Monday 10 May: The sophistry behind SNP demands for a second independence vote

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/09/letters-sophistry-behind-snp-demands-second-independence-vote/

741 thoughts on “Monday 10 May: The sophistry behind SNP demands for a second independence vote”

  1. Far-right candidates perform dismally across UK elections. 10 May 2021.

    The far-right group For Britain got fewer than 50 votes in 25 of the 47 council wards for which results were available on Friday afternoon. More than 100 votes were secured in only 10 of the wards contested by the party, which has attracted former British National party members, and argues that “Islamic doctrine and freedom are entirely incompatible”.

    Nick Lowles, the CEO of Hope Not Hate, said the results showed how politically irrelevant the British far right has become in recent years. After the BNP’s collapse in 2010, many supporters were swept up by Ukip and then the Brexit party, he said, while some of the same voters had since switched to the Conservatives.

    Morning everyone. The “far-right” has never been relevant in the UK; not simply because their numbers are vanishingly small, but because the British People would never vote for them! Even Mosely’s Blackshirts were just a Metropolitan anomaly. They are actually more a tool of the left than the right since they are invariably used as excuses for legislation and repressive measures against the people’s democratic values and rights. You can see this in the second paragraph above where Lowles, a rabid Marxist, melds them with conservative forces. They are so useful in this respect that every opportunity is taken to exaggerate their influence; children will be arrested by the Security Services on flimsy and manufactured evidence, groups that have done nothing beyond block the traffic are advanced to terrorist watchlists, and individual actors such as Breivik or Mair will be roped in as representatives of this mythical movement!

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/09/far-right-candidates-perform-dismally-across-uk-elections

    1. The Left has adroitly used the term ‘far right’ to describe ideas which, fifty years ago, were in the centre.

      1. The Left brand everything they dislike as Right wing. In reality, the worst atrocities of the 20th century are down to Lefties

    2. Neither UKIP nor, as far as I’m aware, the Brexit Party is “far right”.

  4. Mng all [or those not yet greeted elsewhere. More Copy / Paste from the Big Issue:

    SIR – Historians looking back will think the British Government mad if it accedes to SNP demands for another independence referendum.

    With a 63 per cent turnout and 47.7 per cent of the vote, only 30 per cent of the Scottish electorate and 2.7 per cent of the British electorate actually supported this demand.

    The idea that, so soon after gaining its own independence, Britain should hand back a strategically important part of our country to the now somewhat hostile Franco-German hegemony we have only just escaped is preposterous. Britain is still part of the friendly worldwide Commonwealth of nations that the Scots and English created. Now that we are free of the EU, that is where our future lies.

    Most Scots already understand this, and Nicola Sturgeon’s plan for dragging them back into the EU wil be consigned to history.

    David Watt
    Brentwood, Essex

    SIR – There will now be huge pressure over the next few years for a second referendum. Refusing to allow this merely puts off the day when it will happen.

    Boris Johnson should agree to a vote on the condition that, before it takes place, the details of what an independent Scotland would look like are fleshed out by an independent study. This may reveal a far less rosy picture than the SNP is currently painting and ensure that the result is not based on pipe dreams.

    Jos Binns
    Camerton, Somerset

    SIR – Perhaps the Prime Minister should call the First Minister’s bluff.

    Yes, she can have her referendum, but with a two-thirds majority required – and no rerun for 25 years.

    Nik Perfitt
    Bristol

    SIR – Nicola Sturgeon has a blinkered view of democracy. She ignores the fact that Scotland is but one part of a wider democracy known as the United Kingdom. The people of its four countries have an interest in whether Scotland remains in the Union or becomes independent, and a true democrat would acknowledge that they should all have votes in her proposed referendum.

    She may get a rude shock if they send her and her country packing into the North Sea.

    John Bromley-Davenport QC
    Malpas, Cheshire

    SIR – I notice that the Scottish border counties all voted Conservative.

    There seems to be little support for the SNP in this part of the country. If there is another referendum, could it be invited to remain in Britain?

    Thomas Norcross
    Chippenham, Wiltshire

    SIR – Just as Ukip all but disappeared after Brexit, will the SNP cease to exist once its goal has been achieved, with more traditional parties returning?

    Professor Alan Gadian
    Sidmouth, Devon

    Labour in crisis

    SIR – A combination of Boris Johnson’s campaigning, a successful vaccine rollout, the return of Ukip votes to the Conservative fold, and the effects of “long Corbyn” have left Labour in a parlous state, which may be terminal.

    I am not a socialist, and have never voted Labour, but the party must now take whatever radical action may be required to get its act together.

    Matthew Butler
    Badminton, Gloucestershire

    SIR – The Hartlepool by-election reminded me of the recent debate about keys on this page.

    The Labour Party has a box of old keys (Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson et al) that were all tried during the run-up to Super Thursday. None fitted.

    J S F Cash
    Swinford, Leicestershire

    SIR – The stunning success of the Conservative Party in Hartlepool and elsewhere was due in part to Labour’s woke liberal elites being completely out of touch with their base, but also due to the fact that the Tories have lurched to the Left with their high taxation and big-spending agenda.

    There needs to be an opposition to this – from the Right of centre. If this happens, the main battlegrounds won’t be in the North but in the Tory heartlands of the South.

    Peter Wiltshire
    Binfield, Berkshire

    SIR – One of the surprises of the London mayoral election was the strength of the showing put in by the Conservative candidate, Shaun Bailey.

    It makes me regret the lost potential. Throughout the campaign the contest was largely treated as a sideshow by the Conservatives, who gave up hope before the vote even happened.

    Imagine if resources had been put into contesting it properly: we might have pulled off a hat-trick of upsets, from Hartlepool to councils to London. Never dismiss as futile any election.

    Robert Frazer
    Salford, Lancashire

    Debt debacle

    SIR – Further to my recent letter (April 24) about bailiffs applying for entry warrants on behalf of energy companies, the situation worsens.

    We are now in a position where there is a blanket ban by the energy suppliers on providing energy to our new tenant in an industrial unit unless he pays £1,954.30, supposedly owed by the previous tenant.

    We are being held to ransom by the suppliers for a debt between them and one of their clients – a contract to which we are not a party. Is this legal?

    Peter Martinez
    Chagford, Devon

    Long-haul garlic

    SIR – I was brought up with the image of beret-wearing Frenchmen cycling through English villages with strings of garlic around their shoulders.

    Sadly, last week I could not find garlic in any supermarket – not even German Aldi – that has not flown devastating air-miles from China (Letters, May 8).

    Derek Foster
    Nottingham

    Bubble trouble

    SIR – When washing the dishes, if I put the soap in first, then fill the bowl with hot water, everything disappears in a sea of bubbles. If I fill the bowl first, then add the washing-up liquid, I get no bubbles. What part do they play?

    Brian Foster
    Shrivenham, Oxfordshire

    Elusive GPs

    SIR – Dr Nikki Kanani, NHS England’s medical director of primary care (Letters, May 7), says that “patients who need to see a doctor face to face should always be given this option”.

    That is emphatically not that case in my local surgery. Moreover, the assertion that “everyone working in primary care remains committed to ensuring face to face appointments continue to be offered” is risible.

    If these statements are correct, why is there so much clamour from patients to the contrary? I invite Dr Kanani publicly to reveal the formula that gets past the gatekeepers.

    Philip Barry
    Dover, Kent

    SIR – I am saddened by the complaints about the service offered by GPs.

    Throughout lockdown my doctor has been available to talk on the phone, and has taken immediate action to deal with my problems – for example, by arranging for me to have a scan, an X-ray and, ultimately, a steroid injection in my arthritic knee, with excellent results.

    I could not be more grateful.

    Jeanne Faber
    Arundel, West Sussex

    SIR – It is clear that there is a vast disparity in the quality of service offered to patients by different doctors’ surgeries.

    The problem is that most surgeries are virtual monopolies, with a trend towards the amalgamation of practices into larger centralised units.

    What is required is the opposite: a proliferation of smaller practices where competition for patient numbers, the principal determinant of income, would ensure that the highest levels of “customer” service were maintained.

    Steve Black
    Nottingham

    P-mail

    SIR – My great grandfather, Charles Martin, used to travel the country overseeing the installation of glasshouses in stately homes, for Messengers and Sons of Loughborough.

    His mode of transport was a motorbike, with a box on the back for his pigeon (Letters, May 8).

    On arriving safely at his destination, he would attach a note to the pigeon and send it back to his wife and six children, so that they would know he was well: the precursor of a text message.

    Avril Wright
    Snettisham, Norfolk

    A secure British supply of rare earth metals

    SIR – You report that ministers are considering creating “a national stockpile of rare earth metals” for electric cars.

    This is a case of too little, too late, as evidenced by the announcement last Thursday of the proposed takeover of the AIM company Bacanora Lithium plc by Gangfen, a Chinese company. Stockpiling is only a delaying tactic: we need to own the source to be secure.

    As so often in the UK, this company has done all the exploration and development of the Sonora site in Mexico over many years, and is preparing to go into production. It is great prize for China – unless a speedy counterbid is launched from the UK or US.

    Michael Legg
    Reigate, Surrey

    SIR – As rare-earth metals are so named because supplies are limited, and they entail mining, can somebody explain how electric cars and vehicles are green?

    Add to this the production of the vehicles, steel manufacture, plastics and the disposal of worn-out batteries (which are estimated to last six or seven years), along with the wear on tyres and roads from much heavier battery trucks and buses, and these vehicles’ environmental credentials begin to look questionable.

    Meanwhile, vast stores of unused oil and petrol – which, with the right technology, have the potential to be used more cleanly – lie buried. You could not make it up.

    Roger Payne
    London NW3

    Parliament’s archives belong in Westminster

    SIR – While fantastic progress appears to have been made in preparing Parliament’s millions of historic records to move out during the refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster, I do hope that any relocation to either the National Archives or the London Metropolitan Archives will be a temporary arrangement – and only for the duration of the building restoration.

    As your leader (May 4) suggests, it is vital that these extraordinary archives return permanently to Westminster, to the site where they have been stored since 1497. Such a return would preferably be to a purpose-built facility on the wider parliamentary estate, where they can be better accessed by the public and their services supported by the Parliamentary Archives’ excellent, prize-winning staff.

    To break the link between Westminster and its 500 years of written heritage would greatly hinder both Houses’ attempts to engage the public with their work, at a time when understanding our democratic institutions is more crucial than ever, and when politicians’ decision-making is under such scrutiny.

    Dr Caroline Shenton
    Director of the Parliamentary Archives, 2008-2014
    Cambridge

    2. For some reason, the combination of glasshouses, motorbike and pigeon has really tickled my fancy. Thanks for posting!

    1. mng, I read that earlier and it stood out in being bizarre. I presume “Overbet’s” editing was adding “dont” to the post

    2. I also like,

      Jimmy, you know as well as everyone else that magnetism has an inverse square range falloff.

      I must have missed that lesson at school when magnetism and inverse square range was discussed. Probably round the bike shed having a fag perhaps.

        1. Ahh Sally – couldn’t make up my mind whether she was an unpleasant , brash and unattractive yank or deeply lustworthy, still not sure 8^)

      2. “magnetism has an inverse square range falloff”
        That’s kind of obvious. It can be observed when the wee magnet you bought from a tourist shop in Benidorm Malaga falls off the fridge. QED.

        1. That’s because the goblin grappling hooks give out.

          Everyone knows that. Magnets are a myth. It’s faeries. Not fairies, like Eddie Izzard.

        2. That’s because the goblin grappling hooks give out.

          Everyone knows that. Magnets are a myth. It’s faeries. Not fairies, like Eddie Izzard.

      3. You’re talking about fizzicks, aren’t you?

        Everyone knows fizziqs was designed to brainwash you into telling you what the state didn’t want you to do. All the distance = work/time.. nonsense.

    3. They might be good physicists but they are poor proof-readers

      The observable universe consists of three known components: Dark energy is the most abundant at 68%, with dark energy making up another 27% of the universe while ordinary matter constitutes just 5%.

    4. I did not really understand this. Dark energy is a theory that fills a hole, is what it seems to say?

    5. Perhaps with basic grammar.

      He could also define what me means by a microaggression. As it is, he’s done the usual Lefty thing of complaining yet providing no useful response.

  6. Labour considering moving party headquarters out of London. 10 May 2021.

    Labour could move its party headquarters out of London after it emerged that its current offices are due to be demolished as part of a redevelopment project.

    How appropriate! This said any movement away from the Capital will almost certainly have to be reversed in the near future when London becomes the home of the newly renamed Metropolitan and Muslim Labour Party!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/09/labour-considering-moving-party-headquarters-london/

    1. mng. Together with Grauniad the ideal location will be an internment camp / gulag with electronic perimeter fence, the obvious loc being Hartlepool. Limited Parole release. As usual with Grauniad, usual emotive clickbait

      1. I’m sure there’s a couple of spare rooms above a kebab shop in Bradford or Rotherham.
        Might even have an indoor bog.

          3. Every lavatory should have a copy. Nine copies for one of Lem Putt’s specials.

          4. When I was a child, we moved to a derelict farmhouse.
            When I helped my mother demolish an outside dunny, we discovered a small bible secreted in the woodwork.
            We weren’t sure if a previous occupant had chronic constipation or was an atheist.

    2. 332566+up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Just another intercountry battle for the wannabe sheep to be occupied with BUT the tories (ino) are way in front with the koran in a commanding position and halal on the politico’s canteen menu.

      Health warning,
      Beware ALL lab/lib/con coalition carry a scimitar / prayer mat in their briefcase.

        1. 🙂
          I wonder if, like the Romans, the peacekeepers will be writing home to mummy asking asking her to send warmer undercrackers.
          I remember the IMF coming to Blighty to sort out our financial woes in the seventies; so that is not an impossible scenario.

          1. it’ll involve workshops [wokeshops] free soda and T shirts, per diems, smart phone and R&R every 2 months. And crying level 4 insecurity every time a dark cloud passes overhead

        2. And naturally they will all be white legionnaires, so that 2,000 years from now a tiny minority of WLM agitators working in useless university faculties can demonstrate that Britain once had white people living there.

          1. the wall would be black = Black Bricks Matter, even the Hesco option. Although, knowing UN, that’ll be Tesco – online of course

        3. Another geographically challenged {insert insulting expletive here} who does not realise there is still a chuffing great chunk of England above the wall before you get to the border.

  9. Not that I am ever interested in gossip, of course….but it is amusing to see the Microsoft Divorce Update hinting at the REAL reason for the split…!

      1. Close – it relates (allegedly) to his “links with Jeffrey Epstein.” I am sure he was just helping the chap with his IT problems…..{:¬))

        1. desperate measure to put distance between the two given Billy Boy claimed he never met him but attended many parties. They’re not good at creating a lie and keeping it going

          1. They can’t cope with the tangled web they weave when they practise to deceive.

    4. Tut, tut Bill. You wouldn’t even know which gate the Lolita Express was boarding at.

  11. Many Scots don’t want independence, but a more cooperative union. Gordon Brown. 10 May 2021.

    An in-depth poll conducted by the thinktank Our Scottish Future (of which I am a founding member), the full results of which are to be published early this week, found that on the same day as 48% of voters opted for the SNP, a far higher number of Scots – 73% – wanted better cooperation between Scotland and the rest of the UK, support that remains as high when it comes to the specifics of addressing the health, poverty, jobs and climate crises we so obviously share in common.

    If this were not Gordon Brown I would think it was a spoof. What next? The think tank Globalist Britain founded by Tony Blair states survey says Brits love the EU! Or Boris’s think tank Black Britain says Brits want more immigration!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/09/scots-independence-union-nationalism

    2. Well, maybe. Most Scots aspire to something better. A Health Service that you can access and that does not have waiting lists long into the future. Decent housing that is affordable for ordinary people. Provision of a broad education that encompasses not just the basics, but music, art and sport. A travel infrastructure that works, roads free of congestion, and inexpensive public transport*. Green spaces for leisure and sport that are not sold off to speculative builders. We had most, if not all, of these things back in 1960. Scotland has been trashed by every government, Westminster and Holyrood, since then it would seem. The SNP are cynically holding out a straw. Who would not grasp it?

      *Our daughter tells us that the Glasgow to Edinburgh train service is the most expensive commuter route in Europe.

    3. I agree, Scotland should join a more co-operative union. At the moment, Scotland does a lot of taking.

    5. If she really wanted to help, why didn’t she spend some her her vast fortune building a block of flats solely for homeless women?

      And, just as an idea… fecking keeping quiet about it?

  13. Goodness me, I forgot.

    Happy May 10th – 81 years ago, Winston took over as PM. Would that there was such a person around today.

    1. This man literally saved Western Christian Civilisation. His successors have destroyed it!

  14. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fadad9fb424f6ed7ac6fc9a0f689559115f889bb53006d9b154ea59389290f8f.png I think you have partly answered your own question, Mr Foster. The suds (the proper name for the bubbles you mention) are nothing more than a visual irritation that obscure the job in hand. Scientifically they do nothing. The solution of surfactants in the detergent with hot water is all that is needed to clean the dishes.

    My father would invariably create a mountain of suds and, in doing so, would often cut his finger on a sharp knife hidden beneath them. I take the other route. I fill the sink with hot water, squirt in a small measure of Sqezy (very little is required) before agitating it gently with the dishwashing brush. I then wash the glassware first, then the cutlery, next the crockery, finally the pots and pans. Few pesky suds are created by this method and I can see what I’m washing up.

    2. Your avatar hints at you being a barrister, surely you have staff?
      };-O

      I agree regarding the order, apart from always doing the sharp knives first.

    4. A phenomenon which intrigues me is that when I put the cutlery in the sink all facing the same way – without any human intervention, some of it turns to face the other way.

      I’ll get me apron…

        2. I’m with the Yanks on this – why do Britons put a bowl in the sink?

          1. So that the metal (or porcelain if you have a Belfast sink) doesn’t chip the crockery.

    5. Yes; that’s what I do. The bio washing-up liquid I get refilled every so often is usefully sud-free.

      Mind you, when washing up at my sister’s recently, the combination of soft water and forgetting she uses Fairy resulted in a quite spectacular explosion of bubbles, which did amuse me.

    6. Bubbles / froth can carry lighter particles away from the dirty stuff in the sink. Used most often for cleaning / refining ore.

      1. Ah, I see!

        You, sir, must be Mr Bessemer. A steely character if ever there were one.

    7. I have a dishwasher.

      The only thing that won’t go in those is baking trays. Thus they pile up until the volume of complaint outweighs the effort of cleaning them.

      1. Can’t beat a good old-fashioned Belfast sink and a decent scrubber!

        1. The wife wouldn’t like to be referred to as a scrubber.

          Soak trays for 24 hours. Empty water down loo, refill bowl. Wait another 24 hours.

          Rinse, repeat (just not the trays) until complaints reach ‘You’re not coming to bed until the baking trays are scrubbed.’

    1. Honestly, who, at this point cares? Politicians are hypocrites. We all know this. Pointing it out is pointless.

      However if we didn’t point it out we wouldn’t know, so….

      1. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
        Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
        So Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?

      1. They would not listen, they’re not listening still
        Perhaps they never will

        (Don MacLean)

  17. 332566+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    The tories (ino) are consolidating their position within the Country & taking away a good percentage of labs support whilst running campaigns such as DOVER building membership via a very grateful economic illegal immigrant on the run from a free Country.

    May one ask has any tory ( ino) membership forms in 20 plus languages been found in border force possession ?

    https://twitter.com/LeaveEUOfficial/status/1391638670906642435

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning AWK,
        I do believe that after yesterday’s showing the (ino) tories, as to consolidate their boost are disgussing longer knives so as to maintain the 6′ 6 6/8s” spacing.

        Will be a vote winner among the wanna be sheep.

        1. More so given Nadine Dorries said the Tories created 180,000 jobs in Hartlepool which is mightily impressive as it only has a population of 92,000, unless of course the other 88,000 are part of the boost consolidation. Which will of course be spun to maintain the farce of Tory party standing

        2. Digussing longer knives to maintain the… something… spacing? Is that a quote (by the end “)?

          1. 332566+ up ticks,
            W,
            My poor attempt at humour 6′ 6 6/8s” inches is of course
            6’6 3/4″ inches AKA two metres.

          2. Oh! Right, follow you now. I was asked once by mother what 2 and a half metres was and I told her.. 2 and a half metres.

            She still converts into Shillings.

          3. 332566+ up ticks,
            Afternoon W,
            100 inches is 8′ 4″ as there was 12 pennies to the shilling inform mother.

    2. GOOD!
      Vote harvesting from Care Homes by Labour activists has tipped them over to more than a few council seats in marginal several areas.

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning Bob,
        I do agree but as the same time peoples must be aware
        it smacks of turkish delights bearing gifts.

        First & foremost it is NOT done to benefit the Country but to boost the parties standing, who are, at the same time running the DOVER campaign gaining future grateful potential members.

          1. 332566+ up ticks,
            Morning W,
            He was murdered by a mob during the Turkish War of Independence. … In addition, he is the paternal grandfather of both the Turkish diplomat Selim Kuneralp, and the British politician Stanley Johnson. Through Stanley Johnson, Ali Kemal is the great-grandfather of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his siblings.

            Hope this clarifies my post somewhat.

    1. The article seems totally clueless too. “the whale was last seen at around 1am in the Richmond Park area”

    1. 332566+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      It is the fuhrer wish and the majority of the peoples believe in the fuhrer, as seen yesterday.

  23. 332566+ up ticks,
    Minions / products of the lab/lib/con close shop.

    The one in the pink would not be in the pink if he received a well deserved backhander.

    Watch the bicycle wheel kicker he deserves 5 years hard.

    More of the same due to the fuhrer getting an idiots boost yesterday.
    https://youtu.be/IibuxVw2e6g

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning Bob,
        It happened is bad enough, it is currently a shared odious culture.

          1. They’re visually very different from the previous group. How they’re walking, conversing, general attitude to others – even different types of faces: sadly, chavs are easy to identify. The same sallow, fed on junk food, hoody wearing swagger.

    3. Last week I was cycling past the railway station when 3 youths came out from the station. They were behaving as if they were tipsy. They turned round and looked at me. I thought they might be drug pushers from the city. They started running alongside me shouting and waving their arms. I thought the front runner was going to push me in front of the traffic but fortunately I got away unscathed.

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning Cs,
        Good that it had the ending it did, sad to say nothing will change until the voting pattern changes.

        1. We need a police force that isn’t run by Bart Simpson stunties who’ve done a management course. One where the home office doesn’t chain them up with paperwork.

    4. A Public Birching on the bare backside by a beefy police sergeant wouldn’t come amiss.

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        I think a time fading dye of different strengths as in 1 month
        2 months, 6 months on the forehead as a safety warning to the public.

        The current overseers would use this as a permanent dye when regarding peoples who choose NOT to receive the jab.

        Mind, birching on the bare behind of a police sergeant has a great deal going for it.

          1. 332566+ up ticks,
            Afternoon HP,
            And a dab of essence of skunk behind the ears, would not go amiss.

      2. Just flog them. Take a layer of skin off their back and remind them who the master is.

        1. Rub plenty of salt into the wounds. Don’t want to built up an antibiotic resistance.

    5. It can all be summed up with one word – welfare. If you create a client class, with no consequences then that’s the end result you get.

      It’s a failed justice system that looks at chavs as something to be supported and endorsed.

      These scum will continue to exist and behave this way until they are chained to a bridge and kicked over the side – then some do goodie waster who doesn’t have to deal with them day to day will complain about it.

      The scum needs beating.

        1. No, literally beating. Chain them to a post and allow people to kick the crap out of them.

          When they’re toothless, with a broken eye socket, smashed ribs and someone lines up another kick at their never to be used again privates, then they and their ilk will never trouble society ever again.

    6. What a nauseating, self-indulgent and promoting pain in the arse Alex Belfield is. He disgusts me

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning C,
        Horses for courses, of more importance the issue he was reporting on disgusts me.

    1. Shows very clearly the mental health problems the scamdemic has given rise to.

    2. Do as mummy/daddy (government nutters) tells you, for five year olds.

      Insanity, for adults.

    4. “Look son, blow jobs are just not safe in a pandemic – now go and put your instrument away”

  25. Labour is suffering from Long Corbyn, and there’s no known cure
    Starmer is still desperately trying to triangulate against not just Jeremy Corbyn the man, but against the ideology
    Suzanne Moore
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/10/labour-suffering-long-corbyn-no-known-cure/

    BTL Comment

    In a nutshell: Corbyn appealed to traditional Labour supporters; Starmer’s wokeness and anti-Brexit ideology has turned them off.

    Both the traditional Labour supporters and Starmer are in the wrong place.

    1. Perhaps the concept of Corbyn Concubines doesn’t work as well as Blair Babes.

    2. It’s the lack of cognisance that gets me.

      Corbyn stood up and said ‘free money. You work, I’ll pay you by taking it from the evil rich who’ve exploited you for so long.’

      Not only is such nonsense school ground level stupid, if those offered the free money stopped and thought for even a fraction of a second, they’d realise that, if they were the ones being robbed, they’d stop bothering to work. Now, the richer producers can leave, the poor can’t. What happens now? What happens when the state changes it’s mind?

      1. And the Tory government brought in free money for no work and called it “Furlough”.

        1. “Furlough” is a faux payment oiling the the way to a very different outcome than what Corbyn envisaged. Sure, Corbyn wanted control but I very much doubt he had the designs that this globalist Tory cabal hold. Johnson & Co are a very clear and present danger to our society.

    2. Mike: “You look very attractive but you haven’t turned me on yet!”

    1. Thank you, and all too true on our side as well.

      However, there’ a muddle in my head: Rishi Sunak was a very well paid investment banker. He must have, at some point in his life understood basic economics and the simplest methods of investment, risk and growth. How he’s leading a government department on 65K a year and his approach to recovery after a pandemic is… to take money away from those who need it.

      I’d argue our biggest enemy is the state machine, that group of wasteful incompetents who run the tombstones of failure called government departments and have no actual ability, skills or competence, they are just serial meeters.

      Have a read of this position: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/appcentre-1/brand-13/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/3/opp/42806-42806-Head-of-Unpaid-Work/en-GB

      I found it on linked in, where there was no reference to the probation service. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

  28. Yesterday the house martins returned. In the evening I saw eight framed in the view from the kitchen window, so there may be more. This morning they are very busy. The field is still damp from the rain and this is ideal for them to pick up mud to rebuild their nests. We may have two or three this year. One year we had six. There are other nests across the village. The weather is nor very welcoming, being cold and dreich. There are also one or two swallows. What a change from Africa!
    Looking out this morning the view across the field is like a scene from “Wings”.

  29. Statues Я Us

    A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front door.

    “Hurry!” she said, “stand in the corner!” She quickly rubbed baby oil all over him and then she dusted him with talcum powder. “Don’t move until I tell you to,” she whispered, “just pretend you’re a statue.”

    “What’s this, honey?” the husband asked as he entered the room
    .
    “Oh, it’s just a statue” she replied nonchalantly. “The Smith’s bought one for their bedroom. I liked the idea so much, I got one for us, too.”

    No more was said about the statue. Not even later that night when they went to sleep. Around two in the morning the husband got out of bed, went into the kitchen, and returned with a sandwich and a glass of milk.

    “Here,” he said to the statue, “Eat this. I stood like an idiot at the Smith’s for three days and nobody offered me so much as a glass of water.”

      1. This business of quasi-organised kneeling in submission always seems so wrong when I see it.
        You’d think by now at least our politicians would know which direction the Middle-East was…

  31. “The boy was walking with his brother in broad daylight on a Peterborough street
    He was attacked by a ‘random’ man with a knife who fled after the stabbing
    The boy is in a stable condition, but received life-changing injuries in the attack”
    “Random Man” you say…………….
    Aaaand it’s a moslem
    Fazal Khan
    Import or breed moslem filth become the third world

    1. Do you have a link to the article, Rix? How did they catch the man so quickly? That implies the brother identified him. Therefore, the brother knew him.

    2. Just another Muslim celebrating Rama-Ding-Dong in the traditional way, nothing to see here, move on, some white man failed to praise BLM on Twitter – he is a racist set Special Branch on to him !

    3. Faisal Khan.

      Faisal Khan (24) was charged by police with stabbing the child this morning. The attack is said to have happened on Saturday afternoon.

      https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/crime/peterborough-man-appears-in-court-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-9-year-old-boy-3230793

      Interesting though, a Fazal Khan was charged in connection with a stabbing outside a Mayfair club that took place on Sunday morning.

      KNIFE CAPITAL Oxford Street stabbing – Two men charged after three stabbed outside London celebrity nightclub
      The victims, all men aged 24, suffered stab and slash injuries after the knife attack in the early hours of Sunday

      https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8450128/oxford-street-stabbing-two-men-charged-after-three-stabbed-in-outside-london-celebrity-nightclub/

    1. Good morning. I miss walking my dog. I would even do it in the rain if she would let me.

    2. I walked into town to go to the Post Office and just got back as it started to hail.

  33. The proverbial is hitting the fan in France. This is a long post so take your time – you heard it first here!

    You may remember that, a few weeks ago, a number of active and recently retired French generals published a letter in the press in which they warned about the dire state of French society. This letter was immediately weaponised by politicians on all sides, with Marine Le Pen asking the authors to vote for her as they so obviously were in total agreement with her, and the Justice Secretary saying that these soldiers were way out of line and asking for disciplinary action to be taken against them.

    Yesterday, in the same conservative weekly magazine which published this first letter, a number of young soldiers published a second, longer and more detailed letter. The soldiers remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. It makes chilling reading.

    I am posting below a translation of the full text. (This is an internet automatic translation with some improvements made by me; I hope I have managed to make the text meaningful but it is not an elegant translation.) Below the translation there is a link to the original full text in French.

    For those of you amongst us who are either too busy or lazy to read the full English text, I start off with a few chosen extracts for you to enjoy.

    CHOSEN EXTRACTS

    Afghanistan, Mali, Central African Republic or elsewhere, a number of us have experienced enemy fire. Some have left comrades there. They offered their lives to destroy the Islamism to which you are making concessions on our soil.

    Yes, our elders are right about the substance of their text, in its entirety. We see violence in our towns and villages. We see communitarianism taking hold in public space, in public debate. We see hatred for France and its history becoming the norm.

    It may not be for the military to say that, you will argue. Quite the contrary: because we are apolitical in our assessments of the situation, it is a professional observation that we deliver. Because this decline, we have seen it in many countries in crisis. It precedes the collapse. It announces chaos and violence, and contrary to what you are asserting here or there, this chaos and this violence will not come from a “military pronunciamento” but from a civil insurrection.

    FULL TEXT

    Mr President of the Republic, Ladies and Gentlemen, Ministers, parliamentarians, general officers, in your ranks and qualities,

    We no longer sing the seventh verse of the Marseillaise, known as “children’s verse”. Yet it is rich in lessons. And here they are: “We will enter the quarry when our elders are no longer there. We will find their dust there, and the traces of their virtues. Much less desirous of surviving them than of sharing their coffin, we will have the sublime pride of avenging them or of following them.”

    Our elders are combatants who deserve to be respected. These are for example the old soldiers whose honour you have trampled on in recent weeks. It is these thousands of servants of France, signatories of a text of common sense, soldiers who gave their best years to defend our freedom, obeying your orders, to wage your wars or to implement your budget restrictions, which you soiled while the people of France supported them. These people who fought against all the enemies of France, you have treated them as factious when their only fault is to love their country and to mourn its visible downfall.

    Under these conditions, it is up to us, who have recently started a military career, to enter the arena simply to have the honour of telling the truth.
    We are what the newspapers have called “the fire generation”. Men and women, active soldiers, of all armies and of all ranks, of all sensibilities, we love our country. These are our only claims to fame. And if we cannot, by law, express ourselves with our face uncovered, it is just as impossible for us to be silent.

    Afghanistan, Mali, Central African Republic or elsewhere, a number of us have experienced enemy fire. Some have left comrades there. They offered their lives to destroy the Islamism to which you are making concessions on our soil.

    Almost all of us have known Operation Sentinel. We saw with our own eyes the abandoned suburbs, the accommodation with delinquency. We have undergone the attempts to instrumentalise several religious communities, for whom France means nothing – nothing but an object of sarcasm, contempt or even hatred.

    We paraded on July 14th. And then we were asked to beware of the benevolent and diverse crowd, who acclaimed us on that day because we are the emanation of it, by forbidding us to circulate in uniform, by making us potential victims, on a soil that we are nevertheless capable of defending.

    Yes, our elders are right about the substance of their text, in its entirety. We see violence in our towns and villages. We see communitarianism taking hold in public space, in public debate. We see hatred for France and its history becoming the norm.

    It may not be for the military to say that, you will argue. Quite the contrary: because we are apolitical in our assessments of the situation, it is a professional observation that we deliver. Because this decline, we have seen it in many countries in crisis. It precedes the collapse. It announces chaos and violence, and contrary to what you are asserting here or there, this chaos and this violence will not come from a “military pronunciamento” but from a civil insurrection.

    To quibble about the shape of the forum of our elders instead of acknowledging the obviousness of their findings, we have to be quite cowardly. To invoke a duty of reserve badly interpreted in order to silence French citizens, one must be very deceitful. To encourage the leading army officers to take a stand and expose themselves, before fiercely sanctioning them as soon as they write anything other than battle stories, you have to be very perverse.

    Cowardice, deceit, perversion: such is not our vision of the hierarchy. On the contrary, the army is, par excellence, the place where we speak truthfully to each other because we commit our lives. It is this confidence in the military institution that we call for.

    Yes, if a civil war breaks out, the army will maintain order on its own soil, because it will be asked to. It is even the definition of civil war. No one can want such a terrible situation, our elders no more than us, but yes, again, civil war is brewing in France and you know it perfectly well.

    The cry of alarm from our Elders finally refers to more distant echoes. Our elders are the resistance fighters of 1940, who people like you very often treated as factious, and who continued the fight while the legalists, transfixed with fear, were already betting on concessions with evil to limit the damage. These are the soldiers of 1914, who died for a few meters of land, while you abandon, without reacting, entire districts of our country to the law of the strongest; they are all the dead, famous or anonymous, fallen at the front or after a lifetime of service.

    All our elders, those who made our country what it is, who designed its territory, defended its culture, gave or received orders in its language, did they fight for you to let France become a failed state which replaces its increasingly obvious sovereign powerlessness with a brutal tyranny against those of his servants who still want to warn the people?

    Take action, ladies and gentlemen. This time, it is not about emotion on tap, ready-made formulas or media coverage. It is not a question of extending your mandates or conquering others. It is about the survival of our country, of your country.

    LINK TO ORIGINAL TEXT

    https://www.valeursactuelles.com/societe/exclusif-signez-la-nouvelle-tribune-des-militaires/

    1. Bonjour Caroline.
      I am British and male.

      What am I supposed to feel about the bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed nearly seventy schoolgirls and left many others seriously wounded? It appears to have been carried out by Sunnis, directed against Shia, so it was a sectarian act.

      1. These fanatics will stop at nothing – killing innocent schoolgirls is how they terrorise society.

        1. The operative word is school. They don’t want their baby machines getting ideas above their station.

        1. Concrete blocks outside public buildings. Police surrounding Westminster and carrying submachine guns. Bag searches everywhere. Preposterous “Security” at airports where the queues last longer than the flights. A curb on free speech.

        2. No doubt this week will see some crazies out “celebrating” the end of Ram ramming.

        3. Khan says it’s the price to pay for living in a big city. In my view it’s a totally unacceptable price.

          2. Uhuru decree closes bars. 1st step call bar owner, arrange access time and enter. Call Police chief, he’s allowed in and told “there’s your beer, now wind neck in period if you want to be invited again”. Most of us this end of Nairobi have been doing this since March 2020, no disturbance from Police. Same with Eid tomorrow, bars to stay closed, so calls already made, in the bar at 10am tomorrow – this time first round is on the Police Chief. Local rules of the road

    2. “We will enter the quarry when our elders are no longer there. We will find their dust there, and the traces of their virtues. Much less desirous of surviving them than of sharing their coffin, we will have the sublime pride of avenging them or of following them”

      https://youtu.be/Mapr5l9SuYU

      1. Excellent film. A spoof science fiction film, a comedy-drama, yet it underlines some very real attributes of decent people. I rate it with some of the best ever comedy films. “The Producers” is still tops.

    4. It will only need another terrorist act for the country to explode. It won’t be pretty.

    5. The problem is that the politicos choose not to see the problem because the obvious solution to islam in the West is not politically correct. You may not like Tommy Robinson but he has the same message. But the state will not allow his view to gain any traction and he is harassed, jailed, defunded, just about any ploy that eradicates his views from being heard. There will no doubt be a witch hunt for those who are trying to air the problem in France and the muslims will stand on the sidelines smirking.

    7. Many people have been warning us for many years of the dangers of a domineering, politically ambitious Islam – most notably Douglas Murray.

      The British political establishment’s conciliatory approach is best illustrated by their indifference to the daily invasion of mainly Muslim people in rubber dinghies.

      Why do they want our history and culture to be overwhelmed?

      An interesting comment that President Macron made soon after he came to office was that there is no such thing as European or French culture. This shows me that he has a deep contempt for his own roots. As usual Shakespeare expressed it succinctly:

      That nature which condemns its origin
      Cannot be bordered certain in itself.

      [King Lear]

      2. We’ve been told often enough that there’s no such thing as “English” culture; that we’re all ‘mongrels’ and immigrants and that blacks were here in prehistoric times.

        Strangely enough, when I’m trawling through Ancestry to find more snippets of information I find no Muslim names, nor any of those African names beginning with O & A – just ordinary English names.

        1. PS. I saw a little of the Rugby League on the BBC last Saturday. The commentators mentioned that it was National Hedgehog Week and talked about it briefly. (Possibly the most interesting part of their commentary. I do miss Eddie Waring.)

          1. One of our neighbours has built three hedgehog homes in his garden (one occupied) and had installed no fewer than four wildlife cameras.

            On April 26th he WhatsApped the neighbours with an exciting night shot of a badger in his garden.

            Seven nights later he viewed the week’s takings to see the badger killing and eating one of ‘his’ hogs. Badgers seem to be the only native animals that will take on and eat a hedgehog. How sad!

          2. They can and do kill hedgehogs. They have lived side by side for millennia but the balance has now changed – there are far fewer hedgehogs and many more badgers. They compete for the same food source and pesticides have wiped out a lot of their food.

            We had the distressing experience of a badger breaking into a hedgehog enclosure a few years ago, killing and eating two that were ready for release.

            If you find just the prickly shell of a hedgehog you know what has happened. Badgers are very strong and when food is scarce the hedgehogs are their food.

          3. One of the more significant reasons for the explosion of badger numbers is that in 1972 the Wildlife Act made them a protected species. Man interferes in the balance of nature at his peril.

          4. Tell that to the tree huggers; to them, badgers can do no wrong and under no circumstances should they be culled.

        2. I’m a Family History buff too. A simple explanation for the lack of early blek or RoP registrations is (a) they couldn’t read or write so (b) why would they register the births?

          1. Plenty of English people couldn’t sign their names but they still got married in church.

    8. Thank you, Caroline.
      Many retired British foot soldiers will echo those sentiments.
      In their case, they were trying to save us from murderous IRA thugs. Their efforts have been well and truly appreciated.
      Why do western politicians hate their culture?

    9. This calls to mind a phrase from Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan:

      Ancestral voices prophesying war!

    11. Thank you, Caroline, I just wish our armed forces and the great British unwashed would realise where things are heading to.

      Not just in France but Holland Germany and the UK will all soon be on the brink of civil war.

      I fear that the Spanish and Italians are too supine to contemplate any uprising.

      1. I think the Great British unwashed are all too aware – but like the Spanish and Italians are supine. There’s never been a real revolution in this country – even the Civil War was between two political parties.

    12. Thank you Caroline.

      There is always hope , but I fear the rot has set in , and the Merkle mindset has added to the misery of Europe .

    15. Chilling indeed.

      Around the towns their numbers have increased substantially in the 10+ years since we’ve lived here. We see Islamic graffiti praising ISIS; and as the numbers have risen, the attitude to non-Muslims has hardened. Where people used to rub along in shops, allowing each other space and access to produce, they have become very assertive, queue jumping, pushing and shoving.

      Blocking pavements totally while they talk in groups and being more obviously alien in their dress. Around the market women in full length outer garments and head coverings and men in pyjamas and caps, essentially proclaiming “here we are and we’re increasing”.

      The change has been very marked in a fairly short timescale, and “ours” is similar to a small UK county town, larger places are far worse.

      1. Rennes and St Brieuc are submerged but Dinan is not so badly affected yet.

      2. All across Europe they are taking over areas of towns and cities. Soon even the jews will be escaping to rural areas.

    16. I hope you don’t mind, Caroline, but I’ve just put that up on going Postal.

  34. I have rehashed a post I made here yesterday and sent it as a letter to the Daily Telegraph. What’s the betting they won’tpublish it.

    Sir,

    So the Church of England wants to become more ‘woke’!

    My father was a colonial administrator in the Sudan. He was, in my opinion, also a far better, more erudite, more humane and more Christian man than Justin Welby is or ever will be as anyone who knew my father would agree.

    Richard Tracey

    1. Good morning!

      CofE tradition requires that our intercessions inlcude prayers for the clergy and bishops but at Barts I’ve noticed that we get around this by asking God to “enlighten the Bishop of London”. Ain’t gonna happen of course but we do our bit!

  35. The DT bots were not happy with this comment.
    After 4 goes – in different guises, I rewrote in in a way that drew attention to the headlines but without any direct quotes.

    “Two DT headlines: anyone spot a link?

    “Gladys Eva, plotted aircraft movements for the RAF during the Battle of Britain – obituary”

    “It is astonishing that hugging was ever proscribed by state diktat””

      1. Really?
        A woman who spent her youth helping to defend our freedom (apparently she did talk to pilots who were about to die) and a country which, 80 years later, now interferes in the minutiae of daily life.

        1. I wonder if she spent her last days in care, and unable to see or touch her family.

          1. Yes. That thought crossed my mind.
            Was she able to think “Why did I bother?”

        2. Ah, I see. It was a remarkable obit. I particularly liked the story that she was put in for a commission but missed the interview because she had been on the tiles the previous night.

          I think your attempted linkage was completely lost on the juveniles pretending to edit the newspaper.

          2. Up to a point, Lord Copper. I couldn’t understand what it was that Mrs Allan said that was not liked by he DT teenage scribblers.

      2. DT [and others] will have certain words / phrases that when triggered put blocks on comments posted, regardless of intent aka “plotted aircraft movements” and “hugging was ever proscribed by state diktat” regardless of context. Woke Management style

  36. Post some rain over weekend, here’s the fallout c/o no drainage maintainence since Independence. In Gatundu [Uhuru’s home area] https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03ff77ab54bff2aa1a383c56054f6e96ee2a38c6c861d7159339459812c0b196.jpg and Bunyala, 300m from Nyayo Stadium roundabout [the last main roundabout from Nairobi Centre before hitting Mombasa road https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/888e9961ee5d7b593656daccaa90a9f2175afb617ab141cd335f5da27c58d696.jpg

      1. the top pic was, second one, some moron from Kenya Wildlife Service going on the lash after finishing work and trying to take short cut that didn’t exist, as he’ll probably find out when he sobers up

      1. build a road you say? Take the money, enjoy proceeds, use it for next election. Road – what road? That’s the ongoing gig here. They never cite colonialism here now, politicians know they’re being closely monitored. Mess about and disappear, permanently

        1. The Chinese build the roads and railways these days – for huge debts that will never be repaid.

          1. “So – as the debt is not paid, Mr President, we will just take over your country.”

          2. not exactly, see elsewhere on this sub thread. One condition Uhuru agreed to, Xi sent over teams of supposed experts. A few were, the rest were the detritus from Chinese prisons. They were told “do the job, n completion, you’re free to go where you want”. so now there’s quite a few hundred Chinese flitting about Kenya, most are at the coast, for unknown reasons, south Coast and in Western Kenya near Uganda. Not difficult to figure when next build kicks in they’ll be high on the list for “supervisory” jobs and will continue moving, presumably as Kenya Govt wouldn’t issue work permits

          3. roads currently done by Bechtel [US company that are worse than useless and with toxic track record] using local Kenyan groups as subcontractors. Mombasa to Nairobi – Bechtel have not even finished dual carriageway out of Mombasa in 6 years. For rail, SGR was Gov-Gov bilateral and now, no debt to Kenya Govt [it was waived last November at last heads of State gathering Forum on China–Africa Cooperation [FOCAC] forget C-19 restrictions. SGR fits into Belt and Road Initiative which is based in Hong Kong. Mombasa -Nairobi SGR built in under 4 years. Intent is East – West Africa linkage and obviously into resources along the way. China using Kenya in same way English did and use Kenya as the hub / spoke.

        2. When we were in Nigeria decades ago , we lived on the Shell compound , it was a wonderful gated community full of expats from all over Europe working for Shell. Moh was flying helos !

          Out side the compound was a very busy road , rough as hell , and the road was being reformed and constructed all the way from Port Harcourt to somewhere else , I cannot remember .

          A poor chap was killed on the main road right outside the main gates , his body lay there for days , none of us dared look , and wndered why the body hadn’t been claimed , wrong tribe , wrong everything and probably a stranger to the area . Car accidents and lorry crashes were common in these days , and we had seen dead bodies before , and all we could say to ourselves, when we ( the wives ) went on escorted shopping trips , “Well dis is Africa”.. and one’s compassion and sense of shock at shocking things are challenged .

          The body , some one took a photo of it , a body enlarging in the intense heat , that his clothes were splitting , it must have been there over ten days , and we hid our eyes and covered our noses , but had a peek as the company VW wagon took us through the security of the gates on our shopping expeditions or other business.

          The road crews were getting nearer and we had to avoid huge lorries and steam rollers piles of earth rocks and asphalt , no traffic control , nothing .

          One day as the main gates became blocked on the outside by the road gangs , the security chaps told us the body had been buried , problem gone , , but where is the body … and the security man said with a grin .. ” Under dis ting , madam , under dis ting ” We were all shocked rigid … the road crews had just gone over the body and buried him where he lay , earth, stones asphalt , and ditch .

          This is true and not a tall story , and I daresay the same thing happens these days .

          4. I know the PH one from about ’88. It was going very HSE orientated. I used to take the odd employee there for a ‘swim’ test before they were allowed offshore as contractors. In the mid 90s I fell foul of that swim test. Failed it and so couldn’t head out to my boat. Did a retake at Warri Shell. An easier test and a few Naira changed hands.

          5. On my first work trip to Nigeria, I landed in Lagos in the evening and next day flew on to Owerri. There I was met by a company minder and two armed policemen who would escort us. Two vehicles with bullet proof glass and armour. I was to go to the company guest house in Port Harcourt for lunch, then on a armed launch to Bonny Island.
            However, one of my suitcases did not arrive on the same flight so I waited in a cafe for an hour or so, guarded my my two cops, until the next flight had landed. My case still didn’t arrive so it was decided that I would go on to Port Harcourt with one driver and policeman – the other would take my baggage ticket and wait for my case to arrive.
            The two coppers started arguing about who was going to stay so the company minder took a wad of notes from his jacket and dished the bribes out.
            Honour was served, I duly got to Port Harcourt and my case arrived a few hours later. 16 hours in the country and I witnessed my first example of police corruption which involved me!

          6. We always carried extra Naira as ‘dash’ hidden behind the sun visor on our Beetle. We needed it when there was a glass bottle shortage , and you could only get a crate of 12 full bottles of Star/ lemonade if you returned a crate of 12 empties .

            Expats were stopped and searched and their full crates were kidnapped , it was a real racket .

            It was always them stopping us by pointing ancient guns at us by saying “European , what are you going to give me ”

            So small wonder that I shudder when I see them over here , I have many similar stories to relate from where I have lived in other parts of Africa .

            They wouldn’t try that trick on one of their own , the wealthy grinning African types who glide around in expensive cars , and who live in almost gilded palaces.

          7. When I got off the boat at Bonny Island, there was a customs officer there, in full regalia who questioned me. Fortunately, my minder arrived and whisked me away. He explained that I was about to be stung, but the company had a cosy arrangement with much officials.
            It had seems a little odd to be stopped by customs on an internal journey. I got pally with an American engineer who was working directly for Mobil (I was sub-contracting). He was shocked that I had travelled by road and concluded that the firm I was working for must be paying regular kickbacks to enable this.
            On three further visits, I was flown in by light aircraft direct from Lagos, or helicopter from Owerri or Pt Harcourt. Interesting times!

      2. If you take a look on Google earth at street level in African towns and cities the streets are always awash with rubbish. There is also evidence of may people who live there but seemingly are a tad too lazy to clear up their own litter.

    3. it must have ben at least ten years ago i watched a programme about luxury end car theft in the UK they filmed a industrial complex near Wormwood scrubs and found a building where Mercs BMW Range Rovers etc were being brought in to have the roofs cut off so they could get more vehicles into the shipping containers. The film crew had also gone to the docks and found cars jammed into the containers. The idea was to reweld the roofs back on in the country they were shipped to. They also flew a helicopter above Lagos and suburbs and using a tracking device detector found several cars they were once registered in the UK. And used on the roads on the UK London and suburbs.

    4. “Brace yersel’, pet, I’m gonna put my foot down and we should make it ove…”

    2. The Interior Ministry’s regional office said on Sunday that the official had disappeared in a local forest near the village of Pospelovo. He had gone in that direction on a quad bike from a hunting base on 7 May.
      “The health minister of the Omsk region, Alexander Murakhovsky, came out [of the forest] to people in the area of the village of Basly. He is in good condition, currently undergoing examination at a hospital in the Bolsheukovsky district”, the government said.

  38. Phew! The stabbings in the supermarket in New Zealand were not a terrorist attack, says PM Jacinda Ardern. Well, she does have to say that given the worshipful loving attitude that she has towards those in the community group who most routinely carry out terrorist attacks. We don’t know, of course, as no details of the attacker have been released, but it might be egg on the face time for Jacinda. We may find out. (Do they have “D” notices in New Zealand?)

      1. No, I have no idea how that happened I copied the link from an email and that landed on the screen i edited it as soon as i could as you can see.
        Many strange things seem to happen with discus I still cant get on board on my mobile. Every time I try it tells me that the email etc is already in use ……well of course.

        2. I did eventually discover how to get Nottl on my mobile – but when I’m there it uses my other account – with a different email address linked to it.

          1. The problems I have found Ellie is if I change the password once again I can’t get on to discuss on the PC and vice versa.

          2. No need to change the password – just have a different account and email address. I don’t have to log in each time. You may remember some months ago I had a problem and for some reason I was locked out of all my email accounts and had to start again with logging in everywhere.

            On here, Disqus went back to my old account that I had stopped using, but on the phone it was still the newer one. Which is why you see a different elephant there.

          3. Talking elephants i tried once more the get in contact with the guide i knew Gary, from Mana Pools Zimbabwe, i sent an inquiry to the web site they ignored it. I have the dreadful feeling that he was murdered by Mugabe’s Hench men as soon as set foot back in Harari.

          4. Very sad – but it does sound quite likely. I wonder if you’ll ever know. Probably not unless you’re in touch with someone else who knew him, rather than companies.

          5. I was hoping that some one who worked there might have known him.
            He stayed with a couple who live in our village I only have a rough idea and don’t actually know where they live and the old boy who also met him has a bit of dementia now, is hard to communicate with. I could try a local FB page i’ll give it a go.

          1. I thought i’d removed it, it was a mistake !! I can’t actually imagine how it happened.

          3. 🤣😆
            That reminds me of one of my old girl friends from over 50 years ago, i used to go to her house on Wednesday evenings , to be with her chat and play music. Her parents would go out leaving her and younger brother at home . But sometimes her father would come back earlier than expected. He was obviously tying to catch us out. She used to say to him, Evil thinks as Evil Does. I’m still in touch with her to this day just good friends.
            Most of today I’ve been trying to get hold of someone who works at Virgin Media. I wrote an email to the address given on a discuss page amongst one of the 57 comments siting similar problems as we have with VM and it bounced. There’s a concrete wall around their Customer services. So now I’ve printed two copies and i’m going to post them one to Reading Berks and one to a VM London address. Then later i was contacted by messenger by I suppose a VM employee, but still didn’t get any where with my complaint about the pixilation’s of our TV screen on certain channels. I’m quite convinced that they have reduced the strength of the signal. VM are absolutely effing useless.

          4. We get problems with our “dish” because tree branches sag in the rain and at night we get large owls and other raptors sitting on the armature. Just enough weight to put the thing out of synch.

          5. We don’t get any owls or bats of late because too many of the people who have moved to the country side from the London suburbs have no context of how light pollution effect wild life. They leave lights on all night all over the gardens and have their paranoia security lights that come on in the darkened street, at the slightest movement.
            I’m still dealing with Virgin Media they are an absolute bloody nightmare. There is a discuss page on them.

    2. 332566+ up ticks,
      Morning RE,
      All the time the lab/lib/con coalition is being given carte blanche via dangerous fools through the polling booth in will in continuing, decidedly get worse.

    3. Since the religious essence of “Mothering Sunday” was replaced by the frightful, garish commercialism of “Mothers’ Day” – I lost interest in the whole mish-mash.

    1. Are we getting near to the end of our tethers? Or are we beaten and will lie down and accept the crap politicians are so keen heap on us?

      The selectivity is obscene – persecute our own origins and religion and nurture and foster an alien murderous culture which hates us.

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Morning R,
        Many say that loudly on coming out of the polling booth post kissing X a lab/lib/con candidate, as I said a shout of protest salves the conscience.

    2. This country aided and abetted by our useless political classes and many others, is settling down into the sludge that many of the nations parents and grand parents gave their lives to fight against.
      The close knit Nation I and many other like me and us Nottlers were fortunate enough to grow up in after WW2 is sadly finished.

  41. I noticed yesterday that Putin,accompanied by Tajakistani President Emomali Rakhmon walked the half kilometer from Red Square to the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier without a plethora of armed guards or the street being cleared in advance…
    How refreshing.
    Note: Mr Navalney could only watch on TV as he was “indisposed” this year…………shame.

  42. Nagsman and I have been celebrating the demise of the appalling Jonathon Seed since this news broke last night. You couldn’t think of a nastier, more bogus, self-inflated piece of worthless sh*t… but be warned that Tartan Pimpernel thinks he is bliss – I believe they went to poly/university together.

    Tory favourite to be elected Wiltshire police commissioner is DISBARRED before even starting the job over 30-year-old drink-driving conviction
    Jonathon Seed is one of the favourites to win the Wiltshire PCC seat on Monday
    But it has now been revealed that he has a 30-year-old drink-driving conviction
    In UK a person cannot be a PCC if they have conviction for imprionsable offence
    Mr Seed told the BBC he was ‘bitterly disappointed’ and that he had withdrawn

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/05/09/18/42767126-9559561-image-m-2_1620581473653.jpg

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/05/09/18/42766572-9559561-image-a-4_1620581487656.jpg

      1. You’re being too kind. Not sure if he has ever sprouted properly. Understand that he was cashiered out of the army (R.A.) with a massive cloud over his head but TP still has the hots for him. Countless people told the local Conservative Great&Good that he was trouble incarnate and a poseur but they wouldn’t listen. Wiltshire ratepayers are now facing a £1,000,000 bill to re-run this fiasco which will be won by whichever donkey is wearing a blue rosette. The local Conservative Party and Turdy Seedy knew full well that he didn’t qualify to be PCC before this episode and they should pay the £1million for the re-run. Were you and the MR ever to have the misfortune to meet Seed, it would take you less than 38 milliseconds to decide that you didn’t want to shake his hand.

      2. You are so right, mola. If you hauled him in on the end of your line, you wouldn’t throw him back in to cauterise the greater fishy population but you would bludgeon him to death whilst nobody was looking and feed him to the seagulls. Curiously enough, his wife (also a retired Major on a good pension) is very nice and worthwhile.

    4. I’m not afraid to say WTF has politics got to do with Policing.

      All candidates should be independents with their CVs release to the public the day that an election is called.

  44. Update on Caroline Tracey’s excellent post about the disquiet among soldiers in France. The public was invited t sign the text (to show support)

    At noon today 109 059 personnes ont signé le texte. And one and a half MILLION have read it..

  45. 332566+ up ticks,
    So any discussion on the shirt lifting wooly woofter brigade guarantees a career change is close at hand.

    breitbart,
    A Christian chaplain at Trent College was fired and reported to the British government’s anti-terrorism programme for delivering a sermon in which he told pupils that it is acceptable to question and disagree with far-left LGBT ideology being taught at the school.

  46. https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/notes-from-the-sticks-how-to-get-along-with-slugs/

    Do please read the article .. it is so informative .. I have cut out a chunk for those of you who don’t want to read the whole piece .

    I have gardened for many decades without ever resorting to slug bait, partly from principle and partly because we have always had various pets that might have helped themselves to it. I have found there are a great many garden plants that slugs don’t touch, far more than the ones they do like. When I see a wonderful display of delphiniums or dahlias, I fear my main reaction is to imagine the masses of killer chemicals that have poisoned the soil to achieve the effect. Examples of plants that slugs take no interest in are perennial geraniums, day lilies, crocosmia, leucanthemum, almost anything with grey leaves, Japanese anemone, ferns, euphorbia, penstemon, alchemilla, roses – you can find long lists on the internet. (How helpful it would be if plant retailers told you which plants are susceptible to slugs but they never do.)

    In recent years I have discovered a miracle – copper tape. I have never been able to grow hostas, which I love, in the ground, but thanks to the tape I can grow them very well in pots. Here is a picture I took yesterday:

      1. It ‘s a good article isn’t it .

        I am growing Lupins for the first time for years , I will look out for copper tape on the net .

        I try to grow stuff that is slug proof, I will never ever use slug pellets.

        1. Nematodes are supposed to be an environmentally friendly alternative – not that I’ve ever tried them.

    2. My hostas [cough!] are in pots with copper tape round the rims and placed on gravel. Nothing like a belt and braces approach! I also go on night-time patrol to zap any slugs I find with salt (non-toxic to pets). You can also use a beer trap which doesn’t require chemicals.

  48. ‘We thank your government for our full pockets’ – Calais smugglers speak. 10 May 2021.

    As the UK pours millions into security measures, migrants say the gangs who control the Channel just get more powerful.

    It’s very tempting to believe this article which is I’m pretty sure the reason it was written. This said no one can cross the Channel without at least the tacit agreement of the British Government and as we see every day with patrol boats returning with immigrants, it is much more their active assistance. This is not some vast criminal enterprise but Government Policy!

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/10/calais-smuggler-gangs-channel-migrants-uk-security

  50. the strapline’s about right [and the first one to actually make the connection for the wrong reasons], the content, accepting a few strands are good, goes “off gyroscope” https://unherd.com/2021/05/is-it-the-tories-who-are-doomed/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=d7b47e607a&mc_eid=f8bf59e7dc

    Latest comments given frequent change every 30 mins:

    Clive Mitchell

    The one problem with this article is you can’t simply run a country by values, you also need nuts and bolts economics. And that is where the left always falls apart. It is inevitable that at some stage the Tories will lose, but in the main people don’t like poverty and that is what the Left is currently offering. Experience is a great teacher, for the majority.

    Johannes Kreisler

    Labour hates homeowners and indeed hates all private property of all descriptions. Yes; except their own homeownership and their own private property. For others, the longer they keep them in overpriced rents, the more votes for Labour. That’s how the class war works

    D Ward

    And of course there’s Bliar, Mandelscum, the Milipedes and scores of other “left-wingers” coining it in via property…

  51. Nick Timothy on the ball:

    …… the Labour Party is in a mess, broken by its collapse in Scotland and its losses in the old Red Wall constituencies.

    But the idea that Starmer is a sensible moderate contending with a problematic party shows how slowly our governing classes are coming to terms with the ways cultural issues are changing our politics. On economic policy, Starmer’s soft Left instincts – on spending and on state intervention – might not be a problem, although with a high-spending Tory government they might not be a clear advantage either. But on policies relating to culture and identity, Starmer as much as the party he leads is the problem.

    On Brexit – the most symbolic of all cultural divides in Britain – Starmer made himself the face of the resistance to our departure from the European Union. In the darkest days of the Theresa May premiership, he had the chance to do a deal with the Government and bring about a so-called soft Brexit. Had Labour done so, they would have split the Tories and shown the country that, while they favoured a close relationship with the EU, they respected the referendum result. Instead, along with Labour MPs like Yvetter Cooper and Hilary Benn, he used every legal device and parliamentary trick in the book to try to stop Brexit altogether.

    Since becoming leader, Starmer has done his best to stop talking about Brexit. He appointed Claire Ainsley, a smart thinker who understands Labour’s lost voters, and more recently Deborah Mattinson, a pollster who has written a book about the Red Wall, as advisers. He has tried to appear more patriotic, attempted to focus his narrative on economic issues, not cultural ones, and limited attacks on the Government largely to its alleged incompetence and impropriety.

    But it is not working because it is not authentic. Starmer’s own decisions and actions show that his conflict on cultural issues is not only with his party, but within himself. Despite offering little or no policy when it comes to the economy, taxation, schools or the NHS, Starmer has promised to change the Gender Recognition Act, making it possible to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis, regardless of the risks for women’s privacy and security.

    After taking the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Starmer promised the “eradication of structural racism” in Britain. This is another radical and dangerous promise, for “structural racism” is a theory that claims the whole of society systematically discriminates in favour of white people at the expense of minorities. If Starmer follows the logic of his promise, the resulting policies will be unavoidably discriminatory towards white people and destructive to the solidarity and trust needed in an open society.

    This is all alienating and repellent to the voters Labour are shedding. But Starmer is not alone, of course. He leads a party in which Members of Parliament openly use racialised language about both white people and minorities who dare to believe in conservative values. Its activists and supporters openly scorn working class voters who support the Tories, writing them off as uneducated, stupid or racist.

    Labour are in trouble for so many reasons, but they should make no mistake. Like many of his MPs and activists, Sir Keir Starmer stands for the very values that are driving voters to the Conservatives, and his party to the gravest of crises.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/09/sir-keir-starmer-isnt-solution-labour-partys-crisis-cause/

      1. But wasn’t he responsible for the election manifesto that took May’s initial lead in the polls of about 25% down to a level where she could not command a majority and had to go to Arlene Foster in the DUP to get a working majority in Parliament?

        1. Afternoon Rastus, was it not the case who pays the piper calls the tune, and Treasonous and the men in grey suits decided the manifesto.
          I do not believe individual MPs are consulted in manifesto content, the same would apply to Spads.

      2. A footnote to your post about the Russian doctor
        This..from NBC.
        : “doctor who lied about Navalny poisoning lost in Siberia”

    2. Fundamentally, the Labour party have discoverred (as usual) that what people really want are conservative values. The Conservatives meanwhile are desperate to embrace Left wing ones.

      The tories are taking their voters for granted (as usual) and ignoring them.

      Labour are struggling to offer something credible and admit that they’ve been wrong every time they stand.

      Thus Tories win Labour voters, Labour lose voters – as actual conservatives cannot vote Left.

      1. That’s happening in Surrey.
        In the last GE the Woking Con MP had his majority cut the Limp Dumbs gaining more in % terms than any other party and Lablie the only party losing share. In last weeks Local elections Conservatives have suffered two shocking defeats in Woking, with the borough’s mayor and the county’s deputy leader both losing their seats to Liberal Democrats.
        Guildford 2019 GE Cons lost 9.7% share and Limp Dums gained 15.3% and are only 3,000+ Con majority. Con lost 4 council seats in Guildford to Limp Dumbs.

        The North is moving from Labour to Conservative and the South moving to Lib Dem’s.

        Will be interesting to see the results in the next elections.

    1. I was thinking the other day that small time stuff, fraudsters, phishers and so on were able to carry on without ever being detected and punished. The sums involved may be trivial individually but very large overall. Who knows? One is discounting the distress and difficulties that the losses may inflict on any people.
      I get fraudulent emails most days, seeking to persuade me to enter details, by pretending to be Amazon or Paypal, and many other businesses. As far as I am aware nothing whatsoever is being done to stop them. If a few were hunted down and killed regardless of the jurisdiction from which they operate, it might make others think twice.
      Is that because we now have to accept so many levels of “security” that we become inured to it, and so are pliable in the hands of the authorities?

      1. The provision of security laws is NOT for the benefit of the customer. It’s to remove liability from the bank so they don’t have to pay you back.

      2. Like you, I get many phising mails / texts as well. Half the problem with the online system is the way it’s set up to primarily benefit corporations with the loop holes exposed further down the chain, which there is no interest in dealing with. Hence the supposed level of security levels expected to jump through. For big corporations and the wider, Great Reset Agenda, that keeps attention off them, for now. As you’ll see in the 2nd link, the bigger agenda is there, so people hustling further down the chain is of no vested interest to them.

        As with all woke entities, they all like to shout before an event revealing the pathway and ignore that people, globally figured this out ages ago. they play on the fear factor, as well as conditioning the youth, who are more pliable to authorities whims and won’t work it out until it’s too late.

      3. Thanks for the reminder to check my spam folders – just deleted 179 spam messages – most wanting to augment my penis size or my bitcoin account.

        3. Looking at his posting below, Phizzee already has tons of Bitcoins but both of us would love to hear what you have to tell about penis size, if you’re willing to share, because we know nothing about it.

          [I’m beside myself with excitement because Naggers is coming to lunch at The Swan tomorrow and she will be telling me everything that one needs to know from her side of Devizes. Seed is such a foul….]

          1. Not having a penis, I didn’t bother reading them – all deleted now. But there will be another crop – I usually do a clear-out when I think of it – I don’t have to read them as Gmail filters them into the spam folder quite efficiently.

            Enjoy your lunch date with Naggers!

          3. That’s not fair.
            Nowt wrong with Phizzee that sensible social distancing won’t cure.

            But you might consider putting on a hazmat suit too, just in case.

        4. most wanting to augment my penis size or my bitcoin account.

          I there something, that you are not telling us, about yourself Nd?

        5. most wanting to augment my penis size or my bitcoin account.

          I there something, that you are not telling us, about yourself Nd?

  53. The closing lines from an op-ed in RT by George Galloway…
    !And, remember you read it here first, pending corruption allegations which will reverberate through this land and make the news in Timbuktu.

    Remember this name. Sanjeev Gupta. Gupta-gate, opening soon…”

  54. Afternoon all, just back from a raid behind enemy lines, (shopping in Bath) and Mrs VVOF guided me into Debenhams. The shop assistant told me it closes Wednesday, this is just a taste of how our high street is going to look if these woke, tree hugging fools continue to make policy decisions.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b68ff26032390291316a1df0260dd27a95e270030ab31e6028d549127223ca7b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9aed332bedfb770b9d11735767835a1a40e5c500802b170b9a5e413e66a6bf6a.jpg

    1. That is a bit of a blast from the past. When I was a kid Bath had early closing on Wednesday.

      1. I sometimes think the local council is striving to have early closing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, judging by street closures, cycle lanes and the like.

    2. Online shopping has a lot to answer for. I must admit I am as guilty as the next person of using it for its convenience.

      1. given the majority of stuff here is tat [apart from fresh food], it’s helpful shopping online, basic logistics when decent stuff’s either tat or simply not available. then again different circumstances here

      2. These days changing rooms are still closed in stores. To be able to try on to ensure it fitted before going home was a major advantage in visiting clothes stores,. As you say it might as well be delivered to you at home.

      3. Yo SiaDc

        I must admit I am as guilty as the next person of using it for its convenience.

        You are taking the P155…….

  55. Careful Cuddling has become BBC’s terminology today as a cautionary warning ahead of the Government’s forthcoming permissive hugging announcement.

    To my mind this has connotations that fall beyond the extended intended remit of a familial embrace to the extent that this could progess to Frenzied Fumbling and Solicited Sex amongst certain members of society.

      1. I got to the end of this article but can’t see where having a COVID prick comes into it.

  56. Careful Cuddling has become BBC’s terminology today as a cautionary warning ahead of the Government’s forthcoming permissive hugging announcement.

    To my mind this has connotations that fall beyond the extended intended remit of a familial embrace to the extent that this could progess to Frenzied Fumbling and Solicited Sex amongst certain members of society.

  57. Careful Cuddling has become BBC’s terminology today as a cautionary warning ahead of the Government’s forthcoming permissive hugging announcement.

    To my mind this has connotations that fall beyond the extended intended remit of a familial embrace to the extent that this could progess to Frenzied Fumbling and Solicited Sex amongst certain members of society.

  58. Since when has hugging been a British thing , we were always regarded as a reserved bunch , rather upright and guarded with our emotions .

    Did membership of the EU change our national character ?

    2. I don’t remember so much hugging over 30 years ago……. the other thing that’s changed is the leaving of flowers & tea

      lights everywhere when someone has been killed in a road accident or other sudden death.

      1. #Metoo. We don’t hug. To the contrary, we take delight in formulating novel insults to be bellowed at one another….anything to discombobulate the sugary Dianapukes and nauseating wokists

      2. Blame Blair. Like everything else that has crappified this country, it’s down to him and his mawkish “People’s Princess” hysteria.

    3. I come from a long line of huggers, Belle! And nobody, but nobody, tells me I can’t hug my family! Our daughters specifically chose hugophile partners!

      1. I hug my family but dont like the ubiquitous hugging and kissing by friends every time we meet. Seems like a nasty froggy habit that has come across the channel.

        They do seem to shake hands more than we do though, which I would like to see adopted here.

        1. It did take my father quite a while to get used to my Greek brother-in-law giving him a hug and two kisses every time they met! Actually, my old man had the same problem, particularly in public!
          Loved your Welsh poem, by the way!👍

        2. It’s a courtesy thing here to shake hands with the elders. My age and below, we just nod head [once] to acknowledge. No time for any hugging, that’s left for babies and teddy bears

        3. My adult sons are taller than me , so they hug me which can be rather nice , and Moh and I share an occasional hug .

          The trouble is , strangers assume I am a huggable person , and get too comfortably close . I don’t mind a quick friendly hug or a peck on the cheek , but I can be quite reserved , sometimes not.

          1. Stick your hand out straight away. It blocks the hug and delivers the message.

        5. Interestingly, when the confinement started in France, and the two metre rule – a lot of younger people said how glad they were no to have to do all that kissing malarkey every day.

          1. Understandable, Uncle Bill, because not even your pussy cats enjoy rubbing up against your prickly …

    4. There was never any of that in my family.

      When i go to lunch with friends old and new i hold out my hand and observe the body language (i can’t read faces very well). If the lady or gent leans in they get a hug or in the case of a lady a peck on the cheek.

  60. Reading the election results over the weekend, I see that Mrs Murrell was stupid enough to refused my friend Mr Hamish Rashid’s offer of “help” with the polling. Had she not been too mean to pay his modest fee – she would have had an over majority.

    Silly coo.

  61. HOW TO BE WELSH

    If you like watching rugby
    And think that it is great,
    If you like putting Bara Brith and
    Welshscakes on your plate.
    If you love Dylan Thomas
    And the funny man Max Boyce,
    If you think that Tom Jones,
    Has the greatest ever voice.

    If you celebrate St. David’s Day,
    With daffodil or leek,
    If you watch Pobol Y Cwm,
    Religiously, each week.
    If you like The Stereophonics
    And Catatonia,
    If you know they speak our language,
    Out in Patagonia.

    If you like a bowl of Cawl,
    That’s made with veg and lamb,
    If you think that Windsor Davies
    Was hilarious in Grand Slam.
    If you love the song Myfanwy
    And you can sing Calon Lan,
    If you know someone called Gareth,
    Angharad, Rhys or Sian.

    If you like to give someone a cwtch
    And always say nos da,
    If you think that Alun Wyn’s
    The greatest rugby star.
    If you’ve been to Barry Island
    And think it’s a great place,
    If you can say Llanelli,
    Without spitting in their face.

    If when you cross The Severn Bridge,
    You see the sign and smile,
    If you’ve drunk Brains in Cardiff,
    Or you’ve done The Mumbles Mile.
    If you loved Ryan and Ronnie
    And thought that they were brill,
    If you’ve been to Aberystwyth,
    Bala, Anglesey and Rhyl.

    If you believe in all the world
    Our flag’s the greatest one,
    If you say, “Over by yer” and
    “Yes, it’s tidy mun!”
    If you are keen on Laverbread
    And cockles from the sea,
    If when you don’t like something,
    You just say, “Ych-a-fi!”

    If you think that Shirley Bassey,
    Is a brilliant entertainer,
    If you love Bonnie Tyler,
    But you know that she’s called Gaynor.
    If you think that Gareth Edwards scored
    The greatest ever try,
    If when you hear the anthem,
    Then you cannot help but cry.

    If my poem made you smile,
    Then this fact prevails,
    Just like me, God blessed you,
    For you were born in Wales!

    Lloyd Davies
    20/4/21

    2. …And—which is more—you’ll be a Welshman, my son!

      Rudyard Kipling
      Welsh translation.

  64. 332566+ up ticks,
    🎵
    When they begin the “begin ning” and in
    repayment of political treachery rendered, rape of a once fair Country and more importantly its children via appeasement, mass uncontrolled immigration with odious consequences.

    NOW the 24/7 total control of the peoples is proving way over the top & I can easily visualize the old Zulu war chant coming into play KIl, Kill,KIll, once started there won’t be no stopping for tea-breaks.

    It will be ugly but have a cauterising affect regarding the politico’s.

    https://twitter.com/RogerHelmerMEP/status/1391731132190838787

      1. 332566+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AWK,
        There are other happy connotations such as knees up Mother Brown, sit upon my knee Sonny boy ect.

        The politico’s way of taking the knee is soundly linked to taking the piss.

          1. 332566+ up ticks,
            AWK,
            I would have prefered the pen in the polling booth being mightier than the sword but maybe to late for that so, as needs must.
            Starters I would think is an I Deing deck of cards.

          3. 332566+ up ticks,
            AWK,
            The same, so when the electorates lust for knifings, paedophilia,rape & abuse, whinge, has been sated there are guidelines as to what politico’s initiated these odious issues at the outset.

  65. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f265a5d662994da7fea7913b6ba0109050695981a96b7d75949613a45bb33ca.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0001764ad7b88f7a7eb3111f0f227aa3259405425ab746778b1f7e40085743a7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0001764ad7b88f7a7eb3111f0f227aa3259405425ab746778b1f7e40085743a7.jpg Just been busy in the kitchen knocking up a batch of steak and kidney pasties (‘turnovers’?) for the freezer. Apropos the discussion on the correct pastry for S&K pies/puddings t’other day, I am firmly in the suetcrust pastry camp for a decent pie; however, these items I’ve baked today are a reasonable substitute for the freezer.

    Now, I realise that NoTTLers are split into three distinct camps:
    (A) those who ask me for recipes and enjoy reading/making them;
    (B) those who don’t give a damn; and
    (C) those who whinge and moan petulantly whenever I post a recipe yet are complicit themselves in posting reams of deplorable and puerile tripe.

    Ah, well. You can’t please everyone all the time.

        1. I don’t watch it, I do peek at the online weather and headlines though, just for a question of balance. (Cue Moody Blues)

    3. I’m not keen on kidney but I love a steak bake. They look scrumptious cooked.

    4. They look yummy, Grizz! I don’t particularly like the texture of kidney – a bit like Plasticine – but don’t mind the flavour! Don’t let Greggs see them or they’ll be after you for trademark violation! .

      1. I am the other way round; don’t object to the texture, but can’t stand the taste! Even taking the bits out doesn’t work, because the rest has been tainted with kidney 🙁

    5. Not forgetting the fourth group who would like you installed as their live-in chef 🤪

    4. I will always defend Jo Brand when her looks are attacked as she had no say in the kit she was issued with, I do however detest her for her foul misandry , character and politics. I might in spite of what I said at the start recommend, as she did, a facefull of acid to improve matters.

      1. I can’t help wondering if she really was born that ugly or if her personality made her thus.

          1. Bad enough falling out of the nest in the ugly-tree, but hitting every branch on the way down and then landing on your face is extremely unfortunate.

      2. Well, she may not have chosen her looks, but surely she could make the most of what she’s got? Suitable clothes (to hide the neck and shoulders), glasses that compliment her face shape and a decent hairstyle would all help.

  73. Afternoon, all. Just another fruitless day in my search to fill the dogless hole in my life 🙁

      1. I do hope so. I’ve missed out, for various reasons, on two that would have filled the bill so far and the constant disappointment (nothing doing at the rescue centres when I ring up) is not helping.

          1. I’ve just rung up another vet and another rescue centre this morning; nothing. I have to limit the amount of disappointment I have to take because it does me no good at all 🙁

          2. My son ad his wife decided to breed their Red Lab bitch.

            All went well. Scan showed nine pups. Delivered last week – only two pups. One now discovered to be very poorly.

          3. Oh, that’s a shame. She must have absorbed some of the others. I hope the two delivered safely will survive and thrive. As you probably know, I have shares in broodmares; breeding is a very risky business. We have lost several mares (and the foals, unfortunately) over the last three years.

          4. She reabsorbed seven. Of the two who were born, Albert, who looked like a bruiser, has puppy swimmer syndrome. His brother, Malin (my son is a francophile) seems OK. So far.

            They are really upset – because the mother is in good health – as is the sire. I suppose one never knows about genetic throwbacks.

          5. I found this advice: “Some breeders are fairly successful in correcting the swimmer syndrome by putting each of the pups in a sling for at least part of each day. This practice encouraged them to make contact with the floor with their pads. Some tied hobbles to the front legs to keep them under the body and the elbows close together. This, they felt, prevented the front legs from becoming spread-eagled.

            Other swimmer therapies that may be beneficial although time-demanding of the breeder, include massage (passive exercise) and suspension in warm water. The swimmer therapy is promising if either active or passive movement can be induced. Thus, swimming (the real kind, in water) may even help correct the “swimmer” syndrome. Therefore, hold him in your hand or a sling, with support to keep his head up out of the water, and let him paddle for a while in warm water. Avoid chilling, remembering his temperature is 101 degrees. Stop and dry him thoroughly when he tires.

            As many of these sessions as you can manage should help the swimmer pup to develop coordination, muscle development, and better circulation while putting much less weight on his body. Your hand or makeshift sling plus the buoyancy of the water will take the weight off the chest.”

            Without remedial therapy, the prognosis is very bleak, unfortunately, so it’s worth giving it a try.

          6. If your posts on Nottle are a reflection, you are a very thoughtful and kind individual, perhaps you could take on such a dog? I’m sure there may be rescue centres crying out for people like you.

            With my reputation as a cynic; please, please do not take my post adversely, it is meant as genuine praise not patronising and you would have a pet that would love you dearly.

          7. No, I understand. The problem is, I need an adult dog, not a puppy, especially one with such demanding needs. I have a full-time job caring for MOH and at my age, I may not be here in ten years’ time. These are necessary considerations in giving a dog a home.

          8. Just a thought.
            Have you considered asking the management in local care homes?
            There must be many elderly people who want to enter the homes but who have pets that they wish to know have gone to a good home.

          9. Usually, by the time people are admitted, their pets have already been sorted. I have contacted the local vets in case they know of any. Ditto the local dog groomers.

          13. Sorry, I’ve had a sense of humour bypass when it comes to failing to find another dog.

          14. Have you tried local churches?
            The vicar might know someone who is looking to give a pet to a good home.

          16. Another slightly off the wall suggestion.

            Are there any hunting packs near you where there are dogs coming up to retirement? We have numerous packs around us and dogs appear to get passed down to members as pets, judging by what appears at the village functions!

          17. Hounds don’t make good pets. They are unhappy out of the pack environment, not used to living in homes and don’t like giving up their day job. Perhaps it’s different in France.

          18. Indeed.
            When I look at the huge variety of hunting dogs here (our commune runs an annual show) I am staggered by how many different sorts there are.

            Everything from terriers and small hounds up to bleu griffons via rabbit/hare hunters. They sell them as individual dogs.

            Any way, the very best of luck with your own hunt.

          20. Ahhh, the days when going dogging would only mean, well, taking a hound for a walk.

      1. Thanks. I’ve contacted them. As I have no experience of the breed, they may not consider us suitable, but it’s worth a try.

      2. I had a reply, but it wasn’t positive; there is a long, long waiting list. The woman was very helpful in suggesting other places to look, but I’d already tried all of those.

          1. I hope so. It’s three weeks today and bearing the loss doesn’t come any easier 🙁

  77. over and out from here, time to sort wee one’s grub post her return from Mombasa. thanks to all for posts, exchanges. As kesho’s Eid, it’ll be early hours only before liquid nutrition with the elders

      1. issy mng. Yes I got word Colin had been “promoted to glory”. He did an excellent job in the Aberdares, about 1 hour’s drive for me and elsewhere. His Rhino Charge event got him more exposure as the annual off road competition ended up locally replacing the World Rally Championship’s Safari Rally which provided additional support to expand the Rhino Ark. He was well respected for his standards and by all Kenyans. Top bloke

  78. As Caroline predicted the French home secretary, M. Darmanin, has reacted to the article from which she quoted.

    He is telling the young French soldiers that they are cowards to express their view of the facts anonymously but since the old generals who made the same, true points, were hounded and are subject to disciplinary action it is hardly surprising. They would not have hid behind anonymity if they knew that they would be treated fairly.

    The ordinary people in France have as little confidence or trust in or respect for their Powers That Be as we in Britain have in ours.

    https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/nouvelle-tribune-de-militaires-darmanin-denonce-une-grossiere-manoeuvre-20210510

    1. When freedom of speech can cost you your freedom, let alone your career, is it any wonder?

          5. Put him in a long period of solitary confinement – that would be appreciated by most French people

          7. Put him in a long period of solitary confinement – that would be appreciated by most French people

      1. Easily. All this exercise is bollocks – done for the cameras.. He is fat because he eats far too much really unsuitable food (and is proud of it).

        He is unable to dress properly; nor to have a decent haircut. He likes to look a tramp – he thinks people admire hi for it. How wrong he is.

        1. Agreed. And he gets it from his ghastly father who is not the slightest bit amusing, worthwhile or moral.. Altogether a worthless scuzzy little man with next to no conversation and a bellowing ego which illustrates his lack quality.

      2. It takes a lot of effort and money to look that scruffy. Still, it’s okay; it’s only the taxpayers’ money, so that’s alright.

    4. Oh …. ELVES. I thought he’d been snapped running to his evening job at the chip shop.

  80. In my perusal of The Guardian , the better to enjoy the copious and bitter tears of the arrogant , condescending and so so superior BTL commenters , I chanced upon an article about my all time favourite wacko eccentric Maurice Kirk ( aka to himself as The Flying Vet). Back in the ’70s my FiL having retired from Kuwait Oil took a position in the Taunton branch of the Ministry of Ag and Fish and had many dealings with him, he was and remains gloriously weird nay deranged.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/10/former-vet-stalked-somerset-mp-for-more-than-a-year-court-hears
    https://mauricejohnkirk.com

    1. He sounds demented but I can see the woman MP must have been quite frightened by him.

  81. In my perusal of The Guardian , the better to enjoy the copious and bitter tears of the arrogant , condescending and so so superior BTL commenters , I chanced upon an article about my all time favourite wacko eccentric Maurice Kirk ( aka to himself as The Flying Vet). Back in the ’70s my FiL having retired from Kuwait Oil took a position in the Taunton branch of the Ministry of Ag and Fish and had many dealings with him, he was and remains gloriously weird nay deranged.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/10/former-vet-stalked-somerset-mp-for-more-than-a-year-court-hears
    https://mauricejohnkirk.com

    1. There always seems to be condemnation of Israel when she retaliates but personally i hope Israel flattens the place.

        1. X marks the spot.

          Children are indoctrinated to hate their neighbours. The only way to protect ours is to wipe them out.

          1. But think of the universal condemnation from the luvvie brigade. On this side of the Atlantic, Biden and Trudeau would probably cry.

          4. I have watched on the BBC for 40 years this sort of nonsense until the Beeb went woke. Now we have imported the same lunatics into Europe. There WILL be civil war before long.

            All those reports of Islamic men screaming on parade and calling for the death of the West and America.

            I vote that they get it instead of us.

    1. Funnily enough, we hardly hear anything about M & H in the media here in the States, apart from the celeb tabloids at the supermarket checkout lines, which no-one buys!

    2. I think the way the press keeps on hounding her is simply shocking. Just shocking. All she ever wanted was to fade away and live a private life…

      1. Couldn’t agree more. It’s all so very unfair….as will be laid bare in the 16 page exposee in next Sunday’s Sun

    3. Two things here, why is the article “open” for non subscribers, if not to spread fear, and why is the “patient” in the picture being prepared for tonight’s curry?

      A Covid-19 patient sits on a bed inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a treatment centre in Delhi

  85. Western media outlets raise familiar Russian hacker bogeyman in ransomware attack that shut down ‘safety risk’ US fuel pipeline:

    It had to happen.The question remains “what took them so long?The old “the Russians did it” normally only takes a couple of hours.

    Citing various “cybersecurity” sources, multiple US media outlets have attributed the shutdown of the country’s biggest fuel pipeline to a ransomware attack by a cyber-criminal gang called “DarkSide” with alleged links to Russia.
    Nearly 100GB of data was stolen from Colonial Pipeline’s network over two hours on Thursday – part of a “double-extortion” scheme that is reportedly the group’s “hallmark,” sources involved in the company’s investigation told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity since the matter “is not public.”

    The Georgia-based company was then apparently “threatened” that the information – which was also encrypted and held hostage in locked computers inside its network – would be leaked on the internet unless an undisclosed amount was paid as ransom, the sources said.

    According to an unnamed “former senior cyber official” who spoke to CNN, the group “originated from Russia” and “typically targets non-Russian-speaking countries.” A London-based cybersecurity firm told the BBC that the gang is “likely to be based in a Russian-speaking country” since it “avoids” companies based in the Commonwealth of Independent States, comprised of some post-USSR countries.

    1. I did wonder at the delay myself Harry. They probably cannot get at the real culprits so they decided to stick with what they know!

    3. Rayner’s not a bad looking lass, even if she does look a bit thick.

  87. Delightful statistic just now about the intelligencia used in BBC game shows.

    Confronted by a photograph of a pink animal, and the clue being P*G, 5% of respondents hadn’t any idea what it was.

          7. Don’t start down that avenue, sweetheart…there’s a good girl….next thing and he’ll be fantasising about liberty bodices before he’s had his tea and the MR will never get him settled for the night.

    2. I’m betting that either they were Muslims and wouldn’t sully their lips or were taking the puss.

          5. So all those mummified cats in Egypt were just snacks for the afterlife?

          13. Blimey, with 15,000 Chinese restaurants and 12,000 curry houses that’s gonna require a fair few imams.

            On second thoughts, that’s probably 5 imams per outlet.

    4. 332566+ up ticks,
      Afternoon JM,
      Sneaky & cryptic its an A as in,
      PAG = Probably A Goat.

  89. Diane Abbott says Keir Starmer must start campaigning to bring back EU free movement rules as part of a ‘winning strategy’ after string of losses in Brexit-backing former heartlands. 10 May 2021.

    Diane Abbott urged beleaguered Labour leader Keir Starmer to campaign to bring back freedom of movement between the UK and the EU today – after a weekend of humiliation at the hands of voters in the party’s Brexit-backing former heartlands.

    The sooner this woman and her barking mad beliefs are flushed down the Toilet of History the better!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9561493/They-dont-Diane-Abbott-says-Keir-Starmer-campaigning-bring-free-movement.html

    2. 332566+ up ticks,
      Afternoon AS,
      The lab/lib/con coalition members / voters will not allow it, say one thing for them they may be richard heads en masse but they look after one of their own.

    3. Has she lost count of all the illegal ‘immigrants’ (invaders) who have arrived here recently ?
      Or not noticed ?

    4. Au contraire. Keep her there and gobbing off. And many more like her.
      We need an opposition, but Labour is no longer fit for the job.

    1. 332566+ up ticks,
      Afternoon TB,
      How can the electorate change anything by continuing to support & vote for mass uncontrolled immigration parties ?

      Vote lab/lib/con coalition & whinge is NOT a game changer, it is an indigenous population changer.

  93. That’s me for this day of sunshine and showers. Ideal weather for Trevor the Painter to start on the outside….

    Cats had worrying day. First, our chap came to cut the grass. The mower started up. They can’t bear loud noise. They rushed in and hid upstairs. I comforted them and put them on an upstairs window ledge so that the could see the chap and the mower. Then, quite suddenly, Trevor appeared in front of them to paint the gutter. You have never see two cats move so fast….to hide cuddled up under a desk in the office! They were forced to have a long sleep.

    Anyway – I hope to join you tomorrow. I see another series of “Number 9” is starting tonight. I am amazed the beeboids allow it to be screened…

    A demain.

    1. “They wee forced to have a long sleep”
      Bit damp and smelly, then?
      ;-))

        1. Yup, the correct response to cat wee – and other fluid eructations from cats… 🙁

  94. Thames Minke whale updates: Fears grow as it ‘swims wrong way’…..!
    BBC news

    The whale may have to be put to sleep….another humane cock up.
    Why interfere, I’m sure the whale knows exactly what it is doing….

    1. It was taking a short cut to the Bristol Channel via the Thames and Kennet & Avon Canal……

  95. 332566+ up ticks,
    Old neil starmer would gain some credibility if he had him neutered, on the telly,

    Dt,
    Keir Starmer urged to ‘curtail’ Lord Mandelson’s influence

  96. That French letter (if you see what I mean).
    At 5 pm (French) 163,000 signatures and 2.8 MILLION readers….

    2. Maggie: how are your Systolic and Diastolic BP – and Pulse rate – today?

      I was shocked by your recent numbers …

      1. Hello Lacoste

        I haven’t taken them today even yesterday . I am due for a nurse check up on Wednesday , and a phone call from my doctor at the end of the week .

        My B/P became lower after several hours rest , I was being monitored when I was in A+E , it came down eventually to 188/90, but my pulse was 70 and oxygen 96 and a slightly raised temperature, I was swabbed for Covid , all okay.

        I can’t tell you how the back of my head occiput region thumped a few hours after my jab , I had wah wah wah sounds in my ears .. I was so scared after the third day that I contacted 111.

        The CT scan and my bloods were fine , I am on thinners anyway . They were looking for little clots and vision problems etc .
        My arms and legs felt like lead , I had no energy . I am a fairly sturdy bod , I still feel zapped and still have a slight headache .

        The quacks assumed that my raised B/P might have caused my headache , and possibly the viral effect of my second AZ Covid jab.

        1. Three years ago, I was hospitalised from a clinic with BP numbers less than 188/90.

          I was diagnosed with lower-left heart failure and Atrial Fibrillation, put on six heart medications and monitored fortnightly by a heart-failure nurse who took regular blood samples to monitor kidney function.

          A year later, a second ECHO scan revealed a marked improvement in heart function …

          Take care, Maggie :))

          1. OMG, poor you Lacoste .

            What a terrible shock for you , so you weren’t offered surgery ?
            I was also given an ECG in A+E. but no word about that , no alarm bells so far.

          2. Surgery was inappropriate; I had no cardiac arterial/ blood supply problems.

            Symptoms were shortness of breath and occasional swollen ankles.

            If you experience swollen ankles, Maggie: press the red button right away. There are effective medications – diuretics and more sophisticated heart regulators.

            These days, my numbers are, typically: 117 / 76 and 65 per min.

            Cheers :)) !

        2. Glad its going the right way, Belle.
          Don’t leave it so long if it happens again.

        3. So sad to hear of the reactions, Mags but it all adds up to endorse my reasons for rejecting the jabs.

          77 later this month but I want to live to see all these evil bastards removed and stable government reinforced.

    3. This amounts to Unopposed, Intercontinental Invasion.

      ‘Return To Sender’ doesn’t work.
      Foreign Aid doesn’t work.
      The only solution is inward investment and trade with African countries.

      The European Union is designed to stymy inward investment and trade with African countries.

    4. Sink the bastards, we don’t need them and they intend to undermine us – Trojan Horses, spring to mind.

      And the same for the cross-channel jihadis.

      1. I’m not sure if you can from the UK.

        I have not, I never sign them.

        As to danger? Who knows what follow-up might occur. But if it was ever followed up I doubt it would be beneficial for you.

    1. Google “UN Global Compact on Migration”. May signed the UK up to it. It means you have to take any toerag who wants to live there.
      That’s why.

    2. 332566+ up ticks,
      TB,
      But the electorate just gave johnson a boost a “boost” encourages more of the same.

      1. The electorate simply rejected Labour. I doubt many thought they were endorsing Boris Johnson. They simply went with the half-idiot as opposed to the full-idiot.

        If that bumbling oaf Johnson reads any more into a result which returned a Muslim Labour Mayor in London, the fat fucker has lost the plot.

        1. 332566+ up ticks,
          Evening C,
          The electorate simply rejected Labour. I doubt
          many thought , period, in my book.

          They were still giving johnson a boost either intentional unintentional a boost is a boost, encouragement to continue in the same vein, electorate,frying pan / fire.

          An example of the electorate playing “let’s keep our politico’s
          of the close shop in at any cost”

          The turkish delight & neil starmer are treacherous wrong uns
          & the electorate has got to be bordering on, or totally insane,
          continuing to play the game that keeps the politico’s in their
          cushioned lifestyles.

        1. Well they don’t have the usual happiness triggers and outlets, such as love, music, dancing, art, humour, do they? Good night dear Mahatma!

        1. The electoral vote audit in Maricopa County Arizona should bump the old evil senior Biden off and fault many of his accomplices, Obama’s, Clinton’s, Deep State Pelosi, Cheney, McConnell and Schumer and the rest.

          At the least Biden should be arrested and sent to Guantanamo (wishful thinking at present but still possible).

          As for the laughing hyena Kamala (Cameltoe, Heels in the Air) Harris, she is so incredibly stupid that there will be a revolution should she be given command.

        2. There’s some legal reason why she shouldn’t do it until he’s been in power for two years.

          Please would an American kindly explain it

          1. Because then she can be theoretically in power for ten years….. aaagghh! If Biden goes before two years then it doesn’t work, she could only get a theoretical seven years….

    1. In that case we can all be sure that the Third Wave that Hancock has been threatening, is all poppycock.

      1. Even the gloomiest modellers admit it: Britain is not facing a third Covid wave

        Analysis suggests 60 per cent of people will be protected against severe disease by the time lockdown restrictions are fully lifted

        It has finally happened.

        After months of dire predictions, modellers have concluded that Britain is not facing a deadly third wave, and that deaths are likely to be five times fewer than previously suggested….

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/10/britain-not-facing-third-covid-wave/

      2. I would love to agree. Unfortunately Matt Hancock and the Johnson government have a vested interest in prolonging the lockdowns. They stand to make billions from Big Pharma.

    2. I still imagine how many extra doctors and specialists could have been funded with the billions gifted to Johnson’s chums such as Dido Harding (fell at the first fence) and other of his conservative backers and cronies who have profited immensely from this Scamdemic.

      I truly hope that the bastards responsible are brought to book.

      1. Endorsed – anything to remove the bumblers and the nasties from the White House and return someone who will fight the left-wing killers for us.

  109. I don’t know who suggested ‘Galaxy Quest’ earlier, but it grew on me as I watched. Actually laughed out loud a few times. Thanks, whoever it was.

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