Monday 19 June: It is absurd to blame rising inflation and interest rates solely on Brexit

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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633 thoughts on “Monday 19 June: It is absurd to blame rising inflation and interest rates solely on Brexit”

  1. Good morning all.
    A bright start with scattered cloud appears to have gone to a grey overcast and it’s 9½°C outside.

    The rain overnight, far from tapering off, redoubled it’s efforts and was quite heavy until the small hours. No thunder noted though.

    Don’t know who Howard Donald is, but he’s apparently appologised for upsetting the Alphabet Soup Gestapo.
    Here’s what he ought to have said:-
    https://twitter.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1670489805803728897

    3. Howard was a member of the boy band ‘Take That’. His crime was to upvote some homoslurs.

  3. Good morrow, Gentlefolks and Maggie (last Poster before bed), today’s story (very nearly went back to sleep).

    Anglo-French Differences

    Ah ze French and English eternal differences!

    During an international gynaecology conference, an English doctor and a French doctor were discussing unusual cases they had treated recently. “Only last week” the Frenchman said “a woman came to see me with a clitoris like a melon!”

    “Don’t be absurd” the Brit exclaimed. “It couldn’t have been that big My God, man, she wouldn’t have been able to walk if it were.”

    “Aah, you English, always thinking about size” replied the Frenchman. “I was talking about ze flavour!”

  5. Homelessness charities fear target to end rough sleeping by 2024 will be missed. 19 June 2023.

    Homelessness charities have told Rishi Sunak they are deeply concerned the government will fail to meet its target of ending rough sleeping in England by 2024.

    In a letter to the prime minister, the organisations said the data shows “we are going backwards in terms of meeting the goal”.

    In September, the government published its Ending Rough Sleeping for Good strategy, which restated its 2019 manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.

    Most of what Government now says is irrelevant drivel. They no longer run things and this is a good example. They cannot end rough sleeping for the indigenous homeless (approx. 3000 people) but can accommodate instantly the daily arrivals on the Dover beaches.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/19/homelessness-charities-tell-pm-they-fear-rough-sleeping-target-will-be-missed

    1. Morning, Araminta.

      They cannot end rough sleeping for the indigenous homeless (approx. 3000 people) but can accommodate instantly the arrivals on the Dover beaches.

      Now, why would that be true? Could it be that the invaders from the Dover beaches are wanted/required to fulfil a government purpose and that the indigenous homeless are seen and treated as a burden?
      In many matters this government is attempting to keep up both the appearance and a narrative of normality while the truth is very different as they beaver away behind the scenes to bring in globalist schemes of control.

    1. 373587+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Locals across the United Kingdom don’t want illegals ? very, very , odd seeing as the main support goes to mass controlled / uncontrolled
      immigration parties,openly flooding these Isles via Dover plus.

      1. Given the Welsh insist on voting Labour into their “Sennedd”, and that Labour big proponents of #bekind (sic) who actively undermined Priti and Suella on their attempts to sort the illegal immigration problem out, then arguably they deserve what they get.

        Voting virtuously has consequences.

      2. Precisely why we were disarmed.
        The only forward thinking ever done by a British government since at least 1990.

        1. Make that 1987. The completion of the disarmament of the populace started in earnest in the wake of the Hungerford shootings.

  8. It is absurd to blame rising inflation and interest rates solely on Brexit

    But that won’t stop die hard remainers from trying, it’s surprising how little remainers know about how economies are failing in the EU, considering they consider themselves to be more outward looking than little Britains

  9. Anybody recognise this man🙂?
    “ SIR – If Boris Johnson had given us a proper Brexit without betraying British fishermen and Northern Ireland, had solved the illegal immigration problem, had not sheepishly pursued the economy-wrecking environmental nonsense of net zero, and had had the courage of his convictions and followed the same Covid policy as Sweden did, we might now be saying what a great prime minister he still is.”

    1. Yes, I had not seen your comment when I posted mine but you have copied in the letter.

  11. The problems Britain faces are huge, yet our politics has never felt so small. 19 June 2023.

    While Westminster bickers about Boris Johnson (who is guilty as charged, it must be said), as factions fight about honours and peerages, and much of the media obsesses about the ephemeral and the peripheral, Britain faces multiple, complex and overlapping crises and crunch points.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Rich Etun

    Britain is a failed state. It has literally no control whatsoever over its border. Police are ineffective and untrusted. Health professionals are imported from third world countries rather than trained. The Armed Forces are unarguably hampered by political correctness and woke nonsense. Millions are economically inactive. Millions more earn insufficient amounts to pay taxes. The roads are in an appalling state. The general public (those who care) hold politicians in contempt. Secondary education is underfunded. Tertiary education is biased towards overseas students. 25% of kids don’t pass maths and English GCSE. Public transport is poor. We are far from being self sufficient in food and energy when we could be. The Government are expected to bail out the lazy and inept using other people’s money. The country is overcrowded. The water companies are a disgrace.

    And there is no one presently, or on the horizon, who has the charisma, intelligence, ambition or drive to turn the country around
    It’s very sad

    Mr Etun is of course correct. Britain’s problems are now beyond solution. It would take a revolution and as Oggy points out that is not going to happen. The Political Classes have betrayed us all.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/18/problems-britain-faces-are-huge-yet-our-politics-so-small/

    1. It’s not a failed state, under the great reset states will not exist as we knew them

    2. Political classes? You think there’s more than one class? And there’s me thinking they’re all just shits.😎

    3. And the whole thing is held together by a fiat currency that relies on creating ever more debt!
      Not looking good, is it. Tomorrow is not going to look like today or yesterday.

      1. Thank you Paul, it is very difficult. We are both exhausted and you know that when you sleep you have to face the realisation all over again on waking and adjust to a new day.

    3. Oh I am so very sorry. What a loss. Dogs truly are mam’s best friend.

      (I saw my typo but decided to keep it. It seems fitting).

      1. They certainly are. Kipling’s poem is on my mind – ‘if ever you would give of your heart to a dog, you shall surely have it broken’. The typo is very fitting.

    5. Oh pm! I’m so very sorry for you. A terrible loss and a dreadful empty space in your lives. I wish you much comfort and happiness in your memories of your very dear and faithful friend. 🌹😘

      1. Thanks so much, Sue, it is very hard. She went downhill fast in the heat last week, although she started to slowly deteriorate from the end of May. We are bereft, heartbroken.

      1. Thank you, Anne. Yes, it is indeed. We had to make the painful decision on Saturday morning that her time had come. She spent the morning lying in the shade of the apple tree down the garden, her hair being ruffled by the breeze and birdsong around her.

        1. Sorry to hear that, PM. Our 11-year-old Labrador, Amber, has cancer and we will be facing the same situation and having to make the same decision as you before much longer.

          1. You will just know when she has had enough. Poppie had lymphoma (cancer of the lymph glands) and a leaky mitral heart valve, the latter being treated by medication, on which she was doing really well. It was the cancer to which she succumbed. She was diagnosed last October and we are grateful for the 8 ‘bonus’ months we have had with her. She was diagnosed after collapsing whilst chasing a squirrel, and the lymphoma was found at the same time.

            It is the hardest decision you have to make, tempered by the knowledge that they won’t have to suffer any more. It is such a fine line between not wanting to deprive them of their life and not wanting them to suffer. The really hard part comes afterwards. There is an emptiness in the house and time passes so slowly. She was going out for her walk until the day before she was PTS, and we intend to carry on doing so. Walking is good for the soul. I wish you strength for when the time comes.

          2. Charlie always loved his walks and the last day I just walked him up the back drive as he couldn’t manage any more.

      1. Always a lovely welcome home even if you were gone for a quick shopping trip, or if you had returned from one room to the family room.

      1. Thank you Korky, it is so difficult. When we woke on Saturday morning we did not think we would be without her by the end of the day. And what was so awful was the visit to the vet in Biggleswade was cross-country with parts of the road subsiding with potholes, then we found the centre of Biggleswade was blocked so it was a detour up the A1, from there a detour west round the centre of Biggleswade, finally tagging on to the very end of a carnival procession (which caused the blocked roads) moving at a snail’s pace which passed the vet’s door. Our son, who came with us, said later it was one of those times that you simply could not make it up. We were so fraught by the time we got there.

        1. Trying to behave normally, so the dog doesn’t realise what you are doing is draining.
          And all the time, you have a horrible suspicion that they see past the play acting.

          1. Yes, this is very true. I did my best to keep myself together but I felt at the end she realised something was up. After the vet had given her a swift examination, he didn’t need to do too much as he was aware of our case, he said “it is up to you but I think you are doing the right thing”, Poppie stood up on the examining table on her hind legs and put her front paws around my neck. As well as grief I think we are also in shock, when we woke on Saturday morning we had no idea we would be without her by the end of the day.

        2. Circumstances often seem to conspire at such times, making the deed even more awful. Our first Lab had to be put down when he was only seven, having contracted lung cancer a year before. It had snowed heavily overnight and our vet was delayed by a couple of hours due to the state of the roads. Even then, he had to walk the last half mile as we lived on a hill in those days. Meanwhile, I found a suitable spot in the garden and had started digging. It was freezing cold and the snowfall was relentless. I have rarely experienced a more miserable task, although he deserved nothing less.

          1. A terrible experience but what a dedicated vet you had, straight from the Alf Wight school of vets. They don’t make them like that today, they are all mainly franchisees, in the business of making money – it is very difficult to find an independent vet. Our vet is very good, he seems devoted to his patients but he is also a very good business man.

            I am re-reading James Herriot’s (Alf Wight) ‘Dog Stories’, it is so reminiscent of the era in which I was brought up (and in God’s own county, too! and my own). I love the style of writing of that era, the carefully crafted sentences and use of language.

      1. Thank you, sos. She was very beautiful and she did get a lot of attention in France especially in her younger days.

    12. So sorry 😞 it’s so hard when they leave us. She’ll always be in your heart. ❤

      1. It is hard, Ndovu, but her time had come. She had a lovely life, and she charmed people to the end. We all know this is going to happen, but it seems no time at all since we brought her home as a puppy – it has all gone so quickly, with so much fun.

      1. Thanks so much, Phizzee, much appreciated, If you read my replies to comments below you’ll get the gist. All i can say is where and when did all the time go? We were having so much fun….

          1. She was almost at her maximum life span, three weeks or so short of 14 years. She also had Cushing’s disease which emerged when she was nine years old, for which she was successfully treated. Even last Monday someone in the village said you would never know she had illness, she still retained her puppyish-ness and joie de vivre. It was hard for us to realise she was getting old, she still had her bouncy walk and lollop, and the tell-tale signs of age – the greying around the muzzle – were absent in her white hair.

          2. Hamish, one of our Jack Russells, had Cushing’s disease.
            The pills kept him happy and normal for several years.

          3. We had a friend whose Jack Russell lived to 18 years, treated for Cushing’s for quite a few of those years. Quality of life is good especially if the Cushing’s is caught early in that they don’t have to experience any of the symptoms.

          6. One of my friends has a Shi-Tsu/JRT (you can imagine what breed she’s known as!) with Cushings. It’s kept under control with medication.

          1. Thank you, Phizzee. I will be in touch with ATD – when I can speak properly without breaking up, as if my signal has gone awry.

          2. She made Dolly look slimmer than she is though. Dolly didn’t mind. Women eh !

    15. Oh, I am so sorry. Sending big hugs. From what you’ve said, she had a wonderful life, but losing her must be so painful at the moment. My sympathies. (And if you would like a portrait of her, do get in touch.)

    16. I am so sorry to see that- eyes full of tears. Been through it myself and share your grief.

      1. Thank you, LotL. It is very difficult – I am at the stage of wanting to see her and reach out and touch her hair, to run it through my fingers and feel her lovely, soft ears. With Poppie by my side nothing seemed too bad in the world, she was my emotional cushion. Now the world, through the spectacles of grief, looks absolutely awful, insane. These are dark days.

        I hope you got a peaceful night’s sleep. What you and Eddy are having to go through with our envy of the world is appalling. I am glad you now have moral support from MumisBusy, someone to travel the road with.

    17. So sorry that you have lost Poppie. There is something wonderful about dogs. They accept you uncritically. Always happy to see you and provide comfort when you are down. 50 years later I still miss my first dog. He was a sooner but part corgi. Lovely cuddle and affectionate to a fault. So really, my deepest sympathies. You have lost a true friend.

      A Dog Has Died
      Pablo Neruda
      all his sweet and shaggy life,
      always near me, never troubling me,
      and asking nothing.

      1. Thank you, Jonathan – yes it is that complete acceptance of you as a person, literally warts and all. She asked for nothing, all she asked for was to be near us, and in our company, oh, and a few chews please. She was uncomplaining regarding the travelling she did with us, she was a much travelled doggie and always ready for some fun. Her favourite activity ran to extremes – she liked to gallop around the room, dig for a few seconds to Australia in her bed, leap out of it and continue the gallop whilst I pretended to grab her standing in the middle of the room – oh that delicious frisson of fear (she experienced, not me!) as I ‘just missed’ and let her slide through my hands. At the other extreme she like to lie flat out on the floor in the midst of family enveloped in our conversations. She is sadly missed.

      1. Thank you Alec, having done so well for so long she went downhill this last week, we think the heat got to her and sapped her energies, but she even managed to go to the gate to welcome the Waitrose delivery man on Friday evening.

      1. It is indeed, Alf. And not just for us, yesterday our next door neighbours had to have their cat put to sleep, he had suffered some sort of injury to his neck Friday over Saturday, not an RTA, and his breathing was obstructed. Not a good weekend for either of the occupants of Rectory Cottages.

        1. Apart from the children’s Guinea pigs and rabbit we’ve never had pets. Both born and brought up in flats in central London where they were not allowed. We do understand how people become attached especially (?) the elderly for whom they’re a companion.

          1. She has been our life since we retired, everything we do reminds us of her because she was included in everything we did. Her needs came before ours, as they do with children. I needed something to care about,, and Poppie loved to be cared for. She quickly established that we had a need for a Chief Greeter in our home, a job she tackled with great exuberance. She communicated with us in terms of snorts and snuffles, half sneezes, whole body shakes and touches of the nose on our legs. A half sneeze indicated that “Yes! I’m up for it!” And a body shake indicated she was ready for a course of action we had mentioned (she did, of course, understand every word!). A touch of the nose on the calf meant “C’mon!! This is what I want you to do!”

            I think dogs of the elderly become more attached to their owners as well because the elderly have more time to spend with them. In Poppie’s lifetime we only spent two nights away from her. She, with our children, and grandchildren, has been the joy of our life. She was family.

      1. Not so good at the moment, admittedly. But our usual morning dog-walk (without dog) has helped to clear the head. For a while.

        1. I’m afraid that. as Winston advised, KBO is the only solution left.

          I can only hope that the pain eases.

      1. Thank you, Elsie, the early days are hard. My feet are still watching out for her, they were always on the lookout not to trip over her or tread on her – they (the feet) seem to have some sort of inbuilt memory unconnected to the head.

    22. I am very sorry to hear your very sad news. She was clearly an important part of your family. What a gorgeous little dog she was.

  14. Morning, all Y’all
    Waiting to board flight to Reykjavik, on family Saga to Iceland.
    Hope all Y’all have a grand day!

      1. Phizzee, thank you for always being such a cheerful presence on the blog. What would we do without you?

  18. 373587+ up ticks,

    The first party that erects a row of gallows on parliament green
    and carries the party slogan ” Hold our beers a minute” will witness recurring landslide victories.

    Monday 19 June: It is absurd to blame rising inflation and interest rates solely on Brexit

    The blame lies solely on the shoulders of the lab/lib/con/current ukip pro eu coalition supporter / member / voters.

    48% of this nation by their own admission and Judas kiss X stood out as being treacherous twatoligist.

    The knife went into the Brexitexit torso as soon as the referendum result was declared and has been continually twisted ever since via a long line of, in powe,r political top rankers, and their supporter / voters.

    They, and only they, have gone a good way in creating a nation fit for illegals and ALL their odious dangerous, deadly baggage.

  19. Nice one, Rastus:

    SIR – If Boris Johnson had given us a proper Brexit without betraying British fishermen and Northern Ireland, had solved the illegal immigration problem, had not sheepishly pursued the economy-wrecking environmental nonsense of net zero, and had had the courage of his convictions and followed the same Covid policy as Sweden did, we might now be saying what a great prime minister he still is.

    Richard Tracey
    Dinan, Brittany, France

    Take a few million upticks!

      2. Straight in the back of the net!

        From Rastus.

        And one of the clearest open goals missed by Johnson (and the Tory party). That’s where following WEF leanings get you! Unpopularity and 🤡 status.

  21. 373587+ up ticks,

    Seemingly they are, in many places, “the authorities” they grow stronger day by day gaining power via local councils etc,etc and the electorate majority support for mass politically controlled / uncontrolled immigration, pro eu parties.

    The Country is surely getting what it continues to vote for, that is

    …………………………….INDIGENOUS ANNIHILATION.

    https://twitter.com/Mexico1978R/status/1670528967898529792?s=20

    1. Why is he wearing a tea-cosy on his head? And does anyone else think he looks like Harry Enfield?

  22. Ukraine has ‘paused counteroffensive’; Russia denies official’s claim about ‘retaken’ town. 19 June 2023.

    Ukraine may have temporarily halted its counteroffensive into Russian-occupied areas to re-evaluate its tactics, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). This comes after Moscow rowed back on a Russian official’s admission that the town of Piatykhatkyin had been retaken.

    The latter part is essentially gobbledegook to conceal the main message. The counter-offensive has stalled. We can only guess at the reasons. Heavy losses certainly. A breakdown in morale such as the troops are refusing to continue? Possible. One of the drawbacks to waging a war based on lies is that once it is exposed there is no fallback position. The UK was able to withstand huge setbacks at the beginning of WWII because they were not concealed. In fact Churchill was able to use them to rally support for the continuance of hostilities.

    https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-war-latest-putin-speech-counteroffensive-kyiv-african-leaders-12541713

  23. Pride goes…..

    Liberals who cheered when a Michigan city elected America’s first Muslim-majority city council are now voicing a “sense of betrayal” after the council voted to ban LGBT Pride flags from city property.

    In 2015, Hamtramck, Michigan — a Detroit suburb and former Polish and Ukrainian enclave — put itself in an international spotlight when Muslims were elected to four of six city council positions. As the Guardian recounts, liberals rejoiced:

    “They viewed the power shift and diversity as a symbolic but meaningful rebuke of the Islamophobic rhetoric that was a central theme of then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.”

    Fast forward another seven and a half years, and — as people of European descent represent an increasingly smaller proportion of the electorate — that slim majority has evolved into a monopoly, with all six slots filled not just by Muslims, but by Muslim men.

    Now liberals are recoiling after the city council on Tuesday voted unanimously to bar Pride flags from being displayed on city property, as part of a prohibition that bars “religious, ethnic, racial, political or sexual orientation group flags.”

  25. Good Moaning.
    I assume this teacher won’t be fearing for his/her/its/ze’s life and have to go into hiding.
    (My bet is on a teacher wot menstruates.)
    And kudos to the pupil who stood by her beliefs and argued her case.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/18/pupil-teacher-despicable-identifying-cat-transgender/

    “Pupil who questioned classmate ‘identifying as a cat’ called ‘despicable’ by teacher

    Parents complain after recording emerges of teacher calling students homophobic and suggesting they ‘go to a different school’

    18 June 2023 • 9:52pm

    A Church of England school teacher told a pupil she was “despicable” after she refused to accept that her classmate identifies as a cat.

    The 13-year-old girl and her friend were reprimanded by their teacher at Rye College, in East Sussex, on Friday at the end of a Year 8 class on “life education” in which they were told they can “be who you want to be and how you identify is up to you”.

    The row, which has infuriated parents, was allegedly sparked by one of them asking a fellow pupil: “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?”

    Their teacher told them they were being reported to a senior leader and were no longer welcome at the school, part of the Aquinas Trust, a Church of England network of 11 schools, if they continued to express the view that only boys and girls exist.

    ‘They are genuinely unwell – crazy’

    The Telegraph has heard a recording of the heated exchange taken by one of the pupils, in which the teacher starts by saying “how dare you – you’ve just really upset someone” by “questioning their identity”.

    The pupil responded: “If they want to identify as a cat or something then they are genuinely unwell – crazy.”

    The teacher then asks the girls “where did you get this idea from that there are only two genders”, adding: “It is not an opinion.”

    The teacher said that “gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with, gender is about how you identify, which is what I said right from the very beginning of the lesson.”

    She added that “there is actually three biological sexes because you can be born with male and female body parts or hormones” and “there are lots of genders – there is transgender, there is a gender who are people who don’t believe that they have a gender at all”.

    The girls said they “don’t agree with that” and that you “can’t have” a gender because “if you have a vagina you’re a girl and if you have a penis you’re a boy – that’s it”.

    The teacher interjected in a raised voice: “What do you mean you can’t have it? It’s not a law … Cisgender is not necessarily the way to be – you are talking about the fact that cisgender is the norm, that you identify with the sexual organ you were born with, that’s basically what you’re saying, which is really despicable.”

    The teacher suggested they were homophobic and confused, which the girls denied. When the pupils said their mothers would be on their side, the teacher responded: “Well that’s very sad as well then.”

    The teacher said that “if you don’t like it you need to go to a different school”, adding: “I’m reporting you to [senior staff], you need to have a proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion because I’m not having that expressed in my lesson.”

    ‘The shutting down of debate’

    The Telegraph has contacted the school and the trust for comment.

    The parent of the pupil who took the recording expressed fury online and thanked “those who have been kind and supportive” to her daughter.

    A parent of another Year 8 pupil at the school who has received the same lesson told The Telegraph: “I understand the point the teacher was attempting to make, what bothers me is the shutting down of debate in such a threatening and aggressive manner, which I don’t believe is appropriate in an educational setting.

    “Regardless of the subject, education should serve to build awareness of differing points of view to widen the understanding of a subject. It shouldn’t be a case of indoctrination.”

    The Church of England trust that manages the school along with others in East Sussex, Kent and south-east London reportedly told its teachers earlier this year to “re-educate” those using “negative language” such as “that is mental” and “stop acting like a girl”.

    A spokesman for Rye College said: “We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education. Teachers endeavour to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to, and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.

    “We strive to uphold the highest standards across the school. We will be reviewing our processes and working with the relevant individuals to ensure such events do not take place in the future.” “

    1. I read that article earlier. It goes on to talk about the teacher’s insistence of more than two genders rather than the ‘I’m a cat’ nonsense

      1. Yes, the taped argument is much more revealing of the teacher’s thuggish attempts to stop a bright and non-woke girl speaking out against transhit.

  26. 373587+ up ticks,

    Rhetorical twatspeak via BOE top ranker,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    9h
    Mark Carney is an out & out Globalist/WEF/Bilderberg oligarch.

    Inflation has two principle causes: a shortage of goods & services, & an increase in the money supply.

    The covid con lockdowns created shortage of goods, disruption of supply chains, & loss of jobs & business, trillions of £s & $s have been created to fuel the furlough payments & bolster the banks. Those are the cause of our current inflation.

    Carney is one of the evil bastards dragging the World into their Great Reset & New World Order.

    Brexit to blame for soaring inflation, former Bank of England boss says: ‘We told you so’ – The Independent,
    Translate post

    Mark Carney says there is ‘no joy’ in laying this out as ‘people are having to live with that reality’

    1. “ – I write as one of Mark Carney’s former academic supervisors at Oxford.
      You report him (June 17) as attributing Britain’s current inflation and concomitant interest rates simply and solely to Brexit, with not so much as a mention either of quantitative easing (whose unbridled pursuit in this country was the hallmark of Mr Carney’s governorship of the Bank of England), the Covid pandemic, or the war in Ukraine.
      One can say only that Mr Carney’s notion of truth is comparable to that of Boris Johnson.
      Peter M Oppenheimer”

  27. ‘Morning, Peeps. Dry and cooler so far today, with the fomerly oppressive weather having finally packed it’s bags and left, but not before an afternoon of very substantial rainfall. Now girding my loins for some extreme weeding!

    Oh boy, what an appalling can of worms the supporters of the ‘trans’ brigade have opened up, and it seems to me that it can only get worse and even more ridiculous. From today’s DT – and sorry if it reads like something out of Alice in Wonderland:

    Pupil who questioned classmate ‘identifying as a cat’ called ‘despicable’ by teacher

    Parents complain after recording emerges of teacher calling students homophobic and suggesting they ‘go to a different school’

    By
    Ewan Somerville
    18 June 2023 • 9:52pm

    A Church of England school teacher told a pupil she was “despicable” after she refused to accept that her classmate identifies as a cat.

    The 13-year-old girl and her friend were reprimanded by their teacher at Rye College, in East Sussex, on Friday at the end of a Year 8 class on “life education” in which they were told they can “be who you want to be and how you identify is up to you”.

    The row, which has infuriated parents, was allegedly sparked by one of them asking a fellow pupil: “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?”

    Their teacher told them they were being reported to a senior leader and were no longer welcome at the school, part of the Aquinas Trust, a Church of England network of 11 schools, if they continued to express the view that only boys and girls exist.

    ‘They are genuinely unwell – crazy’
    The Telegraph has heard a recording of the heated exchange taken by one of the pupils, in which the teacher starts by saying “how dare you – you’ve just really upset someone” by “questioning their identity”.

    The pupil responded: “If they want to identify as a cat or something then they are genuinely unwell – crazy.”

    The teacher then asks the girls “where did you get this idea from that there are only two genders”, adding: “It is not an opinion.”

    The teacher said that “gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with, gender is about how you identify, which is what I said right from the very beginning of the lesson.”

    She added that “there is actually three biological sexes because you can be born with male and female body parts or hormones” and “there are lots of genders – there is transgender, there is a gender who are people who don’t believe that they have a gender at all”.

    The girls said they “don’t agree with that” and that you “can’t have” a gender because “if you have a vagina you’re a girl and if you have a penis you’re a boy – that’s it”.

    The teacher interjected in a raised voice: “What do you mean you can’t have it? It’s not a law … Cisgender is not necessarily the way to be – you are talking about the fact that cisgender is the norm, that you identify with the sexual organ you were born with, that’s basically what you’re saying, which is really despicable.”

    The teacher suggested they were homophobic and confused, which the girls denied. When the pupils said their mothers would be on their side, the teacher responded: “Well that’s very sad as well then.”

    The teacher said that “if you don’t like it you need to go to a different school”, adding: “I’m reporting you to [senior staff], you need to have a proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion because I’m not having that expressed in my lesson.”

    ‘The shutting down of debate’

    The Telegraph has contacted the school and the trust for comment.

    The parent of the pupil who took the recording expressed fury online and thanked “those who have been kind and supportive” to her daughter.

    A parent of another Year 8 pupil at the school who has received the same lesson told The Telegraph: “I understand the point the teacher was attempting to make, what bothers me is the shutting down of debate in such a threatening and aggressive manner, which I don’t believe is appropriate in an educational setting.

    “Regardless of the subject, education should serve to build awareness of differing points of view to widen the understanding of a subject. It shouldn’t be a case of indoctrination.”

    The Church of England trust that manages the school along with others in East Sussex, Kent and south-east London reportedly told its teachers earlier this year to “re-educate” those using “negative language” such as “that is mental” and “stop acting like a girl”.

    A spokesman for Rye College said: “We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education. Teachers endeavour to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to, and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.

    “We strive to uphold the highest standards across the school. We will be reviewing our processes and working with the relevant individuals to ensure such events do not take place in the future.”

    * * *

    Why are we wasting valuable education time on this sinister rubbish? What are we doing to our children in the process? I thought that snowflakery was bad enough, but this is a whole new and deeply worrying dimension.

    Deprived of the ‘comments’ facility the BTL posters have headed straight to the Letters section:

    Leslie Ayre
    5 HRS AGO
    “Pupil who questioned classmate ‘identifying as a cat’ called ‘despicable’ by teacher.” (No comments allowed.)
    I really fear for the education and sanity of school children in the UK. How can they possibly mature into clear thinking adults when the teachers themselves are unable to accept that there are only two sexes and spout the rubbish stated in the article.

    Steve Jones
    5 HRS AGO
    The teaching fraternities of your country and mine have been indoctrinating children into fantasies for some time of course LA.
    It started with the nonsense that was the Millennium Bug, then Global Warming and when that didn’t cut it they simply adopted Climate Change, then the stupidity about Net Zero something and now it’s evolved into this transgender idiocy.
    I suppose there are teachers who are not following this brainwashing process – but they appear to be few in number.
    Is it any wonder home schooling is on the rise.

    Steve Jones
    5 HRS AGO
    The teaching fraternities of your country and mine have been indoctrinating children into fantasies for some time of course LA.
    It started with the nonsense that was the Millennium Bug, then Global Warming and when that didn’t cut it they simply adopted Climate Change, then the stupidity about Net Zero something and now it’s evolved into this transgender idiocy.
    I suppose there are teachers who are not following this brainwashing process – but they appear to be few in number.
    Is it any wonder home schooling is on the rise.

    1. I listened to the recording. The teacher should be sacked. In a Church of England school too. Shameful.

      1. She has a perverted mind – she should never be allowed near children again.

    2. ‘Morning, Hugh,

      And sorry for seeming to copy all your original postings without first checking below. D’oh!🙄

      Great minds, etc …

    3. What is so alarming is the speed with which this cult has become established.

    1. Grizz thanks for posting this and everyone who has also posted. How well has it been received by those free to comment BTL?

      1. Only one so far,

        12 min ago

        The two letters on Boris, on his character (Llewellyn)
        and his policies (Tracey), perfectly sum up why this flawed but popular
        PM failed.

        Everyone else is talking about the student who identifies as a cat.

    2. Been doing so for ages on my ‘puter. Frequent silly irregularities which are fixed by logging out and back in but they recur. I’ve got one now, a list of people who have given thumbs up to a post which will not go away until I log out.

  30. Good morning peeps,

    Sunny start to the day at Casa McPhee with the wind in the Sou’- West ( at last!). Maybe the odd shower as the temperature climbs from the current 15℃ to 22℃. Yesterday’s much forecast thunderstorms didn’t turn up yet they expect us to believe they can forecast the global average temperature at the end of the century.

    From the Gatesograph letters:

    SIR – If Boris Johnson had given us a proper Brexit without betraying British fishermen and Northern Ireland, had solved the illegal immigration problem, had not sheepishly pursued the economy-wrecking environmental nonsense of net zero, and had had the courage of his convictions and followed the same Covid policy as Sweden did, we might now be saying what a great prime minister he still is.

    Richard Tracey
    Dinan, Brittany, France

    I don’t think I can disagree with that. Talk about missing an opportunity. I wonder if he realises as he earns his crust typing ridiculous pieces about his struggle with his bulk in order to promote an expensive weight-loss drug.

    1. Not half……and bastards all of them.

      3% of the population 100% of the adverts.

  32. Morning all 🙂😉
    Breezy and at least 8 degs drop in temperature.
    We had a lovely family day yesterday for Father’s day. But because I’m known as ‘rain man’ it did rain and we had to all go in doors to eat. But it didn’t distract from the purpose.
    Three sons organised it and they did a great job. As I mentioned frequently “I taught them everything they know”. Tongue in cheek of course.
    It is absurd to blame anything on Brexit as it didn’t and still hasnt actually happened.
    We all know that it’s our useless government and Whitehall that are wrecking our country and most peoples lives. Trying to cover the extra and rising costs of their ongoing mistakes with inflation as their excuses.

    1. Poppiesdad received a card from our elder son “Outstanding Parenting! I turned out Amazing!” His younger brother sighed and said “where does he get these from?” Last year’s Mothering Sunday card read: “C’mon, Mum! We both know I’m your favourite!” All intended as a joke, of course.

  33. Good morning, all. Grass remains very wet and borders etc. do not require watering after yesterday’s steady rain.

    Could this be true? Too many environmental and other disasters to be co-incidental?

    https://twitter.com/nbreavington/status/1670500479053250562

    Nitrogen dioxide is a deep red-orange gas that is poisonous but not flammable. It, along with aerosols, is responsible for the reddish-brown color of smog. At high concentrations it is highly toxic, and can cause serious lung damage.>
    Google.

    1. Rain has been very light over here in West Sussex. Not enough to water weeds let alone garden plants.
      Forest fire obviously the fault of the horribly white racist misogynists of Canada who have caused global warming.

        1. Yes, sorry. Will include that next time.😁
          I see Disqus is screwing up again. Seems to be doing that a lot lately.

  34. Kremlin officials turn to heavy drinking to cope with war stress. 19 June 2023.

    Senior Russian government members are turning up to meetings drunk as they down vodka, cognac and wine throughout the day, sources say.

    Sources say! Who are these sources and how can they possibly know such a thing? Do we know how many cokeheads there are in the Ministry of Defence? Without a screening program it is something that it is impossible to know.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/18/kremlin-officials-vodka-alcohol-ukraine-russia-war-stress/

    1. That about as credible as the car bomb joke you posted above. Why would they turn up drunk unless they have been on a bender celebrating their victory in this war? Really, the MSM is positively cretinous on its reporting of this war.

      1. They even joked about Gove’s coke habit on Have i got news for you. Talk about open secret.

    5. As long as I’ve studied Russian, heavy drinking (in the native population, rather than me) has always been a problem.

  35. Kremlin officials turn to heavy drinking to cope with war stress. 19 June 2023.

    Senior Russian government members are turning up to meetings drunk as they down vodka, cognac and wine throughout the day, sources say.

    Sources say! Who are these sources and how can they possibly know such a thing? Do we know how many cokeheads there are in the Ministry of Defence? Without a screening program it is something that it is impossible to know.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/18/kremlin-officials-vodka-alcohol-ukraine-russia-war-stress/

  36. Teacher called girl who disagreed on gender identity ‘despicable’

    ‘Where did you get this idea from that there are only two genders? It is not an opinion’

    A CHURCH of England schoolteacher told a pupil she was “despicable” after she refused to accept that her classmate identifies as a cat.

    The 13-year-old girl and her friend were reprimanded by their teacher at Rye College, in east Sussex, on Friday at the end of a Year 8 class on “life education”.

    The row, which has infuriated parents, was allegedly sparked by one of them asking a fellow pupil: “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?”

    Their teacher told them they were being reported to a senior leader and were no longer welcome at the school, part of the Aquinas Trust, a Church of England network of 11 schools, if they continued to express the view that only boys and girls exist.

    The Daily Telegraph has heard a recording of the heated exchange taken by one of the pupils, in which the teacher starts by saying, “How dare you – you’ve just really upset someone by questioning their identity”.

    The pupil responded: “If they want to identify as a cat or something then they are genuinely unwell – crazy.”

    The teacher then asks the girls, “Where did you get this idea from that there are only two genders?”, adding: “It is not an opinion.”

    The teacher said that “gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with, gender is about how you identify, which is what I said right from the very beginning of the lesson”.

    She added that “there are actually three biological sexes because you can be born with male and female body parts or hormones” and “there are lots of genders – there is transgender, there is agender who are people who don’t believe that they have a gender at all”.

    The girls said they “don’t agree with that” and that you “can’t have” agender: “if you have a vagina you’re a girl and if you have a penis you’re a boy – that’s it”. The teacher interjected in a raised voice: “What do you mean you can’t have it? It’s not a law… you identify with the sexual organ you were born with, that’s what you’re saying, which is really despicable.”

    The teacher suggested they were homophobic and confused, which the girls denied.

    The teacher said that “if you don’t like it you need to go to a different school”, adding: “I’m reporting you to the senior leader. You need to have a proper educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion because I’m not having that expressed in my lesson.”

    A spokesman for Rye College said: “We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education. Teachers endeavour to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to, and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.

    “We strive to uphold the highest standards across the school. We will be reviewing our processes to ensure such events do not take place in the future.”

    Severe mental illness, as clearly seen in the rise of transvestism, veganism and socialism, is a cause for grave concern. Mankind’s collective brainpower is in rapid and irreversible decline.

    1. Morning Grizzly

      All this nonsense probably stems back to what is in the water supply.

      If huge numbers are taking the pill/ cocaine/spliffs/ everyday medication / chlorinated water / nitrates / plastics well just about everything , including junk food and powdered baby milk , who knows.

      Chemicals on our fruit and veg, and meat… yes meat.. when was the last time you saw insects of all sorts enjoying a feast of horse or cow poo.. Cow pats no longer host hordes of flies, butterflies etc ..

      Plastic bottles used for milk, plastic squash bottles , drinking bottles etc . instead of glass , pehaps?

      I cross examine myself everyday as to why my 2nd son decided he was gay when he was 28 years old . He is very male , and one would never guess.. as is his partner .. So what on earth happened ?

      None of us had a clue , although he was a difficult fey child , and bottle fed as a baby , dyslexic etc , but a wonderful memory and the kindest of natures .

      I fed no 1 son myself, for months , I had the luxury of time, and a very healthy baby . No2 was a summer baby , born in the heat and had breathing and hearing problems from the start .

      1. There’s nothing wrong with someone choosing to be gay. It’s up to them. What they can’t expect is special treatment from society. Trans people are ill, and should be treated with pity and helped to find their way in life, not offered life changing surgery. Certainly society has every right to say ‘you are not a woman’ to a man in a dress. Society has every right to question the person suffering such delusion.

        It is the suppression of dissent that is the problem.

        1. As Douglas Murray says about the exhibitionists in Pride marches, “You’re not a celebrity, love, you’re just gay”.

      2. Don’t forget the effect that childhood vaccines may have. They are not as carefully regulated as we have been given to think.

      3. Don’t beat yourself up, Maggie.
        I have a friend whose son is gay. From what she doesn’t say, I think her husband blamed her and she is always very defensive.
        A mother’s place is in the wrong …. etc …..

  38. Explosive-laden car was on blown-up dam, drone footage shows. 19 June 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/85b7782b75e1aa1d73538ece5cd1e515c5d239abc9cfcb6de2a46003cb84fdf8.png

    Drone footage has emerged allegedly showing a car laden with explosives on top of the Kakhova dam when it collapsed earlier this month.
    Images purportedly taken from above the Russia-controlled dam in the Kherson region were shared with the Associated Press news agency by the Ukrainian military. Two officials told AP that Russian troops were stationed in a crucial area inside the dam where Ukraine claims that the explosion took place.

    The MSM story here has always been that the Russians blew the dam by means of demolition charges planted in its foundations. This was always credible (though I’ve never believed it) because they actually held the dam! Now we are being told that they cobbled together some carbomb and blew it on a whim? It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this is yet another Ukie invention, perhaps to divert attention from their difficulties with the counter-attack! .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/06/19/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news-piatykhatky-zaporizhzhia/

      1. Morning Johnathan. This is supposedly pre-detonation. It’s an oddity all around. It could be a 3D Fake. In fact when i look at it that’s what I think.

        1. Well, I think that much of the blast would be directed upwards, the path of least resistance., So what is the point in parking a car on top of the dam and then detonating? Strikes me as a waste of good explosive!

  39. Good morning to all of you NOTTLERS. Every one OK, I hope or, at least, surviving😊? It’s a nice day today in West Sussex, cool but not cold, Thank God, the heat was a bit much for me.

    Anyway. I came across this last night. It is a podcast of Godfrey Bloom having a dialogue with the good Col. Macgregor. It is not exclusively about Ukraine but is more of a historical journey encompassing the British Empire, WWI & WWII amongst other things. I have already listened to it twice, it’s absolutely fascinating, well worth listening to. It is from last year but I missed it then because I wasn’t aware that Bloom had a podcast. All the same, since it is more history than anything else, it is still relevant and still very to the point in discussing how we have ended up as two countries, the USA and the UK in a mess of our own making, not just with regard to Ukraine but in general. Hope that you listen and enjoy.

    Douglas Macgregor:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ErbTFK-aA8

      1. Your welcome. As I said, it’s a very interesting discussion. I didn’t know that Godfrey Bloom graduated from Sandhurst and lectures on military matters. That was new to me and suggests that one pay more attention to what he says. He is no amateur or armchair layman.

  40. Man killed by black bear as he drank his morning coffee

    A BLACK bear mauled and killed a man while he was drinking his morning cup of coffee in a “highly uncommon” attack in Arizona.

    The animal pounced on Steven Jackson, 66, as he sat at a table next to a cabin he was building, according to media reports in the United States.

    He was then dragged 75 feet down an embankment, at which point the bear began eating him alive – while horrified neighbours attempted to scare the animal off by sounding their car horns and shouting.

    A neighbour eventually shot the bear with a rifle. By that point, however, Mr Jackson had already succumbed to horrific injuries, the US news website Insider reported.

    “Our sincere sympathies go out to Mr Jackson’s family,” said local Sheriff David Rhodes. “I cannot express how deeply sad this situation is and can only say our prayers are with you.”

    Officials said the attack was “predatory in nature” and “highly uncommon and unusual” as it was the first fatal bear attack in the area since the 1980s.

    There was no evidence of anything provoking the bear, and no food was left around the cabin site, they added.

    “Nothing jumped out at us as being obvious why this occurred,” Darren Tucker, an Arizona field supervisor, told ABC News. He said they had not seen any signs that the bear was diseased, which might have explained its abnormal behaviour.

    The gruesome attack occurred at around 8am on Friday in Groom Greek, roughly 100 miles north of Phoenix. There are an estimated 300,000 black bears in the US, with the largest population in California.

    According to the North American Bear Centre, it is very rare for black bears to attack, though they can do so if they feel threatened by a close human presence.

    They frequently venture into campsites to seek out food that has been left out and unwrapped.

    BTL:

    nickname22860614: I believe these are the bears that are culled each year to keep their numbers in check with some of their skins being sold to us for our guardsmen’s busbies. This story illustrates the need for the cull – these animals are dangerous and if allowed to breed with control they would soon make human habitation impossible.

    grizzly: nickname22860614, utter rubbish! Humans kill other humans on an industrial scale, daily, and no one bats an eyelid. One bear kills a man (as a once in a lifetime event) and all the holier-than-thous crawl out from under their stones to bay for blood. If any species is in dire need of culling it is brain-dead Homo sapiens. BTW, guardsmen wear bearskins, not ‘busbies’.

    1. Now if it had been a two shot beverage the bear would never have survived to get as far as the coffee.🤔

    2. Now if it had been a two shot beverage the bear would never have survived to get as far as the coffee.🤔

    3. No one in California particularly thinks about black bears because they keep, for the most part, away from humans except in parks where they have learnt to beg for food, Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, are real. I cannot recall in 40 years ever being warned about black bears. The real danger with wildlife in California is the cougar which does attack and kill people on a fairly regular basis. They seem to hunt joggers. I suppose because they are alone and not paying attention to the general environment with their bloody earphone on listening to screaming wailing ‘singers’ belting out the latest mediocrity. Easy prey.

  41. Good morning to my Nottler friends and thank you for your kind comments about my letter in today’s DT.

    Thereby hangs a tale.

    I sent this letter to the DT on 10th June so they have been sitting on it for over a week. Also I have noticed that some of the letters I send to the DT are not acknowledged and when they are deliberately ignored I send them again from Caroline’s email address as mine seems to have been cancelled by the DT.

    I searched my email sent box and the letter in question received no reply so we looked at Caroline’s email records and there it was!

    2. Interesting. I’ve had a number published in the past but nothing since my shadow-banning in the comments to articles and the letters. I sent one a week or so ago about IHT/ capital gains on houses which was on topic at the time, especially considering their own campaign on IHT. It was acknowledged more fulsomely than normal but not published. I wonder. Does their shadow-ban policy extend to reasonable letters sent which don’t tread on any corns, unlike comments?

      1. If they manage to link BTL comments to email addresses, then I think the answer to your question is yes, the shadow-ban is extended.

        We occasionally get round Rastus’s black spot with the Torygraph by sending his letters (still signed by him!) from my email address, so that the newspaper’s algorithm does not automatically reject them. They then, at least, may get published on merit.

        A number of years ago, before days of the internet, Rastus had so many letters published by the Telegraph that the Letters Editor would send him Christmas cards! How things have changed…

        1. You’ve just given me the idea of using my wife’s email address and a pseudonym or creating another email address specifically for this purpose (I used to post on the DT under my real name). But is it email address or IP address? I don’t use a VPN which could be a fix. I believe VPNs will be for the chop anyway when the censorship really gets going.

          3. When the state outlaws VPNs and tries to go for encryption then it’s every proclamation will be open to the world.. Of course, they’ll say they’re an exception but these people are stupid. Heck, I visited a site where, despite huge investment in IT training and security principles 30% of the workforce still clicked on a spam/phising email.

          4. Do you mean to say you’re not using your real name here? And there’s no McPhee Towers? What a disappointment…..

        2. I don’t think my views have moved much to the right since then but the DT has certainly moved to the left as has the Conservative Party since the coup against Margaret Thatcher.

          Two figures who did much to undermine the philosophy of the party: John Bercow, Matthew Parris.

          There are, of course many others.

          3. Bloody hell! No wonder we’ve had socialist policies. How could they be? Neither one holds a single Conservative bone in their body!

  42. A paragraph in the article I’ve linked to below has caught my eye. This doesn’t bode well for recognition of Covid vaccine side effects…

    While PSSD has been reported to regulators in the US and the UK since 1991, it took until June 2019 before the condition was finally given official recognition by the European Medicines Agency.

    PSSD is a nerve dysfunction (preventing feeling any sort of pleasure, including sexual) and is a side effect of common anti-depressant medicines.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/antidepressants-permanently-destroyed-my-sex-life/

      1. As we all know, the first thing a hatchling sees becomes its mother and the chick then adopts its mother as a self identifier.
        The same initial exposure can in fact be induced by ongoing hypnotic visualisation to entities that the exposed individual is likely to aspire to being.

        There are groups on the internet who know only too well that becoming inducted into one of such mind alerting groups can drastically alter an individual’s behaviour through trigger words either heard or read. This can lead to the creation of an alternative self and/or an imaginary friend known as a tulpa. There are warnings in such circles that getting drawn into these mind altering groups is dangerous and can get an individual trapped in a world of mental deficiences.

        Involvement with artificially intelligent created applications on the internet e.g. ChatGPT are indeed a dangerous activity for both children and adults alike – whilst it is capable of creating a bliss like state of being it can create an irreversable addiction to remaining in alternative persona.

    3. And the first British person to be given a council house under this scheme will be Mr. Mohammed Iqbal and his four wives and seventeen children. In fact, he will be given four houses – one for each wife.

  45. It’s Juneteenth, and to celebrate 158 years since the end of American slavery, why not make amends by adopting a poor black woman’s clitoris? That is the idea behind ClitorAid, a genuine charity started by a “pro-clit” global UFO cult, the Raelians, following a meeting between the sect’s founder, Rael, and some black African victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Burkina Faso.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/in-africa-shirtlifters-will-be-prosecuted/

  46. Trump and Boris have both been treated unjustly
    This is not how things should be done in an Anglo-American democracy

    Douglas Carswell : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/19/trump-boris-treated-unjustly/

    BTL (Percival Wrattstrangler)

    The fact that the system stinks was shown when Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner not only attended the beer gate party but publicly lied about it.

    I am no fan of Mr Johnson – he failed in so many ways – but he certainly does not deserve to be treated so very differently from his political adversary, Starmer.

    And when the chief kangaroo was Harriet Harman with Sue Gray being the Joey in her pouch who produced the damning report on Johnson you do wonder if the British system is in any way impartial any more.

    1. .”… you do wonder if the British system is in any way impartial any more”.

      I stopped wondering a long long time ago!

  47. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ukraine-prime-minister-volodymyr-zelensky-ursula-von-der-leyen-rishi-sunak-b1088572.html

    Match Ukraine’s bravery in war by stepping up support, PM to tell private sector

    The Prime Minister is set to say the private sector must use its vision to match the war-torn nation’s ‘bravery on the battlefield’.

    More than 1,000 foreign dignitaries from 61 states along with business chiefs and global investors will join Mr Sunak at the Ukraine Recovery Conference next week – the largest international conference the UK will host this year.
    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend virtually and both European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also expected to speak in the opening session.
    Mr Sunak is expected to make the case for greater innovation targeted at the country, which was becoming a major player in the global IT industry prior to the Russian invasion.

    Put your own houses in order you arrogant globalist monsters.

    1. Even Richard Kemp says Ukraine’s counter-offensive is faltering.

      Richard Kemp

      17 June 2023 • 6:00pm

      Nato needs to brace itself for the prospect of Ukraine’s
      counteroffensive failing to achieve major success. Indeed, so far, Kyiv
      has attained only limited gains.
      But those who expected a lightning breakthrough were always going to be
      disappointed. This is not German panzers against Polish horse cavalry,
      nor is it American shock and awe against demoralised Iraqi forces in
      antiquated tanks with no air cover.

        1. When you have free access to the Russia Today channel again. They’ve never stopped calling it Kiev. In fact all Russian media in English continues to use the correct spelling. The Dnieper River has not morphed into the Dnipro and Odessa is not Odesa.

          1. You can get it if you have a VPN. I am looking at it via Malesia. Pretty hopeless trying to get it through a European or America. I would guess that South American countries work also. Thoroughly recommend a VPN if you want to keep current with reality. The MSM aren’t much interested in that. they’re to busy constructing a false reality for the gullible.
            I use NORD by the way, it’s good and very simple to use.

          2. I cannot see a price on NORD’s website, despite asking, they are very coy so I left.

      2. Hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of citizens uprooted, billions of dollars of arms blown apart and billions of dollars of damage and destruction and for what?
        If they are lucky, a brand new country paid for by the West, but which will be both ungrateful and as corrupt as what was there before and with the begging bowl out in perpetuity.

  48. Just back beach. Lovely swim. 2,164 steps achieved so far.

    Beach cafe closed for a private party of 50. Should one fancy some turbot = it is a mere €385 a kilo…..

    An afternoon at leisure at resort lies ahead,
    .

          2. If i were there i would do it once for the experience. Not every day.

            Jamie Oliver knows nowt about anything.

          5. Not necessarily true, Philip, if you think you only live once,

            Check out a few Buddhist tenets on re-incarnation, where every live you live is a lesson to be learned and each lesson learned, earns you a step up whatever tree of life you pursue.

            That belief has saved me on the odd occasions when I’ve felt suicidal.

            There is no point, as all it means is that you didn’t learn the lesson and have to come back and do it all over again.

    2. Good afternoon Mr T, and everyone.
      Beach, bathing, steps, Buchan, leads me to William Buchan’s remarks as quoted on wikipedia:

      “(at Broadstairs) There was a wooden staircase leading down to the beach. My sister, who
      was about six, and who had just learnt to count properly, went down them
      and gleefully announced: there are 39 steps.” There were actually 78,
      but he halved the number to make a better title. When the original steps
      were later replaced, one of them, complete with a brass plaque, was
      sent to Buchan. They were replaced by concrete, and this set, now numbering 108, still runs from the garden to the beach.”

    3. Good afternoon Mr T, and everyone.
      Beach, bathing, steps, Buchan, leads me to William Buchan’s remarks as quoted on wikipedia:

      “(at Broadstairs) There was a wooden staircase leading down to the beach. My sister, who
      was about six, and who had just learnt to count properly, went down them
      and gleefully announced: there are 39 steps.” There were actually 78,
      but he halved the number to make a better title. When the original steps
      were later replaced, one of them, complete with a brass plaque, was
      sent to Buchan. They were replaced by concrete, and this set, now numbering 108, still runs from the garden to the beach.”

    4. I remember the days when one could have a good breakfast on the train……… I remember having turbot. Very good it was too. The service was excellent as well. This was in 1957.

      1. Reminds me of a Rumple tale; he has to go up north for a case and travels by train. He is greatly looking forward to lunch, Brown Windsor soup, roast beef and 2 veg and pud. Alas, he gets a curried chicken sandwich. If I recall correctly, that is.

    5. That would be up John Buchan’s steps over 55 times. Richard Hannay would be very impressed with you!

    2. Not just you. It’s continually showing me the last two from yesterday evening but nothing else and it doesn’t register that I’ve opened those already.

  52. In the context of the discussion below about the teacher at Rye college criticizing a pupil for her statements of fact about sex. I thought people would like to see how far this has gone on a university campus in the US. It is a mind numbing example of totalitarian thinking at work. The sort of thinking where it becomes impossible to learn.

    I was on Berkeley UC campus where this nonsense is a major blight. Thank God I was out of there before this garbage became prevalent. I would not have lasted long. I certainly would not have had the patience of the professor in this nonsensical exchange. It illustrates thew fact that nothing you say or do is right with these people as long as one single person objects.

    CONFRONTATION at Portland State University: Did I Harm Students By Asking This Question?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxvyeZa1YSI&t=750s

  53. A very good BTL Comment about the splendid schoolgirl who stood up to that foul woman teacher who was talking balderdash about sex, gender and sex organs and trying to bully her class into acceptingher woke rubbish.

    Mike Pitman

    Forgive me posters as I am away at present and not able to comment as easily as usual. Just wanted to say that I am stunned at the courage of the young schoolgirl who took on the incredibly woke-indoctrinated teacher. I am mightily impressed and would like to shake her hand. Now maybe some adults who should know better will stand up and be counted. When it takes a schoolgirl to show “responsible” adults the way then that young lady deserves every accolade going. Not sure what the parents of the cat-girl deserve though!

      1. Which is why I sometimes identify as a penguin 😉

        That school nonsense is why I would never last in a UK school for more than 10 minutes these days!!

    2. ‘Not sure what the parents of the cat-girl deserve though!’

      Everyone should send them bags of cat litter. For ever.

    3. It was the teacher’s utterance that there are more than two sexes that had me bristling. If ‘intersex’ was ever a scientific term (I don’t think it was) then it has long been hijacked by political deviants. It simply applies to people who exhibit physical sexual ambiguity because of developmental error in utero.

      There are only two sexes.

        1. Strictly speaking, the term hermaphroditism should be properly used for species that have both male and female organs as the natural condition.

          1. Yes, since in those species both sets of genitalia function whereas with people born with both sets, it’s normal for only the male or female genitals to function when they reach puberty, making it clear which should be removed. Nature decides.

    4. It was the teacher’s utterance that there are more than two sexes that had me bristling. If ‘intersex’ was ever a scientific term (I don’t think it was) then it has long been hijacked by political deviants. It simply applies to people who exhibit physical sexual ambiguity because of developmental error in utero.

      There are only two sexes.

      1. I suspect she was.

        The teacher should have had nothing whatsoever to do with a discussion between two children.

      2. The easy way to call out the cat girl would be to insist that she uses a litter tray and in full view, as a cat would.

        1. I think one of the girls in the class should turn on the woke teacher and say: “I identify as a schoolteacher and I order you to leave the classroom immediately and do a detention.”

  56. One of the progs the MR downloaded for us to watch of an evening in yer France was the Yeomen of the Guard (the ENO production).

    To my amazement, early on, the son of Sgt Meryll (white middle-aged) made an entrance. Coal black Somali – for whom English was not his first language….

    Rather lost interest after that.

    1. And G&S requires clear English diction. W.S. Gilbert was such a clever wordsmith.

      1. We have a boxed set of all the G&S operettas.

        I found this oddity with one of the Pythons on the Internet.

        https://www.google.com/search?q=The+flowerds+that+bloom+in+the+Spring+Gilbert+%26+Sullivan&ei=SEmQZKqQKaWokdUPksuG0A4&ved=0ahUKEwiq1OSRqs__AhUlVKQEHZKlAeoQ4dUDCA8&oq=The+flowerds+that+bloom+in+the+Spring+Gilbert+%26+Sullivan&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQDDIGCAAQFhAeMggIABCKBRCGAzIICAAQigUQhgM6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6CggAEIoFELADEEM6BwgAEA0QgAQ6BwguEA0QgAQ6BwghEKABEAo6CgghEBYQHhAdEApKBAhBGABKBQhAEgExUIAHWK1NYOlfaAFwAXgAgAGoAYgBzAmSAQMwLjmYAQCgAQHAAQHIAQk&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:da558f9a,vid:vPmBrgWpRLc

      2. My memory probably deceives me but i saw those prints in Soho. When it was respectable…ahem.

  59. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/18/problems-britain-faces-are-huge-yet-our-politics-so-small/

    The comment thread is ‘busy’, to say the least. The problems this country has are quite simple to solve but they are politically unpalatable, mainly because those implementing them want the cushy after office jobs at multinational organisations.

    Schools, move to school vouchers. Close the department for education
    Close transport, business, schools and familes
    Get fracking. Immediately. Build nuclear
    Build reservoirs.
    Stop listening to the green Left. Move them off the road and restore public confidence in the police.
    Stop pandering to the trans lobby forever.
    Cut taxes.
    Cut welfare. Make a serious effort to reduce welfare fraud by limiting it for everyone to 6 months. The current situation is theft from those who genuinely need support.
    Scrap child support entirely. Give married parents a tax break. It is wrong that a bone idle skiver should receive pension credits when they collect welfare. You should get only what you contribute.
    Introduce failure standards across the entirety of Whitehall. If a failure standard is triggered then the management chain is held responsible – call it a strike. 3 strikes and you’re out. Apply this retrospectively to the MoD, clearing the department.
    Cancel all funding of charities. A charity is just that, not a government department.
    Abolish IR35, the upper and higher tax bands. Move the tax allowance to 15000 – which is well below where it should be. Anyone who complains about the removal of the upper rates is permanently forbidden from voting.
    Apply a council tax referendum on any increase of council tax at all.
    Limit council management salaries to twice the local, or national average.

    The big ones, revoking universal franchise, imposing direct democracy, referism and recall should come next. Whitehall and Westminster should be crippled and held hostage by the public and the public should consist of only those people capable of understanding the problems.

    1. Just start simple give the vote only to people that have bought or are buying their own home.

      1. Perhaps extend to those who rent but are nonetheless householders paying council tax and all other household bills.

        2. I would willingly give up my vote if it prevented all these women with ‘feelings’ over intellect from voting.

    2. 373587+ up ticks,

      Afternoon W,

      Agreed, but first have a trial run by boycotting
      lab/lib/con/current ukip candidates at the upcoming by-elections as a prototype for the forthcoming General Election.

    4. Job’s yours.
      When’s the revolution?
      p.s. please not tomorrow; the summer house is being delivered and I also have a hair appt.

      1. And I have to go the hospital- can we please postpone the revolt until Thursday at the earliest? 😉

  60. Christian school worker sacked for criticising plans to teach trans issues to primary school kids WINS appeal after judge rules ‘freedom of religious belief is essential in a democracy’
    Kristie Higgs was dismissed after sharing Facebook posts about LGBT lessons
    Mother-of-two lost case at an employment tribunal but has now won an appeal.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12210167/Christian-teaching-assistant-wins-appeal-sacked.html#newcomment

    BTL

    In my opinion both men and women with penises should use the same lavatories and compete in the same sporting events just as men and women with wombs should have their own lavatories and sports teams. Classing people by sex or gender is clearly out of date – we should categorise them as Willies or Womb- ies.

    Teachers will probably be soon reviving the traditional old playground game of: “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours!”

    1. Trouble with that classification is a person with XX chromasomes who’s had a hysterectomy is still a woman.

      1. Holiday with family.
        Fun – I hope
        Geysir tomorrow, Blue Lagoon Wednesday, wandering around the city Thursday, home on Friday.

  63. OT – don’t think I am complaining – just observing.

    The path/steps to the beach is quite narrow in places. I have noticed that young people walking towards us oldies make no attempt to stand aside or make room. They just walk straight at you, expecting US to make space for their self-obsessed, entitled selves to go by.

    Funny old world, n’est-ce pas?

    1. Nouveau French. Would never have happened in Toto, M. et Madame Lépine’s time,

    2. Nouveau French. Would never have happened in Toto, M. et Madame Lépine’s time,

    3. The French Ramblers – or randonneurs – are a menace in these parts: dressed in sensible walking shoes, anoraks or cagoules and armed with alpenstocks and sharp elbows they force anybody they encounter off public highways and the middle aged ones – especially the women and butch lesbian ones – are relentless and far worse than the young ones.

      1. Lesbians are the worst of the lot. In gay circles they have a reputation for being the most violent people in domestic situations. Far worse than men. Of course this isn’t publicised in the MSM.

        1. My experience towards the end of my 10 years as a court usher was that the girls and young women were becoming more violent than the young youths and men.

          1. When I was working at the local loony bin, and eight hour shift on the female locked ward left you absolutely drained; you felt like a piece of chewed string. The women never let up; not necessarily big explosions – although those certainly did happen – but there was a constant undercurrent of menace and needling.
            On the male locked ward, things could get hairy, but in-between, it was very relaxed. But just be sensible and don’t let down your guard.

        2. I’m always bemused by the representation in the media of gay men as feckless and harmless when they are in reality vicious and extraordinarily unpleasant individuals when thwarted.

    4. I’d make room. Doesn’t matter how old or young.

      That said, was in ‘Spencers today and an older fellow came bundling at me. He was aiming for me as he looked at me first. So I stopped and slid my foot back as you do to brace yourself and lo! He walked straight into my shoulder. I don’t know what he expected to happen, but it wasn’t what he thought would. I’m big, I’m fat, and I’m mostly muscle. Thus he was turned sideways and knocked into a lass walking the other way who wasn’t looking.

      If people were not so abusive and aggressive the world would work far better for all.

      On the other, nicer side of things a very small lady was struggling getting her trolley around a corner so I made a hole and guided it through. She said ‘thank you young man!’

      1. When I was 55 a university porter referred to me as a ‘young lady’. I really was quite chuffed.

    5. I’d make room. Doesn’t matter how old or young.

      That said, was in ‘Spencers today and an older fellow came bundling at me. He was aiming for me as he looked at me first. So I stopped and slid my foot back as you do to brace yourself and lo! He walked straight into my shoulder. I don’t know what he expected to happen, but it wasn’t what he thought would. I’m big, I’m fat, and I’m mostly muscle. Thus he was turned sideways and knocked into a lass walking the other way who wasn’t looking.

      If people were not so abusive and aggressive the world would work far better for all.

      On the other, nicer side of things a very small lady was struggling getting her trolley around a corner so I made a hole and guided it through. She said ‘thank you young man!’

    1. :-). Spartie does that with his bed.
      A little tartan tortoise bumbling its way across the room.

  65. MISSING sparking frantic search mission as submersible for viewing wreck vanishes in Atlantic
    Katie Davis
    Published: 14:49, 19 Jun 2023Updated: 15:03, 19 Jun 2023
    Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    A SUBMARINE used to take tourists to see the wreckage of the Titanic has vanished.

    Rescue crews are frantically searching the Atlantic Ocean after the vessel disappeared. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22741214/titanic-tourist-boat-missing-atlantic/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly

    1. In my opinion, the remains of the Titanic should be left alone. It is an undersea burial ground and not a tourist attraction.


      1. Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
        And cursed be he that moves my bones.”

        (on William Shakespeare’s grave)

        Also there was a curse on those who interfered with Egyptian tombs .

        And don’t forget Peter Sellers’s grandfather!

        https://www.google.com/search?q=peter+sellers+grandpa%27s+grave+lyrics&oq=Grandpa%27s+grave+peter+Sellers&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i22i30.11665j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f4b37bb8,vid:8XGF1H0hQwc

        1. If and when I die, I shall haunt Boris and those cohorts of his who encouraged this shutdown of society. And I will not be a benign spirit.

          1. I’m joining the queue and it won’t only be Boris. There are enough to haunt to last a death time.

    2. It beggars belief that they are carrying out a complicated, experimental operation that is not necessary to save lives on children.
      It has now been proven that children committing suicide because they have to wait until their eighteenth birthday to have their genitals mutilated is a lie.
      The highest suicide rate comes somewhat 12 years after the surgery, apparently.
      It is a jungle out there, and as has always been the case throughout history, parents have to protect their children from predators.

      1. The trouble is half the time the parent(s) ARE the predators
        Munchausens by proxy

    1. ……… “looking more to communities and individuals to take power into their hands”.

      When we do it might not be the outcome he’s talking about especially if there are plenty of lamp posts available.

      1. The state means ‘you won’t have energy when you want it, and will have to do without – we’ll force it by removing it.

        Our little company literally relies upon electricity. It powers our servers, our telephones, our computers, our customer forums. It is an information business. If the state sets about making energy unavailable then we will not be able to operate. Personally, while I could pull a plough with the massive population we have big government not changing planning laws to give people decent – acre of land – gardens, we won’t be able to feed ourselves.

        When that happens, Sunak, Hunt, Gummer – you’ll find out what anarchy really is.

        As they forget – no fuel means plod can’t run to help them. It means no radios to call for backup. It means no taxes. It means the government, and it’s monopoly on force vanishes. Then, Mr Sunak, then when there’s no fuel, how safe will you be from 50 starving people?

    2. Gosh – isn’t that just the news for all those who spent a fortune on electric cars?

      1. With petrol and diesel getting cheaper all the time EV owners can afford to put a generator in the back.

      1. Rwanda has clean water and sewerage. The Left, so frenziedly desperate are they in their self righteous egotism – will do away with that.

    1. Poor moth, having all those government agencies after it. Probably finish it off altogether.

          1. But in 2017 they were encouraging it to spread – I think they may have succeeded!

  69. Good grief. No wonder the dinghy folk are being welcomed. The bad news is that they won’t accept the housing conditions of our armed forces.

    Britain could be left with a military reliant on conscripts and Wagner Group-style mercenaries if it doesn’t improve pay, housing and weaponry for dissatisfied and unhappy soldiers, official review finds

    Britain’s fighting forces are suffering from low morale caused by factors including low pay, poor-quality housing and bleak working conditions, according to a brutal 15-month official investigation.
    Ocado chairman Rick Haythornthwaite made the brutal analysis to ministers today, warning that ‘this is central to winning the next fight – people are a pivotal military capability just as much as any new submarine or fast jet.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12211075/UK-military-left-reliant-conscripts-mercenaries-without-change-pay-conditions.html

    1. Of course today they are spending hours debating partygate.
      I hate them with a passion.

      1. It’s called ‘working as if they are working’ (in order to avoid discussing and solving the really difficult issues).

  70. The sunshine has disappeared. We set off and got to the top of the steps when we were nearly blown over by a strong gust of wind. Returned to billet and are having a cup of tea to compensate.

    Apparently there was half an inch of rain at home last evening – first for six weeks. Not enough, of course.

    1. You have missed the ‘marine heatwave’ affecting the waters around UK. Apparently, its never been seen before. Sound more like that they have dreamed up an new scary sounding phenomenon to terrify us. Oh well, Marine source heat pumps for those next t’ sea should take care of the power bills?!

      2. I didn’t bother reading that one!

        ”

        An extreme marine heatwave declared off the British coast could bring more basking sharks, jellyfish and algal blooms, posing a risk to swimmers and dog walkers, experts have said.

        Temperatures
        in the North Sea are up to 6C warmer than usual for this time of year,
        pushing it into the extreme heatwave category, according to the US
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

        The change
        means temperatures offshore are likely to have risen as high as 18C,
        compared with the temperatures of around 12C that are more common for
        this time of year.

        Marine heatwaves are measured by the temperature relative to the long-term average for the time of year.

        The
        increase in sea temperatures could have devastating impacts on bird and
        marine life populations, as well as potentially bringing basking sharks
        and jellyfish.”

    1. The whole farce is idiotic. The teacher no doubt leapt at it out of fear, the pupil will change their mind tomorrow. The other girl just said the truth.

      If this nonsense isn’t resolved rationally (and of course it won’t be) this country is truly clown world.

      1. Thank you, Conway. We miss her in everything we do because she was included in everything we did in a way that children are not. She was patient with good dog-manners. It is strange how slowly time is passing now for us, how can one quiet (in the last few years) little dog have taken up so much of our time? I suppose the answer lies in the fact that our lives were fulfilled, although we did not realise that. We took it for granted, it was how it was.

        1. I do sympathise. When I lost Charlie I was bereft. He’d been part of my life for nearly 17 and a half years. He left a big hole. Even now, two years on and with Oscar and Kadi, I still miss him.

          1. Pets are not replaceable, new dogs will not erase those feelings you had for a much loved earlier dog. The weekend was really difficult, I was nearly beside myself, I didn’t know what to do with myself. In the end you simply have to allow yourself to experience it. The worst part is waking up from sleep, whether it is a 10 minute nap or a night’s sleep and the realisation all over again washes over that she isn’t there – it’s like going back to square one.

          2. I agree, but having first Oscar and then Kadi did at least help alleviate the silence and emptiness.

  72. Channel 4 has become a national embarrassment. Spiked 19 June 2023.

    This once ‘alternative’ channel now assaults viewers with endless elite propaganda.

    Channel 4 is what the liberal elites think popular television should look like. Tune in on any evening, and you’ll be assaulted by transgender willy-waving and tales of racial grievance. The public, however, seems less keen on all this. Ratings are now in free fall. Earlier this month, we learned that Channel 4 has had to slash its programming budgets and cancel some of its most popular shows.

    Just two years ago, Channel 4 was posting record profits. It did well during the pandemic, when we were all locked in our houses, forced to lap up whatever garbage its schedulers chose to throw at us. But now that we’ve been let back out of the house, no one wants to stay in for Channel 4 anymore. Insiders warn the channel has now run out of money. ‘Go woke, go broke’, it turns out, is more than a slogan – it’s fast becoming a fundamental law of physics.

    I cannot actually recall the last time I watched Channel 4 or what it might have been. This is no detriment to it of course. I watch very little modern television output. Movies and old crime series are my staple diet. It doesn’t sound like I’ve missed much!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/06/19/channel-4-has-become-a-national-embarrassment/

    3. I was always amazed that “Friday Night Dinner” was a Channel 4 production.
      I mean …. Channel 4 and laughs? Just doesn’t compute.

  73. A Double Bogey Six …

    Wordle 730 6/6
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par 4 here

      Wordle 730 4/6

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

    2. A five for me.

      Wordle 730 5/6

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

    3. A toughy, bogie here.
      Wordle 730 5/6

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

    5. Scariest thing on earth, a mob. Inhuman, a thing of one brain cell.
      Keep away at all costs. Even a MG3 (1 200 rounds a minute) can be overrun by a mob, if it’s big enough.

    1. I have listened to that incident on YouTube (with proper voices – not the DM lash-up).
      The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced the pupils deliberately set up an exceptionally dogmatic and stupid teacher.
      I suspect she was known for being a woke twonk and the girls decided to ‘out’ her. Possibly they wished to alert their parents to what is going on at the school.
      If I’m right – well done, girls. Britain’s future will be brighter if it contains more like you

  76. A large glass of Pinot and Bach on earphones. Surgeon tomorrow and not looking forward to it one bit as I know what’s coming. Not going to be explicit as I don’t want to upset mumisbusy who may well be facing something similar.

    7. I have only just popped by to see how things are with you.
      I will be thinking of you tomorrow, and hope the experience will not be as traumatic as you expect. Thank you for not going into detail! I must admit I am panicking slightly. Hoping it will be like visiting the dentist for treatment – not usually as bad as anticipated!
      Goodnight, and good luck for tomorrow.

    1. Not exactly reliable or even renewable – just like you Starmer, nobody wants you or your policies.

  78. Oh dear stand by for mega moaning. The police have been told to ramp up stop and search.

          2. No, I didn’t have to resort to the punishments of my childhood, I only ever slapped my eldest twice, first for whinging in the car and then for ungratefulness when given a present.

            The youngest, never.

      1. A judge should not be uninterested in the cases before him but disinterested when deciding their outcome.

      2. A judge should not be uninterested in the cases before him but disinterested when deciding their outcome.

    6. I used to give silly spelling dictations to my 3rd Formers such as:

      We’re going to wear wellington boots at the weir near the ware-house where we were yesterday.

  80. Titanic tourist submarine used to take people to see wreck of liner goes missing with five people onboard
    A tourist submersible taking wealthy explorers to look at the Titanic wreckage for as much as $250,000 a ticket has gone missing with five people onboard.

    The Boston Coastguard and Canadian Coastguard are both now looking for the missing vessel that is operated by tour company OceanGate Expeditions.

    The wreckage of the iconic ship sits 12,500ft- 2.5 miles – underwater around 370 miles from Newfoundland, Canada.

    OceanGate Expeditions is thought to be the only company that offers the tours.

    Billionaire thought to be on board missing ship
    Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Acton Aviation in Dubai.

    He excitedly posted to social media about being there, writing: ‘I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.’

      1. Full fathoms five thy father lies,
        Of his bones are coral made.
        And those are pearls that were his eyes….

        1. Seems like he still has the odd good time.

          “Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
          Ding-dong.”

        1. Bit dark and cold, though.
          Why not run tours to the Grenfell tower block, or the wrecked bit of Lockerbie? Ghoulish, I call it.

    3. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/titanic-tourist-vessel-search-rescue-missing-atlantic-b1088831.html
      Wealthy British businessman is onboard missing Titanic tourist submarine
      British explorer is onboard a missing submersible used to take tourists to view the wreck of the Titanic. The firm that runs the trips previously confirmed there are crew members on board the craft. It said it was “exploring and mobilising all options” to bring them back safely. “Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” says OceanGate in a statement.

      It says it has received “extensive assistance” from “several government agencies and deep sea companies” in its efforts to re-establish contact with the submersible. “We are working toward the safe return of the crewmembers.”
      Writing on Facebook yesterday, Hamish Harding said he was due to join the latest OceanGate expedition. He said a dive was being attempted on Sunday, after a crew had set off from the city of St John’s, Newfoundland on Saturday.
      He added the team on the vessel includes “a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s”. He added that this trip was “likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic” this year due to the harsh weather conditions. Wealthy businessman Mr Harding runs a firm Action Aviation, which sells planes, and also runs its own private fleet out of Dubai. Writing on Facebook, his stepson said: “Hamish Harding my stepfather has gone missing on submarine thoughts and prayers.”

  82. 373587+ upticks,

    As a collective the current lab/lib/con/current ukip member / voter pro eu coalition cannot be beaten ( but should be,daily)

    Their adherence to party before country is a wonder in stupidity
    behold regarding the “party” they stick like shite to a blanket.

    Witness a collection of starmers charmers, they truly do give venomous reptiles a bad name.

    Too late the link has been killed.
    But another fine example of an ex leader,

    To late, same fate w ith link number two.
    https://twitter.com/MalcolmNeeds54/status/167039431699121

    The other parties forming the coalition are proved to be as bad if not worse.

    https://twitter.com/MalcolmNeeds54/status/167039431699121

  83. Alors – I am signing off. Grey clouds and feeling that rain is in the air continues. Will drink to forget. Tomorrow will be nearly 30C BUT with 50 kph gale…. Going to Monaco tomorrow to inspect the new bit taken from the sea.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  85. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think the UK is FUBAR?
    Read this and deny it.

    Foreign nationals locked up by the Home Office win £42.2million in compensation for illegal detention – with many successfully claiming the government was too slow to deport them
    Record £12.7million was awarded to foreign nationals by Home Office last year
    In the last five years, £42.2million has been paid to 1,698 people by Home Office

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12211123/Foreign-nationals-locked-Home-Office-win-record-compensation.html

      1. Yep
        Not a bad rate, per diem.
        Assuming the ‘uman roits parasites didn’t take most of it.

        1 Stop ALL no win, no fee, agreements for ALL illegal immigrants
        2 Stop ALL taxpayer funded lawyers for illegal immigrants.
        3 Stop ALL benefits for illegal immigrants other than bread, water and a tent and a privy.
        4 Give a free one way ticket to where they came from.

        1. Was invited reecently to join a class action, where winning is highly likely and the lawyer wants 50%.
          I said no.

          1. 100% of nothing is?
            50% of anything is something!
            That’s why people sign up.

    2. Don’t worry, they can put up taxes to pay these illegals this “compensation”. They won’t mind, I’m sure.

  86. So it really is true:

    Pride really does come before a fall…

    “The mayor of Keighley has resigned after being criticised for describing his attendance at a Pride event as a “lapse in judgement”.
    In a Facebook post, Mohammed Nazam said his participation had contradicted his “personal religious beliefs”.

    1. And in the red corner: Islam
      And in the blue corner: Pride
      A fight to the death.

      Let’s hope they expire simultaneously…

  87. Thought for the day:
    Imagine if every person involved with the Covid scam was allowed a get out of gaol free card.
    I wonder what truths would surface.
    Leave the judge, jury and executioner parts to the general public…

  88. The statements from the head of National Grid, that the UK will have to adapt to working when there’s electricity available rather than expecting the lights to come on when you flip the switch show very clearly that:
    – The UK is become Nigeria, but without the good weather. You have all the other attributes – corruption, tribal wars, Boko Haram, incompetence and graft at all levels…
    – The daft dream of replacing gas heating with electric has already failed – if there’s not enough power now, what about the doubling/trebling in capacity needed to replace gas?
    – Electric cars are likely to be unattainable, as you can’t charge them
    – Since most business is electronic/IT-based now, unreliable IT will kill the businesses (As Wibbling wrote below).

    What an utter shower there has been, running the UK for the last 40+ years, to create a situation where the chief of the Grid gives a warning like that! Why is it not massive headlines in all the papers?

    Keep the dinghies that are used daily to cross the channel northwards, you’ll be wanting to use them to cross southwards shortly.

    1. Sorry, but I was utterly horrified to read the piece by the Grid chief. Wow.

    2. It is actually from a few years ago, but it is still relevant today. I don’t remember it making a splash back then either. But an unreliable electricity supply is of course the logical conclusion of net zero.

      1. This we know, from nothing. Sack the bloody lot of the incompetents who refuse to stand up for what UK Energy SHOULD be.

      2. If it comes to pass I foresee the need to invest in Solar panels a bank of 10 x 100Ah lithium batteries, a regulator and a 3kWh inverter with auto switch for when the mains electricity goes off. Not much change out of £15,000 -£20,000 I guess

        1. …and that I cannot afford Stephen. Who can? not a realistic solution and still relying upon the fairy-tale ‘renewables’.

          Bull shit of the highest order.

          1. Agreed it is prohibitively expensive, but it is the sort of set up that should keep the fridge running and the (LED) lights on and possibly the home internet alive….

        2. You appear to have, so called, renewables on the barge.
          Without any access whatsoever to fossil fuels could you live permanently on it?

          1. If the entire roof and both sides were covered in solar panels, with a big enough lithium battery bank say at least 1000Ah, double glazing and 3″ spray foam insulation, one might just survive a winter without a wood burning stove. In addition if the boat’s construction was marine grade aluminium (far lighter than steel) and with a suitable Lynch Electric Motor, in the summer it might be possible to travel some distance. Energy for cooking would be an issue.

          2. I take it that realistically that’s a no no?
            Particularly for thousands of competing barges…

        3. I am looking at that at the moment, but I won’t have lithium batteries – too much of a fire risk. I want to get traditional deep cycle batteries.
          I’m also investing in making my house as independent as possible from electricity.

          If everyone piles into buying solar panels, they will become unobtanium. Already at the moment, it’s hard to find someone who can fit them on the roof.
          Roof panels would be impractical in my house anyway – the roof overhangs a shed, so it comes down to about eye level. Not secure enough.

      3. If it comes to pass I foresee the need to invest in Solar panels a bank of 10 x 100Ah lithium batteries, a regulator and a 3kWh inverter with auto switch for when the mains electricity goes off. Not much change out of £15,000 -£20,000 I guess

      1. I cannot warm to Moggin the Mog. He may appeal to some but he is not my cuppa tea.

    4. Meh. Arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin in the Westminster bubble while the country is invaded.

      1. It is in the style of a Theresa May necklace, but even hers were not as tasteless as that.

          4. Awful. I haven’t seen that one. Mostly they gave the appearance of being made of some sort of neutral metal.

  93. During my recent boat travels I came across thee groups of Americans on separate occasions. One group from Colorado, one from Michigan, and one from Philadelphia. Engaging them in the usual pleasantries, and because I take an interest in the devious politics of the US, I asked each group if they wanted to discuss American Politics. The resounding unanimous response from each group -was: ‘NO WAY!” (which I found interesting…)

    1. My experience from living in US for 30+ years is that that they do not like talking about it at all. They will bang on about religion, in the south, but politics- forget it.

        1. CT is the bestest state I have lived in. Brutal winters, boiling summers but wonderful falls. The people are religious but it’s private as are their political opinions.
          The deep south is truly another country which I found out to my horror.

          1. Truth be told I was gently poking a stick in the cage as so many (on-line) US citizens seem to despise our Monarchy….

          2. The strange thing is that US politics is little different from a Monarchy, with clans ruling:
            Clinton, Bush, Biden, Kennedy, and on and on.

          3. They can get rid of the figurehead after four years though, or eight if they didn’t manage it the first time.

          5. Are you kidding? Most US people I know love our Royal Family. Was it Oscar Wilde who said the Americans dearly love a lord?

    3. Your rare samples, Steph – American visitors exploring English tow-paths – is perhaps, a trifle ‘exotic’?

      I couldn’t begin to read their politics – home or abroad!

      1. Interestingly – David Johns has produced a series of over 300 x 20 minute videos on Youtube under the title of ‘Cruising the Cut’ . He had over 230,000 subscribers many of whom live in the US and according to their comments are itching to spend some time on Britain’s Waterways…

  94. It’s a while since one of these was in the news. You’d have thought someone would have noticed it before now…

    ‘Mountain’ of unused PPE dumped in nature reserve

    Locals react in ‘horror’ after the ‘large scale’ discovery of aprons abandoned in the countryside

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c2b9b71b7e2a0c61db981e00d3f39a029f444ffe024911672f63b1f5dea3069.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1a2b46bf3aaa091cb2d910cd487ab7c09a96c3f35da5a273ba1b3c82b485646.jpg
    Thousands of packs of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been found dumped in a mountainous heap in the New Forest.

    Pictures show hoards of aprons and suspected face masks left in a giant pile in the town of Calmore, bordering the Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve and AFC Totton Football Club.

    The “large-scale” discovery was made public at a Hampshire County Council (HCC) meeting, where councillors said they reacted with “horror” and are demanding answers, though it is not yet known if the items are linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    During the pandemic, the Department for Health and Social Care spent £15 billion on PPE that proved unusable and is now being burned, including masks and gowns for NHS staff, prompting Whitehall’s spending watchdog to condemn the “extraordinary waste”.

    Now, a report from the HCC’s regulatory committee has revealed that the discovery was made following an investigation by New Forest District Council into use of land at Little Testwood Farm Caravan Park, Hants.

    The report said: “Following their own investigations into the use of land as a caravan park, New Forest District Council reported the large-scale storage of packs of old PPE. It became apparent that thousands of packs of medical aprons had been dumped on the land with no obvious signs that they were being protected or stored for some future use. The concern is that they have been dumped with no intention of removal to a proper facility.”

    Councillor Peter Latham, the chairman of the committee, said: “It was a surprise to put it mildly – a reaction of horror. That something like that could have happened in Hampshire and nobody knew about it.”

    Mr Latham, who has been chair of the Regulatory Committee for six years, added: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. None of us have.”

    The council has now launched an “enforcement activity” with the Environment Agency, police and New Forest District Council to establish who is responsible and “whether it was discarded by a Health Trust as substandard during the Covid procurement”.

    Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP for New Forest East, said: “The unauthorised disposal of such a huge quantity of medical aprons should be relatively easy to investigate and its history traced. One long-term lesson from all this is that never again should the United Kingdom be caught without strategic reserve stocks of protective medical clothing.”

    A spokesman for the Environment Agency confirmed its officials were due to visit the site next week, adding: “We are unable to comment further in order to not prejudice any investigations or subsequent enforcement decisions.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/18/ppe-covid-mountain-new-forest-hampshire-abandoned/

  95. A bit of a nothing day today and got an appointment with the nurse tomorrow.
    I’m off to bed.
    G’night all.

    1. Goodnight Bob ,

      Everything okay re nurse appt?

      It probably did you the world of good to have a nothing day today .

      Sleep well.

      1. Annual blood taking for diabetes check and to make sure post heart attack meds are not rotting my liver.

    2. Post Script: Have just encouraged Moth to return to the wild to enjoy the remaining 6-9 days of its life….

  97. I shall be going to bed shortly. Please keep Poppiesmum in your thoughts tonight and also mumisbusy.
    Cab booked for 10 and appointment at 11. Alarm set for 6- gawd I hate early.
    Vivaldi right now- he don’t half lift my spirits. As does Pinot.
    Finally got through to the pharmacy and they had my prescription but didn’t know they were supposed to deliver it. Another success for the NHS.
    Thank you for all your supportive comments. Keep me in your thoughts tomorrow, if you will.

    3. Hoping it goes well, Ann – and that all our nottler ladies and gents who need treatment receive the care they need 🙏.

    4. Just caught your comment, thoughts will be with you tomorrow, I’m sure all will turn out well for you. Not sure what is happening with Poppiesmum, not been on line much lately, but will certainly keep you all in my thoughts and mums busy. Hugs.

    5. You’re already there Ann, for what it’s worth from this distance. Much love from The Borders.

  99. Getting the hang of Iceland.
    Language (written) can be understood if you know Norwegian.
    They are 95% “normal”: just returned from pizza supper (don’t fancy stinkflipper or fermented puffin just yet), and we could have had pizza with banana, and / or raspberry jam. Weird, or…? Later, I have to try a pizza with jam! Who can resist? Made in a wood-fired pizza oven, too. Served by a young local lass who can speak better English than I can. #humiliation

    1. Reykjavik is almost entirely made from concrete (no trees on Iceland), and so it’s not so atmospheric.
      Getting the hang of the place, though. Still to hear Icelandic spoken, most here seem to be Merkins.

      1. Icelandic is the same as Old Norse, isn’t it? So a taste of how the Vikings might have sounded?

        1. Indeed.
          Apparently, the Vikings became so troublesome, they were thrown out of Norway & Demnark, and settled in Iceland. A really hard country (how do you build a house without wood? You need some for roof beams, at least – maybe they used wrecked longships) and how do you repair your longship without wood?

          2. And apparently, they were attractive to women, because they were clean and in good shape.
            Fought like bastards, had magic parties… what’s not to like?
            Pretty good weapons technology for the time, too. Actually saw tests on felted wool armour vs sword – could easily withstand cutting strokes, and wasn’t very heavy, either. (Kept you cosy in winter, too, and if you fell in the water, didn’t drag you under as chainmail would)

        3. A Danish friend of mine said that when she visited York she was amazed that the chatter in shops and supermarkets, the cadence, sounded exactly the same as it did back in Denmark. She said that she did not experience that anywhere else in the UK. It is enough to send shivers down your spine that these ancient pattens of speech still exist and have survived the centuries.

      1. It’s well and fine now midsummer is this week. Later in the year, something else again.
        You have to be mentally strong to live here in the darker 6 months – preferably born to it.
        The countryside isn’t friendly and comfortable, it’s hard and unforgiving. The occasional gust of vapour from holes in the ground. No trees worth talking about. Lots of old lava fields. I see exactly why there are “fairies” coupled with the landscape, and they have to be placated (a road junction was moved because the pixies didn’t approve); it’s a hard land, making for hard people.
        No Pride flags. Just saying.

        1. Off to Geysir tomorrow. Hopefully some nice piccies, if I remember to charge the phone.

        2. A friend of mine went to Iceland many years ago in February. She said they travelled from lamp post to lamp post, hanging on to each one to pluck up the courage to travel as far as the next lamp post, to which they clung, gratefully.

        3. Hard times (and lands?) make strong men…….
          Strong men make good times
          Good times make weak men
          Weak men make hard times

  102. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk, I’ve drunk myself into a ‘couldn’t care less’ situation, whee the the only solution is to go to bed and await the morn’s light, a sober day and do what’s necessary

    4. Night night, Tom. I must admit that alcohol is blunting our raw edges these last few evenings – it may not be the solution but sometimes it is the answer. Sometimes. Have a peaceful night’s sleep and I hope you are not awoken by the 2.30 am gremlins reporting for duty.

      1. Thanks for the thoughts, Mum, slept through until 05:52 with just a wee call @ 04:30

      1. You get used to it. When I was travelling around Germany and Austria in the early seventies, I stayed at Gaestofs that were next to churches all the time. By the time I got home I missed the bells!

  104. Evening, all. It’s wrong to blame the woes inflicted by the government on Brexit in any way, shape or form. In the first place we haven’t had Brexit and secondly inflation is down to government policy. Interest rates have been too low for too long and a hike is a natural correction.

    1. I have a conversation today with someone who is left of centre and she agreed interest rates had been kept too low for too long.

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