Monday 14 September: The PM is standing up to Brussels – and MPs should stand behind him

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/09/13/letters-pm-standing-brussels-mps-should-stand-behind/

722 thoughts on “Monday 14 September: The PM is standing up to Brussels – and MPs should stand behind him”

    1. Lovely up in Derbyshire too.
      Will be off multitasking in Derby later.
      Drop the DT in the centre to do some shopping, taking Student Son to t’Lad’s to fill some bags with topsoil & load them into the van, drop Student son off to join the DT, then off to check up on Stepson and probably take him shopping. Finally pick the DT & Student Son up to come home.

        1. DT & Student son will probably have something in derby, but I’ll probably leave that until I get home and have a light snack of whatever I do for the Still-at-Home getting in from work.

  3. 323693+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    The PM is offering Brussels a choice: negotiate fairly, or the whole country will leave without a deal.

    Why are we talking deals at all ?

    I thought we the peoples had made that abundantly clear to ALL concerned on the 24/6/2016

  4. Morning all

    Brexit,Brexit Brexit……

    SIR – After four years of Britain caving in to EU demands following the Brexit vote, it is uplifting to see a change in strategy and attitude under this Government.

    Unlike his predecessor, Boris Johnson has taken Brexit seriously. He is determined to deliver what we voted for: a clean break from the EU. If Brussels is content with its current trading terms with Canada, why can’t we have the same?

    The EU has tried its best to humiliate Britain since the referendum, and to turn us into a satellite state. It is now vitally important that MPs support our Prime Minister in passing the Internal Market Bill to protect our sovereignty. If this happens, the EU will have no cards left – and the referendum result can be honoured.

    Dr Alistair A Donald

    Watlington, Oxfordshire

    SIR – I voted Remain in the referendum, but I believe that we should all be supporting the Prime Minister in his efforts to uphold the integrity of our country. For the EU to impose tariffs or restrictions on goods or services between London and Londonderry would be ridiculous.

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    I would also remind our EU partners that it is bad form to try to Balkanise the United Kingdom. After all, our Forces have been at forefront of Europe’s security and still are. Many are the sons and daughters of Northern Ireland.

    John Barstow

    Pulborough, West Sussex

    SIR – Sir Keir Starmer suggests that British concessions are necessary in order for Brexit to proceed.

    Does he not understand that it takes two to tango and concessions should come from both camps? Few, if any, have come from the EU.

    Bill Todd

    Whitton, Middlesex

    SIR – It has been just over four years since the EU referendum. In that time we have had three prime ministers, a prorogued Parliament, and endless debates about avoiding a no-deal Brexit. Now it appears that, with only months to go, we are further from a deal than ever before.

    To make matters worse, we are proposing to renege on a Withdrawal Agreement that our current Prime Minister signed up to just a few months ago. Not only is this bad for international relations, but it also shows particularly bad judgment by risking a breakdown in critical negotiations.

    The notion that we can decide to leave the EU and then expect our former partners to bow to our every need is nothing short of arrogance.

    Ron Stubberfield

    Broadway, Worcestershire

    SIR – If Tony Blair and Sir John Major are against Boris Johnson’s proposed course of action, he must be doing something right.

    Bill Swanson

    Hampton Hill, Middlesex

      1. Yup; it saves an awful lot of heart searching.
        There are certain names, Blair, Major, Alibhai Brown, Sturmer and a motley array of snivel serpents and police high heid yins whose very mention means you can make a quick decision.

    2. The logical consequence of the Internal Market Bill is a line of customs posts along the land border with the EU in Ireland. I imagine that that the EU will direct Dublin to set these up without delay. In the interim, they would forbid any movement of people or goods across the border until it is secured given the lack of notice to make preparation.

      Now, those on either side of the border unable to go about their business – would they blame the British, or blame Brussels?

      The compromise arrived at after a long period of chaos was for the British to put a voluntary customs division across the Irish Sea, meaning that the EU need not get involved, and that the whole situation could be handled in-house. Obviously, this might threaten the union, and might even spark off an irresistable move to unify Ireland behind the republic.

      Against this, we forget how English Common Law works – that all is legal until someone succeeds in stopping it. We might have a customs border across the Irish Sea, but where UK and EU standards and tariffs are largely compatible, how much smuggling would actually go on? We could do absolutely nothing to police this, and few would raise a fuss.

      Eventually, we’d just let the whole idea wither on the vine, except for a handful of cases where there is abuse on an industrial scale. Coming down on these from time to time would keep Brussels off our backs. We could even create a fictitious gang of chlorinated chicken smugglers as a diplomatic exercise where no birds are actually harmed in the process.

    3. Concessions come from both sides.

      Would someone please remind us what concessions have been offered by the EU?

    4. Ron Stubble field should realise that no deal is exactly what we need. All those PMs, all those shenanigans, were all designed to keep us subservient. Not to accept that we have decided to leave and be independent is nothing short of arrogance.

  5. SIR – Your Leading Article notes that Wales and Scotland are not including children under 11 and 12 respectively in the “rule of six”, and asks why the science in those countries is different.

    The answer is that it isn’t. The argument is that including children in the six makes the rule easier to police, since it removes the need to check dates of birth. So it is all about what is most convenient for the authorities, rather than what is in the interests of fairness and common sense.

    The Government has also said that it makes the ruling easier to understand – which is somewhat patronising, given that we all know what being 12 and under means.

    George Edwards

    Swansea

    SIR – Are the police who allowed Churchill’s statue to be defaced the same ones who will be breaking up gatherings of seven people in pubs?

    Sue Milne

    Northampton

    1. Science… carried out by scientists,. Like Dr Mengele? who are they kidding? The science is clear. It is pretty much all over.

  6. Morning again

    Proms….

    SIR – Congratulations to the BBC on an imaginative and inclusive Last Night of the Proms, which included a Finnish conductor, a Scottish violinist, a South African soprano and a new version of Jerusalem, while retaining sung versions of Rule Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory.

    It cheered us all up in these most difficult times.

    Robin Thomas

    Exeter, Devon

    SIR – The Last Night of the Proms was excellent: well-managed, colourful and a real joy to listen to. Well done.

    A E Baxter

    Bristol

    SIR – It was very good to hear all the usual favourites, but why on earth was the original word “shall” in the chorus of Rule Britannia! changed to “will”?

    Rev Alan Wright

    Barton upon Humber, Lincolnshire

    SIR – Covid-19 has its compensations: without a noisy audience we were able to hear Nicola Benedetti play The Lark Ascending without interruptions.

    Dr Bernard Richards

    Brasenose College, Oxford

    SIR – How nice not to see one wretched EU flag.

    John Winder

    Matlock, Derbyshire

    1. Congratulations to the BBC on an imaginative and inclusive Last Night of the Proms, which included a Finnish conductor, a Scottish violinist, a South African – no English or Welsh, then? Not so inclusive!

      1. It has been the norm, for many years, to include overseas guest soloists and conductors. The Scottish violinist is British after all and it is still the British Broadcasting Corp. There will have been a great many English, and probably a few Welsh, taking part in the Prom season.

      1. My mother says someone ought to shoot that bloody bird.

        An exploding popper acts as a substitute for the Duke of Edinburgh, I presume.

        1. I agree with your mother.
          I love looking round at all the fixed expressions as it twiddles and dirges on … and on … and

    4. Rev. Alan Wright – my understanding is that the original lyrics had the word ‘will’, not ‘shall’. ‘Will’ meaning that Britons would not willingly become slaves, whereas ‘shall’ is the future tense. Compare the marriage vows – ‘Will you take….’; ‘I will’.

      1. Just a coincidence, you know, Just a coincidence, The BBC is totally impartial. I say again, the BBC is totally impartial. I repeat – THE BBC IS TOTALLY IMPARTIAL.

  8. 323693+ up ticks,
    What does the parliamentry canteen manager think of this will he have to re-write the menu ?

    EU Advocate-General Claims Flanders Halal Ban Illegal, Should Be Overturned.

    1. Let’s hear it for the Flemings.
      Another reason why the EU don’t want an independent Scotland; the Walloon/Fleming split has threatened Belgium ever since it was cobbled together 190 years ago.

  9. I was listening to the Attorney General on the radio as a guest speaker (again) on the subject of Britain breaking international law in relation to the Brexit negotiations. A man who declares himself to be a Brexiteer but is more than willing to have part of the United Kingdom remain under the control of the Gauleiters of Bruxelles. It appears that Geoffrey Cox, for that is who it is, is aptly named – a rather sad and useless prick! Appointed to great office by Treeza May, perhaps she hoped he might live up to his name in a more personal way, is stabbing Boris and the people of Britain in the back.

    What was it that Shakespeare said about improving the country “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”… well, nearly all.

      1. 323693+ up ticks,
        Morning VOM,
        Hope is fickle, as is the way of current dealings he will find rewards.

          2. Harrow-on-the-Hill is a very specific area, not to be confused with Harrow, West Harrow, North Harrow or South Harrow. The chances are she was born in Northwick Park Hospital which ain’t ‘on-the-‘ill’ !!

    2. 323693+ up ticks,
      Morning P,
      You do not attain a seat / shout in the current governance without having a rubber stamping background.

    3. Interesting that the EU was very insistent that no State Aid be given by Britain to its failing airlines such as Thomas Cook and Flybe.

      Now we discover that France, Germany and Portugal are giving State Aid to their failing airlines.

      Other nations can break EU law for their own benefit, but NOT Britain.

      1. As ever. The EU is a scheme whereby French and German business is supported with other peoples money. It expanded to assist shipyards in Poland and tobacco growers in Greece.

    4. End of United Kingdom’s territorial integrity = the end of Brexit, the end of Boris Johnson and the end of the United Kingdom – which is precisely what these May clone traitors want.

      The only good thing that could come out of this is that it will be the end of the Conservative Party which might give birth to a new political party which will be far better.

  11. Snitch on your neighbours to police if they break ‘rule of six’, says minister. 4 SEPTEMBER 2020.

    Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, said “the option is open” to members of the public to phone the police non-emergency number to report concerns about neighbours breaking the rule of six, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If they are concerned and they do see that kind of thing then absolutely they should ring the number.”

    He would have made a good Police Minister in the Third Reich or East Germany. He certainly has no place in a Western Democracy.

    Informer was once a word that people spat out in contempt since its implications are crawling subservience, personal surveillance and malice with the total breakdown of the natural trust that should prevail between members of any civil society!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-uk-lockdown-social-distancing-gathering-rule/

    1. If someone had organised a BLM rave in the field opposite my home, I would certainly report it to the authorities, but it is unlikely they would do anything about it.

      If my neighbour’s son invites a couple of friends over, pushing the number there to seven, I would completely ignore it, and would volunteer no information to any investigating marshal.

    2. I was brought up with the conviction that the main problem with the Soviet Union was that people were expected to sneak on each other and that children who betrayed their parents who were subsequently imprisoned or worse were heroes of the state.

      This nightmare vision was clearly expressed by George Orwell and the fact that a British Conservative government wants us to sneak on each other makes me deeply ashamed of my country.

      1. ‘Morning, Rastus.

        My firstborn snitched on me when, aged 4, he told his first teacher that “Daddy always puts on a dress in the morning.”

        He meant a dressing-gown.

        1. Discussing dress code for a music group concert at the end of rehearsal one of the men said that he was going home as he didn’t suppose there would be any debate about skirt colour for the gents. When I said that my brother always wears a “skirt” when dressed in his best they all gave me very strange looks – until it dawned on someone that I really meant a kilt.

        2. Our son told his teacher during the morning news “My father went Broadmoor yesterday”.
          He omitted to say that MB was escorting a patient.

    3. I too had the misfortune to hear the Malthouse interview – or what was left of it after constant interruption by Husain – but what really irritated me was his statement that the College of Policing would need about 48 hours to issue their “guidance” to the perlice. Call me old fashioned, but if the Home Office can’t issue something in clear terms without the need for this by a completely unaccountable third party then isn’t there something very wrong with the system? (Setting aside for the moment that the Rule of 6 is bonkers anyway.)

      Manners…’Morning, Minty.

      1. Good morning ,

        People are still flocking down here to the seaside from the ethnic communities scattered around the home counties and midlands. They come down in large people mover vehicles.

        Boris should have told the public to stay with in ten miles of their own homes after lockdown finished.

        Perhaps Boris was attempting to kickstart coastal businesses and the holiday trade re the fields , which were full of campers and mobile homes.

        Rule of six, what about shopping .. Our village chemist only allows 2 inside at a time .

    1. I am struggling to decide which of these two is the more repulsive specimen. True the ill effects of Blair were far worse but the sheer, obscene level of sub-humanity of the worm-like Major puts him into contention.

    1. We know the answer – and the fact that we know that suggests that we are past redemption.

      1. 323693+ up ticks,
        R,
        Truth be told, we as a Nation are lapping “past redemption” in abusing a Country via the polling booth,BUT never say die, always keep in mind Mr Micawber.

  18. Another Taki article for Nottlers to ponder. It appears to kick off being very anti-Trump, but read on, I think you may find it strikes a chord and I suspect that I’m heading that way too.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/a-tidal-wave-of-righteous-apathy/

    I realize that people like to have hope, but at this point being hopeful seems sad and naive to me. What’s the advantage of being correct in a world that can’t admit the truth? What’s the point of being upset with idiots when the idiots can’t even bother to be upset with themselves? Inside my rib cage I’m starting to feel a rolling tsunami of apathy powerful enough to crush the Hoover Dam. Hoo-boy, I could use a whole season of apathy right now. Maybe a year. Or make that ten.

    It’s astounding how much better life gets the moment you stop caring about certain things. It’s surprising—although it shouldn’t be—how much better your head feels when you stop banging it against a wall.

    Don’t look at it as not caring; look at it as being carefree.

    I know it sounds like hopeless despondency, but life gets better the moment you stop caring about this crap. Try it—I dare you.

    2. The Russian peasant philosophy.
      Why fret over things you can’t control?
      I’ve now taken to the belief that the lunatics have control of the asylum. I can can still indulge my normal levels of sarcasm, but with a shrug and a ‘WTF’.

  19. It has occurred to me that if a group of more than 6 want to go out for a meal & stay inside the Law, all they have to do is book 2 nearby tables in a restaurant & bawl across the room at each other. Something which already happens in many eateries of a certain type & charming for other diners.

  21. DM Story

    Outrage as BBC axes Question of Sport stars Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell in bid to ‘diversify’ cast – with Jermaine Jenas and Alex Scott tipped to join show

    Maybe this not the most important news story of the day but I like Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnel and it indicates that the new broom at the BBC is no better than the old one.

          1. Nothing has been announced yet.

            I seem to remember that when Sue Barker replaced David Coleman in 1997 there was something of an outcry and all the usual suspects suggested that a woman couldn’t host a sports quiz…

          2. The BBC was called ‘Auntie’ but that was spelled wrong – it should read ‘Anti’ because it’s Anti-British, Anti-democratic and Anti-just about everything decent

          3. And of course , look how they messed around with Country file , I am getting very worried now, that the BBC are putting themselves out for what must be nigh on 20% of the population who are not White English/ White Welsh or White Scottish or White Irish .

            Our public broadcasting company is almost resembling a jiggleing yakking bad taste African network ! Big maws , white teeth and low percentage concentration values!

          4. The English are, by definition, white and so are the Welsh, Scots and Irish. It’s the “British” passport holders who can be tinted.

    2. We feel the same , usually a light hearted look at sport and hosted well by Sue Barker.

      It now seems to me that anyone over forty is too old for the BBC licence payer , who tend to be over forty years old, because under forties don’t really bother with the BBC unless they are watching a ghastly soap or the soon to be appalling new Strictly Come Dancing .

    4. Jenas is of mixed Afro-Caribbean and English descent. Alex Scott has an Irish mother and Jamaican father.

    5. I like Sue Barker and Phil Tufnel but Matt Dawson is a preening prig. Tufnel is a natural clown and Dawson tries but fails to copy him.

      1. I enjoyed watching the programme during the David Vine and David Coleman era but I stopped watching it when Barker, Dawson and the insufferable Tufnel considered themselves to be funny. They were just tedious.

    1. I seem to recall that he “persuaded” his Attorney-General, Lord Goldshit, to reverse his “binding” legal advice….

    3. On Guido is this “Quote of the Day”

      A Minister responding to Tony Blair’s weekend intervention on the Internal Market Bill tells Playbook:
      “Our breach of international law cleans up two lines of the Withdrawal Agreement to protect the Good Friday Agreement. His breach of international law was an illegal war that killed half a million people.”

      PS – I see the Babbling Poltroon has joined in the wailing about Boris!

    4. Five more ‘D’s. Who in during his double stint defied and denied democracy.
      Apparently he also slapped a ‘D’ notice on anything he didn’t want to get into the open.

  24. Zero Covid makes zero sense. Spiked. 14 September 2020.

    Whatever happened to just ‘flattening the curve’? Governments promised they were only instituting temporary restrictions to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with Covid patients. These measures have already well exceeded their remits. Formerly free, democratic countries have had to endure unprecedented restrictions on daily life, with most countries still living under some form of lockdown, social-distancing policies and mandatory mask-rules some six months after Covid reached their shores.

    But there are some who want to deepen and prolong these painful restrictions. They are calling for the UK to adopt a ‘Zero Covid’ strategy – to all but eliminate the disease before we return to normal life.

    Morning everyone. Just a cursory knowledge of the Common Cold, would one have thought, have cured anyone of the idea of eliminating any virus. The measures do however have some utility in controlling the population and preparing them for a life of servitude.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/09/14/zero-covid-makes-zero-sense/

    1. I think our government like most Western governments with the exception of Sweden are all being controlled by the WHO, none of this makes any sense otherwise.
      It must be that they are only obeying orders.

    2. 323693+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      How can they say they are out to eradicate this virus on a lock-down campaign whilst as a mass uncontrolled
      immigration party they are running the Odessa type campaign from France to Dover.
      Bearing in mind also that TB was near on eradicated & has now been reintroduced… big time via mass uncontrolled immigration

    3. We appear to be engaged in an endless war against Covid-19. Hancock and Johnson will not be satisfied until there is not a single case of the virus left in the country. Our lives, mental and physical well-being, our children’s childhoods, our livelihoods are simply collateral damage in this grand crusade.

      Boris Johnson was elected to ‘Get Brexit Done’ and because he is not Jeremy Corbyn. He has no mandate to wreck our lives and change our way of life forever, but this is what he has done. Who will stop him?

      1. C-19 was an excuse. I never thought a tin foil hat would be a sensible fashion statement, but this past six months has changed my mind.

        1. ‘Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t all out to get you.’

          It may sound like a crazy conspiracy theory, but really doesn’t it start to make sense that the intention here is not to control a virus, but to control the population? Boris Johnson is fully signed-up to the ‘climate emergency’ bollux, as is his missus, as is Neil Ferguson and his lover. From an Extinction Rebellion point of view, destruction of the travel industry is wonderful. Is this why XR and BLM are being given free rein, whilst Lockdown protesters like Piers Corbyn have the full force of the law thrown at them?

  25. We can’t trust any politicians over Brexit, who knows what Boris is now up to but I’d sooner someone admit that they made a terrible mistake by signing up to a terrible agreement that wasn’t fit for purpose and then broke that agreement rather than stubbornly harm their country for decades and leave their electorate enslaved to a foreign power.
    I’d have more respect for that.

    1. 323693+ up ticks,
      B3,
      If party before Country, the voting mode that has got us to where we are today is to continue then at least put a
      mandatory life sentence on nominated politico’s in regards to future manifesto’s currently AKA fodder for fools.

  27. The Ministry of Defence has come under fire for having more diversity and equality officers than the Royal Navy has warships.

    The figures emerged yesterday, after veterans minister Johnny Mercer told parliament that there were 44 civil servants in the ministry and its executive agencies who had ‘diversity’ and ‘equality’ in their job title.

    In comparison, the Royal Navy possesses only thirteen frigates, six destroyers, two aircraft carriers and eleven submarines, a total of 32.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8730347/MoD-slammed-employing-diversity-officers-Royal-Navy-warships.html

  28. Chinese tech firm compiles database on tens of thousands of British figures. 14 September 2020.

    A Chinese technology company has compiled a database on tens of thousands of British figures and their children and families for the use of the country’s intelligence agencies, The Telegraph can reveal.

    Files on senior UK politicians – including Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister – royals, religious leaders, military officers and their families are currently stored on a Chinese server as part of a massive worldwide intelligence collection operation by a private company that describes its mission as “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

    This is complete nonsense. Any country will already have exhaustive files on the inhabitants of any foreign state regardless of its status as either friendly or belligerent! What do the writers think is the purpose of Mi6 or GCHQ?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/13/chinese-tech-firm-compiles-database-tens-thousands-british-figures/

    1. MB is most put out; he’s not on China’s little surveillance list.
      Miffed, he is – dead miffed.

    2. Whatever the Chinese learn about me, they will never discover my crumble, marmalade or baked potatoes recipes even if they use the dreaded water torture.

      :-))

  29. Watch: Douglas Murray – ‘America Has All the Bases Set for Civil War. 14 September 2020.

    The country is now divided on its own nature and its own founding principles – and that is how you have a civil war […]

    America is facing a foundational question which is that one portion of the country likes what it has been, thinks that it is broadly a force for good in the world, reveres the founding fathers and the Constitution and would like to stick with this.

    Another portion of the country believes the country should be regarded as having been founded when the first slaves were brought to the continent, that the the founding fathers were merely slave owners, that all the land is stolen, that Columbus would have been better had he not set out and that everything since has been racism and evil.

    That’s how you get a civil war. Two totally different views of history.

    I sincerely hope we step back from this brink if for no other reason than that geopolitically this is a nightmare. Even if you think there’s nothing good in America, the era of Anglo American hegemony, if you didn’t like that you’re going to have a hell of a time when you discover what the era of Chinese hegemony is going to look like.”

    I tell you this man is a NoTTLer though I think it’s too far gone now to step back. Sometime around Christmas the UK will become a Pseudo-Marxist state and the US will implode and start fighting!

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/09/14/watch-douglas-murray-america-has-all-the-bases-set-for-civil-war/

          1. I fear that there will be a punch up between Turkey and Greece and Turkey will open the floodgates to every Muslim who wants to enter Europe, not just from the ME but up through Africa via Libya. The march on Europe will get deadly serious.

    2. Sadly i think he’s spot on.
      And judging by the reaction we have already seen in the UK over the death of a known criminal………………..

  30. Good afternoon all.
    After a few hours tidying up after my Sunday cider making efforts, nearly 25 litres. And potting some plant cuttings.
    I sat down out of the sun in front of the TV with a coffee. 11 am news came on the BBC and i was so disgusted after the initial long drawn out item regarding the recent new rules of ‘the magnificent 6’. In Scotland it’s 7 young children exempt, more in Wales and N Ireland. Are they mad the kids have only just gone back to school how can, including the teacher be classes of 6 ?
    And true to BBC form, low and behold they presented families who will be effected by this new ruling. I just couldn’t help noticing that all the people from the families were not of the BAME communities, but the researchers had obviously gone out of their way and chosen all white families.
    Surely this was a racist thing to do as it clearly didn’t involve the ethnic (side lined) communities who they know darn well are more likely to have large families even more than one wife and as we have seen on news bulletins and social media, large social groups out side their families and of course are known for large gatherings.
    I’m sure the BBC ( sarc) are at this moment in time being flooded with complaints from the BAME communities for being ignored in such an important issue.

    3. Where have the buggers gone, long time passing
      Where have all the buglers gone, Long time ago.

        2. I think i know what happened there, during the high winds of the past few weeks the ‘R’s blew off.

        1. I did, and have lovely memories of making daisy chains with my first girlfriend, whose hair was very beautiful.

          I still would if I found someone similar today.

        2. I never had flowers in my hair when I had lots of hair but I wore the odd floral tie and when I was at UEA I had a lovely girlfriend who was a marvellous seamstress. She made me a beautiful cotton shirt with a bright floral design and a ruffled purple dress shirt.

      2. The ‘New’ Seekers were recruited, trained and rehearsed by an ‘old’ Seeker. They were Keith Potger’s project.

  34. I suffered in silence last night as the MR watched a new play on ITV about Singapore. What struck me, apart from the wooden acting, was that every vehicle was in pristine – museum – condition. Not a fly-peck, no a spot of dust or dirt. Why do they do this? We all know that cars get dirty. And the clothes were all far too new.

    I had an early bath….

    1. Films of the Rosamunde Pilcher books were very popular in Germany. Although filmed on location in the West Country, notably Dorset & Cornwall, all the characters had brand new German cars straight out of the showrooms.

        1. I used to enjoy watching the Dorset settings, which I knew like the back of my hand. Funny how the ‘edited’ the sequence of roads.

    2. What did you do that for? Do you suffer from OCD? You ought to know that folk who reach a certain age never get grubby, no matter what mud you sling at them. They are self-cleaning, like BMWs or BBC executives.

    4. It was awful, wasn’t it? The acting was, as you suggest, dire and there was a total lack of realism. A Bofors AA gun fired one shot and downed a Japanese plane, the Indian Army major in pristine uniform while all others around him looked as though they had been fighting, the strange occupants of the Charles Dance characters house, the Chinese refugee with flawless English and impeccable clothes. Was it supposed to be a drama, comedy or satire? I gave up after half and hour

    5. The last few times I was in Singapore you couldn’t see a fag packet or a scrap of rubbish on the streets. ALL vehicles (including trucks) were immaculately clean. We were sitting on a bench at a bus stop when two ladies came along, armed with buckets and mops, and signed for us to please stand up so that they could wipe down the seat as well as the Bus Stop sign and post. And dropping used chewing gum will get you locked up. So what you witnessed is true.

  35. Good morning, my friends

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/14/brexit-boris-johnson-deal-geoffrey-cox-internal-market-bill/

    Brexit latest news: Tory backlash grows over law-breaking bill as Number 10 tries to woo rebels

    A comment under this article with which I agree:

    “If Boris Johnson does not get this through it will not only be the end of his career it will also be the end of the Conservative Party, the end of Brexit and the end of the United Kingdom.”

      1. Good morning, Bob.

        Do you not agree that if the EU keeps control of the Northern Irish border that will spell the end of the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom and the end of Brexit? I suppose some think that is a consummation devoutly to be wished to borrow a phrase from the gloomy Dane.

        1. Good Morning Rastus,

          I haven’t really got my head around any of it, I just tune out now and assume that they are trying find an excuse to keep us locked in and under EU control, like they always have done.

    2. It’s very interesting that certain people would prefer the end of the Conservative Party and the end of the United Kingdom rather than fall out with one of the emissaries of the EU.

    4. 323692+ up ticks,
      Morning R,
      So the opposition WIN,
      That has been the “in name only tory party’s” aim since, seen quite clearly the major era.

      The return of the rubber stampers has always been on the cards since 24/6/2016.

      Rewards = johnson beats b liar to the presidency.
      & the golden trough is back in play.
      The mayday already paid off courtesy of lecture tours but more goodies await via re-set paying well.

      A large dose of bromide / plus in the reservoir to satisfy the Ovis.

      The imams might see it different in the near future once these Isles are handed over.

  36. A professor of infectious diseases has just been on Radio 4 to say that we must throw loads a money into finding a vaccine for COVID-19 but Trump’s aim to make one before the presidential election won’t necessarily work because throwing loads a money at a problem doesn’t always guarantee timely results.

  38. Radio 4 asks a policeman if people should report if they’ve seen groups of more than six people together.
    I saw plenty of larger groups this morning waiting at pickup points for school transport.
    However if you’re so incensed as to take a photo as evidence before the bus collects them then you are more likely to face charges for taking images of minors.

  39. Hello again. Anyone else want to add their names to this list of birthday boys and girls?

    2nd January………..Poppiesmum
    28th February……..Jeremy Morley
    29th February………Ped
    26th March………….Caroline
    27th March………….Maggiebelle
    27th March………….Fallick Alec
    23rd June………….. Oberlieutenant
    1st July……………….Rastus
    26th July……………..Delboy
    11th September….. Peddy
    13th September……Anne
    7th October………….Bob 3
    25th October………..Sue Edison

    P.S. (to which I shall add more as they come in)

          2. I share mine with both my father and his late father. There was 62 years between us, so we had a bit of a party to celebrate my 18th and Grandad’s 80th.

          1. As he’s 117 in dog years, I hope you make the human equivalent and are as keen to go for walks as he is 🙂

      1. I was once deeply and catastrophically in love with someone whose birthday was 18th January. She improved on all the best qualities of everyone I had ever loved up until then, including my French girlfriend and the woman I married, loved my ramshackle untidy cottage, regarded David Bellamy as a sex symbol, was an actress, a classical singer, a folk dancer (we met at a ceilidh), loved trees and wild gardens, and was a life member of the RSPB, had soft waist-length brown hair to die happy under, and had the power to inspire me to complete six college assignments in one week, despite being clinically depressed and traumatised at the time by a very unpleasant divorce and contact proceedings with my two children. She lived seven miles from me, was educated middle class, same as me, and we were both unattached at the time. She even once told me that she loved me, and started up a correspondence on St Valentine’s Day.

        Her one serious shortcoming (or was it mine) defeated all the others. I won’t say what it is, since it only attracts trolls. Only that the relationship could not be allowed to develop and had to be terminated immediately. It is one of life’s experiences that makes the difference between having lived a full life, and having gone through life knowing nothing. It makes me quite understanding to those who have had to experience forbidden love and total suppression of one’s feelings.

        1. That sounds like it was wonderful while it lasted. What a pity you couldn’t stay together

          1. Not that time, although I have had a couple of encounters with women from a closed religion. How about psychopath father?

            One is a consultant nephrologist from Neyshabur, whom I was a penpal with for many years. We both knew that any romantic engagement was forbidden, but I think a little glimpse of the outside world was nice for her.

            Another was a Jehovah’s Witness. We had a fun couple of months trying to “save” each other, but decided in both cases it was a lost cause!

        1. Can’t remember, I popped out at 0715hrs GMT.

          Apparently I weighed about the same as “two bags of sugar”.

          Pisces: two fishes that can’t make their mind up which way to swim. Sums me up with precision.

          1. They were just going to bed. Gran went to the bathroom and mum and dad went into the bedroom and before Gran came out i had been born. 11pm on the dot.

            Punctual, I am.

      2. My father’s birthday. Also my M-i-L and S-i-L. And the day before my F-i-L’s Todestag (they kept him going until the next day!)

  40. Went into the local baker’s to buy some wee cakes. There was a wide choice – most were priced at 50p but there was one batch priced at £1.

    When I asked “Why the difference in price?”, he replied, “That’s Madeira Cake.”

    4. A guy goes into his local in Glasgee he sees four of his friends standing at the end of the bar with a pen and a cross word puzzle.
      One of them shouts to him hey Jimmy what another word for shipwrecked 8 letters ?

      It’s marooned……….., that’ll be 4 pints and four chasers then Jimmy !

        1. Lou Gottlieb, was bassist and comic spokesman for music trio The Limeliters who sings with marvellously macabre panache in the clip I have posted above.

          Gottlieb’s trademark on stage was a burlesquing of the university pedant, the sort of teacher who knocks himself out over the jokes in Chaucer while his class has nothing on its collective mind earlier than last night’s date.

          I greatly enjoyed – and identified a bit with – this comment:

          “Many of the things I have been enthusiastic about,” said Gottlieb, “mean absolutely nothing to most people.”

  41. At least Boris is using the old half dozen measurement for taking away our freedom and not a metric number

  42. SENIOR MEDICAL ADVICE

    I don’t understand why prescription medicine is allowed to advertise on TV or why anyone would think of trying one of the medicines after listening to the laundry list of warnings of possible side effects. But this is definitely an exception!

    · Do you have feelings of inadequacy?

    · Do you suffer from shyness?

    · Do you wish you were a better conversationalist?

    · Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

    · Do you sometimes feel stressed?

    If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident. It can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you’re ready and willing to do just about anything.

    You will notice the benefits of Cabernet Sauvignon almost immediately and, with a regimen of regular doses, you’ll overcome obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want. Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past. You will discover talents you never knew you had.

    Cabernet Sauvignon may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use it, but women who wouldn’t mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

    Side Effects May Include:

    Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, delusions of grandeur, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.

    Warnings:

    · The consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon may make you think you are whispering when you are not.

    · The consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

    · The consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon may cause you to think you can sing.

    · The consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.

    Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Scotch, Vodka or Bourbon and of course Beer may be substituted for Cabernet Sauvignon, with similar results.

    Please feel free to share this important information.

    LIFE IS A CABERNET OLD CHUM.

      1. Three American women discussing the nicknames they give ther husbands…
        First says she calls her husband Southern Comfort because he is from Alabama and gives her lovely cuddles.
        The second says she calls her husband Tequila Sunrise because he is Mexican and always brings her breakfast in bed.
        The third says she calls her husband Drambuie. The other tw look at her and ask””Drambuie? Ain’t that some kind of fancy liquor?”, to which she answers “That’s my man.” /spoiler>

          2. Unless you subscribe the link won’t work. I have copy/pasted it…….

            RESTAURANTS

            Lenders plan to get their Cote after lockdown woes
            Ben Woods

            THE Cote restaurant chain could change hands through a debt-for-­equity swap after suffering a financial blow during lockdown.

            BC Partners, which took control of Cote five years ago, is in talks to offload the casual dining chain to the debt holder, Partners Group.

            Cote has expanded its French-style brasseries to nearly 100 locations since launching in 2007.

            The chain had been shrugging off the toxic conditions of rising costs and weak demand, which are dogging the casual dining sector.

            Pre-tax profits rose by a fifth to £5.5m for the year to July 2019, with sales up 7pc to £156m.

            However, Cote’s finances have come under significant strain after temporarily closing its restaurants at the start of lockdown. Some sales have been clawed back by bringing forward the launch of Cote-at-Home, a delivery service offering ready meals, meat and fresh bread.

            A Cote spokesman said the restaurants, which had been trading well with record sales and strong earnings growth in the last financial year, had suffered since the pandemic began.

            “In common with the wider restaurant sector, the coronavirus has had a significant impact on the business, which has only been partially mitigated by the successful launch of Cote-at-Home,” he added. “As a result, we are exploring different options, which could include a sale of the business, to support Cote’s next stage of growth.”

            Cote is in the process of reopening some restaurants, although it is understood to be mulling whether to close some sites for good. An industry source said: “The majority of Cote’s sites would remain viable.”

            Partners Group and BC Partners ­declined to comment.

        1. If my life had purpose it would be to ensure and spread perpetual misery.

          It seems I have much work to do.

  43. MIGRANTS were spotted sprinting off a rubber dingy after crossing the Channel today and landing on a beach in Kent.

    Several people fled the cramped boat moments after it stopped at Kingsdown, near Dover.

    This year’s total is now beyond 6,000 with 826 people coming over just six days in September.

    The group of suspected migrants, who appeared to all be men, arrived squeezed on board a grey dinghy with a black outboard motor on the back.

    Many wore hoodies and one was seen carrying a backpack as they headed off from the shoreline at speed.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12662340/migrants-sprint-kent-beach-dinghy/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=sunmaintwitter&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1600079070

    6,000 illegals this year equates to a village full here .. We live in a large village .. We have roughly about 5, 500 living here!

    1. And the politicians are too impotent, craven and stupid to do what Tony Abbott did in Australia.

      Maybe we are no longer capable of governing ourselves which is why the EU still thinks it should govern us. And of course over half our politicians would rather surrender and not stick up for Britain. Let then have Northern Ireland – say Blair, Major, Cameron, May. Starmer, Gordon Brown etc. etc,

      So why does not Boris announce that when the EU has taken us over the Houses of Commons and Lords will no longer have any useful purpose to serve and all its inmates should be sacked and those who have retired lose their pensions?

    3. But – they are all genuine refugees seeking asylum. So why would they need to run off as soon as they get her? Surely they should report to the immigration authorities?

  44. Snorers could face up to THREE TIMES the risk of dying of Covid-19, study claims. 14 September 2020.

    They found those who suffer from the condition, which causes snoring and choking when the throat muscles relax and temporarily block the airway during sleep, are at greater risk of being hospitalised or dying from the virus.

    The condition is most common in people suffering from diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure, which also increase their risk if they catch Covid-19.

    I must keep awake then! What about left handedness or squinting? Bow legs? Dandruff?

    Is there no escape for us? Are we doomed by our physical peculiarities.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8730675/Snorers-face-THREE-TIMES-risk-dying-Covid-19-study-claims.html

      2. Don’t let them frighten you, Belle. Next we will be more at risk if we visit the loo more than twice a day, or breathe more than five times a minute….. Or they will be the latest new symptoms..

        I finally rebelled this afternoon. I went into the village shop without a muzzle, having stood in a spaced out queue of six muzzled people outside. I was prepared to stand my ground. Nobody said a thing.

        1. If challenged ask the frit ones if they are prepared to perform CPR on you if you collapse because of your medical condition. Ask for it in writing.

    1. Disgraceful. The person should be sacked and made to retract their support for a Marxist, murder and violence supporting mob.

    2. Does ‘RS’ stand for Religious Studies? If so, I would be inclined to write a letter to the teacher saying that perhaps he/she should be promoting the ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King, who was a committed Christian, rather than the Marxist, atheist views of the Black Lives Matter political organisation.

  46. Re Rastus birthday post…

    I was going to replace my seagrass carpet in the kitchen which has served me well for the last ten years. However as Maud is entering her 12th. year I thought it prudent to wait.
    Maud maybe prone to incontinence and seagrass isn’t the best surface to clean after doggie pees and doos!
    Which started me thinking,I may very well reach that stage myself thanks to Rastus reminding us of the aging process!
    Apart from a birthday gift, a decent bottle of plonk or chocolates it may be wise to include a large supply of incontinence pads!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7f62ac8d1d04bbb2125ffa964ab0d9b46c6cf3e7cd99f761e4f8e6220940b16.jpg

    Aging Hippie…. 1940’s vintage

    Peace and Love Brother

    2. Good morning PT

      One of our friends who is still continent at the age of 85 had a Long-haired Dachsund that wasn’t.

  48. Being the public spirited chap you know me to be, I have written to the new DG (Diversity General) of the BBC (Black Bullshit Corp) – to urge him to bring the bames on the air up to slightly over 50% (so they don’t feel patronised).

    With this in view, I have suggested the “Lewis Hamilton Programme” – where, for at least two hours, the well-informed, eloquent petrol head will pontificate – along with lots of bames (all wearing BLM cothing – and some armed) – on important topical ishoos.

    Great idea, doncha think? And, natch, he’ll be paid more than Lineker – just to show that there is no discrimination….

    Off for a cup of tea after my four mile bike ride on this glorious afternoon. And not a bame in sight.

    3. It’s not a bad idea. Give him a platform and let him have his say.

      I’d suggest the discussion is also used to dmeonstrate how awful our history is and how evil whitey has been such as stopping slavery, ending wars, creating wealth, growth and education not only at home, but around the world.

      He might also be introduced to how far we have developed and… his ‘people’ haven’t. In far longer.

    4. Bames or what ever you call them are disproportionately represented in the media .

      Why,, and according to the 2011 census whites are 80%.. so we are being crowded out by these people .

      One just has to examine athletics or even soccer to see that whites are underrepresented in our National teams !

      1. You are wrong – it is quite clear from TV adverts that over 50% of the nation is BAME, that white heterosexual partnerships have all but disappeared, and the only white judges, police chiefs, head teachers and anyone else in a prestigious position are in old, black and white movies. Sorry, about those last words but I can’t think of anything better.

          1. Sue, My comment was about the acceptability of the term “black and white” to BAMES! Sorry, my attempt at humour was not a good one.

          2. Your humour was fine as far as I was concerned, and equally SE’s reply answered the implied question in your last sentence.

            Win, win I think.

      2. Nearly ten years have gone by since 2011 – so now there are many more Bames. Probably over 50% by now.

      1. 323693+ up ticks,
        Afternoon AS,
        Agreed, they have outflanked a large segment of the electorate
        with a much smaller force, whilst the electorate were busy with keeping their party first at any cost & in doing so fighting each other the alien force was busy obtaining positions of power.
        They are openly operating in the Country’s command post but one would believe that our politico’s would obtain some sort of
        neutral ground promise, sort of playing with a straight bat.
        The capital has for all intents & purpose fallen, brum is surely teetering, rape & pillage continues, so as the old song goes, something has got to give.

  52. Get a grip, the ‘rule of six’ does not mean martial law is upon us. 14 September 2020.

    The new restrictions may be a pain, but they’re not fascism by stealth. Relax and get ready to obey them for at least a while.

    Yes they are because there is absolutely no reason for them other than the control of the people! There are no excessive deaths to warrant such measures. We might as well check everyone for high blood pressure and declare an emergency on the possibility of heart attacks!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/14/get-grip-rule-six-does-not-mean-martial-law-upon-us/

    1. More groups will be snitched on than people will die.

      Perhaps they could put up a daily snitchometer to see how ceaselessly the covid wardens have to work on our behalf.

  53. Starmer ” self isolating ” after a member of his household … etc … Well, a socialist wiv a household … equality, innit …

    1. But he always was good at that. The only pleasure he ever gave the world was eating a bacon sandwich….

        2. “A stone tablet bearing former Labour leader Ed Miliband’s pledges from the 2015 general election has been photographed in the outdoor area of the Ivy Chelsea Garden in London.”

    2. She’s mostly on target, not about the climate change nonsense of course.

      And for some reason she starts on about ‘Nazi Germany’ when she actually means the communists/Bolsheviks/USSR.

      It is NOT creeping Fascism Rachel. Its creeping [running] Communism.

      Perhaps that’s just a smoke screen given that she strays dangerously close to committing the ultimate sin in listing some of the bad guys eg Facebook, YouTube (Google).

      Btw her name is Rachel Elnaugh note the ‘l’.

      (I had wondered what happened to her. She bluffed her way through her last series of Dragon’s Den while actually being broke, which one could kind of detect in retrospect. I believe Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones took over the ruins of her business eventually).

  56. Monoclonal antibodies are in the news today and are to be trialled in hospitals for people with COVID-19

    Possible side effects of monoclonal antibodies
    Monoclonal antibodies are given intravenously (injected into a vein). The antibodies themselves are proteins, so giving them can sometimes cause something like an allergic reaction. This is more common while the drug is first being given. Possible side effects can include:

    Fever
    Chills
    Weakness
    Headache
    Nausea
    Vomiting
    Diarrhea
    Low blood pressure
    Rashes

    https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/immunotherapy/monoclonal-antibodies.html

  59. I am in a quandary. I want to be diverse – but how do I explain to the MR that I need to replace her with a Cook of Colour?

  60. That’s me for this glorious day. Lifted two rows of potatoes; removed a tree stump; did half a hour’s watering from the well; four mile bike ride…and then a glass or so in the evening sun.

    Another privilege. I have been a crossword addict since 1948 – and have done The Grimes cryptic most days since September 1954.

    The MR has never “got” crosswords – though she is one of the most erudite and literate – and well-read – people I know.

    So I am introducing her to cryptic crosswords via the Times concise cryptic puzzle. Today she got all but one correct – with, admittedly, some guidance. She also got two clues that I couldn’t! Respect!!

    And we are having pork fillet for supper…..

    And to think that four weeks ago I couldn’t get out of bed. See those blessings? I am counting them.

          16. A little bird tells me that we might be seeing each other before long. I hope you are as irrascible and irreverent beyond the keyboard. :~)

          17. I think your little bird is too optimistic. The chances of getting back are approaching zero.

            On the minus side, I’m worse in the flesh!

          18. I’m sure you are right. The ‘Rule of 6’.

            Obviously the bastards couldn’t make it lucky 7. That might make people feel optimistic and happy.

            Can’t have that can we !

            I look forward to the day, Sos.

          19. Thanks. I suspect it might be very entertaining.

            I’m more likely to meet BT or one of the Franconottlers.

            However, all very wealthy Nottlers can always rent the cottage and understand what Heaven on Earth is really like!

          20. I am inclined to agree with you. Rural France langours in the 19th Century. Obviously without the invaders and Madame Guilottine.

            I have met Harry Kobeans for a few drinks.

        2. One of the great advantages of your posts is that they allow us paupers to see how the other half lives.

          3. I may have some yoghurt for breakfast to keep the thrushes unhappy but Lunch is is normally my main and only meal of the day. Eating in the evening means a sleepless uncomfortable night for me.

          4. Now that I’m retired and undathumb, HG insists that I eat both lunch and supper.

            In the years before I retired I worked for more than 20 eating only in the evening.

          5. We can train our stomachs to accept orders. People who don’t are often overweight.

            There are so many nerve connections to the back of the stomach it often overrides peoples plans to eat sensibly. It’s why people binge on carbs.

          6. It’s probably very bad for me, but if HG has to go to the UK I can easily not eat for 48 hours.

            She gets very cross with me when I go all day without a drink of water.

            Hell’s teeth, why did God allow us to invent wine, what’s wrong with the woman?

          7. I chug the water at morning pill time. That’s breakfast sorted.
            Lunch usually missed (like today), so supper is the main meal. Except when SWMBO is away, when it becomes a snack, or a handful of peanuts.

          8. When the Commondante is away I like heavily buttered popcorn, salted butter of course.

            Boy Oh Boy, does that wind her up.

          12. If i am out to a restaurant in the evening i will have a starter and perhaps a dessert and dawdle over them.

            One of my favourite dishes is roast rump of lamb. The last time i ordered it in the evening i had to ask them to doggy bag it and give me a sorbet instead. It was quite busy that night and the smell of the fish (i like fish) was making me feel ill.

          13. I stick to soup if out in the evening. But mostly I fast for at least 14 hours. I have an alarm set on my phone to remind me to have a snack at 5pm, and then that’s it until 7 am.

      1. It is all down to regular practice.

        I used to do the Times between London Bridge and Sevenoaks easily, when I was a commuter, can’t get more than a few clues now.

          1. Exacto. It’s nothing to do with maths, the grid could be made up of letters or types of flowers or types of car, anything that there are at least nine of. Using numbers just makes it easier.

          2. Indeed so.

            Yerh but, though but.

            You’re a puzzler and puzzlers are usually logical.

            University Challenge was an embarrassment this evening. The guy who got most of the starter questions was pretty much ignored by his team after it became conferral.

            Weird.

          3. If it were made up of letters, I’d probably be excellent at it. As it is, I’ve never been able to do it. Codewords, on the other hand, are a doddle. I didn’t say I had a problem with maths (although I do with the numbers side of arithmetic – I am fine with geometry theorems, trig and transposing formulae), I have a problem with the numbers themselves.

      1. Several places along that part of the East Coast were fired on by German Warships. I’m not sure what the point tactically was but they probably wanted to use up their munitions before they surrendered.

        1. Believe West Hartlepool was shelled by the Germans in around 1915. Did millions of pounds of improvements!

          4. I think they could Shell Grimsby now and no one would notice. It’s gone from bustle to hustle. Freeman Street was prosperous. Now it is just full of druggies and prostitutes.

          6. One of my colleagues came from Grimsby. At an INSET day we were asked for our earliest memories; he said, “being bombed by the Germans”.

    2. There doesn’t appear to be any joined up thinking where coastal defences are concerned on the East Coast. They strengthen one area and pass the problem along. It has been happening for a long time though. Several villages now abandoned under water.

        1. Might as well be for all the use they are. At Caistor there were windmills a-plenty, but none of them turning.

    1. Patrick Phillips QC is (or was) the owner of Kentwell Hall in Long Melford.

      This Tudor house is open all year and famous for its lambing activities and for its re-enactments of village life where women mostly dress in rags and gurgle some invented Suffolk language.

      I imagine takings are down this year.

      1. It could probably be another of many old houses having a lot of Chippendale furniture that was never paid for before or after TC died.

        1. Not sure about the furniture. The house is a large pile and parts were rebuilt and interiors reconstructed after a fire in the C18.

          It would be interesting to know the full history of these places and how the house and lands were acquired. Kentwell was owned by the brother of the Abbot of Bury St Edmunds when the monasteries owned and controlled just about everything.

          The Thynnes of Longleat were allegedly highway robbers and assassins acting for Royalty.

          Some enormous estates were the reward for ‘hauling a cannon across a field’.

          The true story of Thomas Chippendale is as you say one of superb craftsmanship delivered and often not paid for. I believe this was the case for the library and furniture at Stourhead.

          1. I watched a programme recently about the Great man TC he died back in Yorkshire with around 65 quid in his bank account and was owed thousands of pounds from ignored invoices. He couldn’t take legal action because most the lawyers were connected to the ‘landed gentry’ who were ripping him off. How the rich and famous now boast of their treasured furniture.
            Brocket hall in Hertfordshire has one of a few Chippendale libraries.
            It’s where Lord Brocket tried to fiddle the insurance on supposedly stolen Ferraris. Later found dismantled in the estate lake.

        2. Not sure about the furniture. The house is a large pile and parts were rebuilt and interiors reconstructed after a fire in the C18.

          It would be interesting to know the full history of these places and how the house and lands were acquired. Kentwell was owned by the brother of the Abbot of Bury St Edmunds when the monasteries owned and controlled just about everything.

          The Thynnes of Longleat were allegedly highway robbers and assassins acting for Royalty.

          Some enormous estates were the reward for ‘hauling a cannon across a field’.

          The true story of Thomas Chippendale is as you say one of superb craftsmanship delivered and often not paid for. I believe this was the case for the library and furniture at Stourhead.

  64. The “Rule of Six” is not an accidental phrase. It rolls off the tongue. It is short and easy to remember. It is easy to understand. It is clearly a catchphrase designed by highly skilled psychologist types. It was not whipped up one evening last week. It is not the sudden light bulb moment of some politicians wife. It is the work of professionals and it has been reviewed and tested. It was prepared some time ago. The decision was made some time ago to apply the latest lockdown curbs regardless of statistics, of testing, and regardless of empty hospitals.

        1. My daily pool length count ended in 666 tonight.

          175 Km covered, so only 10 days or so until the target is hit.

    2. How ironic it is that these rules and laws have been rolled out under the government of our friendly, affable buffoon. Would the country have smelled a political rat earlier if all this had occurred under a Corbyn government?

      1. 323693+up ricks,
        Evening PM,
        The stench of political rodents was strong in the air & confirmed with the 9 month delay long,long ago.
        What should be kept in mind was up until the 24/6/2016 the three party’s were a pro eu coalition
        and in many respects, still are.

    4. Six degrees of separation – the idea that all people are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. Also known as the 6 Handshakes rule. Not sure how this applies here though 8^)

      1. Our son tried to test the theory on the Galapagos Islands, where there is (used to be) a post box where people passed letters by hand.

        His letter arrived with us weeks before he did!

          1. I have read the Sign of Four. Admittedly, a long time ago, but I think I’ve probably read all the SH series.

          2. Among many books, we keep the single volume complete stories in the cottage for the guests.

            It seems to be very popular because its position gets changed almost every other visit.

          3. You wouldn’t know I’d re-read it if I stayed there; I would have put it back exactly where it was 🙂

          4. It’s suprising how many books get read and how their position on the bookshelves changes. If you arrived with someone else they might well have read four or more books by the time you had done the compendium and completely rearranged the order

            Our “selling point” is that it is very quiet here, and an opportunity to leave the real world behind. We get far more repeat visitors than new ones, all of whom seem to want to get away from hustle and bustle to recharge their batteries.

            We write in the welcome pack that people are free to take away paperbacks that they have not finished as long as they leave a book that they brought with them.

            We change the selection every year and remove duplicates. (Hell’s teeth how many Dan Browns does any sane person need!)

          6. I’ve enjoyed them, but I would not leave one behind on a bookshelf where the same one is sitting.

            Over the years I have been pleasantly surprised by books that “experts” reject.

  65. This was the person the BBC commissioned to rewrite the ‘National hymn’, Jerusalem.

    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/3e/9f/df3e9f6907251c7291262e8895934e73.jpg (open in new tab to view)

    This was the person chosen to sing the new version at the Last Night of the Proms.

    https://www.staatsoper.de/media/_processed_/c/c/csm_Schultz_Golda_c__Wilfried_Hoesl_IMG_1721_q_463e08ac06.jpg

    It was not well received.

    “BBC Proms; what a mangled abomination the new version of Jerusalem is. Totally unenjoyable and I feel done deliberately to upset all the right thinking people” is atypical comment.

    I leave it to you to decide if this was a deliberate insult to the British people or just a routine BBC slur on those who pay their wages.

    1. My poor old blood pressure.

      Who is going to say enough is enough. We want our White Britain back , we do not want our national treasures and cultural heritage interferred with, we like things as they are .

      1. If white Britain must be browned, how about, I don’t know, Pakistan TV showing plenty of whites in each programme? No? Thought not.

        2. They do show white people on Paki TV. Normally in the process of becoming detached from their heads.

        3. I have often wondered, when I look at the number of BAMEs on our TV, whether there is a proportionate number of whites on African TV (the whole continent, not just SA).

        4. Two musicians from the Commonwealth. S Africa is now a republic but “Lizzie herself”, as father sometimes refers to her, is still the head of state of Belize, represented by a Governor-General.

          Jerusalem is not a hymn. It was written as a secular poem – Blake was barely a Christian and certainly not an orthodox one. Parry’s music was not added until 100 years later and plenty of songs (and hymns) have alternate tunes or variations such as descants to long-loved tunes. Some people love them, some hate them, but they are accepted as being part of the canon.

          1. Have all your friend gone – no one to argue with? ...Today it is best known as the hymn “Jerusalem”, with music written by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916. The famous orchestration was written by Sir Edward Elgar.. Wikipedia.

            Women’s Institutes – “Jerusalem”
            During the 1920s, many WIs started choirs and NFWI set up a music committee. W.H. Leslie, an amateur musician from Llansantffraid, Shropshire, acted as an advisor and held a one-day school for village conductors in London in early 1924. He asked his friend Sir Walford Davies to write an arrangement of Hubert Parry’s setting of “Jerusalem”, for WI choirs. This hymn was considered appropriate for the emerging WI movement which was encouraging women to take their part in public life, and to improve the conditions of rural life. Leslie suggested that Walford Davies’ special arrangement for choir and string orchestra should be performed at the Annual General Meeting of NFWI held in the Queen’s Hall, London in 1924. He conducted the singing, bringing a choir from local WIs with him to lead.

    2. It’s as if the BBC looks at it’s output and if they discover programmes or shows that mainly white people enjoy they decide to modernise and make an abomination of it.

    5. Both. Two birds with one stone. No doubt the bbc laughing theirs socks off “that’ll tell ’em to complain.”

  66. Just watching a terrible prog , Panorama, very horrible organ retrieval from migrants in Egypt .. Bodies tortured and cut up for body parts .

    The trade in transplants using black market organs is shocking.

    How many illegals are landing here minus an organ?

    2. They are trying to exploit your emotions on behalf of the migrants, Belle. This sort of thing has been going on for decades, on way or another, probably commencing with blood ‘donations’. I am right out of compassion for all but my own indigenous tribe. Switch off the poisonous beeb.

      1. I get sick of “only £3/2/100 per month will prevent blindness(children), donkey/dog/elephant/rhino/tiger/lynx extinction and we will “even send you a cuddly toy” adverts and mute them ASAP.

      1. Corrupt doctors are exploiting Sudanese trafficked donors in the Sudan , via a charity.

        The BLM movement don’t giv a damn about their own people .

        The operations are appalling .. No wonder they call it the BLACK MARKET

      1. True. A trade in illegally obtained organs has been going on for a very long time. The Al Beeb are only really mentioning this to underpin the mass migrations.

        If they had any quality journalist left they would have investigated it thoroughly.

        But they choose to virtue signal instead. Cheaper and easier and fits their agenda. Bastards.

      1. 323693+ up ticks,
        AS,
        That could very well be the question is it ? is it not?
        The majority incoming illegals are young male from which a multi purpose group could be formed.

        The governance party leader if I am correct was known to suggest
        an amnesty for illegals in the past.

        A multi purpose group to be used as the overseers see
        fit.
        Not so long ago one could say with some confidence ” my party
        would not condone that” currently that is no longer the case.

      2. 323693+ up ticks,
        AS,
        That could very well be the question is it ? is it not?
        The majority incoming illegals are young male from which a multi purpose group could be formed.

        The governance party leader if I am correct was known to suggest
        an amnesty for illegals in the past.

        A multi purpose group to be used as the overseers see
        fit.
        Not so long ago one could say with some confidence ” my party
        would not condone that” currently that is no longer the case.

  68. I’m surprised pulse oximetry hasn’t featured more as a tool for interpreting the level of cardiovascular impairment in adverse reactions to drugs and viral infections specifically in COVID-19 cases:

    The British Medical Journal released new guidance for health providers in August on how to treat long-haul Covid-19 patients, estimating that up to 10% of all people who have tested positive could develop a prolonged illness. The guidance includes specific blood tests to perform, possibly referring patients to pulmonary rehabilitation and having them use pulse oximetry at home to measure oxygen saturation in the blood.

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/13/health/long-haul-covid-fatigue-breathing-wellness/index.html

    1. Alpha2 receptors are specifically targeted by the COVID-19 virus so it is not unreasonable to postulate that the central regulatory breathing centres in the brainstem may be compromised by this virus.

      Some time before the virus became prevalent I deve!oped a heart rhythym that reduced my blood oxygen saturation level enough to make it very uncomfortable to breathe. Whilst in that state I found that oxygen delivered through a nasal catheter in hospital completely removed the pain of trying to breathe.

      What I couldn’t understand was why COVID patients in hospital would be compelled to pull off their oxygen masks whilst suffering from abnormally low blood saturation levels.

      It certainly reinforces the conjecture that the COVID-19 virus could have introduced a conflict between the patient’s perception of asphyxiation and the regulatory function of breathing in the brainstem.

      Another key question is whether the “virus affects the respiratory center in the brainstem — contributing to respiratory failure in critically-ill COVID patients,” she said.

      https://www.livescience.com/amp/brain-invasion-coronavirus.html

    1. I live about a mile from the Forth/Clyde canal and close t the Falkirk Wheel! Do you fancy a trip North?

          1. I know. Am tempted to hire a boat in August starting at Falkirk and heading for Edinburgh for the Festival (Covid permitting!)

          2. The run through from Falkirk to Linlithgow and Ratho then Edinburgh is lovely as well! Couple of big viaducts and an amazing tunnel in Falkirk. I’ve lived here 40 years and I didn’t even know it existed!

          4. I’ll come and wave if you’d like! The tunnel is quite spooky but they put new lighting in last year and I’ve walked from the Wheel to the Kelpies a couple of times.

          5. Wouldn’t it be easier for you to fix the leaks in your boats first, instead of having to carry a bucket around with you all year long?

            :-))

          13. Have you been across Pontcysyllte? I hitched a lift once – big drop on one side with no tow path, just a thin sheet of iron! Also, have you legged it through Dudley Tunnel?

          17. Given a choice between the two, I think I’d opt for Pontcysyllte! I don’t much care for being underground.

          18. I think I may have been influenced by unexpectedly traversing a fairly high aqueduct with a strong cross wind causing the boat to sway and as one looked down there was only a thin sheet of metal protruding about 6 inches above the water seemingly preventing the boat from going over the edge to a 100 foot drop!

          19. Admittedly, it was a calm day when I had my gash trip over to Trefor. I might not have been so sanguine in the circumstances you describe. I still don’t care for tunnels, though.

          22. I know. Am tempted to hire a boat in August starting at Falkirk and heading for Edinburgh for the Festival (Covid permitting!)

    4. Very bright and cheerful.

      Were the doors and windows always like that or have you done a refit on a boat that has had a significant refit already?

      1. It was a new build sailaway, spray foamed, with an engine fitted and first fix 240v and 12v electrical systems. I fitted the entire interior with occasional helping hands for the larger panels

          3. No just a two litre 45hp tractor engine – a marinised tractor block….but on a 45′ boat I reckon I could tow a water skier where speed isn’t an issue!

          7. Splendid – Find me some inland water without speed restrictions (and preferably not the Bristol Channel)

    11. Good morning, Stephen.

      Thank you for posting these ‘photos
      and explanations; they bring back
      happy childhood memories of
      Stoke Bruerne, Blisworth, etc.

    3. They should pay us for their privileges.

      Subsidised bars, warm common rooms, cheap restaurants, Directorships, public deferrence etc. etbluddycet.

      1. Precisely. The Commons and Lords are the best private clubs in London, streets ahead of Whites, The Garrick, Boodles, The Reform, Travellers and Athenaeum.

    4. Oh poor dears. Are they crying in to their vermine?

      I remember seeing a prog about Baroness Trumpington. (She of Bletchly and the two finger salute to another Lord). She said she spends her allowance going through catalogues and ordering things in her spare time. She said with parcels arriving constantly it felt like Christmas every day.

      She was hard working and conscientious and i didn’t begrudge the money but some of those Lords and Ladies just sign in and then go for a subsidised lunch. Troughers !

  71. Alexei Navalny continues to improve, say German doctors. 14 September 2020.

    The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken off a ventilator and is able to leave his bed for short periods of time, German doctors who have been treating him for novichok poisoning have said.

    In a significant update, the Charité hospital in Berlin said Navalny’s condition “continues to improve” and hinted that he was able to talk. It said latest news of his health was made public after consultation with Navalny and his wife.

    Well the elections are over so I’m sure he’ll be gambolling around like a spring lamb shortly!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/14/alexei-navalny-continues-to-improve-say-german-doctors

  74. Here’s the DT article to which Bill Cash referred to today in the HoC.

    The UK has to defend itself against predatory diplomacy, deal or no deal

    Europe’s refusal to offer its neighbour and security ally even a bare-bones trade deal is a hostile posture that has consequences

    AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD

    If the UK were about to violate international law and resile from the Northern Ireland Protocol, it would be a very grave matter.

    But a potent allegation has been made that suggests something closer the opposite. We need to know whether or not the EU negotiating team cynically misused its stranglehold control over the Withdrawal Agreement to twist its intent, and in so doing breached the EU’s obligations of good faith and subverted the Good Friday peace accord.

    If it is true that Michel Barnier “explicitly” threatened to obstruct exports and food supplies from Great Britain to Ulster by means of an extreme and malicious interpretation of the Protocol – as the Prime Minister asserts – it is the EU that is playing fast and loose with international law, and arguably crossing a line into geopolitical vandalism.

    If it is not true, this country needs a new government immediately. The facts will out.

    What is already apparent is the collective insouciance of the EU elites over the fate of Ulster’s Unionist community, as if its cause were not really legitimate. One notes, too, a striking unwillingness by EU officials even to consider whether their own Rottweilers might be going too far.

    One would hardly know from the public discussion that the underlying issue at stake is a conflict between two incompatible treaties and legal-political arrangements.

    But before entering the legal thickets of the Protocol, it is relevant to point out that the EU is a practised abuser of international law. It frequently finesses or ignores treaty obligations that conflict with its core interest. Pacta Sunt Servanda tweeted Ursula von der Leyen last week. Well, quite.

    The EU has systematically refused to comply with the judgments of the World Trade Organisation, flouting rulings on GMO crops, hormone beef, and Airbus subsidies, as if the matter were optional. It has repudiated the doctrine of legal supremacy and “direct effect”, the very doctrine that the EU now asserts in the Withdrawal Agreement.

    It has eroded direct effect in a series of cases, culminating in Portugal v Council where the European Court ruled that the EU has no obligation to follow WTO law if it narrows the European Commission’s scope for manoeuvre. How delicious.

    The ECJ ruled in the Kadi-Barakaat case that the EU should disregard the UN Charter, the highest text of international law, if the Charter is at odds with the EU’s internal constitutional order.

    This is not to say that the EU is the most egregious scoff-law of the Western world but rather that it picks and chooses when it will be bound by international law like everybody else. It will not sacrifice core interests, and it is surely the UK’s core interests that are at stake right now as the Internal Market Bill heads for a its second reading.

    The Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed on the assumption that Brussels would agree to an off-the-shelf ‘Canada-Japan-Korea’ trade deal with no bells and whistles – as Mr Barnier himself had offered – and therefore that there would be no more than a light-touch trade border between Britain and Ulster. On that basis the Unionists said they could live with it.

    The EU has since moved the goalposts. The prospect of a no-deal rupture and intra-UK trade tariffs has constitutional implications for Northern Ireland, creating a much harder trade border in Irish Sea than the Unionists supposed. It therefore intrudes ineluctably on the Good Friday peace accord.

    It is too glib by half to say that Boris Johnson signed up to the Agreement and therefore that it is his own fault.

    It is equally glib to dismiss the invocation of the Good Friday accord as a canard. It takes some chutzpah to claim that a hard (electronic) tariff border on the island of Ireland is a grave threat to peace, but that a near identical tariff border down the Irish Sea is of no significance even though it severs constituent parts of the UK and covers ten times as much trade.

    The Good Friday accord is also an international treaty. The Withdrawal Agreement cannot override it and impose a new constitutional regime on the Unionists without their consent. The UK internal market bill is therefore a necessary safeguard. It is to be activated only in the case of emergency, should the EU act on the Barnier threats and further weaponise the Protocol.

    It beggars belief that Brandon Lewis should tell the world that the new legislation “does break international law in a very specific and limited way” when its deeper purpose is to prevent a breach of international law. Had he framed the matter with more skill – and more accuracy – he might have spared some considerable damage to the reputation of this country.

    Article 5 of the Protocol states that Northern Ireland is part of the UK customs territory and that there should be no tariffs on goods shipped across the Irish Sea from Britain unless they are re-exported to the Republic, a trivial amount that could be ring-fenced easily.

    But the sub-clauses take away this protection, giving the EU extraordinary powers, should it wish to abuse them. The default setting is that all shipments into Northern Ireland are to be deemed “at risk” – obliging HMRC to collect tariffs – unless the EU agrees to a narrow list. Furthermore, Article 10 gives the EU a lever of control over the UK’s entire state aid and industrial policy by tenuous linkage to Ulster.

    The allegation is that Mr Barnier played these incendiary cards in an effort to browbeat Boris Johnson into submission on the broader trade talks. Once such a card is played, there is no going back to the status quo ante.

    It is a near reflexive tendency in EU circles to argue that the UK brought this state of affairs upon itself (which I dispute, but that is to relitigate Brexit) and that as the smaller party it should expect to be pushed around, that ‘strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must’ as the Melians were told.

    This has consequences. “If you start playing the relationship talks in the spirit of a geopolitical power game, don’t be surprised when the other side plays in the same spirit,” says Eurointelligence.

    We now have a stand-off and an EU ultimatum of 20 days, and no flicker of recognition yet from any EU leader that their own side might be behaving badly.

    German finance minister Olaf Scholz says a no-deal outcome will have “very harsh consequences” for the UK economy but that the EU will muddle through just fine. Up to a point, Count Copper.

    The question is whether the EU is willing to jeopardise its £95bn trade surplus with the UK and inflict damage on its own industries, for which it is less prepared than Mr Scholz pretends, and to do so for an ideological purpose: forcing the UK to accept the EU’s extra-territorial supremacy over state aid policy and standards, a means of eviscerating British independence.

    The UK is being offered extremely little in these talks, and is asking for extremely little. Mr Scholz is therefore misframing the equation. If the EU wants to save a deal and preserve its large export acquis on this island, it will have to give up this colonial demand.

    At the end of the day, Europe’s refusal to offer its immediate neighbour and security ally even a bare-bones Canada trade deal is a hostile posture.

    The EU could have opted for subtler statecraft, recognising that Brexit requires a fundamental rethink about the EU’s near abroad, a chance to create an outer ring of friendly trading nations that do not wish to be locked into an emerging unitary state. Instead it has driven the UK further away. Historians will judge this to have been a strategic failure of the first order.

    This final squalid slide towards an acrimonious rupture is sad for those of us who love l’Europe des Patries. But the UK has to defend itself against predatory diplomacy, deal or no deal.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/09/13/uk-has-defend-against-predatory-diplomacy-deal-no-deal/

    1. Those who love l’Europe des Patries must surely be implacably opposed to the EU, whose aim is to subjugate those patries and form a superstate.

    2. “…no more than a light-touch trade border between Britain and Ulster. On that basis the Unionists said they could live with it.”
      If this was public knowledge, the I’ve been asleep for five years.

    3. Didn’t someone respond to Von der Layen’s “Pacta Sunt Servanda” with “Cum Ceteris paribus”?

  75. A quote from Rehman Chishti today regarding his resignation,
    ‘I feel very strongly about keeping the commitments we make; if we give our word, then we must honour it”.
    Nobody believes that, you are a flicking politician, the lowest of the low, we expect you to lie and cheat and stuff your face in the Westminster trough.
    It seems to me that despite representing a Brexit supporting constituency, at a crucial moment, you become a paper tiger.

    1. We (or at least Cameron) gave our word that it was our decision and the government would implement what we decided. Since then, they have done nothing but try to circumvent what we voted for. Remainers, the lot of them. We could do with a bit of Tudor justice.

      1. I would put them in the sewers of London to clear out the fat balls from Chinese, Indian and Pakistani restaurants, none of which install appropriate grease traps in their kitchens.

        Think of them as latter day Tudor gong scourers.

          1. “Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti is a Pakistani–British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham since the 2010 general election”.
            Now we know that he can slink off back to being a non-entity.

  77. “The Internal Market Bill passes unamended with a massive majority.”

    “Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill opposed by a handful of Conservative MPs.”

    Guess which headline was chosen by Emily Maitlis’s editor on Newsnight ?

          1. Indeed he did and I was furious at the time. I never trusted him, but unfortunately, although I campaigned against the Con candidate (who was a remainer) insufficient people voted for the UKIP candidate. What can one do? Only make an attempt. You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

    3. But would he have got that past the House of Remain? Surely it was only by fudging that he got the general election.

      2. The time to have acted was in the five weeks between 12th December when he was given a majority of 80 seats and 24th January when he ill advisedly signed the WA.

      1. At a fancy dress shindig Miss Hall
        Wore a newspaper dress to the ball
        Until it caught fire
        And burnt the entire,
        Front page, sporting section and all!

        2. And many people are completely unaware that EDF stands for Électricité de France.

          The French managed to wangle a deal which guaranteed their own monopoly in France while they could tender for business in the rest of the EU.

    1. “A proposed law giving Boris Johnson’s government the power to override parts of the Brexit agreement with the EU has passed its first hurdle in the Commons.
      MPs backed the Internal Market Bill by 340 votes to 263”

      Good news!

  82. DT Story

    Tory revolt grows over plans to amend the Brexit divorce deal
    Downing Street hinted the rebels could have the whip withdrawn if they don’t back down, with a source saying ‘all options are on the table’

    I have said before that Johnson should have deselected all the remainer MPs before the general election. But it now seems that he should also have deselected fake Brexiters who are now showing their true colours and showing that they would be happy for the EU to have control over the United Kingdom’s territorial borders,.

    And why did not Johnson make a proper pact with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party? Brexit would now be far safer had he done so. And how true a Brexiter is Johnson himself when he rewarded the likes of Ken Clarke an Philip May in his honours list?

    2. An award to Ken Clarke acknowledges the service of a long-standing member and former Chancellor.

      An award to Philip May is unconscionable – and pathetic.

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