Monday 18 November: The assisted dying bill risks undermining patients’ trust in their doctors

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.

608 thoughts on “Monday 18 November: The assisted dying bill risks undermining patients’ trust in their doctors”

  3. Dzień dobry Geoff i wszystkim (guess the language)
    Today's Tale – Trigger warning – it's the Pope again
    The Pope’s doctor had told him that his celibacy was causing serious health problems. The doctor recommended that the Pope have regular sex with a woman or else he could die. The Pope resisted this suggestion for some time, but finally came to realise that it was the only answer.
    “OK, I’ll do it,” he said, “but on three conditions. First she must be Catholic, second she must live in the local parish, and third it must be completely confidential.”
    As the doctor was leaving the room the Pope yelled, “… and by the way Doc, can you get me one with big boobs?”

  4. Assisted Suicide (from DT Letters)
    Simon Bell
    2 hrs ago
    “ Legalising assisted suicide risks undermining this bedrock of trust in the doctor-patient relationship.”

    Dr Elias worries too much. There is no longer any doctor-patient relationship. Having spent three out of four of the past nights in Urgent Care at GWH just trying to get a catheter fitted, I can assure him that the incompetence I witnessed would mean that having myself bumped off instead would probably have taken several months. Ample time for second thoughts.

  5. Starmer has ‘no plans’ to speak to Putin. 18 November 2024.

    Sir Keir Starmer insisted he had “no plans” to speak with Vladimir Putin as Olaf Scholz faced a growing backlash over his call with the Russian president.

    While failing to directly criticise the German chancellor, the Prime Minister offered no endorsement of Mr Scholz’s phone call with Putin.

    “It’s a matter for Chancellor Scholz who he speaks to. I have no plans to speak to Putin,” Sir Keir told reporters as he made his way to the G20 summit on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.

    I often wonder what Vlad thinks when he’s talking to these people. There is a perception (promoted by the MSM) that our leaders are innocents facing up to a Russian tyrant. It must look very different from the other side of the table. There is Scholz here, who knows that the US sabotaged the Baltic Pipeline and with it the German Economy and yet says not a word about it. A series of UK Prime Ministers who have endorsed the fake Skripal/Novichok business and so become complicit in the murders of both Father and Daughter by Mi6. The US that has armed Ukraine so that it is almost a military peer with Russia and cost tens of thousands of lives. This is not to forget that they are also, all, hypocrites and the enemies of Freedom and Democracy.

    We are on the wrong side here. Vlad probably goes for a shower after dealing with these people.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/17/keir-starmer-no-plans-speak-putin-olaf-scholz-phone-call/#comment

  7. The assisted dying bill risks undermining patients’ trust in their doctors

    I think that all went during covid, it's like they went into hibernation and haven't woke up yet

  8. Good morning all.
    Still dark but a clear sky after yesterday evening's rain and a waning gibbous moon hanging in the sky with a planet slightly below it. Rather chilly with -2½°C on the Yard Thermometer.

  9. So Biden rubber stamps the use of Western supplied long range missiles to be used against Russia.
    As I thought all along the Biden administration will be unleashing a scorched earth policy before Trump takes over.
    Is Biden even making these decisions?
    He wasn't fit to stand for another term so why is he still in control?

  11. 397078+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 18 November: The assisted dying bill risks undermining patients’ trust in their doctors

    The assisted over the last four decades, political cretins,are now feeling their oats after the continued assistance via the polling stations they have received from the tribal supporter / voters.

    ASSISTED LIVING is given very little leeway in parliament , if any,as far as the contents of parliament are concerned it is the WEF / NWO / RESET way or NO WAY.

    Be very aware we are, and it is highly possible, heading for an updated "selection" process MK 2, with Golders Green being high on the list.

    Also Doctor visitations will take a massive drop unless we do as we do on visiting the polling stations in regards to recent history
    of the lab/lib/con coalition party, and forget the murderous actions of old harold.

  13. Starmer aims to build ‘pragmatic and serious relationship’ in meeting with Xi. 18 November 2024.

    Keir Starmer will become the first UK prime minister in six years to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, promising to turn the page on UK-China relations by building “a pragmatic and serious relationship”.

    Xi. “Who?”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/nov/17/starmer-aims-to-build-pragmatic-and-serious-relationship-in-meeting-with-xi-at-g20

    1. Probably going to ask him how much money China would need to go back to being a communist dictatorship.

  14. 397087+ up ticks,

    Massive move via the smiling assassin in the White House, in the world depopulation department.

    Dt,

    Biden allows Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike inside Russia
    US president signs off on deploying ATACMS rockets, raising expectations that Britain may authorise similar use of Storm Shadows

  16. Rumours slipping out of Stanhope Jewish community that Sir Keir is taking instruction for a formal conversion. Does he not realise that Axel Rudakubana will no longer be his NBF?

    He never thinks things through.

  17. Good morning, chums. And thanks to you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site. PS – Because it's now pitch black at 6 am when I normally struggle to get up and my bedtime is usually 10 pm so that I can get a good 8 hours of sleep, I have decided from now on to change both of these to 7 am and 11 pm. I mention this just so you know why I no longer compete with others to be first on here and seem to be still posting up until 11 pm. Today was my first day and you can't imagine how good it was when the alarm clock went off at 7 am and it wasn't pitch black. I am clearly more of a night owl than a lark.

    Wordle 1,248 5/6

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      1. Joseph, I think you need to read my post again. I have put my alarm clock forward to 7 am so that I don't have to get up in the dark because I am more of an owl than a lark. If I put my clock back another hour, i.e. from 6 am to 5 am that means that I have would have two extra hours of dark before the sun rises.

  18. Доброе утро, товарищи,

    Clear skies at the McPhee's corner of North-West Hampshire, wind North-East going South-East, 6 to 7℃ all day, rain from 12 pm.

    I didn't know we had a Bible Belt in Britain. Daniel Sanderson at the DT thinks so.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10f8f493d0cea7d29b34ba9c5239c9fb5971e6386f20d9fbf49bcebf6da92878.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/17/scottish-islanders-tesco-boycott-defy-sabbath-stornoway-uk/

    The questions I'd like to ask are:

    Generally, do we think Britain is a better place for having had Sunday opening these last thirty years or so?

    Specifically, do we think Tesco will respect the right of employees not to work on Sundays if they don't wish to, without disadvantaging them?

    1. When our local Tesco was built in the late 1980s it had a clause in the planning permission stopping it opening on Sundays because it was in the middle of the new housing estate. During this time many of the Tesco TV advertisements were filmed there, it being one of the few Tesco's which were still closed on the Sabbath – you may remember one ad where they had a hot air balloon, that was filmed at our Tesco, quite a spectacle. But the clause had a 25 year expiry date, when it expired Tesco lost no time in using their new freedom and it opened literally the next Sunday.

      Being a church going person I tend not to go there on Sundays but have on the odd occasion when I have needed something urgent. Pretty packed out and shopping on a Sunday is not a pleasant experience. But clearly some do want it and I have no objections. It is just a lot more pleasant to go first thing in the morning during the week.

      (and slightly related, our Tesco is built right next to the train station, as such it will never have a petrol station as you cannot have those adjacent to the electric railway for safety reasons,)

      2. I often shop on Sundays on my way home from church. The reason is I have the car out to drive to church. It saves me making a special journey.

    2. A part of working for a company is working when it needs you to.

      Is Britain a better place? It depends on your definition of better. Having the choice on shopping or not is a positive thing.

      Many things have been made far worse over the last 30 years than Sunday opening. The invasion of a savage religion for a start. 30 milloion plus welfare breeders for another.

  19. Доброе утро, товарищи,

    Clear skies at the McPhee's corner of North-West Hampshire, wind North-East going South-East, 6 to 7℃ all day, rain from 12 pm.

    I didn't know we had a Bible Belt in Britain. Daniel Sanderson at the DT thinks so.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10f8f493d0cea7d29b34ba9c5239c9fb5971e6386f20d9fbf49bcebf6da92878.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/17/scottish-islanders-tesco-boycott-defy-sabbath-stornoway-uk/

    The questions I'd like to ask are:

    Generally, do we think Britain is a better place for having had Sunday opening these last thirty years or so?

    Specifically, do we think Tesco will respect the right of employees not to work on Sundays without disadvantaging them?

  21. Today Free Speech has an article by a former (Ukip) MEP and a farmer of many years, Stuart Agnew, on the serious problems facing British farmers as a result of Labour’s vindictive attack on inherited wealth and, of course, by the highly influential but highly ignorant and malicious Green Lobby. This will help you understand what is really going on in farming – and in our view what is going on is likely to result in Britain suffering food shortages in the near future.

    Iain Hunter’s article on the mess Britain’s political system is in is still up if you missed it and in t he Essex Police heads to roll piece on the sinister use of non-crime hate incident investigations to stifle free speech, we urge everyone to write to your MP, and we have a template letter for you to use if you want. Please make as much noise as possible against this sinister attack on free speech.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

    1. Morning Tom and all…

      Cogent BTL Comment:
      "Stuart, many good points, thank you for this article.

      What we are seeing in the farm inheritance tax is de facto jizya tax. Farmers are almost entirely non-Muslim. The unemployment rate among Muslims is massiive, over half of Muslim men and 80% of Muslim women. Your inheritance tax will significantly pay for idle Muslims. Not entirely idle, they are busy producing the next generation of radicals who hate us.

      As you point out the Muslim population is increasing rapidly. And maybe this is keeping up the price of sheep. But at what massive cost? As Winston Churchill pointed out, under Islam there is no security of property. Certainly none for non-Muslims. You may be able to pass on your land to your sons in a tax efficient way, and I have no criticism of that. But your sons will almost certainly be living the latter part of their lives under Sharia law. I have done the extrapolation calculation, based on census data, and anticipate a UK Muslim population of 50% around 2060 to 2070. The point of no return (beyond which it will be impossible to reverse the Islamisation of the UK) as 2040 at the latest. I would expect an Islam controlled government some time between these dates, say 2050 to 2060.

      An Islam controlled govenment is likely to impose Sharia law for everyone, whether we are Muslim or not. The effective jizya tax will become increasingly a heavy burden for non-Muslims, and they will be living as subjugated dhimmis, with many restrictions (no pet dogs, no alcohol, women must wear head scarves etc). To have a slightly better life, and not pay the crippling jizya tax, your sons will very probably have to convert to Islam, in order to retain the farm. Or else forefeit it to a neighbouring farmer who has converted to Islam.

      I left UKIP in 2015 because of you Stuart. You persuaded Nigel Farage to reverse the UKIP policy from anti-Halal slaughter to pro-Halal slaughter. In order to bolster your sales of sheep. I find non-stun slaughter to be utterly barbaric, and not compatible with Western civilisation values. There are, or were videos on Youtube, comparing the stun and non-stun slaughter. With stunning, the animal is unconscious immediately, whereas non-stun it very clearly is suffering for a minute or two. Cattle have three arteries to the brain, only two of which are severed by the knife. Nobody with any understanding of animal physiology can claim that death is instantaneous.

      The RSPCA and British Veterinary Association are opposed to non-stun slaughter. They are the experts regarding the pain and suffering of animals. I respectfully suggest that you should take heed of their arguments.

      My late brother in law was a farm manager. The farm he managed was mixed arable and sheep and beef cattle. He found out about the barbarity of Halal slaughter. And the farm owner also agreed that it is indeed barbaric. Because they could not guaranee where their livestock would be sold, and much of it likely to go for Halal slaughter, they stopped keeping livestock and turned the farm to arable only. I greatly admired their principled stance.

      The UK is rapidly becoming Islamic. Another argument to oppose Halal slaughter, quite apart from the animal cruelty argument, is that banning it would make the UK a less welcoming place for Muslims. And yet another argument relates to opposing terrorism. The Halal certification authorities gather large sums of money. Every Muslim and every Islamic business must pay Islamic charitable donations. And one eigth of this is "for the cause of Allah". Examine the Koran for this phrase, and you will find often "fighting for the cause of Allah". Stuart, part of the money that your Halal sheep raise, is likely to be funnelled to fund terrorism. Did you know?

      You make good points about the climate. I will make a separate comment."

      1. NFU recently published an article about possible benefits for farmers of rearing for the hal-al market. But then the NFU is a bunch of numpties who worship climate change. (no link but I will have a look later)

    2. It makes no difference while the entire state machine is pushing for ever higher taxes, ever more theft of property, ever more control and is funded by our taxes.

      The only way to stop these people – the only one – is to dismantle the state. To starve it of funds. To kill it's food supply. Big fat state is doing that already and the result is monumental levels of borrowing and debt. Labour have to kill themselves and a strong, Right wing government replacement to repair nigh three decades of socialist arrogance.

    4. Stuart Agnew was UKIP's spokesman on agriculture and farming. Unlike the current lot, he actually knew what he was talking about.

  22. Thicko communist townie Labour minister has told farmers to calm down saying they've been brainwashed by wealthy landowners. The greed is not with landowners but with the greedy government wishing to grab land .

    1. Considering the farming minister is a metro Left wonk who's never been near a field, let alone farmed what do folk expect?

      It's like defra – obsessed with 'diversity' and utterly ignorant of farming needs. They're the typical government department. Awash with statistics and absolutely no understanding of them.

  23. 397087+ up ticks,

    Reason twofold,

    To thwart Trump, but in the main to deflect from his own dubious actions,

    WWIII Watch: Biden Reportedly Approves Ukraine Long-Range Missile Strikes in Russia Before Trump Comes to Power

    Could England follow, with world depopulating strongly in mind via its current WEF/NWO/ RESET orientated political cartel.in the power seat ?

    1. Deep state and military industrial complex are not going quietly before Trump's 2nd term. Crazy two month overlap.

    2. I cannot imagine what is going through Biden's mind. Even assuming he's not ill, what sort of person says 'let's fire missiles at someone' rather than pushing for peace. I'll be a ranty grump here but the only rational option has got to be peace wherever you are.

      Sometimes that means having a bigger stick than the other guy – the dindu invasion, the pally wallys but if no one dies because the aggressor is cowed, all the better.

      Biden seems to be encouraging war.

  24. Tim Stanley
    We’re all prisoners of political correctness now
    Woke madness has infected our society, our processes and our police. But we only have ourselves to blame

    What connects a loopy geologist, the Welsh Government and the hounding of Allison Pearson? Well, the lines between these dots illustrate how an ideology evolves from conception, to structure, to enforcement – and how free speech dies in the process.

    Last week The Telegraph quoted Kathryn Yusoff, a professor at Queen Mary, University of London, describing geology as “riven by systemic racism”. It began as a “colonial practice”, created a “geo trauma”, and operates within a “white supremacist praxis.”

    Very funny: another misguided academic in a world of their own. But we concurrently reported that the Welsh Government hopes to change the “beliefs and behaviour of the white majority” as part of an official “anti-racist” strategy. This strategy – which utilises public bodies, mandatory training etc – strikes a similar vibe to our angry geologist, all the way down to “delivering a balanced, authentic and decolonised account of the past”.

    What’s often dismissed as the isolated rantings of the university elite in fact shapes policy – either because academics are educating the politicians of tomorrow or they’re directly contributing to said policy. The co-chairman of Wales’s strategic plan is one Prof Emmanuel Ogbonna CBE who, in a recent paper, identified “two competing approaches” to reducing racial disparity: “volunteerism” or “compulsion”. Both, he said, were necessary: after all, “slavery would have taken a lot longer to abolish had we waited for slave owners to change their hearts and minds.”

    This is both fair comment and an insight into the moral imagination of the Left. If you assume that the West is racist, you’ve got to fix it. If you believe racism is morally corrosive, you can’t leave a racist population to do it for itself: you’ve got to reprogram society from the top down.

    Raising objections to such therapeutic brainwashing is hard because its motivations sound so good. The recording of non-crime hate incidents, as happened to my friend Allison, is a legacy of the botched investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. The police had failed to see that this vile crime was racially motivated. Henceforth, they would acknowledge anti-social thought, log and monitor it, to prevent it escalating into violence.

    The Soviet Union had a word for this: “profilaktika”. After Stalin, the security forces moved away from arbitrary arrest, finding it crude and likely to provoke resistance, embracing preventative measures instead, such as correcting poor-taste jokes told in the workplace. Go too far and you’d be subject to “besada”, or chat, with a couple of coppers who, oozing paternalism and menace, would put you back on the “righteous path”.

    Profilaktika used religious terminology, much as wokery deploys narratives of sin and confession, and was psychologically perceptive. Who doesn’t want to fit in? To spot where others are going wrong and be the first to correct them? This is why the oft-stated claim that police officers who visit Telegraph columnists are unhappily following orders is probably false. Most of these officers have been raised and trained in PC culture. I’d wager that they believe in it and enjoy enforcing it.
    If we’ve learnt anything from lockdown, when neighbours ratted on each other and people felt compelled to applaud a health service they would normally curse, it’s that the British are inveterate conformists and the national myth of libertarian eccentricity is the exception, not the rule. There are 65 non-crime hate incidents reported each day. It’s not the Germans or the Chinese doing this. It’s us.

    Allison’s visit is the end result of an ideological revolution begun on campus, codified by Labour governments, and upheld by Tories – often by the same Tories who now express shock that anything like this could happen in the land of the free. Why didn’t they change the rules when they were in office? Because many of them share the first principles articulated by anti-racist academics, namely that the state has a duty to inform how citizens think.
    Faced with a choice between protecting the old right of freedom of speech vs the new right to freedom from offence, they’ve come down on the side of the latter – part of a suite of elite preferences that also puts immigration over social cohesion, social justice over the real thing.

    Allison joked that had she stolen £199 in groceries, the police wouldn’t have spoken to her. That’s nothing. At the same time as the authorities are letting drug dealers out of jail to free up space – and a trainee teacher who shared videos of babies being raped dodged a custodial sentence altogether – a 23-year-old care worker has been given nine months for live-streaming the aftermath of a riot (note: not the riot itself).

    This is objectively mad. But one of the great cruelties of any totalitarian thought system is that it generates madness and then, when you refuse to believe in it, calls you insane – just as the final destination for many Soviet dissidents wasn’t the jail cell but the psych ward.

    We’ve all become prisoners of PC logic, whose contradictions are grimly inescapable. To paraphrase Joe Orton’s satirical copper, Truscott of the Yard: “If you accuse the police of brutality one more time, I’ll take you down to the station and give you a thrashing.”

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

    Reasonable View
    37 min ago
    Democracy is the will of the people, but I know no-one that wants this. We're led by those who neither know us nor like us. We need to be led by us, not them.

    Roger Elwell
    28 min ago
    They can all get stuffed.
    If they want to " check my thinking", they're going to have a hard job of it.
    Every museum that starts "decolonising" its displays is a museum I won't go in.
    Every organisation that does the same (like the National Trust) loses my custom.
    This country is finished.

    Michael Peacock
    26 min ago
    You said we only have ourselves to blame. No way! Absolutely none of that woke nonsense emanates from my thoughts or actions and nor does it for millions of others. It’s an utter disgrace that Starmer effect supports each of the respective police forces in this country to ‘ focus on what’s important to their local community. No no no. This is Britain and a unified approach is essential in not

    1. It's notable that the demented push for diversity has left Plod with a bunch of hard left weaklings and bully boys.

    2. They shouldn't have been charged. They should have been shot as a reminder to the next lot of muslim scum.

    1. Baku, ex USSR, the Taliban and an assortment of lessdevelopedcountries, citizens of. Sounds like a family reunion for the UK's Control Sector.

    2. Baku, ex USSR, the Taliban and an assortment of lessdevelopedcountries, citizens of. Sounds like a family reunion for the UK's Control Sector.

  31. Morning all 🙂😊
    Wet over night but brightening up. The climate must have changed again. 🤗
    Does anyone trust anything our respective government's have done, or are now presenting over the past 20 years? Or even longer.

    1. Not at all. The lot of them are habitual liars. Worse, the blunt reality is the entire state machine has been designed to ensure the public can hav eno say in how they are governed.

      Manifestos are meaningless when some quango can push a charity to tell the quango what to say to the state and the state happily does it.

      1. Absolutely, it's all about them and obviously the way they try to cover up the dreadful and continuous errors they make on every occasion. Their lies and errors resemble a continuous flow of larva from a volcano destroying everything in its path.

    1. As far as many people might gather the hate seems to come from another direction, but not entirely in speech.
      As one of Citroën's clips shows.
      What are they doing about this ?

    2. Thoughtpol and thinkcrime.

      It is East Germany, Soviet Russian all over again. Control what people can say to control how they think.

      Hell, they're forcing us to buy electric cars – the East Germans had the Trabant. It's plain, open communism. You'll do and say and tink as the hard Left state dictates.

  34. Well, getting through to my GP surgery didn’t help my AF but I have a face to face appointment at 5 pm today. I also have a ticket for the Wigmore Hall this evening. Probably best to let the box office know they can resell the seat.

    2. Take it easy Sue don't rush about.
      Your GP will probably just prescribed you meds. And you'll have to wait for an appointment. St Barts hospital is first class on Afib.

    3. A pity about the Wigmore Hall, Sue; but good that you have a GP appointment. The sooner you're on the right medication the better. And you will feel better, knowing that your BP and pulse rate are back to normal.

  35. NetZeroNonsense
    12h
    One thing you can be assured of, as certain as it is that solar farms produce 0GW at night, they produce exactly the same during snow / ice conditions – indeed in both situations, solar farms actually take fossil fuel / nuclear generated electricity from the grid to keep the electronics warm & systems on standby, they are parasitic loads – another reason electricity rationing is coming

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3497969a551bb95559de7a70c7a8de51880085536dd929fe738e96c7b96523c7.jpg

    1. All this shows us how stupid our political idiots really are.
      Most if not all of the people they have illegally allowed into these small islands have come from much warmer climates than this. Our Political idiots have caused any change in climate here and the vast extra demand on supply by their decade's of mindless thoughtless actions.

      1. 397087+ up ticks,

        Morning B3,
        Small additive big odious consequence if I may,

        When peoples vote again & again and let metropolitan liberals that have never had a proper job decide our energy policy we get what we voted for.

    3. During July, when our panels went in we were generating more than we were using by about 1.7 to 1.

      Of course, we were using electricity when the sun was in, and also drawing more than the panels were generating so we didn't get 'free' months.

      Solar works if you have a way to store the electricity that is both significantly above the amount that can be generated say, 4:1 (3kw of panels vs 12kw of storage) and for that storage to be sustained for a considerable time. For a home, days. for grid, weeks.

      Solar works by smoothing out the demand curve. Batteries do so even more but they're a local solution, not a grid based one.

        1. I can only present the facts – solar power does work, it does provide energy for a household.

          It does need storage to make it really worthwhile. That technology doesn't exist at the grid scale.

          I'd be an advocate of solar panels whereever possible. They help reduce bills. I'm also an advocate of energy on demand. It's 19 upstairs and the Warqueen is pootling about in a jumper and a fleece with jeans over leggings (I know as I watched her put them on. It was very exciting).

      2. We had solar panels on Mianda. In the summer they provided enough electricity for our needs but in the winter we had to rely on running the engine or using a petrol generator if we were not connected to shore power in the marina.

        Here we are lashed alongside a friends' boat. As you can see both boats have solar panels and wind generators. But our wind generator lost one of it blades when it blew too hard!
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f90506c2faa0e04e4a28f8ad19be2a0bbbc26cbff608b9342a0300e46a5dd16b.jpg

  38. Yes, I sat in the priory church at Barts yesterday morning thinking if only I could just walk in next door!

    1. It's a lot simpler. If the state were not so grostesquely overmanned and ovr funded the state simply wouldn't be able to do the damage it does. It's not funding the WEF or their ideology. It's the shere size and scale of government.

    2. If Starmer is a young global leader then did Schwab recruit the Idiot King to be an old global leader to keep Biden company?

      1. The Hard Left crooks are going nowhere. The entire state machine is dedicated to protecting them – because they're all the same. Troughing away on tax payers money.

      2. If Starmer sacked everyone in his government – starting with himself – there would be no cabinet left: not even an MFI or IKEA chifforobe made of chipboard.

          4. He was fished out of the toilet – he was just the right colour and had the requisite intelligence.

  43. Dame Priti Appalling
    11h
    Stolen from Unherd –
    We already face huge tariffs when trading with the USA. Self-imposed green taxes, net zero transition taxes, employment taxes, investment taxes, and more.

    Industrial electricity is now four times more expensive in the UK than the USA. Natural gas is five times more expensive. The non-wage cost of employing someone is twice as expensive. From finance to data management to engineering, like for like services and products created in the UK now have far higher non-wage input costs than those created in the USA, directly attributable to UK government policies.

    'Only far higher US wages (on average about £17k according to the ONS) ensure the UK doesn’t face a complete economic rout in trade with the USA. But this only serves to accelerate another “tariff” UK businesses face: loss of the most highly skilled workers and business creators. For over a decade there’s been an accelerating trend of highly skilled Brits leaving for the USA, hidden by the vast tide of immigration to the UK from poorer parts of the world. This has not been an equivalent exchange.

    Still UK and European citizens keep voting for more government and more taxes and more luxury beliefs. But the very thing that pays for all the largesse is shrinking under the burden and we hurtle towards de-industrialisation without any new technology unicorns to save us from backwardness.

    Net Zero looks more like Year Zero.'

    1. Those higher wages are not the same cost that ours are, though. They can be paid because American compnies have lower overheads and make more money, so are a result of markets, not tax.

      We load 25k of tax on to every employee salary of 25k hired. The US pays that in wages.

      Do we vote for it? I'm not sure. We voted for Brexit and that was refused. Boris didn't offer any green twaddle but was easily bought. The entire civil service is fighting the public will, fake charities are paid vast sums from the public purse, endless quangos persist in soaking up ever higher levels of tax specifically to fight against public will.

      Increasingly the public are rejecting the Left. The state simply ignores that will.

    1. This reminds me of Hamlet in the scene with Ophelia when she tells him her father, Polonius, is at home when in fact he is eavesdropping:

      "Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in his own house."

      The 'bums in the air crowd' do not need to do it in the road when they can do it indoors!

      Poor old Polonius – the wretched rash intruding fool – gets fatally stabbed in the arras by Hamlet later in this scene.

    2. There are 741 mosques in Canada – There are more than that in Yorkshire alone, and another is opened each week. We are being have been invaded.

  46. Having been given the go-ahead to use US missiles, which have a longer range that UK Storm Shadow missiles, there can be little or no justification for Cursed Harmer to exacerbate further our already precarious position with Russia.
    However, I have little doubt that he will do so.
    I would not be at all surprised if he made the announcement to that effect at the G20 conference in Rio.

    1. His evil, malignant, sub-human hubris is such that he wants to go down in history as someone who started World War Three.

    2. Hopefully Trump will have a word with Zelenskyy and that will be the end of it. I can't imagine that the little man would want to cross Trump, he could make Zelenskyy's retirement hell if he wanted to, working as a janitor at an inner city school full of thugs.

      1. I'm sure Zelensky doesn't really care, he's got plenty of boltholes and thinks he's a modern day Churchill and will emerge triumphant.
        He probably thinks WW3 will end in glory as opposed to Armageddon.

      2. There are quite a few people in the US that incoming President Trump might 'have a word with'.

        1. Apparently, according to Musk. Trump intends to couple a trade agreement with us to free speech amongst other things. He is not happy with Comrade Starmer's bent toward Communism either. And he fully intends to veto his stupid Chagos Islands deal too.

    3. But … but …. what about the emissions?
      'Does Net Zero mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? '

  47. Breaking news. I have "updated" my CV as follows:

    I was might have been Lord Chief Justice had things turned out differently. Don't want to mislead anyone….

    1. I was at school with Lord Peter Taylor’s niece! And my Dad played rugby with his brother Arthur!

    1. V for Vendetta has the high chancellor being an ultra Conservative. In Robocop it was corporations. In the media, it's the Right who are portayed as the bag guys. This is because Hollywood is populated by Lefties.

      In reality, the guy making the world worse is always, always a Lefty.

  50. 'Morning, Peeps and Geoff,

    SIR – Our microwave (Letters, November 15) will be used on Christmas Day this year as it is every year to reheat the Christmas pudding.

    This saves having to use one of the rings on the hob for several hours and allows us to heat each portion by itself. We always find we are too well fed to eat more than a tiny portion. The microwave is employed every day until the pudding is eaten.

    Susan Whitehead
    Bath, Somerset

    I would like to nominate this letter for the highest 'Pointless' award. The Letters Editor is obviously struggling to find anything to fill his/her column…

    Meanwhile, the Met Office is predicting many hours of rain for Janus Towers, starting this afternoon and continuing until breakfast time tomorrow. It will give Southern Water yet another excuse to discharge their usual charming cocktail of rainwater and untreated sewage into the sea.

    STOP PRESS – the app on my phone for these lovely events has just pinged – three discharges so far today, starting at 04:56, for very modest rainfall in the early hours today – and that is after a couple of weeks of no rain at all. Total sewage releases since the 1st Jan? A magnificent 947. It looks as though the sea is now the lucky recipient every time.

    1. This Christmas Christmas ruddy dinner will be lasagne and garlic bread.

      That's if I can be bothered. If I can't it'll be a ploughmans without the salad. Cheese, break, pate….

  51. 'Morning, Peeps and Geoff,

    SIR – Our microwave (Letters, November 15) will be used on Christmas Day this year as it is every year to reheat the Christmas pudding.

    This saves having to use one of the rings on the hob for several hours and allows us to heat each portion by itself. We always find we are too well fed to eat more than a tiny portion. The microwave is employed every day until the pudding is eaten.

    Susan Whitehead
    Bath, Somerset

    I would like to nominate this letter for the highest 'Pointless' award. The Letters Editor is obviously struggling to find anything to fill his/her column…

    Meanwhile, the Met Office is predicting many hours of rain for Janus Towers, starting this afternoon and continuing until breakfast time tomorrow. It will give Southern Water yet another excuse to discharge their usual charming cocktail of rainwater and untreated sewage into the sea.

    STOP PRESS – the app on my phone for these lovely events has just pinged – three discharges so far today, starting at 04:56, for very modest rainfall in the early hours today – and that is after a couple of weeks of no rain at all. Total sewage releases since the 1st Jan? A magnificent 947. It looks as though the sea is now the lucky recipient every time.

    1. Well done. A pleasant start here too.

      Wordle 1,248 3/6

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  53. Morning all. It was sunny a few minutes ago, now back to gloom and still no movement in the air!

    What is going on with Der Starmerfuhrer? All sorts of inchoate mists of whispers going on. So apparently he is doomed and it is only a matter of time. Anyone have a clue?

    1. Axel Rudakubana's family arrived in Britain in the early 2000s. A lawyer was required to defend their right to stay here.

      "Keir Starmer was called to the Bar in 1987 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002. He practised from Doughty Street Chambers since its inception in 1990 and was appointed Head of Chambers in 2007. His main areas of practice were human rights, international law, judicial review, extradition, criminal law, police law and media law."

      1. I'm aware of that but there seem to be other things afoot. Isabel Oakeshott was rumbling about other dark secrets.

      2. And changing peoples names, and defending foreign military killers who flee their own country?

        1. Hem. Are you saying that some classes of suspected criminals should NOT be allowed a defence lawyer?

          4. Indeed, but should he have been?
            It seems strange at times that people who willingly break laws elsewhere, arrive here illegally and are then given relatively top quality lawyers (yeah, I know), paid for by UK taxpayers and even if deportation orders and the like are granted that our judges overturn those verdicts so readily.
            It would be interesting to know how many other countries do as we do.

          6. UK is a Soft touch – and this is why the UK will always be exploited.

            Those who give in just to appear kind and reasonable are not respected – they are held in contempt.

  54. Morning all. It was sunny a few minutes ago, now back to gloom and still no movement in the air!

    What is going on with Der Starmerfuhrer? All sorts of inchoate mists of whispers going on. So apparently he is doomed and it is only a matter of time. Anyone have a clue?

    1. Doesn't stop the fraud though, does it? Isn't stopping the turk drug laundering fronts, does it?

    3. (Polite cough.) I know from professional experience that this happens already. I know how surprised you are to learn this.

      1. Not sure why this is so odd. It's my money. Frankly I'd prefer folk were given a prepaid spending card.

        The problem with getting people off welfare and in to work is it requires time and money. As you can't simply withdraw welfare when someone gets a job. It must be done gradually, over say, 18 months to give the individual time to adapt and for tax cuts to make sure they keep more of their own money.

        Over time, welfare is time limited to, say 3 months and tax cuts so significant that working is vastly preferred to welfare.

        Of course, in parallel with this means absolutely zero immigration and encouraging the welfare foreigners to leave – which welfare reduction will do as they are unemployable.

  56. Yo and good day to you all, from Costa del Skeg

    It is cold (-0.3) when we got up

    Sun is shining, the panels are charging… just

    Life is back to normal, after the trip to Wales.

  57. Comment on a news item from the enrichment front.
    Surely the police are prejudicing his chances of a fair trial?
    Or do different rules apply in Corby rather than Stockport?
    Maybe the gentleman's father hadn't availed himself of TTK's expertise.

    "Chief Inspector Paul Cash told a press conference in Kettering: “Inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba.

    “We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car. We believe he has now fled the country.”"

    1. Farage needs to overhaul his thinking in certain key areas. He needs to rethink his conciliatory attitude to Islam and his snobbish approach to Lord Lenin of Yaxley.

      What caused the rift between Habib and Farage?

      1. Frankly I think the rift is because Farage could not tolerate Ben Habib's popularity. Farage must always be the centre but, I think, with Reform, he is losing his grip. There seems to be a lot of discontent with several things he has said and Ben Habib was a serious misstep because Ben is well liked by almost everyone.

        1. When Cassius and Brutus were discussing whom they should recruit for the Roman Dagger Squad to stab Julius Caesar Brutus decided not to get Cicero in the gang:

          For he will never follow anything
          That other men begin.

          Farage, like Cicero, is not a team player and finds it difficult to work with others just as others find it difficult to work with him.

      2. Frankly I think the rift is because Farage could not tolerate Ben Habib's popularity. Farage must always be the centre but, I think, with Reform, he is losing his grip. There seems to be a lot of discontent with several things he has said and Ben Habib was a serious misstep because Ben is well liked by almost everyone.

      1. Like a lot of posted short clips on here.

        But like him or loathe him (I am neutral on him) what he says, in that short clip, is irrebuttable.

    3. Coward? Lol.
      Traitor? Lol.

      "If we politically isolate the whole of Islam by 2050 we will lose."

      JR.. what exactly are you proposing?

      2. I have already said what I would do. But Farage and his 2050 illustrates what a spinless individual he is. We sit around until 2050 then it’s to late. What sort of remark is that on his part? He has already hauled up the white flag when it is still possible to stop this country becoming Islamic. This is not a political issue. This is an existential fight. Do you want your children to grow up under Islam? Do you want St Pauls to go the way of the Hagia Sophia? Do you want a country where your sons are taught in a Madrasa? This is a fight to the death between the freedom it has taken us over 1000 years to obtain and another Dark Ages.

    4. Are you suggesting he should propose the deportation of 4 million people, most of whom were born here?

      1. If they don't integrate and/or commit crimes here, why not deport people?

        Edit: I don't agree with this acceptance that people are British just because they were dropped here. Not all other countries do that, and it has certainly cost us dear.

          1. Spain and Portugal removed them after 7 centuries of Islamic rule. Those in England have been here a mere few decades. They were a negligible presence when I was young. They are hardly entrenched.

          3. All I am pointing out with that remark is that it is far from impossible and, considering modern technology and communications it would be easier.

      2. I am suggesting we start with the illegal aliens first who are Muslims and then we start dealing with those who have lived here but are thoroughly disloyal to this country, which constitutes a couple of million others. And what has being born here got to do with it. Do you make the argument that the viper in the nest not be removed because it was born in it? That is an irrational argument. And I would say, having lived in an Islamic country, not one of them should be tolerated. The entire Mediterranean basin and Turkey were Christian, tolerance did not help them, did it? Individual Muslims can be very good people but the ideology means us ill. And those who do not believe that do not know either the religion or its history. Everywhere it has taken hold has represented decline and there is no exception to that rule.

        1. I have no argument with the deportation of illegal immigrants but if you really think we can 'deal with those who have lived here but are thoroughly disloyal to this country' by simply ordering them to leave, you might need to put your head under a cold shower.

          And you might like to consider the depressingly large proportion of the ancestral white British who are also throroughly disloyal to their own nation. Where will you send them?

          1. Who said anything about: simply ordering them to leave. I would have them arrested and escorted out.
            As for the : ancestral white British who are also thoroughly disloyal to their own nation.” I would have them subjected to a proper education about their history and I would remind people there is such a crime as sedition.

          2. Expelling aliens and sending your own people to re-education camps is a little bit 1930s and 40s…

        2. Just look at Lebanon. Once Christian – now tyrannically ruled by Muslims.

          How long before the UK goes the same way as Lebanon?

    1. That should say: "Americanese to Standard English Translator".

      It's going around American WhatsApp groups because they can't spell gaol.

      So there.😉

      1. What's the difference between grey and gray? One's a colour, the other's a color.

        Do you wear a vest over or under the shirt?

        What we call a whore, they call a tramp. What we call a tramp, they call a bum. What we call a bum, they call a fanny…

        Have a nice day!

        1. You know the theory of course, that we didn't standardise English until the 19th Century, by which time all of those variations had already crossed the Atlantic. I have a copy of "Some Fruits of Solitude" by William Penn which has been reproduced exactly as written. It's fun deciphering the spelling, which was a matter of personal choice in 1682.

        2. Who are you calling a whore, tramp, bum fanny? Don't get your panties in a twist.

          I'll see you out on the sidewalk!

          1. That reminds me: waiting in Guernsey Airport for far too long a few weeks ago, I heard a repeated PA referring to "life vests". I don't know how many Americans were there, but I suspect none.

          2. Back in the early 1970s, a bespoke tailor was measuring me for a new single-breasted suit when he asked me if I’d like a ‘vest’ to go with it. I told him that I don’t wear a vest but I wouldn’t mind a wescot.

        3. Oooooh the hot-off-the-press latest History of English podcast is about this kind of thing.

          “In the first decade of the 1600s, English speakers were on the move as they established the first permanent English settlement in North America. They also began a steady a migration to northern Ireland after an event known to history as ‘the Flight of the Earls.’ As these English speakers relocated to regions outside of Britian, they took their regional accents and dialects with them. In this episode, we’ll examine how those settlement patterns shaped the way English is spoken around the world.”

          https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-history-of-english-podcast/id538608536?i=1000676843591

  64. Farmers have hoarded land for too long. Inheritance tax will bring new life to rural Britain
    Will Hutton
    The Guardian

    Yes Will.. don't forget Lefties fav slogan.. It's only fair..
    right up there with.. Arbeit macht frei

    1. Up there with 'save money on your energy bills' and 'budget for growth' oh, and 'pay their 'fair share' of tax.

      All lies.

      1. 1. Energy bills are promoted not on price or value, but on "the average household bill" which is imaginary.

        2. Cancer is a growth. Like "quality", they are not specifying what sort of growth.

        3. A "fair share" is fair for those with protected characteristics, such as global corporate CEOs. The unprotected do not count when it comes to allocating fairness.

    2. Up there with 'save money on your energy bills' and 'budget for growth' oh, and 'pay their 'fair share' of tax.

      All lies.

    3. From Wiki: In October 1918, Cheka commander Martin Latsis likened the Red Terror to a class war, explaining that "we are destroying the bourgeoisie as a class."

      1. Odd though, that Marxism has never, ever worked. Markets always do. Trying to break markets never works. You can hold them up, but eventually, when the world resets you end up with free markets again.

        1. Markets respond, markets adapt, which gives the superficial impression that they're right all the time. They are there to send messages, not to give orders.

          Heretic, moi?

        2. Markets do not work when they are corrupted by malpractice. Marxism is but one such corruption, but there are quite a few others, such as cartels and "offers one cannot refuse".

          Freedom, with markets as much as with personal freedom. has to be worked at, and there needs to be constant vigilance. At a household level, this is done whenever shopping and walking away when someone is trying it on.

          I look on it as a form of gardening. With a skillful and conscientious gardener, one can create a great wealth of lovely or useful plants where once there were just a handful of aggressive species choking out all others. You are right though, in that few State collectives, if any, possess the talents to create such a garden.

    4. Offer a man dying of thirst in the desert a bottle of water or the Koh-i-Noor diamond and which will he choose?

      Without land a farmer cannot make a living just as without a lie or two on her cv Ms Reeves would probably never have become Chancellor of the Exchequer.

      1. This is nonsense and you know it. Farmers can make a very good living selling their land to a property developer with influential contacts.

        There is also a ready market for the large infrastructure industry favoured by this Government (who is redirecting pension funds away from productive small local businesses and towards pet prestige projects), but I am not sure that money so made wouldn't end up as executive bonus, with the farmer getting the market price for rewilding acreage.

        Mind you, I'm not sure the rest of us can eat on that basis. No doubt the hike in the price of food can be offset by the drop in the price of AI consumables in order to provide an inflation figure that would satisfy PR influencers.

        1. That only works for the farmer who does the selling, not necessarily his descendants.

          Edit: farms are traditionally family enterprises.

        2. That only works for the farmer who does the selling, not necessarily his descendants.

          Edit: farms are traditionally family enterprises.

        3. Every time a farmer sells of a part of his farm he will have to reduce the level of his farming activity, make even less income and have to stop farming altogether!

          You seem to be in agreement with John Mc Ternan that farmers are unnecessary and should stop being farmers just as Margaret Thatcher suggested that coal miners should stop being coal miners.

          England is no longer self-sufficient in energy thanks to absurd green nonsense; we shall soon be completely dependent of foreign powers for our food as well!

    5. Will Hutton was born and grew up in the Kentish suburbs of London, was an academic for a while, then a commentator and is associated with the LSE and Oxford University.

      He strikes me as a complete townie with little appreciation of what might go on beyond a built-up area, so his ,musings should be seen in that context.

      For "new life" read "lucrative real estate". He probably thinks food is produced in a supermarket.

      1. He has always struck me as a self-satisfied idiot who, with no obvious basis, is too fond of pronouncing on how other people should live their lives.

    7. Ah yes – Hutton the expert on rural issues – [Wiki] Hutton studied at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School in Sidcup, where he was introduced to A level economics by a teacher, Garth Pinkney. He only got average marks at O-level but enjoyed the sixth form more, studying geography, history, and economics…. After studying sociology and economics at the University of Bristol, gaining a BSocSc (2.1), he started his career as an equity salesman for a brokerage firm.

  66. During the night… Lucy was sick, Oscar did a poo, bless him, he took me to it whining and pawing, told him he was a good boy, so mopped that and sprayed some bleach down. Got the sick up – a furball of course – and told Lucy she was a good girl.

      1. The answer is always yes, and please take your paw off my head.

        I'll not mention that sometimes you roll over and hug the dog and say 'I love you too dear…' only for a reply to come from the wife… 'Other side, dufus'.

  67. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gNnb2sukrU

    Forgive me, but the more time those demented, stupid, useless, destructive, dangerous fools spend out of the country the better.

    Let's give the government an all expenses holiday to somewhere without an internet connection or phone signal (in separate parts of the world) and keep paying them to stay there for 4 years. In the meantime we set about repealing all this moronic legislation.

    1. Not necessarily – they can commit to and/or sign all sorts of nasties while they are abroad.

      1. Ah, but if there's no way of getting that back to Britain all for the good.

        Anything to stop their malignant stupidity ruining this country.

    2. Oh sure. Have you seen how much Trudeau has given away during his recent vanity photo op voyages? I can accept that Peruvian Women's reproductive rights matter but I would have thought that our millions would be better spent at home supporting a food bank for homeless shelter.

      Then we also have our ecoterrorist Environment Minister promising billions in Baku.

  68. I should have known it wouldn't be my first guess…

    Wordle 1,248 4/6

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    1. Feeling that I share

      Wordle 1,248 5/6

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    3. There were two other possibles but they seemed unlikely.

      Wordle 1,248 4/6

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    1. What, 'Voting Labour is bad for your wealth'?

      Perhaps 'socialism doesn't work, never has, never will'?

      Oh, it's the Vince sewage. I suggest all windmill subsidy be withdrawn immediately and he made bankrupt.

  70. Miliband’s energy policy isn’t just incoherent, it’s a danger to security

    Britain will not prosper if costs rise and our alleged dependence on foreign states for supplies grows

    Nick Timothy 17 November 2024 8:13pm GMT

    There is something grimly funny about Ed Miliband flying back and forth, with an entourage of 470 delegates, to the climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, a country which relies on fossil fuels for 90 per cent of its exports. The Energy Secretary is, after all, the man who once instructed the country to buy EVs, while admitting live on television that he had not done so himself.

    But Miliband’s hypocrisy is no laughing matter because his policies bring serious dangers to Britain. He aims to reach net zero by 2050 – meaning Britain’s total greenhouse gas emissions can never be greater than the emissions we remove from the atmosphere – and to decarbonise the grid by 2030. At Baku last week, he set a third ambition: to reduce carbon emissions by 81 per cent, based on 1990 levels, by 2035.

    An intelligent man, Miliband must know that what he says about these objectives, and the policies he pursues to achieve them, is dishonest. He claims the energy technologies he favours will reduce consumer bills. He insists “decarbonisation does not mean deindustrialisation”. And he says renewable energy will make us less dependent on foreign dictators and autocratic governments.

    Before the election, Miliband claimed that his policies would cut household energy bills by £300 per year by 2030. But since then he has avoided repeating the promise, and it is clear why. The Office for Budget Responsibility says the country will pay more than £14 billion in environmental levies by 2029 to subsidise the renewable technologies backed by the Government, an increase of £3.4 billion from its last estimate in March. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that environmental levies will rise to £120 per household per year by 2029.

    In fact even the report Miliband and his ministers cite to claim their plans will mean lower bills – by the National Energy System Operator, a publicly owned company reporting to Miliband himself – says bills will rise.

    NESO modelling says an energy mix with a higher contribution from fossil fuels will be cheaper than the mix demanded by Miliband. And even this calculation depends on assumptions skewed in Miliband’s favour, such as gas prices 40 per cent higher than official estimates, a carbon price double the existing level and a rapid increase in offshore wind construction while implausibly leaving construction costs stable. The report says, “There are also risks that the accelerated pace [of decarbonisation] reduces competitive pressure, increases supply chain tightness or otherwise increases costs.”

    Higher costs mean less spending power for households, and less competitive industry. Miliband and his ministers may chant their mantra about decarbonisation not meaning deindustrialisation – and indeed claim it is a spur for reindustrialisation – but repetition does not make a wrong claim right.

    Having once had internationally competitive costs, in recent years British industrial energy prices have risen to 50 per cent higher than the average of comparable advanced economies. Our industrial electricity prices are four times higher than in China, three times higher than in America and Canada, more than twice as high as in South Korea and New Zealand, and twice as high as in the European countries, such as Finland, France and Sweden, that strongly back nuclear energy.

    Our problem is not, as Miliband claims, exposure to international gas prices. Those prices have increased, but the Government is taxing North Sea oil and gas out of existence and deliberately delaying the deployment of small modular nuclear reactors. It is committed to carbon budgets, invented by Miliband the last time he ran energy policy, which have deliberately forced up prices. It pursues policies that run faster than technology allows, and so subsidises systems with higher costs and lower outputs than we would otherwise enjoy.

    And for these worse outcomes, ministers plan to deploy hundreds of billions, or trillions, of pounds in public and private capital. These sums could otherwise be allocated for infrastructure, research and development and business growth that create prosperity.

    So Miliband’s policies not only increase costs and damage industry, they also make us less secure. Wishful thinking cannot compensate for the intermittency challenges faced by renewable technologies, which is why a grid dominated by renewables risks shortages, outages and “demand flexibility”, as the NESO report euphemistically calls what most people would consider “rationing”.

    The rush also contributes to energy insecurity. Miliband has made clear, for example, that he sees no problem with Chinese companies such as Mingyang Smart Energy building floating turbines for offshore wind farms in the North Sea. But there are serious concerns about Chinese companies retaining control of the technology within turbines after installation, and Norway has recently barred Mingyang from its supply chain.

    So much for ending our alleged dependence on foreign dictators. But hurried targets mean ministers want to avoid difficult questions. Chinese products and services made cheaper by massive subsidies and suppressed labour costs make a mockery of promises of industrial strategy, domestic supply chains and green British jobs.

    The same is true with the treatment of cheap Chinese-manufactured EVs. While Europe and America plan tariffs, Miliband will prioritise short-term reductions in British emissions over the long-term viability of automotive manufacturing at home. And this is before we consider the use of slave labour in producing solar panels in Xinjiang.

    Miliband is in effect claiming to have resolved the energy trilemma – the tension between cost, security and decarbonisation. But if things really were so simple, every country in the world would be marching as quickly as Miliband towards his objectives, and we would already be enjoying the lower costs, energy security and green jobs he promises.

    But the trilemma has not been resolved and over the next five years, the British people are going to pay more to get less, and replace a secure energy supply with an intermittent and unreliable alternative. This is not progress. Nor is it a route to prosperity.

    1. This the same Nick Timothy who advised Theresa May who forced the net zero insanity on us?

      He's preaching to the choir. Everyone sane knows this. The problem is the state keeps lying. Just the other day there was some berk waffling on about how the world was going to end if we didn't pay ever higher taxes on energy.

      That same wazzock pops up like a bobo doll to complain about energy companies profiteering – when two thirds of the cost of energy is tax to subsidise wasters like dale vince.

      1. Theresa May was not just incompetent – she was nasty to the point of being completely evil.

      2. Friend and I were bemoaning the cost of the standing charge this afternoon. Even if we used no electricity at all, we'd be whapped for a huge standing charge.

  72. Life outdoes Art. From a review of a book on Agapemone; the Abode of Love.
    Britons are not very good at this religion lark.

    "Eventually the buildings were sold off, and the chapel where Prince would sometimes “take flesh” by choosing lovers from his assembled congregation was turned into a TV studio where popular children’s programmes including Trumpton and Camberwick Green were made. In one sense it was a comic descent from the days when the Abode of Love was filled with cult followers eagerly listening to their leaders’ promises of future bliss. But it was also the nearest these promises ever came to being realised, as dreams of a perfect world were transformed into the brightly coloured townscape of Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb."

  73. Indeed.

    We hit on the metaphysical here – how far does one define one's individuality?

    Think of a potion for invisibility, a staple for fantasy writers. Does just the gut become invisible?, or the human being around it?, or the clothes being worn? What about the ground this person is standing on – does that become invisible too?

    A forest is regarded as a number of individuals, whereas to the worker bee, it is the hive that is the entity. To an alien from outer space, they may recognise more the individual cells and micro-organisms working in communal harmony together, and completely overlook the human that contains this community.

    A farmer may be the one driving the tractor, but to the farm, its continuity depends on the human steward renewing itself with each generation as the previous is exhausted. like the Victorian spade or Trigger's broom.

    1. I would respectfully beg to differ: while your comment is metaphysically sound, IMO it is perhaps rather too esoteric for the subject in hand. I was not talking about metaphysical existence per se, but the damage to a continuity of accepted and in some cases loved societal traditions – in this case the pride of passing something as important to our society as a farm, down generations who have worked not just for themselves but for their own descendants.

      1. First off, I agree with you.

        A few months ago, I pointed out that it is Conservatives that aspire to raise the lot, through their own efforts, of their families, and take pride in seeing their children and grandchildren in a better place than when they entered the world.

        Socialists see everything in terms of society, and benefits are passed over to the next generation via the State, and all individual assets are cancelled at death and absorbed by the State for redistribution. Family loyalty interferes with the workings of the State.

        Now, we could argue whether it is Conservatism or Socialism that is the guiding force of the Government, but my attempt to make it metaphysical is to try to redefine society as a collective of entities, some of which are human individuals, but crucially and no less important, farms are entities and need to remain so as their stewardship passes down the generations.

        I only wish there were some forum somewhere on the Left where I could express this, but it seems they do not encourage debate these days.

        1. That begs the question: what, to socialists, is "society"? In terms of expounding plans it has the appearance of being the collective. In reality, socialists themselves appear to have just as much desire in improving their own personal physical lot, and those of their own offspring, as any conservative (with a small c).

          If farms are merely entities, who decides how those entities are administered? The government. It's a bit like charities which are set up with one specific purpose or set of purposes, and through time become bastardised to such an extent that the founding purpose is overtaken by other and ulterior purposes which are sometime contradictory to the original purposes of the charity.

          Edit: your final sentence says a great deal about the Left and what it has evolved into.

        2. That begs the question: what, to socialists, is "society"? In terms of expounding plans it has the appearance of being the collective. In reality, socialists themselves appear to have just as much desire in improving their own personal physical lot, and those of their own offspring, as any conservative (with a small c).

          If farms are merely entities, who decides how those entities are administered? The government. It's a bit like charities which are set up with one specific purpose or set of purposes, and through time become bastardised to such an extent that the founding purpose is overtaken by other and ulterior purposes which are sometime contradictory to the original purposes of the charity.

          Edit: your final sentence says a great deal about the Left and what it has evolved into.

  74. Arctic blast set to hit UK with ‘rise in deaths’ feared. 18 November 2024.

    An arctic blast sweeping the UK is set to cause a rise in deaths among those aged 65 and over.

    The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned that the impending cold snap is “likely to cause a rise in deaths” in the age group, as well as among people with existing health conditions.

    It has issued amber cold weather alerts, which came into effect on Monday morning and are due to last until Thursday, in the North East, North West, Midlands, Yorkshire and East of England.

    The warning comes as the UK saw its coldest temperature since last winter, with the Met Office recording -7.8C at Tulloch Bridge in the Scottish Highlands on Sunday night.

    Snow and ice are also expected to accompany the drop in temperature this week.

    Ahhh. The wonders of Global Warming.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/18/deaths-among-over-65s-to-rise-in-arctic-blast/

    1. "The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned that the impending cold snap is “likely to cause a rise in deaths” in the age group, as well as among people with existing health conditions." Especially as the mean barstewards have removed winter fuel allowance!

  75. Why showdown with farmers risks defining Starmer's Government

    Polls suggest public backs farmers in fight against inheritance tax raid – with campaigners hoping rally this week will add further pressure

    Charles Hymas, Home Affairs Editor
    Connor Stringer, Senior Reporter
    Genevieve Holl-Allen Political Reporter

    17 November 2024 7:59pm GMT

    Jeremy Clarkson may have slipped a disc but he is determined to join some 20,000 farmers on Tuesday when they stage one of the biggest protest rallies of Sir Keir Starmer's premiership.

    The Clarkson's Farm presenter told The Telegraph that he was "barely moveable" after a back injury but he hoped to "get there somehow", though he will let the presence of thousands of farmers outside Parliament speak for itself.

    He does not plan to address the rally, which aims to persuade the Government to rethink its inheritance tax raid under which estates worth more than £1 million will incur a 20 per cent charge from April 2026 when passed down to the next generation of farmers.

    Buoyed by overwhelming support from the public in opinion polls, farmers hope that the scale of the rally will shake a Government that has so far refused to scrap its Budget plan. Ministers have vainly appealed to farmers to calm down and look at the financial facts.

    "I urge people to look calmly at the detail and I think they will find that the vast majority will be fine," said Daniel Zeichner, the farming minister, on Sunday.

    However, there is no sign of farmers relenting. Indeed, there are threats by some that they could go on strike in a move that would threaten the UK's food supplies. Rather than calming the situation, the minister's comments appear to have become a red rag to the proverbial bull.

    Cllr Tim Taylor, leader of Pro Farmers United, who besieged the Welsh Labour conference addressed by Sir Keir at the weekend, told The Telegraph: "He needs to look out. We are not calming down, we are escalating and will be escalating big time. Our industry will show Rachel Reeves and the crew who is in charge of the rural way of life – and it isn't them. We will not be told by somebody from the city to calm down. We are going to deal with this and we are going to deal with this in the farmer's way."

    The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is publicly warning farmers not to go beyond lawful protests, saying they should not mount action that could "empty supermarket shelves." NFU leaders are sensitive to the risk that the strong public support they have could evaporate if they start disrupting people's lives.

    Polls demonstrate that farmers not only have the public's backing in their fight against the Government but also hold a special place in the nation's hearts – so much so that Luke Tryl, executive director of More in Common, warned the tax raid could become the Chancellor's own "pasty tax."

    George Osborne's about-turn over VAT on pasties has gone down in Treasury folklore as a masterclass in how not to introduce a tax rise. "I think this is the pasty tax of this Government but worse because it has got a genuine visible face behind it," said Mr Tryl.

    He said polling showed 57 per cent of the public supported exempting farmers from inheritance tax when passing down their estates, compared with 24 per cent against. When asked to rate the positives versus the negatives of the Budget, farmers, pensioners and small businesses were identified as the biggest losers.

    "They are three groups that I would advise that you don't want to end up on the wrong side of," said Mr Tryl. "Then there's the other point that farmers do occupy a very special place in the public imagination. I did a focus group in Scunthorpe after the Budget where people said: 'Why would they go after the farmers?'"

    Polling shows the public set farmers very much apart from other businesses, neither seeing them as profit-driven or entrepreneurial but instead regarding them as "having local community interests at heart," "caring about the environment and nature," and being "important to British culture and tradition."

    A total of 80 per cent of the public believe farmers "benefit the country."

    Given the intensity of the passions involved, it is not surprising there is a whiff of class war and town versus country in the row. It surfaced last week when John McTernan, a former adviser to Tony Blair, said he was in favour of doing to the farmers "what Margaret Thatcher did to the miners." He said Britain did not "need small farmers."

    The claim was shot down by the Prime Minister, who said he "totally" disagreed with Mr McTernan.

    However, Tory MPs who have traditionally represented the rural vote say it illustrates a disconnect between farmers and Labour. Alicia Kearns, the Tory MP for Rutland and Stamford in the East Midlands, said: "They feel absolutely betrayed, and they didn't see it coming, because Labour specifically ruled out and said that they would not do this. I think it does feel like David and Goliath for them."

    John Glen, the former chief secretary to the Treasury, said it showed how frustrated farmers had become. "Traditionally the vast majority of UK farmers have resisted direct action. The fact that significant numbers are planning such action demonstrates how upset and betrayed they feel," he said.

    It is not clear how far farmers will go – and how many will join any militant action – to protect their inheritance against the Treasury. Recent history from mainland Europe shows militancy can have a dramatic political impact in persuading governments to change their minds. In the Netherlands, more than 2,000 tractors created the worst jam in the nation's history when they protested against new restrictions on farm emissions last November. French farmers forced Emmanuel Macron, the country's president, to back down on new green goals within days of bringing Paris to a halt with their tractors.

    In Britain, nearly six in 10 of the public think politicians do not show farmers enough respect. Only five per cent believe they do. More than eight in 10 say they respect farmers, according to More in Common.

    However, in a cautionary note to any militant action, this adoration by Britons has to be weighed against the public's disdain for disruption, said Mr Tryl. "If you are doing things where people cannot get to hospital appointments, you end up on the wrong side of public opinion very quickly," he added. So far, like Clarkson, most farmers are hoping that their presence in London will speak for itself.

    But if the Government digs its heels in, more militant campaigners are likely to demand a test of how far the public's goodwill really goes.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/17/showdown-farmers-risks-defining-starmers-government-tax-iht

    1. "Ministers have vainly appealed to farmers to calm down and look at the financial facts." Hardly surprising the farmers aren't listening – the "facts" that the government are so fond of are lies – the difference between the forecast by the Treasury of how many farms might be affected and the forecast by DEFRA, who can at least spell farm, is immense and should have set alarm bells ringing among Ministers. Instead they seem to be in total denial.

    2. I just hope the nasty POS is forced out of office.
      I read earlier that Heseltine is poking his nose in again trying to get Stammer to renegotiate with Fond Of and then get us back into the EU.

    3. "They feel absolutely betrayed, and they didn't see it coming, because Labour specifically ruled out and said that they would not do this." Labour lies. It always has done. If it told the truth it would never get elected. The wonder is, people seem to ignore history.

  76. Net zero – More people will die in fires caused by faulty batteries than all the stabbings and unnecessary covid jabs in the UK Would you park your EV in a garage attached to your home? Only if you are suicidal or completely stupid. Ban EVs and those who force them on the public. Electric vehicles are a threat to society. The science is settled.

  77. I see Two Tier/Free Gear having returned from Baku is now en route to Brazil for a G7/G20 event – might be a good idea if he sorted out some concerns nearer home, most of which he has caused!

    In other news the demented Biden, as some NOTTLERs foretold, has approved the use of US long range missiles by Ukraine – feckin idiot!

      1. Mr T , might you please update the Nottler birthday list. My birthday is on there as 10th December ( with my old no longer used account with a different name . Could you place my present account name with the other December birthdays. Thank you. PS thank you for your birthday lists- this site is very much like a big family.

    3. Donald Trump needs to practice a little blackmail. Fire into Russia and from January the US washes its hands of the whole caboodle.

  78. I see Two Tier/Free Gear having returned from Baku is now en route to Brazil for a G7/G20 event – might be a good idea if he sorted out some concerns nearer home, most of which he has caused!

    In other news the demented Biden, as some NOTTLERs foretold, has approved the use of US long range missiles by Ukraine – feckin idiot!

  79. From Coffee House,the Spectator

    What will Putin do about Biden’s parting gift to Ukraine?

    At the very moment most people seem to have forgotten of his existence, President Biden has slowly but purposefully shuffled across Vladimir Putin’s latest red line in Ukraine. After months of President Zelensky’s tireless pleas, the United States has finally given Kyiv a green light to use American missiles (ATACMS) for strikes deep inside Russia.

    Putin may well decide that it is safer to swallow his pride and pretend nothing has happened

    Reports indicate that Biden’s permission applies in the first instance only to the Russian and North Korean troops deployed in the Kursk region. It aims at helping Kyiv to hold on to the piece of the Russian territory that the Ukrainians have occupied since August 2024, while signalling to the North Koreans that their involvement in Russia’s war comes at a cost.

    In other words, Biden has not so much crossed Putin’s red line as probed it with one foot. This is very much in character for a president who has thus far shown exceptional caution in handling Putin. Such caution may well be warranted given the high stakes involved. Biden’s detractors have argued, however, that the President has given in to Putin’s threats, and that earlier, more decisive, action could have made a difference on the battlefield.

    At this point, however, few believe that ATACMSs strikes in the Kursk region will change the outcome of this war. If, however, Ukraine were eventually allowed to use these missiles more broadly, then perhaps it could at least deter Russia’s strikes on its energy infrastructure by threatening retaliation against similar targets deep inside Russia. As the Ukrainians brace for the cold, dark winter months ahead, deterring Russian strikes will be much more meaningful to them than the uncertain prospect of holding on to Kursk.

    There are already reports that the British and the French have followed suit by authorising Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadows for striking targets inside Russia. These missiles have already been used extensively to target Russian bases and troop concentrations in Crimea and Donbas.

    Commenting on the media reports, Zelensky said simply that ‘missiles will speak for themselves’. His main concern now is not so much whether he can use these missiles in Kursk, but whether he will have enough missiles to use them anywhere at all.

    Biden’s decision adds an important element to the ongoing discussion of the endgame in Ukraine. President-elect Trump has vowed to end the war ‘within 24 hours’. Zelensky, in a probable effort to ingratiate himself with the infamously unpredictable Trump, has claimed that, with him in the White House, the war will ‘end sooner’.

    The underlining idea here is that the incoming president will somehow entice or force Putin to enter negotiations. The ATACMS authorisation was supposed to be one of the cards that Trump would play. His nominee for the position of national security adviser, Michael Waltz, argued recently in a co-authored article that ‘if he [Putin] refuses to talk, Washington can… provide more weapons to Ukraine with fewer restrictions on their use. Faced with this pressure, Mr Putin will probably take the opportunity to wind the conflict down.’

    Well, now that card is being played by Biden. If it fails to bring Putin to his knees (and it is almost certain that it will fail – the White House is admitting that much), then one has to ask what other cards Trump might have in his hand.

    To be sure, the United States has plenty of cards to play, but it must commit to staying in the game indefinitely. The idea that the war can be ended on reasonable terms within just a few days or even months reflects a certain wishful thinking, a desire to ‘be done’ with Ukraine. The problem is that Putin does not play for the short term. He is committed to this war, and will not take the opportunity to end the war through compromise, even as ATACMSs come raining down.

    Putin, too, will have to react to Biden’s decision. He has repeatedly and publicly promised a response to strike inside Russia, which, he recently argued, would ‘fundamentally change’ the character of the conflict, making it a war between Russia and the West. He claimed that he had already directed his Ministry of Defence to offer recommendations as to Moscow’s response.

    Yet the Russian President knows very well that, for all his propagandistic claims, Russia is in fact not at war with the West, and bringing this war onto his head by targeting western bases or infrastructure – as the US intelligence suggested he might – would be extremely risky for a country that has so woefully underperformed on the battlefields of Ukraine. Putin may well decide that it is safer to swallow his pride and pretend nothing has happened. After all, it would not be the first time that his bluff has been called.

    On 19 November, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reaches its 1,000-day mark. Who would have predicted 1,000 days ago that Ukraine would be striking Russia with American-made ATACMSs? Putin most certainly had not foreseen this possibility. But here we are.

    The ailing American president has left Ukraine with a parting gift that will add a little more complexity to the tangled mess of a conflict that, as yet, appears very far from being resolved.

    Written by
    Sergey Radchenko
    Sergey Radchenkois the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of the newly published To Run the World: the Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power (Cambridge University Press, 2024).

    1. According to Wikipedia those missiles are only good for 200 miles so they will not reach far into Russia, maybe obliterate a few Korean army units but I doubt that Putin will care about that.

      We cannot be sure what Biden will do for Ukraine in his last few months in the White House so why wouldn't Putin wait until Trump came to power before blasting Ukraine?

    1. Having burnt the cakes, she decided she didn't have what it took to be a woman, and became a transman instead?

        1. Having discovered Excalibur made an excellent nail file she decided to open a Turkish nail salon.

        2. I had a trip to Winchester on Friday. I got totally confused of who was Alfred and who was Arthur. Big statue of Alfred on the High Street but only sign of Arthur was his saints around the Round Table (which had no cakes on it).

    2. I liked this comment – "He also may have been an extraterrestrial. Similar amount of evidence"

      1. The earliest extant account of the Arthurian legend is the history of England published by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1136. Geoffrey describes Arthur as a good Christian king who tore his enemies limb from limb in the name of Jesus. I'm glad I read Geoffrey. I think of that passage in these days when Christianity is often preached as sentimental relativism.

        2. I think that arising and smiting the Amalekites went out of fashion in the CofE. But maybe with a new Archbishop of Canterbury the practice will be revived?

          1. We have a problem, Richard. AoC is an impossible task. Anyone in the current CoE who considers himself a suitable candidate should automatically be ruled out, on the basis of insanity.

    1. Snow arrives in the UK as the north gets icy dusting as Met Office issues Yellow Warning for parts of the country

      Only those with certain demographics?

    2. More likely than than millions dying if the temperature increases by 1.5 degrees C especially when most of those who say it's going to happen go to Spain for their holidays where it's 20 degrees warmer.

          2. Indeed he does. I read Kosinski’s books in the seventies.

            Apart from Being There most of his tales are rather horrific and in some ways disturbing. I believe Kosinski, a Polish American, was haunted by the events in Poland during WWII. The Painted Bird and Steps are two such books.

    1. Biden's handlers are putting a lot more lives in danger – lets hope the Russians see through this move.

      1. The "Kremlin reacts" story actually includes the phrase "Peskov declined to comment directly". Peskov being the Kremlin spokesman in question.

        1. An old man, both silly and nasty, looking for his legacy. Aided and abetted by his lady doctor wife and Obollix and Mrs O.

          1. An old man, both silly and nasty, looking for his legacy

            C'mon, Kate. Legacy? Biden would struggle to find his arse with both hands. Which he would then doubtless need to wash… 😀

          2. You are, as ever, correct Mr G. I think his arse probably needs washing most of the time, and I don’t envy whoever carries out the task. But he is likely looking for his place in the history books, as they all do…it’s just that his may not turn out to be the one he planned…..anyhow, enough of his nonsense..how are you keeping? x

          3. I'm fine thanks, Kate, apart from having had a retinal bleed in the 'good' eye a couple of months back. I've had laser treatment, and things seem to be improving. Another appointment coming up on Thursday. Meanwhile, life is somewhat in soft focus. Fortunately, inverted colours (i.e. white on black) are quite clear on the 'pooter. Luckily.

            Making the most of a brief hiatus before the Christmas preparations begin. As Organist, and Custodian of the Parish Photocopier for four churches, things can get rather busy. Trust all well with you?

          4. Him n me have been there, done that, Geoff. Last laser was I think during first lockdown – empty clinic, did the whole job in one. He’s changed his diet completely, now Carnivore Diet, come off all meds, numbers all good. GPs are impressed, but not interested in doing any kind of trial with other Type 2s (presumably no kickback). He likes the inverted colours on screen, too….me not so much, old school I guess. Ah Christmas, I’ve hopefully managed to wriggle out of panto this year 🤞…you’ll be very busy I know, hope you don’t overdo the copying and can sit down whilst it churns away…me? yes, same old same old, I never change and probably never will, thanks for asking 😘😘

          5. A Hitler has a legacy, but not one that anybody would want. Is Biden trying to join him in being utterly reviled through time?

          6. Forget his legacy, Paul. Biden doesn't appear to have agency. It seems the Deep State / MIC etc have determined that WWIII is the only way to thwart The Donald.. Hope they enjoy the post-nuclear wasteland they're preparing for us.

            We've been living in "interesting times" for at least ten years, but they're wildly accelerating now.

      2. Biden's handlers couldn't care less about putting human lives in danger – all they care about is their own power and profit.

    2. If it does nothing else, it will show Americans what a narrow escape they've had in getting the Democrats out of power.

    8. Almondia. But as I had several, I suppose that should be Almondsia – or Almondiae ? – but not such a pretty name.

      For Rastus that would be Crackerius.

      No jokes about being crackers, now…

  89. Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been given a seven-match domestic ban by the Football Association for using a racial slur about Korean team-mate Son Heung-min.

    Bentancur, has also been fined £100,000 and ordered to take part in an Orwellian-sounding 'mandatory face-to-face education programme'

    So what did he say?

    In a TV interview in his home country of Uruguay, he was asked by a presenter for a Tottenham shirt. Bentancur replied: "Sonny's? It could be Sonny's cousin too as they all look the same."

    A bit off-colour (can one say that?) but surely this should qualify as 'dressing room banter' level and no more than that?

    He apologised to Son, but it is not reported whether Son was even offended. The World has gone Woke Mad……

      1. Gosh, that takes me back – great tune!

        Be careful, though, I understand there's still room on that 'mandatory face-to-face education programme'!

        7 weeks ban, £100k fine – you wouldnt get that for breaking an opponents leg and ending his career!!

    3. I'm afraid my life long interest in football is rapidly waining.
      It's more than just a bit of an overreaction to the remark.

    4. I'm afraid my life long interest in football is rapidly waining.
      It's more than just a bit of an overreaction to the remark.

    5. “using a racial slur”

      How i loathe that banal inane expression. And the juvenile narcissistic race-grifters who seeks such “slurs” out.

    1. Get on with it you two, someone has to make a stand against all this nonsense from the current government.

    2. Good stuff. Get ready to do the same with the Southport slasher, making sure that everything comes out in court.

  91. Labour Farm Tax Architect Advocates for State Expropriation of Farmland

    Guido pointed out last week that the plethora of reports calling for Agricultural Property Relief and other “loopholes” on farms to be scrapped were actually written by one man. Arun Advani, director of CenTax, is aided by co-director Andy Summers in pushing for higher taxes across the board. The Treasury admitted to Guido last week that Advani’s research was the intellectual basis of the farm tax…

    Last month, in a definitive report on Inheritance Tax for his think tank, Advani states that the cap for Agricultural and Business relief for farms should be set at a miniscule combined £500,000. Half of the measly sum the government has set it at…

    In order to prevent excessive fragmentation of farms as a result of that cap, which would reduce productivity, Advani advocates for “the state taking part-ownership of land and becoming the landlord to tenant farmers.” That farmland which went above the cap would presumably be expropriated and rented back to the previous farm owner. Perhaps they could be formed into some kind of large ‘collective’ farms?

    To counter-act risks to food security from these extreme measures the farm tax’s architect says state subsidies should be directed towards “specific activities desired e.g. farming particular produce” as a “more appropriate way to ensure that the desired goals were being delivered.” Meanwhile, other gobsmacking proposals include removing IHT relief for funeral expenses and relief on bequests to charities, because that “effectively redirects tax revenues towards the charitable preferences of a very small number of people.” Pure planned-economy thinking…

    The Treasury has already admitted Advani’s research has guided it on the farm tax as it currently exists. These proposals could give a taste of things to come, especially if farmers put up too much of a fuss. Things can always get worse…

  93. As the lovely Geoff says, he couldn’t find his arse with both hands let alone his legacy, and he is as always quite correct. I think both he and his son will be even more reviled than they are at present (and Obama, who’s still hoping the seat kept warm for Michelle…fancy sitting where Joe’s backside has been…argh..)

  95. I really do find the London centric jackasses objectionable at times.
    Here's Jack Kessler's piece today.

    I have limited desire to get into the special pleading of farmers regarding the £1 million cap on inheritance tax agricultural property relief announced in the Budget. This is for a couple of reasons. First, because if you were, say, a landlord or investor, you are paying 40 per cent inheritance tax (IHT). And second, because of how few estates will be impacted by the proposed change.
    Tax expert Dan Neidle provides figures which show that fewer than 500 farm estates would pay IHT under the new rules, and fewer than 200 if both spouses also used their nil rate bands. But what's really bothered me is the argument made in some quarters that this is about food security. It really isn't.
    To be clear, food security is important. It is one of the 13 sectors listed in the government’s “Critical National Infrastructure” of things that are “necessary for a country to function and upon which daily life depends”. But it is not the salient point here.
    For starters, the UK is 62 per cent self-sufficient in food, according to 2023 figures from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. If that doesn't sound like much, bear in mind that number was 52 per cent in 1960. This is because for a couple of centuries, food security has not meant producing everything we need in this country. Instead, it seen a focus on ensuring a diversity of supply, keeping shipping lanes open and so on. (Hence, why Brexit import checks keep getting postponed)
    Even in war, this has suited the UK just fine. As Duncan Weldon, who is writing a book on the economics of conflict, points out, in 1913, Britain imported 60 per cent of its calories yet there was no famine during the First World War. Germany, on the other hand, which imported 20 to 25 per cent of its calories, saw roughly three-quarters of a million deaths from hunger.
    I don't want to come across as another ungrateful city dweller. I love food, and appreciate the hard work of farmers working unsociable and long hours, with tight profit margins, often dealing with powerful supermarkets, on the frontline of climate change with its long droughts and heavy downpours.
    But let's be real. This is not about the security of Britain's food supply, but about wanting to keep a 30-year-old inheritance tax carve out.

    200 this year
    200 next year and worse as the second deaths occur.
    and so on ad infinitum.
    It will kill small/medium sized farms.

    If I was a strategist for the NFU I'd be finding out where all the main distribution centres for the major supermarkets are situated and get the farmers to blockade them. I doubt many of them have multiple access points.
    It would take just a few days for shelves to be cleared through panic buying and it would take fewer tractors etc than many of the other protests.
    Next on my list would be the large oil/petrol distribution/storage centres, same reasoning on few access points.
    They could swiftly bring the country to a standstill.

    1. I don't disapprove. My only thinking is politicians wouldn't care. You're inconviniencing the people who pay the bills, not the ones causing the problem.

      Let's be honest – nothing is going to change the hard Left decision to steal farms from farmers. The Left have wanted this for some time. The Treasury is pushing it and Reeves is too thick to see reason.

      3. Politicians would soon wake up because it would affect them directly very quickly, and their constituents would be up in arms.

    2. Ah, but while we might grow/breed the food here now, the government's 'food strategy' explicitly precludes growing food. Every page witters on about 'climate change'.

      We also send a lot of our food away to be 'prepared'. It's about the state's desperation to steal what people have earned. Inheritance tax is an egregious theft of private earnings already 7 or 8 times taxed.

      As for the most farms will eb excluded – the Treasury deliberately excluded plants materials and equipment as well as personnel and wages to sell the lie.

      1. And can you even start to imagine how the poor sods trying to obtain probate can get it all valued?

  97. A puny Par Four!

    Wordle 1,248 4/6
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    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟨🟨⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Likewise – I was fortunate with guess 4 as well!

      Wordle 1,248 4/6

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      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Had a good start today.

      Wordle 1,248 3/6

      🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Me too.

      Wordle 1,248 4/6

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

        1. Thus far still Charing Cross. Very good face to face proper consultation with my GP this evening. Everything in hand. He’s changed the beta blocker prescription but not drastically and wants to test my blood sugar and see if the kidneys are leaking protein plus he’s made a referral to Cardiology to check heart valves, aorta etc.

  98. I think what everybody forgets, on this place, and others is 99 % of farmers are armed.
    And so are their mates…

    1. No farmer would risk their certificate. Any whiff of that and you're in trouble.
      Their biggest threat —– as with France & Netherlands —- just a few strategically placed John Deere tractors at every single motorway junction and the country grinds to a standstill within an hour.

      Not that Starmer & Reeves care about that nor job losses. They want the land for their new Besties.
      It's a fight to the death.

    2. No farmer would risk their certificate. Any whiff of that and you're in trouble.
      Their biggest threat —– as with France & Netherlands —- just a few strategically placed John Deere tractors at every single motorway junction and the country grinds to a standstill within an hour.

      Not that Starmer & Reeves care about that nor job losses. They want the land for their new Besties.
      It's a fight to the death.

  99. Companies Scramble to Send Tens of Thousands of Jobs Overseas After Budget

    Thousands of British jobs face being shipped overseas thanks to Rachel Thieves’ budget. Major recruiter boss James Reed warns companies are planning to move “tens of thousands” of roles to cheaper countries like India, thanks to a “triple whammy” of increased National Insurance, higher minimum wage, and stricter union rights alone set to cost businesses nearly £5 billion a year. The first female Chancellor has sent businesses running for the hills…

    Meanwhile, Neil Carberry from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation confirmed large firms are eyeing offshoring, warning he’d “talked to many larger firms where the question has been about offshoring.” Deutsche Bank also warned City clients that the Budget could axe 100,000 jobs, through both layoffs and lost opportunities for new roles. Turns out the biggest tax-hiking budget in history doesn’t promote ‘growth’. In fairness, Reeves wouldn’t have picked up these economic lessons in Halifax’s complaints department…

    18 November 2024 @ 15:44

    1. The intent was never to promote economic growth. It was to grow the tax take, the size of the state and the level of unemployment.

  101. And how about the candidate selection committee in Leeds West? Mind you, as they're Labour, judging financial experience and competence wouldn't be top of their list.

    …. "Downing Street has refused to say whether Rachel Reeves broke the ministerial code amid accusations that she lied about her CV.

    The Chancellor edited her LinkedIn profile last week to remove her previous claim that she worked as an economist at the Bank of Scotland between 2006 and 2009. The site was updated to state that her role was in “retail banking” at Halifax.

    She has also been accused of lying about how long she spent working at the Bank of England.

    On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official deputy spokesman was asked: “Is lying on your CV a breach of the ministerial code?”

    The spokesman said: “I think with regards to the Chancellor, the Prime Minister is very clear that the Chancellor has restored fiscal stability. This is someone who, on coming into office, looked under the bonnet and exposed a £22 billion black hole in the public finances and has been honest with the public.”

    On being challenged about whether Ms Reeves had been “straight with the public” regarding her employment history, the spokesman declined to give a direct answer, saying: “He is very clear that this is a Chancellor that has been straight with the public about the state of the public finances and what is necessary to restore financial stability – that is most important.”….

    1. If she lies on her cv how can we trust anything she says ever again? Absolute poppycock: "He is very clear that this is a Chancellor that has been straight with the public about the state of the public finances…… that is most important." It certainly is, unfortunately this is a Chancellor who is a stranger to any truth.

    3. This'd be the 'black hole' that the OBR denies and explains as coming from Labour's immediate bungs to the unions?

  103. Not bad for 130 days of power.. Lad done well.

    Farmer's land grab & IHT.
    Starmer's intense hatred of white working class.
    Two tier law.
    Rachel Reeves' CV & sacking from HBOS.
    Southport cover up on many levels.
    Lying to parliament about flat use.
    Insane Non-Crime Hate incidents.
    Free Speech clamp down.
    Migrant invasion.
    Ludicrous net-zero targets.
    Exact opposite of cast iron election pledges.
    Surrender of Chagos Islands.
    Council tax increases.
    Refusal to charge Manc Airport attackers.
    Caught actively canvassing against Trump in USA.

    Gonna need x1000 to bring them down.

    2. Not forgetting that some pensions are now to be IHT taxed (doubly)up to 67 %. Afraid numbskull Reeves won't be getting an Xmas card from me

  105. A bit cryptic from Winston M.

    Winston Marshall
    @MrWinMarshall
    ·
    Nov 17
    The truth about Southport,
    when it comes to light,
    will change Britain forever.

    2. Political commentator Charlie Bentley-Astor
      @astor_charlie
      ·
      Nov 16
      I know. And I can confirm that Nigel is not exaggerating.

  106. That's me for this chilly day. The sun shone for quite a lot of it – which is a relief. We have lotsa windows, and if there is NO sun, the house gets cold. Rain and cold expected tomorrow.

    OT we have now watched two (out of six) episodes of "The Private Life of Plants" (BBC2). Despite the unnecessary and intrusive "music", parts of the progs (the second one in particular) were extremely interesting. How plants can summon birds to kill bugs that are attacking them, for example – fascinating. Trigger warning: some bollocks about net zero and "sustainability" – but not too much. Will continue with the series.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – when, after lunch, we shall be at an Arts Society lecture on Richard III – reminded me of that staunch Ricardian, dear old LotL.

    1. I was just thinking of LotL's chicken soup recipe this weekend, I must dig it out. It is soup weather now. It had a soupçon of sherry as one of the ingredients. I also bought some Kanga juice recently, it reminded me of her when I saw the label. Those who have gone ahead live on in our memories.

    2. We have a yellow warning for snow and ice, Bill. It's raining at the moment, and I expect it will continue like that for weeks, despite climate Armageddon as predicted.

    1. The Conservative Party should disband now to give another party which is truly right of centre a chance to form the next government.

      As Dr Spooner might have said: "Its blush is completely flusted!"

  108. No 10 refuses to say if Rachel Reeves broke ministerial code in CV deception row
    Chancellor edited LinkedIn profile last week to remove previous claim she worked as economist at Bank of Scotland
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/18/no-10-refuses-rachel-reeves-broke-ministerial-code-cv-row/

    BTL

    Is lying a violation of the ministerial code or do Labour ministers have to sign up to the Mendacity Code which stipulates that they must tell a complete lie at least once a week and that all cabinet ministers will be returned to the back benches and deselected even if they inadvertently tell the truth by mistake.

    1. It's perfectly all right when Lefties do it because they are such pure, lovely people who are on the side of the angels.

  109. Got a run to London tomorrow, stopping in the Prince Regent at Woodford Bridge, then to the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers, https://www.sm-ee.co.uk/ , on Wednesday morning to drop off an ex-RR engraving machine that t'lad has scrounged from work!
    Just been in Derby loading the thing and got home to the Venison Stew I did earlier.

    Over 300 comments whilst I was away so I doubt that I'll get through them.

          3. One of my very favourite films! Julia Roberts is wonderful as Tinkerbell! I can see our younger daughter and her friend Richard curled up together in our ‘roundy round’ chair, watching it when they were about 7!

    2. Bear in mind that central London will be blockaded by the (justifiably) angry farming community.

    3. What bit of venison did you use, and how did you prepare it before making the stew from it?

      We won a very big haunch, roughly double the size of a typical leg of lamb, at the hunt feast. It was frozen when we collected it and I suspect will take nearly two days to thaw.

      1. Ah, the Repas de Chasse! We used to enjoy those immensely. It was impossible not to win a frozen venison joint of some sort.

        1. They are one of our favourite village functions.

          I would guess we had 150 people at the last one, all ages from toddlers through to people in their 90's; and as you say prizes galore for the raffle.

      2. Diced venison, bought t'other week when I did a pick-up in Baguley and had a break in Alderley Edge en route from Step-son's.

        1. I guess then that melt ‘n dice may be the start point.
          Thanks for that.
          Alderley Edge was in my stomping grounds 50+ years ago.
          I worked at the Mary Dendy, which will now be long gone and care in the community I expect

    1. Have you noticed how so many left wing people have that very aggressive mouth shape when speaking?

      2. Yes, sneering disdain for the plebs.
        You have to be at least a multi millionaire to be a socialist.

  111. Labour is facing a Civil War over Net Zero

    Louise Haigh and Jonathan Reynolds are bound to butt heads over the green transition

    Matthew Lynn 18 November 2024 2:59pm GMT

    It was Europe for the Conservatives for much of the last twenty years, reform of public services and the Iraq war for the Blair government, and Europe again during the Thatcher years. Every governing party starts fighting amongst themselves eventually. And this government won’t be any different.

    With looming job losses from Ed Miliband’s ideological crusade to make Britain the global leader on climate change it is already clear that a civil war within Labour is about to break out over net zero – and the battle will be a vicious one.

    At a crunch meeting later this week, the car-makers will tell the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds that thousands of jobs in the industry will soon be lost because of the unrealistic targets to sell Electric Vehicles.

    The companies already have to make sure that 22 per cent of the vehicles they sell are battery-powered, and that is set to increase to 28 per cent in January. If they don’t, there will be fines of up to £15,000 per vehicle. Stellantis, which owns Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat, will warn that the plan may mean factories have to close, and others may follow that lead.

    Haigh and Reynolds may well be sympathetic. The trouble is, trying telling the party’s leading Green Commissar Ed Miliband that the target has to be relaxed. High on his own apocalyptic rhetoric, Miliband will no doubt refuse. After all, what do a few car factory jobs count for when the very survival of the planet is at stake? And, anyway, any workers made redundant can simply switch to one of the hundreds of thousands of “well-paid green jobs” the transition to a carbon-free economy will create. Haigh will be sent packing.

    The looming battle over EV quotas will just be a foretaste of what is to come. The net zero obsession is going to throw a lot of people out of work over the next few years. We have already seen that with the closure of the Port Talbot steel works in Wales, and now we are seeing it with the potential shuttering of car factories as well.

    With some of the highest prices for electricity in the world, and more than double the United States, we will see a lot more traditional heavy industry close down very soon. That will get even worse when the new round of carbon border taxes come into force, driving up the price of imported raw materials.

    If any factories survive that blizzard of extra costs it will be a miracle. Meanwhile, those “well-paid industrial jobs” have proved to be largely a mirage. The trade unions are already getting anxious about the impact on their members, and rightly so. It is going to be a bloodbath.

    The real dividing line in this contest will be a very old one. It will pit Labour’s traditional, working class and trade union base, which is more concerned about jobs and wages, against the middle-class, sandal-wearing, ideological wing of the party, which is more concerned with saving the planet. The most successful Labour leaders have managed to bring those two tribes together. But they have very little in common, and very different priorities.

    The battle has not yet erupted into the open yet, but it is simmering in the background. Over the next couple of years, it will turn into a full-scale civil war, on a scale to match Tory divisions over Europe, and every bit as ugly and bitter. Who will win? It is impossible to say right now. And yet one point is certain – the battle will tear the party apart.

    1. I never realised that cabbage picking was well paid except, of course, for selecting Labour politicians.

      It's a shame the farmers will stop producing cabbages for people to harvest.

        1. And civil service and NHS and Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, schools………

          Hell's teeth stop me , stop me!
          Please.

    2. There is lots of talk about net zero at this G20 meeting, Trudeau is beating his worn out drum about the need to reduce carbon emissions and telling everyone how his carbon tax is being misrepresented by anyone that disagrees with him.

      Trudeau might be an ineffective little shit but maybe Biden will jump in and just to spite Trump, make a parting gesture that binds the world to a ridiculous plan. Starmer will of course go along with the plan to destroy the industrialized world

      1. Forgive me for being a Luddite, but wasn't the recent COP conference all about that, and with pretty much the same fundamental faeces evacuation orifices farting there too?

          1. And all their carbon hoof prints would still be ignored.
            .
            .
            For the good of the planet, of course.

  113. 397087+ up ticks,

    I do believe there is a strong pong about this meeting with pingo,the first issue of the meet was pingo demanding to know when was the tool going to get his party dues up to date seeing he had been " in the red" for a long time

    Dt,

    Xi backs Labour’s plan for growth

    1. Interesting article.
      As long as the parents are also interacting and teaching the child to challenge what is being told I think she's being unduly pessimistic.
      Of course most don't so she is right to be wary.

      1. Having observed the effect of screens on small children that I know, I think they are better off kept completely away from them. Most parents I know make strenuous efforts to limit screen time; it’s like crack cocaine for small children.
        AI is even worse. A child doesn’t have the breadth of experience that an adult has; an AI will make far too great an impact.
        Sorry, I am on a hobby horse a bit; I strongly dislike this technology being given to children, all the more so because I work with it.

        1. Just like foolish parents who allow young children to have a TV set in their bedroom – unsupervised, of course.

        2. My view is that as long as the parents are in control it should be a learning experience.
          Poor parenting, poor outcomes.

          1. I’ve seen how a friend of mine struggles. Both parents keep very close tabs on screen time. She has installed parental software on their smartphones that only activates the internet for two hours a day.
            It’s a constant fight, they are constantly begging for more screen time. No small child needs the internet or computer games – educational games are a myth to get parents hooked into it (source: my son, the game designer).

  117. Evening, all. Wet, dull and miserable here (and that's only me, despite having coffee and a good catch up with a friend!). It was dark before 16.00. Not that I mind particularly, because I like drawing the curtains and shutting the world out. I think I have been infected by Nottlitis; I came home and cooked a shepherd's pie! The kitchen looked as though a bomb had hit it and the dishwasher is now half full again, despite my having run it last night and emptied it this morning. Is it me or is that usual for cooking? The pie was quite nice, but was the effort worth it, I wonder. I cook with wine – sometimes I even put it in the food!

    The assisted dying bill is the thin end of the wedge to rid the PTB of people they consider to be useless eaters – none of whom will be in the least bit diverse or have contributed during their lifetime. Get rid!

    1. The assisted dying bill is the thin end of the wedge to rid the PTB of people they consider to be useless eaters – none of whom will be in the least bit diverse or but will have contributed during their lifetime. Get rid!

    2. As an 80-year-old 'useless eater' I shalt continue drawing my pension with gay abandon. Having worked and contributed from 15 to 75.

  118. Late home, soaking wet filthy mood.

    Looking through out local magazine, which always has an “infomercial” from a local legal practice.

    This month’s is advice for divorcing/divorced parents when discussing the impact on school fees of thd imposition of VAT.

    I hadn’t considered it from this perspective. It is yet one more thing for Parent A and Parent B to quarrel about, especially if funds are tight.

    How i loathe this horrid government.

  119. stephen dean
    4h
    Rachel from Reception has just revealed that she flew a Harrier during the Falklands War.

  120. I think that I have this tangled web straight.

    Our Employment Minister appeared before a parliamentary committee investigating insider dealings on purchases during the covid scam. A company that he was a fifty percent owner in had received a number of juicy contracts.

    He claimed that ir was not him that was referred to in texts and emails about contracts but another person who also happened to be called Randy. The other Randy has never been identified or seen!

    Minister Randy (not the other one) also claimed that he had indigenous heritage and his company bid on and won government contracts that were only open to indigenous groups. Oh sorry, no I am not really indigenous, that was a mistruth told by my business partner (neither Randy but the original one).

    Now they discover that this supposed company that Minister Randy owned is registered at a post office box in Calgary and does not have a real office address. Further, the post office does not recognize Randys company as being owner of the mail box, the actual owner is a woman who has several convictions for drug possession so mail to the Minister Randy company would be given to her.

    With me so far?

    This has been going on for a month now, Minister Randy is unapologetic and still in office.

    All the opposition parties can do is hound the wretch during question period, the government are still defending him.

    Democracy!

    2. Like Senator Elizabeth Warren pretending to be Cherokee? Donald Trump called her Pocahontas. She did apologise to the Cherokee Nation but of course only long after the damage was done.

  122. One takes it that you live in a relatively prosperous area, if school fees are a major consideration in divorce settlements.

  123. Thought for the day.
    If it was Phizzee cooking the books, instead of Rachel-lying-Thieves ,would we all have a better slice of a tastier cake?
    I think so.

  124. I've just been watching a walk in the Cotswolds with Kate Garraway. 2021. Sadly her husband died more recently. But she really inspired me to do something that I used to love. Walking through the countryside. I'd love to get out there again.
    Bless you KG.

    1. Leaving the politics aside (which is not insignificant), I agree. Wheen I was blessed with a pair of 'biological feet', I conquered up to half of the SWCP over a long period of time.

      Fast forward: in the absence of functioning ankles, there are pavements (sorry – footways) throughout Surrey which are at least as challenging as the South West Coast Path.

      1. I admire your perseverance Geoff.
        And the rewards are remarkable and memorable.
        In my current position I'm not able to attempt to walk to isolated places in case my bloody knee gives way. I wish I could.
        Compared to yours and my other amputees experiences. Mine is physically minor. But annoyingly debilitating.
        Talking about my generation, I hope I don't die before I get old.
        Roger Daltry and others.
        All the best 🤗

        1. I;m already old, Eddy… 😀

          In all honesty, I've become lazy. Why take a train at £3.10 return, when Deliveroo (leaving aside the uplift in price) charges less for delivery?.

          I miss walking. Covered many miles with the former partner. We remained friends for years, but now she's "met someone" and is 'in love'.

          Seriously, I'm genuinely delighted for her, being in her mid-Seventies. Her new partner, not so much. He'll need therapy, at least…

    2. I expect I'll be lighting the Rayburn. It's 0.5 degrees C outside here at the moment and the oil heating isn't coping very well.

  127. Some of you might remember the case of Alfred Swinscoe, a Nottinghamshire miner who disappeared in 1967 and whose remains were discovered in April last year. Today, an inquest ruled that he was unlawfully killed. Police identified two murder suspects, now dead, but they have not been named.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3572z2q2xo

    Expect a documentary in the next year or so…

    PS Why does no one die today? Must they all pass away?

    1. A lot of them have been "lost", William, as in "we've lost Auntie Mabel". I usually ask if the bereaved have looked in the fridge. (Well, I think it, but wouldn't dream of saying that out loud.) Lol.

        1. My problem is i do actually say things like that.

          It's the reason i suspect i am on the spectrum.

      2. It was happening even in the days of Inspector Morse. In 'Happy Families', he and Lewis have to dig some way into the past of one of the characters. They travel to Nottingham (probably not in reality but this is TV) to ask about someone with possible links to the case. A middle-aged woman tells them: "You won't find him here, me duck, he moved over, well, fifteen year now." Morse: "Please can you tell us where he moved to? It's very important." Woman: "Oh no love, no. He moved over to the other side."

        As they leave, Morse says contemptuously: "Why couldn't she just say he was dead?"

      3. It was happening even in the days of Inspector Morse. In 'Happy Families', he and Lewis have to dig someway into the past of one of the characters. They travel to Nottingham (probably not in reality but this is TV) to ask about someone with possible links to the case. A middle-aged woman tells them: "You won't find him here, me duck, he moved over, well, fifteen year now." Morse: "Please can you tell us where he moved to? It's very important." Woman: "Oh no love, no. He moved over to the other side."

        As they leave, Morse says contemptuously: "Why couldn't she just say he was dead?"

    1. Another labour PM in the past was very handy with D Notices.

      What are they trying to hide this time ?

    2. D-notices are not enforceable and are only usually issued for 'matters of national security'. The public will draw their own conclusions.

  132. Oh dear Erin's put I'm a slebrity get me out of here.
    I'm not but I'm off to bed.
    Night all. 😴

    1. The UK is, largely, a secular nation. There is no need to alienate muslim, just do what needs to be done and change who can vote. Revoke universal franchise! Reduce welfare to 3 months. Scrap child benefit.

      The foreign savages will soon leave.

  136. From the Daily Mail

    Police did nothing when I reported yobs attacking cars with a crowbar. But TWO turned up on my doorstep over my tweet, reveals JULIE BINDEL. It's state harassment and I know who is to blame…
    One car window exploded with a crash, then another. Two yobs were running along our street with a crowbar, howling as they vandalised the vehicles.

    I was on my way back from the park with the dog after a late evening walk. Afraid of what might happen if the youths caught sight of me, I stood well back, reached for my phone and dialled 999.

    The call handlers’ response left me speechless. I was scolded, told off for wasting their time. This was not an emergency, they said.

    I should have called 101, the number for non-urgent incidents, if I wished to make a report.

    Six weeks later, when I answered a knock on the door to see two female police officers, the first thought that flashed through my mind was that this must be somehow connected.

    How wrong I was.

    They were not calling at my home, at lunchtime on a Sunday, to discuss vandalism. ‘We are here to talk to you about a hate crime,’ said one.

    I invited them to come in, and we went into the study, leaving my lunch guests to wonder what on earth was going on.

    The case of journalist Allison Pearson, who is being investigated over a year-old tweet by Essex Police, has sparked an outcry
    The case of journalist Allison Pearson, who is being investigated over a year-old tweet by Essex Police, has sparked an outcry
    After being visited by two police officers at home, Julie Bindel says she was not allowed to know what it was she had written that was being investigated as a 'hate crime'
    After being visited by two police officers at home, Julie Bindel says she was not allowed to know what it was she had written that was being investigated as a 'hate crime'
    A complaint, said the first officer, had been filed about something I’d written on Twitter (this was 2019 before the social media platform became X).

    She had the grace to look slightly embarrassed, as though she, like me, couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of her own mouth. Her colleague was looking up, down, sideways – anywhere but straight at me.

    I asked what the tweet said. They replied that they were not able to divulge that information. Apparently, I was not permitted to know what it was I’d written that was being investigated as a ‘hate crime’.

    I asked what category of ‘hate crime’ was involved. I wasn’t permitted to know that either. I asked who had complained and they became a little more forthcoming. A ‘transgender man’ in Holland had instigated the inquiry.

    That boggled my mind. I started to ask how on earth a police investigation could be launched because someone in another country felt aggrieved about something they’d read on social media.

    Under which legal jurisdiction, I wanted to know, did this alleged offence fall? If it went to court, would the case be heard in Britain or the Netherlands?

    The police didn’t want to discuss that, naturally enough, since they didn’t have a clue about the answers. Instead, they invited me to appear at the station the next day to make a statement.

    ‘Absolutely not,’ I said.

    That flummoxed them. They explained that I had to discuss this matter with a senior officer. In that case, I told them, they should have brought a senior officer with them.

    One of my guests stuck her head round the door, learned what was going on, and warned the duo that they might end up facing a complaint themselves if they didn’t drop this nonsense.

    They left, with me haranguing them all the way to the door about the scandalous failure of the British justice system, and the shocking waste of police resources – with two constables sent to investigate a tweet, when complaints of domestic violence are too often ignored until women are murdered by their partners.

    For the rest of the day, I felt sick to my stomach. Most women in my situation might have felt browbeaten and intimidated into handing themselves in at the station.

    I’m fortunate that, after decades of fighting to end domestic abuse, I have some knowledge of the law and a good support network of people ready to back me up, including my very understanding partner.

    But it makes me livid that on at least two occasions I have felt sufficiently alarmed by death threats on social media, and threats of violence to my loved ones, that I’ve gone to the police – and they’ve done nothing.

    Instead, I’ve felt patronised, as though I’m seen as an attention-seeker who enjoys the melodrama.

    There is a double standard here. Women like me have frequently faced physical attack and venomous verbal abuse for our beliefs – namely, that the fundamental biological differences between males and females cannot be erased.

    Read More
    STEPHEN GLOVER: How police intimidated a respected journalist over a tweet
    article image
    Our opponents on social media are able to say whatever they like, however threatening. But when one of them feels unhappy at something (factual and non-violent) that I’ve said, I get an intimidating visit from the police.

    And I’m far from alone. The case of journalist Allison Pearson, who is being investigated over a year-old tweet, has sparked an outcry since it made headlines last week. Essex Police have since defended their decision to investigate her.

    The campaigner Maya Forstater also opened the door to police on her doorstep, in July 2023, following a complaint of alleged ‘transphobia’, and the inquiry remained open for 15 months. She has only recently been told that it has been closed.

    That amounts to state harassment. It has ominous echoes of East Germany under the Stasi secret police and many people might buckle under the pressure.

    I don’t blame the police themselves, certainly not the rank-and-file who are sent on these fools’ errands. I have good friends in the force, and I’m quite sure none of them joined to crack down on social media spats.

    But I do blame the virtue-signalling liberal establishment that encouraged the selfish, self-deluding trans lobby.

    Women who should have known better, such as historian Mary Beard and novelist Margaret Atwood, tried to ingratiate themselves with the baying activists who drown out all debate by shouting: ‘Trans women are women!’

    Peter Tatchell, the gay activist who used to proclaim himself such an enthusiastic feminist, poured fuel on the fire by saying that, though he recognised my right to free speech, he abhorred my ‘transphobia’.

    People like these, the luvvies who are desperate to be on the ‘right side of history’ as they call it, are the ones most responsible for a truly iniquitous situation – where failure to hold the approved beliefs can bring the police to your door.

    1. I was visited by a Police officer (we live in Essex) on a Sunday lunchtime when my wife and I were providing a Sunday roast for her parents.

      The little twit Policeman stated that he had received a complaint about physical damage to my neighbours property. He asked to see the enormous Leylandii tree hedge which separated my property from the neighbour. We have a shed window and my wife had cut a sort of peephole by removing a few light branches of a Leylandi in order to allow a bit of daylight.

      At this point I should explain that I had fought and defeated my neighbour’s plans to build several houses on the field behind us, the former site of chicken sheds which had long since been removed in exchange for the ability to build a couple of ‘executive’ dwellings on a part of the site.

      The neighbour, a nasty little bastard Freemason occupying an executive position on Braintree District Council had clearly organised this harassment. The Policeman told us that we had criminally damaged our neighbour’s property.

      After a few days we calmed down and my dear wife arranged to meet the Police chief then based in Great Yeldham. My wife received an apology and was told that the officer should not have visited us at lunchtime on a Sunday. My wife was told that said officer was recently divorced as though that was any viable excuse for the intrusion.

      I suppose the Police officer was a member of the same Lodge as my neighbour and had been put up to it so to speak.

      I should add that the Leylandi ‘hedge’ had been allowed to grow to a height of 30 feet, thus casting our beautiful garden in shadow for half of the day.

  137. Apparently the Chinese have endorsed the ‘economic plans’ of HMG.

    You bet they have, they must be laughing their socks off!

  138. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    A couple of weeks ago, at one of my local bars in Antequera, a waiter asked me something as he served our glasses of wine. I didn’t catch it, so I asked him to repeat what he’d said. After the third time, I still hadn’t understood and clearly wasn’t going to. This guy has a thick Andalusian accent and sprays out about a thousand syllables per minute, but we usually communicate without problems.

    Two Spanish girlfriends also taught me a lot, and that’s definitely the most fun way to learn a language

    There’s also a local character, we call him ‘Gummy’, who roams the streets asking for cigarettes or change. I never understand a word he says either, except for ‘eurito’ (a little euro) or ‘cigarillo’ (cigarette). In my defence, he has no teeth. Not understanding a waiter I speak to several times a week, after having lived in Andalusia for almost ten years, felt like a real setback.

    I would describe my Spanish, both in terms of comprehension and speaking, as ‘very proficient’. But the incident in the bar helped me realise something that I’ve suspected for a while – that I’m still a level or two away from fluency. According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFRL), a learner achieves the highest level (C2/‘Mastery’) when they can ‘understand with ease virtually everything heard or read’ and ‘express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations’.

    I understand a lot but not always ‘with ease’ – and sometimes, clearly, not at all. When it comes to speaking, grammar is my main weak point. I didn’t learn Spanish at school and only attended a few classes when I arrived in Granada. Instead, I learned en la calle, or ‘in the street’ – from Spanish friends, transactional settings, billboards, apps and subtitles. Two Spanish girlfriends also taught me a lot, and that’s definitely the most fun way to learn a language. But the osmosis method has its limitations, and I haven’t yet acquired the grammatical command required for fluency.

    Another aspect of the CEFRL definition of ‘Mastery’ that deserves attention is ‘spontaneity’ – i.e. not having to gear yourself up to speak in your second language. When, like me, you have a high level but aren’t fluent, contextual factors can still make you feel like a toddler. Unfamiliar topics of discussion; arguments or stressful situations; speaking on the phone; accents, including those of Andalusian waiters; and group discussions in which everyone talks over each other – all these things present difficulties. Fluency protects you against the vagaries of context.

    Flawless comprehension, grammatical mastery and a large vocabulary all contribute to fluency, but they don’t define it. How you speak is also important. According to the Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, speech is fluent when it has ‘the qualities of being natural and normal, including native-like use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress, rate of speaking, and use of interjections and interruptions’. In these respects, my spoken Spanish is fluent, or very close to being fluent.

    When at ease, I can speak rapidly, without having to translate back and forth in my mind. My accent instantly gives me away as an expatriate, of course, but it has been complimented by Spaniards. I roll my Rs, shorten my vowels and hack my Js. Sometimes I even swallow the endings of words or roll a couple together, like Andalusians do. These aspects of linguistic facility come from cultural immersion, from mimicking native speakers. My sister also lives in Andalusia, and once told a Spanish friend that she was considered well-spoken in English. ‘Well, when you speak Spanish, you sound like a farmer,’ came the response. A wonderful compliment, even if it wasn’t intended as one.

    Cultural immersion is also required to absorb the non-literal ways in which words and phrases are used. Several years ago, as I browsed the shelves in a local shop, the owner came up to me and said ‘Que haces?’ – literally, ‘What are you doing?’ Wasn’t it obvious? ‘I’m, er… Well, I’m shopping,’ I stammered. That was when I realised he was asking ‘What’s up?’ or ‘How’s it going?’, and all I needed to say in reply was ‘Todo bien, gracias!’ Another natural response would have been ‘Bueno, aqui estamos’ – ‘Well, here we are’. I certainly wasn’t being accused of shoplifting.

    Spaniards have an ingenious way of avoiding the kind of encounters parodied so brilliantly in an early Mitchell and Webb sketch. When acquaintances pass on the street, they say ‘Hasta luego!’ (‘See you later!’) to each other and keep walking, thus ensuring that the conversation’s over before it’s even begun. I used to say ‘Hello!’ in these contexts, but now I call out ‘Goodbye!’ like the locals, sometimes with great relief. These might seem like insignificant examples, but they contribute to cultural fluency, without which there can’t be fluency in language. The same goes for nailing the subjunctive, if only it were something I could learn by osmosis.

    WRITTEN BY
    Mark Nayler

    1. Thanks for posting; very timely. I was just trying to explain to someone why I am not yet fluent*; having the precise definitions to hand will help next time!

      * I have a good ear and suppose it's a natural assumption that if someone's accent is pretty decent, they must be fluent.

    2. I will be here until the morrow.

      Presently catching up with The Duran viz. Alexander Mercouris podcasting from Budapest. Then I will check in on Locals or Rumble for the Dan Bongino Show.

      There is absolutely no point in wasting time expecting accurate news from our very own BBC, presently considered a laughing stock by sensible people all over the world.

      I must add that of Starmer pretends to sending long range missiles to Ukraine this will be seen by the Russians as an Act of War. The Russians will not bomb Westminster but will in reaction to the Starmer idiocy provide advanced weaponry and assistance to countries such as Iran.

      Where are the supposed grown-ups we were promised to replace the toothless Tories. Well apparently they have been replaced with a bunch of toothless liars and dissemblers equipped with dentures that fall out and have to spend the night in a jar of Steradent.

        1. I follow The Duran on Locals and Rumble. They seem to have access to both American and Russian political insights. They are presently in Hungary gaining information about Hungary’s strategic outlook and other considerations.

          The Duran regularly invite both Russian and Americans and other commentators on their channels. These are serious political observers seeking an understanding of world affairs.

          2. I find that there are so many sites that there is not enough time to look at them all. One of the great things about NoTTL is the fact that people post articles from various different sites and forums, so that we get a broad input.

        2. I follow The Duran on Locals and Rumble. They seem to have access to both American and Russian political insights. They are presently in Hungary gaining information about Hungary’s strategic outlook and other considerations.

          The Duran regularly invite both Russian and Americans and other commentators on their channels. These are serious political observers seeking an understanding of world affairs.

        3. I follow The Duran on Locals and Rumble. They seem to have access to both American and Russian political insights. They are presently in Hungary gaining information about Hungary’s strategic outlook and other considerations.

          The Duran regularly invite both Russian and Americans and other commentators on their channels. These are serious political observers seeking an understanding of world affairs.

    3. I will be here until the morrow.

      Presently catching up with The Duran viz. Alexander Mercouris podcasting from Budapest. Then I will check in on Locals or Rumble for the Dan Bongino Show.

      There is absolutely no point in wasting time expecting accurate news from our very own BBC, presently considered a laughing stock by sensible people all over the world.

      I must add that of Starmer pretends to sending long range missiles to Ukraine this will be seen by the Russians as an Act of War. The Russians will not bomb Westminster but will in reaction to the Starmer idiocy provide advanced weaponry and assistance to countries such as Iran.

      Where are the supposed grown-ups we were promised to replace the toothless Tories. Well apparently they have been replaced with a bunch of toothless liars and dissemblers equipped with dentures that fall out and have to spend the night in a jar of Steradent.

  140. Well I've enjoyed today and, as it's now my new bedtime of 11 pm, I shall wish you all a very Good Night. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow shortly after 7 am.

    1. Goodnight, Elsie. Sleep well with your new pattern. I doubt very much you'll see me shortly after 7am! 🙂

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