Monday 16 September: The Government’s green energy plans will devastate British industries

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer 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.

631 thoughts on “Monday 16 September: The Government’s green energy plans will devastate British industries”

  3. Excellent 1st letter for a change to offset the repulsive photo of Two Tier and Millipede atop the Letters Page:-.

    SIR – The Labour Party’s manifesto promised to “grow our economy”, yet the Government is doubling down on the failed policies of the previous administration by preventing the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, closing down most of the steel industry, cancelling the mining of coking coal in Cumbria, and continuing the ban on fracking for gas.

    The promised green nirvana powered by wind and solar energy has enormous, understated costs and impracticalities. Rather than expanding the economy, jobs will be lost in Scotland, Wales and England, while the UK will have to rely on foreign imports of gas, oil, coal, steel, chemicals and all goods or materials requiring a high energy input.

    All of this comes without affecting the world’s climate an iota.

    Michael Staples
    Seaford, East Sussex

      1. Not to mention imported food because they'll have covered all the farmland with either housing or "green energy" projects.

    2. It seems that although claiming to have discovered a large black hole in our economy. They have decided that it wasn't really large enough to worry about. And have set out to at least quadruple the size of it. Of course blaming anyone but themselves.

    3. But think of the savings when the nuclear bombs rain down and all that there is left to destroy is obsolete power stations and derelict factories and transport networks. You know socialism makes sense!

  4. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,185 5/6

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  5. Susan Chambers must be naive in the extreme if she thinks the Taliban will give any consideration at all to her suggestion of world-wide protests over their treatment of women in Afghanistan.

    Afghanistan’s women
    SIR – It is distressing to learn of further restrictions imposed upon the women of Afghanistan by the Taliban. The reporting of their plight has been almost non-existent for the past year.

    Perhaps marches in cities throughout the world on a chosen date would show the Afghan women that their suffering has not gone unnoticed. For the Taliban it would give serious notice that this barbaric treatment of women in the modern era is not to be tolerated. There have never been such cruel restrictions in the history of Islam, which in previous times was an enlightened and tolerant faith.

    Susan Chambers
    Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

    1. Yo B o B

      The WEF, NWO, UN etc have declared a Worldwide Ban on all demonstrations, except in UK, whereby any Far Right extremists, who just want their way of life back, will be imprisoned!

    2. Might be more than a touch of irony in her letter; Mussies are willing to march AGAINST the Jews, but not to criticise fellow Muslims. The Telegraph Editor missed Ms Chambers' remark about Islam being historically an "enlightened and tolerant faith".

    1. Before I go.

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  10. The Government’s green energy plans will devastate British industries

    That was always the plan, surely nobody still believes that we can compete industrially with intermittent power supply

      1. If we can all see that then Starmer and Miliband must be able to see it too.

        What other conclusion can there be than that they want to impoverish the country and drive out anybody with aspiration and ambition?

    2. Apart from Labour's plan to destroy private schools did Starmer tell the truth about anything?

      His biggest lie was that growth was at the centre of Labour's plan – what growth did he mean: growth in the restrictions on free speech growth in the power of the unions? growth in immigration? growth in energy costs? growth in state control? But not growth in the economy and the wealth per capita index.

  11. The Government’s green energy plans will devastate British industries

    That was always the plan, surely nobody still believes that we can compete industrially with intermittent power supply

  12. Camilla Carr, free-spirited aid worker who forgave those who kidnapped and raped her in Chechnya. 16 September 2024.

    Although the first war in Chechnya had ended by 1997, the country remained extremely dangerous. The couple were warned that anyone going there risked kidnap, and yet, as Camilla Carr recalled: “I felt it was our destiny. We were following our hearts.”

    The pair were shockingly ill-prepared, however, on April 16 when they set off in a £500 second-hand Lada full of toys and games on their 2,000-mile journey to Grozny via Moscow. They spoke no Russian or Chechen and had no experience of working in a war zone, but had agreed to help after meeting Christopher Hunter, a Quaker friend who ran the Little Star charity, helping children who had been orphaned and traumatised in the war, and who wanted help to set up and run a permanent centre in Grozny.

    Despite this woman’s travails one can only deplore her stupidity. Her experiences were largely the outcome of her own decisions.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/09/15/camilla-carr-chechnya-kidnap-obituary/

    3. I thought exactly the same. She was married to a dutchman before and had a son with him called Ashok. Told me all i needed to know i’m afraid.

  13. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    He Must Pay

    Husband and wife had a tiff. Wife called up her Mum and said,

    "He fought with me again, I am coming to live with you."

    Mum said, "No darling, he must pay for his mistake. I am coming to live with you."

  14. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    He Must Pay

    Husband and wife had a tiff. Wife called up her Mum and said,

    "He fought with me again, I am coming to live with you."

    Mum said, "No darling, he must pay for his mistake. I am coming to live with you."

  15. One good thing about Starmer's wardrobegate scandal is that at least he wont be wearing a donkey jacket at the Cenotaph this year

  16. One good thing about Starmer's wardrobegate scandal is that at least he wont be wearing a donkey jacket at the Cenotaph this year

    1. The accusations that Michael Foot wore a donkey jacket at the Remembrance Ceremony were disgusting.
      His mistake was to simply eschew the traditional Ulster style overcoat in favour of a modern, lighter and quite smart motoring jacket.

      1. When I left school, and started work as an engineering apprentice, I was bought a reefer jacket (ostensibly a donkey jacket without its plastic shoulder and elbow patches). It kept me warm throughout many a cold winter.

    2. It might be the gold lined one – with extra large internal pockets for Trade Union brown envelopes and Lord Alli's latest donations.

  17. Before I go.

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  18. Good morning, all. Just passing through. I thought I'd demonstrate the time doesn't just fly – but is supersonic.

    Today, Gus and Pickles are FOUR YEARS OLD!!

    Had a ten day news break. Merely noticed that Prince Woke of Wales has stopped shaving and now looks scruffy as well as a dope. And that his missus starred in a John Lewis Christmas video…. The Odd Couple indeed.

  20. There’s plenty of fish for adventurous eaters

    SIR – A recent poll has exposed how little the public knows about seafood (report, September 14).

    Having caught and sold fish for more than 50 years it never ceased to amaze me how customers would tell me about all the lovely fish they had eaten while on holiday: octopus, squid, crab, hake and langoustines. These fish were caught in English waters and exported to Europe. However, customers would very seldom buy these same fish from me.

    We are blessed with an abundance of these fish around our south and south-west coasts. The North East has more langoustines and lobsters, but almost all are exported. The humble gurnard is ignored in Britain as it is deemed ugly. The meaty smooth hound – no bones and fantastic on the barbecue – is also ignored.

    There are many delightful fish available that don’t need batter or breadcrumbs. Treat yourself and try some, thereby supporting the British fishing industry. It is also so much greener to eat food produced locally.

    Paul Gilson
    President, National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations
    Leigh on Sea, Essex

    All the items mentioned can be cooked and served to you in the sunshine across all of the Mediterranean for less than the price of buying those same items in the UK.

    Perhaps Mr Gibson should question why the French, Spanish and Italians can sell British seafood and cook it, cheaper than we can buy it locally.

    1. Michel Barnier informed Theresa May.. "The territorial waters of the UK may be yours technically, but the fish within belong to us."

      She grinned then nodded. Later, Johnson tied up the loose ends.

        2. Bonjour Mr T, and everyone.
          For logical reasons his paternal grandfather Wilfred (born 1909) changed his surname from Kemal (Turkish) to Johnson, the maiden name of his own maternal grandmother who brought him up. Mixed marriages are healthy, being exogamous, but somewhere along the line there will always be a Tebbit test.

    2. The gurnard is not only a beautiful fish, look into its deep blue eyes, but also my favourite eating fish.

      1. I was night fishing at Chesil and caught a gurnard. I was wearing a light on my head and it showed up all the irridescent rainbow colours on the fish. I put it back. It wasn't very big anyway.

    3. The gurnard is not only a beautiful fish, look into its deep blue eyes, but also my favourite eating fish.

    4. ".…thereby supporting the British fishing industry."

      And the reason Brexit has been a damp squib is because Johnson, Gove and Frost betrayed British fishermen and Northern Ireland.

      A country than has lost its self-respect is a country that should not be respected – which is exactly what Starmer and his predecessors have wanted. Any form of patriotism is a hateful thought crime.

      2. Good morning, Rastus.

        "… the reason Brexit has been a damp squib is because …"

        … The country is successively run by morons and has been for decades. There is no light at the end of the tunnel since we will experience more and more political pygmies on the endless political conveyor-belt of self-serving wankers.

    5. My dad was brought up after the war eating cod, as it was the cheapest protein. Would that i could afford to eat cod all the time!

      1. If I remember correctly there were a lot of them stationed at RAF Gutersloh when I was stationed there in the 1960s. They occasionally exceeded the sound barrier and it sounded as if the huge metal garage doors for the artillery sheds had been blown to the ground. Naughty boys!

          1. British Electric Lightning? FFS English Electric Lightning later BAC Lightning. I left Geilenkirchen in Germany late '64 when I was on Canberra B(I)8s

    3. There is a fibre-glass full-scale replica on a 'stick' at the old airfield entrance at Samlesbury near Preston.
      This was the only production site for the English Electric Lightning and its prototypes. Built 1953–1972, total 341 (including BAC production).

    1. It's all so simple but not quite so obvious to our political idiots.
      Chuck these people out. They are illegally present and have no right whatsoever to be here.
      Unfortunately our politicians are too stupid to understand the difference between legal the opposite of it.

      1. GB News actually went here some years ago, with the great Mark Steyn (who interviewed at least one victim on air). He subsequently had four heart attacks in quick succession, no longer appears on British TV but can be found at Steynonline.com

        1. Mark Steyn was that thing most loathed by the PTB and the MSM: a truth teller.

          He was persecuted by Ofcom for presenting the truth about Pakistani rape gangs and the disastrous effects that the Covid jabs had on some people and the distortion of statistics that the PTB produced to cover their backs.

          GBNews was craven in bowing to pressure and not supporting Steyn just as they got rid of Calvin Robinson and Dan Wootton. The odious Mark Dolan refused to support any of his 'friends'.

          The fact that the government wants to have a fact finding team to censor fake news and punish those who speak, write or broadcast it is very deeply worrying. If a liar like Starmer is the arbiter of what is and what is not true then we are truly lost.

          1. And now we have the owner of GB News Paul Marshall bidding I think £100 million? for the Spectator – I’m currently a subscriber, continued due to special offer. If Mr Marshall doesn’t change things, I’ll be unsubscribing.

      2. Years ago it struct me that those in authority were trying to keep the lid on the pressure cooker for fear that it would blow and given the numbers involved bloody Civil war would ensue. I'm still not sure that won't be the eventual result only with even bigger numbers involved at some point in the future….. 🙁

    1. Another lame attempt to explain wrecked immune systems? I work with people who are multi jabbed and forever coming down with bad cold and flu symptoms. It’ll please them to be told it’s super covid. They won’t join the dots.

      1. Isn't it bizarre. I was laughed at by others for my views on Climate Change/Covid/vaccines. Now, what's called 'laughing on t'other side of their face'…carry on joining the dots, Sue 🙂

    2. Be on your guard…the mpox vaccine is now recommended for babies, toddlers. We know where that leads – the rest of us.

  27. Morning all 🙂😊
    Patchy cloud dampish rain later, again.
    The new government ? Who let the dogs out ?
    The problem is these same people have been straining at their separate leashes of personal fixated dedication and their private theories for many years in opposition. And now as the vindictive mad dogs they are and as we have all seen human idiots behave, they have come out growling and barking. For no other justifiable reasons. But Just because they can.

    1. What's worse is that they have ideas which they think are really good, but they don't understand that these ideas have consequences elsewhere.

      There are no solutions, only trade offs. The Left wing mindset constantly runs around, wondering where all the leaks are coming from without ever accepting it's their own appalling ideology causing all the mess.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_EtIWmja-4

    2. What's worse is that they have ideas which they think are really good, but they don't understand that these ideas have consequences elsewhere.

      There are no solutions, only trade offs. The Left wing mindset constantly runs around, wondering where all the leaks are coming from without ever accepting it's their own appalling ideology causing all the mess.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_EtIWmja-4

  29. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/09/15/disasters-dont-strike-suddenly-demography-energy-prices/

    The article is somewhat doom and gloom but it misses the point: At every step, governrment has deliberately made the wrong deccision.

    Thee population was falling as we needed fewer people to do jobs. People were having children later to develop their careers first. Sometimes having children came too late.

    Folk were also delaying having children because they wanted a life before hand and to be able to provide for that child they needed money to plan and prepare.

    Then Labour came along and gave every brat who got herself pregnant at 16 (inn some places 14) a free house and bennies for life. For each brat, more welfare followed along with a bigger house. Labour made welfare a lifestyle choice.

    Gone was the Christian discipline, in came big fat state. Brown also removed all the tax incentives for marrying, as this was 'unfair' on the unmarried rather missing the point of marriage as the bedrock of society.

    Then Brown introduced working tax credits – rather than just cutting taxes, he pushed ever more people in dependence. The minimum wage came hammering in, jobs were lost and zero hours contracts hastily formed to give the low skilled unemployed some job opportunities but welfare always paid better.

    Now with the family punished, single parenting rewarded and taxes higher than ever society started to fragment. Crime rose as the stabilising effect of two parents evaporated. Working was 'something you did' rather than of social worth.

    Then the elephant in the room, massive uncontrolled gimmigration. Labour imported tens of millions of foreigners to literally replace the locals 'to do the jobs we wouldn't do' – because big government had priced us out. Natives would have done those jobs but welfare paid better, demanded less and, well, why bother? The problem is, it was utterly vindictive and for political machination only. Now there's enclaves of utterly alien cultures who have no use, value or benefit to society breeding like rabbits (thanks to welfare) who actively hate our culture and society.

    As the Left have dismantled the good and decent things out of malice, replacing them with broken, malfunctioning, ever bigger statist control so too have the institutions that once worked; stopped working – police, sewerage, water, energy. The failures in society are not demanded to work harder but instead given a free leg up. More and more previously functioning systems fail with them as the incapable suddenly find they're incompetent (Sharon White being an example).

    These are not accidents or gradual changes. They were politically motivated arrogance of government officials.

    Yes, our birth rate was falling. Oh well. That's how things change as technology replaces much of the drudge of life. We have more leisure time. More choices on how to live. Fewer people means less demand which means higher prices but also higher salaries (as Switzerland can prove). It means the demand on sewerage, water, energy is lower so more research can be done rather than simply meeting demand. It means less taxation because there is less demand for the state – all people want is lower taxes (and that's what really terrified the state). What it also means is lower house prices and demand for communication systems for more flexible working so Mum or Dad could stay at home with a young child and still be productive (or three dogs, in my case). It means no mass welfare as the family unit is self governing.

    But the state didn't want a self balancing society with choices made by individuals spending their own money how they wanted to. It had an agenda and wasn't to be refused. The chaos we live in is the result. Massive demand for state resources, unrest, criminality, log jammed roads, ten, twenty years behind technologically, crushing taxation, incredible state waste and colossal debt

    Big government wanted this. Journalists might bleat about it now but they're 20 years too late. Notable exception is Douglas Murray who wrote a book about the problem when Blair and Brown started causing it.

    1. Totally agree with you. Breakdown of the family unit has worked spectacularly. It’s hard to see a good future for our children and theirs.

  32. Matt Goodwin's latest post is a guest contribution by James Esses. It is paywalled, so I will quote a few paragraphs and encourage those who want to read the rest to pay a subscription (50% off offer for pensioners). Esses has been writing a series on institutions subjected to woke capture.

    [MG intro]This is the third and final piece in a trilogy that has shown how major household names, including the Financial Times and BBC, have been captured. The pieces are by our new columnist James Esses who writes each Monday. You can support his work by upgrading.

    [JE]John Lewis Partnership (JLP) first appeared on my radar when I was contacted on Twitter/X by a mother whose son had recently started working for the company.

    Within a couple of days of starting work, he was asked by his appointed mentor where his pronoun badge was. When he questioned whether it was mandatory, the response was “no but it’s transphobic not to”.

    You can tell a lot about a company from the attitude of its frontline staff. This gave me an indication that certain ideologies were prevalent within JLP.

    To find out whether this was simply an isolated incident, I put a call out on Twitter/X, asking for individuals with connections to JLP to get in touch with me.

    What followed was truly shocking – employee after employee contacting me to raise concerns they held regarding the ideologies being imposed upon themselves and their colleagues. It soon became clear that JLP has been completely and utterly captured.

    Let me show you why —and why this is just as shocking as what we have seen taking place in both the Financial Times and the BBC."

    "JLP has gone through several years of financial losses and significant job cuts. For that reason, it was particularly concerning to learn they have been using their limited finances to fund activist groups. For example, they announced a donation of £50,000 to trans activist group, Just like Us. This is woke capitalism at its worst."

    "JLP even sought to celebrate a staff member who acts as one of their Nursery advisors, yet poses in bondage gear.

    If you had any doubt as to whether this project was signed off by senior leadership, it was described by former JLP Chair, Dame Sharon White, as “excellent”."

    Full text at: https://www.mattgoodwin.org/p/james-esses-the-trans-takeover-of

    1. John Lewis was initially one of the best online retailers – bought quite a bit of kit from them. Everyone who worked there had a share in the business. Rot seemed to set in with Sharon White.

      1. Agree with the last sentence. Appears to have been the typical tokenist diversity appointment.

        Go woke, go broke.

      2. I was in John Lewis in Norwich (formerly 'Bonds') and it is getting better after the bad old days. They have re-introduced their time-honoured mantra of "Never Knowingly Undersold" and will again honour that commitment. I spoke to a young manageress while there and she recorded my feedback. She was unaware that JL stopped shipping goods to Europe three years ago, using "Covid" as an excuse. She recorded my views on tape and promised to ask why and try to get overseas deliveries reinstated.

        While there I bought a full set of their excellent towelling in Egyptian cotton in a shade called 'Dessert Sand' (I didn't know that sand tasted good on one's pudding!). I already own several sets of their bathroom towels in an assortment of colours.

        1. I hope you receive a reply, by whatever means. European customers will have found alternatives I suppose, how bizarre a manageress was unaware, speaks volumes, wonder how long it will be before you receive a reply, and if it will satisfy your concerns. Dessert Sand eh…:-DDD go down like a (sand) storm. I still have White House towels and bedding, at least a decade old…..(I do launder them tho…)

      3. According to the employees of our local Waitrose Dame Sharon White was uninterested in the future of John Lewis and

        it's employees. She was only interested in being noticed as a "trendy lefty" to get a well paid job in Government.

        Once she departed there was a quiet spirit of elation amongst all the employees.

    3. I gave up my occasional shop in Waitrose when a few years back when the Supermarket I visited had been turned into a Pride Fest. Not for me thank you. Go Woke go broke!

    4. This is an example of why appointing Sharon White, a failed civil servant was so pointless. She couldn't do the job and continued hammering Lewis' with stupid Left wing policies that in the public sector are just a waste of money but it's other people's money so they don't care. In private industry it's utterly destructive as real lives depend on having a wage coming in.

      It's why so many things are so broken – the infiltration is so extensive and destructive.

    5. Who thought a civil servant could understand the business and markets properly, understand and take risks properly, and drive JLP into profit? Surely, at best, a civil servant would be a caretaker? What they needed was an Elon Musk, risk-taker, transformation-maker and au fait with making oceans of money.

    6. Waitrose made a donation to Help a Hedgehog recently – it took an hour on the phone to one of their 'partners' in London to navigate the stupid form which was totally irrelevant to a charity but at least we got the money.

  33. Morning all. Morning alert from Free Speech. We have a nice piece by James Gatehouse today, on Getting On The Right Side Of History, a phrase beloved of tyrants everywhere.
    Please do reead and leave a comment.
    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      What doesn’t kill Trump makes him stronger
      Comments Share 15 September 2024, 11:16pm
      As if there hadn’t been enough drama in America in 2024, Donald Trump has survived another assassination attempt.

      The attempted killing of the 45th president at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon was not nearly as threatening as nine weeks ago in Butler, Pennsylvania. Secret Service, who have faced so much criticism for their failings in Butler, found the would-be killer’s weapon before he was able to target Trump, shots were fired, and the suspect appears to have been arrested fleeing the scene.

      What took place in Florida will show voters that a lot of people want Trump dead
      It’s still big news. Questions will rightly be asked as to how an armed man was again able to get so close to Trump. At a press conference yesterday, an official said that, had Trump been a sitting president, the entire course would have been secured in advance. Given the recency of the last attempt of Trump’s life, that seems an oversight. Trumpworld is already suggesting it is another conspiracy.

      That may be more mad talk – yet the incident could still prove to be a major moment in the presidential campaign, chiefly because it brings to mind the ongoing threat to Trump’s life. And it will remind voters of his narrow escape in Pennsylvania and his extraordinary courage under fire.

      After all the drama surrounding Kamala Harris’s elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket, Trump’s ‘fight fight fight!’ response that Saturday evening in July had somehow faded from the public consciousness.

      Last week, in the debate in Pennsylvania, Trump said ‘he probably took a bullet to the head’ because of Biden and Harris’s inflammatory rhetoric against him. But the remark was largely ignored. Most commentary focused on his poor debate performance and Trump tirades about rallies and Haitians eating pets in Ohio.

      Yet what took place in Florida yesterday will show voters that a lot of people want Trump dead. That will probably boost his appeal among people who don’t. Trump is an extraordinary political candidate, who thrives off enmity, and whatever doesn’t kill him makes him stronger. Sure enough, last night the betting markets improved in Trump’s favour.

      1. Yes, I remember that video – folk were asked if they would kill Trump and yes, they're not going to show the ones who say no but that people even consider it rational shows how nuts they are, how desperately, utterly poisoned their minds are to think that's acceptable at any level.

      2. I’ll be posting my own article on the Trump assassination attempt soon. Please read and comment. Give me an hour.

      3. This morning I watched an American TV news announcer, NBC, I think. Ask the question: "When is Trump going to stop inflaming the political situation?" How is that for victim blaming!

        1. He’s in the middle of a political campaign trying to get elected. Speaking against his opponent and her views is not inflaming the political situation.

          1. The woman was blaming him for the second assassination attempt. Sorry but I did not make that clear.

  34. Huw Edwards arrives at court for sentencing over child abuse images
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/16/huw-edwards-sentencing-robbed-child-innocence-says-mother/

    Of course with hindsight everybody says they thought he looked cold, humourless and creepy.

    Here is a song and dance routine of news readers with Morecombe and Wise in 1977.

    (It later tuned out that Frank Bough – turned out to have a passion for: sex, 'n,drugs, 'nrock'nroll!)

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ox64f

    2. I used to have a passion for sex and beer and rock 'n' roll.

      Funny how time cures one of a misspent youth.

  35. Huw Edwards arrives at court for sentencing over child abuse images
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/16/huw-edwards-sentencing-robbed-child-innocence-says-mother/

    Of course with hindsight everybody says they thought he looked cold, humourless and creepy.

    Here is a song and dance routine of news readers with Morecombe and Wise in 1977.

    (It later tuned out that Frank Bough – turned out to have a passion for: sex, 'n,drugs, 'nrock'nroll!)

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ox64f

  36. Labour has just lost the next election – that’s what the prisoner releases have achieved. 16 September 2024.

    Labour’s downfall has already been set in motion. Punishing pensioners to reward train drivers was bad. Promising during the election that there would be no additional tax rises was worse. But what will finish this administration was its decision to release violent criminals, even as people were being sent to jail for saying nasty things online.

    There’s going to be another election? For what purpose? The truth is that it doesn’t really matter. The Globalists have captured the entire official narrative. They control the newspapers and television; the State Institutions and the political parties, even the process itself. It doesn’t matter who you vote for. The channel crossers will still keep coming.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/15/labours-dangerous-prison-releases-will-haunt-them/

    1. Divide and Rule. It is how a party machine can claim absolute power, a blank cheque and the jackboot over whomever it selects for punishment on a popular mandate of 20%.

      As it was in 1983, the Opposition is fragmented and too preoccupied with squabbling among themselves to keep an eye on the Government of the day, which is precisely how the latter likes it.

      Starmer does not like to be reminded that his party actually polled fewer votes than it did in 2019 when Jeremy Corbyn led the party, and was reported then to be Labour's most resounding defeat since the 1930s. The difference between 2019 and 2024 was Liz Truss, who during her brief tenure killed off a monarch and trashed her party. Sunak was unable to recover its public standing in the time he had left, even if someone lent him an umbrella.

      We are now in Realpolitik land, and we have until now and 30th October to come up with a political strategy that could blow the anticipated hatefulness of the forthcoming Budget out of the water, and the smugness of Parliament with it.

      The Poll Tax brought down Thatcher. One of the things suggested by the pundits was to bring back the Poll Tax by cancelling the discount for those living alone, most of whom do so not because they want to, but because they have to thanks to social isolationism that has become the norm outside the realm of the Alphabet.

      What are we going to do about it? Time for a concerted programme of civil disobedience bringing in everyone, the Greens, Reform, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Socialists and the disgruntled and disillusioned majority (if a 40% mandate counts as a majority) who no longer vote.

      1. "The Poll Tax brought down Thatcher."

        It was her Bruges speech that did for her. The Tory hierarchy was avidly Europhile.

    2. Their voters won't care – or remember. Most of those released are Labour's children anyway.

      What Labour will say is 'the Tories created the problem, so we had to solve it' and that's all their voters will hear because they don't understand or care about anything else.

    3. There's a glimmer of hope…
      Talking to Second Son yesterday, offered him free our local paper (my sub covers 3 digital IDs), and he rejected it with "It's all lies anyway!". Asked what he meant, and he was supremely skeptical towards politics, big business, WEF, Global, etc etc. I suspect many of his generation are so as well, they ain't daft. So, all these old WEF types, the ones who are delayed in having a stroke or heart-attack, and with onset of dementia, are going to be on the losing side.

  37. SIR – The only fish meal worth having is cod in batter with chips.

    However, it is amazing how often I am disappointed in restaurants with this poorly prepared dish. One of the most common mistakes is not to cook the fish properly, resulting in a soggy barrier of batter between the fish and the outer crispy batter. This is usually caused by using fish straight out of the freezer which has not been properly thawed. Another common mistake is to use poor-quality cod which has a mushy consistency.

    Cod and chips when cooked properly is easily the best meal you can have and is Britain’s gift to the world.

    Stan Kirby
    East Malling, Kent

    No , no no.. There are many ways to cook fish .

    During my early married life , when we lived in Cornwall, when Moh was based at Culdrose , I used to do what my mother did with cod .. the days when you could buy cod steaks and not filleted.. Cod steaks poached in milk, , thinly sliced onions , sliced tomatoes , seasoned , put the baking dish in the oven , for about 20mt, then the milk drained off and added to cornflour and chopped parsley .. nice sauce , mashed potato , and carrots..

    The trouble with cod steaks are the large bones , but they are easy to navigate , and a delicious meal .

    I cook haddock .. beaten egg, seasoned flour, dip fish fillets into egg, then dip into flour then back into the beaten egg, and fry lightly .. so nice and simple.. tasty . You can actually taste the fish .

    1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15ab3e7909f991b5ee1a6dcea997df1f20f54cca8376cdc6107955a46e3f9e12.jpg Haddock, chips and real mushy peas (soaked in-house and not from a tin) enjoyed at Eric's Fish and Chips in Thornham (near Hunstanton) last week. Eric's was voted top fish and chips in Norfolk, in an article in the Sunday Telegraph four weeks ago.

      They were correct; dry and not at all greasy, the flavour of the fish and chips (properly fried in beef tallow) was exceptionally delicious and the mushy peas were simply moreish.

        2. The main plate was standard ceramic, only the little pie dish (containing the peas) was enamel.

          I have seven such small enamel dishes that I bake my individual steak & kidney pies in.

    2. As it makes me violently ill there is no fish in this house. I put some in the dog's food but use NCBH gear to do it (I don't jest, gas mask and multiple gloves).

      1. We have discovered that Spartie appears to be intolerant/allergic to salmon.
        All the more for MB and me.

        2. Oscar couldn't cope with rice. After the vet advised a rice and chicken or boiled fish diet for him I had a lot of cleaning up to do and a lot of rice to dispose of.

    3. IMHO, cooked fish in batter is a disaster; under cooked fish in batter is a catastrophe, Maggie.

      Your method sounds great!

      1. It is delicious Lacoste.

        Another way is to use a frying pan with a lid .. Sautee sliced onions , tomatoes, mushrooms , sliced peppers , courgettes until slightly cooked .. then add lots of fresh spinach leaves, good squirt of lemon juice then place your fish fillets on top of the veg, pop the lid on , and voila .. about eight minutes later , fish will be cooked , nice veg as well and enjoy them with a baked potato .. simple easy and tasty .

  38. Good morning, all. Bright day following on from rain.

    Last Thursday's The Highwire has an interview – from 46 minutes – with Brett Weinstein, evolutionary biologist and co-host, with his wife, of the Dark Horse podcast.

    It is a long interview, I haven't had time to watch all of it, but it is very interesting and some of Weinstein's revelations, including his discovery of why the mice used in medical testing are useless for the purpose and yet remain being used and the machinations used to have him removed from his professorship, are stunning.

    One of Del Bigtree's best interviews.

    The Highwire

  39. 'Morning All
    More musings from Cynical Rik
    How the hell did the latest Trump shooter know where and when he was going to be??
    Wide choice of courses he could be playing at and he normally plays at breakfast time just lucky I guess…………
    Meanwhile
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a20ae4d1d5fbf19267ce9528b8ec3b812887e7e9b11b9676405f3c55690f244e.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa6162f55738027b45cb8264d0a3d794635c524aa7a532a3a83b6cb3bbd9e531.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29bb022e286b0494870f180dfb6d01edc7b39b76470c5d6ae72f1bbec38ea931.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6de74c06221f92937b347815299a1ac09ffafa429db081e6d12e59b5c8c5ca4.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f4f9b429fc60b51213cbafba030d91a0625d776ae4e59dfb3e1ab7202ddc1e7.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/747946b8d552e4c79a1120ce7276440ffc9a658194c4c9412039ce6253bec0f4.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d91c4e3cf22fb4789cc658fe5a2bfeb0d35456aeb9f8db52e606b95396b099b.jpg

    1. The Warqueen finds their underwear uncomfortable and 'squashy'. She goes to Ultimo for the nice ones but she said I don't get excited by your pants, why do you about my bras?

      I said 'because of what's in them'…. and she gave me a raised eyebrow sidelong stare.

      I don't understand Starmer. He's a class A berk.

      2. He is a radical Marxist, a Trotskyite, he wishes, as do all Trotskyites, to destroy the culture and people of Britain so we become nowhereman, attached to nothing and so interchangeable with anyone of any other place. Like all Marxists he is motivated by misanthropy.

      1. Yes, but as jokes go it does seem to have a lot of truth in it.

        I think he seriously thinks it is acceptable to accept personal gifts/bribes from party donors.

        I wonder how many bribes and favours he accepted when he was the public prosecutor?

        1. Indeed, but I fear many people will see that clip as genuine.

          The man is already the worst PM of my experience, and there have been a good many execrably substandard 'leaders'.

          2. Yo anne

            May I fiddle

            20% of the electorate vote ds were allocated to his party.

            I imam gine that a lot of those came as block vote, collated by (no Christian) religious leaders

    3. Can this be reaI – surely it is faked?

      I doubt if Starmer was cuckolded literally as well as metaphorically. His and his wife's benefactor, 'Lord' Alli is not an attractive man physically or mentally no matter how much money he has.

      Starmer's twisted moral sense of what is and what is not corrupt is astonishing. If someone gives your political party a large sum of money then what is wrong with accepting £40,000 for your own personal expenditure on clothes – if he thinks like this he is totally unfit for office. He must lose his job for this – I hope he does.

      Alli is, apparently, one of the few openly homosexual Muslims according to the Internet. There is no accounting for human tastes but it is beyond my comprehension that anyone – either male or female – would want to have a sexual liaison with this chap:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f546fb7ff171e4b91eeecfaf3e2730501677d5b93e8d59405a6f6742ae9b5a55.png

      1. Rich people buying power has happened for as long as history (I can't remember the bloke but the Church giving cash to the Italian princes for favours, Caesar borrowing from rich merchants in exchange for 'whatever' – yes, I've forgotten what it was). It always will.

        The problem isn't that they can, it's that the public cannot stop the actions of those being bought. It is a lack of control the public have over the political class that is the problem.

        – Dominic Frisby's 'Daylight Robbery contains the references. Do read it, it's a good book.

      1. You do get the feeling that FrankenStarmer wants to 'punish' as many of us as he possibly can. For what? Who knows? Who can truly decipher that ideological fug which passes for brains in his and his fellow commies? Hating normal people is his thing and his associates are the same.

      3. I was pondering whether to join X or not. I do not feel like being silent. But, at the same time, at 75 I know that Herr Starmer's government could do me real damage if it retaliated to anything I said. So I feel I have a dilemma, to cope with that should not be an issue in a free society. We now live in a tyranny. But, at least, we now see the face of that evil.

        1. I'm off to Brazil next Monday – they've actually banned X there. I'll have to be careful when links pop up!

          2. We’re going to see jaguars and other interesting wildlife. Spectacular birds too. This trip was booked more than a year ago and is now looming up fast……

        2. Take your pick..
          down-ticked, unliked, demonetised, de-amplified, shadow-banned, marginalised, debanked, unexpected insane insurance premium, arrested, fined, black-balled.. payment services providers withdrawn..

          best plead guilty in Court.. then you'll only get 20 months.. though you may not survive long.

          Ezequiel Zayas, 30, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year in the killing of 62-year-old Vance Grace while the two men shared a quarantine cell

        3. I decided long ago not to touch it. Some of my family are public people and we are all careful about expressing opinions on social media.

        4. I understand it's much better since Musk too it over, although I don't use it myself. Perhaps do a straw poll friends, family ask if anyone you know uses it?

          2. It isn't censorship I worry about. It is that not being healthy I worry about being arrested. If I were OK then no worries. But I have so much stuff, drugs, oxygen etc, so many requirements to be alright, that I could end up in a real health crisis very easily if I were flung into a cell.

          3. Well we haven’t been arrested yet! but obviously, you do need to look after your health. But if they are going to arrest people for dissent, then sites like this will be targets.

      4. First it was cigarette, then 'junk food' (which will become most anything), next it'll be chocolate, then biscuits until eventually there's just a prescribed list of what you can and cannot eat, when you can eat it.

        1. Reliably informed many shopping streets blighted by vapes, thrown down, unfortunately don't degrade as fag ends eventually do. Many decades since I saw a yard man any street.

          1. The cigarettes i have been buying in Malta now have plastic particles in the filters. With a picture on the side showing a dead turtle.

          2. Good grief. Might you buy non-filters? my dad smoked Senior Service many years until he started smoking a pipe. What does the dead turtle signify, you're a killer because you smoke cigarettes with plastic particles? New reports out such particles on the seabed just degrade naturally, over a period of (unspecified) time. So that's alright, such a relief…..

          3. If you bung the dog end away and it goes in the sea then a turtle eats it and dies, i suppose.

            I don't litter. I clip the end of the cigarette and then put the butt in the bin.

          7. What is wrong with people today…I just don’t get it. Almost as though they have no self-respect and so no respect for anything else either.

  45. Well – we returned yesterday, refreshed from a week in Brittany. The French Wet Office lied about the weather. Despite their daily warnings, it didn't rain – just a couple of hours of heavy drizzle. Our billet was – again – perfect. One walks out of the front door on to the sand – a five mile beach awaits – but the house is within easy walking distance of the excellent shops. We walked well over 20 miles, breathing in the sea air. Only drawback was the persistent and quite strong wind from the west.

    Several exciting things. The port was the final destination of a race for single-handed yachtsfolk – 30+ came past our window and tied up inside the harbour. The public was allowed to go and see them. Despite some securiddy looking for bombs in handbags (as if)…one could then go down a steep ramp onto a narrow jetty with NO RAILING. The disregard for elfin safety was a treat.

    Then, on Friday (last day) 30+ tents were put up on the beach for 400+ young people (from all over France) to come and do competitive life-saving. Another treat to see all the youngsters busily occupied lugging canoes, kayaks, material, sails etc etc. When we left in the dark (And a mere 5ºC…) on Saturday morning, yet MORE young 'uns were arriving carrying boats. The event lasted until yesterday evening. I looked at the webcam (20 yards from our billet) jus now. Not a trace of the event. Everything dismantled, removed and the beach cleaned.

    I'll hand it to yer French. They do organise local events extremely well. Every day last week, there were were groups of children from primary school age upwards being brought from their schools to DO THINGS in boats. I simply can't imagine the same thing being arranged in the UK.

    We also went to a museum that has been created in a German Blockhaus (impossible to destroy) at BATZ (where, you will be delighted to learned there is a very interesting church with a superb BELFREY – something really only truly appreciated by yer English!)

    The MR has already been in touch with the billet owner t see if there is a week free next year….

    This is the view from the billet (or, the webcam just next to it):

    https://www.viewsurf.com/univers/surf/vue/18710-france-pays-de-la-loire-la-turballe-live

    1. Yonks ago our class was led into the woods to make shelters with our teacher.

      Aside from the various knives, saws, sharp blades and reams of twine no one got hurt, no one injured and we had a great day making terribly engineered teepee larks. To us they were palaces and we learned a lot about structures and science.

      I can't see it happening now, so Junior and I do it on our own.

      It looks love Bill, I hope it was a most restful break.

    2. Gorgeous , welcome back Bill.

      Loved your link , the Brits can't do things tidily ..

      The filth on our beaches is a disgrace, litter pickers do a great job , but people should take their rubbish home with them .

        1. Life no – I use this recipe: https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cheese-potato-and-onion-soup-with-crispy-sage.html

          But I also add a lot of cream and whole milk (about half and half) with triple the recipe and a lot more cheese – about 20% more. I don't put the soup in the rolls, but to the side.

          It fills the slow cooker and does the 3 of us 1.3 times (as both Warqueen and Junior have half a bowl extra while I go for the bread being the peasant I am).

      2. I make Stilton and Broccoli soup. When the remains of the Stilton are getting a little iffy. I don't add heavy cream though. Cream masks flavour as well as being heavy in fat.

        Another one i like is Salmon and potato. Tinned Salmon works okay.

        If you want to thicken a soup just throw some bread in before you liquidise.

        1. "Heavy cream"? What are you, a Yank? Double cream, please!

          Also, this ongoing widespread belief that fat is bad is one of the biggest causes of human ill-health and stupidity. Fat (especially animal fat, which includes cream) is necessary — nay, vital — for good health and nutrition. Trouble is, the constant lies about this, from those with an express desire to control you, is what has caused the exponential rise in chronic human illness, obesity and early death. Their 'healthy' vegetable (seed) oils are what is killing people, hand-over-fist, and making them increasingly more stupid.

          1. Except that the yanks are such wimps that they call single cream "heavy cream". Their version of cream in general is ours of too of the milk

          2. Me no Yankee Doodle.

            Heavy as opposed to single.

            Cream does mask flavour though.

            I agree with everything else you say.

  47. Righty, since the cooler weather her imperial highness, the Sith Lord of my heart has been inundating me with 'boxes'. Yes, we have had the most interesting discussions about packing various things up and storing them. No more is it acceptable to merely wrap glass in bubble wrap and bed sheets, oh now. We must do it 'properly' this time – and keep the boxes afterward.

    I do sort of agree but thirty or forty… and counting – links to different boxes (she's only downstairs, by the way) for the variously odd shaped cabinet doors is a bit extreme. We're four years to go woman!

  49. Just posted on Free Speech, an article by yours truly on the latest attempt on Trump's life. It goes well with James Gatehouses' article on being on the Right Side of History.

    Incredibly, the nutter arrested for the attempt on Trump has a previous conviction for "possession of weapons of mass destruction." We show an interview he did on Romanian telly.

    freespeechbacklash.com.

    1. Stop worrying about Trump, we have enough to concentrate on here, don't be distracted .

      It appears to be the American way .. shoot first .. Even John Lennon was shot , why , God only knows .

      2. We do need to worry about Trump. For all his flaws he’s the best shot (forgive the pun) we have at capsizing the globalist tyranny.

        1. I'm only worried about his (and his family's) security, Tom. Possibly needs to be beefed up, another time would be third one.

          1. I’m more worried he loses the election, or is cheated out of a win. That will make our fight very much harder.

    2. See my post above, Tom, re url message, here it is again:
      http://clicktrackingurl/aHR0cHM6Ly9kaXNxLnVzL3VybD9pbXByZXNzaW9uPTU0MGY3MDFhLTc0MWItMTFlZi1hNjFmLTBhZTI0NDRhNmYzYiZ0aHJlYWQ9MTAzMjEyNzc4MDgmZm9ydW09NzU5NDIyMSZ1cmw9aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZkaXNxdXMuY29tJTJGaG9tZSUyRm5vdGlmaWNhdGlvbnMlMkYlM0ZoaWdobGlnaHQlM0Q2NTUwNzkxOTYxJTNBZURlNHQ3Um5TeEFTNExZVlNNaXNTNzBjWUFvJnZhcmlhbnQ9YWN0aXZlJmV4cGVyaW1lbnQ9bm90aWZfZGlnZXN0X3YzJmJlaGF2aW9yPWNsaWNrJnBvc3Q9NjU1MDc5MTk2MSZ0eXBlPW5vdGlmaWNhdGlvbi5wb3N0LnJlZ2lzdGVyZWQmZXZlbnQ9ZW1haWw=

          1. Well, that's a tracking cookie. I don't know where it goes, what it's for. If folk were to paste that into their browser goodness knows what might happen.

            I've likely missed the context of what you'd intended. Could you detail for me?

          4. It was messages I was receiving, when I clicked on them is when I got the url and couldn't get past it to view posts. It's gone now, hopefully permanently.

    1. If that's 1100 in two days within 100 days half the population of Southampton. Within another 100 days it IS the population of Southampton.

      This has been going on for 20 miserable years which means 2.5 million, unwanted, unskilled, criminal welfare gimmigrants.

      Utterly disgusting. Every single one must be removed and returned. I am past caring where to. Build a trebuchet he size of the Shard for all I care. Get rid of them.

      1. Yet Australia stopped it within a week when they wanted to do so.

        Perhaps the British government could also stop illegal migration and associated deaths if they wanted to?

  51. The Government’s green energy plans will devastate British industries

    Letters to the Editor 16 September 2024 12:01am

    SIR – The Labour Party’s manifesto promised to “grow our economy”, yet the Government is doubling down on the failed policies of the previous administration by preventing the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, closing down most of the steel industry, cancelling the mining of coking coal in Cumbria, and continuing the ban on fracking for gas.

    The promised green nirvana powered by wind and solar energy has enormous, understated costs and impracticalities. Rather than expanding the economy, jobs will be lost in Scotland, Wales and England, while the UK will have to rely on foreign imports of gas, oil, coal, steel, chemicals and all goods or materials requiring a high energy input.

    All of this comes without affecting the world’s climate an iota.

    Michael Staples
    Seaford, East Sussex

    1. Personally I think solar panels and battery storage should be tax deductible. This won't suddenly get free energy, but it does reduce bills – by about 25-30% month dependent.

      If it's paid from taxes the citizen doesn't lose anything for the investment, either. yes, the panels will come from China but that's no bother. It all helps reduce the cost of energy for the bill payer. If you don't work of course, you don't get anything.

      Do read David Turver's Eigen Values: https://davidturver.substack.com/p/mission-impossible-economic-growth-and-net-zero

  53. One way of telling if you are living in a totalitarian authoritarian country is if you cannot do anything like going to a sporting event, visit a national trust property or garden, go to a museum, the theatre, see a show like Last Night of the Proms, go to the shops, watch tv, eat sweets or have a beer, even cross the road without some political interference or symbolism being thrust in your face to take the shine off and pleasure out of doing it.
    They always lay on a level of psychological woke virtue signalling, guilt and passive gaslighting.
    This is where we are now, it has crept up on us so we just take it for granted, but over time you end up with a groomed population that believes and tolerates all that nonsense.
    I assume this is how the national socialists and communist regimes operated in the past, before they were emboldened enough to start locking people up for thought crimes.

    1. They locked us all up for months on end four years ago. They know the public just do as they're told.

      1. Count yerself lucky, in China Xi Jinping carried on into 2023.. and it was only the spectacle of the Qatar World Cup when the sheeple finally cottond on & said "hang on a minute..why aren't they wearing masks?"

  54. If anyone sent me a message..apologies, can't access your post, get a very long url message:

    http://clicktrackingurl/aHR0cHM6Ly9kaXNxLnVzL3VybD9pbXByZXNzaW9uPTU0MGY3MDFhLTc0MWItMTFlZi1hNjFmLTBhZTI0NDRhNmYzYiZ0aHJlYWQ9MTAzMjEyNzc4MDgmZm9ydW09NzU5NDIyMSZ1cmw9aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZkaXNxdXMuY29tJTJGaG9tZSUyRm5vdGlmaWNhdGlvbnMlMkYlM0ZoaWdobGlnaHQlM0Q2NTUwNzkxOTYxJTNBZURlNHQ3Um5TeEFTNExZVlNNaXNTNzBjWUFvJnZhcmlhbnQ9YWN0aXZlJmV4cGVyaW1lbnQ9bm90aWZfZGlnZXN0X3YzJmJlaGF2aW9yPWNsaWNrJnBvc3Q9NjU1MDc5MTk2MSZ0eXBlPW5vdGlmaWNhdGlvbi5wb3N0LnJlZ2lzdGVyZWQmZXZlbnQ9ZW1haWw=

    2. What platform is this being shown on? Are you only seeing that here? Is it an email? A whatsapp? As that's worrying as it's http – in plain. Don't know where it's going/who it's for.

      Don't click on it – I'd be more use if you'd provide steps as to where you're seeing it appear.

      2. I didn't click on it. I got it here on nttl, and also on Free Speech backlash. It's gone now, Maybe a Disqus problem?

      3. I got it here and on Tom's Free Speech Backlash…didn't see it on Spectator of GMail, only other sites I've been on today, far as I remember.

  55. Hugh Edwards given a slap on the wrist (no jail) for being a closet paedophile. Something seriously wrong with British justice system.

    2. 2Tier justice system, but then again that has always been the case.
      The only difference is that “they” do not bother to try to disguise it anymore, that is how much contempt “they” have for us.

    4. Now, if he had shouted "Ali's Snackbar is a threat to UK", his feet would not have touched the ground.

      We know that as he is BBC to the core, he would have been sacked years ago for even thinking that.

      "Fiddie Kiddling" is OK, said Mx Spooner

      1. It hasn't got a vote, so ignore it and all the other child victims.

        Ever since Rotherham…………………..

  56. Davey, stupidly grandstanding re Ukraine and the use of Storm Shadow missiles in Russian territory.

    He said he is "not privy to all of the intelligence and the briefings", and later added: "If we have to do it unilaterally I think we should."


    Clearly, it's not just the situation intelligence he falls short of having. Unilaterally attack Russian territory/military infrastructure with British strategic missiles? The man is a dangerous fool. This Ukrainian affair is exposing the so-called leaders for the dangerous, easily led warmongers they really are.

    From LBC

    Speaking to LBC on Saturday, Sir Ed Davey said "the sooner we do it the better" in relation to giving the green light on missile strikes.

    He said: "I think a lot of people will be disappointed.

    "We obviously don’t know what was said but, from the British side, the sense is that the government wants to do this but wants to work with the Americans and other allies.

    https://x.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1835615398152306959

      1. Are you around, Jules? I’ve just found a smallish hedgehog lying in the sun under our big trees. Actually, mad Harry found it and barked! It shouldn’t be out should it?

        1. No – it shouldn’t – and lying in the sun indicates hypothermia. It should be taken to a rescue pronto. Put in a cardboard box and contact your nearest rescue.

          1. Thank you Jules! It had gone when I went back, but it’s out on the lawn just now and I’ve put out cat food. If I can find it tomorrow I’ll put it in a cosy box and check it over! 🦔

          2. It’s ok to see them out at dusk or dark, but middle of the day (unless it’s a purposeful, nesting mother looking for food) should ring warning bells.

        2. I understand you Sue and would like to leave you with these well known words of wisdom….

          Yesterday, upon the stair,
          I met a man who wasn't there
          He wasn't there again today
          I wish, I wish he'd go away…

          I’m off then. 🚶🏻‍♂️

          2. I have been called worse on many occasions, I still appreciate the fact you had birthday greetings heading my way.

          4. Very nice thank you, I was visited by my kids and a couple of grandchildren, always nice to see them.
            Later this week Mrs VVOF has promised me a nice pub lunch (if I am a good boy) which will keep me going into another year.

    3. He said: "I think a lot of people will be disappointed.

      The man is insane.

      Why would anyone want a direct conflict with Russia?

      I expect it has something to do with the West losing all the proxy wars with Russia around the globe. Particularly in African countries, where America has set up 1000's of bio-labs.

      The reason for the Labs in Africa is because they would be illegal on American soil.

      We are on the wrong side of history.

    4. The Americans own the data mechanisms required to launch “our” long range weapons systems and the missiles themselves are French in origin.

      I suppose Ed Davey is of a generation unaware of Suez after which it was abundantly clear that the UK is dependent upon the US and not the other way around. Either that or else Ed Davey is an Epsilon Semi-Moron.

    5. Look on the bright side, this will stop any further discussion from the Limp Dums of rejoining the EU.
      Let Davey boy have his way and Europe will be a glowing wasteland, us included.

  57. There is – to me, anyway – something hilarious about Wardrobegate. That a millionaire "socialist" should even think for a second that it is a good idea for someone to buy his wife clothes….. (And she isn't hard up, either). And the snaps of Cur Ikea and Lady Slammer in white tie and tails and long frocks – when a true "socialist" would have attended the dinner in a suit. A larf a minute.

    1. I'd be mighty suspicious, humiliated and pi**ed off if some bloke bought my wife clothes – let alone if it got widespread attention in the media.

    2. It seems a really odd thing to do? Margaret Thatcher employed a stylist. Someone to spend time and effort finding the right clothes and whoever it was definitely exercised good taste and judgement as Lady T was always immaculately turned out. But there was never any suggestion that anyone else would pay for her wardrobe? That would be a bizarre suggestion.

      2. That would be Crawfie? I think one of the turning points in MT's appearance was hair style, a great improvement. A number of interviews on YouTube, with David Frost and studio audience.

    3. Yes, but he should not threaten his donors that he will dress like Zelensyy if his donors don't buy wardrobes of new clothes for himself and his wife.

    4. I recall Gordon Brown our supposedly Iron Chancellor pointedly dressed in a lounge suit when attending the Mansion House to give his speeches. The assembled dignitaries were all dressed in Black Tie.

    5. I feel annoyed that corruption and two tier justice is so blatantly in our faces and we can't do anything about it. At least Starmer got booed at Doncaster racecourse!

  58. Ukraine captures garrison town in new breakthrough in Kursk. 16 September 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c8d61ea7a2d82ac7741f8be3896b150a6e4cb89b273076f7d1755a682ae7b7e.png

    Ukrainian forces have captured a garrison town as they opened a new front in the southern Russian region of Kursk.

    Combat engineers breached Russian defences along the border last week as Moscow mounted its first significant attempt to claw back territory seized by Kyiv in its surprise incursion.

    The fresh offensive is about 20 miles west of the 820-square kilometre area that Western officials last week said Ukraine was successfully occupying.

    Despite the headline and the hysterical euphoria from the Nudge Unit Trolls in the comments this is quite a minor event. As can be seen from the map the Ukies have simply stepped across the border. The Russians don’t really bother to defend it. They know that like Kursk it’s not going anywhere. They can afford to wait, The point of decision is in the Donbass.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/16/ukraine-captures-garrison-town-kursk-russia/

  59. Just had a call from EDF. The guy mumbled until I realised who it was and said "Oh, you've called to force a Smart Meter on me"! Then I could hear him clearly. "We're not forcing anything on you"…etc. It seems that my meter reached the theoretical end of its life in 2020 but he conceded that I can keep it until it actually grinds to a halt. Which he insisted will happen at some point.

    1. Our gas meter's bulb broke a few months ago, so readings wouldn't show. Octopus refused to replace the bulb, or to replace the meter like for like (which wasn't a smart meter according to their records – in fact it was a 1st generation smart which only worked as a smart with British Gas). SO they eventually replaced the gas meter with a smart meter, which they refused to put into "dumb" mode. They also wanted to replace the electric meter but I said no, because there was nothing wrong with it.

      A gas meter can't work as a smart unless the electricity one is too, as it can't send a signal. So I still do my readings as they can't get the smart part of the gas meter to work. What a palaver!

    2. Our gas meter's bulb broke a few months ago, so readings wouldn't show. Octopus refused to replace the bulb, or to replace the meter like for like (which wasn't a smart meter according to their records – in fact it was a 1st generation smart which only worked as a smart with British Gas). SO they eventually replaced the gas meter with a smart meter, which they refused to put into "dumb" mode. They also wanted to replace the electric meter but I said no, because there was nothing wrong with it.

      A gas meter can't work as a smart unless the electricity one is too, as it can't send a signal. So I still do my readings as they can't get the smart part of the gas meter to work. What a palaver!

      1. The guy I spoke to insisted that it isn't possible for them to manipulate the energy supply or the readings via the smart signal but if that were true the whole exercise would be rathe pointless. From a convenience point of view, I already send the readings electronically by submitting them online.

        1. Far as I know, Sue – the point of smart meters is to restrict supply in times of high usage, for businesses that would be daylight hours and for families daytime and also early evening/nighttime. The sort of thing Milliband E would support.

        2. That is untrue. "Bailiff" commands do exist. They may not be implemented on your company's systems of course, but who knows about the next generation?
          The current generation can and do leak information by sending 15 minute meter readings. Some meters have a port that sends ten second readings. With that information, the company would know exactly what appliances you have as well as when you're in the house, and possibly more nebulous information such as a change in your health. You have to consent to this information being sent out, but I would guess that very few people understand what they're consenting to – it will be sold as "control your electricity via an app and save money" or something like that.

    3. Our gas meter's bulb broke a few months ago, so readings wouldn't show. Octopus refused to replace the bulb, or to replace the meter like for like (which wasn't a smart meter according to their records – in fact it was a 1st generation smart which only worked as a smart with British Gas). SO they eventually replaced the gas meter with a smart meter, which they refused to put into "dumb" mode. They also wanted to replace the electric meter but I said no, because there was nothing wrong with it.

      A gas meter can't work as a smart unless the electricity one is too, as it can't send a signal. So I still do my readings as they can't get the smart part of the gas meter to work. What a palaver!

    6. If you have the old kind without a screen, I think I am right in saying that it takes its power from the electricity line (before it is billed) so it can go on forever more or less. I don't remember the old meters ever being calibrated in the past, were they?

      1. My guess is that the old meters were controlled by the supply frequency (nominal 50Hz) which, I believe, has very right limits.

    7. Scottish Power keep telling me my meter is out of date and needs to be replaced. I keep ignoring them.

    2. It stems from Goldspring’s comments to Feras Al Jayoosi, who wore Hamas and Islamic Jihad T-shirts in Golders Green in June 2021, saying that while his support for the Palestinian cause was “worthy”, his backing for political violence was not.

  62. Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin expands armed forces to 2.4m while Kharkiv faces deadly tower block strike

    Zelensky says Western arms arriving too slowly, causing Ukrainian troops to suffer high losses on battlefield

    Alexander Butler 33 minutes ago

    Vladimir Putin has expanded his military by tens of thousands after dozens were injured when a Russian glide bomb hit a high-rise building in northeastern Ukraine.

    Mr Putin signed a decree increasing the overall size of the Russian armed forces by 180,000, bringing the total capacity to 2.39million people, Russia state news agency RIA reported.

    It comes after at least 42 people were injured and one person was killed in a Russian aerial attack on a residential building in Kharkiv on Sunday.

    Soon after the strike, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky again urged the West to allow his military to fire long-range US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territory.

    “The only way to counter this terror is through a systemic solution—long-range capabilities to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases,” Zelensky said on X.

    Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky’s air force shot down 53 out of 56 Russian drones launched overnight as one person was injured and five homes were damaged in Kyiv.

    In Kursk, thousands of Russians have been ordered to evacuate the region within 9.3 miles of the Ukrainian border, the governor said.

    1. Terrible writing.
      Does "Vladimir Putin has expanded his military by tens of thousands after dozens were injured when a Russian glide bomb hit a high-rise building in northeastern Ukraine." mean that the injuries were the cause of Russian military expansion?
      Does "Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky’s air force shot down 53 out of 56 Russian drones launched overnight as one person was injured and five homes were damaged in Kyiv." mean tha the shootdown happened simultaneously with the injury?

      1. And does “Zelensky again urged the West to allow his military to fire long-range US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territory” mean that these missiles are actually based in Russian territory or he wants to fire them against targets in Russian territory.

    9. One does look a little more (ahem) chunky than the other. I'm sure this is down to a thicker coat (more puff). They are both really beautiful, and the larger oneis not fat, just puffy :-))))

      1. The vet thinks they are overweight. The are not. They are simply very large (and very long) cats – who, when not asleep, are hunting, exploring, climbing etc and walking miles.

        1. my daughter has a really tubby cat. Try restricting their food = it is just not possible. And i was casting no nasturtiums – those are gorgeous.

  64. Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, told Edwards his “long-earned reputation” was “in tatters” as he sentenced the former BBC newsreader to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years. Sorry to inconvenience you, Huw, but I'll get the next round of drinks in at the Garrick Cub tonight, said Paul.

    A spokesman for the BBC said: “We are appalledhis crimes have been revealed. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but irked the audiences who put their millions of licence fees in his bank account”.

      2. Whilst I have no inclination to defend either Edwards or the justice system, I read recently of another case where the defendant has over 1000 images and 200 of those were class A. He got 8 months suspended for two years and 10 years on the register. Going by that, Edwards was punished more harshly (and/or the other guy got off lightly).

  65. Jeremy Bowen dismisses report that says BBC ‘breached guidelines 1,500 times’ over Israel-Hamas war D Torygaff

    Complete nonsense, exclaimed Bowen. we have done better than that. We do that many every week on Radio 4 alone. Credit where credit's due!

    1. Oi gave it foive (with apologies to Janice Nicholls).

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      1. Worse here!
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    2. Well done, par here.

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    3. Blimey, you're on a bit of a roll!

      Boring boring here…..

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  67. Moh has just had an email from NHs England advising him that soon he will be invited for a jab for RSV.

    RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) symptoms are similar to a cold or other respiratory viruses, and can be hard to distinguish without a lab test. Some common symptoms include:
    runny nose, cough, sneezing, fever, loss of appetite, and wheezing.
    In very young babies, RSV symptoms may include: fussiness, less activity, and trouble breathing

    https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv/

    Nope, not the flu jab , not the Covid jab , not the pneumonia jab nor the shingles jab .

    Anyone else had an email?

    I haven't .

    1. Reads like a vaccine for the sake of a vaccine… is there any difference between RSV and a cold?
      Take vit D3. Keeps all that shonet at bay, and you have control.
      No more needles!

    3. The text from the surgery told me that they are 'offering' it to everyone aged between 75 & 79. I wondered why the over 80s were being missed out.

    6. I have. Based on the same poison (MRNA) that Covid experimental injections were.
      Will not be going anywhere near my bloodstream .

    2. I actually helped to build the 'shear-leg' part of one of those two yellow Harland & Wolff cranes in Belfast docks. The cranes are nicknamed 'Goliath' and 'Samson'. They were designed and built by Krupps Engineering in (West) Germany but parts of the superstructure were licensed out to Parsons Engineering in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Markham & Co Ltd in Chesterfield. I was an apprentice at Markham's and I assisted a Plater in building and assembling the shear leg [the double tubular 'A'-shaped support leg on the other side of the crane's gantry (hidden in the above photograph)]. Of course, at the time we never anticipated that the cranes would become the defining feature of the Belfast skyline.

        1. It would have been cooler, Paul, if I’d ever visited Belfast and got the opportunity to stand atop ‘Goliath’, as Billy Connolly once did.

    2. Why?
      I'm sorry Belle but the truth is people have not suffered enough to see what is needed.
      Call an election now and people will only revert to their established practice of tribal voting. We would end up with the blue cheek of the WEF arse where the UK goes to the dogs, albeit at a slower speed than at present.
      The failings of the Conservative opposition are still there, they have been there for the past 14 years and will continue into the future, after all the same one nation MPs are in Westminster, just less of them at the moment.
      The Lib Dems would continue as before, not liberal and certainly not democratic in any shape or form.
      The Greens would happily continue to consign us to be modern day cave dwellers.
      Sad to say but until the pain is long suffering and extreme, the will to really change things will not be there.

  71. You can always trust someone from the BBC to get to the point. Evan Davis on PM: "We asked Lord MacDonald, a former DPP, if some might perceive unfairness in the system with Huw Edwards spared prison while others, like environmental protestors, have received lengthy jail terms."
    MacDonald broadly agreed that there were inconsistencies in sentencing as he wandered around the subject.

    Later, we had a report on the floods from Poland. You can write the transcript…

    1. "Global boiling hits Poland". Well, this time of year, makes a change from Panzers.

      On the appallingly bad sentencing – I just hope and pray that some lawyers are decent enough to run appeals.

  72. That's me gone for this auspicious day. Sunny mostly – but a chilly start. Same each day this week, according to the Wet Office.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  73. Hundreds of migrants scaled barbed wire fences in a desperate attempt to storm into a Spanish enclave in Morocco before being pushed back by riot cops.

    At Friday's close of business the population of Africa stood at 1,522,384,294 growing at the rate of 34 million a year. By 2035 there will be another third of a Trillion Africans, and pretty much all of them will want a piece of the action in Europe.
    Ange says each parish must take its fair share.

  75. Some kind of tip off perhaps from FBI for Libtard gunman to get within shooting range of Trump at the 5th hole. Funny how his deranged Leftie Oswald vibed social media has been scrubbed.

    Charts say civil war if Libtards steal the election (again).
    Charts say civil war if Trump beats Harris.

  76. Just watching a Red Pill University session on video, talking about efforts to oppose the Great Taking in the US. This is the book published by David Rogers Webb last year in which he revealed that stocks and shares are registered to some nebulous company rather than the buyer who thinks they own them (also applies in Britain).
    The state of Tennessee tried to pass a bill that (a) said that if your shares are used by someone else and you have to sue to get your money back, Tennessee residents can do it in Tennessee and (b) that in the event of bankruptcies, investors have first dibs ahead of big banks.
    This bill had cross party support. Tennessee was told that they would lose Federal funding if they passed it. David Rogers Webb said that this kind of confirms that he is on the right track.

  77. Human Rights Lawyer Keir Starmer meets Meloni to find out what a real woman is..

    he doesn't like what he finds.

    Tunisia and Libya deals appear to have reduced small-boat crossings under Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government.

    2. I might be mistaken but I would have thought it would have been against ongoing and long-established human rights to remove the possibility of tying to and actually keeping warm in a British winter.
      But as we have recently discovered, the indigenous locals don't qualify for hunan rights.

  78. I got shingles in March. It affected my forehead, face and eyes. I didn't get any on my abdomen though.

    2. What pisses me off about this is the Judge's comments, that he's lost his career and is in disgrace, applies to any other individual in Edwards' shoes
      The bastard should be inside prison this evening

  81. Evening, all. Have been working most of the day putting a bed together. The destructions claimed you needed two people and 3m square space to put it together in 120 minutes. They lied. I've been at it for two days now, on my own and, despite a couple of fixings being missing, I have put the frame together in the small space left by all that's accumulated in the spare room. I only have to assemble the drawers, but I was losing the will to live after I had to improvise to fix the last bit of the frame together. I will tackle the last lap tomorrow once I've recovered.

    The government's green plans will cripple industry, their fiscal incompetence will cripple the economy, their devil may care attitude to policing will fracture social stability and their come one come all attitude to immigration will destroy the nation. How long have they been in office?

    1. Just a few weeks – but it seems like forever! I don't know how we can put up with them for five years!

    2. If it's any consolation, i am just on the phone to my mum and dad, who came down to London yesterday to help my niece erect a bike shed. My dad is 85 and mum is 80. The shed took longer to erect than my dad had hoped; unlike other sheds, apparently, it didn't come pre-drilled, and he had to drill pilot holes etc etc. Also, my niece had watched a video of how to do it which contradicted the destructions, and it took dad a long time to persuade her to let him do it the way the destructions said.

      1. At least the holes were pre-drilled; it's just that in some cases the screws were too short! Then there were some D shaped washers (metal and plastic) missing. I am NOT impressed.

          6. The trouble was, choice was limited. I wanted a particular style of day bed cum cabin bed (for the storage and to use as a sofa) and there were only two places I could get them (they were the same price). I effectively tossed a coin.

          8. I think it was almost certainly Chinese. Most things are these days. Having said that, though, my new gas cooker came from Poland.

        2. I have a horrible memory of being sent, in my youth, to ask the suoervisor of a canpsite for a long screw

        3. I have a horrible memory of being sent, in my youth, to ask the suoervisor of a canpsite for a long screw

      2. Parents-in-law ordered a new stove for their old cottage, to be delivered, and the old range ("Heavy!" said Father-in-law) removed.
        Two burly lads rocked up, refused to take the old range ("elfin safety!", sez they) and leave a 95-year-old to remove it!
        Good service… absent.

        1. When our new cooker arrived at the end of May the two young chaps were very efficient – removed the old one, waited while I cleaned the floor underneath where it had been, and installed the new one quickly. No problem at all.

  83. Bad news for caffeine addicts…

    Bloomberg reports that premium arabica beans are experiencing adverse weather conditions in top producer Brazil, pushing prices up in New York to a 13-year high.

    Coffee rallies have been gathering pace from ongoing concerns about harsh weather in top producer Brazil. The nation is wrapping up its 2024-25 harvest and production prospects weakened after heat and dryness hurt fields. Attention is now shifting to next season's potential, and Brazil has been gripped by its worst drought in decades, threatening further crop damage.-BBG

    Arabica futures in New York jumped to $2.6475 per pound in New York, the highest since 2011. Prices are up 40% on the year as shortages of the cheaper robusta beans increase demand for arabica by coffee chains.

    BTL Comment:

    If you replace your morning coffee with green tea …..

    You can lose up to 87% of what little joy you have left in your life.

  84. If the Democrats actually manage to get Trump assassinated do they take the election by default or does Vance take the ticket as Harris did?

      2. There would still have to be an election (even in it's farcical form) and there would have to be a Republican candidate, which might not necessarily be Vance

        1. Yes, how about RFK? That would put the cat amongst the pigeons! And considering the disgraceful state of the Democrats it would be poetic justice if he won.

  85. Off topic
    I assume "content unavailable" means one has been blocked.
    I'm amused that the blocker in question claims never to block people!

    1. Sometimes it's a geographical restriction, and I also found a message that it will only play on YT, not by links from, for example, NoTTL.

          2. I feel sorry for him, but I downvoted him the other morning. I rarely miss my self-imposed deadline of 7 am to post the new page, but – having cancelled the 0530 alarm and drifted off to sleep again – only to hear a time check on the radio saying it was ten to seven, I had to get the legs on and attend to a call of nature before I could get to the 'pooter. The new page was up at 07:01, despite WordPress taking a minute or so to load the "new page" screen. When I then went to the previous day's page to post the "Good morning, all…" message, there was already a snarky post saying that "Geoff must be having a lie in".

            I have thick skin, but there are times when I wonder why I bother…

          3. I often wonder why you do it.

            As far as I'm concerned it's a labour of love on your part and I am grateful for you doing it.

            Long may you continue, but to be honest it would serve us all right if you stopped.

          4. I think the vast majority of us really appreciate it that Geoff gets up early every day to post the new page – and we do know it's not easy for him to just step out of bed.

          5. I do it partly because it gets me out of bed. I've always been an early riser, but in retirement, with no pressing need to get up, I could easily let things slide…

          10. He is what is affectionately known as a miserable old git, Geoff. You know this, as does he – as do all the rest of us.

          16. Quite. You guys share a history which I don't, hence I do feel the need to pussyfoot. Ie what I see as cruel might just be banter between old friends

          20. Fine. I agree, but he doesn't exactly help himself. More than once I've pointed him the way of befrienders (he does, after all live in RAFA sheltered accommodation) so he could have people ringing him up and taking him out. I can't do it for him. He has to make the request.

          22. True. Personally I prefer to get on with things. Complaining only makes me focus on the bad bits. I confess to being somewhat unsympathetic when the things people complain about could be resolved by themselves with really very little effort. Maybe I'm a bad person.

          24. Agreed. A few of us have done the 'taking out' a couple of times, but from Surrey to Redacted by train, plus a night or two in a hotel makes for an expensive lunch.

      3. Not a block but I did get a bollow king from Rastas just over a week ago. I had no idea that instead of an up vote for one of his wonderful birthday messages (mine was soon after) I'd down voted it.
        But with my current cataract removal and other annoying medical problems it happens.

        1. Yes, I never, ever, ever downvote anyone – but the old fat finger has come into play from time to time and caused deep offense,

          1. It's not done here to downvote, whereas on TCW it's perfectly usual, especially for certain people. We had a poster here who would downvote certain people routinely and complain a lot – eventually Geoff sent her packing.

    3. Hi sos. Someone has blocked me too. But it has been for ages so no clue who or why. I* suppose it is a sort of badge in as much as blocking someone admits that the blockee has no coherent answer to whatever you have said or not, whichever the case will be. So you win!

      2. I'm of the publish and be damned school which is why I could never be a moderator.
        For me to block something it would need to be Edwards' entertainment or similar.

        1. I only once blocked someone (temporarily) at Rik and Geoff's suggestion as he was hassling me. That was also when I made my profile private.

    4. Hi sos. Someone has blocked me too. But it has been for ages so no clue who or why. I* suppose it is a sort of badge in as much as blocking someone admits that the blockee has no coherent answer to whatever you have said or not, whichever the case will be. So you win!

    5. I make an exception for the Speccie site. Bidochon, CARTER, Lion and possibly a few others. Trouble is, the new "absolutely nothing to do with Disqus" commenting platform allows blocking, but provides no way to unblock. It also logs me off from "Real Disqus" every time I visit the site. Fraser Nelson is, quite frankly, a liar. The new platform is clearly still Disqus, but with the usefulness stripped out.

      As Stig says above, if you log off and refresh the page, you can work out who has blocked you, since Disqus won't know who you are…

      1. Too much like hard work and I can usually work out who has blocked whom from the thread itself.
        Most posters tend to have trademarks.
        I only made the comment because there were a few posts in short order recently.

      2. Boy, Geoff, The BTL on the Speccie is poisonous beyond belief with those you mention (though i don't know "lion") at the moment.

        1. I generally only read it early to mid am, are you talking about later in day/evening, opopanax? Mind, I only ever read first few comments, pleased to say. Currently on a special offer, ends 30th September. I think Nelson be out once Marshall finds his feet, pdq.

      3. Same here, with the same commenters, also Socialist Warrior (or was it Worker? – I forget), and when she was being a nuisance every incarnation of Elinor Dashwood. I have a zero tolerance for anyone posting a comment which consists of an insult directed at me – gets an instant blocking. I don't expect that I would need to do that here.

      4. 'Evening Geoff :-)Spectator Disqus facility was really bad at one point, apparently because they were developing the App, and somehow switched Disqus facility there. It seemed to go on for several weeks. Some subscribers went away and never re-appeared. There was also a suggestion some Telegraph subscribers were piggy backing on that Disqus to utilise Spectator Disqus. I'm no tecky, couldn't vouch for that. Some people were blocked then, never knew why. PetaJ even blocked me I think, she thought I'd blocked her when my Disqus a/c clearly showed I hadn't blocked anyone. Everyone was furious with Nelson, Moira G wrote an open scathing message to him, don't think she ever received a reply let alone apology. He's a dolt, and a lazy coward to boot. Marshall will appoint his own man/woman, I think. Sorry for the rant, Geoff…blood still boiling a little…..otherwise, hope you are well, love from Kate x

  86. Evening all. Lovely warm day eventually, ideal for bowls.
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    2. not so lucky me

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    3. not so lucky me

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  87. To identify who has blocked you, note whereabouts the blocked comment is, logout from NTTL, then return to the same place. You'll be able to see the blocker's identity. Blockers cannot block those who are not logged in. Clearly, you cannot respond directly to the blocker, either when logged out or logged in, but it does satisfy curiosity. I know that poppiesmum has blocked me. Whether by mistake or choice, I do not know, and if it's the latter, I don't know why.

    1. Blocking someone is childish. Far better to argue your case.

      Often you find the blockers are immature, fragile characters who are used to others just agreeing with them.

      I imagine if anyone has blocked here it's by mistake. Personally I'd rather those issues were resolved as it makes for a nicer environment all round.

      Certainly, if I upset folk, tell me.

    3. Just checked who I’ve blocked. All unfamiliar names, mostly female with just a forename. I think I had a blocking spree when we were infiltrated by (probably bots) offering sex and porn!

    1. OT. I was in Norfolk last week, Geoff, and while there I enjoyed some excellent Cumberland sausage. I enjoyed it so much that today I have made a batch of my own Cumberland sausage meat. Tomorrow, when I stuff it into a hog's casing, I shall remember not to make it into links and keep it in a large spiral.👍🏻

    2. OT. I was in Norfolk last week, Geoff, and while there I enjoyed some excellent Cumberland sausage. I enjoyed it so much that today I have made a batch of my own Cumberland sausage meat. Tomorrow, when I stuff it into a hog's casing, I shall remember not to make it into links and keep it in a large spiral.👍🏻

  91. latest headline in Babylon Bee:

    “Kamala Safe And In Stable Condition After Attempted Interview”

  93. I've been busy today shopping which meant walking. And the hardest thing I've done for a long time was to fit a new narrow 80 cm wide window blind on our rear door. It works but I might have to make a few adjustments.
    So it's good night from me.
    😴

  94. Troon railway station was gutted by fire in the summer of 2021.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-57874972
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-57878742

    It's finally been restored – and in its original style; there was a threat of the concrete box treatment. There's a short video here:
    https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/gbp-5m-troon-station-rebuild-complete

    Cringe at the ghastly corporate-speak e.g. "…delivers improved facilities for people with disabilities". Why is every public project 'delivered' today? What happened to provide, implement, enact, install, build etc?

    1. I share your dismay and irritation about that ubiquitous use of 'deliver'. Another is 'issue' as a synonym for 'problem' or 'difficulty'. While on this topic, I'll add 'aggressive', which is widely used in sports commentary for 'assertive', 'bold', 'fearless'. Aggressive golf, for instance, is often considered to be praiseworthy, whereas I imagine it as taking wild, uncontrolled swings at the ball: hardly conducive to achieving a below par score.

    2. The need to say something has been done. Be far better to say 'the building works are complete, and updated to better support those with disabilities.

  97. After what turned out to be a beautiful day in which I did a small amount of bramble and briar clearing, I'm off to bed.
    Goodnight all.

  98. Well, I enjoyed the Proms but it was good to be back at the Wigmore this evening. A recital of lute songs performed by Tim Mead (countertenor) and Sergio Bucheli (lute). Mostly John Dowland (1563-1626), as he was the most prominent and prolific composer of lute songs.

  99. Bedtime for me, chums. So Good Night, sleep well, and see you all (including Grizzly) in the morning.

  100. Agreed. A few of us have done the 'taking out' a couple of times, but from Surrey to Redacted by train, plus a night or two in a hotel makes for an expensive lunch.

  102. Sacrilege! In fairness, I used to buy CS from Mr Sainsbury when I lived in Norfolk, but in my humble opinion, toy can't beat the proper traditional variety, from.. er.. Cumberland. I bought a couple of kg when I was in Carlisle the other month, and I did make it into links before freezing, if only to make it last longer. Thanks, by the way – you've prompted me to defrost a couple for breakfast 🌭

    1. Oop in Grasmere, a few centuries back, I repaired to a hostelry to shelter from a storm to be warmed by a big dish of "Cumberland Stew". It was sensational. Chunks of tender lamb in a thick gravy were nestled alongside equal-sized chunks of onion, Cumberland sausage and black pudding. One of the tastiest stews I've ever scoffed.

    1. They all ready take home more in 'expenses' every two weeks than a pensioner on basic takes in 12 months.

  107. The Welsh village where English speakers aren't welcome

    Plans for a new housing estate in North Wales were blocked after concerns that English incomers could cause 'significant harm'

    Gwyneth Rees • 16 September 2024 • 3:33pm

    Take a drive through North Wales, past the craggy peak of Yr Wyddfa, then head west down the Llŷn Peninsula until you are closer to Ireland than England, and you may just stumble across the tiny village of Botwnnog.

    Five miles inland, there is little to recommend it to visitors. There is a chapel, doctor's surgery and primary school, but other than that, just a strip of houses; many of them council. The nearest shop is just under two miles away in Sarn Meyllteyrn. There isn't even a pub.

    One distinguishing feature, however, is the strength of the Welsh language. Leaflets on the community noticeboard contain no trace of English – nor does the community website. Local businesses have Welsh names, and the lilting noise from the school playground that lifts onto the breeze is distinctly incomprehensible to a typical English ear.

    Some 65 per cent of this remote region speak Welsh – the highest of any area in Wales – and the lack of tourism means there is little to dilute it.

    But local passion for this mother tongue has now reached new heights with an attempt by Botwnnog Community Council to decree that new residents in the village should be Welsh speaking. Last week, the council managed to temporarily block plans for 18 new social houses to be built in the village, saying the developers could not guarantee they would go to native speakers.

    In contentious – and some say discriminatory language – documents submitted by the community council to the planning department of Gwynedd County Council stated that English incomers might pose a "danger to the Welsh language and the fabric of the community" and be a "degenerative influence".

    In an ensuing planning meeting, one councillor, Huw Rowlands, said the proposal could cause "significant harm" to the Welsh language, adding: "If the wrong decision is made, it will have drastic consequences." Gareth Williams, another councillor, said the occupants would "be from outside the area" and that their presence would be "detrimental to the culture".

    "Everyone in the local area feels very strongly against it," he added.

    Some, of course, may feel they have a point. Just a short drive away, where signs written in English welcome visitors to the picturesque towns of Abersoch and Llangian, locals complain about the proliferation of second homes and constant migration from England.

    But for other locals, the assertion that affordable homes should go to only Welsh-speakers has strayed from protecting the language into blatant discrimination.

    Speaking to The Telegraph, one said: "It's outrageous. The Welsh language hasn't always been promoted in this area so some older people who have lived here all their lives don't even speak it. Why should they be penalised like this or made to feel unwelcome? It's awful."

    While another said: "Let's be realistic. We just need people to move here whoever they are. There is nothing here, not even a shop. If we don't have new blood, then the whole community will die and the Welsh language with it. The economy has been hammered in this area because of second home owners selling up and we just need people here."

    Some in the property industry are equally baffled and affronted. Pete Mugleston, founder of Online Mortgage Advisor, says: "If it were a property in England and there was a requirement for the buyer to speak English, there would be palpable headlines and outrage."

    Back in sleepy Botwnnog, as people stroll with their dogs or pop to the surgery under a grey sky, the publicity attracted by the row has been unwelcome, with locals reluctant to discuss the matter in public – either in Welsh or English.

    But the demand seems to tie in with a growing confidence in the Welsh language and its right to be preserved. Not only have Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons been renamed with their historical Welsh titles – respectively Eryri National Park and Bannau Brycheiniog, the Welsh Government has also made huge progress on its pledge to generate 1m Welsh speakers by 2050. In 2001, there were 580,000. Some figures suggest that number could now be as high as 900,000 (although, the most recent census put the figure at 538,000).

    But alongside this growing confidence may perhaps come something more distasteful: an expanding sense of nationalism and rise in anti-English sentiment, perhaps driven by an influx of those east of Offa's Dyke.

    Data from Compare My Move showed there was a 30 per cent rise of English moving to Wales between 2020 and 2022, driven by cheaper living costs and lower house prices (on average, Welsh houses are almost £100,000 cheaper than those in England). Meanwhile, last year, a survey by American Express showed that Wales was the favoured place for people in the UK to holiday, beating Cornwall, Devon and the Lake District.

    But some say this influx and increased pressure on housing stock has also brought with it increased crime in summer months, anti-social behaviour and a change to communities. It has even led to concerns over a resurgence of 'old school nationalism'. In January this year, an Aberystwyth resident, originally from Birmingham, received a poison pen note in red ink, with a message to "go back home".

    According to one Botwnnog resident, who would not be named, this is the real reason the council blocked the proposed development.

    "The Welsh language is a red herring. It's not about that at all," she says. "It's about the type of people you get – and if we will get people from other social housing projects.

    "We may get people from Liverpool or Birmingham, and we don't want that here. We know crime can go up when this happens as it's just riff raff. The area is now inundated with them and they drive around in their 4x4s on these narrow lanes and don't give a monkey's that you're local. We currently have low crime here, but we know what can happen when we get people in from outside."

    The plan for Botwnnog's new social housing development amounted to a series of bungalows that would have been built on farmland at the edge of the village. According to the developers, only those on the affordable housing register in Gwynedd would be able to apply for the proposed housing.

    But at another social housing scheme built roughly a decade ago on the edge of Botwnnog, it was clear when The Telegraph visited that at least some of the residents are not local or Welsh speakers.

    As Richard Williams, who owns the local Ty Newydd pub in nearby Sarn Meyllteyrn, says: "There's two sides to this. The tax on second homes means the summer economy has been badly hit. We need people here spending money. But the other social housing estate has some Polish in it so why will this be any different? It won't be locals and we worry about transfers from social housing projects in other areas." [Poles will probably feel comfortable with Cymraeg.]

    According to Gwynedd County Council, the plan for the development is now in a "cooling off" period before it is reviewed again. But as for the legality of who and who doesn't have a right to live there, it is slightly murky.

    Tom Barton, planning partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, says: "It's well established that there can be a requirement for a local connection when social housing allocation takes place, and I think this is ultimately what the community are getting at here.

    "This is not the same as the language issue. I think people instantly feel uncomfortable about the language point, because you could say this is a community where they don't want anyone to speak another language, which would obviously be horrific."

    And therein lies the rub, with local councillors seemingly all too aware of accusations of racism. At the recent meeting, one councillor, Gruff Williams, said: "People say we are racists when we are trying to protect our language. It makes it difficult for people to stand up against these policies."

    As for the local MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Liz Saville-Roberts, she is attempting to walk a very fine line as a way out of the debacle.

    She tells The Telegraph: "This area is where Welsh is spoken by the majority of the people who live there. Planning and housing policies are among the key tools to make sure that the use of Welsh in local communities continues into the future.

    "I would urge anyone who is thinking of moving here to learn some Welsh. I'm born and bred English, and it's what I did and I know from personal experience that it opens so many doors."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/16/welsh-village-botwnnog-english-speakers-not-welcome

    2. It would have made a good 70's comedy series.

      ""We may get people from Liverpool or Birmingham, and we don't want that here. We know crime can go up when this happens as it's just riff raff. The area is now inundated with them and they drive around in their 4x4s on these narrow lanes and don't give a monkey's that you're local. We currently have low crime here, but we know what can happen when we get people in from outside."

      Just imagine that on a national scale. There's lovely.

    3. No chance of a mosque being built there by all accounts. I personally find the Welsh and their language truly off putting, just as I find the call to prayers repulsive.

    5. As they are clearly racist against the English can we have all our fucking money back from the sheep shaggers?

      Asking on behalf of the English taxpayers…

  108. Goodnight, all. I'm off to take another dose of co-codamol and zonk out. Too many days of activity have played havoc with my joints – not helped by the damp weather.

    1. Co-codamol is great for deep aches but bungs me up and makes me wary of using them until necessity demands.

      1. I have the same problem, which is why I only ever use it for two days in a row. That, and not wishing to get addicted. Sometimes needs must.

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