Monday 21 November: Goodbye to the Conservatives – the party of pessimism and profligacy

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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748 thoughts on “Monday 21 November: Goodbye to the Conservatives – the party of pessimism and profligacy”

  1. Good morrow kind Gentlefolk, Today’s story
    A Lesson In Democracy

    A black kid asks his dad, “Dad, what’s democracy?”
    (Wait…the kid doesn’t know his Dad…let’s start again…)

    A black kid asks his mom, “Mama, what’s a democracy?”
    “Well, son, that’s when whites work every day so we can get all our benefits!”

    “But mama, don’t the white people get pissed off about that?”
    “Sure, they do but that’s called racism!”

    3. (Wait…the kid doesn’t know his Dad…let’s start again…)

      The kid asks one of the men with his mother (who is also his sister…)

        1. And remember Lance Percival:

          https://www.google.com/search?q=Shame+and+Scandal++in+the+Family+Lance+Percival&ei=T017Y97FA9mQkdUP97Wz2A0&ved=0ahUKEwieqY6Dg7_7AhVZSKQEHffaDNsQ4dUDCA8&oq=Shame+and+Scandal++in+the+Family+Lance+Percival&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQDDIFCC4QgAQyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgM6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6DwguENQCEMgDELADEEMYAToOCC4QyAMQsAMQChBDGAE6BwgAEIAEEA06BwguEIAEEA06BggAEBYQHjoFCAAQogRKBAhBGABKBQhAEgExSgQIRhgAULMHWOGRAWDQvAFoAXABe

  3. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A current temperature of 6°C isn’t too bad, but rain almost all day isn’t too good.

    A brief but punchy letter that pretty well sums up all the other anti-Conservative ones in today’s batch:

    SIR – I have done a lot of stupid things in my life, but what I regret most is having voted Conservative in 2019.

    Andrew Jukes
    Eye, Suffolk

    Me too, Mr Jukes, me too.

    1. A couple of typical BTL comments:

      Alistair King
      5 HRS AGO
      The Conservative party is broken and beyond repair.
      It seems to be further to the left than Blair’s government. HIgher taxes and more woke.
      I am done with them.

      Party Pauper
      1 HR AGO
      Jeremy Hunt has driven the Conservative Party to the Dignitas Clinic. I don’t know whether to mourn it or just be grateful that somebody has put it out of its misery. Down the hatch!

      * * *

      At least Dignitas is quick and painless!

          1. I read a report from a widow. She said her husband had an incredible burning thirst. Among other things.

      2. My mother’s best friend was planning a quick exit at Dignitas, once she had won round her daughters who were against the idea. In the end, fate delivered her a method that was even quicker, fairly painless and a great deal cheaper.

        After falling off a chair, she was carried off by ambulance to the A&E at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital PFI Special Measures unit. Within three days she was dead. Nice and easy and no hanging around at Heathrow either.

  4. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A current temperature of 6°C isn’t too bad, but rain almost all day isn’t too good.

    A brief but punchy letter that pretty well sums up all the other anti-Conservative ones in today’s batch:

    SIR – I have done a lot of stupid things in my life, but what I regret most is having voted Conservative in 2019.

    Andrew Jukes
    Eye, Suffolk

    Me too, Mr Jukes, me too.

  5. The demonisation of Volodymyr Zelensky. Spiked. Tim Black. 21 November 2022.

    The conspiracy theories swirling around him are getting out of control.

    Conspiracy theories now abound about Zelensky. On the fringes of the web, he is painted as little more than a puppet of oligarch Igor Kolomoisky – Kolomoisky’s TV channel, 1+1, broadcast Servant of the People, a comedy starring Zelensky as an unlikely Ukrainian president. There is a particular focus among Zelensky’s critics on a range of offshore companies created by Zelensky and his associates from 2012 onwards, the year he entered into a relationship with Kolomoisky. The implication being that Zelensky is in fact part of some vast money-laundering operation. Follow the money, etc..

    This is a curious piece for Spiked and Tim Black. It is in effect a whitewashing of Zelensky with the disparaging of the “Conspiracy Theories” about him. Someone must have called in a favour or threatened O’Neill to get it published in Spiked. Most likely the latter. I say this because the article does not of course mention the Biden’s or Zelensky’s abolition of the Ukrainian Opposition or their incarceration and the turning of Ukraine into a One Party State. Though I don’t live in Ukraine I’ m pretty sure that the image of it and the War presented in the MSM is a Public Relations propaganda fantasy and that people are beginning to realise it. This turning to the alternative media would suggest that the PTB think so too!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/11/20/the-demonisation-of-volodymyr-zelensky/

  7. Goodbye to the Conservatives – the party of pessimism and profligacy

    To be fair the Conservative party died when they unceremoniously dumped Thatcher for that Europhile muppet Major.

    1. Yet they’re still there, Bob. Still giving our cash away on boondoggles, still pursuing the communist ideology, still following the agenda they’ve been given by Sawb.

      1. One thing that is guaranteed to turn the air blue chez Conway is that TV advert for water aid telling us to send money so black kids don’t have to carry water. What the heck have they done with the billions (including the digging of wells) that we have wasted on Africa?

  8. SIR – As a Swiss visiting London, I had to smile at Philip Johnston’s major objection to ID cards being that there would always be a glitch somewhere in the system (Comment, November 16).

    We moved house in Switzerland two weeks ago and with one simple five-minute process updated our ID cards with our new address. This information was simultaneously communicated to update our driving licenses, car registration, health insurance policy and no doubt also sent to other important data centres. There were no glitches.

    If we have an accident, are required to collect tickets and prescriptions, or need to show proof of identity for good reason, we can show this single item, which quickly proves our identities beyond doubt. We just don’t understand why Britain is so set against such a useful and ultimately security-enhancing scheme.

    Michael Bentley
    Zug, Switzerland

    Personally I have no objection to carrying an ID card, given that we lost control of our borders some time ago.  It proved extremely useful for the 39 years I carried mine, and on occasions provided a customer discount too.

    The ability to notify just one change of address would be very efficient. And it would also provide proof of entitlement to NHS treatment, instead of the international free-for-all that exists now.  My only problem is that in this country – and we may not be alone in this – I would expect the state to misuse or lose the information.  I simply don’t trust our rapidly failing state bureacracy.

    1. The Swiss fellow forgets the severe penalities levied against bureaucrats misusing the system, and the security in place around it. Or the use it has been put to. Our beepers would use it to contorl what e buy, making meat, milk and bread more expensive or rationing it if the state deems you’ve bought too much. It would use it to track you everywhere to control how much fuel you use. When a genuine need for ID would come through, it wouldn’t be enough – because the ethnics would have set up a black market cloning business.

      In short, the entire farce would be abused and the officlal purpose pointless – because our entire state machine is inept, incompetent, lazy, malignant and murderously arrogant.

    2. We just don’t understand why Britain is so set against such a useful and ultimately security-enhancing scheme.

      Well Mr Bentley it comes down to Trust. Switzerland is still a Democracy with all that is implied in the word and its citizens need have no fear of the State. The UK is a quasi-Police State implacably opposed to the interests and well-being of its indigenous inhabitants. They have every reason to fear any extension of Governmental Power.

        1. Have you come across a marvellous book of cartoons called Fractured French? This takes French expressions and mistranslates them into English and illustrates them?

          There is one with the caption J’y suis et j’y reste with a picture of a Swiss boy in leather shorts holding an alpenstock. I can’t find this particular cartoon but Tant pis, tant mieux is a good example and is translated by My aunt is much happier since she made that telephone call.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/254433c64f44238630b0abd8429aa6c1425bafd38b6c916904b346bf2accd727.jpg

          1. I’ve not seen that one, but “Sky, my teacher!” is amusing; it’s a translation of French idioms by a French English teacher, Jean-Loup Sifflet (or John Wolf Whistle as it’s translated on the cover).

    5. Like you, I carried ID for years (student cards, military ID and I even still have my immediate post war ID card). My objection to the introduction of ID cards now is the same as yours. There would be mission creep to control what you did, where you went, how you spent your money (and access to it) and the government IT scheme wouldn’t work (although it would have cost a fortune).

  9. 368165+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 21 November: Goodbye to the Conservatives – the party of pessimism and profligacy

    One down, major one to go

    🎵
    We’ve been broken down
    To the lowest turn
    Bein’ on the bottom line
    Sure ain’t no fun
    But if we should be evicted
    Huh, from our homes
    We’ll just move somewhere else
    And still carry on

    Now the only way is up.

    In short, set up three new parties there is now very little to lose that hasn’t already been lost via the polling booth, in future try putting COUNTRY before party.

    We can possible save something from the tattered remnants.

        1. 368165+ up ticks,

          Morning W,

          Will the majority of the voting herd recognise it as such when the political agenda is laced with short term comfort monies & such goodies.

          Could be seen as with no options left it would be best if we had the uprising now whilst we can STILL GET IT UP.

  10. Yet they’re still there. Still passing abominable law. Still giving our money away to nonsense causes on a whim.

  11. Shamima Begum appeal to restore UK citizenship to begin in London. 21 November 2022.

    She has denied any involvement in terror activities and is challenging a Government decision to remove her citizenship.

    There’s some Big Money being expended to get this woman returned to the UK. The reasons are not difficult to discern and they have nothing to do with her personally. If the UK Citizenship ruling can be overturned then almost nothing will be left to stand in the way of any claim to residency in the UK.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/shamima-begum-citizenship-appeal-london-islamic-state-sajid-javid-b1041330.html

    5. I once worked for an employment agency. Does that mean that I was trafficked and therefore exempt from the law?

      Anyone here know a good Saudi sugardaddy who can pay for my lawyer?

    6. What’s disgusting is it’s our own money fighting our own money. It’s very simple. Find the person representing the wretched bint and have them communicate only by post from where she is.

      That damned verminous cow cannot be allowed back into the country ever again. Send the scum lawyers there as well.

      1. I believe you’re not a million miles apart Anne & Korky. Maybe we should also include Elsie in the Colchester melting pot.

  14. Shelling of Zaporizhzhia is playing with fire, says UN nuclear chief, as blasts reported. 21 November 2022.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts based at Zaporizhzhia, reported on Sunday that powerful explosions had shaken the area on Saturday night and Sunday. It said its on-site experts saw some of the explosions from their windows.

    It reported more than a dozen blasts from apparent shelling, with damage to some buildings, systems and equipment, but “none so far critical for nuclear safety”.

    The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said the news was extremely disturbing and he called the explosions completely unacceptable. “Whoever is behind this, it must stop immediately. As I have said many times before, you’re playing with fire,” he said.

    Lol. It Must be patently obvious to those inside the plant with the Russians that it is the Ukies doing the shelling but like the Baltic Pipeline and the Crimea Bridge was the Americans, no one dare say so.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/20/shelling-of-zaporizhzhia-is-playing-with-fire-says-un-nuclear-chief-ukraine

  15. I think I deserve an eagle for this, I’m calling it a par five today

    Wordle 520 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par for me then 🙁

      Wordle 520 5/6

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

  16. Frost has just come down (or come up). Five raspberries each on our porridge; picked yesterday. Must be the VERY last. Amazing crop this year.

      2. More than damp here! I suspect the roads will be flooded again (I haven’t been down to see). I shall be putting the light on shortly.

  17. Good morning all. It’s getting closer to frosty starts this morning, -1°C outside, but not quite frosty. Looks dry and reasonably clear too.

  18. SIR – If Liz Truss’s attempt to transform Britain failed because “the
    markets” didn’t like it, and Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement was
    predominantly designed to keep “the markets” happy, then who is
    controlling Britain?

    Alan Hetherington
    Stillington, North Yorkshire

    Answers on a postage stamp.

      3. How odious their smirks are!

        Hunt in particular has an exceptionally smackable face.

        And you should soak a flannel in concentrated sulphuric acid before wiping the oleaginous smile from Sunak’s face.

      6. That smirk – the plan is working, the economy will tank, it’ll be IMF and then back into the EU before July!

      1. Interesting, and getting warmer – but there’d be far more in Britain if that were the case!

      1. …is the correct answer!

        Did you guess it, or have you seen this map before?
        It seems to be part geography and part who was richest in the middle ages.

        1. I poked the net… I was thinking the other day about the number of castles and grand houses in the UK which I had never seen, and many I didn’t even know existed. The numbers in Europe are even greater.

      2. We’re a lot of these castles built by the English? Eleanor of Aquitaine and all that?
        Sorry but my knowledge of history is not good.

      2. Radon is listed on the things to be checked in our neck of the woods; no granite round here but another box to be ticked.

  21. Using ‘Brexit’ as an excuse to extract money where it is not due!

    Since Brexit I have to pay an import duty and taxes on goods that I order from outside the EU. I accept that, it isn’t usually bank-busting so I pay up prior to receiving the goods.

    On Friday I received a familiar demand for duties to be paid for goods en route to me from the UK. The problem is, though, on this occasion I had not ordered any goods. I looked a little closer at the demand and found a photograph that the Swedish postal service (on behalf of Customs) had taken of the packet.

    Some time ago I posted an old booklet on the history of my first workplace — Markham & Co of Chesterfield — to a friend (a fellow NoTTLer) in the UK. I told him there was no hurry to send it back but, instead, when he had done with it would he please send it to another mutual friend who lives in London. No problems there. The booklet was sent on and I awaited its eventual return to me.

    Our London friend parcelled the book up and attempted to complete a postal label online; and that is where the problems began. Royal Mail’s online “system” insisted that the parcel should have a Customs label attached complete with a description of the contents and a value. When my friend stated that it was just an old book with no real value, Royal Mail’s bot was not satisfied. They insisted upon a description but would not accept “Book”. Whenever “Book” was offered the system made up a nonsensical title, in this case “Body, Mind & Spirit”. Nothing else was acceptable whenever “Book”was proffered! It also insisted upon a value: “No value” was not an acceptable option. In exasperation he then entered an arbitrary figure of £5 as the value of the book before it was accepted.

    Now, when this parcel arrived in Sweden (it took well over a fortnight!), Swedish Customs saw a parcel, imported from outside the EU, with a title and value. “Aha”, (rubbing of hands) “some more tax and duty to be extracted”, thought the Customs bods!

    I have now written a lengthy email to the Customs people, via Postnord, their lackeys, informing them that I have not ‘imported’ anything; that this is just an old book that I bought 20-odd years ago, and which has been on a tour of friends in the UK and now returned to me. I sent them a photograph of the cover of the book and invited them to open the parcel to verify my account. I now wait, with bated breath, for their decision.

    What a fucking palaver!

      1. There certainly appears a determined push for rejoining the EU, which would mean promptly joining the Euro..

        I suspect that there is anxiety to get us back in for added support for the Euro, which has had a bad time recently, having

        been predicted the currency most likely to collapse.

        Don’t worry, the generous British politicians can be relied upon to help support the Euro.

    2. We are just filling in forms to allow the GPs to discuss MB and my medical history/condition/whatever.
      I only discovered this new piece of bureaucracy by chance when I needed to sort out a prescription for MB’s medication.
      Luckily I had my faculties and the situation was not an emergency. Imagine if it were something more serious and I, or our sons, were met with this wall of bureaucratic obduracy in a case requiring urgent action.
      I would suggest all NOTTLers who, like me are unaware of this latest piece of paper shuffling, hie themselves down to the GP pronto.
      (Oh, and I always take a photocopy of such forms; far too much paperwork is ‘lost’ by government agencies.)

      1. I photocopy all official documents sent to me and I sign them and endorse upon the copies the date I posted the originals back.

        2. I always get a proof of posting. If the documents are important originals I always pay extra for a signed for service.

      2. If they cut out all the unnecessary red tape they could reduce the cost of employing functionaries to such an extent that there would be no need for tax rises.

        We took the ferry to Jersey yesterday – there were so many futile controls and checks that there must have been at least 20 officials hanging about doing nothing .

      3. I encountered this some time ago when I needed to deal with MOH’s medication. Bureaucracy for the sake of it. I now have an LPA for health with a close friend named.

    3. Hi Grizzly, whenever sending paper documents/books etc. add this number to the description 4911990000 – it’s the HS code which covers hundreds of paper docs, private papers, business docs etc. and marks them as exempt from import duty. Then just put a nominal value and a description along the lines of personal papers, business documents etc.

    5. It’s that they slap their bills on expenses. No one remember Miliband saying ‘it’s the right thing to pay more for energy if it helps the planet’ while slapping his bills on expenses the next day?

    2. On the genetically modified food – there are plenty of plants we’ve modified for human consumption.

  25. This meme is doing the rounds on Twit at the moment. The two pictures are titled “Before Elon” and “After Elon” and they portray the staff at Twit (allegedly).
    I think it is supposed to say that Elon is a narsty sexist, racist chap, who only wants people who look like him, which is proof that he is evil.
    But in fact, it exposes unpleasant implications.
    Who was doing all the censorship and wiping truth from Twit?
    Who was drawing a salary but not providing worth to the company?
    Who was willing to stay on Elon’s terms (he sent round an email thanking the staff and asking them to confirm their commitment to hard work. Anyone who didn’t confirm, got their P45)?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb14c8db5db562c492e66186a2aa72a23804daf49daeb61a1d2402259a46833e.jpg
    The bottom picture looks like software developers – which are, after all, the centre of any tech company – a fact often forgotten by the progressives that seek to exploit technology for political ends.

      1. There is one girl in the bottom picture, third from left back.
        They look like typical software developers!

      1. That is why I like working on software teams…every woman I know who works with majority female colleagues has to put up with so many everlasting fights. The girls who make your life hell at school grow up and carry on with their habits in the workplace.

    3. The top picture is the sales team, the bottom the engineers.

      One could also ask ‘where are the white Americans?’

  26. Laffs

    An older couple were lying in bed one night. The husband was falling

    asleep

    but the wife was in a romantic mood and wanted to talk.

    She said: “You used to hold my hand when we were courting.”

    Wearily he reached across, held her hand for a second and tried to get back to sleep.

    A few moments later she said: “Then you used to kiss me.”

    Mildly irritated, he reached across, gave her a peck on the cheek and settled down to sleep.

    Thirty seconds later she said: “Then you used to bite my Neck.”

    Angrily, he threw back the bed clothes and got out of bed.

    “Where are you going?” she asked.

    “To get my teeth!”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4f2baa097d11b9871c006a751f794d4d65959f03b1ee040cb2c5560139cfed1f.jpg
    I suspect a “meeting without coffee” ensued

    https://twitter.com/NoContextBrits/status/1594453607818330113

  27. Just returned from the Supermarket. A good frost thick over the cars and house roofs. Ain’t Global Warming wonderful?

  28. Just returned from the Supermarket. A good frost thick over the cars and house roofs. Ain’t Global Warming wonderful?

  29. Good morning all

    Savage weather on the way, pouring with rain now , I might just as well have not bothered laundering my dog drying towels !

    Amongst all the comments on the DTletters , this comment caught my eye. I enjoyed reading them all actually.

    Don Coyote
    2 HRS AGO
    Everyone can sense weakness in Sunak. They see how the Treasury ran him like a pimp.
    No respect from other leaders – Macron loves him, the truest sign of disrespect imaginable.
    The Civil Service flatly refuse to come to work and now float policy to rejoin the EU.
    Hunt produces a budget left of Gordon Brown, all designed to get our deficit down to 3% of GDP so we can rejoin the EU.
    Every single possible advantage of Brexit has been crushed and the Civil Service are refusing to allow the few ministers who are still trying to bring forward legislation to do so in this Parliament.
    Net Zero is already bankrupting us. The bond markets only had us because of our energy trade deficit.
    The BBC and our universities are organisation steeped in sedition, campaigning daily against British interests.
    Our country is finished. Starmer’s majority will be so great, he will end everything it once was to be British. Get your children out now.

    1. Mine is already in Tasmania but I do worry about Australia, the direction it appears to be taking and what is the objective.

      1. We must remember that the convicts were accompanied by the screws. Who have also bred during the past 150 years.

      2. My aunt asked me to join her in Australia where she is going from Kenya in the new year, she is a citizen of Aus and I would have to keep renewing visas. You can go and just keep renewing by leaving the country for a few days each time the visitor visa is up, but living like that is perilous..

    2. Sunak was so busy trying to knife his boss that he just let the Treasury do what it wanted and accepted their waffle verbatim.

      Where the CS works doesn’t matter. That most of what it does is unnecessary is.

      Yep, that was the entire purpose of the budget. However it won’t work because debt will increase as welfare spikes due to the tax hikes. The infuriating thing is the state doesn’t give a stuff about that – it’s all about being rammed back in to the EU.

      Net zero must go. Same as the migration pact, ECHR, human wrongs act… you name it, the endless hassles of this insane government have got to end – ideally by the government ending.

  30. Good morning, everyone. Pouring with rain and rather chilly. The Springer loved it on the walk. Me, not so much!

      1. Glad to say that now I’ve finally got the Rayburn lit again, the house is nice and warm. Oscar and Kadi are steaming as their heads (I dressed them in macs when we went for a walk) dry out!

    4. Spartie’s got that one sussed.
      He’s on nursing duties and mustn’t leave his patient. I never realised lying on a bed and only stirring at food times was the new nurs ……… ah ….. that explains Nurse Moby Dikk.

    5. Same here. Oscar has had a complete turn-around; for days he’s been threatening to take my fingers off when I approached him with his lead, but today I hadn’t made any preparations for going for a walk when he upped and stood by the back door ready!

  31. ‘Perfectly legitimate’ for England players to take knee at World Cup, says minister. 21 November 2022.

    A senior UK cabinet minister has said it is “perfectly legitimate” for England players to take the knee at the World Cup to protest against inequality, emphasising the apparent change in attitude towards the stance by some Conservative politicians.

    These people are utterly despicable. No one in the team dare dissent from this action and so in that sense it is coerced. If Jenrick feels that way then perhaps he should take knee whenever he addresses Parliament!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/21/perfectly-legitimate-for-england-players-to-take-knee-at-world-cup-says-minister

    1. Morning Minty
      Keep politics out of sport .. No matter what , this country cannot afford to fall out with a country who has different cultural viewpoints to us .

      2. Sport became political with the 1936 Olympics and has never changed. Politics, money and sport, a toxic combination feeding on ego and greed.

      3. If only! The armband for the leading jockey at a festival meeting was in Ukranian colours. Spit!

    2. I believe FIFA want the referee to book Harry Kane if he wears the ridiculous LGBTetc arm patch.
      I hope the referee does so and if Kane persists in wearing it he gets sent off.

      Kane, if you feel that strongly about the issue, refuse to play, you posturing, virtue-signalling pillock.

    3. ‘Gay-boy’ Kane is going to wear his ‘rainbow’ armband, even though it will get him a yellow card. If he does it a second time he will be suspended and probably cost England the game and elimination from the contest. Millions of wendyball lover have paid billions of pounds to see their team in (to win) the competition. I don’t wish him any harm but I hope the fans get their justified revenge on the gangly moron.

      1. I was under the impression that FIFA barred all political stances from competing teams. Hence, when England played Scotland in early November a few years ago, neither team was ‘permitted’ to have a red poppy emblem on their team shirts.

        This insistence on kowtowing to the BLM marxists is puzzling.

    4. Stan Cullis dissented from giving a Nazi salute when England played in Germany in May 1938; he was promptly dropped for the match.

    5. Further to my last; Always Worth Saying on GP had a few articles on Marcus Rashford, the patron saint of skool dinners, and his dodgy sponsors. He mentioned that all major sports teams sponsored by Nike (who ‘provide’ the England kit) were under instruction to kowtow to the BLM marxists.

      1. Plenty of boxes waiting to be filled, but we are awaiting one piece of paper.
        Apparently the Town Hall bureaucrat responsible for the issuance of said piece of paper was off sick last week. Of course, nobody else could possibly do the job.

    2. 368165+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Tell me why as individual indigenous members of the United Kingdom we
      are being convinced by political overseers and supporting dangerous dozy bastards we MUST feel shame?

      For what, trying & succeeding to lead the world out of the dark ages.

      There are still many have no knowledge that this ever took place
      via history lessons
      There are still peoples that deny it happened.

      https://twitter.com/auschwitzxhibit/status/1594612877620613120?s=20&t=7t6dsrTbbTjiJNsPTy6nsg

        1. Talking to my niece at the weekend she was convinced Hitler was right wing. I told her no, he was a Lefty. All evil is Left wing.

          It isn’t the right saying we should stop breeding for the good of the planet, wanting to stop us eating what we want to, is it?

          3. Actually, we should stop breeding for the sake of the planet – a reduction in the increase in population would give the land time to recover and reduce the need to build on green fields for accommodation.

          4. I’d argue that’s not our problem. Our population was falling. Labour imported 20 million dross who breed like rats – all on welfare. The tidal wave of scum are just adding to the population.

            If we had continued on the trajectory before 197 our pop wuld we about 40 million now. Instead it’s closer to 90 – and growing. The reason white folk are having fewer children is because they can’t afford to. The brown ones are living off whitey’s taxes and don’t care.

          5. But if they stopped paying people to breed more than two, white people might be more encouraged to have two and the benefits bill would be lower (although no doubt this government would find something else to waste the money on).

          6. Generally speaking, Western Society has already slowed down their breeding to a more sustainable level. The massive increase in population is largely from sub-Saharan Africa caused, to a certain extent, by the West’s largess in foreign aid and famine relief.

    3. No, we don’t.

      What we need to do is stop flooding the 3rd world with cheap goods – such as food. Then we need to stop giving them aid. We need to stop giving thme money entirely. We need them to create the demand for the machinery, the infrastructure, (roads, tooling, markets for suppliers) them to train the engineers, mechanics and support systems.

      Every time we go ‘Oh, we’ll do it!’ we stop them learning how and doing it themselves.

      We’ve poured money, cash and people into Africa – heck, we’ve given them millions of tons of food that has rotten waiting for UN officials to fill in the forms. The EU CAP dumps millions of tons of food waste on them every year – we kept trying to end it specifically FOR the purpose of helping the third world but the French refused.

      1. Substantial criminality in funding (FTX) the Democrats midterms22 election campaignes (well, especially crooked counting and ballot fraud).

    1. Folk seem to be realising that the situation we’re in is not an accident, not simply government ‘trying’. Folk are realising it is deliberate and intentional, a bitter, spiteful goal to do this country down at any cost for a globalist agenda.

      1. What Britain and the British people need and want is just what our politicians are determined they should not have.

        I don’t know whether the Reform Party would be any good – but it could not be any worse than the current Government and Opposition.

        Would the British electorate have the courage to vote for a total change – have they been so cowed into submission that they will continue indefinitely accept any monstrosities the PTB wish to inflict upon them?

        1. From my observations of the past three years, I’m afraid the answer is ‘yes’ – to the second question.

        1. People used to pay good money to see a bearded lady – all they have to do now is take a bus or watch a BBC soap or documentary.

  38. 368165+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    16h
    The Tories NEVER intended to implement the Referendum decision.

    Now they are talking about a ‘Swiss style deal with the ‘EU’. This would keep all the EU law, payment obligations, & open borders, BUT we would not have MEPs in the European Parliament so a UKIP style party could never arise again.

    I predicted this would happen in my book Road to Freedom (2014) if we did not leave immediately by means of unilateral & unconditional withdrawal.

    I have a better success rate than Nostradamus because I have always understood the lying treacherous nature of the Tory Party.

    1. Captains will now be permitted to wear a No Discrimination armband for the duration of the tournament. They might have the odd splash of colour on them?

    2. In response, Fifa has brought forward its own “No Discrimination” campaign., which had been due to start from the quarter-finals.
      Captains will now be permitted to wear a No Discrimination armband for the duration of the tournament.

      If these footballing authorities had any honesty they would never have given the games to Qatar.

    4. What was more ridiculous – the wearing of the arm band in the first place or the humiliating decision to surrender?

      They are not just hypocrites they are gutless hypocrites.

      While they’re at it why don’t they also abandon the ridiculous kneeling nonsense in reverential support of Saint George Floyd, the patron saint of violent criminals?

        1. When football started to be political I gave up on it.
          I wonder how many Iranians actually play in Iran?

    6. Perhaps they realised that the fans would be less ready to pay to see a Pride demonstration…you can see that for free in Brighton any time.

  40. I suspect that a lot of those who would be affected would be going privately anyway.
    However, even considering such measures when any Ahmad, Moh or Alba can hop on a dinghy and get free treatment is utterly despicable.

    NHS ‘might make the wealthy PAY for care’: Bosses in Scotland discuss highly controversial ‘two-tier’ service… but No10 insists it has ‘NO plans’ to charge patients
    The idea was touted by NHS officials in Scotland according to leaked documents
    Hospital bosses were debating how to maintain ‘sustainability’ of health service
    Scotland’s health secretary has shut down the idea, describing it as ‘abhorrent’
    And No10 has said it has no such plans to charge patients for the NHS in England

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11451881/NHS-make-wealthy-PAY-care-Scotland.html

    1. If they can consider that perhaps they can get all the health tourists to pay before they receive treatment.

      1. The thing that sickens me about that aspect is that the mechanisms are all in place to do so, the front line administrative staff just can’t be bothered

      2. Around 6 years ago on our way to Oz we were staying in Singapore for a few days. A lady at our hotel had two young children with her. The little son aged 4 was in hospital she told us that she had to deposit 3,000 pounds with her debit card, for the treatment.
        Obviously her insurance would be meeting the costs.
        We didn’t see her again to ask how the little fella was.

        1. HG had to attend a doctor there after a potential emergency on the plane. And even as an emergency, before they would do anything I had to pay up front. I often wonder if she had actually gone into cardiac arrest whether they would have treated her immediately.

    2. If they can consider that perhaps they can get all the health tourists to pay before they receive treatment.

    3. But if you’re privately insured and you give them your card, they won’t accept it and they won’t give you treatment.

      I did not think it was possible to make NHS financing worse, but NHS Scotland have come up with the solution to that….

        1. I had a shock when I realised that if I wanted to have my left knee joint replaced. It was going to cost me twice the amount of my annual state pension payments. Probably why I am expected to wait 8 months for a face to face appointment. With the same people I have been seeing for over two years. They already have all the information they need.
          But call me an old septic again, I believe the waiting times are so long for surgery because the majority of the surgeons have moved over to the private sector.
          Thus sadly ruining, so many elderly people lives. And of course those who during their working lives, have been paying the larger amounts into the kitty.

  41. Belated good morning to each 🙂
    No traffic on the road on Monday morning???
    Almost unheard-of. I arrived 35 minutes early.
    Just arrived home from my 10 am hospital appointment. Seen bang on time, x-ray within 20 minutes after appointment with nurse.
    Blood test immediately after back to the nurse and the latest x-ray on the screen.
    Probably not the hip joint causing the problem. More likely to be the sacroiliac joint. Will have wait for letter from the surgeon.
    Very impressed with my smooth flowing appointment and the result. It seems that I don’t have anything seriously wrong. For me, a great start to the week.

      1. The highlight was when the radiologist asked me instead of gowning up, if I didn’t mind dropping my trousers.
        I said I bet you say that to all of the chaps you get in here. She said from behind her mask. Only the good looking ones. Quids in eh 😄
        But It was a bit nippy in there.

      1. Yes I was happy but then she said that I’ve got signs of wear on the other hip joint.
        The irony being I spent a lot of my younger days athletically, long jump running, playing squash football. Now I struggle and, as the song goes “dont get around much any more”.

        1. I sympathise.
          The only sports I can do nowadays are swimming and casual walking. I spent far too much time playing and I’m paying for it now. That said, even if I had known at the time I doubt I would have stopped, it gave me a lot of pleasure and I made many friends

          2. Riding comes close. I’d swim if they hadn’t closed the local pool. I find that riding is very good for me, mentally as well as physically.

          4. That was more the case when I was younger and doing cross-country, show jumping and hunting. Now I keep all four feet on the ground. Let’s face it, crossing a road these days is a dangerous activity, but far less enjoyable than riding 🙂

    3. I’m staggered! My SIJ is my problem. My physio is due to ring me today to tell me the results of the CT scan I had last month. I doubt it will lead to any remedial treatment; it will be “wear and tear” or “degeneration”, I expect.

      1. My consultant said as he turned down the prospect of a second operation (the first being only partially successful) was that i was still quite young and would last more years yet. Cheeky bugger.

        The problem is decreasing mobility through blocked arteries.. I’m 58.

        1. I’ve just been offered physio with a real live physiotherapist face to face! I’ll go to the foot of our stairs (and maybe afterwards I’ll be able to walk up them more easily).

    1. Last week a BBC radio news item referred to countries (or nations) “ravaged” by climate change.

  43. Fifa president Infantino tells home truths about woke capitalism. 21 November 2022.

    My new anti-hero is Gianni Infantino, the Swiss-Italian president of Fifa. He’s so silly, so shameless, so European. Moved to defend Qatar, the anti-gay hosts of the World Cup, where migrant workers go to die, he spoke emotionally for 57 minutes – hammering the West and treating the Arabs like a bee-auti-ful laadee whose honour had been impugned.

    “Today, I feel Qatari,” he almost wept. “I feel gay. Today, I feel disabled. Today, I feel [like] a migrant worker.” Of course, he conceded, he is technically none of these things – “but I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated [against].” How come, Gianni? Because when he was a boy, “I had red hair and freckles.”

    Viewers were appalled. Infantino used woke language to defend the most unwoke place on earth, which is sacrilege. But to those of us who never bought into the PC religion, it’s all part of the grift. Man is as silly and greedy as he ever was. We use “virtue” to cover our tracks.

    When he said that he was picked on at school because he had red hair (he’s as bald as an egg) my jaw dropped into my lap!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/21/fifa-president-infantino-tells-home-truths-woke-capitalism/

      1. It was that crook that gave Qatar the world cup in 2010. I wonder how many millions they paid him.

        1. Thank you, Maggie but to me RAFA are doing the same as SSAFA. Because of leg/heart/lungs etc They are paying to move me from this flat at the top of the house to a similar on 9th December but in the sub-basement, with a stair-lift to reach the Ground-Floor.

          4. Great , at least some one is listening to you .. Sub basement .. will it be light and bright , anway you have got those SSAFA links , just in case .. and the food link as well .

            I am sure hurdles are there for a purpose , things will work out eventually for you. Have faith x

      2. Good to see you posting. I was worried about you and I couldn’t get Nottl yesterday. Get in touch with the RAFBF/RAFA and sign up to a befriender.

      1. 368165+ up ticks,

        Afternoon A,

        Don’t confuse, it’s her birthday & a whip round is in progress..

    3. And we encourage tens of thousands of people with these beliefs and values to enter Britain each year in rubber dinghies bearing no passports, health certificates or details of whether or not they have criminal records.

      1. If they didn’t have criminal records they are permitted to enter lawfully on a visitors visa.

      2. It seems to rest on the ideological fallacy that bad culture stems from poverty, even though the evidence clearly shows that throwing money at bad culture simply buys more of the same.

      1. One month for a non-existent excuse to beat up whitey.
        One day to remember the millions who died in two world wars.

    6. I was taught that the definition of civilisation was the way we treat women. My father instructed his sons to never hit a woman.

      These vicious peasants should be horsewhipped and their genitals removed using tools utilised in the mediaeval era they hanker after.

  45. Good morning afternoon, everyone. I’m running late today. I’ll try to pop in tomorrow.

  46. Good morning afternoon, everyone. I’m running late today. I’ll try to pop in tomorrow.

  48. Afternoon, all. I was AWOL yesterday because Nottl steadfastly refused to load. It wasn’t just my laptop, it wouldn’t open the page on my PC either. Is there any news on Tom?

    1. To deter others would a better solution be to throw in a case of water, lock the doors and tell the driver to return to his original departure point and then open the doors.
      NB (Police escort to the British port and on to the ferry)….

      1. In pre EU days lorries with curtain sides were not allowed to move to a foreign country. Solid sides were obligatory. The lorry was sealed at its last loading plant and sealed. The seal was broken at its first stop for unloading with an official some times present.

  50. A puzzled pensioner writes:

    Isn’t kneeling for Black Louts Matter just as “political” was wearing rainbow armbands?

    Just asking….

  53. Schools must instil female traits in all pupils irrespective of gender, education leader says

    People should act and work like a woman to achieve their ambitions, an education leader has said.

    Heather Hanbury, president of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA), will give a speech to the organisation on Monday in which she will hail the benefits of feminine and “soft power” traits like empathy, creativity and collaboration.

    Ms Hanbury, who is also the head of the Lady Eleanor Holles School Hampton, will also tell the GSA’s annual conference that it is the job of schools to instil these traits in all pupils – regardless of gender.

    “It’s absolutely time to finally acknowledge that working like girls and women is a great way to work and live,” she will say.

    https://www.gbnews.uk/news/schools-must-instil-female-traits-in-all-pupils-irrespective-of-gender-education-leader-says/394292

    Er , well, that is a very dainty idea .

          1. …and my old Bungay Grammar School has been amalgamated with the Secondary Modern and is now known as ‘Bungay High School’ complete with the old Grammar School Badge and Motto. Disgust!

        2. I was at a GDST school. The woke pleading BS that comes in the post from them is staggering! Who knew that my very expensive education makes me able to cough up for their virtuous charitable donations?

          2. I think my Old Girls association must have spilled the beans! And they’re pretty ghastly as well! All these horribly earnest young women with attitude! I pretty sure we weren’t like that!

        3. That was one of the reasons why our son sent his daughter to the RHS for her ‘A’ levels.
          At Colchester Girls’ High School she was becoming a right little feminazi. Stella Creasey is a past pupil, so this attitude isn’t a recent development.

    2. What utter rubbish!
      Boys need to learn more about acting and working like a man – the feminised education system is already doing nobody any favours. The little noddies who come out of it with A* grades are not able to cope with the real world.

      2. We are too obsessed with exam results.

        A former head boy of the school in which I taught was the son of a gentleman farmer and had spent his entire life with animals. At school he was a good athlete and in the school’s Rugby XV playing in the second row of the scrum – he was very fit and physically strong:. He was also involved in music, theatre and other cultural activities in the school. He was very reliable and was very fond of English literature and had an excellent sense of humour; his ambition was to become a vet – a profession for which he was eminently well-suited.

        At the time “A” levels were still quite testing but, because of the popularity of James Herriot’s TV stories, courses were very oversubscribed and you had to get at least 3 grade As to be accepted on any veterinary degree courses in Britain at the time. He got 2 As and a B and was rejected and so went to Bristol University to read agricultural science and eventually became a chartered surveyor and land agent in which he had a very successful career before returning to his father’s farm to run it..

        But what a shame – he should have been a vet – and would have made a far better vet than many of those who had got their 3 A grades.

        1. The veterinary schools now are over run with posh girls with blond hair and Joules shirts and body warmers, who all look the same. The guys (minority) are also posh, wear chinos or cords, and Tattersall check shirts, and also look the same. I went to meet our daughter after her last vet exam, walked into Chambers Street and honestly couldn’t pick her out of the sea of blonde ponytails!

          2. Ooh! Never thought about them! No, but there were a couple of ‘merkins, and a Spaniard or two!

          4. Dolly’s last visit to the vet. He was 30 minutes late. I told him i wasn’t happy about it. He just blandly replied…’running a bit late am I?’ He’s a posh git too.

            My dentist on the other hand is invariably on time. When he isn’t he apologises. I know the reason for the overrun is because he is happy to slot people in who need help in a hurry. He’s fitted me in the same morning without an appointment.

        2. When we were training during the 1970s, the tenor of the final examinations was changed. It was realised that the high scorers were often poor nurses; they could spew out reams on schizophrenia, but were useless at the nuts and bolts of actually looking after the patients with the condition.
          One v. clever student nurse failed both his hospital and his external finals because he could not spot the difference.
          He just didn’t realise he was not being asked to regurgitate the book, he was being tested on how he would manage a ward containing patients with mental illness.

      3. We used to look for what we called farm boys and army brats when recruiting . Forget the degree, hire people that have common sense and self reliance.

    3. One of my nieces, Harriet, went to Lady Eleanor Holles School. She is now a clinical psychologist. At Oxford she was the captain of the University Women’s rowing team. Her elder sister, Susie, who was at Godolphin and Latymer School ten years before her, also got rowing blues at Oxford.

      Both these nieces managed to survive institutions which are now extremely feminist without becoming radicalised and they are delightfully attractive and well-balanced women.

    4. Well, the Cleopatras were pretty good at executing people. Eleanor of Aquitaine settled her marital disputes by raising an army. Elizabeth I was sharp and ruthless too. Catherine II screwed and conquered. Women deprived of that kind of power were often handy with the arsenic…

    1. So leave the lorry sealed. What’s the problem? I don’t care any more. Get rid of them. They have no right to be here. If they die, so what? Action, consequences.

      1. I think that happened and created a shit storm.
        The answer is, don’t assist them in their crossing and if some drown or die of asphyxiation so be it.
        The word will soon get around

        1. You may try the alternative spelling, Burke, which has nothing to do with any list of the peerage.

    2. “The ‘Great Reset’ must fail – the sooner the better” – Ron Paul

      “Those who could never “structure” the world, have no chance of “restructuring” it. Those who could never “set” our world in place, have no chance of “resetting” it either. The idea that human beings (or their technologies) can control the world and everything in it, is both illogical and dangerously irrational. The problem is not in proving why ideas like the “Great Reset” cannot work. That’s the easy part. The problem is in limiting the amount of economic damage and human suffering that such reckless pursuits needlessly cause.”

      1. A very good afternoon to you, bb2

        Your post inspires a Kipple:

        If you can fill the unforgiving minute
        With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
        Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
        And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

        I wonder how many yards old Schwab and Soros would cover in 60 seconds if their inner legs were tied together for the Three Legged Race?

  60. Saudi Arabia is accused of beheading 12 people ‘while global attention is focused on World Cup’ as country backtracks on pledge not to use the death penalty for non-violent crimes
    12 people executed by beheading in Saudi Arabia over the past two weeks
    The country said in 2021 it would not use death penalty for non-violent crimes
    Prisoners who were executed had been convicted for drugs offences

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11453039/Saudi-Arabia-accused-beheading-12-people-global-attention-focused-World-Cup.html?ito=windows-widget-push-notification&ci=550688

    Perhaps the Saudis could relieve the pressure on our prisons , or we could give them the contract to deal with the terrible nonsense we have on the streets here .. knife crime and drug crime dealt with straight away.

    Qatar has rightly been criticised for its human rights record but its abuses pale in comparison to the Gulf megastate next door.

    ‘Saudi Arabia executed more people than ever before in the first six months of this year, and has now begun executing drug offenders, in large numbers and in secret, as the world focuses on its neighbour.

    ‘The Kingdom’s international partners must act now, to save Hussein and stop the bloodshed.’

    If carried out, Hussein’s execution would be the 13th following the beheadings of three Pakistani men, four Syrians, two Jordanian and three Saudis.

    The number of people executed by Saudi Arabia this year is at least 138, which is more than the totals of 2020 and 2021 combined.

    2. Playing Devil’s advocate:
      Which would you prefer, London with its knife crimes, gang drug crime, rape, murder etc; or a relatively safe Capital City, which is how KSA thinks it should be, by using their punisments for the above as a deterrent.

      Ps. I’m digging myself a hole here, am I not. 🙄

        1. I’m inclined to agree, having lived/worked/visited a lot of Middle East countries.
          Africa has never been on my list although Kenya has tempted me (books by Thesinger and other explorers such as Gertrude bell & Freya Stark kept my mind on the Middle East.

          1. Much more of an Asian bent myself having lived/worked in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia but I still have to visit central China one day.

        1. Given the topic of the thread and True_Belle’s OP, (that’s original post) KSA for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seems a perfectly acceptable abbreviation.

          1. Not to me, Sos, hence the need for clarification, If I talked about the difference between MRP, MRPII, ERP and IBS how quickly would I be accused of gobbledegook?

          2. It would depend on the thread;
            If it was a topic where people who know the subject were conversing about a specialist area it seems perfectly acceptable to me that they should use abbreviations

          4. Material Requirements Planning? Manufacturing Resource Planning? Enterprise Resource Planning? International Biometric Society (rather than Irritable Bowel Syndrome)?

          5. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad, It wasn’t there for long but it stood for Integrated Business System, irritable bowel system probably killed it off.

      3. If every user of illegal drugs, drug runner, knife carrier, stabber, rapist and murderer were publicly flogged with rattan canes until they scream with pain and pass out and then imprisoned I suspect life in London would improve dramatically.

        1. Remember my father after his stint in Algeria and Egypt WW2.
          Said many times. Never trust an Arab son.

    5. I think we may found alternative accommodation to Rwanda for all those excess doctors and engineers scrambling up the Kent beaches.

    6. On the wireless the England chief – must be the football one, as we have no one elected in this country – was wittering on about how government should take the lead on woke.

      Yet… I really don’t think he understands: the calphate of Qatar is muslim. It is an intolerant, bigoted, resentful, spiteful religion. It would find your frenzied attachment to gays, trans, and Left wingery generally an insult. But, Mr England chief, I’ll bet you’re all for massive, uncontrolled immigration. Qatar isn’t. You want to allow massive numbers of those intolerant, bigoted and resentful fellows here and think you can continue your daft agenda?

      Grow up man.

  61. ‘I am among the one in 10 Britons reported to be opting for private healthcare – here’s why’
    The NHS is getting more investment, yet more of us – many for the first time – are jumping the ever-lengthening queues. What’s going wrong?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/20/human-cost-nhs-chaos/

    BTL

    In France they have a strange idea about medicine and schooling. They seem to think that if you have paid for something you should have it.

    So if you ‘go private’ for your medicine you do not lose your entitlement to medical care for which your obligatory state insurance scheme entitles you. If, for example, you need to have an operation then the state system will set the cost which you will be refunded. If you choose to use a private clinic which charges more than this you will just pay the difference.

    And in schooling a private school receives funding according to the number of pupils it has and that funding is based on the amount the state has to pay for each pupil it educates in state schools. Again if you go to an expensive private school you just pay the difference. My two sons went to a private school which was so well run that it kept its expenditure down to the amount of money it received from the state so we had to pay nothing.

    Such an idea would never catch on in Britain. How absurd to expect to get what you have paid for with your taxes or state insurance schemes !

    1. But, with long-standing underlying health problems, I could never afford the insurance premiums. Where do I go for healthcare?

      1. Your normal NHS-equivalent cover automatically covers about three quarters of the expense. If you have a chronic condition, then your GP will do whatever needs to be done so that all expenses related to that condition are covered 100%.

        You can get top-up insurances (called “mutuelles”) which cover the final quarter. The “mutuelles” are not allowed to ask for your medical records when you sign on. If you have a very low income, you can get a top-up insurance for 1€ a month.

        This is a very simplified overview of how the system works. The state cheats by saying, for example, that a pair of glasses, or a set of false teeth, can cost up to X euros while, in reality, these things will always cost more. So the wealthier people get “mutuelles” that cover up to 200% or more of the state entitlement.

        Rastus and I have a minimal “mutuelle” that takes our cover up to 100% if we have to go to hospital. Rastus has a chronic condition which is covered 100% by the state medical care, and for the rest we take the 25% on the chin – as we are pretty healthy, it is cheaper than getting a more extensive “mutuelle”.

        1. Thank you, that’s interesting, Caroline and it seems to work well, another reason why it WON’T be introduced in the UK.

    1. I am convinced that the appalling state of the members of the HoC and the decisions they’ve taken since Cameron is due to permanent drug addiction.

      1. I thought their addiction to Power for power’s sake was their sole driving force. I feel certain that any drug use is merely to dull the senses having to listen to the tripe being spouted day in and day out…..

        1. But the decisions they take are so irresponsible that there must be an underlying reason: it is as though they WANT to get thrown out.

        2. But the decisions they take are so irresponsible that there must be an underlying reason: it is as though they WANT to get thrown out.

    2. I am convinced that the appalling state of the members of the HoC and the decisions they’ve taken since Cameron is due to permanent drug addiction.

    3. I’ve heard about the rebellious goings on in the House. I think it was headed the Cocaine Mutiny…..

  63. A bientot, mes amis. I’m taking a break while I do other things (like trying to find the sloes at the bottom of the freezer to make sloe gin and the raspberries – ditto – to make jam). Hope to rejoin you later.

  68. Telegraph or Pravda?
    “PM: ‘NHS is the country’s most important public service’
    Rishi Sunak described the NHS as the country’s “most important public
    service” after he was asked if his plans for the health service would
    help a patient who needed care after suffering a fall.
    The Prime Minister said: “It’s absolutely important to me and to the Government that people get the healthcare they need.
    “I know the NHS is the country’s most important public service. I come from an NHS family, it’s in my blood.”

    OK, it’s semantics, what with him using the word ‘public’, but I have always believed that Defence was the most important role of Government.

    2. All I was offered after a fall was counselling for Alcoholism – with NO blood test, just assumption and something my ex had had annotated to my med records – again, with no tests.

  70. “America’s border crisis is not organic. Behind the nearly 4.9 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States since President Joe Biden took office are criminal cartels, orchestration from the United Nations, and financing from the U.S. government. And while taxpayers are being told that local law enforcement and the National Guard are working to resolve the crisis, in reality, they’re being used to funnel migrants to networks of non-governmental organizations, who then traffic them for resettlement throughout the country.

    In this investigative report, Crossroads host Joshua Philipp tours both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border to uncover what’s really behind the “Border Deception.” “

    The above is a description of an Epoch TV investigation.
    It seems this whole business is being orchestrated globally.
    Difficult to see what we could do to prevent it…

    1. Phil for the benefit of the Nottl fan who professes a modest degree of interest in these events you should blank out the latest scoreIt would also do the rest of us a favour…. 🙂

        1. That’s what having a Europhile Teapot does to a country.

          One would hesitate to suggest a word with the IRA (“They haven’t gone away” © St Gerard of Adams)…..but

    3. 3368265+ up ticks,

      Evening Bob,

      Caution called for, check recent pedigree of parties,they really do have a very strong scent of tory (ino) MK 2 about them.

    1. Given the membership of the Notourfuture organisation there could be some interesting company in the Gulag!

    2. Ridiculous, but even more ridiculous that we’re paying benefits to to anyone who resides in Pakistan.

  77. We seem to be in a long stormy spell of incessant rain here in Bournville … I hope it’s blowing a gale in the English Channel.

    1. Did the doctor mean that the daughter would then be perfectly healthy?

      You don’t vomit with flu. It’s a respiratory disease!

    2. What a pair of idiots. The data on the flu vaccine is a lot less conclusive than we have been led to believe. Even before covid, people were questioning whether the flu vaxx does lead to significantly better outcomes.

    2. Par 4 for me.

      Wordle 520 4/6

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

          1. Ah, perhaps then he should move to Bhutan were I believe the leadership regard the degree of happiness as the main driver of societal wellbeing

            “Despite being a relatively secluded country, geography-wise, Bhutan is a sought-after destination for tourists from all over the globe. The previous monarchs of Bhutan believed in the Gross Happiness Index more than the Gross Domestic Product as a measure of wealth. So much so that the government heavily invests in sustainable development making renewable energy their largest export product. Did you know that Bhutan has banned the use of plastic bags and tobacco since 1999 and 1729, respectively? How cool is that!

          1. It ends ‘most likely you won’t have any of this [beep] because it’s [beep]ing hard out here.”

  83. That’s me for what has been a dark, wet, dreary, sunless day. And cold, too. Our delightful house has a lot of windows – and when it is sunny, the inside is warm and welcoming. When it is like today – it is, er, less so…{:¬))

    Anyway – the cats enjoy lying by the stove – preventing either human from getting to close to it…

    Have a jolly evening. Keep warm. Stay positive….another PM will be along any day…

    A demain

    1. One of the well known tests for Alzeihmer’s used to be to ask the afflicted : “Who is the Prime Minister?” With so many changes recently the question is no longer valid!

  85. If Kane had genuinely believed in his armband wokery he would have defied FIFA and worn it anyway, it would have made a real stand.

    The Iranians refusing to sing their national anthem was a real act of defiance and could genuinely endanger their lives.

    Now, tell me, which was the braver protest?

    1. Apparently, England were of the opinion that any sanction taken by FIFA would be a fine – which would have been peanuts, as far as all those multi-millionaires are concerned. When they were threatened with a yellow card, they realised that it could lead to a suspension of at least one game for the wearer of the armband – Kane. A hasty retreat was beaten.

  88. I’m joining Rix and Bill by retiring for the night with my Kindle and a glass of H20..

    Goodnight, Gentlefolk and may God bless you.

    4. Make sure you read ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ by
      Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and incase it’s just house arrest ‘A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles’ before you go.

      A lot of us could be following you.

      2. I had to struggle through “A Day in the Life” when studying Russian. I can remember entire phrases but can’t for the life of me recall what it’s actually about! Thanks for the reminder to re-read!

        Absolutely loved “A Gentleman in Moscow”. 🙂

      3. I had to struggle through “A Day in the Life” when studying Russian. I can remember entire phrases but can’t for the life of me recall what it’s actually about! Thanks for the reminder to re-read!

        Absolutely loved “A Gentleman in Moscow”. 🙂

      4. I had to struggle through “A Day in the Life” when studying Russian. I can remember entire phrases but can’t for the life of me recall what it’s actually about! Thanks for the reminder to re-read!

        Absolutely loved “A Gentleman in Moscow”. 🙂

      1. Thank you, Caroline. The more the merrier and it looks like we’ll have interesting company!

      1. As you go onto the next one that is what the seem to do, grey out. So I pressed submit anyway, and that was it. I think it’s done 🤔 hopefully…

      1. I’ve reserved my place twice now! Just in case…. I wasn’t sure the first time as I re-tweeted before submitting. It still greyed out as I went on to the next infill but it did indicate when I submitted that everything was ok.

    1. Can’t stand her excessively mannered, er, playing technique. Those awful faces.

      Give me Alfred Brendel or Andrass Schiff ANY day…

  91. If you have spare moment Geoff, please consider setting up Not The World Cup Followers *Footballers – NTWCFs – for the next month?

    *Change of title.

    1. They’ve been telling us that white people would die out for about forty years now. I believed that BS when I first read it in the newspapers.
      The average northern European may look like that in 2050 (though I doubt it!), but I guarantee that in 2550, they will be fair-skinned again.

  93. 368165+ up ticks,
    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    5h
    My guess is these restrictions are for the trial period so that the ECB can iron out any problems. And they will reassure us this is not the final product.

    HOWEVER, the mere fact the technogy enables these restrictions to be imposed & operated should give people all the warning they need about where it is heading & the technological totalitarianism it will usher in.

    Maggie2096
    @Maggie2096
    ·
    5h
    Do You See What Comes Next.

    https://media.gettr.com/group12/getter/2022/11/21/13/552bdc8d-93b3-f84b-4259-e1bf35eec0f5/e81c5ef258e5ba8bc11fab78969d1766_500x0.jpg

    1. If people can’t see what’s coming when they look at that list, they must be soft in the head. Pretty sure these haven’t been approved yet, especially by individual countries, but the fact that they are on the table at all is alarming enough.

    2. POLICY • NOVEMBER 7, 2022, 6:02AM EST

      Digital euro may have transaction limits and store-of-value caps

      by Inbar Preiss

      The European Union’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) may have transaction and store-of-value limits for individuals, Fabio Panetta, an executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), suggested at the “Towards a legislative framework enabling a digital euro” conference hosted by the European Commission.

      Exact limits are not set in stone — as the digital euro project is still in an investigation phase within the ECB — but Panetta mentioned €3,000 as an example store-of-value limit and 1,000 transactions as a monthly limit.

      “If we give access to a means of payment, which is relatively limited, there are no transaction costs because you only need to have a smartphone,” Panetta said, explaining: “There will be risks that people could use this possibility to move, for example, their deposits of other banks or their money out of financial intermediates.”

      This would be a threat to financial stability in times of crisis, he added — which is why the ECB is looking to introduce transaction limits for the potential CBDC.

      “Digital euro would be an additional option for retail payment — not a challenge to the function of the financial system,” Panetta said, highlighting that the CBDC is not meant to replace cash.

      Panetta also pointed toward a €50 cap on transactions, citing anti-money laundering provisions.

      However, Christian Lindner, the German minister of finance, expressed concerns. “I wonder whether people would accept €50 as they can pay in cash hundreds and more,” he said, adding: “We should introduce a digital euro that is really accepted by people and not only by policymakers.”

      The ECB is expected to decide whether to move forward with a realization phase by September 2023. With a legislative proposal expected from the European Commission, the continuation of the European CBDC project is becoming more likely.

      Update: Added new information regarding a potential €50 cap on transactions, as well as a quote from Christian Lindner.

      © 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

      ABOUT AUTHOR
      Inbar Preiss is a Brussels-based policy reporter at The Block, focusing on Europe. Before The Block, she worked with several publications on European politics. Get in touch on Twitter @InbarPreiss.

      https://www.theblock.co/post/183646/digital-euro-transaction-limits-store-value-caps

    3. Much more convenient for the dictators than having to go through the rigmarole of declaring martial law – just ask Trudeau about the issues he had blocking freedom convoy protesters access to their money!

    4. Apart from the obvious tool of government spying and control, I can’t see the point of this facility for the user. Why would anyone opt to use this? Would it mean people’s bank accounts would be closed or confiscated so one would be forced into using this?

    2. My younger son lives in Worthing , on the sea front .

      That is a very interesting walk Bob. Wherever I am , I do the same , and almost scream at the wrecking of some iconic architecture.

    3. I’ve done that walk several times.

      When I worked for the Bradford & Bingley BS they kept the flats above their branches for staff to use as holiday accommodation.
      You entered the annual draw and if lucky won a week.
      I won Worthing twice in my time with the BS and better still both wins were in the summer.

      1. I taught English as a Foreign Language in Worthing – at Compton Place, the Duke of Devonshire’s pied a terre.

        2. Can you visit and just “be there”? Many otherwise unresponsive people sense a presence and comment on it when they recover.

    3. I’m sorry to hear that Phizzee.It sounds trite, but the other day I heard the lullaby I’d sing to Claude and suddenly fell apart.

      1. The last time Garlands went quiet i called the police. Most unhelpful. Then did google maps and found a local church which turned out not to be hers but they still sent someone to see if she was okay. Turned out the lady they asked to visit was a nurse !

        Garlands was not overly impressed with my erm…..spy tracking !

        I think she is playing hard to get.

          2. Perhaps we need to up it a level. Obviously without being erm…in any way pushy. We do seem to have a caring network.

            Perhaps Elon Musk could chuck us a couple of million dollars.

            Or even those most mostly caring the Duchess and Henry. JOKING !!!!

          1. Not the best pic from my collection and there was a bit of a breeze. That has to be at least four years ago. We visited the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Dock. We were both very moved by the exhibition. As you walk through you do become immersed. I even began to feel sea sick it was so real.

            After that we went to Loch Fyne at Gunwharf Quay to recover. Lunch was fabulous. Then Jill took me on a pub crawl of all the other Bars on the front. It took ages !!!

            It was a beautiful hot and sunny day. I will remember it for ever. Not least because of having a lovely friend to enjoy it too but the Slug and Lettuce were doing double double Gin and tonics for the price of one !

          2. I’ve only seen the Mary Rose once and that was about 40 years ago when they were spraying it with water. My neighbours went earlier this year and said it was a very good exhibition.

            Sounds as though you both had a very good day. I hope she’s ok.

          3. I’m sure Garlands is. The lady does choose to go dark or focus on other things.

            The original presentation of the Mary Rose though astonishing the exhibit now presented is beyond that. Two hours though the timing was unlimited was not enough. We felt overwhelmed. Mostly down to the sounds and lighting and also in my opinion oxygen levels. When you get to the top floor you see it in entirety and you have also left the in my words the SPACE LOCK.

      1. You won’t believe it but the funniest thing was that when i went to collect my dear friend the door to the B&B was answered by a young man who was painting the dining room. I said to him ‘you look like me’ ! He didn’t get it.
        Anyone would think the only person he ever saw in a reflection was his own. About sums up the millenials IMO.

  97. We rolled apart and Ozzie leaps up on to the bed. He’s started ‘guarding’ the warqueen from me. He ignores every instruction. He knows it’s wrong,= as he ducks his head but … anyway, this isn’t about the dog. He’s a good boy.

    After a bit of a scuffle the Warqueen says ‘What’s wrong’.
    I say ‘Nothing’. Because it’s everything.

    ‘{beep], she says. ‘You threw around the chest press weights and slapped 220kgs on them. That’s half again your usual. You went nuts in sparring and hammered that guy in the side. You’re angrier than I have ever known you. It’s volcanic, there’s so much hate in you.’

    Now, she’s not eloquent. I looked at her and said “I’m sorry, is it’
    And she replies no, you’re not hurting anyone except yourself and you seem determined to do that. Your knee went and you kept going. You back went and you push ever harder, you can’t cope and fall asleep for hours and then still sleep all through the night…. and so on, a long list of forcing injuries and complaints. She ends with ‘And then there’s the food.’

    So we sit down and go through everything that’s annoying me and life it’s a long, long list. From the bottom of losing Truss’ budget to the stooge Sunak, the hated EU, the possible job loss as we simply say stuff it and close the company, the house move falling through due to a scum estate agent, the cost of everything eroding our savings, her stresses (and she didn’t bite my head of here as she knows the effect her weird almost autistic attitude toward her work has on the family), my brother’s struggle and inabilty to understand why his shopping is costing £59 rather than the £40 it always has, why his living accommodation has gone up more than 5% – he has a chart on his wall for each years cost but this year it’s been nearly 32% and his screaming tantrum was truly frightening and we simply can’t find £300 spare every month to help him.

    I’ve been off the serotonin for a couuple of years and I don’t really want to go back on them but every single thing sets me off.

    I wonder what sort of dad I am to Junior, what sort of husband and support for her I’m providing when i’m wound up so tight.

    And I feel it too. Those knots along your shoulders that never unwind. The ache in your legs from constant fight or flight. The tremors from adrenaline. The little dancing lights as your blood pressure spikes.

    I’ve become addicted to painkillers – the 30mg cocodamol ones that I hoarded when my back properly went. Those and ibruprofen. You knnow, the ‘you can’t buy more than this many’ is stupid because the pharmacies don’t share the information.

    Maybe being confronted with it makes me confront it. Maybe this is my trying to start dealing with it.

    1. It’s good to talk Wibbs, and, as with Tom the other night, we are all here for you. I have certainly done my share of downloading on this site.
      Keep the lines of communication open and it is a real bonus that you and your wife are able to talk.
      From what you have said in the past, I suspect you are a great dad to Junior and certainly he and the doggies love you.
      KBO mate.

    2. I think can start to understand your situation, and I can guess why you “vent” here, but are you certain that this is the right forum?

      Hertslass has e-mail addresses and I’m sure that if you contacted her she would forward anything to people you feel you trust.
      They would probably respond off-line where they wouldn’t in open play, as it were.

      Good luck.

      1. Pass, to be honest. There’s lots I’ve left out. I think I’ll contact a therapist i saw in dealing with my mother a while back.

        1. Good Man we all need outside help sometimes without it I wouldn’t be here to wish you all the best
          Pip is right opiates are a disaster

          1. Opiates can be fun but not for people who are prescribed them.

            Just ask M Gove and K Kwarteng who are clearly obvious users What they think County Lines does for local rural neighbourhoods that in normal times those fucking drugs would not have reached !

        2. You can have my mother if you like. Small Jar. No cost at all.

          As i have matured i have realised how much she fucked me up. Time to let go.

        3. Do what you think is best for you but, speaking from experience, make sure the warqueen knows too, and is supportive.

          These battles are best fought together.

          Here endeth the lesson
          }:-))

    3. Wibbling , relax and read this wonderful poem , please take a break from the woeful mood you are finding difficult to break away from .

      Verse For a Certain Dog
      by Dorothy Parker

      Such glorious faith as fills your limpid eyes,
      Dear little friend of mine, I never knew.
      All-innocent are you, and yet all-wise.
      (For Heaven’s sake, stop worrying that shoe!)
      You look about, and all you see is fair;
      This mighty globe was made for you alone.
      Of all the thunderous ages, you’re the heir.
      (Get off the pillow with that dirty bone!)

      A skeptic world you face with steady gaze;
      High in young pride you hold your noble head,
      Gayly you meet the rush of roaring days.
      (Must you eat puppy biscuit on the bed?)
      Lancelike your courage, gleaming swift and strong,
      Yours the white rapture of a winged soul,
      Yours is a spirit like a Mayday song.
      (God help you, if you break the goldfish bowl!)

      “Whatever is, is good”; your gracious creed.
      You wear your joy of living like a crown.
      Love lights your simplest act, your every deed.
      (Drop it, I tell you- put that kitten down!)
      You are God’s kindliest gift of all; a friend.
      Your shining loyalty unflecked by doubt,
      You ask but leave to follow to the end.
      (Couldn’t you wait until I took you out?)

      1. Thank you – it’s not Ozzie, it’s me. I even snapped at Mongo the other day for sitting at table.

        2. I upset Lily yesterday – she wanted to sit on my lap while I was using my laptop and it’s tricky typing when you have a cat sitting on the keyboard. She’s missing OH as she adores him and I’m second best. She’s been hiding under a small table ever since I upset her, and only comes out for food. But this evening she seems to have forgiven me and we had a good cuddle. She seemed to enjoy the Mozart concerto as well.

          1. It’s distressing isn’t it when they hide like that? We lost one of our cats and the other one hid in the wardrobe for a month!

          2. They are very sensitive to one’s mood aren’t they!

            She’s a rescue cat and I think she must have thought her previous people abandoned her – the old man died and the old lady went into care. She was in the rescue for several months and hissed at everyone who went to see her. She hissed at us as well but we took her home anyway. She hid behind the hifi as soon as we opened the carrier. Then the next three days she was behind the wood-burner (it was August) but after about 10 days she began to relax and become the loving pet that she is. She’s missing John terribly.

          3. Poor little thing! And you, pet. We got a rescue cat and she was only in the house about 5 minutes, disappeared down a loose floorboard in the pantry and was there for 3 days!!

          5. Oscar was too snappy for the people who looked at him before I did. I was prepared to work with him to gain his trust (it’s still a work in progress!).

    4. I’m just an ordinary bloke and not a professional. However, it occurs to me that you have begun the process of recognising that you need to change as summarised in the second stage of the model of behaviour change:

      Pre-contemplation stage. At this stage, people are not yet aware of the negative behavior they need to change. (You appear to have addressed this stage)
      Contemplation stage. …thinking about what you want or need to change
      Preparation or determination stage. …
      Action stage. …
      Maintenance stage. …

      For what it is worth, the only advice I can offer is to find a person you can trust to discuss the changes you want to make and to support you through the achievement of those changes as you progress through the Action Stage.

      I sense that all the folks who contribute to this forum will wish you well in your endeavours.
      S

    5. You absolutely must come off the painkillers. My advice to you is to study Yoga. Not a single GP would suggest such a thing because they don’t get paid for that.

      I know it sounds stupid but yoga exercises which are gentle and breathing exercises are beneficial. Plenty on YouTube.

      Bruce Springsteen was on Graham Norton this week and he said he had collapsed discs c4 and c5 in his neck. Him having the money went for the op where they went in through his throat and he couldn’t sing a note for three months.

      I was prescribed for the exact same condition Zapain (opiates) open ended. The fuckers. I would have become a lifelong addict !

      I cured myself with Tens Premier Plus Machine and twice daily gentle side to side neck movements.

      Go google

    6. Seriously – someone I know was on the ibuprofen following a back injury. He ended up having a section of his gut removed, because it was bleeding. Do not overdo the ibuprofen!

      I recognise all those worries. Can you do something that makes you feel that you’re protecting yourselves a bit? Stack silver, start growing things, get a bit more independent…? Watch a few Lynette Zhang videos.

      Parallel Mike and Rich Planet are also interesting.

    7. You have a lot of worries, but some you can deal with and some you can’t. Try to focus on the ones you have some control over. Try to reduce the tablet intake.

      1. That is very good advice. Don’t focus on the things you cannot change. Focus on the things you can. You may not get the result you wish for but at least you will retain your sanity !

    8. My word I thought you had started writing a book. I can’t even begin to relate to your experiences.
      I feel I’m on another planet. Take care Wibbers. I really mean that. What else can I say.

    9. The bottom line is survival. Surviving together. Surviving as a family. That is where we all are at this moment, the number one priority in varying ways and states of affluence. We all have to get through this together, and the bottom line really is survival; everything else is bonus. We are living through one of the historically bad times that our country (and the rest of Europe) periodically has to endure. This time it includes all of the white western world. There is no escape. We don’t have to fight in the trenches, nor the beaches – at the moment the answer is simple – we all of us, all of us, must not comply to the demands of the WEF – simply ignore this organisation, use cash where you can, refuse to shop where it says ‘card only’, no vaccinations, no masks should the demand for their use return, do not use the self-service check-out. Simply do not comply, even if it is more convenient, because that convenience will be used against you.

      Reduce your pain killers gradually. Co-codamol is also my drug of choice but I allow myself only two tablets for two or three nights running every few months, and only then if I have sciatic backache. I have found Bach’s Night Rescue a really good substitute for the sleep problem. Ibuprofen gives me awful stomach pains, do be careful with that stuff.

      1. The real fight will come at the next GE polling day. If there are not enough numbers whose eyes have not seen the light then we are truly lost.
        Past experience over the last couple of years or so does not give one much hope that there will be a change from the complacency shown by the population.

    10. I was on ibuprofen and when I came to reorder it the Pharmacist told my GP that Lansoprazole 15mg gastro resistant capsules should be prescribed with Ibuprofen to stop gastritis. My GP obliged.

    11. wibbling, I think you’re on the way up. You and your wonderful warqueen have confronted it, you’ve written it down and now it’s out there. It’s easier to see and deal with. The pain is a worry and maybe your GP can help a bit. As others have said you are welcome to rant here anytime and we’re here for you.

    12. That is an awful lot of responsibility that you are taking on and as someone mentioned earlier, there us not much that you can do about most of it.

      Look after yourself first, focus on addressing the drug and pain problem and then look at helping others around you.

    13. My sympathies. Recognising the problems and putting them into words is a really positive step.

      Great practical advice from others. My hesitant two penn’orth would be to read Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now”. Might not be for you, but I found it changed my whole perspective on life, much for the better.

      Good luck, whatever you choose to do.

    14. I’ve been in your situation, wibbles. It took me a long time to get over it. Relaxation techniques helped with the tightness (and getting to sleep).

  99. Had a busy day today awake at 5:am I’m …..Skidding off now, perhaps a similar situation to the Wales football team. They won’t reach the quatar finals.
    Night all. Sleep well folks.
    Thinking of you Tom and now Wibbers,…. phew.

  100. 368165+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    Covid infected ‘more than 350,000 pet cats’ in Britain
    Study provokes fears for feline health and also raises concerns the animals could prove an incubator for new variants,

    Side affect is that in turn, jeopardises a great many curry houses also.

  101. First part of ‘The Night’ by William Blake

    The sun descending in the west,
    The evening star does shine;
    The birds are silent in their nest,
    And I must seek for mine.
    The moon, like a flower,
    In heaven’s high bower,
    With silent delight
    Sits and smiles on the night.

    Good night all, a cold wet and dreary day, but could have been worse.

    1. Thank god for sleep; thank god for night and rest
      I take the balm and press it to my eyes.
      Here shall I slumber, head upon my breast.
      And here, refreshed behold the new day rise.

      Douglas Malloch. “Night”

      1. The end of another of his poems:

        A night like this alone beside the fire
        I look, like you, beyond the wall of trees.
        I ask the stars, the stars that do not tire,
        For what they wait the weary centuries.
        I ask the stars, that wait and alter not;
        Perhaps they wait, as wait the souls of men,
        Until some time, some time more long than thought,
        When stars and men may claim their own again

    3. Thank you. I am re-reading Blake ar the moment with cery different eyes.

      Meanwhile, the moon may be silent and smiling, but the blooming winds aren’t!! My van is rocking like a boat on the high seas… 🤣🤣

      2. We have a static at Castle Howard and apart from midsummer, it always seems to rain when ever we are there.
        I sympathise.

        1. 🤣 Yes – in this case, sadly, only due to the fact that the wind will probably have the fingers off anyone trying to open a door, though.

  102. First part of ‘The Night’ by William Blake

    The sun descending in the west,
    The evening star does shine;
    The birds are silent in their nest,
    And I must seek for mine.
    The moon, like a flower,
    In heaven’s high bower,
    With silent delight
    Sits and smiles on the night.

    Good night all, a cold wet and dreary day, but could have been worse.

  103. The top commander of the Red Arrows has been suspended from his post while an alleged relationship with a junior member of his team is investigated.

    Wing Commander David Montenegro, a father of two, was suspended from the aerobatic team on Monday.

    Details of the affair, which allegedly resulted in the junior colleague’s pregnancy, were first reported in the Daily Mail.

    What a load of tell tale tits they are , dobbing him in , when MP’s and Civil servants and many other so called worthies just carry on as normal .

    A highly trained pilot , £millions of equipment to fly , and the cost of his training , shattered .

    Morals should be strong and bomb proof , but to err is human . https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/21/red-arrows-top-commander-suspended-amid-probe-claims-affair/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1669064823-1

    1. The Red Arrows are elite that represent Great Britain. Recent media also attacks Submariners. Even at the Command level. Anyone see a pattern here?

      I’m sure there has been wrongdoing…………….there always has been.

      Tick Tock.

      2. It’s a global conspiracy, hardly any Canadian forces commandees are left after countless misconduct charges.

    2. In my now defunct company, there was a true story of how a german lady crew member was sharing her favours between two of our pilots whilst they were laying over in germany. The lady’s interesting arrangement was revealed when the suitors realised they were supping from the same well of pleasure. Jealousy got the better of them so the story emerged to became a regular time filler on long flights. Gossip eh, dont know how I would have ever survived those long nights without it. By the way Maggie, were you ever resident in the nurses home in Gibraltar?!

    3. Well that depends without knowing the full story. Maybe he was refusing to contribute to the bringing up of the child. Woman’s career on hold – why shouldn’t his be too?

    5. We assume that it was consensual?

      If she only ended up as a corporal she didn’t appear to have got any unfair advantage from the relationship.

  104. The top commander of the Red Arrows has been suspended from his post while an alleged relationship with a junior member of his team is investigated.

    Wing Commander David Montenegro, a father of two, was suspended from the aerobatic team on Monday.

    Details of the affair, which allegedly resulted in the junior colleague’s pregnancy, were first reported in the Daily Mail.

    What a load of tell tale tits they are , dobbing him in , when MP’s and Civil servants and many other so called worthies just carry on as normal .

    A highly trained pilot , £millions of equipment to fly , and the cost of his training , shattered .

    Morals should be strong and bomb proof , but to err is human . https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/21/red-arrows-top-commander-suspended-amid-probe-claims-affair/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1669064823-1

  106. Evening all, well we all know what the supporters of the England wendyball team should do next time the players take the knee, just wipe out a yellow card and point it to our “fearless warriors”, that will soon get them off their knees.
    They really have made themselves look ridiculous, which of course they are. Woke W⚓️‘s.

    1. The England footballers seem unaware of the pure evil of the Black Lives Matter organisation. BLM is an international crime syndicate. BLM funded the removal of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol for starters and have been the agents behind the defacing of other monuments to our great historical figures both in the UK and in the USA.

      In the USA the BLM black women activists responsible for the destruction of several city centres, Minnesota for example, where valuable land for real estate was burned to the ground on command, now themselves reside in gated communities, living amongst the hated whiteys, quaffing fine wines and laughing at the idiotic woke arseholes who put them there.

    1. Thank you, Mum. That is beautiful and almost describes what I felt on Saturday Night.

      I want to find my way home.

  108. Good early morning to you, folks. I made 25 jars of jam, managed to break one before I got started (it fell out of the cupboard when I opened it) and spilled probably a jarful on the kitchen floor because the jam kettle was so heavy. I would have been reporting this before, but nottl refused to load again, so I went off to soak in the tub (and then put my jammy clothes to soak afterwards because I still haven’t sorted the washing machine). I fully expect Oscar to a) throw up on the carpet in the middle of the night and b) develop diabetes if he isn’t poisoned first because he would insist on licking up the spilled jam, despite the fact I’d sprayed it with detergent to try to clear it up and reduce the stickiness. In his usual inimitable fashion, he decided it was edible so nobody was going to stop him finishing it if they valued their fingers. I found the sloes, but I was so knackered that the sloe gin making will take place tomorrow (I have found the recipe and it seems fairly simple).

      1. Raspberry jam. I shan’t eat all of it (and neither will Oscar if I have anything to do with it!). Friends will get a few jars (they have been given previous batches and enjoyed them).

    2. Fill a large jar with sloes.
      Add about half the volume of sugar, I use a dark brown sugar,
      Top up with gin,
      Shake the jar every day until the sugar dissolves.
      Leave to stand for a couple of months.
      Strain and decant sloe gin into small bottles.

  110. Russia invaded Ukraine (a part of its country) in order to expose and eliminate U.S. funded bio labs. We are referring to US funded ‘gain of function’ research into bio-weapons research.

    This exposure was the objective of the Russian ‘special operations’.

    The US ‘gain of function’ research laboratories were placed in Ukraine for the reason that Ukraine, neither a country nor an independent state, is not subject to international weapons conventions and control of weapons.

    The ‘vaccines’ are proven to be gene therapies produced by companies specialising in the introduction of specific known pathogens into the world populations. These ‘vaccines’ aim to infect every recipient with synthetic mRNA nano technology. This renders human recipients as trans human in much the same way that mice, rats and ferrets are rendered transgenic in our research laboratories.

    My own research evidenced that Malaysia has already convicted George W Bush and our own Tony Blair as war criminals. Regrettably Malaysia has no international clout and these two criminals are above our decrepit international law, a law, if properly instituted, would condemn these war criminals to a life of servitude in gaol.

    The Truth will always out. Just give it a few more months and these fuckers will be exposed.

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