Monday 18 December: Sadiq Khan should have found a way to let Ukraine benefit from Ulez

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.

481 thoughts on “Monday 18 December: Sadiq Khan should have found a way to let Ukraine benefit from Ulez”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s riddles

    Those Riddles
    Q: What’s better than winning the gold at the Special Olympics?
    A: Not being retarded.

    Q: What’s the difference between your husband and your lover?
    A: About two inches!

    Q: Why did god create ejaculation?
    A, So women would know when to stop sucking!

    Q: How many Freudian analysts does it take to change a light bulb?
    A: Two, one to change the bulb and one to hold the penis – I mean ladder!

    Q: What’s the first thing a battered woman does after she gets out of the safe house?
    A: The dishes, if she knows what’s good for her!

    Q: What’s the difference between an anal thermometer and an oral thermometer?
    A: The taste!

    Q: What is the definition of Absolute Confusion?
    A: Twenty blind lesbians at a fish market!

    Q: What is yellow, has 22 legs and 2 wings?
    A: a Chinese soccer team!

    Q: What do vegetarian worms eat?
    A: Linda McCartney!

    Q: What do priests have in common with a Christmas tree?
    A: Their balls are purely decorative!

    Q: What’s the most often used four-letter word in a house of ill repute?
    A: NEXT!

    Q: What’s the only kind of wood that doesn’t float?
    A: Natalie Wood!

    Q: How can you tell when a Polish girl is having her period?
    A: When she’s only wearing one sock!

    Q: What’s the difference between snowmen and snow-women?
    A: Snowballs!

    Q: What do you call a 400 pound woman who likes both men and women?
    A: A bisexual built for 2!

    Q: What sits at the top of a staircase and smokes?
    A: A paraplegic in a house fire.

    Q: Why do women have foreheads?
    A: It gives us a place to kiss them after they’ve sucked us off!

    Q: What’s blue and doesn’t fit?
    A: A dead epileptic!

    Q: What do a pizza guy and a gynaecologist have in common?
    A: They can both smell it but neither may eat it!

    Q: How do you make 10 pounds of fat look good?
    A: Put a nipple on it!

    Q: What do you get when you mate an elephant with a poodle?
    A: A dead poodle with a size 18 poop-chute!

    Q: What’s brown, stinky, and sounds like a bell?
    A: DUNG.

    Q: What’s the size of a peanut and smells like a Peppermint Patty?
    A: Charlie Brown’s dick!

    Why can’t Mexico ever field a decent Olympic team?
    A: Because all the ones that can run, jump, and swim live in America!

    Q: How do you know if an Anorexic woman is pregnant?
    A: When she pulls out her tampon and it’s got little tiny bite-marks on it!

    Q: What’s pink and spits?
    A: A baby in a frying pan!

    Q: What is the difference between a hormone and a vitamin?
    A: You can’t hear a vitamin!

    Q: What’s the difference between an epileptic oyster shucker and a prostitute with diarrhoea?
    A: An epileptic oyster shucker shucks between fits!

    Q: What’s the best way to describe a thumbtack?
    A: It’s a smartie with a hard-on!

    Q: If you have a mothball in one hand and another mothball in the other hand, what would you have?
    A: The undivided attention of a very large moth!

    Q: Why haven’t we sent a woman to the moon?
    A: Because the moon doesn’t need to be cleaned!

    Q: Why does a dog lick its genitals?
    A: Because they can’t make a fist!!

    Q: What happened to Jesus when he went to Mount Olive?
    A: Popeye kicked the fuck out of him!

    Q: What’s grey, and comes in quarts?
    A: An elephant.

    Q: What’s the definition of endless love?
    A: Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles playing tennis!

    Q: What do Woody Allen and Kodak film have in common?
    A: They both come in little yellow boxes!

    Q: What’s the difference between a blonde and a mosquito?
    A: A mosquito stops sucking after you smack it!

    Q: Why do men want to marry virgins?
    A: Because they can’t stand criticism!

    Q: What has two legs and bleeds profusely?
    A: Half a dog.

    Q: How many police officers does it take to a throw criminal down the stairs?
    A: None, he slipped.

    Q: Ya know why so many truck drivers bring dogs on the road with them?
    A: Because sheep are too fucking obvious!

    Q: What goes good on apple pie and cherry pie, but not on hair pie?
    A: Crust!

    Q: What’s the difference between love, true love and showing off?
    A: Spitting, swallowing and gargling!

    Q: What’s the main difference between Catholics and Baptists?
    A: Your Catholic friends say “hi” to you when you pass them in the liquor store!

    Q: What does a blonde say after she’s had multiple orgasms?
    A: “Way to go, Team!”

    Q: What’s the difference between oral sex and anal sex?
    A: Oral sex makes your day, anal sex makes your hole weak.

    Q: What do Michael Jackson and a grocery bag have in common?
    A: They’re both made of plastic and they’re both dangerous to leave around small children

  3. Good morning, chums. I didn’t sleep too well last night (upset tummy) but I hope you all did. And thanks for posting today’s NoTTLe site, Geoff.

    1. I’m usually pretty good at telling, but who are these people supposed to be? Is the Middle one Prince Andrew?

        2. Yet… in all this, why is no one asking why the Treasury happily gave her this money. Did she not provide the equipment? Why does the simple shopper of state get a free ride in giving away billions in desperate PPE grabs – because it was caught utterly blind sided and the NHS would still be looking at brochues now rather than buying the stuff.

          Why does no one point at the spender, only the receipient?

  6. Sadiq Khan should have found a way to let Ukraine benefit from Ulez

    I wonder if he has any financial connections with the people scrapping all these cars

    1. Good morning, Korky. Professor Plimer talks an immense amount of sense, but unfortunately he sounds very much like Sir Les Patterson! Lol.

    2. The Idiot King should be compelled to watch and listen to this video of Ian Plimer repeatedly until the truth finally dawns on him that his views on climate change are wrong and he has been conned into supporting the Great Net Zero Fraud.

      1. It wouldn’t work. Net zero is NOT ABOUT SCIENCE. It is about forcing ideological change. Oh, the marketing blithers on about the science is settled but it never, ever debates actual scientists on both sides. If it did that it’d be exposed as the fraud it is.

        Climate change is about power. Nothing else.

        1. One common factor with issues such as Covid, Brexit, Ukraine and global warming is that many choose to turn the debate into a moral one. The issue itself becomes secondary. They will seek a position which exemplifies their own perceived moral superiority while also giving an opportunity to condemn and demonise those who hold contrary views.
          Pro Brexit? Xenophobe!
          Ukraine Nazis? Putin lover!
          Climate sceptic? Science denier!
          Covid realist? Granny killer!

  8. Sure sign Christmas is coming, the news media is leading on every outlet with the project fear stat that 3,000 people a day are being admitted into hospital with illnesses connected to being overweight.
    As we saw with covid they used this same tactic to connect all deaths with having tested positive for covid within a certain period.
    Why does the mainstream media automatically believe without question these nudge unit claims without providing scrutiny and balance.

    1. “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L Mencken.

    3. While I was waiting for my physio appointment several NHS employees wobbled past me. Physician, heal thyself!

  10. ‘Morning All

    Medley Time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21a86467508f5aa263b6eee9608231b08a6ac1031cdaa4d99519324c576dcdb1.jpg

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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8993d21ede621cba6fd53a7062215599b90f162fd6e20f38e0949f1c2d24cf8c.jpg

      1. I was just thinking today that the Fire Service precept is going up 8.6%, my electricity is going up to the tune of another £300 a year, council tax (county and local) will probably go up about 8% and if, in the unlikely event, my pension should rise commensurately, the taxman will syphon off any rise.

  11. Wordle 912 6/6
    I only just made it today – phew! I was not amused.

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

    1. In the same boat

      Wordle 912 6/6

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

  12. 379536+ up ticks

    Morning Each,

    Monday 18 December: Sadiq Khan should have found a way to let Ukraine benefit from Ulez

    What a spiffing idea, weary troops given an R/R break in any remaining hotel space in London, numbers could even spill over to trigger mandatory rogering / lodgering
    (move along the bed please, room for one more)

    Loyalty to an ersatz party name will ensure, dictate, this will be so, in these past four decades the majority voter has never let us down, putting us down as a nation.

  13. I have some wonderful news to report: Spartacus from Allan Towers popped a Christmas card through my letterbox yesterday. It was very kind of you, Spartie. Do give my best wishes to your Mum Annie and Her Bill for a very happy time over Christmas and the New Year. Lol.

    1. Elsie, you beat me to it.

      Thanks to Anne, Bill and of course Spartacus for their kind wishes.

      1. :-). As MB and I have been smitten by a lurgy as we’ve never been smut before, I spent yesterday doing jobs that didn’t bring me into direct contact with the human race.
        Currently, we are biological warfare on legs.
        Hope to resume a more normal life by mid-week.

    2. Oscar and Kadi have sent a present to their carer (my friend who dog-sits when I’m out all day).

  14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/opinion/2023/12/17/TELEMMGLPICT000360297281_17028302539330_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=960
    Ships at Spithead in 2005, marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar

    SIR – It is difficult to overestimate how many trees were needed before iron and then steel replaced wood for shipbuilding in the 19th century in Britain (“Colonial shipbuilding nearly wiped out native bat”, report, December 14).

    It took an astonishing 6,000 mature oak trees sitting on 30 to 50 acres of land to build a single ship of the line. This is hard to understand until you see a diagram of how a shipwright looked at an oak tree. I have such a diagram, which shows that only nine pieces (brackets, futtocks and knees in the colourful parlance of naval architecture from the time) were harvestable from an entire single tree. Pieces had to follow the grain for strength, so shape was important in assessing what you could get from a tree.

    In the 1860s it was estimated that Britain needed 400,000 acres of timber annually to build the ships needed for defence and commerce, and the Royal Navy and merchant owners demanded hardwood ships, not the softwood vessels emanating from America, which were much cheaper but lasted only half as long.

    So, the development of iron shipbuilding and steam power was essential in facilitating the Empire and saved what little forest we had left from further plundering for ships.

    This came at a cost, of course, that we are only now starting to pay.

    Dr Paul Stott
    Senior lecturer in marine production and shipping market analysis
    Newcastle University

    Where’s yer carbon offset?

    1. I’m starting to think anyone complaining aboutn’carbon’ should be reminded that they’re comprised entirely of it and a good way to reduce the world’s ‘carbon’ would be to get rid of the greeniacs.

  16. Ukraine may lose war in summer if military aid from America and EU comes to end, US official says. 18 December 2023.

    ‘They are certain to fail without us,’ says source amid fears of a Russian victory that would be a ‘disaster’ for European security.

    It wouldn’t of course make any difference to European security at all. Vlad is not daft enough to engage with NATO. The really interesting thing about this article is that no comments at all are allowed on it. This is almost certainly due to the high number of sceptical comments about the war. I would hazard a guess that if one ignored the Nudge Unit contributions that they would now outnumber the supporters.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/17/ukraine-lose-war-summer-us-eu-military-aid-ends/

  17. Good morning all.
    Daylight is slowly arriving and it’s a damp but mild 6°C outside, but the overnight rain appears to have paused.

    1. ogga1, you’re the second Nottler this morning to beat me to the punch. I have the above screen-dumped and ready to go, luckily, I have others. 😎

      2. Thank you for asking.
        I think it’s on its way out.
        Poor old MB is two days behind me, so is now bearing the full brunt of the pestilence.

        1. The only consolation to be taken from mid-December bugs is the likelihood of them having burned themselves out before the core Christmas and New Year festivities take place. My sister and her family were struck down just before Christmas Day last year leaving them all feeling not very celebratory.

    2. It looks as if Justin Welby, actively supported by the British government, is actively trying to get as many churches as possible deconsecrated and turned into mosques ….

    3. It looks as if Justin Welby, actively supported by the British government, is actively trying to get as many churches as possible deconsecrated and turned into mosques ….

    7. If these two lesbian women are still married to male husbands and the CofE has blessed their sexual relationship surely this means that The Church of England has now decided that adultery should actually be encouraged and blessed in church.

      (There is a question about whether sexual intercourse between homosexuals is actually sexual intercourse at all as it is still legally defined as sexual intercourse between two people of different sex. For this reason adultery is not acceptable legal grounds for divorce between married homosexuals. So the poor cuckolded male husbands have nothing to complain about!)

    8. This clearly matters to traditional members of the Church of England. As an outsider, I think it comical.

  24. Good morning all

    Winter cold has laid me low , but it hit Moh first a few days ago.

    Dull sky, no breeze , so the distant turbine blades are not turning .

    Moh’s car is now in the hands of the MOT bods , he has an elderly Laguna saloon , nice big boot for carrying golf clubs electric trolley etc , and if the back seat is lowered enough space for full bags of garden stuff and hedge cuttings.

      1. Yo all

        Boys will be Boys: soon to be illegal no doubt in UK 2023.

        I would hate to be young in the once Great Britain

        3. Inaccurate rather than fake. Edward Izzard was born into a ‘middle class’ family, not ‘working class’. His father was an accountant who worked for British Petroleum. Young Eddie was educated in the fee paying sector, and his secondary school was Eastbourne College, follwed by a spell at Sheffield University.

          1. In the 90s, when he still dressed like a bloke, he was actually a very good stand up comedian. I even bought one of his audio tapes.

      3. Did our future Prime Minister really write that bit of flagrant lunacy, or it is a bit of mischievous misquoting by the Guardian?

    4. This is pretty standard behaviour, worldwide, among members of this particular demographic and sex. The internet is simply awash with similar videos from countless countries.

      The third world is demonstrably and immutably ingrained in these types.

  27. An interesting article in the Conservative Woman today which goes into the way people were encouraged to gang up on and report people who did not conform to or accept the mandates the PTB tried to impose upon everybody

    When good people do bad things
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/when-good-people-do-bad-things/

    This article has produced some interesting BTL comments. Here is one:

    BTL

    When I was a boy one of the most shameful things one could do was to sneak on others.

    I remember being completely outraged when the PTB started putting announcements on television telling us to report any tradesmen, and especially builders, who were happy to take cash.

    I don’t know whether this led to HMRC getting more money but I do know that the cumulative effect sort of thing has turned the British into being nastier, more small-minded, more vindictive and sneakier little people.

    1. While cash is still legal currency there should be no reason not to use it for any payments if the trader prefers it that way. It’s not my business if it makes it easier for them to avoid paying tax.

      1. The state assumes that anyone who uses cash is a tax evading criminal.

        This is why they are trying to scrap actual money all together – they can’t keep enough tabs on it.

      1. Can you imagine living in world where two next door neighbours get together for tea and cake in their back garden and the police arriving? Or two young ladies arriving in separate cars by a lakeside carrying a take out coffee each and being fined £1000 each for having a picnic?

        They try that again i will burn Westminster down myself and save the Islamics the trouble.

    1. That’s spannels for you.. but what is even worse .. and by far the most disgusting roll, is when they roll in fox poo , usually neck shoulders and ears .

  29. G’morning all from a gey dreich Pembrokeshire. So dreich here you need a wet suit and scuba gear, not a raincoat and umbrella. At least it’s soon to be a Drakeford-free zone and folks are celebrating. But who’s next up.?

  30. Army wives are rebuked for complaining about the relocation of Afghan refugees to military estates
    Complained after Afghans were reportedly seen taking pictures of their children
    Alarmed women at Larkhill, Wiltshire, said they felt unsafe
    MOD has threatened troops and civilian staff with disciplinary action

    Army chiefs have launched a stinging attack on families who raised concerns over the relocation of Afghan refugees on to military estates.

    Soldiers’ wives living in service accommodation in Wiltshire complained after Afghans were reportedly seen taking pictures of their children.

    The alarmed women at Larkhill, Wiltshire, said they felt unsafe and argued the Afghans’ behaviour, although likely to be innocent in motive, raised safeguarding issues.

    Although the social media group chat posts were sympathetic rather than inflammatory, the Ministry of Defence has threatened troops and civilian staff with disciplinary action should they complain publicly again.

    On behalf of the commanding officer of 8th Battalion, the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, which is based at Larkhill, Captain S. Ratcliffe added a document to the battalion’s Part One Orders – which troops and civilian workers must obey or face disciplinary action – ‘about social media use and acceptable behaviour’.

    About 40 Afghan families recently moved into empty Larkhill properties as part of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. They have been granted refuge as they face reprisals from the Taliban for working with British forces in Afghanistan, in roles such as translators and drivers.

    1. Why isn’t this afghan relocation policy to move them somewhere more suited to them – like… Afghanistan.

      2. What don’t they like about it?
        Do the Coca Cola truck drivers refuse to aim the unit at any crowd of normal human beings? Is it because the company dares to help the world to celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than listen to the historic rants of a warmongering gold-digger?

  32. Clean air for the youngsters?

    SIR – How is it possible that the leaders of two of Britain’s great cities have come up with completely different strategies to meet clean-air targets?

    Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has dropped emission charges and is investing in electric buses and taxis (“Burnham axes Ulez-style fees after backlash against Khan”, report, December 14). Sadiq Khan is charging the poorest in society £12.50 per day to drive in outer London. What is going on?

    Simon Paul
    Coulsdon, Surrey

    When the majority of youngsters are ruining their lung health by vaping and snorting stuff?

  34. I am having to research a new laptop because my elderly Macbook Pro, which is still working fine, has operating systems planned to be obsolete and therefore reached “end of life” by software companies such as ESET I rely on and pay for to keep my system safe.

    There has been no better OS since XP in the Windows family, nor since Snow Leopard in the Mac family. I do not like or trust any system that endeavours to abolish offline storage, forcing me onto the Cloud. I have seen with Google’s summary destruction of the Panoramio archive how easy it is to wipe data that does not generate enough profit, and I am damned if I am going to be held to ransom by a subscription model. Even Windows 7, which has only recently been deemed “end of life” by Microsoft, runs like a snail through treacle these days, perhaps because Microsoft slipped in an update to nobble it?

    However, I still like and even need to use the internet and typing this on Disqus is one example. Increasingly, I am finding pages I browse to coming up blank or being blotted out by popups ordering me to update my browser to one that is compliant with a Cloud-based operating system. If I am buying something, then they have just lost a customer. If I cannot avoid having to deal with it, then I must set aside an hour or more to grind my way into W7 for a job that once took ten minutes.

    There is just one Linux-based laptop that has a hardware-based off switch for its camera and microphone, and another to kill any online connection instantly and at any time of my choosing. In addition, it claimes to use a distro that has no “backdoors” enabling big corporations to install malware without my permission in the guise of a compulsory upgrade. These of course are readily exploited by criminal hackers, and these two players on my system are playing cat-and-mouse at my expense in terms of cost and bandwidth. Unfortunately, this laptop comes at triple the price and has a rubbish screen, sound system and performance.

    Everyone here must be having to deal with the same issue. Is there a laptop on the market, with reasonable performance and a reasonable price, that does not play the Cloud/Malware game?

    1. Morning Jeremy. I am by no means a computer nerd but it seems to me that most of the software producers have now become actively hostile to their customers. My email program is Outlook and is soon to be deleted in favour of a New Outlook, which by some strange coincidence will allow advertising emails that you have neither solicited nor want. You can stop these only by paying a charge to Bill Gates and Co. It is in fact an extortion racket!

    2. I can’t help with the lap top conundrum. However, I use a desk top iMac and have avoided signing in to iCloud. I get frequent reminders that I haven’t updated my Apple settings (i.e. haven’t signed up for iCloud) but dismiss them. I back up the entire computer using ‘Time Machine’ to a 1TB Seagate external Hard Drive.

      PS Does any Nottler have a very old machine surplus to current requirements, with Dos 3.0 or 3.1. that I might acquire?

      1. I had an extremely aged laptop my sister bought in the 1990s with a 486 processor and W3.1 on it (which was DOS-based). It’s lurking in a cranny somewhere and not seen it in many years. I might even have given it back to her for her children to play on when they were little.

      2. If you had asked me before I took all the old computers to the Micro Museum the answer would have been yes. Now the oldest is Windows 98.

          2. Further research informs me the Disc i have will run on windows 95/98. I must widen my search ….

    3. I’ve ordered a Lenovo laptop from Amazon and it’s now awaiting my son’s expertise to remove windows 11 and install an updated Linux system for me. I’ve never used Microsoft at home and the last one at work was xp.

      1. I’m thinking of doing the same. Could not be rid of W11 soon enough, because of its habit of installing things without asking me first or telling me what they are truthfully.

        1. As I’ve never used it I wouldn’t know but if you have the skill, I would get rid of it and install Linux, if you can.

    4. Jeremy, you’re reaching a level of paranoia that’s understandable but a bit extreme. I do agree with the cloud lark, I avoid it because elsewise you’re tied in to it. Google also create and cancel apps faster than a drip becomes a flood. Chrome is also moving to (I think) manifest v3 solely to try to nobble adblockers, which will fail because people do not want to see adverts.

      You don’t need to buy an expensive anti virus. Update your OS as far as you want and use a middle browser, such as firefox.

      Researching if specific buttons still operate the radio/wifi controls is a bit of a gamble with Linux as that can change from one day to the next. If you’re really bothered put a bit of tape over the camera or, even simpler, look for a sliding cover.

      1. The latest version of Firefox that my OS supports is the one coming up with the white screens and also has developed a nasty habit of not updating the security signatures, so I get white screens informing me that they are invalid or expired. Arctic Fox is ok for that. It’s a long time since I have used Safari or IE, and Chrome-based Brave is ok for now on W7, but it seems that Google has pulled the plug on W7.

        If hackers want to look at my ugly mug when I am busy online offending people and photoshop that into pornographic images of me pleasuring myself to naughty pictures, and then sending it to all my contacts and Facebook friends, then that’s up to them. I’m most concerned about covert installing of malware, especially when done legally.

        1. My Firefox browser is so out of date now a lot of the websites I want to use don’t work any more, so I’m forced into updating. I love my little laptop but it’s 11 years old now. It’ll take a bit of getting used to the new sytem but at least it won’t be Windows anything.

    5. I assume that the OS on your Macbook Pro is Catalina or something earlier. You do not need any antivirus or security software with a Mac so keep your laptop for as long as it still works. I suspect that the popups that you keep getting on your browser are because of ESET or an ad-blocker so get rid of them. I have an old Macbook Pro with Catalina and it works fine albeit a bit slow.

      The best improvement you can make to either your Macbook Pro or your Windows 7 machine is to have the hard drive replaced with a Solid State Device (SSD) – the improvement in speed is remarkable. A local computer repair shop should be able to do this for a few hundred pounds.

      1. Done that ages ago, and the SSD made a big difference. Also means that when I drop my MBP down the stairs when accessing pornography in flip-flogs (or Aussie thongs), the worst that can happen is a dented corner. Incidentally, don’t try that at home, only in the office. I digress.

        YouTube and Facebook are some of the worst culprits at “Update Your Browser” nag screens.

        I gave up on keeping up with Mac’s OS names since they stopped naming them after cats.

        1. When Mac OS had feline names, the OS was far better than Windows but the difference between, say, Ventura and Windows 10 is now quite small. When Steve Jobs was revealing a new Apple device, he always claimed “it just works”. Not any longer as I have found on many occasions that it doesn’t work and is just as pedantic and irritating as the product of that nice Mr Gates.

    6. My backup for my own stuff consists of two external hard drives 1TB and 2TB, stored separately. I don’t use the cloud.

  36. A letter with Nottlers in mind…What say…

    Soggy soap

    SIR – John Baker argues that soap makers should stop selling their product in plastic bottles (Letters, December 16).

    The
    problem, however, is with the majority of soap dishes. If air is not
    allowed to circulate around the whole bar, it becomes soggy and messy.
    I’ve only found two soap dishes that work, one bought in France and the
    other in London at a well-known Japanese shop. The latter has since
    stopped selling the metal grill that lifts the soap from the porcelain
    base.

    If soap producers and dish manufacturers work together, we might get somewhere.

    Eleanor Weetch
    Barnsley, South Yorkshire

    2. I buy Imperial Leather soap for our wash basin (and also in the shower) – we use a rubber thingy with suckers on……. IL soap has a label so that after a few days usage, the label keeps it standing proud of the rubber thing and so it never goes soggy.

      1. I don’t use a rubber thingy in the bath – I just use the edge (see my later comment with sog free soap image).

  37. FFS!

    “SIR – Sadiq Khan has refused Ukraine’s request to use unwanted cars on the grounds that scrappage should “provide environmental benefits to Londoners”.

    What utter nonsense. Giving these non-Ulez-compliant vehicles to Ukraine not only helps the desperate people there, but also removes the pollution they cause in this country. Win win.

    Chris Learmont-Hughes
    Caldy, Wirral

    I cannot believe that I totally agree with Mr Khan on this one. Haven’t the Ukrainians suffered enough without being poisoned by tens of thousands of non-ulez compliant vehicles?

    2. Exactly. All that pure Ukrainian air polluted by ULEZ rejects.
      What would it do to an atmosphere thick with gunsmoke, flying debris from bombing, fumes from ancient tanks churning their way through deep mud …..

  38. Chris Learmont-Hughes thinks that giving non-ULEZ compliant vehicles to Ukraine helps them and removes their pollution from the capital – another idiot who thinks pollution is static and that there is an invisible wall round London which stops the pollution spreading with the wind. Does he think all the pollution from China and India stays within their boundaries?

    2. It always struck me as ridiculous that you could drive your old diesel on the M25 and pollute as much as you like while you drove OVER the LEZ, but if you descended and drove through it, you got fined. That convinced me it had nothing to do with emissions and everything to do with fleecing the motorist.

      1. Khan likes to portray himself as caring for the health of Londoners – but for £12.50 a day he’ll let you kill them – you’re right, it’s about money

  39. Some letters were delivered today, remarkable because the last delivery of post was more than a week ago on a Sunday. One letter received with a first class stamp was posted on the 9th, that’s 9 days. Hardly life changing, but it is just one small indicator of how this once great country has declined.

      1. Remember William Boot went to Moss Bros for a cleft stick and they arranged for their cleaver to make one specially for him!

    2. We’re only getting post about once a week if we’re lucky now. I think they made a lot of posties redundant after the strikes and the new rounds are so big they can’t possibly get to them all in the time they have.

    3. There was a pile of cards waiting for me when I got home. Not all, however, were mine! I took one round to my neighbour and put it through his letter box (if I’d put it back in the post box he probably wouldn’t have got it before Christmas).

        1. I recognise the name but not what she’s known for nor her connection to PPE contract profiteering. I take it she has been a beneficiary.

  41. Back to the friendly vicaress’s.

    It was not too long ago, that a divorced person could not get re-wed in a C of E Church.

  43. EU launches investigation into Elon Musk’s X over Hamas propaganda. 18 December 2023.

    The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s Twitter over its alleged dissemination of misinformation and propaganda related to Hamas.

    The Commission announced that it had launched a full probe into Twitter, now known as X, to see whether it had broken new EU rules governing online services.

    I think that I hate the EU even more than Westminster which is no mean feat!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/18/eu-investigation-elon-musk-x-twitter-hamas-propaganda/

    1. Another golden oldie:

      Not sure it’s a diplodocus – more a Tyranyosaurus wrecks…..

      It’s SuperfidiousfragilisticEUdiplodocus!
      Even though the sound of it
      Is something quite atrocious
      If you say it loud enough
      You’ll always sound precocious
      SuperfidiousfragilisticEUdiplodocus!
      Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
      Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
      Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
      Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
      Because I was afraid to speak
      When I was but a lad
      Ted Heath gave me nose a tweak
      And told me I was bad
      But then one day I learned a word
      That saved the right on prose
      The biggest word you ever heard
      And this is how it goes
      Oh, SuperfidiousfragilisticEUdiplodocus!
      Even though the sound of it
      Is something quite atrocious
      If you say it loud enough
      You’ll always sound precocious
      SuperfidiousfragilisticEUdiplodocus!
      Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
      Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I…

      1. And just to prove the Tyranny point:

        “European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced an investigation into Elon Musk’s ‘free speech’ social media platform X for failure to combat ‘illicit content and disinformation.’ This is the first major probe the EU has opened up on X since last year’s passing of a new law called the “Digital Services Act.”

        “Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X” under the Digital Services Act, European Commissioner Breton wrote in a post on Monday morning on X.

  44. Have you seen what Ashes is stirring up!!! A born troublemaker.

    No tears for Argentina’s new president as he gets off to a good start

    Maggie Pagano
    December 15, 2023 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4cc8be7ae30f936591283333d335d196ed5aa4e6af9644b813c77adc021fc6f.jpg

    It’s just as well that Argentina’s Javier Milei appears to have the bolas worthy of his country’s Criollo bulls. He will need every ounce of their power because the outlook for Argentina is more dire than the self-professed anarcho-capitalist may have feared when he took office less than a week ago.

    The new Argentine president knew he was facing the most volatile of economic situations. It’s why Milei carried a chainsaw with him on the campaign trail to illustrate how he planned to slice through the country’s massive problems, fuelled by decades of profligate socialist over-spending and appalling economic mismanagement which has left Argentina begging from the IMF punch bowl.

    Once one of the most prosperous countries in the world with Buenos Aires seen as the “Paris of South America”, Argentina today is on its knees. For 113 of the last 123 years, the country has run big fiscal deficits. Inflation is nearly 160 per cent, the central bank has negative reserves, the country has a “debt bomb” of around $400 billion owed to local and global creditors with about $16 billion due next year, benchmark interest rates are at 133 per cent and around half of its 46 million population are living close to poverty levels.

    If this is not enough to cope with, the 53-year-old economist and former TV pundit is about to discover that South America’s third-biggest country has plunged into recession. According to the latest Reuters poll, Argentina is now in a technical recession – two straight quarters of economic contraction – as of the third quarter. It’s expected that official figures out later today will show the economy contracted by 0.7 per cent in the latest quarter after shrinking 4.9 per cent in the previous quarter.

    With the economy already on the floor, the country’s consumption has been battered on several more fronts. Exports have been hammered by a devastating drought which has crippled the country’s valuable grain crops. At the same time, continuous peso devaluations along with difficulties in importing goods because of harsh capital controls and the lack of foreign currency reserves have worsened the economic situation that Milei has inherited.

    Yet this disaster is precisely why Milei swept to power in the recent stunning elections. You can see why. His promise of radical reforms such as dollarisation and abolishing the central bank – which is blamed for rocketing inflation because of having turned on the printing taps – appealed to a population that has suffered so much.

    Never mind that Milei’s promises were some of the wildest and most dramatic ever to be offered at the voting booth but what they did was offer hope for the first time after decades of corruption and economic malaise.

    And the verdict so far? By all accounts, Milei has not done too badly at all in his ambition to drag Argentina out of “decades of decadence”. He’s devalued the peso by more than 50 per cent as part of the emergency measures but put abolishing the peso and converting the currency to the dollar on the back burner – for now. The move changed the official conversion rate to 800 pesos per dollar from 365 pesos. For years, the peso has been artificially supported by strict capital controls, with its value falling 52 per cent this year against the US dollar. More surprisingly, Milei is working closely with the IMF and has its backing. But perhaps not that surprising for an establishment rebel – Argentina owes the IMF a cool $110 billion.

    However much he plays the goofy outsider, Milei is too astute an economist to not know that he has to work with institutions such as the IMF and keep them and the bond markets on his side. He’s not going to do a Liz Truss and give in to the bond vigilantes. And however much he self-declares as the libertarian rebel, it’s worth remembering he is also a member of the World Economic Forum. Work that one out.

    Even so, to get Argentina and the ratings agencies onside – crucial as the country has billions to pay off next year – is not a bad start. Indeed, the IMF has given the outline of the plans made by his economic minister, Luis Caputo, the thumbs-up as have some credit rating agencies. This is important because of the outstanding bond repayments due next year although Fitch still predicts a debt default or a debt restructuring some time soon.

    However, the IMF’s comments were nicely positive, welcoming Milei’s actions which “aim to significantly improve public finances in a manner that protects the most vulnerable in society and strengthen the foreign exchange regime.” From the IMF, that’s praise indeed.

    As well as the peso devaluation, Milei’s first reforms include halting all public infrastructure works pronto. Full-stop. This ban is of huge significance as some of the country’s most egregious corruption has been between politicians and the business community sharing the proceeds of government contracts.

    What’s more telling is Caputo went on TV publicly stating that these contracts were being stopped because of corruption: that’s like declaring war on the mafia. It also went far to show that Milei’s chainsaw was not merely a prop after all. Along with the ban, Caputo also announced plans to stop all labour contracts that have been operating for less than one year, to reduce energy and transport subsidies, bring some companies into state hands and slash the number of government departments from 18 to nine. (Truss will be gnashing her teeth with envy.)

    But what about Milei’s most radical plans to swap the peso for the dollar and send the central bank into outer space as promised in the election? So far, it’s impossible to gauge whether Milei has been persuaded that this may turn out to be mission impossible or whether he is biding his time. Most Argentinians already hold most of their holdings – if they can – in dollars. And most of their debt – which is international – is priced in dollars.

    Yet it’s not an impossible feat to achieve. Panama, Ecuador and El Salvador have all switched to the dollar, although of course, they are much smaller countries than Argentina. And they achieved this in different ways. Ecuador switched the sucre over a period of nine months while El Salvador phased out the coronas over two years.

    So far, since taking office, neither Milei nor Caputo have mentioned getting rid of the peso or indeed abolishing the central bank in its entirety. Is that because the new president realises that it’s easy to campaign on bold reforms but not so easy to deliver? Has Milei already given in to the establishment or is he being careful? Again, it’s too early to say. But it’s clear that he knows he must confront Argentina’s fragmented parliamentary parties – and the country’s system of powerful regional governors – if he is to achieve change.

    His political party, Libertad Avanza, which he only founded two years ago, is driving a coalition of small right-wing and libertarian parties that have minority representation in Congress. His party holds just 15 per cent of seats in the lower house and only 10 per cent of the Senate. So he is all too aware that the only way to push through his reform is with the support of other parties, both centrist and Peronist. At this early stage of his honeymoon in power, it’s only fair to give Milei some credit that he is being careful, biding his time.

    What’s more, he knows that dollarisng the Argentinian economy is a costly affair: if done immediately, it would require Argentina to exchange all pesos held by residents and businesses for dollars – and agree a dollar value for all assets and contracts.

    Economists reckon this could cost around $35 billion – money Argentina doesn’t have. They are as in the dark about Milei’s next step as the rest of us but they don’t read too much into his silence on dollarisation over the last few weeks. Well, not yet. Economist Nicolas Cachanosky of the University of Texas El Paso points out that the dollar is already de facto Argentina’s main currency but not de jure, a move that will require a huge legal shift in status. Guido Agostinelli, an economist at the University of Buenos Aires, suggests that rather than abolishing the central bank, Milei will seek to reduce its power in printing money. Abolition, he reckons, is too big a move at this stage.

    And Milei must know this. Despite all the bravado and talk of chainsaws, the Tommy Cooper haircuts, his love of dogs and rock music, Milei is a smart and serious economist and thinker, quoting Hayek and Milton Friedman. More pertinently, he prefers to promote ideas rather than himself. His interview with Tucker Carlson, where he says, “I’m not here to lead sheep, I’m here to wake up lions” is worth watching in full.

    His inaugural speech as president was equally clear: “I want you to be aware that we are going to begin the reconstruction of Argentina after more than a hundred years of decline, redrawing the ideas of freedom, although we are going to have to endure a period of hardness, we will move forward.” Who knows what Milei will be brave enough to do over the next few months? But if he is brave enough to push through even some of his wildest promises, he will be remembered as a boluda in the original sense of the word and not a fool as it is used in slang.

    https://reaction.life/no-tears-for-argentinas-new-president-as-he-gets-off-to-a-good-start/

      1. A little caution may be required. If his moves go tits up he may need to find a distraction…. ‘Now where did I put those maps of the Malvinas?’….

        1. We could kill two birds with one stone.

          Send all the illegal gimmegrants to the Falklands, if that doesn’t put him off, nothing will.

          4. Sorry. Bit slow tonight. Might have something to do with spiced chocolate fudge flavoured egg liqueur.

          5. Good grief, that sound like something even Phizzee would reject.

            Each to their own, enjoy your tipple.

    2. Troublemaker? Moi? *bats eyelashes innocently*

      Certainly interesting times here. I had great hopes of Milei, but the first guest he embraced and talked to after his investiture was Zelenskyy… Hmm.

      A friend remarked wryly that they’d had the choice of a madman or a thief. I shall wait and see whether the sober economist or the chainsaw-wielding rockstar predominates.

      I have to admit that I was tickled by his first words to the public as president; he belted out “Hi everyone ” in a deep bass growl before switching into grown-up language. 🤣🤣

          1. Well if everyone is already using dollars in Argentina then making it official

            isn’t going to make a great drama.

            More mature readers will remember the civil service induced hysteria in Britain when

            Maggie Thatcher announced that she was abolishing exchange control.

            Yet nothing happened !!

  46. Smart move. Our local councillors (Lib Dems) and their party have distributed a personalised Christmas Card to each address wishing us a Merry Christmas. The inside cover has a list of useful telephone numbers and the back of the card has the revisions to the Christmas and New Year Recycling collection dates…..

    1. £1·49 in all good Belfast hardware stores.

      In Dublin hardware stores your pounds would not be accepted.😉

    2. £1·49 in all good Belfast hardware stores.

      In Dublin hardware stores your pounds would not be accepted.😉

  49. Why do I get the impression that some folk want to light the blue touch paper?

    “Group of Seven member states are moving closer to approving a controversial plan that would funnel some $300 billion of Russia’s seized central bank and other sovereign assets (such as some oligarchs’ superyachts) which have been “immobilized” in Europe to give to Ukraine.

    “G7 members and other specially affected states could seize Russian sovereign assets as a countermeasure to induce Russia to end its aggression,” a US policy paper being considered by the G7 states.

    The Financial Times aptly described the proposal as constituting “a radical step that would open a new chapter in the west’s financial warfare against Moscow” – also as certainly Moscow would see it as brazen theft.”

    2. If we’re being replaced numerically quite quickly by SE Asians and Muslims, what better way is there than to mirror those numbers in positions of power?

  54. An asylum seeker who died on the Bibby Stockholm in a suspected suicide has been named as Albanian national Leonard Farruku.

    The 27-year-old is said to have paid nearly £3,500 to cross the Channel in a small boat last summer, before he was placed onto the controversial barge earlier this year.

    Mr Farruku’s sister, Jola Dushku, claimed he was being treated ‘like an animal’ on the vessel prior to his death, the Telegraph reports.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12876501/Pictured-Bibby-Stockholm-asylum-seeker-died-suspected-suicide-paying-3-436-cross-Channel-sister-claims-Albanian-national-27-treated-like-animal-death.html

    Was he murdered ?

      1. I only watched a little of the ‘car crash’ interview but i thought he lied throughout and expected to be believed just because he said so. Some elements of truth for sure but the lies were told to cover his poor behaviour rather than just admit he had been foolish and move on. A weak man.
        People are prepared to forgive errors of judgement but they won’t forgive being continuously lied to.

        Hope you are keeping well Stormy. Happy Christmas. Join me if you are on your own if you like.

  56. That was annoying. Just back from a 2 mile walk – quite mild in a windy sort of way. With half a mile to go, I fell flat on my face – tripped on a hidden pot hole. Fortunately no bones broken – just a grazed knee and a wrenched shoulder. Could have been worse. I would have preferred not to have done it…..

    Any ideas on how to remove thick, gritty mud from sheepskin gloves?

    2. Any ideas on how to remove thick, gritty mud from sheepskin gloves?

      Place gloves on hand. Immerse in hot water and shake vigorously.

    4. Join the club Bill. Last week on my usual afternoon walk there was a huge puddle at the entrance to the park. Trying to skirt round that slipped in the mud and fell backwards into ground sloping downwards and found no way could I pull myself up. A passing car saw me, stopped another car to get more help, and the two of them pulled me out. Likewise no damage, just a scratch to the leg, and felt a bit dazed – and a bit of a fool but I was very grateful to the man and woman who came to my rescue. Not cleaned the mud off the shoes yet, really must do that.

          3. You get an idea of a persons character by reading what they write. Would you like me to tell you what you’re like?

          7. I Had a Hippopotamus
            by Patrick Barrington

            I had a Hippopotamus, I kept him in a shed
            And fed him upon vitamins and vegetable bread
            I made him my companion on many cheery walks
            And had his portrait done by a celebrity in chalk

            His charming eccentricities were known on every side
            The creatures’ popularity was wonderfully wide
            He frolicked with the Rector in a dozen friendly tussles
            Who could not but remark on his hippopotamuscles

            If he should be affected by depression or the dumps
            By hippopotameasles or the hippopotamumps
            I never knew a particle of peace ’till it was plain
            He was hippopotamasticating properly again

            I had a Hippopotamus, I loved him as a friend
            But beautiful relationships are bound to have an end
            Time takes alas! our joys from us and rids us of our blisses
            My hippopotamus turned out to be a hippopotamisses

            My house keeper regarded her with jaundice in her eye
            She did not want a colony of hippotami
            She borrowed a machine gun from from her soldier nephew, Percy
            And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy

            My house now lacks that glamour that the charming creature gave
            The garage where I kept her is now as silent as the grave
            No longer she displays among the motor tyres and spanners
            Her hippopomastery of hippopotamanners

            No longer now she gambols in the orchards in the spring
            No longer do I lead her through the village on a string
            No longer in the morning does the neighbourhood rejoice
            To her hippopotamusically-meditated voice

            I had a hippopotamus but nothing upon earth
            Is constant in its happines or lasting in its mirth
            No joy that life can give me can be strong enough to smother
            My sorrow for that might-have-been-a-hippopota-mother

          8. Don’t bother. I know. Charming, humorous, witty, polite…..knowledgeable, worldly…and those are just the negatives…

      1. WTF do you think I was doing? Looking to ruin a nice walk? I had for 1½ miles taken great care. The effing council doesn’t ever treat holes in very rural lanes.

    9. I hope you were not alone, Bill. I’d rather not think of you lying prone, getting cold with dusk approaching and no help on hand.

  57. Starmer follows Sunak’s lead in calling for ‘sustainable’ Gaza ceasefire.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/18/rishi-sunak-latest-news-heat-pumps-nhs-wes-streeting-live/

    BTLs

    Harry Sands

    The Jews always survive, That is why they are hated.

    Reply by Percival Wrattstrangler.

    They are hated because they are intelligent, creative and successful. No wonder Anti-Semitism is spreading in the UK .
    Intelligence, creativity and success went out of fashion in the UK from the moment Thatcher was deposed.

        1. They say in the video that 16% of Americans have an IQ of 85 or less, which effectively makes them unable to fend for themselves and experiments in trying to educate such people have proved a complete waste of resources.

          3. Same with NoTTLers. I wouldn’t like to mention names, but there are some real stick-in-the-muds who are beyond help. {:>))

        2. They say in the video that 16% of Americans have an IQ of 85 or less, which effectively makes them unable to fend for themselves and experiments in trying to educate such people have proved a complete waste of resources.

    4. I’d just amend that to say that a greater percentage of them are than in the wider population. Now, compared to the slammers, you’re onto something. They are dhim (geddit?).

      1. Yes, that’s the point of the Bell Curve. Group intelligence trends don’t reflect individual abilities.

        1. Just been listening to the Beeb Carol competition on R3 while I was in the car. Quite enjoyable, but I can’t say there was one outstanding one that grabbed me as the winner. Junior ones were good.

        2. I have looked at the tables and the average IQ in the UK is 99.2.

          30 years ago it was over 100.

          Any suggestions as to the reason(s) for the fall?

          3. France is below the UK in the table so I hope I did my bit to raise it a little bit!

            They say that every time an Irishman leaves Ireland to live in England it lowers the average IQ of both countries.

          4. Third world migration and inter-marriage. Inconvenient and unfashionable but true nonetheless. It’s the reason southern Europe has always had lower group average IQ scores.

  61. After a day of driving around Pembrokeshire in West Wales I can attest that the Drakeford 20mph limit is widely disregarded.

    1. I hope you drove everywhere at 20mph (just to pi55 off those behind a number of whom will have voted for him!)

      1. Sorry to disappoint you. My car just won’t do it without me being glued to the speedometer and ignoring everything else.

    2. The 20mph limit is by no means universal in Wales. It’s mostly applied in built-up areas where there was a previous 30mph limit.

      1. Yes. It’s still widely disregarded except when traffic and road conditions dictate otherwise.

    4. Today we have received a reminder that if we go over the limit we’ll be fined – well, whoda thunk it?

      1. Well spotted! Another 10/10 plus 2 for neatness. If you keep this up you could go far! (Australia perhaps!)

        PS Where is your nearest town these days?

          1. Thank you. Next time I due in that vicinity I’ll ring you and see if we can make that overdue lunch!

          3. Did the leg spinner get his Christmas cards when when they were addressed thus:

            Wood

            Derek

            Hants

            (Derek Underwood, Andover, Hants)

  63. Would one or two of our Scottish residents confirm the accuracy or otherwise of this BLT comment please?

    “Jacko Cross
    1 HR AGO
    There is absolutely nothing in Scotland (with perhaps the exception of some stunning scenery) that can attract top talent or stop top talent from leaving. Higher taxes, appalling healthcare, crumbling infrastructure and gutted cities and towns, a lack of quality retailers and restaurants, punishment for second home ownership, hopeless councils, hideously facist hate-speech legislation, a government so unstable it makes the blundering Tories look like the Bass Rock, industrial brainwashing, indoctrination, grooming, historical revisionism and abysmal attainment levels rife in schools, a war on motorists, a holy war on anyone who dares to question the track record of the SNP, drug use and associated crime beyond compare in a westernised country, the highest defecit in europe, higher education overrun and inflitrated by Chinese students and militant Confucius Institutes, next to zero mental health treatment options and a higher risk of death than in any part of the UK should you be diagnosed with cancer, an obsession with net zero and nazi-like enforcement of nonsense measures like heat-pumps of pain of huge fines and a loss of agency on private property sales, surging violent crime, vanishingly few safe spaces for women, no support for businesses or entrepreneurs and a complete lack of affordable accommodation due to a Stalinesque rent freeze intervention.
    Oh, and now it has an antisemitic leader.
    Try recruiting someone for that clown-show. “

    1. That sounds like the Scotland I remember when I was married to a Scot in the 1980s – and had to live in the People’s Republic of Glasgow for two years.

    2. As a Southern England domiciled Scot I’d say it’s pretty accurate. I dearly love Scotland and miss it dreadfully but what I miss is the Scotland of my childhood and youth, the Scotland of the 1950s, 60s and early 70s. That Scotland no longer exists. The last few times I have been ‘home’ (I still think of it as home) I have been appalled at the decline of the places I knew and there is nothing that would entice me to return. The top slice of society still does well enough but the middle and bottom do not.

        2. And I still miss my work trips to Scotland and diving into various convenient local butchers to stock up on Haggises.

      2. Whisper it not, but Scotland did best when it was tied most closely to England and Wales, which allowed the native Scottish talent to flourish free of dire Scottish politics.

        1. I’m afraid it is, Fiscal! I had ma doots, but it’s looking down towards John Lewis! It’s an absolute shambles!

  64. This is sickening if to be expected…

    GB News campaign to save cash found in breach of impartiality rules

    Reprimand over the ‘Don’t Kill Cash’ drive is the broadcaster’s fifth by Ofcom this year

    James Warrington
    18 December 2023 • 1:33pm

    GB News has been found in breach of impartiality rules over a “Don’t Kill Cash” campaign, marking its fifth reprimand by Ofcom this year.

    The regulator on Monday censured GB News over the branded campaign, which lobbied the Government to prevent the UK from becoming a cashless society.

    The campaign urged viewers to sign a petition calling for new legislation to protect the status of cash as legal tender and as a widely accepted means of payment until at least 2050.

    Ofcom opened six investigations into various GB News programmes relating to the campaign after receiving a number of complaints.

    In its first ruling relating to an episode of The Live Desk in July, the regulator concluded that GB News breached two parts of the broadcasting code on due impartiality.

    Ofcom said broadcasters were free to explore any issue, including the use of cash in society, and to encourage viewers to support certain campaigns.

    But it warned channels had to comply with impartiality rules on matters of political or industrial controversy or current public policy.

    These are designed to ensure that broadcasters cannot use their channels and stations to advance their own viewers.

    GB News is owned by hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall, who was linked with a potential takeover bid for The Telegraph, and Dubai investment firm The Legatum Group.

    GB News promoted the campaign through QR codes and a branded petition, which received more than 300,000 signatures. Ofcom found that by doing so, the channel was expressing its views on the use of cash.

    The watchdog added that the programme fell short of due impartiality requirement as it gave only limited references to different points of view.

    As a result, Ofcom recorded two breaches of its broadcasting code. It said: “We expect GB News to take careful account of this decision in its future programming.”

    The regulator said it will publish the outcome of its investigations into five other programmes in due course.

    In response, GB News said it was disappointed by the decision, adding that Ofcom had interpreted its rules “extremely narrowly”.

    The channel said: “We disagree with Ofcom’s assertion that because the campaign was under the GB News banner, it represented the personal or self-interested view of anyone within the company. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    “We maintain our campaign was not political and so did not consider it invoked due impartiality rules requiring substantially different views. The campaign received widespread support across the political spectrum.”

    GB News also pointed to Ofcom’s failure to censure other broadcasters for similar actions, including a BBC campaign to fundraise for the NHS and a Sky News campaign to change the way general elections are debated.

    GB News is facing around a dozen Ofcom investigations relating to various impartiality issues, including the use of sitting MPs as presenters.

    Ofcom is yet to issue a fine against the channel.

    L R Jones
    1 MIN AGO
    Yet Sky News is free to push for climate activism on a daily basis?

    John O’Neill
    3 HRS AGO
    Not surprised by this decision at all and won’t be surprised if OfCom investigates GBNews for having a false weather forecast by saying it may rain when it actually didn’t.
    OfCom are the attack dog of the elite and are out to stop any wrong think!

    Alan Robinson
    2 HRS AGO
    Ofcom clearly hates GB News.

    Gwilym Owen
    2 HRS AGO
    They are terrified of GBNews. Every effort will be made to close it down because it’s the only TV news outlet to tell us the truth.

    2 HRS AGO
    The illiberal so called ‘ progressive ‘ Left are frantic in their efforts to close down GB News and its funding sources from any advertising revenue and via the continual insults and abuse from other MSM celebs, none of whom or which are impartial anyway, this battle is clearly set to carry in as along as they can keep running it down in the same way that Remoaners never stop whining about Brexit.
    In a world where conflict is spreading, not all of which is reported fully in our media anyway the naievete of the woke and social just warriors beggars belief.
    GB News very simply questions and contradicts the WEF Globalists narrative, that banks and corporations and big business are keen to promote, which is that we need technocratic government with no accountability because we are all ignorant and racist except those who do swallow the whole wokery story they are selling. And the organised implosion of trust and confidence in our institutions is no accident. The mass migration is deliberately caused by our enemies as well as by our would be rulers. The removal of cash, the failure of our welfare system through over crowding, and all the other current problems are not because of incompetence but are happening by design. The Digital Public Initiative is another example
    And GB News asks the questions the Elites don’t wish anyone to hear EDITED

    3. Seems like GB news has become the corporate Tommy Robinson. The State does not tolerate opposition to its agenda.

  65. Greetings from a dark & wet Wales, specifically the M4 towards Cardiff.
    Journey slow, but OK. KLM cancelled our flights and rebooked us with SAD and Aer Lingus to Bristol via Dublin… Now on way to hotel & Blue Anchor pub.

        1. Funny thing – KLM used to fly from Amsterdam to Cardiff direct. I’d have thought that might have suited Paul better.

        1. Good evening, young Grizzly. I had hoped to reply to your email with photos, but alas various problems arose. I hope to send you an email tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. The usual greetings to you and to your other half.

  66. Lucky to achieve a Par Four!

    Wordle 912 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Yes, a 5 here.

      Wordle 912 5/6

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

  67. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa5f0e78fedd526995465b465fbe95b4fa7007a1606ba46c996a66d9189d3b1c.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e1b373f53a5ba6c2b56071de3f20b88c0666260aaef5cef2405c70403e6b1f3.png

    The relevant rule states: “Members shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its members generally.”

    No details yet of what she is supposed to have done or not done. I expect her main crime is being on the right side of the un-Conservative Party

    I would have thought that John Bercow did much to discredit the HoC and what about that piece of sheer filth, Chris Bryant, who hid behind Parliamentary Privilege to lie, libel and slander Nigel Farage?

    There are of course many other nominations for MPs who have brought shame upon us all? Any Nottler suggestions?

      1. I hold it in such utter contempt if I were to find out she’s said something obvious and honest my opinion of her would rise and my disgust for ‘the house’ would fall.

        Frankly, there are rats I think more of than most politicians.

    2. This woman is being smeared by the media because she has strong – sensible – views about the rubbish forced upon us by a tiny minority of a tiny minority.

    5. “Ms Cates is part of the New Conservatives group, which has called for radical measures to cut migration.”

      So it’s because she’s a right wing extremist.

  68. Moh’s Laguna failed the MOT. Rear spring needs to be replaced .

    Potholes everywhere .

    Mine, a Peugeot 307 SW (D), 06 plate , workhorse , needed rear brake pads and a calliper , last week. Expensive bill over £250.

    That is Christmas out of the way, again .

  69. That’s me gone for this bruising day. A lovely walk spoiled by a bloody pothole.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. Government doesn’t like talking about problems. And of course, nothing to do with the vaccine whatsoever.

    2. Looks like Egypt is making the most of the troubles by hiking passage fees for the Canal. Maybe it’s time Western govts. started to plan for a future in which the Suez is no longer a viable option for trade by sea. I can see the whole Arab/Muslim thing becoming a real issue in decades to come.

  74. OXFAM APPOINTS CORBYNISTA CEO WHO TRIED FOR LABOUR CANDIDACY IN 2019

    Oxfam UK has announced veteran charity/political campaigner and Corbynista Halima Begum as its new chief executive. Begum’s well-qualified to take up Oxfam’s leftie mantle – while she was heading up the Runnymede Trust in 2021 she tried to undermine race commision author Tony Sewell for daring to suggest there isn’t that much evidence for the UK being institutionally racist. Begum joined the Labour Party once Corbyn became leader because she supported Momentum’s “values” and unsuccessfully tried for the Labour candidacy in Poplar and Limehouse in 2019. Luckily there’s no deficit of public-funded jobs to snap up…

    Oxfam had a total income of £373 million in 2021/22, £140 million of which was taxpayers’ cash. Its highest paid individual is raking in between £300,000 and £350,000. The charity has already spent the year calling for higher taxes. What heights of socialist posturing will the charity reach with this appointment?

    https://order-order.com/2023/12/18/oxfam-appoints-corbynista-ceo-who-tried-for-labour-candi

    2. If you’re a charity then you should not receive a penny in tax payer funding. As soon as you do you’re a quango.

      1. The disgusting aspect is that giving allows you to claim it against tax, so they are being subsidised twice by taxpayers who don’t necessarily wish to support them

    4. It seems that she only joined ActionAidUK as CEO in July this year! I wonder if she will combines both salaries er jobs when she takes up her new post!?

  75. The Associated Press
    @AP
    BREAKING: Pope says priests can bless same-sex unions, requests should not be subject to moral analysis

    Looks like the official account of AP…

    2. Maybe the conservative parts of the C. of E. and Catholic church should both break with their respective organisations and form a new one together?

        1. Sort of, but a fully separate organisation this time. A new church. If I understand correctly, the ordinariate is a sort of arms-length fold for Anglicans to ‘join’ the Catholic Church.

          1. It allows Anglicans (and Methodists) to join the RC Church but still keep aspects of their liturgy.

          2. That’s what I thought. But the Anglican Church and Catholic Church are now both rotten to the core, so being part of either is becoming an issue, if you’re an actual Christian. The Catholic Church hasn’t been quite as bad as the C. of E., but it appears to be catching up!

      2. Schism? What? Again? Oh go on then. The Africans won’t tolerate it anyway. No matter how much they are bribed.

  76. Israel has gone beyond self-defence in Gaza, says Tory MP Alicia Kearns

    Israel has every right to exterminate Hamas in its underground bunkers.

    Here are some extracts from Kearns’ Wiki entry. A peculiar sort of Tory…

    Kearns has been an activist for Amnesty International. She studied social and political sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She has worked in communication roles at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

    Kearns became the client services director for the strategic communications consultancy Global Influence in 2016. She later became an independent consultant. Her private sector duties involved designing and directing “counter violent extremism, counter disinformation, hybrid warfare and behaviour change programmes for Governments, militaries, and NGOs to build stronger and safer communities”.

    Immediately prior to her election to parliament, Kearns was directing counter-terrorism, counter disinformation and hybrid warfare interventions in Lebanon, Morocco and the Western Balkans. [Plenty of training for the Nudge Unit and 77 Brigade.]

    Kearns is a supporter of transgender rights and in August 2020 co-authored an article in ConservativeHome with fellow MP Nicola Richards which called on the government to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

    Some newspapers and broadcasters alleged that Kearns was part of an attempt by Conservative MPs elected in the 2019 general election to oust then Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Partygate in January 2022. She said that she met with concerned MPs, but denied leading a rebellion against Johnson, stating that “I make no apology for meeting with my colleagues, but it was not a coup or any such activity despite the mischief of the media or certain actors who might wish to suggest otherwise.”

    In July 2023, Kearns claimed in parliament that weapons were being smuggled from Serbia to Kosovo in ambulances and then being stored in Serbian Orthodox Churches. NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, said it has no evidence for the smuggling claims. The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Nicholas Abbott, said the British government had no evidence to support Kearns’ allegation.

    1. A bit Mandy Rice Davies applies. Left wing MPs never like accepting that the muslim threat is real and must be confronted and neutralised.

    3. I really couldn’t give a toss what Alicia Kearns has to say about Israel. Funnily enough, I don’t think the Israelis give a toss, either…

      1. Ah, but the BBC would like you to know that not all Tory MPs are Islamophobic, nationalist, racist Brexiteers.

  77. Israel has gone beyond self-defence in Gaza, says Tory MP Alicia Kearns

    Israel has every right to exterminate Hamas in its underground bunkers.

    Here are some extracts from Kearns’ Wiki entry. A peculiar sort of Tory…

    Kearns has been an activist for Amnesty International. She studied social and political sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She has worked in communication roles at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

    Kearns became the client services director for the strategic communications consultancy Global Influence in 2016. She later became an independent consultant. Her private sector duties involved designing and directing “counter violent extremism, counter disinformation, hybrid warfare and behaviour change programmes for Governments, militaries, and NGOs to build stronger and safer communities”.

    Immediately prior to her election to parliament, Kearns was directing counter-terrorism, counter disinformation and hybrid warfare interventions in Lebanon, Morocco and the Western Balkans. [Plenty of training for the Nudge Unit and 77 Brigade.]

    Kearns is a supporter of transgender rights and in August 2020 co-authored an article in ConservativeHome with fellow MP Nicola Richards which called on the government to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

    Some newspapers and broadcasters alleged that Kearns was part of an attempt by Conservative MPs elected in the 2019 general election to oust then Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Partygate in January 2022. She said that she met with concerned MPs, but denied leading a rebellion against Johnson, stating that “I make no apology for meeting with my colleagues, but it was not a coup or any such activity despite the mischief of the media or certain actors who might wish to suggest otherwise.”

    In July 2023, Kearns claimed in parliament that weapons were being smuggled from Serbia to Kosovo in ambulances and then being stored in Serbian Orthodox Churches. NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, said it has no evidence for the smuggling claims. The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Nicholas Abbott, said the British government had no evidence to support Kearns’ allegation.

  78. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/17/migration-biggest-political-issue-modern-age/

    Well, yes. Of course people are going to see immigration as their biggest issue. What Lefty economists and government wonks like to ignore is that gimmigration and the economy are inextricably linked. For every job an immigrant takes, a local is unemployed. Those immigrants also need healthcare, pensions, sick pay, roads, schools – all service demands. Demand now on top of welfare for the unemployed native.

    It’s as simple as that. Demand doubles but revenue halves. When these numbers are a couple of thousand a year it’s a minor issue but now it’s over a million a year and the majority of the million do not work, do not contribute and provide nothing of value so costs double and nothing comes in and the entire country is made poorer. We’ve suffered that political malice for over 25 miserable years.

    3. I just love that so many ladies have upticked this.
      I can hear them saying – you’d better bloody believe it. You have got away with nothing!

  80. Evening, all. Been a busy day; Santa (in the form of one of my friends from church) left me a bottle of wine on my doorstep this morning, I pulled the plug on the physio I was being given for my knees (it was knackering my back so much I could hardly walk and doing SFA for my knees), so hopefully I’ll have injections which will actually do something worthwhile now. Took both dogs for a walk (Oscar condescended to come since it was afternoon by the time we got out) and have found the cheese boards for tomorrow (I’m taking cheese and biscuits as my contribution to the Bring and Share Parish lunch tomorrow – even I can hardly go wrong with that!). Have also, much to my amazement, managed to do the Q4 donations returns and Yr end Accounts return correctly (I did get my numerate chairman to check them, just in case) and have sent them off in good time.

    Meanwhile, cash strapped County is running Climate Change seminars at £110 a pop (plus a Carbon donation on top) and whinging that it isn’t meeting its carbon net zero targets as required by law. The law is an ass. They’ll never meet them; they are building housing estates on green fields, grubbing up hedgerows and cutting down mature trees, not to mention increasing the CO2 output of all the incomers they’ve foisted on us. Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

    1. Regarding your last sentence: It seems there is an awful lot of self selection for that honour…

  81. Nothing to see here…move right along…

    ‘Clean air’ mayor agreed to promote United Airlines on trip to America

    Sadiq Khan accused of a ‘failure’ to declare flights as gifts and hospitality

    Noah Eastwood, MONEY REPORTER
    18 December 2023 • 3:33pm

    Sadiq Khan agreed to promote United Airlines on an official visit to America in exchange for business-class seats on flights throughout the trip, in a deal previously denied by City Hall.

    The agreement, seen by The Telegraph, was signed in April last year by the mayor’s office and the airline and said he would provide “recognition” to United Airlines at events as part of a trade mission to the US last year.

    It comes after Mr Khan’s chief of staff, David Bellamy, told members of the London Assembly he would “not describe it as a United Airlines sponsored trip” in June this year.

    Mr Bellamy said that it was “a natural part of these trips that businesses doing business with London get some publicity out of it”, adding: “I am not aware of anything specifically we did for [United] in exchange.”

    However, the agreement said United could “optimise all appropriate PR opportunities” on the trip, put their logo on signs at its events and send a representative to accompany the mayor and his staff on board their flights.

    Mr Khan then appeared to promote United’s expansion of its services to and from Britain that spring.

    Posing with United pilots on the tarmac at Heathrow airport before departing London in May 2022 in a post on Twitter, Mr Khan wrote that the airline was “now flying 22 times a day from Heathrow to the US”.

    A press release, issued by City Hall on the same day, repeated the statement, adding: “United Airlines is proud to be flying the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and his team on their trade mission to the United States.”

    Mr Khan opposes the expansion of Heathrow to add a third runway, citing air and noise pollution concerns, and has previously spoken about reducing the number of flights to cut the airport’s carbon footprint.

    He told reporters on a visit to nearby Hounslow in June that “we don’t want more flights,” adding: “We may have fewer flights with bigger aeroplanes but also the fuel they use might be more climate friendly.”

    The six flights, worth £255 per seat, flew Mr Khan, his staff and a select group of journalists to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and back to London.

    City Hall was left with only fees and taxes to pay and United’s agreement also included economy class seats on flights from San Francisco to Los Angeles and two “pre-visit” journeys from London to Los Angeles and San Francisco for a deputy mayor.

    The mayor was joined by journalists from the Guardian, Times, BBC, Evening Standard and ITV on some of the United flights.

    The mayor met with senior US politicians during his visit, including former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti.

    Caroline Russell, a Green Party member of the Greater London Assembly (GLA), lodged a complaint in August over the flights, accusing Mr Khan and his staff of a “failure” to declare them as gifts and hospitality.

    In a letter to the GLA’s monitoring officer, she said: “The opportunity to acquire flights where only taxes and fees are payable is not one that is available to the general public.

    “This may therefore represent a gift from United Airlines to each of the beneficiaries in their capacity as a GLA representative. No declaration has been made in the Gifts and Hospitality registers of the mayor”.

    City Hall said that Mr Khan declared the costs of the travel from the trip to the GLA’s audit panel, as is required within the rules.

    A City Hall spokesman said: “Promoting London at home and abroad is a key part of the mayoralty and Sadiq makes no apologies for travelling to the US last year and saving taxpayers money on the flights.

    “This visit was his first international mission since the start of the pandemic and an opportunity to encourage tourism to London and showcase the capital to businesses, investors, entrepreneurs and students in the world’s largest economy.

    “In order to reduce the cost of the visit, City Hall secured an agreement for a group flight package with United Airlines, where only taxes and fees were payable.

    “This one-off agreement did not result in a formal partnership between the Greater London Authority and United Airlines.”

    United Airlines was approached for comment.

    **********************************************************

    Carpe Jugulum
    3 HRS AGO
    ‘City Hall said that Mr Khan declared the costs of the travel from the trip to the GLA’s audit panel, as is required within the rules.’
    Oh dear, banana republic prevarication. Of course Khan declared the ‘costs’, the problem is he DIDN’T declare they were far, far lower than they should have been given his sleaze dripping backside occupied a Business Class seat.
    Khan is a serial liar and common or garden spiv. That would be bad enough on it’s own, unfortunately he is also utterly and completely inept.

    Pamela Osborne
    2 HRS AGO
    So, he wants to cut pollution on his Green Crusade, and then goes and promotes an airline?? Can’t make it up. Two faced comes to mind.

    Christina Ellis
    3 HRS AGO
    can you tell me where to get business class – or any class – seats from London to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and back to London for 255 pounds please!!

    C Wilkinson
    3 HRS AGO
    There is no way business class seats to the US cost only £255 each to the general public. That figure must be an underestimate And the whole thing is classic Khan “do as I say not as I do”. Hypocrite

    Peter Parker
    1 HR AGO
    Reply to C Wilkinson
    I was thinking exactly the same, stick a couple of 0s on the end!

    T W C Collins
    36 MIN AGO
    Reply to C Wilkinson
    I suspect he got the seats free and just had to pay the taxes plus an extra bag charge.

  82. Ghengis failed maffs at skule

    Khan accused of being ‘unable to balance books’ after seventh TfL bailout

    Department for Transport has paid more than £6bn to capital’s transport body in seven different payments since May 2020

    Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, has been accused of being “unable to balance the books” at Transport for London (TfL) after the Government said it would provide a seventh bailout since the pandemic.

    On Tuesday, Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, revealed that the capital’s transport body would be getting a £250 million payout so it could cover the costs of crucial London Underground upgrades.

    The Department for Transport has paid more than £6 billion to TfL in seven different payments since May 2020.

    Mr Harper said: “The Government has expressed ongoing concern about the management of TfL by this mayor, and it is disappointing that London taxpayers are having to foot the bill for the GLA’s [Greater London Authority] poor governance and decision-making.

    “Our capital city deserves a mayor who can balance the books without taxing the poorest motorists, or relying on taxpayers to prop them up.”

    However, a spokesman for Mr Khan hit back, saying it was a desperate attack from ministers and adding: “The mayor and TfL have recovered TfL finances after the devastating impact of the pandemic, and are covering the vast majority of TfL’s capital investment needs.

    “Unlike the previous mayor [Boris Johnson], Sadiq manages TfL’s budget without a £1 billion annual operating grant from the Government.”

    https://cf.eip.telegraph.co.uk/illustrator-embed/content/227703213667b9d3435a84a94742e575d4e9d279/1685008599943.jpg

    The pandemic and increased working from home have led to TfL fare revenues plummeting, leaving a huge funding black hole in its finances, and the Government has issued a series of bailout payments to ensure the body could continue the day-to-day running of services.

    The last payment, issued in August last year, was for £3.6 billion and was supposed to cover the running of the network until March 31 2024.

    The £250 million payment is slightly different because it cannot go towards the day-to-day running of TfL but must be ring fenced for projects such as providing new Tube trains for the Piccadilly Line.

    Andy Lord, London’s transport commissioner, said: “Through a huge effort to reduce costs and rebuild our ridership and revenue following the pandemic, TfL is now on track to be financially sustainable in terms of its day-to-day operations. We are also able to cover the cost of the majority of our capital investment.”

    The £250 million is still only half of the £500 million initially requested by TfL and Mr Khan, meaning the body may have to rein in some other planned projects.

    Mr Lord said: “We will now need to reassess our recent draft business plan and address the impact of the continuing shortfall in funding. That work is under way so that we can confirm as soon as possible what we will deliver for London.”

    Susan Hall, the Conservative Party candidate for the mayoralty, said: “I am pleased that the Government has stepped in to ensure we get these upgrades, despite the Mayor of London’s wasteful spending.

    “Sadiq Khan has spent too long treating Londoners like walking cash machines, ramping up taxes to cover his shoddy spending. He’s left London’s finances in a mess.”

    Keith Prince, the City Hall Conservatives’ transport spokesman, said: “As chair of Transport for London, Sadiq Khan has turned TfL into a financial basket case, with over £15 billion in debt.

    “Like Transport Secretary Mark Harper, I have major concerns about how TfL has been run under Sadiq Khan. His poor financial management has seen TfL lurch from one financial crisis to another.”

    **********************************************************

    Philippa Keith
    1 HR AGO
    7 bail outs and Khan is still allowed to be in charge? He should be charged with malfeasance. Mr K

    Paul Nesbitt
    1 HR AGO
    “ Sadiq manages TfL’s budget without a £1 billion annual operating grant from the Government.”
    Yes that’s correct he has had 6bn in 3 years which is 2bn a year!

    EA MR
    42 MIN AGO
    Anything with Sadiq Kahn involved needs auditing urgently.

  84. I came across this excellent video tonight which explains how sports people with Atrial Fibrillation have a likelihood of being misdiagnosed by three quarters of cardiologists when they try and interpret ecgs for a condition that can result in heart failure:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1831fc9ee8295ed4410dde0f931d09c82303fa2aa09af450bba3469fc821927f.jpg

    This goes to show there can be a significant possibility of a cardiologist establishing in error that a person is fit to play sport.

    According to this guy, my own ecg trace, when being treated for one set of drugs, gave me a drug induced (not familial) QTc of over 500ms that rendered me susceptible to a life threatening heart rhythym called Torsades de Pointes:

    https://youtu.be/UmtunXjrczA?si=81Ned1IIovivjKrH

    I think I’m OK now with a revised drug regime and now with a lower graphically measured QTc of 430ms.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/abdeb8781ab6cd8e4a18cecb183f191ea41c5a008369d211768dca726fe4aac7.jpg

  86. Our War Leaders certainly know what they are doing!

    “The new deal will build on a recent announcement that the UK will lead a “Maritime Capability Coalition” alongside Norway to deliver two Royal Navy mine-hunting ships to Ukraine.
    “[The deal] demonstrates our commitment to keep Ukraine in the fight,” a source close to the talks said.

    “They are also about providing assurances in a post-hostilities world to provide assistance should Russian then attack again.”
    The anticipated deal comes after G7 countries signed a declaration on long-term protections for Ukraine in lieu of Nato membership on the sidelines of a summit of the military alliance’s leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, earlier this year.

    Some 30 countries, as well as the European Union, are now negotiating individual, long-term security pledges for Ukraine using the framework agreed in July.
    Britain is hoping to use its maritime strength and knowledge to help further build up Ukrainian naval power.
    The Royal Navy has already been training Ukrainian de-mining specialists on crew-less submarines to disarm, defuse Russian bombs, booby traps and mines in its deep-water shipping lanes and prepare for amphibious raids.

    Last year, Britain started providing ship-based versions of the Brimstone missile to Ukrainian forces, which Russian war bloggers have credited for attacks on air-defence systems in occupied Crimea.

    Defence sources declined to share any further details at this stage of the weapons that could be sent to Kyiv, other than confirming they would also include land and air assets.
    Sir Tim Barrow, the national security adviser, recently held secretive talks with Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide, in Brussels on the British pact.

    Last week, the Telegraph revealed that European leaders had privately urged Rishi Sunak to channel Winston Churchill and reclaim Britain’s role in leading Western support for Ukraine as Germany, France and the US struggle to maintain their backing for Kyiv.
    The focus of arms deliveries will be on ensuring Ukraine’s forces become more “interoperable” with Nato to act as a long-term deterrent against future attacks.

    Britain has donated £2.3 billion in military aid annually to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion and is expected to match that against in 2024.

    1. It makes me so angry.
      Pouring money into a corrupt regime to fight America’s proxy war against Russia while we are being invaded by 10’s of thousands of people who hate us.
      How many millionaires will be created in Ukraine as a result?

    5. The UK government is comprised of Idiots.

      The Ukraine has already lost in its conflict with Russia. Throwing yet more borrowed money into this proxy US war is simply stupid. The money will simply be recycled by Zelensky and his oligarch backers to their own personal bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere. As though these bastards are not enriched enough already.

      Meanwhile the country formerly known as Ukraine is now mostly returned to Russia. Frankly, Kiev and Odessa were always defined as Russian and so they should remain.

      What is left of the supposed nation of Ukraine will consist principally of Galicia with its capital of Lvov. Whether that survival of that truncated area of the former Ukraine is doubtful given that it will have lost access to the Black Sea and will be utterly dependant on further billions of aid from the US, EU and UK.

      I doubt whether even the US, the stupid fatuous EU or the ignorant US arse licking UK will feel able to support such an unproductive and dependent rump. In fact the sheer idiocy of the political leaders of these three entities have led to this dire situation.

    6. And after doing so much to help the USA, which is struggling to convince its authorities to continue supporting Ukraine, Biden has announced that it will no longer engage in trade talks with Britain! Aaargh!!!

  87. I’m used to my phone occasionally losing the internet signal but my router has just rebooted itself. Successfully but it gave me a start. Hasn’t done that for no apparent reason before.

    1. When I tried to log on my internet connection had disappeared altogether! I discovered the router had become unplugged.

        1. Me, I think, when I was searching for the missing Christmas decorations (they’re still missing).

    2. When I had a huge old fashioned computer (looking like an old cathode ray television) some years back, one day it went “Bang!” and smoke erupted through the top like a volcano. It was then that I invested in a laptop.

  92. Oops! I went to bed last night (Monday) without wishing you all a Good Night, chums. Hope you all slept well. It’s now 6.10 am. and I got up at 5.30 am to listen to THE GLUMS on Angel Radio at 5.40 am.

Comments are closed.