Monday 20 February: Roald Dahl knew better than ‘sensitivity readers’ how to write stories that appeal to children

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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616 thoughts on “Monday 20 February: Roald Dahl knew better than ‘sensitivity readers’ how to write stories that appeal to children”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Zoological Diets

    A bloke starts his new job at the zoo and is given three tasks. First is to clear the exotic fish pool of weeds.

    As he does this a huge fish jumps out and bites him. To show who is boss, he beats it to death with a spade.

    Realizing his employer won’t be best pleased he disposes of the fish by feeding it to the lions, as lions will eat anything

    Moving on to the second job of clearing out the Chimp house, he is attacked by the chimps that pelt him with coconuts.

    He swipes at two chimps with a spade killing them both. What can he do?

    Feed them to the lions, he says to himself, because lions eat anything…

    He hurls the corpses into the lion enclosure.

    He moves on to the last job which is to collect honey from the South American Bees.

    As soon as he starts, he is attacked by the bees. He grabs the spade and smashes the bees to a pulp.

    By now he knows what to do and shovels them into the lion’s cage because Lions eat anything.

    Later that day a new lion arrives at the zoo. He wanders up to another lion and says “What’s the food like here?”

    The lions say: “Absolutely brilliant, today we had Fish and Chimps with Mushy Bees”

      1. I’m still silently chuckling over the parrot and man from Brum. I suppose that makes me a really bad person but I’m beyond caring at this point.

  3. Roald Dahl knew better than ‘sensitivity readers’ how to write stories that appeal to children

    Virtually every day a mad story like this hit the headlines.

    I think someone is playing games with us.

  4. I didn’t go to bed until about 01:30 this morning so I’m going to finish my tea and off back to bed for a few more zeds

  8. It’s not a darning tool, it’s a very naughty toy:

    Two thousand-year-old object found at Roman fort in Northumberland in 1992 has been reassessed by archaeologists

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9c813bebff80e5bbba1d44dc44b1a5fed4eef9b3/0_204_3235_1941/master/3235.jpg?width=700&quality=45&dpr=2&s=none
    The Vindolanda wooden phallus. ‘I have to confess,’ said Newcastle university archaeology senior lecturer Rob Collins, ‘part of me thinks it’s kind of self-evident that it is a penis.’ Photograph: Newcastle University

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/20/its-not-a-darning-tool-its-a-very-naughty-toy-roman-dildo-found

    7. Right-hand end for the ladies, left-hand end for politicians, BBC executives, civil servants and TV celebrities!

  9. The sanctions war against Russia: a year of playing cat and mouse. 20 February 2023.

    The Institute for International Finance (IIF) predicted a 15% fall in Russian GDP in 2022. JP Morgan envisaged a 12% contraction. Russia’s own technocrats privately warned Putin of a possible 30% fall.

    The reality was somewhat different, reflecting what analysts say was a hubristic over-confidence in the west about the speed with which sanctions that were agreed with unprecedented coordination by the G7 could damage Russia.

    The Russian economy contracted by only 2.2% last year. Unemployment, according to admittedly dubious official figures, now stands at 3.7 %. The construction sector has been able to grow significantly even if the car and electronics industries have suffered. A bumper harvest has driven growth in the agricultural sector.

    Sanctions are having an effect; just not on Russia! UK energy companies are making massive profits off them while the British people are being prepared for their future poverty under the NWO.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/20/sanctions-war-russia-ukraine-year-on-vladimir-putin

  10. The sanctions war against Russia: a year of playing cat and mouse. 20 February 2023.

    The Institute for International Finance (IIF) predicted a 15% fall in Russian GDP in 2022. JP Morgan envisaged a 12% contraction. Russia’s own technocrats privately warned Putin of a possible 30% fall.

    The reality was somewhat different, reflecting what analysts say was a hubristic over-confidence in the west about the speed with which sanctions that were agreed with unprecedented coordination by the G7 could damage Russia.

    The Russian economy contracted by only 2.2% last year. Unemployment, according to admittedly dubious official figures, now stands at 3.7 %. The construction sector has been able to grow significantly even if the car and electronics industries have suffered. A bumper harvest has driven growth in the agricultural sector.

    Sanctions are having an effect; just not on Russia! UK energy companies are making massive profits off them while the British people are being prepared for their future poverty under the NWO.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/20/sanctions-war-russia-ukraine-year-on-vladimir-putin

    2. It’s always been obvious that Antifa are sponsored by the UK government. They are just a part of that vast apparatus to coerce the British People into conspiring at their own demise!

        1. There was one of these waster fascist antifa hanging about and a couple of chaps came up and said ‘stop defacing that statue’. As he started off on his rant one of the decent blokes smacked him one, bashed him to the ground and bent his arm behind him. The second bloke tore his gimp mask off and photographed him and the screaming petty Lefty was bleating and whining like the scum they are.

          They all need a beating, nasty bitter Lefties.

    3. What is fascist or Nazi about wanting to retain one’s innate rights, including freedom of movement?

      1. It’s not about that. It’s about these petty little Lefties silencing another group they disagree with through violence and thuggery.

        Where’ve we seen that before, countless times?

  13. Good moaning all,

    Westerly breeze at McPhee Towers, cloudy start but brighter later, 7℃ with double figures promised.

    Not much to get worked up about in today’s letters. I think it must be editorial policy to keep them dull and uncontroversial. Anyway, here’s a horror flick I came across yesterday:
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1oLBAMzbS74

  14. Good moaning all,

    Westerly breeze at McPhee Towers, cloudy start but brighter later, 7℃ with double figures promised.

    Not much to get worked up about in today’s letters. I think it must be editorial policy to keep them dull and uncontroversial. Anyway, here’s a horror flick I came across yesterday:
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1oLBAMzbS74

  15. Good moaning all,

    Westerly breeze at McPhee Towers, cloudy start but brighter later, 7℃ with double figures promised.

    Not much to get worked up about in today’s letters. I think it must be editorial policy to keep them dull and uncontroversial. Anyway, here’s a horror flick I came across yesterday:
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1oLBAMzbS74

  16. SIR – The men, women and children coming across the Channel in small boats are not criminals, as Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, suggests (Features, February 19).

    The Home Office’s own data shows six out of 10 will be allowed to stay in the UK following a successful asylum application. They have escaped war and persecution, including the tyranny of the Taliban, the bombs of the Syrian civil war and the brutal beatings in Iran. But under the Government’s unworkable plans they will be locked up and then expelled to Rwanda.

    Prime ministers since Winston Churchill have always sought to give those seeking sanctuary a fair hearing on British soil regardless of how they reach our shores. It is not a crime to seek refuge, and we are a better country than one that demonises people seeking safety and treats them as undeserving of our compassion.

    Enver Solomon
    Chief executive, Refugee Council
    London E15

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

    Warren Sheehy
    4 HRS AGO
    Why does Enver Solomon insist that 60% of the men arriving on the Kent Express have escaped persecution and war and Syria. They have in fact just escaped France, with their limbs, wallets and iPhones firmly intact.

        1. You are on the right track – His mother’s name was Johira Dangar and married to David M Solomon. The marriage is registered twice with the spouse called Johira in one and Johsa in the second. He has an older sister, Ayesha. (Revised)

    2. ‘Morning, C1. Some further comments. Mr Soloman really has stirred up the BTLers this morning!
      In passing, I wonder who or what is funding these fifth columnists? And what’s the betting that some of our hard-earned is involved?

      Olivia Wilde
      2 HRS AGO
      Enver Soloman;
      Most genuine refugees are in a camp In the first safe country they have come to.
      This is usually in a neighbouring country as If they are fleeing for their life, they would just be grateful for a safe haven, refuge and shelter.
      They are not however all the way across the huge continent of Europe having traversed through many other safe countries just to get here.
      Most are economic migrants who reach our shores having paid thousands of euros to be trafficked here, most destroying documents en-route.
      Ask yourself, why do they feel the need to do that unless they know full well that they In no way meet the criteria to be given leave to stay In this country else why would they wish to hide your Identity otherwise?
      Either that or they are either criminals, or have been refused asylum elsewhere and this is their last chance saloon; In that case they are not wanted here either.

      Party Pauper
      2 HRS AGO
      “They have escaped war and persecution, including the tyranny of the Taliban, the bombs of the Syrian civil war and the brutal beatings in Iran.”
      Enver Solomon
      No Enver Solomon, they have escaped from France, so just FRO.

      Jimbo Jones
      1 HR AGO
      And by definition they ARE criminals
      Just because our limp, pathetic Border Farce and civil service then lets them stay, doesn’t make them refugees.

      Peter Macdonald
      3 HRS AGO
      “Why does Enver Solomon insist that 60% of the men arriving on the Kent Express have escaped persecution and war and Syria.”
      He would say that wouldn’t he given that he is no doubt paid handsomely as CEO of the Refugee Council. The fact that this useless, weak & woke government grants asylum is not evidence that those granted asylum are in fear of their lives or liberty in their home country.

      1. The border farce are not limp or pathetic. They are actively bringing in dangerous criminals with the explicit approval of the state out of spite for Brexit.

    3. For goodness sake Mr Jenrick, they clearly are. Stop lying, stop spouting this tosh. If – IF in the extreme sense that they are, why are they not applying legally? Why did they not stop in France? They are welfare shopping.

    4. The man looks like a pedobender to me. He has worked many years for children’s organisations such as Just for Kids, National Children’s Bureau, The Children’s Society, and Barnardo’s. and refuses to reveal the name or status of his husband/wife or his 8 figure remuneration. He was also a BBC/Guardian columnist. The Refugee Council has another 70 or more associated organisations. Who is paying for all those bodies working to bring more and more aliens into the overcrowded UK – I wish I knew.

    6. What bit of “they have not gone through the proper legal channels and are therefore illegal” does Enver not understand? Illegal = criminal.

  18. EU foreign affairs chief calls for more ammunition. 20 February 2023.

    The war with Ukraine will be over unless the EU finds a way in weeks to speed up the provision of ammunition to Ukraine, the EU foreign affairs chief has warned.

    Much more has to be done and much quicker.
    We have to increase and accelerate our military support to Ukraine.
    The first and most urgent thing that a geopolitical Europe has to do, is to arm Ukraine.
    This shortage of ammunition has to be solved quickly. It’s a matter of weeks.”

    You have to contrast this with the stories about Russian weakness and losses. It’s impossible to know what is true from the MSM reports. It is probably the first war in which lies make up the vast majority of the narrative. All you can do is try to get a sense of what is happening. Leaks like this help. It’s quite clear that M. Borrel thinks that there is some sort of crisis with the Ukies. Whether they have told him the truth we won’t know until the war is over!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/feb/20/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-latest-news-foreign-ministers-eu-ammunition-deal?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-63f2fe148f08bb2550a9b60b#block-63f2fe148f08bb2550a9b60b

    1. Will the lack of ammunition be used as justification for Sunak’s decision to be first in providing long range munitions to Zelensky?

  19. Late night NoTTL??

    https://twitter.com/Spy5Wire/status/1627342533021024258

    Rest of the Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/433ffc83b5191f746aa4a0dac0f7e7d536cfd08bd6558404ee1af737f1cc1e80.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82ae314296bdfb7c631a09996f846be0a89ab45177b932426e5bfb4f56e3a696.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5998770d3f6e59a5be63fa586b556a84bf9cd11ffe365503c991765b5fdbe7e.jpg

    We used to joke they’d make it compulsory…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e478b46cd60545eaefd75484605bf421775c8be08efcee17153387cea7b9de2c.jpg

    1. No, it is not transphobic, and I have no fear of the mentally ill. I also am not gay. It’s also not 98%. It’s 98.99%. The 1.2% are closet homosexuals or pandering Lefties.

      And MPs all get rich once they leave office. The speaking tours (despite accomplishing nothing), the ‘lectures’ , the after dinner speaking events – all to buy access.

      1. Theresa May was paid a fortune for giving a speech to an empty auditorium which she herself did not attend.

          2. Ain’t that the truth.

            Aren’t we blessed to have Al Beeb, with its mission to “speak truth to power” (sic).

      2. A ‘phobia’ is a fear of something. ‘Trans-phobia- is a fear of cross-dressers; ‘Islamo-phobia’ is a fear of Muzzies. I am not an anything phobic.

        I loathe and detest trannies and muzzies, therefore I am (properly) “trans-loathic” and “Islamo-loathic“. Unless, of course, someone has come up with a more apposite description.

      3. A ‘phobia’ is a fear of something. ‘Trans-phobia- is a fear of cross-dressers; ‘Islamo-phobia’ is a fear of Muzzies. I am not an anything phobic.

        I loathe and detest trannies and muzzies, therefore I am (properly) “trans-loathic” and “Islamo-loathic“. Unless, of course, someone has come up with a more apposite description.

      4. Re MPs getting rich post-office. This is why the “old” (pre-Bliar’s “modernisation” (sic)) way was better. People entering Parliament had not only (generally) completed 35 years of work, so knew what they were talking about, but they had already paid off their mortgage, educated the kids and saved for their pension.

        The problem is now we have “professional” politicians who are only after every penny they can get. Their constituents and their country is a by-product in their thinking (if we are lucky). We need to go back to politicians > 55 not barely out of their nappies.

  20. Morning, all. Cloudy with a light breeze and dry here in N Essex.

    Came across this late yesterday and decided to put it up this morning. The headline will not be ‘news’ to those of us who are capable of thinking and who hold suspicions about the direction of travel of our faux government.
    Apologies if it has been commented on already.

    https://twitter.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1627287553970765825

    Article:

    Expose – Ex-NHS Director Director confirms Hospitals lied about Cause of Death to create illusion of COVID Pandemic

    1. That was the most egregious thing. People were told ’12 thousand people died from covid this week!’ when in reality 12,000 people die every week in the UK. In addition, did they all die FROM covid, or WITH covid? How many were ‘queued up’ to have the same cause of death at the same time?

    3. 371360+ up ticks,

      Morning KtK,

      Did they receive recompense or was it a freebie
      simply for the love of lying ?

    4. Back in March 2020 we were being told to stay indoors because the hospitals were overflowing and there were ambulances queueing up round the block. I live just down the road from a major London teaching hospital so instead of hiding behind the sofa I took a stroll down there to view the mayhem. It isn’t usually necessary to go inside Charing Cross to know that it’s a very busy hospital but I’ve never seen it look so deserted as it was then. There are usually ambulances racing up and down Shepherds Bush Road with their sirens blaring at all hours of the day and night. There was nothing.

    5. I think most of us, at least after the initial few weeks, could see that we were being manipulated by the Government but what I never understood was why HMG Loyal Opposition and all the other parties – principally SNP and Non-Lib Non-Dems – were urging stronger harder faster. What was in it for them?

      (I accept for the Non-Lib Non-Dems, the clue is in the name)

    1. Good morning Bob

      Why are the spineless authorities allowing this desecration of our heritage and our national heroes.
      Who are these people who are messing around with our literature, our great story tellers are being cancelled .

      This country will soon consist of low IQ blobs , perhaps there will be a battle between Black culture and and screeching from the Temples and Mosques?

      1. Or the barbarians and the savages.

        The state doesn’t care. It wants this carnage. It wanted to destroy this country and it’s culture and replace it with statist orthodoxy.

    2. A simple statement that black lives do not matter would be enough.

      Let’s stop enforcing racism and see how we get on.

    3. A simple statement that black lives do not matter would be enough.

      Let’s stop enforcing racism and see how we get on.

    1. Yo Rik

      History has proven, that during WWII, there were only seven Nazis all the rest were ‘conscripted, which the precisely same number of Frenchpeople not in The Resistance

    2. Twitter’s refusal to let you see the context of a conversation is annoying. Has the Lefty just thrown Nazi in there? Does he understand anything about the history of the region?

  23. 371360+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 20 February: Roald Dahl knew better than ‘sensitivity readers’ how to write stories that appeal to children

    As in,
    Ronald Dahl had just the right amount of sensitivity to know what children enjoyed as shown via his books.

    Selective sensitivity is just another tool to be nurtured and used
    in manipulating the herd example being forty five thousand plus
    die in a disaster as in an act of God with maybe man input,via faulty construction, the horrendous episode receives a deluge of media attention, as it should.

    Sixty thousand plus England / Wales excess deaths, Scotland Northern Ireland to be added, via experimental medication with no
    proving safe history, an act of man, media coverage in results of
    in depth Investigative journalism is yet to be witnessed.

    Be no surprise to me to see a repeat of the ” Dunblaine massacre”
    a hundred year wait to reveal the real facts.

    WHO has quit the field into investigating the true facts, that tells me that the herd is NOT to question WHY the herd is but to DO
    (follow orders ) and DIE

    t

    1. Was she there all the time, or was she put there? Did a search team miss her – this does happen, they are only human. What I find disgusting is that to cover up the failures of the state machine, rather than accept responsibility, the police – and all systems of government – attacked the woman and smeared her.

      1. Morning Wibbling

        I have been watching too much stuff like Silent Witness or Morse or even Midsummer murders..

        I hope the poor girl wasn’t dumped there..

        1. I suppose it is possible that the ebb and flow of the tide meant the body was there for three weeks and then floated up from the entangled weeds.

      2. After the backlash against plod’s release of her personal information there followed a fluff piece on the senior investigator saying what a wonderful officer she is.

        You can easily see what the police priorities are/were.

  25. Curiously, this is on topic for once.

    My muse Alma Deutscher came of age yesterday. Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS9gaQ7zy8I she reads a fable she contributed to a new book about the The Baker and the Yeast, which is actually a plug for her new opera ‘The Emperor’s New Waltz’ which opens in Salzburg on 4th March.

  27. Why Prevent is failing to tackle Islamism. Spiked 20 February 2023.

    Practitioners are too frightened of being labelled Islamophobic.

    Finally, the truth about Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme, is out in the public domain. William Shawcross’s independent review, published earlier this month, showed clearly where the strategy is falling down. Practitioners find themselves harassed by Islamists, undermined by local authorities and under-supported by central government.

    I should know. While working for Waltham Forest Council, I was a counter-extremism coordinator and Prevent practitioner. And I discovered first-hand how difficult it was to try to tackle Islamist extremism – the ideology that poses the greatest threat to UK security. My own attempts to do so were constantly undermined. I was told in one particular case that my work was ‘not in line with the position held by the council’ and threatened with disciplinary action.

    Like the two murdered on London Bridge she is so smart she is dumb. The problem with Prevent is that it is a flawed concept. You cannot change the minds of fanatics with a friendly chat. The real solution would have been for Prevent to be a screening process and anyone failing to have been deported immediately! It’s too late now of course. The Caliphate is as good as here..

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/02/20/why-prevent-is-failing-to-tackle-islamism/

  28. Regarding the perverted censorship of Dahl’s works – it scream how utterly arrogant and ignorant the Left are. The Nazis did the same thing. So did Mao, Ceausescu and Stalin. They are not heroic, they are evil.

    This cultural vandalism is just the latest in a long line of miserable, petty, spiteful acts perpetuated by a bitter, twisted group who think themselves self righteous, virtuous – but then, so did Hitler, Mao, and Stalin.

    The Left seek to erase history not out of fear of repeating it, but because they want people to forget who they really are.

      1. Given that telephones can come with a water resistance rating I think it’d be ok. Not to mention rain. In electric cars the battery is surrounded by steel, so should be isolate there as well.

      2. Sodium as well. Similar reaction with hydrogen (now here’s a thought, how much accessible sodium is there on this Planet?) but different coloured flames. IIRC pinkish with potassium and yellow with sodium.
        I don’t think our chemistry lab had a supply of lithium. 😎

    4. Erudite comment below:

      Aveling G Butler
      @MrAvelingButler
      ·
      5h
      Replying to
      @nbreavington
      “It’s just a ‘bunch’ of lithium that normally just fizzles a ‘bunch’.”
      Bunch? Other — more descriptive, colourful and enriching (and less retarded sounding) — collective nouns are available in the very extensive English language.

  31. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    What a man and what a career, even for a submariner:

    Captain Colin Farley-Sutton, naval engineer who helped develop nuclear power generation for submarines – obituary

    Farley-Sutton was at the Dounreay nuclear reactor shore establishment when the first British pressurised water reactor began operating

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    15 February 2023 • 3:50pm

    Captain Colin Farley-Sutton, who has died aged 91, played a significant role in the development of nuclear propulsion for submarines in Britain.

    At 0310 in the morning of January 7 1965, at HMS Vulcan, the Dounreay testing centre in the north of Scotland, Farley-Sutton was euphoric as the first British pressurised water reactor (PWR) started to “become critical”, in other words to begin operating.

    “Dogged by delays,” he wrote, “the hours rolled maddeningly by until we gave the order to proceed with first criticality … and then, in a silence broken only by the quiet voices of physicists speaking into their headsets, the neutron count on the source range meter slowly and continuously increased without further withdrawal of the control rods.

    “After nine years and seemingly endless frustrations, the first British [prototype] reactor was critical. It was a marvellous, and chastening, and surprisingly calm moment.”

    Vickers-Armstrongs and Rolls-Royce were the contractors, but Farley-Sutton was the Admiralty Engineer Overseer of this important milestone in engineering.

    Farley-Sutton was the first to acknowledge the American contribution to this achievement. He had personally checked a vast amount of supporting documentation and interpreted US naval and industrial details in terms of UK systems and practices, and he noted that much time and grief had been saved by the adoption of the American management ethos.

    Farley-Sutton had also overseen the urgent rebuilding of the reactor when novel materials such as Inconel, a chrome-molybdenum and nickel-based heat-resistant alloy, were replaced by high-grade stainless steel. In turn, he noted, this experiment prompted greater American interest in low-alloy steels.

    After trials and testing, on April 2 1965 the PWR was accepted by the Navy for use in its Valiant-class of submarines. For Farley-Sutton the intellectual challenge, the physical demands and the camaraderie made his time working on the reactor the most exciting period of his life.

    Colin David Farley was born in Rugby on December 20 1931; his father was a journeyman turner and later a railwayman. His mother, a housewife, hyphenated their surname to Farley-Sutton after she was widowed and remarried. Young Farley-Sutton was educated at Rugby College of Technology and Arts.

    In 1950 he entered Dartmouth as a Special Entry Cadet. His divisional officer was the rumbustious submariner and later Fleet Street entrepreneur Johnny Coote. Farley-Sutton had joined the Navy as a seaman officer, but with an eye to finishing the engineering degree he had started in Rugby; enjoying early responsibility, he transferred to be an engineer.

    He gained a BSc at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon outside Plymouth in 1955 and an MSc in Nuclear Engineering at Greenwich in 1959.

    Exhausted after two years at Dounreay (1964-66), Farley-Sutton resigned, but a kindly appointer [personnel manager] sent him to be a squadron marine engineer in the submarine depot ship Forth in Singapore. Subsequently he was appointed to the submarine bases at Faslane and Gosport, returning to general service in the destroyer Norfolk.

    In 1976-79 Farley-Sutton qualified as a French interpreter and served in Paris as assistant naval attaché (technical). He was promoted to captain in 1980, when he became the superintendent of the nuclear facility at Dounreay, but after 33 years he left the Navy.

    He bought a bookshop, and later taught mechanical engineering at Thurso Technical College. He raised funds for a scanner at Caithness, was a trustee of Scrabster Harbour and chairman or president of local charities, as well as a deputy lieutenant of Caithness.

    In 1954 Colin Farley-Sutton married Sheila Wilson (née Baldwin), a Wren and the older sister of a Dartmouth term-mate. When they married aged under 25, the terms of service of that time obliged her to resign and repay her uniform allowance, which they did at £4 a month over the next two years.

    This gave rise to a family joke that Mother had been bought on the never-never. She and a son predeceased him, and Farley-Sutton is survived by a son and two daughters.

    Colin Farley-Sutton, born December 20 1931, died January 15 2023

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/356c2575341f76b9a47db31c11cba6307b588c4179f8ec669f0d7bb4ce5b816c.jpg

    1. Sadly engineers of this calibre are no longer found in any of the services, nor the civil service. The privatisation of the Government and MoD research and development establishments reduced the expertise, ethos and knowledge base to a commercial profit driven structure. I doubt if the level of this engineers’ expertise could even be found in contemporary British industry. A cursory examination of British high tech engineering output such as Concorde, TSR2, indicates nothing of comparable challenge and excellence has been delivered for over 50 years. It is not difficult to see why.

    2. Sadly engineers of this calibre are no longer found in any of the services, nor the civil service. The privatisation of the Government and MoD research and development establishments reduced the expertise, ethos and knowledge base to a commercial profit driven structure. I doubt if the level of this engineers’ expertise could even be found in contemporary British industry. A cursory examination of British high tech engineering output such as Concorde, TSR2, indicates nothing of comparable challenge and excellence has been delivered for over 50 years. It is not difficult to see why.

        1. I assume these specialists left when we sold Westinghouse. There was no reason for them to stay.

    1. To enjoy retirement, there needs to be 10 days in a week, otherwise, you are just as busy as at work, but in a different location

  33. Right.
    T’Lad’s having a bloody big lathe delivered today and I’m lending a hand as well as providing moving equipment that might be needed.
    Will pop in to see Stepson en route.
    See you later.

    2. Yo B o B

      Back in the late 18 oops 1950s, the use of lathes for both wood and metal were part of lesson at my brand new Comprehensive school.

      We also had Milling Machines, Pillar Drills, a Forge, metal Bending Machines etc

      The downside, Music was compulsory

  34. Good morning folks!

    I understand that I shouldn’t be shocked to see third world practices going on in Londonistan but…but…on the bus coming into work this morning there was a woman with a tit hanging out, breastfeeding a child who looked old enough to be walking. I’ve heard of this happening in primitive societies but naively never thought to see it in West London.

    1. All a bit off, but I’d argue it’s part of infantilising the child for the mother’s benefit, not the child’s.

    3. Similar to making the statement….”Do you know how I am” !
      As waz the disgustin’ exhample from rappaarrs R-us on dah aktin award prohgram on TV laast niahgt inhitt.

  35. Morning all 😉 😊
    Nothing exciting weather wise little grandson arriving in 5 minutes I’d better be off.

    Perhaps it’s time for a complete ban on all these ridiculous Dopey Wokies interferring with our history and literature. Let’s hear it ……

  36. Iraq was a terrible war – but it cannot excuse our failure to confront the tyranny we face today. 20 February 2023.

    Iraq has left scars that refuse to heal. Libya was a smaller intervention, equally counter-productive. Afghanistan was the longest of them all, until it collapsed with the humiliating flight from Kabul in August 2021. Having given them false hope and fleeting security, the US decided that international forces should quit suddenly, leaving Afghans at the mercy of the Taliban.

    These interventions and others, such as in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, were wrapped up in the doctrine of liberal, or humanitarian, intervention. It arose from the horror of a global community looking the other way as people were being slaughtered in Bosnia and Rwanda. It morphed into a messianic zeal to remove dictators and install democracy, at the barrel of the gun.

    There’s something bleakly comical about this article. Kampfner recites with reasonable accuracy the dismal results of the West’s meddling in the Middle East over the last thirty years and then goes on to recommend that we oppose Vladimir Putin and Russia. Why he thinks that this is going to turn out differently he fails to tell us. The reality is that even if it doesn’t turn Nuclear it will still almost certainly bring down the final curtain on Europe.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/20/iraq-war-confront-anniversary-russia-putin

    1. Every single one here must be removed. Every single one that tries to make the crossing must be turned back. If they refuse, shoot them.

      1. Shoot them anyway. That’ll stop the crossings PDQ.
        There’s no women or children there to get hurt, either.

    3. It is naïve to call them “illegal immigrants”; they are far worse than that. They are an invasion force and should be dealt with accordingly. Where is our modern-day Francis Drake?

      1. 371360+ up ticks,

        Afternoon G,
        Where indeed, ALL we can muster seemingly is Charlie Drake.
        That bloke done well and his rendering
        should be used as a prototype and repeated nationwide, daily.

  39. You’ve all seen those huge chemical and other sourced conflagrations recently, well, little old Colchester (now a city) not to be outdone, has its own. The landfill refuse tip in Warren Lane has caught alight. Locals (does that include Elsie and me?) are being advised to keep their windows and doors closed. I’m a little over two miles away as the crow flies or as the fumes are carried on the wind, Elsie a tad closer.
    Do I put my gardening on hold? Do I mask up?

    https://twitter.com/ECFRS/status/1627575695747547136

          2. Oh. Bit silly, really considering the fire brigade are there to, you know, fight fires not support poofs.

    1. The forced move to electric cars, the restrictions on driving, the cost of petrol – they’re all aimed at the same thing: to remove your ability to go where you want to, when you want to. To remove your freedom of choice.

      To, bluntly, control you.

      1. 371360+ up ticks,

        Morning SE.

        Mass unite under one fringe party and NOT one with a baggage car, as in a reshuffled, renamed tory (ino) party

  42. Morning to all. Another gloomy day in West Sussex, had to turn on the lights again.

    Mentioning Erdogan yesterday, this came into my mailbox today.
    Erdoğan Stirs Up Mischief in Greece, While Turks Who Live There Enjoy Their Ouzo
    https://islamism.news/2023/02/17/erdogan-stirs-up-mischief-in-greece-while-turks-who-live-there-enjoy-their-ouzo/?utm_source=Focus+on+Western+Islamism&utm_campaign=464c75cb3a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_11_02_06_20_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1ce70fade8-464c75cb3a-34199337

    2. When we were in Turkey a chap who ran a restaurant/bar asked us if we would buy a dozen large bottles of Ouzo for him when we sailed over to Symi for a few days. The Turks love their raki which, to my way of thinking, tastes just the same and just as bad as Ouzo!

  43. Oh how sad – a woke wanqueur caught* out: * Very apt!!!

    “Stephen Fry is the subject of a formal complaint after being accused of making misogynistic and racist jokes at a cricketing dinner at Lord’s.

    Speaking in his capacity as president of Marylebone Cricket Club, the actor and comedian allegedly joked about women “shagging” and linked Muslims and terrorists.

    One of those present has called for disciplinary action to be taken against him by MCC, calling the comments, for which Fry subsequently refused to apologise, “egregious”.

    However, MCC and some other diners have disputed the claims, saying that the apparently misogynistic joke had been misheard and that the one about Muslims was never made.

    The complaint was made by Chris Waterman, a member of MCC, who claims that Fry stood up to welcome members to the dinner, saying: “I had intended to say ‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen’ but there are no lady members present. I suppose they are off shagging’.”

    Later, according to Waterman, Fry referred to the Allahakbarries, an amateur cricket team founded by the Peter Pan author JM Barrie. He went on to joke that “the term ‘Allahu akbar’, when used today, was usually followed by a loud bang”.

    Fry’s representatives were approached for comment. Guy Lavender, chief executive and secretary of MCC, said that this account “is factually incorrect”.

    “The dinner in question was enjoyed by those that attended and we have not received any other complaint from attendees in this regard,” he said

    Other diners told The Times that what Fry actually said was: “I had intended to say ‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen’ but there are no lady members present. Now we can talk about shagging,” and his point was to mock the underrepresentation of women in the club. They said they had not heard the Muslim joke.

    Fry’s tenure as president of MCC has been controversial. He has sought to modernise the club but has come under attack for plans to axe the famous Eton-Harrow and Varsity games. A decision to ditch the matches was reversed after a members’ revolt. Archie Berens, spokesman for preserving the historic fixtures, said: “Quite apart from having divided the membership over this issue, there should be no place in the club for someone talking in this manner.”

    Waterman has also been a divisive figure. An education policy adviser, he has previously run for MCC committee positions but failed to get them — blaming a “chumocracy”. He describes himself as a “contrarian” and “iconoclast”, and describes MCC as “male, pale and stale”.

    He said that while no women members were present at the dinner, women serving staff on zero-hours contracts were. “After the meal the president called all the serving staff back into the room to thank them,” he said in his complaint. “I interrupted and asked him if he would apologise for his earlier comments about women and he said, ‘No, I was referring to women members,’ and continued speaking.”

    Fry is not the first MCC official to come under attack for jokes. Last summer Bruce Carnegie Brown, the chairman, was disciplined when he was heard joking during an extended break at the annual meeting that members were, “taking an age to empty their colostomy bags”.

      3. Yo sos

        Shirley, to be properly Woke, this twit* must change ‘their’ name to “Waterperson” or something similar

        * other spellings are available

  46. If Puffin Books are insisting on editing and modifying Roald Dahl’s books to suit a more ‘sensitive’ audience; the the simple answer is for everyone to boycott all their output.

    Trouble is, there are far too many dimwits out there who will continue to purchase Puffin Books.

          3. Not an avid reader but I understood the Song of Solomon was all about being ‘on the job’?

      2. The Irish ‘benders’ get an early mention with Sodom and begorrah! They wouldn’t dare censor that.

    2. Morning Grizz. The real problem here is ebooks à la Kindle. These can be altered retrospectively without your knowledge or permission!

      1. Morning, Araminda.

        Legislation to stop that is urgently required. I wonder if copyright laws say anything about summarily trashing another author’s text?

    1. I detest Blair. He’s a rotten verminous whelp who would benefit the country by his trial and sentencing for treason, yet: he did an interview once and was asked something like ‘did you consult your faith as part of the decision to go to war’ and yes knew where this was going and after a bit said yes, I did pray.

      Now, I have no religious conviction at all, and anything answering Blair’s summons would be daemonic, but the next day the headline was ‘god told me to’ which isn’t true.

      Now, Raynor is a moron with no value or use to society. However, did she mean ‘it doesn’t matter that he (as a trans man) has a functioning willy, it only matters that he is a man?

    3. Well, this should turn all female Labour-supporting voters, no probs. If I were a Labour party member I’d be resigning straight away with a swift email to the Party and demanding Rayner’s resignation/dismissal.

    1. I wonder how many bender fire-squirters are employed by the Essex Fire-Squirter ‘Service’ [Brigade]?

  49. Poles apart…

    “The European Commission’s decision to sue Poland over its constitutional court rulings is making the European Court of Justice a de facto Supreme Court of Europe…
    The European Commission has decided to challenge the Polish constitutional court over not only its assertion of the supremacy of the Polish constitution over European law, but also to question the appointment of three justices of the court as well as the election of the chief justice herself. This move escalates the rule of law dispute to a new level.
    The European Commission is effectively arguing that Poland’s constitutional court has ceased to be an independent entity and is now a creature of the government.
    The commission is taking an unprecedented step. It will be the first time the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been asked to assess the functioning of a member state’s constitutional court and its verdicts. If the European court rules in favour of the commission, its ruling will have consequences that go way beyond the dispute over the observance of the principle of the rule of law in Poland.

    It will mean that the ECJ has asserted its right to review the work of member states’ constitutional courts and to challenge their verdicts. In this way, the ECJ in Luxembourg would effectively become a Supreme Court of Europe able to interpret and adjudicate the constitutional laws of the member states.

    The European Commission’s decision cannot but affect the political situation in Poland. Last Friday, President Andrzej Duda submitted the legislation passed by the Polish parliament on disciplinary procedures for judges for review by the constitutional court. The law was passed in order to change the very procedure objected to by the European Union so that the Commission would unblock Poland’s share of the EU Recovery Fund.

    The Polish president’s move looks like a further delay to Poland’s access to its EU recovery fund allocation is inevitable, but the European Commission’s decision to question the credentials of the constitutional court complicates matters still further.”

      1. “… that the Commission would unblock Poland’s share of the EU Recovery Fund.”

        Sounds like bribery to me.

    2. On the subject of Poland, did anyone bother reading the article on how great Poland is at implementing heat pump technology? I only glanced at it but wondered if any of you had any thoughts on it?

  51. E R U Surprised?

    “The top ranks of the European Parliament have slammed the door shut to a public cross-examination of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over her personal role in negotiating a multibillion euro vaccine deal with Pfizer.

    Last month, lawmakers in the Parliament’s special committee on COVID-19 proposed to invite von der Leyen to answer questions on the EU’s largest vaccine contract, signed at the height of the pandemic. It was in the run-up to this contract that she is reported to have exchanged text messages with Pfizer’s Chief Executive Albert Bourla.

    However, at a closed-door meeting Thursday of the Conference of Presidents (CoP) — which includes the heads of all the political groups and the Parliament’s president — leaders refused the request to hold a public grilling. Instead they decided to ask von der Leyen to answer questions in private at some point in the future, watering down the invitation to almost nothing.”

      1. Sadly most remainers don’t give it much thought at all. Too many think the EU is all about going on holiday without a visa. Brexiters are racists or xenophobes, depending on whether the accuser owns a dictionary. One told me that if the UK left the EU we would be plunged into a post apocalyptic wasteland with no power, no water, no food and yes, I know the powers that be are still working on that!

        1. The problem s we have not properly left the EU as most MPs want to take us back on to their gravy train.

          1. We still obey many of the laws of the EU, which hamper our industry.

            We did not reduce corporation tax, so obviously industry establishes itself in southern Ireland.

            We still follow the EU’s policies on “asylum seekers” despite the fact that neither France or Germany do.

          2. I can’t name a single law of the EU that we do not adhere to. And, far from lowering our corporation tax to encourage new business, HMG is increasing it to 25% from 19 in April this year.

          4. By far the majority of them want us to rejoin (although how we have “left” I don’t know). We still follow all EU diktats. Some democracy!

  53. Worst time to buy a house in 150 years
    Housing affordability stands at a level not seen since 1876
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/house-prices/worst-time-buy-house-150-years2/

    BTL (Wrattstrangler)

    The only way to keep a sensible ratio between house prices and incomes would be to follow the old rules:

    i) Minimum 10% deposit required;

    ii) Maximum loan 2 ½ – 3 times income or twice joint incomes for married couples;

    and I would add

    iii) A fixed or guaranteed maximum interest rate throughout the term of the mortgage as they have in France.

    Personal finance is not Wrattstrangler’s speciality. Anyone got some better ideas?

    1. The problem is inflation has reduced the value of our wages. Taxation has destroyed pay rises. The state fiddles the housing market by forcing those paying tax to pay the rent of those on benefits.

      Only by cutting taxes, pushing the state out of the housing market, forcing people to exist in a functioning market which controls price can we begin to have a system based solely on logic.

  54. Five things Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv shows ahead of war’s first anniversary. 20 February 2023.

    The US president’s trip to see Volodymyr Zelensky caught many by surprise, not least those who mocked him as a doddering old man.

    He is a doddering old man among other things! I assume the Ukies locked up all their daughters under ten?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/02/20/ukraine-biden-one-year-anniversary-visit-kyiv-five-things-surprise/

    1. Re the doggy- with my last Golden, Henry, it was the sound of a beer can or bottle being opened in a 5 mile radius.

      2. Our Lab could be at the end of our garden, 30 mtrs, if you’ve taken the cheese out of the fridge she’s next to you in seconds.

        1. Middle Golden, Fred, always seemed to sense when I was going to make pancakes for breakfast. (In US.) He’d hang about the kitchen and when I began cooking them, he’d be right beside the stove, waiting hopefully. Yes, he always got one.

      3. Mongo is officially overweight. He is 5 kilos over his lean weight and it should be only 1. Thus he, and I are going on a diet. More walks, more exercise generally.

        1. Dolly is overweight too. I can’t walk as well as i used to so she is getting a giant hamster wheel with a piece of meat dangling just out of reach.

          3. They chase each other back and forth from room to room for half an hour every hour. :@(
            She’s still a podge though.

    2. Oscar made me laugh tonight. After I’d unpacked the shopping bag, he had to check it out and ended up wandering around the kitchen with the bag on his head. Unfortunately, neither my phone nor camera was charged up at the time.

    9. I loathe chequered patterns with a vengeance. Under any circumstances and in any context I find them beyond nauseous.

    2. He must have known the predominately Black churches wouldn’t stand for it. They have always been against this. I think he is doing a Pilate.

        1. In a way. He knew he would lose the argument but thinks it makes him modern, relevant and on trend.

          And yes, I know what you meaned.

      2. His strategy has been to change the message to suit his audience and buy the support of conservative churches in the Global South with the promise of funding. Their faith appears to mean more to them than money. They have the principles that we taught them. Welby doesn’t.

  61. Blimey. I’ve just seen the time. Good afternoon.
    I’ve decided that I am now officially old. My choice of scent this morning was Eau de Deep Heat.
    I twisted my knee and foot a few days ago while shifting garden ornaments. I have finally admitted I’m human and slathered joints with odiferous gunk.

    2. Sorry to hear that, Anne. If you read my post to your book query on last night’s NoTTLe site you will see full details. (I think that Lady of the Lake – Ann ) asked the same question and I refer her to my reply to your post on the late posts last night.

    1. Maggie, I don’t judge people by the colour of their skin – there are some decent whites, blacks and Asians – I judge them by their words and behaviour. Can you give me some links to examples of the person above to persuade me to give your post an upvote?

      1. Why?

        What made you think I was seeking an upvote.

        I was interested in the narrative , but as far as I am concerned , birds of a feather stick to gether , so perhaps your observations could be correct .. BLM , and being white doesn’t .

    8. The DHL driver who delivered stuff to us in Laure was a African called Achille. A nicer chap you couldn’t meet.

      1. My UPS delivery guy has dreadlocks almost to his waist and he couldn’t be nicer too. Uneducated except for the Koran muslims are the problem. And our government doesn’t seem to be able to get enough of them.

    1. Many of the elite and the royal family have had close connections with nazis. Nothing to see here…move along.

    3. WTF? that last video was a bit shocking.
      Big mistake for Charles to visit the poor cannon fodder in the war he and his WEF buddies are promoting.

  72. Evening, all. Am here earlier than usual because I had some email correspondence to catch up on. Have had a day out trying to help a friend whose other half has vascular dementia. I’ve been there and done that and have tried to pass on what I learned.

  73. That’s me for today. Time for a little drinky-poo. Heavy gardening this arvo. We have to clear a space for an oil tank to be installed. So dug out three dead forsythias and replaced with (two so far) hydrangeas from the tank zone. Don’t let anyone tell you that hydrangeas have little roots…..

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  75. Venus and Jupiter make a great spectacle right now (6.10pm). Get out there before the sky darkens.

    1. Yeah right. Too busy “celebrating” the current crop of vacuous non-entities who couldn’t hold a collective candle to Mr Cribbins.

      We are a disgrace (present company excepted of course).

          1. Shocking omission! Bernard Cribbins was genius! Funny and talented unlike the so-called ‘stars’ of the barftas.

    2. So glad we never bother with all that nonsense. That’s all the TV oiks think we’re up to watching….bake off, prancing programmes, award shows and other assorted pablum.

  77. Last post. Just seen the “press statement” by Lancasheer Perlice.

    Apart from taking the lady’s body from the river, arranging for ID and then handing it all over the the Coroner – for the three weeks of this “in-depth investigation” Lancasheer Perlice have done bugger all.

    I’ll bet no heads roll – and I also bet that “lessons will be learned”.

    Off to my second drink, now. TTFN

    1. The rapid identification of yesterday’s body suggests a cause of death ‘other than drowning’. A three-week old drowned body could be difficult to identify.

      We still don’t know how – or when – NB died.

      2. Disagree – drowning is quite easy to spot (see my comments y’day). Body handed to coroner suggests that the lady was not attacked or injured by a third party.

        TTFN

  78. Two thoughts triggered by reading Daily Sceptic comments while I eat lunch, which you might have more idea than me about.

    The first is about the East Palestine train derailment. Apparently the effects are already being seen in Canada in the form of acid rain. The comment was around how the authorities thought it best to burn the problem rather than let it get into the water course or eve – ha – catch fire. But surely they must have a contingency plan as to what to do if such a scenario happened as for example a train derailment. They must have had a plan? And if it’s so dangerous, why was so much being shipped at one time?

    The second concerns the rush to get us to eat bugs. Apparently there is a patent out which involves feeding the bugs graphene oxide, which looks like it has a lot of similar side effects to the Convid jabs. So the conspiracy theory continues – are they trying to kill us all, or am I just paranoid?

    1. I wonder how big the hole in the ozone layer will turn out to be.
      After all, wasn’t that the principal reason why the chemicals were banned as refrigerants?

    4. There certainly is a group that wants to see seven eighths of the population dead. How much they are dictating the narrative is anyone’s guess. But they had enough money to purchase the land on which the Georgia stones were set – anonymously – and erect the stones, which can’t have been cheap.

      1. When it turns out that the eighth that is left is the ignorant savages, who is going to look after them when those savages come and take over their abodes?

        1. This does not seem to have occurred to them. They also seem to assume that those of us who are still around and living in CBDC slavery will carry on working to keep them in luxury.
          I don’t think the likes of Gates and Schwab are actually very bright.

  81. Grief I’m knackered!
    Just home from helping t’Lad with his new toy. After doing what we could to prepare and then a bit of shopping for some wood so he can make new doors for the rear of his new workshop, the wagon with the lathe on arrived, a bloody great Dean Smith & Grace weighing a tad over 3 tons!
    It only had to go a tad over 20 yards to his new workshop and it took 3 hours to do it using a pair of trolley jacks and, for the last bit, rollers on lengths of 4×2 timber!!

    It’s now undercover in his shed ready to be shifted into place when he’s done a couple of jobs.

          2. I wonder how many would try to cross if the women and obvious children were “rescued” but the rest were left to their own devices;
            after the rubber boat had been holed.

          3. I wonder how many would have been here if the French government hadn’t been supplying the boats.

    2. I think they expected the indigenous to have died from the vaccine by now, Korky. Mostly, they haven’t. They were convinced we would all fall for the scam. A third of us didn’t even roll up our sleeves. This will have upset their plans no end.

      1. They’ve since tried monkey-pox and following that debacle they’re attempting to resurrect Marburg from Equatorial Africa. With the WHO now trying to usurp countries’ sovereignty in medical matters we are in for a fight. I expect Sunak will do as he’s told.

    3. 371360+ up ticks,

      Evening KtK,

      I did post the same some weeks ago saying will compulsory lodgering be brought into play and if found to be acceptable rodgering will be added
      to make for a happy guest environment.

    4. Our once green and pleasant land is being slowly destroyed. And there is no feasible reason for it. All the countries the scrounging invaders are coming from have plenty of room to make improvements. But basically they and their government are too goddamn lazy to make their own satisfactory improvements.

    5. You are ,ucky. With 500,000 immigrants a year, Canada needs housing for one new .jimmigrant every minute.
      That’s not counting the illegals and those born here.

    6. When folk say we have a housing crisis it’s a lie. We don’t. We have a population crisis, first forced on us by Labur and made worse by the Tories and a vengeful, abusive state machine.

  83. I have finished (much to Nottlers’ relief) my investigation into the 12 volt auxiliary battery issue in Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)
    The Government has promoted BEVs to the demise of the production of internal combusion engined (ICE) vehicles and the point of no return has been reached with the impetus of the global manufacturing away from ICE production.

    And yet the internal combustion engine is still not dead by virtue of its use in various forms of electrically driven vehicles e,g, HEVs, PHEVs, MHEVs and WTFEVs 😉. The motor trade is franticaly trying to get these non BEVs accepted as being EVs when there are clearly not. The reason BEVs are falling out of favour one reason being that they are not usable in the way an ICE car is.

    The failure of 12 volt auxiliary battery in BEVs is common amongst all makes of BEVs – even Teslas!

    Alex explains the issues that Teslas face in the adoption of the legacy 12 volt control system that survives in BEVs:

    https://youtu.be/LiSuzFOPPZc

    Some of the comments he makes here are reflected by Ivan in his video of dealing with the failure of the 12 volt battery in the same model as the vehicle I purchased new four years later:

    https://youtu.be/wJR6ZaEoAIU

    One asks – is this ongoing design defect in BEVs being deliberately ignored by manufacturers?

    1. So what you are saying is that the Infernal combustion engine is going to be with us for the foreseeable future?

      1. It’s certainly starting to look that way with advertisers ‘plugging’ plug free electric motor driven vehicles whilst hiding the fact that there’s a petrol engine inside to generate the electricity.

    2. Couldn’t you put a lawnmower engine where the engine would normally go and use it to drive an alternator that charges the battery?

      They just released a study over here on the amount of power used to power creature comforts such as heat. On a nice minus twenty day, about a fifth of the battery power is diverted from the drive train to keep the occupants from freezing – and that’s before the power loss due to the battery being cold.

          1. There is/was? a Dali museum in Montmartre, Paris.

            My middle son introduced me to it and my “take” on Dali changed utterly.
            If you have not been I recommend it.

          2. In the sixth form at School we were given additional lessons on art appreciation. It was the equivalent of studying Shakespeare’s plays in depth, both leading to a lifelong ability to appreciate both Shakespeare and the great painters. Dali’s work is superb.

          3. You were very fortunate to have such lessons.
            I’m an utter “museum freak”.
            I visit museums and galleries everywhere we go. HG is very tolerant of my obsession.
            I worked in many countries and cities and the Monday morning coffee was often based around the locals asking about the museums in their own cities that they hadn’t even heard of let alone visited.

          4. Bet you haven’t been ‘escorted’ around the 7 floors of the handbag museum in Amsterdam. Pro tip: There is a man-creche on the first floor selling beer. Try to find it on the way up and not discover it too late on the way down!

          5. I’ve not been to Amsterdam.
            HG would certainly love it, so if we go, I’ll try to remember.

          8. Having just posted, I’ve realised that I was slow on the up take.

            That’s your favourite brothel.

          11. For the avoidance of doubt I wouldn’t touch one with the aforesaid barge pole. It may be the oldest ‘profession’ but it is a rather sad and seedy one…

          13. There is a lace museum in Bruges that will cure you of your affection for museums. After five minutes in the place I retreated to a park bench and enjoyed the gentle rain.

            We stumbled upon a Jello museum just outside Rochester in New York, it wax actually quite interesting.

          16. Nope, assuming you meant the lace centre and museum, I enjoyed it.

            The technical aspects of lace making were fascinating. Th product is beautiful and comparing it with Irish and other laces one appreciates the sheer skill of those producing it.

            Bruges is knee deep in museums, a wonderful place!

          17. I’ve held a Netherlands museum card for about 11-12 years now. The last one cost about 76 euros and gives free entrance to most Dutch museums* as many times as you like. Many museums have temporary exhibitions as well as the core collections, so when the Rijksmuseum holds a new one, say El Greco, I go along for that part only. And it costs nothing extra.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74d01dd959eb7b3daf1aa7802384cba6ccc86c89e78a34bc1e81692e515a8248.jpg

            *Some charge a small cash supplement.

          18. I married an arty-farty type – A-levels in colouring, drawing, and colouring and drawing (this little joke of mine is apparently not amusing but i find it funny; after all, i cannot draw a straight line with a ruler).

            I love museums; art galleries not one bit. And vice-versa for my long-suffering other half.

  85. Conspiracy Theories ‘r Us
    Turkey is anti NATO expansion, Turkey suggests peace talks over Ukraine might be beneficial.
    Turkey suffers another earthquake and Antony Blinken just happens to be in Turkey?

        1. The virgin Sturgeon needed no urging, caviar was a mighty fine dish.
          The surging Sturgeon just needs purging nemesis is a very fine wish

    2. Must be after the Muslim vote.

      If she doesn’t make it as first minister, maybe she can try for archbishop of Canterbury.

    2. Both true, sadly. It really is disgusting what the state has done to this country out of sheer spite.

  89. Thought for the day.

    Biden arrives in the garlic chicken land and man-hugs Poopenski (no exchange of tongues, allegedly)

    Poopenski suggests that China supplying arms to Russia will lead to WW3

    Which President is the puppet?

  90. A birdie for me today. Off to open mic to celebrate.
    Wordle 611 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟨🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. And me.

        Wordle 611 4/6

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

      2. Dreadful Double Bogey Six today!

        Wordle 611 6/6
        🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨
        🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
        🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
        🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
        🟩🟨🟩🟩⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Have fun Mola- have a pint of Guinness for my husband who can’t get to the pub right now.

    1. All too many do not come out well from this case.
      Social media and the ghoulish armchair detectives have been proved to be lower than a snake’s belly.
      Add those trampling on potential evidence and digging around the area to prove their brilliance.
      Lancashire police have not covered themselves in glory, but heck, have they had some disgusting beings to cope with and work around.

      1. The interference hasn’t helped, but I can’t help thinking that had they treated it professionally from the outset, and been diligent, the whole thing would have been “solved” three weeks ago.

      2. The latest I heard on the news about this case was that two dog walkers had found “the body of a woman one mile downstream from the police investigation”. Has the body now been confirmed as being that of the missing woman?

  93. Turkey and northern Syria have been rocked by a new earthquake of 6.4 magnitude, swaying buildings as far away as Lebanon and Egypt.

    It was less violent than the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest Turkey two weeks ago, and much shallower at less than two miles deep, according to preliminary readings by geological experts.

    Its epicentre was further south in Defne, close to the Syrian border and just outside the city of Antakya, the worst-hit town by the first and main earthquake. People ran into the street and there were early reports of more damage to buildings, with some in Syria collapsing.

    1. Hah! They can’t smear him, he’s black! Oh, Lefties. You have painted yourselves into a corner you can’t get out of.

      1. They’ll find a way. Accuse him of being white adjacent – that’s the usual trick…

  95. ‘Night All

    Air Raid Precautions dog Rip sits on rubble following an air raid in

    Poplar, London, August 1941. Picked up as a stray by an ARP Warden, E

    King, he is credited with saving the lives of over 100 people. Rip

    became one of eight dogs on the Home Front to win the Dickin Medal for

    bravery.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a5a08842c269c4aed4cabde8e26d4d0218a4032bc8d1cb602969df095b08558f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4bd3f1671e488448fb570c8e2e2ff3397931f4d81ec736fd0197420c0efedc5d.jpg
    Good Boi,worth a million gimmegrants

    1. Having survived WWI my maternal grandfather was detailed to recover bodies from bombed houses during WWII

      1. My uncle, my dad’s brother was a fireman in London in WW II. His wife told us he had nightmares for years after the war.

    2. Every dog is worth a million gimmigrants. He’s worth 10 million.

      Although, if you have a sausage roll Mongo’d find you across the planet.

  96. Well, that’s me for today. Good night, chums. Sleep well and I shall see you all tomorrow.

  100. I had a nice story to relate but it will have to wait- I am totally exhausted.
    Sleep well.

  103. Goodnight and God bless to all my Gentlefolk friends. Having slept a lot of today, I shall endeavour to be here, bright eyed and bushy tailed, to regale you with another story.

  104. Lol this will probably miss most of you but I’m catching up on the Laurence Fox show hosted by Beverley turner, with a smug middle class yes dare I say white man telling a mum that she must come home from work and take her kids to their winter after-school activities on the bus, or to scoot there (yeah, right). My colleagues overseas are learning some new English as I hurl abuse at my phone at this Councillor from Ealing. If I could invent a machine to allow me to punch him in the gob through the internet, I would.

    I can’t help thinking if the men who made theses decisions actually had to live with them I.e. take their kids to after-school activities on the bus in the winter then these decisions wouldn’t be made.

    As Bev said – all that will happen is that kids won’t do the after school activities. Absolutely- there’s no way I would slog around London on a bus in the evening taking two small toddlers to learn to swim or play tennis or whatever. I have tremendous sympathy for those who have no choice and do it anyway. Agggghhhh!

    Rant over.

    1. I confess, Mif, at this point, I don’t know what to do – quietly drink myself to death or rise up and get a rabble together to take down our stupid government.

      Since I cannot walk more than 70 metres without rest, the latter seems hopeless and so do I. Maybe the former is the best idea.

      1. I am verging on the latter, i must confess. But only because i won’t let the barstewards grind me down.

  105. At least I may go out in a drunken stupor since there is no NHS to save me from myself. Not that I need saving.

      1. Don’t give the buggers the satisfaction. Off to bed and get the joke ready for tomorrow am. Your adoring fans rely on it.

          3. It’s something that preoccupies me a lot.

            Still although it is relatively early where i am , i’m trying to synch myself back onto UK time as i am back on Friday.

            So i will see you tomorrow (later today, for you) but while i remember i was going to cut and paste today’s (yesterday, for you) and send it to my brother in Oz. And i’m still chuckling about the parrot joke.

          4. Good to hear that humour is still appreciated, MIF. I shall do the best I can to keep up.

            Sorry, that should read Mir and not MiF.

    2. Morning Nan. I haven’t commented myself on your travails since you haven’t asked for my opinion or advice. This is not because of any lack of sympathy (who would know better than someone who has been there) on my part but because I hold to the view that we are all entitled to go to our own way without the meddling of others and I can remember from my own experience that depression does not abolish your sense of personal space or prevent resentment at facile and unlooked for counsel. This post is therefore tough love and contains no nostrums but is a series of observations that you must take as you will.

      I suppose the first thing to say is that alcohol is a depressant and does not alleviate the gloom but adds to it. Its effects are also cumulative! Aside from this there is a quality to your written experience that seems to exceed even this. Some years ago I suffered an injury at work and the combination of painkillers and half a bottle of Jack Daniels a day combined to send me into what might be melodramatically described as a psychotic episode. This was so bad that I came out of it a week later having quit my job and made my will in preparation for my departure from this life. Bearing this in mind are you taking any form of medication?

      I myself contracted this disease (it is after all an ailment) in my late twenties and though I battled through it the experience changed me profoundly. I was never the same person as before. It took something of the innocence of youth from me and left a hardened core that even I don’t particularly like. If it has a virtue it is that it enables an understanding of the darker side of people’s natures. It is a battle though! One must grit one’s teeth and walk toward the light. You can’t see that light it but it is there! No one can really aid or help you. It is a path that you have to walk alone!

      1. Bless you, Minty, I think I understand every word you write.

        My problem is not so much alcoholic depression (it could be described as such) but more a feeling of isolation and loneliness and how to get over it.

        I need a companion of my own age and understanding, so that we may lean upon each other in the hard times.

        At the moment I see no light (blinding or otherwise) which leads me, as the sole and youngest survivor of 9 siblings, to the the opinion that there’s not a lot left to survive for.

        Sorry, as one who could call himself a survivor, what else can I do?

  106. Just waiting for the new day’s discussion at 06:03 hours.

    A lot twirly I guess.

    Minty has helped a lot. As have many of you, in the past.

  107. There are still some inept fools writing on the letters column of the Telegraph (Pravda) today still blindly, seeing Russia as the aggressor.

    God help us until these idiots recognise the real enemy – The WEF and all its minions.

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