Monday 19 August: Give courageous Ukrainians the freedom they need to repel Russia

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.

718 thoughts on “Monday 19 August: Give courageous Ukrainians the freedom they need to repel Russia”

  2. M'ning:
    Wordle 1,157 4/6

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

  3. Give courageous Ukrainians the freedom they need to repel Russia. 19 August 2024.

    SIR – The sheer courage and audacity of Ukraine’s unexpected incursion into Russia have surprised us all (“Ukraine pleads: Let us use Storm Shadows in Russia”, report, August 18). The outcome is uncertain, but the hope is that Russia will be forced to the negotiating table and that a just peace may be achieved.

    This is one of three letters saying much the same thing; that we should loosen any restraints on the weapons we have given to Ukraine. I’m sure that it’s not a coincidence. The Nudge Unit trolls on the Ukraine threads say much the same thing though they don’t mention negotiations; rather the opposite. They absolutely refuse to countenance the idea. This said the call here is a false one. It is not Russia that is refusing to negotiate but the Globalist Cartel that supports Ukraine. Despite the number of articles (and this letter) extolling the achievement of the cross border incursion into Kursk one suspects that it is a last desperate effort to prevent a Ukie collapse.

    We should not discount the possibility of Domestic Politics on this decision. A Russian victory just before a Presidential Election would not really be welcome at the White House. The weapons will not change this but they might very well provoke a Russian response that we will all regret.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/08/19/give-courageous-ukrainians-freedom-to-repel-russia/

      1. This should be investigated. According to the article, last year Liz Kendall claimed a figure for her ‘second home’ that is about 80% of my bill for my ‘first home’. I have a 5 bed house and I do a lot of cooking. I have had family staying for extended periods this year so that the washing machine seems to be on constantly. I also have an electric car that gets charged at home!
        Is Ms Kendall leaving her ‘second home’ with the heating on full blast regardless of whether or not she is there? What size is this ‘second home’ and does anybody else occupy it?

        1. Not a chance of investigation, she is claiming £2,400 so that she can carry out her "duties" in the government, in great comfort. Bless.

    2. Imagine if the Tories had done it. We would never hear the end of it. There would be organised marches by the “perpetually offended” Leftards which would be all over the Grauniad and Al- Beeb. But Liebour get a free pass.

  7. 391993+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Generosity is one thing and can come at a very high cost,priorities are another, in reality how can one race of peoples under daily attack both internally and externally be expected to
    grant freedom to another.

    Ukraine is fighting for freedom but when eyes are finally opened
    so are the peoples of Great Britain, and have been doing so for a great deal longer.

    Monday 19 August: Give courageous Ukrainians the freedom they need to repel Russia

    1. Terrible picture. Looks like a bandit from Ibadan, not a holder of one of the highest positions in the country.
      A picture like that would make me want to change nationality to, say, Burkina Faso, and rise in the world.

    3. It is now clear to the Americans that the EU and UK are no longer to be considered allies but adversaries. The insults levelled at President Trump by Lammy follow those of Clown Boris and more recently an insulting letter sent by some midget in the EU.

      Expect President Trump to defund NATO, to stop giving billions of dollars to Ukraine and thus to saddle the EU and UK with picking up the pieces. This will lead to the demise of the EU and a shattering of Two Tier Kier’s dream of putting the UK back into that dysfunctional charade.

      Starmer has made a truly shocking ham fisted mess of everything he has touched and his imbecility proceeds apace. I expect the Labour government to fall in disarray when Ukraine falls, hopefully in time for the US Presidential election in November.

  11. Fears Labour’s misogyny extremism law would threaten free speech. 19 August 2024.

    Ann Widdecombe, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, said Ms Cooper’s plan was not necessary.

    “If you commit violence against women and girls, that’s already a crime,” she said. “If you preach misogyny, that’s already a crime. What exactly isn’t a crime?

    “They should enforce the existing laws and stop looking to create crimes, which is what they’re doing.”

    But Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, told LBC the move was necessary to “prevent” misogyny, rather than “criminalising people who are showing signs”.

    This is all totally mad of course. The ravings of Marxist Ideologues. I have yet to meet anyone calling out “Women must be destroyed” like some demented Dalek.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/18/labour-warned-misogyny-extremism-law-threatens-free-speech/

    1. Gone very quiet on that 10 year old girl found dead in a Croydon semi.
      Did her 'parents' ever return from their holiday in Pakholeistan?
      What's that? Oh yes, "sub judice" ….. until we've all forgotten about it.

    1. [Note that the version posted here is much funnier than Aeneas's version about 15" below] {:^))

  13. Good morning, chums, and thanks to you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,157 4/6

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

  14. I heard last night that there are people in the diplomatic world who are so dismayed by the stance and behaviour of our Foreign Secretary that they describe him as "the David Lammy of British politics."

  15. 'Morning All
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b8727cd32744a987954447fc8e68308d3ee950801a94ef07f10141abf73cc89.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03359686bdbd6aba7114239ae5ae515237642e166f33fb69cec8c92110cdc42c.jpg
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d80fc448dae6128b938acfbde81861d46f7ce36af35f2ef13a35271807e0c90.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e52d4d81714104d009ad8fb68361cfca92aa64b3ec6d0e565b0765283f60131d.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e3cc321f23ae4d7e4c2cf8ea1469c3a521d125b9c517b00b6ce91511901aab29.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2545128e792b93b82361fab7293c843f484fce989a3bd47d8767458c3971db1f.jpg
    Finish with #HateFacts
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCU1QnMr0n8

    2. If our betters are so concerned when racists in the Children's Commission get the BBC to report that "four times as many black children are likely to be strip-searched", several questions that need to be asked of commissioners by proper journalists rather than parroting press releases and huffing woke-concocted outrage:

      1. How is "black" defined, as opposed to "brown", "mixed", "ginger" or Welsh miner?

      2. Talking of minors, are 17-year-old adolescents considered as much children as the pre-pubescent?

      3. Most crucially, are people in certain social categories or with certain cultural norms four times as likely to carry drugs or knives on their person, and that taking it off them is sensible policing?

      1. Indeed, ref #3, what are the results of what looks like targetted searching. Lots of finds, maybe?

      2. The faux outrage of "blacks picked on for stop and search" is a classic of "lies,damned lies and statistics"
        In many areas of London after 7pm there are simply 4 times(or more) as many black kids on the streets as white kids
        QED!!

    3. I'm looking for a recipe for a cake dense enough to conceal a file.
      Just make sure your gaol is within Noddy car driving distance of the Dower House.

      1. Don't bother, Anne. A couple of dozen of Rik's best mates are already inside for causing affrays and have assembled a full tool kit for a riot and mass break-out

  16. Good morning all.
    A calm, dry start, but overcast with 6°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    1. I listened to this last night when it was posted here. I have emailed the link to my sons (aged 30 and 28) and will be interested to hear what they think of it.

    1. Just for once, a beautiful, cloudless day here, but chilly.
      Neighbour has workmen in, chiselling their path to re-lay it. Not very peaceful.

  21. Eeuw.
    Article in the paper here, Aftenposten ( https://www.aftenposten.no/verden/i/Rz5B8J/ett-av-fire-britiske-barn-bruker-bleie-naar-de-begynner-paa-skolen ) about how British kids about to start at school aged 5 are STILL not yet potty trained and wear nappies – and how the teachers aren't looking forward to that. The paper quotes the Guardian ( https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/feb/28/one-in-four-school-starters-in-england-and-wales-not-toilet-trained-say-teachers ) as blaming a lack of social development resulting from lockdown, together with tha many cannot feed themselves or dress themselves, or use a book like a book and not an iPad.
    So, teachers are getting all tangled up in servicing kids baser needs rather than teaching them anything… there will be problems from that in the future, be sure of that – like, behaviour in class, ability to read, do sums, even socialise.

    1. This is not a new problem.
      Some 20 years ago, the daughter of a German friend spent 6 months at a school in Newcastle to learn English (her Geordie accent was impressive). She stayed with a local family. Apparently the 3 year old child was still in nappies, and if he asked for the loo, was told to fill his nappy.

    2. They can teach them all about hate crime while changing their nappies. DO look on the bright side.

    3. We made sure that our boys could read fluently at the age of four and were clean without nappies well before they were 18 months old.

      Don't most civilised people do that?

      (Caroline generally used cloth nappies and only used things like Pampers when we were travelling)

        1. Some parents only have children for the benefits. Some are too busy working they don't invest time in their children – developing language skills and toilet training.

    4. Nothing new. 30y ago a friend, teaching in SE London, was expected by one child's mother to wipe her daughter's arse because said daughter was getting "skid marks on her knickers!"

    5. My daughter was potty rained at 18 – 24 months, my son too. If only to save on nappies. And I used proper ones. These modern people who have no money but can afford to keep their children in expensive non-biodegradable disposable nappies for 5 years.

      1. I was potty trained at eleven months. That was when I got on my feet and my mother believed that once a child could walk, you could damn well dispense with nappies.

      2. Agree with you , Terry napkins and muslin liners , and a a bucket of napisan and a burco boiler .. plus a good washing line .. heyho , modern disposables cost a fortune .

        Parents don't potty train from a year onwards , nor do they lift their little ones during the night to wee .

    6. Bet you there's a match between demographic and not being toilet trained.

      Heck, at 5 Junior was reading the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

      1. One medical check-up, Firtsborn (aged 5 or a bit less) was asked to build a pyramid of wooden blocks by Nurse.
        So, he built it standing on the point (a single block) with its base in the air, so inverted. It's quite difficult. Nurse marked him down… it wasn't how she expected.

  22. Good Moaning.
    A small matter, but I am impressed.
    One of our favourite minor treats is Lidl's Madagascan Vanilla Custard.
    It hasn't been on the shelves for several weeks.
    Yesterday, I emailed them to ask if it had been discontinued.
    This morning, an email, timed at 7.20 this morning, pinged into my inbox
    Whether anything will come of it is another matter, but at least they had the courtesy to read my email and reply to it.

    Here is the relevant section.

    "Re: Madagascan Vanilla Custard

    I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't find the item you were looking for.

    Our products change from time to time, so I'm unable to provide any specific information on when or if it will be back in stock.

    Thank you for asking about this item, I’ve let our Buying team know you’d like to see this back soon."

    1. "Thank you for asking about this item, I’ve let our Buying team know you’d like to see this back soon.""

      Translation. "Not a chance. Now just piss off and stop bothering us." (a cynic writes….)

    3. That's the difference between existing for your customers and getting paid regardless. Councils can take months to bother replying to you, HMRC don't even open envelopes for 6 months, banks and insurance companies don't bother answering the phone but when your money is dependent on you making a choice, suddenly, very obviously the customer is king.

    4. It might be a little more expensive, but Waitrose Madagascan Vanilla Custard is divine. Available in 500ml tubs for 3 quid.

    1. Look at the face of the thing in the middle and try telling me she is fully compos mentis!

    3. Take them to Regents Park. The big cats are hungry. I’m sentimental about animals too but the natural order is what it is.

      1. I'm not sentimental about animals; I don't see them as people in a pelt. Nature is red in tooth and claw.

    4. The moral is clear.
      Eat meat: remain a fit, strong and highly intelligent apex predator.
      Eat vegetation: become a vegetable.

    1. MeGain exercising her 43% Nigerian skills?
      If you or I had posted that photo, Plod would be kicking in our front doors.

      1. Cartagena – the real drug gangland capital of Columbia. It's fresh from today's Grauniad – they are a protected species.

    3. You have to feel sorry for Harry, in a way. But then, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer by a long chalk.

          2. Whilst he'd never have risen to high rank, he could have developed into a decent middle ranking officer in a support role, perhaps training.

      2. I don’t have to feel sorry for him unless one has to feel sorry for anybody who is discontent with their lot.
        This is a very stupid and entitled man who only sees the negatives of what he hasn’t got and never sees the positives of what he has got (although he is doing his level best to turn the latter into the former).

    4. You have to feel sorry for Harry, in a way. But then, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer by a long chalk.

  27. 391993+ upticks,

    Emergency measures activated to tackle prison overcrowding
    Operation Early Dawn came into effect on Monday morning to help manage prison capacity

    It does NOT suit the political kapos to admit there are two factions at work here, firstly there is the small type criminal,opportunity thieves,burglars,shop lifters etc long neglected by the guardians of the law, and then there are
    patriotic marches and gatherings of those seeking freedom from
    rogue political overseers and their odious WEF / NWO agenda.

    ALL encapsulated in one terrorism nutcase.

      1. Lefties won't care because they believe in communism. Normal people won't know who Solzhenitsyn is to understand the context. Starmer and his circus of clowns will probably be proud.

    1. misogynistic & terrorist.. though not in the 'public interest' to label as such.. during The Great Radical Left-Islamist alliance.
      An alliance that maintains regular diplomatic and commercial relations believing they have important mutually beneficial national interests at stake.

    2. The latest Winston Marshall interview is interesting, I’ll try and dig out a link later, it’s with Ibn Warraq on “why I am not a Muslim”.

    4. I can't bring myself to watch that sort of stuff Ogga. I'm censoring that type of propaganda out of the rest of my life.
      It's because I know that my lovely grandchildren's futures are at risk in their own country.

  29. A bit of a whimper, this one.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b248ffc75d8ef06db7e4808d03567a9c6b40521b4b1e043db83c5c5a4aa80719.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/18/five-police-forces-small-protest-immigration-bournemouth/

    What really grabs the attention though, is this:

    Greg Smith, a Conservative MP, told The Telegraph: “Police have to use resources to combat these protests, but it seems a bit odd to me to use five forces who have their own challenges to deal with. This will impact on day-to-day policing.”

    When asked about the Government’s response to the protests the UK has seen in recent weeks, Mr Smith added: “We have to make sure these rioters are stamped out and stamped out hard. Even if [the protest] is anti-climatic, we need as a country to be combating this behaviour as a whole.”

    If you were in any doubt about who whose side the Tories are on this must surely remove it.

    2. Anything that goes against the state line must be stopped. They don't care about the Lefty wasters, the gaza thugs, the socialist wasters. If decent, normal people angry at government policy get uppity – that's got to be squashed.

      If anyone was still under the illusion we lived in a democracy, there's the evidence we don't.

    3. Rioting is the wrong word. And they know it is. It's a protest not a bloody riot. Why don't they take notice of public opinion for a change. The public are usually proven right eventually, but unfortunelty due to all of our pointless roll over politicos when it's too late.
      How can they ever justify the damage they have already done to OUR country.

      1. State policy is massive uncontrolled gimmigration. Those dissenting from that dissent from the state and that cannot be permitted. It's oppression, pure and simple.

        1. It makes not a gram of sense.

          I can't quite remember what happened when pc Blakelock was murdered at the gentle 'disturbance' in Tottenham.
          But for sure there will be a lot more to come. And poor old whitey will get the blame this time. It's already started.

          1. The Left simply do not care. That's the level of hatred they have for those who dissent from big fat state's line. The Left simply don't care how many people are killed as long as the diversity is enforced. It's about destroying and forcing. There's no interest in the slaughter as long as the mantra is upheld.

        2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

          Should extreme misogyny be labelled terrorism?
          Alexander Horne19 August 2024, 10:15am
          The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has reportedly ‘ordered a review’ of Britain’s counter-extremism strategy. According to the Daily Telegraph, she was minded to treat ‘extreme misogyny’ as terrorism for the first time. It is suggested that the review would be completed later in the autumn, and that a new counter-extremism strategy would be launched early next year.

          When discussing this issue, it is tempting to use the terms ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ interchangeably. In law, however, they are not identical and should not be conflated. The definition of terrorism is contained in section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and captures actions, or threats of action, designed to influence the government, or intimidate the public (or sections of the public) where such activities are made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause. Actions and threats covered by section 1 include those which would involve serious violence against a person, endanger a person’s life, or create a serious risk to the safety of the public or a section of the public.

          Organisations engaged in terrorism-related activity can be banned by the state. The dissemination of terrorist publications, and the promotion or encouragement of terrorism (including the glorification of terrorism), is also illegal.

          By contrast, extremism is less well-defined and somewhat of a catch-all term to encompass potentially lawful activities falling short of terrorism, but which may be a precursor to violent action. In March 2024, the then communities secretary Michael Gove announced a new definition of extremism which encompassed those who:

          Promote or advance an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance that aims to:

          1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or

          2. undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or

          3. intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).

          Government efforts to restrict extremism have a long and unhappy history. There have been several reviews of the government’s ‘Prevent’ strategy designed to stop vulnerable people being drawn into terrorism. Typically, the focus has been on Islamic and right-wing extremists who may be referred to deradicalisation programmes.

          In 2016, parliament’s joint committee on human rights produced a detailed report in response to proposals by the then home secretary Theresa May to introduce new legislation to counter extremism. May had sought to introduce a scheme of civil orders which would have allowed the Home Secretary to ban extremist groups and given law enforcement agencies the power to stop individuals engaging in extremist behaviour.

          The select committee was extremely skeptical, noting the difficulties of extending the definition of extremism to encompass non-violent activities and the wide array of terrorism and public order offences which applied to those who advocated violence. It suggested that if one took what appeared to be even straightforward examples, such as seeking to prohibit homophobia, or advocating the subservience of women, there might be a conflict of rights. Such a ban could conflict with conservative religious belief (be that Islam, evangelical Christianity or Orthodox Judaism) leading to issues for those expressing otherwise legal religious views.

          It concluded that if extremism was to be combated through further legal mechanisms, it would be essential to clarify the definition of extremism and that the government should not legislate unless there was a clear gap in the existing legal framework. Such concerns remain relevant today.

          A more recent independent review conducted by Sir William Shawcross earlier this year argued that ‘Prevent must address all extremist ideologies proportionately according to the threat each represents’. Sir William suggested that the current Prevent programme had a ‘double standard’, taking a narrow view of what amounts to Islamist extremism, but taking an ‘expansive’ approach to right wing extremism. He contended that this ‘has been so broad it has included mildly controversial or provocative forms of mainstream, right-wing leaning commentary that have no meaningful connection to terrorism or radicalisation’.

          This is perhaps ironic, given the recent violent disorder on our streets. Yet it highlights the general concerns around trying to police speech which falls short of encouraging violence.

          None of this is to say that there should not be a further review. Women have good cause to be concerned about some of the misogynistic views expressed online, which are often followed by violent threats of rape, assault or murder, both in cyberspace and on our streets. In July, it was reported that police chiefs had admitted that violence against women and girls was a ‘national emergency’ and was a threat on the same scale as terrorism.

          Yet protecting women often seems to have a low priority. The government took a decade to ratify the Istanbul Convention designed to prevent violence against women and girls, while the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer highlighted a series of other failings by the police.

          However, any steps to further limit extremist activities would have to be taken in an even-handed way. Anyone following the fissiparous debates between gender-critical women and their oft-excitable opponents advocating an expansive version of trans rights will have noted a tendency for women to be insulted and threatened in grotesque ways. It is not sufficient simply to identify some ‘misogynistic influencers’ such as Andrew Tate. If the government wants to avoid being accused of hypocrisy, the expression of violent misogynistic views would have to be addressed across the board.

          Thankfully, Labour seemingly doesn’t intend on revisiting the idea of fresh counter-extremism laws. Yet there have been suggestions that it may review the recently-introduced Online Safety Act to toughen up its powers if social media companies do not do more to remove harmful content. This ought to be done in a light-touch way. The swift and punitive response to the recent riots demonstrates that the state already has strong powers to punish keyboard warriors – should it choose to use them.

          Rather than seek to implement new laws and policies, it would probably be more helpful if we enforced those which we currently have more effectively, impartially and justly. Many might take the view that if the government simply took violence against women more seriously, devoted sufficient resources to this issue and gave a proper steer to our police force, much more could be done.

    4. ' Even if [the protest] is anti-climatic, we need as a country to be combating this behaviour as a whole'

      Do we know of anyone protesting against the climate?

  30. Good morning all

    Dull , low cloud , no breeze.

    Watered the garden properly yesterday evening .

    The moon was simply the best when Spannel watered his patch of the garden at midnight , but my goodness , the temperature had really dropped , almost felt frosty .

  31. MMorning all 🙂😊
    Light grey this morning cloudy moon all night.
    I think that this mornings DT headline is designer based on how to distract from what is happening in the UK right now. We have a government that has no respect or consideration for the general public whatsoever.

  33. A somewhat disturbed night. At about 2am the Warqueen decides to get up for some reason which has Oscar move to follow her.

    As we've motion detecting lights (the idea being that you don't have to turn them on AND don't need to turn them off) and those clicked on that woke Mongo who then moved, which woke Junior and as Mongo seems to think I should be told everything he woke me up – by standing on me. Ever had 80 kilos distributed over 4 toilet rolls on your back? I don't recommend it.

    Anyway, his appearance had Lucy wake up and while Mongo is a decent fellow he is still an idiot, so while she backed away he bounded forward (jumping off me) and overturned the drawers and crash clatter….

    At this point Junior's given up stealth and is telling Mongo off jus as the Warqueen returns with a cup of warm water she calls tea and wonders what on Earth happened.

      1. Our medium size black Lab only went up and down the stairs twice during her 12 years with us. She was so well behaved.

        1. Rumpole was a downstairs dog.

          He never, to my knowledge went upstairs but he did look mournfully at Chaucer, our cat, when he did so.

        2. When they're less than 18 months I try to keep the stair going to a minimum, and being honest once Mongo and Junior are upstairs they're mostly there for the evening. If Junior says 'Stay' over dinner he will. If I say it I get ignored, but for Junior he does as he's asked, usually rolling about with his paws in the air.

      3. That's why the rule in this household is "no pets on human beds (or furniture in general".

    2. You have such a gift for description! 🤣🤣

      i do hope you keep some of your writing for Junior to appreciate when he's older.

  34. U&Dave’s Top 15 Funniest Jokes of the Fringe Festival 2024 (The best?)

    1. I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it. – Mark Simmons

    2. I've been taking salsa lessons for months, but I just don't feel like I'm progressing. It's just one step forward… two steps back. – Alec Snook

    3. Ate horse at a restaurant once – wasn’t great. Starter was all right but the mane was dreadful. – Alex Kitson

    4. I sailed through my driving test. That’s why I failed it. – Arthur Smith

    5. I love the Olympics. My friend and I invented a new type of relay baton: well, he came up with the idea, I ran with it.- Mark Simmons

    6. My dad used to say to me “Pints, gallons, litres” – which, I think, speaks volumes – Olaf Falafel

    7. British etiquette is confusing. Why is it highbrow to look at boobs in an art gallery but lowbrow when I get them out in Spoons? – Chelsea Birkby

    8. I wanted to know which came first the chicken or the egg so I bought a chicken and then I bought an egg and I think I've cracked it. – Masai Graham

    9. My partner told me that she’d never seen the film Gaslight. I told her that she definitely had – Zoë Coombs Marr

    10. The conspiracy theory about the moon being made of cheese was started by the hallouminati. – Olaf Falafel

    11. I’m an extremely emotionally needy non-binary person: my pronouns are ‘there there’. – Sarah Keyworth

    12. I've got a girlfriend who never stops whining. I wish I'd never bought her that vineyard – Roger Swift

    13. Gay people are very bad at maths. We don't naturally multiply. – Lou Wall

    14. Keir Starmer looks like an AI-generated image of a substitute teacher – Sophie Duker

    15. Growing up rich is a hereditary condition. It affects 1% of people – Olga Koch

      2. JD Wetherspoons pubs – the surname of one of Tim Martin's teachers in New Zealand, who had told him that he thought he would never amount to much.

    3. 2. I've been taking salsa lessons for months, but I just don't feel like I'm progressing. It's just one step forward… two steps back. – Alec Snook

      Wow , probably a distant relative on Moh's side .. Thumbs up to someone who braved the Fringe !

  36. Pinched from Face book

    My old – age pension IS NOT a `benefit! `.
    " Mine, by right ! ".
    All my life did I pay, week by week, day by day,
    From my regular weekly wage,
    To give me a pension of some sort,
    That would help me, in my own age.
    Year by year my deductions were taken,
    By the clerk, from my pay, at the pit,
    And I thought at this time, that this pension was mine,
    I thought I was paying for it.
    I was told, in my age, it was part of my wage,
    Not a `benefit`, there to be sought,
    I had paid all my life, both myself, and my wife,
    I thought it was something i`d bought.
    So don`t tell me now i`m a beggar,
    And don`t say that my pension`s a gift,
    It was part of a contract between us,
    And I kept my own part of it.
    Don`t say that it costs you a fortune,
    To pay out on these pensions each day,
    For you have had our money and spent it,
    Or given it all away.
    You must honour your own obligation,
    Pay MY pension in full, and on time,
    It was part of my pay, week by week, day by day,
    It was only deferred, – IT IS MINE !.

    1. The slimiest, most dishonest thing that politicians of all political persuasions have lied about is pensions. People have paid for their pensions throughout their working lives and pensions are not a "benefit."

      If Ms Reeves was serious and sincere about raiding pensions to boost government's resources she would immediately cut MPs' pensions by 70% and then set to work on trimming all public sector pensions.

      Sadists attack the weakest: in schools the bully attacks the young and defenceless; Bullybitch Reeves picks on the old and frail.

      1. There is no State pension pot.
        The current workers are paying the pensions of the retired workers, not investing in their own. The "contributions qualification" is just a device to see how much the current workers are obliged to pay you.

        The State really needs a sudden pandemic or freezing winter with long duration power cuts, to cull the over 70's significantly.

      2. My mo takes home more each fortnight in 'expenses" than I take in 12 months in my pension. That I contributed to for 47 years.

      3. When you were the official School Bully at Blundell's, did you have your own office with the name plaque "School Bully" on the door?

        The School Bully in Tomkinson's Schooldays (in Michael Palin's "Ripping Yarns") did.🤣

      1. Well, it's certainly not in one's own hands …. others decide on what one gets. If they stopped all pensions for a year for "far-right" voters, it'd be a helluva job to get this decision changed …

    3. There is no written contract for the pay-as-we-go Ponzi scheme, which is the state pension.

      1. Surely contracts do not necessarily have to be written to become de facto? There is plenty of information in the public domain about what the UK state pensions system is and DWP (and its forerunners) would write periodically to people about their contributions record, sometimes exhorting them to make additional contributions to ensure they received a full pension.

  37. Protecting landscapes
    SIR – Your report (August 15), says that Natural England is “accelerating efforts to classify large tracts of English countryside as national landscapes” to prevent the building of energy infrastructure and housing.

    However, the designation of national landscapes follows an established route, including a period of consultation, as set out in legislation, and there has been no acceleration of this process. Further, designations are used to protect areas of value to people and nature, not as a tool to prevent development.

    Sustainable development and nature recovery must go hand-in-hand – whether in housing or infrastructure projects – to reverse the historic declines in species and habitat loss.

    We work closely with developers and local authorities to achieve sustainable development and restore our natural world. Doing so ensures that we fulfil our legal duty to help the Government reach its environmental and climate goals.

    Marian Spain
    Chief executive, Natural England
    London SW1

    J McMenemy
    33 min ago
    Natural England "We're the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. We help to protect and restore our natural world."
    Number One Priority " a well-managed Nature Recovery Network across land, water and sea, which creates and protects resilient ecosystems rich in wildlife and natural beauty, enjoyed by people and widely benefiting society".
    Well that's going very well Marian Spain (with your 3000 staff) isn't it?
    Rivers and seas are swamped with sewage.
    Dead fish are floating in our polluted rivers & canals (cyanide anyone?).
    Birds and marine life killed off by all the wind turbines etc.
    Never mind you monitor and publish information on your workforce's protected characteristics (39 pages): age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
    So that's fantastic isn't it? Job well done.
    Mrs M

    Comment by bonzo dog.

    bd

    bonzo dog
    15 min ago
    Re Marian Spain and Natural England.
    "We work closely with developers and local authorities to achieve sustainable development and restore our natural world."
    Nice work if you can get it.
    Remuneration package 2022-2023 £190-£195K. Included £52K pension, a salary of £130-£135K and some performance related pay.
    Wonder how they measure performance.
    Mrs d

    1. I am utterly sick of authorities getting pervily involved with what is in people'e pants, frankly. They have no right to ask about preferred sexuality or what kind of relationship you are in, or even, how you title yourself. Talk about overreach. Perverts. There is definitely some weird sexual element to all this. Why are the BBC so eager to talk about sex all the time? State sanctioned perverted deviancy.

      Sorry, that was prompted by 39 pages on other people's sexual habits (which is what it really boils down to). But yes, that aside, Labour's policy is hypocritical. Build more and yet save the environment? I can't wrap my head around those conflicting messages so I won't even try. Another one is, people are ruining our environment but let's import more and impoverish the lands where these people come from by welcoming their potential workforce and communities here. Madness. And another thing, if Miliband is really that environmentally conscious, why didn't he refer to it on his Edstone? Or is it just a new mania for him to latch onto?

      1. Quite right. Their interest in strangers' sex is both unnecessary and disquieting.

        1. More interested in their perversions than their abilities to do a certain job.
          And as always, it starts at the top.

    2. "Your report (August 15), says that Natural England is “accelerating efforts to classify large tracts of English countryside as national landscapes” to prevent the building of energy infrastructure and housing. access by ordinary people and bring it under control of elites who will argue and pontificate over it until one of them scores a point in their virtue signalling game. Just like the National Trust. It's not to be enjoyed by the people, at least we are clear about that."

  38. I think it has been well proven now that Multicultural Western countries cannot function without two tier agendas running through public services, laws, employment, housing, policing, religious and cultural tolerance.
    It all stems from our politicians being too weak to stand up for one rule for all, exceptions are made, the Left have used race for leverage purposes and division for decades, they just cannot help themselves.
    The indigenous Westerners culture still mostly live by the old rules and ways of doing things, leaving them as the fall guys for everything that goes wrong.

  39. Lord Clarke backs Tom Tugendhat to be next Tory leader
    The Tory peer praises the shadow security minister for his charisma and views on defence, saying he has intelligent views based on knowledge
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/18/lord-clarke-backs-tom-tugendhat-next-tory-leader/

    That's the kiss of death for Tugenhat!

    All he needs is for Heseltine to back him too and the undertaker will have to commission his carpenter to get busy making the coffin!

    1. I'm not sure any of the "hopefuls" have any charisma, or intelligence, but of the sorry bunch Dogendtwat is surely the least among equals?

    3. And if he does become Tory (In Name Only) Leader, that will be the kiss of death for the party.

  40. He (Tugendhat) has been known to wear a tie associated with the Special Boat Service, prompting speculation that for part of his career he may have worked alongside them is a Walter Mitty. (Wiki – slightly amended).

    1. All these people are an absolute travesty of what a proper Tory leader ought to be.

  42. "A child was strip-searched by police every 13 hours on average over the past five years"

    I wonder what on earth it can have done to be treated in that way for so long……. One has some sympathy with it!!

    1. Stop it you. Picking on people just because they were never exposed to grammar lessons at school.

    2. I think Jimmy Savile was part-time officer in the BBC Police (Health and Morality division) during that period.

    3. I wonder what ages the "children" were?
      16? 17? 17½?
      And what was found on them?

  43. The majority deeply divided disunited fractured & taxed into oblivion, the Muslim minority takes control.
    .
    there will be a situation where you will only be able to buy halah food.
    there will be a situation where you will be called to prayer across most cities.
    there will be a situation where you will take Friday & Saturday off but not Sunday.
    .
    Salami tactics, one step at a time, then look back and realise Good Lord we've been conquered.
    .
    Buckle up. https://youtu.be/C1As6yk3NXk?t=1032

    1. If there are any historians permitted — after the takeover of Europe is complete — they will surely record the inarguable fact that the indigenous white population of a continent simply rolled over and committed suicide.

      This would be the only verdict possible, since it is crystal clear that no whitey has any semblance of a fight left in him.

      1. simply rolled over and committed suicide.

        or, taken out by one of those blummin Welsh men.. again.

        Man, 20, charged murder and having sex with a dead body after woman stabbed to death in Kent..

        1. Ffs. Seriously? Yet when we protest we go straight to jail, ahead of the pdf-files etc.

        2. "Ernestas Juska, 20, from Dartford,"
          FROM Dartford? Or simply a Dartford Resident?

      2. simply rolled over and committed suicide.

        or, taken out by one of those blummin Welsh men.. again.

        Man, 20, charged murder and having sex with a dead body after woman stabbed to death in Kent..

      3. Well. Lots of is are trying not to roll over. But we have been sabotaged by our politicians , cheered on by legacy media. who arrest us for thought crime, and cheer on the barbaric colonialists as some form of superior “culture”.

    1. Indeed I did, at times; and I certainly knew how to work a beat, give confidence to the law-abiding public, and worry the non-law-abiding.

    1. Didn't you work with Bleksley, Grizz? I'm sure I recognise the name from some of your posts.
      Morning, BTW 😉

  46. Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.

    Any reports on how the smashing of the trafficking gangs is going?

  47. Funny thing. Just picked up a barrow load of fallen apples before the "lawn" is cut. Not a WASP to be seen. There must be a world shortage. Don't care for them, myself – but they are a vital part of the eco-system….

    Anyone noticed the same absence?

    1. You are right.
      I haven't seen any this year.
      Normally, they appear the moment you start eating, particularly outdoors.

    2. It was all the wet weather, Its happened before but do not worry they will be back

      1. Where have all the wasps gone?

        "…almost certainly a direct consequence of the wet weather, winter flooding and general dampness leading to mould growth, impacting the winter survival rate.

        Many wasp nests are created in the ground and will also have been severely impacted by the further flooding across the country in spring and early summer…the population tends to fluctuate from year to year."

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c134621devzo

      2. They're all at wasp university graduating in 'Being a git 101'. Some are doing the advanced topic of 'total git' and a small few completely evil psychopathic sadist wasps are currently doing a masters in gittery level 2.

        Wasps don't die. They just go back to evil git university for the next year of training in being nasty, evil monsters.

    4. Yes, but more massive hornets this year than ever. Hope those bastards freeze in hell, they could carry off small children.

      1. Bees wear top hats and tails. When they're nearby they deliberately tip the hat and go around you with a polite 'sorry!'

        Wasps just want to carry missiles and rockets and machine guns. For a wasp the ideal form is the A10 Warthog.

      2. Back in the 1950s in central London, someone (I can't remember who) paid young schoolchildren a penny for every wasp they caught in a glass jar. Of course the children knew a "nice little earner" so many went to work catching every wasp they could.

        A few weeks later the cricket pitch at Lord's turned brown. It was discovered that a plague of leatherjackets (crane fly larvae) had bred out of all proportion and were eating the grass roots. The reason being that their natural predator, wasps, were not around to keep their numbers in check.

        It seems that people never learn to leave nature alone; wasps have their place in a biosphere as does every other living thing. The only species upsetting the apple-cart is Homo sapien sapiens.

          2. No, if you look carefully they are all clutching their knees or ankles like professional footballers.

    6. Yes, yes yes , nothing here in this part of Dorset , just fruit flies in the compost bin .

      I was feeling very worried 3 years ago , and now I am fretting hugely .

    8. I've seen one wasp and two house flies so far so something very serious is happening. What chemicals are they spraying from aircraft to form chemtrails?

      1. You may be assured that chemtrails comprise chemicals likely to cause harm to both humans and wildlife. It is thought that aluminium oxide, which is carcenogenic, is a component part of the mixture.

        Flight Radar shows the regular pattern of flights made by smaller aircraft zig zagging across East Anglia and spraying the chemicals.

      2. Mess with the delicate balance of plants and insects, and suddenly no fruit next year, and the nastiest stinging creatures around. And most of the pretty tiny birds dead of starvation, too.

        1. Hopefully the tiny birds will be stripping my cotoneasters, rowans, elders and snowberries. The pigeons eat my grapes and lots of things eat my raspberries.

    9. Not many wasps at all. Bumble bee as well as honey bee numbers have increased hugely recently. Maybe some unseasonal times for certain flowering plants.

    11. Yes, insects generally. Possibly dry weather egg laying time. Alternatively, many many cellar spiders…..

    12. Numbers are lower than past years, but there are still some around. I have an old wooden clothes post that they chew the wood off to build the nests, and there are the usual areas where the weathered grey wood has been removed, leaving fresh pale brown exposed.

    13. Quite a few hornets (or gigantic wasps) are appearing at night. Only seen one normal wasp, which I glassed and then released through an open window.

    14. Fewer bees and wasps, and this year for the first time we saw a bee that appeared to be dying of something unspecified.
      Loads of mosquitos. Plenty of blasted cabbage white butterflies. Hordes of flies.

    15. Fewer bees and wasps, and this year for the first time we saw a bee that appeared to be dying of something unspecified.
      Loads of mosquitos. Plenty of blasted cabbage white butterflies. Hordes of flies.

      1. Yes, the US gallon is 80% the volume of the UK gallon. This has the advantage of giving you more gallons in your tank!

          1. US miles used to be shorter than Imperial ones, but they corrected some decades ago to be both the same.

      2. But, but, but.
        The unit of measurement in this case is a tankful rather than a number of gallons either US or UK, or litres.
        I suspect the volume of the tank for whatever car he drives will be similar around the world.

  49. Well, yes? More than 60% of the pump price is tax. Same for energy. More than half is tax, either the taxes levied against gas companies – which go to windmill subsidy and then the direct taxes which are subsidy.

    Our energy and fuel could be half the price they are (and they were before the state decided to weaponise fuel and energy).

      1. More like a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp.

        I found a Twin Wasp in a barn in Foxearth. It probably came from a USAAF Liberator. The engine also powered the Flying Fortress B17 B planes that flew from nearby Ridgewell and the Catalina flying boat.

          1. Foxearth in Essex. It had been brought to the Farm known as Brooke Hall by my clients a Danish couple Hans and Elsemarie Egeskov. The engine was fitted to a steel stand with prop removed and with a carburettor mounted on a part of the frame. It might have been used to drive machinery but who knows.

            I provided photos to Duxford and suggested my clients donate the engine to them. Duxford suggested it was a museum piece but that they would cut it in half and use for display.

            Regrettably when the farm was subsequently sold they took the Twin Wasp engine back to Denmark with them.

            Seeing the superb castings in the construction gave a real appreciation of the technology involved in its production. Many thousands were manufactured during WWII.

    2. The Russians could do worse than follow FM Montgomery's initial tactic in the 'Battle of the Bulge'. When given command of the US Army in the northern part of the Bulge, Montgomery had already ensured that the Meuse River would be a stop line by covering all the bridges in great strength. He then ordered, to the anger of many American officers, that the Americans should fall-back in order rather than stand and fight: he was opening the mouth of the net and allowing the Germans to expand their line and at the same time dissipate their strength. Montgomery knew from Ultra what the American officers didn't, that the Germans were desperate for fuel and that their forces weren't strong enough to resist the counter-attack he was planning with the concentrated force he was building following his order to to fall-back and concentrate rather than stand and fight small but costly battles.

      I very much doubt that Zelensky's generalship is on a par with the FM's.

      Phizzee is correct, you need 'boots on the ground' to secure gains and the greater the gains the more 'boots' one needs. Zelensky doesn't have sufficient 'boots'. It's a foolish move with propaganda as the basis of the plan.

    1. I think so. Yesterday there were ants in the kitchen and last night there were three small but determined fly sort of bugs in the bathroom. No sign of any of them this morning. I emptied the waste bins last night and got rid of opened but not finished stuff in the kitchen cupboard. Hopefully reduced the food supply.

        1. I had a bunch of flying ants in the bathroom. There is no window so how they got in, I've no idea. RAID saw them off.

    2. Not quickly particularly but with money and time most things can be fixed…

  56. 'He's an angry boy': As Prince Harry's faux-royal tour ends, why despite his jollity and cheeky dancing, one pal claims the Duke's American dream 'hasn't turned out the way he wanted'… and shouldn't expect an invitation when Wills takes the throne.

    'I think he misses being over here [in Britain] desperately and wants to be admired more. Anyone who knows him feels he'd rather be top of the pops here with everyone loving him, as they do with William and Kate.'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13755679/Prince-Harry-faux-royal-tour-ends-Colombia-angry.html

    BOO HOO.

  57. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story

    It’s The Way I Tell ‘Em

    A drunk is sitting in a bar. It’s a horrible, wet, windy day outside and he is making no progress with the attractive but seemingly stuck-up barmaid. A confident looking guy walks in, strolls up to the bar and says to the barmaid,

    "Tickle your ass with a feather."

    "I beg your pardon?!" replies the barmaid in a huffy voice.

    "I said, particularly nasty weather!" the guy replies, at which the barmaid laughs and they begin an increasingly intimate conversation.

    Very impressed, the drunk staggers out into the cold and to another bar where an even more attractive barmaid works.

    He sidles up to the bar and as the barmaid approaches, he says, "Stick a feather duster up your ass!"

    "I beg your pardon?!" exclaims the shocked barmaid.

    The drunk smiles and says "Shitty day, isn't it?"

    1. On the subject of Taming Shrews here is a song from another of Shakespeare's plays (The Tempest):

      The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I,
      The gunner, and his mate,
      Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery,
      But none of us cared for Kate;
      For she has a tongue with a tang,
      Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!
      She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch;
      Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch.
      Then, to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

      While we're on the subject:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJIpp2Jj8AQ

    1. "Do Labour even want to secure our borders!?"
      Of course not! Don't be silly.
      Where would @ukLabour's future voters come from if they did?

      1. 391992+ up ticks,

        Afternoon KJ,
        UKIP ALL the years I was a member up until their treacherous take down as a successfully building party under the Gerard Batten leadership, always called for CONTROLLED IMMIGRATION & that really is needed.

        The majority voter, family tree voter thought overwise, as they have done these last 30 plus years, we are currently suffering the odious consequences.

        1. There’s a lot of info recently, ogga…that it’s all our fault – we ain’t breeding as we should, and haven’t been for some time. Every couple should have four children minimum, stop using contraception, stop supporting wimmin’s lib. This, even though women are needed in the workforce we need even more to keep the numbers up paying taxes, NIC. All sounds a bit Brave New World to me. Happening in USA, UK, Europe…the boat people are obvious, and on our screens daily, but it’s really the legal ones who are 90% of the numbers, and that won’t change unless and until we leave the ECHR. Or so I’m told……

          1. Whatever happened to all that robotisation and mechanising that was going to make the human redundant?

          2. I suppose we got ‘some’, but now we need ‘more’……any luck with your own robots?……He says only place he knows where you can readily speak to a human is First Direct, the first online bank…go figure…

          3. No. Waste of time. Even the chat is unintelligle/unintelligent and no help whatsoever.
            EDIT: It did reveal that, as I'm not the account owner, I am not allowed remote access. Pity none of their emails mentioned that when failing to send me codes that lasted long enough to be used. No answer when I responded "But what about the Power of Attorney, then?"

          4. You need someone on the ground to go into an office and speak to the manager. I'd offer, were I in the UK.

          5. Going over for a visit sometime soon.
            Thanks for the offer, though. That's really kind :-D)

          6. Sorry for late reply, on the road, weather filthy. From what I remember re my dad’s dementia, and his PoA….all had to have sight of it, fortunately all fairly local/UK. I’m out of suggestions, unless you either speak in a falsetto and pretend to be her, or possibly ask a female to stand in for you pretending to be mum?. Seriously, would ask eg Citizens Advice or even a lawyer/similar, see what advice they’d give? Don’t let the beggars win……

          8. Most welcome:-) ….now I’ve stuffed raspberry cheesecake down I can watch Son play footie…ah yes another excellent evening…hope yours is too, and better tomorrow.

  60. Just picked half a bucket of damsons. Perfect timing. They are ripe – so ripe that many just fell from the branch before I could reach them.
    Tiring, though – working over your head up a, er, ladder….

    1. Only if muslim children have to go to a Cathedral and learn Christian prayers and hymns in return.

  62. Not much here in Co Antrim, have seen just one wasp, the Lough Neagh flies which once were in the millions seem to be near extinct (We live about half a mile from it as the crow flies, and have not seen many at all this year), very few flies and butterflies. Still bees about, so God bless the beekeepers.

      1. I wouldn't like to be in Broadcasting House when they are instructed to shove their bananas up the usual orifice. 🙁

    1. Not to worry, Rik – everything is shortly due to come to a grinding halt, seems like a lot of strike balloting going on….oh to be in England…

  66. Dear FUCKING GOD!
    Having difficulty logging in to The Pru to read a letter they sent to Mother. Received an email with login details valid 24 hours just 30 minutes ago, and it says already it's out of time. The only remedy is to speak Hindi and call the bastards. I've now been hanging on to international call and listening to the crappest "music" available for now 14 minutes, and no luck getting anyone to be able to answer the fucking phone!
    Now I'm really annoyed and stressed. How can I solve whatever the problem is unless they tell me, the bastards?

      1. Tried that, but the first mail must be activated, and if not, you have to call them.
        Problem is, freefone only works from UK, and I'm in Norway… there's also a non-freefone number that doesn't get answered until your battery is exhaused (haven't had the patience or the pay rise to get there yet…)

        1. You have every bit of my sympathy…I hate using mble for anything except Instagram…like this Chromebook, although that's battery too the charge lasts longer than mble. Seems like a number of outfits these days, don't want to know their customers once they have their money. Whirlpool a good example…

    2. I have absolutely no issue with Barclays and I'm certainly not going to consider what Chris Packham suggested (unless he demonstrates it first) but when I phone them the waiting time can be up to 50 minutes. I tolerate that because when I finally do get through, I've never known them not solve the problem.

      1. On mobile across borders, the price racks up pretty quickly. Haven't got to any problem-solving yet.

        1. I had that problem last Christmas when trying to book a hotel room in York. Though I'm in London, Radisson Hotels have central booking via the US. I racked up a large phone bill and still didn't have a booking so gave up on them and opted for Premier Inn instead. They too have central booking but at least it's UK based and they were much more efficient.

  67. Woman killed and two people seriously injured in stabbings. 19 August 2024.

    A 43-year-old woman has died and two other people have suffered life-threatening injuries after a triple stabbing in Manchester.

    Greater Manchester Police said a 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following the incident, which happened in the Gorton area, near Longsight.

    Time to buy a stab proof vest I think.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/woman-killed-two-others-injured-stabbings-manchester/

    1. Since no details are forthcoming, one can assume that a certain amount of skin pigment is involved, basedd on past experience.

      1. Perhaps: something in the water.

        Wiki:
        Myra Hindley, convicted of taking part in the Moors Murders in 1966, grew up in Gorton.[13] She and Ian Brady lived there at the time of the first three Moors murders, before moving to Hattersley in 1964 when Hindley's family home was included in a local demolition programme. Brady and Hindley committed two further murders after moving from Gorton, before they were finally arrested in October 1965. Their first victim, Pauline Reade (who died in July 1963 aged 16, but whose body was not found for 24 years), was a Gorton resident and a neighbour of Hindley.[14] The third victim, Keith Bennett, whose body has never been found, was also from Gorton.

        Birthplace of Brian Statham and John (Inspector Morse) Thaw, aka Mr Sheila Hancock.

    3. Worthwhile having, to fully enjoy the enrichment experience in our once great cities. Buy now whilst stocks last. https://www.amazon.co.uk/FiveFire-Armor-Knife-Front-Concealed/dp/B073X2RS54/ref=sr_1_1?crid=373IM7YPLLUSQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SX5GInx23N-dgvQAbcwBFyBg7UurJzkrbX7haqJtHBsI0dra2lT4–Nk9E8GacCyeEi1pPsTUuj5UDii6VZod6oRjeLpkjCTVeNw9CzDLFDSdLRh7TKLWRknyzTDckbqpjf4inU8XzQG65nQWOZqbfRlYB0tQy5ab9kKfokSzNOXQEBSfGXBvBksnhoQGsaPSL8-QhJt0fnT1cow17dbeRO3c6RJk0Fo6T90HaHgDjM.2YDu4kr9y9lgk0dVwVghpLj3lSxg1UGbFJ_9TLUxN9s&dib_tag=se&keywords=stab+vest&qid=1724069573&sprefix=stab+vest%2Cspecialty-aps%2C75&sr=8-1

      2. You won't need those in the near future. People who currently possess zombie-style knives and machetes are being urged to hand them in to police ahead of a ban coming into force very soon. From next week anyone in possession of lethal knives will be able to hand them over at police stations and surrender bins without facing any penalty. The scheme will run for four weeks until September 23 – the day before it becomes illegal to own zombie-style knives and machetes. Items already banned, including samurai swords, butterfly knives and push daggers. There is no ban ban on ninja swords though.

        Perhaps you should invest in a stab proof vest after all.

  69. Know what, I am really starting to feel got at now.
    You can’t read anything in the news that is not lauding Palestinian terrorist and their supporters whilst at the same time shooting their mouths off about white racist bigots.
    Any white working class person who voted for this mus have masochistic tendencies that are on steroids.

  70. For your delectation at lunch, the latest drivel posing as word salad by Kamala Harris…

    “Our election is about understanding the importance of this beautiful country of ours in terms of what we stand for around the globe as a democracy,” Harris told the crowd. “As a democracy, we know, there’s a duality to the nature of democracy.”

    and

    “On the one hand, incredible strength when it is intact,” Harris added. “What it does for its people to protect and defend their rights, their liberty, their freedom. Incredibly strong, and incredibly fragile.”

    🙄

    2. The World at large really needs someone to provide translation services to cover what that bimbo says. One yearns for the era of SuperMac when, after a tirade by Kruschev banging his shoe at the UN General Assembly, he calmed asked "Could I have a translation, please?"

      1. They're telling me that apparently people in the USA plan to vote for her as President of the United States. They must be as airheaded as she is.

        1. Betting stakes here at home, James…we're both Trump fans, but I'm now saying Harris will win by hook or by crook…ah now he's backing off saying it'll be close….:-DD

          1. I'm sure you'll set him straight 😁

            She might do. Dems are good at rigging the system. They say it's winning PA that counts most.

    3. I'd be more worried about her saying something plain and understandable but utterly wrong, thus demonstrating how dangerous she would be as president.

    5. Maybe she's a hologram programmed to regurgitate buzz words. Not quite there with sentences yet.

  71. HNoMS Bath (I 17).
    Destroyer (Town)

    Complement:
    124 officers and men (83 dead and 41 survivors).

    Built as USS Hopewell (DD 181) of the Wickes-class and 1922 decommissioned. 1940 recommissioned and operated with the Neutrality Patrol off New England.

    On 23rd September 1940 handed over to Royal Navy as HMS Bath (I 17) and in January 1941 loaned to the Norwegian Navy as HNoMS Bath (I 17).

    On 18 Aug 1941, HNoMS Bath (I 17) (LtCdr C.F.T. Melsom, RNoN) of the 5th Escort Group was detached from convoy OG-71 and was proceeding behind convoy about 400 miles southwest of Ireland, when hit amidships by one G7e torpedo from U-204 (Walter Kell) at 02.05 hours on 19th August. The U-boat then fired a coup de grâce from the stern torpedo tube, but it passed underneath the vessel, which shortly thereafter capsized to port and sank within 6 minutes. As the vessel sank, her depth charges exploded and killed the commander and many other survivors swimming in the water. 39 survivors were picked up by HMS Hydrangea (K 39) (Lt J.E. Woolfendon, RNR) and all but nine transferred to HMS Wanderer (D 74) (Cdr A.F.St.G. Orpen, RN), which picked up four survivors herself. The survivors were taken to Gibraltar, but two of them died of wounds en route. The commander, two Norwegian officers, 68 Norwegian ratings, two British officers and ten British ratings were lost.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-204 was sunk on 19th October 1941 in the Straits of Gibraltar off Tangier by depth charges from the British corvette HMS Mallow and the British sloop HMS Rochester. 46 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd6cbec7534ce318488a8c491bd9a3b2d479463d2806bec666c45a999651840e.jpg

        1. "If the prime minister of England is having trouble putting down the violent white racist rebellion, we can send a task force to help. Just pick up the phone and ask, Mr Sturmer."

  73. I'm just having a bet with Him Indoors, she will win – she has both Obamas and both Clintons and both Bidens supporting her. Not saying it will be free n fair, just that she will win. (We're both big Trump fans btw.)

    1. …and all the voting machines programmed to count Dem votes but only the square root of the Republican votes

      1. Oooh you are naughty Citroen….but I like you…:-)) You’ll remember the lovely Mr Emery….

    2. She will NOT win, but she WILL still end up in the White House as the fix is already in, as it was in 2020 and very nearly was in 2016.

  74. Afternoon all,

    This doctor, who like many patients will avoid seeing a doctor except in a desperate situation, reveals that doctors in UK must factor in climate change when treating a patient. This would seem consistent with seeing fewer patients unless they happened to be breathing out more that breathng in or emitting too much methane due to excessive meat consumption :

    https://youtu.be/QAIQyTPW7CI?si=YRnYZaxUZQkQRAsN

      4. I think there must be a clause in the hippocratic oath about doing no harm to the planet. 🤔

    2. I can't grasp this, whatever it may be. The doctor can direct a patient to reduce his methane output but not dispatch him to the crematorium?

      2. I was stretching a point.
        But the measures suggested to economise on medication as part of addressing climate change could well result in patient harm due to premature cremations.

  75. Those were the days we never had it so good….I'd quite forgotten his voice, thanks Citroen1.

  76. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    Why do prison staff keep having relationships with inmates?
    Comments Share 19 August 2024, 7:43am
    As I read last week’s Steerpike exclusive on the thorny topic of ‘inappropriate relationships’ between prison officers and prisoners, my mind turned to Wandsworth in 2020, and a particular young woman officer whose behaviour was often far from appropriate. She would start conversations of a sexual nature with prisoners, asking what kind of pornography they enjoyed, and whether she was our type. She’d often touch our arms or chests, or brush against us when passing on the narrow landings. I’m not aware that she ever went further than that, but I always felt her interest in criminals went far beyond the professional.

    None of us ever made a complaint. In many ways she was one of the better officers. She treated us fairly, was reasonable and consistent in her application of the rules and seemed to have our interests at heart. And yet still when she brushed against me or placed a hand on my upper arm, I felt an intense crawling wrongness.

    Power dynamics in these situations can be complex
    People may scoff at this. She was a slight woman. I stood a foot taller than her. How could I feel uncomfortable or threatened? But she was a prison officer and I a prisoner. Although the officer never threatened me, she held power over me and could make my life much worse if she wanted. And so I stayed silent. Perhaps part of what made it so difficult for me was how unfamiliar the sensation of a woman having more physical power than I did was. This dynamic rarely exists outside of prisons and secure environments.

    My experience at Wandsworth isn’t unique. Although only a handful of officers are disciplined every year; almost every former prisoner I know has stories of similar behaviour. I spoke with a man who served time at a Category C prison in Southern England. He described ‘several incidents…where an officer was having sexual relations with a prisoner [who] provided her with protection on the wing’, while ‘female officers would talk to or observe prisoners in the showers, making comments about their bodies’, all of which created a ‘sexually charged environment’.

    Most popular
    Lucy Denyer
    The tyranny of the self-service check out

    Power dynamics in these situations can be complex. Many frontline prison officers are very young and often new to the job, while many prisoners may be experienced, sophisticated groomers and manipulators. As Sobanan Narenthiran, a former prisoner, told me, ‘prison officers… disconnected from the outside world, must deal with the most traumatic circumstances: suicide, self-harm, violence, emotional abuse and intimidation. I observed many incidents that would’ve led up to or were the consequence of intimate relations between officers and prisoners – whether that was sharing personal details (e.g social media) or more inappropriate physical contact.’

    Deborah Murphy, an occupational therapist who worked in prisons and secure environments for fifteen years often observed inappropriate relationships between prisoners and staff. She thinks the shared trauma of the prison environment can be to blame. ‘A bond forms over such shared traumas…it is not difficult to see how in environments where you shut off from the outside world in a place…that few people will ever understand that…you can end up feeling you have more in common with the prisoners than many people in the outside world.’

    As is often the case across our prison system, understaffing is partly to blame. Wings are often staffed with only a handful of officers for hundreds of prisoners and they are often inexperienced. Half of frontline prison officers have been in the role for four years or fewer, and over 34 per cent have been in the service for no more than one year. In these circumstances, young, inexperienced staff may be more vulnerable to manipulation.

    Recruitment and training play a role too. Potential prison officers are required to undergo ‘security vetting as part of their application process’ including reviewing the applicant’s social media. However, that vetting sometimes seems to miss important, easily available information. Linda De Sousa Abreu, who recently pled guilty to having sex with an inmate at HMP Wandsworth, had a live OnlyFans account and had appeared on a Channel 4 programme about swingers, Open House.

    Of course, almost all officers do not pursue inappropriate relationships with inmates. The Ministry of Justice promises it is ‘bolstering our counter-corruption unit and strengthening our vetting processes’. I hope these changes work because those who do form inappropriate relationships with prisoners can cause significant harm to themselves, to inmates and to trust in the system. Whether coercing prisoners into sexual activity, or themselves being groomed and coerced, inappropriate relationships like these make our prison system even more corrupt and lawless.

    2. Ha-ha, took me ages to see that.

      A bit racist, I'm a long way towards that colour myself.

      1. Not racist at all. The eye goes to the dominant image. It took me a few seconds to see it too. :@)

        1. I’m only trying to pose as victim, since I’m half Irish. It’s all the fashion now you know! Can’t be stuck in the left behind group with all the white English racists. Who wants to be bottom of the pile 🤣

    1. I don't have a terribly legible signature and in the days when you had to sign the slip for card purchases (before chip and pin), the woman behind the counter looked at my scrawl and said, "what terrible handwriting". I told her solemnly "I'm studying to be a doctor." "Oh," she said and left it at that.

  84. A BTL comment on the Telegraph's latest article about fanatical anti-communists has alerted me to a 'scam' with which I was unfamiliar. Unverified of course, but interesting:
    "Paul Faires >
    The amount of crime in Spain is going though the roof.
    Last Friday i stopped my car at the side of the road to to help some stray dogs walking in the middle of the highway.
    1 hour later having rescued one and put him in the Land Rover i discovered my phones computer and wallet had all been stolen.
    That's the scam the scumbags steal the dogs from owners gardens who are either at work or down the beach put them in the middle of the road and after good hearted idiots like myself stop and try and help appear from behind the trees and nick ones belongings.
    Last thing you think off is locking the car i was over 300m away before i manged to catch the poor thing.
    KARMA
    They tried it a few hours later but got knobbled by 2 Ukrainian lads who knocked the s–t out of them police called late afternoon and i manged to recover everything even my cash.
    THE DOGGIE
    Took her to my regular vets and the microchip came up with a French lady owner who only used the same vet.
    Doggie reunited with owner
    Sadly 1 still missing and i killed by a car.
    Pure evil s–m "
    Source : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/19/far-right-stoke-racial-tension-spain-murder-11-yr-old/#comment

    2. Oh dear, lucky outcome in the end for you at least. From time to time I've heard of a British version of that down the ages. Thief1 crosses zebra crossing to make your car stop. Thief2 in following car gets out to warn you that you've got sparks and smoke coming from the exhaust. You get out to inspect and thief1 then drives away in your car, which of course you've had to leave running because you want to see the sparks for yourself. Thief2 is already back in his car and off behind thief1 in yours by the time you wake up to what's going on.

    3. I was loading my shopping into the boot in Tescos car park when 2 gorgeous Romanian girls came up and asked if they could help me load the car, which they did. I got in the car to drive off and they also got in the car and started molesting me – to cut a long story short one was giving me a BJ while the other stole my wallet. So beware – this happened to me 3 times last week and I've run out of wallets so if anyone has any spare ones…….

    1. He was doing the "serious statesman" pose that's all. Should have known better. Talk about tin eared.

    2. They have all be sent to prison for many years. Teach them to shout out at a "Cur".

    4. He seems genuine in his callous indifference to the murder of children by a Muslim.

      It makes me wonder about how he feels about his Jewish wife and Jewish children when he and his government are so friendly with those who wish to wipe out the State of Israel and drive all Jews out of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

  87. Mediocre twats have been in charge of the country since 1997.

    We are ruined , no one of substance , just a load of Wannabees.. pen pushers and limited life experience ..Champagne swilling wallahs , remembering political conferences when they were hosted in Bournemouth over the years , Labour and Tories , terrible terrible terrible ..

      1. As the gloomy Dane observed: "There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow" so the fall of Thatcher was especially seismic.

  91. Um.. ⅒ Irish? It’s the lowest fraction I can find on my keyboard. You’re not referring to that film are you?

    1. A bit more. Around ⅛ or thereabouts. My maternal grandfather's father was an Irishman from Galway, called Tom Higgins, who was not married to my grandfather's mother, but had a long-time clandestine affair with her which resulted in my grandfather.

  92. Why the rest of the world doesn’t want to visit Britain. 19 August 2024.

    The UK is facing a £2.8bn shortfall in overseas visitor spending, with annual arrivals still down on pre-pandemic numbers.
    According to a new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), Britain attracted 38 million tourists in 2023, down from a 2019 peak of 40.9 million. Projections for 2024 suggest only a slight improvement, to 38.7 million. Furthermore, spending by tourists has also declined by 8 per cent, translating to a £2.8bn dip when adjusted for inflation.

    I wouldn’t want to visit the UK and I live here.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/rest-of-world-doesnt-want-to-visit-britain/

  93. First day of school, and the tinies in the 1st year are met and greeted by the Rektor, hand shaken, the school band plays, proud parents in the background…. it's all very cosy and quaint. I loved it when our two were going through school.

    3. It's all very gentle and old-fashioned, from a gentler time. Brings a tear to the eye, so it does. The Head at Firstborn's school even did a little bob of a courtsey to each child too, whilst shaking their hand.

      1. Oooooh…I think they are talking about banning those now. There have only been a 100,000 slashings this year so it isn't really a priority. Perhaps next year.

  95. Local news suggests going outside to see a meteorswarm "tonight" – in an article dated a week ago!
    Sigh…

      1. There used to be one or two in flying preservation a Cranfield whilst I was there, and a couple of Vampires, too. The jet exhaust seems as noisy and powerful as the steam from a kettle with a whistle. They also did the major maintenance overhauls for the Battle of Britain flight, and when the air testing was going on, all the buildings would empty of folk to stare at the sky as the Hurricanes and Spitfires beat up the airfield.
        I still have the mental image of a Spitfire in plan view flying between the poplars, wings perpendicular to the ground… sigh…

        1. the Vampires & Meteors were flown by Frederick Forsyth.. he was the youngest pilot in the RAF at one point..

          though.. As revealed in The Shepherd, Forsyth humbly described his brief tenure with the RAF as “some dilettante with a blink-and-you-miss-it flying career.”

          2. Strong men create good times.
            Good times create weak men.
            Weak men create hard times (we are here today)
            Hard times create strong men.

          3. Not in hard times yet, I'm afraid, PM. No mass unemployment, people going hungry, sleeping rough 'cos their home has bee reposessed. Lots more potential yet.

  96. Local news suggests going outside to see a meteorswarm "tonight" – in an article dated a week ago!
    Sigh…

    7. I can't seem to see any content to your post, TB? Ah it's apppeared. Somehow my settings changed, without me changing them…

          1. That is a 'sucking a lemon' look from Merkel if ever there was one. Vlad's expression was priceless especially when you see the whole clip.

      3. A propos of this. My colleague with whom I work very closely ( I suspect he is Non -Lib Non-Dem), he’s a year older than me, his children are a year older each than my two. Out of the blue a fortnight ago he asked me if I’d ever thought of escaping so where else and if so, where.

        I spend my life thinking about this but I was rather flippant and said the Solomon Islands or Paraguay. But not that flippant. And he couldn’t believe I had two countries (with reasons) all lined up.

      1. Visas will be available in September! Normal barriers to entry will be waived! Temporary visas for 3 months! You simply have to eschew Wokeism and our present political shenanigans. I think we would all fit right in.

        1. He’s been to Russia quite a few times on business…impressed what Putin and colleagues have done to the country and not surprised has population support. No comparison between Moscow and London. I haven’t been myself, so can’t speak personally. Number of people coming round now to believing America involvement. It’ll all trickle out eventually. Have a great evening’mum….off to watch footie now 🙂

    5. Note of caution: Russian champagne is not for the faint of heart! 🤣🤣

      (Side note: tried to thank you for your good wishes yesterday but the thread was already locked. Much appreciated! 🙂 x)

      3. Rather sweet, from what I remember.
        We drank it every evening because it was cheaper than wine.

  99. An effing Bogie Five!

    Wordle 1,157 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟩
    🟨🟨⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par for me today.

      Wordle 1,157 4/6

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

        1. Spelling? Wot's that? I got a not very clever pestering email today that spelled it the same. Deleted.

    3. Par today.

      Wordle 1,157 4/6

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

    4. Four here

      Wordle 1,157 4/6

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

    5. Four for me

      Wordle 1,157 4/6

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

  100. That's me gone early for today.

    Turned all grey and chilly outside. In about half an hour. No nice drinks in t'garden this evening.

    Have a spiffing evening planning what you'll take to Russia.

    A demain.

  101. I will keep posting until someone admits to giving me a bottle of Tobermory Malt Whisky.

    “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. I will look for you, I will pursue you. I will find you and I will give you a whisky fumed cuddle…

    Apologies to Taken.

      1. Hmm…………………No.

        I just went to someone's house and suddenly left this expensive bottle of Malt…at a party. Doesn't happen.

        I feel remiss. I was busy and the showers of bottles of Champagne distracted me.

    3. I had a wonderful present from a friend – a bottle of Macallan 12-y-o. My favourite.

    2. That the perpetrators are going to li-lo for a while, and then it'll turn out they only did what they did to teach the girls not to wear such skimpy clothing?

      1. There were two more hidden yesterday! A murder stabbing at Crawley station, and a murder stabbing in where the dead woman was raped!

          2. I probably don’t watch it often enough.
            It’s usually repeated boredom and propaganda.

        1. Since millionaire Kneeler would happily sacrifice his family to NHS waiting lists …..

      4. Would any MP allow his or her teenage daughter to go out alone, scantily dressed, in the streets of Rochdale, Rotherham or Wrexham?

        (According to Professor Higgins hurricanes hardly ever happen in Hertford, Hereford or Hampshire but rabid rapes repeatedly recur in Rochdale, Rotherham and Wrexham!)

        2. The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick of being shagged by the sick sixth sheik sheep shagger..

        3. Knowing mps they wouldn’t Iive any where near trouble spots. The blairs
          moved to the bucks countryside.
          And have built an 8ft high brick wall around their estate.

    5. It's not all that long ago since a young teenage girl was raped in the sea by one of these imports.

      There is only one thing one could think.

      1. The age of consent for sex is 16, anyone committing a sexual offence at 16 should be named.

  106. Jeremy Clarkson writing in The Sun,

    "Let's just say you are an American businessman who’s thinking about setting up a factory in Europe.

    "As this would boost our economy and create many jobs, you’d imagine the Government would bend over backwards to ensure they set up shop in the UK. Hmm."

    He continued: "We learned this week that the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, is considering a plan which would make an employee un-fireable even if they turn out to be completely gormless.
    "And to let staff go home whenever they felt like it."

    He concluded: "I’m fairly sure our American businessmen would look at these proposals and say: 'Right. Germany it is then.'"

  107. 391993+ up ticks,

    And so it came to pass That the majority family tree voter have reached the apex of their party before Country voting pattern ,running for nigh on 40 years campaign.

    And now, they cannot better that what they have achieved currently in regards to incarceration,they have opped via the polling stations to turn the prison system literally inside out as in,
    ALL THOSE INSIDE OUT AND ALL THOSE OUTSIDE IN.

    1. The reaction is clearly racist and i expect the authorities to lock them all up.

      Go on then !

  109. Trinidad and Tobago to get rid of Columbus ship emblems on coat of arms

    Traditional steel drums to take their place in bid to 'remove colonial vestiges' as Caribbean nations condemn slavery and imperialism

    Trinidad and Tobago is set to alter its coat of arms, replacing Christopher Columbus's ships with steel drums in a move to distance itself from its colonial past.

    As part of a drive to "remove colonial vestiges", three ships on its coat of arms representing the vessels Columbus used to traverse the Atlantic will be removed to make way for a steel drum, the national instrument.

    Trinidad and Tobago, a former British colony, became independent in 1962. Its government's shift comes amid growing calls from Caribbean nations for former colonial powers to atone for their involvement in slavery and imperialism.

    Dr Keith Rowley, its prime minister, set out his plans at a party convention for the ruling People's National Movement, saying the redesigned coat of arms would be the first step in a process of decolonisation.

    He said: "You see the three Columbus boats in the emblem, they will go. And we have enough votes in the parliament to do it. I can announce now that as soon as the legislative adjustment is made, that amendment should be made before the 24th of September. We are going to replace Columbus's three ships – the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – with the steelpan."

    Columbus arrived in Trinidad in 1498 and gave the island the name "Trinity". The explorer has been reassessed recently by proponents of decolonisation as a slave-owning oppressor who crushed indigenous peoples.

    Dr Rowley is also seeking to ditch the King's privy council as its highest court of appeal, a legal arrangement that remains in place for several Commonwealth countries including Trinidad. The prime minister said he wanted to ensure that his people were no longer "squatters on the steps of the privy council".

    The judicial committee of the privy council acts as the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories and Commonwealth countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

    Countries including St Lucia have voted to get rid of this, with the island nation instead joining the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2023. The judicial committee told The Telegraph that nothing was stopping more nations from doing so as they could enact the legal change themselves.

    Any change would come amid a broader reckoning with colonial history, which has seen numerous nations campaign for the return of historical artefacts, including Ghana and Nigeria, or reparation for slavery, as with many Caribbean nations.

    Trinidad and Tobago is one of 14 member states within the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which has sought reparations from Britain and other former colonial powers. It has recently pivoted to a plan to demand payments from businesses and institutions connected to slavery, as revealed by The Telegraph, and Grenada has officially requested reparations from the Bank of England.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/trinidad-tobago-columbus-ship-emblems-colonialism-slavery

    Somebody should remind Mr Rowley where steel originated. Then tell him to FO and, no, he isn't getting any money.

      1. BTL:
        Gavin Thomas
        If West Indians really wanted reparations over slavery, perhaps they should give up the islands which were gifted to them and return to their origins and live amongst the people of West Africa whose ancestors enslaved their ancestors in the first place.

        They should also give up the appropriation of Western culture and revert to their African names, dress, music, art, architecture, infrastructure and health care…

        1. Given the ruckass at the meet and greet where one particular guest had a recording device and then was most offended by being asked where are you really from and then Prince William had a hiss fit over it…I think they are fucked. Shame really. Still all the baubles will sell well on facebook market place.

  110. Model steam train firm to close after 88 years because of anti-terror 'red tape'

    Ban on hexamine forces British business Mamod to cease production amid declining sales and spiralling costs

    Alex Barton • 19 August 2024 • 9:38am

    A model steam train firm has ceased production after 88 years because of anti-terror "red tape" banning a material used in its fuel tablets.

    Mamod, a British firm founded in 1937, has closed down production in its factory in Smethwick, West Midlands, because of declining sales, spiralling costs and a ban on hexamine fuel tablets used to power the engines of its models.

    Adrian Lockrey, who owns Mamod, said he begged Government counter-terrorism officials not to impose the blanket ban on hexamine, but it came into force in February.

    Mr Lockrey, 52, told The Daily Mail: "It is red tape. Basically, we were doing £50,000 a month, every month, and then come February our sales dropped 50 per cent basically overnight. We ended up getting through to counter-terrorism in London, and the woman just said: 'Well, you can't sell it.'

    "I said it was like me selling a torch without batteries. It was a really big kick. Apparently it's been used to make bombs. "We've been running on those hexamine tablets since 1975, before that it was methylated spirits – but then in the 70s someone burnt themselves on that so we went to this fuel tablet."

    Mr Lockrey, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, said Mamod had spent £20,000 attempting to develop a liquid fuel alternative but, once that had been finalised, the rent on the firm's factory premises was increased beyond affordability.

    He told the Mail: "It is very disappointing. It's heartbreaking. We were England's oldest and largest steam toy manufacturer."

    The models' engines are powered by steam-driven pistons, which are set into motion when water is heated by a small fire in a burner tray placed under the boiler.

    In October last year, hexamine was banned after officials concluded it could be used to make explosives. The rules meant it could still be bought but only under certain circumstances, with customers having to buy a licence and disclose personal details.

    In March, Mr Lockrey told The Telegraph: "This is currently stopping £8,500 in orders from going out, as over 75 per cent of our products need to run on this hexamine-based fuel."

    After shutting down production, the remaining stock of miniature steam engines was sold at the factory earlier this month, with fans purchasing the final models off the production line.

    The value of Mamod models has subsequently surged, with classic models fetching 10 times their original values at auction.

    Mamod was founded in Birmingham by Geoffrey Malins as Malins Models. Early traction engines cost 99 shillings and sixpence – the equivalent of around £5 in today's money – but the latest models were retailed for £300.

    The Telegraph contacted Mamod for comment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/model-steam-train-firm-mamod-close-88-years/

    Apart from the embarrassing error by the Telegraph's teenage copywriters, there's something not quite right about this. Either (a) HMG is staffed by people even more stupid and stubborn than we already knew they were (b) Mr Lockrey doesn't want to put his hand in his pocket for a licence (though we are not told how much that is but surely not as much as the £20K spent on research for an alternative fuel) (c) Mr Lockrey's had enough and wants to cash in.

    1. Hexamine also used to fuel the little pressed-tin folding stoves that came with yer compo rations.
      Now what will they do for a brew?

    2. I used to be able to buy an algaecide pool cleaner at 33% now it's only available as 12% except to professionals, same price as the 33.
      Same underlying reason, terrorists using it for explosives.
      No idea how, but it's made the product unaffordable in the quantities I need

      2. Ludicrous. The IRA mad "co-op mix" explosives from weed killer and sugar. Let's ban those!

      1. As a child I had a boat that was steam driven by meths. I often wonder what happened to it – my mother threw that out as well, I expect.

    5. The Govt does not care. Literally does not care about the “little man” on the street.

    2. Some 20 years ago at a concert in St. Petersburg, the man in the seat next to us was a retired RAF officer who had moved to St. P. because his pension went further.
      (Ponders deeply.)

  112. X-Tw@ter Post with subtitled videos
    https://x.com/voxportugal/status/1825490667478368614 Translation of text:-

    Sweden 🇸🇪 | Unbelievable
    Sharia patrols patrol the streets and harass Swedish women who do not act or dress in accordance with Islamic law…
    Watch until the end!!!
    Unbelievable, isn't it!? In Sweden… It was news on a Swedish channel…
    If we do nothing, you Western WOMEN will suffer horrors in the coming years…
    Repost this type of news as much as you can. Spread the word as much as you can.
    These are the people that politicians are bringing to our countries!!!
    Here at
    @voxportugal
    we show what traditional media doesn't want us to see…

    2. When I worked as a teaching assistant in Germany in 1986/87, my friend worked down the road in Dormagen which was full of Turkish “guest workers” and she said then that the boys would not respect her/listen to her. Then.

      1. The Germans should have taken a warning in the ’70s when allowing Turkish Gastarbeiters to bring their families over began.

  113. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/four-britons-missing-yacht-sicily-live-latest/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09dcfdb0ed0db1532b7130d44db9ecac11f00f1e38f74cd26f9161f4d13970d6.png
    This boat, Bayesian, sank at anchor in a place called Porticello last night. Apparently she was hit by a tornado. A boat of this size should not sink – there is something very fishy about the story. The boat is owned by the wife of Mike Lynch, one of the UK's richest businessmen who recently was acquitted of fraud. Both Mr Lynch and his 18 year old daughter are missing.

    Sixteen years ago we were hit by a tornado in the middle of the night while we we were at anchor aboard Mianda in a bay called Keci Buku to the North West of Marmaris. The tornado knocked us flat and we rotated on our anchor around 360°. During the capsize Caroline saw one of our solar panels ripped from its frame and disappear into the night sky never to be seen again. Fortunately Mianda righted herself but there was turmoil down below.

    Waterspouts and tornados are not uncommon in the Med but I remember reading Arthur Ransome's Peter Duck in which the evil villain, Black Jake, is aboard his schooner, The Viper, pursuing Captain Flint and the Blackett and Walker children aboard Wild Cat.The Viper is rapidly gaining on Wild Cat and all seems lost until a waterspout comes down from the sky a wrecks The Viper.

    We saw and photographed waterspouts as we sailed from Sicily to Malta in 2007. It was more dramatic in real life than in the photo!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd49f274eb0f4b20d20481baf81564a6746294eaa3592d71a60ae38f71d761af.jpg

    1. Dear Prospero, please delete torpedo, insert tornado (other forms of tempest are available).

      1. Corrected!

        And Caroline proof-read what I wrote before I posted it!

        A Freudian slip – Starmer is certainly doing his best to torpedo our business with his attempt to destroy private schools from which most of our students come.

      1. The characters we like in Arthur Ransome's books set in the Norfolk Broads (Coot Club and The Big Six) call loud people in motor boats 'hullaballoos' and they wreck the river banks by going too fast in their stink pots as we call them. Of course if they knew any better they would be in sailing boats.

        2. Actually it is the other way round.

          The vulgar and nouveau-riche talk about their yachts. The rest of us talk about our boats.

    3. Tragic, and so avoidable. The news appeared online quite early this morning, but obviously not the identities of those who were sadly lost. Looking through chat forums on the history of the yacht ("any more spreaders and that mast would be a ladder"), enthusiasts were adamant that Italian-built large yachts tended to be more problematical than, for example, those built by your good wife's compatriots in the Netherlands.
      My uninformed instinct is that such an enormous sloop would be vulnerable; better rigged as a ketch or as a schooner? The enormous boom thing with its furled sail doesn't look good. Perhaps there was no time to close all the doors and windows, and she was simply swamped. Did you ever read about HMS Eurydice, caught in a snow storm?

      1. I think she was originally rigged as a ketch.

        See the photo I found on the internet and posted above under Anne's cvomment.

    4. Rastus, my immediate reaction to the photo was the absurdity of the huge 'wheelhouse' under the main boom. It looks like an unseaworthy, amateurish afterthought that would have been ripped asunder by a tornado – allowing massive and fatal ingress of seawater!

    5. According to reports, the mast was 75 metres high (264 feet).
      Surely, it wouldn't take much to unbalance the yacht.

    6. I met Mike Lynch just the once – his company Autonomy worked with mine (Unisys Corporation) to develop several applications for the Public Sector -including the Holmes System for Police Forces to investigate major enquiries (driven by the lack of national cohesion following the Ripper murders). He seemed like a nice bloke.
      He sold out to Hewlett Packard for $11Bn who later came after him for false accounting (they had to write off over $9Bn after the sale). He was extradited to the US but was cleared of all charges as recently as June this year.
      A lot of people lost a bucketful of money 'due' to him – it seems a little coincidental that he should be stricken in such a way so soon after his acquittal………

        1. Particularly so as Stephen Chamberlain, his FD and co-defendant, was killed when a car hit him on Saturday when he was out running.
          I mean, come on!!!!………..

          1. And the 49-year-old woman responsible stayed at the scene and is helping the police with their inquiries….I mean, come on! I do agree though, that the two deaths are the most extraordinary coincidence, but I think that is all they are.

          2. Yes, if it’s beyond belief – it’s probably beyond belief…….. it will all come out in the end, when some hood admits to it on his deathbed (I’ve seen too many Godfather films…).

          4. The example of a deathbed confession I favour above all others is that of the builder of William Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey edifice in Wiltshire.

            The builder confessed on his deathbed that he had skimped on the foundations at which precise moment the tower of Fonthill Abbey collapsed in a heap of rubble.

      2. I honestly don't think anyone could have organised a tornado to hit exactly where the yacht was. The captain of the neighbouring yacht who picked up survivors said that they had managed to start their engines and hold the boat steady on her anchor. Lynch's boat had a very tall mast and they think the mast snapped, smashed the boat and capsized it. His wife said that their cabin was full of broken glass.
        I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person, but I think only God could have arranged that :))

        1. Yes PJ (hope you’re well by the way x) but I dont like coincidences, as I mention below his FD and co-defendant was killed this weekend when he was hit by a car when out running…. hmmmm….
          A number of people lost serious (serious! billions!) money on the Autonomy takeover by HP – some of them might not be very pleasant.
          I agree that the tornado would be hard to summon up but this stinks to high heaven…..

          3. I don't much like too many coincidences either, but they can and do happen. BTW, one would have thought that HP had enough resources to do some thorough due diligence before paying £11billion??

          4. They did but they claimed Autonomy wilfully 'cooked the books' with false revenues and margins, amongst others.

            Alas, a very sympathetic US court thought otherwise and kicked it out.

            HP was always a nerdy company (both Hewlett and Packard were techies) so it doesnt surprise me….

          5. I would say that anyone who cooks the books does it "wilfully", wouldn't you? I always thought it a bit suspicious that HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by 80% within two months of purchase. Maybe they were doing a bit of book cooking? Nice little write-off that!

          6. Once the takeover was completed HP’s bean-counters could crawl all over the books and discovered what they claimed was deliberate misrepresentation on a massive scale (although surprisingly the courts did not agree!).
            I dont think a $9Bn write-off ever particularly helped a company’s financial position – not even HP, who made all their money on printer ink (I’m not joking!)

          8. It was ever thus. Hewlett Packard, Cannon, Oki, Epson and the rest sell you a printer at relatively low and competitive cost but then charge extortionate prices for replacement ink and laser cartridges.

            Hewlett Packard is a particularly ruthless operator.

    7. I've seen lots of waterspouts at sea, usually in the distance and sometimes 2 or 3 at the same time. A vessel that size should survive a close encounter, but who knows? The spouts would often only half form from the clouds, and frequently would die out before contacting the sea, an interesting phenomenon.

    1. I can vouch for treading on a weever being extremely painful.
      My foot swelled to the size of a football.

    2. Weevers have a habit of half-burying themselves in the wet shoreline sand. Sneaky little buggers.

  115. Evening, all. Decidedly cool this evening (and raining as well). Still I have managed to cut both lawns now as well as fitting in having coffee with an old (93!) friend.

    I'm off racing tomorrow (got a horse running) so I'll put out advance warning that I may not be online.

    I wish someone would give us courageous Brits the freedom we need to get rid of our government oppressors.

  116. I know that there is a sense in which these articles are a form of click-bait but you really have to wonder what purpose is served by these mad 'revisionists'. Dr Cuthbert, with experience of her own of being no-platformed (despite an obvious hint of, shall we say, the Orient), makes the point: "What are libraries for?"

    By extension we can ask the same of education in general. Right now, it doesn't appear be about enquiry, learning, open-mindedness and discussion. Just wait until Labour imposes on all schools a new national curriculum with a very particular version of British history.

    Avoid meetings in 'racist' buildings, librarians told

    Staff will be instructed in 'critical whiteness studies' and dealing with the 'dominant paradigm of whiteness'

    Craig Simpson • 19 August 2024 • 5:54pm

    Librarians should avoid holding meetings in "racist" buildings, decolonisation training experts have advised.

    Libraries across Wales have been given the task of becoming "anti-racist", in line with the devolved Labour government's pledge to "eradicate" systemic racism by 2030. Training is being devised as part of a £130,000 project to instruct local librarians in "critical whiteness studies" and how to deal with issues like the "dominant paradigm of whiteness".

    Advisers on the process have made clear that planned training sessions should not take place in buildings with a "racist" past. The guidance comes after dozens of buildings in Wales, from pubs to community centres, were added to a 2021 government-backed dossier of sites linked to slavery and colonialism.

    Documents outlining how libraries can be made to align with "anti-racist principles" state that new staff training sessions will be necessary.

    A warning in a "venue booking" guide says: "Be mindful of the venue and if you have a choice, do not choose a venue that represents a racist legacy."

    It also makes provision in case avoiding buildings with a "racist" past is not possible, stating: "If you have to use a venue that has a racist past, acknowledge this as early as possible to demonstrate your commitment to systemic issues. You can even acknowledge historical context in the event invitation."

    The new guidance adds that training materials should be checked for "harmful" content, and advises that providing "vegetarian and vegan options only can be used to support any decarbonisation or net zero goals of your organisation".

    The document was created by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip) in Wales, which has secured government funding for a project titled Anti-racist Library Collections. The guide is part of an effort across the cultural sector in Wales to comply with the Labour government's 2022 Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, which sought to set the "right historical narrative".

    Earlier Welsh government research, set out in the 2021 report The Slave Trade and the British Empire: An Audit of Commemoration in Wales, has already outlined which places may prove problematic to would-be anti-racism trainers.

    Buildings, streets, monuments and statues linked to figures with connections to slavery and empire, including Admiral Nelson, Waterloo hero Thomas Picton, Francis Drake and the Duke of Wellington, were included. The entire 4,600-person village of Nelson in Caerphilly – which itself was named after a pub – was flagged in a draft version of the audit.

    The one-storey Picton Community centre in Haverfordwest was flagged, along with a sports centre in town named for the same general and colonial administrator. The Goronwy Owen primary school in Anglesey, named after the Welsh poet, was flagged because its namesake owned slaves.

    The Wellington Community Centre in Rhyl, named for the Iron Duke who defeated Indian armies before French ones, was deemed potentially problematic, as was Columbus House in Newport, a government building. Columbus has been blamed for being the first coloniser of the New World.

    Also flagged was Gladstone's Library in Hawarden, Flintshire, a memorial library for William Gladstone, a four-time prime minister whose father received compensation for his Caribbean investments when slavery was abolished.

    In total, 93 buildings in Wales were examined as part of the audit.

    Don't Divide Us, the campaign group that seeks to promote a commonsense approach to race issues in the UK, criticised the provisions made for anti-racist training. Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, the group's founder and education expert, said: "Libraries are places associated with rationality, enlightened thinking and public service for the general public. They are not the playthings of those whose preferred radical politics means that librarians have to assent to false and wholly negative beliefs about the country in which they live, and by extension, also about its people.

    "This is the opposite of public service. Even if systemic racism was a problem, it wouldn't be ameliorated by fake confessions or choosing venues according to their alleged sinfulness by past associations. Unless we want to go back to pre-modern cultural standards."

    Cilip has been contacted for comment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/avoid-meetings-in-racist-buildings-welsh-librarians-told

    Dr Sehgal:
    https://www.gbnews.com/news/critical-race-theory-rethinking-education-latest
    https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/02/07/no-the-first-britons-were-not-black/

    3. They might have a point.
      It was a black Welsh boy man from Cardiff who killed 3 little white girls.

        1. Oooops …….
          Oh well; three square meals a day and no heating bills.
          Just call me Pollyanna.

      1. My thought, too. A building isn't racist it's the idiots who see race in everything that are the problem.

      4. Also, it would stand to reason when it was noted that "the countryside is racist" the buildings in that there countryside would be racist too.

      5. I also spot that because buildings do not have knees there's nothing to bend down upon to show their contrition to Race Marxism. Further evidence of their racism. In addition to this buildings can't speak and "silence is violence" when it comes to these things, so I'm afraid buildings are in for it again.

      6. All of the below is utterly true except for when Hamas are hiding within or more often than not underneath the building, then buildings are obviously not racist.

      7. I was once called a ‘capitalist architect’ by a flatmate who went on to become the Chief Planner at Westminster City Council (Buggins’ turn). On reluctant retirement the freeloader even accepted an MBE for her public service.

      8. I was once called a ‘capitalist architect’ by a flatmate who went on to become the Chief Planner at Westminster City Council (Buggins’ turn). On reluctant retirement the freeloader even accepted an MBE for her public service.

      9. I was once called a ‘capitalist architect’ by a flatmate who went on to become the Chief Planner at Westminster City Council (Buggins’ turn). On reluctant retirement the freeloader even accepted an MBE for her public service.

    6. It's still not occurred to these Race Marxists that this type of purity test and cultural cleansing is just the sort of thing the Nazis were so fond of.

      1. I notice that many mosques in northern towns strike a remarkable resemblance to former Christian churches. Muslims simply need to add the odd minaret and wail their call to prayers from that.

  117. Telegraph : "Lynch fraud trial co-defendant dies after being hit by car
    Stephen Chamberlain, cleared of financial irregularity charges in US, fatally injured in road accident two days before superyacht disaster "

    Perhaps Rastus is descended from the Sherlock Holmes family.

    1. My old man said the same thing several hours ago! I said ‘Clintoned’, he said ‘Sicilian mafiosi’!

    2. "The force said the victim, who was in his 50s and from nearby Longstanton, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

      The driver of the car, a 49-year-old woman from Haddenham, remained at the scene and was assisting officers with their inquiries."

      Probably not Rosa Kleb then…..

  118. What a day! Still, the house is clean and fresh sheets on all beds in anticipation of the prodigals’ return on Friday. I get the impression it has been very wet in NZ these past three weeks. I suspect son and husband will be very pleased to be back – they are homebirds and like their creature comforts, which is why I remain gespannt (? English word fehlt mir I’m Moment*) as to how long we will actually remain at sea when we set off on our big adventure in 2027.

    I was surprised and pleased at the help offered to me yesterday morning when I got the puncture in the heap of junk that is my husband’s father’s old Z3. Sentimentality only goes so far. We now need to get a further £,240 of fun out of it before I scrap it. Ecotyre in Southampton did a good job and deserve the money. The taxi driver who helped me was wonderful (I reckon Afghani but I could ce wrong). Anyone who needs a taxi in Southampton let me know and I will pass on his number.

    Did I mention I put the children’s cars in for a service/service &MOT on Friday? Another saga. Annoyingly my neighbour is away and asked me to put some of our cars on her drive (we can just about fit them all on ours but then you can’t move and only two can get on the road at any one time so we continually play car jenga). But two of them have been poorly at the garage over the weekend. I got the Corsa back today and hope to get the Mini back tomorrow. It is expensive stuff, maintaining old cars, but cheaper than a new car. Between the 4 cars and the work van, the average mileage is 102,231 miles. I worked it out last week. Anyway especially after Sunday’s drama it has reinforced how important it is to keep an eye on stuff. Thank goodness I work hard and am well paid. I have no idea how the left-behinds in Southport etc get by.

    Speaking of which, despite the fact today is a holiday in Colombia, I have a report to get out so am working Colombian hours. I am unfortunately also working Saudi hours, ditto. I am going to read all your comments below then get re-cracking with work. 5 am start tomorrow!

    *notwithstanding the work I need to do, I am polishing off a bottle of rose as it is bin day tomorrow

      1. lol. No!

        but interestingly when I was in South America 1996/97, I deemed Colombia to be too dangerous to visit and gave it a wide swerve – but I met several backpackers who told gruesome stories about being robbed, including the classic taxi scam where the driver pretends the taxi has broken down and asks the backpackers to get out and push, whereupon he starts the car and drives off with all their bags,. I was thinking about this earlier when reading this morning’s posts on how this scam has now made its way over here. We are truly blessed with the strength that is diversity.

  119. If it's a clear night where you are, the "blue moon" is a spectacular red.
    Well worth stepping outside to see it.

    4. I'm looking out and where I am, SW France but further S than you, and I see a very large, very bright moon, but it is more pale orange than red. It does have a big smile on its face though :))

      1. My colour vision isn't good.

        The colour has changed as the evening has gone on. It's now a very pale orange.

        The "face" is very visible, I wish I had a better camera.

        We have packs of hunting dogs nearby and one of the dogs is making single plaintive howls. I hope they don't all join in as there must be at least 40 hunting dogs within hearing range, let alone all the pets..

        1. That reminds me. Some years ago I went on a cruise in the Chilean fiords on quite a small boat (just 100 passengers) owned and run by a captain with a good sense of humour. Every morning we were woken with a weather report piped into our cabins. We didn't have the greatest weather and on the second morning after a particularly nasty day before, we were treated to "The weather today is bright and sunny with blue skies. That's above the clouds. Now below them…just look out of your cabin windows!"

    1. Dinnae fash yersell, Sue Mac, hen. Grizzly will continue to call any female "Pet" whatever Newcastle University says.

    3. Why-aye, bonnie lass, tell 'em to Hadaway and Shite*, man!

      *Hadaway and Shite: famous firm of Scotswood Road solicitors.

    1. I love the dancing girls' routines in this clip which were choreographed, I believe, by Herr Busby von Berkley. Lol.

    2. I love the dancing girls' routines in this clip which were choreographed, I believe, by Herr Busby von Berkley. Lol.

  123. from Coffee House, the Spectator

    Why is Lukashenko pushing for an end to the Ukraine war?
    Comments Share 19 August 2024, 4:13pm
    Could Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko be the key to ending the Ukraine conflict? In a surprising intervention over the weekend, the long-time dictator and close Putin ally said in an interview on Russian state TV that ‘Nazis don’t exist on the territory of Ukraine’ – a key part of Putin’s stated war aims. He also called for negotiations to begin in order to end the conflict. Lukashenko claimed that ‘neither the Ukrainian people, nor the Russians, nor the Belarusians need [this conflict]’, adding that only the West wanted this war to continue.

    His shift to a strong pro-peace line goes strongly against the current Kremlin signalling
    Lukashenka has hitherto been a staunch supporter of Putin’s war, and indeed allowed Belarus to be used as a launchpad for the February 2022 invasion. But his shift to a strong pro-peace line goes strongly against the current Kremlin signalling, which is that in the wake of the Kursk incursion all peace talks are off and that escalation is now more likely than peace. Lukashenko’s claim that Ukraine has already been ‘de-Nazified’ undermines and directly contradicts one of the key Kremlin reasons for continuing the conflict.

    Why is Lukashenko suddenly opposing the Kremlin’s party line? He’s certainly not suddenly reinvented himself as a peacenik. Lukashenka is notorious for torturing and imprisoning political opponents and owes his political life to Putin who sent armed support against massive protests that threatened to topple the Belarusian regime in August 2020.

    Partly, Lukashenko is clearly nervous that the Kursk incursion will lead to a major escalation by Russia, up to and possibly including a full-scale war with Nato. This would put his tiny country of ten million directly in the firing line (Soviet Belarus lost more people, proportionately, than any other region during the second world war). He is also nervous that talk of Russia opening a ‘northern front’ against Ukraine could cause the flighting to spill over into Belarus.

    Most popular
    Alexander Larman
    Is Prince Andrew finally getting the boot from Windsor?

    Lukashenko has played the peacemaker before, hosting the talks that led to the Minsk Accords of 2014-15. He also acted as the middleman in the first inconclusive Russo-Ukrainian peace negotiations in Minsk in 2022. Before the Kursk incursion, there was a growing consensus both in western foreign policy circles and in Russia that that the war would come to an end this winter. Certainly, regardless of who wins the November presidential elections in the US, bringing an end to the Ukraine conflict will be close to the top of the new US administration’s agenda in January 2025.

    The only logical starting point for any resumed peace talks are the ill-fated negotiations of March-April 2022 which came close to a deal in Istanbul but ultimately failed when the Kremlin overplayed its hand. Wherever the resumed talks take place – both locations of Istanbul and Minsk carry bad karma for the Ukrainians –Lukashenko and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan are likely to play a crucial role.

    What is just as important as Lukashenko’s denial of one of Russia’s war aims and his call to resume talks, is the peculiar logic of his argument for ending the war. In saying that it’s only the West that wants this war to continue, Lukashenko is offering a potential ladder down which the Kremlin can climb without losing face.

    In some ways Lukashenko’s argument that the fraternal Slavic peoples of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia would all just get along if it weren’t for the meddling West mirrors the Kremlin’s own messaging in the run-up to the invasion on February 2022. Putin had repeatedly claimed that Russians and Ukrainians are ‘one people’ who have historically been divided by interfering foreign powers. Russian state TV propaganda has also routinely cast the Kremlin’s ‘Special Military Operation’ as a kind of rescue mission to save Ukrainians from their western-backed Nazi leaders. Grotesque as that argument may be to Ukrainians who witnessed the horrors of Bucha and the ongoing nightly terror-bombing of civilian targets, it does resonate with many Russians who have family ties to Ukraine and bear no personal animosity to individual Ukrainians.

    Lukashenko’s narrative that Ukraine has now been (somehow) de-Nazified and that continuing the war only serves the West is false and absurd. The path to war was paved with such lies. But the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu suggested building your enemy a golden bridge across which he can retreat. Could that bridge to peace be constructed of useful falsehoods, too?

        1. Much like that, yes – except it seems to have stopped raining for the moment. Kadi did go out (but didn’t howl) and when I checked him, his coat was dry.

  126. From the Spectator, Books

    How could Hitler have had so many willing henchmen?
    Richard J. Evans tackles one of the Third Reich’s great mysteries. Why did so many apparently ‘normal’ Germans end up as perpetrators of mass atrocities?

    Comments Share
    Eight decades after the second world war ended, for how much longer will we produce massive books about Hitler and the Nazis? Richard J. Evans, the former regius professor of history at the University of Cambridge, is one of the senior gardeners in this noxious orchard, having devoted a lifetime’s study to the subject. As a minor under-gardener in the same field, I believe that we now know all we need to about the Führer and the crimes of his vile regime, and, barring the unlikely discovery of something new, it is time that historians moved on.

    The damning facts can be briefly stated, and are cogently summed up by Evans in his conclusion: Hitler was a fanatic, brought to power by a German middle class traumatised by defeat in the first world war and the economic woes that followed. Although the Nazis never attained an electoral majority, once in office they destroyed their enemies and demolished the unpopular democracy of the Weimar Republic with ruthless violence. Then Hitler himself, sweeping aside the caution of his conservative generals, embarked on an aggressive and acquisitive foreign policy, leading to a war he ultimately could not hope to win.

    The raison d’être underpinning Hitler’s entire life, from his Viennese youth to his last will and testament in the Berlin bunker, was a maniacal anti-Semitism, horrifically realised in the Holocaust. In this latest, most readable and authoritative book, informed by unmatched knowledge of the vast subject, Evans asks the question: who supported Hitler’s crazed projects and why?

    Leni Riefenstahl was second only to Goebbels in pushing the image of a clean and healthy new Germany
    He structures his answer in the form of 23 potted biographies – of Hitler himself and a selection of his enablers. These range from the leading paladins – Goering, Goebbels, Himmler and co – to less familiar names such as Field-Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb and Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the head of the Nazi women’s organisation. Von Leeb rates inclusion as he was typical of the Wehrmacht generals – men who forgot their consciences in the face of Nazi crimes and allowed themselves to be bought off by blatant bribes of cash and country estates. Scholtz-Klink was the embodiment of the ideology of Kinder, Küche, Kirche (she had 11 children) and remained an unrepentant Nazi until her death in 1999, aged 97.

    Leni Riefenstahl, another rare example of a prominent woman in the Reich, was more subtle in dealing with her dodgy past until her death in 2003, aged 100. The brilliant filmmaker prostituted her talent to produce her wildly successful propagandist films of the Nuremberg rallies and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After the war she unconvincingly denied her part in boosting Hitler, one of her greatest fans, and tried to reinvent herself as a non-political cinematic chronicler of Sudan’s Nuba people. But Evans leaves us in no doubt that Riefenstahl was second only to Goebbels as the regime’s presiding PR genius, responsible for pushing the image of a clean and healthy new Germany on to a gullible world.

    Hitler’s people, as chosen by Evans, though varied in their roles and responsibilities, shared some attributes. Many had served in the Great War and had been appalled by Germany’s defeat, blaming the disaster on the Jews. Most were middle class and well-educated; they appeared ‘normal’ and far from psychotic when removed from their jobs as ‘desk murderers’, organising the Holocaust and the ‘T4’ euthanasia programme of eliminating the many non-Jews considered unfit for the Reich – the mentally ill and physically handicapped, homosexuals, recidivist criminals and nonconformist ‘asocials’.

    One of the worst villains, the corrupt lawyer Hans Frank who ran Nazi-occupied Poland, predicted before being executed at Nuremberg that 1,000 years would pass and still Germany’s guilt would not have passed away. Evans agrees that the generation of Germans born at the turn of the century bore an indelible stain for what they allowed to happen in their name in the 1930s and 1940s. But that generation has now gone.

    He closes this moving book with an anecdote and an unanswered question. In the 1970s, travelling on a train, the young Evans met an elderly German lady who told him that she had left her native land for good in 1938 and made a new life in Denmark after her Jewish employer returned bruised and battered from a concentration camp following his expropriation and ruin in the Reichskristallnacht pogrom. Evans writes:

    The encounter has haunted me ever since. For if a very ordinary, not particularly intelligent or intellectual or politically engaged young woman had seen what was morally wrong about Nazism and the Third Reich, and taken drastic action as a consequence, why couldn’t other Germans have done the same?

    Why indeed?

    1. Ah yes, Leni Riefenstahl – the Triumph of the Will. I think the behaviour of ordinary Brits during the pandemic mirrors that of ordinary Germans in the thirties. Why did they do it? Propaganda, lies, coercion, fear and many more reasons.

      1. Totally agree.
        The sheeplike behaviour, and the love of petty rules and snitching on their fellow men gave me a whole new take on the British.
        Yes: it jolly well could happen here.

        1. Sneaks and busybodies were universally loathed when I was a schoolboy.

          The miserable thing is that these deficient people are the people who are still taking pleasure in betrayal and bossiness and many of them end up as politicians.

    2. "‘T4’ euthanasia programme of eliminating the many non-Jews considered unfit for the Reich – the mentally ill and physically handicapped, homosexuals, recidivist criminals and nonconformist ‘asocials’."

      No communists, then?

    1. Good night, BoB. I too am now off, so Good Night chums, sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

  128. Just home from the Proms. Bach St John Passion performed beautifully by the Bach Collegium of Japan under Masaaki Suzuki. Wonderful singers and lovely music. Tired now so will wish you good night.

Comments are closed.