erupted in cheers as the clock struck midnight and thick clouds of smoke quickly filled the air as hundreds of people sparked up in unison.

      1. It’s the long term adverse effects of cannabis that will be very bad news.
        Not to mention the increased uptake of stronger versions and other more potent and even more addictive drugs.

        1. Even assisted dying can have longer term adverse effects.
          This really isn’t funny.

          A caller into Radio 4’s any answers last Saturday recalled the experience of a relative who was receiving hospice care for a terminal disease that was causing unbearable pain. The hospice tried all forms of pain relief ultimately using a spinal injection but to no avail. The relative was sent home in agony and died a week later.

          1. One hears of too many similar cases, but as soon as the State/Judiciary start to be the arbiters what seems a humane alternative swiftly becomes the convenient option.

        2. The brother of a friend of mine has cannabis-induced psychosis. The friend has to move house (leaving no forwarding address) every 6-12 months, which is the time it takes for his brother to find out where he lives and make an unbearable nuisance of himself.

          2. I saw the change for the worse in an old friend of mine. Sudden fits of rage. No longer a friend sadly.

          3. I saw the damage cannabis and heroin did to my JobCentre clients 20 years ago. It’s probably much worse now.

    4. How to ruin a country in three easy steps

      1. Mass low education, low skill migration
      2. Take out the cheap energy, get all the industry to move abroad.
      3. Give the kids marijuana instead of jobs

    5. It’s not going to end well. A large chunk of my Step-son’s problems is due to cannabis use.

      1. I suppose there must be somewhere that it hasn’t been a disaster, YET, but as far as I’m aware legalisation has been a bad move everywhere.

    6. Guess what you Muzzie A* hole, you’re living in a predominately WHITE country. If you don’t like it, go back to your original sh1tehole.

  78. BBC news. Free childcare extends to two year olds .
    Maybe mothers should be helped to look after their children instead of someone else.
    Maybe young indigenous families should be encouraged and supported, after all we are forced to support Immigrants and their constant breeding.

    1. How about a radical suggestion that… if you can’t afford it, you can’t have it? Why should people be forced to support families with 4 or 5 children? If you haven’t properly budgeted for your child then you are irresponsible.

      1. How about a radical suggestion that… if you can’t afford it, you can’t have it?

        I’m shocked Wibbles. Deepy shocked. Whoever heard of such a thing? Apart from everyone prior to 1946 that is?

        1. I think, even prior to 1946, some families who couldn’t afford children still had them.

      2. I think that’s almost impossible to work out if you can “afford” children. On that basis we certainly couldn’t back when first married. Regularly received letters from bank saying we were overdrawn (by £2-£5). We’d moved away from rellies and had nobody close to whom we could turn. But we scraped through somehow. How does one actually calculate the cost of a child?

        1. Of course our uninvited guests can have as many children as they like at our expense, bearing in mind that incestuous marriage does weigh the scale of probability towards disability.

          1. Totally agree. What HMG should have done was restrict the number of wives to one, as the rest of us in U.K. and certainly not paid out family allowance to the children of any other “wife”. In fact I’m not sure how it’s been allowed at all. It is most decidedly not right that, due to one’s religion, a man can have more than one wife in the U.K. still, one rule for them and another for us …

    1. The Nationalists really are mental. Scotland is a poor country. It’s poor because of crushingly high taxes, a frenziedly fanatical woke political class – who are corrupt as anything – and it survives on public sector jobs and welfare.

      Until that changes, it will remain poor and cannot be independent – deservedly so. It is the sponging dosser younger brother.

      1. I’d love to agree with everything you say, but the bottom line is that their hatred of the English and the Toaries blinds them. The hatred has far surpassed the sensible option. The SNP have the money and the means, but have chosen to waste it on vanity projects and fantasy embassies. They have done absolutely nothing for the Scottish people, instead grandstanding and lying to us all. I hate them with a passion and expect a heavy mob of Macplod at my door any minute now, followed by the muzzie bastard, and his Labour co-religionist!
        I may be back….

        1. Well said, Sue. As a fairly recent inhabitant, I just look forward to returning to England and a somewhat more time of sanity.

          3. Come back down to England Tom, it’s a lot more gentle down here and it’ll be without the SNP. It’s warmer too .

    3. Wings has published a very heartening legal opinion on their position (haven’t read it – it’s the usual turgid legalese stuff) but the very, very good news is that they are giving Hamas Useless the middle finger and they will KBO

  80. From Colin Gordon, btl on this article:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/01/welcome-britain-energy-rationing-risks-norm/

    There
    has never been a joined-up energy policy in this country since the
    industry was privatised. Smart meters and 30-minute pricing mean for the
    producer, that they can reduce spare generating capacity by smoothing
    out the peaks in the demand curve by charging more for the peak periods.
    This was always the plan – not giving every household a shiny meter to
    monitor their usage. Spare capacity is what gave us security of supply,
    now the plan is to deprive poor Peter who cannot afford the peak prices
    to give the electricity to rich Paul who can afford it. Progress? My
    ar*se.

    Mr Gordon is, of course, wrong. The intent is to socialise the cost of energy, not allow the well off to afford it. Paul is – as with his taxes – subsidising Paul. Both are being forced to use less, but Paul gets his paid for by Peter.

    The entire, fundamental problem of energy is supply. Deliberately, the state has run down supply. to hop on the green gravy train.

    1. There has never been a joined-up policy on transport, defence, education, health, social services or many other aspects of national life that need one so the absence of a joined-up policy on energy is at least consistent with everything else.

    2. There is an energy policy.
      It is for the government to allow the energy companies to keep their prices outrageously high.
      This pleases the energy companies, because they make massive profits.
      It also pleases the government because it means that poor people can’t afford to use as much gas, therefore lowering emissions.
      It further pleases the government because lower usage means less likelyhood of embarassing third world type power cuts.

      The customer doesn’t really seem to count.

      1. He’s as crooked as every other plod in Scotland. Bought and paid for by the SNP. Brainless and clueless.

    2. Spends too much time on how he looks. That beard and tash combo looks ridiculous. Probably a shirt lifter too.

    2. I wish the hawk had scragged Vine instead. Still, I suppose that he would have just turned on the water works and sued it.

      1. After a bit of pausing it’s not a sparrow hawk or peregrine, so he’s probably right with a red kite, which I believe are now common in London according to my brother,

          2. Not sure he realised how it would be received – or perhaps he can laugh at himself, who knows.

        3. Kites are scavengers and used to be prolific in London for that reason. London is clearly becoming very much more attractive to nature’s opportunists.

          1. They’ve come from Wales and moved east to Londonistan’s shitholes. Scavengers but will take birds among other prey, but beautiful to watch flying. Only occasional visitors to Cornwall, so far.

          2. Loads hereabouts. They are beautiful and much more magisterial fliers than buzzards. But they do, as you say, take small birds (swallows, swifts, martins) in flight and it’s distressing to see that.

        4. Looks like a Sparrowhawk to me. Maybe it thought there was a budgie being smuggled by the despicable Vine

    4. What an ugly response by Mr Vine. F*ck his narcissistic electronic tat. I hope the bird is OK.

    1. We live in such a bizarre world where people need their own moments in a goldfish bowl of the modern world. I’m not on any of those, just disqus .
      I miss how things were In the past before such technical advances .

      1. I totally agree.
        But it’s the only way to keep in immediate contact with close family and friends.

          1. Our boys gave up on emails. Two of them spend all day working from home and get fed up with the internet.
            But it’s their job.
            What is nice we can see live an converse with our friends in Oz. A land line phone call would cost us a lot of money.

      2. I text a bit but use the pub for communicating with other folk. Keeps me sane, often quite tipsy, but sane.

      3. I occasionally message friends on Whatsapp and I text, but only about appointments/meeting up etc.

    1. Two of our son’s already live in an office.
      One in a new garden structure, Head office in London.
      One in a spare bed room, HQ in the US of A.

    3. Keep up Richie, it’s all the boaties that are causing the problem and of course Waste-monster and (S)Whitehall.

      2. I don’t think it’s stupidity. i think it is active evil and animus against the UK

        1. And developing a cohort of folk who may be more inclined to vote for joining the EU if it ever came to a fresh vote. (Method in the madness!)

          1. You don’t think they’ll risk another vote, do you? That’s one lesson that will be learned. They’ll just get the IMF to tell us TINA – we have to join.

        2. Yes agreed but stupidity is more hurtful than the ‘THEY’ would like.
          Which fits in with their purposes.

  91. Gorgeous afternoon. Just had a pleasant two mile walk. On one of the lanes – which is used by three cars twice a day – the Council have erected two large “20 mph Risk of Skid” signs. So good to see Council Tax being wisely used….

      1. That’s a bit mean, not worthy of a 2CV or even a Diane. But I appreciate, as a newby, that I may have misunderstood the Nottler banter tolerance : )

        2. They insult each other appallingly, but they don’t seem to mind. There’s no understanding men…

    2. Prolly those sharp bends where you can’t see anything and your underwear needs changing.

      1. Funnily enough, this particular lane has excellent visibility along its whole length.

      2. We have lots of those round here. Interesting when you meet a giant tractor in the middle of the road 🙁

    3. Our roads are now routinely graced by “temporary road surface 20mph” signs. The road surface is not temporary, it is deteriorating and the deterioration has not been addressed for years and will not be addressed now.

      These signs are eventually replaced by “not suitable for motor vehicles” signs, after much legal action by drivers whose cars have been wrecked. On a publicly adopted road.

  92. Richard Tice ‘a threatening bully’, says Tory chairman
    Richard Holden’s response to Reform leader’s ‘pipe down’ comment fuels ongoing row between Conservatives and Right-wing populists
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/31/richard-tice-bully-tory-chairman-reform/

    BTL

    Nigel Farage’s great mistake was agreeing to stand down Brexit Party candidates in the 2019 general election in seats held by Conservative MPs even though many of these MPs were remainers.

    Johnson showed no gratitude to Farage for effectively giving him an enormous parliamentary majority and then Johnson proceeded to betray Brexit by agreeing to a punitively bad deal for Northern Ireland and British fishermen.

    This dishonest act of betrayal is at the very root of the Conservatives’ current problems. Nobody wants to vote for them because nobody trusts them any more. They might as well remarket themselves as the Judas Iscariot Party.

    1. Yes, but these are low grade indigenous criminals who have reached middle age having achieved none of their aims. The “mid-life crisis” provides them with further cause for resentment, someone else to blame, a raison d’etre (can’t do the little hat thingy)

    2. Doubtless most of these terrorists will turn out to be white males posting on blogs such as this, suggesting MPs should be strung up.

      1. Ha ha ha! The putative and non-existent “far right” that poses a threat equivalent to the routinely murderous Islamists, you mean?

    1. Is he the one that sent pictures of his genitals to a young person whose biological sex has been kept secret or is that another BBC pervert?

  96. And, after getting a bit damp working in the off & on light drizzle, the sun has finally come out.
    Did 3½h up the hill getting a couple of fallen trees logged and dragged down for further cutting, splitting and stacking and then came in for a mug of tea and some lunch.
    Did a concoction with turkey mince*, tikka masala sauce, some pineapple and a few other things which was okish for my palette but which Graduate son has turned his nose up at.
    Will be interesting to see what the DT and the Welder Son think of it.

    *Not something I usually buy, but it was being flogged off £1.50 cheaper and labelled “Butcher’s Mince” with the word “turkey” in very small print!

    Now finishing off a mug of tea, then will be dragging Graduate Son up the hill to lend a hand.

  97. Oh FFS!

    “In 2007, the EU announced its energy strategy, devised by a former teacher and Latvian Communist Party member called Andris Piebalgs. He set a target of a 13pc reduction in energy usage across the bloc by 2020. Rather than getting producers to make more, we would all try and use less.

    The target came from a deluded belief that because so much heavy industry had left Europe, with correspondingly big falls in CO2 emissions, the rest would be easy too. In fact, reducing energy merely punishes the consumers and industries that are left. The following year Piebalgs admitted that it didn’t really add up:

    “A radical change in consumer behaviour is needed if we want Europe to be more energy efficient,” he wrote in 2008.

    As I write, we’re importing 25pc of our power, an astonishing amount for a country so blessed with natural resources and know how. We produce only two thirds of the energy we did in 1999. But there will be days to come where no one has any to spare to lend us.

    So pursuing energy scarcity is much worse than a botched meter programme. It’s a catastrophic, civilisational-scale error, and all energy companies can do as a result is coerce consumers to use less. We’ve designed a system that suits them, not us.

    Anger is quite justifiable, but taking it out on the meters is rather like blaming the poor old waiters for your appalling meal; they aren’t the ones who failed to order the ingredients, or cook them properly. Blaming the devices just lets the guilty off the hook. If we had an abundance of energy, nobody would mind the meters.”

    1. Thick as a plank…she deserves all she gets! Gays for Palestine anyone?🌈

    2. Thick as a plank…she deserves all she gets! Gays for Palestine anyone?🌈

  102. A leafless Bogey Five!

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    1. Metoo.
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    1. Is Scotland becoming like North Korea , Indonesia, China , Malaysia, Iran , Afghanistan , Isis, Hamas, Sharia Law? A foreigner is now dictating old fashioned laws to the proud brave clannish Scots?
      4:46 PM · Apr 1, 2024
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      1. It is as you describe, Belle. Scotland is now a tinpot Caliphate with a seriously stupid Caliph (not unlike London in that respect)

    2. From this evidence it appears Mr Yousaf is a racist. Listen to the tone of his contempt.

      1. Isn’t he spitting his hate ?

        This UK bred him, educated him , and nurtured him , where is his gratitude ?

        Born: 7 April 1985 (age 38 years), Rutherglen. Born to Pakistani immigrants in Glasgow.

        He described the September 11 attacks as the “day that changed the world and for me” when he was 16 years old. Prior to the attack, Yousaf was close to two pupils whom he sat next to in his registration class, but after the attack in New York, he claims that they asked him questions such as, “Why do Muslims hate America?”[12]

        Scotland–Pakistan relations
        Yousaf and Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif met in May 2023 in London, with both Yousaf and Sharif declaring a commitment to “further strengthen historic ties between Pakistan and Scotland, including in the domains of trade, investment, education, water management, wind & solar technology and people to people links”.[109

        Ukraine invasion

        Yousaf meets with Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Prystaiko
        During the SNP leadership bid, Yousaf was highly criticised and dubbed as “embarrassing” by asking “where are all the men?” when meeting a group of Ukrainian women.[110] The group of women explained to Yousaf that their husbands were in Ukraine continuing to engage in resistance to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yousaf told the BBC that there were in fact Ukrainian men in the building and that the group of women he had addressed the question to did not appear to take offence.[110] Alex Cole-Hamilton of the Scottish Liberal Democrats described the blunder as “clumsy, insensitive and displays a real ignorance of international affairs” from the “man who is about to lead Scotland”.[110]

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

        1. I thought that the perception of offence giving was all that mattered! just shows what utter stupidity it was passing “hate” laws.

        2. I hope he told his classmates that muslims didn’t just hate America, they hated all non-muslim countries and the wrong kind of muslim countries as well.

    3. Everybody in Scotland and everywhere else in our beautiful islands needs to see and hear this disgusting little racist, every day!

      1. He has got ideas above his station , why doesn’t he take his politics back to Pakistan , and get Imran Khan out of prison , and sort the appalling corrupt mess Muslim Pakistan is in ?

  104. Me too.

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      1. Serco, Capita (and there’s another one who’s name escapes me for the moment) are the troughers installed by the heirs to Blair to cream off wealth, pop it in the washing machine and hoover whatever remains into the carpet bag before this country finally is dustbinned forever. Not long to wait.

      1. 385254+ up ticks,

        Afternoon TB,

        God helps those who help themselves, and we are lacking in that department, I believe.

  106. I bumped into His Holiness Saint Attenborough on the box last night at the parents. He was rabbiting on about a fox in Africa or the Middle East that the locals commit acts of cruelty on for fun. The levels of cope were palpable. But “Ways of knowing” dear Saint. Within seconds he went on to introduce a local who was attempting to educate the other locals against such actions. I raised a further smile at the “Cultural Imperialism” the BBC were subtly engaging in. I didn’t stay around to see if there was some balance afforded towards the fox baiters to get their side across. Unlikely. Remarkably Climate Armageddon wasn’t mentioned.

    1. “Remarkably Climate Armageddon wasn’t mentioned.” But you don’t NEED to mention it – the science is settled.

      1. Even the clerk of the course at Musselburgh mentioned it apropos of the wet weather. I felt like emailing him the rainfall records for the 19th century.

    2. I thought the same , and wept slightly , but didn’t like the look of the hook nosed local , who might have had evil in his heart !

      The dear little foxes now have had the BBC and the whole world revealing their foxy cuteness and desirability

      The media are cruel unthinking b#######.. anything for the money .

      1. We haven’t watched it yet – I upset OH when I told him I could no longer stand Attenborough’s propaganda. He’s watching the ladies’ footie.

      2. You wouldn’t call them “dear little foxes” if you kept hens or farmed lambs!

    3. He’s in 90s, he should be older enough to have more sense, for a ‘ national treasure ‘ .

    1. Where possible I leave my phone at home. If it has to go out with me, it’s mostly in airplane mode. I hate that I’m carrying a tracking device.

      1. Not sure I would trust aeroplane mode these days – a Faraday cage bag is the best option.

    3. I spend a lot of time in hotels, my record is five in one week a while back, and I often see families of four sitting down to dinner and then not saying a word to each other, just fiddling with their damned phones.
      The upshot of this will be the kids will not have the first idea about social skills or conversation, and huge problems in the future.

    1. I have a tiny one for emergency calls only (and those damned bank securiddy text) – bought in 2009.

      It is no good for anything clever.

    1. Another chap with sound judgement about F1….and its prima donna “drivers”….

        1. They won’t even remove their hijabs, so I don’t think there’s much chance of them getting their kit off.

    4. This is not a peaceful display. What is the justification for such activity?

  118. I have a similar one!
    It is a deliberate choice. My colleague had to buy a new smartphone recently – he researched all the latest deals and then spent about 500 pounds – I felt a certain relief that I don’t have to grapple with this responsibility and cost.

    1. Absolutely! I have been given a smart?phone to do an upgrade! I’ve been putting it off for a year now!

      1. Mine’s fairly smart – a four year old Samsung. I tend to use it for Nottling in bed.

  119. That’s me gone for today. To my great surprise there are three spears of asparagus through already. Were I in yer France, I’d have spent part of the day gathering wild asparagus to have in the traditional Easter Monday omelette.

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain.

  120. I thought he was actually part of the mess! I may well be wrong.
    The female osprey has returned!! She’s called Dorcha!

  121. Comment on DT letters

    Pauline Maridor
    1 HR AGO
    Remember when, ‘Our NHS’ was ‘the envy of the world’?
    However, since we have trashed our Judeo-Christian heritage, and have put nothing of value in its place other than the dire “Diversity, Inclusivity, Equity” mantra; spouting management and gender speak.
    Emperor’s clothes, ‘twas ever thus.
    We should not be surprised if the values of our heritage start to disappear.
    If you cut off the tree at the roots, then the fruits will start to die.
    Our NHS is there to largely to serve itself, not those who fought for its existence and who have funded it for most of their lives.
    It is no longer a calling and vocation.
    A few years back, a senior MacMillan nurse in the RUH in Bath, when asked her opinion about management in the NHS.
    These are her very words, spat out with venom.
    “Managers? In a nutshell,
    D*ckheads with clipboards, who stop us working”!
    Bless her… a Northerner, so she did not mince her words. EDITED

  125. A growing number of sewage tankers are blighting towns and villages across England, data released by water firms shows.

    Wessex Water used 1,715 tankers last year, up from 1,038 in 2022. In 2016 the number was only 263.

    Southern Water, which covers Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, used 231 tankers in the first 334 days of the 2023-24 financial year, the highest number by far in a ten-year period. More recently, residents of Southwick said they had been badly affected, with tankers stationed in the West Sussex village since February. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rise-of-sewage-tanker-causes-stink-rural-towns-clean-it-up-pxfb29zzm

    M T Cobb
    27 SECONDS AGO

    Tankers have been running from a treatment site near Lymington for well over two years regardless of rainfall.

    Then in Lyndhurst /New Forest for most of the winter.

    Infrastructure cant keep pace of building on green belt land.

    Christopher Greaves
    1 HOUR AGO

    I can foresee Water Aid advertising on TV in Africa asking for monthly donations to provide safe water in the U.K.

      1. We have a bit more than we did with the 10 million incoming but it’s mostly because Offwatcan’tbebotheredbecausei get dividends from wanker bill payer. Or something.

        1. 10 million more is a 20% increase in mostly non-productive/dependent population (ish – who knows?) with no concommittant improvement to infrastructure nor forward planning. No wonder we’re neck deep in extra effluent.

        1. If I were a cartoonist;
          Houses of Parliament. You can see through a window and see pigs scoffing from an overflowing trough. A pipe extends out over the Thames spewing pig shite into the river.

          1. Nah,
            The pipe extends to fill a trough, from which multiple pipes flow:
            civil service, NHS, county councils, universities, big business and all those pipes split again into the gaping maws of far too many of the employees.

          3. Joking aside, there really are internationally renowned artists in my family, and not just piss artists but for some reason the genes passed my generation by.
            My children draw well, but my grandchildren draw and paint brilliantly. They have won competitions for painting and design, and had works shown in state and national galleries in Oz.

          4. Joking aside also, it is a learnable skill. I am loathe to say this as it is how I have earned my living (in the meagre way that one does in this field unless famous or without scruple). It is immense fun and really not a conjuring trick as so many believe. It is a skill that requires a modicum of application and a lot of honesty, like anything else that is worth doing.

          7. That is interesting – I have no drawing or painting skills whatsoever at all, but on one (!) occasion I did a drawing of a hyacinth plant in almost full bloom using pastels, with which I was really pleased. Our elder son can draw and paint but takes it for granted as a skill, he does not value it, he can take it or leave it, shrug his shoulders as it comes so naturally. And thus he chooses to put his time to other interests. How I would love to be able to express myself with all the beautiful colours and shades available to us now.

          8. I used to exhibit and have done commissions for various people. Somehow I no longer seem to have the time to get down the studio and work. I really do need to organise my time better.

          9. Honestly, PM, although some of us have a facility, anyone can learn to do it if you have an open mind and are prepared to make a complete fool of yourself in the early stages.

            My daughter has a similar (to your son) facility for music – beautiful and pure voice, perfect pitch, has always been able to pick up any instrument and play it, but does not value that facility because it’s ordinary to her and she can’t read (has difficulty reading) music (which she sees to be, or has been taught is, far more important – which enrages me).

        1. Probably not pig manuer, certain people might complain.
          But hang on a mo……..

          1. It’s human shit. This has been going on for years. It is disgusting as well as deeply unhygeinic. And it stinks.

          2. Common practice in paddy fields (and I don’t mean Ireland). Remember that when you’re tucking into your rice.

          3. Not surprising then on the packet it always says ‘rinse the rice thoroughly’.

        2. Someone was muckspreading here yesterday, I presumed it was animal slurry, but who knows?

        3. One year in France they were muck spreading not far from where we were living. In the heat, the stench was unbearable… and the flies were something else. For a month (at least) it was impossible to eat outside – thank heavens for air con. We suspected that the farmer had a grievance against someone and it was payback time. It only happened the one time.

      2. “A tanker pumps sewage from the Lightlands Lane treatment station in Cookham, Berkshire. The vehicles are often used to transport sewage from overwhelmed treatment plants to others with more capacity”

        ‘South West Water, which operates in Exmouth, now has a fleet of 35 of the vehicles, 52 per cent more than it had nine years ago. “Over the last few years the number of tankers has increased sharply, causing considerable damage to roads and inconvenience to residents,” said Andy Tyerman of campaign group End Sewage Convoys And Poollution (sic) Exmouth.‘

        Sounds like a lot of shit.

        1. Oh, I do love “campaign group End Sewage Convoys And Poollution (sic) Exmouth” ! Bet they don’t benefit from the lavish Stonewall taxpayer funding.

          “Cut Overgreedy Mendacious Pilfering Local Environmental Terrorist Eco-twats Costing Ratepayer’s ‘Ardearned Pennies”? Is there a viable acronym there?

      1. And it’s hate speech to report someone who reports Hamas Useless blah blah blob di blob etc..

  128. Are ‘they’ going to do anything about the First Minister of Hamas? Oh, sorry…the police and judiciary have already been bought. Ali Capone style.

  131. When did they start the “celebrity” ones?
    I don’t recall seeing any since Lammy proved categorically that Lammynation is planks stuck together to make thicker ones.

    1. Some one in the SNP might like to add a new series of comments on the finalists. White, White, White, White, White,
      White !
      But not the person asking the questions, of course.

      1. Are they really all white?
        How on earth did that happen, the questions should be so politically correct that only non-whites could possibly answer them.
        Specialist subject: Nuclear physics
        1) Who swept the laboratory floor
        2) Who was the mugger who robbed Einstein.
        3) Well, you get the idea

  132. An American couple say they have been left stranded on an island off Africa after their cruise ship departed without them.

    Jay Campbell and his wife Jill, of Garden City, North Carolina, are among nine passengers who say they were abandoned on São Tomé and Príncipe by the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship when they were late returning from a shore excursion on March 27.

    The Campbells had been eight days into a 21-day cruise from Cape Town, South Africa, to Barcelona when they went ashore for a tour organised by a third-party operator on São Tomé, about 190 miles (300km) west of mainland Africa.

    Jill and Jay Campbell have told the media of their plight
    Jay Campbell told an ABC affiliate that when the outing took longer than expected, the tour operator contacted the cruise ship’s captain to let him know they would be late returning.

    He said they arrived at the port to find the Norwegian Dawn still anchored in the harbour. Campbell said the captain refused a request by the harbour master to let them board as they had missed the 3pm deadline for re-entry.

    The São Tomé and Príncipe Coast Guard then ferried the stranded passengers to the cruise ship, but the captain again denied them entry on to the ship, according to Campbell.

    Campbell told ABC15 that the seven American and two Australian nationals who were stranded on the island include four elderly passengers, one person who is paraplegic, and a husband and his pregnant wife from Delaware.

    Campbell said the stranded group had originally been eight, but that they later met up with an 80-year-old woman who had been on a separate tour organised by the cruise line. He said that she had been concussed after falling while on the tour, and had been left behind in hospital.

    In a statement, Norwegian Cruise Line said it was the passengers’ responsibility to return to the cruise ship on time. It said the ship’s authorities had delivered the groups’ passports to port authorities and they were providing assistance to help them rejoin the cruise.

    “While this is a very unfortunate situation, guests are responsible for ensuring they return to the ship at the published time, which is communicated broadly over the ship’s intercom in the daily communication and posted just before exiting the vessel,” it said. “Our team has been working closely with the local authorities to understand the requirements and necessary visas needed if the guests were to rejoin the ship at the next available port of call.”

    Campbell said that he and his wife were the only ones among the stranded group who had credit cards with them, and that they had spent $5,000 on hotel rooms, food and toiletries accommodating the nine people.

    The couple said that they were grateful to the hospitality of the people of São Tomé and Príncipe, and that they had been receiving consular assistance from the US embassy in Angola. They were due to fly to Gambia on Sunday to try to rejoin the cruise.

    The Campbells are on their third voyage in a year but they said they had never experienced anything like this on a cruise before.

    “I truly believe sometimes we’re put in certain places for a reason and I believe we were put in this place for the 80-year-old woman that was left alone,” Campbell said. “God forbid, what would have happened to that lady if we were not here.”

    D Deaves
    1 HOUR AGO

    I will never use our local bus service again after I turned up at the bus stop on a few minutes late and found it had left without me.

    Reply

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    H Stevens
    35 MINUTES AGO

    You have a bus service?

    Reply

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    James Harrington
    7 MINUTES AGO
    Replying to H Stevens

    Many bus services are very good, depends on many variables but this post was obviously over your head, and your reply is really not fare.

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    D Deaves
    11 MINUTES AGO
    Replying to H Stevens

    We do in deepest darkest Nottinghamshire. Sad thing is wen I wer young I kept a condom in my wallet, now its a bus pass and a donor card. Hope I don’t have to use either.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cruise-ship-norwegian-africa-left-behind-rq2hqvrgz

    1. I expect it was a tour that they had booked themselves. Had it been one organised by the ship’s operators they would have waited (not that I’ve been on a cruise, but several people I know have and they mentioned this likelihood).

        1. Never did to me, either,but I won one in Classic FM’s first competition. 😎

          It was with Swan Hellenic, centred around ancient Greek civilisation. Lectures etc – I imagine most cruises are a little different. I took my mother.

          It’s actually briliant to return to your cabin after a long day’s touristing, waking the next day to a different place without all the hassle of travelling.

          I also got to laugh like a hyaena all the way around the museum of Philip of Macedon’s tomb with the then Bishop of Bath and Wells… 🤣🤣

    1. How do you get the open-winged pictures?

      I get hundreds of butterflies almost all year round and many different varieties.
      The chances of them settling open-winged are next to zero, and even then it’s for a few seconds, at best

      1. Pure luck.
        What the little sods usually do is settle and then wait for me to fart around getting the focus and angle right and then just as I’m about to press the shutter, fly off.
        Small birds also do this, but they laugh while they do it.

          1. Mind he doesn’t catch your finger in those pincers. It’s like slamming the door on your hand!

          3. Did you see the horrendous video posted yesterday with a big green praying mantis? I would be careful – very careful indeed – if i were you : )

          4. I did. Given the right surroundings this one could be green.
            We get a number of them in the garden in various shades, depending where they are hunting.
            I really should carry a camera all the time, we see so many beautiful creatures.

      2. Some butterflies, such as the speckled wood, invariably rest with open wings (usually to bask in the sun). Other species, notably the grayling, immediately close their wings upon landing.

        2. Maybe a camouflage pattern helps the butterfly to not be noticed and become prey when it has it’s wings open?

          1. That is quite possibly the stratagem for the speckled wood, since it favours basking in dappled shade on sunny days in woodland, where its cryptic markings may very well achieve that end.

    1. To be fair it seems to me that our current batch of white leaders don’t represent white people either.

      1. Which ones do you have in mind? In the UK there is only one, which is the Shinner Bint in NI.

    1. WE THE PEOPLE
      @DustyWactor
      I’ve worked on the water all my younger life my uncles are captions as was my late father & I can tell you barges hitting bridges are more common than you realize but bridges are built to withstand the impact now a ship cannot lose power is has 4 generators & a back up system

      2. Captions?
        It was a woman driving
        The man didn’t follow his back seat driver
        stephenroi was in charge
        …

      1. It will still be coincidence. Just like all those food processing plants. Nothing to see here…move along.

        1. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence,
          Three times is enemy action, Mr Bond
          Goldfinger

    4. The more relaxed the regulations and training get (to allow the diversity in), the more dangerous things become.

    1. AND
      If you read the article, and if you’re honest, isn’t a lot of what he’s stating the truth, even though it may be unpalatable?

      1. It’s misogynistic. What he’s saying is that a woman’s place is in the home.

    2. Hopefully as the old song goes, “This could be the start of something big”…
      It could set a very important precedent.
      Let’s get on with it please.

    3. If this sort of garbage is being taught in a state school, just imagine what is being taught in Islamic schools in the UK.

    4. We can sack but I bet muslim schools will employ him. They are evil and need a counter balance. Christianity?

  140. Slightly off topic
    Why does mankind need religion?
    And by “religion” I include belief in Gods, socialism, fascism etc.
    If none of these things existed what would replace them?

    2. None of it is based on fact but on the perceived dreams (probably aided by noxious substances) of nobodies

      1. Whatever else, those “nobodies” will affect the future more than you or I.

    3. Because it’s all a mystery and no one really likes mysteries. Religion is the attempt to solve the mystery.
      That’s why man needs religion. It satisfies this need for an explanation to life, the universe and everything.

    4. Religion and politics; in tandem and separately; are the two most powerful and effective methods of mind-control ever devised.

      When mankind developed rational thought, he realised that he needed a failsafe way in which to exert full and complete control over his contemporaries. The invention of politics and, in particular, religion, achieved that for him. Scare the shit out of them and they will be putty in your hands was the maxim that effected that total control.

      1. All true, but what is it about the average individual that makes them succumb to it?

        1. 385254+ up ticks,

          Evening S,
          Do they ALL succumb to it, politics I mean, I don’t think so.

          As for religion that is a self assessment issue one that is important to oneself, I do believe belief,as in faith, feeds the mind and gives one a content and stable stance.

    5. Man is a spiritual animal. Attempts to ban religion in Communist countries have failed because of this fact.

      1. I think that mankind is basically a seeker after truth. That certainly applies to me. Whatever people say, whatever sophistry is applied, there is no explanation for this world unless…(and here one looks at the evidence, which is all around us)

        The mathematical possibilities for all the beauties and complexities we see around us having developed by accident are on a par with the trope of the monkeys with typewriters accidentally composing the works of Shakespeare,

      2. That’s all very well, Conners, but you are working from the assumption (as so many do) that the existence or not of an absolute truth is a matter of choice or politics for each individual. This attitude is very much akin to the idea of gender identity being a matter of choice and more valid than sexual fact and so on and so forth.

        For some people (of whom I am one) the existence of the absolute is self evident – obvious. My personal aim, therefore, is to align myself (whoever or whatever I am) with the will of the absolute. The Christian aspect of this is also a prime motivator. The important thing being to find out what is the truth and to honour that whenever one can. To try to draw closer.

        1. The quote was not mine, but merely apposite. I have a personal faith. Too many instances of divine intervention in my life to believe otherwise.

    7. Why do you think you can manage without God? Specifically, why do you think you can fight against organised evil without acknowledging God?

      One to ponder, I am just off to bed so am not up for an argument about one of the most important questions of our era.

    8. “Why does mankind need religion?”
      Fear.The inability to accept death is the end leading to snake oil salesmen accruing great power

      1. It is also the glue that holds a culture, and its people together – the belief that there is something greater than themselves out there. Belief and faith is all that is needed. See how a society quickly falls apart when that belief is suspended.

        1. I try to live my life with Christian values and you don’t have to believe in any particular religion to do that

          1. Oh, I agree and I do likewise, but it is that firm belief, that faith, that enables societies to fight together and win against invaders – as we are seeing, and will see, is the case with islam (I know that in this case it is islam that is invading) but unless we a) recognise that we – the majority – have a problem here and b) organise ourselves, then we are in deep trouble.

    9. If there was no religion to define moral standards, who would define the rules behind our civilization?
      Just look at the mobs protesting and disrupting the western world nowadays, do they have a religion to fall back on or is it just a case of follow the mob and the latest fad?
      Canada is an example of what happens without that ethical base. Trudeau has drunk from the woke climate change kool-aid chalice and surrounded himself with believers in his false god to lead us into a divided and failing society.

      1. Just supposing that there is a true God to whom we all have access? Forget Trudeau and co., and their false politically expedient, power hungry and lucrative gods. Suppose, for just one moment, that there really is a way, a truth and a life beyond the meaningless grift that is presently pushed at us from all sides.

    10. I never believed in God however as I’ve got older I do look around me at all the animals, insects, fish, mammals, plants etc and just wonder if this could all have happened by evolution or accident?
      I don’t know the answer and I think I still don’t believe in God.
      We have been in a fairly long period of harmony in this country and have been on the winning side in major wars which were fought for God and Country. I the last 30 or 40 years we have had weak Christian leadership with the current A B of C lacking and Christian identity or leadership. I was brought up with Christian beliefs which I still abide by and we brought our children up similarly.
      Since that breakdown in Christian leadership we are now drifting aimlessly and another alien way of life (muslim) is taking over without us having any Christian or political leadership. Is that true of not? Discuss.

    11. If you believe in evil isn’t there an opposite, I.e., good/God? Yin/yang, up/down. I differ from Alf, I do believe in God. Went to Sunday school in childhood but have drifted away from belief. However, I rediscovered faith in God when our son was critically ill in hospital for five weeks, it wpreally was a life or death situation, and I prayed to God and have done every night ever since.

      In general I think we in the U.K. have become so affluent, caught up in material things, that we have lost our way. At Christmastime looking in the garden centres particularly there is so much “stuff” to buy that it is quite obscene and even all year round they sell so much garbage to out in gardens it’s really quite OTT.

    12. If you can spare the time review the Jordan Peterson interview with Mr Shellenberg I posted earlier.. He has some cogent arguments on the need for a higher authority. Highly commended. (And I’m not religious)….

    14. I’ve just got back from open mic at my local. Music is the food of the ‘gods’. It’s only recently that I’ve come to this conclusion.

    16. Late here today, so I will add my piece for what it’s worth…it is organised religion that I have a hard time with, I would like to think there is some higher authority but all the rituals that accompany most religions, I can’t take.

  141. Nowadays we are not as ignorant as those who fell for it thousands of years ago but the damage is done

    1. Not as ignorant, you say?
      The modern equivalents are “climate change” and “diversity”, in all its forms.
      Humans must be pre-programmed by God.
      That’s a joke.

  142. Bonsoir, mes amis – poisson d’avril!

    Just who else is going to be involved in assisted dying? Politicians trying to save on pensions, relatives looking for a quick inheritance?

    2. Two of Canadas criteria have been:

      Army veterans asking for support.
      Sick people when the treatment costs too much

      1. On April 1st the French try to attach a paper fish (le poisson d’avril) to the back of unsuspecting friends. It’s their version of April Fool.

          1. That would be very irritating! My ties, such as they are, are expensive.

        2. They “pinned a fish” in Marseille on the back of Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in French Connection II.

  145. Indeed so, but there is an element of truth.

    I don’t necessarily like it, but as a matter of interest, do you reject it all?

    1. There are one or two things which strike a chord, but I think he approaches it from the standpoint of women’s place in Islam – very much of an inferior status.

  147. I think you have read too much into my post, I was trying to start a debate.
    So far, it looks successful.
    Is God really necessary to fight evil.?
    If there is no God but an individual recognises something is wrong and fights it, does a lack of God change that?

    1. My position, sos, is that God is there, a reality, so whether or not He is necessary for whatever purpose is moot..

    2. What’s your motivation for fighting evil? Don’t say “my inherent ability to recognise evil” either. If you have no defined standard of goodness, then history shows that humans can persuade themselves that almost anything is allowed.
      There is no sin that hasn’t been accepted as allowed in some culture or other.
      Yes, the church has lost its way in the past, but it has always come back to the standard because it has a divine standard
      When you close your mind to the divinity of right and wrong, moral relativism follows all too easily.

      There is a lot of evidence from whistleblowers as well as from what the parasite class itself says, that we are facing people who do have a coherent belief system – in evil. In other words, they invoke a higher evil power for inspiration and strength.
      In any struggle, the more organised side always wins.
      You can’t fight satan with atheism.
      Allowing oneself atheism is a luxury for the good times – for the serious battles, only God gives us the moral clarity and certainty to defeat satan.

      1. I admire your certainty, it reminds me of something..
        Ah yes, the science is settled

        1. Short post. No nuances. But yes, I have studied this subject a lot in the last ten years, and I have yet to see any better solutions.
          It is the INTJ (software developer) character, we tend to sound arrogant because we have made well researched logical deductions to reach our opinions

          1. I err on the side of agnosticism but of what’s on offer I prefer Christianity.

          2. Zuby recently pointed out that most Westerners want the benefits of Christianity without doing the actual Christianity…

          3. He’s correct.
            But too many people want the Christian succour but won’t change themselves either.

          4. You get out what you put in. If you aren’t sincere, it doesn’t work. You’re constantly trying, and discovering new things. You can never be a perfect Christian. Atheists sometimes think that Christians are preening themselves on being better than others because they go to church, but Christians know that they need to go to try and keep themselves on the straight and narrow.

  148. I photographed some demoiselles among the reeds in the moat at Hever castle a few years ago. Unfortunately, my hard drive died and I lost all the photos from that holiday.

  149. Possibly the fact that we are essentially a tribal species and we look up to our elders.

  151. Seeking after truth opo?

    Here is an old truth from Keir Starmer:

    Keir Starmer
    @Keir_Starmer
    My friend @SadiqKhan is an inspiration.
    The first Muslim mayor of a major western city and a source of pride for us all.
    We’ll never let those who seek to divide us win.
    11:07 PM · Sep 12, 2020

    1. We are talking on different levels as I’m sure you know! And yes, you are right, these are lies of the worst kind.

    2. We did have a Muslim mayor in Calgary, a bit (lot) of a socialist but he ran the city fairly well and made no attempt to convert the city to an Islamic hell hole.

      When in office he didn’t need security guards to protect him, which nowadays counts as quite a plus.

      1. The London mayor Khan has a huge squad of overpaid musclebound goons plus a fleet of armour -plated limos to escort him wherever he goes. Apparently he has received death threats. I cannot for the life of me imagine where from, as the usual death threat merchants are from his religion and demographic. Boris ponced about London on a bicycle or on foot, and still did even when PM.

  152. Seeking after truth opo?

    Here is an old truth from Keir Starmer:

    Keir Starmer
    @Keir_Starmer
    My friend @SadiqKhan is an inspiration.
    The first Muslim mayor of a major western city and a source of pride for us all.
    We’ll never let those who seek to divide us win.
    11:07 PM · Sep 12, 2020

  153. It’s one of many reasons I dislike it.

    Oddly enough, some of the most “feminist” women I have met are Muslims, although I think they are more lapsed than current.

  154. If you want the absolute truth (I believe we all secretly do) then it probably encompasses the idea that the human mind is not capable of fully comprehending it but that the human spirit is part of it. We can’t “know” with our very limited minds but we can participate by admitting this.

    Ian McGilchrist is very good at describing the workings of the human mind in absolute terms. So is Meister Eckhart.

    1. ‘the human mind is not capable of fully comprehending it but that the human spirit is part of it.’
      Profound and thought provoking.

  155. Off, but also on topic.

    One of the great pleasures of Nottle is that one can have a subject under debate and by and large it remains a debate, rather than a slanging match.

    Thanks to one and all.

  159. A living miracle. No-one can explain this. People have tried to cut into chrysalises to find out what goes on in the metamorphosis but they just find a dead, liquid mess.

  160. Nor does it appeal to me (which is why I’ve never been on one). I can’t think of anything worse than being incarcerated in a floating prison populated by hundreds of people I have nothing in common with.

    1. No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned… a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.
      Samuel Johnson

      1. I think the accommodation on board might be slightly better than it was on warships in Johnson’s day, but the sentiment is still relevant!

  162. I know, Ndovu. Now me’n’Lord O are entering our dotage, there is huge pressure to do this kind of thing from (er-hm) well meaning acquaintances who clearly enjoy it (and relatives who see the world as a playground to distract from whatever). I hate going on holiday, I love my home – which is always particularly beautiful at the holiday times – and I fear for my animals and so forth whilst I am away.

    1. I’m like you – east, west, home’s best. I do go off occasionally for specific purposes (quiet in the cheap seats! I mean going racing or eventing), but I have everything I need at home.

    2. My OH won’t fly any more, so my trips are either solo or with a female friend. He’s happy to stay with the cats.

  166. Was the museum at Vergina? A lot of artefacts were in the museum at Thessaloniki.

    1. ‘Twas Thessaloniki. We wandered round planning which items to steal to enhance the Bishop’s Palace in Wells…

      1. I had to spend some time in Thessaloniki waiting for my connecting flight back to Athens. The museum is fascinating.

  167. Sounds as though you saw some interesting places. The only cruise I’ve had was a few days on the Nile, visiting Egyptian temples.

  168. Another day is done so, I wish you goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

  169. Well, chums, it’s now time for bed. Good night, sleep well, and I hope to see you all feeling refreshed tomorrow morning.

    1. Definitely do not garden in the sunshine as that past-time provides a double whammy of having heart disease.

      I’ve gardened from my mid-twenties and as I remain an ardent gardener at 75 yo have I really put my health at risk for 50 years? It’s tosh of the first water, these ‘news’ compilers should be ashamed of themselves.

    4. Goodness me, whatever next!
      “ The results of the analysis pushed experts to recommend that people wear a face mask, if they are in close contact with the soil.

      Experts at the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany said pollution of air, water and soil is responsible for at least nine million deaths each year.” The Sun.

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