Monday 21 October: Inheritance tax feels like a punishment for prudence and hard work

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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621 thoughts on “Monday 21 October: Inheritance tax feels like a punishment for prudence and hard work”

  1. Good Monday Morning Geoff and All
    Today's Tale
    The local spiritualist church was being addressed by an eminent spiritualist from overseas. After a spine-tingling talk about the supernatural, he asked his audience if anyone had had an intimate relationship with a ghost. “Come forward," he said, “and tell us about it.”

    A hand went up in the middle of the audience. “I have, though I’d prefer not to discuss it.”

    After great applause and encouragement from the rest of the congregation, the shy, introverted little man came forward and introduced himself as Timothy.

    “Well now, Timothy,” said the spiritualist, “tell us about your intimate relationship with a ghost.”

    “Ghost!” exclaimed Timothy, “I thought you said ‘goat’!"

    1. These places are so obvious I'm surprised that they don't have signs outside saying have your haircut by the Romanian Mafia. In the local village one man runs two on opposite sides of the main road. Neither has any customers.

    2. These places are so obvious I'm surprised that they don't have signs outside saying have your haircut by the Romanian Mafia. In the local village one man runs two on opposite sides of the main road. Neither has any customers.

    3. Either everyone in authority is afraid of them of they are just happy to see those shops filled.
      I mistakenly went into one a while back for a trim up.
      The young man that was sitting there said he couldn't do it because the owner had taken all the aprons for cleaning and hadn't brought them back yet .

    4. Auditing barber's shop takings is actually the easiest thing in the world as everything is on display. They do audits all the time in Japan. Just needs a head count by inspectors cross referenced with takings. The important thing is.. in the UK there is zero political will.

      1. Because that would be “racist” (in the warped minds of those running the country and their assorted useful leftist idiot acolytes)

    1. 395106+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Our transport cost is really minimal on account what we receive in the main, comes to us on a crest of a daily wave, courtesy of the governing
      "Eatforeignshite" department, it's safe.

  7. Kemi Badenoch's call for a re-evaluation of the core principles of Conservatism, so that it can be delivered after the 2029 election, contrasts with Robert Jenrick's rehashing of those policies that resounded well with the electorate and delivered Keir Starmer his victory.

    One of them must be the instinct within conservatism to strive to better the lot of one's family as fortunes pass down the generations. It is to work diligently, to save rather than squander, and to give one's offspring the best start in life, whereby they can continue the good work in their own time.

    Imposing a heavy tax and some horrible intrusions of privacy and stress just at the point of a family's peak point of vulnerabilty is both cruel and a negation of this instinct to provide for one's family.

    1. I cannot get any enthusiasm for either of them.
      Jenrick is trying to steal Farage's clothes, not sure what Kemi is doing.
      Will Conservative voters keep voting for them while expecting a different outcome, I wonder.
      In my opinion all the politicians that took us into and through the pandemic without holding the agenda to proper account and scruting should all be booted out.
      But it appears that the few that did at least try have been booted out instead.

      1. I am a little more charitable over the pandemic and the reaction to it. In truth, throughout the world all the leaders ran around like headless chickens and hadn’t a clue how to deal with it. Boris Johnson, elected as a party goer promising a good time to the nation in contrast to the more austere Jeremy Hunt, panicked when reports came from Italy about bodies piling up in the streets.

        Whatever this lurg was, and I think it a mutation of the common cold, possibly natural, more likely artificial, that threatened to repeat the Spanish Flu of a century earlier. In its most virulent stage, it was as deadly as pneumonia, but after a couple of cycles evolved to join the family of diseases one gets most winters and think nothing of. I think I have had it five times now. The chronic post-viral fatigue that can persist for years is perhaps its worst legacy, along with the economic chaos that our current finance systems are ill equipped to deal with without hardship for some unfortunates.

        As for a clear-out of Parliament, I think the most pressing argument for this lies with the gross miscarriage of justice in recent times, supported by senior establishment figures and politicians from all parties, and that is the Horizon scandal that wrecked the reputation of the Post Office, a key and ancient national institution. It was Tony Blair that knew about it as far back as 1998, but decided he could get away with brazening it out, as have his successors, including Ed Davey, a former Post Office minister and Keir Starmer, a former DPP. None of them are fit to be in Parliament.

        It also has to be said that two of the few politicians to come out of it with any credit are Kevin Hollinrake and his boss Kemi Badenoch, who in the dying months of the Sunak Government did what they could to make amends, only then for their work to be halted by a change of government.

  8. Good morning, all. Grey and damp – NOT the sunny day promised by the Wet Office. Grrr.

  9. Happy Trafalgar Day – by the way. I bet that is no longer marked by a Royal Navy parade in London.

      1. The only thing which should be hung in Starmers office is him and the rest of his motley cabinet

        1. I would love to give your comment a thousand upticks.

          But that wouldn’t be generous enough.

          So have a million upticks instead.

    4. The National Maritime Museum would probably have to unearth some evidence that most of the sailors were black before they could bring themselves to celebrate.
      220 years next year – they’ll have to get their skates on.

        1. It’s well known that the navy comprised all sorts as ports have a very mixed population of seafarers from all over the world. The original Bangladeshi population in east London were lascars who settled round the docks. But the sort of people who run our national museums always want to over-egg the pudding.

  11. Inheritance tax feels like a punishment for prudence and hard work

    It's just a way of ensuring that the lower classes stay in their place and cannot build up any wealth through the family.

    1. More than that.. it's a death knell for people that Labour despises.. SMEs, Tory farmers, private education & savers. Most never recover.

    1. How tedious. A shouty woman, trying to be provocative but succeeding only in being derivative.

    2. Apparently "claims" to be of Aboriginal heritage.
      Could have fooled me. Couldn't she find a better passing bandwagon to jump on?

  14. Free Speech magazine's aim is to encourage patriotism and pride in Britain and our history. As today is TRAFALGAR DAY we are running two pieces on this subject, a battle that saved the world from nasty Napoleonic world domination, one a lovely lyrical lament, almost a love letter from Anna to Lord Nelson , and the other by me on the battle itself , and why the incomparable men of the Royal Navy won it, against all the odds.

    We also have a third piece, on an episode in which we can have no pride in at all – the ABERFAN disaster of 21 October 1966 – in which the government-controlled NCB ignored many warnings and allowed a pit heap to avalanche into a school, killing 116 chidren and 28 adults. Typically, the Labour government of the time ansured that nobody was punished for it.

    Please read and leave a comment.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. MOH did some research and discovered that the BBC hasn't celebrated Trafalgar Day since 2010.

      Surely that can't be right?

      1. I’m not surprised janet. If possible, can you leave that comment under the article please, as I hope to build up the comment count.

  16. Good morning all,

    Light cloud covers the Eastern sky at Castle McPhee, wind South-West, 10℃ with 13℃ the expected 'high'.

    Is this woman about to become the most hated person in Britain?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d51a8e7bf69f98936090f639b4808e5c7428405e804c8d96ca5cb02f8e83f93b.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/britain-hands-chancellor-credit-card-suspended/

    A member of a well-paid 'dual income' household who can't balance her own finances and whose credit card was removed?
    Her civil servant husband was Gordon Brown's former private secretary and speech-writer.
    She claims to be a practicing Christian, apparently.
    Yet another Oxford PPE graduate too. Jill-of-all-trades but mistress of none.
    Did you know her sister is a Labour MP too? Another sibling duo in the Liebour ranks.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb194bc00ac1cc733b0a171a3ccfb0ba6613a92d91d0949b383917cdad5c4579.png
    These people are injurious to the health and wealth of the nation. They ALWAYS are.

    1. Wasn’t a Reeve the petty bureaucrat who collected taxes off the peasantry in order to sustain a fat-cat Lord’s lifestyle?
      Not to be confused with a reiver of course.

  17. Good morning, chums, and thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site. Overslept, so late on parade today.

    Wordle 1,220 5/6

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    1. The Left don't want any of that though. They want to punish you for wanting it. They want a demos that is beholden to them because that's the plan. They want to force green – and use your money to spread the propaganda – for their personal benefit.

      It's all a scam perpetrated on the tax payer.

    2. Leftie Robinson hectoring.. tries to distract to something or other over there, right over there.. just get this conversation away from immigration.

      Hi I'm Nick, a smug metro leftie that lives and mixes with other smug metro lefties.. and have been taught the James O'Brien hostile interview technique: breakdown every word and question it.

      "Ok, but what about you.. Matt Goodwin.. what are you.. you talk about people.. who are these people.. why aren't you in politics.. yeah you, why aren't you politics promoting your divisive views.. who are these so-called majority? Sorry that's all we have time for."
      .
       https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7aab8f9efc17e0dcdfdd0cd3ffcd15a022a28912d54ea3ff3bb6a391513d9d7.png

    1. 'Wow, you do all that for free?'

      I've made my attitude to the NHS clear many times: it's two organisations. One a bureaucratic mess of sclerotic, self important, arrogant wasters who find the other half, the health care provider; an annoyance it would do without to make it's numbers add up.

      Yes, many nurses are wonderful. You wouldn't do the job if you didn't care a bit about people. Yet they as human as the rest of us. When my blood poured out of me into the hydrating machine and no bugger answered I had to disconnect it myself lest I be exanguinated.

      1. Hello wibbling, if you have time you may like to read Carl Heneghan/Trust the Evidence, currently writing on where all the funding goes. Spoiler: quite a lot on admin.

    2. There are some who still fit that description. Problem is, we’ve all seen the ones who hang around the nurses station on the ward doing sweet FA.

      1. Usually sharing a box of chocs or a cake, what I've seen. As someone once said 'if they're so poor why are the chuggers always driving new cars…' personal note – I visited an old neighbour in hospital, usual chat round the station, waved me to a waiting room where she was sitting, crying – they'd put one of those pressure socks on her leg size too small – skin almost black above it. At our local hospital, there's a private ward in the basement, not well known – a different world, it can be done.

    3. I'm on a series of vitamin B12 loading doses and have had 4 with 2 to go. The total injection is 1cc and I've had 4 different nurses inject it in 8 days. The jab pain has varied from very good to "Jesus, were you Dr Mengele's assistant?"
      Last one coming on Friday and it's being done by guess who.

  20. Our fate is in the hands of a chancellor who had her credit card suspended
    I can’t help but think that Labour will soon wish it was still in opposition
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/britain-hands-chancellor-credit-card-suspended/

    According to this article when Reeves was an ordinary MP on just three times the average wage and an over-generous expense account she had the problem of Micawberism in that her expenditure exceeded her income. This poster suspects there is something rather smelly in her closets.

    BTL

    This is, of course, speculation but I wonder if her domestic financial worries have been influenced by something like her husband having an interest in a certain sort of video in the way that a former Labour home secretary, Jacqui Smith, claimed the purchase of such videos for her husband on her parliamentary expenses?

    2. "I can’t help but think that Labour will soon wish it was still in opposition" – As far as I can tell, so do the rest of the voting population.

  21. SIR – I have outlived three husbands, so I am well acquainted with death. These men all suffered dreadfully and palliative care was neither effective nor helpful.

    Now, I am in my 80s and know many widows who have shared my experience and do not want to go through what their husbands endured. We are, quite frankly, terrified of what our limited future holds for us. Knowing that we could choose assisted dying if things get bad would be a great relief.

    Perhaps the politicians and clerics who are shouting most loudly against assisted dying will change their minds when they themselves reach the seventh age of man.

    Anne Hedges
    Woking, Surrey

    Dare I say anything about the letter above. https://twitter.com/True_Belle/status/1848261615935750254 https://twitter.com/True_Belle/status/1848261615935750254

    2. I’ll bite and ask the obvious. Did she kill three husbands? If she wants to kill herself, fine. She’s free to do that. Advocating that others should be killed? No.

  22. Good Morning.
    Oh, what a grey day.
    Boring jobs list:
    Filing – done
    Ironing – done
    Batch cooking – can barely shut the freezer door
    Cleaning brass and silver – heck, I must be bored …..

    1. Good heavens Anne,

      Greyish day here , Moh golfing ..

      If you want to jump in your car and leap down here , I have a list of boring jobs , skivvy tasks that need an efficient sort out .. same old same old!

        1. My morning began with the Warqueen being draped over me so had a mouthful of hair. When I realised I couldn't feel my legs I assumed Lucy had crept on to the bed, so shuffled her off and then got cramp in my right adductor. As had dribbling blonde pinning me down, couldn't exactly move so lay there biting the pillow until the pain went.

          Shuffled into the bathroom after getting up backwards (to avoid cramp) and stood until too hot shower then too tepid then soap was running out – both sorts – so replaced that after getting out. Towel felt like sandpaper, went downstairs, picked up the plate left behind by a very lazy family who were tired on Sunday and put in wishdosher. Got a quiche out for tomorrow.

          Made coffee. Hoofed bin and water bottle in hand and opened curtains. Checked Junior's coat and bag were by the door (they were, he's a good fellow) and heard his alarm going off and a great thump followed by a smaller as Mongo got moving then junior did. Grunted at both and had a whuff from Mongo. Sat on edge of bed in stupor as brain went through what hurt today routine (knee, knee, foot, wrist, shoulder) and drank coffee as Warqueen lay diagonally across bed.

          Junior out of shower so I went downstairs to get breakfast organised. Also got new milk out of freezer. Dished up for the dogs and put toast in for Junior along with most stuffs bar the milk as we both like that straight from fridge. Had breakfast in mostly amiable quiet except for the slurping of large dogs. Mongo putting more water on the floor than in his mouth.

          Made extra special coffee for her Blondeness who had roused and was in the shower and left by bedside to get cold and gloopy.

          Alarm went off on fire alarm. Bashed own radio which is mostly static. Put scruffs on to take Junior to school. Piled the militia into the motor and had small boy climb in the front beside great beast. Dropped small boy (who's not so small any more) off at school and hauled great beast and co into car after they paraded for fuss with the Mums and other children.

          Went home to find Warqueen still in bathroom, made her a blobby fruit thing in the blender and left it on the table as she slumped downstairs in what she calls her kimono but is really a short dressing gown, the poncy mare.

          Sat down for first meetings as I hear the rising morning whinges about it being cold (yes, the windows are open, why? To dry the place out. Why? because there's no window in the bally bathroom.

          She'll stare into space for a few more mins while my meeting finishes and then she'll get dressed and sorted, I'll close the windows up and turn lights, bathroom fan and think about getting lunch for us lot ready after a few more meetings are had.

    2. Is it a reference to there being no white people in London, the greed of the gimmigrant or overly generous welfare?

      Solving the problem is simple: stop paying them. They'll leave. Those that don't are working and we don't mind them.

      1. Germany moves them on by saying there are huge numbers of black market jobs and claiming Benefits are easy. UK is the final destination, none turn round and return whence they came – why would they?

        1. Not a single on of them should be getting here. Every single boats should have been turned back in the channel – at gunpoint if necessary.

          1. I hear you, wibbling. That would break the UK membership ECHR, apparently a ‘terrible terrible thing’ because no country would want to have us as a contract partner, we’d be ‘untrustworthy’. Embedded in Brexit Agreement, again apparently. Further, white employment population numbers are falling and consequently so are NIC deductions and therefore tightening ability to pay future pension claims. Apparently.

    1. I find the way twitter redirects to itself when you click back infuriating.

      If nuclear war were to happen (and Alex Jones is not just using a clickbait headline to sell dangerous products) then aim for London, Sheffield, Rotherham, Luton, Rochdale. If you could get Birmingham but not the university i'd be grateful too.

      Oh, and if you could get Millbrook and Shirley I'd be grateful.

      1. Wasn't in Neutron bombs that killed people but didn't damage the buildings? I ask because Universities are in desperate need of a clearing out.

  25. The fire alarm is going off because of the bathroom's humidity. Not wahwahawah but the odd beep here and there. Enough to set my nerves on edge.

    1. Or the battery needs replacing?
      Even though they are sometimes wired into mains electricity they have a battery back up which gives out a periodic beep when it needs replacing – usually a long life PP3 battery?

      1. That's the thing – it's been without a battery for nigh a year. I bought a new one and plumbed it in and now, after showers it goes off.

        Did some reading and if the sensor gets 'water' on it it can sound. As it's literally outside the bathroom I'm assuming that's the cause. Certainly a proper test using a tealight set it off in normal conditions.

          2. Our landing alarm used to go off every time we opened the bathroom door after a bath.
            After a while (the house had been empty for some months) it seemed to settle down accept the higher level of steam and heat without protest.

      1. I have to say, in defense and fairness, it isn't so. In Libya Al Khums, where I lived was pristine and so was the capital, Tripoli. The same can be said for the Trucial States and most Arabic cities, The problem seems to be something to do specifically with Indian/Pakistani culture. My guess it has something to do with the Caste system in which only the lowest of the low, pariahs, had anything to do with rubbish, so no one wants to be seen making a living out of garbage. Pakistan may be Muslim, but they are still Indians with the same sort of mentality. Caste may have been abolished but the mind set is still there.

          1. With Pakistanis etc. I honestly don't know. They seem to be used to living in filth.

    2. Situation very similar certain parts of Asia – they have no method of refuse collection and re-cycling. I know someone works in that UK, they tell me very little is recycled, most is burnt/landfill/at sea. Check out the Large Atlantic Garbage Patch, eventually sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The main solution would be to minimise plastic use, but that's growing worldwide.

      1. Slightly more worrying is that we simply post our 'excess' waste to them and they then dump it in the sea.

        1. Yes, the containers full of hospital waste, among other items. Populations are getting the message, might just be a backlash.

        1. Thanks Ndovu, I was in Channel Islands some years ago, what they were doing then. Maybe we do it UK, do it with bodies after all – human and animal. Bit scary to see. I remember at my dad’s funeral, giving the eulogy as he was there in his box. When I nodded to the undertaker, coffin closed, sealed and moved to entrance, then I pressed a big red button and coffin slid into flames. Collected ashes later, and scattered where he loved to be. Did similarly with my mum’s, earlier. Then the wake..off to the pub..

  28. A belated good morning to all. Up a bit late and then got distracted!
    A dull but dry start with 6°C on the Yard Thermometer and forecast to stay dry.

  29. And Jacqui Smith has been sent to the House of Lords for 'Services to Pornography'.

  30. Millions to be handed health-monitoring smart watches by NHS
    Devices to track blood pressure and cancer recovery to be given out under 10-year plan to save health service

    Smart watches and wearable tech will be handed to millions of people under a 10-year plan to save the NHS.

    Devices to track blood pressure, glucose spikes and even monitor how cancer patients are responding to treatment will be given out to prevent ill-health and treat more patients at home.

    Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, will announce a “national conversation” on the future of the NHS on Monday, asking patients and staff across the country to shape major reforms.

    On Saturday, he said: “If we want to save the things we love about the NHS, then we have to change it.

    “Our 10-year health plan will turn the NHS on its head – transforming it into a Neighbourhood Health Service powered by cutting-edge technology that helps us stay healthy and out of hospital. We will rebuild the health service around what patients tell us they need.”

    Mr Streeting will set out three major shifts that he says are necessary to make the service fit for the future.

    Dominic Savage
    1 hr ago
    If the NHS won’t accept crutches from patients, it certainly won’t take fitbits back.

    The watches gave away the locations of special forces soldiers on operations via the Strava app. It can be turned off. However I predict there’ll be a sudden bloom in the infirm and the unwell running around subsaharan Africa within a fortnight of receiving the blasted things. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/19/health-monitoring-smart-watches-nhs-wes-streeting-labour/

    ——————————————————-

    Moh and son have sophisticated gadgets , and son is connected to Strava re his running .. Son is almost married to his gadget , it tells him calories burnt , sleep required and much more .

    I bought a cheap gadget similar to a Fitbit .. Moh says I should walk 10,000 steps a day.. he easily does that and more when he is playing golf .

    I am amazed at the accuracy of these gadgets .. my cheap one cost under £20, and it is clever but needs recharging probably more frequently than the others .

    The tiny metallic gizmo on the back of the watch caused a little raw spot on my wrist, I am allergic to most metals , so I wear it for a few days then relax ..

    I have achieved 10,000 steps , and that was during lockdown when we were walking around the village before I messed my hip up. on an ordinary day I can achieve over 4,000 steps quite easily .

    The trouble with those watches that the NHS want to provide will incur more visits to the doctor because people will be constantly looking at their watches and any variation re blood pressure and o2 levels will probably cause panic .

    The watches don't diagnose lumps and bumps and other issues , so Wes Streeting is barking up the wrong tree !

    1. But it's a great way to waste even more money – I reckon they have at least doubled any actual black hole since taking power! And, as someone pointed out yesterday – where is the data going and who has access to it??

    2. Not once has the sp02 checking feature of my 'smart watch' (ok, a cheapo huawei jobbie) worked. It says 'keep still' and then says 'can't be read' with info on adjustment.

      The recipients then have to wear these watches all the time, and that data then be collected by the NHS and analysed by them – meaning a lot of API intervention. Remember that this data is collected and often sold by the companies who make the devices. Who then monitors the data? Is this yet another big government initiative to automagically monitor everyone to see if the lass is heading to greggs and have the Health Police stop her?

    3. Who wants to wear a tracking device? The same people who fell for the NHS app and got pinged?

    4. Sky News quizzes Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister of State for Care, on how the NHS smart watch will measure blood pressure:

      https://news.sky.com/video/people-could-be-using-tech-at-home-to-reduce-pressure-on-nhs-stephen-kinnock-mp-13238127

      No tech at all can reliably test for prostate cancer. A smart watch is just a fob to make patients think they are in control of their health when in fact doctors prefer to maintain an air of mystery whilst gazing into their PC screens and then prescribing treatments that may well benefit them more than the patient.

  31. Millions to be handed health-monitoring smart watches by NHS
    Devices to track blood pressure and cancer recovery to be given out under 10-year plan to save health service

    Smart watches and wearable tech will be handed to millions of people under a 10-year plan to save the NHS.

    Devices to track blood pressure, glucose spikes and even monitor how cancer patients are responding to treatment will be given out to prevent ill-health and treat more patients at home.

    Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, will announce a “national conversation” on the future of the NHS on Monday, asking patients and staff across the country to shape major reforms.

    On Saturday, he said: “If we want to save the things we love about the NHS, then we have to change it.

    “Our 10-year health plan will turn the NHS on its head – transforming it into a Neighbourhood Health Service powered by cutting-edge technology that helps us stay healthy and out of hospital. We will rebuild the health service around what patients tell us they need.”

    Mr Streeting will set out three major shifts that he says are necessary to make the service fit for the future.

    Dominic Savage
    1 hr ago
    If the NHS won’t accept crutches from patients, it certainly won’t take fitbits back.

    The watches gave away the locations of special forces soldiers on operations via the Strava app. It can be turned off. However I predict there’ll be a sudden bloom in the infirm and the unwell running around subsaharan Africa within a fortnight of receiving the blasted things. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/19/health-monitoring-smart-watches-nhs-wes-streeting-labour/

    ——————————————————-

    Moh and son have sophisticated gadgets , and son is connected to Strava re his running .. Son is almost married to his gadget , it tells him calories burnt , sleep required and much more .

    I bought a cheap gadget similar to a Fitbit .. Moh says I should walk 10,000 steps a day.. he easily does that and more when he is playing golf .

    I am amazed at the accuracy of these gadgets .. my cheap one cost under £20, and it is clever but needs recharging probably more frequently than the others .

    The tiny metallic gizmo on the back of the watch caused a little raw spot on my wrist, I am allergic to most metals , so I wear it for a few days then relax ..

    I have achieved 10,000 steps , and that was during lockdown when we were walking around the village before I messed my hip up. on an ordinary day I can achieve over 4,000 steps quite easily .

    The trouble with those watches that the NHS want to provide will incur more visits to the doctor because people will be constantly looking at their watches and any variation re blood pressure and o2 levels will probably cause panic .

    The watches don't diagnose lumps and bumps and other issues , so Wes Streeting is barking up the wrong tree !

  32. There's a headline on the DT this morning that the "SNP claims there are 24 genders" and even lists them for its readers.

    A lot of mentally ill people in Scroatland…

  33. Mother sacked after getting pregnant while on maternity leave wins £28,000 payout
    Employment tribunal awards compensation to 27-year-old for being unfairly dismissed
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/20/mother-fired-job-compensation-tribunal-pregnant-again-leave/

    " The managing director dismissed her before she returned to stop her going on another 36-week period of maternity leave."

    Three lessons to be learnt from this :

    i) Don't run your own small business;
    ii) If you do then make it a family business employing nobody from outside;
    iii) Be very wary of employing women of child-bearing age.

    These maternity rules may be manageable for large businesses but they can be the kiss of death for start-ups and small businesses.

    1. A lot of businesses, so I have read, are refusing to hire women of child bearing age. But, I suppose, there is always that sucker that will do it because he is naive enough to believe that feminism is all about equality and therefore, the woman deserves a chance. A woman having her period is another scam, I can't cope, have to stay in bed etc. Good for at least 5 days off a month.

      1. The head of Modern Languages in a leading Roman Catholic British public school came to see us to talk about our courses on October 17th 1995.

        While we were talking to him Caroline received a message from her body that something was happening and so, as soon as our guest left, we drove straight to Dinan hospital where our lovely second son, Henry, was born later in the day.

        Added to this good news is that fact that we have had several students from this school on our courses!

      2. The Warqueen used to get very painful cramps during her period so I can understand it. She'd bash through though and spend 2 hours in a hot bath at the end of the day.

        Although yes, sadly, businesses are simply going to look at not hiring certain demographics.

    2. I was warned when we hired a young woman by 'an old woman' that we would be in hoc to her maternity pay if we took her on.

      I hadn't thought about it. Maybe we've been lucky. I think we deliberately encourage a 'do the work, not the time' policy. If you get everything done in 3 hours, there's no point taking the next 5 dithering about filling up space. Equally if your work takes you 10 hours, then you do that.

      1. In my experience of military and civil service, there are always things that could be done to reduce waste, enhance the working environment, help others or improve productivity. They are not part of the job description or terms of reference but are, nevertheless, things that any reasonably conscientious and considerate worker could and should do for the benefit of others.

  34. Anyone know anything about the talk that James O'Brian, the obnoxious, supercilious, moralizing left wing pestilence of the airwaves is having a mental breakdown. Saw a clip on You Tube the other day, where he claimed his job was more strenuous than a dustman's, a statement that was good for a laugh.

    1. Perhaps he should try actually doing a dustman's [surely recycling operative??] job for a few weeks before spouting such carp? I have nothing but good things to say about our team – very reliable – but I wouldn't want to do their job!

      1. I am in a contest with our team of local "Waste Disposal Practitioners" and the Postie People.

        Who will change from 'Shorts' to long trousers first, as Winter sets in

      2. I am in a contest with our team of local "Waste Disposal Practitioners" and the Postie People.

        Who will change from 'Shorts' to long trousers first, as Winter sets in

    2. O'brien is, like most Lefties, utterly uninformed, driven solely by dogma and ideology, desperate to avoid facts, has never read a new book, never learned anything and thus is wrong in everything he says, does and thinks simply because holding a fact in his head is painful to his mind set.

    3. The one and only time that I heard him (tuning accident with the radio) I surmised that he was in the throes of a break-down. And that was at least 5 years ago.

      1. Like you, I have only listened to him by accident. He really struck me as a very unpleasant bully, a verbal thug.

  35. Morning all 🙂😊
    Bit late today had to get the car to the garage for new front tyres. And walk home, I kept bumping into people and having chats.
    Our vile repulsive government still drives the wedges into the crevasses they seem to have enjoyed creating.
    King Charles is looking a bit elderly now.
    And getting a bit of stick from some of the local Sheila's. I expect he's told her slayders. 🤠

      1. The woman is a Hard Left nutter. A hypocritical ignoramus. She has nothing useful to do, has never done anything of value, never contributed. She's a useless waster.

        1. As many whities seem to have done in that country, she's jumped onto the 'indigenous' band wagon.

  36. DUVETS EVERY TIME FOR ME.

    SIR – I am very much in agreement with Nigel Havers and Sir Jacob Rees-mogg on the subject of duvets (Peterborough, October 12).
    When I have had to suffer one, I have always woken up in the middle of the night feeling boiling hot.
    Then, having thrown the wretched thing off, a couple of hours later I wake up feeling freezing cold. Nothing beats sheets, blankets and an eiderdown.
    Martin Coomber
    London SW19

    Well I am not with them. I had to suffer sleeping in a bed made up of sheets and blankets all my childhood, in a room that was unheated and which had single glazing. The sheets, blankets and counterpane (with an additional eiderdown in winter) slid about each other and, in winter, weighed a ton without giving any discernible warmth.

    In my early 20s I discovered the warmth and freedom of the 'continental quilt' (as they were then known). I have owned a number of duvets since then and I would not be without one. Currenntly I have a thick and fluffy one filled with duck down for winter use. I have a thinner one filled with synthetic material for spring and autumn use; and I have a very thin one for summer use. I am comfortable all year and without the need to be trapped under the colossal weight of a pile of archaic sheets and blankets.

    I endured a night's stay at a friend's house, back in England, nine years ago and slept in a bed still using the mediaeval sheets and blankets system. It was the worst night I'd suffered in decades. I felt like I was strapped to the rack. The weight of those ancient items of torture was incredible.

    It is even better now that I live in a house with 15" thick insulation in the walls and triple glazing. Keeping the bed and bedroom warm and ventilated has never been easier. Duvets are the only bed covering I shall ever accept for a proper and decent night's sleep.

    1. I have just splashed out on a goose down duvet from Woods of Harrogate (in the sale naturally). It was expensive but advancing age has made me value a duvet that is relatively light for the warmth it brings and this one is allegedly hypo-allergenic (certainly the ticking looks high quality).
      I dislike blankets because I like my feet to have freedom or I get cramp in them. Whenever I go to a hotel I have to unweld the sheets etc from the foot of the bed before I can sleep.

      1. Aye, if my feet get trapped in a sheet then my knee will twist painfully. One thing I have found difficult is finding a ruddy duvet that's big enough. We've a king sized bed and my feet are often still hanging off the end. I'd like a thick heavy duvet that lets you tuck feet in at the bottom – which I can do with the blanket as it's 2.4m on a side.

    2. We sleep under duvets and when we were on the boat a duvet was the only sensible option. We have two duvets – one for winter and the other for summer and this suits us well.

      Having said that, we enjoy our rare visits to a hotel if there is a well-made bed with sheets and blankets.

    3. We have never needed a blanket on the bed before, but on moving in here we have one on the bed from about now to March. It's heavy, but the additional warmth is very welcome.

      I'm loathe to get another duvet. The 'Ungarian goose' one we have is lovely for most all weather.

    4. A sheet and one cellular blanket tucked in reasonably loosely then on top of that as many loose, lightweight blankets as required. If it gets too warm, just turn one or more down. It's adjustable, unlike the duvet.

  37. Rioter dies in prison after being jailed for two years
    Peter Lynch, a grandfather, was convicted of violent disorder at a hotel in Rotherham which housed asylum seekers
    A grandfather jailed for violent disorder and abusing police at an anti-immigration riot this summer has become the first rioter to die in prison.

    Peter Lynch, 61, described as a conspiracy theorist at his court hearing, is believed to have taken his own life on Saturday night at HMP Moorland near Doncaster in south Yorkshire, according to prison sources.

    Lynch was jailed for two years and eight months on Aug 22 after pleading guilty to violent disorder in a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court.

    The court was told Lynch went to the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on Aug 4 with a placard which called police officers, MPs and the media “corrupt”.

    Lynch shouted “racist and provocative remarks” towards officers and called asylum seekers in the hotel “child killers”, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told the court during his sentencing.

    His death in jail will now be investigated by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

    A prison service spokesman said: “HMP Moorland prisoner Peter Lynch died on Oct 19 2024. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

    ‘Family man’
    “Family man” Lynch, who recently had a heart attack, had gone to protest at the hotel against immigration, his defence barrister told the hearing in August.

    He had “a general conspiracy theory against anyone and any form of authority”, and his placard referenced the “deep state” and space agency Nasa. Video played to the court showed Lynch “revving up” the situation before it turned violent, the Recorder said.

    He was filmed calling the police “scum”. His sign and protest was not unlawful, but his verbal abuse towards police officers during the “racist incident” crossed the line, the Recorder added.

    Lynch, of Burman Road, Wath-upon-Dearne, was a “full participant” in the disorder, the court was told. “You were unquestionably endeavouring to rev up the situation the best you could,” the Recorder added.

    Lynch’s placard stated that police chiefs, reporters, civil servants, judges and the Environment Agency were all “corrupt”.

    More than 1,511 arrests
    Police have made more than 1,511 arrests linked to the summer riots and, together with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), have brought around 1,000 charges.

    The arrests came amid a prison overcrowding crisis, with the jails in England and Wales almost running out of space on the weekend of the August bank holiday after the riots.

    Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, has since introduced an early release scheme in which prisoners – including many of those convicted for rioting – are eligible to be freed 40 per cent of the way through their sentences rather than halfway.

    Terrorist, sexual and specific domestic abuse offences are excluded from the scheme – as are those sentenced to more than four years in jail for violence.

    Lynch would have been eligible, having been sentenced to under four years in jail for a violent offence.

    Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and government adviser, said: “Any death in custody is a tragedy. Not all can be prevented.

    “However, the profile of this offender, rightly jailed for his role in rioting, suggests to me he ought to have at least been considered as a suicide risk.

    “The investigation which must take place after a fatal incident in a prison will need to explore this in relation to his vulnerability and care.”

    2. I hope members of this current administration and their tame judges hang their heads in shame. Unfortunately i know they have no shame, so this sad, shameful incident will pass unremarked. What on earth are they trying to prove , jailing ordinary people for this stuff. It’s absolutely insane.

  39. Extract from an email I received.:
    It would appear that

    the European Commission is exploring the possibility that it may be able to levy a fine against Elon Musk’s whole business empire rather than just X. The Commission is close to concluding that he has violated the terms of the Digital Security Act which requires violent and terrorist content to be policed.
    Whilst X would be found guilty, there is a possibility that the fine can be levied against SpaceX and Neuralink as well. At 6 per cent of global annual turnover that would be an interesting figure.
    It is thought that Musk would fight the conclusion leading to the fine as well as the legality of the law.

    Yet another example of left wing lawfare.
    Who would get the money from any fine?

    2. I'm sure that he has ways of damaging them far more than they can hurt him. Shut off Starlink to their precious Ukraine, for example. Deny them the use of rockets when they want to send up a communications satellite. At the moment too, the lives of people on the space station are reliant on Musk. There's a lot of things he could do top cost them a lot more than they fine him. Deny them the use of X. I see that Brazil after trying to block that has had to allow access to it because it has become an essential in communication, not only for individuals but for government.

    3. How can they just get away with plundering who they do not like? A reason in itself to dismantle the EU.

    4. Musk is smart. If Elon doesn't play ball and the EU sanctions his European operations I suspect his friend Mr Trump, assuming he is elected President, will play hardball with the EU and all its works….

  40. Last October both our ½ Term French courses were fully booked.

    Owing to Starmer's VAT imposition on private schools our numbers have been torpedoed and we may well not survive. This week we have only two students with us – both of whom are at very expensive private schools.

    One of these students has a father who is self-employed and very successful and has all three of his children in private schools. This means that he will have to pay a total of over £20,000 in VAT alone. He is very stressed at the moment and is having to work desperately hard to try and increase his income.

    Only the private schools which cater for the very wealthy will survive without considerable anxiety. For example, my old school in Devon has survived for over 400 years and the majority of its pupils come from middle-class rather than wealthy families.

    In the last few years private schools have dramatically increased their numbers of overseas pupils and I very much suspect the VAT rise will result in an even higher percentage. This will inevitably change their Britishness – which is the very thing for which wealthy foreign parents are eager to pay.

    1. It's not all doom & gloom. I've witnessed many a 20% fluctuation (usually currency). He's smart, all his clients/customers will experience a slight increase in cost, and his suppliers will be squeezed.
      There's nothing like a visit to the local comp to frighten the life out of him.

  41. Steakhouse talks to investors as meat makes a comeback

    The Daily Telegraph. 21 Oct 2024. By Daniel Woolfson

    STEAKHOUSE chain Blacklock is in talks to raise cash from investors, according to industry sources, as declining interest in veganism leads to a comeback for meat-heavy menus.

    The self-styled “chop house” brand, which runs a string of restaurants across the capital and Manchester, is understood to be working with advisers at BDO to explore options including selling a slice of the company. It is not clear whether a deal would involve a majority or minority stake.
    City sources suggested Business Growth Fund (BGF), an investment company that backs small and medium sized UK businesses, could be lined up for a potential deal.

    BGF has previously invested in a number of well-known hospitality firms including Thai chain, Giggling Squid, and Arc Inspirations, which runs bars in the North of England.

    Blacklock was founded by Gordon Ker, a former lawyer. Its first restaurant was opened in Soho in 2015 on the site of a former basement brothel. Today, it runs six sites, including a 4,000sq ft restaurant in Canary Wharf that opened last year and a Manchester outpost in a Grade Ii-listed former warehouse.

    Accounts for the Blacklock’s parent company, Understudy Ltd, show revenues grew by 36pc to £15.8m in 2023, despite “a year that was full of challenges for the industry”. Earnings before interest, tax, amortisation and depreciation came in at just under £1m.

    Blacklock styles itself as a sustainable business that uses entire animals to cut down on waste. The chain also touts its affordability – most of the steak at its Soho site cost about the £20 mark. While enthusiasm for avoiding animal products surged during the pandemic, many fake meat companies have since struggled as have some vegan restaurants.

    Hawksmoor, a larger steakhouse rival, has also put itself up for sale as it expands across the Atlantic, in a deal that could reach as much as £100m.
    BDO and BGF declined to comment. Blacklock did not respond to requests for comment.

    Looking good. If meat (i.e. proper food) is making a comeback, surely common sense will follow.

  42. As a few NOTTLers may remember, I was plodding through Nadine Dorries' "The Plot".
    After I gratefully turned the last page – towards the end I learnt that the Secretary for Media, Culture and Sport had never heard of "The Manchurian Candidate" – I looked up the reviews. This is one of the kinder ones.

    https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-january-2024/the-plot-thins/

    "The Plot thins

    Anyone working in journalism has received letters from people claiming to have evidence of a vast conspiracy against them, often handwritten in tiny scrawls over many pages. They are terribly sad, and they go straight into the bin.

    HarperCollins, receiving such a missive, instead decided to write the author a large cheque. The result is The Plot, in which former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries reveals that British democracy is in thrall to a mysterious group known as The Movement, which has picked and then deposed more or less every Conservative leader of the past two decades, apparently in order to advance the career of Michael Gove.

    Does this sound bonkers? Wake up, sheeple! The conspiracy is well-known within Westminster, apparently: Dorries claims to have spoken to “well over fifty people” at all levels in British politics. “All of them had the same tale to tell.” I have myself spoken to one of the people she interviewed for the book and they denied having told her this tale, but perhaps Big Gove has got to them.

    Conspiracy theories often flow from a trauma someone can’t process. For Dorries it was the fall of Boris Johnson. You might think that Johnson’s obvious failings and his instinct to lie his way out of trouble finally drove his MPs to get rid of him. But Dorries seems unable to imagine anyone looking at Johnson and seeing less than the evolutionary peak of our species. Certainly, her fifty-plus interviewees included no one who thought dumping Johnson was a good idea. So of course there must have been a decades-long conspiracy to remove him. It’s the only explanation.

    Everything Dorries encounters proves how right she is. Rishi Sunak was The Movement’s man. The Movement is behind every nasty political story you read — but the nasty stories about Sunak are also the work of The Movement. Isn’t it obvious?

    No one has told Dorries she needs things like evidence and witnesses

    Normally the decent thing to do with this stuff would be to steer the person explaining it gently towards the nearest security guard. Instead a major publisher has seen fit to release a book, so we must say clearly that this is nonsense, and everyone involved should be ashamed. It is not even readable. In each chapter, Dorries meets a new source, generally anonymous, who explains the theory again, at great length. Although the author is playing at journalism, no one has told her she needs things like evidence and witnesses. Where there are facts, there are mistakes. Dates are wrong; events are confused. Very few of her sources claim to know anything for certain. Instead they offer second-hand gossip and supposition.

    Do these people even exist? It’s hard to know. On the one hand, it’s very hard to imagine anyone going to the trouble of making up these endless, turgid monologues. On the other, they all sound the same, making the same convoluted points at similar length, explaining the same basic things about Westminster to her in a way that suggests that, if they are real, they think Dorries is an idiot.

    Again and again Dorries’s sources predict the events of the coming months with uncanny accuracy. Perhaps this is intended to show how connected they are. Instead it makes them implausible. I laughed out loud when a woman working for the security services — Dorries hints it’s MI6 — explained that “the money network of the world” had a plan to bring down the new prime minister Liz Truss within three months.

    These moments of unintended humour are the book’s sole redeeming feature. At one point Dorries stands in awe and wonder at the realisation that Johnson has just quoted a line of Wordsworth. “Boris is the only person I have met in my life who has the ability to effortlessly insert a great poet into daily conversation, without missing a beat.” It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

    Even as an effort to defend Johnson, the book fails. Trying to explain the bits of the historical record that cannot be denied, Dorries portrays her hero as a weak fool. He was tricked into giving Dominic Cummings a job and bullied into keeping him. Misleading the Queen? He never meant to do that. The Owen Paterson vote? He was badly advised.

    The picture she paints of Britain’s Greatest Ever Leader is of a gullible man easily pushed into bad decisions by the wicked advisors he’d been so easily prodded into appointing. In desperately trying to scrub away Johnson’s guilt, Dorries has removed his agency. Or perhaps that was The Movement, too."

      1. I don't like giving up on books.
        Also, this one was leant to me by a friend, and I didn't like to hurt her feelings. (Plus she might ask me a question on something in the later chapters)

    2. If that was one of the kinder ones, I'm not sure I'd want to read an unkind one.

      Anyway, I've always suspected that Michael Gove was one of the lizard people.

  43. As a few NOTTLers may remember, I was plodding through Nadine Dorries' "The Plot".
    After I gratefully turned the last page – towards the end I learnt that the Secretary for Media, Culture and Sport had never heard of "The Manchurian Candidate" – I looked up the reviews. This is one of the kinder ones.

    https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-january-2024/the-plot-thins/

    "The Plot thins

    Anyone working in journalism has received letters from people claiming to have evidence of a vast conspiracy against them, often handwritten in tiny scrawls over many pages. They are terribly sad, and they go straight into the bin.

    HarperCollins, receiving such a missive, instead decided to write the author a large cheque. The result is The Plot, in which former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries reveals that British democracy is in thrall to a mysterious group known as The Movement, which has picked and then deposed more or less every Conservative leader of the past two decades, apparently in order to advance the career of Michael Gove.

    Does this sound bonkers? Wake up, sheeple! The conspiracy is well-known within Westminster, apparently: Dorries claims to have spoken to “well over fifty people” at all levels in British politics. “All of them had the same tale to tell.” I have myself spoken to one of the people she interviewed for the book and they denied having told her this tale, but perhaps Big Gove has got to them.

    Conspiracy theories often flow from a trauma someone can’t process. For Dorries it was the fall of Boris Johnson. You might think that Johnson’s obvious failings and his instinct to lie his way out of trouble finally drove his MPs to get rid of him. But Dorries seems unable to imagine anyone looking at Johnson and seeing less than the evolutionary peak of our species. Certainly, her fifty-plus interviewees included no one who thought dumping Johnson was a good idea. So of course there must have been a decades-long conspiracy to remove him. It’s the only explanation.

    Everything Dorries encounters proves how right she is. Rishi Sunak was The Movement’s man. The Movement is behind every nasty political story you read — but the nasty stories about Sunak are also the work of The Movement. Isn’t it obvious?

    No one has told Dorries she needs things like evidence and witnesses

    Normally the decent thing to do with this stuff would be to steer the person explaining it gently towards the nearest security guard. Instead a major publisher has seen fit to release a book, so we must say clearly that this is nonsense, and everyone involved should be ashamed. It is not even readable. In each chapter, Dorries meets a new source, generally anonymous, who explains the theory again, at great length. Although the author is playing at journalism, no one has told her she needs things like evidence and witnesses. Where there are facts, there are mistakes. Dates are wrong; events are confused. Very few of her sources claim to know anything for certain. Instead they offer second-hand gossip and supposition.

    Do these people even exist? It’s hard to know. On the one hand, it’s very hard to imagine anyone going to the trouble of making up these endless, turgid monologues. On the other, they all sound the same, making the same convoluted points at similar length, explaining the same basic things about Westminster to her in a way that suggests that, if they are real, they think Dorries is an idiot.

    Again and again Dorries’s sources predict the events of the coming months with uncanny accuracy. Perhaps this is intended to show how connected they are. Instead it makes them implausible. I laughed out loud when a woman working for the security services — Dorries hints it’s MI6 — explained that “the money network of the world” had a plan to bring down the new prime minister Liz Truss within three months.

    These moments of unintended humour are the book’s sole redeeming feature. At one point Dorries stands in awe and wonder at the realisation that Johnson has just quoted a line of Wordsworth. “Boris is the only person I have met in my life who has the ability to effortlessly insert a great poet into daily conversation, without missing a beat.” It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

    Even as an effort to defend Johnson, the book fails. Trying to explain the bits of the historical record that cannot be denied, Dorries portrays her hero as a weak fool. He was tricked into giving Dominic Cummings a job and bullied into keeping him. Misleading the Queen? He never meant to do that. The Owen Paterson vote? He was badly advised.

    The picture she paints of Britain’s Greatest Ever Leader is of a gullible man easily pushed into bad decisions by the wicked advisors he’d been so easily prodded into appointing. In desperately trying to scrub away Johnson’s guilt, Dorries has removed his agency. Or perhaps that was The Movement, too."

    1. Shurely he was Lord Nelson. If he’d been Lord Horatio Nelson, he wouldn’t have been from humble beginnings. He’d have been the son of a senior hereditary peer.

      2. He was created Baron Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe in the county of Norfolk in 1798. In 1801 he was created Viscount Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe and received a further Barony later that year.

  47. Busy busy. I am sure I am not the first, but happy Trafalgar Day to one and all.

  48. Rioter dies in prison after being jailed for two years. 21 October 2024.

    A grandfather jailed for violent disorder and abusing police at an anti-immigration riot this summer has become the first rioter to die in prison.

    Peter Lynch, 61, described as a conspiracy theorist at his court hearing, is believed to have taken his own life on Saturday night at HMP Moorland near Doncaster in south Yorkshire, according to prison service sources.

    This is the sort of thing you get in Police States. If he was Russian the DT would be foaming at the mouth. As it is there is a quick retrial here so you can all be assured that he got what he deserved.

    No Comments. Needless to say.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/21/rioter-dies-in-prison-after-being-jailed-for-two-years/

    1. Does a conspiracy theory cease to be a theory when the facts emerge showing that the theory was actually the truth?

      Several conspiracy theories about Covid and Global Warming are now being shown to have been completely correct.

      And who would say that the Greatest Conspiracy Theorist of them all – Enoch Powell – was not completely right about immigration?

      1. As the saying goes: What's the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth? About 18 months.

      2. He wasn’t completely right as his concerns were about immigration from the Caribbean whereas I am sure most people who have concerns are primarily concerned about immigration from Islamic countries. I doubt that Enoch foresaw that.

      1. He probably gave up hope. Very sad. He doesn't appear to have been violent – just shouted and held up a placard, as anyone at a demo would.

  49. Lol i have frightened everyone on my desk at work today on this. Only one other person (my age) knew what i was talking about (and he grew up on Trinidad).

        1. Watch With Mother is Picture Book, then? Andy Pandy tomorrow. Bill and Ben on Wednesday. Rag, Tag and Bobtail on Thursday and The Woodentops on Friday. Happy days!

          5. Sue, I wonder if you, or other NoTTLers would you help me with an experiment to see if this Godawful 'phone will accept an in-coming call? Please try calling me on 0775 768 2036. Thank you.

          6. Please let me know, via this website, if you tried and what, if any conclusions. Thank you NoTTLers, one and all.

    1. May he rest in peace, poor man. TTK probably counts this tragedy as a success of course. God bless Elon. Without Twitter, we wouldn’t even know.

    2. I bet the words weren’t even racist. The overton window on the definition of “racism” has moved so much, everything is now “racist”.

    3. What A terrible reflection on what our once safe and reasonably sensible nation use to be. Until of course since the Dopey Wokies had too much influence.

  53. Article in the Daily Mail:

    Kamala Harris takes huge lead on Donald Trump in key voting group

    New polling shows Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump with women over 50 by more than any presidential candidate since 2016.
    "The survey shows that 54% of women in that demographic plan to vote for the vice president, over 42% for Trump.
    It's a huge improvement from Joe Biden, who only led Trump by three points with women over 50 in January.
    The numbers are also better than Hillary Clinton's numbers in 2016, who polled 48%-40% over Trump."

    So, just to be clear, MORE women are pro-Trump now than in 2016! (42% v 40%)

    1. Jules, could you 're-instate' my trusted status from previous username please? I am actually still, just, aware what day of the week it is (though mildly amused at the number of upticks!) but I keep getting a post rejected as spam.

        1. I’m the same person I’ve always been……….

          However, my previous username was Richard II and before that Tier5Inmate.

    2. Well done

      I am happy to just be trailing slightly behind your result

      Wordle 1,220 3/6

      🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  60. From Coffee House, the Spectator,

    Donald Trump is bringing the joy at just the right moment
    Freddy Gray21 October 2024, 11:30am
    Donald Trump is many things. Most of all, he is the quintessential American entrepreneur. He sees the upside in everything. Even at the age of 78, he still has the energy to undertake every opportunity to advance himself and his interests.

    When, for instance, he noticed a few weeks ago that Kamala Harris had claimed somewhat dubiously to have worked in McDonald’s, he didn’t just gripe that the media accepted her assertion without checking for evidence (though he did do that).

    He decided that, as a promotional stunt, he would do something he suspected Harris had never actually done: work a shift in McDonald’s. In doing so, he knew he would create a Golden Arches campaign moment, a viral storm that the world would see.

    You’ve almost certainly already seen a clip or two or three.

    There’s Trump, in structured-reality TV star mode, pitching himself for a job: ‘I’ve always wanted to work at McDonald’s. I never did. I’m running against somebody that said she did but it turned out to be a total phony story so …’

    Most popular
    Steerpike
    Brits blast failing NHS over diversity hires and gender ideology

    There’s Trump putting on an apron. There’s Trump salting the fries. There’s Trump manning the drive-thru window. ‘This is compliments of Trump,’ he says handing over the bags of junk food. ‘Look at this guy, I’m not going to mess with him,’ he says, charmingly, before adding: ‘Don’t eat too much.’ You must really hate Trump not to find these moments amusing.

    ‘I’m having a lot of fun,’ Trump says. And he so clearly is. The contrast with Kamala Harris in recent days could not be more striking. She’s been scolding interviewers, chiding Donald for having claimed, absurdly, to be the ‘father of IVF’, and angrily challenging the electorate to wake up to the threat of a second Trump term.

    Harris’s fans – or Trump’s critics – are now busy denouncing the McDonald’s stunt as a bogus photo-up. But bogusness is the point: thanks to technology, our lives are all mediatised. We all experience life, politics and culture through algorithms, which aren’t designed to serve up intellectual sustenance. The internet gives the people what we want: and what we want, it turns out, is Donald Trump in an apron dishing out Big Macs in Lower Southampton, Pennsylvania.

    Team Harris can hardly complain about artifice, anyway. Remember when the Obamas finally rang Harris to give her their endorsement? When Harris just happened to be surrounded by cameras for the call, and the line just happened to be bugged?

    That was back in the summer, when Harris was surging in the polls, riding high on a wave of relief that Joe Biden had finally accepted he couldn’t go on. But it’s now late October, crunch time in the election, and the polls are tilting towards Trump again. Many Democrats are wondering: ‘Where’s the joy gone?’ And the answer is: Donald Trump has stolen it. He might never give it back.

  61. Good morrow one and all, especially Geoff and thanks for his wonderful work on this site. still feeling bad but will have to get up around 20:00 and yell at Tesco to come to the side window.

  62. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Ignore the heckling, Charles’s Australia visit has been a triumph
    Terry Barnes21 October 2024, 9:19am
    If King Charles and Queen Camilla were feeling a tad apprehensive about their reception in Australia, they needn’t have worried.

    Already half-way into their visit to Australia, the reception for the royal couple has been as warm and sunny as the Sydney weather over the weekend and, so far, all has gone very well.

    The was a small glitch on Friday night, when the King and Queen’s plane was about to touch down at Sydney airport. The sails of the Sydney Opera House had been illuminated with images from Charles and Camilla’s previous visits. The King and Queen were supposed to be able to see the Opera House from the air, but were briefly delayed because a cruise liner berthed opposite obscured the projection. It was somehow appropriate that the offending liner was Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth.

    After resting at the Australian governor-general’s official residence, Admiralty House – with views across Sydney Harbour to die for – the King and Queen were busy on Sunday. They attended Sunday service in a church where the foundation stone was laid by George V as a young midshipman. Then the main event of the day was celebrating the bicentenary of the oldest legislature in Australia, the Legislative Council of New South Wales.

    In his brief speech there, the King gave a strong hint about what this visit means to him, not least because he must be considering his own mortality as he continues his battle with cancer.

    ‘With the sand of time encouraging brevity, it just remains for me to say what a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as Sovereign, and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long,’ the King said.

    Most popular
    Steerpike
    Brits blast failing NHS over diversity hires and gender ideology

    Today the King and Queen moved on to the national capital, Canberra, for an indigenous-flavoured day which included not one, but two, ceremonial Aboriginal ‘Welcomes to Country’. Both together and separately, they undertook a round of engagements. This included the now-notorious reception, hosted by Australia’s republican prime minister, Anthony Albanese, that all the premiers of the six states refused to attend. The British media last week were extremely critical of that collective snub, and rightly so. But so too have been the Australian media. Regardless of their mostly republican editorial leanings, newspapers here have treated the incident as the premiers being rude and discourteous to honoured guests who just happen to be the King and Queen.

    Interactions so far with the general Australian public have been low-key. The big people’s occasion is a community barbecue in Sydney on Tuesday, complete with a typical Aussie ‘sausage sizzle’. The crowds so far have been modest but enthusiastic and friendly. Protests against the King and Queen’s visit have been minimal, and designed more to attract television cameras than to confront the royal couple.

    The only real controversy occurred at the parliamentary reception. Australia’s elected serial pest, the radical Aboriginal activist turned independent senator, Lidia Thorpe, disrupted the King’s speech by shouting personal abuse and obscenities at the King. She also screamed denunciations of the monarchy and British settlement, including labelling it ‘genocide’.

    To the disgusted onlookers, this was typically ugly Thorpe behaviour. She thrives on provocative, attention-seeking activist stunts. As she was ejected from the reception, Charles diplomatically ignored Thorpe and her outbursts, while observers like former prime minister Tony Abbott didn’t hold back in later expressing their contempt for Thorpe.

    While behaving more civilly, republican activists have also been out and about. Outside big events for the monarchy like last year’s coronation, royal tours are the only occasions these days when Australia’s republicans get any media attention at all, so they make hay when they can. The Australian Republic Movement has been hawking T-shirts advertising this visit as an Oasis-like ‘farewell tour’. This is crassly tactless given the King’s personal condition. On the whole, however, republicans have been on their ‘best behaviour’, as promised by New South Wales’s republican premier, Chris Minns.

    True, this visit is not on a grand scale, as traditional and full-scale royal tours tend to be. The low-key official events, and the visit’s general informality, may have been dictated by the King’s health and circumstances. But the trip has already demonstrated a friendly affection and intimacy reflecting that Australia is comfortable with the King, and the King is comfortable with an Australia that has evolved almost beyond recognition over his lifetime. Even those Australians ambivalent about the monarchy respect Charles and Camilla as people, and especially appreciate the King making such an arduous trip at all in the circumstances.

    Australia’s ties with the monarchy may be anachronistic to committed republicans and, indeed, many other Australians. Yet it’s that indefinable sense of King and country that shows why, according to an extensive pre-visit newspaper poll, three-quarters of Australians think Australia will never become a republic in their lifetime – even if they themselves are republicans.

    1. If only the King had "blast(ed) failing NHS over diversity hires and gender ideology".

      1. If only he could see the light about the net zero environment scam, globalisation and the WEF, the money driven covid jabs and the WHO..

    2. If only the King had "blast(ed) failing NHS over diversity hires and gender ideology".

        1. When you apply a label to someone, even with the best of intentions; you stop thinking of the person, but only see the label. Labels can be categorised, controlled. You can treat labels however you want. After all: they're not people, are they?

      2. I worked at a chemical company mid 60s. Some were already concerned about that name of dye, even back then. My grandfather had a black dog, guess its name.

          6. I haven't received my medal yet. Or the lollypop for one weeks good behaviour. (only managed that once !)

          7. Chocolate version in the post, Phiz….my grandchildren still decorate Chrismas Tree with those. I was always far too naughty to behave well…a boy and I were neighbours where we lived, always playing pranks, similar humour I guess. Dog (the non-existent one) ate my homework more than once…

  64. The world must prepare for the inevitable.. the first use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict since Nagasaki.
    At the same time The United States government and its 5-Eyes partners must wake up and realise that those DEI hires are not such a grand idea after all.

    U.S. officials are extremely concerned about a potentially major security breach after two alleged U.S. intelligence documents about Israel's preparations for an attack on Iran were published via an Iranian-affiliated Telegram account.

      1. Thank you for that Tom. How terrible. It’s always the same. The bigger the crime the less the punishment and, in this case, no punishment at all. And how Lord Robens was able to offer his resignation after the reply from Marsh was agreed just beggars belief. And even after that, Robens was offered the chair of Committee on Workplace Health! Unbelievable.

      2. Thank you for that Tom. How terrible. It’s always the same. The bigger the crime the less the punishment and, in this case, no punishment at all. And how Lord Robens was able to offer his resignation after the reply from Marsh was agreed just beggars belief. And even after that, Robens was offered the chair of Committee on Workplace Health! Unbelievable.

    3. Thanks, William…I was a junior office worker at the time, and remember the Safety Officer calling in to tell us about it. No-one could believe how bad it was, or how it had allowed to even be in existence. So sad, RIP.

      1. It took out a Primary School as well i think. An article today said when Her Majesty visited it was the only time she had been seen to cry in public.

        2. The great majority of the dead, children and adults, were in the primary school. The building to the right with the gabled front is the adjacent secondary school, damaged but (AFAIK) without casualties.

      2. There aren't many photos from before the disaster as after. Why would there be? Aberfan was just another pit village with a tip nearby. However, warnings had been made at least three years earlier and some photographers had made the effort to provide the evidence. No one listened. The tip had grown considerably between the top photo being taken and the time of the landslide.

  66. RIP PETER LYNCH, THE UK'S FIRST POLITICAL PRISONER
    And make no mistake—you could be next!
    Isabel Oakeshott
    Oct 21

    The UK now has political prisoners. Are you cool about that? Because I most certainly am not. Especially now, we learn that one such victim of the state, a 61-year-old grandfather, has tragically died in jail.

    Just imagine the fuss, had Peter Lynch perished in a Russian gulag! Think how Labour MPs would moralise about human rights and the fundamental freedom to demonstrate, and indeed, to hold stupid or even unpalatable views?

    Because when he made the very foolish decision to take part in this summer’s riots, joining an ugly protest outside an asylum seeker hotel in Rotherham, Peter Lynch – a man with no apparent criminal record – did not physically hurt anyone. He did not set anything on fire; or hurl any objects. He did not cause thousands of pounds worth of criminal damage. He was just a bit of an idiot.

    Apparently, he called the police “scum” and directed a few foul remarks at occupants of the migrant hotel, labelling them “child killers” and “rapists.” Unpleasant? Sure! Unjustified? That too. I don’t condone what he said for one second. Nor am I saying that the scenes outside that hotel were anything other than reprehensible. The protest was ugly, and it was violent (though he himself was not attacking anyone.)

    But did Lynch – who pled guilty to violent disorder – deserve to be sentenced to almost three years? Of course not! His sentence was wildly disproportionate.

    How can it possibly have been justified when this government is busy releasing literally thousands of hardened criminals with very real victims? Relative to the treatment of actual paedophiles, who regularly get away with community service for the most disgusting of crimes – offences that have a devastating and life-long impact on little children – Lynch’s sentence was completely out of line.

    Here’s what happened: confronted with a law and order crisis, triggered by widespread public fury over all manner of issues, a panicking Prime Minister, decided to make an example of a few individuals. In a brazen and totally misleading attempt to present deep-seated public concerns as the preserve of a few “far-right thugs,” Sir Keir Starmer used the machinery of the state to ruin the lives of a small number of very carefully selected individuals who in the heat of the moment, temporarily took leave of their senses.

    They include Lucy Connolly, a childminder and wife of a Tory councillor, who in a rush of blood to the head, posted some stupid things on social media about burning down migrant hotels. Sure, she also called for mass deportations – but plenty of quite respectable people share that sentiment.

    Meanwhile, Bernie Spofforth, a multimillionaire businesswoman who briefly posted misleading information about the Southport attacker before apologising and deleting her Tweet, was thrown in a police cell for 36 hours.

    This stuff is insane, and it is ill-befitting of a civilized country. We are supposed to be a modern democracy, not Russia, China or any other kind of brutal dictatorship!

    The death of Peter Lynch, the first political prisoner in the UK to die in custody, is a stain on our country. It utterly shames this government.

    1. He's not the first – important as the incident is. There's a fellow forbidden anything – television, books, newspapers, visitors who evaded taxes. He's been held in solitary confinement for years now. The state hates those who oppose it. The criminal it doens't care about. They're clients.

  67. There was also a bacon (butty?) man who deposited the same within the curtilage of a mosque, he was given a prison sentence and he lost his life inside. It seems to me that we have returned to the days of transportation to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread.

    2. Given that prisons are now run not by the government but by muslim gangs he was most likely murdered.

      Not that they would ever release that information.

  68. I just raised this on a Telegraph Thread. I couldn't do it on the article because no comments are allowed. It lasted twenty three minutes before it was removed.

  69. What can a pulse oximeter tell you that a Fitbit can't.

    Here's a shot of mine taken today:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b3a4a1d37d07c058a293235c9ccdb83acb2cf7ba1377152e48228c97c58f4caa.jpg
    %SpO2 – Blood oxygen percentage
    PR – Pulse Rate
    PI – Peripheral Infusion (peripheral arterial blood flow ratio)
    RR – Respiration Rate
    Plesythmogaph Waform – Arterial blood flow waveform measured at the finger tip.

    It's taken me several years of investigation and intermittent observations to work out how the pulse oximeter can derive these measures from the transmitted red light through my finger – initially I couldn't believe that it could do that.

    However, should I feel a bit under the weather I am usually able to interpret the indicated measures to changes in my environment , activity, stress level or prescription drug changes.

    I don't think measuriing the number of steps you take per day is any measure of health but it is useful to test your competitive ranking on a global scale.

  70. Good afternoon, all. Cool and cloudy.

    Late on parade today as I was helping an OAP friend from early this morning re a possible scam concerning some work being required on her bungalow's roof. All settled but I remain certain that it was most likely a scam whereby a small inexpensive job would be escalated to a much more expensive job.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c32a002743049e77038bbe350b1e5065171c15681112a70e9989c5749461a7fa.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/01fafd38f140a9d876d47697e47e566e932432cd2d238a9c41fe62c616f52182.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/124bf1a35f4183734316a0d7e0dc4180fb77b458a7c9f1667828de10d76e27de.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/78f088a30ee4fd3698958521296383a8895cc2ab79b8ab7c5ffe2fb8129f21d6.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f806cdf3b3072bc13871a24923d5d8456fafbe00320af8f8cc5da9e9fd5960d1.png

  71. Article in Private Eye…

    SMALL ISLAND GIVEN AWAY…

    There was disgust the length and breadth of Tunbridge Wells at the news that a small island in the middle of the Atlantic has been handed over by the once great British Government to the USA.

    The tiny island which is strategically important to America is one of a scattered group known locally as 'The United Kingdom' and despite being remote and isolated was once a symbol of power and empire.

    Historically the islands belonged to Britain and the islanders scratched a living by ruling the world. But now it is just a floating platform for US defence bases and corporate outlets.

    Said a British Government spokesman 'it's sad but i have just been headhunted by the Arms to Food conglomerate Scud-U-Like, so what do i care?'.

      4. That is not quite correct (despite who wrote it).

        Geographically (not politically) the following description holds up:

        1. England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales are separate countries.
        2. The island comprising the Repubic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is called Ireland.
        3. The single mainland mass containing just England, Scotland and Wales is called Britain.
        4. The island of Britain plus all its associated off islands is called Great Britain.
        5. The entirety of Great Britain plus Northern Ireland is called the United Kingdom.
        6. The entirety of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland plus all off islands is called The British Isles.

        Hart's Rules goes on to explain the difference between the geographical and the political:

        "The island containing England, Wales and Scotland is Britain; Great Britain is more usual when these countries are considered as a political unit; Great is a historical geographical term, to contrast it with Lesser Britain, an ancient name for Brittany."

        [Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers (the Oxford Style Guide) at the Oxford University Press.]

      5. That is not quite correct (despite who wrote it).

        Geographically (not politically) the following description holds up:

        1. England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales are separate countries.
        2. The island comprising the Repubic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is called Ireland.
        3. The single mainland mass containing just England, Scotland and Wales is called Britain.
        4. The island of Britain plus all its associated off islands is called Great Britain.
        5. The entirety of Great Britain plus Northern Ireland is called the United Kingdom.
        6. The entirety of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland plus all off islands is called The British Isles.

        Hart's Rules goes on to explain the difference between the geographical and the political:

        "The island containing England, Wales and Scotland is Britain; Great Britain is more usual when these countries are considered as a political unit; Great is a historical geographical term, to contrast it with Lesser Britain, an ancient name for Brittany."

        [Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers (the Oxford Style Guide) at the Oxford University Press.]

  72. Afternoon all.

    I am spitting feathers. Just had our home insurance renewal notice from Saga. Last year it was £225. There have been no changes and now they want us to pay £438.51. To top it all the ‘adviser’ says she is not allowed to discuss the increase! When I asked to speak to someone who could discuss the (outrageous) increase she said my manager will not be able to discuss it. It is done automatically!

        1. If you got a quote from another source for a similar product a reasonable company would match it. Them suggesting they are not allowed to discuss it is bullshite. A cop out. And possibly an agent acting on their own initiative to gain a larger bonus.
          Write to head office and complain vociferously and demand they explain themselves.
          They normally back down in such circumstances and make feeble excuses.

    2. The increase isn't a state secret, the why it has increased isn't either. They've hiked it because they can and expect you to pay it without checking.

      The solution is to say 'that's nice, I won't bother discussing my taking money elsewhere.'

      1. Alf always does a search around. Maybe a small increase can be expected but not very nearly 100%. From £225 to £438,51. Outrageous.

      1. We have been with NFU Mutual for thirty years. This year the survey was undertaken on the telephone whereas in past years some bloke would sit at the kitchen table and recite requirements.

        As a result of the telephone conversation NFU sent a report and recommendations which included an Electrical Inspection Report. My electrician duly checked our installation and suggested we replace both fuse boxes with fireproof enclosures as this would involve checking each circuit and sockets and switches and thus gain compliance.

        In addition to carrying out the electrical works with some extras I installed an ADT Intruder Alarm System and replaced the smoke alarm system with ADT linked devices.

        Having completed these works I was obliged to submit details not to NFU Mutual but to some company calling itself Riskstop. The surveyor on receipt of the Electrical Report questioned that it was not the expected Condition Report. I was thus obliged to ask my electricians to write and explain that the works following fuse box upgrade and replacement exceeded the NFU requirement.

        Despite carrying out all of the works and more to my thatched property my premiums jumped from £120 to over £150 per month.

        In some ways I have a certain loyalty to NFU because most large insurers are reluctant to insure thatched properties. I intend to question the use of an outside agency especially since the surveyor was unfamiliar with Electrical Installation Regulations.

        1. Hear you. We’ve been with them a similar time. Our main problem was that a friend and neighbour wanted me to have around 30 odd acres of woodland, which we duly bought – all needs insuring especially as a public footpath runs through part of it (now hardly used since Covid). We too had a young chap – from Hong Kong, top notch. We made a number of alterations to the building, luckily I knew a qualified electrician, he was really great at doing the work timely – now retired and working in Germany/hydrogen business, tells me it’s the future…hmmm….I see The Thatching Guy sometimes on Instagram, very impressive:-)) Most insurers just want bland (‘regular’) customers, how they make their profit. Our NFU is much higher, around 50 acres in total tho. Good luck with your search, be interested if you find anyone? Cheers, Kate

          1. My property is underpinned (before I bought it, but I didn't know as there was no paperwork), so bog standard insurance policies are just a dream.

          2. Crikey..solicitor not pick that up in searches then…yes I guess so. NFU does cover odd properties tho in way of farms etc they might view for you and give you quote but quite horrendous 😒🤯

          3. No paperwork. It was only discovered when I called in the insurance to look at a crack that had appeared and they dug a test pit and found the jacks. Thankfully it was only settlement after the underpinning had been done.

          4. Lucky crack 🙂 have a distant relative who found roots from a bush (not a tree) several feet away from house was affecting gable end, been there such a long time. Guess the moral there is…don’t plant large plants near your dwelling, or a neighbour’s – might sue you.

          5. One of the first things we did when we moved in was remove several trees that were near the house!

          6. Good plan…did you remove roots too? Trees help each other out by exchanging nutrients through roots…watch out for any green shoots🌳🌳🌳🙂!

      2. We have been with NFU Mutual for thirty years. This year the survey was undertaken on the telephone whereas in past years some bloke would sit at the kitchen table and recite requirements.

        As a result of the telephone conversation NFU sent a report and recommendations which included an Electrical Inspection Report. My electrician duly checked our installation and suggested we replace both fuse boxes with fireproof enclosures as this would involve checking each circuit and sockets and switches and thus gain compliance.

        In addition to carrying out the electrical works with some extras I installed an ADT Intruder Alarm System and replaced the smoke alarm system with ADT linked devices.

        Having completed these works I was obliged to submit details not to NFU Mutual but to some company calling itself Riskstop. The surveyor on receipt of the Electrical Report questioned that it was not the expected Condition Report. I was thus obliged to ask my electricians to write and explain that the works following fuse box upgrade and replacement exceeded the NFU requirement.

        Despite carrying out all of the works and more to my thatched property my premiums jumped from £120 to over £150 per month.

        In some ways I have a certain loyalty to NFU because most large insurers are reluctant to insure thatched properties. I intend to question the use of an outside agency especially since the surveyor was unfamiliar with Electrical Installation Regulations.

        1. Good luck, vw. What happened in our case, when we phoned the NFU they suggested asking if someone could call to assess, think that was a good thing, enabled them to assess more accurately.

    4. Go somewhere else. Don't give the bastards your money.
      If they call and ask why, say that " not allowed to discuss the increase!" And, that they can fcuk off, get in their car and fcuk off some more.

      1. We are going elsewhere. £255 lowest alternative quote. Have until 9th November to decide.

      1. Alf has found a couple of others for below £300. Some companies obviously expect people to just renew without looking elsewhere. Greedy bar stewards.

      1. Oh yes, Alf is on the case. We never automatically renew, always shop around. These companies rely on people’s inertia.

  73. 395107+up ticks,

    Fodder for serious thought,

    Reform UK’s Unholy Alliance With Hope Not Hate?
    by Darrell Goodliffe October 19, 2024 in Politics 0
    Reform UK’s Unholy Alliance With Hope Not Hate?
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    If I asked you ‘what do Reform UK and Hope Not Hate have in common, I am confident most people would say nothing.

    However, it appears that would be completely wrong. Fortis Est Veritas has learned Hope Not Hate played a role in vetting Reform UK candidates at the previous General Election. HnH will need no introduction to people involved in centre-right/conservative politics; they present themselves as benign ‘anti-fascist’ organisation but in fact it is a far from that. They are certainly no friends of Nigel Farage, in fact, they proudly boast on their website:

    “We’ve taken on UKIP, Tommy Robinson, Andrew Tate and more.”

    No mention of Reform UK though and we have to wonder why.

    First, The Evidence.
    Hope Not Hate’s involvement with Reform has been confirmed to us by the recently departed Director of Communications for Reform, Gawain Towler, who at first denied and then conceded. He told us that Hope Not Hate had been told to ‘sod off’ but only in a ‘majority of cases’, so, what about the minority? Ben Habib also confirmed there was involvement from Hope Not Hate but was not clear on the level. Ben, of course, was the co-Deputy Leader of Reform until he was unceremoniously dumped for Richard Tice so Tice in turn could make way for the return of Mr Farage as Party Leader.

    Former Co-Party Leader Of Reform UK Ben Habib

    Former Director of Communications of Reform UK Gawain Towler

    This poses serious question and its questions that Reform members especially deserve answers too.

    Sleeping With The Enemy
    During the July 2024 General Election, Reform had problems with candidate selection. A series of stories appeared connecting candidates to overtly racist and offensive comments and Channel 4 aired an undercover documentary looking at the people who were purportedly part of Farage’s campaign in Clacton. It didn’t make for pleasant viewing as Farage himself was forced to concede but tellingly, Farage also claimed that the whole documentary was a ‘stitch-up’.

    Reform was forced to ditch some of its candidates and it:

    blamed a company it hired to conduct background checks on would-be candidates, claiming it failed to carry out vetting before the election was called.

    The question now has to be, which company was that or was that the minority of cases where Hope Not Hate were not told to ‘sod off’? Ultimately, the question becomes, did the Reform leadership unintentionally or otherwise stitch itself up?

    Following the election, a long-term ally of Mr Farage, Paul Oakden, who was the Chief Executive of Reform and a minority shareholder was reportedly ‘forced out’ of his post. It seems inconceivable that Mr Oakden played anything other than a central role in the election campaign considering his two-year stint as UKIP Chairman. Was this the reason he was forced out? Did Mr Farage and/or the new Chairman Zai Yusuf, find out about the involvement of Hope Not Hate in Reform’s campaign? Given the longstanding involvement of Mr Oakden and Mr Farage exactly how long has any association with Hope Not Hate been going on, Brexit Party, UKIP?

    Questions like this are not just academic. Hope Not Hate are vicious in their ‘outing’ of what they perceive as ‘fascists’ (in reality, anyone to the right of them politically which, given their ultra-leftism, is pretty much everyone) and feed into direct action groups like Antifa, their behaviour legitimises political violence against the individuals Hope Not Hate targets, no matter what Hope Not Hate say. Obviously, Reform will have the personal data of the thousands of conservatively minded people who have now joined their ranks.

    If the Reform leadership cannot be open about its past relationship with Hope Not Hate and provide assurances that it is ended, can the Party machine be trusted with that data?

    Post Article Note: Gawain Towler has confirmed that this practice took place historically – describing it as ‘effective’ – question is how effective was it in 2024?

    1. Hate no hope is a Hard left, bitter, fascist organisation run using tax payers money. It is the posh wing of the equally fascist, equally Left wing offensively violent thugs of 'antifa'.

      If Reform had no gone to them and let the rabid, bitter, evil nutters of the Left see their candidates then the hate no hope gang would have done it themselves anyway, with far more venom.

      You've got to understand the nature of the Left. They're not 'normal'. They hate, unrelentingly, unequivocally anything they cannot force to think as they do because truth, facts and evidence are anathema to them.

      1. Interestingly there is a Charitable Trust, which gives a huge donation to a linked limited company to do the research into “far right hate”. Some might think this is a scam. I couldn’t possibly comment.

        Edit. You can see it all on the Companies House website.

      2. 395107+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,
        I have no problem in understanding the players in this issue or ANY of the hIerarchy, personally I would not give any involved a character reference.

        As for the members, easily led.

  74. Two hours work in the garden – completed. 1000 litre cubi filled from the well. Pump cleaned and put away form the winter. Greenhouse tomatoes picked and plants removed for burning. Winter broccoli to plant out tomorrow in the unheated greenhouse – so we'll have fresh broccoli heads in February. With luck (depends on global boiling, of course).

    Time to put the kettle on.

  75. In my garden, SSE have a telegraph pole for power lines (which also carries phone lines, for now). The hawser providing stability snapped in the high winds last night though I only noticed it at about 1pm. Rang SSE at 1330, two 'engineers' at the door at 1500! Fixed.

      1. You feeling better, Tom? You wrote earlier that you were a touch crook.
        BTW, it took a while to explain to my Norwegian colleague the meaning of "crook" – in both English and Strine.

          1. Shuffling, maybe. You're really a young man with decades of experience!
            (said that to my doctor, and she nearly pissed herself laughing!)

    1. Crikey, ours was the best we had, at that time. Still compares well. Good luck – hope you have success soon, guaranteed if you go without something happens – Sods’ Law…

    1. No life, Jules. Just unmitigated boredom and loneliness. I suppose I've had a good run. At 80 I have passed all my rellies. In fact, I'm the only one left and I think this present bout is determined to see me off.

      2. Life can be dull, then suddenly something pops up to liven things up. Don't give up that spark of hope, Tom, otherwise who could I send bottles of weird Scotch to? My In-laws have a G&T every Christmas, my brother bathes in the stuff – and his wife is religios(!) and teetotal. My lads don't indulge much, despite having more spirits at their places than Tescos… so I gotta have a pal in this!

        1. still got a bottle and a ½ of Whyte & Makey to finish before I can get to the good stuff – if we're spared.

          2. Never received, Spikey, but Oberstleutnant (Paul) has filled the gap with a couple of single malts.

  79. Free Speech magazine's aim is to encourage patriotism and pride in Britain and our history. As today is TRAFALGAR DAY we are running two pieces on this subject, a battle that saved the world from nasty Napoleonic world domination, one a lovely lyrical lament, almost a love letter f rom Anna to Lord Nelson , and the other by me on the battle itself , and why the incomparable men of the Royal Navy won it, against all the odds.
    We also have a third piece, on an episode in which we can have no pride in at all – the ABERFAN disaster of 21 October 1966 – in which the government-controlled NCB ignored many warnings and allowed a pit heap to avalanche into a school, killing 116 chidren and 28 adults. Typically, the Labour government of the time ansured that nobody was punished for it.

    Please read and leave a comment.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  81. I've come across some interesting resumes in my career but this must come close to the top, a BBC one, for sheer gobbledegook. It beats some software designer ones I've unfortunately had to read.

    "Interactive and personalised content from segmented linear broadcast programmes. They have been a long-time advocate of object based production and object based broadcasting and was instrumental in the creation of the first ever variable length radio programme. Xxx is currently working alongside the team building object-based production tools and in a recent collaboration with Newslabs is looking at ways of speeding up and even automating the production of OBM experiences by re-using tagged linear content. This work is investigating how different forms of narrative structure can be used to create naturalistic responsive media experiences, looking across the structures used in epic, pre-literate forms of storytelling, improvised narrative forms and modern forms of oral storytelling such as tour guides along with the ways stories develop in video games and immersive media."

  84. Hallelujah! The policeman who shot the black thug trying to escape has been found Not Guilty! A little bit of good news and a poke in the eye for the much discredited IOPC and CPS!

    2. Ah, but did the protesting 300 firearm officers take up arms again?

      The decision by up to 300 Metropolitan police firearms officers to withdraw from armed duties is a serious and worrying development – the gravest that Sir Mark Rowley has had to face since he took over as Commissioner 12 months ago.

  85. Taste of Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,220 3/6
    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Desperate six here.

      Wordle 1,220 6/6

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

      1. VERY similar here!
        Wordle 1,220 6/6

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

      1. Well done the both of you! Another par here…..

        Wordle 1,220 4/6

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

  86. Why is Ukraine’s army facing a desertion crisis? 21 October 2024.

    More Ukrainian soldiers have deserted the army this year than ever since the onset of a war that analysts say has seen both sides make gains and report losses.

    Prosecutions for desertion from Ukraine’s army are thought to have hit at least 30,000 – quite possibly much more – already this year. This is several times the number in 2022, the year the war began when citizens and foreigners voluntarily poured into the military to push Russia back.

    Those found guilty are given between five and 12 years in prison. However, some defectors say that is a better option than facing what might be an endless, undefined period on the battlefield.

    This is not something you would see in the UK MSM so it’s worth taking the opportunity to look. Is it true? I think if you take it with pinch of salt it’s OK. We know from the histories of WWI that a sense of hopelessness takes over after prolonged periods at the front. And we know from WWII studies that the troops become increasingly useless as their exposure increases. My best guess is that the Ukies are just holding on. The Russians of course have greater manpower resources and can wait them out.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/21/why-is-ukraines-army-facing-a-desertion-crisis

      2. Chubby Kim just taking the opportunity to get some live fire training for some of his troops…..

      3. The Russians will have to take Kiev and Odessa since Zelenskyy will not commit to a negotiated settlement. If they take Odessa then several otherwise landlocked countries such as Hungary and Romania will gain access to the Black Sea via the Danube. Hungary knows this as they will seek to leave the failing EU and NATO.

        As with the game of Chess the Russians are several moves ahead. They will need to import workers to rebuild war damaged buildings and possibly soldiers in the form of military engineers to assist in reconstruction of bridges and even watch over the works.

  87. Oh joy a tasty new target for hackers…..

    "Full medical records, tests results and letters from doctors will all be available in the NHS App under plans for a digital revolution in the health service in England.
    Ministers hope the changes – part of new 10-year strategy for the NHS in England – will overhaul the way patients interact with the health service in the same way apps have changed the way we bank."……

    2. I use the MyGP app and can see all test results, consultations and copies of letters from consultants etc. Also to make GP appointments (oh, yes, we still get them) and order prescriptions.

    3. Rather than giving people "access" to records etc – how about allowing them "access" to an effing doctor?

      Just asking….

        1. A ha !… You know how Nottlers think.

          Doctor i have this rash….and while you're at it i want you to also take a look at this.

          1. VG!

            I think you are absolutely right. Nottlers can be rash at times – often drawing a sharp intake of breff from our resident Legal Advisor …

        2. I doubt it. The clinics are probably now staffed by a nurse practitioner with an algorithm who oversees some health care assistants who’ve been trained to take a swab and draw blood.

      2. I have daily texts offering me lots of jabbies. I also now get texts asking me to fill in questionaires about my lifestyle choices.
        I would be more inclined to speak to a GP about these subjects if any were available.

        I would then tell them i only go to the finest restaurants and drink the finest wines and i would hope because of their continuous proselytising to never see them there.

      3. Some of them are far too busy being seen on TV programmes waving their hands and arm's around.

    4. 'They' have already sold all of our supposedly anonymised records for 'research' purposes. Clearly 'they' need more up to date stuff.

    6. So that'll be all the doctors' surgeries closing then?

      I don't think they have to hack the records, the NHS sells them anyway. They say they don't sell your records if you opt out, but who knows?

          2. Sometimes It’s needed, Paul. Going for my second BM or it may be whisky and ginger ale. I have the time it takes me to shuffle to the kitchen to make up my befuddled mind.

    4. I’ve said it before but fenland celery (in season now) is to ordinary celery what Maria Callas was to a singer in an average local choir.

      1. White from being blanched by earthing up with the black fenland soil? Well, that's how I remember it. The green self-blanching rubbish isn't worth the trouble.

        Tried growing it once, used raffia to tie newspaper around it to keep the Sun off, all going well and then it died. Never bothered since as it's a lot of work to both prepare the ground and care for the plants.

        1. Crumbs, never thought of that! I grew celery this year, it is flourishing, but I didn't try to blanch it. I will use it like a herb, chopped up in soups and stews all winter rather than in salads.

        2. John Whitnell in Crouch Street used to stock it.
          I've never see it anywhere round here since he retired.

    5. Make a proper Caesar Cocktail:
      A Caesar is a cocktail created and consumed primarily in Canada. It typically contains vodka, Clamato, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, and is served with ice in a large, celery salt-rimmed glass, typically garnished with a stalk of celery and wedge of lime. Main alcohol: Vodka
      Ingredients: 1 crisp Celery stalk, 1–1½ oz Vodka ·
      Double vodka – or gin – clamato juice, lime, 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 2 dashes Tabasco sauce and celery-salted rims.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/911a3fc9783a92778bbf9bebba6b083839c6a4e23872d3872beb89da7e5c2b02.jpg

  92. That's me done. Managed to do three heavy and exhausting jobs in t'garden – helped by the ever lithe and fit MR. Glorious sunset right now – won't last, of course. Said to be sunny tomorrow. On verra. I see that a jury of 12 policemen citizens acquitted the copper who shot a dindu who failed to obey instructions. Took them as long as three hours…..

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain

  93. Just not cricket. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2024/10/20/pakistan-bake-third-test-pitch-patio-heaters-giant-fans/
    Pakistan bake pitch for third Test against England with patio heaters and giant fans
    Groundsmen in Rawalpindi are pulling out all the stops to recreate conditions akin to those upon which England laboured in Multan.
    Pakistan won the second Test on a reused spinning pitch and are using windbreaks, industrial-sized fans and patio heaters to present England with a similarly dry surface in Rawalpindi…

      2. It's what groundkeepers do all around the world. This last test was just an extreme example. Plus, England should have played better.

    6. Looks fab 'mum…are those your dahlias on the left of the pic…go very nicely with the sky..:-)

  95. This has got to be stopped. It's an outrage that he has been given a platform. The expurts and truthers should organise a book burning event.. to save democracy, to save Britain.. to save free speech.

    Tommy Robinson’s book becomes No 1 on Amazon.. £25 a pop.. all sold out. Blimey.

  96. 3095107+ up ticks,

    Update on prior post, very little if any was seen of odious issues such as this prior to the successful political coup, we had a type of " decent murderers "
    as in, for money or jealousy, power, but NOT
    bent twisted evil gits that have done this.

    The burka covers much abuse and is very much in keeping with the governance needs.

    https://x.com/LeilaniDowding/status/1848402566670885175

    1. I can't uptick that. It's just barbaric – how does one treat a small child (or anyone else) like that?

  97. Here's one for you, when filling out an official form:
    Name: (about 10 characters) – what if your name is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec?
    It was bad enough with mine, not so many characters. Was tempted to write "PLs see separate sheet", but knew that the reply would be addressed to "Mr S Sheet".

    1. This is a well known rabbit hole for programmers. You can't assume ANYTHING about names!
      Remember Colonel H Jones? His name was 'H'.

        1. Excellent, both counts, Paul…have a great evening…Tom just messaged me saying he’d mistaken me for you (must have been the kilt and the beard which threw him…:-DD)

          5. There is a wee lassie who comes in and cleans for an hour every Tuesday @ 11:00. I need more of that!

          6. Do you have a care worker assigned to you…tell them you need more help, perhaps GP put more pressure on them…keep complaining Tom – they’re the ones get heard, good luck 🙂

          7. I have no real contact with my GP and don’t trust them anyway, Kate. But thank you for the idea.

          8. I’m exactly the same, Tom and have been for many years. Covid esp vaccines the final nail. You should have a social worker? maybe try them, although I know it would be a very long shot. Good luck x

    5. Good lads! The boy on the left should be a prop forward (like me…) he'd scare the living bejasus out of the opposition – middle youngster's a good looking lad, clearly must take after his Mum!! (no offence, mind…)

        1. I have no idea! When I was 24, I was told that my blood pressure was on the low side of normal. Since then, medics have taken readings and nodded but never thought to enlighten me.

          1. There are units to use at home, quite expensive. I suspect higher BP is fairly normal in certain circs..flight or fight etc…They’ve tried to give me medication on several occasions, pregnancy through middle age and now older age. I’ve never taken any. First time was around 50 years ago…fingers crossed….

          2. Hi, Kate. I have had an Omron M4-I monitor for several years. It barely differs from the ones at the GP Surgery. You can pick up a used one on eBay for around 20 quid. Since I've woken the bloody thing up, I should probably sync it with my smart watch for the first time in over a year.

            Truth be told, I can literally hear when my BP is elevated.

            Whatever…

          3. Hi Geoff, good to hear from you:-) I think husband has one too, he never uses it now, he feels a lot better since he cut carbs out more or less completely, all his readings are good and he’s off all his meds. A bonus he’s not bored with meat…I eat a big varied salad most evenings. How interesting that you can hear your BP elevated…what sound is that, wooshing..? Glad you’re doing ok x

          4. Just a pulsating sound that otherwise wouldn't be there, Kate. I also have very mild tinnitus, but can sometimes hear something which I think is related to wi-fi or similar, sounding similar to the fax and dial-up services of the past.. Just saying.

          5. Ouch I remember that fax sound…I’m partly deaf in one ear now, it doesn’t bother me. In fact, sometimes seems advantageous…:-D Worse is that my dog, now almost 15 is stone deaf, he’s been learning hand gestures from me and doing quite well:-))

    6. I have a label on my monitor saying 130/80 is good. But that's for one with diabetes. I would suggest that 105/65 is perfectly acceptable.

      Just dug out my monitor for prolly the first time in over a year. 164/92. But this is immediately after a bottle of Tempranillo.

      1. Mine goes down after drinking red wine!

        PS always do it twice, you'll be 10-15 points lower the second time…..

        PPS I'm drinking a glass of Casillero Diablo (I think that's correct!) Tempranillo as I type this…..

          1. Best not to – if you're late on parade tomorrow morning you'll get your ass kicked! The pressures of high office…….

  100. – They were reporting on the news this morning that white people were dying earlier than immigrants on average, which is further proof that immigration is bad for the economy, the NHS and net zero.

  101. I passed Nelson’s Column on my way home at about 5:30 and it certainly looked like nothing was happening

      1. I cycled round the roundabout wishing the pedestrians Happy Trafalgar Day. And I rang my bell!

  102. Left-wing smears against Churchill reveal the agenda of their pedlars

    To say that he had flaws, or opinions most would not hold now, is to say nothing more than that he is a figure in history

    David Frost • 21 October 2024 • 5:40pm

    Churchill's Secret Apartheid. One's heart sinks at another Channel 4 documentary knocking our great war leader.

    The film is actually more interesting than the title might suggest. It looks mostly at the broader reactions of the British people to the arrival of a segregated American army from 1942. To her acknowledged surprise, its presenter Nadifa Mohamed ends up finding that the British were pretty unsympathetic to segregation and disinclined to play along with it.

    A good story, one might think. So why the clickbait title? Clearly, it's to pull in what Channel 4 think is their typical viewer, to gel with its editorial line, and above all to leave people with the impression that Churchill actively supported South Africa-style racial politics.

    This in turn is part of the modern phenomenon of delegitimising great figures of British history in order to promote a progressive political agenda today. Churchill is target number one in this respect. If the progressives can tarnish his iconic status, that of a great man of whom many alive today have direct knowledge, then who is safe?

    That's the point of these cheap attacks. In reality, the worst to be said of Churchill on this particular issue is that he wasn't inclined to have a row with the Americans about it. But he was far from sympathetic to segregation. His biographer Andrew Roberts has pointed out that the October 13 1942 War Cabinet, which Churchill chaired, concluded that "they must not expect our authorities, civil or military, to assist them in enforcing a policy of segregation" and that there must be no restriction on British bases.

    Churchill was a man of his time with many of the opinions that went with that. The same could be said of the vast majority of people throughout history. The issue is whether he was anything more. And of course he was – not just a great war leader, but a great politician, with an extraordinary breadth of military and political experience, and a great writer and wordsmith who captured the essence of what we British think, or perhaps thought, of ourselves as a people.

    To say that he had flaws, or opinions most would not hold now, is to say nothing more than that he is a figure in history. What matters is what made him exceptional, not what made him typical.

    Some modern historians line up more with the progressives. David Olusoga, much in evidence this Black History Month (a doubtful concept in the first place in my view), this weekend described history as an "arsenal of dangerous ideas" and argued historians should "make it more difficult for people to raid that arsenal to use it for their political projects" – that is, they should police the past to support the politics of the present.†

    That approach to history is deeply unsatisfactory, yet all too much of today's historical writing is somewhat influenced by it. We can't learn from history if we see it as a morality tale supporting a progressive world-view and focused on telling ourselves how much better we are today.

    Such agenda-driven history, motivated by modern preoccupations and judgments, is not real history; and its spread will in the end devalue all historical work because none of us will be able to entirely trust what we read and watch. That's the real danger.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/21/left-wing-smears-against-churchill-reveal-agenda-peddlers

    † Sago Lou's quote in full:
    "When I was a young historian, I imagined that history was, as I was told, a way of avoiding the mistakes of the past…what I think now is something much less grand. I think [the job of historians] is to try to stand there at this arsenal of dangerous ideas and to make it more difficult for people to raid that arsenal to use it for their political projects. It is to complicate the picture; it is to show that these simple assertions are much more nuanced; it is to muddy the waters and to try to de-weaponise the past."

    This from a man who is part of the movement to re-write British history by presenting Africans and Asians as a permanent and substantial part of it.

    1. A man of his time certainly and there were some mistakes but for the most part, Churchill was right.

    2. These morons are now trying to change our long established history.
      They want apologies for the reactions that have saved our nation from disasters.
      Without these people making important decisions our Dopey Wokey far left divots wouldn't have existed.

    3. One interesting statistic from that programme was that there only 8,000 blacks here in 1942….

      1. Most of those were in SE London, descendants of the servants of wealthy merchants who had returned to Britain from the colonies.

  103. Left-wing smears against Churchill reveal the agenda of their pedlars

    To say that he had flaws, or opinions most would not hold now, is to say nothing more than that he is a figure in history

    David Frost • 21 October 2024 • 5:40pm

    Churchill's Secret Apartheid. One's heart sinks at another Channel 4 documentary knocking our great war leader.

    The film is actually more interesting than the title might suggest. It looks mostly at the broader reactions of the British people to the arrival of a segregated American army from 1942. To her acknowledged surprise, its presenter Nadifa Mohamed ends up finding that the British were pretty unsympathetic to segregation and disinclined to play along with it.

    A good story, one might think. So why the clickbait title? Clearly, it's to pull in what Channel 4 think is their typical viewer, to gel with its editorial line, and above all to leave people with the impression that Churchill actively supported South Africa-style racial politics.

    This in turn is part of the modern phenomenon of delegitimising great figures of British history in order to promote a progressive political agenda today. Churchill is target number one in this respect. If the progressives can tarnish his iconic status, that of a great man of whom many alive today have direct knowledge, then who is safe?

    That's the point of these cheap attacks. In reality, the worst to be said of Churchill on this particular issue is that he wasn't inclined to have a row with the Americans about it. But he was far from sympathetic to segregation. His biographer Andrew Roberts has pointed out that the October 13 1942 War Cabinet, which Churchill chaired, concluded that "they must not expect our authorities, civil or military, to assist them in enforcing a policy of segregation" and that there must be no restriction on British bases.

    Churchill was a man of his time with many of the opinions that went with that. The same could be said of the vast majority of people throughout history. The issue is whether he was anything more. And of course he was – not just a great war leader, but a great politician, with an extraordinary breadth of military and political experience, and a great writer and wordsmith who captured the essence of what we British think, or perhaps thought, of ourselves as a people.

    To say that he had flaws, or opinions most would not hold now, is to say nothing more than that he is a figure in history. What matters is what made him exceptional, not what made him typical.

    Some modern historians line up more with the progressives. David Olusoga, much in evidence this Black History Month (a doubtful concept in the first place in my view), this weekend described history as an "arsenal of dangerous ideas" and argued historians should "make it more difficult for people to raid that arsenal to use it for their political projects" – that is, they should police the past to support the politics of the present.†

    That approach to history is deeply unsatisfactory, yet all too much of today's historical writing is somewhat influenced by it. We can't learn from history if we see it as a morality tale supporting a progressive world-view and focused on telling ourselves how much better we are today.

    Such agenda-driven history, motivated by modern preoccupations and judgments, is not real history; and its spread will in the end devalue all historical work because none of us will be able to entirely trust what we read and watch. That's the real danger.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/21/left-wing-smears-against-churchill-reveal-agenda-peddlers

    † Sago Lou's quote in full:
    "When I was a young historian, I imagined that history was, as I was told, a way of avoiding the mistakes of the past…what I think now is something much less grand. I think [the job of historians] is to try to stand there at this arsenal of dangerous ideas and to make it more difficult for people to raid that arsenal to use it for their political projects. It is to complicate the picture; it is to show that these simple assertions are much more nuanced; it is to muddy the waters and to try to de-weaponise the past."

    This from a man who is part of the movement to re-write British history by presenting Africans and Asians as a permanent and substantial part of it.

  104. Is it Friday ? 🤔😆 I feel like I need a weekend break coming up.
    Oh yes most of the family off to the Cotswolds for half term. A treat from our lovely sons. Might even get a round of golf in.

  105. More poetry:
    "What is a Communist? One who has yearnings
    For equal division of unequal earnings;
    Idler or bungler, or both, he is willing
    To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling.
    Ebenezer Elliott, 1781 – 1849

  106. Peter Tatchell is on GBN defending the silly cow in Australia who yelled at Charles and Camilla. He’s going on about white settlers hunting aboriginals in place of foxes. The problem is that there isn’t any honest look at aboriginal culture. As with Sub-Saharan Africa, it wasn’t paradise lost.

    2. Respect to people who managed to live off the land in the outback though. Also, they had very good self-repairing teeth, as did Swiss mountain farmers and crofters in the Hebrides. All three groups were studied before the war, and it was recorded how their teeth grew back on their traditional diets.

      That self-seeking fool with her stupid exhibition didn't look aboriginal though, they are very dark skinned, she looks like someone with a very remote aboriginal ancestor.

    5. I've been several times to Australia, and remember an Aboriginal display at some country fair.

      It seems that in their culture, every place has a sacred significance, and life in that nomadic culture is one of perpetual pilgrimage. The problem with the European settlers is that they had no understanding of the importance of numerous landmarks, but rather developed them on European lines and with European names. Many of the suburbs around Adelaide (who was a British queen) carry the names such as Stepney, Aldgate, Brighton, Stirling, and for the German settlers Hahndorf and Lobethal.

      Until the 1970s the indigenes were regarded as subhuman savages, and even since their emanciplation, losing their own culture led them to a rootless existence mostly centred around drinking and pokies.

      It is not fair though to blame King Charles for the ignorance of his forebears, and one cannot really turn the clock back now, any more than one can evict Muslim settlers from most Western European cities. I think the King is genuinely interested in enabling the Aborigines to salvage what they can from their cultural heritage.

  108. We have an old Nescafe jar, with porage oats in it. Ever since over 30 years ago, the recipe has been taped to the outside. Just gone to check, and the recipe has fallen off! Horrors! It's only relative volumes of oats, water and milk, but even so… tradition has been lost, and at 06:30, how can one be expected to remember stuff like that & get it right?

    1. If it helps, Paul, my go-to breakfast is 40 g Mornflake Jumbo Scottish Oats. Add salt and ground cinnamon to taste, stir in 120 ml Graham's Smooth Gold milk (no relation). Zap in microwave for five minutes (based on a 700 W microwave). Add more milk to taste. 31 g carbs (insulin to suit). Two Weetabix + milk are the same, carbs wise, but porridge wins, hands down, in terms of Glycemic Index.

      1. What time is that, Geoff……:-D…(just kidding, I'll still be eating Alpen low sugar..with Oatly Barista..)

    2. I use one cup of porridge oats to two cups of water or water-milk mix. Two minutes in the microwave and it's breakfast for two. Now, obviously, I halve that amount, but it still works 🙂

  110. Have to share this. My meanderings through YouTube bring up a large variety of suggested videos. While I no longer drive, I enjoy several car-related channels. I've been vaguely aware of "Geoff Buys Cars'" channel, without paying much attention.

    This , I find hilarious…

    1. I spoke to a boating chappie last week who has a handful of chickens in a caged run on the towpath. I asked him if he was registering his chickens with the authorities. Raising two fingers he said, firstly I don't own the land they are kept on and secondly they can fuck off!

      1. My garden feeding station attracts a number of goldfinches, great tits, blue tits, jackdaws, starlings, dunnocks, pigeons, wood pigeons and the occasional green parakeet. Not to mention rats (though they're under control).

        I've decided to leave a Visitors Book. Let's see the outcome…

    2. What have you been imbibing this evening Geoff:-DD…chicken lovely chicken tho…I remember when they tried to make me register mine. (The non-existent ones, obvs.)

  111. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    The strange paradox of Britain’s treatment of miscarriages
    Rhys Laverty21 October 2024, 11:55am
    Since this month, the UK government has been able to send mothers condolences for the deaths of children whom it would have been perfectly happy to allow to be killed in different circumstances.

    This situation has been created by the expansion of the government’s baby loss certificate scheme, which was launched back in February. It allowed mothers who, since 2018, have experienced a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy, to receive ‘a certificate in memory of your baby’. Miscarriages after this point are registered as stillbirths. Last week, the scheme expanded to include all miscarriages prior to 2018.

    If personhood can be conferred or defined then it can be withdrawn or redefined – a chilling thought
    On its own terms I think the scheme is very welcome. I was moved to tears by the Today programme as listeners said how, after only hearing of the scheme that morning, they had registered losses mourned for decades. And yet I shook my head in bafflement as I considered how utterly incoherent the baby loss certificate scheme is when considered alongside the UK’s abortion laws.

    Why does the scheme stop at 24 weeks – when any loss is classified as a stillbirth? Because that is the UK’s legal abortion limit in all but a negligible number of cases.

    But that in itself raises an important question: how is it that the government could right now be sending a mother who miscarried at 23 weeks a certificate acknowledging her ‘lost baby’, while simultaneously scheduling an appointment for another woman at 23 weeks to ‘abort her foetus’?

    Either way, the state has entered into a therapeutic exercise. Either it is dissembling to a miscarrying mother by referring to her foetus as a ‘lost baby’ or it is dissembling to the abortion-seeking mother by referring to her baby as an ‘aborted foetus’. It simply cannot be both ways.

    Most popular
    Ian Evans
    British vineyards are suffering

    It should never be the state’s role to therapise someone whose feelings don’t match reality. Nor should the state leave it up to mothers to define personhood, making such a thing a matter of preference or sentiment. If personhood can be conferred or defined then it can be withdrawn or redefined – a chilling thought. Personhood can surely only ever be recognised.

    What then can be done about such profound incoherence? One big move in the right direction would to reduce the UK’s abortion limit. Such a suggestion will send plenty of people into hysteria, especially a certain type of America-brained liberal in a post-Roe world. But to many people’s surprise, the British 24 week limit makes us an extreme outlier in Europe.

    Vociferous defenders of abortion in the UK are usually those whose politics inclines them to think that we should be, in whatever nebulous way, ‘more like Europe’. Yet over on the supposedly more liberal and progressive continent, abortion limits are generally lower than ours. In most countries the limit is around the end of the first trimester. In Belgium, Denmark, Finland, and Germany it’s 12 weeks. In France and Spain, 14 weeks. In Croatia and Portugal, ten. The UK is the joint highest at 24 weeks, along with the Netherlands. Iceland (22 weeks) and Sweden (18 weeks) take the macabre silver and bronze. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights (which, as you might guess, is not happy about this), 15 European countries also have mandatory waiting periods and 12 have pre-abortion counselling. Admittedly the UK, along with Finland, is supposedly more restrictive in that it does not officially grant abortions ‘on request’ but rather on ‘broad social grounds’, but this seems to be a distinction without a difference in practice.

    Let’s say that we halved the UK abortion limit to 12 weeks. This would not be a descent into the kind of hellish, Handmaid’s Tale dystopia that haunts the dreams of Guardian columnists. Rather, it would simply bring us into line with our European neighbours, and cause things like the baby loss certificate scheme to make a whole lot more sense (though still not total sense, as far as this writer is concerned).

    In Britain only 1 to 5 per cent of miscarriages happen between 12 and 24 weeks – the vast majority are before 12 weeks. But a small percentage of a lot is still a lot. There are around 250,000 miscarriages in the UK last year. Five per cent of that would amount to 12,500. If our abortion limit was cut to 12 weeks, this would mean that as many as 12,500 unborn children per year would be liberated from this strange limbo – one in which the British state is just as willing to allow them to be killed as it is to mourn them.

    Rhys Laverty is an editor with The Davenant Institute and writer of The New Albion Substack.

  113. Suzanne Moore now unable to write in the Guardian, published this in the Telegraph

    I am no Kamala fan, but if you back Trump over her your moral compass is broken
    Donald’s flaws go beyond anything remotely acceptable in a functioning democracy, yet somehow people accept them as part of the package

    21 October 2024 7:00pm BST
    tmg.video.placeholder.alt l1MEf0NeLuM
    As I watched the footage of Donald Trump serving burgers and cooking fries at a drive-thru McDonalds in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, I wondered why I even cared that this was just another fraudulent stunt. He was pretending to “work” there; the place was closed down. It was just a way to troll Kamala Harris, who has said she once took a summer job in a McDonald’s. Trump has never had a summer job, he simply inherited millions, most of which he blew. But why worry about another Trump lie?

    It’s what he does. Everyone knows this.

    A phrase that has become common, and one that I particularly hate, is the one used to convey that certain politicians’ flaws are “priced in” to their appeal. Priced in is an investing term that means the value of stock has been adjusted to meet the expectations of all the investors and new information will not change it. The outcome of future events – good or bad – is reflected in the price.

    So, when we use it about politicians it means the public are well aware of that person’s flaws but somehow accept this as part of the package.

    Trump lies, Boris Johnson has difficulties with the actualité, Nigel Farage will stir racial tension wherever possible.

    What else is “priced in” with Trump, though? Sexual assault (according to a civil jury), numerous crimes, hush money paid to a porn star, electoral subversion. These go beyond anything remotely acceptable in a functioning democracy. This silly McDonald’s charade was part of an attack on Harris, who he says is lying about her stint in the fast-food restaurant. Trump’s modus operandi is often to accuse opponents of his own crimes, small or large.

    It is genuinely shocking to see respectable Right-wingers here endorse Trump on the basis that they cannot stand Harris or a Democrat win. Where is their moral compass? I am not Harris’s biggest fan. She is prone to Californian psychobabble, was surely part of the cover-up of just how cognitively impaired Biden was becoming and is decidedly unclear in certain policy areas. Nonetheless, if she loses the election, I do not think she will be signalling to armed militias to overthrow the election results. I do not think she will hand over Ukraine to Putin. I do not think she will align herself with every other superannuated dictator and abandon Europe.

    Trump is part of a wave of populist power brokers who see all problems as being caused by immigration, dangerous foreigners flooding the country and liberal ideas destroying the family. They are unafraid to play to the delusions of the “left behind”, who turn out mostly to be men who no longer feel everything is going their way.

    This game is playing out everywhere from Italy (Meloni) to Hungary (Orban) to Austria, Sweden and the UK. It is, despite its macho swagger, an incredibly emotional discourse. “All that you have lost, all that you feel should be yours, will be restored. All those who have ‘taken’ your natural inheritance: women, immigrants, black people, gays – will be put back in their natural place.”

    This appeals as much to the ultra-rich tech bros as to the poor rural folk devastated by deindustrialisation and the opioid crisis. The outskirts of many major American cities are now encampments, favelas – slums of lost and desperate people.

    To still believe in the American Dream where Elon Musk suddenly gives you a million dollars is to close one’s eyes to reality.

    This, of course, is what Trump excels at. His reality is a moveable feast, which is why the polite but consistent rehearsal of facts exposing his mendacity does not dent him.

    Barack Obama’s recent exasperation at Trump’s accusation that money to rebuild after the hurricanes was instead being channelled to immigrants – this is false – was yet another calling out of his lies. “When did this become OK?” he cried. Obama also zeroed in on the gendered nature of this election, telling male voters that bullying is not what real strength is: “Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves.”

    Such a sentiment will not sway those inclined to vote for Trump because he advertises his ability to violate not only women but all codes and norms of what looks like an increasingly analogue notion of political persuasion. Like his friend Putin, he operates essentially as a mob leader depending on ever more bizarre conspiracy theories, weird paranoia and an understanding that his job is not to make things better but to entertain his supporters. America is not what it was but nor is Trump, who is now just a bitter old man whose speeches are word salads of arrogance and self-pity.

    This may well appeal, because if the world is against you and everything is controlled in the shadows and truth is but the last YouTube video you watched, who will save you but a strong man? As Peter Pomerantsev, one of the best chroniclers of Putin’s methodology and disinformation, points out, there are numerous parallels between America and Russia.

    Cynicism has replaced censorship. Lies are “priced in”. Trust is gone. Apathy rules and Trump is endorsed by those who really should know better.

    Or they believe they may profit from the darkness that giving up on the very idea of truth may bring. When that is priced in, we are all in trouble.

    1. How can anyone vote for Kamala Harris. She is emptier than a vacuum. There's just nothing there, at all, literally nothing.

      1. I disagree like any used vacuum she is full of crud*…

        *Other expletives are available…

      2. Unless Trump is elected by a landslide, which won’t happen, by hook or by crook Harris will be declared the victor November fifth(or sixth). Unfortunately this isn’t simply first division football where it doesn’t really matter which team wins. Four years of her and her team managing international conflicts fill me with foreboding, Trump seemed to manage the avoidance of wars, doesn’t mean he will always be successful but Harris instills little confidence.

          1. If the Deep State wins, and it's highly likely they will steal the election, then, yes, we are all screwed. I believe Trump will win by a landslide, but they are just going to steal the election result from the American people again and I doubt that many American people will have a stomach for a fight. People like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson will be rounded up and thrown in jail.

          2. If Trump wins by a landslide they won't be able to manage the results and he will be declared the winner. But it is a 50/50 thing and if the result dependes on small margins in a couple of states, his victory will be taken from him.
            Of course they aren't going to stick Musk and Carlson in gaol whether Trump wins or not.

          3. Don't think I heard you swear before, Geoff :-DD no worries, still be Obama running things, as he is now.

      1. The whole point of Trump is he isn't owned by the Washington machine and that's why they detest him. The reaction to his McDonalds PR stunt has been hysterical. They aren't just bad people. They are absolutely unhinged with visceral unbridled hatred of Trump (and by extension, the American people)

        1. It was a fake photo op.

          If it had been real the fries would have been cold and a black person would have shot him.

    3. She wants a functioning democracy but doesn’t want populism. I want my arse but I don’t like my bum.

    4. Deranged.
      As for.. "your moral compass is broken". Ha. Your lot would make Gary Glitter blush.

  114. The Serious Fraud Office is investigating the construction of a hotel and conference centre owned by one of the UK’s biggest trade unions, the BBC can reveal.
    Unite the Union spent a total of £112m of its members’ money on the project in Birmingham.
    The building has since been valued at just £29m, suggesting £83m has been wasted.
    A KC-led inquiry commissioned by Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham also identified a missing £14m which has been described as a “mystery” and does not feature in the project’s final accounts.
    Unite has told the BBC the case is “now with the Serious Fraud Office” and Ms Graham, who took over as Unite general secretary in 2021, would “leave no stone unturned in finding out if there was any financial wrongdoing”.
    An SFO spokesperson said: “In line with long established practice to avoid prejudice to law enforcement activity, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation into this matter."
    The Birmingham project was intended to be an investment for Unite as well as saving the union money with hotel and conference costs.
    Construction was completed in 2020 and development includes a four star 195 bedroom hotel, a 1,000 person capacity conference centre, as well as Unite’s regional offices.
    Employment tribunal documents reveal the union believes its ruling executive council had been misled as to the true value of the project.
    In 2022 South Wales Police searched the union’s London headquarters as part of a separate bribery, money-laundering and fraud investigation.
    The force has told the BBC that the investigation is ongoing.
    A Unite spokesperson said: “It is important to note that Sharon Graham has had to endure repeated attacks by those with much to lose since she launched these inquiries, from both inside and outside the union.
    "These have been sickening and horrendous but she has remained determined to get to the truth.
    “We are also pursuing legal claims to recover money lost to the union and the general secretary has put safeguards in place to ensure that such things can never happen again.”

    1. What they paid to build it and what it is worth don't really go together.

      Don't forget this building is union funded so expect inefficient labour practices and corruption at every level.

    3. There was a scandal involving Arthur Scargill and the Mining Union, from memory, back in the day. SOP (standard operating procedure).

    4. Now, in the '70s & '80s that money would have been syphoned off by the IRA.
      So who has taken this money now and what mischief is it funding?

      1. 395154+ up ticks,

        Morning Bob,
        I can assure you it was in place on posting,another case of now you see it , now you don't,

  116. Evening, all. Had intended to have a lazy day; drink coffee, put my feet up and read some books. Plan B – answer phone calls and sort out meetings. I did manage to drink the coffee and read some books, but it wasn't quite as relaxing as I'd planned.

    It isn't just IHT that punishes people who have been prudent. Work hard and pay your taxes – you get zapped and pay full whack. Go without to pay into a pension scheme to secure your future – get zapped and pay full whack. Marry and bring up a family – precious little in the way of benefits for you – all the money (and the houses) goes to the multiple brat-poppers who are single mothers. The message is – don't be prudent, careful or honest.

    1. Absolutely correct. We saved rather than spending on whatever was in fashion. So now we don't qualify for government funded anything, we just pay for others to have the benefits.
      Of course the tax laws are no help to anyone except the very rich, the tax man wants my money and there are no viable loopholes.

      1. Good comment but governments don’t have money it’s your tax that pays the indolent.

    2. A slight quibble here, Conway. A lot of these benefits go to the incoming lovers of peace who breed like rabbits.

  122. I don’t know who that writer is but imagine you make the observation because you know or imagine the person is male.
    I have known many men who have had to cope with unplanned pregnancies and I’m sure if you are old enough, you too will have had friends, acquaintances and relatives who although not having the baby themselves have had to face the responsibilities and inconveniences of unplanned pregnancies.
    I don’t think you have really put enough thought into your comment.

  124. From Coffee House, the Spectator,

    Keir Starmer’s concerning decision to ditch Shakespeare’s portrait
    Alexander Larman21 October 2024, 11:59am
    Politicians are said to campaign in poetry and govern in prose. In the case of Keir Starmer, he campaigned in the most uninspiring, plodding prose imaginable, and has now chosen to govern in what might politely be compared to a child’s first attempt at poetry. It is all word-vomit and incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo.

    The country needed a leader who could make a passionate and convincing case for the importance of literature. What we got instead was an Arsenal obsessive
    Still, this befits the character of a man who, according to reports, has overseen a steady exodus of portraits of key British figures from the walls of No. 10. First came down Margaret Thatcher, then Elizabeth I, and now, perhaps most egregiously of all, William Shakespeare.

    Shakespeare’s place in British national cultural life is, for most literate people, without parallel, but it is politicians who have the most to learn from his work. If you remove all the tiresome buzzwords used about Shakespeare now – such as ‘accessibility’ and ‘universality’ – and go back to his actual plays, you are faced with one of the great treatises in how to govern and how to use power. In everything from the history plays to the tragedies – with even some of the comedies and problem plays chucked in – Shakespeare presents a guide to political life that is even more relevant to 2024 than it was in his lifetime. Any halfway literate prime minister would do well both to study the plays, and to venerate their author.

    Starmer is certainly more than halfway literate, which is why it is an enormous shame that he seems to have adopted a persona that most would find both perplexing and disappointing. Get him on football – or, indeed, the oeuvre of Taylor Swift – and there’s no stopping the man. But if you ask Sir Keir questions about books, drama or literature, he seems to express precisely no interest. Before he was claimed by high office, he suggested that he knew Kafka’s The Trial back to front, and expressed admiration for James Kelman’s novel A Disaffection, a much-acclaimed stream-of-consciousness Scottish novel written in Glasgow dialect. But now, he seems to have forsaken such pursuits, even suggesting in his recent Desert Island Discs appearance that the book he would choose was ‘a detailed atlas, hopefully with shipping lanes in it… a big atlas, with real details.’ The point that Starmer was making was an unsubtle one. That as premier he would guide the country away from the isolation and confusion of the last 14 years of Conservative government, and turn Britain into a modern, outward-looking nation, rather than a forsaken little island.

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    In the first few months of the Labour government, nothing of the kind has happened, and so we must despair of both the accuracy and the philistinism of the metaphor that he chose to use. If Starmer had said instead that his favourite book was Kelman’s – or even the complete works of someone decidedly frivolous, such as the great PG Wodehouse – then he would have seemed like both a more genuine human being and a more rounded one. Instead, it’s back to technocratic posing and a sense that, somehow, reading is bourgeois and self-indulgent.

    Sir Jonathan Bate recently complained that university students are reading less than they ever did before, and that those studying English literature have gone from being able to cope with three books a week to one every three weeks. He was criticised in some quarters for intellectual snobbery, but it is undeniably true that reading has become a dispensable luxury for many, and that the primacy of the written word has decreased immeasurably over the past decade, thanks to the rise of low-attention forms of entertainment.

    What this country needed was a leader who could make a passionate and convincing case for the importance of literature, and its life-changing powers. What we got instead was an Arsenal obsessive. Good for football; bad for our country’s intellectual growth. Shakespeare, at least, had it about right, when he wrote in Richard III ‘Woe to that land that is governed by a child’. If Starmer could be prevailed upon to study the plays, he might find it desirable to bear his words in mind.

    1. Words fail me when it comes to this disgusting disgrace of a PM, and his juvenile cabinet. “Adults in the room” my arse. Will we get an apology from MSM and the Luvvies who promoted/recommended these Clowns to us? I won’t hold my breath.

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