Monday 10 June: Time for elected politicians to take back responsibility for climate targets

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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669 thoughts on “Monday 10 June: Time for elected politicians to take back responsibility for climate targets”

  1. Macron is about to find out that Le Pen is mightier than the sword……..

      1. I thought about it last night. Le Pen could be PM before the end of July or her politica partner Jordann or something like that. Belgium PM* is out as well. Seats in the EU parliamen for Wilders. Its all changing.
        * he was crying like the whimp he is.

  2. Good morrow Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) Story
    ZOOLOGICAL DIETS

    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.”

    2. I really enjoyed that one, Sir Jasper! Ignore Herr Oberst's "Argh" comment. Lol.

  5. Had a great birthday yesterday and thank you for you good wishes. Our daughter came to visit and we had a online vid with son in Malta. Re stocking wine cellar today.

        1. Strangely, the word "right" is now always qualified by "far" or "extreme" in the press. I wonder why? </sarc>

          2. The real far-right are our totalitarian overlords who impose their demands on the rest of us. They just hide behind socialist flags.

  6. Should I vote Reform? 10 June 2024.

    Farage depends on free media for publicity. He thrives on controversy. Reminded by Laura Kuenssberg that one of his advisers has a conviction for fraud, he said he believes in forgiveness and sticks by his friends (bravo).

    I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s not a few Wife Beaters, Drunkards, Thieves and even maybe a couple of murderers among his supporters as with every other leading candidate. Only the BBC would think to bring it up.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/09/should-i-vote-reform/

    2. Reminded by Laura Kuenssberg that one of his advisers has a conviction for fraud

      Perhaps Kuenssberg should broaden her gaze and take in the Palace of Westminster where fraud is the daily norm as many members claim to be what they are not e.g. Conservatives, Socialists and Liberal Democrats.

      2. Maybe next time they give Dennis MacShane a platform they will remind him that he did time for fraud and perhaps, if they seek her views on the economy, they’ll remind Vicky Pryce of her stint as a guest of her late Majesty.

  7. Morning, all Y'all.
    Struggling to reach 10C, and raining still. Fcucking washout, this weekend, and so de-energising. Got nowt useful done outside nor inside. waste of a weekend. Bah!

  8. Angela Merkel ‘concealed’ information that Russia could use gas to blackmail Europe. 10 June 2024

    Angela Merkel knew that Russia could attempt to blackmail Europe into launching a major gas pipeline but “concealed” the information, according to Handelsblatt, the German newspaper.
    The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was designed to double the flow of Russian gas directly to Germany but it was hugely controversial because of the risk it posed to Ukraine.
    Critics feared that if it supplied gas directly to Europe, Russia would be able to starve Ukraine’s economy of the transit fees it had been collecting.

    That Merkel was pro-Russian I have never doubted. That it was possible for her to conceal the geopolitical realities of the pipeline is absurd.. She knew, as did everyone else, that it was never in Russia’s interest to use the pipelines for blackmail. That was the reason Germany had no qualms about signing on the dotted line.

    The article itself is propaganda in retrospect. It is just a part of the ramping up of anti-Russian sentiment across the board. The comments are an extension of this. They clearly support the same line by means of trolls and the deletion of dissenting opinion. I posted a comment myself early this morning (just testing the waters) and it was immediately jumped on by three trolls. This implies twenty four hour coverage of a quite minor outlet. The PTB are working up to something here. Nottlers should make sure that their emergency supplies are adequate.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. Anybody with a brain in their head knew that! Not just Merkel! Jesus, how dim are people…

    2. There was a story this morning about the Rooshans cyber hacking the London blood service. They didn't explain exactly how this had been achieved or why, but if I were a betting chap, I would plump for a monumental a cock up in our national treasure rather than Vlad making mischief on his Mac.

    3. "Critics feared that if it supplied gas directly to Europe, Russia would be able to starve Ukraine’s economy of the transit fees it had been collecting."

      Because Ukraine was buying some of that gas but tapping off more than it was paying for and delaying payment routinely.

  9. Good morning all, winds of Europe blowing to the right, or just their voters have had about enough of globalisation as they can stand.

    1. A rich, cruel elite which imposes its demands on the poorer, less powerful majority. Isn't that the real far-right? Them hiding their piles of loot behind little red flags, fools no-one.

  10. Good morning, chums, and thank you Geoff for today NoTTLe site. I only just made Wordle in 6 today – and then I had to Google the answer to find out what it meant. ("Never 'erd of it before!")

    Wordle 1,087 6/6

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

    1. Used auntie gogle to check the word as well

      Wordle 1,087 5/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩I

  11. 388373+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 10 June: Time for elected politicians to take back responsibility for climate targets

    Who in their right minds gives a SHIT about climate targets a scam is a scam, is a scam,get bloody real al pointless and in many cases proven so seemingly the only ones who can create serious weather change are the Chinese, fog, smog and various other shite they have laboratories for it.

    There is no way, on what remains stable of this God given Country that this current odious crop of politico's are going to take responsibility for anything that does not turn a coin in their favour or further the RESET / WORLD ORDER cause.

    Monday 10 June: Time for the electoral majority to take back responsibility for their aiding & abetting their party name via the polling stations, knowing but intentionally overlooking the fact that they are giving consent to MORE OF THE SAME with additives.

  12. Good morning all and platoons of the 77th,

    Dreich, but the sun should poke through soon. Wind's gone to the North, 9℃ with 14℃ the forecast maximum. It's going to be like that for the rest of the week. Flaming June? How are the Climate Cultists at the Met Office going to spin their way out of this?

    Meanwhile, over the Channel:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e3eb4c482e83a68534fac43ad90c343e5b212f57173ba0e0f6e910c48fa3c457.png https://www.telegraph.co.uk…
    This is not the end, it is not the beginning of the end. But it might be the end of the beginning. The left is on the retreat in the EU.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/879fab44d77020d73e1d928be11157ab4864c6fba9ba8119c07d24a3a4aa2744.png President Le Pen is a few steps closer to being a reality.

      1. What, the centre of the red flag? And it ain't holding. It's shimmying down the mast by the second.

    2. How are the Climate Cultists at the Met Office going to spin their way out of this?

      Morning McPhee. It's hot overnight.

      1. Hence going indoors as the evening gathers and turning on the heating.
        Can't risk suffering heatstroke by staying out in the garden overnight.

    3. Interesting, in that graph, how the Right are Pinkoes and the "far-Right" are Reds-under-the-beds.

      Lefties are True Blues.

      Whose distorted — warped — version of reality is this?

      2. Just what I thought, Grizzly. (Good morning, btw.) Red as Left and Blue as Right is the American way, and not the British way.

        1. Isn't that the wrong way round? In America Left (Democrat) = blue, Right (Rpublican) = red – the opposite way to the UK.

        2. Good afternoon, Auntie Elsie.

          I'm sorry but you've got your American colours ('colors') muxed ip.

          Right-wing Republican Elephants are Red; Left-wing Democraic Donkey's are blue. What makes this even more incongruous is that Yanks call Commies, "Reds".

          1. You’re absolutely right, young Grizzly. That was exactly what I meant to say. I also meant to say that the white door to your house was four inches wider than your green one, but got that wrong too. Aaaargh!

  13. Good morning all and platoons of the 77th,

    Dreich, but the sun should poke through soon. Wind's gone to the North, 9℃ with 14℃ the forecast maximum. It's gopung to be like that for the rest of the week. Flaming June? How are the Climate Cultists at the Met Office going to spin their way out of this?

    Meanwhile, over the Channel:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e3eb4c482e83a68534fac43ad90c343e5b212f57173ba0e0f6e910c48fa3c457.png https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    This is not the end, it is not the beginning of the end. But it might be the end of the beginning. The left is on the retreat in the EU.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/879fab44d77020d73e1d928be11157ab4864c6fba9ba8119c07d24a3a4aa2744.png President Le Pen is a few steps closer to being a reality.

  14. Good morning, all. Wet.

    It appears that the far/hard/extreme right is on the march in Europe, well, according to Al-Beeb and likely a few more of the news media who are not guilty of balanced reporting.

    Is Reform's problem with some polling companies a symptom of the media's leftward bias?

    https://x.com/TiceRichard/status/1799894048980746405

    1. One, I don't believe the polls. They are often of a dodgy provenance: More in Common associated with Brendan Cox; YouGove, Nadhim Zahawi, But look closely at who funds snd/or influences some of the others. I would not be at all surprised if Reform were already polling higher than the Conservatives.

      Two, have you noticed that the only ones who bleat on about the far right are usually rich (often white) people who want to impose their cruel, elite, self-serving demands on other, poorer, less powerful people? In other words, they are the real far-right whilst accusing others of being so.

    2. One, I don't believe the polls. They are often of a dodgy provenance: More in Common associated with Brendan Cox; YouGove, Nadhim Zahawi, But look closely at who funds snd/or influences some of the others. I would not be at all surprised if Reform were already polling higher than the Conservatives.

      Two, have you noticed that the only ones who bleat on about the far right are usually rich (often white) people who want to impose their cruel, elite, self-serving demands on other, poorer, less powerful people? In other words, they are the real far-right whilst accusing others of being so.

    3. One, I don't believe the polls. They are often of a dodgy provenance: More in Common associated with Brendan Cox; YouGove, Nadhim Zahawi, But look closely at who funds snd/or influences some of the others. I would not be at all surprised if Reform were already polling higher than the Conservatives.

      Two, have you noticed that the only ones who bleat on about the far right are usually rich (often white) people who want to impose their cruel, elite, self-serving demands on other, poorer, less powerful people? In other words, they are the real far-right whilst accusing others of being so.

  15. Good morning, all. Wet.

    It appears that the far/hard/extreme right is on the march in Europe, well, according to Al-Beeb and likely a few more of the news media who are not guilty of balanced reporting.

    Is Reform's problem with some polling companies a symptom of the media's leftward bias?

    https://x.com/TiceRichard/status/1799894048980746405

  16. Good morning, all. Wet.

    It appears that the far/hard/extreme right is on the march in Europe, well, according to Al-Beeb and likely a few more of the news media who are not guilty of balanced reporting.

    Is Reform's problem with some polling companies a symptom of the media's leftward bias?

    https://x.com/TiceRichard/status/1799894048980746405

  17. Good morning, all. Wet.

    It appears that the far/hard/extreme right is on the march in Europe, well, according to Al-Beeb and likely a few more of the news media who are not guilty of balanced reporting.

    Is Reform's problem with some polling companies a symptom of the media's leftward bias?

    https://x.com/TiceRichard/status/1799894048980746405

      1. The sun is actually shining here, but not for long – now it's gone – again!

    1. 38837 up ticks,

      O2O,

      Begs the question "are British Doctors on the undisclosed monitory take"?

      1. All doctors are there to push drugs from big pharma.

        They don't do the simple tasks like ear syringing because there is no money in it for them. So they send you off somewhere else where you pay £40 for it.

        The reason for this is if they tried to charge the patient directly there would be an outcry.

        I saw an elderly man at the surgery where he needed his dressing changed. They said no one was available and sent him to a hospital 20 miles away where he would have to join the queue in A & E. Even though there was a nurse on site there.

        1. I'm expecting the District nurse today, to change (remove) the dressing on my left leg – the only human interaction during the week!

          1. Make friends with your neighbours. That's what i did when i first moved here. Now they invite me to all their celebrations.

          5. I've told you before that you could contact RAFA and they will put you in touch with a befriender. I even gave you the telephone number and details. You have to do it, though. Others can't do it on your behalf. It's no use moaning you're lonely if you've been told how to alleviate it and don't do anything.

        2. We pay the GP here in Norway. Not the full fee as govt (=taxpayer) stumps up part of it, and there's rebates for the young, elderly and chronically sick.
          Buggered if I'll pay the £75 or so GP fee to have someone wash out my luggs – I pick the crap out with a biro ™ top. We also have a Viking ear spoon, if elegance is required. The biro top also works well to scratch the excema lurking therein…

  20. Bizarre.. Tory Chairman Richard Holden suspends national campaign? Sunak hiding in his bunker.
    Could it be that.. the Tories are ditching Sunak and suspending the election for a later date?

    1. Morning K. Sunak has been hiding over the weekend. I think he's had enough. California calls!

  21. Good morning all.
    A damp start after overnight rain with 5°C outside.

    A drive to Stoke to check on Stepson in the hospital and deliver his clothes to him, then pick up a 2nd load of dirty clothes from the heap he has in his flat.

    This is a Yazidi commentator who points out that the Oct.7th terrorist atrocity is nothing new from Islam:-
    https://x.com/AzzatAlsaalem…

  22. Good Morning.

    Today is 10th June. Eighty years ago, the people of Oradour sur Glane were slaughtered by German soldiers.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre

    When I have been there, I thought, like everyone else, what must it have been like to have been one of the men herded into a barn and machine-gunned? Or worse, to have been a child locked in the Church and burned to death?

    But then I thought, what if I had been one of the soldiers? What would I have done? The answer is appalling. We have seen a hint of what ordinary people are capable of during the so-called covid pandemic. I leave it with you.

    1. The 1960s Stanley Milgram Experiment might have some indications.

      The Stanley Milgram experiment is one of the most famous and controversial studies in the history of psychology. The study was conducted in the early 1960s, and it examined people's willingness to obey an authority figure, even when that obedience caused harm to others. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the Milgram experiment, its significance, and its impact on psychology.

      The Milgram experiment was designed to test people's willingness to obey authority, even when that obedience caused harm to others. The study involved three participants: the experimenter, the learner, and the teacher. The learner was actually a confederate of the experimenter, and the teacher was the real participant.

      The teacher was instructed to administer electric shocks to the learner whenever the learner gave a wrong answer to a question. The shocks started at a low level and increased in intensity with each wrong answer. The learner was not actually receiving shocks, but they pretended to be in pain and begged the teacher to stop. Despite this, the experimenter instructed the teacher to continue shocking the learner.

      The results of the Milgram experiment were shocking. Despite the learner's protests, the majority of participants continued to administer shocks to the maximum level, even when they believed that the shocks were causing serious harm.

      https://www.structural-lear… .

    3. After the disgraceful sheeplike behaviour of 2020, never again can the British sneer at the Germans and smugly reassure themselves "Of course, that could never happen here".

    4. Morning Sam. I have over the years given some thought to this problem and the best I can come up with is that if your life is in danger you should do whatever is necessary to preserve it. On the other hand you should also seek to prevent such actions where you can do so safely.

      1. I disagree, Minty.
        One should do whatever is necessary but within your own band of principles… so, if I have the alternative of crashing and being burned alive, or running down and killing or seriously maiming a baby in a pushchair, the choice has to be burning.

    5. Indeed.
      One always imagines onesself to be on the side of the innocents, the "good" side. But there are equal numbers on the "bad" side, or the atrocities would never have happened.
      And where does one stand as regards the atom bombs dropped on Japan? Were they good or bad?

    6. Every time I see footage or WW2 and the people who caused so much death and destruction I mutter "Bloody German's".
      And we still have people in our lives who act like Hitler.
      So lesson not learnt.

    1. From the Spanish interior
      16°C
      Monday 09:54 Light rain showers
      High 23 degrees.

    2. He's Got The Whole World in His Hands

      (Laurie London)

      https://www.google.com/search?q=laurie+london+he%27s+got+the+whole+world+in+his+hands+lyrics&sca_esv=6781866871af96e0&ei=ardmZoGcJ8KQkdUP3LOfyAk&oq=Laurie+London&gs_lp=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_dgC&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a8cfe4aa,vid:VeLTKZfvuuU,st:0

    1. Ever since I first heard of Schwab Soros and all the other etcetera's involved in the decimation of the human race, I've expected more sensible down to earth forces to have 'tidy up' a little.
      I can't believe that they are still amongst us.

    2. The way to stop them is to remove their money. Without that they're powerless and pointless.

  28. Time for us all to take responsibility for ourselves, our children and grandchildren and tell the loonies, elected and unelected, to shove their insane climate targets where the sun don't shine.

    2. The child bride one was actually reported in the Guardian in 2013. Obviously before they sold their souls to the globalists.

    1. Dangerous.
      Our friends on Victoria's Upper Fern Tree Gully. Had two cars written off a few years ago with damage from huge hailstone.

    4. Imagine the damage such hailstones will have done to the solar farms and the resultant pollution of the soil with toxic chemicals used in solar panel construction.

    1. ah, but based on GDP alone, the UK could surpass USA & China combined.. once Africa sets sail from Calais.

    2. Low debt, low borrowing, low taxes, lots of gold and lots of trade with China and the Global South?

      1. yes & no.. I've lived & worked all over the world, and as soon as I hear "capital controls" out of a country.. I know that place is an outlier where you must inflate your invoices, don't invest long term time & effort in that country, do your work, submit the invoice, get out and then expect the worst.
        Try getting money out of China (legally). Russia.. I dont know about.

      2. yes & no.. I've lived & worked all over the world, and as soon as I hear "capital controls" out of a country.. I know that place is an outlier where you must inflate your invoices, don't invest long term time & effort in that country, do your work, submit the invoice, get out and then expect the worst.
        Try getting money out of China (legally). Russia.. I dont know about.

    3. Russia is the largest country with vast resources and potential for development. Russia has the best research institutes, a scientifically educated workforce and great cultural assets deriving from its long history.

      Most importantly Russia has vast factories capable of switching production to war manufactures as we are witnessing in the conflict in Ukraine. By contrast the collective west remains ill equipped and too disorganised to fight a hot war against Russia.

      By the PPP measure Russia surpassed a declining Germany and Japan in 2017.

  32. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sun's popped out briefly, but very windy and wet. More on the way.
    Our politicians are absolutely useless individually or otherwise. It become very obvious that they have absolutely no interest in public opinion. If they had this country would not be in the terrible mess it is in. And now after all their displays or gross ignorance they want us to vote for more of it.

    2. I just took the car in to the local garage. On my walk back I was so cold that I was delighted to find that I had left my cashmere lined gloves in the pockets of my raincoat.

      1. Yes, I rather feel the need to get dressed and put the slippers on. Should close he windows off as well.

      2. Dippin' in the pockets of her raincoat…….
        It's just another day……

        Paul McCartney.

    3. Did folk know that the reason why foreign aid is so important to government is because the civil servants responsible often head off to the UN body that hands the cash out. Politicians clamour for the trougher jobs as hangers on to the foreign office.

      It's blatant corruption. A wheel greased thick with tax payers money, as with most all things government does.

    4. They believe themselves to be more virtuous than the better informed. As I've gone through life, every time I've formulated an ideological standpoint through theorising alone, a slew of facts have popped up to prove me wrong and I've had to reassess. These people seem immune to that process, possibly because with search engines and AI data being increasingly controlled by people in thrall to the agenda, facts are now more difficult to come by.

      1. Absolutely agree.
        They are also surrounded by people who have been in the same job often for many decades. Who are expected to perform in a certain way. Whatever they do during their day or even life time, they don't have to answer to criticism.

  33. Should I vote Reform?
    Labour will form the next government. Right of centre voters must now decide what kind of opposition they want
    Tim Stanley: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/09/should-i-vote-reform/

    BTL

    The one thing that is certain is that the Conservative Party must be wiped out completely

    The rot started with Heseltine and Major and the ousting of Mrs Thatcher. Cameron and May between them insured that the party was no longer right of centre which has disenfranchised all traditional Conservative voters.

    It is now the duty of all Conservatives – especially those who have always loved and voted for the Party – to vote Reform and kill the Conservative Party cleanly.

    "Each man kills the thing he loves ………
    The coward does it with a kiss,
    The brave man with a sword!

    (Oscar Wilde: The Ballad of Reading Gaol)

    1. This is what happens when the state is not controlled by the public. We had about 500 years of the Church dominating life and that collapsed due to technology. The political era has lasted about 300 and has made an utter hash of everything for exacty the same reason – greed, corruption, fraud, theft and is being done in by information.

      We're in the vicious death throes of a failed hegemony thrashing about, trying to do as much damage as possible refusing to realise it is dead and to go gracefully.

  35. In view of the left-wing bias of the BBC, I follow news in the USA by reading the non-MSM website PJmedia. Occasionally they publish items on the UK, and it can be particularly interesting to get a US view of events here – and even publishing information that is withheld from publication here.

    This is a recent one: https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2024/06/08/a-world-historical-transformation-is-taking-place-in-britain-yet-few-have-noticed-n4929722
    The author has been banned from entering the UK in the past (and to the best of my knowledge, still is) because he is seen as a threat to 'social harmony and community cohesion' by pointing out the threat to our social well-being by the growing presence of members of a particular non-integrating theocratic religious movement.

    1. I still can't understand why the state forced them on us. Was it sheer spite? To create a voting block? The vast majority are simply welfare parasites. There are some who are decent and contribute but the overwhelming majority are just toxic.

    1. Why are they even in the country? Why are our great nations being so deliberately polluted?

      1. There is an answer – but the answer is unacceptably racist and our politicians are unacceptably spineless!

        Look what happened in Lebanon. If the problem is not addressed the UK and Europe will go the same way.

        Every politician in Europe must watch this video, heed its message and do something or it will be too late – if it is not already too late.

        https://www.facebook.com/bi…

        1. I don't know if it's racist – they were invited and when they arrive they are not refused. It's not racism, it's a deliberate abject refusal to apply our laws. It makes a mockery of the nation state and ruins the country.

          These are criminals. We are at war. The first duty of the state is the protection of the citizen yet our jails are full of foreigners so it has categorically failed to do that deliberately.

          1. I use the word racist ironically. It is almost a meaningless word just as extreme right is a meaningless phrase.

            They are terms of abuse by the left who wish to suppress rational debate.

  37. Good morning dear people .

    Weather cool, suits me , has been raining, no need to water the garden thank goodness, breezy, patches of blue sky and 12c.

    Moh not playing golf . We are exhausted .

    We drove to Southampton yesterday to meet up with son and his partner who have left Worthing after 7 years , and who are now starting a new life on the Isle of Wight .. cheaper to rent , lovely apartment , and Cowes looks quite nice .

    Our trip on the roads from here and onwards to the motorway was scary . The volume of traffic , the size of the different vehicles and the repair on the the M27 was challenging for both of us , we aren't used to that sort of traffic movement anymore .

    We got to the other side of Southampton , across the Itchen bridge , to the Woolston end , and Weston shore . Lovely , and visited an old friend of the family, all the others are dead , visited the shore , saw some amazing cruise liners , found the pub we were meeting the chaps at , old favourite from years ago .

    I was amazed to see how busy pubs are , and the amount of little children enjoying a Sunday lunch with parents .

    We were shocked to see huge housing estates off the motor way from Verwood onwards , and off the M27 Southampton Netley/ Sholing End , everywhere , so what is all the nonsense about Labour rabbiting on about the lack of new homes ?

    We enjoyed our meal with son and his partner at the Plough on Portsmouth road , but why are the plates of food so huge , enormous gigantic plates of robust food! Brisk smiley service and good hot fresh food , but piles of roast beef , fresh veg , and massive Yorkshire puds.

    What just amazes us is the amount of money people spend , and the new cars they drive , so many electric cars in the car park , and everywhere there was traffic , constant .. busy ..roads .

    The port was full of liners , lots of activity , and we heard a ship sounding sirens .. booming , so the cruise industry must be healthy , and loads and loads of shipping containers ..

    We visited the graves of Moh's parents and grandparents , nicely maintained cemetery ..

    Our drive back home was via Lyndhurst ..etc and even those roads were busy .. hectic , but the countryside was beautiful.

    Today is a lolling sort of day , recovery period I think.

    Tomorrow will be a different story .

    1. All sounds exciting.
      I know what you mean about the size of the roast dinners. Last time i had a child size portion and they still had to bag up more than half of it. I had a roast at home the following day from the left overs. Makes it good value though.
      A Sunday roast should always be generous but i can't manage it anymore.
      The Pub will also get a reputation for generosity and so more people will come.

      1. Morning Phizzee,

        Yes , half portions are better , and I wish I had thought ahead.

        I put some pics on F/B , but I wish I had added the Solent and the ocean liners and the view from the Itchen bridge , oh yes and the little yachts racing .

        1. The bridge is closing soon for 3 months. Should have come down then. You'd never get to the other side of the city!

          2. Not far from me. Half an hour away. Thanks for the tip. I have signed up to their mailing list.

      2. The biggest cost in a dinner is not the bit that gets eaten, it's staff and overheads. So – double the portion size, double the price, cost goes up by 5% = more profit per serving.

        1. Any business serving food from premises with staff needs a 73% add on to the cost of the food to cover all the other stuff like wages and electricity…etc.

    2. I think the increase in traffic is pretty well everywhere. There is an area in Shaftesbury, St James, at the bottom of the hill. It used to be a working person's area. When we moved here 34 years ago there were two or three cars parked outside houses there. Now the mile long street is nose to tail with parked cars, huge 4x4s, electric monsters, and most of the houses are owned by weekenders from Londonistan. Progress has its downsides.

    3. There's lots of houses around here. The building on various fields hasn't been especially nice and has added to the traffic you mentioned.

      Mornings are comical – the M27 is Soton's biggest car park at 7-9am. While lots of folks are in the shops and pubs prices are through the roof. Dinner out can cost upward of £150 for the three of us.

      The council has set about trying to stop people driving. Roadworks – not to repair roads – are constant and everywhere, making getting from A to B really difficult. It's also not helped by Sotonites refusing to obey basic rules, such as not entering a roundabout if you can't exit it.

      1. With a dwindling population, Scotland doesn't seem to need new-builds, Wibbles.

      2. With a dwindling population, Scotland doesn't seem to need new-builds, Wibbles.

    5. We rarely go out for lunch. If we do, I usually end up just ordering a starter if I think the lunch will be that large. We've almost done away with lunches at home.

      1. We might eat out once a year, we are real skin flints and object to high prices , even the price of ice cream cones at £3.50p each is a rare very rare treat .

        We have enough issues re bills and council tax etc , and last year was a shock re vet bills for our lovely elderly dog , Jack .

        1. Buy your ice creams and lollies for a fraction of the price from the supermarket. You can even buy boxes of flakes !
          You can still enjoy your treat in your own garden on a hot sunny day. Better than going without.

        2. We usually eat out in the evening of our anniversary/my birthday. He doesn't like going for lunch but I do meet groups of women friends for lunch sometimes.

        3. Took Oscar to the vet last Monday because he’s managed to slice off a bit of the upper pad on his left paw. Saw the vet for 2 or 3 minutes for his opinion. Walks on a lead only for a 5 days, salt water washing and should be much better within 5 days. Some antibacterial ointment to pick up at reception. Whole thing was in and out within 5 minutes. The tiny tube of cream was £25 and the 3 minute consultation £62.50.

          1. If you'd bathed his paw in saline solution yourself, restricted his activity and bought some silver oxide spray from a chemist, you'd have been quids in!

          2. True, and we’ve got all that stuff. Just a question of “It’s nice to get a professional opinion”.
            Oscar means so much that he has become beyond a price, if that makes any sense.

    6. Glad you had a good day.
      Big people need large plates of food as Phizzee will attest.

    1. Mmmm. On the ace of it off into foil hat territory. An argument against this sort of thing is that previous politicians in similar positions would of invariably of blabbed such an implication as the one we see here. Over time they just can't keep their gobs shut. I see the same type of paranoia on the Left when they talk about "systems", cabals of the wealthy or their current favourite Israel.

    1. The trouble is the shitten pants remain unchanged.

      We have an old friend who is 89 and has become completely incontinent. He lives alone in his own house and he has to have people in every morning to wash and change him but by the afternoon he is filthy and stinking again. The poor chap should be in a home but he desperately wants to stay at home.

      2. At home or in hospital, if I became completely incontinent I would be looking to do away with myself.

          1. Remember to wash it down only with quality Whiskey/Whisky. No cheap shit.
            Better still, keep it for posterity.

      3. One can buy comfortable commodes. Rather than sitting in an armchair he could sit on one of those.

        1. Correct Pip. I had one parked near my bed when I was in hospital because I was passing stones at all hours of the night and was unable to control when that happened. It was therefore pointless for me to have to wait for a nurse. By the way, incredibly painful but actually got used to it. Amazing what the human body will put up with.

          1. Yes i know. I had a colonoscopy recently without gas or anesthetic. Bit of grunting involved.
            I chose to do it that way because i could leave as soon as it was over.

  41. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Macron is trying to scare French voters into rejecting Le Pen’s party
    Comments Share 10 June 2024, 6:21am
    The French presidential list score in the European elections ‘is not a good result for the parties which defend Europe’. So declared president Macron euphemistically on television last night to the French nation, as he called a snap election to be held on 30 June and 7 July. Official results published this morning show the Rassemblement National (RN) has romped home on 31.47 per cent. Macron’s party is in a lamentable second place on 14.56 per cent (way behind its 22.4 per cent in 2019) and very closely tailed by the moderate socialist Raphaël Glucksmann on 13.8 per cent.

    These European election results are a severe personal defeat for Macron
    These European election results are a severe personal defeat for Macron. If there is one issue on which the wavering and inconsistent president has nailed his colours to the mast it is Europe. Adding insult to injury is the RN’s remarkable score.

    Macron proclaimed loud and clear on his victory in 2017 that he would ensure that the reasons that led 11 million voters to vote for Marine Le Pen would be swept away. On the contrary, RN – which Macron refused to name in his TV address – has never been so popular. And following first estimates of tonight’s results, it was Bardella who demanded Macron acknowledge defeat and call legislative elections. Le Figaro calls it a ‘political earthquake that will mark the history of the 5th Republic’.

    That Macron has decided to dissolve the National Assembly, which the constitution does not require, signals acknowledgement of the parlous state of French politics. Not since 1997 has a president dissolved parliament to cleanse the atmosphere. But president Macron should beware the precedent. Gaullist president Jacques Chirac’s dissolution did not return a reinforced centre right chamber, as he hoped, but a left wing one. That obliged Chirac to appoint a socialist prime minister and to govern in partnership with the opposition.

    Most popular
    Billi Bierling
    The hardest part of climbing Mount Everest isn’t what you think

    This is the scenario many believe that Macron the risk-taker has opened up. At present RN has 88 seats, but all bets point to the RN being the largest party after the legislative elections. That would mean the president appointing the 28-year-old Jordan Bardella (the official president of the RN) as prime minister and governing in cohabitation. Macron believes that handing power to the RN will force it to come to terms with the realities of government and remove its credibility for the presidentials in 2027 where polls point to a Marine Le Pen victory.

    Ever since Macron lost his working majority in parliament in 2022 the atmosphere in the lower chamber has been quasi-riotous with the president unable to implement many of his reforms. The French National Assembly could plumb greater depths were the prime minister to be Jordan Bardella, harried and hassled by a revivified radical left.

    The radical left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) list in the European elections garnered 9.87 per cent of the vote, greater than polls suggested. Overnight its unofficial leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, excoriated the ‘far right’, declaring: ‘Incompatible the vision of a France from which would be eliminated those who belong to such and such a religion…and the new France.’ LFI called for a spontaneous rally in Paris. The country has not been this divided for decades.

    Of course, Macron will be hoping that the dissolution shock treatment will scare French voters into seeing sense and returning him a majority, as General de Gaulle was able to do when he dissolved parliament after the May ’68 riots. But such is the personal animus generated by Emmanuel Macron that this appears a pipe-dream.

    All this comes against a background of heightened anti-semitism in France, not to mention recent widespread social unrest, riots and strikes. Add to that the specific cyber targeting of France by Russia, which is predicted to increase for the Paris Olympic Games, which will now take place just after what will be a fiery election campaign and potentially explosive results. The clouds are darkening over France.

    1. The last para is rubbish? The heigtened anti-semitism is surely due to the importation of Mohammedans, not the "far right". Once again, it is true that the "far right" party are actually national socialists but that doesn't have to be fascist (as in collectivist authoritarianism).

      1. Oh yes, I have no doubt that the increase in Muslim populations has been the cause of anti Jewish feeling.

  42. Britain is always out of step with the rest of Europe.

    And now that the elections have shown that most EU countries are moving firmly to the right the British will vote for a party of the Left which wants to get back into the EU.

    So when UK is back in the EU we shall once again be out of step with everybody else!

    1. We voted for Right wing policies. The state forced let wing ones on us out of spite.

      1. My opinion of the electorate is not very high. I'd not be in the least surprised if many voters strongly disagree with some of the ideas and policies of the candidate they voted for, in some cases because of not knowing what their favoured candidate stands for other than a vague idea of the position of the candidate's party on the political spectrum.

        1. I certainly knew Conservatives who were members/supporters for the social cachet.
          Discussing policy with them was not a meeting of minds.
          Grit your teeth and take their money!

        2. "My opinion of the electorate is not very high."

          My opinion of the electorate has been, for some considerable time, that they are bereft of the ability to think clearly and lucidly.

          The irrebuttable evidence that humans are getting exponentially more stupid by the second shows itself most clearly when you examine their voting patterns, decisions on who to march and protest against, and their choice of governments.

          Mankind is voting itself into extinction. Just how the quality of brain, body, determination and resolve in just one species can deteriorate so rapidly in the space of just 80 years defies logic and understanding.

  44. I feel for the old boy. I'd hate to leave home for the end station, no matter how pleasant it is – like Mother's waiting-room for God.
    I'd like to croak surrounded by my own stuff, in familiar surroundings and in my own bed.
    Can they not sort out something for him that doesn't result in smells and the like? Hasn't technology moved on from rubber pants?

    1. He already has nappies and a magnificent femme de ménage who does her best to deal with the problems but it looks as if dementia is beginning to set in.

      He is too tired by the end of the day to change his nappy so he sleeps in his own filth – it is tragic.

      Please God I shall not get like that.

    2. He already has nappies and a magnificent femme de ménage who does her best to deal with the problems but it looks as if dementia is beginning to set in.

      He is too tired by the end of the day to change his nappy so he sleeps in his own filth – it is tragic.

      Please God I shall not get like that.

  45. And another thing: Care homes don't allow alcohol for the residents (Mother's place allows a tiny sherry at Christmas), so no Water of Life. That would be a blow to most.
    Morning, Tom.
    KBO, old mate.

      1. Problem is, other people.
        I had a friend in Sicily when I was working there, back in the 1990s. After I left, and then moved to Norway, I stubled on a newspaper article that said that she had killed herself with pills, in the car, leaving her husband and two little boys.
        I have no idea why she did that, but the shock and upset it caused me is still there, undimmed by the passage of the last 25 years. Whenever I think of her, I tear up. And that’s why I won’t be doing myself in, either: I couldn’t do that to friends and family, to cause that kind of upset. I just wish I’d been in a position to help her out of whatever problem it was that made her do herself in.

    2. My parents took in 3 old dears. Two ladies and a man. They weren't of high intelligence but they could dress themselves.
      There wasn't much wrong with them but they had been institutionalised. When the Mental health hospitals all closed they looked for people willing to take them in.

      My parents both retired and looked after them as family. The money was also very good.
      When i visited at weekends one of my chores to help out was to clean out under Barbara's bed.
      Empty sherry bottles and a tsunami of Quality Street wrappers.

  46. Douglas Ross to stand down as Scottish Tory leader

    Politician had attracted party fury after he replaced existing candidate to run as an MP after previously saying he would not

    Simon Johnson, SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
    10 June 2024 • 10:32am
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/10/douglas-ross-quits-scottish-tory-leader/#comment
    ***************************

    Stuart Ross
    26 MIN AGO
    He should campaign on a policy of dissolving Holyrood. Devolution has been a total failure where jumped-up third rate politicians mince about a building that looks like a dilapidated communal swimming pool, talk about everything and nothing, all the while being cosseted at a great expense to the overburdened taxpayer. It’s a piece of nonsense that only serves to provide a platform for the perma-grievance mongers to spew forth asinine student politics and bigoted opinions about the English. EDITED

    W J Crawford
    23 MIN AGO
    Reply to Stuart Ross
    I would vote for a donkey if its manifesto was the dissolution of Holyrood!

    2. Apparently, he has been on the fiddle (expenses – surprise, surprise).

      Just Tory sleaze … again.

      1. Ahhhh – Using Scottish Generally Accepted Accounting Principles… much like Mr Murrell, allegedly.

  47. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/10/labour-abandons-plans-bring-back-pension-lifetime-cap/

    Reeves discussing this as a 'tax cut for the rich' is revolting. It's their money. They've earned it. The state does not have any right to it. Taxation is theft made leg. Nothing else. I imagine they'll keep the unlimited option for public sector and apply it to the private. can't have people saving for their retirement! Work 'til you drop and we'll take every penny, you ungrateful swine!

    1. I wonder how many of the socialists in Wastemonster stash their own wealth offshore to keep it away from the tax man. I'm not suggesting that's in itself a bad thing to do, just that it's hypocritical to do it while bleeding others dry.

        1. Semprini used to live on a houseboat at West Mersea.
          You've now made me wonder why.

  49. My Grandfather wept when he came home from hospital. He didn't expect to.

    I would rather he were properly cared for in his home.

  50. Good grief! A small patch of blue sky has appeared. Won't last, of course…

    1. Blowing a hooley here. The swifts have cancelled aeronautical acrobatics for the day. Am turning on the biomass heating.

  51. This is something that should be an issue, a big issue, in the election campaign. It's quite disturbing to find oneself having common ground with a Marxist interviewer, Aron Bastani of Novara Media, in this discussion with with Angus Hanton about his book Vassal State. It's just under an hour and a quarter but I'd call it essential listening. We all know US companies control a lot of the UK marketplace but I wonder how many people realise how much. THIS is the resaon for the destruction of the High Street in our towns and cities.

    https://www.youtube.com/wat…

  52. This is something that should be an issue, a big issue, in the election campaign. It's quite disturbing to find oneself having common ground with a Marxist interviewer, Aron Bastani of Novara Media, in this discussion with with Angus Hanton about his book Vassal State. It's just under an hour and a quarter but I'd call it essential listening. We all know US companies control a lot of the UK marketplace but I wonder how many people realise how much. THIS is the resaon for the destruction of the High Street in our towns and cities.

    https://www.youtube.com/wat…

  53. Fair do's he is oppressed.
    Home Office about to deport young intelligent hottie Anastasiia Drevynytska to an actual war zone.. on the other hand say.. (spoilt for choice here) Jwamer Saygul convicted rapist (multiple, of course) gets leave to remain.

    Summary: They hate you.

    1. Get a platoon brigade of JCBs to dig a large hole; fill it with the people who make such absurd decisions; then fill in the hole.

      (Platoon amended to brigade)

      1. or, Get a platoon of JCBs to build large wall around M25; then fill with soy latte.

    2. I think it time that all women treat muslim men as potential rapists and steer clear. Why don't i hear loud voices from feminists who treated white men like that.

    3. I reckon our Interior Ministry is full of our enemies and would merit an almost complete clear out by any government truly representing our interests.

  54. "Ross has ‘serious questions to answer’ over travel expenses – Scots Tory leader denies claiming parliamentary expenses to cover travel costs for his refereeing job"

    Clearly, he was on the ball.

    2. As I used to say to my young footballers.

      The referee's decision is final even if it's wrong.

  55. The French elections for the General Assembly are in two phases: the first vote will be on June 30th (based on PR) and the second, (FPTP) on July 7th to choose between the first two parties. These will straddle the UK general elections –

    Maybe we should have a similar system with the first round based on PR so we can decide whether Reform or The Dead Conservative Party should be in the play off second election against Labour?

    As things stand it looks as if the Lib Dems will have far fewer votes than Reform but will win far more seats. This happened in 2015 when UKIP had more votes than the combined votes for the LibDems and the SNP who together won over 60 seats while UKIP just won one.

  56. I have mulled as to whether I should share this but it beggared my belief and I feel it is somewhat symbolic as to who we have become.

    Out hill training last night. On a very steep stony forest path. Right in the path from one of the rocky ledges someone has used it as a crouching point and taken a dump. Brown pile complete with improvised napkin wipe. This is a in a forest, nothing else around just a forest and a path. And they chose the path. This is where we are now.

    2. I’ve worked in two buildings in London’s financial district where building management have had to send emails telling staff not to defecate in the shower or to use the toilets properly (I.e. sit on them, not stand on the seats).

      1. I recall an anecdote from a fellow Nottler here saying a cleaning lady was in tears as to the state of the women's toilets in some building. Again that crouching on the seat thing.

  59. I see that it is not free speech that is being curtailed but also free singing.

    This account is from the DT which, like the rest of the MSM, brands anything right of centre as racist, hard-ight or far-Right:

    "Swedish MP caught singing racist song at election bash
    David Lång, an MP from the     hard-Right Sweden Democrats, was recorded by a journalist singing “Ausländer raus”, a German-language meme that has been spreading through far-Right circles.

    The words, meaning “foreigners out,” are sung to a party song called L’Amour Toujours, and a series of episodes of young people singing the song have recently caused scandal in Germany.

    Mr Lång was recorded singing the words at an election event in Stockholm on Sunday.

    His party blamed the incident on excessive alcohol consumption and said “we expect a higher level in the future.”"

    I wonder what Grizzly makes of this?

    1. I don't know what to make of it, Rastus.

      I'm sceptical about much of the deplorable stuff put out by the MSM these days.

      1. It seems to be roughly…we don't want strangers destroying our culture…oh good they protect their culture.

      2. Replies:

        Top one: That's right, your culture and sovereignty must be protected.

        Bottom one: Xenophobia!!!

  60. Looking at the reporting of the Euro "elections" in the press – it is clear that the meeja has been so indoctrinated by having years of the joy of centre-left, left and far-left parties in charge that they cannot spot a "Conservative" party – but has to call it far-right or hard-right.

    Odd.

    1. Yes, centre right conservatism only appears far right when viewed from the perspective of the extreme left. Yet avowed relativists don't see that.

  62. I had an unusual experience, yesterday. I sat in a pub largely populated by India cricket supporters during the match against Pakistan. Much of the conversation was not English – I presume Hindi – and the cheers as India's batsmen scored boundaries, intakes of breath as they narrowly avoided dismissal and groans when they actually were all added to the mood. I don't know where they all came from as Stevenage doesn't have gatherings of what I presume were Hindus, but it was rather enjoyable watching a cricket match surrounded by others so engrossed and gripped by the proceedings. It certainly added to the entertainment value.

    2. Would Muslim Indians be in a pub? There was hooh-hah the other day about whether or not alcohol should be allowed in cricket grounds

      Was the match being watched on TV?

      1. I would guess that they were secularized Sikhs, if they were wearing turbans, hiding out in a pub for a surreptitious drink. Otherwise they are likely Hindus.

          1. Not all Sikhs wear a turban as a matter of routine. I worked with a Sikh chappie whose name was Pushpinder Pall Singh Mann (but whom we all called "Push"). He was a devout Sikh but wore his hair short and only put on a turban for the odd wedding etc. He was also clean-shaven.

          2. i confess that I thought turbans – or those top-knot coverings – where obligatory for Sikhs.

          3. Apparently not. Bal Samra, whos used to be finance director at the Beeb, is a Sikh. I only found that out when he was awarded "Sikh Businessman of the Year". My last conversation with him was when I was moved into BBC Studios and asked if I would still be working pan-BBC. His reply was, "Well, we won't be employing three people". In other words, "Yes".
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2da27a48018536b24b3673024620c094a65311f5bbc21059f6b80ef191be0ff1.png

          4. I worked with a Sikh nurse. He was clean shaven and turbanless.
            He also married an English girl, so perhaps he was an apostate.

          6. Only when they were pushing for exemption from the compulsory motorcycle helmet wearing.

          7. Not all Sikhs wear a turban as a matter of routine. I worked with a Sikh chappie whose name was Pushpinder Pall Singh Mann (but whom we all called "Push"). He was a devout Sikh but wore his hair short and only put on a turban for the odd wedding etc. He was also clean-shaven.

      2. Yes, Sky Sports Cricket.

        No women were present, other than those working, but beer was being consumed without any obvious reluctance.

        Incidentally, several portions of chips with mayonnaise were being brought out of the kitchen for the throng.

        As for India's Muslims, I wonder whether their loyalties would be divided. There was no sign of support for Pakistan amongst the viewers.

        One thing I learnt from a Hindu man sitting near me, upon enquiring why Virat Kholi wasn't playing – out of form, apparently – is that his forename is not pronounced that way. It begins with a soft 'B', often rendered as 'Bh' in English, ie Bhirat Kholi.

        1. So should a chicken bhuna be pronounced as, chicken Vuna? It's all rather complicated.

      1. I invariably speak English, here in Sweden.

        My grasp of conversational Swedish is mycket dåligt! Apart from that 95% of Swedes enjoy chatting in English, their second language.

        1. I'm afraid my Swedish is limited to, 'hurdy gurdy'. Which I believe translates to, 'Good morning, how are the immigrants today?'

          2. And the reply would be: “Dunno, you’d be better off asking someone in Kent; they’ve got hundreds of thousands more immigrants than we have!”

      2. I speak English to my travelling companions when in other countries where English is not native.

        1. It is quite obvious that foreigners who do not speak English are greatly disadvantaged in the modern world. I regard it as my duty to speak only English to them as a means of encouraging them to learn or improve their own English, thus greatly benefitting them. Raising one’s voice is essential when dealing with foreigners who have little or no command of English as it helps their poor brains to remember things.

          2. And add 'O' at the end of every word when speaking to a Spaniard, of course. Top Tip: you can do this when speaking to an Italian, too.

      3. Depends on the circumstances, surely? I always speak the local lingo by default with natives or nationality unknown, and with other English-speakers if we are in a public place and closely surrounded by natives, but were I cheering on England in a pub, a couple of pints to the good, I'm damned sure I would automatically be bellowing in English. And from experience, it wouldn't cause offence in such situations.

    4. During the Christmas period, 2018, I went on a snowmobile trip up a mountain in Norrland, north Sweden, high above the Arctic Circle, to attempt to see the Aurora borealis.

      Two of the participants on that trip were an Indian couple on holiday. I spent the majority of the time on that venture chatting away with those lovely people, mainly about cricket.

  64. The unanswered questions surrounding the tragic death of Dr Michael Mosley. 10 June 2024.

    Tributes poured in on Sunday for television doctor Michael Mosley after his body was found on the Greek island of Symi following a four day search.
    Dr Mosley’s body was found on rocks just a stone’s throw from a popular beach bar, raising questions about why it took so long to find him and how he had managed to veer off course.

    This guy is a sort of MSM human Marie Celeste. The mystery of the century. I frankly had never heard of him until this incident. So far as I
    can see he went for a walk and died of heatstroke. Mystery solved.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

      1. Did have a real go at the non-vaccinated.

        Apparently he had a good daytime TV bedside manner. Never heard of him, me. The MR used to listen to him on the wireless.

    2. You'd have thought that someone so heavily into healthy living would not have been caught out like that.

    3. Agia Marina is surrounded by an impenetrable chain-link fence; any access points are near the waters edge.

      Dr Michael Mosley's body was found next to a chain link fence that surrounds the perimeter of the tourist area and bar. He may have tried to attract attention, fainted in the heat and collapsed.

      On Symi, the normal way to reach other beaches, Agia Marina, and the Monastery of Panormitis is by boat; other than a road from Symi Port to the Monastery, there are no proper roads or walkways.

      To attempt to walk from from Pedi to Symi Port unaccompanied – without mobile phone and adequate water – in 40°C+ was at the very least, extremely unwise . . .

  65. No! Allah's curse be upon him for befriending a Kafir pig. 😡😡😡

  67. Envy of the world, you say.

    My cardiac rehab is now completed and follow up appointments and tests already organised or prescribed for the next 6 months.
    Compare and contrast with the NHS:
    There were 16 in my group and people were coming and going as there programmes started or finished.
    Every day I was picked up at home by "ambulance" and returned every evening (hat tip Bill Thomas) this was covered by the standard French carte vitale, CV. This is an 80 mile round trip, if done by taxi it would have cost approximately 250 euros a day including Mway tolls.
    I have had 4 weeks of daily work outs and lectures.
    5 one on one reviews by the cardiologist including multiple tests using various electronic gizmos.
    Two sessions in a swimming pool, transport provided and again covered by the CV.
    11 single gym sessions and 4 double sessions on weight machines
    17 half hour static cycle sessions, hooked up to monitors as well as 4 BP readings in each session, start, high intensity, finish and after warm down.
    15 organised short walks escorted by rehab staff.
    15 hours of lectures on diet, lifestyle, cardiac issues, CPR associations and external support.
    a 4 course cooked lunch every day, all of it better than the usual run of hospital food.
    Full reports already with me and my GP already.
    I was told that ALL of this is standard here.
    I feel a lot better for it and have been given a lot of useful information regarding what physical activities can be done and those I should be cautious when doing.

    You will not be surprised to note that this is only available to people registered with the French system, holding a CV so Tom, Mo, Mbunga and Harriet can't just appear expecting the same, unlike the NHS.

    1. My OH wasn't allowed to do the cardiac rehab course last year due to his AF. That has now been sorted by a cardioversion and his heart rate is normal, but he didn't get to do the course. I don't think it's as comprehensive as yours – an eight week course of one morning a week exercises and lifestyle.

      1. Cardio rehab has never been mentioned after all my problems.
        Not asingle word of it.
        I'm fairly happy with the way things are now.

        1. It’s good that you’re well now. Mel – the cardiac rehab nurse was very supportive – she phoned quite often and loaned us a blood pressure monitor and a finger tip heart & oxy monitor for about six months before she asked for them back. By that time she’d signed him off and we went back to the hospital. That’s when they did all the tests again and prescribed Amiodarone, which just made him ill. The cardioversion seems to have worked though.

          1. Amiodarone is a strong medication after the course it can take a couple of months to get over it.
            I’m having a terrible time with Amlodipine at the moment, it lowers the blood pressure but is making my legs and feet swell.
            I hate it. Grrrrr.

          2. After cardiac surgery in 2019 I was prescribed Amlodipine. Once I was discharged home, I was receiving district nurse coverage for some weeks. One noted my swollen feet and ankles and I was put back on Ramipril, which I'd been taking for raised blood pressure for quite some time before hospitalisation without any ill effects. Reverting to my previous medication solved the problem. Enquire about Ramipril, Eddy, to see if it would be suitable for you.

          3. I’m already taking Ramipril Stig, two a day.
            I’ll have go back and see my GP again. My right foot was very painful from the swelling It was difficult to get my shoes on. Both legs swollen as well.

          4. That’s one thing that hasn’t troubled my OH. His blood pressure has always been on the low side. He was only on the Amiodarone for a few weeks – the pharmacist at the surgery was able to get that stopped. I think too many of these medications fight each other and cause issues that weren’t there before. I’m very reluctant to take anything more than the occasional paracetamol these days. I keep away from the surgery for myself, and haven’t braved their booking system whatever it is now.

    2. Just as a matter of interest, what happens to those who are not registered with the French system if they become seriously ill. Is there some sort of charitable or second-tier system that, say, prevents them dying on the spot but thereafter they are in their own?

      1. As far as I’m aware genuine emergency treatment is covered.
        Otherwise you pay up front to see the doctor, as do CV holders, but most is refunded by the system to the CV holder and one takes out insurance to cover over and above the basic care.
        Ped BT or Rastus might know more.

        1. Well, we certainly pay here for NHS treatment of people who have made no contribution to the country!

      3. Our door neighbours live mainly in France they both have private medical insurance here. And are always popping back here for treatment.
        The lady recently had a new hip.
        Hubby will be coming home for a new knee soon.

      4. Anyone in the UK who is not entitled, should pay. It's just there is no proper administration to bill the individual or collect the cash. I fell seriously ill in Jeddah a few years back, I was not able to leave the hospital until the insurer has paid the bill.

      1. Fitter than when I started that's for sure, even the reports show that, hence the "normal life" back.

        Sadly not.

  68. There's lot of talk about tax hikes but not one of the parties is talking about cutting spending and then cutting taxes.

    They are all desperately trying to lift themselves out of a bucket by the handles.

    1. Of course not. Politicians don't become politicians to vote themselves less of our hard-earned money to play with.

      1. Which is the fundamental problem. They're servants. Staff. They keep banging on about what they'll spend my money on but really they should be asking me, not telling me. In fact, they should be asking what they will be offered and on what terms.

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/10/general-election-latest-news-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer/

        Farage is saying Reform will raise the tax thresholds. All well and good but… not actually possible. The state needs to be dismantled first. Besides, I would rather the basic rate be left alone and all the stealth taxes be revoked first. Fuel duties, standing charges, unreliables subsidy, insurance taxes, business rates, corporation tax, ulez, road taxes.. All the things that are stingers from taxed income. Scrap inheritance tax and stamp duty.

        Then scrap the upper and higher rates. It's just theft. Keep the tax allowance at the min wage or pension entitlement and raise it by inflation each year, but keep personal taxes low, at say 18% and get rid of NI. It's not hypothecated, so is just theft.

        1. We are so much on the same page. The dots and commas may be slightly different but the direction is identical.

          1. Folk just don't realise how much the state takes from us. People just don't seem to understand that everything you buy has already been taxed fifty + times over.

          2. It's like when I claimed my expenses for travel between sites (split site school and I was timetabled to move virtually every break and lunchtime). I did over 100 miles a term. My expenses were capped (I travelled too far!) AND I was taxed on my expenses – money I'd already been taxed on as income and I'd paid VAT and fuel duty on my petrol. I told them that, in future they would have to provide a taxi if they wanted me to travel. There was a bit of a wrangle, but when I'd been appointed I'd been told that no one should be forced to run a car and a taxi would be provided.

  69. Silly word:
    Wordle 1,087 5/6

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

    1. Very silly.

      Wordle 1,087 4/6

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

    2. Five here too

      Wordle 1,087 5/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  70. Thomas Fazi pours cold water on the significance of a surge in support for populist right-wing parties in the European Parliament elections in this article for UnHerd.

    "Europe’s insurgent Right won’t change anything

    Their elections were little more than a charade

    Thomas Fazi
    JUNE 10, 2024 5 MINS

    Depending on where you stand politically, you might view the Right-populist surge in the European Parliament as either a grave threat to democracy, or as a striking victory for it — and a major step forward in “taking back control” from the Brussels oligarchy. But both positions would be wrong. The truth is, despite yesterday’s hysteria, compounded by Macron’s decision to dissolve parliament and call an election, the impact of these elections won’t be as significant as people fear or hope.

    Consider the victors: the ECR and ID groups, who made significant gains. Both blocs are made up of various Right-populist parties who are deeply divided on several crucial strategic issues: social and economic matters, European enlargement, China, EU-US relations and, most important, Ukraine. This means that, even if they succeed in pushing the European Commission to the Right, they will struggle to turn their electoral success into political influence; on Europe’s most important challenges, it seems unlikely they will vote as a bloc. But on a more fundamental level, to assume these elections will radically alter the course of the EU’s policymaking agenda, or even threaten democracy itself, implies that the EU is a functioning parliamentary democracy. It is not.

    Despite the fanfare that surrounds every European election — each one tediously described as “the most important elections in the history of the European Union” — the reality is that the European Parliament isn’t a parliament in the conventional sense of the word. That would imply the ability to initiate legislation, a power the European Parliament does not wield. This is reserved exclusively for the EU’s “executive” arm, the European Commission — the closest thing to a European “government” — which promises “neither to seek nor to take instructions from any government or from any other institution, body, office or entity”.

    “The reality is that the European Parliament isn’t a parliament in the conventional sense of the word.”
    And this, inevitably, includes the European Parliament, which may only approve, reject or propose amendments and revisions to the Commission’s own legislative proposals. Nor is the Commission itself by any means democratically elected. Its president and its members are proposed and appointed by the European Council, which is made up of the leaders of the EU member states. Even in this case, the Parliament may only approve or reject the Council’s proposals. Hence the paradox of Ursula von der Leyen running a (comically disturbing) electoral campaign for a second term despite not actually running for a seat.

    In 2014, this was supposed to be fixed: a new system — the so-called Spitzenkandidat, or “lead candidate” process — was introduced, whereby prior to the European elections, each major political group in the European Parliament would nominate its candidate for the role of Commission president, and the nominee of the group with the most seats would automatically become president. But the system never took off. Indeed, in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen herself was chosen behind closed doors by EU leaders, despite the fact that she hadn’t run in the elections, and that two candidates had already been put forward by the centre-right EPP and centre-left S&D groups. Today, that system is considered all but dead, which is why the other groups didn’t even bother to choose a candidate.

    And yet, despite such democratic constraints, judging by yesterday’s results, one could argue that even the EU cannot remain fully insulated from the continent’s Rightward shift. This is true: the increased weight of the Right-populists within the European Parliament might force the Council to put forward a more Right-leaning candidate than von der Leyen.

    Before we fall down the trap of predicting a Right-populist dystopia, there are, however, some important caveats. While it is true that the Commission is nominated by the national governments, and thus it may appear like the latter are in control, it is equally true that the supranational institutions of the European Union hold a huge sway over national governments, insofar as they control crucial aspects of their economic policy. This is especially true in the eurozone, where the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) can effectively enforce whatever policy they want on elected governments — and even forcibly remove them from office, as they did with Silvio Berlusconi in 2011.

    This means that, in the eurozone at least, the political survival of governments largely depends on the goodwill of the EU. This is why even Right-populist parties, once they get into government — or start to think that they have a good chance of doing so — tend to quickly realign with the establishment, in the European Council as well as in the European Parliament. Take Giorgia Meloni. On all major issues, Italy’s prime minister has aligned her government with the EU and Nato — and has signalled her willingness to support a second term for von der Leyen, with whom she has developed a close relationship. In France, meanwhile, Marine Le Pen has also started to undergo a process of “Melonification” — abandoning her anti-euro platform and softening her position on Russia-Ukraine and Nato. Even if her National Rally party wins France’s forthcoming elections, all the signs suggest it won’t be the disruptive force she is promising.

    There’s also another to point to be considered. On the one hand, the fact that the European Parliament, the only democratically elected institution in the EU, exercises some oversight over the Commission’s policies, might be seen as a positive development. In this sense, the bigger presence of the Right-populist parties will certainly have an impact of the legislative process, especially on highly polarising issues such as the European Green Deal and immigration.

    But on the other, this doesn’t change the fact that the European Parliament remains politically toothless. The entire legislative process — which takes places through a system of informal tripartite meetings on legislative proposals between representatives of the Parliament, the Commission, the Council — is opaque to say the least. This, as the Italian researchers Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli have written, is exacerbated by the fact that European Parliament is “physically, psychologically and linguistically more distant from ordinary people than national ones are”, which in turn makes it more susceptible to the pressure of lobbyists and well-organised vested interests. As a result, even the most well-meaning politicians, once they get to Brussels, tend to get sucked into its bubble.

    On an even more fundamental level, none of this will ever change, even if the European Parliament is granted full legislative powers; for the simple reason that there is no European demos for the Parliament to represent. Such a demos — a political community generally defined by a shared and relatively homogenous language, culture, history, normative system — still only exists at the national level. Indeed, the EU remains deeply fractured along national economic, geopolitical and cultural fault lines — and this looks unlikely to change.

    All this means that, while we may expect a change of direction on some issues, these elections are unlikely to solve the pressing economic, political and geopolitical problems afflicting the EU: stagnation, poverty, internal divergences, democratic disenfranchisement and, perhaps most crucially for the continent’s future, the bloc’s aggressive Nato-isation and militarisation in the context of escalating tensions with Russia. In this sense, it’s hardly surprising that around half of Europeans didn’t even bother to vote. Ultimately, the EU was built precisely to resist populist insurgencies such as this one. The sooner populists come to terms with it, the better.

    Thomas Fazi is an UnHerd columnist and translator. His latest book is The Covid Consensus, co-authored with Toby Green."

    https://unherd.com/2024/06/europes-insurgent-right-wont-change-anything/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=5fa8e5fd19-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_10_08_51&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-5fa8e5fd19-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

    1. Well, we all know that the "elections" are a complete fraud. A pretendy "parliament" with no powers of any kind.

      One does wonder quite why Brussels (and their minions such as Toy Boy and The German) are quite so worried about it. The EuroPTB will simply carry on as they always have.

    2. Yup, the whole EU structure is designed to smother any democratic input into its aims.

    3. "Such a demos — a political community generally defined by a shared and relatively homogenous language, culture, history, normative system — still only exists at the national level."

      Not for much longer in many western European countries, hence the vote.

    3. Enforcement might be a problem. Unless a found cat has its ownership on its collar, its not always easy to prove who it belongs to. I suppose they could follow it to find which is its likely home, but the frequency with which I spot cats in my garden indicates how misleading that can be. Vets might act as 'police' by reporting to authorities any cat brought in without a microchip.

      1. Wouldn't that be unprofessional? Like spilling the beans on a confession heard.

        2. You could well be right, Bill. Vets might be reluctant to help police such a measure if the cat's confiscation and/or destruction was a requirement of the regulations.

          1. As most Vets now belong to four or five chains they would only require a cash incentive.

        3. You could well be right, Bill. Vets might be reluctant to help police such a measure if the cat's confiscation and/or destruction was a requirement of the regulations.

    4. Would a cat's behaviour come up to scratch if it had a chip on its shoulder?

    7. If they are Welsh or Scottish cats, they will be ok as the law does not apply in those places.

      1. Love the Trí-furcation of our laws. Nothing can possibly go wrong with such an approach. Presumably the English laws were voted in by MPs from all parts of the British Isles, which seems majorly unconstitutional to me. What right do Scottish and Welsh (and Norn Irish in some cases) have to vote on matters that are solely English?

      2. Remember the one about the cat who, when interviewed, said, "I have three homes; I have three names!"

  72. A heavy downpour of short duration, including hail and thunder, has just punctuated a cool, breezy day of very mixed weather. Nonetheless, expect "hottest June weather ever" headlines early next month because of unseasonal warmth in the Grampians and both northern and western Scottish Isles as well as high overnight minima due to blankets of cloud when most of us are sleeping.

    2. When I walked Spartie this afternoon, the alleyway we chose was like a freezing wind tunnel.
      After about 15 minutes, we both decided we'd had quite enough exercise for one day

  73. Came across this a few moments ago. If it's been posted before, no apologies as it warrants as much publicity as it can garner.

    Many people believe Starmer to be a woke prat of the first water, someone who is confused over which sex has a cervix and which a penis.

    Alison Pearson has picked up on something Starmer said during the D-Day commemorations. Woke is as woke does but he should not try to re-write history and try and elevate good and brave women to the status of those extremely courageous British, Canadian, American etc. men who rushed the beaches of Normandy on the morning of June 6th 1944. In his enthusiasm to re-write history he attempts to reduce the importance and position of men, something that is not unusual coming from the woke left of the political sphere.

    It didn't happen simply because it couldn't happen: women were not enlisted to fight for the western Allied forces.

    Certainly, there were brave women working as agents, couriers and of course the nurses but none of these rushed those beaches.

    One or two BTL make absurd, and untrue, statements in support of Starmer. They are roundly knocked out of court.

    https://x.com/AllisonPearson/status/1799052489129341184

    1. There was a woman who sneaked in as a stretcher bearer it seems. But "women" is an exaggeration.

    2. He suggested that young women ran onto the Normandy beaches on June 6th, 1944 for two reasons. First, he wanted to be inclusive of those who self-identified as women that day. The other is to encourage young women to believe that they, too, can storm beaches just as well as any young man. We cannot allow the misogyny of 1944 to stifle the ambitions of today's young women and those of the future.

      1. I’m not sure whether your comment is a frank expression of your thoughts or a tongue-in-cheek piece.

        No matter, the important point is that Starmer was wrong historically and to do so when referring to an occasion of such importance as D-Day is beyond the pale. What must the remaining veterans who took part in the assault on the heavily defended beaches have thought of such a crass statement?

        If saving women from the frontline horrors of warfare is misogyny then count me in.

  74. Off Topic
    re Formula 1
    I note that Mercedes appear to be improving all the time.
    I shall be very amused if next season they dominate the sport and Hamilton's move to Ferrari, after using a break clause in his contract, turns out to be a mistake.

  75. 388373+ up ticks,

    In ALL fairness children cannot give consent if asked to accept
    the actions of paedophiles and take part in a for good of the party cover ups, and diversity reasons, whereas their elders, guardians,police ,councillors, voters can.

    I do believe that to find sexual relief there are enough lab/lib/con coalition mass uncontrolled / party controlled paedophile umbrella supporter voters out there only to willing to serve the cause of paedophilia and diversity in the name of the party to relieve pressure on the Dover Invasion as a sort of troop stress relief.

    In short childhood in a country of decency should be a passage of innocents.

    https://x.com/AgainBraine/status/1800115890417258763

    2. I suspect this is more to do with the persistent claim by some campaigners that the low rate of conviction in rape cases is a sign of bias or prejudice rather than some of them being hard to prove i.e. instances of 'he said, she said'.

    3. 388373+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Yemen today Rochdale via Dover tomorrow, with
      party consent.

    4. What ought to be the number of rape cases resulting in a charge? Does Anneliese Dodds know how many are without substance? The thing to do is have a statutory quota of convictions regardless of evidence. That ought to secure a number of convictions which most right-minded people can agree with. As for those who feel they have become victims of a miscarriage of justice, they can take solace from knowing it's in a good cause.

  78. Boys, 12, guilty of machete attack are youngest murderers since James Bulger killers. 10 June 2024.

    Two 12-year-old boys found guilty of murdering a 19-year-old are thought to be the youngest killers to be convicted since James Bulger’s murder.

    Jurors unanimously convicted the youths, who are believed to be the youngest boys to have committed a knife-related murder in the UK, on Monday of the murder of Shawn Seesahai.

    A month-long trial at Nottingham Crown Court was told Mr Seesahai was shoulder-barged by the smaller of the two defendants, who “often” carried a machete with a 42.5cm-long blade, before being punched, kicked, stamped on and “chopped” at with the weapon.

    Ah! The joys of youth and innocence.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/10/shawn-seesahai-machete-attack/

      1. Who hasn’t nearly been there themselves, eh? Could have been any of us.

      1. Too young. Young enough to murder, of course, but young enough to be "protected…"

      2. They've been pictured in the Shropshire Star. Unfortunately, it's behind their "plus" shield so I can't post it. They both look weird.

  79. According to my phone and my laptop it's 16c and there's heavy rain outside. I've just been over to the window and taken a look and it's very windy but dry and bright.

    1. Presumably your phone and laptop are indoors – profiting from your central heating!

      1. My laptop picks up an outside temperature gauge in my garden. I'm clever like that. Don't even need to look out the window. :@)

        1. All computers give outside, not inside temperatures – but they don't always tell the truth.

      2. No central heating at home in June. It's switched off at the beginning of May and back on at the beginning of October as per the terms of the lease and irrespective of the weather. I'm in the office where the atmosphere is more controlled but how would the phone and laptop ever register rain indoors?

    2. I'm sure you know this, but neither the phone nor the laptop have any meteorological skills. I use Accuweather on both devices. The Minutecast feature isn't always 100% correct, but it is more often than not. Currently 16c here in leafy Surrey.

      1. Just to add – I have a Nest programmable 'learning thermostat'. It's set to 19c during the day, and 11.5c at 9.30 pm. I don't need to turn the heating off in summer. If the temperature indoors is above 19, it stays off. The ten day history shows that the heating came on for 30 minutes on Thursday morning. It was cold overnight. Plus there were a couple of days when I manually overrode the settings as I wanted a shower, and the bathroom was chilly…

        1. Ours is supposed to have ability to be set remotely, on way home etc. hmmmmm….think someone's trying to kid a kidder….

          1. I can control mine physically (i.e. turn the knob*), via the laptop, the phone, or just tell Alexa to do it.

            *That's a phrase that wouldn't pass the Disqus censor on most sites…

        1. I don't use the BBC for anything, if I can help it, Kate. One exception, is that I often ask my besdide 'alexa' to play Radio 4 upon retiring. This has the effect of sending me to sleep instantly, so I sleep through the World Service. Hence I woke in the early hours to hear that we're under attack from the 'Far Right' and the 'Hard Right'. Frankly, I'm terrified. Not.

          1. A number of responses I could make here, Geoff…:-D I often use WS to nod off, it's not the place it once was. Pleased to hear you're not terrified…see you in my dreams 🙂

        1. Enter your location in the box top right (on 'pooter) or top middle (on phone).
          On my phone, it thinks I'm next door. Which is accurate enough for me…

          3. Could they be reading your thoughts and wishes tho, Geoff. Pretty sure you've experienced, as many seem to, speaking out loud about possibly making a purchase of whatever only to find Amazon suggesting it when next on website…the power of Alexa, she has ways of making you desire things…….especially when you haven't even downloaded her….

          4. I've read of such things. But since I live alone, and don't talk to myself, it hardly matters. When I moved here in 2020, the entire place was illuminated (if that's the word) by dismal CFL lamps. So I splashed out on 'smart' LED replacements. I don't regret it. I haven't touched a light switch in over three years. Add three roller blinds, two Venetian, one video doorbell, a PlusZap fly killer (I tend to sit in the kitchen with the door open), and the TV. Plus the heating, as above.

            I get the odd notification, asking how I rate a previous purchase. And the odd prompt saying I may need to order another box of Walker's crisps. I refuse to ask Alexa to order anything on my behalf.

          5. I don’t live alone, but that doesn’t stop me muttering to myself 😀 Not keen on CFL, worked in an office with those, tiring on the eyes. I have the blinds too (and not venetian, not keen on the cleaning of those). Video doorbell an excellent idea. Dog snaps up the flies. Walker’s crisps eh…what’s your favourite flavour ….Alexa? grandchildren have fun with fooling it…

          6. What used to be a box of 24 is now 20. And much more expensive.

            Venetians are in the Lounge and the Bedroom. Lounge has a large 'picture window'. It's a long, if narrow, room, so the corner sofabed is very close to the window, making access difficult, with or without 'biological feet'. I can squeeze through, if necessary, but it's far easier to sub-contract it out to 'lexa…

          7. Similar with most things now, Geoff – just add smaller too. I also have a large picture window, the blinds are those pleated jobs – the ones which flies crawl in to die – fly heaven. Alexa sounds a good help…is there a male version, perhaps :-))

          8. I talk to myself all the time – only sensible things I hear. (DON'T tell the MR…!!)

  80. Two 12-year-old boys are thought to have become the youngest knife murderers in the UK..

    Mr Seesahai's parents have questioned how a child so young could have a weapon like a machete with them as they walked the streets.
    High Court Judge Mrs Justice Tipples: "This world is a different world, kids are dangerous now. If we don't pay attention to them this will keep happening."

    Solution: pay more attention.. that'll stop it.

    2. If we don't pay attention to them this will keep happening.

      We need to pay attention by hanging them.

    3. The company, DNA Leisure, sold knives due to be outlawed later this year. Based on the outskirts of Luton, just six miles (10km) from the murder scene, it is run by one-time Junior Apprentice candidate Adam Eliaz, who insisted he had done nothing wrong.18 May 2024

      How this man's killer got 79 blades delivered to his door – BBC

      What is the legitimate use of a machete in the UK? Answered preferably carved on Rishi Sunak's forehead.

  81. A G7 that matters. 10 June 2024.

    President Volodymyr Zelensky may lament that the rhetoric from the G7 exceeds their actual commitment to his country’s defence in the face of a continued Russian onslaught. But this week they have a chance to set out how the commitment to Ukraine’s liberty is to be fulfilled.

    Leaders are expected to discuss a plan to use cash sums generated by Russian assets seized by the West since the invasion in 2022. Around £235 billion are held by Euroclear, a securities depository based in Brussels, and are generating annual profits of around £2 billion per year.

    This is the only article produced so far today concerning Russia and Ukraine. It has five comments attached. The Establishment Trolls that have been infesting the comments on a regular basis for several weeks now have also vanished from the one remaining weekend article.

    One wonders if the PTB have realised how detrimental and revealing their campaign was to their own interests. We shall have to wait and see.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/06/10/a-g7-that-matters/

    1. I believe the Americans have finally realised that supposed Russian assets include billions of US debt purchases.

      It is illegal to seize the assets of another country viz. contrary to international law. Were such Russian assets to be seized the US dollar would sink even faster than at present.

    2. I believe the Americans have finally realised that supposed Russian assets include billions of US debt purchases.

      It is illegal to seize the assets of another country viz. contrary to international law. Were such Russian assets to be seized the US dollar would sink even faster than at present.

    3. The suggestion being 'now we've stolen it, let's spend it'.

      Typically socialist attitude.

    2. Stu Grant the perma Leftie student.. appeared in both debates, and BBC leftie producer tells BBC leftie cameraman to zoom in and shakey heady when Sir Farage speaketh.

      Lefties caught out again.. they're heading for another brexit spanking. me feel it.

    1. They're desperate. They're frightened. Frightened, desperate people do stupid things. Like vote Labour.

  84. Tax Freedom Day: Tax Burden Is The Highest Since Current Records Began

    Tax Freedom Day falls on the 10th June;

    This year, Brits are working 161 days solely to pay taxes, 4 days longer than last year;

    In 2019, before the pandemic, Tax Freedom Day was on May 22nd.

    UK Taxpayers will fork out over £998.6bn to the Treasury this year, 44.06% of net national income;

    Based on current Government taxation and spending plans, and OBR projections, the ASI expects Tax Freedom Day to hit June 22nd in 2028.

    Cost of Government Day, which factors in borrowing as well as taxes, is July 20th—the latest since the pandemic.

    Tax Freedom Day is a measure of when Britons stop paying tax, and start putting their earnings into their own pocket. In 2024, the Adam Smith Institute has estimated that every penny the average person earned for working up to and including June 9th went to the taxman- from June 10th they are finally earning for themselves.

    British taxpayers have worked for a gruelling 161 days for the taxpayer this year, the latest since current records began. That’s 4 days later than last year, and 19 days later than before the pandemic. In 2009, Tax Freedom Day fell on May 18th- almost a whole month earlier. In 2010, it was on May 21st.

    Tax Freedom Day takes into account the total tax burden. This includes both direct taxes (such as Income Tax and National Insurance) and indirect taxes (such as VAT and Corporation Tax).

    Britain’s tax burden has been moving in the wrong direction for years, and has now been made heavier by frozen income tax thresholds dragging Brits into paying higher rates of tax.

    The Adam Smith Institute is calling on politicians seeking election to be honest with the public about the size and nature of the tax burden on British taxpayers.

    1. Does it include inflation? What about insurance taxes? Fuel taxes?

      But still. The idea of working half the year to pay for the state to spaff up the wall is ludicrous. All that money confiscated and such poor quality services returned. It's offensive.

  85. Two 12-year-old boys shoulder-barged defenceless stranger, 19, before punching, kicking, stamping and stabbing him to death with a machete/

    Family members of both the victim and the defendants cried and hugged each other in the public gallery as the jurors found both boys guilty of murder and one guilty of possessing a bladed article.

    Strange reaction between families – Why might that be?

        1. My grandmother took me to see this when I was five, neither of us saw anything wrong with young women being kidnapped 😀

          1. Jacques D'Amboise who played Ephraim [dark green shirt] was principal dancer in the New York Ballet.

          3. Hollywood and UK musicals of the 1940s to 1960s, in particular, are my forté. I love them even more since popular music was abolished in the 21st century.

            Personal favourites?

            West Side Story; Oklahoma!; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Meet Me in St Louis; Guys & Dolls; Oliver!; Carousel; My Fair Lady.

          4. Oklahoma! was the first film I ever saw aged about 10. It frightened the life out of me!!

          5. I was about 5 when my parents took me to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Apparently, I screamed so hard at the evil queen that my parents had to take me home! I was an odd child (I haven't changed much).

  86. A Japa-nese Birdie Three

    Wordle 1,087 3/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good work on a difficult word! Anxious bogey here, again…

      Wordle 1,087 5/6

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

    2. Don't know what it means but I was running out of alphabet.

      Wordle 1,087 4/6

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

    5. 4 today.

      Wordle 1,087 4/6

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

  87. The lovely Muhammad Ali.. Bradford West Independent candidate.. tells the packed audience the revolution is coming. In front of a Pakistani flag.

    Now, don't say you weren't warned.. this will be the last non-sectarian election.

    2. Shame he didn't go as far as explaining exactly what he meant by that.
      It's probably another over-looked effing act of treason against the British people who have just celebrated the success of driving off a terrible threat of invasion 80 years ago.

    5. If they get their way it will be the last election. Democracy is so inconvenient, not to mention haram.

    6. Candidates must be British with at least one British Grandparent. Birth certificates required.

      Should be the rules.

  89. Ref Cur Ikea Slammer's tribute to the brave men "and women" who landed on D-Day – it turns out that was, accidentally, right:

    "After the troops had landed and the chaos and violence had subsided, Martha Gellhorn snuck ashore alongside the medics as a stretcher-bearer. She was the only woman there that day. The next group of women, who were members of the U.S. Women’s Army Corps, did not arrive in Normandy for another 38 days. Bearing witness to the resulting death and destruction, and as the wounded were being collected, she began to process the surroundings."

  90. https://youtu.be/IgaQH8w8ogw

    Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy is not without his fair share of odd opinions and bizarre claims. Guido reminds co-conspirators of when Lammy declared that “A million Indians died fighting for us, they fought for the European project”. Former MEP Steven Woolfe was quick to point out that this wasn’t true:

    “They fought for Britain to get rid of a European dictator, who was murdering and killing people. They didn’t fight for the European Union…That’s a complete perversion of history and what they were fighting for. “

    Still, Lammy doubled down on his claim. Given World War Two rows in the past week, the words of Britain’s potential next Foreign Secretary are posted without comment…

  91. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    The truth about the rise of the ‘far right’ in Europe
    Fraser Nelson10 June 2024, 11:42am
    ‘The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a danger for our nation but also for Europe,’ said Emmanuel Macron as he announced his general election. Strong talk, as befits his newly-called general election campaign but is that really what has just happened? Look closely and the results are more nuanced – and more interesting.

    If anything, we can see the taming of some populist shrews. In France, Le Pen’s National Rally hit 30 per cent only after her long attempt to detoxify, mellowing her agenda and, recently, kicking the AfD out of her European Parliament grouping. The fresh-faced Jordan Bardella, 28, was the face of Le Pen’s Euro campaign. Macron’s snap election is perhaps intended to kill Le Pen’s presidential hopes by cursing her with forcing her into government. Wielding or sharing power tends to kill your support after a while.

    It’s nonsense to pretend that these parties are part of one ‘far right’ or radical-right lump
    Just ask the members of Germany’s traffic light coalition, who all suffered, while the opposition AfD party prospered. The Sweden Democrats, also in a governing coalition, fell 2 points to 13 points. Even Viktor Orban suffered the government penalty in Hungary where a new centre-right (and anti-Orban) party, Tisza, won almost 30 per cent of the vote. Fidesz finished with 45 per cent (down 8 points), the first time since 2004 that it has won less than half of the vote. Given Orban’s control of Hungary’s media, this is quite some result. In Poland, Tusk’s moderates finished first with 37 per cent and the Law & Justice Party was on 36 per cent, losing six seats.

    After 18 months governing Italy, Meloni has proved she is centre-right, not radical. Her Brothers of Italy did well at the expense of the more rabble-rousing Lega from Matteo Salvini. She is moving Italy more towards the centre: even Ursula von der Leyen now says her centre-right EPP grouping – which came first and did better than predicted with 185 seats (+9) – could work with Meloni’s party.

    Most popular
    Billi Bierling
    The hardest part of climbing Mount Everest isn’t what you think

    It’s nonsense to call Meloni’s party ‘post-fascist’ or to pretend that the above parties are part of one ‘far right’ or radical-right lump. Listening to the BBC, whose reporters use near-hysterical language about far-right and hard-right, I wonder how its listeners are supposed understand what’s happening on our doorstep. The terms hard-right, far-right, radical right all smack of the partisan reporting we see in America. As a public service broadcaster, the BBC should be aiming to shed light rather than heat. The other problem is that if they tell each other that the hard-right is rising, they will never investigate what just happened in Hungary or how Meloni has come to bring stability to Italy.

    These European parties can be jointly categorised together as ‘new right’ – some genuinely racist, some moderate, but all now mainstream in a way that wasn’t the case 15 years ago. They cohere in two blocs in the European Parliament. The Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) are in 4th place with 73 seats (+4) and Identity and Democracy (ID) in 5th place with 58 seats (+9). But as these parties have so little in common, they’re always feuding. As a result, AfD (15 seats, +9) and Fidesz (10 seats, down 13) don’t belong to any group. So let’s not pretend that they are a surging force in Strasbourg.

    So how do things look now? The same as they did before. The EPP reigns. Then come the Social Democrats (ie, centre-left) with 137 seats (-2), then the liberal bloc (‘Renew Europe’) in third place. Then the new-right parties (see below). Von der Leyen will almost certainly be given another five-year term and the EU project will continue unchanged.

    1. And my BTL on that ridiculous piece:

      "Mr Nelson – your derogatory comment about the "far right" betrays your ignorance. Lots of people throughout the EU have voted for conservative values. Conservative. Nothing "far-right" or "hard-right" about any of them.

      You are too young to remember that, once, we had a Conservative Party. The present one in name only is a mix of green/liberal democrat and Blairite policies. Nothing Conservative about it at all."

  92. The truth about the rise of far right in Europe
    Comments thread, the Spectator

    Bill Thomas
    36 minutes ago
    Mr Nelson – your derogatory comment about the "far right" betrays your ignorance. Lots of people throughout the EU have voted for conservative values. Conservative. Nothing "far-right" or "hard-right" about any of them.

    You are too young to remember that, once, we had a Conservative Party. The present one in name only is a mix of green/liberal democrat and Blairite policies. Nothing Conservative about it at all.
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    Colorado Fortuna
    41 minutes ago
    To the BBC anything slightly to the right of Kruschev is borderline fascist.
    Share ›
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    Bill Thomas Colorado Fortuna
    34 minutes ago
    "borderline"? {:¬))
    Share ›
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    Paul Sutton
    an hour ago
    I'm curious if anyone has ever seen these two illusive creatures recently:

    1. A moderate Muslim,

    2. A far-right activist.

    I'm not doubting they exist, just that I keep reading that they're everywhere and yet never appear.

    I'm a keen bird-spotter and wonder if this is akin to that well-known phenomenon: a novice buys an exhaustive guide to the world's birds then claims to have seen the lesser-spotted Sunak-pigeon in his local park. It's actually a sparrow.
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    David Cameron Paul Sutton
    35 minutes ago
    I saw a moderate Muslim far right activist once. But I had been on the shrooms
    Share ›
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    Dahlia Travers Paul Sutton
    36 minutes ago
    To be fair Paul, I do know moderate Muslims – mainly female. A couple of weeks back, I ran into an ex colleague who continues to be a Muslim on a very low key basis while married to a non Muslim indigenous British man. She is thoroughly westernised and I know another who actually married (and then divorced) a Jew.
    But I have never met a ‘far-right activist’.
    Share ›
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    Gilian Holroyd
    an hour ago
    When is the BBC going to be challenged in the House?
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    J
    Jeffrey Butler
    an hour ago edited
    “Far”, “Hard”, “Extreme” and “Populist” are all highly subjective views. Can a party that secures 30% of the popular vote really be called “Far”? Isn’t the party that wins the largest share of the vote “Populist”? Can’t the political centres of gravity in different countries be very different? Who gets to decide what term to apply?

    The media seem to believe that they have a Solomonic wisdom in defining these terms without bias. Really? The Spectator? The BBC? The Guardian? Of course they’ll all say “it is generally accepted ….”. Accepted by who exactly? By the established media and political classes who have a vested interest in smearing and excluding those who dare to upset their cosy status quo. Please at least do us the courtesy of appending “.. in the view of my particular media outlet” whenever you use the terms. “Radical” however is a term of which I approve, it being the opposite of “In it for themselves Parasites”.
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    Countrywatch Jeffrey Butler
    5 minutes ago edited
    I understand that one of the key things socialists do, on their way to full blown communism, is to take control of the language, including its meaning and its employment e g using it to label different groups. It is a very powerful tool of control in sidelining, smearing, and eventually destroying enemies. There are countless examples currently where people are labelled anti se m it ic or rac is t, in order to stifle any questioning of "the narrative". Similarly, a conspiracy theorist is now a derogatory term, thanks to the
    C I A.

    The infiltration of our society by cultural Marxism is well nigh completed, I believe. Do those "social liberals" (see Professor Matthew Goodwin) in our society, who embrace "woke" and consider it a sign of social status, actually realise that they are effectively supporting Marxism and are thereby acting as useful tools, maybe unwittingly, in the grand agenda? That is what Dr James Lindsay explains in this video below:

    https://starrs.us/woke-is-marxism-evolved-to-take-on-the-west/

    Marxism • Woke Agenda Woke is Marxism Evolved to Take on the West
    4 May 2023

    "This important 25 minute speech by Dr. James Lindsay explaining how “Woke” is Marxism, how it came to be, how it evolved into Cultural Marxism (enter the cultural institutions in order to change them from within), how it subtly operates and provokes to get its desired end, and how it will destroy everything unless we stand by our principles…"
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    WinkyWoo Jeffrey Butler
    an hour ago
    Great post.
    Share ›
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    Mrs Croc
    an hour ago
    I wonder why Fraser wants to be in the speci payroll, he would be much better off in the grauniad
    Share ›
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    Prickly Thistle
    2 hours ago
    BBC staff must be wetting their pants at the thought of the Right taking over Europe – never mind, they can retire on their fat pensions.
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    Roadrunner777 Prickly Thistle
    2 hours ago
    Only REFORM now mentions breaking up the BBC (Biased Broadcasting Company).
    Share ›
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    bondi1000
    2 hours ago
    The EU is basically designed to kill democracy, ie ensure that certain supra-national social-economic policies continue whatever the results at the ballot box. Those policies always operate in favour of an unelected technocracy and include an open door policy to ensure low inflation and a plentiful supply of cheap labour. This works for a while, but essentially it’s a Ponzi scheme, as you need more and more people with low expectations flooding the labour market to keep the racket going. Ultimately it all ends in disaster.
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    CStapleton bondi1000
    24 minutes ago
    It ends in a housing shortage, full schools, hospitals, roads, and no doctor's appointments etc. How did our politicians expect it to end? Same with printing money, all the easy options and no tough decisions. It has been a headlong flight from authority by a good for nothing failed political class.
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    Graham Snow
    2 hours ago
    Fraser is relieved. It could have been far worse. The Globalists are still the majority in the European Parliament and Brussels can continue with the project. The cracks have been papered over. But if France votes heavily for NR in the forthcoming election , as seems likely, those cracks will open up wider than ever. The Globalists have dodged a bullet but they might get it right between the eyes next month.
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    John Andrews
    2 hours ago
    One of the innumerable tricks the Tories missed was instructing the BBC to aim for balance instead of its own weird notion of 'impartiality' in its new coverage.
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    Convicted felon
    2 hours ago
    The Right wing has no credible political philosophy and is just grievance mongering and money making off low information voters. As soon as they get in office, the scam starts to crumble and they have nothing to offer.
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    Colorado Fortuna Convicted felon
    37 minutes ago
    Best get Kim jong-un over on a lecture tour eh?
    Share ›
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    bondi1000 Convicted felon
    42 minutes ago
    Of course it does – it has what is ultimately a far more humane and sustainable political philosophy than the Left. One based eg on individual freedom and responsibility, a small state and low taxes.
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    Convicted felon bondi1000
    30 minutes ago
    One based eg on individual freedom and responsibility, a small state and low taxes.

    O God, the tired cliches arrive. Didn't Thatcher (and Reagan) offer this B/S 30 years ago? What happened?
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    Ian Watkins Convicted felon
    2 hours ago
    Blimey. Even I didn't think you could describe Keir Starmer and the Labour Party as "right wing"……
    Share ›
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    Nicola Grevatt Convicted felon
    2 hours ago
    Sounds like the left…
    Share ›
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    Rosie M Banks Nicola Grevatt
    an hour ago
    Sounds like john
    Share ›
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    Dahlia Travers Rosie M Banks
    34 minutes ago
    I’ve blocked Eccles cake (assume it is he) but I’m happy to take your word for it Mrs Little.
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    nanumaga Dahlia Travers
    7 minutes ago
    Have been away for a while, but I'm pretty sure I spotted this as old 'john/Midatlantic'….there's something quite particular about his incoherent vehemence which offers the clue?
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    Cadwallader Convicted felon
    2 hours ago
    What about Meloni? Seems to be doing well.
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    Convicted felon Cadwallader
    29 minutes ago
    Apparently by not being right wing.
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    Baron
    2 hours ago
    The EU Parliament election result matters not one iota, it will do FA to change the EU direction proscribed by the unnecessary layer of the Brussels bureaucracy, its usefulness is only in that it hints reasonably well what will happen when the national elections in the member countries take place, what will happen bodes not well for the Woke progressive phylum, they are on a losing streak that's unlikely to reverse because the Brussels apparatchiks are determined to carry on as before, the uncontrolled immigration will not cease, neither will the stabbings, eventually the plebeians of Europe will have enough and revolt.
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    Adam P
    2 hours ago
    I welcome Fraser calling out the BBC's hysterical reporting of these elections and use of the term "far right", which is now sprinkled so liberally over its reporting that it has lost all meaning.
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    WinkyWoo
    2 hours ago edited
    What, in any other period of history, would you call an elite, all-powerful, rich cabal, which is unashamed about its wealth and which vaunts its higher status and credentials as badges of clear superiority; which derides one or two races, in particular, as being untermensch; which imposes totalitarian views and ways of life on the poorer majority of peoples? This cabal, twists the news and the truth to ensure that its extreme ideologies are implemented and ensures that the police and judiciary enforce its will. Well, I think, in any other period of history, such a cabal might well be called, 'far-right'.

    Woke elites are the new far-right and the EU is its perfect embodiment. Thank goodness cracks are beginning to appear. They might not cause substantial fractures (yet) but they are indicative that the people of Europe will not just let the woke extreme fascists have their way in imposing their absurd anti-nation ideologies upon the rest of us.
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    TheLydiaR
    2 hours ago
    The voters don't want globalism or mass immigration legal or illegal. This of course makes them far right in the eyes of the Times, BBC and Guardian.
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    goldrunner2
    2 hours ago
    Can I just subscribe to the comments and not to the magazine?
    Share ›
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    KJ200 goldrunner2
    2 hours ago
    Hear you. Try Geoff's place, nttlblog, a number of ex-subbies over there. Good luck 🙂
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    WinkyWoo KJ200
    an hour ago
    Yes, Not the Telegraph Letters is a great little site.
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    David Cotton
    3 hours ago
    Just wait, the globalist policy induced economic crisis has barely started. .

    It's going to be very interesting here, to see where Farage picks up votes from.
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    WinkyWoo
    3 hours ago edited
    'the continuation of a EU project which is unlikely to be much changed by the tweaked makeup of the European Parliament.'
    And this is why we wanted to leave the EU. It does not reflect Europe's interests, never mind ours. European people have made their feelings felt that they want centre governance but the EU will just go its sweet, globalist, anti-borders, fascist, extreme, unsustainably liberal way. Yes, there has been substantial gains for the right (most sensible people would call it the centre) but the EU Parliament is not as we know it anyway. The Commission makes the rules and the Parliament is just a rubber-stamping exercise, more or less. Parliament can only elect the President of the Commission with the other members selected by another tier called the Council. Still, the Parliament can voice its approval of the law-making Commissioners. But it is the Commissioners who are the true head of the snake.

    Another fun fact about the EU Parliament. MEPs are only allowed to speak for a two or three minutes at a time. There is no real opportunity for the ordinary person's voice to be heard. This is not democracy. There are 705 MEPs for 400 million people. A gnat's fart would have as much impact as an ordinary EU citizen who wishes to make their voice heard in such a set up. We have 650 MPs for 65-90 million people (sorry, we all know no-one really knows how many incomers there are now).

    Saying all that, at least the people of Europe are making their feelings felt about the mis-governance of our continent. I would describe it as significant cracks but more pressure is needed before any kind of EU becomes democratic.
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    Pooh Bah
    3 hours ago edited
    What the “People” have voted for is actually “Alright” or “Allright”.
    Share ›
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    V
    Veritas numquam perit
    3 hours ago edited
    No such thing as Far Right, only Right. The idea that this nation is ours is because it was built by us over millennia, built on the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors. Our nation was created through common cause, built on customs, sacrifice, family and honour. And yet the Left decided without asking, that they'd rip it all up, pull it all down, they decided they would punish us for being homogeneous, for daring to live in peace. Our nation now rewards foreign criminals, foreign drug dealers, people smugglers and modern day slavers. They are housed, fed and rewarded for just arriving, for turning up uninvited whilst our own people sleep rough. The uninvited have no criminal record checks, no visas, no passports and no money. Being Right is protecting our home, our nation, our people and our history. My ancestors died in two world wars and many wars before that. This kingdom is ours and the Left destroyed it. Honest immigration, via need, love, and integration, with checks is no issue, but that's not what's happening.
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    Charles Wardrop
    3 hours ago edited
    As"Just William" Brown rightly pronounced, Conservatives want to make a nation's "things better by keeping them the same", while keeping out new-fangled theories like Communism, fighting the climate and giving power over our nation to outside meddlers, UN, EU and globalist organisations run by malign multibillionaires and Russian/Chinese agents..

    The Reform Party seems to be Conservative so need to bolster the Cino Party-time for a collaboration?
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    CStapleton
    3 hours ago
    Ironically, I can see signs of the taming of populist shrews in your use of inverted commas in your "Far Right" headline. You seem to be learning Fraser.

    "….nationalists and demagogues" being those who have the effrontery to disagree with Macron. How very democratic.
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    Rogue Broker CStapleton
    3 hours ago
    They're simply not the sort of plebs that Fraser would invite to his dinner parties in Twickenham.
    Share ›
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    RG Plumb Rogue Broker
    2 hours ago
    Aw, did Frase snub you? It was a great party.
    Share ›
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    Rogue Broker RG Plumb
    2 hours ago
    Judging by your comment, I clearly missed out on some scintillating conversation.
    Share ›
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    Rogue Broker
    3 hours ago
    'then Liberals (‘Renew Europe’) in third place'

    Yes, down 23 seats so far. Economical with the truth Fraser.

    Still, keep telling yourself that your fellow wets in Europe aren't losing their grip.
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    Rogue Broker Rogue Broker
    3 hours ago edited
    Oh Fraser also 'forgot' to mention that the leftie death-cultist Greens got a kicking too.

    Is this the Spec's idea of responsible journalism?
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    Sir Kneel Smarmball
    3 hours ago
    Basically I could give a toss about the make up of the EU Parliament. It is the make up of nation states that is more important. I know Fraser wants to put a positive globalist spin on things and decree folks who want to protect their borders from groomers and criminals as racists, but it won’t stop the tide. Even Labour will be a one term aberration and are only getting a shot because the Conservatives turned into CINO’s.
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    Christopher Webster Sir Kneel Smarmball
    3 hours ago
    CINOs? Should there be an apostrophe?
    Share ›
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    Sir Kneel Smarmball Christopher Webster
    3 hours ago
    Conservative in name only ( plural, loadsawets and loadsawokes and loadsalibs)
    Share ›
    Load more comments

      1. Watch out for that Bill Thomas chap – always on the ball and extremely witty…

  93. 'Night All
    Funny Old World
    We are told the idea of reducing Global Warming by cloud seeding is to increase "Reflectance" less Solar Energy reaching the Earth
    Simultaneously we are told that the "Warmest May Evah" was caused by heat trapped under cloud cover at night…….
    It's almost as if they haven't got a flucking clue
    These maniacs are dangerous

  94. Sitting by the stove, trying not to hear the driving rain, I was reading a novel by Muriel Spark. Not a writer I am familiar with. Anyway, I came across this short exchange which made oi larf:

    "But Caroline isn't a Catholic."
    "She's just become one."
    "I thought she was looking thin."

          2. You will be relieved that the MR (45 years an English teacher) – agreed 100%

    2. "Aim in mai praime!"

      "Mai girls are the crême-de-la-crême."

      "Aim in the business of putting auld heads on young shoulders."

          3. My mother would now be the same age as Maggie Smith. As she got older my mother began to look and sound more and more like a Maggie Smith character although we never told her that. From Charlotte Bartlett to the Downton Abbey grandma. Ironically at one point she told me that Maggie Smith was exactly like her own mother had been.
            Maggie holds a place in my heart if only for this reason.

      2. When I first read the book in my teens, I thought Miss Brodie was exciting and badly treated.
        As an adult, I could see that she was a bad and dangerous teacher. Favouritism, facism and sexual fantasies were not what the parents were paying for.

        1. Indeed, but Maggie Smith's portrayal of Jean Brodie in the film was a tour de force.

    3. Miss Brodie in her Prime was played by Maggie Smith who was in her prime at the the time.

  95. What is it with Party leaders using sob stories for their election campaigns.
    It's like watching a round of Britain's got talent.
    Without the talent.

    2. And distasteful.
      I am not a fan of Cameron, but he did not use Ivan as a campaigning prop.

  96. This old horticultural adage has recently been revised for the effects of climate change
    Ne'er cast a clout, till June is out.

    3. I wonder if GPs will expect double pay for giving the jabs?
      After all, a two-in-one vaccine will halve their pay outs.

      2. GPs get far too much for what they actually do, already. To be paid for how many people register with a practice, as opposed to how many people are actually seen, is very wrong.

        1. Here, we pay when we visit the doctor, including for consumables. They also have a fee from government per registered patient.

      1. They do. Schwab is on video stating with a perfectly straight face and earnest tone that the masses don’t think, they’re driven only by emotion.

  98. That's me for today. Had the delight of hearing the only member of my family who is older than me speaking on a series of podcasts for BBC (I know – spit) Radio Devon about the 1943 farm clearances in South Devon – the South Hams. This was to enable the Allies to train for, er, D-Day.

    Dear Coz is 90 – sharp as a knife. Sounded half her age and right on the button about the history.

    She was born three miles from Kingsbridge and has spent her entire life within five miles of the farm where she was born. Her grandparents, father, late husband (who landed in Normandy late on 6 June 1944) and three sons are all farmers.

    The story had long been forgotten – except by the families involved, of course. So it was very timely. The only odd thing to me (Devon born) was that virtually no one on the programmes sounded remotely Devonian. There now..!

    Anyway, have a spiffing evening.

    A demain. When it may rain a bit less. But not much….

    1. My mother's brother, my dear old Uncle Dick, lived near Kingsbridge and one of my nieces Nicola ran a very successful bakery in the town but Uncle Dick had died before Nicola went to live and work there.

      Nicola competed in a national ITV programme for professional bakers and won the Devon heats and then moved on to the South West competition and again came first, In the All England Final she came fifth.

    2. Best Wishes to her, I'm no one she knows of course, but have been to Kingsbridge several times. And drank the scrumpy from the local pub.
      Slept like a log and awoke in the fire place.

    1. And will Toy Boy f*ck off on election day? Nah.

      I see he was poncing about at Oradour today. Creepy, arse-licking bastard. I wonder if HIS Toy Boy (the pretendy prime minister) was there

    2. Content unavailable
      This content currently broadcasted by the website Odysee which constitutes a replay of the signals of Russia Today and Sputnik which constitutes a violation of French (Article 6.I.8 of the "Loi pour la confiance dans l'économie numérique" LCEN) and EU law (decision (CFSP) 2022/351 and the regulation (EU) 2022/350 of the Council of the EU).

          1. Yes but in theory I shouldn’t be able to open their site in the UK either, though we can still watch on Rumble and Odysee.

          9. VPL is also a collection agency for pop video royalties but I figured you weren’t referring to that?

          12. Wouldn’t I have to do something to link to that? It was just a matter of one day the RT site didn’t open (Safari had a message about the server not finding that page) and the next day it did!

          13. No rhyme nor reason to it, as far as I can tell.
            Perhaps as an al beeber you have extra accesses?

  102. Evening, all. Had a very busy day and am exhausted! I cleared a space in the garage to house the tricycle (which the bike guru checked over so it wouldn't fall to pieces when I rode it!). I had temporarily put it in the stable, but that wasn't practical long term as that's where I now store the winter fuel for the Rayburn. I haven't yet taken the car out with the trike in place, but I judge that it will be possible. Let's hope I'm right!

    As for the headline; politicians should take responsibility for ditching the stupid climate targets. I see the limp dims (neither liberal nor democratic) have vowed to stuff us back into the EU single market. What worries me is they have a lot of posters up around here and the sitting MP is LD (and mighty fond of her expenses).

    1. Just an idea regarding space for the trike. Can you stand it on its back end with the front wheel pointing upwards?

  103. Farage is more English nationalist than patriot
    –
    The Continental triumph of the populist Right portends a deeper, distinctly European, crisis
    –
    CHARLES MOORE • 10 June 2024 • 6:40pm
    –
    To British eyes, it may seem strange that President Emmanuel Macron of France has responded to his trouncing in the European elections by calling a snap parliamentary election just before the Paris Olympic Games in July. He did not have to do this. Why not lie low and wait for better days?

    But this is to misunderstand not only M Macron's impulsive, high-handed character, but also what he sees as his country's crisis. His main opponents, the Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen, won twice as many votes as his own party in the Euro elections.

    The president is now challenging his electorate, saying, in effect: "All right. Do you mean what you say? Let's find out." If the RN wins the elections just announced, Jordan Bardella – Mme Le Pen's proxy as party leader – would become prime minister, with Macron still president.

    M Macron's gamble is that voters won't really want this or, if they do, that the RN's time in office will discredit Mme Le Pen as a presidential candidate before his presidency ends in 2027.

    The issue is visceral in France because allegiances still go back to the Second World War. De Gaulle's Fifth Republic – the current constitution – was constructed to make it extremely hard for any party linked to Vichy's collaboration with the Nazi occupation to rise to the highest office. So far, the two-round system of presidential voting has achieved this.

    Although Mme Le Pen has moved her party a long way from the racist, pro-Vichy extremism of her father's time as leader, the French know its genealogy. Opponents of Le Pen see the current struggle as one between European civilisation and barbarism. They are confirmed in their view by her party's links, some of them corrupt and concealed, with Vladimir Putin and his regime. France's elite civil servants are in a tizzy about M Macron's decision for a sudden election because, if RN wins, they might not be able to stomach being collaborators in a Le Pen regime and would be out of their jobs.

    To lesser or greater degrees, comparable questions of underlying allegiance arise across most of the European Continent. In Spain, with Franco's legacy, in Germany with Hitler's, in Italy with Mussolini's, old passions stir. The current revolts against those in power are for the most part richly deserved because rulers have increasingly mistreated and ignored their peoples, but darker forces, such as long-subdued ethnic rivalries, are now in play.

    Large sections of the European Right – though not, to her credit, Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy – make friendly noises towards Putin and oppose helping Ukraine.

    Many in Britain, watching all this from afar, may feel pleased that issues such as immigration and net zero, so long suppressed by the rulers, are now coming to the fore. It is, indeed, high time to confront such things. But we should also be aware that divisions much deeper than those in our politics are involved.

    So one should not rush into a reframing of British conservatism of the kind which Nigel Farage is trying to bring about. I fear Mr Farage does not understand the difference between nationalism – so often a divisive and negative phenomenon – and patriotism, which is usually a positive one.

    Part of the historic skill of British conservatism has been to cherish the differing but interweaved threads in the national tapestry rather than pulling them apart. Hence its support for the Union.

    Mr Farage, on other hand, is more of an English nationalist than a patriotic Brit. In consequence, he raises no objections to a united Ireland and has expressed some sympathy with the Sinn Fein president, Mary Lou McDonald. He says he understands the "emotions behind" Scottish nationalism. He is always inclined to make apologies for Putin, whom he once described as the politician he most admired. He has a bit of a yen for the continental nationalist politics of the sort described above. If I had to find a single word for his politics, I would say they are a bit unBritish.

    Skillful ignorance

    After the daring and successful raid in which Israeli special forces rescued four hostages from Gaza on Saturday, BBC television news interviewed ex-Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, formerly of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Dozens of civilians had been killed in the ensuing battle. The BBC reporter wanted to know why the Israelis could not have issued "a warning to those civilians to get out in time". With saintly patience, Col Conricus calmly pointed out that if such a warning had been issued, Hamas would immediately have killed all the hostages in question.

    Three questions arise from this exchange. One is: "Why does the BBC not inquire into the reasons that Hamas keeps hostages in civilian areas?"

    The second is: "At least three of the hostages were held by civilians (a former Al Jazeera journalist and his family members). What is the extent of Gaza civilian cooperation with Hamas murder and hostage-taking?"

    The last is: "One understands, though deeply deplores, that the BBC has committed itself to extreme bias in its coverage of Israel/Gaza, but does that mean that it has to employ imbeciles?" I fear the answer is "Yes."

    Thin as a post

    In this newspaper yesterday, James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, attacked Sir Keir Starmer for claiming to be tough on crime while actually being soft on it. Sir Keir was "a wolf in sheep's clothing", he said. Surely Mr Cleverly meant the exact opposite. Perhaps Mr Cleverly is too busy to work out what he means, but I feel someone must protest at the mangled metaphors that lie untended on the streets during this campaign.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/10/nigel-farage-reform-party-uk-general-election/

    "Opponents of Le Pen see the current struggle as one between European civilisation and barbarism."

    In this, Moore is coupling barbarism and Putin. Nowhere does he use the word 'Islam'. Isn't that where Le Pen and her voters see barbarism?

    In discussing Farage, Moore implies prejudice by entering into the age-old argument of nationalism v. patriotism. I'd just like someone in SW1 to govern in the national interest. That's my kind of nationalism.

    3. Macron called a snap election because he is Macron, a silly little man who considers himself a second Napoleon. He has seen how Tony Blair, Obama, Clinton and others have quit mainstream politics and amassed billions via corrupt global foundations simply by lending their names to such organisations.

      Macron is too arrogant to stick around in some contorted coalition with arch enemy Le Pen and so will scoot off to some lucrative global outfit probably bearing his name.

      Edit: Macron will have thrown his own favourites under the bus by calling a snap election, including his favourite bum chum the Prime Minister.

    4. Macron called a snap election because he is Macron, a silly little man who considers himself a second Napoleon. He has seen how Tony Blair, Obama, Clinton and others have quit mainstream politics and amassed billions via corrupt global foundations simply by lending their names to such organisations.

      Macron is too arrogant to stick around in some contorted coalition with arch enemy Le Pen and so will scoot off to some lucrative global outfit probably bearing his name.

      Edit: Macron will have thrown his own favourites under the bus by calling a snap election, including his favourite bum chum the Prime Minister.

  104. Labour has let the cat out of bag – and every parent should be worried
    –
    At last, Emily Thornberry has admitted what everyone already knew
    –
    CAMILLA TOMINEY, Associate Editor • 10 June 2024 • 12:02pm

    To be fair to Emily Thornberry, at least she answered the question. Until yesterday, I had asked no less than four shadow ministers the same thing on my Sunday morning GB News politics show:

    "How are you going to accommodate private school pupils into the already oversubscribed state sector if their parents can no longer afford the fees under a future Labour government?"

    The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has forecast that Labour imposing 20 per cent VAT on private school fees (and stripping private schools of business rate relief) could result in three to seven per cent of privately educated pupils switching to state schools as a result – up to 40,000 children.

    Shadow minister after shadow minister refused to answer the question of what will happen to them, insisting that talk of an exodus had been overblown by vested interests – even though the IFS is completely independent. Wes Streeting, Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall and even Bridget Phillipson, the woman hoping to be the next education secretary, appeared unable to provide a practical solution, preferring instead to blame "scaremongering from the private schools lobby" for the critical response to a policy Sir Keir Starmer had insisted will be implemented "straight away" if he wins the keys to Downing Street next month.

    Then the shadow attorney general let the cat out of the bag by admitting that the policy does indeed risk increasing class sizes in the state sector. She was surprisingly relaxed about it considering she belongs to a party that has consistently railed against "Tory cuts" to the education sector and teacher shortages.

    "Certainly, some schools that have vacancies [may take ex-private pupils]. My primary schools and my secondary schools have space and they're very welcome", said Thornberry, who is hoping to be re-elected as the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury on July 4.

    "They are good schools and people should send their children there. I mean, it's fine, and if we have to, in the short term, have larger classes, we have larger classes."

    So now we are finally closer to the truth.

    Labour hopes the policy will raise £1.7 billion, which it has pledged to spend on recruiting 6,500 new state school teachers (it's going to need them) rolling out a new national "oracy" programme and ensuring all state schools in England have access to mental health counselling. (Curiously, Labour has said nothing about the mental health of private school pupils who will be affected by this policy).

    But the truth Thornberry has exposed is that it will inevitably come at a cost. Teaching unions are already agitating over potential redundancies after two independent schools announced they will close at the end of the summer term – both blamed in part on Labour's VAT plan.

    Labour hoped this was a policy only the "privileged" would have to worry about. But the impact on all parents – including those who send their children to state schools (and note to the left: my son attends a state school) – has now been laid bare. It is certainly a dramatic departure from how Labour fought and won a general election in 1997. Back then, privately educated Tony Blair made five clear pledges to the electorate, the first of which was to cut class sizes to 30 or under for 5, 6 and 7-year-olds.

    Amid a 2007 row over his then Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly sending one of her children to a £15,000-a-year private school for pupils with learning difficulties, Blair made it clear he supported "the right of parents to choose the school they send their children to".

    "What the Prime Minister supports absolutely is the right of parents to make choices about their children's education which are best suited to their children's needs irrespective of who their parents are or what job they do," a spokesman said.

    How times have changed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/10/emily-thornberry-class-sizes-vat-private-schools/

    Blair only said what he did because of his own education and that of some of his ministers. He was almost certainly gritting his teeth as he did so.

    1. Good luck with recruitment, is all I can say. Most people I know still in teaching aren't enjoying it and it can only get worse with larger classes and more mixed ability.

      1. Ain't that the truth, Conners. My crazed teacher friend has quit mainstrem teaching, and does a few private revision classes on the side. Ad, she was good, both state and public schools.

    2. Of course many British people won't be able to afford to send their children to private school. But many foreigners (however their money was obtained, and whether they live here or not, will be able to. Of course.

      1. I went to private school in England, becaus the Nigerian schools for anyone over about 7 weren't up to it. As it happens, this was part of the deal for my parents, working under UK contract at Nigerian university, that the UK Govt paid – or, they'd never get enough staff.
        Making it impossible for others is daft; like, taxing taxi fates to the extent that everyone has to use a bus. Only the richest, as opposed to the middle class, will use public schools or taxis again. Even more exclusive, plus to problems with the overflow towards state schools.

        1. The Great Reset aims to remove the middle class and leave only serf and master.

        2. Snap , the same here .

          School that I attended was part of the deal that my parents had when they lived overseas, and the girls in my school had parents who were in the armed services, diplomatic corp, missionaries , civil engineering ( as was my father ) and many others . There were a few girls who came from high society , and those girls then went onto finishing school , but the majority of us came from backgrounds that were hard working and whose parents did their duty for Queen and country .

          My parents struggled with my fees and my sister who had a very promising future won a scholarship , and her common entrance exam , school in Surrey nr Limpsfield, now closed

          My no 1 son also went to boarding school, but suffered hugely when we had to remove him because the fees rose , and the decision to send him onto a nearby public school became financially unviable in the early eighties .. His prep school was near Oxted , and is also now closed , nice school .

          His time at the local comp was terrible , his class was huge , all the wonderful things he was coached in at B/school were abandoned , his form teacher was a real leftie , and when he challenged his leftie teacher over her IRA bomber idiotic ideas and the Falklands v Argentina he was given detentions .. He was a good cricketer , musician , and enjoyed many many other extra curricular activities at B/school which were lacking at the local comp.

          He wanted to become a Lawyer .. well that was dashed . He changed character and messed up .. But continued to play cricket for the village side .. for years and he was a medium fast bowler , until his shoulder gave way.

          No 2 son attended day prep school , he is dyslexic , but the fees shot through the roof as did the interest rates , and that was it! Back to square one .

          I managed to organise after school tuition for both of them for a couple of years , it was helpful to No 1, but younger son had immense difficulties, and dyslexia WAS not recognised in those days by education wallahs .. so we had no real school help.

          I say Labour are shockingly nasty .

          Who on earth wants to be put into huge unruly classes led by lefty teachers , and become a number just like we are regarded by the NHS .

          They don't mind that we don't matter..

          1. Your first paragraph, Belle. Spot on for me.
            We decided early on that the boys would go to local school – that's what SWMBO did, and I hate the separation from my lads, so local it was. Especially in Orway, they needed to learn proper Norwegian, and make locak friends.
            I'm sorry your #1 lad had such a hard time of it. That's terrible. Especially about canning his future. But ambition, and doing well, is anathema to those who would that we know our place and dumb us down.

          3. They've always wanted to bring the top down rather than lift the bottom up.

          5. Sent out three youngest to prep school to prepare for grammar school . All passed the eleven plus and had excellent secondary education. It is the best answer to give all a better chance, so little wonder the left hated the system. It was expensive, but worth every penny.

          6. I went to the local primary school, but still passed the 11+. Education is the first rung of the ladder to success.

          7. There were once three routes for the Working Classes to climb the Social Ladder.
            Education
            Learning a trade
            The Armed Forces.
            Each one is now effectively blocked by past Government actions.

          9. It is still possible to climb the ladder, but the requirements now are

            Belief in the CO2 myth
            Belief in the LGBTQWERTY religion.
            Ability not to rock the boat and to suck up to billionaires.
            Protected characteristics, eg black skin, female sex.

          11. We home-schooled our boys up to the age of 15 as we sailed around the Med returning to France to run our courses during the Easter and Summer school holidays as we had to earn a living.

            We sent our first son to board at Gresham's and the second to a state boarding school at Ashby-de-la-Zouche. They both went on to get good degrees and have both got well-paid jobs in, respectively, engineering and computing.

            A contemporary of mine at school failed his 11+ and so had to take his Common Entrance to get into Blundell's. How he failed his 11+ is a mystery. He won a scholarship to Cambridge, got a First class degree and then went on to become an academic and a world authority in his particular discipline. He ended up as Master of a college at Cambridge!

          12. Part of Labour's monstrously arrogant plans is the assumption that one type of school is the best for every child.

    3. Blair also knocked the Assisted Places Scheme on the head.
      Thus depriving bright children from poorer families the chance to get an education that nurtured their abilities

    4. Don't believe it. He is a hateful, hate-filled bastard who should be burned alive. Did it deliberately to screw over many people he never knew, but knew he hated.

  107. About to be sent to my Tory PPC, one Simon Hoare:

    Sir,

    I’m guessing none of your party’s PPCs are going to stand aside for Reform UK to prevent Labour PPCs winning when the votes are split?

    No, I thought not.

    Yours Faithfully,
    GQ.

  108. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

    1. Sov godt, Tom. Sees i morgen – ikke nødvendigvis veldig tidlig…
      Schlaf gut, Tom.

  109. From the spectator magazine

    Did the Duchess of Windsor fake the theft of her own jewels?
    When Wallis’s jewellery collection disappeared from under the bed one night in Surrey in 1946, was this a misfortune, or carelessness, or planned fraud?

    Comments Share
    On 16 October 1946, the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII, and his wife Wallis were visiting England for a short period. They were staying with their friends the Dudleys at Ednam Lodge in Surrey, and felt sufficiently comfortable not to store Wallis’s impressive collection of jewellery in the house’s safe room, but instead kept it – with almost breathtaking carelessness – under the bed. It is unsurprising, then, that an opportunistic thief was able to break into the house while the Duke and Duchess were dining in London, steal the jewels and make good his escape without detection.

    Most popular
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    The hardest part of climbing Mount Everest isn’t what you think

    If this was all there was to the story, it would be diverting but inconsequential. However, it now seems likely that the heist was an insurance job, conducted either with the direct complicity of the former King and his wife or exploited by them to provide the cash they so craved in the aftermath of the abdication. Many of the items stolen turned up in an auction in Geneva of the Duchess’s jewels after she died, which suggests that they were either quietly returned or were never stolen at all.

    In his book about the theft, Richard Wallace calls it ‘the greatest royal jewel heist in history’. Captain Blood, who attempted to purloin the Crown Jewels in 1671, might have something to say about that. But The King’s Loot represents yet another blow to the already shaky reputation of the disgraced royal couple. The author marshals a mixture of well known stories, conjecture and some modest original research to tell his tale. I would have liked more on the perverse Javert-Valjean relationship between the theft’s investigating officer Chief Inspector Capstick and his unlikely quarry, a petty villain named Leslie Holmes, whom Capstick became fixated on, convinced that he had stolen the jewels. Instead, there is a great deal of royal history recapping, sometimes of doubtful relevance.

    The book feels stretched at 288 pages. The theft does not take place until chapter ten, and the story splutters out 80 pages later. Frustratingly, Wallace cannot offer a definitive answer to what happened that evening, complaining:

    We need the cooperation and goodwill of a plethora of litigious vendors, anonymous buyers and secretive haute jewellery makers. And the chances of that occurring in the interests of the truth is practically zilch.

    Nonetheless, for royal scandal devotees, this is an engaging story that shines some light on a murky incident.

  111. 10 pm, and not even dusk.
    Love this time of year – especially when it isn't raining…
    Only 2 weeks to midsummer. then, the nights start drawing in… 🙁

    1. Apart from the length of the day to a soft southerner like me it feels more like October.

      1. Weather is miserable. Managed, finally, to cut the grass this afternoon, and I fear the beehives aren't enjoying it, not the apples (desperately need cider).

    2. But it takes till September for the reduction in daylight hours to accelerate.

    3. It depends on one's latitude but here the earliest sunrise is four days before the solstice and latest sunset four days after.

      Use this link to enter your location and you'll get the dates and times of your earliest sunrise and latest sunset.

      https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/

    5. From CARRY ON UP THE JUNGLE:
      Joan Sims (in pith helmet) to Frankie Howard as the Professor – "Winter draws on, Professor".
      Frankie Howard – "How very sensible of you, my dear".

  112. Off to bed now. Busy day tomorrow.
    Night all. 🙂😴
    Watched a recording of the TV Prog Piano,
    So please I also picked the winner.

  113. Macron, Herman Van Rompuy, Jean-Claude Juncker, Ursula von der Leyen, Donald Tusk , your guys took an awful beating

    1. Apart from Macron, are any of those creatures actually elected to their powerful positions by real constituents?

      1. Donald Tusk wasn't chosen as Poland's current Prime Minister by direct vote as that was a result of him emerging as the leader of a new coalition after the Law & Justice Party lost the confidence of the Polish parliament. However, he was elected to the Polish parliament – for the Civic Platform party – by the votes of 538,634 Poles of the Warsaw constituency (19) in the October 2023 general election.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sejm_members_(2023%E2%80%932027)
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejm_Constituency_no._19

  114. It was.
    I thought it was a single injection, hence my question to one on the ground re fees

  115. Nah. No one would vote for them. That's why the EU exists – to provide a retirement home for corrupt, failed, incompetent, bitter communists.

  116. It crossed my mind, reading the coverage about Michel Mosely's sad demise, whether he undertookhat long walk on one of his fasting days. Has that been mentioned in any of the reports?

      1. it was ill advised. Especially for people not used to that kind of climate. Only mad dogs and Englishmen walk in the midday sun. Poor fellow. It’s easy to think of oneself as immortal.

        1. We used to go fell walking in the Lake District every October. One year we went in the Spring and it was just far too hot even there, and we never went in the spring again.

      2. At that time of day – it may have been very English but extremely unwise to go out in the midday sun. He may well have collapsed from heat stroke, fallen and not been able to get up.

        Strange how intelligent people can do the most stupid of things

  117. Even if you've already had enough of speculation about the post-election landscape, see this one through. Mr Ahmed may be right and he offers an opinion shared by many commentators. However, he writes of a country of the past. Events of the last decade have changed it. The old rules may well be torn up. He doesn't acknowledge the effect of immigration and how damaging that might be for the Labour Party, so dependent as it is on the African and Asian vote. A PR calamity in the run-up to July 4th might well leave all of us peering into the unknown.

    Nigel Farage is wrong: If the Tories move Right, they will be out for 20 years
    –
    The Conservatives cannot afford to turn Faragiste. As Labour learnt to its cost, elections are won from the centre
    –
    KAMAL AHMED • 9 June 2024 • 5:02pm

    After the catastrophe of the 1979 defeat to Margaret Thatcher, the Labour Party faced a leadership election between Denis Healey and Michael Foot. Healey had served as Chancellor for five years and defence secretary for six.

    He was a political figure of substance, fighting the Labour left, pushing through cuts to borrowing and agreeing – to the humiliation of the government – to budgetary oversight by the IMF in order to secure support for the pound against the dollar.
    Foot wrote for the left-wing Tribune newspaper, was an employment minister who had done little to trouble the history books and had been Leader of the House of Commons. He backed unilateral nuclear disarmament, wanted to withdraw from the European Economic Community and had a fine turn of phrase when it came to tickling the erogenous zones of a certain type of Labour voter – voters who occupied the farther Left reaches of the party.

    Labour, struggling under the ludicrously false notion that when voters reject you for offering them Spam (a Left agenda for change), the next best thing to do is to offer Double Spam (an even more Left agenda for change), installed Foot as leader.
    Three years later, Labour crashed to their worst electoral defeat for 65 years against a Conservative government that had won a war and was enjoying economic growth of 4.2 per cent.

    As always, Labour was defeated because voters lost faith in the party's ability to run the economy and keep the nation safe. Not because they weren't Left-wing enough. It took 14 years, two more election defeats and the arrival of a consummate centrist before a Labour leader became Prime Minister again.

    With the polls increasingly pointing to a calamitous result for the Tories on July 4, thoughts are already turning to what happens on July 5. It will be the Tory equivalent of Healey versus Foot, but from the Right and farther Right, rather than from the Left. One Tory candidate I spoke to this weekend described the fight for the soul of the party as the "mother of all battles".

    The Tory Party which emerges will be important not only to voters who dislike and never voted for Labour or the Lib Dems and opted for Reform UK, but also to the new government. If Sir Keir Starmer has a large majority and the Conservatives set their compass for "further Right", Labour's gargantuan hold of the Left and centre of British politics will be complete and unassailable.

    You could quite easily imagine 20 years of Labour-flavoured dominance.

    This is the question for Nigel Farage and one which he has not yet been asked. If all elections are won from the centre ground, how does the leader of Reform UK build a bigger tent if he really, as he suggests, wants to engineer a reverse takeover of the Conservatives by the time of the 2029 election.

    Farage's foundational problem is that he uses technicolour dividing lines to motivate supporters, not big tentism. Just as the "real Left" is suspicious of "splitters" and "non-Socialists" who are at the top of the clearly pretty successful Labour Party, so Farage exudes disdain for One Nation Conservatives and "wets" who have campaigned for the party their whole lives. They are dismissed as "social democrats".

    Farage, just like Foot before him, tickles the erogenous zones of a certain type of voter. Where Foot waxed lyrical about greater equality and saving the NHS, Farage majors on immigration, Make Britain Great Again and "nothing works".

    Like Foot, to his core audience he is a charismatic, energetic and authentic campaigner during a period of UK politics not blessed with orators and persuaders of any great note. In the Kingdom of the Bland, the sharp-tongued man is king.

    "Parties," Tony Blair argued, "are always in love with emotional impulses." The problem is, not enough voters are. They rarely engage with politics, are not as passionate about "issues" as politicians like to think they are, and soon forget (Brexit anyone?) subjects that seemed so important only a matter of moments ago.

    Nearly 8.5 million people voted for Foot in 1983 – but he still lost. Many millions of people would vote for a Farage-led Conservative Party. But it would never win an election.

    The Conservatives have been here before. After the Blair juggernaut swept John Major aside the Tories tried various versions of "more Right". In 2001, William Hague said the party would "give you back your country" and that Labour would turn the UK into a "foreign land". Hague lost the election the same year by 412 seats to 166. Michael "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Howard lost in 2005 by 355 seats to 198.

    It wasn't until David Cameron, "hug a hoodie" and "Vote Blue, Go Green" that the public – faced with the alternative prospect of clunking fist Gordon Brown – decided to give the Conservatives the slim benefit of the doubt (with a dash of centrist Lib-Dems thrown in).

    The fact is, this is a centrist, little bit Right, nation full of decent people who just want the Government to get on with running the country in a passably competent way.

    And if it doesn't, they will punish you – not because you were not "real Conservatives", but because you weren't very good.

    Voter faith in the integrity of this Government was crushed by Partygate and the general lack of seriousness of Boris Johnson. It was crushed by Liz Truss, who forgot Thatcher's maxim "you can't buck the markets".

    Immigration has risen to record levels despite promises that it would fall. Just 24 per cent of those asked in the British Social Attitudes Survey said they were "satisfied" with the NHS, a record low. In 2010, the figure was 70 per cent.

    "Lack of integrity, lack of competence and public services, we always lose on the same things," said one leading Conservative, fearful that their seat will turn red despite a healthy majority. "No one has said to me, the problem with Rishi Sunak is that he is not Conservative enough."

    Just as Major lost the 1997 election in 1992 and the sterling crisis, parties rarely recover from a competency shock.

    A glimmer of hope for the Tories is that Starmer is no Blair and voters are not streaming to Labour with any enthusiasm. Its lead is a mile wide and an inch deep.

    They are drifting to Reform UK as a protest vote – wanting to punish the Conservatives for three years of political infighting and psycho-drama. They have heard the "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" and "this is a foreign land" immigration whistle before and are not, ultimately, overly impressed. July 4 is not a single-issue referendum – immigration – but an election for a government.

    On July 4, if they lose, and lose as big as many pollsters expect, the Conservatives will have a choice. Attempt "Real Conservatism" and lose the next election as well. Or tack to the centre, and then aim just to the Right, where all elections are won.

    Whatever Nigel Farage says.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/09/nigel-farage-wrong-if-tories-move-right-out-for-20-years/

      1. I have been most amused in recent weeks to read that the Tories have failed because they've been taken over by the far-right (viz Rwanda) and must get back to the centre…

        1. I loathe that kind of dishonest theatre from the media – anyone with half a brain knows perfectly well that Rwanda will never happen, it was only ever designed to be dangled in front of the electorate's eyes.

  118. Over four days in Helsingborg, Sweden – ending yesterday – an intriguing golf contest was played in which equal numbers of men and women competed against one another for a single title. Given the strength advantage an average man will have over an average woman, I wonder how the organisers ensured that men and women had a roughly equal chance of winning. I presume that the men played off men's tees and women off women's tees, but would that be enough for fairness or would a handicapping scheme have been deployed?

  119. Bradford West nominations:

    Imad Uddin Ahmed – Liberal Democrats
    Umar Ghafoor – Independent
    Jamie Hinton-Wardle – Reform UK
    Akeel Hussain – Independent
    Muhammed Ali Islam – Independent
    Khalid Mahmood – Green
    Nigel David Moxon – Conservative
    Naz Shah – Labour

    2. When I was growing up in York in the 60s and 70s we were still allowed to take the piss out of the Pakistanis in Bradford. Happy days.

  122. Good night, chums. It's been a very long and tiring day for me today. I hope you all sleep well, and awaken refreshed tomorrow.

    1. Ogga, punctuation, …On the ball with this issue. Questions must be asked and answers MUST be demanded.

      Call me pedantic if you must; but punctuation makes for easier reading and better conveys the sense.

      1. 388391+ up ticks,

        Morning SJ,
        OK, pendatic, that will be your second name change.

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

  126. 'One poll published on Sunday showed that 32 per cent of 18-34 year-olds voted for the RN in France'

    Interesting article in the Telegraph today, about how Europe's youth are increasingly voting for 'right' wing parties (of course, 'right' in MSM speak really translates as 'centre' in ordinary speak).

    Now that, to me, is a staggering statistic. So often, the older generation is verbally abused as being far-right, out of step with modern youth and unintelligent compared to their younger more educated, open-minded, urbane counterparts. When the youth are increasingly instep with the older generation's views. Five years ago, the French youth overwhelmingly tended to vote green, but not anymore. Their votes seemed to have switched to Le Pen's RN. This is amazing. Of course, the BBC and the majority MSM will still try to cosh the populace into believing that the older generation's views are out of date. Increasingly, it's the the BBC (with its staunchly middle-aged majority staff) and the majority of the MSM (again with a majority of older middle aged staff) who are wedded to views which are rapidly becoming seen as passe and ruinous amongst many of the younger generations. Greta does not speak for the majority of them.

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