Monday 21 June: Why can sports fans gather, while wedding guests are still restricted?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/06/20/letters-can-sports-fans-gather-wedding-guests-still-restricted/

696 thoughts on “Monday 21 June: Why can sports fans gather, while wedding guests are still restricted?”

    1. “Whole constituency” is a euphemism for the tolerance of Mass Immigration and special pleading for Islamic Interests.

    2. 334581+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      This by – election is surely a signal of things to come
      tactical voting for lab/lib/ tom cobley to put down the
      tory (ino) party is a call for “more of the same” and peoples being content with the close shop.

      1. 334581+ up ticks,
        G,
        Now an ex real UKIP long term member, unblinkered, and NOT suffering political, party before country tunnel vision
        thanks but I have no need of the reminder.

          1. 334581+ up ticks,
            R,
            Re-watched more future unfulfilled vow, promise & pledge material imo.

      1. 334581+ up ticks,
        Evening Bob,
        Very MUCH so, tactical voting a proven Nation destroyer being called for again by many treacherous fools, the stupidity of it is they want rid of an ally, being a coalition.

        The only one I would want watching my back and the teacher in hiding would be Anne Marie Waters, many want change, put her in the HOC, introduce a Paisley no surrender
        theme.

  9. I suppose the reason why sports events can go ahead with large crowds singing and dancing is that there isn’t much money in weddings for our corporate elites, no famous super rich people are affected there isn’t any propaganda opportunities for tv and mass media to broadcast empty gestures and gaslight communities.
    Most sporting events are joyless occasions whereas weddings have all the elements of human behaviour that the great and the good want to beat out of us, they usually involve an element of the wrong religious worship, mostly a man and a women on the road to starting a family, making pledges and vows, all the things the state wants to control, then there is the family and friends having a good time

    2. For, “Zero Covid,” read a grey, joyless, no travel allowed, do as you are ordered, eat what is made available, bland existence. Except of course for those of the selected elite who will be granted exception to do as they please and then thumb their noses at the downtrodden hoi polloi.

      1. 334581+ up ticks,
        Morning KtK,
        For more of the same one MUST vote
        lab/lib/con/green mass uncontrolled immigration ongoing, paedophilia umbrella
        close shop coalition.

      3. Korky, it’s really going back to medieval times, where the peasants laboured long hours whilst the Lord of the Manor had the time and money to

        indulge himself and his family in fine clothes, fine wines and luxurious living.

        Today’s problem is that a large number of politicians consider that they will be Lords of the Manor after The Great Reset.

        There isn’t enough money. Many will be disappointed.

    1. ‘Morn Elfan – have you seen “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” ? – some gorgeous tracks in there including a version of the above. The scene with the 3 sirens is particularly pleasing if you have penchant for mellifluous moist totty.

        1. Try to overcome your distaste for the Clooney , it’s well worth the discomfort – the music is superb and it’s a nice interpretation of the The Odyssey

  13. Alan Davies: ‘I only realised in adult life how much I suffered at the hands of my father’. 21 June 2021.

    It took me so many years to write my feelings down. I had told people – I told girlfriends, I told my wife, I tried to tell my grandmother – about my father’s night-time visits to my bedroom, but I couldn’t get it out of me in any form. I was a stand-up comedian: everything’s quite trivial and skin-deep in stand-up, and you’re concentrating on enjoying yourself and trying to make people laugh. I didn’t have the skills or the mindset to approach this stuff.

    In large part, it was having children of my own and seeing them growing up that made me reassess my childhood. Just to look at my own sons and think, how could you do that to a child? The overwhelming majority of parents will tell you that the love they feel for their children is frightening; the intensity of it. I really do love my children.

    One of the oddities of life is that you can only understand your childhood when you are grown to maturity. This is partly an evolutionary protective measure; children are helpless in the World and Fathers must be seen as Demi-gods and Mothers as all protective Madonnas for maximum bonding to take place. Insights into the reality will occur gradually and not unusually very late on; prompted sometimes by what is read or seen and occasional memory flashes with a different understanding to that of the time. Davies is an extreme case toward the Darkside but the opposite exists of really Happy Families. These latter are a joy to all who are admitted to their presence. Sadly they are all too few!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/alan-davies-realised-adult-life-much-suffered-hands-father/

    1. It was only after having seen my medical records from birth to age 10 that i severed all links to my family. It all seemed so normal at the time.

  14. Lock ‘im up

    Job for Life: U.N. Chief Guterres Granted New, Unopposed Five-Year Term

    The U.N. General Assembly waived a democratic vote Friday and simply re-appointed Secretary General Antonio Guterres unopposed to another five-year term leading the peak globalist body.

    The veteran socialist stood as the sole candidate and was anointed by “acclamation” in the chamber of the U.N.’s New York headquarters, thus ending the hopes of seven lesser-known contenders, including two women, who had been put forward for the position but were told to withdraw in favor of the incumbent.
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/06/20/job-for-life-u-n-chief-guterres-granted-new-unopposed-five-year-term/

  15. Good Moaning.
    On Saturday we went to Bawdsey with a couple of chums. (Yes, BoB we also visited the gun emplacements; swallows are now nesting in the linking tunnels.)
    The roadside banks were a mass of wildflowers; I have never seen them so beautiful.
    We also visited Alderton churchyard on the way back to visit the ancestors; the gravestones have deteriorated badly since my last visit some 30 years ago and the churchyard is now more of a wildlife park.
    It is quite weird to look at a grave and think that if it wasn’t for the occupant of this little patch of land, I wouldn’t exist.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3904bfb31548c6ca29a43ff34f8817aab48672d284e0cb8206d9c5e0c1d366fa.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4b081a54b7a48d7a47f965f0a9975b8e40ef2d97c10622e22ef762d047319745.jpg

    1. Profound thought, Anne:
      “if it wasn’t for the occupant of this little patch of land, I wouldn’t exist.”

  17. 334581+ up ticks,
    The peoples SHOUT change LOUDLY then vote quietly for the status quo.
    Great Britain run the prototype of this vote pattern three decades ago
    and it has had success in bringing a decent Country to its knee.

    Dt,
    Marine Le Pen blames poor results on low turnout
    Far-Right take a slim lead in Provence but results are worse than expected in French regional elections

      1. 334581+ up ticks,
        G,
        It is the far wrongs tag, another example being Gerard Batten ex real UKIP leader
        & him being a far right racist,when in truthful reality he is SO far right and married to a lady from the philippines & has mixed race children.

        ” They mean,not I.”

      2. ‘Far right’ is the term used to describe politics just right of centre, by people who have moved so far to the left, the centre is a long way away from them.

      3. People holding opinions that, 4 or 5 decades ago would have been viewed as “mainstream and centrist”.

  18. Shamima Begum’s lawyers tell immigration hearing there is ‘overwhelming evidence’ she was the victim of trafficking when she left Britain to join ISIS and claim she is ‘unsafe’ in Syria camp. 21 June 2021.

    Jihadi bride Shamima Begum was a victim of trafficking when she left the UK to join ISIS with her teenage friends and should return to Britain because she is ‘unsafe’ in a Syrian refugee camp, her lawyers claimed today.

    Samantha Knights QC said that ‘the counter-terrorism unit had suspicions of coercion and control’ at the time Ms Begum left the UK, which she argued ‘gives rise to the need to investigate the issue of trafficking’.

    In written submissions, Ms Begum’s legal team said the Home Office failed to consider whether she was ‘a child trafficked to, and remaining in, Syria for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced marriage’.

    Ms Begum also wants to challenge the removal of her British citizenship on the grounds that it made her ‘de facto stateless’ and that the decision was procedurally unfair.

    Actually there’s no evidence whatsoever and anyone who has seen the photograph of all three of them proceeding blithely through Turkish customs unaccompanied won’t believe it either. The interesting thing here is “Ms. Begum’s legal team”. Lawyers do not come cheap! Who is paying for all this?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9700701/Shamima-Begums-lawyers-claim-overwhelming-evidence-victim-trafficking.html

    2. These lawyers do not have to swear an oath in court. They are lying through their teeth.

      1. My thoughts exactly. Can lawyers not be disbarred for lying and misrepresentstion of facts?

        2. Unfortunately not.

          The Law Society (the lawyers’ union) protects them at all times.

    4. I read the other day that she wore isis badges on her school uniform. It was her doing the radicalising. Evil creature remains a security threat and should never set foot here again.

  19. Shamima Begum’s lawyers tell immigration hearing there is ‘overwhelming evidence’ she was the victim of trafficking when she left Britain to join ISIS and claim she is ‘unsafe’ in Syria camp. 21 June 2021.

    Jihadi bride Shamima Begum was a victim of trafficking when she left the UK to join ISIS with her teenage friends and should return to Britain because she is ‘unsafe’ in a Syrian refugee camp, her lawyers claimed today.

    Samantha Knights QC said that ‘the counter-terrorism unit had suspicions of coercion and control’ at the time Ms Begum left the UK, which she argued ‘gives rise to the need to investigate the issue of trafficking’.

    In written submissions, Ms Begum’s legal team said the Home Office failed to consider whether she was ‘a child trafficked to, and remaining in, Syria for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced marriage’.

    Ms Begum also wants to challenge the removal of her British citizenship on the grounds that it made her ‘de facto stateless’ and that the decision was procedurally unfair.

    Actually there’s no evidence whatsoever and anyone who has seen the photograph of all three of them proceeding blithely through Turkish customs unaccompanied won’t believe it either. The interesting thing here is “Ms. Begum’s legal team”. Lawyers do not come cheap! Who is paying for all this?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9700701/Shamima-Begums-lawyers-claim-overwhelming-evidence-victim-trafficking.html

        1. Bruce Lee does it betterist!

          “Wow! Look at the Bruce and Jackies on her!” [A couple of hard nips!]

        2. 334581+ up ticks,
          Morning OLT,
          Being chinese he would be well up on covid & jabs wouldn’t he.

  21. We are injecting funds to restore Britain’s status as a scientific superpower. Boris Johnson. 21 June 2021

    Had it not been for our scientists, we would not now be able to enjoy the most basic human freedoms.

    It is thanks to the vaccine rollout that literally every person and every family in this country has an immediate future that is happier, more prosperous, more full of hope and opportunity – and if you think I am belabouring this point, it is because it needs belabouring.

    We have spent too long in a state of semi-detachment from science, as though it was something intimidating and remote from our lives. Too many people in our country lack training in science and technology, too many children think STEM subjects are not for them.

    Obviously a pill that restores the cognitive connection to reality will have to be a priority!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/06/20/injecting-funds-restore-britains-status-scientific-superpower/

    1. Yo Minty, a fiddle

      Had it not been for our scientists, we would not have been able to enjoy control even the your most basic human freedoms.

    2. Yo Minty, a fiddle

      Had it not been for our scientists, we would not have been able to enjoy control even the your most basic human freedoms.

    3. Elsewhere in the DT today (main headline actually):

      Pensions raid to pay for the pandemic.

      Treasury considering plans to reduce lifetime allowance as a way to claw back Covid spending

      TREASURY officials are drawing up plans for a pensions tax raid this autumn to help pay for public spending during the pandemic, The Daily Telegraph understands.

      Three different reforms to the way pension contributions are taxed are being considered amid pressures on the public finances, according to well placed Whitehall sources.

      One idea is to reduce the pensions lifetime allowance from a little above £1million to £800,000 or £900,000, lowering the point above which extra tax charges kick in.

      Another is that individuals contributing to pensions get the same rate of tax relief, meaning higher-rate taxpayers lose out. The third is new taxation on employer contributions.

      “Our job is to keep people out of poverty, not to enrich the middle classes,” said one senior government source familiar with the proposals, which are at the exploratory stage.

      Downing Street and the Treasury are locked in debate about how to pay for the public spending spike seen as the Government moved to prop up the economy during the pandemic.

      2. not to enrich the middle classes

        I am not middle class

        Pensions schemes are what people pay into, so that when they retire, they do not become a burden on the state

        From the time I was 17, until I was 60, I was ‘unemployed’ for THREE whole days (because of holiday date mix-up)

        Want to save money: stop illegal immigration, change the Border Farce back into the Border Force

        Stop Legal Aid for the likes of Shamima Begum. If I go to court, I have to pay for my own Defence, restrict it to UK residents, with National Insurance Numbers

        Get MPs back into Parliament and working: restrict their expenses, perks and fiddles

        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

      3. not to enrich the middle classes

        I am not middle class

        Pensions schemes are what people pay into, so that wen they retire, they do not become a burden on the state

        From the time I was 17, until I was 60, (because of holiday date mix-up) I was ‘unemployed’ for THREE whole days

        Want to save money: stop illegal immigration, change the Border Farce back into the Border Force

        Stop legal aid for the likes of Shamima Begum. If I go to court, I have to pay for my owb Defence, restrict it to UK residents, with National insurance Numbers

        Get MPs back into Parliament and working: restrict their expenses, perks and fiddles

        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

      4. Everything must be done to generate enough money to pay the welfare benefits of millions of unskilled unemployable violent low IQ migrants from 3rd world shitholes & to ensure the future for their offspring & if that means killing off all White taxpaying suckers & confiscating their assets – so be it because we must have a progressive multi-cultural Britain ! ( sarcasm )

      5. Meanwhile plenty of spare money floating around the hedge funds and global equity finance to snatch up Morrisons while it’s share price has been discounted due to Covid.

        How much will then end up in our pension pots before it gets converted into yachts, SUVs and firelighter mansions in California?

      6. If ever proof was needed that this is NOT a Tory Government, this is it.

      8. It’s a foolish idea.

        There are twelve million pensioners in this country, and it’s unwise to antagonise them.

    4. I detect BULLSHIT!
      Johnson maintains this “normal” rhetoric all the while he is being underhand and lying to the people. He has NO intention of restoring normality nor improving the lot of the ordinary people. He and his close colleagues are working to destroy our pre CV-19 way of life and replace it with an authoritarian dystopia that suits the elite at the expense of the people.

      A pill, Araminta? So yesterday. Vaccines are the new modus for curing all ills. Ask Hancock.😎

      1. I think that Johnson is very near the end of his tenure of office. His party and the voting public are about to turn savagely on him.

        He has made exactly the same mistake as Starmer in trying to find new supporters and alienating the existing ones who voted for a proper Brexit and did not vote for the woke nonsense he is spouting and says he will implement.

        I don’t know how true it is but many of us believe that his thought processes have been distorted and corrupted by his wife .

        1. mng Rastus, you;re probably not that far off the mark with your opening points. To avoid “elections” and the fall out, his actions post July 9th “WEF webinar” will reveal more

        2. Johnson has under-performed as PM and has over-stepped the mark on people’s rights and freedoms. Should he go, who would replace him? The arch turncoat, Gove? He appears to be of the identical mindset to Johnson.

          Who in the Cabinet of supine non-entities could step up to the mark and is not tainted by the Johnson/Hancock Axis? Would the Tories look to the back benches for someone to right the ship and rebuild the confidence of the Nation? The money-men wouldn’t like that.

    5. Wow. Truth is Lies, people.
      Had it not been for the government and their scientific advisors we would never have stopped enjoying the most basic human freedoms!

    6. “Had it not been for our scientists, we would not now be able to enjoy the most basic human freedoms.”
      H’mmmmm …………. remind me whether a Classical education includes appreciating irony.

  22. Creation

    On the first day, God created the dog and said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.”

    The dog said, “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?” So God saw it was good.

    On the second day, God created the monkey and said, “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.”

    The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?” And God, again saw it was good.

    On the third day, God created the cow and said, “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.”

    The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?” And God agreed it was good.

    On the fourth day, God created humans and said, “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.”

    But the human said, “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay,” said God. “You asked for it.”

    So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit in front of the TV and bark at everyone.

    Life has now been explained to you.

    There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I’m doing it as a public service. If you are looking for me, I will be sitting in front of the TV.

  25. SIR – Next month (for the third time of trying since the pandemic began) I hope to be married. The Government has given us labyrinthine guidance, which includes producing a risk assessment, ensuring there’s no dancing and identifying everyone who might be “at risk” (of what exactly?).
    If we postponed by a week – which we couldn’t afford, as we would lose all our deposits – we wouldn’t have to fulfil any requirements, nor have to worry about spending our wedding night at Her Majesty’s pleasure. As it is, we could, however, watch a capacity Wimbledon crowd enjoying the tennis.
    Alastair PrainLondon SW9

    SIR – Why do we tolerate thousands of Scottish football fans, with no social distancing (report, June 19), gathering in Leicester Square, when I can have only 30 people outside in my garden for my Golden Wedding anniversary party?
    Anthony Proctor

    Stalbridge, Dorset

    SIR – There was a weekend in March when nearly 850,000 vaccines were administered in one day. It gave such a good feeling as it seemed that the number would only rise, but sadly the supply chain could not keep up.
    However, now that we have so many vaccines and new vaccination centres, and the jab has been opened up to all adults, we are still not seeing the rates rise to that level.
    Should the few weeks we have left before the presumed final day before opening not be used to vaccinate at least a million adults a day so that we get the whole population protected?
    Dr Dipankar Bose
    Consultant anaesthetist
    Warwick Hospital

    SIR – Given that we now know the postponement of the June 21 Covid reopening was made without the Prime Minister seeing crucial data (report, June 20), why has our potential freedom not been reinstated?
    To do this may actually be the last chance Boris Johnson has to claw back some of his electorates’ confidence.
    Simon Crowley
    Kemsing , Kent

    SIR – I am quarantining after returning from France. I am fully vaccinated and tested negative two days before my flight, but I am still required to do another two tests.
    The day after my return the phone rang: it was NHS Test and Trace telling me that I will be rung every day until my quarantine is over.I doubt they are interested in how this is affecting my mental or physical health, they simply want to know where I am. It’s good to find that the Stasi is alive and well, and operating in this dis-United Kingdom.
    Dr Giles Morgan
    Truro, Cornwall

    SIR – People were once prepared to die for freedom. Now it seems we are prepared to let freedom die in order to preserve lives at any cost.
    Robin Dudley Warde

    Duporth, Cornwall

    SIR – I do hope that if the Church of England discovers that Queen Anne’s Bounty (report, June 17) was given as a result of slavery it will immediately pass its entire value directly to a charity, and that Oxford University will do the same with the value today of the Rhodes Foundation.
    Only then will these two organisations be truly rid of their associations with the slave trade and be able to speak free of hypocrisy.
    Michael J Menhenitt

    Exmouth, Devon

    SIR – So the former Conservative MP John Bercow has joined the Labour Party (report, telegraph.co.uk, June 19) – no surprise there; as Speaker of the House, I always thought he was Labour anyway.

    Elizabeth Edmunds

    Hassocks, West Sussex

    SIR – I’m afraid that John Bercow, like Dominic Cummings, is suffering from what the Army refers to as “little corporal syndrome” – the realisation that they were never as powerful as they thought they were. With such characters, the louder they shout, the fewer people bother to listenBrian Christle

    Abergele, Conwy

    SIR – Finally, John Bercow has done something positive for Boris and the Conservative Party.
    Shirley Collins

    Eastbourne, Sussex

    SIR – I really hope there is some parliamentary rule preventing anyone serving twice as Speaker.
    John Hutton

    Worksop, Nottinghamshire

    SIR – John Bercow has defected to Labour. The rat has joined the sinking ship.
    Peter Anderson

    Kettering, Northamptonshire

    SIR – Pet dogs (Letters, June 19) are escape artists, paper shredders, wire strippers, vacuum cleaners, gardeners, shoe remodellers and much more.
    Lyndon Yorke

    Booker, Buckinghamshire

    SIR – My elderly pet watches me closely before every meal, then after it he sleeps. So does my retired husband.

    Patricia Banks

    Lymington, Hampshire

    SIR – In 1932 the landmark legal case Donoghue v Stevenson held that a manufacturer had a duty of care to consumers where it was reasonably foreseeable that failure to ensure the product’s safety would lead to harm. This was an evolutionary step in the common law for tort, moving from strict liability based upon direct physical contact to a fault-based system that only required injury.

    Nearly 90 years later we have a similar situation arising from the Grenfell fire and the subsequent discovery of fire-safety shortcomings in other residential developments, many of which cannot be seen or recognised by the average consumer.
    Surely it is time that the law made another evolutionary step to help leaseholders cope with the large and unexpected costs of remedying the defective product foisted on them by unscrupulous builders? The orthodox view will be that of caveat emptor (buyer beware) but the underlying principle that it was reasonably foreseeable that builders’ failures would lead to harm, thereby creating a duty of care, should prevail.Ray Seymour

    Bedford

    SIR – I tried to book a GP appointment for my mother, who recently had a fall (dealt with by A&E) and had developed other problems.

    We were unable to make an appointment but had to give details of the fall, and of the various ailments that had resulted from it, to a receptionist, while a queue built up behind us.

    Having typed in all the details, she sent them to the doctor, who would then make the appointment, which, we were told, would not be face-to-face but by telephone.

    My mother is deaf.

    It seems absurd that a receptionist can no longer make an appointment so you can speak to a doctor in person. There must be an end to this nonsense.

    Catherine Stirling-Reed

    Herstmonceux, East Sussex

    Hong Kong freedoms

    SIR – Britain has rightly criticised the Hong Kong police raid on Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper. As Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said (report, June 17): “Freedom of the press is one of the rights China promised to protect in the [1984 Sino-British] Joint Declaration and should be respected.”

    The once-autonomous British colony that I remember in the 1960s bears little resemblance to Hong Kong today. The imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee and other pro-democracy advocates is a stark reminder that anyone who does not march in step with the Chinese Communist Party is deemed a revisionist – even the free press.

    Brian Stuckey

    Denver, Colorado, United States

    Licence to view

    SIR – Through 50-plus years of licence fees, I have paid for my share of BBC programmes. If I want to view them through Britbox, however, I have to pay again for the privilege. Surely not?

    Nigel Cole

    Sale, Cheshire

    End of the affairs

    SIR – Will a rise in the number of people who work permanently from home signal a reduction in the number of office romances?

    Tricia Sydenham

    Felpham, West Sussex

    Glass milk bottles are welcome at the right price

    A milkman in the 1920s offering customers a choice between glass and paper containers

    A milkman in the 1920s offering customers a choice between glass and paper containers CREDIT: Fox Photos/Getty Images

    SIR – I note, with interest, that Morrisons will be trialling glass milk bottles at 11 of its stores (“Glass is greener in Morrisons’ milk shake up”, June 17). Each bottle will be priced at 90p to cover the cost of collection and sterilisation etc.

    Our milkman delivers to us three times a week at a cost of about 63p per pint. I suspect that doorstep deliveries are available in most of the country at less than Morrisons’ price.

    Alexander Simpson

    Market Drayton, Shropshire

    SIR – I am very pleased that Morrisons is bringing back glass milk bottles in an attempt to reduce plastic usage, but incredulous that it will be charging 90p a pint.

    Dairy Crest delivers milk to my door for 82p per pint.

    Dr Andrew Knights

    Thorney, Cambridgeshire

    SIR – Our village shop sells local milk in “refillable” glass bottles, so does the nearby farm.

    Morrisons’ decision to sell milk in glass bottles may encourage other supermarkets, but not if we have to pay extra.

    L F Buckland

    Blandford Forum, Dorset

    SIR -It is quaint to see Morrisons offering some of its milk in glass bottles, which will no doubt appeal to consumers keen to avoid the dreaded plastic.

    It should, however, pause to consider that the ubiquitous plastic milk bottle has a far lower supply chain carbon footprint than glass, and that it is also the single most sought- after item of plastic packaging for recycling in Britain. Furthermore, recycled milk bottles now account for up to 50 per cent by weight of every new plastic milk bottle, the balance going into new plastic products in sectors including the automotive, construction and horticultural.

    A more durable, versatile and recyclable product than the plastic milk bottle would be hard to find.

    Bernard Chase

    Filby, Norfolk

    SIR – We used to have bottles of milk delivered daily. At the time, my husband had dozens of colourful geraniums he grew from cuttings.

    One day the milkman admired the collection, so my husband said: “I will give you one of the best. They are so easy to propagate, come and look.”

    In the kitchen was a battalion of milk bottles, each containing a geranium cutting with long, white roots. “So that’s where my empties have gone,” said the milkman.

    Dr Rhoda Pippen

    Cardiff

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    oiler>

    Image of John Bercow joins Labour Party

    1. Tricia Sydenham writes:SIR – Will a rise in the number of people who work permanently from home signal a reduction in the number of office romances?
      Dear Tricia I believe that Deliveroo in West Sussex can help you & deliver the man of your dreams to your door, this is a time limited offer , order today using this 20% off coupon on our large size man ( coupon code 666XXXL )

      1. Talking of which; last night Sonny Boy (who is also a father) ordered a takeaway via Just Eat. Nothing arrived, although the courier insisted he had delivered the meal. Someone, – not the poor restaurant owners or the Allan clan – did very well out of it.
        A further order placed via Deliveroo arrived promptly.
        Today we will discover if SB has received his refund or has to fight for it.
        MB and I couldn’t help thinking that we don’t have all this hassle when he nips out to get fish and chips.

        1. A chap arrived at my place with a take away once – it happens as the numbers are a mess. I sent him on his way to the right address. It’s not difficult to be honest. Just a shame some people are not.

          1. We get orders arriving for the flats opposite. The addresses have been written down with only the flat number, not the house number.
            Same with taxis, as well.

        2. Happy Monday Anne, the trick of ordering a number #23 when using a deluxe white slim line phone is using a posh “this is the lady of the house speaking ” authoritive voice & demanding to speak to the manager!

        1. The top picture explains a lot of the problems we now have in the UK.
          Who’s the other strange looking chap ?

    2. Wrong question Mr Proctor. You should ask “why do we tolerate having only 30 people outside in my garden for my Golden Wedding anniversary party?”
      Answers might include, “we are frightened to have guests in our garden, because we are scared of Covid, or because it is the law, or because the police would be on us like a ton of bricks”.

      The thousands of Scottish football fans, with no social distancing, who gathered in Leicester Square, don’t give a fig for any of that, quite rightly.
      Yes Sir, we can boogie, can you?

  26. Good morning from a grey Derbyshire. Dull with 9°c in the yard.

    That’s another load of concrete blocks & cement ordered. I’ve 8′ ready for laying and another 12′

    Rather sad. R3 has just announced the death of Jean Lamont, the founder of the Canadian Early Music ensemble, “Taffelmusic”.

    1. Good morning, Maggiebelle

      I would also like GB News to cover Climate change and carbon emissions and to challenge the prescribed orthodox dictats on the subject.

      1. They won’t.

        Step too far. Best we can hope for is that they cover both sides of the argument and even that will likely be ‘but it’s still real’ in conclusion.

  29. Good morning, everyone. Walked the dog for an hour in the rain. Bluddy misery!

    1. You had it soft! I just have a staggering rat that’s eaten some scraps I warmed up from the fridge two nights ago to take for a walk in the rain.

    4. Mongo looked at the rain, looked at me holding his lead as I looked at the rain. I went to go out and he sat there, looking at me as if I were nuts and eventually set off back indoors to lie down on the sofa.

      2. When it was tipping it down the other night, Oscar stood on the doorstep and looked out, then turned round and went back. I had to put a lead on him and accompany him (me carrying a large umbrella) so that he did what he needed to do.

    5. I’m thinking of installing a greyhound style race track in the garden.

      ‘puts dog in garden’. Bark if you need anything. Slams door.

  31. mng, the Monday irreverant as usual, jottings:

    SIR – Next month (for the third time of trying since the pandemic began) I hope to be married. The Government has given us labyrinthine guidance, which includes producing a risk assessment, ensuring there’s no dancing and identifying everyone who might be “at risk” (of what exactly?).

    If we postponed by a week – which we couldn’t afford, as we would lose all our deposits – we wouldn’t have to fulfil any requirements, nor have to worry about spending our wedding night at Her Majesty’s pleasure. As it is, we could, however, watch a capacity Wimbledon crowd enjoying the tennis.

    Alastair Prain
    London SW9

    SIR – Why do we tolerate thousands of Scottish football fans, with no social distancing (report, June 19), gathering in Leicester Square, when I can have only 30 people outside in my garden for my Golden Wedding anniversary party?

    Anthony Proctor
    Stalbridge, Dorset

    SIR – There was a weekend in March when nearly 850,000 vaccines were administered in one day. It gave such a good feeling as it seemed that
    the number would only rise, but sadly the supply chain could not keep up.

    However, now that we have so many vaccines and new vaccination centres, and the jab has been opened up to all adults, we are still not seeing the rates rise to that level.

    Should the few weeks we have left before the presumed final day before opening not be used to vaccinate at least a million adults a day so that we get the whole population protected?

    Dr Dipankar Bose
    Consultant anaesthetist
    Warwick Hospital

    SIR – Given that we now know the postponement of the June 21 Covid reopening was made without the Prime Minister seeing crucial data (report, June 20), why has our potential freedom not been reinstated?

    To do this may actually be the last chance Boris Johnson has to claw back some of his electorates’ confidence.

    Simon Crowley
    Kemsing , Kent

    SIR – I am quarantining after returning from France. I am fully vaccinated and tested negative two days before my flight, but I am still required to do another two tests.

    The day after my return the phone rang: it was NHS Test and Trace telling me that I will be rung every day until my quarantine is over.

    I doubt they are interested in how this is affecting my mental or physical health, they simply want to know where I am. It’s good to find that the Stasi is alive and well, and operating in this dis-United Kingdom.

    Dr Giles Morgan
    Truro, Cornwall

    SIR – People were once prepared to die for freedom. Now it seems we are prepared to let freedom die in order to preserve lives at any cost.

    Robin Dudley Warde
    Duporth, Cornwall

    Links to slavery

    SIR – I do hope that if the Church of England discovers that Queen Anne’s Bounty (report, June 17) was given as a result of slavery it will immediately pass its entire value directly to a charity, and that Oxford University will do the same with the value today of the Rhodes Foundation.

    Only then will these two organisations be truly rid of their associations with the slave trade and be able to speak free of hypocrisy.

    Michael J Menhenitt
    Exmouth, Devon

    Bolting Bercow

    SIR – So the former Conservative MP John Bercow has joined the Labour Party (report, telegraph.co.uk, June 19) – no surprise there; as Speaker of the House, I always thought he was Labour anyway.

    Elizabeth Edmunds
    Hassocks, West Sussex

    SIR – I’m afraid that John Bercow, like Dominic Cummings, is suffering from what the Army refers to as “little corporal syndrome” – the realisation that they were never as powerful as they thought they were. With such characters, the louder they shout, the fewer people bother to listen.

    Brian Christley
    Abergele, Conwy

    SIR – Finally, John Bercow has done something positive for Boris and the Conservative Party.

    Shirley Collins
    Eastbourne, Sussex

    SIR – I really hope there is some parliamentary rule preventing anyone serving twice as Speaker.

    John Hutton
    Worksop, Nottinghamshire

    SIR – John Bercow has defected to Labour. The rat has joined the sinking ship.

    Peter Anderson
    Kettering, Northamptonshire

    Canine careers

    SIR – Pet dogs (Letters, June 19) are escape artists, paper shredders, wire strippers, vacuum cleaners, gardeners, shoe remodellers and much more.

    Lyndon Yorke
    Booker, Buckinghamshire

    SIR – My elderly pet watches me closely before every meal, then after it he sleeps. So does my retired husband.

    Patricia Banks
    Lymington, Hampshire

    Leaseholder legalities

    SIR – In 1932 the landmark legal case Donoghue v Stevenson held that a manufacturer had a duty of care to consumers where it was reasonably
    foreseeable that failure to ensure the product’s safety would lead to harm. This was an evolutionary step in the common law for tort, moving from strict liability based upon direct physical contact to a fault-based system that only required injury.

    Nearly 90 years later we have a similar situation arising from the Grenfell fire and the subsequent discovery of fire-safety shortcomings in other residential developments, many of which cannot be seen or recognised by the average consumer.

    Surely it is time that the law made another evolutionary step to help leaseholders cope with the large and unexpected costs of remedying the defective product foisted on them by unscrupulous builders? The orthodox view will be that of caveat emptor (buyer beware) but the underlying principle that it was reasonably foreseeable that builders’ failures would lead to harm, thereby creating a duty of care, should prevail.

    Ray Seymour
    Bedford

    Dial a doctor

    SIR – I tried to book a GP appointment for my mother, who recently had a fall (dealt with by A&E) and had developed other problems.

    We were unable to make an appointment but had to give details of the fall, and of the various ailments that had resulted from it, to a receptionist, while a queue built up behind us.

    Having typed in all the details, she sent them to the doctor, who would then make the appointment, which, we were told, would not be face-to-face but by telephone.

    My mother is deaf.

    It seems absurd that a receptionist can no longer make an appointment so you can speak to a doctor in person. There must be an end to this nonsense.

    Catherine Stirling-Reed
    Herstmonceux, East Sussex

    Hong Kong freedoms

    SIR – Britain has rightly criticised the Hong Kong police raid on Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper. As Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said (report, June 17): “Freedom of the press is one of the rights China promised to protect in the [1984 Sino-British] Joint Declaration and should be respected.”

    The once-autonomous British colony that I remember in the 1960s bears little resemblance to Hong Kong today. The imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee and other pro-democracy advocates is a stark reminder that anyone who does not march in step with the Chinese Communist Party is deemed a revisionist – even the free press.

    Brian Stuckey
    Denver, Colorado, United States

    Licence to view

    SIR – Through 50-plus years of licence fees, I have paid for my share of BBC programmes. If I want to view them through Britbox, however, I have to pay again for the privilege. Surely not?

    Nigel Cole
    Sale, Cheshire

    End of the affairs

    SIR – Will a rise in the number of people who work permanently from home signal a reduction in the number of office romances?

    Tricia Sydenham
    Felpham, West Sussex

    Glass milk bottles are welcome at the right price

    SIR – I note, with interest, that Morrisons will be trialling glass milk bottles at 11 of its stores (“Glass is greener in Morrisons’ milk shake up”, June 17). Each bottle will be priced at 90p to cover the cost of collection and sterilisation etc.

    Our milkman delivers to us three times a week at a cost of about 63p per pint. I suspect that doorstep deliveries are available in most of the country at less than Morrisons’ price.

    Alexander Simpson
    Market Drayton, Shropshire

    SIR – I am very pleased that Morrisons is bringing back glass milk bottles in an attempt to reduce plastic usage, but incredulous that it will be charging 90p a pint.

    Dairy Crest delivers milk to my door for 82p per pint.

    Dr Andrew Knights
    Thorney, Cambridgeshire

    SIR – Our village shop sells local milk in “refillable” glass bottles, so does the nearby farm.

    Morrisons’ decision to sell milk in glass bottles may encourage other supermarkets, but not if we have to pay extra.

    L F Buckland
    Blandford Forum, Dorset

    SIR -It is quaint to see Morrisons offering some of its milk in glass bottles, which will no doubt appeal to consumers keen to avoid the dreaded plastic.

    It should, however, pause to consider that the ubiquitous plastic milk bottle has a far lower supply chain carbon footprint than glass, and that it is also the single most sought- after item of plastic packaging for recycling in Britain. Furthermore, recycled milk bottles now account for up to 50 per cent by weight of every new plastic milk bottle, the balance going into new plastic products in sectors including the automotive, construction and horticultural.

    A more durable, versatile and recyclable product than the plastic milk bottle would be hard to find.

    Bernard Chase
    Filby, Norfolk

    SIR – We used to have bottles of milk delivered daily. At the time, my husband had dozens of colourful geraniums he grew from cuttings.

    One day the milkman admired the collection, so my husband said: “I will give you one of the best. They are so easy to propagate, come and look.”

    In the kitchen was a battalion of milk bottles, each containing a geranium cutting with long, white roots. “So that’s where my empties have gone,” said the milkman.

    Dr Rhoda Pippen
    Cardiff

    1. Before people start huffing about the price of milk, they should consider how much goes to the farmer, and what conditions the milking cows are kept in.

    3. A bored and frustrated dog will tear your home apart. They are, after all, bored and frustrated.

      If you don’t want a bored and frustrated dog, flipping well occupy it! How would you feel if left alone 20 hours of the day?

  32. Has-been and non-entity getting on the ‘hit the unvaccinated’ bandwagon. What the hell has happened to some people’s consideration of other people’s rights under the law? I suppose that these people will say anything to get noticed. Sad bastards.

      1. Strange, the government, vaccine manufacturers and givers have immunity from any ‘side effects of it,
        but you are in deep dodo if YOU do not have it, for putting the world at risk

        UK2021

        or

        Year 2 on the Post Covid World Economic Forum Calendar

  33. Good morning, fellow Nottlers

    Marine Le Pen blames poor results on low turnout
    Far-Right take a slim lead in Provence but results are worse than expected in French regional elections

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/20/marine-le-pen-eyes-historic-victory-regional-election-set-record/

    Does anyone actually look at Ms Le Pen’s manifesto? Her economic policies are based on her plans to renationalise everything and soak the rich with taxes (not that there are many ordinary people in France who are remotely rich as they are so heavily taxed already!).Clearly Marine le Pen is extreme left wing – but that is not the problem – the problem is that like Farage and Trump she is an outsider and so she must be despised.

    The expression “extreme right” is virtually meaningless. If it means anything it means that you are contemptible and the MSM and the PTB want to insult you, villainise you and pour scorn on you.

    1. The Left label her ‘Right wing’ because she wants to stop gimmigration.

      To them, that’s heresy. Why, I don’t now considering our unemployment levels. Do we really need so many foreigners here?

    2. She’s a left-wing nationalist like her father.

      MSM likes to label all sorts of people ‘extreme right’. Most of them are not particularly right wing.

  35. Andrew Pierce in the DM:

    “Not a single Labour, SNP or Lib Dem MP turned up for the Commons debate last week on extending Covid lockdown for four weeks. The only members who called the executive to account over the endless restrictions were liberty-loving backbench Tories. So much for Her Majesty’s Official Opposition.”

    1. Sadly our useless MP, nominally a Tory, voted in favour of extending the Covid lockdown, as she has on every other occasion – obviously more concerned about her continued access to the trough and maybe a better position – sod the constituents! The only time she seems to have voted against the Government recently is to oppose a cut in Foreign Aid!

      1. You are lucky. My local MP keeps complaining that her constituents are threatening to rape and murder her. Doesn’t seem to have a clue as to why.

    2. That really is shocking! What the hell do these incompetents get paid for, if not to participate in “democratic” debate and voting? Oh wait…democracy is a bad word!

      1. We only have an illusion of democracy.

        We are a whipped two party state. MPs play the party games no matter what constituents really want.

    1. 334581+ up ticks,
      Morning AWK,

      BIG time,crunch time,

      A glimpse of the immediate future.

      Anne Marie Waters or the local imam.

    3. Why should he speak up for Muslims? It’s a religion, not a nationality. He’s never spoken up for Christians, either, the majority religion!

        1. What other country would allow unvaccinated fans for a month-long tournament?

          6. Hungary, Iceland, New Zealand, US are obvious candidates. Russia would but held previous one so discounted. Any country not economically tied to “Western money”. Nothing to do re football, it’s the usual money game

          7. Nope..they’d allow their OWN fans to watch the games but not an influx of ,perhaps 200,000 unvaccinated foreigners.

          9. Every foreign fan travelling to the St Petersburg matches for Euro 2021 have to have a vaccine passport.

          11. I think Russia decides who can come and who can’t.
            My partner’s son has been to one game…follow the rules and its no problem.
            With St. Pete only being a three-hour journey from Helsinki.they travel,watch the game and travel back.No overnight stay required.

    3. Are the Qataris afraid their slave labour might get sick and not put in the hours?

      2. Morning all. 😊
        Let alone the rest of the world discovering the truth regarding their ongoing massive carbon footprint

  39. An article in the Telegraph . . .
    “Chris Packham, the popular presenter of the BBC’s Springwatch, has become XR’s biggest celebrity cheerleader”
    “POPULAR?” . . . . You must be Joking! . . . .

    1. I do wonder how many C&A voters had that image in mind. Many would have experienced the same heartless treatment when saying their final farewells to friends and relatives.

      1. Yes.
        Brother-in-Law’s funeral a few months ago. Almost nobody there, the rest of us on Zoom.

      3. Same at mother-in-law’s funeral earlier this year. I couldn’t even hug my dear son who had driven alone, 2 1/2 hours to be there, a chat in the freezing car park after the service then another long drive back for him. My other son watched the live stream online from overseas as did mother-in-law’s other offspring. Heartless cruelty.

    2. I wish there was some way to force BPAPM and his dictatorial thugs to look to that image.

    3. I wish there was some way to force BPAPM and his dictatorial thugs to look to that image.

    6. And, I heard on the SW BBC news last night that Covid rates in Cornwall have gone through the roof.

      Any suggestions as to why?

    1. Remember that it was Brown who first robbed them.

      The pensions industry is a scam anyway. I was told I couldn’t pay into my work one and they would keep taking 3% in fees every year. If I took it out I’d lose practically a third.

      Thieves, all of them.

      1. It wasn’t. Lawson and Lamont both raided pensions. Lawson forced schemes into deficit by taxing perceived surpluses. Lamont did what brown did but in a lesser way.

        The pensions industry is a sh1tstorm for sure but with such a low state pension what choice have we got in general but to try and find a decent provider and hope for the best.

        My pension has been a waste of time. I paid in very little as I was young. I really could have afforded much more but I hadn’t reached the required level of maturity to make good financial decisions when beer, girls and gambling was so much fun. By the time i realised i should be putting much more away my income fell to rock bottom.

        1. So… Brown made a bad situation worse. Either way, Brown’s fault for removing pensions tax relief.

          Sadly yes, I am in much the same boat. However, we’re not taught these things in school – would we have listened? I think if we had been told we would need to understand vastly more about basic economics and the national curriculum isn’t going to permit that.

          It took a terrible boss for me to get the kick up the bum of saving and clearing the mortgage properly. I think there’s an irony that when you’re young you don’t earn a lot and can’t afford to put much aside. When you’re middle aged you’ve more commitments and costs and can’t afford to save what you’d like to and then it’s too late.

          I’ll come back to the basic, fundamental problem: the accrual of capital. When I was earning peanuts – 13K or so – it isn’t income tax that gets you, it’s NI. The council tax. This was before Brown made fuel more expensive than a days work, so that put the kybosh on saving *anything*.

          Are our pensions low? £600 a month for savings – but it’s a ponzi scheme, kept going by massive borrowing and taxing the new workers rather than properly managing income for the saver ‘now’. Then there’s the fact that the state is determined to drive any other form of personal investment into the ground – buy to let, shares, capital gains. If junior sells my flat and whatever shares we’ve accumulated he will end up with barely a 5% gain after tax. That’s disgusting.

          The problem, as with everything in this country, is high taxes.

          1. Gift the property to junior in good time. (i think at least 5 yrs before you peg out). That should reduce the tax burden somewhat.

    2. BTL:

      Mr. Jinks, London, United Kingdom, 3 hours ago

      My girlfriend is off out to buy a dominatrix outfit on Saturday…. Although she prefers to call it a wedding dress.

      1. The only answer is to scrap men’s and women’s separate categories for all sporting competitions. Then the feminists can sort it out for themselves.

        1. Or put mental health victims like this in the Paralympics. It’s a form of mental disability.

        2. Yet a lot of feminists find this stuff idiotic. After all, it is by default, unequal. His muscles are bigger and stronger. His bones can carry more weight. His entire biology is designed for strength, so has more adrenaline generators.

          Yes, the tie themselves in knots over this nonsense but bluntly, everyone knows this is wrong and that men have no business competing in women’s events. A man taking drugs and mutilating himself is NOT a woman. We are biologically different.

      2. The Olympics is an irrelevant waste of time, I’m waiting for the big one when a trans woman scoops the cash pot at Wimbledon!

    5. The Soviets were way ahead of the ball – remember their female shotputters back in the 70’s?

        1. She doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects.
          She died a few weeks ago aged 83.

    7. My New Zealand friends on Facebook – fairly Woke themselves – are up in arms about this.

    1. Why do I have to wear it? Why can I choose not to do either? Why must the state demand I proclaim my choices?

      1. If questioned say you are exempt. If they ask you why then quote the Disability Act 2010 and tell them that under that Act it is unlawful for them to ask you any further questions.

        Nod to Rik-Redux

    2. I have been wearing one similar (blue writing and without the blue background) for months.

  46. We had a lovely afternoon yesterday with the family, my wine cellar has been stocked up along the whiskey cupboard.
    The slow roast lamb with ratatouille was superb, Mary Berry’s recipe is highly recommended. But make sure the slices of garlic are below the surface on the initial 45 mins. As the lamb shrinks the garlic pops out. I pre-griddled the aubergines and the courgettes the charred line markings looked good. I also doubled the amount of vegetables and include other varieties and next time half the amount of stock.

    1. There is something very satisfying about making a good meal from scratch and sharing it with friends.

      Even better when they bring whiskey !

      Today i am roasting a humble chicken. Not so humble actually. Waitrose No 1.

      1. Place some veg and herbs, especially a sliced onion, in the pan before the chicken the flavour is fantastic. I always shove fresh thyme rosemary and garlic in the cavity as well.

        2. After roasting the chook i take it out. Add some stock to the veg in the pan and do a scrape of the bottom, then liquidise it for the gravy/sauce.

          Bisto and flour are what make you lethargic after a roast dinner.

        1. Thanks Sue – I’ve now bookmarked both versions – just need some people round to eat it!

        1. Excellent! Thanks Eddy – when we ever get to invite the neighbours round again – or even family Ha! that sounds a good one to go for………

    1. They really don’t do irony, do they? I know! I’ve said it a million times…but I don’t do hyperbole!

    4. Should have been of Chauvin.

      Truly, this madness needs to end. Floyd was a criminal.

      1. Doesn’t matter is Chauvin intended Floyd’s death or not to me. He did the world a favour.

      1. Quite apart from not being able to read the mood of the country, do they honestly think that what falls out of their stupid mouths matters one iota to anyone else? And stop embarrassing yourselves and your family, you tossers!

        1. Bang on Sue. They will never be forgiven for their rank stupidity and it didn’t have to happen.

    2. I must admit I find her rather lacking in charm and personal magnetism.

      2. She first hit my consciousness when she made some outrageously snobby remark about the common people that she met studying at Oxford (eg me)
        Then she mocked the readership of The Lady magazine (eg my mother).
        Since then she has come up with various bits of left wing, pro EU drivel.
        She is not my favourite person.

        1. Wasn’t she editor of The Lady for some time? It’s the go-to mag for anyone wanting staff…….
          I can never forget her on that boat in the Thames dissing the fishermen.

  49. The Daily Human Stupidity.

    “Remember, when you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It is only painful for others.
    The same applies when you are stupid.”

    Ricky Gervais.

    2. Thank you for posting this, Jules. Essential reading for anyone even thinking about travelling abroad.

      Of course, the ridiculous rules have nothing to do with the plague. Simply HMG developing its control of our lives.

    1. Same old same old, what is the seemingly inherent problem with these people ? And the police making a lot of noise but not making and speed.

    2. Rumble in the Jungle! This is why honest tax paying law abiding White Britons need the right to bear arms & Mr. Plod needs to be armed!

      1. It’s pretty obvious why so many people are moving out of London now and to the home counties. A couple of months ago house in our mid Hertfordshire street was marketed and sold within two days.

        1. My family was part of the “Great White Flight” that began in the 1960’s & emptied South London of its multi-generational English population. First south of the river was lost & became the new Jamaica & when Blair became PM the whole of East London became the new Islamabad, soon Whites will need special permission & a police escort to enter Londonistan.

          1. I looked at a google earth images a few weeks ago of where i lived in Mill Hill and the old infant school i attended. Let’s say most of the people walking past the school where wearing long skirts and not born in the UK. I knew in 1980 we should have stayed in Oz.
            The UK……especially England is finished.
            If i am not mistaken even the Golders Green Hippodrome is now an islamic centre. Where I use to go with sisters and mum and dad and see Arthur Askey in the pantos. Play mates.

  52. Tainted Money
    Right now (11:15 GMT) there is a programme on Radio 4 (hangs head in shame) about ‘Tainted Money’ given philanthropically by large, rich donors. ‘Oh God, another Woke programme by the BBC’ I thought.

    One quote from a recipient at an Oxbridge College (I believe I heard correctly) was good: ‘The trouble with tainted money’ she said, ‘is there ‘taint enough of it’.

    I have paused the programme (on BBC Sounds) to hear how biased/unbiased it appears to be. I’ll let you know (if I can stand to listen to it all)

  53. Even the deadest of horses can do with occasional flog in the DM!

    Revealed: ‘Angry’ Prince Harry ‘agreed to do bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview alongside Meghan just 24 hours after the Queen stripped him of his military titles over Megxit’

    Duke of Sussex is said to have become ‘angry’ at losing his military titles when it was announced in February
    36-year-old Harry is said to have agreed to do his tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey less than 24 hours later
    Harry, who twice toured Afghanistan with Army, had hoped to keep titles before ‘Megxit’ deal was finalised
    It follows reports that Prince Charles is to ensure his two-year-old grandson Archie will never be a Prince
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9706693/Prince-Harry-agreed-Oprah-Winfrey-interview-stripped-military-titles.html#comments

    BTL Comment

    There are three possibilities: i) Harry is exceptionally weak and just gives in to Migraine on everything; ii) he is just as spiteful, vindictive and nasty as she is; iii) he is both weak and spiteful, vindictive and nasty.

    5. The Australia Tour was meant to be a massive highlight for royal fans to get to see the down-to-earth nature of the then-newly minted Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. However, since the event occurred in 2018, rumours and speculation have trickled out into the public. While people have been quick to dismiss it as fake, the information of the couple’s behaviour has resurfaced.

      https://cjhawkings.com/australia-tour-meghan-harry/

      To begin, we’re going to break it down into sections because it’s going to be long as almost everything that happens regarding the Sussexes’ behaviour on the Australia Tour happens at Admiralty House.

      Full Blown Hissy Fit Over Not Getting The Entire House
      It is believed that Meghan threw a fit when she was told she and Harry were to occupy a single wing of Admiralty House. She wanted the whole house. Like, you’re only going to be there a night or two so why do you want the entire place?

      Treatment Of Staff And Lady Cosgrove
      Now, this next point is actually two-in-one as it isn’t worth having them separated.

      According to what has been said, Meghan treated a lot of the staff like total garbage. She was only nice to the attractive staff. This caused Harry a lot of embarrassment and he was always apologising for her behaviour.

      When Lynne, Lady Cosgrove found out what was going on, she confronted Meghan and told her off in the nicest possible way. All Markle did was scream at her and say, “Do you know who the fuck I am?!” or something similar to that.

      It got to the point where the staff had to pick and choose who worked with Meghan. She also spoke down to them, like they were rocks under her feet.

      Editor’s Note: We saw something that we’re not sure we believe, but we’ll add it anyway. This comes from Agueda Sanchez on Quora.

      Apparently, when the staff went to clean Meghan’s room, they found what looked like a fake baby bump. Also, they were not allowed to help her with her clothing. Jessica Mulroney was the only one allowed in the room. It needs to be noted that just because something that resembled a moon bump was found, doesn’t mean her pregnancy with Archie was faked. They [Agueda] point out that some expectant mothers wear them to take better photos. Finally, this might’ve been why the Sussexes had that massive blow up.

      Jessica Mulroney
      Meghan’s BFF and stylist Jessica Mulroney accompanied the Sussexes Down Under. However, Markle’s behaviour wasn’t much better with her bestie with her. Apparently, they wanted to ‘holiday’ and ‘sight-see’. Basically, they wanted the ‘rock star’ tour rather than one that is for work and a ‘free holiday’.

      Mrs Mulroney and the Duchess wouldn’t do any ‘tour crap’.

      The Infamous Tea Throwing Incident
      One of the most famous tantrums Meghan threw was at how a cup of tea didn’t taste right and she threw it at a staff member. It is alleged that the staffer was paid to keep silent and ended up with an apology.

      Banana Bread
      Australia Tour
      [Credit: Metro]
      Allegedly, there was a situation with the banana bread that was presented at a morning tea. Apparently, Meghan ordered the kitchen staff to bake it and she screamed at them when it wasn’t to her liking. She made them go out in the dead of night to get ingredients. Also, she made them do several batches until it was to how she wanted it.

      Fights With Harry

      Fights With Harry
      So much for being happily in love and newlyweds. From what has been said, Meghan got into massive fights with Harry. He questioned whether she was pregnant and was upset that she had announced the pregnancy the way she had. Though, it’s unclear if he was talking about Eugenie’s wedding which had occurred days before or when they landed in Sydney.

      They slept in seperate bedrooms.

      Originally, Harry was meant to be the only one doing the Australia tour. Meghan joined at the last minute and events had to be changed to accommodate her.

      Away From Admiralty House
      Fit Over Not Doing The Harbour Bridge Climb
      It is claimed that Meghan got upset and threw yet another tantrum because she was stopped from doing the Harbour Bridge Climb with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Harry because she was pregnant. She wanted to do it and didn’t care if she was expectant or not.

      The Situation In The Fiji Marketplace
      Away from Australia and there was a situation where Meghan was ushered quickly out of the marketplace in Fiji. We’ve spoken about one version of events where she didn’t want to be seen by UN Women, the charity she had worked with and later, discarded. This is the same alleged incident where she hissed at an aide and made her cry.

      The second version was that the situation was staged by Meghan and Jessica Mulroney so they could go sight seeing.

      1. Not that Megain will give a stuff, but I will happily believe every word of that…and more!

        1. #MeToo.

          You can see the effect she is having by looking at her husband.

          What a piece of work she is. Vile bitch.

  55. 334581+ up ticks,
    Surely the answer is for the governance coalition to send out bigger ships appertaining to the fetch & carry potential troops & allsorted felons, future party members campaign.

    Why the pretence why NOT go right up to the calais jetty, the peoples surely know this campaign is in operation and to support the LLCGs coalition is to agree to the intake.

    https://twitter.com/Steve_Laws_/status/1406886754880311296

    1. A good friend of mine wants to donate a two seater wooden bench to our local parish council there is a community orchard that really does need some seating. But the councillors are stupid jobs-worth’s and have put every obstacle imaginable in his way.

      1. Tell them that the donor is a black transexual disabled muslim refugee saying thank you for letting his 4 wives and 20 kids in for a life on the UK taxpayer.

        1. Too late Walter they already know he’s white public ex school and ran a successful London advertising and marketing business.

          2. Something similar happened to another old friend who applied to take part in BBC TV Bake Off. I think she was, too white, too good and too middle class. She had already written a book on cake making. That was the time they chose that muslim woman Nadia who made the ‘peacock’ cake with shop bought blue icing that looked like a dodo with a packet of smarties slapped on to it. And by strange coincidence another of our and her (the lady who was turned down) friends was the ‘winners’ english teacher in Luton.

      2. Starting with ‘elfansafetee, no doubt. A lot of our councillors won’t accept any help from “civilians” (i e volunteers) on that account.

        1. We have several donated wooden benches scattered around the Village in prime places. But for some daft reason they think some one might set this one alight !!!

    2. 334581+ up ticks,
      Surely this can be nipped in the bud by changing the council, and keep doing so until the peoples have one serving to satisfaction.

  58. 334581+ up ticks,
    Even the biggest protest in the universe will have the overseers feeling the repercussions for a day, two at most, whereas those protest feelings carried through to the polling booth in a “deny the LLCGs candidates a kiss X” will have the repercussions felt for many a year.

    Tis Common sense, a very rare earth element.

    https://twitter.com/EssexPR/status/1406891370938355712

    1. 334581+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration, ongoing / paedophilic umbrella coalition “manufactured fear.”
      is nearer the mark.

    1. The Corporation of London has local authority status though. In laws, they are listed with other local authorities.

    2. London ceased being part of the UK & western civilization the day the Empire Windrush anchored at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 21 June 1948 carrying hundreds of passengers from the Caribbean.

  60. Just been down the village and a lovely heavy shower of rain.I thought..”that will cool things down a bit”
    Got home and checked..its gone from 30 to 32C !!!
    Definitely a bit waaam.

    1. It has been dull, grey, damp and chilly these past three days.

      (I hate you !)…not really

    1. All that has been missed of the list is the annual cost of housing, NHS services (including maternity care), unemployment benefit, and other direct payments to these people. Probably around £60bn?

      1. Did anybody ever believe the politicians when they said that there was a financial advantage in having more immigrants in Britain?

        We must remember that there is a great difference between a country’s GDP and the level of wealth of each individual in that country. In terms of GDP India is in the top 5 nations but 145th in the table of per capita wealth. So, by choosing your statistics judiciously you can more or less prove anything you set out to prove!

  62. 2 month ago – get 2 jabs ( maximum protection ) and you’ll all be free – -now – – booster jabs plan due for autumn – and want to include flu jab as well – it rolls on and on and on . . . . . ( is the flu jab the same one that cut all the flu deaths last year? – the ones that were all put down to Covid? )

    1. I complied with the first one. Anything for a quiet life.

      I dithered over the second one but had it anyway.

      Now they want to keep giving me injections forever. They can f&%k right off and then f&%k off some more.

        1. After seeing the G7 shindig and the Police reaction to the Scottish fans i will not be wearing a mask again.

          1. I haven’t yet had to show my exemption card when I’ve not worn it. As Poppiesmum says – it gets easier the more you do it. I did feel people were looking at me but nobody said anything when I went to Morrisons on Friday.

          2. I haven’t worn one for about 2 months now, and nobody has ever said anything! It’s like being a Mason when you meet someone else in a shop without one! Secret wink and smile! My old man is still wearing his.

          3. So’s mine, though he did use the other print-out and little plastic wallet I found for them. He chickened out on his trip to Waitrose on Saturday.

          4. Morrisons is the subject of a take-over bid (by an American company, apparently).

          5. That’s a shame – our small branch took over from Somerfield and all the staff have been there for many years.

      2. We took one (two) for the team so that our grandchildren could have a normal, carefree young life. (Like the one we took for granted when annihilation by The Bomb was the only threat to our gilded youth.)

    2. Hancock has explained it all this morning. Two jags* means you are very much protected against catching Covid 19 and dying as direct result. Three jags* means that there is a very slim chance of catching Covid 19 and dying from it. Four jags* mean that you are till safe even if the first two jags* have ceased to be effective. Five jags*..well, you can see where this is going.

      *Other Labour politician jokes are available.

    3. And DT headline – “Flu could be bigger problem than Covid this winter”. Boris Johnson warns of “rough winter” to come.

      When will people wake up and smell the coffee? TPTB will not give up their control. We need to take back control by civil disobedience.

      For instance why do people continue to wear masks when at the G7 anyone could see that all the rules went out of the window for TPTB.

      1. They trialled no masks for racegoers (except, bizarrely, in the paddock) at Royal Ascot.

  63. Too much truth! Shut him down!

    ‘Retain and explain’ isn’t saving our history from demolition. It’s feeding the woke onslaught

    The Government’s “retain and explain” tactic makes sense, until one considers who’s doing the explaining

    ZAREER MASANI

    Growing up in post-colonial India in the 1950s, I was addicted to the novels of Enid Blyton, much to the disapproval of my father, who kept trying to direct me instead to Dickens. It never occurred to either of us to deem Blyton racist, sexist or xenophobic. She was a product of her era, and I loved the fact that her Famous Five were led by a tomboy girl.

    Yet now Blyton has been denounced as not just racist by English Heritage, the charity ostensibly dedicated to safeguarding the country’s history, but as lacking in literary merit, too. And, perversely, this is the Government’s emerging policy towards protecting memorials working just as intended. Under “retain and explain”, Blyton’s blue plaque will be kept but, in the online information English Heritage has assembled to explain her relevance, her reputation has been trashed.

    The Government adopted “retain and explain” as a tactic to head off the demolition squads of Black Lives Matter. It makes sense, until one considers who’s doing the explaining. Most institutions have neither the will nor the expertise to hire in serious historians to explain the historical context around controversial figures. Instead, the task seems to devolve on in-house staff who usually share the Left-wing prejudices of those who would prefer demolition.

    One result is the retrospective shaming of Blyton. Other examples abound, including a statue of an apocryphal monkey, hanged in Hartlepool because it was mistaken for a Napoleonic spy, which a local body proposed should get a new plaque disowning any connection to unwanted immigrants. Last year, we saw the spectacle of the memorial to Lord Melville in Edinburgh given a plaque lamenting his leadership of the East India Company and alleging that he delayed the abolition of slavery, with no mention that he saw this as a strategy for ensuring that policy’s adoption. And who’s to say what satanic badge of shame awaits Cecil Rhodes, as Oriel College tries to placate Rhodes Must Fall campaigners.

    A particularly egregious example is the Clive Collection at Powis Castle, which I’m researching for Restore Trust, the pressure-group attempting to counter the surrender of our once august National Trust to the forces of wokedom. The Clive Collection is a fascinating introduction to the Indo-British encounter, housed in a wonderfully designed gallery that echoes its Oriental splendours.

    The artefacts were collected partly by Robert Clive, first Governor of Bengal, and later by his son, who served as Governor of Madras. The collection ranges from weapons, portraits and furniture to a famous gold and ruby tiger finial from the throne of Tipu Sultan, last king of Mysore. Had they not been collected, conserved and so imaginatively displayed by the Clive family, it’s a near certainty that they would not have survived at home in India, where relics were commonly melted down or discarded as junk.

    None of this gets a mention in the National Trust’s blurb, which describes the collection as having been looted. No mention that war booty was an entirely legal and widespread way of rewarding military victors across Europe and Asia until well into the 19th century. Clive, a brilliant self-made man, given to bouts of depression, might have been a hero for our own times. Instead, he’s presented as an avaricious buccaneer who stole Bengal from its noble Mughal rulers. No mention that Clive was persuaded by the bankers and nobles of Bengal to overthrow a dissolute and decadent ruler, Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, notorious for his cruelty and hated by his own subjects.

    What such examples show is the near-impossibility of explaining in short captions what are often complex and contested reputations. Public spaces belong to the public, the vast majority of whom have little appetite for seeing monuments defaced by sanctimonious disclaimers. While most of us would back the policy to retain, must we really suffer it being accompanied by simplistic health warnings similar to those on cigarette packs? By all means let’s also explain, but ensure those who do the explaining have the necessary expertise.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/20/retain-explain-isnt-saving-history-demolition-feeding-woke-onslaught/

    2. Sir, Sir …. I’ve got idea, Sir.
      How about claiming that Clive had ‘mental health issues’? That should get him off the hook.
      “Clive, a brilliant self-made man, given to bouts of depression……”

      1. Well, he was expelled from my old school – so that would enable a “disadvantaged child” label to be attached…

        2. And has now had the House named after him renamed.
          I can’t help wondering if John Raphael, the replacement, would have approved.

  64. Too much truth! Shut him down!

    ‘Retain and explain’ isn’t saving our history from demolition. It’s feeding the woke onslaught

    The Government’s “retain and explain” tactic makes sense, until one considers who’s doing the explaining

    ZAREER MASANI

    Growing up in post-colonial India in the 1950s, I was addicted to the novels of Enid Blyton, much to the disapproval of my father, who kept trying to direct me instead to Dickens. It never occurred to either of us to deem Blyton racist, sexist or xenophobic. She was a product of her era, and I loved the fact that her Famous Five were led by a tomboy girl.

    Yet now Blyton has been denounced as not just racist by English Heritage, the charity ostensibly dedicated to safeguarding the country’s history, but as lacking in literary merit, too. And, perversely, this is the Government’s emerging policy towards protecting memorials working just as intended. Under “retain and explain”, Blyton’s blue plaque will be kept but, in the online information English Heritage has assembled to explain her relevance, her reputation has been trashed.

    The Government adopted “retain and explain” as a tactic to head off the demolition squads of Black Lives Matter. It makes sense, until one considers who’s doing the explaining. Most institutions have neither the will nor the expertise to hire in serious historians to explain the historical context around controversial figures. Instead, the task seems to devolve on in-house staff who usually share the Left-wing prejudices of those who would prefer demolition.

    One result is the retrospective shaming of Blyton. Other examples abound, including a statue of an apocryphal monkey, hanged in Hartlepool because it was mistaken for a Napoleonic spy, which a local body proposed should get a new plaque disowning any connection to unwanted immigrants. Last year, we saw the spectacle of the memorial to Lord Melville in Edinburgh given a plaque lamenting his leadership of the East India Company and alleging that he delayed the abolition of slavery, with no mention that he saw this as a strategy for ensuring that policy’s adoption. And who’s to say what satanic badge of shame awaits Cecil Rhodes, as Oriel College tries to placate Rhodes Must Fall campaigners.

    A particularly egregious example is the Clive Collection at Powis Castle, which I’m researching for Restore Trust, the pressure-group attempting to counter the surrender of our once august National Trust to the forces of wokedom. The Clive Collection is a fascinating introduction to the Indo-British encounter, housed in a wonderfully designed gallery that echoes its Oriental splendours.

    The artefacts were collected partly by Robert Clive, first Governor of Bengal, and later by his son, who served as Governor of Madras. The collection ranges from weapons, portraits and furniture to a famous gold and ruby tiger finial from the throne of Tipu Sultan, last king of Mysore. Had they not been collected, conserved and so imaginatively displayed by the Clive family, it’s a near certainty that they would not have survived at home in India, where relics were commonly melted down or discarded as junk.

    None of this gets a mention in the National Trust’s blurb, which describes the collection as having been looted. No mention that war booty was an entirely legal and widespread way of rewarding military victors across Europe and Asia until well into the 19th century. Clive, a brilliant self-made man, given to bouts of depression, might have been a hero for our own times. Instead, he’s presented as an avaricious buccaneer who stole Bengal from its noble Mughal rulers. No mention that Clive was persuaded by the bankers and nobles of Bengal to overthrow a dissolute and decadent ruler, Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, notorious for his cruelty and hated by his own subjects.

    What such examples show is the near-impossibility of explaining in short captions what are often complex and contested reputations. Public spaces belong to the public, the vast majority of whom have little appetite for seeing monuments defaced by sanctimonious disclaimers. While most of us would back the policy to retain, must we really suffer it being accompanied by simplistic health warnings similar to those on cigarette packs? By all means let’s also explain, but ensure those who do the explaining have the necessary expertise.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/20/retain-explain-isnt-saving-history-demolition-feeding-woke-onslaught/

    1. Here’s one of many interesting BTL comments “I voted Tory for the first time in 2019. It turning out like I voted for the Greens. Never again unless the Tories wake up”.

      2. That reminds me of when I worked at the airport. Staff and passengers would approach me with items of property handed in (or left on an aircraft) and ask me to place it in ‘Lost Property’. They always looked askew when I invariably replied, “No! We don’t have any ‘Lost Property’.” The conversation always followed the same lines:

        “You do! You have a ‘Lost Property’ store.”
        “No we don’t.”
        “What do you mean?”
        “How can we store ‘Lost property’ if we don’t know where it is? It is LOST. No one knows where it is!”
        “So what is the store called then? And what is in it?”
        “It is a ‘Found Property’ store and it is full of found property. We know it is found because we have it. We know where it is.”
        “You’re splitting hairs.”
        “No, I’m making a valid and sensible distinction. That is why we have two books. One for recording details of Lost Property that no one knows the location of. And another for recording items handed in to us as Found Property. We always cross-check each book to see if anything previously reported as Lost has now been Found. It’s a very simple and age-old system that WORKS.”

        Sometimes it was like talking to the wall.

        1. I once took a slow bus journey from White City to Willesden Bus Garage to collect my found bus pass, which had been dropped while alighting from the top deck of a number 52 at Notting Hill Gate. Sure enough it had been handed in and I retrieved it from the nice man at the garage. He showed me the stacks, all bound with laggy bands, of passes that remained unclaimed. I guess for some people it’s easy come, easy go.

          1. The amount of stuff people carelessly lose and never reclaim when found is simply staggering. A lot of the blame lies with the easiness (laziness) in making an insurance claim.

            I had to stop aircraft-cleaning staff handing in books they found whilst cleaning aircraft. It was difficult to explain to them that passengers buy a book to for no other reason to while away the time on a flight. The books are not lost, they are simply discarded. If I took them all in we would need extra rooms built for the storage.

          2. It’s a sad reflection on our throw-away society. People brought up in the austere post-war years seldom do that.

        2. The French for lost property is “Objets trouvés” – logical, yer Froggies.

  69. Scotland’s new Euros hero Billy Gilmour tests positive for Covid – just three days after he was named Man of the Match against England… so what other players are at risk?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

    Clearly in future games in this competition the players will all have to wear masks during their matches!

    But hold on – wearing a mask while engaging in physical activity is dangerous – indeed several mask-wearing joggers have died as a consequence of wearing the mask.

    The only sensible solution is to cancel the whole competition

      1. Since the G7 nonsense the Covid rates in Cornwall have risen exponentially.

        Until recently Cornwall had one of the lowest Covid rats in the UK. Now, according to the Falmouth Packet newspaper:

        Cornwall is in the top five areas nationally seeing the biggest week-on-week rise in the rate of coronavirus cases.

    2. An English Freedom march: protestors stand around in the rain chanting “Freedom”.

      A French or Italian Freedom march: protestors block roads with lorries and tractors then dump cartloads of manure in front of parliament.

      We need more Latin blood and bloody mindedness.

    1. Interesting – and as the comments say – he doesn’t elaborate on how he perceives things differently.

      Until everyone wore masks I didn’t realise quite how much I lip read – and how difficult it is to understand people mumbling behind a mask. The crowded rooms (especially in our echoey local garden centre cafes) have always been difficult to hear anyone not sitting next to me.

      1. #metoo
        :-((
        It can be quite lonely, sitting there in the middle of a crowd in a noisy cafe, and having absolutely no part in the conversation that might as well be just a jangle of firebells.
        And, as you wrote, the loss of lipreading is a real issue too – as is someone facing a different way when speaking.

        1. We went to a meeting the other evening at our local Brewery – a very popular venue who had to have a crowdfunding appeal earlier this year. They have invested in some outdoor pods – which keep the rain off but I found it hard to hear our meeting as the people just behind were very loud.

    2. Interesting – and as the comments say – he doesn’t elaborate on how he perceives things differently.

      Until everyone wore masks I didn’t realise quite how much I lip read – and how difficult it is to understand people mumbling behind a mask. The crowded rooms (especially in our echoey local garden centre cafes) have always been difficult to hear anyone not sitting next to me.

  73. The Furin Cleavage Site

    In this interview with Dr Quay he makes reference to the Furin Cleavage site in the context of modifying the naturally occurring COVID virus class into a human transmissible form through the gain of function technology.

    https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210217/The-origin-of-SARS-CoV-2-furin-cleavage-site-remains-a-mystery.aspx

    Wuhan Lab was only one of three sites carrying out such processes and at the time of a suspected virus escape in 2019 thousands of records of naturally occurring COVID viruses were removed from availability on the internet.

    The assertion that the SARS COVID virus was weaponised and escaped from a biological laboratory is still gaining credence.

    https://youtu.be/qq4Ep9M_664

  74. 334581+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Politics latest news: Boris Johnson says July 19 ‘looking good’ but warns of ‘rough winter’ to come

    Pm visiting laboratories in Hertfordshire,bloody hell I though Not another one at it,as was the odious latch lifter
    ex Pm a.t.lynton but it was laboratories not lav………

    2. Pity it wasn’t near the littoral of California. That deserves to slide into the sea overnight, carrying all the ‘woke snowflakes’ with it.

  76. 334581+ up ticks,
    May one ask, is flu making a return this coming winter as the overseers are trying to form some sort of link, could it be that any fatal mishaps with the jab heavens forbid, can then be laid of on the flu ?

    A kind of handy spare plague to have around in times of a medical patsy is required.

  77. ‘WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?’: AMERICAN’S REVIEW OF BRITISH BEACH GOES VIRAL. 21 JUNE 2021.

    An American’s review of a British beach quickly went viral after he shared his disappointing experience online.

    “What the hell is this?” Nick Alexander, originally from Miami, said upon visiting Weston-super-Mare for the first time.

    Weston-super-mare? I remember that even as kids we used to make jokes about spotting camels crossing Skegness Beach.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-beach-review-american-tiktoker-b1869733.html

    1. Weston on the Mud – where the tide is always out!
      I used to be packed off at every school holiday to stay with my uncle & aunt.

      1. I used to go there once a year, the annual Sunday School outing. I had some glorious sunny days down there, returning home as red as a beetroot. As you say, the tide was always out, no swimming in the sea but the Tropicana was OK.
        Some years the weather was awful, rain all day. One year it rained so we went to the cinema and watched the film The Devil Rides Out, rather apt for a Sunday School group I thought.
        Ah, happy days.

        1. I used to love the donkeys on the beach, my aunt’s niece used to visit as well, before our mutual and now sadly late cousin was born.

          Uncle used to take us to the Knightstone baths too, to watch the Water Polo. One year, my mum paid for me to have swimming lessons with a woman who had taught channel swimmers, but she failed with me.

          1. I used to work with a guy who played water polo for WSM. He reckoned the temperature of the sea water pool was an advantage for them, the opposition wasn’t used to it.

          2. The donkeys all had their names on their headbands – Jane & I were convinced one was called Toilet – actually Violet. But you couldn’t see the whole name unless you walked round that side.

    2. Mind you, they did have the Urine Lake, filled with sea water, refreshed twice daily.

    3. My son lived in Weston Super Mare and we frequented the beach many times. It is a great beach in many ways. It has a huge expanse of golden sands above high water mark and is great to swim from when the tide is in. Even on the hottest days there is plenty of space to use. It is great for exercise such as running, either on the beach or on the promenade. There are 2 piers and plenty of shops and amusements nearby. However, it is pretty flat and the tide recedes a relatively long distance, leaving an expanse of packed sand/mud between the beach and the sea that isn’t to everyone’s tastes; swimming at low tide is awkward.

      Make the best of it. Being so selective on the bad bits says more about the writer than the beach.

      2. Agreed. There are some lovely woods on the high ground at Weston. The (new) pier was great until destroyed by fire. The replacement pier is ugly architectural fudge.

        Paddle steamers would at one time come alongside the pier and disgorge Welsh folk from places such as Splott.

    5. Not one of our best beaches and that’s for sure but compare and contrast to Miami Beach which is now a tent city of the homeless and drug crazed with escalating crime.

      I think Weston-super-mare wins any competition.

    6. Reminds me of taking young children to Holkham Beach. They were going bananas in the car. Then we parked – and they rushed up the slope……and saw that the sea was almost a mile away….!

      I trained them to become pessimists – and so expect the worst… It worked!!

      1. Though there are some wonderful beaches on the East coast i am enamoured with two of my local ones.

        When the tide is in and the sun is much hot, the colour of the water is aquamarine/torquoise blue.

    7. It is the only beach, fittted with an Oasis, so that you do not die of thirst, before reaching the sea

    8. We used to refer to Weston-Super-Mare as Weston-Super-Mud. For some reason that escapes me, when I was at my boarding prep school in Bath they hired a char-à-banc or two and took us all to Weston. After walking along the beach in a well disciplined crocodile for about half an hour we got back into our char-à-bancs and returned to school. This was meant to have been be a treat but it was beyond the comprehension of a small boy of 9 who had always been left to his own devices and allowed to run wild and go out sailing unsupervised from the age of 7 in St Mawes.

      The only other times I have visited Weston-Super-Mare was when David, a friend of mine who was fanatically keen on big band music and is our Henry’s godfather, dragged me off to the theatre in Weston to hear the Syd Lawrence Band. The next sortie David and I made was to the Poole Arts Centre where we saw Buddy Rich on his last tour in Britain.

      Another interesting fact about Weston-Super-Mare is that Jeffery Archer hailed from there.

      (I am far from confident that anyone will consider my ramblings as a welcome distraction from the sheer dreariness of Covid)

      1. When they took you to WSM and did the crocodile….did anyone give you an ice-cream? If not you should sue for abuse.

    9. My folks honeymooned there.

      I have a photograph, somewhere, of me with my mum disembarking the paddlesteamer/ferry there. It was raining and we were in our pacamacs!

      1. When my boys were small we went on a trip from the Old Pier to Ilfracombe on the Balmoral paddle steamer.

    10. Here is one of the most recent comments:

      Looks like it hasn’t changed much from when I went as a kid in the 70’s. There was a wide pink band running along the tideline, which at close inspection turned out to be a thick layer of toilet paper.
      I’m sorry but the mud you are referring to isn’t mud…

    11. Weston-super-Mud we called it. In many visits, I don’t think I ever saw the sea!

  78. Just for fun;

    Electric vehicle range – how far can I drive in an EV?

    All sorts of pros, no cons so I had to say:

    NoToNanny • 3 minutes ago • edited
    Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by RAC Drive.
    No mention of the cost of replacing a battery (mega bucks) – nor of the problems of disposal.

    Paris has 1,000 EVs parked up because they have knackered batteries but no-one is willing to take them and (try to) recycle them.

    I’ll wait and come back later to see if the truth hurts – this post is being put up elsewhere, under your heading.

    https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/electric-cars/choosing/electric-vehicle-range-how-far-can-i-drive-in-an-ev/?cid=eml-AC058_CHUB_MEMBERS_RE-CHUB_M_RE_W1_20210621_134245&utm_medium=email&utm_source=AC058_CHUB_MEMBERS_RE&utm_campaign=CHUB_M_RE_W1_20210621_134245&omhide=true&contactURN=40501005&hasBreakdown=true

    2. I’ve just checked and RAC Drive did not like my comment so have not posted it.

      As a result I also posted this:

      NoToNanny • a few seconds ago
      Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by RAC Drive.
      Glad to see that you don’t like the truth – I’ll add that to my comment elsewhere.

      Byee – I’ll NOT be renewing my membership.

    3. Rarely, if ever, have I seen mentioned when electric cars are discussed is that their fuel cost is only lower because of tax. Take that out – 5% VAT on electricity vs fuel tax and 20% VAT (yes, they apply a tax on a tax) – then the fuel cost of an electric car is effectively no different from that for a McDermott petrol or Diesel car. For example, my brother’s Jag is actually cheaper on fuel than my friend’s Tesla when tax is taken off.

      1. You can be sure they will apply a tax to the fuel when everybody has to run electric cars or walk.

        1. What? Do you mean that the lost fuel taxes will not take care of themselves?

          You need Trudeau economics where budgets will balance themselves and debt is irrelevant.

    4. Apparently those French cars were part of a sharing program that did nor survive, the cars are OK.

      Not that it makes any difference to the cost of replacing the batteries after a few years. Talk about building in obsolescence, could you imagine buying a petrol or diesel car if you knew that the engine would only last six or seven years.

      1. Snopes actually confirms that, in essence, the story is correct – the only thing missing is what has REALLY happened to the batteries that have been removed.

        1. I disagree.
          The cars were stored after the company went bust.

          They are being sold off. Successfully as it happens.

          The most valuable part of the ecobandwagonmobile is the battery.

          Of course they are taken elsewhere, even Paris has gypos who would strip the most valuable bits in an instant.

  79. A request for advice from our resident gardeners.

    I have a dozen strawberry plants doing nicely and are producing lots of nice fruit.

    My Q is; Do i cut the runners off?

  80. I hope you are surprised and mildly delighted by this little story .

    A Jewish family named Karnofsky, who immigrated from Lithuania to the United States, took pity on a 7-year-old boy and brought him to their home.

    There he stayed and spent the night in this Jewish family home, where for the first time in his life he was treated with kindness and tenderness.
    When he went to bed, Mrs. Karnovski sang him Russian lullabies, which he sang with her.
    Later he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs.

    Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family.
    Mr. Karnofsky gave him money to buy his first musical instrument, as was the custom in Jewish families.
    Later, when he became a professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions such as St. James’s Hospital and Go Down Moses.

    The little boy grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family, who adopted him in 1907. And proudly spoke Yiddish fluently.

    In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore the Star of David and said that in this family he learned “to live a real life and determination.”

    This little boy’s name was Louis Armstrong.

          1. I sing to Dolly every day it rains. It’s the only way she gets any exercise…running away fast

        2. Note that we have no connection to that fat tub of lard Whoopi Goldberg who has culturally appropriated a Jewish name to get on in Hollyweird !

        3. Note that we have no connection to that fat tub of lard Whoopi Goldberg who has culturally appropriated a Jewish name to get on in Hollyweird !

        4. Note that we have no connection to that fat tub of lard Whoopi Goldberg who has culturally appropriated a Jewish name to get on in Hollyweird !

  81. There goes another one! I’ve just had an email telling me that the Chatsworth Fair, scheduled for early September and which we looking forward to especially as it was cancelled last year, has been cancelled due to the uncertainty about the Government’s Covid policies. Well done [sarc] to our MP who voted to extend the lockdown – we know who to blame!

    1. It was just a practice run from that environment wag fest in Glasgow later this year.

      1. The smugness from Glasgow is going to power a nuclear power station. And Charles and William will be all over it!

  83. Earlier we were watching GBNews. They have certainly crisped up the presentation and the set is lighter.

    1. Afternoon Phizzee. I’ve never liked them! I’ve worked with them! I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them!

    2. Afternoon Phizzee. I’ve never liked them! I’ve worked with them! I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them!

    3. Afternoon Phizzee. I’ve never liked them! I’ve worked with them! I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them!

    4. At least in P’stan – when caught they are dealt with. Unlike the, er, United Kingdom, for example…

    6. It is disgusting but not confined to only Muslim clerics. Plenty of evidence of that in the UK and Ireland.

    3. Does this have implications for airline and rail tickets, I wonder?

      Seems a bit harsh as we all rot down to the same skeletons!

  87. This silly spat between Andy (How I killed them in Stafford) Burnham and Mrs Murrell.

    They should both STFU. Any Scot who wants to go to Manchester (and why on earth would they?) can do so quite easily – except by plane

    One thing made me larf, though. The nerve of Murrell to accuse Burnham of “playing politics”….

    1. Looks like a helo Flight Deck on the ‘back’

      Brenda hates choppers

      When we escorted the Britannia to Norway, our helo stayed locked in the Hangar

        1. Ours was only there to deliver Instant Sunshine (WE177 style) to naughty Soviet Subs

    3. Let’s be fair, Johnson could turn out to be a better boat designer than a PM.
      I know that is not much of a challenge to achieve.

  90. Got back from Derby.
    Forgot Step-son got his money this morning, so he was already pissed when I got there so didn’t bother staying otherwise I might have done him some violence!

    Had a wander round the middle of Derby to fill in time before t’Lad got back from work and then dropped off the things for him before heading back home.

    The DT & myself have just enjoyed an M&S posh fish cake each, served with mixed veg, some honey roast parsnips that have been lurking in the freezer since Christmas, mushrooms and a white sauce made with fresh mint & lemon balm picked from the garden this morning!
    She also had a baked potato with hers.

    All in all, VERY enjoyable!

    1. This is FAKE NEWS – Nobody has died of myocardatis, Tucker Carlson is a Liar & Conspiracy Theorist misleading the public in the USA

      Here is the Israel Ministry of Health investigation –
      https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/01062021-03Press Releases
      Surveillance of Myocarditis (Inflammation of the Heart Muscle) Cases Between December 2020 and May 2021 (Including)
      Subject
      Coronavirus
      Secondary topic
      Ministry of Health Updates
      Publish Date
      02.06.2021
      Extended epidemiological team appointed to investigate the possible link between these cases and the vaccine

      Following reports of myocarditis cases around the time of vaccination for coronavirus, the Ministry of Health has appointed an extended epidemiological team to investigate the possible link between these cases and the vaccine. The team was created after a Control and Quality Committee raised suspicions for such a link and presented its conclusions to the Ministry of Health’s Director General.

      The epidemiological team consists of 3 professional teams:

      Team 1 – Public health experts from the Department of Epidemiology
      Team 2 – Experts from the National Center for Disease Control
      Team 3 – Experts from academic (representatives from Tel Aviv University, Haifa University and the Technion)
      The three expert teams have conducted an in-depth epidemiological investigation and worked in tandem in the process of analyzing the infection monitoring data and the findings.

      Background:
      Myocarditis is usually a mild illness, characterized by such symptoms as chest pains, shortness of breath or rapid heart palpitations.
      This illness usually appears among younger men, aged 16 to 30.
      It usually involves short-term hospitalization.
      Myocarditis may be caused by infection with coronavirus or other viruses.

      Cases Details:
      Between December 2020 and May 2021, 275 cases of myocarditis have been reported.
      Of which, 148 myocarditis cases have occurred around the time of vaccination, according to the following segmentation scheme:
      Around the time of the first dose – 27 cases out of a total of 5,401,150 vaccinated individuals (of which 11 are vaccinated individuals with pre-existing conditions)
      Around the time of the second dose (within 30 days from the day of vaccination) – 121 cases out of a total of 5,049,424 vaccinated individuals (of which 60 are vaccinated individuals with pre-existing conditions).
      So far, this phenomenon was mostly reported among younger men aged 16-19, usually after the second dose. Most cases have been in the hospital for up to 4 days, and 95% are considered to be mild cases.

      Teams Conclusions:
      There is some probability for a possible link between the second vaccine dose and the onset of myocarditis among young men aged 16 to 30. This link was found to be stronger among the younger age group, 16 to 19, compared to other age groups. This link became weaker the older the vaccinated individual is. In most cases myocarditis took the form of mild illness that passed within a few days.

      The recommendation to vaccinate teenagers aged 12-15 shall be discussed in the forum of the Pandemic Containment Task-Force and submitted to the approval of the Ministry of Health’s Director General. We shall issue a public update once a decision has been made.

      1. What is the “usual rate”?
        From your piece there would certainly appear to be a link.

        1. I cant say that I know, but I do know that in Israel there have been no deaths from Myocarditis and as reported most cases were mild & passed within a few days. I can only speculate that Tucker Carlson is spreading lies & the malcontent who posted the Tweet needs to see a shrink.

          1. I have to declare an interest/bias. I like his shows.

            Carlson isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but he usually gets the underlying story correct.

            There are too few out there who have the clout to publish dissent regarding the pandemic responses.

            I agree re malcontents on Twitter. It’s a great shame that the real liars are not exposed and humiliated.

            That includes politicians, science is settled climate change merchants, and people promoting lies about vaccination.

            Hell’s teeth there are plenty of things to make one consider vaccination very carefully without resorting to outright lies.

          2. For decades now the news is not about reporting the truth but about pushing the agenda of those who own the media on behalf of their political allies.

      2. Myocarditis doesn’t sound like anything that you’d want to have though. They aren’t at risk from covid, and don’t need the vaxx.

        1. All adults are at risk from Covid-19, whether it proves fatal or not is a different matter, what is clear is that the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective in dealing with it & there has been absolutely Zero deaths in Israel among vaccinated adults since vaccination began in Dec.2020. & all deaths have been among the unvaccinated

          1. But there would be hardly any deaths among young men even if they were not vaccinated.

          2. I cant say if that’s correct or not, but if they become infected they are likely to pass on the infection to others such as older family members, work colleagues & neighbors who are far more likely to die from Covid-19 if they are unvaccinated.

          3. But they should all have been vaccinated by now – it either works or it doesn’t.

            I don’t agree with young people being vaccinated to protect other people.

          4. This statistic is well known in the UK. Hardly any young people died, and the vast majority of those that did had some underlying chronic health condition.

  92. Well, Wot a Grey Day.
    Definitely an Indoor Jobs Day. Far too much time on my hands.

    “Now is the Summer of our Discontent
    Made even worse by an inglorious Sun of Stan;
    And all the Covid clouds that plague our state
    Are tethered o’er Blighty by Sage councillors.
    Now are our chops bound up with paper masks,
    Our well-punctured arms throb from myriad jabs.
    Our merry meetings forsworn for months ahead
    And sinful dancing banned for fear of death.
    Grim-visaged Hancock hath our joys struck down
    And now, instead of to sweet concerts visit
    We frightened souls lurk safe behind the drapes
    And rat upon our neighbour who doth dare to laugh
    Or show such human traits as kissing his grandame.”

  94. BPAPM doesn’t rule out (=promises) further lockdown and travel bans.

    Bastard.

    According to my shaky maths, 0.18% of the populating have died WITH covid. Sad, and all that, but not enough IMHO to destroy the economy and our way of life.

    But what do I know?

    1. But what do I know?

      It would appear to be lot more than the SAGE people and the politicians who are accepting their advice.

      1. Millions dead by August …. or not. Yer France has a consistently much higher daily death rate…

        1. We’ve got Macron in charge, of course the death rate is higher, people give up the struggle.

          5. French farmers will soon see them orf.

            Salut, où veux-tu que je vaporise ta merde de cochon ?

    2. I despair. We all knew Doris was lying when he claimed the loosening and ending of the current lockdown would be ‘irreversible’ and there would be no more lockdowns. presumably this will also entail continued denial of access to GPs ad infinitum too. Already, numbers of avoidable (well sooner than should be) deaths from cancer and other serious undiagnosed diseases are building, more people will find their mental health deteriorating too.
      Edit: All for a disease that is so dangerous we can dispose of potentially infected muzzles in the ordinary bins and send off potentially contaminated test kits in the post.

      1. Five million people waiting for operations? I bet far more than 0.18% of them die. And the deaths will not be reported.

        1. ‘Twas 12.2 million on the waiting list the last I heard. 5 million before the Amersham/Chesham (?) bye-election. Then it suddenly shot up.

          1. I was trying to appear modest in my selection. To avoid being accused of over-sensationalising………….

  95. That’s me for this chilly day. It didn’t rain but the strong north-easterly continued all day. May be brighter tomorrow. But I doubt it.

    Let’s have a little drinky-poo.

    A demain

  97. Good evening, dear Nottlers. Ever wonder what happened to David Bellamy (emailed to me by David Green, local UKP co-ordinator)

    “I’m sceptical about man-made climate change. There’s absolutely no proof that carbon dioxide will kill us all. It’s not a poison, it’s the most important gas in the world. Carbon dioxide is an airborne fertiliser. How can farmers grow increasing amounts of food without a rise in CO2?”

    “The 80-year old environmentalist and former broadcaster, admitted that his scepticism signalled the end of his career as he had known it.

    “From that moment, I really wasn’t welcome at the BBC,” he said.

    “They froze me out, because I don’t believe in global warming. My career dried up. I was thrown out of my own conservation groups and I got spat at in London.”

    Mr Bellamy said things first began to change in 1996 when he spoke out against wind farms during one of his regular appearances on Blue Peter.

    “That was the beginning really,” he told the Daily Mail. “From that moment, I was not welcome at the BBC.”

    “I worked with the Wildlife Trusts for 52 years,” he said “And when they dropped me, they didn’t even tell me. They didn’t have the guts.

    “I read about it in the newspapers. Can you believe it?

    “Now they don’t want to be anywhere near me. But what are they doing? The WWF might have saved a few pandas, but what about the forests?

    “What have Greenpeace done?”

    Mr Bellamy’s wife Rosemary admitted that they had both been devastated by the developments.

    “It did upset us terribly,” she said. “But we pretended not to be upset, didn’t we David? The best thing to do was not to talk about it. So we didn’t.

    It’s been very difficult, because he does feel strongly about things.”

    Mr Bellamy insisted that he had no regrets about being so outspoken and had not changed his opinions about global warming.

    “I still say it’s poppycock,” he said. “For the last 16 years, temperatures have been going down and the carbon dioxide has been going up and the crops have got greener and grow quicker.

    “We’ve done plenty to smash up the planet, but there’s been no global warming caused by man.

    “If you believe it, fine. But I don’t and there’s thousands like me.”

    He added: “Who cares if they’ve put me on the back burner? I can still talk to my flowers, which are all fine and growing amazingly and say, “Thank you very much, David!”

    David J. Bellamy OBE (born 1933) is an English professor, botanist, author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner.

    Credentials:

    Honorary Dr. of Science, Bournemouth University (1999)

    PhD.

    BSc.

    OBE.

    DUniv.

    FLS.

    FIBiol.

    1. A fine presenter and one I miss from the screens, give me Bellamy over most of the Springwatch team every time.

        1. I’ll live with it, if they improve as quickly as the woman who was reporting from NI.

    2. Never mind Mr Bellamy, you have retained your self-respect unlike that gurning fool Attenborough.

    3. David James Bellamy, botanist and environmentalist, born 18 January 1933; died 11 December 2019

      He died , aged 86years old.. A fine man.

    4. Dr David Bellamy. Bill Oddie. Cancelled a long time ago because both of them called out this bullshit. Now we have the likes of Chris Packham and Attenborough spouting nonsense.

      The trouble is as with each succeeding generation these people will be the only voices.

      I will admit that the Attenborough programs are very beautiful. No expense spared in promoting lies.

      1. Youse leave the South Sea Bubble Mkii alone my boy

        History will show who is right, but Pakk(ham) Bugger will claims his XR lot saved us

        Just make sure that you have the Technical Drawing of the wheel, when you move into your cave

  98. The depressing thing as one gets older is how many people one knows who have cancer, operated or otherwise.

    1. Until, say, a couple of hundred years ago, few lived long enough to develop cancer.

      1. I thought that, listening to Henry Purcell’s music at lunchtime… I know he died of a chill (covid??) or TB – but he was nobbut a lad.

        The musick (sic) he composed for Queen Mary’s funeral – something I find impossible to listen to without a tear – takes exactly the amount of time required to carry a coffin from the West door to the chancel. They played it a few short months later at his funeral.

        The Lord givent etc etc (an atheist writes).

  100. BBC presenter Naga Munchetty says she was left ‘screaming in pain’ while having the coil fitted and calls it the most ‘traumatic physical experience’ of her life

    So there IS a God.

    1. What a pathetic creature she is! She ought to try cervical laser treatment and biopsy!!

  101. Anyone any explanation why this website seems to be continually loading – even if I switch to yesterdays? The circle of blue dots is going round and round and round and . . . . . . . . . . Brought B bart site up – it loaded – and the blue dots stopped going when loaded – – so WHY WHY WHY isn’t this one ?????

      1. I have even shut the page down – no change – and restarted the comp – no change – those blue dots keep going.

      1. Tried it – nothing. Saw at the bottom of the screen in small print -” waiting for disqus.com” – restarted – that has gone – but those dots are STILL going !!!!
        Have only noticed this since the last load of unwanted “updates” in the last 2 days. can only assume other sites ok but Disqus and these updates are a problem match somewhere.

    3. Its been happening to me for days on here & seems to be a WordPress/Disqus issue as its not happening on Blogger blogs that use Disqus

  102. It is a rare day when I do not agree with Lord Tebbit but I cannot see how he can possibly have been taken in by Boris Johnson

    Boris has chosen the right path out of lockdown
    It is sensible to err on the side of caution with this dangerous disease

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/21/boris-has-chosen-right-path-lockdown/

    My BTL comment:

    I am almost wondering if you, Lord Tebbit, have been got at.

    We are trying to run a business in France running residential French courses for English British “A” level students studying French.

    We have students booked with us for 4 courses this summer but we still do not know for certain if we shall be able to have any of these young people with us. We are not eligible for any sort of furlough scheme and are having to live on our savings as our income has disappeared.

    How, Lord Tebbit, can you possibly think that the bumbling idiot in Downing Street has a clue what to do?

    1. Sacrificing the few for the good of the many.

      Like you, our business has all but vanished, but at least one might be one of the few in due course.

    1. Except Johnson has no concept whatsoever of “shame”.

      He’s a solipsistic bastard who would make Narcissus appear modest in his view of himself.

      1. I thought you might be on the second bottle Sos, 😉so I looked that word up i’ve never come across it before, but it’s very apt.

        Solipsism (/ˈsɒlɪpsɪzəm/ ; from Latin solus ‘alone’, and ipse ‘self’) is the philosophical idea that only one’s mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one’s own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist

        1. On the second dictionary…

          Admit it, the real problem was that you weren’t sure who Johnson was.

      2. He reminds me of a cross between Ted Heath and a fatter-faced J. Savile. And his character.

    2. Another useless turd as a PM since Thatcher was removed, that’s now six in succession.

    3. From the Breitbart article: “Last week, disgraced Professor Neil Fergusson — who infamously broke his own lockdown restrictions to visit his married lover, despite his own doomsday predictions of hundreds of thousands of UK coronavirus deaths — warned that if lockdown restrictions are eased, then Britain could see as many as 1,200 deaths per day this summer.” With his appalling track record, WHY would anyone even listen to him, much less use his outlandish predictions in any way.

        1. He’ll be getting paid a juicy bonus for every ridiculous claim he makes. If his dangerously deluded claims weren’t taken in by Doris and co, we would be able to laugh at his brazen behaviour. Sadly, there are many easily manipulated people who are genuinely frightened by this lunatic – these are the ones demanding restrictions continue.

          1. I know. I have a friend who is studiously avoiding all gatherings (except, bizarrely, going shopping in supermarkets!).

          2. What a Muppet! There is a Doris fan page on facecrook where supporters praise him to the heavens, claiming what a great job he has done ‘protecting’ us. Sad really! Ah well, goodnight Conway.

          4. I think it’s call Boris Johnson supporters group. It’s usually the comments on posts that display the nauseating stuff. ‘Our Boris’.

      2. The trouble is, other Mum, that, “disgraced Professor Neil Fergusson ” is in no way disgraced by the twaterrati, and our stupid government hangs on every asinine utterance from this donkey’s braying mouth.

        1. He probably gets paid extra for every ridiculously unbelievable report he gives them, both sides being fully aware it is nonsense but that it can feed project ‘Fear and Control’.

  104. Scientists have identified why people sometimes die from a broken heart after grief or relationship breakdowns.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9706873/Scientists-unlock-secret-people-die-broken-heart.html
    They found stressful life events increase levels of two molecules in heart cells which play a crucial role in the development of takotsubo cardiomyopathy – or ‘broken heart syndrome’.

    The breakthrough, by Imperial College London, paves the way for new treatment options that could prevent future deaths.

    1. Imperial College.
      Home of that utter bastard, Ferguson, whose advice has probably broken more hearts through stressful life events than anyone in UK history.
      Swine flu, foot and mouth, Covid.
      Farmers, families, the general public.

      The recommended treatment option is to get rid of Ferguson

  105. It appears some one was watching – – the blue dots have miraculously stopped going round in circles !!!!!!!!

      1. Sorry Sos – I’m at a loss now. Have checked yeasterdays page – – STILL going round on that one !!!

        1. The way I get rid of it is to refresh the page.
          It only works until one looks at newer posts.

  106. 334581+ up ticks,
    May one ask,
    Will the current tory ( ino) member / voter find it difficult to justify their vote & whinge stance with this johnson agenda being implemented ?

    Boris Johnson Lays Groundwork for Next Lockdown Before Britain Even Escapes the Last One

      1. Of course but ………….at least she’s more honest and more convincing than Greta garbage.

      2. Written by her parents or not, that child demonstrates a courage that is so lacking throughout the world today – more power to her elbow!

      1. I don’t understand It Bob so many things are going wrong with my PC I suspect i’ll have to get a techie to remotely check it out for a 100 quid.
        Same thing happens to my Mobile, I can’t get logged into nottlers every time i try it tell s me that my email address is already registered and wont let me sign in. I’m about to dump virgin media they seem think it’s okay for my TV pictures to be pixilating for the third time this year and the ‘customer service’ is non existent.

    1. Apparently there is a Truck driver shortage in the UK ……….oh hang on i’ll bet the new comer boaties are being trained right at this moment.

  109. Its 10:00PM here,still 27C so time to sit on the balcony with a cold beer and have a chat with the mosquitos. Then bed.

  110. Flawed modelling is condemning Britain to lockdown

    Again and again, worst-case scenarios are presented with absurd precision, and the problem goes further than Britain’s slow reopening

    MATT RIDLEY

    Britain leads the pack on vaccination, but lags far behind America, Germany and France on liberation. A big reason is that our Government remains in thrall to a profession that has performed uniquely badly during the pandemic: modellers. The Government’s reliance on Sage experts’ computer modelling to predict what would happen with or without various interventions has proved about as useful as the ancient Roman habit of consulting trained experts in “haruspicy” – interpreting the entrails of chickens.

    As Sarah Knapton has revealed in these pages, the brutal postponement of Freedom Day coincided with the release of a bunch of alarmist models predicting a huge new wave of deaths. The most pessimistic, inevitably from Imperial College, forecast 203,824 deaths over the next year. It did so by assuming just a 77-87 per cent reduction in hospitalisations following two vaccinations, despite the fact that real world data shows two vaccinations to be between 92 per cent (AstraZeneca) and 96 per cent (Pfizer) effective in preventing hospitalisation. That would cut the Imperial forecast of deaths by a gob-smacking 90 per cent to 26,854.

    This keeps happening. In April the modellers assumed a 30 per cent effectiveness for the vaccine at preventing the spread of the virus. This was described as “a pessimistic view – but it is plausible, it’s not extreme”, by Professor Graham Medley, chairman of the SPI-M sub-group of Sage. It turns out it was far from plausible. At the end of March the BBC’s favourite modeller, Imperial College’s Neil Ferguson, was forecasting that by June 21, even with “optimistic” assumptions, less than half of Britain would be protected against severe disease by vaccination. The true figure is over 80 per cent.

    This is the same Professor Ferguson who told us in the 1990s that millions might die of mad-cow disease. The correct number, as it turned out, was 178.

    The experts would reply that ours is an uncertain world, but we knew that already. If you don’t know, say so. That new variants came along at the end of 2020 and ignited a terrible second wave may seem to have vindicated pessimists, but their models had no assumptions about variants in them. Being right for the wrong reasons was the excuse of haruspicy, too.

    Again and again, worst-case scenarios are presented with absurd precision, sometimes deliberately to frighten us into compliance. The notorious press conference last October that told us 4,000 people a day might die was based on a model that was already well out of date.

    Pessimism bias in modelling has two roots. The first is that worst-case scenarios are more likely to catch the attention of ministers and broadcasters: academics are as competitive as anybody in seeking such attention. The second is that modellers have little to lose by being pessimistic, but being too optimistic risks can ruin their reputations. Ask Michael Fish, the weather forecaster who in 1987 reassured viewers that hurricanes hardly ever happen.

    As Steve Baker MP has been arguing for months, the modellers must face formal challenge. It is not just in the case of Covid that haruspicy is determining policy. There is a growing tendency to speak about the outcomes of models in language that implies they generate evidence, rather than forecasts. This is especially a problem in the field of climate science. As the novelist Michael Crichton put it in 2003: “No longer are models judged by how well they reproduce data from the real world: increasingly, models provide the data. As if they were themselves a reality.”

    Examine the forecasts underpinning government agencies’ plans for climate change and you will find they often rely on a notorious model called RCP8.5, which was always intended as extreme and unrealistic. Among a stack of bonkers assumptions, it projects that the world will get half its energy from coal in 2100, burning 10 times as much as today, even using it to make fuel for aircraft and vehicles. In this and every other respect, RCP8.5 is already badly wrong, but it has infected policy-makers like a virus, a fact you generally have to dig out of the footnotes of government documents.

    In 2020 even the BBC ran an article about how RCP8.5 had been misused. Yet a year later in March 2021, the Met Office published a study claiming that climate change would make dairy cattle and potatoes wilt in the heat in 30 years. Sure enough, it was based on RCP8.5†, which the Met Office described as “credible” in its press release. They just cannot help themselves.

    Nearly two decades ago, Professor Philip Thomas of Bristol University got the death toll from mad-cow disease right – “a few hundred”, he said – and was pilloried for his optimism.

    He told an inquiry that “the Government’s continued inability to give proper consideration to the spectrum of scientific opinion… must be a cause for major concern. It is clear that those tasked with devising policy – ministers and civil servants – need to adopt a more critical attitude to the scientific advice they are offered, even when that advice comes from one of their advisory bodies.” That warning was ignored.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/21/flawed-modelling-condemning-britain-lockdown

    † https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-high-emissions-rcp8-5-global-warming-scenario

    1. The more outlandish the prognostication, the more credibility it is given by the civil service.

    2. Look – it is NOTHING to do with the virus. It is ALL about control.

      And the awful thing is – a majority of otherwise normal people have GONE ALONG WITH IT.

  112. The Covid mania continues.
    When will the BBC, MSM etc etc et bluddy cet wake up?

    Probably three times as many poor individuals are committing suicide as are dying of Covid every day at present.

    1. The much maligned Pretty Polly of this parish recognised the close affiliation of Hancock with Klaus Schwab which has been going on for several years if not a decade.

      Hancock is taking instructions from Schwab whose World Economic Development Forum is funded by Bezos, Soros, Gates and Rothschilds and probably Dorsey and an assortment of Rockefeller place men and many other global elite players.

      I imagine Johnson is too scared to take on Bezos whose servers own much of the big tech internet traffic, Facebook and Instagram, Twitter and other MSM outlets. Hancock has been given a free hand as far as I can tell. Hence the continuance of idiotic lockdown and face mask restrictions and the desperation to inject entire populations with experimental gene therapies.

      As with all initiatives designed to enrich the wealthy and disenfranchise everyone else this monstrous design and its implementation by government coercion is doomed to failure.

      1. All the more reason for the current 3 minor parties to amalgamate and become an unholy presence to the present farce that calls itself Government.

        When do we get to kick ’em out?

        That is the time to have an alternative ready and available. Come on Reclaim, Reform and For Britain, let’s get it together – it’s the only viable option.

  113. Andrew Neil’s programme at 8 tonight was another good watch. They discussed the possibility of the need for a rise in interest rates sooner rather than later to counteract inflation rises. The reluctance of the Scottish government to allow Scots in the whole of the UK to have a vote in any future Independence referendum. A rather ill-looking K McAskill MSP said it would not be right to allow Scots living outwith Scotland to have a vote. There was a discussion on whether Channel 4 should be privatised. The Woke section was the plight of a teacher who is in trouble after explaining to his class the different pronunciation of Niger in English and French.

    1. Dear life, the sound is atrocious! Is his microphone hooked up to speakers and it’s the speaker output being played back?

      I’m disappointed Andrew Neil didn’t address the reasons why inflation is so high, nor interest rates so low. That discussion would be a real talking head. Explaining the destructive nature of government borrowing, debt and the suppression of interest rates to allow for cheap credit – with the state being the primary debtor at our expense would be great from Mr Neil.

      1. I got my TV pictures and sound on Freesat and had no problem with the sound . I am sure on the discussion between AN and his two finance experts they covered some of the points you mentioned above but not in any specific detail. I may be wrong.

  114. Evening, all. Have just had a health scare with Oscar and took him to the emergency out of hours vets in Hartford as my usual vets was closed (not long got back). They think he might have pancreatitis. As I have four weeks’ free insurance (I’m into the second week), I took full advantage to have the bloods done and he’s booked for a scan (for which they’ll have to sedate him) tomorrow morning. He was so lethargic and apathetic he even let me clean his bum (something I’ve wanted, but not been able, to do for a week!) without making any protest other than turning his head to see what was going on. I knew then he just was NOT himself!

    1. Oh no…… I hope he will be ok. I didn’t know dogs got that – he’s not a drinker, I take it.

      1. Only water – in copious amounts. I didn’t either, but that was what the vet said. He’s had an anti-nausea injection which also acts as a pain-killer, but it only lasts 24 hours. The most worrying thing is that Charlie had similar symptoms in his last days, but thankfully, Oscar’s kidneys are okay.

      1. Thank you, lacoste. He looked so pathetic, I couldn’t help worrying about him. Having just lost one dog with similar symptoms, I bit the bullet and took him to the vet immediately rather than wait until tomorrow. He is, unfortunately, no spring chicken (and I know nothing of his previous medical history).

    5. Sorry to hear that Conners. You did the right thing seeking immediate veterinary advice. Here’s hoping he can be diagnosed and treated effectively.

      1. Fingers crossed, corim. I am not normally a “go to the vet at once” sort of owner; I usually give it time to see how things develop, but he seemed to go downhill quite quickly and I didn’t want to wait.

    6. Poor Oscar and poor you .

      Not too sure what the symptons are in a dog , but it sounds nasty .

      Please relax untill you know what is going on tomorrow .

        1. He will be pretty dehydrated , I don’t suppose you have any kaolin paste.

          We have a vet on Nottler , I think Clydesider is a vet ..he was commenting about 2 hours ago .

          1. He had a good drink at the vet’s before we came home and then topped up when we got back. Yes, I believe clydesider said he used to be a vet.

          2. Modern small animal Veterinary Surgeons are more to be trusted than me. I retired 17 years ago. My main “clients” today are elderly friends who ask me about their symptoms and/or to explain what their doctor told them about their conditions. The internet then comes in handy to give me the information I need to reply to my “clients”. I have one “client” with a canine in the USA. My grand-daughter recently purchased a “rescue” bitch which has been diagnosed with Heart Worm disease. The worms are spread by mosquitos This can be fatal if not treated quickly. Fortunately it was diagnosed early and expensive treatment was started. “Nettles” appears to be recovering but may be left with a heart weakened by the condition.
            This condition is rare/ unknown in the UK but the internet tells me Heart Worm cases have reached Brittany.
            It keeps my brain fairly active but I still have an extremely short memory and frequently find myself at the top of the stairs wondering why I am there.

          3. Don’t we all (or at least a lot of us) get to the top of the stairs and wonder why we went up there? 🙂

    7. Oh, heavens help us, poor Oscar and poor you ,Connors. So little time and then a major emergency.

      I, and I’m sure the majority, of our NoTTLer family will be rooting for Oscar to have a full recovery and for you both to continue strengthening the bond.

      KBO – the pair of you.

      1. Thanks, Tom. He’s back home now, having had the nurses at the vets in stitches according to the one who handed him over. She couldn’t believe that I scratched his ears and patted his back (and that he stopped grumbling when I told him to) 🙂

    8. Fingers crossed for a good and swift result, Conners. Poor Oscar – and take care of yerself, too.

      1. Thanks, Paul. It was very strange to be without a dog again for a day. He has made such an impact in two weeks!

        1. Good thing he’s got you to care for him. Winning the lottery of life, so it is! At second try, anyhow.

  116. Eco warriors like Chris Packham think it’s one rule for them, another for the hoi-polloi

    You can’t bang on about the climate if you promote tourism to the South Atlantic. It’s like holding a vegan support group in a steak house

    ROBERT TAYLOR

    There are many reasons why I’d never call myself woke. The biggest? I couldn’t live with the hypocrisy. To be woke, to go around signalling your virtue, means you’ll be found out. You pretty much have to be perfect, not just by today’s standards, but by those of two centuries’ time. Sooner or later, you’ll be outed.

    Take eco-warriors. Some are sincere, but too many get their lines wrong. BBC Springwatch presenter, Chris Packham, loudly campaigns for Extinction Rebellion, yet we now discover he also leads long-haul tourism to places like Alaska and the Falklands. This wasn’t decades ago. In fact, the most recent was in November 2019.

    As it happens, I know a bit about the Falklands, having travelled there on business a few times. They are magnificent islands, with an economy that depends increasingly on tourism and, in the future, oil. And of course, Falklanders need our continuing support against outrageous bullying from Argentina. But even the fastest route takes 20 hours of flying time, via a pitstop in Ascension Island or Cape Verde. Green tourism it ain’t.

    You just cannot bang on about climate change if you promote tourism to the South Atlantic. It’s like holding a vegan support group in an Angus Steakhouse.

    So how does Mr Packham square all this with XR’s direct-action protests at airports, disrupting holidays for so many families? He says he doesn’t support everything about XR, and hasn’t been to an airport since lockdown began… not a claim likely to impress.

    Unless Packham has donated to charity all the cash he made from long-haul trips, he’s surely in no position to tell the rest of us what to do.

    If it were just Packham, it would be ok. But it’s not. The great and good are at it all the time. Joe Biden burnishes his green credentials but flies around in that monster, Air Force One. Emma Thompson tells a climate change demo in London she’s “thrilled to be part of extinction rebellion”, yet flew in from LA hours earlier. And what about Prince Harry, who knows all about private jets, but sees fit to lecture the rest of us about eco-tourism? “Nobody’s perfect”, he admitted. You can say that again.

    “Ethical behaviour is doing the right thing when no one else is watching”, wrote the philosopher Aldo Leopold. How many pious eco-warriors would pass that test?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/21/eco-warriors-like-chris-packham-think-one-rule-another-hoi-polloi/

    Packham had a hissy fit recently after Ian Botham wrote about him in the Telegraph recently:

    “Chris promotes holidays for the rich that encourage people to go on very long flights to places like Botswana, Peru and the Falkland Islands. Flights which create eye-watering emissions. He is guilty of grotesque eco-hypocrisy.”

    2. “Ethical behaviour is doing the right thing when no one else is watching” needs to be repeated again and again.

      Doing the right thing is about making the world a better place, not about bolstering one’s social standing with influential people. Realpolitik might argue the opposite though.

  117. Eco warriors like Chris Packham think it’s one rule for them, another for the hoi-polloi

    You can’t bang on about the climate if you promote tourism to the South Atlantic. It’s like holding a vegan support group in a steak house

    ROBERT TAYLOR

    There are many reasons why I’d never call myself woke. The biggest? I couldn’t live with the hypocrisy. To be woke, to go around signalling your virtue, means you’ll be found out. You pretty much have to be perfect, not just by today’s standards, but by those of two centuries’ time. Sooner or later, you’ll be outed.

    Take eco-warriors. Some are sincere, but too many get their lines wrong. BBC Springwatch presenter, Chris Packham, loudly campaigns for Extinction Rebellion, yet we now discover he also leads long-haul tourism to places like Alaska and the Falklands. This wasn’t decades ago. In fact, the most recent was in November 2019.

    As it happens, I know a bit about the Falklands, having travelled there on business a few times. They are magnificent islands, with an economy that depends increasingly on tourism and, in the future, oil. And of course, Falklanders need our continuing support against outrageous bullying from Argentina. But even the fastest route takes 20 hours of flying time, via a pitstop in Ascension Island or Cape Verde. Green tourism it ain’t.

    You just cannot bang on about climate change if you promote tourism to the South Atlantic. It’s like holding a vegan support group in an Angus Steakhouse.

    So how does Mr Packham square all this with XR’s direct-action protests at airports, disrupting holidays for so many families? He says he doesn’t support everything about XR, and hasn’t been to an airport since lockdown began… not a claim likely to impress.

    Unless Packham has donated to charity all the cash he made from long-haul trips, he’s surely in no position to tell the rest of us what to do.

    If it were just Packham, it would be ok. But it’s not. The great and good are at it all the time. Joe Biden burnishes his green credentials but flies around in that monster, Air Force One. Emma Thompson tells a climate change demo in London she’s “thrilled to be part of extinction rebellion”, yet flew in from LA hours earlier. And what about Prince Harry, who knows all about private jets, but sees fit to lecture the rest of us about eco-tourism? “Nobody’s perfect”, he admitted. You can say that again.

    “Ethical behaviour is doing the right thing when no one else is watching”, wrote the philosopher Aldo Leopold. How many pious eco-warriors would pass that test?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/21/eco-warriors-like-chris-packham-think-one-rule-another-hoi-polloi/

    Packham had a hissy fit recently after Ian Botham wrote about him in the Telegraph recently:

    “Chris promotes holidays for the rich that encourage people to go on very long flights to places like Botswana, Peru and the Falkland Islands. Flights which create eye-watering emissions. He is guilty of grotesque eco-hypocrisy.”

    1. I have just read about your further problems Conners, I hope everything goes well my friend, you deserve an Oscar.

      1. Thank you, Eddy. He’s back home now, but giving me the cold shoulder for leaving him at the vet’s all day 🙂 More on the main channel.

  119. Good night, or at 00:58, Good morning but, either way, God bless and I may see you in the morning light – if we’re spared.

  120. June 22nd…80 years since the start of Operation Barbarossa,..1418 days later it was all over.

  121. An early good morning.
    The DT & Myself woke early and decided we both needed a mug of tea!
    A mere 5°C in the yard!

    A response to the letters about the disaster building up with the planning system, largely allied to the pressures for new housing caused by the influx of “New Citizens” and the Blairite Pensions Raid:-

    Robert Spowart
    22 Jun 2021 4:27AM
    The Government’s raid on Pensions, referred to by John Whitehead, and the comments about the unfolding planning disaster are reminders, if ever they were actually needed, that we do not have a Conservative Government, but Government by a Blairite “New Labor Lite” clique that has usurped control of the Party.

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