Monday 15 March: Both the police and the protesters were at fault on the night of the Clapham Common vigil

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/03/15/lettersboth-police-protesters-fault-night-clapham-common-vigil/

662 thoughts on “Monday 15 March: Both the police and the protesters were at fault on the night of the Clapham Common vigil”

      1. Morning Elsie, I promise to have a longer sleep tomorrow. I awoke early to make tea for Mrs VVOF to celebrate our wedding anniversary. 46 years and she tells me I have never been so happy. 🤣🤣

          1. Thank you, we are off to the pub for a drink and a meal…..oh wait, that’s next year, or the one after perhaps.

        6. Congratulations Mr and Mrs VVOF! Have a lovely day! At least they cannot take our happy memories away from us – yet.

        8. Congratulations to the pair of you Mr and Mrs VVOF. Have a really happy anniversary day today.

        9. Congratulations to you both!

          I’ve just about managed that many years married………but not to the same man!

  4. Cressida Dick refuses to quit over vigil policing and dismisses ‘armchair critics’. 15 March 2021.

    Britain’s most senior police chief defied pressure to resign as she dismissed “armchair” critics amid widespread outrage over officers manhandling women who were mourning the killing of Sarah Everard.

    Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was publicly rebuked by the home secretary, Priti Patel, and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, for providing an unsatisfactory explanation of why police broke up a vigil for Everard in London’s Clapham Common on Saturday, near where she was allegedly abducted before being murdered.

    Morning everyone. As did Beria, Himmler and Hoover she sees herself as infallible, irreplaceable and indispensable!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/14/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-rebukes-met-chief-cressida-dick-policing-sarah-everard-vigil

    1. Personally, I am glad to see the police actually enforcing the law and breaking up an illegal protest. Not that I agree that protests should be illegal, but after all the flak they got for kow-towing to BLM and XR last year, I don’t see what else they could do.

      This is not in any way to defend Cressida Dick, who is awful!

      And also not really to defend the protesters, who appear to be a bunch of (white) man-hating feminazis. Would they have been so vocal in their protests if this had been a so-called ‘honour killing?’

      1. Morning Kuffar. Moral confusion reigns. We are seeing the collapse of the West and its values. Soon the Horsemen will be riding through the streets!

        1. It does feel that we are under attack, that we are being hollowed-out from within. Climate change, racism, transgender rights, gay marriage, mass immigration, white guilt, anti-colonialism, statue toppling, cancel culture. These things have been going on for years, Covid seems to have just accelerated the process.

        2. That’s what happens when the country thinks it’s too clever for Christianity.

          1. Morning BB2. Yes there is no doubt in my own mind that the engineered collapse of Christianity has removed the foundations of Western Civilisation!

      2. They only break up the protests they want to break up. In this case, the agenda appears to be to make women look helpless and fragile in the face of male violence (unless the victim is a white, working class teen and the perpetrator is of Pakistani origin of course. We haven’t seen any of those).
        The question is why rent-a-mob is being whipped up in this cause?

        1. Maybe to stir up hatred and hysteria against white men? There we several articles in the Telegraph over the weekend suggesting that violence against women is normal, and all men need to make the streets safer or “hang their heads in shame.” The idea of a 6pm curfew for men was even bandied about!

          I suspect that if we take a look at the murder statistics, it is not white men who are ‘over-represented’ in the crime stats.

          1. Far more details were given about the suspect than usual. If the suspect is not white, there is a shroud of secrecy; that is about the only clue we get. Facts by omission.

          2. Indeed. Can they really be brazen enough to push that agenda, given the non-white racist rape gangs preying on mostly white girls? I guess that is why comments are censored. But I don’t think they will manage to persuade more than a few hysterical left wingers that white men pose a threat to women.
            Too many women like men!

        2. I’ve a nasty feeling that the idea is to reinforce the fear that women sometimes quite legitimately feel, bolstered by the indignation of decent men at being all tarred with the same brush, to soften us up for a total surveillance state. Ideal, if there is CCTV at every step, wouldn’t we be “safer” from both violence and false accusations? We appear to have a government and majority populace who worship safety above all else, after all.

      3. Morning Kuffar, I read your comment carefully and completely agree with it.
        The government will have a lot to answer for eventually, assuming of course it does not become illegal to ask questions in the future.
        Seeing the track record of Johnson and his cronies, questions may well become verboten.

      4. I disagree. Military demonstrations by uniformed BLM were left untouched. The depredation and upset by climate agitators were dealt with very leniently, mostly without any prevention or intervention.
        Had the Met ignored the ladies demonstration entirely, what would have happened? I submit that there would have been a few speeches, they would have been filmed, then they would have got fed up with the cold and dark, and then they would have gone home. No brutality, no arrests, no story.
        Consider how they would have been treated had there been no lockdown in place? I suggest the problem is not small “largely peaceful” protests by women, even if organised and manipulated, but lockdown itself, which flies in the face of everything we believe and care about in a free society.

        1. I am anti-lockdown, and believe all Covid-legislation should be repealed immediately. However, if the law is in force, it must apply to everyone. We have seen how the police were very heavy-handed against anti-lockdown protesters, whilst giving BLM/XR a free pass and even actively being seen to support them.

          It is the politicians who make the laws, and the police who are left to enforce them. I would have been more angry if they had stood by and let an illegal protest take place, just because of the cause which is celebrates. Let us direct our ire at the politicians who have taken away all of our rights and freedoms, of which the freedom to protest is only one.

          1. I most certainly do not suggest that they should have let it go because of the cause,. I do think that all should be treated equally by the police.
            However, 3 seconds joined-up thinking would have surely suggested to even the densest plod that there was never going to be a good outcome from heavy-handed policing by a predominantly male police contingent against ladies protesting the death of a young woman brought about by a serving policeman in good standing? So why did they do it? The public statement by Ball the next day was crass in the extreme, “we have to bash heads in to keep people safe” or similar. Moreover it confirmed that senior police officers were prepared to go in heavy against women, which verges on criminal behaviour in itself.
            Police action should be appropriate, and necessary and sufficient. That ‘s all.
            The police do not go in heavy-handed dragging fans out of the crowd when there is trouble at football matches. They take photos and arrest the troublemakers 3 months later.
            Covid is not spread in the open air. The most likely place to get Covid is in hospital, or even a police detention cell.

        2. Selective indignation is the progenitor of doomed democracy for when the Police, the politicians, the judiciary and the MSM can no longer act impartially our society has no further justification for continuing.

  5. Cressida Dick refuses to quit over vigil policing and dismisses ‘armchair critics’. 15 March 2021.

    Britain’s most senior police chief defied pressure to resign as she dismissed “armchair” critics amid widespread outrage over officers manhandling women who were mourning the killing of Sarah Everard.

    Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, was publicly rebuked by the home secretary, Priti Patel, and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, for providing an unsatisfactory explanation of why police broke up a vigil for Everard in London’s Clapham Common on Saturday, near where she was allegedly abducted before being murdered.

    Morning everyone. As did Beria, Himmler and Hoover she sees herself as infallible, irreplaceable and indispensable!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/14/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-rebukes-met-chief-cressida-dick-policing-sarah-everard-vigil

  7. SIR – Regarding deaf children unable to lip read because of masks in school (Letters, March 10), I quote the reply from the Department of Education: “Our guideline is clear that those who rely on lip reading or facial expressions do not have to wear face coverings in school.”

    No wonder teachers and pupils are struggling with the guidelines.

    Steve Urwin
    Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

  8. ‘Morning all! Cool and sunny and the contractors arrived to close our lane at 6.30! Thought I’d better get up and supervise them!

    1. It’s still not clear to me what legislation is going to be rammed through on the back of this rent-a-mob fake outrage that they are trying to whip up. All comments on this story censored in the Mail. What’s going on?

      1. It has all the resonances of a Comrade Ogilvy, or those sad eyes of starving children on TV appeals to up the bonuses of charity executives. The lady murdered by the Government security officer was just too perfect.

        Why are men being scapegoated? Why not Government security officers?

        1. Wayne joined the Met in 2018, I read somewhere. Really quite old to join the police, so where was he before that? Why did he work in diplomatic protection which would involve carrying a firearm? Why was his tendency to expose himself in public not noticed – he was likely odd in an obvious way?

          1. Before joining the Met he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (or whatever it is called these days) which is why he was allowed to carry firearms. While with them he was employed to guard the convoys which ferry nuclear materials around the country. Then he was found to be ‘physically unfit’ and was transferred to Gate Duties which stopped him from moving around the country. Then he joined the Met. It is the ‘physically unfit’ bit which puzzles me. He isn’t apparently unfit in the latest pics. More to come I reckon.

          3. Another question is – why are these details being released ahead of a trial?
            And yet another question – would this same openness apply to black or brown suspects?

    2. Once the police showed that they were selective over which demonstrations they chose to control, the whole farce of ‘civilians in uniform’ was toast.
      This event was no doubt hi-jacked by the usual suspects during the evening, but these same suspects were allowed to continue on their merry way when they were merely destroying statues or preventing people from getting to work. Indeed, the police were kneeling and/or dancing with them in support.

  10. Good morning everyone.

    It appears that several countries are suspending their roll-out of the AZ vaccine due to concerns over blood clots:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-uk-cases-news-update-deaths-vaccine-latest-test/

    But don’t worry though: “The vaccine’s manufacturer has insisted it is safe, saying a review of available data in more than 17 million people who have been vaccinated across the UK and EU has shown no evidence of an increased risk.”

    This is effectively saying that they are basing their estimates of the safety of the vaccine on observing the reactions of the 17m people who have been vaccinated. Not, as might be more usual, after years of clinical trials.

    We are involved in the largest real-world clinical trial in human history. Are the participants being made aware of this? Doesn’t this contravene the Nuremburg Code?

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Morning JK,
      It most certainly contravenes the code of self assessing
      common sense that is for sure.

    2. Nuremberg? That was years ago, in another country. Anyway, it was the Americans who seized the Code machine- I’ve seen the film.

      1. By 1948 the British public had lost their appetite for witch hunts and Nuremberg trials (source Morningside Mata Haris).

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Rik,
      So clearly shown by the voting pattern of the last three decades especially.
      Check & weep.

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      You have revealed the real UKIPs quest under
      Gerard Batten and his one year leadership heading up the 5%.

    2. 330354+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      You have revealed the real UKIPs quest under
      Gerard Batten and his one year leadership heading up the 5%.

  14. SIR – The Duchess of Sussex has complained to Ofcom about Piers Morgan’s comments. To whom should I complain about the shocking inconsistencies in her interview?

    Susan Lister
    West Horndon, Essex

  15. Biden turns to disasters agency for help with migrant crisis at US borders. 15 March 2021.

    Joe Biden has enlisted the US agency normally charged with handling natural disasters to tackle the dramatic rise in the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the US-Mexico border.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been brought in “to help receive, shelter and transport the children”, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.

    A self-inflicted crisis one might remark. Come one. Come all. What could possibly go wrong!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/14/biden-turns-fema-help-migrant-crisis-us-borders/

    1. Morning Minty, he obviously saw Merkel with her come one, come all invitation and considered it a success. That has inflicted untold damage to Europe, he perhaps wishes to do the same to the US, his paymasters enemy.

    3. Send the children first. The extended family can come along later whey they’re settled.

  16. Good Moaning.

    Rats and double rats; and talking of rats, I was trying to post a list of MPs who voted against another 6 months of arbitrary rule.
    Hint: it was short.
    edit; It’s too early for thinking. It may have been the list from last September, I think the vote is next week. I’m sure a well informed NOTTLer will put me right.

    3. How likely is it that you will find Will Quince’s name on that list?

      Rumours that dozens, yes dozens of Tory MPs are a wee bit agitated over the coming vote. Sadly, we the people, need hundreds of them to do the right thing. In addition, Starmer has this vote as an opportunity to actually oppose the wrongdoing of Johnson for once: will he grasp it or prove beyond doubt that he is controlled opposition. Voting fodder rules Parliament on both sides of the House, sadly.

      1. I share your doubts; he is a junior minister and part of the payroll vote.
        He did resign once (I can’t remember why) but I’m not sure if he’d do it again.
        We will see; I think the vote is next week, but we’ve had too many eruptions of sound and fury signifying nothing to hold any hopes of a substantial number of MPs rediscovering any attachment to freedom.

        1. He was PPS at Defence and resigned over the Withdrawal Agreement Backstop not having an end date or a unilateral mechanism for exit.

      3. 330354+ up ticks,
        Morning KtK,
        The 650 are of the same ilk to some degree or tother having taken, proven over the last 30 years, the road to treachery.
        It still puzzles me how the likes of lab. is still an
        ongoing political element with the likes of the rotherham long term cover up in it’s recent history.

        Mind that history is equally shared by the lib dems & tories via the mass uncontrolled immigration ongoing campaign.

        The vote currently is for a better class of political shite taken in the polling booth under the three monkey supervision.

    4. 330354+ up ticks,
      Anne,
      My belief is that in reality the list does NOT exists as
      for & against, opposing sides within this tory ( ino) group
      does NOT exists.

      If such a list existed then surely an honest shout would be listened to and action taken for the benefit of ALL, has this ever happened ?

      IMO the tory (ino) group semi covert agenda ratchet has NO reverse.

  18. EU’s future of Europe conference in disarray with six presidents vying for control. 15 March 2021.

    Guy Verhofstadt , the European Parliament’s former Brexit coordinator, was expected to get the job leading the conference but, amid fears in Europe’s capitals that he is too federalist, the appointment was blocked

    In the end, a bizarre compromise was found between MEPs, EU member states and the European Commission. The conference will be led by the presidents of the commission, council and parliament.

    It will also have an executive board made up of three representatives, led by another president, and four observers from each of the three EU institutions.

    Despite Mr Verhofstadt branding the conference a “bureaucratic circus”, he will lead the parliament’s delegation, which has not been confirmed because it is not gender balanced.

    Great God Almighty! They are in a worse state than us!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/14/eus-future-europe-conference-disarray-six-presidents-vying-control/

    1. Talking of equal and diverse representations, how many of those presidents are bearded morris dancers? I demand 50%.

  19. Morning all

    SIR – Two wrongs do not make a right. The vigil for Sarah Everard at Clapham Common should not have taken place when Covid-19 is still rampant. However, the police response, which included tackling women to the ground and physically overpowering them, was equally wrong. The police were doing exactly what the women were protesting against.

    Mick Ferrie

    Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

    SIR – The policing at Clapham Common is receiving much criticism. However, in our modern, liberal society you get the type of policing the public and politicians demand.

    As a result, when put in situations involving confrontation – as they were on Saturday night – the police don’t have the experience or sense to use their discretion and act appropriately.

    The commander in Clapham should have realised that the crowd could not be dispersed safely. It would have been more sensible to identify the leaders and to get their help spreading the crowd in order to achieve orderly social distancing. A decision on whether to fine the organisers could have been taken at a later date.

    Advertisement

    Britain needs to decide what sort of police force it wants: one that enforces the law or one that lets people do what they want, no matter how serious the consequences.

    Peter Amey

    Hoveton, Norfolk

    SIR – The tragic events of the past week have led many to make urgent calls for a different approach to violence against women. In contrast, there is apparently little urgency to bring to justice many of those who are already alleged to be violent, manipulative or abusive.

    Criminal cases involving serious domestic violence are being kicked down the road, along with the hopes of victims. It is common today to see cases listed for trial in late 2022 as the criminal justice system creaks.

    There is no doubt that such delays make successful prosecutions less likely, and therefore women less safe.

    Oliver Doherty

    London EC4

    SIR – One of the most unjust things in cases of domestic abuse is a perpetrator driving their victim and children out of the family home. This can not only leave them homeless, but also removes victims from their support networks.

    Advertisement

    We know that specialist refuge services remain a vital step for those who have exhausted all other options to remain safely in their home. There is, however, more that the Government could and should do to help survivors who wish to stay.

    Like the devolved nations, we need to tackle the housing barriers these survivors face, and prevent them from having to carry the practical, economic and emotional burden of starting again.

    With the support of experts and social landlords, we are proposing an amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill that would deliver a solution for victims in a joint tenancy in social housing. Our legal mechanism would improve the existing complex, costly and uncertain legal routes for victims to secure a tenancy transfer. Currently, this can cost survivors up to £25,000 and does not even guarantee a positive outcome.

    Our amendment, which allows time to assess the impact of a similar change in Scotland, would not only support wider measures in the Government’s Bill, but would also address a core need for people experiencing domestic abuse – safe and stable housing.

    Advertisement

    Baroness Deech (Crossbench)

    Baroness Burt of Solihull (LibDem)

    Lord Young of Cookham (Con)

    Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab)

    SIR – If a woman is out walking late at night some might say it is her fault if she is assaulted. Many women have no choice, because their job involves shift work and they rely on public transport. One of these jobs is nursing.

    Hannah Hunt

    Wendover, Buckinghamshire

    1. Anyone saying such a thing should have their bumps read and maybe the police should take a note of their names. Only someone with an agenda would ever say that. The same goes for anyone who says that all men should be off the streets before 6PM or any other time either.

  20. When size matters

    SIR – When we took over our quarters on a new posting (Letters, March 12), the result of my husband’s promotion, he discovered that, because of the size of the garden, the regulations entitled us to a motor mower, for which he applied.

    The next day, the fence at the bottom of the garden was moved nearer the house so we were no longer eligible.

    Rosemary Walshe

    Ryde, Isle of Wight

    SIR – I recently ordered a new lavatory seat (Letters, March 11) from Amazon and noticed that one customer had asked if it was dishwasher safe.

    Mark Solon

    London E1

  21. SIR – Now the dust is settling we should take a more measured look at the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ interview with Oprah Winfrey.

    First, it was less an interview and more a two-hour promotion for the book and media deals the couple have struck since moving to America. It was designed to stir up emotions and generate headlines.

    Secondly, Meghan Markle was not a naive schoolgirl when she met Prince Harry. She was a divorced actress and self-appointed voice for woke causes, who knew her way around television and media channels.

    Thirdly, she claimed to know nothing about the Royal family, but I’m sure the role she played last week was well researched and honed to perfection.

    It is sad she has hurt so many people to get where she is today, and now also trashed a family that welcomed her.

    Lynn Pearson

    Northend, Buckinghamshire

    1. “It is sad she has hurt so many people…”

      She is going to hurt a lot more if news from the US has any credibility. She is apparently planning to run for President! And I thought that Biden was useless.

      I think that she has mental health ‘issues’ and such an overblown ego that it is an illness in itself!

      1. I wouldn’t read too much into that. It’s all part of the script.

        Very likely, it was part of the Netflix agreement same as when their predecessors the Kardashians had to get Kanye West to run.

        1. Makes good (bad) headlines. Which is why PR agencies suggest such things. All stuff and nonsense.

      2. “…… the only nation to go from barbarism to decadence without an intervening stage of culture.”

        But surely even Americans would not be so stupid as to elect a woman like that?

        Hold on – they have Biden as president now even though he is even shorter on brains, judgement honesty than he was on votes.

    2. Even by scrolling away as fast as you can you still get covered in some of this shit.

      I regret to say i had a dream/nightmare in the early hours of this morning.

      I saw Meghan falling from a high building. She had jumped.

      Obviously now that all of the real world dislikes her it was the only way to get sympathy for a narcissistic personality.

      I often have unsettling dreams involving heights but it is normally me doing the falling.

      1. Good morning Phizzee

        Whadaya think of this then ?

        Let’s see the evidence that I’m a bully, Meghan Markle challenges Buckingham Palace

        The Duchess of Sussex has written to Buckingham Palace to request evidence in relation to bullying allegations against her.

        The palace has instructed a law firm to handle the inquiry into the claims. The Times reported earlier this month that the duchess faced a bullying complaint from one of her closest advisers during her time at Kensington Palace.

        The complaint was made in October 2018 and claims that she drove two personal assistants out of the household and was undermining the confidence of a third member of staff. The duchess denies the allegations.

        Buckingham Palace announced that it would carry out a review of the allegations after this newspaper’s reports.

        Yesterday The Mail on Sunday reported that Meghan had requested “documents, emails or text messages”

        (She is without any doubt a bully, and I wonder what her pet dog thinks of all of this )

        1. And if she is given the evidence that proves beyond all doubt that she is a narcissistic bully then she will say that this is false or forged evidence. As that fat American woman said she was given the chance to tell her truth – but her truth has very little to do with the truth.

          Of course we can see and know what a thoroughly nasty person she is – but the horror is that so many people are taken in by her.

        2. And if she is given the evidence that proves beyond all doubt that she is a narcissistic bully then she will say that this is false or forged evidence. As that fat American woman said she was given the chance to tell her truth – but her truth has very little to do with the truth.

          Of course we can see and know what a thoroughly nasty person she is – but the horror is that so many people are taken in by her.

      2. Phizzee , your dreams are understandable, the anxiety with regard to present health state will appear in your dreams .

        I looked this little bit of info up .. make of it what you want .

        As with most common dream themes, falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. .

        I sometimes dream that I am stuck to the ceiling !

        1. Last night I dreamed I was eating a giant marshmallow – when I woke up the pillow had gone

        2. Good morning, Belle.

          It is true that i suffer low level anxiety. It often results in me blurting out what is on the autocue in my head.

          Though some of the funniest things i have said that made people laugh occurred in this way.

          This has been with me all my life. Not just because of my health or lockdown/covid.

          Do you have an interpretation for your dream? Like mine of falling yours sounds similar in a way. A feeling of helplessness. Or not being fully in control.

  22. Syria War. 10 Bloody years. 15 March 2021.

    Numerous political and armed opposition groups emerged, spurred on by Western leaders including Barack Obama calling for Assad to step down. As protests intensified, the authorities cracked down and, within months, the situation descended into fighting.

    Soon, the fight was joined by groups driven by their religious beliefs.

    A cuddly euphemism for the Jihadists. Lol! To grasp the nature of this support it is necessary to have an idea of arms requirement in modern warfare. At this stage (prior to Russian involvement) of hostilities, the Syrian Army, equipped with tanks, air support and all the paraphernalia of a modern army was being written off on a daily basis. Whole convoys of advanced arms and munitions must have been crossing the Turkish border on a massive scale. All orchestrated and organised by the Western Intelligence Agencies.

    https://news.sky.com/story/ten-years-of-war-in-syria-why-the-conflict-began-who-was-involved-and-the-consequences-12246470

    1. All sorts of agendas were being played out in Syria, and Western Intelligence Agencies were just one of the mix.

      The neo-Ottomans were eager to resume their customary slaughter of Kurds, going on for many centuries ever since the Ottomans claimed their control of the Caliphate by wiping out the ancient and tolerant Kurdish confederacy.

      The Israelis were eager to engineer a destabilisation of Syria to prevent any concerted attempted to win back the Golan Heights, threatening an important strategic defence post as well as settlements there.

      Both were content to use the services of Islamic State to this end.

      The Iranian Islamic revolutionaries were determined to hold up their alliances with Shias all over the Middle East being trodden underfoot by Sunnis in a catfight that has been going on ever since Fatima fell out with Aisha.

      The Americans were keen to be the good guys, at least in the eyes of any allies in the region that are good for business.

      The Russians equally so, but rather less fearlessly when it comes to killing people.

      The Saudis equally so, since they had spent a fortune doing up Mecca and need a goodly supply of customers to buy luxury goods and fill up those 7 star hotel rooms overlooking the Kaabah.

      British BTL commenters on rogue uncensored forum websites want something better to do than getting the fluff out of their navels.

    2. Before the clamp down on real news reporting i saw a convoy of pickup trucks with Jihaddi’s waving their guns.

      There must have been 50 trucks in the convoy. All brand new. All the same colour.

      The reason i knew they were new is because no vehicle that regularly uses desert tracks looks that clean and sparkling.

      The question i asked myself then was ‘who supplied them?’.

      The same question is relevant to the continued supply of dinghies in the channel.

      I can only concur the reason for non-investigation is because the authorities already know or do not care.

      We are being constantly lied to.

      Good morning, Minty.

      1. Morning Phizzee. Yes we now live in a Fake Reality where the truth has been abolished! Only by careful thought can you wheedle out what is really happening!

        1. End of the road for Black Boy Lane: Officials are to spend £186,000 to rename London street
          Labour-run council decided to change Black Boy Lane after last year’s protests

          It will give a ‘voluntary’ £300 payment to 183 homes impacted by name change
          It will also spend £50,000 on a salary to a support officer to help those affected

          Hundreds of streets in England and Wales are at risk of being renamed by councils over fears they have links to slavery and colonialism, according to a report from think-tank Policy Exchange.

          Haringey Council is unsure about the context of the street’s name and historians say it is likely to have come from a former pub nearby called the Black Boy, which was the nickname for King Charles II.

          Councillor Joseph Ejiofor, leader of Haringey Council, said its proposal ‘seeks to ensure that our monuments, building, place and street names are reflective of our values, and the culture and diversity… in our borough’.
          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9361963/End-road-Black-Boy-Lane-Officials-spend-186-000-rename-London-street.html

          1. Well I hope the dipstick voters of Haringey who voted for these idiots enjoy funding these preposterous handouts from increased Council taxes…

          2. Probably many of them qualify for reduced or no rates because they don’t work and are on benefits 🙁

      2. I asked that question about the trucks at the time. Our special ops chaps could have had a look at some of these trucks and checked the VIN numbers as well as the parts for indication of manufacturer. Very few vehicles are made of unmarked parts, and most include lots of bits bought in to the assembly plant. (Our Peugeot van was assembled in France but some parts were made in Hungary.) The trucks could then have been be traced back to the manufacturer and the members of the Board of Directors could all have had fatal accidents.
        That did not happen. Presumably because there was some political reason, via contorted thinking, that prevented it. During WW2 we worked very hard to locate and destroy the vehicle factories of the enemy.
        I doubt that we will ever know what nefarious skullduggery was working to keep our enemies, the jihadis, well stocked with supplies of all kinds.
        We can be certain that our very own treacherous UK politicians were instrumental in keeping the conflict ongoing against the interests of the people of the UK

  23. Am I the only one who thinks Johnson’s water cannons which were never used could have found their purpose in life over the past 12 months, Clapham being the latest example.

    2. Too obvious a sign of oppression. They prefer to be more subtle so they can still virtue signal.

  24. A second Good morning all.
    Absolutely lovely sunshine ½ an hour ago, but by the time I’d made my tea it became overcast and rather dull up here! A somewhat less chilly 3°C in the yard.

    Surprise, surprise! The BTL section of the Letters Page is still open!

  25. The Scandal of UK Legal Net Zero.

    In 2018, Conservative think tank “Bright Blue” was commissioned to write an environmental report which concluded with the recommendation that the UK government should legislate for legal Net Zero.

    Theresa May accepted the recommendation and legislated in June 2019. It was one of the last significant acts of her government.

    Who paid for the “Bright Blue” report ?

    Among others, the billion dollar green investor George Soros’ foundation Open Society London and the wind industry !

    Interestingly, soon after stepping down as PM, Theresa May started a series of 8 one hour free to attend speeches for which she was paid a total of approx $1,250,000 plus expenses.

    At Brown University on Long Island, the next booked speaker after Theresa May was none other than arch money launderer Bill Clinton.

    Theresa May was scheduled to make more speeches but these were postponed due to lockdown.

    No matter. She was paid for the speeches anyway.

  26. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a095d6d64d9021139e579c89b8ed53584471cc026574c11ac64226b3c514f213.png Do not despair, Rosie Rushton. 11 years ago, when I was living in Norfolk, the oven element on my 10-year old Creda cooker went kaput! I rang Creda and ordered a new one for £99. When it arrived I needed an electrician to install it. My neighbour told me of one in the village who was trustworthy. I contacted this man.

    The first thing he did on arriving at my home was to give me a sound bollocking! He told me that I ought to have contacted him before going to Creda since he could source the same item for a fraction of the price I had paid.

    I went on to discover a group of professional tradesmen within the village who all vouched for each other, did a wonderful job, and were not overpriced. They relied on word-of-mouth testimonials and excellent workmanship.

    Genuine Creda parts, or reliable similar items made by other companies, are available if you know who to contact.

    1. other Yo Mr Grizzle

      She could fix the C-on-T problem by getting a £35 Halogen oven. Could use it for lots of other things as well, a lot more cheapesterer than using the big oven

      1. Yo, Mr Effort.

        Thanks for that. I shall have to look into getting one of those for myself. Swedish stoves have only one oven and I miss my double oven from the UK. If I want to roast something and toast something at the same time I am unable to.

          1. I’ve had a halogen oven for about six years. I’ve hardly used my gas oven since. It takes a bit of experimentation to get timings right but I wouldn’t be without it now. I bought a model with a hinged lid so I don’t need the extra space for the removeable lid.

          2. If you take the stand off one, it just fits inside the caravan gas oven:
            safe to travel, easy and cheap to use
            If needed, you can change the heating elements.
            If the electrical bit goes totally bosoms up, you have a great Punch Bowl, or a glass for your evening G&T

    2. Good morning, Grizzly

      You cannot buy proper bacon in France – indeed the French are blindly and arrogantly xenophobic as far as food and cuisine from other countries is concerned and as a result they miss out on much that is excellent.

      Caroline prepares and smokes her own bacon – as you do – and there is nothing better than a grilled bacon sandwich with decent bread and decent bacon.

      1. Good afternoon, Rastus.

        It is quite a coincidence, you writing that whilst I was out at the shop buying some pork to cure my next batch of bacon. I’ve just eaten the last rashers of my previous batch.

        Swedish bacon (like their butter) is inedible so it is always “sleeves rolled-up” time if I wish to eat decent food.

    3. Good morning, Grizzly

      You cannot buy proper bacon in France – indeed the French are blindly and arrogantly xenophobic as far as food and cuisine from other countries is concerned and as a result they miss out on much that is excellent.

      As a result, like you, Caroline prepares and smokes her own bacon and there is nothing better than a grilled bacon sandwich with decent bread and decent bacon.

    1. I watched my recording of Dave Allan the other night Anne and the sound of my own laughter actually startled me.

      1. Good morning, Minty

        I start by enjoying Dave Allan’s humour but I have to admit that it does not take long before I start to find him very boring. Other funny people manage to hold my attention for far longer.

    2. You’re not allowed to laugh because of the consequences of what happened in New York in 1996.

        2. Yes, because in April 1996, George Soros held a private meeting with Tony Blair at the New York Plaza Hotel to exchange election funding and bank rolling for election 1997 from Soros for policy and legislation from Blair if he won in 1997. The same thing later happened between Soros and Obama in 2008. Soros was the Bank of New Labor.

          The New York Plaza meeting, recently discovered with 100% reliable evidence and proof, was the foundation of 13 years of New Labor. Also carried forward into the Coalition and Conservative administartions.

          UK Prime Ministers since 1997, and probably 1990, have all been doing what George Soros wanted. That’s where the money came from, and that’s why most UK policy is the same as Soros policy.

          Speech laws are Soros laws to protect the Soros progressive globalist revolution and that’s why you can’t have a laugh.

          2. That’s why John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron all ”forgot” to mention George Soros or his billion dollar foundation, Open Society London in their autobiographies.

            Because they’ve got something to hide.

            What’s more Tony Blair sold his new best friend, George Soros, valuable state assets in low price sweetheart deals which Soros sold on for massive profits.

            Then there is the complex story of the 1999 low price gold auctions. This looks a shorting operation by Soros with inside information from Blair or Brown.

            So no wonder they don’t want to talk about Soros !

          3. That’s why John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron all ”forgot” to mention George Soros or his billion dollar foundation, Open Society London in their autobiographies.

            Because they’ve got something to hide.

            What’s more Tony Blair sold his new best friend, George Soros, valuable state assets in low price sweetheart deals which Soros sold on for massive profits.

            Then there is the complex story of the 1999 low price gold auctions. This looks a shorting operation by Soros with inside information from Blair or Brown.

            So no wonder they don’t want to talk about Soros !

    3. Happily watching the complete series, up to season 3 now, I need to go back to series one again (1992ish) as in one of the early episodes a reference to a scandal at the BBC and Jimmy Saville was mentioned in passing to another line.

  29. A couple of BTL Comments:-

    John Langdale
    15 Mar 2021 6:46AM
    Before these comments disappear today I think it is worth noting that the reaction of the Identity Politics Warriors to the tragic death of Sarah Everhard is bearing a sinister resemblance to what happened when George Floyd was killed.

    In the wake of that event the message pushed was that ”All White people are bad.” In the last few days it has become “All Men are bad.”

    I believe all reasonable and proportionate measures should be taken to avoid further repetitions of what happened to Sarah. But I don’t believe that these include demonizing the entire half of the population which is born male.

    Flag36UnlikeReply

    norman smith
    15 Mar 2021 7:26AM
    @John Langdale we’re running out of knees to bend

    Flag8LikeReply

    Robert Spowart
    15 Mar 2021 7:57AM
    @John Langdale Exactly my thoughts. It’s as if they were waiting for the “Correct” victim and perpetrator before beginning a prearranged campaign, especially when you consider the lack of response to the murder & dismemberment of Lorraine Cox in Exeter last year.

    Delete10LikeReply

  32. Belarus dictator ‘wins’ ski competition after rival takes a tumble. 15 March 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9267b5566d80c9b7487252626e317fa121e309e65372b41ed87f981a37a72609.jpg

    Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukahshenko won a governmental skiing competition at the weekend, but only a competitor fell over several times in an apparent bid to hand him victory.

    In a clip widely shared on social media, an unidentified competitor falls over four times in less than a minute, allowing Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet nation for more than two decades, to glide past him.

    This guy probably causes Vlad more angst than Navalny on steroids. He’s a fat unreconstructed Soviet era Marxist buffoon who has outlived his time five-fold. To do Putin credit he has tried to get rid of him but he’s immune to either criticism or common sense. One could understand sending him a dollop of Real Novichok but the old reprobate would probably be as immune to it as everyone else is to the Fake Variety!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/14/belarus-dictator-wins-ski-competition-rival-takes-tumble/

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Would have met his match with my ex commander in chief
      BIG DADA amin.
      They made a dozen industrial tramps working on a cement plant field officers in the Uganda parachute regiment, out of Jinja barracks, able to travel in the Torro district.

      Big dada all time champion of everything inclusive of crib.

        1. 330354 + Up ticks,
          Afternoon T,
          King’s African rifles was he not ? no crib champion though, he always dodged me on my time there.

    2. Just wondering how you know that Mr Lukahshenko causes his Russian counterpart more angst than Mr Navalny? From the report, it appears they are pals, having skiied and snowboarded together at a recent meeting in Sochi. In addition, Lukahshenko refused the offer of WHO money, etc in return for his country locking down as we all did. As much as he is a dictator, at least he did something right for once.

    3. I suspect that Lukahshenko is so rock hard he would flourish on Novichok. It’s probably a vast improvement on the food and water in Belarus.

    1. I wonder how long the residents of the IoM would put up with zero food etc coming onto the island, because the ferries could initially only operate once every 21 days and the Ferry companies quickly ceased to operate at all, having gone bust..

      1. Morning Sos, the point that struck me was the fact that despite a rigorously enforced isolation policy which eventually allowed a return to normality on the island, the virus has returned when the smallest chink occurs in the isolation armour.
        It seems to me this is another example where we need to protect our old and vulnerable, the rest needs to start living again. Lockdowns doesn’t give a long term answer.
        We will never be able to banish deaths in our communities, wishing for it will not make it so.

  34. Good morning all,

    7 am blue sky, and sunshine when the dogs galloped into the garden.
    Grey skies now and a slight breeze and brrrr chilly .

    Lilac tree is bursting into life and peach tree with blossom buds are about to break, far too early !

  35. 330354+ up ticks,
    Add pin stripe & ermine to that then you have a full blown FACT,

    lostcreatives
    @lostcreatives1
    ·
    1h
    Replying to
    @Adam_Stratford_
    the classic technique of the white coat. if someone appears to be an authority then belief is automatic.

      1. Civis romanus sum.

        Was her citizenship revoked by a jury composed of twelve of her peers? Or some politicians scared of the truth?
        I quote from the BBC website:
        “Is she entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship?
        Expert (sic) lawyers with experience in Bangladeshi citizenship cases have told the
        BBC that under Bangladesh law, a UK national like Ms Begum, if born to a
        Bangladeshi parent, is automatically a Bangladeshi citizen. That means
        that such a person would have dual nationality.
        If the person remains in the UK, their Bangladeshi citizenship remains in existence but dormant.”
        Boris Johnson PM, formerly a US citizen and a dual national, possibly entitled to apply for Turkish or Israeli citizenship.
        Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary, son of a Jewish immigrant from Czechoslovakia.
        Rishi Sunak, African born parents of Punjabi ancestry.

        Priti Patel, parents born in Africa (we think) but they still maintain links to family in Gujarat.
        Hmm, looks like the four Great Offices of State are currently held by people who are scarcely more English than Shamima.

        ( just an observation, as I have no intention of upsetting or offending any immigrants or their children)

      1. Morning Sue – I am afraid she is that lady.
        The picture is getting a bit of adverse attention on the still active DT letters page comments.

    4. Is she deliberately putting herself in danger by not wearing the traditional Muslim head gear?

    5. “Look at me – I’ve changed (attitude and dress). I should be allowed to return to the UK because I am ‘one of you'”.

    9. Good. Let her come home and face the music.
      Miss Begum was a 15 year old British schoolgirl, a juvenile, when she successfully tricked and deceived
      1) her family
      2) an international airline company
      3) a ground handling company when checking in at London Gatwick airport
      4) whatever branch of Capita or Pennywise Ltd that is subcontracted to inspect passports and ID in order to be certain that the bearer is without any doubt the person named and described on that document
      5) the security scanner operators, possibly also part of Pennywise Ltd
      6) the groundhandlers at the Departure Lounge
      7) the canin crew on the aeroplane
      8) immigration officials at some airport in Turkey
      9) and not forgetting the Home Secretary, namely the Right Honorable Theresa May, the Home Office, the Police and the Security Services. All those hundreds of people have two things in common:
      i) they are adults, and
      ii) they are paid to do a job or undertake a function.
      Did they fail? Did anyone lose their job? Were crimes committed by Daesh as a consequence of their actions and inactions?

      Compare and contrast how the CPS are keen to extradite male child molesters from Thailand back to the UK, but are reluctant to prosecute a young Londoner ‘of colour’ who is now accessible to journalists and photographers.
      Shamima Begum has allegedly been a party to some violent crimes when abroad, but she has also shone a floodlight on inadequate security procedures throughout UK airports and seaports.

      And that is why the British establishment is scared sh*tless of her.

      edited ‘m’ for ‘n’ .

  37. I find myself in a quandary, again.

    The Metropolitan Police – one of whose number is on remand charged with the murder of a woman – set about crushing a protest by women who claimed that the streets weren’t safe. Stupidity and crassness of the highest order – especially from the same Farce that had knelt for the BLM riots, and danced with XR.

    However – the woman arrested on Saturday is, apparently, a well-known trouble-maker, stirrer and fan of BLM and anti-establishment “protests”. She deliberately confronted and provoked the Plod – almost demanding to be made an example.

    Should the plod have ignored her?

    1. Morning Bill. She looked suspicious. There seems to be pool of Woke labour available on demand for any cause that crops up!

      1. Did that vivid red hair come out of a bottle as a symbol of the genie she planned to release?

      2. That was so in the early sixties.

        It would appear that woke organisers nowadays are using the same methods….and possibly to get the same people into power.

    2. The more that the people who are actually behind these protests are exposed, the greater the possibility that more in the MSM will do a little more digging. (yeah, yeah I know…)

      2. The MSM has abdicated – it no longer feels any responsibility towards the truth. Indeed the MSM’s truth is about as true as The Duchess of Sussex’s truth.

        1. I keep hoping there will come a tipping point, when the reporters themselves are regularly caught up my this garbage and find themselves cancelled, that the analysis will start and a fight back begin.

          As BT says, naive, the point has passed and there is no proper MSM reporting and there won’t be again.

          1. I regret to say it but I am sure you are right.

            We’re beyond the point of no return.

            (One of the signs of my approaching senility is that a significant cliché or line in a forgotten song that I haven’t heard for years comes back into my head!)

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOzVZ4_pBrU

    3. Perhaps they should have formed a tight circle around her with their backs to her and if she tried to force her way through arrested her for assault?

    4. Politicians have inflicted the CV regulations on us, now they complain the the police have enforced the law. Terrible things happen in life every day, I see no reason why certain groups should be exempt from the regs.

    5. The leftie agitators usually gate crash right leaning protests….

      Now they are turning on their own.

      I remember the poll tax riots when the thugs attacked a LABOUR councillor.

    6. There is a Met. WPC with a twitter account (@PC_Milk) that twittered the following after the disturbances :-

      https://twitter.com/pc_milk/status/1370848683814715396

      Tonight’s Virgil for Sarah. A female officers point of view..

      “It started with mainly only female officers overlooking a civil vigil. When numbers grew and social distancing seized more officers were called.
      When police officers tried to crowd control and remove people from stamping on flowers for Sarah they refused. Then it kicked off
      Then I saw people being arrested and my colleagues being assaulted when trying to transport said prisoner.
      Then I saw our vehicles being vandalised with spray with the word ACAB and a mirror being smashed.
      Then I thought what would Sarah’s family think about this?
      Then I saw and heard my colleagues being abused. They were called murderes, rapists, a female colleague was told it should have been her. And we were told to arrest each other. This is not ok.
      Sarah’s family and friends have been so gracious under the circumstances. I do not believe they would want this to happen. If it was me I would not want this to happen. Stop think and be civil we are all humans and we all are angry at what happened. We do not need more violence.
      I am a woman. I am a police officer. I am very proud of being both. This week has me exhausted. Physically from the job and mentally by all this.
      We are not at fault for what happened because if we knew we would have done what we could to stop it.
      To finalise this rant, to my colleagues: I am proud of you. You were insulted beyond what we are used to. We stand by our uniform, we’re proud to carry this warrant card so we can uphold the great office of Constable. Thank you for being there today hope you are all ok.”

      2. That doesn’t sound like a spontaneous protest by normal people, it sounds more like the antifa rent-a-mob.

        1. I get the feeling that it started peacefully enough even thought the organisers cancelled it and the Family asked them not to do it but then undoubtably in my mind it was hijacked by malign forces to cause discord and an excuse for more BLM/ER/ANTIFA/Marxist nonsense.

      2. It would have been much better if any arrest could have been made without recourse to violence.

        1. As a matter of interest, given the individual in question, how would you have set about doing so?

    8. They should have known who she was. Then they could have reacted appropriately. But that takes ‘intelligence’.

      Good morning.

      2. They should have recognised her from XR and BLM riots. But possibly they were too busy dancing or kneeling.

    9. a well-known trouble-maker,

      From what i have seen of the film footage and photo’s, it looked as if she had considered the outcome of her over blown protest and had dressed for the occasion. Why would any one wear a skirt and leggings, with padding around their ankles ?

    10. Plod should know better, and not agree to play the same games as the others. See what damage it has done in the eyes of people who don’t know she is an activist, but what hey see is a young woman being attacked by big blokes in uniforms.
      IMHO, whether she is an activist or not does not excuse the thuggish behaviour by Plod in the tiniest. Would they have preferred to shoot her instead?

  39. Maybe it would be better if Plod arrested Boris Johnson and every Prime Minister since 1990 and questioned them all about corruption ?

    Instead of focusing on the little people, let’s question the people at the top who have ruined the country because of bribery and caused so much trouble in the first place.

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Morning PP,
      Current lab/lib/con coalition members / voters would NOT
      hear of it.

  40. Monday morning is fire alarm testing every week at about 9am in my court………..
    Today the bloody alarm has got stuck on and damned loud it is too,judging by the resident response gawd help us if there’s ever a real fire on Monday morning…………….

  41. Notice the MSM today are running side effects from the vaccine articles today.

    Unsurprising since Boris Johnson had the vaccine and now has a haystack growing on top of his head.

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Morning H,
      He did have it did he ?
      I agree to when summonsing him it we should use his new title of rick, as in hay rick.

      Difference also being a bad haircut can be fixed in two weeks, not so the johnson actions.

        1. 330354+ up ticks,
          Nice one H,
          I met the real item once an apprentice thatcher in a pub in Sawbridgeworth many years ago, no uni, straight to the top of his game, the roof, probably now a multimillionaire.

    2. More likely they are worried that the Tories are doing well in the opinion polls. Hence also why ‘COVID and care homes’ articles are now doing the rounds again. It wasn’t ministers that pushed untested people into care homes, it was NHS/PHE (and equivalents in the devolved regions) management.

      Whilst I’m no proponent of the COVID vaccines, because they haven’t been tested over the long term (5-10 years), especially as they are being touted for the entire population (now including children), the ‘blood clots’ story is, I believe, a smokescreen for a deliberate bad publicity campaign by the EU in retribution for them being shown up as petty and vindictive over their ‘export bans’ a few weeks ago.

      Side effects of medicines are commonplace, especially when it is the entire population being vaccinated. What seems to be forgotten is the very small numbers of those affected and ONLY in one country. I wonder if the media has even bothered to check to see any link between those people affected? I doubt it. Like with BLM, Meghan Markle and the recent murder, they only car about sensationalist headlines and the resulting ‘speculation’ that generates anger and hopefully more copy/ad revenue.

      Perhaps the Telegraph could put some of the Gates Foundation’s $3.4M to good use and PROPERLY investigate (for once)?

      1. You are right…

        The thing that bugs me is how the EU and the UK are working in unison using incompetence as the excuse like how the delays on the Continent are preventing people going on holiday even though we are ahead of the bunch with the vaccines.

        Below is a link to more than 50 articles linked to adverse effects from the vaccine that don’t appear in the MSM.

        https://vernoncoleman.org/articles/how-many-people-are-vaccines-killing

      1. Apart from the beard (and the skin colour) that looks like the Obesity Specialist Nurse at our GPs.

      2. I actually met Martin Austin Ruane (a.k.a. ‘Luke McMasters’) at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court, where he was appealing to keep his driving licence after being caught speeding on the M1.

        He was so huge he wouldn’t fit in the witness box so had to stand alongside it. I’ve seldom met a more likeable and mild-mannered man who spoke very clearly and softly, quite belying his size. The chairman of the bench (a woman) couldn’t resist fluttering her eyelashes at him as she mischievously wagged her finger and told him that she would not be suspending him from driving on this occasion.

        1. 311 kilos? Bally heck. Even being the height he was the strain on his heart, lungs, limbs must been awful for him.

  44. Otto Preminger described Marilyn Monroe as:
    A Vacuum With Nipples.

    Anyone in the news you might use that description for?

    Answers on a postcard…

    1. Otto Preminger was a thoroughly disliked bully and adulterer. He only made one film with Marilyn Monroe, “River of No Return”. I know who I’d rather have had dinner with.

    3. Here is a fascinating interview, many years ago in 1959, on Face to Face with Dame Edith Sitwell. If you look at what she says about Marilyn Monroe, whom she knew, at 20.35 you will see that she, of all people, had a high opinion of her.

      (I particularly like the way she described her mode of dress at the beginning of the conversation)!

      https://youtu.be/Q5l3UPlO60M

      1. I am NOT endorsing Premiunger NOR casting a slur on MM!

        I am just using his qote to refer to someone or other in the public eye at the moment!

  46. I am fed up with the chatterati and the BAME communities, and worthless, bent soi-disant non white left-wing “academics” railing against our history because the black Africans of long ago sold their children, and their prisoners of tribal warfare into slavery.
    I do not think that this is happening in other countries of Europe. This may be because blacks are even more repressed in other countries than they are here.
    The historical records of most countries in Europe are far more shameful than that of the UK, and with no redeeming features whatsoever.
    Belgium. See Congo Free State, one third the size of Europe and personally owned by the King of Belgium, and brutality.
    France. See various, including Guiana and slavery, and Indo-China. (Also Devil’s Island of course)
    Germany. See Namibia, German East Africa, NW Africa etc, and slavery.
    Holland. See Indonesia.
    Portugal. See Brazil and slavery. ( Don’t bother about Goa.)
    Spain. See Mexico and butchery, and most of South America, and slavery.
    Also,
    Of the 6m Jews killed in the Holocaust, 400,000 were German. The other 5.6 m were handed over by the other countries of Europe.

    How did we ever, ever, think that any kind of political alliance with any of these people was a good idea?

    1. Morning Horace

      The third world is having too much of a say , they were welcomed to Britain by previous governments , their presence here is now a thorn in the flesh . They have arrived in Europe where life ticks over nicely and the infrastructure has been set in place for centuries .

      I always assumed they felt protected and safe in Britain, they have been housed , educated an their health protected , by and large we have left them alone in their own communities to get on with their own lives and by their small contributions to the economy of the UK .

      What gives them the right to interfere and criticise the very culture that has welcomed protected and supported them from the violence and tribal nastiness’s they readily abandoned to reach Britain?

      I just don’t get it .

      They are uncultured and unappreciative of the hand that feeds them .

      1. Considering that greed was their motivator, did you think that greed would end simply because they were given everything for nothing?

      1. Well, they did attack the West with a bioweapon just over a year go, but I note that they now supply the cotton buds sold by Lidl, as well as all domestic appliances available in the UK, of course.

  47. A Little Girl’s Fairy Tale

    This is the Fairy Tale that should have been read to all little girls

    Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess, happened upon a frog, as she sat contemplating ecological issues on the bank of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb58f123aa320362573d2291d18a49afbbf8b744507bd8b026302654e33ab36d.jpg
    The frog hopped into the princess’ lap and said, “Elegant lady, I was once a handsome prince until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. However, one kiss from you and I shall turn back into the dapper young prince that I am and then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in your castle, with my mother, where you can:

    Prepare my meals
    Clean my clothes
    Bear my children and
    Forever feel grateful and happy so doing.”

    That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on lightly sautéed frog legs, seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce, she chuckled and thought to herself,

    “I don’t fuckin’ think so.”

    1. A young lad was at the local village dance and he noticed an attractive young lass in a corner on her own and she was in a wheelchair. he went over to her and chatted, kept her company for the whole evening, bought her drinks etc because he felt kinda sorry for her. he asked if he could see her home to which she agreed. her home was up a long windy lane through the woods. He wheeled her wheelchair along the lane occasionally stopping for a cuddle and further on a kiss or two. It was obvious they were attracted to one another and eventually she said “Why don’t we stop and make love”He siad that would be difficult with her in a wheelchair but she said “See that tree over there – it has a fork in it about 3ft off the ground, put me in that fork with a leg over each branch” He did this and they made love. Afterwards he wheeled her to her house and found her father waiting for her at the door. He feared the worst but father invited him in, gave him a dring and asked if he’d like something to eat. The lad said “This is very kind of you” Father replied “Well I’m grateful for you seeing her home” Lad replied “Oh it was nothing, why”
      The father said ” You’re the first one not to leave her in the tree!”

    1. I’m wondering if the blood clots were due to physical inactivity, rather like people who get DVT after long-haul flights or sitting too long generally. Trying to separate fact from fiction or even just speculation at this point is very difficult, which I’m sure some are happy with. What a shame that the media are not on the ball in all this, concentrating on survival at all costs or political agendas.

      1. In Dr Vernon Coleman’s video that I put up yesterday he explains that not interacting with others has an adverse reaction on the immune system (rather like exposing children to the elements to build theirs) the wearing of masks and the lack of sunshine being more dangerous than covid itself.

        1. I think that outside of health professional wearing masks and using them exactly as directed, or people using dust masks doing building work (and only for the uses they are specifically designed for and as directed), I agree that it is a complete waste of time and probably detrimental to our immune systems for ordinary citizens to wear masks, especially non- high medical grade ones, to try and ‘stop’ the spread of COVID, or any other virus.

          Ordinary people will fiddle with their (likely ill-fitting or uncomfortable) mask (e.g. Joe Biden), contaminating it with whatever they’ve been touching since they last washed their hands. The mask then becomes a breeding ground for all manner of nasties – COVID included – which are slowly breathed in by the wearer.

          I understand that mouth infections have gone up quite a bit after the ‘mask mandates’ were in place around the world, not just because dentists have been shuttered in some countries.

          It’s one of the reasons why, as a mild asthma sufferer (house dust mites only) I wear an exemption badge when in shops, etc, because using the mask can (and has) set off my wheezing because the mask is made of cloth and would’ve picked up some dust, etc before use. I cannot afford to buy and keep changing loads of medical grade masks either.

          Even if I wasn’t exempt, I still wouldn’t use them because of the above – which was proven by that Danish study, amongst many before and which Fauci himself admitted was true, before doing a u-turn because of pressure from elsewhere.

          Best defence against COVID – healthy diet, regular outdoor exercise in the fresh air and sunshine (vitamin D), interract with people (mental health), enjoy yourself, work…

          As you say, viruses only die out if our immune systems can a) handle them by being healthy and b) via interracting with eachother to prime them by, yes, catching them. REALLY nasty viruses will kill the already sick/those in poor health/housing, but will die out because they kill the host before they can spread around, whereas less nasty ones will keep spreading, but we will eventually adapt to and live with.

          Ironically, the problems that the green lobby and the SPECTRE types from the WEF & Co purport to be the cause of future pandemics – climate change and poverty, WERE both going in the right direction because populations from Third and Second World nations were getting wealthier, and could afford better housing, sanitation, food, healthcare and even less polluting forms of energy, despite the world population rising. This would mean they would be healthier and better equipped to fight off disease.

          It was the harsh lockdowns in combination with densely-populated countries with the right weather conditions, geographic location/international transport hub use and ageing populations that caused most of the problems, plus the idiotic politicies of putting untested or known COVID infected patients in nursing homes, bad hospital infection control management, etc.

          I wonder how many people would’ve died here (forgetting the real issue over how they are counted as COVID deaths) had things had been done differently (competently) and things like vitamin D and zinc tablets been prescribed for anyone in obvious at risk groups at the very least? My guess would be that it would be no worse than an annual flu death count, which as we’ve seen, mysteriously went away this past year.

    1. Shipwrecked crews usually start with the plumpest young sailors as the most tender eating.

    3. It’s certainly another (probably) American misuse of the English language.
      In fact it must be American, who else would need to tell shoppers that 16 oz = 1 lb?

    4. And you all thought that Pelosi could not come up with a way to take care of all of those migrants turning up on the southern border.

    1. You want to put the rope at the side of the neck so it breaks. That’s cause him to strangle to death which takes a long time.

    1. If they are exclusive to politicians then perhaps their vaccines will contain only placebo so they don’t perish next winter?

    2. I had a TIA ten years ago and have been on blood thinners such as Pradaxa ever since.

      Caroline and I are going to see my doctor – a truly delightful woman and an excellent doctor – to discuss whether or not I should be given the vaccine.

      1. Good afternoon, Rastus.

        I too suffered a TIA, at an unknown time, sometime in the past 20 years! This was only revealed when I had a MRI scan after suffering occasional spontaneous headaches. I’m not on any specific medication for it save for the daily small-dose aspirin to, hopefully, prevent a recurrence.

        Last month I visited my GP for my annual free ‘MOT’ with him. When I explained about my history of anaphylaxia after influenza vaccines he strongly suggested that I eschew the Covid serum. I didn’t actually tell him that I had already decided that I will not be participating in the programme.

      2. Our advice was to wait and see. We were going to do that anyway. Beware of “Experts”

  54. If the “conspiracies” against the vaccine are so ridiculous….

    Why would the MSM block them?

    1. They are not really conspiracies, just the sort of questions that any sensible person would ask if they were being given an experimental vaccine that hadn’t been tested on animals.

      1. What is the top medical issue today?

        I saw a GP over a week ago about another issue and when that was dealt with I simply mentioned covid and the vaccine.

        She rapidly spewed a lot of rubbish (like a pre-recorded response) and ushered me out of the door in a flash.

        Why?

        I also noticed on some correspondence from the practice that they were unable to discuss covid.

        Another why?

      2. The vaccines apparently have been tested on animals, but that was for short term (normally the worst type) adverse reactions – those normally resulting in death or serious illness. But even then, I think the process was ‘hurried’. For me, its the lack of long term testing to see what effects they have, especially as we’re ALL supposed to getting the jab. Imagine if it casued everyone to be sterile? That would be game over for the human race.

        It hopefully won’t lead to such effects, but can we really take that chance on the entire population, especially as so few otherwise healthy under 60s will get seriously ill from COVID and die.

        That’s why, given Bill Gates’ support for population controls, I wonder if he and many others of the ‘great and the good’ will actually be taking the same vaccine as the rest of the population, if at all.

        As regards side effects, you only have to look back to the swine flu pandemic that wasn’t from 2010/11 to see that a good number of NHS staff who were given that vaccine went on to develop chronic narcalepsy. Funny how the MSM don’t ever mention that over the past year or so.

        1. If Gates said on television that the vaccine is to reduce the population…

          Nobody would believe him.

          When I refused mine the person on the other end of the phone (I’m not allowed to say woman) said she would put my refusal on record.

          I’m now a marked man.

          1. It was that smirk between him and his wife when talking about ‘future pandemics’ that sent shivers down my spine…

          3. Not yet. Was that from today or over the weekend? I saw the side effects list you referred to.

    2. That the truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

      [Enobarbus: Antony and Cleopatra]

      This is just as true as when Shakespeare gave these words to the plain-speaking, pragmatic soldier in his play written over 400 years ago so I make no excuse for repeatedly posting them on this forum.

  55. 330354+ up ticks,
    More rhetoric due shortly from pretty awful tough rebar inclusive patter
    on the recent police actions, listened to intently no doubt by those ball less wonders who insist on her ilk being returned to power on a regular basis.
    One must wonder how the balless wonders will view being dickless also on regarding the crissie issue ?

      1. Apparently in the early 1980s, pharmacutical companies got so fed up with multiple lawsuits against them for vaccines that they threatened to pull out of making them altogther, hence why ever since, all new vaccines that have been released to market (i.e. general population) as COVID has now by emergency usage dictat from governments has been imdenmified by governments and not the firms’ insurers.

        They won’t take the financial risk of pushing a product onto the market – especially where it will be used by all/most of the population – without government financial backing.

    3. Well, last year, by telephone, when my actual medical records have no virus entries, but show that I am prone to lung infections…

  57. Wow! It’s nearly noon and the DT Letters Page still has the BTL comments section up! The best comments are priceless – laying into the DT for their blatant censorship by bending the knee to Meghan.

    (throws salt over his shoulder in order to not to put the bock on it)

    1. Here’s a BTL comment from a Mr Brian Thorne which says just what I have been saying in the unpublished letters I sent to the DT.

      DT, you actually have the nerve to publish more letters on the dreadful couple and then open up for comments but if we get out of line in our remarks you’ll then delete all posts again I take it?

      The way you’ve treated subscribers with utter contempt recently is a disgrace and you should be bloody well ashamed of yourselves.

      Unbelievable!

  58. The EU spend years slagging off Putin and then ask him to stick an unknown substance in their arms.

    He’s got form with poisoning people in Europe.

    EU prepares to ask Putin for Sputnik V Covid vaccine while Holland and Ireland become latest bloc members to BAN AstraZeneca jab over blood clot fears – even though it could mean delaying Dublin’s lockdown exit

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9362989/Ireland-puts-lockdown-exit-risk-suspends-AstraZeneca-jab.html

    1. Dr Phil Bryan, a safety expert at the UK’s medicines regulator (MHRA), said that ‘people should still go and get
      their Covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so’.
      ‘We are closely reviewing reports but given the large number of doses administered, and the frequency at which blood clots can occur naturally, the evidence available does not suggest the vaccine is the cause,’ he said.
      Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said there was ‘no demonstrable difference’ in the number of blood clots between the general population and AstraZeneca recipients.
      He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We have to remember that there are 3,000 blood clots a month on average in the general population and because we’re immunising so many people, we are bound to see blood clots at the same time as the vaccination, and that’s not because they are due to the vaccination.
      ‘One ought to also remember that Covid causes blood clots. So, the risks of not having the Covid vaccination far outweigh the risks from the vaccinations.’

      I find it amusing that they can say it probably isn’t anything to do with the vaccines yet when very elderly and/or already very ill people were probably dying of all sorts of things, it was always down to Covid.

      1. Having had blood clots and being genetically pre-disposed to them, I’ll tell you now that walking to the bottom of the stairs and having to stop simply to not pass out is no fun at all.

        Nor is having your body shut down simply to keep alive in meetings. Or the chance of an aneurism, which killed my father. Narrow the chance may be, but not to be dismissed.

      2. If they used the same rules for “vaccine” as they did for “covid” on death certificates, I reckon it would have “killed” hundreds of thousands by now!

    2. Italy,Spain,France and Germany have signed up to produce Sputnick V in their own countries.

      1. Their own countries? THEIR OWN COUNTRIES? What a novel idea for the Italy and Spanish that must be…….

    3. This is the vaccine that Hungary obtained which drove the Germans up the wall because the Hungarians bypassed the EU, and then Germany did the same and nothing was said? That vaccine?

  59. After the behaviour of the police at the Sarah Everard vigil last night,
    Cressida Dick has been asked to reconsider her position.

    She said she’s happy with scissoring.

  60. I’ve been trying for 4 years to find my mother in laws killer, but nobody will do it.

    1. You’ll be wanting an apostrophe on the law’s….

      My mother in law is going to due from my wife killing her. Not, as many suspect, alochol poisoning.

          2. The MIL spends the day – after getting up and finishing the gin and tonic as a ‘nightcap’ – having her usual hour long bath (where she moves in to the bathroom) and then drinks, almost continually until her afternoon nap, after which she wakes up, eats half a cracker with a pint of pimms, complains about how awful the world is to the dog/junior/whoever can’t escape and after two hours has another nap until the warqueen loses her temper at how ‘the soak is still here!’ whereupon MIL usually goes for a walk with junior – last time I went along she managed to lose a shoe, her shawl and Mongo’s lead. The latter was most impressive as it’s attached to the dog as part of his harness.

  61. When I first joined The Flat Earth Society it had a small membership.
    I never imagined it would become a global movement.

    1. Don’t talk to me about the Flat Earth Society! The bastards!

      When I joined they offered my insurance, at an extortionate rate, in case I fell off the edge. I nearly did fall off but there was no bloody safety net there to catch me!

      1. You can’t fall off – there’s a giant ice wall there. The CIA built it.

        Or it could have been NASA.

        Frankly, while the entire hypothesis is ludicrous I sort of admire those clinging to it. They’re wrong, of course, but given that anyone can believe whatever they want and that they’re mostly harmless it’s up to them really.

          1. Why is that?

            Is it because you don’t want him to fly the aircraft under the flat earth and come up again at the other side? I suppose you don’t know what you might find under there!

          2. The waters above the firmament and the waters below the firmament – if it’s possible to exit the firmament?

          3. I reckon a submarine would be better than a plane.

            Unless, of course, you read Terry Pratchett and live on a Discworld that is supported on the backs of four elephants.

          4. If they’re flying a plane the basics of their job preclude them believing the earth is flat. It’s simply not possible to deny the facts.

        1. It’s alright Sue. You need to get your thoughts out otherwise it just festers.

          Ought to convene a court in the Tower of London to deal with these vermin.

    2. And if the bas***d had been white…? What a disgusting kick in the teeth for the woman!

        1. Not just the judiciary unfortunately. The whole political establishment and the Offices of State are enemies of the British People!

      2. How about putting him on a 6pm curfew? Seems reasonable to me.
        I am not suggesting a curfew for every male!

      3. I cannot think of a time when racial minorities were so feared, mistrusted and hated as they are now.

        This must be very largely due to the behaviour and attitude of the police, the courts, the MSM and the politicians. If people should be prosecuted for stirring up racial hatred it is people in these categories. The fact that BLM protests and demonstrations consisting mainly of white people are treated so very differently must be an incitement to racial hatred?.

        They talk about “victim culture”. The Duchess of Sussex was welcomed into the hearts of the British people and her race was not something that anybody objected to. But I bet that more people in Britain feel she has betrayed their warmth and hospitality claiming to be the victim of racism.

        The truth is that The Duchess of Sussex and Oprah Winfrey are both guilty of stirring up and exploiting racial hatred.

    6. This is why the politicians, the Police and the law courts are no longer trusted and unless they treat Muslim sex offenders in the same way as they treat everybody else they never will be.

      Yes, nobody can deny that the poor Ms Everard’s attack and murder was a disgrace but why did not those who demonstrated show the same respect for and solidarity with the victims of Muslim rape gangs?

      1. White trash Northerners typically aged 15 who should have known better.
        Because they were nearly adults geddit.

          1. Therein lies a dilemma. A lot of statutory rape and assaults, but it takes two to tango.
            The UK has, or has had, a high number of teenage pregnancies compared to continental EU states.

      2. I don’t see Jess ‘Hearse Chaser’ Philips reading out the names of all ‘grooming’ >cough< gang victims in the House any time soon. She has too many Pakistanis in her seat upon whose votes she relies.

    8. Errr…..

      Wot? If.. no. Hang on…. Criminal… attacked a woman and let off as he might lose his job?

      The world’s potty. That’s just barmy.

    1. I would have thought that if Indians reach adulthood they are immune to about everything.

  69. The people who wanted a “vigil” for the unfortunate woman were, apparently, mainly peaceful, if slightly ditsy (none of them KNEW her).

    Yet they have not rounded on the known agitator whose face was all over the papers for hi-jacking their peaceful event.

    Strange.

    1. The red head? The photos of her reminded me of the Lesbians on a Bus episode. Not all that it seems. But these days everything in the MSM seems contrived.

    1. Lady Thatcher. hundreds of feet high, at various stages of her career. One directly outside Labour HQ, another blocking the door. One at every trades union office – at ever compass point so they’re constantly at her feet. One sited wherever a Scargill lives – for the rest of time.

      1. 330354+ up ticks,
        Many an honest miner would disagree with you, for me she was marmite, but she was the last of the semi decent but going OTT concerning the miners.
        Treachery kicked off big time when she received the order of the knife.
        The major, the wretch cameron. the clegg ,the may, the johnson a rogues gallery of treacherous pro eu rubber stampers.( ongoing)

        A lab/lib/con coalition.

  72. Great take on the Sarah Everard ‘protests’ today from Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) on today’s Podcast of the Lotus Eaters (currently live [Q&A section near the end] on their website), which will be uploaded to YouTube, Bitchute and Odysee later this afternoon (each segment separately). Well worth a watch.

  73. They say that covid is a GLOBAL pandemic…

    Yet they commission independent companies to discover and manufacture a vaccine.

    Why not pool all the GLOBAL resources when the GLOBAL population is threatened by such a serious bug?

    We have some vaccines better than others when surely they should contain exactly the same ingredients.

    Or does it give the impression that they all can’t have any nasties contained within like they might if there was only one vaccine?

    Why is Biden and most other countries so keen of trading with China after they released the virus?

    With a one world GLOBAL government they must all be working together to the detriment of the world’s population.

    So many question..no time for answers.

    1. 330354+ up ticks,
      Afternoon H,
      A major question for me is why is the lab/lib/con coalition group returned to power with no genuine opposition party in contention and finding the same following & voting trend as the political
      sh!te shoveling purveyors of dangerous troubles & strife, the lab/lib/con coalition receive.

        1. 330354+ up ticks,
          H,
          Human type sheep, they pass many a buck onto the genuine variety, genuine sheep are innocent, I have yet to see one in a polling booth.

  74. Here’s some where soon to be on the list of No No’s for all the chaps. Notice top left the name of the road leading to it. 😉😏
    https://www.parksherts.co.uk/parks/view/nomansland-common/
    And the name of the restaurant /pub is the Wicked Lady presumably named after this lady https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Katherine_Ferrers#:~:text=Katherine%20Ferrers%20%284%20May%201634%20%E2%80%93%20c.%2013,from%20gunshot%20wounds%20sustained%20during%20a%20robbery%20.

    1. Boris would tell you it was falling apart and sell it as charm.

      Sturgeon would blame the English – regardless of the car being driven into the ground solely in Scotland.

    2. Pfizer have an even worse record, Moderna also.

      No worries Bill and Melinda Gates boasted that they are making 200 billion for an investment of 10 billion and will aim to make trillions from their investments in Pharma.

  78. The sentiment of the headline is correct but there is in this editorial too much of the idea that ‘nature can be conquered’.

    We must create the conditions that ensure a Medieval-style lockdown is never used again

    The only reason we now have hope is the arrival of vaccines, a miracle of science and cooperation with the private sector.

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 14 March 2021 • 6:00am

    This time last year, when the World Health Organisation declared Covid a pandemic, it seemed as if much of human progress itself had turned out to be an illusion. When faced with a disease that threatened to overwhelm even well-resourced health services, the only tools that advanced societies felt they had at their disposal were almost medieval: field hospitals, quarantines, and shutting people up in their homes.

    Some nations mastered more technologically-advanced approaches, notably East Asian countries that had had experience with Sars. Yet in the liberal democracies of the West, test and trace and mobile apps proved unable to keep societies functioning while suppressing a virus that, in many carriers, has no symptoms. The economic carnage and social damage of this miserable year is the price we have had to pay.

    The only reason there is hope now is the arrival of the vaccines. Big pharmaceutical companies launched an all-out war on Covid. Billions of pounds of speculative investment, allied with practical scientific expertise (rather than the pseudo-science of “modelling”), have delivered millions of jabs, in record time. There have been impressive innovations in Covid treatments, again by Big Pharma, a sector that has long been a bogey-man of the capitalist-hating Left. The UK Vaccine Taskforce showed what can be done when the state abandons its institutional loathing of the private sector and embraces an entrepreneurial ethos.

    Disappointingly, ministers do not appear willing to use the triumph of the vaccine rollout to accelerate the end of lockdown. However, they must learn the correct lessons of the past year. Human progress, which is not an illusion, is founded on real-world innovation, enterprise, and risk, rather than growing the size of state. We should be doing more to encourage the young to study science†, rather than arts subjects of dubious usefulness.

    We should make every effort to grow our pharma and biotech sectors so they lead the world. Above all, we need to create the conditions so that, not only is lockdown never repeated for Covid, but we never have to resort to such pre-modern techniques for controlling any disease ever again.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/03/14/must-create-conditions-ensure-medieval-style-lockdown-never

    † They do but some of that science is ‘of dubious usefulness’.

  79. The sentiment of the headline is correct but there is in this editorial too much of the idea that ‘nature can be conquered’.

    We must create the conditions that ensure a Medieval-style lockdown is never used again

    The only reason we now have hope is the arrival of vaccines, a miracle of science and cooperation with the private sector.

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 14 March 2021 • 6:00am

    This time last year, when the World Health Organisation declared Covid a pandemic, it seemed as if much of human progress itself had turned out to be an illusion. When faced with a disease that threatened to overwhelm even well-resourced health services, the only tools that advanced societies felt they had at their disposal were almost medieval: field hospitals, quarantines, and shutting people up in their homes.

    Some nations mastered more technologically-advanced approaches, notably East Asian countries that had had experience with Sars. Yet in the liberal democracies of the West, test and trace and mobile apps proved unable to keep societies functioning while suppressing a virus that, in many carriers, has no symptoms. The economic carnage and social damage of this miserable year is the price we have had to pay.

    The only reason there is hope now is the arrival of the vaccines. Big pharmaceutical companies launched an all-out war on Covid. Billions of pounds of speculative investment, allied with practical scientific expertise (rather than the pseudo-science of “modelling”), have delivered millions of jabs, in record time. There have been impressive innovations in Covid treatments, again by Big Pharma, a sector that has long been a bogey-man of the capitalist-hating Left. The UK Vaccine Taskforce showed what can be done when the state abandons its institutional loathing of the private sector and embraces an entrepreneurial ethos.

    Disappointingly, ministers do not appear willing to use the triumph of the vaccine rollout to accelerate the end of lockdown. However, they must learn the correct lessons of the past year. Human progress, which is not an illusion, is founded on real-world innovation, enterprise, and risk, rather than growing the size of state. We should be doing more to encourage the young to study science†, rather than arts subjects of dubious usefulness.

    We should make every effort to grow our pharma and biotech sectors so they lead the world. Above all, we need to create the conditions so that, not only is lockdown never repeated for Covid, but we never have to resort to such pre-modern techniques for controlling any disease ever again.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/03/14/must-create-conditions-ensure-medieval-style-lockdown-never

    † They do but some of that science is ‘of dubious usefulness’.

    1. The vaccines administered on such a massive scale during a pandemic will as likely be ineffective with a virus with the mutation rate of Covid. The mRNA ‘vaccines’ will compromise immune systems and those taking them will be unable to fight off new strains.

      Social distancing in itself is allowing the virus free rein and masks are harbouring both it and other germs.

      The damage to economies, the delays in detection and treatment of serious illnesses, the impairment of children’s education, the psychological damage caused to populations and the utter joylessness compounded by lockdowns are more damaging than the virus.

    2. … “Yet in the liberal democracies of the West, test and trace and mobile apps proved unable to keep societies functioning while suppressing a virus that, in many carriers, has no symptoms. The economic carnage and social damage of this miserable year is the price we have had to pay”.

      The first sentence of this excerpt from the DT view seems way off the mark to me. It was the Government draconian and authoritarian overreaction to the scamdemic that shut down society. And “the economic carnage and social damage of this miserable year” is the price the public will have to pay.

      The members of SAGE should be sacked and all lockdowns ceased immediately. Those who wish to stay at home should but furlough should be ended at the end of this month with everyone going back to work.

    3. That speculative investment came from tax payers. It’s our money the state’s been spending. For once, we actually got our own money back rather than see the state destroy it.

    1. Whilst I don’t think their actions were perfect, they were between a proverbial rock and a hard place, given the court ruling on the vigil and the government’s lockdown rules. I also don’t think they were heavy handed with the protesters (the leftist activists – not to be confused with ordinary people who turned up and did not get involved in the violence).

      Even before COVID, people protesting still had to get permission from the Police to do so in large numbers. I think that justified protests – of any kind, should have been alowed to take place during the pandemic, but those that have been deliberately infiltrated by extremists agitating for violence, as was the case here, should not be allowed.

      See the Podcast of the Lotus Eaters video clips for today when they appear later on on YouTube, etc (see my comments earlier) for more – you’ll see why. Even close friends of Ms Everard said that the protests had been hijacked by leftsist for political purposes.

      [update 17:50] Here’s the link to the first exerpt posted from today’s podcast (there likely is at least another):

      https://youtu.be/ErOR1aMGd1s

      [update 2] Second link to the other segment: https://youtu.be/fcPTAayaXJ4

      Also on Bitchute and odysee.

      1. I agree with your comments.

        Whether this will be seized upon as an opportunity to ditch Dick and replace her with Neil Basu remains to be seen.

        I would not be surprised if it happens soon. She’s actually passed normal retirement age anyway, and she could be shoe-horned into a senior position in the public sector, with a peerage as the bribe to step down seamlessly.

        And it would be into an ostensibly even more prestigious appointment.

        1. Sadly, I don’t think of of her touted replcaements are any better. Basu certainly isn’t.

          1. Improvement is not a consideration, Andy. It’s buggins’ turn and do they tick all the right diversity boxes?

    2. Looking at this cartoon the name panel on the desk reads SIDA DICK. Should we read a message in this?

      SIDA (Syndrome d’ImmunoDéficience Acquise) is the acronym for AIDS in France

      1. I was surprised the letter tray was “in”, the image of being cast into the darkness suggests “out”

    3. Why is she hanging on? It’s not as if incompetence and failure will affect her one bit.

  81. The Little Men of Brussels are on the losing side of history

    Those involved in the EU saw themselves as the saviours of poor fragile Europe – but increasingly, they’re being revealed as moral pygmies

    JULIE BURCHILL

    What do we think of when we think about Europe? Culture, cuisine – Brigitte Bardot, Gina Lollobrigida? Getting lucky with a sexy student on an Erasmus exchange? No one could deny that these wonderful things exist and that they’re a joy to the world. Regrettably, as the bureaucrats of the EU have been giving us grief for so long, when I think of Europe these days I think of self-important little men running round passing piddling laws and being rewarded handsomely for doing so. One of my favourite EU stories is the one about the procedure guidelines for the import and export of caramel – apparently they’re longer than the American Declaration of Independence.

    It’s funny when bureaucracy applies itself to confectionary – not so amusing, when it comes to a killer pandemic. Every week some cautionary incident takes place which reminds us why we were right to want to have nothing to do with this shower for one second longer than possible. Last week’s Public Service Warning came to us courtesy of the lying Eurocrat Charles Michel, when he claimed that Britain had imposed “an outright ban” on vaccine exports – later corrected by the EU Commission after a stern letter from Dominic Raab.

    Red faces all round – and I don’t just mean our old mate Jean-Claude after a thirst-quenching business brunch. France, historically one of the biggest bosses and beneficiaries of the Brussels gravy boat, has her own troubles, with Macron facing the fact that almost half the electorate believe that Marine Le Pen may win next year’s election.

    Ever since the founding of the EU, those involved saw themselves as the saviours of poor fragile Europe – great men of history, defining the fate of a continent. But increasingly, they’re being revealed as moral pygmies – the Little Big Men of the failed European dream, strutting about like a gang of expense-account Napoleons without even the uniform to recommend them.

    That’s not to say that only the EU suffers from the march of the Little Big Men (LBM). Look at Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, who single-handedly has destroyed the stereotype of the Welsh as a roguish, lyrical people, with his love of lockdowns and insistence that baby food and sanitary towels were “non-essential” items. And that’s not to say that all Little Big Men are male – look at Nicola Sturgeon, the Joan of Arc of admin, who never saw a pint pot she didn’t want to penalise for not being metric.

    We have one of our own leading the Labour Party; Keir Starmer, whose more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger mien reminds one of that teacher who wasn’t cross, just disappointed, but who might one day snap if the class continued to play the fool. There is a distinct “you won’t like me when I’m angry” feeling about the LBMs – but we don’t like them anyway, for being bossy bores, which takes away their bargaining power somewhat.

    But it’s mostly an EU thing. One of the characteristics of the LBM is that he finds it hard to accept his own limits, that he was born with such a low level of all the gifts – brains, beauty, wit – that they would never naturally propel him into the spotlight. Unable to accept this, he attaches himself to a project which gives him power over those more gifted. Everything great about Europe existed long before the EU; it’s telling that their theme tune Ode to Joy was composed by Beethoven in 1824. Couldn’t this brave new EU world produce a new one?

    There is a large element of the LBM in the neurotic Remainers, clinging to their stinky old Strasbourg comfort blanket, which indicates that it is they – not we Brexiteers, happy to live in a small and dynamic nation – who want to be part of an empire. (To hear them speak, you’d think only Britain ever had one, whereas those “owned” by France and Belgium were far nastier – and we won’t even mention what Germany got up to.) But, somewhat pitiably, many LBMs went into politics because they wanted to make life better for people; it’s a shame how so many end up as busybodies, seeking to corral and control any fellow citizen more daring than themselves.

    Oscar Wilde famously said: “We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars”; the LBMs are made of stardust like the rest of us – but they are forever looking at the gutter, tut-tutting at the fag ends and wishing they could bring in littering laws like Singapore’s.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/14/little-men-brussels-losing-side-history/

    3. I doubt they wanted to make life better. They wanted power, as all small, greedy nastly little people do.

  82. From yesterday’s Telegraph:

    Until lockdown is eased and basic liberties are restored, our society will be in peril

    The sense that authority is being wielded fairly – essential to civilised life – is dissipating rapidly

    PATRICK O’FLYNN

    They certainly have their uses, but neither Chris Whitty nor Patrick Vallance – the Government’s head honchos for medical and scientific advice – is ever going to be an expert on the wider impacts of curtailing basic freedom.

    Either could tell you all about the R value – the reproduction rate of Covid – but neither would have the first clue how to draw up an L value – L being an index for the damage associated with the loss of liberty.

    If someone with expertise in the field could come up with a suitable formula for calculating L then I’d be grateful – perhaps Lord Sumption could have a go. The L value must be sky high at the moment given that Britain still has one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, which succeeded the quasi-lockdown of the ill-fated tier system 10 weeks ago.

    Despite the number of lives being saved by each day of lockdown having plummeted because of the success of the vaccine roll-out and the belated improvements to Test and Trace, whole swathes of the economy are set to remain closed for many weeks to come and basic rights of freedom of association are still set aside.

    The cumulative harms caused to general morale, mental health, physical fitness, personal relationships, family networks, job prospects, business viability, essential trust in government as a benign force and many other things must all be tipping into their highest-ever categories.

    Sadly, we are never going to hear a TV news bulletin leading as follows: “Ministers were under growing pressure to accelerate the journey out of lockdown after experts revealed that the L value is believed to have reached an all-time high, soaring to dangerous levels in many parts of the country.”

    Instead, we must trust Boris Johnson and his ministers to be their own experts on an implicit L value and instinctively know how to weigh it against the epidemiological metrics and projections presented to them by Messrs Whitty and Vallance. Is this happening to a suitable extent? It doesn’t look like it to me.

    Given that the Government’s “data, not dates” mantra has been exposed as a sham because better data continues to be trumped by earliest dates that are apparently set in stone, it is unsurprising that another anti-lockdown rebellion is brewing on the Tory benches.

    A Commons vote is looming on extending the draconian powers of the Coronavirus Act for another six months beyond its original expiry date of March 25. Ministers are also proposing a vote on extending other lockdown measures currently due to lapse on March 31.

    The Telegraph today reports that “dozens” of Conservative MPs are set to rebel against the measure. It is to be hoped that as many as possible follow through on the threat.

    Even though ministers will get their way no matter how large the revolt is because Labour is likely to reflexively support extended restrictions, a big rebellion will at least raise the banner for restoring liberties and increase the pressure on the Government not to further backslide if relaxations such as the return of schools send the R value back up.

    The link between infections on the one hand and ensuing hospitalisations and deaths has, as Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has acknowledged, been broken. R doesn’t matter so much. But further extending the loss of liberty? That’s starting to matter an L of a lot.

    The distressing scenes on Clapham Common last night, when the police rigorously enforced a ban on large outdoor gatherings to widespread public disgust, are just one sign that a descent into rancour, ill-will and the end of governing or policing by consent is underway.

    Instead, the debate is focusing on the arbitrary nature of the enforcement of lockdown or distancing rules: draconian against women gathering to remember a murder victim, lax against the statue-daubers of BLM and apparently absent altogether for scores of police officers who assembled on Westminster Bridge to clap for public sector workers last April. Cressida Dick, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, should know all about that, as she was one of those officers.

    The sense that authority is being wielded fairly, which is so essential to civilised society, is dissipating rapidly.

    Another aspect of the unfairness debate concerns the much harsher impact of lockdowns on some groups rather than others: the young more than those in settled and well-housed middle-aged, the poor more than the rich.

    Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis may be stretching things when she claims that lockdown has been “quite a lovely experience” for the prosperous middle classes but she is quite right to note that some parts of society have suffered far worse than others.

    They still are. The low-income families in cramped accommodation, the people who couldn’t work from home, the restaurateurs and publicans whose businesses have been closed for months, the young people made redundant from first jobs that once seemed like secure stepping-stones into the adult world – for all of these groups and more the loss of liberty carries a drastic cost to their pockets as well as to their sense of general well-being.

    In my view, the lockdown we are still in was necessary and proportionate while the groups that have so far made up 88 per cent of Covid deaths were given the opportunity to acquire their full first-jab resistance to the disease. That has now happened. From here on it is the loss of liberty that looks increasingly disproportionate.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/14/lockdown-eased-basic-liberties-restored-society-will-peril/

    1. Thank you for posting that. At least some are belatedly starting to realise that some of us might have been in hell for a whole year now.

    2. Government as a benign force? Who’s he joking? For as long as those fools can set taxes, as long as we cannot remove them and their idiotic laws on a whim it will remain a corrupt midden.

  84. Jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny reveals his ‘freshly shaven head’ as he likens his Russian penal colony to a ‘concentration camp’ and says inmates are even banned from swearing. 15 March 2021.

    Surfacing for the first time since he was moved to the penal colony 60 miles from Moscow, Navalny described hellish conditions at the camp where he claims he is woken every hour at night by guards assigned to prevent his escape.

    In the message posted on his Instagram account on Monday, he says he is being held in a heightened-security part of the camp and claims that inmates are even banned from swearing – adding that the rule is ‘strictly enforced’.

    Guards preventing people escaping! The horror! Instagram! The suffering! No swearing! It’s inhuman! You would never get away with these conditions in the UK. Lol!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9364003/Putin-critic-Alexei-Navalny-moved-concentration-camp-lawyer-claims.html

    1. Its an outdated concept but in Russia,you’re sent to jail as a punishment.Let’s hope the courts can find a reason to stick another year on his sentence.

          1. Amazing how all the oligarch/government chums of Putin never get imprisoned for that, plus amazing the percentage of his political opponents either get arrested, tried, found guilty and sentenced within a matter of days, or end up disappeared or dead in a ditch.

            The Russian police and equivalent of the CPS must be brilliant at crime detection and building a case that quickly. That must be why Russia is so free of crime these days.

          2. I wouldn’t worry Andy..it won’t affect you.
            I see Assange is still encarcerated in Belmarsh.

          3. I would say more…concerned, especially if we’re to do business with Russia in the future. Besides, you were asking for his sentence to be extended. How do you know that he was actually guilty of the charges brought? Not exactly the first time political rivals were jailed there on trumped-up charges, is it?

          5. Lots of things, as well as expertise. Besides, we may want to buy something from them. Anyhoo, gotta go – I need to get my daily constitutional in before it gets too cold. Back later.

    1. I don’t think the stupid Newton woman, who is apparently applying for “Scottish” citizenship, can read!

    2. How come Glen Mallan can have visitors. What about Glen Thomas, my cousin’s neighbour?

    1. How is freedom of speech under attack?

      Has he no sense of reflection? His lot wanted this! They can’t now complain that it’s affecting them! Oh! Hang on! They thought they’d get a free ride while suppressing everyone *else’s* speech!

      1. Presumably his freedom to demand anyone who doesn’t agree iwth the Left to be silenced? He should’ve been sacked by LBC, not Nige.

      2. 330354+ up ticks,
        Evening W,
        Like many of the MsM / lab/lib/con politico’s he probably has no reflection, currently there is no “his lot” for the last three decades it is clearly seen there is only ONE LOT as in the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration, (ongoing) overseers.

      1. 330354+ up ticks,
        Evening B3,
        Precisely, do any MsM / governance politico ?
        He can be the worst bastard in the world but on this occasion he is on the money.

        We could NEVER have got into such an odious state as a nation without the continuous input of the vote & whinge brigade. ie the lab/lib/con coalition.

    3. It’s a bit rich coming from someone whose career is built upon shouting down or cutting off anyone who disagrees with him.

        1. The nasty JO’B, you may know it as the one after a particularly poisonous curry the night before

      3. 330354+ up ticks,
        S,
        Many of us have suffered treachery at the hand of ex LBC employees before ( nige) besides
        o’briens input, but on this occasion / issue I
        make him right.

  87. Nobody is better at strategizing than President Donald J Trump.

    At this moment, he’s in his element. Having the time of his life.

    What’s amazing is what he gets away with…..

    He didn’t fly back to Mar-a-Lago from New York. But the press was told that he did, so they reported it.

    President Trump gave everyone the slip, still using AF1, and disappeared.

    Think how utterly Awesome that is. He’s a Genuine shadow president and is de facto President of the United States.

    Try and catch a shadow.

    Good luck with that, Democrats !

    1. I’m sure, in between giving speeches to CPAC, etc, he’s getting some practice in on the golf course, biden his time…

    2. I thought the great revelation was last week but I can wait a little longer. The bottle I promised is still on ice.

  89. Who is going to be crowned

    MR UXORIOUS 2021

    At the moment Boris Johnson and Prince Harry are neck and neck in the polls.

    2. dear capital letters,

      I haven’t got an uncle jack, only an old aunt who is of a bit of a nag.

      regards, confused of fontwell.

    3. The standard of grammar and spelling has fallen so far I don’t expect it to ever rise again.

      It’s as if people are proud of being stupid.

      1. Humans are stupider than they were yesterday but not as stupid as they will be tomorrow.

        Intelligence has gone they same way as common sense, good manners, and decency.

          1. I don’t think I’ve heard of Covid Wilbury. I know Charlie T Jnr, Otis, Nelson, Lefty and Lucky Wilbury but none of their cousins.

  92. According to Nice Matin (the local rag of the Côte d’Azur) today, the plague is “out of control” in the Paris region.

    All the more reason for stopping vaccinating people…

    1. Everyone should repond – politely and as factually relevant as possible – to this, and pass on the link to persuade as many other as possible (including posting it on the BTL comments areas on the Telegraph, Times, Mail, etc) to similarly respond before the March 29th deadline:

      https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/covid-status-certification-review-call-for-evidence

      They LIED to us. Again. This should be stopped before they sneak it in via the back door, as it is forcing us to take the jab otherwise we’ll just be effectively under lockdown for the rest of our lives. THIS IS WRONG.

      1. Based upon my understanding gleaned from real immunologists and vaccination specialists I reckon those taking the vaccines will pose a greater risk to me than I to them.

        Only today I met a neighbour out walking who was petrified that I had crossed the road to have a chat with her. She took a few steps backwards and then crossed the road the other way so there was a distance of about 5 metres between us.

        She is taking a second jab at Barts in a few days. She and her partner are Londoners who retain an apartment in London whilst trying to recreate ‘The Good Life’ in the converted old schoolhouse in our village. They even keep pigs. They are both certifiable in my opinion and from what little conversation I had with her she has been terrified by government propaganda.

        1. Sadly that viewpoint appears to be shared by many. Very scared people often make poor decisions.

          2. But angry people aren’t. And you don’t need a majority of them to cause HUGE problems running things.

        2. Sadly. they are far from unique. On the positive side, I met the new tenant of my last home, yesterday. Both he and his partner are avowed lockdown sceptics. There are a few in Surrey…

      2. It won’t make any difference. If big gov is determined to force this through, then it will. In fact, I don’t know why they’re bothering to offer it. They’ll either make it blatant and enforced or otherwise hidden. In any event, living a normal life will be prevented until they have removed your ability to choose.

        1. Then we need to take their ability away from them. Publicising it would be the first step, then at the ballot box. This could be the chance for TBP/UKIP & Co to unite under a freedom banner and sweep all before them. I still think there are quite a lot of people keeping schtum about the loss of freedoms who are getting near the end of their rope.

      3. I’ve just responded. Now they have my email address and know I’m a refusenik. As wibbling says, it won’t make any difference. They will go ahead anyway.

    2. I’m surprised actually.

      I didn’t think their control freakery would be this blatant. I always assumed it would be the other way around: that the state wouldn’t impose it, but that every other organisation would demand it for access *through* the state.

  95. I am off. A nice sunny day – though strong gale most of it. Shifted logs; cleared storm debris. Kittens in heaven racing everywhere. Sowed seeds.

    Rain tomorrow. Have a good vigil this evening. Nunc dimittis and all that.

    A demain.

  96. I know there are real covid scams out there…

    But the government is acting like scammers themselves. I appreciate there are those who will always obey the letter of law…so to speak…and others who just go with the flow in order to have a quiet life with the promise of no restrictions on movement imposed upon them. Then there’s the ones who will be anti towards anti vaccers.

    I first had a letter which I ignored. Then a phone call in which I declined the jab. Then another letter which I again ignored having already been told that my refusal has been logged on my records. Then I got a letter from Ipsos Mori to do and return a home test kit which I ignored. I now have a text reminding me that I had a letter and should follow a link to that effect. Seems a simple NO is not taken seriously.

    I already know from the government that the vaccine doesn’t stop me getting the virus so it makes no difference in that respect. Then common sense tells me that without that knowledge, I can only infect others who refuse the jab and those who have had can’t be infected by me unless of course the vaccine doesn’t work anyway.

    In my 70’s I’ve never been locked up for any flu variant which is what the coronavirus actually is. The whole thing stank from day one and now it’s all getting well beyond stupid as I watch and read the side affects numbers increase.

    Who’s mad…me or them?

    1. You are perfectly sane. The PTB are colluding in propaganda the aim of which is world depopulation. This is carved into Bill Gates’ forehead and he makes no secret of his financial interest in profiteering from his investments and patents in Pharmaceutical companies such as Astra Zeneca, GSK, Pfizer, Moderna and others.

      1. I do love it when people in the media and politicians tout his involvement by pointing to the billions he’s put into vaccine/medical research via his foundation, conveniently forgetting he has investments in the industry that he’s been pushing towards what is now happening and the profits based on annual jabs for the entire world, etc will dwarf his fortune from Microsoft.

        Given his views on population control, it will also presumably lead to his foreign holidays being a lot less crowded and he can fly there without an delays caused by pleb flights. It’ll be like the Downton Abbey era but with flashy technology.

        1. Precisely. Philanthropist he is not.

          Gates switched from Microsoft to Pseudo Philanthropy in order to rehabilitate his dreadful reputation following investigations into his sharp business practices where he had his collar felt for anti-competitive practices as head of Microsoft.

          1. I remember seeing a video about that – I think it was from Dave Cullen on his Computing Forever channel (now deleted from YT but on BitChute & odysee).

        2. I guess you saw the repeat of the 2015 Gates interview where he more or less told us the pandemic was coming. The elite are so far ahead of the game they are getting cocky wih it.

          1. Not sure if it was the 2015 one, but I’ve seen various interviews of his, including the one (similar issues discussed) where he and Melinda smirk about ‘the next pandemic’…

            This one was their ‘loss leader’ to get the world hooked on vaccines and related paraphenalia (COVID passports, face masks, etc, etc). They’ll cash in BIG TIME for the ‘next one’ if we alow them to get away with it with their SPECTRE buddies from the WEF.

      2. I’m getting stick from a few quarters having promulgated Dr Vernon Coleman’s latest video which is almost off the scale but in line with your thoughts. I refused the jab before I watched it and I’m leaning more in his direction anyway.

        I’m human and capable of being scared but I have not felt the slightest bit scared since day one of the virus. Since Whitty himself said no-one had actually died of the flu…only covid…then it must be a politicized scam.

        1. I’m much in agreement with ‘the old man in a chair’. I regret to say that I accepted the first dose of the vax. Thankfully it was the Ox / AZ variety, so at least I’m not genetically modified. My reasoning was that a) I’m diabetic, b) my blood pressure is higher than ideal, c) I’m overweight. Not obese, but overweight. d) It’s pretty obvious that we are heading for compulsory ‘vaccine passports’, even to be able to go to the pub. I hate the concept, but I miss the pub. I’m too old to worry about the possible sterilisation effect of the vax.

          3. 17 million in the UK (nearly said Brits) have had the jab so far. If we knew exactly how many people reside in the UK these days then we could forecast next year’s population count.

          4. Ummm, roughly the number who voted Brexit and aimed at the age group who allegedly voted Brexit…

          5. It’s a box ticking exercise. We had the O/AZ jab to add to the numbers; our aim is to restore a normal young life to our grandchildren. It was our way of piling on the pressure; every little helps.

    2. Sound like they use the same team as my gas and electricity supplier who kept badgering me to get ‘smart’ meters. Like you, I also said no, and explained (with my engineer hat on) why. It took them FIVE goes (two phonecalls – the second one nearly an hour long, where the bloke was practically arguing with me despite him knowing didly about the technical side – plus three letters over two years) for them to finally get the message.

      I bet we’re both on someone’s naughty list, though different ones. I’m certianly not in the Telegraph’s good books for advocating every day for readers to unsub after I cancelled mine (I had a month to go on mine then had another two where they forgot to stop my access).

      I used to be such a good little boy, doing as I was told and not answering back/asking awkward questions.

      1. Before they closed the comments a decade ago we were allowed 20 hits for one month and then subscribe. We simply cleared the browser history and reverted back to another 20 free hits but I guess they are wiser these days.

        1. The DT were losing too much revenue because people knew they could do that and because their paper copies were so expensive, even compared to the online cost.

          It took them until not long after the 2019 General Election for them to realise that and to stop the 20 free articles deal for non-paying guests – mainly because many of us paying subscribers were complaining about all the trolls (from a range of organisations) who were using said loopholes to constantly ply their trade all day, making the BTL comments areas (perhaps aside from the letters Page and the non-political articles) a waste of time trying to discuss issue properly.

          They still haven’t sorted thing out yet, given many people know ways to view articles, even if they can’t comment on them BTL any more. I’d say after the last week’s debacle over the Letters Page/Ginge & Minge generally, many readers will have had enough and will cancel their subs.

          For me, it was their BS coverage of the pandemic (around April/May), my comments regularly getting deleted (critical of the paper but not rude) and increasingly woke/feminist, less conservative agenda. The final straw was them going full-on Orange Man Bad. I’d had enough. 20 years an online subscriber and they were treating me (and most readers) like children.

          3. A decade ago their threads were plagued by trolls and I caught at least one Tory MP out pretending to be a troll. It was second comment and didn’t realise I could view his first one via his history. When they opened the comments again I only read the headline and comments which mirrored those on Breitbart. Doubt they have changed since I last had a peek.

          5. I can’t remember for sure if it was disqus but I could check the history so maybe it was. I had the feeling that after I left they would have deleted all their archives so we couldn’t recall them in the future to prove we were right back then and they were VERY wrong.

          6. I’d say there were far more trolls (mainly Momentum/Labour types, plus a good number of ‘overseas’ ones) after Disqus was dropped than before. Most of the news/politics ticker feeds and a number of ‘contenious’ articles became worthless in trying to start/continue proper discussions.

            I remember Lord Tebbit complaining that he could no longer view comment threads/follow discussions and answer them himself after they changed the system – he was one of the few people writing articles who bothered to read the readers’ comments areas and respond (though in his case, via his next column – understandble, given his age/disabilities etc).

            Most columnists (aside from a few [Alison Pearson being one]) never respond by discussing directly with readers in the comments area – they are far more likely to demand the comments sections get yanked.

          8. Oh right? I knew he definitely referred to comments from his last column in the next one, which was good. Good on him!

          11. It was assumed that the DT cancelled all comments because they were too ‘Brexity’.

            Truth is, and I have it from the horse’s mouth, it was the cost of moderation wot did it. A certain Mr Gilligan confirmed this.

        2. It wasn’t a decade (although it feels like it). March 2016, the Telegraph dispensed with Disqus comments entirely. Since Disqus is in use across many platforms, it wasn’t long before Letters Page regulars appeared like lost souls elsewhere. Some discussion ensued. Disqus had a ‘community’ ‘free’ version. Stig (David Wainwright) had already posted lists of the regulars below the Letters page.

          Possibly under the influence of ‘red medicine’, in the early hours of 1 April 2016, I unleashed NTTL. The rest, dear reader, is history…

          1. It was a decade ago…perhaps they opened and closed them again…as I jumped over to Breitbart ten years ago as a consequence.

          2. I may have missed that, but I can assure you that all comments were purged from the Wokegraph in March 2016.

            Almost exactly five years ago.

          3. They obviously never learn and go in 5 year cycles.

            Everything I warned about back then is now repeated by many others so I’d only be preaching to the converted these days.

          4. And thank god for that,without NoTTl my dubious sanity would be entirely shattered!!!!!!!!!

          5. You are doing what Breitbart did a decade ago by providing a safety net when the DT lost the argument…again.

          6. Well done GG.

            I was hauled in by Stig.

            Nearly got myself banned on day 1.

            I suspect what saved me was the great tolerance of Stig and the fact that he knew I was an argumentative s-o-a-b, but would also debate about subjects without too much rancour towards the other poster, unless they went out of their way to bait me, which was what happened that first day.

    2. The runs, perhaps? Or a really stupid dog try to play ‘hide and seek’? Or one trying to copy an advert about Andrex?

      1. Given the brightest dog has an IQ of 60, the idea that not being able to see limits ‘being seen’ is quite a philosophical leap!

  99. ‘Night All
    Smoked Haddock Boiled Charlottes,assorted Veg and Cheese Sauce in prep
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/248bb19fc5fa911ee517c4c45b6e79660e4285ed603508cc1bd26755bd76b507.gif
    https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51033909358_d75223ae05_b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/772fa11cae172d43312c3ed50b5958a056b7b01ea6932f998a7b2dbb82318704.gif
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/77b61e407d51e3841b76baaff04e812460d454a07bf0561081b68729e05af81e.png

    2. Cheese sauce on the same plate as Haddock. You’re making me nervous.

      I made Peshwari Naan to go with my Butter Chicken tonight.

  100. From John Ward:

    “So here’s some awkward reality from the latest crime statistics.

    Women are 50% less likely to be murder victims than men.

    77% of women are murdered indoors by somebody they know.

    Fatal violence on women is down 16% year on year.

    Only 13% of female victims were murdered after abduction in the street.

    Last year, 24 women (out of a UK adult female population of 18 million) died that way.

    That is, female death following street abduction is a 1 in 750,000 likelihood.

    There is no more an epidemic of female murder in Britain than there is a Covid19 global pandemic. The outrage following the event, the mass-crowd vigil, the need for police presence and the further divisive approach to politics were, in this instance, totally out of proportion to the point of being surreal.

    An awkward truth I realise – and one that will bless me with shoals of hate-mail – but a truth nevertheless.”

      1. Conservatives need not apply. Still, they do show some decent programmes from time to time, plus the added bonus of Cathy Newperson getting owned by Jordan Peterson in such a great way. Ch4 News’ most popular video, but not for the reasons they’d hoped!

    4. Whenever the media says ‘the truth about…’ you know it will be just a load of guff. Ironically, I’ve now started watching my X-Files DVD boxset I got for Christmas – lots of nice conspiracies to get through. I wonder how many have turned out to be true or not far off?

  103. Under the influence of a whole bottle of Cotes de Roussillon I had an exceptional general knowledge round in Mastermind the wine seemingly loosened the grey cells
    Only connect is looking like another story………………..

    2. I stopped watching it a few years ago. I was a bit shocked when none of the contestants could identify our cathedrals from photographs. Neither could they identify our great writers.

      Questions seemed to be geared to the particular specialisations of certain team members, mostly favouring dolts from Oxbridge which I found annoying.

      The days of Bamber Gascoigne are long gone. Jeremy Paxman was simply condescending and nobody believes that he has the answers unless written on a card in front of him. The entire show has become plastic.

    1. I don’t remember Extinction Rebellion protests getting much hassle from our brave enforcers of the law

        1. Then why would your ‘Brave protester near Westminster against the Johnson Davos globalist tyranny !’ be protesting?

          1. Just in case. Better to be safe than sorry. But anyway this is because everyone is upset about Sarah, about Clapham, about lockdown, and lots don’t like Johnson.

  106. This is what Johnson’s new totalitarian Davos globalist ”stop protests” legislation aims to do……..

    From the Spectator……

    ”What makes me even more concerned about this than I otherwise would be is the Home Office’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, published this week. Some of the extra powers it would hand the police to break up protests border on draconian. It attacks one thing in particular which is alarming: unless a protest or gathering of any kind is completely silent, the police have the legal right to break it all up. As should be obvious, no protest could or would ever be silent, so this is essentially a diktat to halt any protest the government doesn’t like the look of. Not divert it or even kettle it – bring it to an immediate end, by force if necessary.”

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-met-police-badly-mishandled-the-clapham-common-vigil

    So no more protests at all ever thanks to the Davos billionaires’ friend Boros Johnson unless you’re protesting in favor of something the billionaires want such as Net Zero.

    If it’s lockdown you don’t like then the billionaires will make Johnson lock you up !

    1. I think most of us harboured doubts about Johnson before his election with a significant majority in Parliament. We hoped that he would do what he promised, enact a clean break from the EU, reinforce our civil liberties and concentrate on rebuilding our economy post Brexit.

      The congenital liar has done the precise reverse of what he promised. He has enslaved us to the EU and betrayed our fishing fleet communities, allowed the EU to ride roughshod over our supposed independence and enabled the EU cabal to frustrate our free trade with the rest of Europe. He has ridden roughshod over our civil liberties in order to ingratiate himself with the New World Order globalist billionaires, has pursued idiotic ‘green’ policies as promoted by his mistress, sold us down the river to the Biden administration whilst stabbing President Trump in the front, ridiculed real conservatives both at home and in the USA and signed away our future prosperity to Bill Gates by his contemptible support of and assistance to Gates’ world de-population vaccination programme.

      Boris Johnson and his cabinet of almost equally detestable arseholes should face a Nuremberg style trial once the full results of his treachery become more obvious, when millions will have died from reactions to and reinfections from those falling for untested vaccinations.

      I have utter contempt for Johnson and his advisors. They should be hanged.

      1. Agreed, except for your last four words. A spell in Pentonville would be sufficient I think.

        1. Okay but Dartmoor would be better and less chance of their being sprung by the corrupt ‘law enforcers’.

          Edit: Come to think of it a spell in Guantanamo would serve. We just need Trump as President to implement.

      2. It’s worse than that, John. I joined the bloody party, specifically to vote him in as leader. At the time, he was the only option. Now? meh…

        1. Agreed. I voted Tory on the advice of Nigel Farage who had been persuaded that Johnson would deliver on Brexit. How wrong we both were.

          1. I know I bang on about Farage, whom I used to admire, having feet of clay but he has betrayed so many people who misplaced their faith in him.

            Whatever he has achieved has been marred by his two total errors of judgement:

            i) He removed Brexit Party candidates from Conservative held seats held by remainers – he should only have stood them down in seats held by those committed to Brexit;

            ii) He claimed that the Johnson/Gove deal with the EU was acceptable without examining it properly. Every day we are seeing what a disaster this shabby deal is.

            And now he withdraws smugly from the scene full of hubris trying to make out that he is the hero of Brexit when we have been left with a total shambles.

            And for all his gallivanting about the English Channel and visits to the 4 * hotel accommodation given to the illegals immigrants the flotillas crossing the channel every day have not diminished.

            A phrase from John Milton’s Paradise Lost should be his epitaph:

            Semblance of worth, not substance.

          2. 330354+ up ticks,
            Evening R,
            Whatever the “party” achieved was stained by his treachery.

            30000 plus ruined jackets.

          4. 330354+ up ticks,
            C,
            ” on the advice of farage” may I say
            how naive but what really is the point.

            The orchestrated damage was carried out in a successful manner.

      3. 330354+ up ticks
        Evening C,
        Many of us knew the strength of johnson & the
        tory ( ino) party long ago but could NOT get an “official” shout in.

        When we heard early post referendum ” leave it to the tories” ( ino) we knew high treachery
        was being triggered.

        lab/lib/con coalition vows/promises /
        pledges are staple fodder for fools

        If the lab/lib/con coalition group are pressing for ALL peoples being ID then may one suggest that ALL peoples are ID with party colours when leaving the polling booth so the innocent can see clearly the electoral enemas.

  107. This is what Johnson’s new totalitarian Davos globalist ”stop protests” legislation aims to do……..

    From the Spectator……

    ”What makes me even more concerned about this than I otherwise would be is the Home Office’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, published this week. Some of the extra powers it would hand the police to break up protests border on draconian. It attacks one thing in particular which is alarming: unless a protest or gathering of any kind is completely silent, the police have the legal right to break it all up. As should be obvious, no protest could or would ever be silent, so this is essentially a diktat to halt any protest the government doesn’t like the look of. Not divert it or even kettle it – bring it to an immediate end, by force if necessary.”

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-met-police-badly-mishandled-the-clapham-common-vigil

    So no more protests at all ever thanks to the Davos billionaires’ friend Boros Johnson unless you’re protesting in favor of something the billionaires want such as Net Zero.

    If it’s lockdown you don’t like then the billionaires will make Johnson lock you up !

  109. The BBC gets plenty of stick here and elsewhere and much of it is well deserved. It is, however, still capable of making intelligent programmes. Here’s the blurb for this evening’s edition of ‘Analysis’ on Radio 4:

    The Fine Art of Decision Making

    Margaret Heffernan explores the fine art of decision making in times of uncertainty. We make decisions all the time which affect our personal lives, but what about the decisions which affect the lives of many others? How do you decide, when the well being of a nation or the success of a company are at stake, but the path is unclear because the risks cannot be quantified? A desire for more data, the temptation to procrastinate, a reluctance to admit mistakes and the outsourcing of decisions to machines can all lead to bad decision making, so what processes and practices, leadership qualities and attitudes of mind can serve as the best guides? Senior politicians, public servants, business people and academics share their insights based on past failures as well as successes, and suggest ways of better decision making in an increasingly uncertain world.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t40w

    The summary by Professor Gerd Gigerenzer should be played to everyone anywhere who thinks that nobody should have died from Covid.

  110. The BBC gets plenty of stick here and elsewhere and much of it is well deserved. It is, however, still capable of making intelligent programmes. Here’s the blurb for this evening’s edition of ‘Analysis’ on Radio 4:

    The Fine Art of Decision Making

    Margaret Heffernan explores the fine art of decision making in times of uncertainty. We make decisions all the time which affect our personal lives, but what about the decisions which affect the lives of many others? How do you decide, when the well being of a nation or the success of a company are at stake, but the path is unclear because the risks cannot be quantified? A desire for more data, the temptation to procrastinate, a reluctance to admit mistakes and the outsourcing of decisions to machines can all lead to bad decision making, so what processes and practices, leadership qualities and attitudes of mind can serve as the best guides? Senior politicians, public servants, business people and academics share their insights based on past failures as well as successes, and suggest ways of better decision making in an increasingly uncertain world.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t40w

    The summary by Professor Gerd Gigerenzer should be played to everyone anywhere who thinks that nobody should have died from Covid.

  111. The BBC gets plenty of stick here and elsewhere and much of it is well deserved. It is, however, still capable of making intelligent programmes. Here’s the blurb for this evening’s edition of ‘Analysis’ on Radio 4:

    The Fine Art of Decision Making

    Margaret Heffernan explores the fine art of decision making in times of uncertainty. We make decisions all the time which affect our personal lives, but what about the decisions which affect the lives of many others? How do you decide, when the well being of a nation or the success of a company are at stake, but the path is unclear because the risks cannot be quantified? A desire for more data, the temptation to procrastinate, a reluctance to admit mistakes and the outsourcing of decisions to machines can all lead to bad decision making, so what processes and practices, leadership qualities and attitudes of mind can serve as the best guides? Senior politicians, public servants, business people and academics share their insights based on past failures as well as successes, and suggest ways of better decision making in an increasingly uncertain world.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t40w

    The summary by Professor Gerd Gigerenzer should be played to everyone anywhere who thinks that nobody should have died from Covid.

  112. Had my Council Tax bill today, they’ve managed to keep the increase to 1.99%. , by separately listing Adult Social Care 3% , Police 5.9% , Fire Authority 2%. sneaky b’stards

    of interest the PCC have had a bumper 5 years

    PCC for Avon and Somerset
    Council tax precept increases over the last 5 years

    2016/17 2%.
    2017/18 2%
    2018/19 6.6%.
    2019/20 12.4%
    2020/21 5.9%.

    In this time we’ve lost our full time Police Station which was replaced by a part time office in a Council building on the outskirts of our town but it has just been announced that that’s closing too. This comes at a time when theft of Bikes , garden ornaments ( yep that’s right) and workman’s tools from locked vans – with tool safes – is a regular thing, you report it , get a crime number and that’s it.The latest thing is dog thefts. . grrrrrrrrrr

        1. Our council have been charging us for garden waste for years, now going up to over £57 for this coming year but at least it is collected fortnightly as opposed to household refuse now every 3 weeks.

    3. Our increase appears to benefit our utterly useless Parish Council. These buggers meet occasionally on Zoom and allow the Braintree District and Essex County Councils to run rings around them.

      My wife snd I are fed up with witnessing this Masonic cabal working at top speed to rebuff objections and facilitate the building of vast estates on the Green Belt and hope to sell up and move on this year.

      Our ‘chocolate box’ thatched property, mediaeval in its origins and with bucket loads of historical features will advisedly appeal to gay men moving out of London.

      1. Our Town Council is a joint fiefdom of two families of Builders and Timber merchants and seems to be stuck somewhere in the 1920’s. My gaff is a featureless 1960’s box , it’s only redeeming feature is if you lean out of the back bedroom window far enough you can just about see the Bristol Channel, purchasers likely to be Heteronormative .

      2. Our Town Council is a joint fiefdom of two families of Builders and Timber merchants and seems to be stuck somewhere in the 1920’s. My gaff is a featureless 1960’s box , it’s only redeeming feature is if you lean out of the back bedroom window far enough you can just about see the Bristol Channel, purchasers likely to be Heteronormative .

      3. I don’t know about your parish council, but mine meets regularly on Zoom (not allowed to meet face to face, although we’d like to) and we are frequently incandescent that we reject housing projects as unsustainable, inappropriate and out of character, only to be overridden by County. Our parish councillors aren’t paid, incidentally.

    4. There was a vigil mostly attended by women in Germany a year or three ago. This one was over the rape and abuse of young women.

      Someone had printed colour photo’s on A4 of all the young women attacked and murdered. They had mounted the pics at eye level around the square where the vigil was held.

      later in the day it became chaotic and violent and the Police came in mob-handed.

      The news reports said it had been infiltrated by far right extremists.

      I think we know after this latest event that it wasn’t the right.

      It’s the same tactics and the same groups as we have now been seeing in the UK.

      Rise of the far right my arse.

    5. Not just hijacked it, created the whole hysteria. I’m sorry she died, but the bottom line is that she took a risk and was unlucky. I hope that the murderer will be punished, but this in no way changes the fact that if you are physically weaker, you should not put yourself in dangerous situations.

  114. SIR Antony Gormley has launched an objection against plans to exhibit his own phallic-shaped sculptures on a beach, as he branded the display a “misrepresentation” of his work.

    The 70-year-old Turner Prize winner has intervened following an application by art collector Caroline Wiseman to site his four cast iron bollards, titled Peg, Snowman, Oval and Penis, on Aldeburgh beach in Suffolk.

    Sir Antony created the bollards in 2001 as part of a £60 million project to regenerate Peckham, which began seven years earlier. South London traders were forced to fund the first production run of the street furniture after Southwark Council reportedly declined to provide financial support for the sculptures.

    The bollards were sited on Bellenden Road, where Sir Antony opened a studio

    1. My local town council who are normally very good decided that the main shopping area needed a make over. They decided to use a historical figure that put us on the map who specialised in ironwork. They invited bids for sculptures to commemorate the area.

      We ended up with a fountain feature which in a very light wind on a sunny day randomly drenched anyone passing.

      A nautical feature that became a magnet for wind blown take away wrappers.

      Odd cartoon like characters dotted around.

      And lots of rust.

      Why couldn’t they just plant a few herb bushes?

      Of course the bids were paid for through council tax. While essential services were being cut.

  115. SIR Antony Gormley has launched an objection against plans to exhibit his own phallic-shaped sculptures on a beach, as he branded the display a “misrepresentation” of his work.

    The 70-year-old Turner Prize winner has intervened following an application by art collector Caroline Wiseman to site his four cast iron bollards, titled Peg, Snowman, Oval and Penis, on Aldeburgh beach in Suffolk.

    Sir Antony created the bollards in 2001 as part of a £60 million project to regenerate Peckham, which began seven years earlier. South London traders were forced to fund the first production run of the street furniture after Southwark Council reportedly declined to provide financial support for the sculptures.

    The bollards were sited on Bellenden Road, where Sir Antony opened a studio

  116. SIR Antony Gormley has launched an objection against plans to exhibit his own phallic-shaped sculptures on a beach, as he branded the display a “misrepresentation” of his work.

    The 70-year-old Turner Prize winner has intervened following an application by art collector Caroline Wiseman to site his four cast iron bollards, titled Peg, Snowman, Oval and Penis, on Aldeburgh beach in Suffolk.

    Sir Antony created the bollards in 2001 as part of a £60 million project to regenerate Peckham, which began seven years earlier. South London traders were forced to fund the first production run of the street furniture after Southwark Council reportedly declined to provide financial support for the sculptures.

    The bollards were sited on Bellenden Road, where Sir Antony opened a studio

  118. “Both the police and the protesters were at fault on the night of the Clapham Common vigil”

    Which two police were they then?
    Oh, they mean “The police and the protesters were both at fault on the night of the Clapham Common vigil”

  120. 330354+ up ticks,
    Are you sure Mr Fox on these policies, I only ask because the lab/lib/con have been trying to achieve the same for decades with regular support from the peoples, who really do believe in the coalitions manifesto’s.
    Many believe in the law of averages concerning voting they must eventually strike lucky before the replacement tips over the 50% mark,

    https://twitter.com/LozzaFox/status/1371412799201640448

      1. I’m limping a bit because I had a fall in the garden – I really should remember I don’t bounce as well as I did 🙁

    2. Obviously another wanker promoted beyond his abilities, as a placeman to defend the covert actions of his superiors.

  123. Goodnight all, many thanks for all the kind words and best wishes I have received today. I will be sure to let Mrs VVOF know of your kindness and how lucky she is to have me. 😊

    1. Goodnight, VVOLF, my best wishes to both you and your Dear Lady. It’s people like you and I, who still believe in and value the older ideals, who will have to keep up the fight against the ever-encroaching assault against our values.

      1. Although we will keep to our values I fear the battle may well be lost.
        Look no further than our Generals in Westminster, the BBC and the gutter press who do not share our values.

  128. Desperate for some comfort after waking up at 2.30am this morning, I turned on the World Service to hear the words “businesses and startups by women…”. Off it goes again. I am on my own in this world!

    3. Morning Jeremy, Minty and all who explore the wee hours….You could try ‘Through the Night’ on Radio 3. It is traditional Radio 3 without the babbling and wokery. However, do be warned that on Saturdays at 5:00 am the Controllers think we should be indoctrinated with ‘Tearjerkers’ – “Jorja Smith presents an hour of healing, emotional music. Immerse yourself in a world of soothing orchestral music, piano, strings and soundtracks to bring you comfort and escape” At which point World Service might begin to sound attractive!

    4. Morning Jeremy, Minty and all who explore the wee hours….You could try ‘Through the Night’ on Radio 3. It is traditional Radio 3 without the babbling and wokery. However, do be warned that on Saturdays at 5:00 am the Controllers think we should be indoctrinated with ‘Tearjerkers’ – “Jorja Smith presents an hour of healing, emotional music. Immerse yourself in a world of soothing orchestral music, piano, strings and soundtracks to bring you comfort and escape” At which point World Service might begin to sound attractive!

Comments are closed.