Monday 10 February: How to restore the precious bond between the public and the police

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/02/10/lettershow-restore-precious-bond-public-police/

711 thoughts on “Monday 10 February: How to restore the precious bond between the public and the police”

  2. SIR – The Treasury’s reported plans read like Labour proposals, and will destroy trust in the Conservatives among their activists and core voters.

    Could it be that the Treasury, which was the beating heart of Project Fear, is attempting to undermine the new government, whose clear purpose is to prove the Treasury’s Brexit “analysis” wrong?

    Of course, it could just be political incompetence on an epic scale, much in the manner of the pasty tax.

    Phil Coutie
    Exeter, Devon

    1. SIR – I read with incredulity that this Conservative Government is now considering a mansion tax and a restriction to tax relief on pension contributions.

      Since 1991, when I started in private practice as a chartered accountant, I have witnessed many new and increased taxes. Apart from fiscal drag (bringing ever more middle-income earners into higher tax brackets), we have had loss of mortgage relief; loss of a proper marriage allowance; taxation of pension fund dividends; drastically raised rates of stamp duty; a huge hike in VAT rates; loss of indexation allowance for assets held long-term; insurance premium tax; air passenger duty; and annual tax on enveloped dwellings (which many who are liable still haven’t a clue about). I am sure there are others.

      We are always being told that “the argument has been won” and that people want higher taxes to pay for “world-class public services”. I don’t remember having the argument. Governments are voracious: they will always gobble up whatever they can take from us and still be desperate for more, having often wasted much of it on mediocre public services.

      Rowland Aarons
      London N3

      1. Come along now, Mr Aarons…apart from all the new, shiny vanity projects we have an enormous and growing national debt to pay for. You know, the thing that wasn’t mentioned at any time during the election campaign.

        ‘Morning, Citroen.

        1. Cameron used that same argument. “We need htis tax to pay off the debt” thus proving he was… a moron. Higher taxes create debt. They do not reduce it. Hell, look at the evidence. Even ignoring Brown’s manic profligacy for ten miserable years the economy has stalled. Why? Because of taxation.

          We’ll sort the deficit by the state running a surplus.

      2. I certainly wasn’t asked and I do not see any of these ‘world class’ public services. I see a fat, bloated, inefficient, overpaid state doing nothing awash with money that it pays itself. The storm we had the other day closed three roads around this way. Why? Because they were over the curb with water because the useless council won’t clean the culverts. It has slapped on an old persons care tax to council tax and not a penny has gone toward the elderly. It has gone toward the elderly tsar, on a six figure salary and pension, plus expenses.

        A chum of the current ceo – himself a useless trougher whose income has vastly exceeded his worth ten times over.

        over 250 councillors who, when asked to reduce their numbers by a third refused. Why ask the pigs in the trough? Just sack the wasters! They don’t do anything useful!

  3. SIR – Here are a few ideas for improving the police’s performance.

    1. Other agencies (such as local authorities) should be given resources to deal with non-crime situations.

    2. Police priorities must reflect the crimes that have the most impact on the public. In my view, these are terrorism, violent assaults and robberies, domestic and sexual offences, drugs and organised crime, burglary and hate crime. All burglary victims should receive a visit.

    3. There must be a greater emphasis on crime prevention, particularly for internet and phone fraud, and where potential victims are vulnerable.

    4. It must be questioned whether things such as offensive tweets really merit investigation.

    5. Politicians need to interfere less.

    Adam Redgwell
    Canterbury, Kent

    1. BTL:

      Tom Archer 10 Feb 2020 4:24AM
      Here’s an idea:

      Why don’t we recruit police who are physically fit and reasonably streetwise (i.e. not graduates), allocate each one an area of town to get to know, and pay them to walk around a few times a day, getting to know everyone on their patch, especially those who might be inclined to get into trouble; and attend the scene of any crime that occurs on their patch?

      Crazy, I know, but it might just work – we could call it: ‘Walking the beat’ perhaps..

      2. What does someone have to do to be considered streetwise?

        Jack cars? Pick locks? Build shelters in the wood? Design and build siege engines? My first railgun was hilarious. We got a pen to jam in the wall with some whacking great magnets.

  4. The Autobot-upvote muncher has returned overnight. I went from 37,000+ down to 3,000+, crept back up to 5,700+ and then down to 3,887 now. Before I go to zero and then negative, I may re-emerge with a new persona. You have been warned!

      1. I noticed that Mr Viking,
        It’s back and i find the whole thing sinister
        and a little creepy.

    6. Ah, yes. Mine are down slightly again. Presumably whoever is was has been on holiday or something.

  6. Good Morning Folks,

    Calmer day today,
    been out down the station, no sign of any storm damage apart from the smashed station doors

    1. Must be important though, there is nowt but Oscar on the TV news channels this morning.
      What is the point of screening them when everyone is in bed if they just go and rehash the parade the next day.

      1. Good morning, Richard.

        I did notice that ‘Phoenix Arizona ‘won’ an Oscar.
        He is the discourteous little oik who thought it highly
        amusing to curtsey to Prince William.

          1. Brother of the late Rivers Phoenix, the teenage heart throb known and publicised for being a completely clean boy next door character. Until he collapsed and died from a drugs overdose in a coffee shop.

    2. Well whaterever it represents Rik. It simply has to be filled to the trenches with far more diversity than a film about WW1 and all those working class white boys being slaughtered for the sake of a slightly better future.
      And then around a couple of decades later, it all started again.

      1. As with everything, success is measured in sales, nothing else.

        It’s the successful films that allow the ‘art house’ stuff.

      2. As with everything, success is measured in sales, nothing else.

        It’s the successful films that allow the ‘art house’ stuff.

  8. The BBC gave me a lifeline as a child. It must be kept public. Nesrine Malik. 10 Feb 2020.

    It is no exaggeration to say that I would not be the writer I am today without the BBC. As the institution comes under increasing pressure because of its public funding model, it is hard to communicate to those who have access to a good education, an assortment of entertainment options and the regular warmth of interaction with family and friends, how life-transforming a single radio station, or indeed a single radio show, can be.

    Morning everyone. Well it hardly needs it but that is as good a reason as any for shutting it down!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/10/bbc-public-value-audiences

    2. Given that Nesrine Malik was born and educated in Sudan, how much BBC output would she have seen as a child?

      1. BBC World Service.
        Once a valued and deservedly respected part of the UK’s foreign policy.

        1. The BBC’s contribution during the war was something to be proud of, but I believe the rot set in some time ago. There was a series in the 70s titled something like ‘Pedagogical Pop’, which interpreted (American) song lyrics such as ‘I ain’t got nobody’. It was a mystery to me how this would promote Britain and its language to the world.
          Now ‘World Service’ appears to mean every other country rather than our own.

  9. Morning all

    SIR – In the late Seventies I was a detective sergeant serving at Carter Street, the busiest station in London. We had a detective chief inspector, two detective inspectors and four detective sergeants, who had four detective constables under them.

    Each detective had to pass an intensive course before being allowed to investigate crimes. There were about 10 “major” crimes reported each day; all scenes were visited, with the victims interviewed and statements taken. We also dealt with prisoners brought in by uniform colleagues, prepared prosecution papers for the solicitors’ department or the Director of Public Prosecutions, attended court and undertook the prosecutions prior to trial. We were professional, efficient and actually solved crimes.

    Nowadays, reporting a crime is only useful for insurance purposes, and you will only speak to a police officer if you have CCTV to use as evidence.

    Bring back the old days.

    Paul Slaughter

    Alsager, Cheshire

    1. SIR – Several years ago, our house was broken into in the middle of the night. Luckily, the noise disturbed me and the intruders left empty-handed, having broken a window.

      I rang the police and reported the incident (to an answerphone), a neighbour came over to board up the window, and I was castigated for being late for work. I heard nothing.

      At the time, I didn’t realise that I had suffered a trauma, but for months afterwards I went to bed with the lights and radio on. About a year later, I got a tentative phone call from Victim Support. I politely said it was too late.

      Jacqueline Davies

      Faversham, Kent

      1. The trick in Canada when you telephoned the police about a burglary was to tell them that you thought someone was still inside. An officer would appear very quickly and check things over.

        Of course it did no good, they would still fail to recover any goods even when they admitted that they were sure that they knew who had dun it.

        1. Tell the police that someone is still inside and if they cannot get to you, it’s OK as you have a shotgun.

          1. That would work. Aim for the chest, because if you hit them in the back you cannot claim it was self defence.

  10. Morning again

    SIR – The coronavirus outbreak has highlighted the need to wash hands. This is a big problem in supermarket lavatories, where only about half of men tend to wash their hands before using the door handle. Many then go straight to the fruit and vegetable section and handle the products.

    To eliminate the touching of door handles, all lavatories in public places should be large enough by law to have L-shaped entrances, which do not require doors.

    Herbie Hart

    Morecambe, Lancashire

    SIR – Coronavirus is causing havoc among travellers, with quarantine arrangements being made for those arriving from China.

    But what about all the goods we buy from China? Some of these may have been packaged by people infected with the virus. How can we be sure that they are safe?

    Edward Howell

    Swansea

    2. Or they should have a sensor that does away with the need to touch the doors, where an L-shaped entrance isn’t feasible.
      The two cruise ships we went on last year has tissues available next to each door to be used to open the doors on the way out, and many had electronic sensors, so touching the doors wasn’t necessary at all.

  11. “The cost of policing Extinction Rebellion protests is threatening to

    thwart Boris Johnson’s plans for more police on the streets, The Telegraph has learnt.

    Metropolitan Police bosses said they may have to cut recruitment of

    officers to fight violent crime after being told by ministers they would

    have to foot a multimillion-pound bill for policing the XR protests and

    other events.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/02/09/police-row-cost-extinction-rebellion-protests-could-scupper/
    Football has to pay for policing at their grounds,time the ER mob did the same

  12. Guardian’s begging letter at the bottom of any item regarding Europe includes the line ‘Britain may be leaving the EU …’. Not still in denial are they?

    1. Morning all.
      The proposed increase in the BBC’s licience fee could we be disguising the call in of loan repayments to the ECB since the early 2000s. The Brussels Broadcasting corporation have received loans totalling 141 millions. And if I remember correctly more than that prior to that period.

        2. Via a chain of connections to MI5? Undercover operatives leading the way, hence the determination to keep their identities hidden.

          2. No, they’re just following Black Bloc instructions. All dress in black with faces covered. There are too many of them to be MI5. They’re mostly white, middle-class young adults, who act as a mob.

    2. O2O,
      Is there not a clause in our (UKs)
      unwritten rules of submission / PCism /
      Appeasement adhered to by all governance parties that total head coverings be made illegal ?
      These types should really be rounded up in one hit, stripped & spray painted
      in a non toxic long lasting luminous paint.

    3. I thought they already had been designated as such.
      If this is somewhere like Seattle or Portland, the mayor and authorities are on the same side as Antifa.

    4. ‘Morning, Ogga, Antifa, like the Liberal Democrats, have a name for their organisation that is the complete opposite of what they are.

      1. Morning NtN,
        The name is to protect the guilty, for instance in the UK the guilty go under the titles of lab/lib/con.

  14. Give me strength. Silly gushing female talking to Nick Ferrari on the steam radio, “We’re all programmed to Hollywood now.”

    You may be, you daft bint but do not use the inaccurate ‘we are’ when ‘I am’ is the truth. Why do these simple minded people believe that, like them, we all hang on the words of people (luvvies) many of us have never heard of, nor care to?

    1. Morning, Korky.

      I think you will find that the “we are” appellation is redolent of the flimsy and feeble-minded Left, who possess this collective outlook and cannot think for themselves.

      1. Morning, Grizz.

        It makes me see red when I’m included in some feeble minded person’s idea of the World. Hollywood must be the most ego driven and self congratulatory place on Planet Earth.

      3. Lefties actively avoid thinking for themselves. As soon as they start thinking for themselves and analysing their own beliefs reality tends to remind them how daft they are.

    2. I think there’s a considerable terror some people have of making up their own minds and holding to those convictions. That causes them to leap to a faux authority.

      Sadly people do think more of the waffle from ‘actors’. I can only think that’s due to the nonsense of ‘celebrity’. Maybe I am old and curmudgeon, but I’d prefer to celebrate their work rather than the individual.

  16. Was the bombing of Dresden legitimate – or a war crime?

    The destruction of it and other German cities had, he wrote in March 1945, “fatally weakened the German war effort and is now enabling Allied soldiers to advance into the heart of Germany”.

    But if McKay fudges the question of whether Dresden was a war crime or not – asking instead what is to be gained “by pursuing legally precise accusations?” – it is a minor blemish in a carefully researched, finely written and moving account of one of the great tragedies of 20th-century history.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/bombing-dresden-legitimate-war-crime/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1s7v20aC09fWLURG6KBz_gemJj5bZx0cxgOvq9kO7VvbI7_BIMHDkt4fA#Echobox=1581265706

    Oh really?

    1. IMHO The Germans were the war crimes TB.
      But I’ve often wondered how quite a lot of our iconic buildings escaped the attention of the leftwaffe.
      Perhaps those buildings were thought of in a similar vein as the master pieces the Germans were so thoughtfully ‘taking care of’ .

    2. Morning Belle. This is just a part of the ongoing rewriting of British History, invariably downwards!

    3. ‘Bomber’ Harris, AOC-in-C of Bomber Command at the time summed up his, and most probably the Nation’s, thoughts at that time, “I do not personally regard the whole of the remaining cities of Germany as worth the bones of one British Grenadier.”
      Harris, along with his USA counterpart thought that the Germans could be bombed to such a degree that the Allied armies would not have to fight to occupy Germany. It didn’t work out quite as he thought. It was total war and a matter of survival, everything was on the table, as the Japanese later found out.

      1. Berlin was the original target of the first atomic bomb,they were fortunate to have surrendered before it was ready

    4. Killing non-combatants is surely the definition of war crime? Yet the deliberate targeting of civilian targets is not, apparently, a war crime. Which is handy as the RAF deliberately targeted densely populated residential areas in WW2. The RAF could not hit small, specific targets, so blanket bombing of civilians was started.
      Were the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified is a question that will be discussed forever.
      As regards Dresden there are little real argument to support the bombing in respect of the war against Germany. Some think it was carried out to warn the Soviets of the power of the Allies.

    5. Of course it was a war crime, as indeed most military action in a war setting is a crime. War is, by definition, a state whereby morality and civilised justice breaks down, and we are left with expediency.

      The real question to ask is – did the bombing of Dresden achieve its required military objective? There is some doubt about this – any Germans there by then were fleeing west to get away from vengeful Russians in order to surrender to the Western allies, who might treat them better. It seems that the prime motive was to avenge Coventry, and a Mengele-style experiment in urban pyrotechnics.

      The equal atrocity of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki damns the Americans when it comes to a charge of mass homicide. The military objective there, however, was to spare months of fighting their way in against a Japanese garrison determined to fight on to the last. An early surrender probably saved more lives and spared more cities than it took. However, military strategy never works the same way twice, since counter-measures are immediately developed. If the Americans tried the same trick with Cuba in 1962, there might well have been Armageddon.

    6. Dresden happened because the Reds requested help and there were communications networks there. A freak combination of circumstances (hot, dry weather and a wind) and the old timber buildings led to the firestorm.

    2. We are an overcrowded Island .. look what happens when cities fill up too quickly ,, China is an example … WE JUST CANNOT COPE.. our infrastructure is creaking at the seams ..

      The quality of life that was possible in the post war years have now been dashed ..

      Just witness the chaos of jam packed railway stations and motorways , soulless housing estates, and overcrowded hospitals … and the shuffling wary insular people that comprise of immigrant communities .. .

      Is Sajid Javid on our side or the side of the country of his grandparents?

      2. Sajid Javid is no longer at the Home Office, but I don’t suppose government policy has changed.
        Once this sinks in, and Brexit is settled one way or another, the support the Tories enjoyed for a few weeks will completely evaporate. It’s already dissipating and there are a lot of very disgruntled people out there, me included.

        1. Morning Ims2

          I don’t give a tinkers cuss what department he is in , he is what he is .. and he will cause many of us a hell of a lot of worry by virtue of his new status .

          These people are out of touch with ordinary Britain . Some of us are just about getting by . ALL MPs are troughing the coffers .. They don’t mind that we don’t matter .

    3. Morning Ric,
      I and likes will receive a thick coating of
      castigation but warnings have been out since 2005 in rhetorical & book form from Gerard Batten of the dangers of islamic ideology.
      The peoples condone mass uncontrolled immigration via the polling booth not once or twice but time & time again.
      All the while they vote in a vote keep in / keep out, party first pattern the islamic ideology base gets stronger.
      Join the dots of islamic ideology followers in power up and down these Isles and it takes the shape of one big
      mosque encapsulating the nation.
      Good on Goddo.

      1. “There is no war in France” – partly right, a civil one has been brewing for the past 15 months….

      3. We do NOT have a duty to them. The first country they land in has.

        Cripes Abbot is a moron. Worse, this government, with a one off opportunity to sort out this countryis being thrown away.

  18. A bloke starts his new job at the zoo and is given three tasks. First is to clear the exotic fish pool of weeds.

    As he does this a huge fish jumps out and bites him. To show who is boss, he beats it to death with a spade.

    Realizing his employer won’t be best pleased he disposes of the fish by feeding it to the lions, as lions will eat anything

    Moving on to the second job of clearing out the Chimp house, he is attacked by the chimps that pelt him with coconuts.

    He swipes at two chimps with a spade killing them both. What can he do?

    Feed them to the lions, he says to himself, because lions eat anything…

    He hurls the corpses into the lion enclosure.

    He moves on to the last job which is to collect honey from the South American Bees.

    As soon as he starts, he is attacked by the bees. He grabs the spade and smashes the bees to a pulp.

    By now he knows what to do and shovels them into the lion’s cage because Lions eat anything.

    Later that day a new lion arrives at the zoo. He wanders up to another lion and says “What’s the food like here?”

    The lions say: “Absolutely brilliant, today we had Fish and Chimps with Mushy Bees

    1. One thing that Boris has claimed when it has been suggested by opponents of Brexit that leaving the EU will threaten environmental protection by pandering to US Big Business and their lawyers, is that the UK can well improve on the standards for environmental protection. It may well be that our industries need protection from being undercut by the EU, rather than the other way round.

      Caroline Lucas would be wise to consider this.

    2. That shrivelled retard, Thunberg, and her wanker Pink-filth supporters need rounding up and shooting.

      I volunteer to do the shooting!

      BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!!!!!

      1. Well she is right about biofuel and palm oil. The notion of “sustainable” palm oil is a scam. The manufacturers bulldoze a few hundred acres of virgin jungle and plant palm trees. They then apply for Certification from the society of palm oil producers. Self-Certification in action.

    2. An unfortunate American habit, to cover everything with legal small print, including one’s name. My hackles rise whenever I hear the legal disclaimer “always keep away from children” at the end of TV commercials that seems to carry an utterly sinister message undermining family values.

      1. ‘Morning, Jeremy, I always ‘keep away from Children’ as most (particularly those between 16 and 25) have yet to grow out of their snowflake attitude, grow a pair and ‘harden the f*ck up.’

    2. Are they really ‘one-time’ drug offenders, or are they actually hardened drug dealers? The point is, Mr Lammy, that a ‘one-time’ drug use offence usually results in a police caution and no criminal record.

      1. A caution is a conviction, I thought. An easy one for the police. A court appearance should be preferred as a magistrate may be feeling good.

    3. At least 41 British children will lose their fathers. Who does this help?

      Quite possibly many of the 41 children, if takes bad influences out of their lives.

    5. Well, let’s think:

      It gets a mass of drug dealing criminals off the streets.

      It gets 41 children away from a criminal and criminal activity.

      The public, who don’t have thugs on the street pedlling toxic chemicals.

      FO Lammy.

    1. If someone wants to watch Top Gear, regardless of their age, does it matter whether it is on BBC1 or BBC2? Does the BBC really think that people are too stupid to decide?

      1. And no consideration for thos who sit staring at BBC2 waiting for it to come on, but it never does.

    2. Are young people incapable of changing channels?

      Or are those at the BBC incrementally more stupid, even than they were yesterday?

  24. Morning all. The calm after the storm today. Sunny and dry. Hooray. Haven’t checked for damage yet but I think a couple of new plants may have been blown over and that’s all.

    I see the Mayor of London is wanting £31m to cover the cost of “policing” Extinction Rebellion actions – and other events – from the Government, sorry, I mean you and me. Well, excuse me, but I didn’t see any evidence that they
    actually did anything, they just stood around and watched, didn’t they. If the first lot had been arrested and charged with public nuisance perhaps they would not have gone on to bring some parts of London to a halt.

    1. If HS2 is implemented I do not doubt the final cost will be in the region of half a trillion, easily.

      The endless lies, deceit and fraud is silly. Hell, they’ve not laid a scrap of track yet and are overbudget,

  26. Sinn Féin will try to form a government in Ireland after apparently winning more votes than any other party in Saturday’s general election – a historic result that upended the political system.

    Sounds familiar but still the political parties will not accept that mass migration is a serious problem

    Parliamentary arithmetic may exclude Sinn Féin from power, however. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ran more candidates and were expected to each win more seats than Sinn Féin in the 160-seat Dáil Éireann, the Irish parliament’s lower chamber, leaving unclear which parties – if any – will be able to form a viable coalition. Deadlock could lead to another election.

    Sinn Féin, once a pariah for its IRA links, won almost a quarter of first preference votes, possibly pipping Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, two centrist rivals that have taken turns ruling Ireland for a century.

    It rode a wave of anger over homelessness, soaring rents and hospital waiting lists, as well as disillusionment with the traditional political duopoly.

  28. Waste failure: Recycled rubbish dumped in landfill

    Quite often when you red different bit of information from councils it contradicts itself

    PUBLIC confusion over different types of rubbish bin has been blamed for a record half million tons of recycling which ended being burned or buried last year.

    Campaigners say councils have created “green fatigue” by giving householders a baffling range of bins and sorting instructions.
    Last year was the worst yet for waste put out for recycling being rejected and adding to our waste mountain.

  29. What fun. Two unelected people in No10 fighting like cats to decide our future. Grow some balls Boris and knock some heads together.

    It’s Carrie versus Cummings! Boris Johnson’s partner Carrie Symonds and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings ‘are at war over Cabinet reshuffle’
    *Symonds backing those who say Cummings’ aggressive approach is damaging
    *Follows reports Cummings urged Johnson to fire ministers linked to Symonds
    *Cummings will allegedly fire several SPADs, some with connections to Symonds

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7984759/Boris-Johnsons-partner-Carrie-Symonds-chief-adviser-Dominic-Cummings-war.html

    1. Morning to you,

      As I commented yesterday, Boris’s Greenie squeeze is influencing him far too much , and now she is behaving like an unelected SPAD.

      This just will not do , absolutely not .

      Boris has to man up tell her to keep her nose out .

  30. The results from Petri dish Diamond Princess are not good as cases double again

    “The latest batch of test results on the

    Diamond Princess includes 11 Americans and 45 Japanese nationals who are

    confirmed to have the virus.

    Confirmed

    virus patients have been moved to hospitals on the mainland with the

    2,500 remaining passengers confined to their cabins back on the ship.

    One British tourist, David Abel, reported from his ninth-deck cabin today that ‘depression is starting to set in’.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7986227/Number-coronavirus-cases-board-Yokohamas-quarantined-cruise-ship-DOUBLES-130-overnight.html

    1. The nightmare cruise from hell just got even worse for the thousands of passengers still aboard.

      The Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that has been quarantined off the coast of Yokohama, Japan for roughly a week now, saw the total number of confirmed nCoV infections climb to 136 on Monday, cementing its position as the host of the largest outbreak outside China.

      1. That would be the air conditioning. (a guess)
        Sorry, silly me, it isn’t believed to be airborne. (yet)

    4. A couple of friends brag about always getting a small, inside cabin when they go on a cruise – “after all we are never in the room except when we sleep”.

      I can see that they would be testing marital boundaries if we were locked in the same small room for two weeks,.

  31. Bercow’s book gets both barrels in Sunday Telegraph review by Allison Pearson:

    Unspeakable by John Bercow

    The title of this volume of memoirs hints at a degree of self- knowledge previously
    unknown in its author. Alas, there is nothing between its covers which suggests
    that John Bercow is capable of reflecting on his career with insight or
    honesty, let alone shame or embarrassment. It is published amid fresh
    allegations about Bercow’s bullying of House of Commons staff which were
    conveniently ignored so long as he was the hero of anti-Brexit forces. This
    week, his former employer rebuked him for naming alleged victims in his book,
    which is written in a peerlessly oafish style.

    Peerlessly being the operative word. Poor old Bercow has accused the Prime Minister of
    blocking his elevation to the Lords despite a “centuries-old convention” that
    former Speakers are made peers. That’s rich coming from a man who performed
    Kama-Sutra-style constitutional contortions so Remainer MPs could have their
    way with the British electorate.

    Oddly, the autobiography that Unspeakable most reminded me of is I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan. Like Alan Partridge, Bercow is a brilliant comic creation, a monster of self-satisfaction given to glutinous praise towards allies who pose no threat and vengeful asides about those who do. That brilliant, authentic Yorkshireman William Hague is patronised as “a rather buttoned-up character, geeky, frankly a bit nerdy”. (Bercow can’t hide his glee
    when the Tories under Hague do badly.) He knows that he is “frankly detested”
    by David Cameron and the “Notting Hill Set” but he puts that down to snobbery
    rather than good judgment. On one occasion, he reports that Hague said of him:
    “When is he going to join the human race?” But he still doesn’t get it.
    Everyone is to blame except our hero.

    In true Partridge fashion, Bercow tells the reader about chaotic events for which he
    was often responsible, always concluding that he handled things remarkably
    well. Here he is on the debate of September 25 last year, which followed the
    Supreme Court ruling against the prorogation of Parliament: “I gently but
    firmly underlined the premium placed by Erskine May on moderation and good
    humour in the use of language.”

    Gently but firmly? Moderation and good humour? The House of Commons was a bear pit that day. Emboldened by the fact that the law lords had dealt a blow to Brexit, MPs
    bayed at the Prime Minister, aided and abetted by their ringmaster-in-chief,
    his legs dangling from the Speaker’s Chair, his puce face contorted. Recalling
    that day, Bercow now tuts: “Neither Geoffrey Cox [the Attorney General] nor
    Boris Johnson offered the slightest scintilla of contrition or remorse.”

    John Bercow was born in January 1963. His father, a thwarted barrister turned
    second-hand-car salesman, was a hanging-and-flogging Conservative who adored
    Enoch Powell and “would never use one word where one hundred would do and I
    have inherited that prolixity”. We hear less of Bercow’s mother, Brenda, a
    Yorkshire cub reporter, who soon wearied of her prolix husband. They divorced
    in the early Seventies. Bercow had an undistinguished school career (he wasn’t entered for the 11 Plus) but was “intensely competitive and appalled by defeat”. A useful
    tennis player, for a while he thought about becoming a coach, then went to
    Essex University, where he became “addicted” to politics.

    He joined the Conservative Party’s far-Right Monday Club, “the most shameful decision I
    have ever made … even more inexplicably came my appalling decision to join
    the club’s Immigration, Repatriation and Race Relation Industry subcommittee”. Apart from
    his stature, the defining feature of Bercow’s adolescence was acne. Kids at his
    comprehensive school called him “Crater Face”.

    In this early chapter, the most readable in the book, Bercow senses, but cannot fully
    articulate, the long-term psychological damage it caused him. “I have sometimes
    wondered whether my own physical inadequacies led me to embrace such an aggressive,
    macho, control-orientated politics.”

    Short, scarred and highly driven, it’s easy to see how Bercow developed a Napoleon
    complex. A seething, unappeasable anger runs through this autobiography. He was
    good enough at the machinery of politics to land himself the safe Tory seat of
    Buckingham at the age of 34, but admits he had no thoughts of making Britain a
    better place. Nor was there much time for a personal life. On and off, for
    years, Bercow went out with the tall, blonde, “wild” Sally, a Tory who
    converted to New Labour and chided her “young fogey” boyfriend. The unlikely
    couple finally tied the knot in 2002 and Sally went on to achieve notoriety’
    for posing in just a bedsheet when they moved into Speaker’s House, and for
    having an affair with Bercow’s cousin. Who can blame her?

    Bercow offers no convincing explanation for his remarkable shift from the far-Right,
    Powell- worshipping wing of his party to a point where he was asked by Ed
    Miliband to join Labour because “you’re far too progressive for them”. The
    reader is forced to conclude that, having burnt his boats with his own side,
    John “I am not a team player” Bercow cultivated the views and friends most
    likely to secure him the post of Speaker.

    What an unutterable disaster he was in that role, and at a point in our history when
    the impartiality and restraining hand of the Speaker was sorely needed. Bercow says he set out to be a moderniser (reforms such as introducing a nursery for MPs’ children were beneficial) but, by the time he left, Parliament’s reputation as an out-of-touch asylum for the
    terminally arrogant and deluded was firmly cemented in the public imagination.

    Having read this book, I’m afraid it is all too easy to believe that Bercow’s choleric and
    vindictive conduct in the chair carried on behind the scenes. His
    good-humoured, quietly efficient successor, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has just asked
    for anyone bullied by Bercow to come forward. There may be quite a queue.

    Ever delighted with himself, Bercow concludes: “In over a decade in the chair it was
    never any part of my role to serve as a nodding donkey or quiescent lickspittle
    of the executive branch of our political system.” Oh, do shut up, you
    preposterous little man. Napoleon was exiled to Elba. Where should we send John
    Bercow and his Napoleon complex – Rockall, Malin, the Hebrides? As far away as
    possible, please, and take your dreadful book with you.

      2. ‘South Georgia?’ He could then shout “Order, Order” at the penguins who will pay as little attention to him as the rest of us do now.

    2. During his interview on yesterday’s “Broadcasting House” he used the term … ” with respect ” … ahaaa, the Arthur Scargill in him.

  33. A week or two ago I satirically referred to the possible use of flamethrowers as a way of keeping the Chinese public safe from roaming sick people. Now the Police in the UK will be allowed to handcuff people who sneeze or cough suspiciously.

    “Anyone thought to be infected with the virus will now be kept in quarantine for their own safety and will be forced into isolation if they pose a threat to public health. A source told MailOnline: ‘We found we didn’t have the necessary enforcement powers to make sure they didn’t leave.’ The source said the phrase ‘serious and imminent threat’ in the regulation was needed to trigger the powers, and at the moment the risk to the public is still regarded as ‘moderate’. “

    1. But to make sure the police are not loafing around twiddling their thumbs, we will import 300 or so from the infected regions to make it more interesting. Equality with our yellow friends, you know.

    2. No doubt our hyper intelligent plod will ensure the coughers and sneezers are handcuffed behind their backs, to guarantee they can’t even attempt to stop it spreading.

    3. I am not surprised coronavirus is a ‘serious and imminent threat.’

      The Health Secretary has authorised [I assume he authorised it!]
      a Conference Centre to be used as a Quarantine Destination…….
      it is less than a five minute journey to the MI, a few steps away from
      Willen Hospice and between two main arterial roads through
      Milton Keynes.

  37. Good afternoon all.

    Bambi the Blonde
    Bambi the blonde celebrated her 40th birthday with a makeover. She went to the best plastic surgeon in town and got a boob lift, a tummy tuck, butt
    implants, botox, collagen …the works. Ten weeks and thousands of dollars later, she was a new woman — literally.

    Her personal physician then performed her annual physical, noted the new “body work.” When the exam was finished, he called her in.

    “Bambi, your overall health is good, but I want to discuss a problem that often affects women your age, osteoporosis.” Bambi looked puzzled. “Osteo–what?”
    “Bone loss. Many women start to experience it in their 40s.”
    Bambi giggled, blushed and said, “Oh, really, Doc. You’ve seen me naked.
    Trust me, with this body and this face, I get new bones quite often!

    1. Wer snow in Spalding at the moment as well.

      Oh I am so glad to be here with this half inch coating of wet stuff.

  40. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dbc52c3c28f1b95aacc57e5d5b6ee9f2b2de087a599054d9645737b88277871c.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57823d6b94f4f70cc43be253f0a4c4aa826927bb175ecded712898b4f03c47b2.png Apropos the letters today suggesting ways to improve the police, I sent my suggestions in to the DT but, as usual, they fell to the cutting-room floor. Here is the missive I sent:

    SIR—Continual governmental interference is the reason why the public no longer has confidence in the police. Public has given up on police, says watchdog (Headline, February 7).

    A constable (by definition) was, “a citizen, locally appointed, who derives his authority under the Crown”. Successive political interference, since the Edmund-Davies Report (into police pay and conditions) back in 1978, coupled with the introduction of the graduate-entry scheme around the same time, has led to incremental decline in police performance.

    A constable may well be better described, these days, as, “a graduate, appointed from anywhere, who derives his authority by governmental diktat”. Until we make the sea change to return to the historical priorities envisaged by Sir Robert Peel, then confidence in the police by the public will continue to deteriorate at an exponential rate.

    A Grizzly B (retired Derbyshire police officer)

    [P.S. I had a letter published on this very same topic over a decade ago when I still lived in the UK. The message in that letter was strongly supported, the following day, by a retired Deputy Chief Constable from another force, who also reported first-hand experience of the malaise caused by continual governmental interference in police matters.

    It seems that standards continue to decline. I wonder when positive moves will be taken by those in power to take a backward step and restore the British police to the heights of admiration and esteem that was once held for them at home and worldwide?]

    1. I hoped that we would see your response to those letters.

      I would also like to see officers approachable. Police nowadays are frequently dressed in pseudo military uniforms, wearing body protection and carrying a lot of gear slung around their waists – it takes a brave person to approach them and ask what the time is!

      Times have changed and police need to be able to protect themselves but when they start to look like the militia in some mid eastern hell hole, many will steer clear of them.

      1. SIR—Here are a few ideas for improving the police’s performance.

        1. Other agencies (such as local authorities) should be given resources to deal with non-crime situations.

        2. Police priorities must reflect the crimes that have the most impact on the public. In my view, these are terrorism, violent assaults and robberies, domestic and sexual offences, drugs and organised crime, burglary and hate crime. All burglary victims should receive a visit.

        3. There must be a greater emphasis on crime prevention, particularly for internet and phone fraud, and where potential victims are vulnerable.

        4. It must be questioned whether things such as offensive tweets really merit investigation.

        5. Politicians need to interfere less.

        Adam Redgwell
        Canterbury, Kent

        Good effort, Adam. However you let yourself down with your insistence that the police should investigate “hate crime”, which is an abominable misnomer as well as a non-event. It is NOT a crime and there is generally seldom any evidence of hate therein.

          2. I thought that it was so out of synch with the rest of the content that it jarred immediately.

            So much so that I felt it might even have been added by a woke sub-editor.

          1. There’s a programme on Discovery channel: Man versus Bear (pronounced by the pompous Merkin voiceover “Man versus beer”). Is that what you are referring to?

        4. #1 – the police have been the only ones to assist my Mother in her old age, rounding up social services and making things happen. Whilst I really appreciate their efforts, why are they doing this rather than the useless gits in SS? No wonder there’s no time to fight crime.

          1. Displacement activity. They can convince themselves they are doing some good in the world so enabling them to take the moral high ground and lecture the rest of us on ‘hate’.

          2. I had a number of “dealings” with the members of SS during my career. On not one single occasion was I ever impressed by what I saw or heard from any of them.

      2. I have a trauma each time anyone knocks on the door.

        It comes from a number of American-inspired action TV dramas where a gang of officers, dressed as you describe, bang on the door shouting “OPEN UP!!” before going through the front door with a ramrod, trashing the place and before you can say “Cliff Richard” taking anyone inside with arm twisted behind the back into a waiting vehicle, with the customary head pushed down to get citizen into the back seat. He was probably caught online tweeting a word some diverse person might have taken umbrage to.

        The appearance of the police is very bad news today here in Britain. In my youth I would have thought that idea ridiculous.

      1. I attended a week-long course with colleagues when PACE was introduced in 1984 to introduce us all to the Act.

        At the time we were all aghast at the erosion in police powers and the idiocy of giving offenders too much leniency. In the 36 years since that event my opinions have not altered one iota!

        1. Could be worse.
          Could be San Francisco:
          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XzhLlVCwW4
          Son of Jailed Communists is the New DA in San Francisco and He’s Trying to ABOLISH Law and Order

          My cousin recently told me about this. The DA Democrats will no longer prosecute or even investigate thefts under a $1000, so of course theft and shoplifting has skyrocketed. They will not prosecute “quality of life” crimes, e.g. defecating on the sidewalk, etc, etc.

          2. They already are.
            San Francisco and Los Angeles are over-run with thousands of homeless people, many with drug and mental health problems, and crime is rampant. Middle-class residents are fleeing to other states as a result, leaving nothing but the super-rich and the very poor.

          3. My cousin recently told me about this. The DA Democrats will no longer prosecute or even investigate thefts under a $1000, so of course theft and shoplifting has skyrocketed. They will not prosecute “quality of life” crimes, e.g. defecating on the sidewalk, etc, etc.

            Well we are well ahead of the Americans for once!

          5. My cousin recently told me about this. The DA Democrats will no longer prosecute or even investigate thefts under a $1000, so of course theft and shoplifting has skyrocketed. They will not prosecute “quality of life” crimes, e.g. defecating on the sidewalk, etc, etc.

            Well we are well ahead of the Americans for once!

          6. Quite right they should not prosecute defecating on the sidewalk (sic). A beat bobby should make them clear it up. Repeat offenders should lick it up. No need to waste court time.

          7. Yet it was demonstrated that if you police small crimes, the big ones fall, too. If I recall, the architect of that policy (from New York??) was employed for a while in the UK to bring it in. Don’t remember what happened to him – probably chased away because he was being mean to petty criminals by arresting them.

          11. From your Wikipedia citation:

            “The theory was introduced in a 1982 article by social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling.[1] It was further popularized in the 1990s by New York City police commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose policing policies were influenced by the theory. The decade saw a significant decline of crime in the city.”

            Rudy Giuliani is President Trump’s attorney, presently trying to get to the bottom of the (Biden) Ukrainian scandal:

            https://twitter.com/MariaBartiromo/status/1226550389568397313

          13. Not just the son of Communists, but the son of murderous terrorists:

            http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5F35ttNFCc0/UVyGrbIfDTI/AAAAAAAAAQM/K6L27ZB5VEY/s1600/kathie-boudin+FBI+poster.jpg

            “[Parents] Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert were terrorists in the Weather Underground who murdered two police officers and a security guard during a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored security car outside New York City.”

            San Francisco Voters Elect Radical District Attorney, Son of Cop-Killing Terrorists
            https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2019/11/10/radical-son-of-cop-killing-terrorists-wins-san-francisco-da-race-n2556228

      1. Morning, Maggie.

        I’ve seen the best and the very worst that humanity can offer (discovering one of four murdered bodies in the same family was the nadir).

        I couldn’t do the job today under the current régime. I would be perpetually on a charge of insubordination!

    5. Another side-effect of the graduate entry scheme is the effect on the morale of non-graduates in the force. Seeing a load of wet-behind-the-ears graduates parachuted in and reducing the promotion prospects of those who come up through the ranks the hard way must be a huge disincentive to many.

  41. Euston project to get new managers with HS2 go-ahead

    New managers to deliver the much-delayed upgrading of Euston station are set to be announced tomorrow when ministers finally give a go-ahead to the high-speed rail line to Birmingham.
    HS2, the company formed to deliver the 225mph north-south railway, will lose responsibility for the highly-complex London terminus project, which has slipped up to three years behind the original schedule.

    In a major change to plans, the high-speed line will terminate at Old Oak Common in west London for the first three years after its opening, scheduled in 2028, with the final link to Euston due to begin in around 2031.

    The changes are being imposed to try to curb surging costs and delays to the huge infrastructure project.

        1. Afternoon Jbf,
          On reflection since 2016 the peoples have been led all the way
          by different parties in collusion more so than opposition.
          30000 suffer mass knifing , half the opposition group stood down, hero to zero rapid.
          The brexit ball has never left the ersatz tories hands since 2016
          & with friends like their supposed enemies they could not lose.
          My personal take on it.

  42. It is being announced today that 10 new free ports that will be located in areas of run-down industry to create new businesses and jobs.

    They will offer freedom from tariffs on goods imported and then re-exported after being finished in workshops.

    1. I had the most God-awful amount of paperwork to fill out to temporarily import a Land-Rover cylinder head to the UK for refurbishment and valve seats for lead-free fuel, ten return to Norway. It was only for a week, but jeepers, what a royal PITA it was.
      In the end it was all successful, but the company (Turner Engineering – excellent service, deffo recommended) said they had a quota of about 10 such jobs they were allowed to do by HMRC.

  44. Good Afternoon from the Saxon daughter of Alfred of Wessex .
    Those lefties will be at the end of my Long bow and axe,
    whey faced miscreants dipping their paws in Albions gore,
    No respect or decency .

  45. Islington stabbing: Two young men knifed in broad daylight near busy north London Tube station

    Cannot remember ready about this it happened 2 days ago

    Two young men have been rushed to hospital after a broad daylight stabbing near a busy north London Tube station.
    Police and paramedics were scrambled to the scene near Highbury and Islington Tube station just after 2.30pm on Friday.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/308456f7c0c5a0a06ff0603ef7319e607afc14b82cc74513e0662c99824d8b79.jpg

  46. Irish Election Results 102 of 160 seats declared

    SF 36
    FF 21
    FG 19
    IO 10
    GP 7
    SD 3
    SPBP 3
    LAB 2

    1. Irish Election Results 133 of 160 seats declared

      SF 37
      FF 29
      FG 27
      IO 18
      GP 10
      SD 4
      SPBP 4
      LAB 4

  47. Merkel’s chosen successor Kramp-Karrenbauer will not run for chancellor

    The party leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, will not run for chancellor in next year’s elections, the party said in Berlin on Monday.
    Kramp-Karrenbauer surprised party leadership on Monday by announcing that she will step down from her position as the head of the party and would not run for chancellor.
    The jobs should be done by the same person, she is reported to have said.
    She will organize the process of finding a new candidate by summertime and then step down from her leadership role, the party source said, adding that Merkel wants Kramp-Karrenbauer to remain Germany’s defense minister.
    The CDU will hold a press conference about the decision later on Monday.

  49. Reasons to be cheerful?

    “Coronavirus: Brighton GP practice closes after staff member tests positive”

    How many patients & relatives present in the practice at the time staff member was infectious?

  50. Tory candidate jailed for violent threats against Yvette Cooper. Fri 7 Feb 2020.

    The unemployed 25-year-old, a constituent of Cooper’s, was arrested in April last year and stood for the Conservatives in May’s local elections.
    Spencer pleaded guilty in January to sending malicious messages about Cooper, a former work and pensions secretary who has been MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford since 1997.

    On Friday he was sentenced to nine weeks in prison and given a restraining order preventing him from contacting Cooper or her former office manager, Jade Boterill, for 10 years.

    This is interesting only from the point of view that so far as I can make out Spencer has never met Cooper or communicated with her directly at any time. He was prosecuted and convicted for comments he made about her to a third party. This is of course the logical extension of Thought Crime. You do not actually have to do anything. Only think it!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/07/tory-activist-jailed-for-violent-threats-against-yvette-cooper

  51. A record 7,300 foreign criminals are living freely in the UK instead of being deported, new figures reveal

    A record 7,300 foreign criminals are living in freedom instead of being deported, Home Office figures reveal.
    Killers, sex attackers, robbers and drug dealers are among the overseas offenders released after their prison sentences.
    But even though the criminals are due to be thrown out of Britain, they are not detained. Many slip off the radar – potentially putting the public in danger. Others exploit human rights or asylum laws to avoid being sent home.

    Nearly a third – 2,256 – have been on the loose for more than five years. A further 2,895 have dodged being booted out for between 12 months and five years.
    Of the 588 offenders freed between April and June last year, only 29 have been deported.

    1. If we ran across the motorway in the dark and got knocked down, we would rightly get blamed. These set off across the Channel, through choice, and we have to take responsibility for them !

  53. ”

    Fires and floods: maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe”

    This is dreadful. An artist’s impression presented as truth.

    Fires and floods: maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe

    1. Well, they could continue to the sun becoming a red giant if they really want to terrify the children, suggesting that it will all happen before the 2050 or another randomly selected date.

      1. Me too Minty
        The Diamond Princess has only got double the number of cases it had rather than the quadrupling you would expect from an Ro4/5 Rhinovirus
        It;s still the best indicator to watch as the numbers coming out of China are worthless

    2. The fourth route would suggest that Islamic countries may be very susceptible, as well as those with inadequate general hygiene and sewerage systems.

    3. My cousins doctors surgery in Brighton has been
      closed due to the Coronavirus.A businessman who was in Singapore before
      going skiing in France turned up at his doctors surgery
      in Brighton because he was unwell and now has been
      diagnosed with the coronavirus.
      They say if you have been to the affected areas and feel unwell
      even if 4 weeks later NOT to turn up at your doctors surgery,
      you are supposed to ring the emergency services .
      (Not to sure flying is a good idea atm with recycled virus in the
      air conditioning).

  55. Russian anti-fascist group given ‘monstrous’ jail terms. 10 Feb 2020.

    Several members of the group were also convicted of the illegal possession of weapons and explosives and attempted drug trafficking. Five of the seven men will serve their terms in a maximum security prison.

    No Anarchist Cookbook then? They would have been in real trouble with that! It’s six years just for having a copy in the UK!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/10/russian-anti-fascist-group-network-jail

  56. So much for the flood defences! Storm Ciara leaves Yorkshire Dales and Pennines towns under water as £30m barriers finished last year catastrophically FAIL

    That’s what happens when you keep building on flood plains

    Storm Ciara has savaged towns in Yorkshire, drenching homes, supermarkets and restaurants – despite multimillion pound defences built in the wake of the devastating Boxing Day floods of 2015.
    Towns in the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales that have endured years of relentless flooding are under water again after almost three inches of rain fell in the region on Sunday.
    Councils have spent millions on anti-flooding infrastructure after the 2015 deluge left thousands of homes and businesses ruined.

          2. Thank you TB…..on the news, residents of Carlisle who were flooded one year…say it took a year to clear out but things were not the same.

          5. I’m more far west (in England) 🙂 I live in the Marches on the border with Wales; you can’t go much farther west without crossing the border, but north mid-lands (as opposed to north Midlands, although we are classed as belonging to that region, with whom we have absolutely NOTHING in common!).

    3. Funnily enough all those places with beck,rill,lake and river in their name seem to be subject to flooding,those with hill in the name……………
      Not so much

  57. Coronavirus: 60 more cases on cruise ship as ‘depression sets in’ 10 February 2020.

    Testing onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan has revealed about 60 more confirmed cases of coronavirus, Japanese media reports, as quarantined passengers warn of depression setting in over their confinement.

    This is a sort of floating Eyam. They are locked aboard with the Plague Carriers! Surprise. Surprise. They are all catching it!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/10/coronavirus-60-more-cases-on-cruise-ship-as-depression-sets-in

        1. I can’t imagine this is going to do much for new sales of Cruise holidays over the next year or so….

          7. Virus or no, I can’t imagine the horror of being stuck on a boat with a thousand other people, and no way off… AAAARGH!

      3. Morning T-B – There could be manslaughter charges if there are fatalities among the passengers. They couldn’t be kept in worst conditions for this disease and should have been taken off the ship from the start.

    2. They should let them all mingle and the health scientists could garner a great deal of information about the virus. Give them all the best treatment possible of course, but the information would be invaluable. Who’s immune, how many deaths to infection rate etc.

    3. Trying to contain this Virus appears to be overwhelming the logistics available: From an article on ZH:

      https://www.zerohedge.com/health/death-rate-5-harrowing-admission-wuhan-doctor

      “WUHAN (CAIXIN GLOBAL) – In the coronavirus epidemic, doctors on the front lines take on the greatest risk and best understand the situation. Dr Peng Zhiyong, director of acute medicine at the Wuhan University South Central Hospital, is one of those doctors.

      In an interview on Tuesday with Caixin, Dr Peng described his personal experiences in first encountering the disease in early January and quickly grasping its virulent potential and the need for stringent quarantine measures.

      As the contagion spread and flooded his ICU, the doctor observed that three weeks seemed to determine the difference between life and death. Patients with stronger immune systems would start to recover in a couple of weeks, but in the second week, some cases would take a turn for the worse.

      In the third week, keeping some of these acute patients alive might require extraordinary intervention. For this group, the death rate seems to be 4 per cent to 5 per cent, Dr Peng said. After working his 12-hour daytime shifts, the doctor spends his evenings researching the disease and has summarised his observations in a thesis.

      The doctors and nurses at his hospital are overwhelmed with patients. Once they don protective hazmat suits, they go without food, drink and bathroom breaks for their entire shifts. That’s because there aren’t enough of the suits for a mid-shift change, he said.”

      1. Who pays for the extra costs of the extra stay? Food, drink, and so on? Also, demurrage on the ship will be costing a fortune.

      2. Our people are attempting to contact people who were on the plane from Geneva that our new UK patient was on. They are seeking “passengers from near-by seats.” Apparently our people don’t know that planes endlessly recirculate as much of the cabin air as they can get away with.
        Introducing fresh air is expensive as it has to be heated. Many of the larger aircraft have a separate jet engine for that purpose.

        1. And presumably anyone who used the lavatories at any time during the flight, because even if the carrier might have washed his hands on the way out he won’t have done so on the way in, nor before or after lifting the seat touched the taps, the soap dispenser etc etc.

          Planes must be the most efficient form of germ dispenser of mass transportation.

      3. Who pays for the extra costs of the extra stay? Food, drink, and so on? Also, demurrage on the ship will be costing a fortune.

        2. I would expect that it will be down to the cruise company, but given that the government has placed the quarantine orders I would expect them at a minimum to cover demurrage , either that or their insurance companies take the hit.

          I wonder whether the cruise companies “self-insure” for such eventualities, given how rare the risk event must have been assessed to be.

      4. From the photos of the new hospital (quarantine barracks) in China, I noticed they seem to have installed mechanical ventilation information what size micro-filtration or disinfection regimes are being used hasn’t be published.

        1. Is that at patient or room level? If it isn’t patient, there seems little point; except that patients have already probably got it to be in the “hospital” in the first place.

          1. The windows are sealed and barred in each room the mechanical ventilation is on the outside of the building presumably creating a negative air pressure in each room?

          2. Possibly, although the sheer scale of the rooms must make that difficult, unless they have some sort of airlock system between the room and the outside world.

            Call me a pessimist, but I believe that this episode is far far more serious than is admitted by the authorities.

          3. From memory, the photo of each isolation rooms showed a glass fronted pass through facility with a glass flap on the other side – like a very large oblong cat flap but with two flaps which is why I think the rooms are designed to facilitate negative pressure in each room.

    4. Doh!! Don’t you realise that it’s merely the Brexit timewarp as predicted by Alastair Campbell, Mark Carney, George Osborne, HM Treasury, etc, etc,?

      2. I thought I had gone daft, you did it with such conviction & confidence, Geoff!
        ;-))
        Wibble…

  59. Just as a follow up to my weevil attack. I have bought a hoop orchid and it looks lovely…..gradually, will replace the baskets.

    1. I have seen that clip so many times in the past few days and it is still good. Police Chief Wiggum has such a well thought out and reasoned response. 🙂

  62. Har, har, har…

    EU reports SNP to the police over Brexit stunt
    Steerpike – 10 February 2020 – 1:46 PM

    Oh dear. Nothing seems to be going right for the SNP these days. Not only has Nicola Sturgeon lost her finance secretary after he sent inappropriate texts to a teenage boy, but her party is now facing a police investigation in Belgium.

    The naughty Nats appear to have caused a diplomatic incident after they decided to project a message onto the side of the European Commission building on Brexit night. Sturgeon then tweeted out a picture of the stunt, appearing to suggest that the EU had colluded with the performance by hinting that they had ‘left a light on’ for Scotland. Certainly, that suggestion was enough to confuse one of her own MPs.

    Peter Grant MP
    ✔
    @PeterGrantMP
    What a strange thing to do for a European Commission that Labour and the Tories say doesn’t want Scotland back in. https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1223369787260260354 …

    Nicola Sturgeon
    ✔
    @NicolaSturgeon
    The EU Commission building in Brussels tonight (and if you look carefully you’ll see that they do appear to have left a light on for us!) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️🇪🇺

    But it seems the Commission hasn’t seen the funny side. According to the Scottish Sun, an EU spokeswoman has insisted that the stunt had nothing to do with them, adding that it is now ‘a matter for the Belgian police’. She told reporters: ‘This was part of our ongoing discussions with the Belgian police… I know that it was taken up with them as we checked, actually, about the incidents.’

    It seems that when it comes to the SNP’s spinners, the lights may be on but there’s no one at home. Nicola Sturgeon is currently in Brussels speaking at a policy event. Mr S hopes for her sake that no one tips off the Belgian bobbies…

    1. “We will have NO expressions of individuality or freedom of expression without 9 forms authorising it. You WILL learn Scotland.”

      That must be a similar feeling to getting your homework back with a big red “See Me” on it.

        1. No they don’t.

          If they’re stupid enough to keep putting her in then they deserve all they get.

  63. Morning all, found this and thought I’d share:

    Navy Veteran Kirk Douglas. Kirk served during World War II.
    https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Kirk-Douglas-VOD_FB-1366×774.jpg

    “Kirk was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York to Jewish immigrant parents. As a child, Kirk sold snacks to mill workers in order to help supplement his family’s income. After graduating high school, Kirk managed to negotiate himself to Saint Lawrence University on a loan which he paid off working several menial jobs. Kirk graduated in 1938 and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas. In 1941, following U.S. involvement in World War II, Kirk enlisted with the United States Navy.”

    “Upon joining the Navy, Kirk received training as a communications officer in anti-submarine warfare. He was then assigned to PC-1139, a PC-461 class submarine chaser, and sent to the Pacific. There, Kirk served as both a gunnery and communication officer and was responsible for hunting down and destroying Japanese submarines.”

    “On Feb. 7, 1943, Kirk and his crew were alerted by sonar to the presence of a Japanese submarine. Upon confirming the location of the submarine, Kirk and his fellow sailors fired and positioned themselves to drop depth charges. As a fellow sailor went to launch a depth charge marker, he accidentally fired a live depth charge. Once the charge hit the water, it exploded, launching PC-1139 and its crew into the air. Kirk was thrown against the ship and suffered abdominal injuries. After being sent to a hospital to recover from his injuries, it was found that Kirk was also suffering from chronic amoebic dysentery. As a result, Kirk was discharged in 1944 at the rank of lieutenant junior grade.”

    “After being discharged, Kirk returned to New York City and began work in radio, theater and commercials. In 1946, Kirk made his debut screen appearance in ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers’. He went on to have a wildly successful career in cinema, earning three Academy Award nominations, an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

    https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/57864/veteranoftheday-navy-veteran-kirk-douglas/

    2. Full Huawei ban ‘could cost phone firms £1.5bn’
      “A
      full ban on Huawei supplying the 5G network in Britain could cost the
      country’s leading mobile phone operators an estimated £1.5 billion and
      delay the expansion of the faster and more versatile network by up to
      two years. BT, Vodafone and Three would face substantial “tear-out”
      costs of removing Huawei’s equipment from its networks, according to
      Enders Analysis, the..(The times… paywall..)”
      Well that’s just one of the risks of running a business. Tough luck.

      1. “A full ban on Huawei supplying the 5G network in Britain could cost the country’s leading mobile phone operators an estimated £1.5 billion.”
        How? If they make less money on other phones that is just business. It is not a “loss”. It may be less profit than they were planning for?

  64. UK’s worst phone pest jailed over hoax 999 calls costing taxpayer £100,000

    The UK’s worst phone pest is behind bars for wasting £100,000 of taxpayers’ cash by repeatedly making hoax 999 calls.
    Former IT worker Holly Coogan, 32, phoned the emergency services dozens of times while drunk and was jailed for a year after admitting making the nuisance calls.
    On one occasion, East Midlands Ambulance Service dashed to her home but she refused to open her door and was found drinking cider on her sofa.
    Another incident saw three police cars, an ambulance and two paramedics scrambled after she threatened to jump off her roof of her home in Nottingham.

    2. …and the guy who called out the Mountain Rescue and helicopter @ £32,000 a pop; what happened to him?

  65. Funny Old World
    Getting rid of 50 filth is “Mass Deportations” to the Libtards but they get really upset when it’s the other way round and we call it “Mass Immigration”

  66. On a happier note, my garden borders and lawn are ablaze with snowdrops and winter aconites. Beautiful flowers that are the true spirit of winter.

    1. I have lots of hellebores in flower, but two of my borders are flowerless due to having been dug up (and not yet restored).

    1. Worse than that, there was a heavily pregnant woman on the ship.

      “On Saturday, authorities in Gibraltar turned down a berthing request by the ship,”

  68. ‘Morning, all.

    Politicians are spending a lot of time rushing around like headless chickens screaming “Something must be done!” about the coronavirus – which may or may not develop into a pandemic comparable to Spanish ‘Flu – but it’s all smoke and mirrors.

    If they were serious about protecting public health in the UK, they would address the problem, caused by the largely unchecked level of immigration – legal and illegal – from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Middle East and from both North and Sub-Saharan Africa, that has turned the London Borough of Newham into the ‘Tuberculosis Capital’ of the West, where rates of infection exceed those in the Indian sub-continent itself. Several other London boroughs have rates of infection that compare unfavourably with those of such Third World shitholes as Rwanda and Algeria.

    The UK was virtually free of this life-threatening disease until our leaders started importing it wholesale.

      1. I had a TB X-ray in 1980 due to an imported person living in the Halls of Residence being so infected. Fortunately, no problem for me.

      2. I remember having to undergo chest X-rays to do offshore work in Oz, which I presumed were for TB.

    3. Morning DM,
      “Our leaders” I cannot agree to that one, not in my name.
      These are the same politico’s that have
      been endangering the peoples for years & via the ballot booth with the peoples consent.
      These leaders have the peoples consent & backing for policies that have been in place for many a General Election.
      To name but one, mass uncontrolled immigration.

    4. Something the two diseases may have in common as far as their being passed on is concerned: the tendency for the filthy third-worlders to spit phlegm onto the streets.

      1. People used to do that here. Also allowing their dogs to crap on the pavements – they have been cleaned up considerably in recent years – round here at any rate.

        1. Dog crap is a problem in France but getting better. What is getting worse is the spitting on pavements.

      2. Spitting, and worse, are common habits amongst the Chinese. Our child who worked in theatres on cruise ships and in China was quite scathing about them.

    5. This has been happening for at least 30 years. I working at a private hospital in radiology and we had people who wanted to emigrate coming in for their X-ray to prove they did not have TB – it was compulsory although I couldn’t say where they were emigrating to. It should be de rigour for all immigrants to the U.K. to have such an X-ray in their own country before they are admitted here.
      Edit: De rigeur not rigour

      1. A son, d-i-l & 2 kids are going through the Green Card process. Kids jabs are all up to date with certificates – no certificates = no school.

        My son & d-i-l do not have certificates as they are /were not issues 30-40 years ago in the UK.
        No problem! They have had medicals, x-rays, blood tests ………… even although they have lived in Texas for 5.5 years and are healthy
        That’s some 9 months into the process – probably some 12-18 mths to go!

        The process cost $000s and added to this is the medicals + lawyer’s fee for confirming what the employer & employee say …………… it’s a money pit if you paid it yourself.

        PS Granddaughter fell injured her wrist at tennis last week – local minor injuries clinic, no waiting – Dr for 5 mins, X-ray, wrist strap invoice = $1900 – in/out in 30 mins.

  70. That vote munching thing is back again.
    I thought it had stopped, more of mine have been eaten,
    some here like Mr Viking have lost all there remaining ones .
    I don’t like this at all. I find the whole thing sinister and creepy.
    Logging off and having tea. Don’t know when I’ll log in again .

    1. Hey-up Mods, can we not challenge the teenagers at disqus to get their security act together and splat the auto-bots with a killer virus. I would.

      1. Yo Tom – the version of Disqus we now use is still free, so threatening to take our custom elsewhere isn’t going to have them quaking in their boots. The vote-gobbling bot has been an issue for mny months, and it is clear that Disqus has no intention of resolving the issue. Anyone raising the issue on Discuss Disqus channel gets the sort of response here… https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-discussdisqus/bug_reports_feedback_all_upvotes_gone/

        1. Thank you for that, Geoff but it doesn’t do a lot to fortify us (those NoTTLers losing their up-votes) and it appears that the teenagers at Disqus couldn’t give a flying ….

          Maybe far-out thinking but…

          …is there another forum we can use?

          I appreciate that disqus couldn’t give that flying … but for them, what is the effect of dwindling support?

          Je ne sais pas.

          I, for one, will gladly bring on board and hug a more sensible forum.

    3. Don’t let it worry you. I was reduced to zero weeks ago and just opened another account. The old one is still live as well.

    4. I lost over 7,000 in the last spell.

      I’d got a thousand of those back, but since last night I’m down about 1600-1700.

      Childish.

      2. I have lost about 150k so far…I was hoping to go down to 0…it is a very special club I hear.

    5. ‘Evening, Æthel, as a descendent of warlike Saxons, I don’t expect you to give up and go away.

      Isn’t that precisely what the truth-bender auto-bot wants?

      To cause us to shut down and let the lefties lies rule supreme. Over my dead body!

    6. Yes I had munching yesterday…about 700. It is welcome to the lot for all I care. I was hoping they would take the lot actually then they were out of the way. I am whitelisted on all the sites I want to be on so let it munch….not sure if I am whitelisted here????

      It is neither sinister nor creepy…just laugh at it. Funny how only ONE person ever had their upvotes replaced…..as Pud said once here.

      1. Yes, Jenny, you are whitelisted here.
        We check every now and again to
        establish people’s credentials!! :-))

        Good afternoon.

      2. I didn’t care really but Meredith knows an awful lot about this
        and she said that eventually you end up in constant pending
        on sites. If it was just a case of zero votes I couldn’t care less
        but if it was a way of manipulation then it’s an issue.
        It’s still creepy, something keeping a track on you. Not nice.
        I’ve noticed many have New accounts because of the vote
        muncher so it does matter to some .

        1. Good afternoon, Ethel.

          You are a trusted Poster, to make you feel easier
          I have just checked your profile and twice re-afirmed
          your status.

  71. Love the great investigative journalist Brian Cates. He’s from Texas and he says…. ”Nobody asked my opinion….. but here it is anyway” !

    By Brian Cates -February 9, 2020…………..

    ”It’s been a great week for Donald Trump. First, he delivered a powerful State of the Union address to the Congress on Tuesday night that even many of his usual critics admit featured many dramatic and memorable moments…………………… ”

    http://uncoverdc.com/2020/02/09/they-have-trump-right-where-they-want-him-now/

  73. ‘March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers’. Running about a month early I think. Wind is getting up again here.

      1. No one who knows anything about the weather takes any notice of an outlook forecast much beyond seven days.

  75. I have just been reading a thread on care costs as someone wanted to protect their small home for their children’s future. I have mixed feelings…what do others think?

    1. There is no fair solution. I have had suggestions that my mother divest herself of her property to avoid care fees. I reply by saying that is very kind of you to fund my mother’s care as a taxpayer so that I can pick up an inheritance. The money tree is still very real for many.

      1. That is how I feel…I cannot think of a fair solution. There are those who have frittered away every penny and the state provides whilst others have scrimped to provide a future security for the children and they must lose their home to pay .

        1. Looks like Boris has a plan, he’s going to take all our cash well before the end of our days so the problem won’t arise. Except few will provide for their old age, doh!

          1. I have little cash left but spending the last of what I do have on cottage repairs and adjustments so I can stay in my home as long as possible and manage in older age. My family help but I also pay for help. I think I should be entitled to allow my family some security when I am gone. I would like to add that neither hubby or I have one day of unemployment between us. Maybe the state should take certain things into consideration before taking someone’s home. Hopefully i can stay here and not need care.

          3. The same for care homes N…..my aunt had her home sold and eventually that money ran out….she was turfed out into a ‘different’ home. I have help in the home but only what we can afford from our pensions. My daughters have always said they would never allow me to go into a home but…well, they have young children and jobs. As the Gov. continue to up the retirement age, there are less folks around to help with care for elderly parents. There are a lot of issues involved.

          4. It is difficult for our children to cope with extreme old age when dementia, with its personality changes and incontinence especially during the night sets in. Our children think they will be coping with us as we are, except just a little more frail and slow. The day-after-day relentlessness of it all would get to them.

          5. One of the things that David Cameron said when he was just elected (or perhaps before) was – ” I want to end the situation where older people have to sell their homes to pay for their care ” ( as near as I can remember it ). A politician will say anything that sounds good.

          6. Just words, Tony, just words. Tools in the box they lift out to assist them in their job. When they have finished, they put them back in the box and forget about them. Job done.

          7. Exactly P…..I would not want to place this upon them. There is help out there – but you have to pay which we can just manage at the moment. It will be easier once all the renovations are complete. We can increase the hours my helper comes but managing at the moment.

          8. It’s a worry, isn’t it? You either die while you’re still able to cope and pay your way or you get dementia or something similar, live too long and run out of money. Neither is an appealing prospect..

          9. Yes it is N…..it is awful which is why we are doing everything we can to help us in the cottage…stairlift, wetroom, ramp etc etc…..my hubby is 81 in three months but so far managing well and enjoys a long walk. He does most things for me. I would not ever wish for my children to look after me if I am left alone at any point…God forbid.

          10. Not wanting to pry – but have you claimed Attendance Allowance? If so, your other half can claim Carers Allowance. They are both based on need, not means tested. They can help with the extra expenses of help around the house.

      2. My view is that if you have been careful and prudent, made sacrifices and bought your own home, why should you have to sell it when those who are feckless and have p1$$ed everything they’ve had up the wall get everything for nothing?

        1. Ditto…just said the same. Let us not forget those who have lived off the taxpayer for most of their lives THEN get free care in their old age too.

          1. I was just about to mention how many care homes use private funding residents to subsidise their council funded ones.

        3. Remember all the stuff in the media when the TV licence thing first came up ? ” Old people are rich now. They have pensions and own their own houses and have no mortgages ” (“so they can sell a few bricks to pay for the licence”).That’s Conservatism for you.

          1. If they are soaking “the rich” (see the quote), that’s socialism for you. True Conservatives are happy with people having money, working hard and saving for posterity.

        4. It has always been so. Some of us saved to buy our first house. Others went down to the council offices after their third or fourth child, while unemployed and living with parents, and got given a council house based on overcrowding.

    2. We just went ahead and sold MILs house when she moved to a home. The proceeds paid for an annuity to pay for her care plus a decent chunk of change.

      The irony is that now that she is ill, the local council are picking up the tab – same home, same level of care, even the same upgraded room.

      For the past four years she has had friends smuggle in her wine and scotch then smuggle out the empties. We spoke to the nurse today – of course they know she drinks at night, why would they stop it?

    1. “Oi, Boris, are you sure it was a good idea to cut down Corbyn’s magic money-tree forest for this site?”

    3. The old saying; “Don’t bother me with facts, I’ve made up my mind”

      Anyway she’s safe enough from the BBC “nonces”. Now, a 16 year old boy on the other hand….

    4. The pitch is that Greta will be asked challenging questions without preparation and will prove that she really does understand science and can cope with being put on the spot.

      Or the whole charade will be scripted to within an inch of its life. Whatever.

      1. The Greta child is stunted or under developed both physically and mentally. Those pushing her agenda are using her as a glove puppet. You know it, I know it and the whole world knows it.

        The entire Greta Thunberg phenomenon is promoted and executed by dishonest folk with a financial interest in renewables.

        Renewables remain abjectly unable to meet our energy requirements, are vastly expensive and ultimately proven to be unsustainable. Nobody but a collection of fools would persist with this deception. The wretched BBC falls headlong into that particular category.

    5. Right. Scrap the licence fee. Stop pretending, stop threatening. Nobble it. The BBC has funded it’s pension into green so is already biased. To promote it is just insulting.

      Biased, unbalanced and condescending.

  79. Government defends Jamaica deportation flight

    Home Secretary Priti Patel has defended plans to deport 50 people to Jamaica on Tuesday, after more than 170 MPs called for the flight to be halted.
    She said those on the flight had been convicted of “serious offences” carrying sentences of more than a year.
    She was bound by legislation to deport them, she said. But shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the move was unfair

    , A legal challenge that was launched against the flight by a firm representing its potential passengers has been refused by the High Court.
    Duncan Lewis Solicitors had argued that the flight’s passengers include people who are “potential victims of trafficking, groomed as children by drugs gangs running county lines networks and later pursued in the criminal justice system as serious offenders”.

    The flight from the UK to Kingston is due to leave on 11 February

  80. Off-ish topic

    We thank Geoff and Stig for their efforts in setting up and continuing the site.

    I’d like to propose a vote of thanks to Plum-Tart for the daily Happy Hour.

    Well done old girl!

      1. …even calling someone a “girl” these days is fraught with peril at the hands of the ultra woke.

        1. If I were you, I wouldn’t try any other description for P-T.
          Young woman, perhaps, but any of the others and you’ll be on very thin ice.

  81. Interesting investigative video of a discussion with one Wuhan Funeral Home with 11 working Crematoria furnaces. The stressed member of staff eventually confirms in one day 8 confirmed and 48 suspected nCorV deaths. If this video is true reporting it would suggest that the mortality figures in China are not being reported accurately.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLCk54fsbGh6Wb6BOIClI90V3jF-ce6QeS&time_continue=995&v=-KFxCqV1fPQ&feature=emb_logo

    1. Just DON’T put the lid on…you may wait a very long time for someone to rub it and set you free……xxx Goodnight Conway.

        2. I’ve noticed a definite switch from “jam” to “ram” in more recent years. Another way the language is changing. Same with speech – when we left for foreign parts, that flat “estuary” accent didn’t really exist. And certainly not on the BBC.

          2. That would explain it. Corbyn must have picked up that expression while he was working for the Stasi.

        3. …as we never did in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, County Durham, Cumberland (never Cumbria) and various other points North. Momentum and Labour have deservedly lost those regions…let us see if the T’Conservatives can hold on to them. My expectations are low..

        1. It is disrespectful and she is also blocking the aisle. Who does she think she is…Jacob Rees-Mogg?

          3. But but butt, it would regurgitate and then all the passengers would be inconvenienced, as it were.

          1. That’s a surprise, I thought you would be very keen to give her a filling.

            Sorry, open goal irresistible

      2. In fairness to her, those seats are bloody uncomfortable.
        MB and I had to use them last week; the journey seemed interminable.

    9. Emily texting – there was a man sitting to the side of me, he was munching loudly on crisps, so I ate him and washed him down with a nice Chianti – pha pha pha pha pha

          11. Your kindness is overwh elm ing…but I know I have you in the palm of my hands……xxx

  86. What a strange world we live in. We have not had a flash of lightning here in years, although we did have lots of storms 20 years ago. We have just had one pass of thunder and lightning with heavy rain which was incredibly loud, then it went away. Then another wave came through and the flash and bang were very close together and it set off some car alarms.

    Then there was a flash / bang at almost the same moment and you could feel a shudder go through you as the bang went off. I thought “that was very close.” Then this image appeared on social media of a house that is only 0.1 mile away from me. I could see it if there were not houses in the way. The things that can happen. (Fire Brigade are aware.)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ab6110a07f80793964737367cdd95857e9a8c3ab4a039b25d658b8db927f48d.jpg

    1. This happened to my parent’s house in Harpenden some years ago. The roof was extensively damaged, the chimney breast was removed and dropped through the roof into the bathroom, the metal framework of the (detached) garage roof was buckled and twisted.

      The fire brigade were excellent and had the roof sheeted over and watertight in no time. The insurance company could not be faulted either.

    3. OMG……now I am scared all over again. The strength and force of the elements. Keep safe!

      1. Don’t be scared. 🙂 This was one storm in 20 years and I’ve only been that close to a strike once before and that was 30 years ago. Everything went white, there was a deafening bang and the hairs on our arms and neck stood up. Two close ones in 50 years is okay. 🙂

          2. I remember reading years ago about Roy Sullivan who was hit 7 times by lightning in his life and survived all of them. But he was a Park Ranger, so he would be far more vulnerable to them being out in the woodlands when there were thunderstorms. 🙂

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

            Here he is with his Ranger hat and the burn mark from one strike.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6997beada6c8afee479f3d92b3e900ed6c91d02263f46f2ed565d8929445a2cc.jpg

          4. My goodness – I would like to say he’d been lucky – but really can’t say that if you know what I mean.. I got electrocuted once as a youngster. I was stapling crinkly paper to a wall for a store grotto and stapled through a mains…..catapulted me across the room. No health and safety in those days….

          5. I think, Jenny, that you got a severe electric shock. If you had been electrocuted you would have died.

            My childhood incident of a severe electric shock was far more stupid than yours! At nine years of age I was aware that the wireless played music, and that the wireless was plugged into the ‘electric’. Ergo that is where the music came from, or so my ingenuous mind thought.

            My widowed grandmother sold her house and moved to live with her daughter (my aunt). My mum and dad, and another uncle and aunt, were tasked to clean out the house and box up grandma’s belongings. As it was school holidays I tagged along. Sitting on top of a tea chest of assorted bric-à-brac was an old-fashioned, wartime, set of bakelite headphones. They had a braided cable coming out of each earpiece that ended in a steel hook (presumably for hooking over a contact point on whatever device it was used on). I found an old three-pin (round pins) 30Hz plug. I simply put the headphones on, hooked the hooks onto the live and neutral pins on the plug, then plugged it in!

            The shock sent my body flying backwards across the room, the plug coming out of the socket (thankfully) and with me staggering around dizzy for a while. I ran outside and promptly threw up! I knew straight away that I had been more than stupid and kept the event a secret from my parents. I knew then that I was a very lucky lad!

          6. I was experimental, even when a child. These were the days of hatpins, and I discovered you could poke them into those round mains sockets, before the square ring main stuff happened. I was thrown across the room too!. Mind you, ever since then I’ve had an IQ above 145…

          7. Well I never…so that is why I am a genius……lol. Welcome to the Electrocution Club.

  87. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8750e64d7f7e73e5dee92d82c77d08e8e848f2df7c32bff783cbfdb628246ccc.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b1b636f8a179142a43b193e469f21d492dc32bde4d32798f45a961872cf7a46.png I mentioned, earlier this morning, that I had been involved in the enquiry regarding the murder of a family of four when I was a young policeman. In fact I was closely associated with the whole string of events surrounding this horrific crime. The fact that it has taken 43 years for the whole story to be told publicly comes as no surprise since the only survivor of that incident, now in her 80s, has only just given permission for the story to be published. As a result, two books have been written. The first by a reporter at the Sheffield Star, who had access to archive material. The second (due out in four weeks time) by the police superintendent who was tasked to negotiate with the killer in the hour before he was shot dead.

    In the hot summer of 1976, a friend and work colleague of my first wife was walking home with her boyfriend after a night out at a local night club. They went behind the large local swimming pool building to become intimate. Unbeknown to them they were followed by a man who sneaked up on them He smashed a half brick into the head of the boy, knocking him out. He then dragged the girl into the nearby park, stripped her naked and raped her. Both the boy and the girl were found wandering the town, separately, by the night police patrols. A major investigation ensued. I was on early morning duty the next day and, after debriefing, was tasked to visit the park to try and find the half brick, which I did. It was lying in the tracks of the miniature railway covered in blood. After a couple of weeks of investigation, a man was arrested. He was unknown to us but turned out to be a career criminal with numerous convictions from the Blackpool area. Lancs police knew he had moved away but failed to alert other forces!

    He was charged with rape and GBH and remanded to Leicester prison. He was conveyed, weekly from that prison to Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court for further remands whilst the prosecution file was completed and a trial date could be set. On one visit, the staff at the prison were remiss in not searching him properly and he entered the taxi (along with the taxi driver and two prison officers) handcuffed but having two knives secreted in his clothing. This was during the middle of January, 1977, in the worst snow storms for years. Upon arriving on the outskirts of Chesterfield, he pulled out one knife and stabbed the prison officer who was sitting alongside him. He grabbed the other (front seat) prison officer and held the knife at his throat whilst bellowing at the taxi driver to drive on a route he had chosen. The terrified taxi driver obeyed without question. As they drove along a lonely moor-side road with two-foot snow drifts, the taxi driver lost control of his car and ran off the road into a ditch. The man took the keys from the injured prison officer and unlocked his handcuffs before running away over the fields and moors.

    After the police were finally alerted, a huge manhunt ensued. The man took refuge in a cottage that was owned by a young man, his wife and 10-year old adopted daughter. This cottage was linked by an internal door to the next-door cottage where the elderly parents of the woman lived. It transpired that the escaped criminal overpowered both men and tied them up in their bedrooms. He did similarly to the daughter and older woman. He kept the younger woman hostage and she had to bow to his demands otherwise he would kill her family. She didn’t know it but he had killed most of the family members almost immediately since they represented a threat to him. This took place over a period of three-to-four days before neighbours alerted the police to suspicious events at the cottage.

    I was in the first unmarked police car (along with three detectives) to arrive at the nearby pub, which became a makeshift incident room, where we were told to await the arrival of senior officers (who had more gathered intelligence) before we went to surround the cottage. I went with three other officers and approached the cottage from the rear in two-foot snow drifts. It was clear that all the lights were on inside the cottage and the back door was locked. Two detectives shouted through a megaphone for the occupants to come out but the house was in silence. They gained entry by breaking the kitchen window and climbing inside. They unlocked the back door and a number of other detectives entered. Initially they found the tied, gagged and stabbed bodies of the two men. There was no trace of the perpetrator nor the woman. We then discovered that he had driven away at high speed with her as a hostage. The car was followed by a high-speed pursuit car and we listed to the progress of the chase on the force VHF radio. Not long after this a detective emerged to say they had found a third body, the one of the 10-year old daughter in a separate room. I was then asked to check a nearby garage to see if there was anything concealed within. I couldn’t open the door because a large drift of snow. As I kicked at the drift, I discovered a body lying concealed beneath it. This was the older woman whose throat had been cut!

    Out on the roads, the pursuing police car forced the escapee’s car off the road. The escapee still had an axe and knife at the woman’s throat. Since the officers were unarmed, they has no option but to hand over their police car to him and he drove off, still with the woman. Ahead, just over the boundary into Cheshire, Derbyshire police had raced ahead to cut off his route. They commandeered a ‘bus and placed it a cross the road, totally blocking it. When the stolen police car arrived, it careered off the road and into a wall. The escapee remained inside with the knife at the woman’s throat. He was demanding another car. The trained police negotiator spent a great deal of time calmly trying to persuade the escapee into giving up, but it was clear that he was in a manic state and, after a while, it was decided that the woman’s life was in immediate danger, so two trained police marksmen popped up and shot him three times in the head and chest.

    After we had learned what had happened my sergeant, a much older and very experienced chap, took a group of us young bobbies to one side and said to us, “Listen chaps. No matter how long you serve, or what type of events you get involved in from now on; the events you have witnessed of tonight will be the worst case you will ever have to experience! His wise words have always remained with me. As have the events of that awful night.

    A few days later I was at the hospital mortuary, dealing with an unrelated sudden death, when our station’s DI turned up. He had come to formally identify a body. I stood adjacent him as the naked body of the escapee was pulled from a fridge. The three bullet holes were clearly seen. It took a great degree of self-control to refrain from spitting on the body!

    I have started reading the reporter’s book on the incident, but I’m really looking forward more to reading it through the eyes and experience of the police negotiator when his book is published in March.

    2. A horrific incident, made moreso at the time by the rarity. I wonder how newsworthy it would be today. It is very worrying to think that today the population at large may be inured to such an event.

    4. And, because of the abolition of capital punishment, if he had not been shot but imprisoned he would have been a danger for years; or even worse, eventually released.

      Thank goodness for the police.

      1. Thanks, Paul, and to all of you below.

        Apart from the specific times that I mentioned, I was not actively engaged on either of those enquiries. They had a dedicated enquiry team but I remained on my beat car duties.

        I have never suffered any flashbacks (no counselling in those days, you just got on with it) and I never felt that I had been directly affected. However, I did go through an extended phase when insomnia was a way of life for me. Whether that had anything to do with it, I’ll never know.

    6. Horrific! Not something you could forget in a hurry. It sounds as though the young couple he attacked first were lucky to escape with their lives. No wonder the woman hostage didn’t want to talk about it for over 40 years.

    7. OMGoodness……what a terrible crime. That poor family. How do innocent little babes grow up into such monsters. This always intrigues me. Does evl lurk within…..or is it taught through life experiences. No doubt you have had many discussions at work about it. I can’t even begin to imagine what that poor family went through and how I would feel if it happened to us. Have you read ‘The Jigsaw Man’ Grizz…..I found it fascinating.

    8. I do not remember this particular case but a few years later just a few miles down the road the White House Farm murders were committed. Admiration for all those involved in dealing with these crimes and the scenes of horror has to be a given. Good to hear that you were not adversely affected and well done.

  88. BBC One Show grooming the audience again… promoting Muslim doctrine … some weirdie beardie Muslim bloke , bit of a comedian , promoting his culture .

    2. ‘Evening, Mags, that’s why I won’t watch the BBC propaganda – be it ever to ‘umble, Uri.

  90. Wow. That was sudden.

    6,200 votes a couple of hours ago, down from about 8,200 yesterday.

    Now the slate is blank. Zero. In fact not even zero – just an empty space.

      1. I’ve been zero for weeks, I suspect I might even have more down votes than comments by now.
        I love it.

        If some pig-ignorant leftie wants to waste their time on me, brilliant.

      1. I’ve never been bothered about them. I only started looking when everbody on here began compaining about it.

        2. Absolutely. I thought the point of being here was the exchange of news and views, not the tally gained there from.

  91. https://twitter.com/MayorofLondon/status/1226838923835592704

    Hang on there …Can any of you remember the Mayor getting narky about the 2016 Beach body ready beauty advert that adorned the underground train network ?

    Sadiq Khan moves to ban body-shaming ads from London transport
    This article is more than 3 years old
    London mayor wants to stop running ads that promote unrealistic body expectations and demean women

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/13/sadiq-khan-moves-to-ban-body-shaming-ads-from-london-transport

        1. Nubian is also the name of the company selling the product.
          If it is the same company it was originally aiming at the African-American market.

        3. Nubian does tend to be used as a “posh” word for black as it refers to a people known as Nubian’s who lived in the general area of Egypt along the Nile. The full history of their spread is long and irrelevant, but I found 2 definitions, and I think one is more amusing than the other: 🙂

          “Nubia was divided into three major regions: Upper, Middle, and Lower Nubia, in reference to their locations along the Nile. Lower refers to regions downstream and upper refers to regions upstream.”

          Or,

          “Nubian: a goat of a short-haired breed with long pendant ears and long legs, originally from Africa.”

    4. The cynic in me suggests that this was deliberately chosen, so that there would be exactly the type of white backlash that we are seeing, just so that Khan can say how racist Britain as a whole is, compared to London.

    7. Sadiq Khan was the kid who was tripped up and kicked repeatedly.

      He grew up to be a petulant, spoiled little boy. Sadly, a typical short man with a monumental ego.

  94. This johnson chap can get a lot of undercover stuff done
    in regards to unnecessary deals via the umbrella of a bridge over troubled waters & HS2, amounting to a trillion plus no doubt.
    Is it past time that sanity tests must be past before entering parliament ?

      1. JN,
        Surely at this stage of the proceedings there should be no doubt
        as to his intentions.
        Which party is fighting the English / GB corner that, out of the three governance parties, I have yet to discover.

    3. Going to dig it back out from his beard at supper time. It will go well with the lunchtime soup that he has stored there.

  100. UK plans to introduce import controls on EU goods after the transition period

    Tjis could be part of a plan to ensure we are not caught out by the EU. WE will be ready for import controls should the EU wish to play hard ball

    2. Just got my log tables, a pencil and paper and worked out that it takes a day and a half to get a message to the probe and receive the answer. Hit return and get on with the rest of your life. I lied, I used Microsoft Calculator

  104. Irish Election Results with 135 of 160 declared

    Unless it changes drastically with the remaining seats it looks as if a 3 way coalition will be needed

    Who knows what will happen ?

    SF 37
    FG 30
    Ff 28
    IO 18
    GP 10
    SD 5
    SPBP 4
    LAB 4

  105. The BBC is in desperate trouble because British TV just isn’t as good as it used to be.
    TIM STANLEY

    Whenever the BBC anguishes over what went wrong, it usually boils down to bad editorial decisions and the rise of the internet. I’d add a third: television just isn’t as good as it used to be.And it’s because a different kind of society is making and watching it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/10/bbc-desperate-trouble-british-tv-just-isnt-good-used/

    So what do we want? When do we want it ? and Where can the BBC get it?

    1. I would certainly agree that a different kind of society is making it. Their problem is that their audience is still the same old kind of society and in the main it isn’t watching it!

      1. Falling Educational standards over the years have ensured that educational programmes would not be acceptable now. What is wanted now is pap- holiday programmes, property, cookery, nothing that needs concentration.
        Question Time has slowly died a timely death….please Aunty put it out of it’s misery now….

          2. Bert, “We’ll be together til death us do part, Ada.”

            Ada, “That was funny, Bert, is it an old repeat?”

      2. Agreed, plus if the US is anything to go on, young people don’t watch TV very much at all any more. They watch what they are interested in, which is mainly stuff from the internet – Netflix, Youtube, Podcasts, etc., plus there’s still a lot of sports watched here by young and old. And if they do want to see a TV program, it’s when they want to watch it, and on the device they want to watch it on. Hence some of the luvvies going on about how you can’t enjoy possible their movies or programmes on a phone.

  106. Looks like Boris has committed the taxpayer to building the most expensive and unwanted railway in the world. More taxes anyone.

    1. Evening KP,
      If you think that is expensive what will you think of the biggest Kit Kat in the world bridging the gap.

        1. KP,
          I have never doubted cameron the wretch was the first stage of a three section partial re-entry rocket, may second stage, with the third stage being johnson, if i’m right then they have never put a foot wrong with their scheming.

    2. Greta Thunberg’s generation is chillingly right to be very angry about the debt that has been landed on them by their elders and “betters”.

  107. Singhsburys in Seven Sisters Road denies selling crack pipes and stocking poppers and cannabis paraphernalia next to children’s sweets

    A Licensing Police officer who inspected the shop in March wrote to Mr Gulati outlining concerns.
    The officer listed objections: “The amyl nitrate/poppers bottles displayed as room odorizers next to children’s sweets and chewing gums on the till counter including such unusual air freshener brands such as ‘Throb Hard’, ‘Squirt’, ‘Hard Core’ and ‘Dogs Bollocks’; the multiple models of Cannabis grinders – including models based on women’s breasts displayed on the counter top next to till [and] the glass cabinet next to the crisps and Pringles display containing hookahs and cannabis pipes and bong.”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ad9a8fe017cdd981981c1e1ace9ed08b0e91a091eb08dad3b198c82fa95f2f3.jpg

    2. The latest paramour thought that outing him might be a money-spinner. PoS decided to beat him to it to ensure he was fireproof as well as sirepoof.

      Tears and all.

        1. Apparently everybody at ITV, from his co-presenter to the chap who pushed a broom about the set, says they all knew Schofield was a fudge-packer and it was common knowledge in the entertainment industry.

          However, his wife, who said she was ‘shocked’ by his ‘coming-out’, describing it as a ‘shattering revelation’ to her, was unaware she had been married to a pervert for 27 years.

          Aye, right!

        2. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
          Another subject on which I really can’t be @rsed to comment.

      4. Me too, but it is interesting as an example of media bullsh*tting and helping out on a mate’s PR (fake news) campaign.

  112. Here’s yet another new “bash England” academic research paper.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7987347/Pollution-industrial-revolution-contaminated-Himalayan-ice.html

    If only it were possible to go back in time and prevent every country that got any benefit from anything that came out of the British Isles from having it.

    The world might not be a better place. Though with a far smaller population, who knows?

    Take one small example. Smallpox would still be rampant and vaccination would not exist, so how many people alive now would never have existed because their forebears died before they could procreate.

    4. The world would be a better place if the Barbary Pirates ruled the seas? Don’t think so.

      “The fishermen and coastal dwellers of 17th-century Britain lived in terror of being kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa. Hundreds of thousands across Europe met wretched deaths on the Barbary Coast in this way. Professor Robert Davis investigates.”

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/551259c6b549cd4958e57f7974fc906117842bd5.jpg

      British Slaves on the Barbary Coast
      By Robert Davis
      Last updated 2011-02-17

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml

      1. Heresy! Darker toned people are not capable of such horrors, that’s whitey’s, especially English people’s, preserve. Lammy and Abbot will put you right.

        1. Jings! that’s aye the way o’it. English takin’ a’ the credit. We wur there an a’.

  113. Amazing the storys that appear in the Daily Mail.

    “Woman accidentally stumbles across a meeting of SATANIC SEX CULT
    members clad in black robes on her way to the toilet at a vegan cafe”

  114. Latest Irish Election Results 152/160

    Well almost all the results in and it is just as confused. Anything could happen. There are endless possibilities for coalitions

    SF 37
    FF 34
    FG 33
    IO 21
    GP 11
    LAB 6
    SD 6
    SPBP 5

Comments are closed.