Monday 22 April: A worrying pattern in the Met’s handling of protest marches in London

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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460 thoughts on “Monday 22 April: A worrying pattern in the Met’s handling of protest marches in London”

  3. A worrying pattern in the Met’s handling of protest marches in London

    Obviously there are two lists for the reaction of police to protests.
    If it is against the supranational agenda, then go in hard, rough them up a bit
    drag a few people off, encourage aggressive counter protests.
    – Lockdown and mask protests
    – Anti Ulez protests.
    – Anti illegal immigration

    If it is a globalist backed protest, then appease and protect, arrest anyone perceived as counter protesting
    – Just Stop Oil
    – Climate Change
    – BLM
    – Pro Hamas and Palestine

    1. Even here in the smoke the nearest NatWest is due to close in August.They already closed Lloyds and the local HSBC is just cash points. If I go in the other direction, the nearest NatWest closed a couple of years ago along with Santander and I’ve heard that Barclays has now gone.

  5. Labour will stop the small boats. Yvette Cooper. 21 April 2024.

    Dangerous small boat crossings undermine our border security, fuel soaring profits for criminal smuggler gangs, add to the chaos in our asylum system, and put lives at risk. We need urgent action to stop this perilous criminal trade and to strengthen Britain’s borders.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Piggy Malone.
    .
    You wouldn’t do any of those things you complete and utter hypocrite. You can’t even faithfully represent your own constituents who voted 69% in favour of Brexit. You did everything in your power to overturn the referendum result. You haven’t taken any refugees into your home, as you said you would. You would clear the asylum backlog by waving everyone through, and would ‘control’ our borders by flying people straight here from foreign lands. ENOUGH!

    I hope Reform targets you at the general election and you lose your seat, you useless trougher.

    Pretty hard to disagree with piggy’s analysis. Nevertheless the article does mark a new level in bare faced lying. One wonders what could have provoked such an exhibition?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/21/labour-will-stop-the-small-boats/

    1. She is telling voters what she knows they want to hear. She has no intention of carrying it out. You know that, I know that – but do voters know that? That is what she is counting on.

      1. Apparently, Mandelson and Blair are advising Keir. Thought his limbs were a bit jerky.

    1. Likewise, lucky first word!

      Wordle 1,038 2/6

      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. And I thought that I was having a good day

      Wordle 1,038 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. So did I
        Wordle 1,038 3/6

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

    1. The author was quite wrong that Truss’s deposition was not down to economic policy. I think it was entirely so. It was madness to cut taxes for oligarchs whilst heaping ever more debt onto the Treasury by subsidising inflated energy prices and not pledging to cut public spending, even on ludicrous bling empire-building by the Diversity & Equality industry. That delivering this “growth” on the national debt, at a time of a severe bear market in interest rates that could only go one way, would be to compound the whole thing into hyperinflation territory, and the markets knew it.

      She had to go.

      1. Somebody earning over £100k is not an oligarch but probably an accountant, company manager, NHS consultant etc.
        Oligarchs rarely pay taxes in the UK because of ownership structures etc, tax loopholes that politicians never address.

  9. Wordle 1,038 X/6

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

    1. An odd one, Elsie. My first word helped but lots of possibilities.
      Wordle 1,038 4/6

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

    1. Pah.. the stuff they use is prehistoric.
      Watrix software in China can identify people from up to 50 meters away, even with their back turned or face covered using human gait computer vision methods to identify persons based on their body shape and walking styles.

  11. The commie-woo-woo rats have their sights set on the guilds & professional bodies.. as The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) announce goal to “Eradicate” Critics Of Gender Ideology from the profession by reporting hateful comments by any member to their website administrators and the police.
    Next up.. RIBA Gold Medal Award.

  13. ‘Loo leash’ forces elderly to stay in or avoid drinking before going out

    Older people have warned that they are deliberately avoiding drinking water or liquids owing to a lack of public lavatories.

    I usually plan my excursions like a military operation, Which places have toilets and where are the nearest for a sudden emergency?

    Fortunately my diabetes is reasonably predictable. Two hours mostly between toilet visits, This allows me local bus rides with little risk.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/21/few-public-toilets-elderly-wales-avoid-drinking/

    1. A concern for me also. On occasion i wore Tena. I find now when i am out and about i’m usually okay right up to the moment i open my front door.

        1. I asked my GP if he had ever tried one. As I told him that he wouldn’t be able to leave the house for at least 4 hours. He just laughed.

  14. Good morning, all. Clear blue sky and a light frost here at 06:00.

    I believe that this particular style of punch is known as the haymaker:

    The haymaker is one of the most powerful punches used in boxing, but it’s also one of the hardest to land. It involves cocking back your arm to increase the power behind the punch, which telegraphs your intent to a skilled boxer.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1781770261454352749

    A haymaker is typically a hook that is pulled back and unleashed with the entire momentum of the boxer’s twisting body. It is designed to end the fight when it lands. The punch follows a wider trajectory than most punches used in moving and travels a longer distance, giving opponents a lot of time to react to it. It is one of the most avoidable punches in boxing, so it often works best at the end of combinations when you already have your opponent dazed.

    It certainly ended this fight!

    Notice how the winner avoids the other person when he realises it is a woman.

      1. Could be a case of:

        People Sleep Peacefully in Their Beds at Night Only Because Rough Men Stand Ready to Do Violence on Their Behalf

        Looking forward it’s likely that quite a few rough men will be needed to deal with what is being imported.

        Interesting history to the above quote is here

        1. Reminds me of Mr Kipling’s Mr Atkins:

          Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?”
          But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll
          The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
          O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes,” when the drums begin to roll.

        2. The gist of the article is that the probable origin of that quotation was a newspaper columnist, Richard Grenier, who died in 2002.

          The Forbes Media Guide, 1994 stated:

          Grenier’s maniac, often barbed style is an acquired taste, not recommended to those who prefer polite commentary. He scores against both the administration and Hollywood, two of his preferred topics. … He takes no prisoners.

          He told the truth. A man after my own heart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Grenier_(newspaper_columnist)

    3. Nothing, but nothing, beats the satisfaction of seeing a Lefty twat … twatted, properly.

    4. Rocky Marciano’s famous knockout punch, ‘Suzy-Q’, travelled no further than 9″ before landing (most of the momentum was in the twist of his body). No one saw it coming until it was too late.

    1. I didn’t recognise her in stone straight away, if it wasn’t for the corgis. Boudicca never had corgis.

      1. QEII never had a chariot with knives on its wheels.
        And when she visited Colchester she had tea with a handful of nurses, rather than burn the place to the ground.

        1. That was nice of her, and contrasts somewhat with Betjeman’s intentions for Slough.

          1. Nobody was talking about anybody called Brenda. Oh! I’ve got it – Private Eye – Brenda! Ha ha ha ha.

    3. I think the queen would have been amused had one of the corgis been cocking a leg!

    4. A wonderful piece of work. And will even comply with those feverish, reality-deniers’ beliefs that the Queen was black. Joking aside, it really is a stunning statue and love the corgi touch.

  17. Labour will stop the small boats.

    They will use large ferries in place of RIBS. The safety and security of the illegals is paramount and no cost is too great to bear where mass immigration is concerned.

    While my comment is very much tongue in cheek it would not surprise me if a Labour government resorted to measures that would ease more illegals safely through the system.

    1. On the other hand if she gets them made in the Ferguson Shipyard she’ll have to stick with small boats for a few years

    2. Yes, in the hope that they will vote Labour. But Labour are too stupid to realise that they will vote muslim, and Labour will be thrown out like everything else.

      1. Why are so many politicians unaware of ’cause and effect’? Import a mass of people whose loyalty is to their long-held belief system and expect them to change centuries of behaviour by falling behind another ideology isn’t the smartest move to make. Either the incomers will take over your power-base or create their own. Doesn’t the Labour party, or any of the major parties, employ an intelligence… Ah, I see the problem.

    1. Wear and tear all round, leg joints included. 50 thousand hip and knee replacements of the future.

  20. Foreign Office trying to outdo the Home Office in being blobish…

    Foreign Office tried to scupper Rwanda deportations, leaked papers show

    Civil servants warned of ‘potentially significant’ challenges under the ECHR and raised questions over legality

    Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
    21 April 2024 • 11:33pm

    The Foreign Office tried to scupper the Rwanda deportation scheme over concerns it could breach human rights laws, leaked government documents show.

    A government memo, seen by The Telegraph, shows that the Foreign Office sought to have Rwanda removed from a list of countries identified for “offshore” processing of asylum seekers deported from the UK, warning also it could anger Commonwealth partners.

    Civil servants warned that any scheme could result in “potentially significant” challenges under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and raised questions over the legality of the plans.

    They also raised concerns that sending asylum seekers to Rwanda could anger Commonwealth partners.

    The revelation comes ahead of crunch parliamentary votes on Monday when Rishi Sunak will seek to secure approval for his Safety of Rwanda Bill by forcing the Lords and Commons to sit until they agree to the plans.

    The leaked documents are likely to be seized upon by critics of the legislation on both sides of the argument. The Lords are seeking to introduce extra checks to protect asylum seekers by ensuring Rwanda is safe and unlikely to treat them in a way that could breach their human rights.

    Sunak ‘failed to heed warnings’
    Right-wing MPs said the memo showed the Government had failed to heed warnings to eliminate legal risks under the ECHR that could have prevented the two-year delay in the flights.

    A senior Tory source said: “These are bombshell revelations. The Government knew all along that ECHR rights would thwart the Rwanda scheme and yet ploughed on regardless. They’ve conned the public it would be fine.

    “The Prime Minister was then chancellor – he’s known this the whole time and he was warned repeatedly when he became PM that his measures didn’t go far enough.”

    The document, drawn up ahead of the announcement of the Rwanda scheme in 2022, reveals the Government was considering nine countries for partnership deals to take migrants deported from the UK with their asylum claims processed offshore.

    Officials at the Foreign Office, then headed by Dominic Raab, had been asked to submit the department’s views on the suitability of each country to receive migrants to have their asylum claims processed.

    The Foreign Office advocated “removing” Rwanda from consideration for the scheme altogether. “FS [Foreign Secretary’s] private office have provided us with a clear steer not to proceed given our Commonwealth equities in the run-up to Chogm [Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting],” said the document.

    “We would also highlight the human rights concerns outlined in the country report, which would potentially pose significant [European Convention on Human Rights] article 3 challenges.”

    Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Rwanda scheme was unlawful on the basis that the country was unsafe for asylum seekers. This was because of the risk they could be returned to their home countries where they might face persecution or torture in breach of their rights under article 3 of the ECHR.

    Blocking legal challenges
    The Safety of Rwanda Bill blocks systemic legal challenges but still gives individual migrants a right to seek to appeal. Right-wing MPs unsuccessfully tried before Christmas to tighten the restrictions on challenges even further.

    Other countries considered for “partnership” deals to take deported migrants included Angola, Georgia, Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia but the Foreign Office advised against all five because of their poor track record in dealing with refugees, which would pose “significant” legal challenges.

    Foreign Office officials said there would be “political” issues over Albania and North Macedonia because their governments would fear a public backlash if they were seen to be processing migrants from other countries. There were also concerns about migrants being able to leave the countries because of weaker border security.

    The Foreign Office also “strongly” advised against approaching Georgia and Moldova for a partnership arrangement “given the potential for Russian interference”.

    MPs are expected to reject the Lords’ two amendments to Mr Sunak’s Rwanda Bill before sending it back to the upper house, where peers will decide whether to spark a fifth round of parliamentary ping-pong by reinstating the changes.

    Downing Street has indicated there will be no concessions, while Labour is preparing to whip its peers to continue to back the amendments if there is no government compromise.

    The source of the standoff has been boiled down to two amendments, one demanding an exemption from deportation for Afghans who worked with the UK military and a second seeking tighter checks on whether Rwanda remains safe for asylum seekers.

    Mr Sunak has consistently said that he wants the deportation flights to Rwanda to take off this spring but the first 150 migrants earmarked for the initial flights cannot be notified until the Bill gains royal assent. There is then a legal appeal process required by law for the migrants that is scheduled to take four to eight weeks.

    A government spokesman said: “The British people have made clear they want us to stop the boats. The Rwanda plan is a bold and innovative solution to deter illegal migrants coming to the UK.

    “The longer this Bill is delayed, the more vulnerable migrants will be lured into unseaworthy boats and risk their lives.”

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

    Ed Martin
    11 HRS AGO
    The deep state of uncivil serpents, the House of Lords and unelected judges and the mainstream media are determined to resist the democratic will. We no longer have a functioning democracy. We live in an age in which the technocrats and unelected dominate our lives. And the final shift in this direction has occurred under a so-called Conservative government who simply don’t care or share those ‘elite’ values. We have a fight on our hands to regain control

    Shropshire Lass
    11 HRS AGO
    Civil service payroll should be expensed off the foreign aid budget … because they obviously aren’t working for, or in the interest, of Britain

    1. The only thing that bothered me about the Rwanda Bill and how it was reported, was the One Way nature of it – that there was no right of appeal.

      Crucial to its success should be the establishment of a sizeable and well-staffed British Consulate. Asylum seekers deported there would have every right to apply for a visa in the proper manner, rather than through the organised crime route. Immigration officers in Rwanda could then examine each application on merit, and have the power to extradite to place of origin (in the case of recognised criminals escaping justice), to remain in Rwanda indefinitely but with the option to try for a visa elsewhere, or to grant residency in the UK (such as the case for Afghan or Iraqi interpreters working for the British, or Christians fleeing Muslim persecution, but whose applications could not be processed in time there). Of course there would be try-ons, but I would hope that the FCO would have the wit and the training to spot these forensically.

      The classic test case is Shamima Begum – someone who renounced her British citizenship on reaching majority, whose chosen nationality of choice was defeated in battle, and became therefore the responsibility of the victors. The FCO officers could assess her risk to British society, set against her capacity for redemption, perhaps showing her value in an intelligence operation. To look at her today, one would see that her dress code was somewhat haram by Sharia standards, but is this genuine or Taqiyya?

      Such a case would be explored by trainees, and applied in the many cases coming at them in Rwanda. The one thing to be avoided though is Critical Race Theory, which has no place in making such judgements, and should be removed from any party of the Civil Service as a matter of urgency.

    2. I think the Rwanda policy was wittingly designed to be a ping-pong policy. And I think this ping-pong tactic is increasingly a factor in modern systems. It bakes in the ‘give-up’ factor. It also perpetuates the myth that useless government systems are actually doing something meaningful. We must pushback to make them give-up and make way for decent people to govern. Vote Reform.

    2. They will change a few roads back to 30 to keep the protesters quiet but there will be no big changes imho. However, they still have their eyes on reducing Mways to 50 as they have done already in some places.

    3. Meanwhile, Hapless Humza is planning to bring in 20mph areas throughout Scotland, the cost of the new signage alone is expected to run into the millions.

      It’s as if these pretend parliaments feel they have to do something to justify their existence. Even, perhaps especially, if they fail to carry out any cost/benefit analysis and/or research how such stupid ideas have failed elsewhere.

      A few years ago, Ayr council decided to construct a cycle lane on a main arterial route into the town centre. It was reported as having cost £80,000. Yet when the complaints rolled in – the cycle lane basically narrowed the road so much that every time a bus stopped, it caused a hold up – they couldn’t identify who had signed off on the project. A similar anonymous councillor signed off on the removal of the cycle lane…the cost of the restoration wasn’t provided to the public.

      1. We already have these in Highland villages. The council was given the money by the Scottish ‘government’ and it couldn’t spend the money on anything else, like pot holes

        1. The 20mph zones are to reduce accidents and vehicle damage when driving over pot holes.

      1. The committee to debate the action hasn’t been yet been formed. Don’t expect too much too soon.

  22. 386327+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Labour must ‘reset’ relationship with EU, says Tony Blair
    Sir Keir Starmer is facing searching questions over how he would make the most of Brexit if he wins power

    Make no mistake about it,this will be the top of the kneelers agenda and with one anthony charlie jynton in tow the final nail
    is awailing, with the majority voters consent, to be hammered home.

    This currently is one very,very sick nation with the governing political overseers being given succour and supported via the polling stations and the majority voter, the political hierarchy is in turn riddled with liars, deceivers, rent boy renters, social housing manipulators, treachery merchants, all unified in their
    pursuit of evilness.

    Tell me,
    Why must any of this political devils afterbirth be re-elected once more into a position of power ?

    1. It’s going to get worse.. the UK still has plenty of room for catch-up with the USA.. where the Intelligence Agencies & Tax authorities are onboard and proactive. Anyone steps out of line there and they get the treatment; framed with “Kiddie Porn”, or a random tax bill. Though they are a bit behind with the debanking skills.

      State Officials Warn Bank Of America About ‘De-Banking’ Of Christians
      Bank of America provided “vague reasons” for the closure of these accounts, claiming the organization’s activities exceeded the institution’s “risk tolerance” and that it no longer wanted to serve its “business type”…

    2. Tony effing Blair needs to butt out! He has already carried out irreversible damage to our once respected and once safe country.

      1. 386327+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,
        He won three Elections so there are plenty of the same ilk.

  23. MARK MENZIES RESIGNS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH “BAD PEOPLE”

    The backbench MP for Fylde in Lancashire, Mark Menzies, had already been suspended from the party following allegations, which he denies, that he used campaign funds to pay off “bad people”.

    Lancashire Police say they are reviewing “information” about Mr Menzies after Labour asked for an investigation. Rod Liddle’s take on Menzies today in the Sunday Times is unsurpassable

    “My favourite fact about Mark is a testament to the wit and intelligence of our governing party. Ten years ago Menzies was accused of attempting to procure drugs from a teenage Brazilian rent boy. He immediately quit his ministerial position — and what did the party do then? It made him the government trade envoy to Colombia and Peru. Fill your boots, then. Do the Tories not understand how difficult it is to write satire when they do stuff like that?”

    The Carlton Club is increasingly like a gay bar without the hi-energy music and a dance floor…

    1. As I have reminded people before, Tom Lehrer gave up writing satirical songs because he could no longer compete with reality when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize.

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Weather back its English formula…..awful, birds are cheery.
    Unfortunately the Dopey Wokey Met set a president when they escorted vile people carrying hate banners and placards demanding the death by beheading of anyone who didn’t support their future aims. This was at and outside the Israeli embassy around ten years ago.
    They now have a lot of hard work to do. And officer’s like copper x are not helping.

    2. Good morning J

      I expect the badgers have done you a favour, chomped their way through beetle larvae, and have probably enjoyed their tasty snacks in your lawn!

        1. No hedgehogs here. Years ago we had two in a hutch/pen, ready for release. The badger broke into it and ate them.

          1. Even Danish D-in-L who is a whizz with hedgehogs had none last winter.
            (Last winter, sez she wearing a padded gilet indoors.)

    3. Are you back in Gloucestershire and if so, why have you taken the fine weather with you?
      Send it back immediately!

  27. Good day all and the 77th,

    It is the 22nd of April isn’t it? I f so why is it 3℃ outside? Light cloud overhead Castle McPhee, wind in the Nor’-Nor’-West with the Met Office Global Warmists promising no more than 6℃ today. Something wrong with your ‘narrative’, lads and lassies?

    Why is the DT giving space to this shameless charlatan?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b0669299ad45e811b27f8f36cb397251ebea3e3a53d950018fc39ce6b9f877b.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/21/labour-will-stop-the-small-boats/

    Do us a favour, Cooper. Stop lying. We know your filthy organisation will do no such thing because even if you have a will to do so, which I seriously doubt, the civil serpents and the yooman rites loiyers won’t let you.

    The day must surely come when the British people can sweep away all of these political scumbags and chancers.

    1. Notice she specifically said ‘small’ boats.
      She’s probably working on more substantial vessels to bring across more, do nothing but scrounge, labour supporters.

    2. Ed Balls was repulsive when he was in politics but became almost human when he left it having lost his Parliamentary seat to Andrea Jenkins in 2015.

      I wonder how he copes with with his harridan of a wife? I also wonder if the couple who made very substantial gains by both claiming CGT exemptions when juggling their house sales feel even remotely uncomfortable about the way in which the current deputy leader of the Labour Party is being treated when the sums involved in her case are relatively trivial compared with the Balls’s bonanza.

    3. Surprised she didn’t publish a photo of herself, draped in a St. George’s flag, to accompany the article.

    4. While I agree with her analysis of the present situation, I have little faith in an incoming Labour government doing anything radical to change course.

  28. A damp start after the lovely weather of the past couple of days, 3°C and steady rain this morning.

  29. Good morning all,

    A brrrr sort of morning. Low cloud , still , cold ,5c.

    I have rushed through the DT letters . Usual stuff about smoking etc .

    Did any of you read this yesterday?

    MoD hands out free cigarettes to Ukrainian troops
    Health officials did not seek to block the arrangement, which was ‘hugely appreciated’ by Kyiv’s troops to keep up morale

    Charles Hymas,
    HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
    21 April 2024 • 7:44pm

    Ukrainian soldiers trained in the UK were given free cigarettes under a deal brokered by the Ministry of Defence, despite the dangers of smoking.

    The arrangement allowed tobacco donated to the troops to be imported duty free as part of their rations.

    It came after complaints from the soldiers that cigarettes were too expensive in the UK and in too short supply at the training bases to meet their needs.

    A pack of 20 cigarettes in Ukraine costs £1.70, compared with the UK’s price of £15.67 since last December.

    The deal was facilitated by Ben Wallace, the then defence secretary, working with Oleksii Reznikov, his Ukrainian counterpart, amid claims that the cigarette shortages were impeding the soldiers’ ability to concentrate on their training and posed a risk to morale from the lack of “creature comforts”.

    The deal was arranged shortly after the first Ukrainians arrived for training in the summer of 2022, but has been disclosed only now, just days after Rishi Sunak secured the second reading of his Bill to implement a phased ban on smoking.

    Cigarettes given as part of rations
    Mr Wallace and his aides smoothed the duty implications with the Treasury and cleared the legal risks with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which leads on the Government’s public health campaigns to reduce smoking.

    The cigarettes were donated by an international tobacco firm and given to the soldiers as part of their rations. They were also offered healthier alternatives such as vapes and nicotine pouches and advice on the risks of smoking. Sources stressed no cigarettes were offered to non-smoking Ukrainians.

    One source familiar with the deal said: “It is fair to say that smoking is going to be less of a threat to these brave soldiers’ lives than fighting Putin’s illegal invasion of their country.”

    A Ukrainian government source told The Telegraph: “It was a very long and complicated bureaucratic process but we did it. It was hugely appreciated by our soldiers.”

    Advertisement

    The MoD’s Operation Interflex, which has so far trained 60,000 Ukrainian military personnel, was launched in July 2022 with the first soldiers dispatched to several bases across the UK. In March, tobacco giant Philip Morris, which has plants in Ukraine, donated 500,000 packs of cigarettes to the Ukrainian military.

    A British soldier teaches a group of Ukrainians how to use a FGM-148 Javelin surface-to-air missile

    The cigarettes donated to the soldiers training in the UK came from another, unnamed, big tobacco firm but there were concerns within the MoD about whether the importation of them would accrue duty, which is currently £394 per 1,000 cigarettes.

    Mr Wallace had experienced “first hand” the frustrations of the Ukrainian soldiers over the cost and paucity of cigarettes on their bases, said a source.

    “They smoke at higher levels than us. Not only were cigarettes in the UK too expensive but there were not enough of them in the camps where they had to stay,” said the source. “It was reported up the chain of command that there were concentration and creature comfort issues as a blocker to progress on training.”

    Duty free
    Mr Wallace received assurances from the Treasury that it was legitimate under the rules for the cigarettes to be imported duty free as rations for a strategically important military operation.

    It mirrors the Second World War, when 75 per cent of UK soldiers were smokers and would receive a four-pack of cigarettes along with matches in each of their rations.

    The MoD also took advice from the DHSC’s legal department on the legal risks of the proposed arrangement. It is not known what the legal advice recommended, as it is custom for it to remain secret, but DHSC sources insisted the department did not seek to block the deal despite its public health responsibilities to cut smoking.

    An MoD spokesman said: “The UK has trained over 60,000 Ukrainian personnel, providing them with the battlefield skills they need to fight Putin’s illegal invasion.

    “Ukrainian recruits who were existing smokers could access cigarettes as part of their supplied ration packs. No public money was spent on cigarettes, and we ensured that healthier nicotine alternatives and advice were available.”

    A source added: “Ben Wallace was absolutely determined that the Ukrainians got all the help and support they needed.”

    2. Should have given them ‘blue liners’ which might have encouraged them to give up the habit
      We occasionally got tins of 50 Woodbines whilst serving in Germany – these were illicit ones seized by customs

    4. The free cigarettes were recommended by top British lawyers. Any Ukie squaddies who survive a couple of weeks on the Russian front will be returned to UK with PTSD and will claim asylum and compensation for inadequate military training and lung and other medical problems brought on by excessive smoking.

      They know their stuff, these thieving bast*rds – the lawyers, that is!

    1. Has anybody any news of Jay – she used to be a lively contributor to this forum?

      1. Not seen hereabouts for many months, perhaps years. Horace Pendleton has been long silent, too.

      1. First time so just 5 minutes around the yard. I will be doing it again and going a little further each time. Set myself the goal of being able to go our for hack by the end of May.

        1. Brilliant you even had the strength to sit astride , using muscles that have not been used for a while .

          Be careful , but enjoy what you love doing .

  34. Loo leash’ forces elderly to stay in or avoid drinking before going out
    More should be spent on new public lavatories, warns Welsh forum, as older people worry there will be no place to relieve themselves

    Gabriella Swerling,
    SOCIAL AFFAIRS EDITOR
    21 April 2024 • 8:29pm

    Across the border, according to research conducted by Age UK in 2022, 81 per cent of Londoners think that public toilet provision in their borough is bad.

    Nine in 10 Londoners have considered public toilet provision before making a journey to a particular place, and more than half (52 per cent) say they sometimes reduce the amount they drink before leaving home.

    One older Londoner told Age UK London: “Lack of clean, accessible public toilets traps people at home and prevents them getting out and about. It affects more of us than you might imagine.”

    Abigail Wood, chief executive of Age UK London said: “Good public toilet provision is a hallmark of a civilised society and the fact that 81 per cent of people think that the availability of toilets in their borough is bad is a scandal.

    ‘Significant cause of social isolation’
    “The ‘loo leash’, where people don’t leave their homes as much as they might like because of worries that they will not be able to find a public toilet, is a significant cause of social isolation.”

    BD

    Beth Dutton
    21 MIN AGO
    For as long as councils are permitted to perpetrate the man made climate change myth and hide behind the net zero scam nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, will get done to benefit tax payers. .

    1. I thought it was overstating a fairly trivial matter. If caught short simply step into the nearest pub.

    2. One could laugh but I have older siblings who plan their days out around the availability of toilet facilities and one of the more comical aspects of the church conference I attended on Saturday was that the venue had only two toilets and quite a high percentage of the 200+ attendees were of an age for that to be an issue. I managed to only queue once but I did sneak out during the last hymn at evensong to make sure I got back to Bristol station in time to use the Ladies before boarding the train. The loos there were clean but I wasn’t impressed by the very young women who were already drunk before 7 pm and staggering in there to throw up.

      1. I was out with friends at a pre-Christmas event one evening back in the early-1980s when we decided to pop into a (very crowded) pub for a refreshment. One of the young women in our party decided to pop to the Ladies’. She emerged, ashen-faced, a few minutes later. Apparently the bog was heaving with semi-inebriated young women, some of whom lacked the patience to wait for a vacant cubicle. One of them brazenly cocked her leg over a wash basin and proceeded to empty her bladder there and then! We left in haste to find a more civilised hostelry.

        1. My friend once stepped in a poo as the previous visitor to the cubicle had missed the seat. Was wearing open topped sandals too. Squishy.

          1. My friend, A female Jamaican cleaner called Vinola “Vi”( a lovely, bubbly lady), was frequently reduced to tears when asked to clean female lavatories (at a famous bicycle factory in Nottingham) used by female members of the RoP, of which there were many.

            It was their ‘custom’ to stand on the seats, when defecating, and in many instances, the fæces were either left on the seat or dropped onto the floor.

            Despite complaining, bitterly, to the Personnel department; the mealy-mouthed staff in that department refused to take the culprits to task (“for cultural reasons”) and insisted that cleaning up such mess was part-and-parcel of a cleaner’s job remit.

      2. My son tells me that the phenomenon you observed is known as ‘pre-loading’. Prior to a night out on the town young men and women frequently drink large quantities of spirits at home as it is much cheaper than paying inflated drinks prices in the clubs.

    3. In the days when I still went on protest marches in London, we were gathering in Cavendish Square. I was desperate so went into John Lewis in Oxford St. There was a queue.
      By the time I emerged, the marchers had moved off and I didn’t know which way….. I missed the march so made my way to Parliament Square.
      I missed the speeches but fortunately a straggler escorted me to the pub where at last I caught up with everyone. It was the only time my husband came on one of those marches.

  36. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story – Late again
    DEATHBED CONFESSION

    Jake was dying. His wife, Becky, was maintaining a candlelight vigil by his side. She held his fragile hand, tears running down her face. Her praying roused him from his slumber.
    He looked up and his pale lips began to move slightly. “Becky my darling,” he whispered.
    “Hush my love,” she said. “Rest, don’t talk.”
    He was insistent. “Becky,” he said in his tired voice, “I have something that I must confess.”
    “There’s nothing to confess,” replied the weeping Becky. “Everything’s all right, go to sleep.”
    “No, no. I must die in peace, Becky. I … I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!”
    “I know, sweetheart,” whispered Becky, “let the poison work.”

  37. Boris Becker interview: ‘I miss Wimbledon – I will be back in 2025… if the Home Office let me’
    Exclusive: Three-time Wimbledon champion hopes he can return to ‘smell the flowers again’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024/04/22/boris-becker-interview-wimbledon-laureus-bbc-djokovic-rune/

    Time to clean out the broom cupboard?

    BTL

    Completely off topic but I saw an episode of Shelley with Hywel Bennet in the title role on television last night. What a good looking young man he was – and what an ugly old brute he became in middle age.

    The same can be said of Boris Becker who was a delightful looking boy when aged 17!

    Pretty girls can often lose their looks but attractive girls become more attractive women. It is personality and the mind’s construction which shows in the face.

    2. That’s entirely expected. An incoming Labour government was bound to cosy up to the EU without actually rejoining it. A close regulatory alignment will soon follow with Conservative divergences removed or reduced.

      As for the 2016 referendum, well, we have added a cohort of 18-25 year olds to the electorate since then and they are going to be rather more Europhile than those who have since left the electoral registers. Many of those who have remained on the register in the ensuing 8 years, even if they have not shifted back to a more Europhile position in the face of an underwhelming Brexit, will despise this Conservative administration to the extent that their opinion of the EU will not rank very highly compared with ousting this government, regardless of the EU stance of its replacement.

      1. There have been Conservative divergences from EU regs? Apart from not being prosecuted for selling apples in pounds (lbs), that is.

  39. The lodestone of idiocy, Bryony Gordon, rides to the wretched Sanook’s rescue this morning in the Telegraph by criticising his plan to make it more difficult for the work-shy to get sick notes. No comments allowed as is usually the case for the Bryony’s articles, as she is invariably pilloried btl.

    1. I used to think that the only reason she is still employed by the DT is because she is sleeping with the editor but on reflection that seems unlikely so what is the reason?

      1. My personal theory is that she has slept in the past with one or two of the top men at Telegraph Towers and they are worried she will tell their wives.

      2. Ask her mother, Eve Gordon.

        Or Claire Rayner. Or Marjorie Proops. Or Hannah Betts. Or Zoë Strimpel. Or Nigella Lawson. Or Victoria Coren Mitchell. Or Emily Maitlis. Or Eve Pollard. Or Esther Rantzen. Or Emma Barnett. Or Laura Penney. Or Suzy Menkes. Or Samantha Simmons. Or Melanie Phillips. Or Barbara Amiel. Or Afua Hirsch. Or Ruth Smeeth. Or Rachel Beer. Or Hadley Freeman. Or Vivien Goldman. Or Barbara Conway. Or Tanya Gold. Or Mary Ann Sieghart. Or Alexandra Shulman. Or Mary-Kay Wilmers. Or Sally Soames. Or Wendy Greengross. Or Ada Ballin. Or Nora Beloff. Or Hannah Mary Rothschild. Or Vivienne Harris. Or Rosie Whitehouse. Or Ellie Levenson. Or Miriam Shaviv. Or Marghanita Laski. Or Natasha Lehrer. Or Rachel Shabi. Or Jo Coburn.

  40. Looking at the weather this morning (steady rain, in for the day) as well as much of the week ahead, boy am I glad I mowed the lawn yesterday. Rare is the spring of long sunny days, commencing in March, and extending for weeks. But I can recall three:

    1984 – an amazing year, where drought conditions were exceptional by late-summer. England got absolutely tonked by the West Indies .

    2003 – my first grandchild was born in early March. Sunshine records must have been broken that year as the good weather lasted well into October

    2020 – lockdown insanity was made easier for the affluent by the beautiful spring and the fiscal and economic madness and incompetence of the “Conservatives”. Many GPs at a loose end and busied themselves devising new private surgeries/ventures.

  41. One of the lambs on my croft has learned the hard way never to get to the ewes milk via between the rear legs – always to the side. As well as the blue mark on its back it now has a brown one! Yes and from a great height!

  42. One of the lambs on my croft has learned the hard way never to get to the ewes milk via between the rear legs – always to the side. As well as the blue mark on its back it now has a brown one! Yes and from a great height!

      1. This is climate catastrophe in clear Technicolor. The sea is rising and we shall soon be all under water!

        1. Which is why Obama and Kerry and other global warming evangelists have bought homes just above the current sea levels at Martha’s Vineyard!

          1. If Karma truly exists it’s one of the very few things that might make me believe it is going to happen.

            Those people are so pig-ignorant that they could easily not realise that rising sea levels would destroy their idylls.

          2. Al Gore warned the world of the impending climate catastrophe with his book and film, An Inconvenient Truth, which brought him awards galore, including a “PrimeTime Emmy Award” and the Nobel Peace Prize!

            He celebrated this by buying a house on the beach in the Hamptons on Long Island.

          3. I suspect that, being a politician, he didn’t think it all the way through… if he thought at all, that is.

    2. It’s still cold here as well Grizz.
      Our neighbour came back from mid France yesterday. Its cold there as well. And the locals are blaming the English for the weather.
      And it’s all your fault 😂

    3. Snow is so unusual here that it is a surprise to see it. This year there has been none and last year there was a brief powder that lasted less than a day.

      1. Pretty much the same pertains to my home this year. Barely any frost, either.

    1. If this is true, it is an absolutely disgusting situation. But because our whole country seems to be riddled with filthy vile corruption from the top down nothing will ever change.

      1. It is evident that Starmer was involved with defending some pretty terrible low-life in the past If a link to this episode could be proved – or even if a whiff of the story got into the MSM – then it would not do him any good.

        Whether it is true or not I should imagine that Starmer’s organisation has enough agents in place to keep this sort of story concealed.

        1. Some of the worst of criminals have had defence counsel. Do we really want acting in their defence to cast a stain on their advocate’s reputation?

    2. I’m struggling with the veracity of the claims of this individual, the grandiose expansion is rapid. The initial focus should be for the child he is concerned about and that’s that. Sort that out first.

      1. 386327+ up ticks,

        Afternoon AAL,

        After the Jay report was revealed regarding the sixteen plus year cover-up activated via council members & the peoples guardians of rotherham taking no action, otherwise the peace could very well be disturbed due to anti diversity action being taken, and it would stain the party name.

        I have no qualms in believing the ex policeman on this issue.

    3. I had to take a break from this. I’ve come back, the lady on the other end of the line says she is a “call taker” but he carries on as though he is speaking to a senior detective. His language is inappropriate. He has also mentioned “citizens arrest” groups. In fairness to the lady at the other end she is keeping her nerve. I am 11 minutes in and tapping out.

    4. Robert Maxwell has been missing for quite a while now, I doubt he will have been up to much mischief recently that is worth reporting.

  46. We must get Brexit back on track, or risk Labour unravelling our biggest achievement
    Too many Conservatives seem to see Brexit more as an embarrassing secret than a huge democratic achievement.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/we-must-get-brexit-back-on-track-or-risk-labour-unravelling/

    BTL

    I have never had an honest answer to this question from David Frost.

    “Why, when you had been adamant that the UK would not give in to the EU on both Northern Ireland and Fishing did you capitulate and surrender to the EU when Johnson and Gove arrived in Brussels before the Betrayal of Brexit deal was signed?”

    And this perfidy was gold-plated by Sunak with his de facto surrender of Northern Ireland in his Great Windsor Betrayal. And not only that, the EU fishermen now pillage sand eels from the Dogger Bank which will destroy the birds which feed on them.

  47. Einstein thought quantum mechanics was absurd – here’s why. 22 April 2024.

    Niels Bohr’s base of theoretical operations lent its name to what became known as the “Copenhagen interpretation” of quantum mechanics, according to which – to put it very crudely – subatomic particles and maybe bigger things don’t exist anywhere in particular until you look at them. Bohr was unperturbed by the implications, trusting in the equations. But Einstein would not accept a style of physics that, as he saw it, abandoned its duty to describe the real world. Nor, completely, would his friend Schrödinger, whose famous cat – which is somehow both alive and dead in its box until someone opens it – was intended as a reductio ad absurdum.

    The universe i.e. That thing that we see every day, is, as we all know, simply an exrraordinarily powerful computer simulation. It has no ultimate reality.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/quantum-drama-review-baggott-heilbron-einstein/

    2. Last night I watched (or, more likely, endured) the much-vaunted film, Oppenheimer, on Sky Movies Premiere. I could go on and on about how much that film is vastly overrated, but I shall content myself with this:

      The film is overlong (3 hours) and for 95% of its duration, the mumbling dialogue is completely drowned out by an idiotically loud and irritating “musical” soundtrack. I saw nothing, whatsoever, that merited an Oscar-winning performance for either the film or its main star (Cillian Murphy).

      Two instances of risibly idiotic casting were: Tom Conti playing Albert Einstein; and Kenneth Branagh playing Neils Bohr. The only highlight, for me, was the brief cameo of President Harry S Truman played exceptionally well by the excellent Gary Oldman.

      All-in-all, for me, it was a dismally disappointing experience.

      1. When I read unofficial reviews it was clear that with the music and diction issues that it would be a waste of time and money.
        You’ve confirmed I made the correct decision.

      2. I endeavoured to watch it over Christmas but, as I was away from home, I did not have control of the television. As a guest, I was watching the film while sitting next to another on the settee. He chatted to me on and off throughout, distracting me from the film. As it stands, I havent given the film a fair viewing.

      3. I dislike films that jump around in time. This one had that in spades, and why was the latest time period in B&W. If you didn’t know the story, you would have little clue about what was going on. I agree, an awful film.

    3. Put a stop to all unethical thought experiments.
      Free Schrödinger’s cats NOW.

        1. I don’t believe it’s anything to do with our observation that affects whether tiny particles in a quantum state are this or that..

    4. Recently someone on here mentioned that he was reading Laurence Krauss’s ‘A Universe From Nothing’. I’ve read that short book at least twice and it always amazes me. The idea that ’empty’ space is at any one time capable of being full of particles that last for unimaginable short time periods is to my mind counter-intuitive but Krauss explains it in simple terms such that it becomes believable. That’s science really on the edge.

      If the Universe is a computer simulation the programmers and scriptwriters deserve every award going, every year.

      1. “The idea that ’empty’ space is at any one time capable of being full of particles that last for unimaginable short time periods is to my mind counter-intuitive but Krauss explains it in simple terms such that it becomes believable.”

        “The momentary events, coming into being, represent their own destruction.”
        Is that a correct way of looking at the idea you express above?

    5. Have you ever wished you were richer/irresistible to the opposite sex/if fact has anything unpleasant ever happened to you? Unless the answer is no, then you’re not in a simulation.

    6. Is consciousness derived from the material world, or is it the other way round? (Asking for a friend.)

  48. For anyone who has served his country . . .

    I went into a public ‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
    The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
    The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
    I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:
    O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
    But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins,” when the band begins to play
    The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
    O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins,” when the band begins to play.

    I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
    They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me;
    They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls,
    But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!
    For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”;
    But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide
    The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide,
    O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.

    Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
    Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap.
    An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
    Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
    Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?”
    But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll
    The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
    O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes,” when the drums begin to roll.

    We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
    But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
    An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
    Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
    While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ Tommy, fall be’ind,”
    But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind
    There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
    O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind.

    You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
    We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
    Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
    The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
    For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ Chuck him out, the brute!”
    But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
    An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
    An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!

    2. “Though I’ve belted you and flayed you,
      By the livin’ gawd that made you,
      You’re a better man than I am,
      Gunga Din.”

  49. https://www.zazzle.co.uk/free_schrodingers_cat_t_shirt-235085984848631584?rf=238011246536923093&tc=Cj0KCQjwlZixBhCoARIsAIC745A74etkaFwXJtP3yXVN45Rw5iaes8tRUOxekwzhwXaJieHqqEy45MYaAoF_EALw_wcB&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=uk_shopping_merchandised1&ca_chid=2001810&ca_source=gaw&ca_nw=x&ca_dev=c&ca_caid=20215193892&ca_lp=1007446&gncclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlZixBhCoARIsAIC745A74etkaFwXJtP3yXVN45Rw5iaes8tRUOxekwzhwXaJieHqqEy45MYaAoF_EALw_wcB&trchd=true

    3. I fully understand some men feel the need to change sex. Body dysmorphia isn’t anything new. What i don’t understand is why so many of the more recent ones are actual perverts and paedophiles. I suppose they are just taking advantage of the situation.

      1. Dogs nor cat, or even high primates sit about thinking ‘I wish I was someone else.’ No, they exist to live. It is only the advent of luxury and decadence that gives people the opportunity to indulge in such daft ideology.

      1. When i was on Skye they did exactly that. Nudged the door open and took up residence in the dining room.

        1. Is that when you converted to Islam, to take advantage of the opportunity presented?

      1. We Like Sheep

        Yes, I know it’s from The Messiah but it could be a good anthem for the Islamists.

        https://www.google.com/search?q=we+like+sheep+have+gone+astray+messiah&sca_esv=f65ab4fb82876b19&sca_upv=1&ei=DHYmZqSgJ7KrkdUPkIWUyA0&ved=0ahUKEwik1qn2hdaFAxWyVaQEHZACBdkQ4dUDCBE&oq=we+like+sheep+have+gone+astray+messiah&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiJndlIGxpa2Ugc2hlZXAgaGF2ZSBnb25lIGFzdHJheSBtZXNzaWFoMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjILEAAYgAQYhgMYigUyCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBUixQFDiCFiOJ3ABeAGQAQCYAbQBoAGZCaoBAzAuOLgBDMgBAPgBAZgCCaAC_wnCAgoQABiwAxjWBBhHwgIFEAAYgASYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwMxLjigB8Au&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:100dfdfd,vid:LmeyG5LlFWU,st:0

    9. Still looks wonderful. Excuse me for asking but did a Square die in your garden? Have the local Scene of Crime Officers been to visit?

      1. SSSSHHHHH! don’t ask.
        No we used to have a pond there and the lines were to stop you falling in. It got overgrown so I filled it in and flagged it.

    10. You don’t need to go to Ross & Cromarty for weather like that. We’ve got it in Hampshire.

    2. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, a key figure in the Covid pandemic response was in fact nun the wiser.

    3. Terrifying isn’t it, when you think of the prominent role he played in the pandemic response. Also a damned disrespectful thing for a public figure to do in a Christian country if you ask me.

      1. Come now. It was just harmless fun in following a local football club’s fan tradition. It would have passed without comment had he not played a prominent role in the country’s Covid-19 pandemic response.

        Here are some Southampton fans in Newcastle, April 2019

        https://scontent-man2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/57490268_830169134013958_8788047706649001984_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=jS5FHq6SbIcAb7YUWN1&_nc_ht=scontent-man2-1.xx&oh=00_AfAk10dcywIwctuZQ_vONsxXpBO7MI8W65u-pJ2uDBO4RQ&oe=664DCAED

        Bristol City fans dressed as nuns at Wembley.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b41f9c25a847559db0510ad758e40921008ec358e35862ac7edaaa71f9739422.jpg

        Some England cricket fans dressed as nuns with former England international, Graeme Swann.

        https://img1.hscicdn.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_ds_w_1200,q_60/lsci/db/PICTURES/CMS/192300/192335.jpg

        Darts fans at Alexandra Palace.

        https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/15cb1e979159386b5a23d2db0687ebdbea6086eb/688_0_4000_4000/master/4000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none

        2. OK, fair enough, but what is it about nuns that make men want to dress up as them? A bit weird really!

          1. I do think the British have this farcical (Benny Hill/ Carry On) element, and it probably keeps (kept) us sane. Did you ever see the film “Nuns on the Run” with Robbie Coltrane? I did find it side splittingly funny at the time (maybe that was just Robbie). though probably wouldn’t now.
            One of the major deprivations we are supposed to endure from the alphabet lot is that we are no longer allowed a snigger, let alone a belly laugh, at the vagaries of human nature

    4. Terrifying isn’t it, when you think of the prominent role he played in the pandemic response. Also a damned disrespectful thing for a public figure to do in a Christian country if you ask me.

      1. I don’t trust the WHO. I think they will regroup in some way. Give something to retrieve elsewhere. Biding their time. They have come too far to give up now. We are being lulled into a false sense of security.

        2. No more do I. However, it’s our own government that seems to be fully in favour. Alf and I wrote to our MP ages ago, as soon as we heard what was proposed. The reply was that’s”in no way will the U.K. be ceding control of our health to WHO”. Just like when we joined the European Community!

    3. H’mmmm.
      And we should trust our gold-plating civil service, political poltroons or (God help us) the WHO?

  54. Not hard to guess what the outcome of this case will be…..

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/22/refugee-left-uk-holiday-2008-stranded-east-africa-16-years?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

    Refugee who left UK for holiday in 2008 stranded in east Africa for 16 years

    Saleh Ahmed Handule Ali, now 33, had indefinite leave to remain in UK, but Home Office failed to keep a record

    Diane TaylorMon 22 Apr 2024 05.00 BSTLast modified on Mon 22 Apr 2024 05.02 BST

    A refugee who left the UK on holiday as a teenager in 2008 has been stranded in east Africa for the last 16 years in a case that senior judges have described as “extraordinary”.

    Saleh

    Ahmed Handule Ali, now 33, arrived in the UK at the age of nine in

    April 2000 with his mother and two younger siblings from Somalia. They

    came to join Ali’s father, who had been granted refugee status by the UK

    government. The family were also recognised as refugees by the Home Office and Ali was given a travel document in 2004 under the refugee convention, which was valid for 10 years.

    In 2008 Ali was diagnosed with tuberculosis and in December of that year decided to travel to Djibouti for a short holiday in the hope that the warmer climate would aid his recovery.

      1. I’m going where there weather suits my clothes.

        https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tFP1zcsNM0yyTMrMTRg9JJILUstqkzKT6lUL1YoSczJzsxTSCxRyE0FAABvDSo&q=everybody%27s+talkin+at+me&oq=Everybodys%27stalking+at+me&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBEC4YDRiABDIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAuGA0YgAQyCQgCEAAYDRiABDIJCAMQABgNGIAEMgkIBBAuGA0YgAQyCQgFEAAYDRiABDIJCAYQABgNGIAEMgkIBxAAGA0YgAQyCQgIEAAYDRiABNIBCTEwMDM4ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&ip=1&vld=cid:54c567b5,vid:5zHVFXorF38,st:0

        1. Unfortunately he would just steal a parka jacket and a set of waterproofs and be returned here.

    2. If he was a “refugee” and had health issues, why did he pick a damp, cold country? Oh, free health care and bennies – silly me!

  56. Yesterday, on this forum, I was roundly castigated for my use of the word, impossible.

    impossible /im’pɒsɪb(ə)l/ adj. 1 not possible; that cannot be done, occur, or exist (it is impossible to alter them; such a thing is impossible|). 2 (loosely) not easy; not convenient; not easily believable. 3. colloq. (of a person or thing) outrageous, intolerable. [OED]

    impossible im-pos’ i-bl, adj that cannot be; that cannot be done or dealt with; that cannot be true; out of the question; hopelessly unsuitable or difficult to deal with (colloq); beyond doing anything with. — n a person or thing that is impossible. [Chambers]

    If, as mooted, nothing is ‘impossible’, then I shall take succour in the fact that one day I shall (with a lot of effort, ingenuity and stamina) be able to:

    1. Coach the moss in my lawn to perform the main singing rôle of Carmen at the D’Oyly Carte.

    2. Resurrect Edward I, Francis Drake, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher as fully-operation exact clones of their adult selves (from their DNA) to take over the running of the country and save it from itself.

    3. Train Philip’s chihuahuas to carry a jockey over the 30 fences of the Grand National and win it.

    4. Break the sound barrier on land driving a Wartburg Knight.

    5. Get my armchair to recite the entire contents of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, verbatim, in Lao.

    After all, nothing is impossible.

    3. Nothing’s Impossible – Cliff Richard

      https://www.google.com/search?q=nothing%27s+impossible+if+your+heart+izs+really+in+it&sca_esv=f65ab4fb82876b19&sca_upv=1&ei=33MmZrH5Ap34kdUP2KC9qA4&ved=0ahUKEwjx5Ljsg9aFAxUdfKQEHVhQD-UQ4dUDCBE&oq=nothing%27s+impossible+if+your+heart+izs+really+in+it&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiM25vdGhpbmcncyBpbXBvc3NpYmxlIGlmIHlvdXIgaGVhcnQgaXpzIHJlYWxseSBpbiBpdDIHECEYoAEYCjIEECEYFUjiZVCDB1isSXABeAGQAQCYAesCoAGvJaoBCDAuMjkuMS4xuAEMyAEA-AEBmAIgoAKnKMICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAg0QABiABBiwAxhDGIoFwgIQEC4YgAQYsAMYQxjUAhiKBcICExAuGIAEGLADGEMYyAMYigXYAQHCAgoQABiABBhDGIoFwgIFEAAYgATCAgUQLhiABMICChAuGIAEGEMYigXCAgYQABgWGB7CAgsQABiABBiGAxiKBcICBRAhGKABwgIGECEYFRgKmAMAiAYBkAYRugYGCAEQARgIkgcIMS4yOS4xLjGgB6nOAQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:36bbaeac,vid:ckTgBVFOW3U,st:0

      1. “We’re all going on a summer holiday…” – impossible wth Just Stop Oil on the runway!

    1. ‘Simple’ being the operative word, as are all the dirges performed in that atrocious competition.

      1. Doesn’t a dirge have to be dreary? If nothing else, Puppet On A String is perky.

        1. It might well be ‘perky’ but it’s still crap that pecks at my brain whenever I hear it.

          1. Sandie Shaw wasn’t a fan.

            In her own words, “I hated it from the very first ‘oompah’ to the final ‘bang’ on the big bass drum. I was instinctively repelled by its sexist drivel and cuckoo-clock tune.” She was disappointed when it was selected as the song she would use to represent the country, but it won the contest comfortably.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppet_on_a_String_(Sandie_Shaw_song)#:~:text=In%20her%20own%20words%2C%20%22I,it%20won%20the%20contest%20comfortably.

  58. This is none of my business, but London is our capital city .

    13 prospective candidates to choose from !

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/22/meet-the-candidates-vying-to-become-mayor-of-london/

    We all have fine memories of pleasant trips to the big smoke .. it has to be right that our history and cultural heart should be protected.

    What is a Social Democrat?

    Amy Gallagher – Social Democratic Party

    Ms Gallagher wants to cut the mayor’s budget
    The NHS nurse and whistleblower has said she would boost stop-and-search powers of the Metropolitan police and tackle knife crime by “freeing the police from political correctness”.

    She has pledged a zero-tolerance approach to graffiti and a crackdown on anti-social behaviour, as well as an end to “woke” messaging on public transport in the capital.

    Ms Gallagher also wants to cut the mayor’s budget and reduce residents’ council tax, and to create a database for community volunteers so that Londoners can offer their skills up to certain support services.

    1. Having read the DT article, I would like to know how each candidate proposes to pay for all they are offering…as unpopular as ULEZ is, how will they make up the loss of revenue??

      1. Hopefully by ditching rainbow crossings, flags and other unnecessary and expensive waste. There must be a small fortune in DIEversity jobs etc that can be saved.

    2. Good afternoon Lovely Verity

      “London is our capital city …”

      What do you mean by “our”?

      A month or two ago didn’t a notice come from the Mayor of London’s office saying that a picture of white people did not represent today’s London?

    3. The SDP describe themselves as, “a patriotic, economically left-leaning, and culturally traditional political party”.

        1. If all these little anti-WEF parties did get together to smash the uniparty I do think that we might stand a chance of saving ourselves from the worst of what is to come

      1. He is a decent sort of chap but he seems incapable of getting the SDP into the wider public consciousness. The SDP got a bit of a boost when Rod Liddle started to publicise it but has been completely outstripped by Reform as the main candidate for a new party to upset the status quo.

  59. Yo, apols for disappearing, the weekend has seen the oven put in and various houseworky things done which pushed work further back to today.

    I’ve never known what to make of Jimmy Carr. His humour has never really appealed BUT this interview is pretty good and he comes across well as a thoughtful, cognizant fellow.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voXqQYmQNTM

  61. Good afternoon all! We’ve just come back from the seaside! We didn’t have the twins today so decided to treat ourselves to fish and chips from an award winning place in Largs! Called the Fish Works and near the ferry to Cumbrae Island, it was the best battered haddock I’ve had for years! Light, crisp and not greasy. Chips were amazing and we sat in the sunshine on the seafront watching the people! To top it off we had an ice cream from Nardinis! I’m sure Elsie will be very nostalgic when she reads this, and we looked on every golf course we passed to see if we could spot Feargal!

        1. Brought back happy memories from when we lived in Essex, taking the kids to Southend for fish’n’chips during their school hols!!

          2. Yes, I messed up, trying to spell Sarfend phonetically!! Been away far too long now…

    2. The best battered haddock and chips I ever tasted, Pet, were sold on a converted double-decker bus parked on the seafront at Ullapool (just round the corner from Spikey).

      1. We actually saw the boat it came off! Was pretty fresh! The place is a large shack on the seafront, family run with great staff!

          3. The highly rated one in Anstruther puts up the names of the boats in the shop, and you can go and see them in the harbour!

      2. I remember that one Grizz, there is a decent chippy near where it used to park but you need a mortgage to buy them now – they love ripping the tourists off

    3. Whenever we had time on a run to Largs, I used to nip into Paton’s the butchers for two or three haggises to shove into the freezing section of the fridge on the train to take home with me.

      1. It was spur of the moment, as it wasn’t raining! It has made us very happy!

  63. A sharpish Birdie Three!

    Wordle 1,038 3/6
    ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
    🟨⬜🟨🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Good one, par here.

      Wordle 1,038 4/6

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

    2. Me too! Got lucky.

      Wordle 1,038 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜
      🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  64. Here’s a very disturbing extract from an email just received about Tommy Robinson, yet again in trial on trumped up charges:

    I’ve been in Westminster Magistrate’s Court all day covering the trial of Tommy Robinson. This is the one where police removed him from the march against antisemitism, simply because some left-wing activist didn’t like him. (Tommy was there as a supporter of the Jews.)
    The case touches on so many freedoms, including freedom of the press. Tommy was there in his capacity as a journalist.
    That’s important, because it’s an exemption to the “dispersal order” that police gave Tommy. If you’re in an area because you’re working, such an order doesn’t apply to you.
    When Tommy was arrested, he repeatedly told police he was working as a journalist, with his cameraman in tow. Videotape of the incident shows Tommy telling police that again and again. And yet they dragged him away — and pepper-sprayed him in the face, even though he was already handcuffed.
    As if that wasn’t enough, it turns out one of the police officers who arrested Tommy doctored the paperwork after the fact — and he excused himself by saying he’s dyslexic.
    Does dyslexia make you do things like change paperwork?
    What a circus.
    Click here to watch my interview with Tommy, during the lunch break today: (https://www.rebelnews.com/did_the_met_police_doctor_their_evidence_against_tommy_robinson?utm_campaign=sgr_tommytrial_42224&utm_medium=email&utm_source=therebel) See on Youtube.

    1. Does one become a journalist by self-declaration or is some kind of accreditation required before the authorities will take one’s claim seriously?

      1. Anybody can be a journalist, and he had his camera man with him and was taking notes.

          1. Apparently, none of the police body cams of those arresting TR were working. What an amazing coincidence…

      2. “Does one become a journalist by self-declaration?”

        Arguably, yes. The days of the NUJ closed shop are long gone but there is a national press card that is officially recognised. It’s issued by the UK Press Card Authority (UKPCA)…an organisation owned and controlled by the UK’s major media organisations, industry associations, trades unions, and professional associations. It is the only card issued in the UK to be recognised by the police, other emergency services and government departments [says Wiki].

        In other words, you don’t have to have one but it’s useful if you do. The Professional Publishers Association says:

        A Press Card identifies the cardholder as a news gatherer. Press Cards give no authority or privileges but are accepted as a means of identification by UK Police forces who may, at their discretion, give cardholders access beyond that afforded to the general public. Please note that access to major or Royal events almost always requires additional tickets or passes.

        https://ppa.co.uk/resources/press-cards

      3. “Does one become a journalist by self-declaration?”

        Arguably, yes. The days of the NUJ closed shop are long gone but there is a national press card that is officially recognised. It’s issued by the UK Press Card Authority (UKPCA)…an organisation owned and controlled by the UK’s major media organisations, industry associations, trades unions, and professional associations. It is the only card issued in the UK to be recognised by the police, other emergency services and government departments [says Wiki].

        In other words, you don’t have to have one but it’s useful if you do. The Professional Publishers Association says:

        A Press Card identifies the cardholder as a news gatherer. Press Cards give no authority or privileges but are accepted as a means of identification by UK Police forces who may, at their discretion, give cardholders access beyond that afforded to the general public. Please note that access to major or Royal events almost always requires additional tickets or passes.

        https://ppa.co.uk/resources/press-cards

      4. “Does one become a journalist by self-declaration?”

        Arguably, yes. The days of the NUJ closed shop are long gone but there is a national press card that is officially recognised. It’s issued by the UK Press Card Authority (UKPCA)…an organisation owned and controlled by the UK’s major media organisations, industry associations, trades unions, and professional associations. It is the only card issued in the UK to be recognised by the police, other emergency services and government departments [says Wiki].

        In other words, you don’t have to have one but it’s useful if you do. The Professional Publishers Association says:

        A Press Card identifies the cardholder as a news gatherer. Press Cards give no authority or privileges but are accepted as a means of identification by UK Police forces who may, at their discretion, give cardholders access beyond that afforded to the general public. Please note that access to major or Royal events almost always requires additional tickets or passes.

        https://ppa.co.uk/resources/press-cards

      5. He has been reporting on mainly woke subjects for some time. He interviews people and presents his work on Rumble. He does investigative reporting. No doubt, because of his right wing views, he is regarded as a trouble maker rather than a reporter by those on the left, but he reports on newsworthy items that the MSM will not touch as many of the modern type of UTube investigators do. He reports on subjects that the BBC will go nowhere near. So Yes, he is a journalist and works/has worked for Rebel Media a Canadian media outfit. I think his present channel is Urban Scoop. If in these enlightened days (!), a man can call himself a woman then he is probably reasonably accurate in calling himself a journalist.

      6. Careful, that is dangerously close to saying that only people who have been ratified by the state or a wealthy media proprietor count as “real journalists.”

  65. Experts criticise author who claimed smartphones rewire children’s brains
    Social scientists have countered Jonathan Haidt’s comments, saying that research suggests only weak links between social media and anxiety and depression in children

    A bestselling author whose book claims that smartphones have rewired children’s brains is facing a backlash from experts.

    Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation sits at the top of book charts and is being read widely in Whitehall ahead of a government consultation that will propose a social media ban.

    However, social scientists who have been studying children’s mental health and technology have accused the author of misrepresenting evidence to fit his thesis.

    Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, claims there has been a dramatic decline in the mental health of teenagers, which he blames on the rise of smartphone use.

    He argues that this “great rewiring of childhood” from the early 2010s replaced physical play with the virtual world and “is making young people sick and blocking their progress to flourishing in adulthood”.

    Haidt’s book has had extensive media coverage and its success has led academics to air their concerns about his methodology and conclusions.

    Candice Odgers, a professor of psychological science and informatics at University of California Irvine, wrote in Nature that “Haidt is telling a scary story about children’s development that many parents are primed to believe.

    “The book’s repeated suggestion that digital technologies are rewiring our children’s brains and causing an epidemic of mental illness is not supported by science.”

    Jonathan Haidt has countered the criticism of his claims, insisting: “Across many measures, mental health among UK teens is in decline”.

    Odgers says that since writing in Nature “my inbox is full of a lot of people in the scientific community saying thank you for saying the quiet part out loud”.

    The professor adds: “Linking social media use to causing things like depression and anxiety and suicide. That’s a huge claim. That’s an important claim. As someone who’s worked on mental health for about 20 years, I actually wish it was true.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/author-faces-backlash-after-claiming-smartphones-rewire-childrens-brains-xk9hx8g5c

    The article is very long , so I will leave it at that .

  67. Muslims hate the cross. In fact, they get very cross when they see a cross (mind you, they get cross over just about anything).

    1. Apparently one in eight labour voters think that St George’s is racist. Well I wonder if they have the intelligence to remember why they came here originally. And managed to survive in an English speaking country.
      Oh yes, they get a new safe way of life and live off the British taxpayers.

      1. I applied for a postal vote (I’m away on the day and I wanted to vote for the alternative candidate or I wouldn’t have bothered) and it arrived today. In the instructions it says that you can have the form in languages other than English. Unless they are Welsh or Gaelic speakers, they’ve no business voting, in my view.

  69. Ross Clark shows he’s still a bit slow.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c8ba1306902f5bb4ca7c52afefaac80903453a607e75b709be41a0080fc8c4f.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/evs-are-a-trojan-horse-for-the-destruction-of-driving/

    Where have you been, Mr Clark. Some of us have been saying this for years. The battery car drive is a means of forcing the plebs off the roads. Not fixing pot-holes is a part of the campaign against motorists too. They hope to render some cars, mostly the older cars owned by the less well-off, beyond economic repair through pot-hole damage.

  70. Ross Clark shows he’s still a bit slow.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c8ba1306902f5bb4ca7c52afefaac80903453a607e75b709be41a0080fc8c4f.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/evs-are-a-trojan-horse-for-the-destruction-of-driving/

    Where have you been, Mr Clark. Some of us have been saying this for years. The battery car drive is a means of forcing the plebs off the roads. Not fixing pot-holes is a part of the campaign against motorists too. They hope to render some cars, mostly the older cars owned by the less well-off, beyond economic repair through pot-hole damage.

  71. 386327+ up ticks,

    Ogga1

    We have witnessed the three governing political overseers, since the man fresh from a public park
    toilet cottaging expedition, lifted the latch on the entry hatch for every type of foreign demon on the planet.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    5h

    So the first flight is promised for about July. The election will be by Oct or Dec at the latest. The lawyers will delay proceedings as long as possible knowing Labour will overturn the whole thing as soon as they are elected.

    The whole thing is an exercise in futility & a massive distraction. The real issue not being addressed is repulsing the invasion of tens of thousands of illegal migrants from our beaches.

    The response ought to be twofold:

    Send the boats back to the French coast where they came from.
    No benefits for anyone who turns up illegally – that would soon stop more coming.

        1. Inspiration to us all.
          I think I might write a book of pomes about all this girlie liberation.
          I will call it The Wench.

          1. Come, come, I believe that, despite being merely a C list actress, she somehow managed to bully the UN into letting her have a self-promotional trip to Africa as sort of sub par ‘ambasssador’. It makes one so proud to be someone whose taxes are used to fund the UN.

      1. 386357+ up ticks,

        Morning E’dA,
        If they were still with us they would house
        the potential foreign army of invaders.

      1. That is exactly the point that the “openly Jewish on the streets of London” fellow made – ie he does not accuse the officer – nor indeed the MET in general – of being antisemitic but he does feel that their chief has had plenty of time to understand the problem and marshal resources, but is too craven and lazy so to do. Hence the evil mob rules with threats of violence. Hence Rowley should resign.

  75. Evening All! I see that a lovely day has been had by some 🙂 😉

    OT: has anyone noticed that the Channel “Modern Wisdom”, which I used to enjoy, has now become nigh unwatchable due to a bossy narrative voiced by the usual grating American know-all speaking over the interesting bits then telling us how to interpret them? A great shame.

  76. The Met doesn’t care about anti-Semitism | The Spectator

    PetaJ

    PetaJ

    5 hours ago

    Good article Julie, and especially this:

    “the big giveaway is that the first London rally took place before Israel fought back. It was a simple celebration of Jew-killing, the oldest hatred dressed up in fashionable new clothes.”

    This is a crucial point that should be highlighted far more often than it is.

    Spot on Peta.

          2. Sorry, it went over my head a bit – I don’t think of myself as “a boss”! Many thanks for the compliment though :))
            I’m keeping my Speccie sub for the moment, but quarter by quarter waiting to see if the BTL arrangement improves, but I don’t comment there much anymore. It just isn’t fun.

          3. As it goes PetaJ I have just read a surprising response to a reasonable (as ever) comment you made on the Julie Burchill “The Met doesn’t care about anti-Semitism” article. Their response I quote “This is, at least factually, completely incorrect.” Oh really?

            I feel you should be told.

          4. Thanks for the alert – I just had a look. I really don’t think I can be bothered to respond as they didn’t make a lot of sense, but that for the support :))

          6. You’re another purveyor of finely tuned insightful remarks from Spectator BTL.

          7. Thank you AA! It takes one to know one : – ) I have just decided to end my sub, though.

  78. Closing down for the day.
    Been very busy.
    Night all.

    Where is old Bill ? I hope he’s okay.

  79. Evening, all. It has been dull, wet and miserable again here so I’ve been forced to give up the idea of working outside and thus could not put off doing necessary (but unpalateable) indoor jobs like cleaning the silver and changing the bed. The latter was so much easier when there were two of us.

    The pattern is only worrying to people who can see what’s happening and are concerned about their freedoms; the PTB aren’t worried at all.

    1. Good evening, Sir.
      Other than a trip to Matlock, I’ve been indoors all day.
      Got a bit of cooking done though!
      Chicken thigh fillets with herbs and lemon served on noodles with “Mediterranean Vegetables” and a teriyaki sauce poured over the top.
      Rather nice!

      1. Chicken and bacon pastie for me – from Tescos, if ever you get a chance to eat one turn it down they are cuckin’ frap

        2. Serves you right ! Do what Grizz does and make your own in batches. Perfectly fine to buy in ready made pastry.

          1. He follows a diet where he only eats on certain days and then only certain restricted things. Don’t ask!

          2. Big cats have to have a day off eating per week for their digestion. apparently. It’s a carnivore thing.

          6. I’m on a (mainly) natural human carnivore diet and I only eat four meals a week, at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This keeps me both nourished and sated. Since I commenced the diet I have lost four stones in weight, I am fitter than I have been for decades, and I sleep like a log. Brain fog has lifted and I am both physically stronger and mentally sharper than ever before. A lot of research went into this before I commenced on it and I discovered that a natural diet of: high fat; medium protein; low carbohydrate; no sugar is the healthiest diet possible.

          7. Yet you constantly regale us with pornographic pictures of very high carb food (including bread monsters and PASTIES) that you cook in batches. Why?

          8. Indeed I do. Most of them are made for others who love them. I eat very little of them.

  80. When a knight won his spurs, in the stories of old,
    He was gentle and brave, he was gallant and bold
    With a shield on his arm and a lance in his hand,
    For God and for valour he rode through the land.

    No charger have I, and no sword by my side,
    Yet still to adventure and battle I ride,
    Though back into storyland giants have fled,
    And the knights are no more and the dragons are dead.

    Let faith be my shield and let joy be my steed
    ‘Gainst the dragons of anger, the ogres of greed;
    And let me set free with the sword of my youth,
    From the castle of darkness, the power of the truth. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/106afc34181628b1f725a8aa3980bb7986ae41d8ec64d6aae442415d63b59647.jpg

    1. I absolutely love that painting, Sue. Used to spend hours in the NG just gazing at it. It is so strange. Uccello is magnificent. And a very lovely poem – thank you!

          1. Yes, he was a bit obsessed.

            On another note, I have been told that the NG has not yet been wokified and do hope beyond hope that the same applies to the Ashmolean despite its location.

          2. I now avoid Londonistan like the plague. I used to go and worship before Whistlejacket when I went to worship at Westminster Abbey (Battle of Britain service). It was depressing being the only white person or person speaking English as L1 on the bus from Crystal Palace. Even the staff at WA were foreign!

          3. Absolutely agree. Even my H who thinks i’m a nutter in a tin hat has now observed perplexedly that he’s very uncomfortable in our capital and does not recognise it.

          5. Same here. Several of my best buildings are in Westminster and the City of London viz. Richmond House Whitehall, Bessborough Gardens-Rampayne Steet (built above Pimlico Underground), the interiors of Christ Church Spitalfields, the loggia to the London Stock Exchange and adjacent buildings in St Paul’s Churchyard (part of Paternoster redevelopment) and finally the restoration of the Crypt and Chapel of Lambeth Palace.

    1. We didn’t have a telly so that was something I never watched. It wouldn’t have been my mum’s cuppa tea anyway.

    5. My parents would occasionally watch it. As a child, I had little choice, but it was not to my liking. It was for older people, not youngsters such as me.

    6. I loved that show. As a boy chorister I particularly appreciated the solo opportunities given to (John?) Anson who was on stage in a theatre in Victoria Street singing in The Desert Song (?). A truly lyrical tenor voice.

      Less so Alan Breeze and the ugly woman singer promoted by Billy Cotton, whose name in my dotage I have forgotten.

      Russ Conway played “Sidesaddle” which was a catchy piano tune.

    7. I loved that show. As a boy chorister I particularly appreciated the solo opportunities given to (John?) Anson who was on stage in a theatre in Victoria Street singing in The Desert Song (?). A truly lyrical tenor voice.

      Less so Alan Breeze and the ugly woman singer promoted by Billy Cotton, whose name in my dotage I have forgotten.

      Russ Conway played “Sidesaddle” which was a catchy piano tune.

  84. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/extreme-right-wing-terrorist-group-terrorgram-ban/

    This ‘neo fascist’ organisation doesn’t like gays. Therefore, it is not Right wing. It is Left wing. Hitler didn’t like them – or anyone else.

    As it is, the nutcase Muslims swan about screaming their hatred of Jews and the state does nothing about them whatsoever. Oh, that’s unfair. It handed out some leaflets. Yet again, the law is applied unequally but then; that was always the intent.

    1. “…the nutcase Muslims swan about screaming their hatred of Jews and the state does nothing about them whatsoever…”

      But it does. It arrests the Jews.

      The Met has an anti-Semitism problem

      The issue is not with individual officers, who may be well-meaning, but with the institution itself. Enough is enough

      JAKE WALLIS SIMONS • 22 April 2024 • 5:50pm

      Is the Metropolitan police institutionally anti-Semitic? This question would have been almost unthinkable just two weeks ago. Last weekend, however, an exchange between Gideon Falter, CEO of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, and an unnamed police officer went viral.

      The policeman threatened to arrest Falter because he was “openly Jewish” and this might place him at risk of assault by the pro-Palestine marchers. Arresting a potential victim? That was a new one.

      Much argument has raged since about the rights and wrongs of the encounter. One side insists that Falter was seeking to provoke a confrontation by turning up in his kippah at the fringes of a hostile weekly march. According to that argument, he was being disingenuous, playing the victim for clicks. Opponents blame the policeman for seeking to repress a Jew’s expression of faith in an age where everybody else is encouraged to be “out and proud” about their identities.

      Amid the sound and fury, the heart of the problem is in danger of getting lost: through a succession of softly-softly decisions that have prioritised the avoidance of confrontation above the enforcement of the law, the rainbow-liveried Met has allowed the Gaza marches to get out of hand.

      Remember those early weeks? We saw videos of pro-Palestine thugs climbing buildings and bus-stops while police officers held their flags for them and tweeted afterwards to allay the public’s concern for their welfare.

      We saw chants of “jihad” at a Hizb ut-Tahrir rally, followed by a patronising statement from the police suggesting that the word could have many different meanings and Sir Mark himself pointing out that his role was not to enforce “taste and decency”. Shamefully, we saw videos of two Met officers tearing down posters of Israeli hostages in London in the name of preventing “escalation”.

      Openly expressing support for a terror organisation like Hamas – or indeed Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was subsequently proscribed – is against the law. But frontline police officers have been given neither the manpower nor the willpower to prevent this criminality from spreading.

      It wasn’t just about placards and chants. Indeed, if the force had been applying the law properly, certain organisers of the marches would have been detained, as they have had deep links with Hamas. Some, as the Jewish Chronicle revealed, have even been pictured meeting the group’s leaders.

      On an institutional level, however, the decision was seemingly taken to preserve the right to protest at the expense of the enforcement of the law. As time went on and the street activists got the clear message that the police were playing softball, things got worse. In this permissive climate, a pro-Israel Iranian protester was assaulted while a man – who was later found to be in possession of a knife – allegedly threatened him with decapitation. Chants demanding the genocide of Jews and support for Hamas became commonplace. The slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was projected onto Big Ben. Yet police officers were filmed admitting that there were “many more of them than there are of us”.

      Such appeasement has allowed the demonstrators to effectively set the terms by which they will be policed. As the culture of indulgence spread downwards through the force and the mobs gained the upper hand, frontline officers were compelled to find other ways to maintain public order. A bizarre policy of arresting potential victims was born.

      It was first seen when Niyak Ghorbani, an Iranian who fled the regime more than a decade ago began a solo counter-protest, holding up a sign saying “Hamas is terrorist”. Supposedly for his own safety, the police moved in. Now we have the threat of arrest levelled at Falter, who – provocatively or not – was simply asking to cross the road. Is there a way of crossing the road provocatively? Only if your identity itself is a provocation. What victim blaming was this?

      I can assure you, if an “openly Muslim” man wanted to peacefully walk through a pro-Jewish protest in London (such as the one organised by Falter himself in November), he would come to no harm at all. Police officers attending those demonstrations usually face away from the activists to defend them rather than towards them to protect the public, and the two most common words they hear are “thank” and “you”.

      Well-meaning officers have been placed in an impossible position. In a statement, the Community Security Trust, a government-funded group that helps keep British Jews safe, said: “The broader question this incident raises is how much longer these costly and disruptive protests will be allowed to continue at times and places that impact not just Jewish people, but everyone.”

      The statement added: “It feels like any balance between the right to protest and the rights of everyone else has been completely lost, with extremists the only ones to benefit, Jews the first to suffer and the police often caught in the middle.”

      Precisely. The British public remembers the Manchester Arena bombing, and the London Bridge attacks, and all the other atrocities, and it has had enough of being forced to stomach the glorification of terror on our streets while the police prevaricate about the meaning of “jihad”. It has had enough of the mob taking control of our cities week in, week out.

      Banning the marches altogether may be too draconian, but the police must take steps to reduce the number of protests, restrict their time allowances, move them to less disruptive locations and provide the resources and instructions necessary to ensure the firm and consistent enforcement of the law.

      This would amount to a cultural change, or rather, an institutional change. Individual officers may act with the best of intentions. But we need to recognise the truth: the problem is an institutional one.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/the-met-is-institutionally-racist/

      1. At the nub of the problem is the definition of ‘antisemitism’ that so dogged the Labour Party and wrecked its democratic credibility under the watch of Keir Starmer , when he and his Blairite chums callously usurped the previous leader. How would the good Mr Falter define the word, which is after all a core feature of his organisation?

        If it is about a bunch of Muslims screaming death to Jews, with the police aware of a real possibility of harm coming to a man wearing a kippah, then yes, I would call that antisemitism, and this menace really needs to be addressed for the threat and breach of the peace it is, and never mind the right to protest of those making the threat.

        However, if it is a political protest about Israeli action in Gaza, particularly when attacking civilian refugees or aid workers, or stoking up a fight with Lebanon or Iran, or for that matter hounding Palestinians for no better reason than that they are “Arabs” and therefore not God’s Chosen People, then although some insist that such criticism is antisemitic, I consider it political and nothing to do with the fact that the Jewishness of the antagonists.

        It must be kept well separated, so that the true antisemites can be dealt with without dragging in a lot of other people who may have nothing against Jews in general or may even be Jews themselves.

      2. The Metropolitan Police have always been corrupt and institutionally racist. The upper echelons of the Police are of a Satanist Freemasonic bent. It was always thus.

        The Metropolitan Police have strayed so far from their original purpose as to make it impossible to reform this nihilistic mob. Trust in the Police generally is at an all time low in my lifetime and with loss of public trust it follows that more of us now suspect their motives.

        This is very sad state of affairs brought about by the hubris of our political class who have essentially politicised the Police.

  87. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

  88. Bugger.
    Call from stepson’s phone to my mobile. As usual bugger all reception.
    Dialed back on landline and it was a worried neighbour who’d found him in a bit of a state.
    I phoned the mental health emergency line and have been on hold for over ½ an hour.
    I already plan going up to see him tomorrow so am about to hang up and see what’s what in the morning.

        1. That’s a very sad comment, Bob. But, with Mother being properly daft now, it’s a relief to hand her over to someone else for care. I can’t do it, there aren’t enough of me. I still miss the old Mum like hell, though. New Mum isn’t a patch on Old Mum.
          I see where you’re coming from.

        2. That’s a very sad comment, Bob. But, with Mother being properly daft now, it’s a relief to hand her over to someone else for care. I can’t do it, there aren’t enough of me. I still miss the old Mum like hell, though. New Mum isn’t a patch on Old Mum.
          I see where you’re coming from.

  90. Just back from open mic. Very good. Met the man who is the local Reform Candidate. Saturday at a local very posh B&B, Sandhill House 11am. I’m up for making a new party do the business. Drunk as a lord to be honest.

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