Monday 23 December: The benefits of Latin lessons should not be reserved for public schools

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which ā€“ in the opinion of the moderators ā€“ make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Todayā€™s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) areĀ here.

538 thoughts on “Monday 23 December: The benefits of Latin lessons should not be reserved for public schools”

  2. Morning Geoff, hope your clinic appointment is successful tomorrow as well as your surgery on December 27th. It's staggering how much we take our eyes for granted.

    Christmas wishes to all you other Nottlers as well. I will be away for a week but will try to keep up the flow of amusing stories until my return

    Today's Tale

    A young woman in New York was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean.

    She went down to the docks and was about to leap into the frigid water when a handsome young sailor saw her tottering on the edge of the pier, crying.

    He took pity on her and said, "Look, you have so much to live for. I'm off to Europe in the morning, and if you like, I can stow you away on my ship. I'll take good care of you and bring you food every day."

    Moving closer, he slipped his arm around her shoulder and added, "I'll keep you happy, and you'll keep me happy."

    The girl nodded yes. After all, what did she have to lose? Perhaps a fresh start in Europe would give her life new meaning.

    That night, the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a lifeboat.

    From then on, every night he brought her three sandwiches and a piece of fruit, and they made passionate love until dawn. Three weeks later, during a routine inspection, she was discovered by the captain. "What are you doing here?" the captain asked.

    "I have an arrangement with one of the sailors," she explained. "I get food and a trip to Europe, and he's screwing me."

    "He certainly is," the captain said. "This is the Staten Island Ferry."

  3. Morning Geoff, hope your clinic appointment is successful tomorrow as well as your surgery on December 27th. It's staggering how much we take our eyes for granted.

    Christmas wishes to all you other Nottlers as well. I will be away for a week but will try to keep up the flow of amusing stories until my return

    Today's Tale

    A young woman in New York was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean.

    She went down to the docks and was about to leap into the frigid water when a handsome young sailor saw her tottering on the edge of the pier, crying.

    He took pity on her and said, "Look, you have so much to live for. I'm off to Europe in the morning, and if you like, I can stow you away on my ship. I'll take good care of you and bring you food every day."

    Moving closer, he slipped his arm around her shoulder and added, "I'll keep you happy, and you'll keep me happy."

    The girl nodded yes. After all, what did she have to lose? Perhaps a fresh start in Europe would give her life new meaning.

    That night, the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a lifeboat.

    From then on, every night he brought her three sandwiches and a piece of fruit, and they made passionate love until dawn. Three weeks later, during a routine inspection, she was discovered by the captain. "What are you doing here?" the captain asked.

    "I have an arrangement with one of the sailors," she explained. "I get food and a trip to Europe, and he's screwing me."

    "He certainly is," the captain said. "This is the Staten Island Ferry."

  4. Good morning, chums, and thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
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  5. Good morning all.
    Still dark of course, bit a dry start, but a chilly 1.5Ā°on the digital bit of the new Yard Thermometer, but it actually got up to 6Ā°C yesterday!!

    A frustrating run to Leeds today for an auction pickup where I got outbid on all lots except one because I got confused over the finish time!

  6. Russia threatening Europe with waves of migrants, Meloni warns. 23 December 2024.

    Giorgia Meloni accused Russia of orchestrating illegal migration into Europe to destabilise the bloc as she called for stronger defence of the regionā€™s eastern and southern flanks.

    Actually she doesnā€™t. The ā€œJournalistā€ responsible for this piece has conflated two quite different comments she made and then expanded greatly on the mythical aspects of a supposed Russian plot to push migrants into Europe. We know with the evidence of our own eyes that this is untrue. Still it shows the lengths to which the Globalists will go to manufacture a grievance against Russia.

    PS. No comments allowed. Anything that might remotely impinge on the Magdeburg tragedy is off the table at the moment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/22/giorgia-meloni-warns-russia-threat-europe-migrants/

    1. Morning Bob. Though pictures of him exist there are none in the article which would support your unspoken suspicions.

      1. I'm probably wrong, but I'm afraid it shows how much the actions of one particular group of people have affected the National Consciousness.

  9. And for something completely different, a quote from the Daily Telegraph:

    Twenty years ago this month, the Swedish parliament voted unanimously to abolish the death tax, which had forced many business owners to emigrate, including Ruben Rausing, the founder of Tetra Pak, Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, and industrialist Fredrik Lundberg.

    Every party in Sweden, Left to Right, supported and voted for the abolition. As a result, capital flowed back into the country and Swedish job creating entrepreneurs now stay and invest in Sweden.

    In Australia, inheritance taxes at a federal level were finally abolished in 1979 after being introduced in 1914. Previously, individual states levied inheritance tax, but after Queensland chose to abolish its death tax, it proved so popular that neighbouring states rushed to copy the reform. It was only a matter of time until the federal government did the same.

    Many other countries including Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal and Israel have no inheritance tax, and the trend is to get rid of it. Austria abolished inheritance tax in 2008 and Norway did the same in 2014, while in Switzerland, most cantons have abolished taxes on inheritance to direct descendants.

    Many overseas tax jurisdictions that are attracting high net worth Individuals in their thousands, such as Dubai, promote the fact they do not have any inheritance tax.

    It therefore follows that abolishing the death tax would help anchor billionaires and millionaires in the UK so we benefit from them paying their other taxes. Revenues could be expected to be higher than were we to keep the death tax.

    Of course itā€™s not just about Rachel Reeves or Labour. Despite the occasional ā€œnudge, nudge, wink, winkā€ when the polling figures needed a boost, the Conservatives did nothing significant during their 14 years of power to alleviate the growing burden of inheritance tax.

    Talk was cheap and easily forgotten ā€“ but we will remember their complacent ambivalence the next time they fly kites about tackling the issue.

    The death tax harms the living and it needs to go.

    2. With the Tories, the Labour party, toss in the LibDums (an apt action for those people) for good measure, all following the same agenda i.e. impoverish the people of the UK, import millions of unwanted and unwelcome immigrants to to speed up the erosion of its culture etc. it's no surprise that nothing good is forthcoming from the majority of the political class. The Augean Stables that the Houses of Parliament have become need a complete and utter cleansing.

      1. Could we divert the Thames to flush it out? See, no wonder they don't want people to have a classical education šŸ™‚

    3. Karen Rausing is a very successful owner-breeder of racehorses. She won the Arc de Triomphe with Alpinista.

  11. Good morning, all. Dark but the waning Moon is clearly visible, ergo, sky is clear as forecast. Washing is on.

    The remainder of the day will be taken up with cooking the usual goodies for Christmas (the mince pies, with homemade mincemeat, will be topped with frangipane and sliced almonds this year) with an addition that I came across recently: a mince pie size savoury tart with a filling of Branston Pickle topped with sausage meat and finished off with a grated cheese topping. I am planning to add some grated Gran Padano cheese both to the pastry and and the cheese topping for an extra cheesy taste. Wish me luck, I'll need it!

    Now, to serious matters. Some X chatter that Starmer is feeling the pressure, I really do hope so. In fact, I hope that the 6th form common room i.e. the Cabinet, the supporting civil servants, the legacy media and all those who remain loyal to this Labour shower, and my Christmas wish list is almost complete.

    https://x.com/TheNorfolkLion/status/1870922974716694584

    1. ā€˜Morning Belle! I suggested in the DT that the ginger bearded creep tries his luck with the Saracens Head in the Gallowgate, Glasgow! The pub is known locally as the Sarry Heid!

      1. Good comment here , Sue .

        You have probably seen it .

        Jerome Fellows
        5 min ago
        He is a colonist making derogatory remarks about an indigenous culture and should be prosecuted.

        Our culture and history should be protected in law we are becoming no different than Australian Aborigines or North American Indians.

    2. ā€˜Morning Belle! I suggested in the DT that the ginger bearded creep tries his luck with the Saracens Head in the Gallowgate, Glasgow! The pub is known locally as the Sarry Heid!

      1. It seems that throughout history we've either given them money or political support. Still the muslim complains.

        I suggest we just suggest they leave. Pack the muslim in shipping containers – 200-250 a piece – and dump them back where they came from.

    4. They need putting in their place which is at the bottom of the stack.
      They'll be having a pop at the rugby team next.

    5. Here's an idea: replace the sign with the actual muslim's head. Business would go through the roof.

    7. One of those pubs in this ridiculous string of complaints involved was the ā€œSaracenā€™s Headā€ in Old Amersham town, one which holds a special place in my memory.

      Sixty years ago, during my trips home on RN leave it was my old ā€˜Stomping Groundā€™ local, and Iā€™d be a regular customer.

      Not just an excellent pub, I have declare that just a few yards away, on the road out of town, there was a nurseā€™s home/hostelā€¦.!

      Happy Dazeā€¦ā€¦..!!

    2. I expect Bye Done will be with her soon.
      Perhaps we should be able to check the so called qualifications etc of our own political classes.

    1. Funny cartoon,and I have to say Son and Moh watched Bulls Eye on one of the ITV channels , Freddie Flintoff was the host .. never seen it before .. why on earth do I have an ear worm "180.."

      The lad who is still a teenager and millionaire Luke Littler , darts champion was a guest .. clever boy !

    4. Where is the white variety (and I don't mean chocolate).

      Back yonder in time dogs used to deposit a white form of that stuff on the pavements!

      1. A rather sad conversation that takes place between those of a certain age i.e. mine and MB's.
        Apparently it was caused by the dogs being given bones to gnaw.

  24. 399212 + up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Priorities,priorities,priorities,

    I would venture to say an important facet of education is classroom sizes, at the current time we are teaching
    ( after a fashion) in many cases great multitudes at one sitting.

    At this moment in time ALL roads of a destructive nature lead
    to & from Dover THAT must be the main concern in priorities
    we are suffering the politico's actions of opening the main inlet valve and keeping it in the open position then accepting the human criminal debris of the world, unchecked.

    The continuing destruction of Great Britain is on track to succeed
    and with the electoral aiding & abetting RESET & net zero will
    prove to be successful in any-bodies language.

    Monday 23 December: The benefits of Latin lessons should not be reserved for public schools

    1. 399212+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      I cannot see it being of great use as in a great number of the indigenous on top of the white cliffs shouting in an aggressive manner
      "caveat emptor," we are purchasing incoming troubles.

  25. 399212 + up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Priorities,priorities,priorities,

    I would venture to say an important facet of education is classroom sizes, at the current time we are teaching
    ( after a fashion) in many cases great multitudes at one sitting.

    At this moment in time ALL roads of a destructive nature lead
    to & from Dover THAT must be the main concern in priorities
    we are suffering the politico's actions of opening the main inlet valve and keeping it in the open position then accepting the human criminal debris of the world, unchecked.

    The continuing destruction of Great Britain is on track to succeed
    and with the electoral aiding & abetting RESET & net zero will
    prove to be successful in any-bodies language.

    Monday 23 December: The benefits of Latin lessons should not be reserved for public schools

  26. I have been trying to contact my hair dresser's salon , miles away from here , no luck, no messages back nothing for weeks .

    Whilst Moh was watching Saints play football (streamed ) yesterday afternoon , I motored off and with in an hour plus , I found the salon had closed/to let , and there was a notice on the door with a couple of phone numbers .

    The salon was always busy and lively .. especially when I first visited 40years ago .. I was in my early thirties then and progressed through various hairstyles especially so when the Dallas type styles came in ..

    The chap who was so good with my hair was when he was younger almost a Bobby Ewing caricature type.. lots of male hairdressers were flamboyant lively and good fun ..

    In recent years , his clientele have dropped away , ladies became older , and many died .. he was like a social diary , and I hope he kept a diary of who was whom etc

    When I saw the notice in the window, I rang one of the mobile numbers . No answer..just another message .

    The afternoon was pushing on and I had to get back home , lots of people were Christmas shopping , and I was pleased to see that the shop that sold kitchen ware and many other delights was open, as was the Barbour shop( the prices , my goodness have trebled since the days I wore their jackets etc.

    Back to the kitchen shop, We had to bin our old Teflon coated wok , was about 12 years old .. so I looked around the shop for a replacement .. lots of varieties .. no more Teflon for us, I chose a good one with a wooden handle , already worn in ( according to the blurb) and several replacement kitchen knives ..

    My mobile phone rang whilst I was in the shop .. it was a relative of the chap who has always sorted my hair out .. I was shocked to hear he had cut his finger , turned to sepsis right up his arm and the infection caused a multitude of problems and was still in hospital 3 months after the accident .. Poor man .. now nearly eighty years old , single etc

    His house has to be converted to cope with his various requirements .. probably stair lift etc . I was shocked and asked the relative to send him my best wishes , and to thank him for everything over the years , he listened and always seemed so practical and wise.

    Not being shallow or silly, but I will have huge problems finding a new hairdresser .. and peace and quiet .

    Salons these days are VERY VERY noisy , and the attention span of younger hairdressers is appalling.

    1. If you come out of the kitchen shop.. turn right.. there's a Turkish barbers. Or turn left. Straight ahead as well.
      They'll sort you out.

      1. What , no such thing , clothes shop, shoe shops estate agents and one of the best independent bookshops .. and a fruit shop across the road where I bought some Russet apples and a jar of gooseberry jam .

        1. I've had a word with Doğukan.. he's on the case.. his brothers Vidal Ƈağatay & Nancyboy Aydoğan are driving down as I type.
          Sorted.

    2. I've had the same hairdresser for 36 years – fortunately he's a bit younger.

      He sold his business a few years ago but stayed on as manager, then last year decided to leave and set up on his own again. Most of the staff and customers followed him just across the road and the other shop closed soon afterwards.
      His new premises are very spacious and light and he seems to be doing OK.
      He has young children so won't be retiring for a while.

      1. I've never had a hairdresser. Why would I want someone to dress my hair?

        The fact that I don't have much hair is neither here nor thair!

  28. Morning all šŸ™‚šŸ˜ŠšŸŽ…
    Bright out side for a change and still.
    We had a lovely evening last night in the church of a little Hertfordshire village known as Kimpton. It was packed, two excellent choirs one from Old Welwyn and a local group sang many Christmas songs. Local talent played guitars and sang, piano players sat and sang and even one song was accompanied with a trumpet solo. Mulled wine and mince pies, what could be better. Excellent soul lifting entertainment. šŸ¤—šŸ˜ƒšŸ§‘ā€šŸŽ„šŸ¤¶

  29. Hopefully leading to a happier New year.
    And a much needed good spring clean in Westminster.

  30. Morning all. Today Free Speech has something different, an amusing, witty, heroic even venture in verse into the Darkness. Richard Craven has delved deep into the formation and spread on the monstrous woke virus in his epic ā€˜ The Wokeiad ā€™ which rivals Homer in its penetrating insight into the depths of the, in this case, anti-human soul.

    In addition, we have a short but thought-provoking piece by Paul Sutton on the state of the English church Emmanuel .

    FSB wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, and peace and plenty for all.

    Energy watch: Demand: 36.475GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 19.2%; Wind 37.7%; Imports 18.6%, Biomass 6.1% and Nuclear 13.3%.

    Jusat look at that – we are having to import electric power from France, Belgium, Norway and Denmark at great expense just so they can class this as a 'low carbon' day. No wonder we have the highest electricty prices in the world.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Yet… unreliables are generating some third of our energy and we're still importing more.

      Ah, but hang on. This i just electricity. Not heating.

  32. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c6a534d9c5ebfa84443e8168e46e227f1593d71feb5967df16d2de9d31e2d8ba.png Yorkshire Curd Tart.

    SIR ā€“ I happily eat homemade Christmas puddings at almost any time of year, but take issue with D Gibson about Whit Sunday (Letters, December 20).

    In my youth, that day was reserved for gooseberry pie, made with the first green gooseberries picked from the garden. Mum maintained they were sweeter when cooked than the later, riper berries.

    Fay Poate
    Maidenhead, Berkshire

    Na then, Fay, lass. I'll 'ave thee know that thy goosegog pie wouldn't pass muster oop in Yorkshire at Whitsuntide, tha' knows.

    A spankin' Yorkshire Curd Tart is t'only sweetmeat Yorkies will tolerate at Whitsun ("Pingst" in Swedish), owd love.

    It's a gradely bit of pie, is that.

    1. Yesterday at our very tasty lunch I chose treacle tart for my pubbing item. One of my favourites from way back, 6 inches across just right. Fond and tasty memories.

      1. When we had treacle tart at school dinner they would cover the top of it with cornflakes before baking. They never served one without that topping.

  33. The benefits of Latin lessons should not be reserved for public schools

    I have always thought the same, couldn't see the point in learning French

    1. Morning Bob 3

      I can sing Clementina .. 2 verses in Latin .

      Being taught by rote worked for me and many others when I was a child , almost , except for mathematical formula .

      I can still sing it , but can I remember stuff I read or did last week , no.

    2. I was taught Latin at my grammar school thankfully not in my last year but I find it useful for crosswords

        3. Really? I find the etymology of words incredibly useful and as many of ours are Latin derived having the grounding is handy.

          You can do brute force decoding as well.

        4. I had a neighbour and one of my cousins who both had the gift of speaking multiple foreign languages.
          They both told me that learning Latin was the foundation for their language skills.

        5. I have "O" level Latin and stopped there. How many Nottlers have "A" level Latin or studied Latin at university?

          The students who come on "A" level French courses with us who have done GCSE Latin are invariably better at grammar than those who haven't.

          1. I failed A level Latin but enjoyed doing the course. A good school friend of mine did Classics at University and has recently achieved a second degree in fine art. I think Latin is good for the brain.

          2. Without wishing to boast, I agree (did Russian at University, but greatly helped by Latin and then later a Fine Art degree).

      2. Useful during nurse training.
        Many diseases, medicines and instructions are Latin based. Stuff that had fellow students scratching the heads I could deconstruct from their Latin or Greek base (thank goodness we used Latin script for translating Greek words!).

      1. Given it's so popular as a second language in China, probably more people speak English than either.

  35. SIR ā€“ I was advised very sternly by the council officer with whom I was registering my fatherā€™s death that any errors would incur a statutory penalty fee.

    With the date of his death fresh in my mind, having known his name and birthday all my life, and knowing where he lived, I wasnā€™t fazed by the officerā€™s warning. Iā€™m not sure what prompted me to open the envelope and check the certificate, which was handed to me with kind words of condolence, but Iā€™m glad I did. My own name had been entered as that of the deceased.

    Paul Bendit
    Arlington, East Sussex

    Had that been me, I would have given that 'council officer' a very stern riposte that he/she/it would not forget in a month of Sundays!

    3. Hey Beatnik, you would have told that sonuvva wisecrackin' gun to tell his goddamn phonus balonus to the Marines, Dude. Nothing like those council heavyweights layin' down the law and being total non-deliverers, Hombre.

        1. Hey Beatnik, that zero should be lashed to the rails and left waiting for Casey Jones and the Fast Flyin' Virginian to nail his sorry ass, Big Time, Dude.

  36. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny, no wind or tempest. Lovely!
    Hope all's as well as it can be with Geoff, and no sign of Sir Jasper. Tried to contact him over the last two days without success, so emailed his management company yesterday with my concern. Will try voice contact today, once someone might be in the office.

    1. Starmer is a moron who's made appalling decisions. His government is a destructive, subtractive force causing huge damage to the country.

      However he shouldn't be verbally abused, any discussion should be calm and rational. I rather feel for the plod around him. They looked genuinely frightened, unsure what to do in a horribly tense situation.

      I imagine next time there will be far more armed guards and a lot heavier, para-military style security. All because he insists on doing the wrong thing.

    3. Trot lad dun well. The Blair without the flair. Michaelmas Term report:

      Farmer's land grab with IHT.
      War on white working class.
      Gennycider of the old.
      Two tier law.
      Ignores Rachel Reeves' CV hype & sacking from HBOS.
      Southport cover up.
      Lying to parliament about flat use.
      Insane Non-Crime Hate incidents.
      Free Speech clamp down.
      Migrant invasion redefined.
      Ludicrous net-zero targets.
      Exact 180 degree opposite of cast iron election pledges.
      Surrender of Chagos Islands.
      Council tax increases.
      Reluctance to charge Manc Airport attackers.
      Caught actively canvassing against Trump in USA.
      Imprisonment of Tommy Robinson in solitary confinement.
      Mass jail release of rapists & paedos.
      Introduction of jail time for posts on Facebook.

      Worst crime.. persistent use of irritating nasal whine.. with hands held out in chopping board fashion..

  41. BTL comment in the Spekkie.

    "I am getting a little comfort from imagining the PM studiously undoing all the pigs in blankets before Christmas lunch – ā€œVictoria! Iā€™ve released the sausages!ā€ "

  42. As we are on the cusp of Christmas, I think a bit of religious fervour is required- that "Old Time Religion". Here's some of that commitment and takes me back to a time although not perfect was infinitely better than the ghastly morass we now are wading through courtesy of the Political Class that has cooked up this almighty disaster that is the UK.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecSALUcEIT8

    1. No time was ever perfect. Don't apologise. Old time religion is just fine thanks. It certainly beats superior patronising mealy mouthed gloop handed down by modern Archbishops.

  43. 399212+ up ticks,

    We must look inward in regards to morally illegal invaders and the United Kingdom, one could easily believe that the UK is a country mile ahead of Sweden.

    One major factor against decency is that the islamic followers instruction manual resides in the English parliamentary home
    on par with clasping an ASP to the nations breast.
    https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1870848546465108174

    1. muslim in Sweden is concentrated in Malmo. Simply build a fence around it and use phalanx automated turrets to keep them in and let the muslim kill each other. Within 9 months they'll all be dead and decent people can move back in.

    2. Almost conquered. LOL.
      What I just love about Muzzies are their cocksure overconfidence. Chemical Ali would be proud of ya.

      Go up to Mora for a ski trip.. and you'll see a few huddled Ethiopians & Syrians with 3 layers of NorthFace begging to be sent back down south.
      Mora is barely halfway up Sweden. Drive out of Stockholm north of VƤsterƄs.. every home proudly displays the national flag. Half are armed. I've even seen a sign that says.. EU STOPS HERE.. in English.

      1. 399212+ up ticks,

        Morning KB,
        Sad to say we are under mass saturation point, suffering a plague of islamic invaders courtesy of the lab/lib/con coalition, supporters & voters.

    3. Almost conquered. LOL.
      What I just love about Muzzies are their cocksure overconfidence. Chemical Ali would be proud of ya.

      Go up to Mora for a ski trip.. and you'll see a few huddled Ethiopians & Syrians with 3 layers of NorthFace begging to be sent back down south.
      Mora is barely halfway up Sweden. Drive out of Stockholm north of VƤsterƄs.. every home proudly displays the national flag. Half are armed. I've even seen a sign that says.. EU STOPS HERE.. in English.

      1. They go for the cheaper inner city places first. It's why southern towns and cities in the UK aren't as bad as Rotherham and Bradford. Though Southampton and Portsmouth are almost gone.

        1. I found it bloody amusing when, after complaints by the local residents of the Derby Road area, Southampton's former Red Light district, the brothels were shut down.
          The area, even in the '80s, was not only VERY "culturally diverse", but the brothels the girls worked in were controlled by members of the local "diverse" community!

        2. I was surprised at the 'diversity' when we passed through Portsmouth last year en route to the IoW.

          1. A lot of the housing is back to back two up two down on a grid so those are the areas they go to.
            Besides the University. Like Bournemouth thousands of them arrive. Then overstay.

            Care to tell me of your Isle of Wight travels? I have my own experiences. Though you may have seen my previous posts about different restaurants and the Steam fair and the steam train.

          2. Hi Phizzee, we stayed at Ventnor for only just a weekend to visit the hot air balloon festival May 2023. We travelled on the Portsmouth-Fishbourne ferry (the ferry was a bit rundown and I couldn’t believe the cost) with car and Poppie (as was); son, DiL and grandchildren took a different ferry as they missed ours, sailing from Lymington. As we had grandchildren with us it did somewhat clip our wings, we like visiting restaurants. We had a self-catering holiday home which was fine for all of us but it would have been a bit bleak for just the two of us, these places by their very nature are impersonal. I liked the west coast and fields of the IoW, I didn’t see anything of the east coast apart from the Ventnor area. I saw red squirrels in the botanical gardens there, I have seen them only in France before in the ‘wild’. I thought the local drivers were irritable and lacking in patience, probably through having their island over-run with tourists throughout the year. I would like to return sometime but poppiesdad isn’t too keen – he was the one driving throughout the weekend! Poppie travelled with us as she did throughout all our jouneyings in her life, this was to be her last adventure. She knew exactly what to do, a delight to travel with, she never put a paw wrong.

  44. I can't work out if Labour are just stupid, deliberately malicious or really do have some master plan.

    The blithering 'sustainable growth' is a nonsense, as you have growth or you don't. It is by default self sustaining. I imagine what they mean is state controlled growth, in areas they approve of. This is not growth.

    The constant lie of 'fixing the foundations' is just 'on message' blather that means nothing, especially when they're destroying everything in sight. Public sector services are in a mess because of 25 years of overmanning and feather bedding, which Labour have made worse.

    Thus my question: are they stupid and really don't understand the first thing about economics whatsoever or are they deliberately malignant and destroying the country for good?

    1. Deliberately wrecking education with VAT imposed on private schools in the middle of the school year shows exactly what motivates this government:

      Envy – Spite – Sadism – Destruction : all applied with total incompetence.

        1. And the traditional Labour spite being played out sanctimoniously dressed up as obeying their WEF masters. We all know that Starmer prefers Davos to Westminster because "you can get things done" – malicious things.

      2. Yes, the WFA and VAT on private schools – when the right approach is to abandon the green tax hoax and introduce school vouchers (so any child can go anywhere and anyone can set up a school).

      3. In the end I just say that they're very bad people who've been allowed too much rope. Same old same old with Labour.

    3. It's an age old problem, wibbly. I detect you must be quite a young inexperienced person šŸ˜†.

      Anyone can be malignant, but if you're not very bright your bad actions tend to have limited effect. You've got to be very bright to cause really permanent damage. Trouble is what they're doing is not only extensively damaging, it's truly bizarrely ignorant.

      I'm definitely old and despite that must be so dull I still cannot work it out for sure šŸ˜†.

    4. Being stupid, deliberately malicious and having a master plan to wreck the country are not mutually exclusive, unfortunately.

  47. Some 20kg bag of dog biscuits was broken into and noshed into last night. Culprit unknown as all three have crumbs around their jaws.

    Although, we must be doing something right behaviour wise as of the 20kg only half a kilo was nibbled.

    1. The horse whose rider I instruct has the run of a "balcony" (not actually off the ground, but a similar construction) outside her stable. When they put the new consignment of hay in the stable where it's stored, they didn't close the door properly … Guess who was stuffed that day.

    2. When Janice left the muppets, she went on to present Strictly Come Prancing.

      Sorry, Janice, you're much prettier and far more talented than that gobby, gormless, air-headed Winkelman tart!

  50. Turkey crown picked up from our local butcher.
    He is doing a roaring trade with people who know the quality of his wares are far superior to anything sold in the average supermarket.
    No Halal, no Kosher, every cow, duck, chicken, pig, sheep, or lamb raised and kept in a field, and fed what nature intended. And you can taste the difference.

      1. I have never been able to taste anything with any turkey, no matter the breed, sex or how it is roasted.

        Duck, goose. swan, guineafowl, capon, budgerigar and penguin ALL have flavour. And all are better than turkey.

  51. Kremlin denies Assadā€™s British wife wants to divorce him and return to UK. 23 December 2024.

    Asma al-Assad retains British citizenship, but David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said on Monday she was no longer welcome in the country, implying she may soon lose her UK passport.

    Mr Lammy told Parliament: ā€œI want it confirmed that sheā€™s a sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK.ā€

    You have to smile at the sheer gob-smacking hypocrisy of it all. If she had joined the Jihadists and set fire to some poor sucker Lammy would be calling for her to be admitted with all speed and Social Security entitlements.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/23/bashar-al-assads-wife-does-not-want-a-divorce-kremlin-says/

    2. If you approach Downing Street from Whitehall, youā€™re met with huge cast iron gates and three men with big guns. Until the Western powers sent in the attack dogs, Assad moved around Damascus with no armed protection.

      1. The gates went in after the IRA bombed Downing Street. The force of the blast lifted part of the roof, twisted it a few degrees and dropped it back onto the walls.

        Tom King was in attendance and sensibly ushered other committee members out of the building.

        At that time I was the Architect in charge of the construction of Richmond House opposite the Cenotaph. We were instructed to design and install robust steel railings between the Red Lion and the granite gates to Norman Shaw North and South off Derby Gate.

        I designed the railings in conjunction with the artist blacksmith James Horrobin of Dunster and Richard Quinnell the metalworker whose firm had the production capacity. The railings sit on a Devon granite plinth through which very large sheathed bolts connect to a pile cap below the adjacent road surface.

        The concern was that some hooligan might try to drive a lorry with explosives down Derby Gate and into the building.

  54. Good afternoon (Here):
    Wordle 1,283 3/6

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    šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

    1. It won't make any difference. The reply spouts the same 4 lies they keep trotting out. It's boring now.

  57. Anti-Musk Left Wing Haters Still Using X Despite Guardian Walkout

    The virtue signalling response of many leftists to Elon Muskā€™s breakout role as an unofficial Trump advisor has been to quit X. This is nothing other than welcome for X users, who are finally getting a break from accounts such as The Guardianā€¦

    The exodus of leftists have mainly embraced an alternative platform called Bluesky Social. Among them is Stop Funding Hate ā€“ the lefty campaign group that attempts to silence media it doesnā€™t like ā€“ such as the Daily Express, Daily Mail and GB News ā€“ by targeting its advertisers. Over on Bluesky, Stop Funding Hate is regularly sharing content criticising Elon Musk and X. Meanwhile, it continues to utilise X itself to promote its own campaigns, of courseā€¦

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/931a9adfcf50f5222dbcdf5b300297ee3eb63ecaa6639ccec36e286689e77ae5.png

    Hypocrisy isnā€™t unfamiliar to Stop Funding Hate. Its 2023 accounts show its financial income dropped from Ā£107,000 to Ā£74,000, yet at the same time, its sole remunerated director enjoyed a 27% pay rise. Clearly, ā€œgo woke, go brokeā€ doesnā€™t applyā€¦

    23 December 2024 @ 10:30

    1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1cacc0023837a2cdf6c17884a69de1938395c11bae6aaa1fb4205c5b2cc7ecc8.png

      http://Hucksters.net

      Suggest Listing
      Richard Wilson
      A.k.a. Richard Cameron Wilson
      Activist, Grifter, Harasser / Male / Far-Left
      Richard Wilson is a far-left Activist and Grifter and Harasser who is a citizen of United Kingdom, and has been associated with the following entities as either a significant contributor, participant, promoter, or beneficiary, according to our OSINT research:

      Brands: Amnesty International, Reliable Media, Stop Funding Hate

      Groups: 100 Worst Hucksters (United Kingdom)

      Events:
      Domains: http://impakter.com , http://stopfundinghate.info , http://stopfundinghate.org.uk

      Public references:
      Organized cancel group seeks to financially damage news channel GB News before it even launched

      Jesse Nickles says:
      Aug 7, 2021 at 12:08am
      Like a typical leftist d*******g operative, Richard calls anything he disagrees with ā€œhateā€ and then goes out shouting ā€œSTOP HATE!ā€ like the narcissistic white savior than he thinks he isā€¦ the UK is even worse than the US these days, for fucks sake

        1. I don't know…but could it be the BBC via some shell company? They would throw money at anyone who could shut down GBNews.

          2. Lefties are very, very quick to scream bigot and fascist at others but every time they reveal their true, intolerant, spiteful natures that expose just how nasty, bitter and abusive they are.

      5. We still wonder why Nick Lowles isnā€™t in prison for inciting riots, with his disinformation about Muslim women having acid thrown on them by far right thugs.

  58. Just had the shock of my life. Went out to throw some rubbish in the bin outside, opened the lid and there was only a bloke in it. He was freezing cold and said he was the delivery driver for Evri. I asked what the f**king hell he was doing there? He said he saw the note on my door that said NOT IN, HIDE INSIDE PURPLE BIN.

      2. We are very lucky – our Evri driver is brilliant; we all hope they don't move him to a different route as his predecessor was awful!

        1. We recently moved. Our EVRI driver (a woman) at the previous address was very good. The new one (a man) is just as good. So I don't get the criticism of EVRI, because I have never experienced any problem with them.

      3. I contacted their help people. Well, tried to. You can't unless you have a tracking number.

        You see, they'd lost the parcel. And there was no tracking number.

        Thus you can't contact them to ask what's going on because you haven't got a tracking number because they've lost the parcel.

        2. Some of this country's finest ales were straw-coloured pale bitters, notably Shipstone's and Simpkiss. Sadly both were victims of Greenall Whitley. The marvellous Batham's is still with us.

          Yates of Cumbria was one of the 1980s 'new wave' that produced a very good pale beer. Sadly the owners retired a while back and couldn't find anyone to take it on. The Hop Back brewery survives and still produces Summer Lightning.

          However, there was a fashion that started in the 90s for very pale, sometimes almost wine-coloured beers that were overhopped with Styrian, American or New Zealand varieties. They could be unpleasantly acidic, the brewing equivalent of a bad sauvignon blanc.

          1. I always say, they are the colour of lager but have taste. I am a great fan of these light ales, Spoons always has some for less that Ā£3. Ā£5+ in trendy places.

          2. Boddington's! I forgot Boddington's! What a wonderful beer that was before Whitbread ruined it.

          3. Well there goes another memory of the UK. Boddies was my beer of choice when we escaped double diamond land and moved to Macclesfield.

          6. Loweswater Gold brewed in Hawkshead – former Champion Golden Ale of Britain – fabulous pint.

          7. Wells’ Bombardier was, to my recollection, a similarly pale concoction.

            I well remember Nottingham’s finest, Shipstone’s (as well as Hardy Hanson and Home Ales) all sadly long gone if I’m not mistaken.

            Ward’s of Sheffield was a particular favourite.

    2. Yes, except it'd be a large pink G&T and the Warqueen's hand, not mine. Also, she is left handed.

    3. Kid still in the bar.
      Perfect time to leave the pub with my security detail.

      David Cameron

    2. I remember Ms Reeves on Budget Day, looking perfect, hair, lippie etc, the huge roars of approval from those behind her. Bit of a difference now, looks crackered, no lippie. But some still cheer…wonder for how much longer tho?

      1. I remember she spent 15 minutes on political point scoring where she spewed lies, another 15 being sexist and then introduced disasterous, stupid policies that would ruin the country.

    3. She was out of her depth the escond she stepped into the role. One day Junior asked what his 'taxes' were spent on (we give him Ā£5 of pocket money and Ā£3 goes into a LISA – along with another 100 into and 100 into a pension: I want him to have 'something' and be further ahead than I was).

      I said 'Oh, stuff your Mum and I want.'
      He said 'If I could spend it, I'd get what I wanted so you wouldn't have to get it for me.'

      He was 10 then. A ten year old outwitted Reeves with better economic sense than she has.

  61. Phew!
    And that's me back from Leeds!
    Not a bad run, M1 was clear and I see some of the 50mph restrictions have been lifted.
    Going over Wooley Moor past Ogston Reservoir just before sunrise was spectacular and it was pleasant weather all the way up but started clouding over and raining on the way back.
    A 4h trip that included over 1h of stops to do some shopping.

    Now, let's catch up with what I've missed.

  62. Oh well must get on, a new window roller blind for the kitchen to cut and fit the previous one just dropped out of it's position last week. Broken fittings.
    And due to a few spare Christmas lights, two more strings to weave around the shrubs in the back garden. Millipede wont like that.
    Slayders.

    1. It is slightly, but the German government has done this to itself. I don't quite know what the political class were thinking. Did they want this? Was it all a plan to apply draconian policy? Did no one see this was inevitable? We, humans, like our own. We like people like us. This is why my friends are mostly middle class and professional. Our backgrounds are similar.

      2. I see what you mean.
        At my lunch yesterday were three retired Royal Navy, retired army sergeant and a retired prison officer.

      3. We were having a similar conversation this morning; our friends are like us and share the same principles and morals.

  64. https://order-order.com/2024/12/23/theyre-eating-labour-kemis-christmas-outing-on-today-programme/

    Kemi also claimed high migration is ā€œnot my personal recordā€ before taking aim at visa demands from DHSC and DEFRA ā€“ blue on blue there. She rolled the pitch for a ā€œvery difficultā€ set of local elections, and refused to go there when asked why voters should choose the Conservatives over Reform. She explained:

    ā€œI love metaphorsā€¦ itā€™s like opening a restaurant in four years time, people say whatā€™s on the menuā€¦ when itā€™s ready you will see the menuā€¦ in four years time the restaurant will be ready, theyā€™re already eating elsewhere now; theyā€™re eating Labour and they donā€™t like it.ā€

    I think Badenoch needs to accept that it IS her failure as leader of the Tories. Humilty is a good thing in the face of such disaster. She then needs to say what she will do about it and provide a timeline, detailing all the hinderances and problems.

    By distancing herself she says 'not me guv' without shouldering the baggage but also the public just don't care. She's a Tory. Tories let him millions of foreigners.

    On Reform she needs to say 'we let down voters by not giving them what they wanted. All we can do is improve and present an alternative for voters.

    1. Telegraph View
      Net zero fanatics must be realistic
      If renewable energy is cheaper, why are countries like China continuing to use fossil fuels?

      Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband

      Telegraph View 19 December 2024 6:00am GMT

      This was the year when the last coal-fired power station in Britain closed, bringing to an end this islandā€™s association with coal dating back to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. As recently as 2012, coal supplied more than 40 per cent of Britainā€™s electricity. Now there are no working pits and no power stations. The reason given is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

      Yet, as the UK shuts down its coal burning facilities, the rest of the world is doing the opposite. A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says global demand for coal is continuing to grow, with China and India leading the way. Even Germany has opened new coal-fired power stations. Since Britain imports large quantities of goods from these countries, we are not using less coal, just outsourcing its use. This is true even in the building of wind farms, whose turbines are constructed largely from steel made by countries where coal is still used.

      Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, says the coal ban is necessary as a ā€œsignal to the worldā€. Except, the world seems to be taking no notice. Climate-change zealots insist that even if Britain contributes a minuscule amount to global emissions, we need to atone for past sins as one of the great coal using economic powerhouses.

      The net zero fanatics have to confront the realities of what is actually going on in the world, as opposed to what they would like. If renewable energy is cheaper, as they maintain, why are countries like China continuing to use a more expensive form of fuel to generate electricity? The grid upgrade alone will cost Ā£35ā€‰billion and double household charges.

      Might it be the case that the Government is not being entirely honest with the British public?

      1. Windmills could be cheaper than gas but the way energy is priced in the UK, the cost to the consumer is never less than gas. The conundrum can be quickly and simply be solved by changing the pricing structure. But our glorious leaders prefer not to; another note in my black book.

        1. Windmills will never provide the continuous, steady supply that gas will, so whether it's cheaper or not is irrelevant, surely.

          1. That is another issue! At the moment, when the wind blows the price of lecee should drop, it doesn’t as it depends on the price of gas.

        2. Electricity will always remain expensive while government continues to fund windmils. They can't stand on their own as they are, by definition unreliable. While something unreliable exists in the market (against basic market forces) and the tax payer is forced to pay for it everything is distorted and the market is broken.

        3. Electricity will always remain expensive while government continues to fund windmils. They can't stand on their own as they are, by definition unreliable. While something unreliable exists in the market (against basic market forces) and the tax payer is forced to pay for it everything is distorted and the market is broken.

      2. It's that every single cost is lumped on the taxpayer and every bit of profit goes to the owner.

        We pay to have them built, we pay for the 500 tons of concrete, the 200 tons of steel to be jammed into the sea bed. We pay for the connection to the grid. We pay when they work. We pay when they don't work. We pay when they fudge the numbers.

        Folk think the Ukraine war was responsible for energy prices soaring. It wasn't. The 'climate change act' was the cause.

      3. "Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, says the coal ban is necessary as a ā€œsignal to the worldā€"

        Yes but he's the sort of incompetent fool who sees a man drowning off the coast and thinks he's waving at him as if to say, "Hi Ed!"

    3. It is nothing more nor less than a clear statement that her party is yet to learn the lesson voters handed out to them. And as we well know, her diplomatic talk isn't for us. It's for the factions in her own ranks still fighting it out amongst themselves. I tend to just leave them to their own little problems now. Saves a lot of bother.

      2. Or they know that the plan is for City-man Farage as PM so they don't care. We're in uncharted territory, it was completely obvious that they didn't want to win the last election.

    4. In four years' time, there'll be no restaurant, no menu and we'll be lucky if we get offered a dish of bugs.

  65. Afternoon Sue. I note that the PTB are rewriting the history of the last ten years in Syria.

    7. A 'Cow Poke' according to Americans….
      Edited to add: On reflection I can now see how the term arose….

  68. I'm taking Mongo to the children's hospice in a bit. It's desperately, horribly unfair.

    Although I've some presents to drop off as well. Junior took apart some of his Lego models and boxed them up. We didn't ask him to or expect it. He just did it. I've some little computers and a couple of laptops to give away as well as a small mountain of chocolate. It's not much, but it's something from everyone.

    The cable guys – who do our installers – put on a silly Mary Poppins chimney sweep play as well. Mostly they banged into one another and fell over, but they seemed to have fun and the children laughed.

    3. Actions and thoughts like that give one faith in humankind – or some of it.

      Good for you and have a very Happy Christmas.

    4. Folk like that come round to Mother's care home. I have so much respect and gratitude, in the current era, that folk care so much. Thanks for being human, and kind.

    1. Given that's the Mirror, TTK doesn't seem to be getting much support from the BTL comments!

      1. He's generally hated right across the political divide. The only ones who don't are the Woke left who hate this country and its people as much as he does.

      1. Never mind where he's going (although I could put forward a few suggestions). It's we the taxpayers who are paying for it.

  70. Treasury Admits It Didnā€™t Do Basic Costings for Inheritance Tax Hike as CBI Slams Reeves and Recession Fears Rise

    So itā€™s now official that Rachel Reevesā€™s omnishambles budget has left the UK on the brink of recession thanks to the ONS downgrading growth figures. On the back of that comes this morningā€™s CBI report lambasting Labour for creating a ā€œhostile environment for aspiration, investment and growth,ā€ with all fingers are pointed at the budget. More specifically at its punitive tax hikesā€¦

    The Treasury claimed in the Budget red book that ā€œInheritance Tax Reform,ā€ including APR changes and BPR changes, will raise Ā£520 million annually by 2029. Questions have been raised about how exactly it arrived at this figure. There is a strong suspicion in SW1 that many of the figures were lifted from far-left academic Arun Advaniā€™s CenTax report, which was reproduced for the IFS. The Treasury has already admitted Advani has provided the basis of their IHT hikeā€¦

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/92b135b691766a0e047d4fb37e0d79a8594276f6830aa4d84a5a45db2b0210ad.png

    Now in response to an FOI the Treasury admits that it hasnā€™t even worked out what each tax change will raise:

    ā€œHM Treasury does not hold a disaggregated cost projection for the revenue raised from the measure announced at Autumn Budget 2024 to restrict these reliefs. This is a combined policy across the reliefs, rather than separate policies for each relief.ā€

    Some might say it beggars belief that Reeves doesnā€™t have the figures required for any remotely detailed calculation of her own policy changes. Agricultural tax specialist Stuart Maggs tells Guido: ā€œThe fact that they havenā€™t disaggregated them doesnā€™t surprise me at all. Until we have an impact assessment, weā€™re not going see the detailed work that should have been done before this policy was instituted. Itā€™s odd to refuse to listen to people who are extremely willing to engage in a detailed consultation to produce improved regulation on this.ā€ Reeves has stuck her head firmly in the sand after dropping a blunt-edged tax bombshellā€¦

    23 December 2024 @ 11:30

    2. See now that's the problem with people who don't know how to put in a decent FOI request. If they'd asked for a digital photographic record of the actual cigarette packet used to do the workings out then all would have been revealed.

      1. You mean they actually tried to work things out on the back of a fag packet rather than just going ahead and doing it? Well, I'm blowed!

        1. Most of our mps the Lords and Whitehall. Between them all they have never made such a mess of everything they come into contact with.

    4. What exactly are Treasury civil servants doing if not their sums?
      It is clearly ideologically driven.
      They don't care how much pain and suffering they create.

      1. It is beyond belief how she ever managed to get into new College Oxford and then The LSE when she seems almost completely innumerate.

        2. Perhaps she developed her tendency towards forgery and false representations much earlier than previously thought.

        3. It is, Rastus – especially in these days of computers/spreadsheets, and CS advisors. Perhaps she just fed in the figures she liked the look of, rather than the true ones.

        4. Lied on her CV? Cheated? Inflated her grades and extra-curricular chess tournament achievements? Who knows.

  71. Mykonos island is the top destination for gay holidays in Greece and among the most popular gay resorts in the world.

  73. For reasons that escape me we appear to have a bottle of Disaronno. I'm guessing it's for use as an accelerant for when I need to light a bonfire.

    2. If you don't like almond flavour it's a no no. If you do like almond flavour try it over crushed ice.

  74. From acanadian perspective whenever we hear that Trudeau is off on another jolly, it is Which government jet is he taking, who is going with him and wnat will it cost us?
    Will starmer fly commercial ir will he be self important like Trudeau, use a government jet and be accompanied by a dozen or more security guards?

  75. Afternoon, all. The dressage lesson went well this morning – definite improvement by the end, which is heartening, and the victim said she enjoyed the session! We did have a lot of laughs.

    There is no racing today so I'm at a loose end, hence I'm here early. I've just put a bit more food in Kadi's dish while he was eating – what a contrast with Oscar! I wouldn't have had any fingers left if I'd tried that with him, as I discovered the first time I attempted it.

    As I've observed before the Govt doesn't want the plebs to have any advantages or get ideas above their station and in the pursuit of that, they don't want anybody else to be aspirational, either. They are mean-minded, envious and spiteful.

  76. Latest info on Sir Jasper / Tom Hunn. I pinged an email to the residence manager and got the response below:

    "Hi

    I am the Manager at Dowding house Moffat. I recieved information regarding your concern from my head office about Mr Hunn.

    Mr Hunn is currently in Dumfries Royal Infirmary. He has his mobile on him if you wish to give him a telephone i dont think he will be discharged from hospital until after Christmas.

    If you wish to keep my details to keep in touch regarding Tom then please feel free to do so."

    I tried calling, but the mobile didn't connect.
    Discharge after Christmas – hopefully they'll give him a wee dram to put him in the mood on 24th & 25th.
    ;-))

    1. At least he is in a safe place and will be looked after.

      I doubt they will provide any spirits but let him know Deliveroo will supply anything to anywhere !

    2. Not much fun being in hospital at any time, but particularly miserable at Christmas, I think. When I sang in the church choir we used to go round the wards and sing carols – whether it improved the situation for the patients, I was never sure šŸ™‚

      1. Tom did say he didn't connect much with the other people in his block.

        He's probably better off in the hospital. He can run the nurses ragged and they have to be nice to him.

      2. When my grandparents were in hospital (separately)..I really enjoyed visiting, having a few words with other patients, bit of a cheer up. Sister asked me if I would consider visiting regularly. Unfortunately said no (two small children, two part time jobs). Nowadays probably have to fill out a form and take a medical šŸ™„

          1. Yes, more complicated now, also wouldn’t want to work alongside some nursing staff I’ve experienced. Am told very similar situation in Junior schools (something else I also did when children small, that was a lot of fun :-))

          2. When the MR taught at our local boarding school, she took children on trips abroad and also ran the debating society. I used to go on the trips as a “responsible adult” and I drove the minibus for debating. I doubt very much that I would be allowed to do so now.

          3. I think you’re right, Bill. Children are the ones miss out – debating society esp so, that sounds good!

          4. Some of the debaters were excellent. The team frequently got to the final of the competitions run by the Oxford Union and the Cambridge Union.

      3. Hi Conners,
        As members of Canterbury Choral Society, about 25 years ago a small (15-20) bunch of us visited the local private hospital to sing carols in the corridors. We were told afterwards that one very elderly lady thought that the Angels were singing and that they had come for her. What a lovely comment.

    3. Poor Tom. He wonā€™t be spending Christmas alone, at least. I hope theyā€™re able to help him in the hospital. My recent experience is that he wonā€™t go hungry or thirsty but when your heart/lungs/other organs are not functioning properly, washing is a vanity not even discussed.

    5. Blimey. I got someone to send him a Microsoft Office on a stick.. no wonder he didn't acknowledge.

    6. Hope so the old so and so, remember me to him if you do make contact (if he can charge his mble), wish him Happy Christmas – thanks Paul, Kate x

    9. The boss was born in hospital in Dumfries(I hope that it is not the same one because it would be old).
      As a totally sicky infant, they dosed her up with scotch during her first few days. Maybe there is a hope for him receiving essential supplies.

    1. Yes. Iā€™m going up to York tomorrow afternoon. Carrying as little as possible and have splurged on a first class ticket. Will get a cab to the station too. The hotel phoned yesterday asking if I want Christmas dinner but Iā€™m at middle brotherā€™s house on Christmas Day and younger brother on Boxing Day then going out with both on Friday. A zoom is set up with older brother in Pittsburgh too.

      2. York ! Wonderful.

        And family too.

        You know how nosy i am….any pics of food and or surroundings posted here would be lovely.

      4. Sounds excellent!
        After your recent problems and associated stress, you deserve some relaxation.

    1. I'm a shareholder in two community owned pubs. They're a vital part of village life. No wonder Labour wants to kill them off.

        1. It's rather like a Trust. The buildings are all part of it, but as well as shareholders putting money in, we also had grants from taxpayers (sorry, "government" money) and loans from various places to help set up the community venture.

    2. "Yeah, but they're failing businesses, like those useless family farms that can't function without unfair tax-breaks. They should go to the wall. After all, that's what you bloody Thatcherites want, ennit?"

  79. Naik Agansing Rai VC (24th April 1920 ā€“ 27th May 2000), 2nd Battalion, 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles.

    In June 1944 the 5th Gurkhas were under great pressure to stem the fanatical Japanese assault on Imphal, where success would have enabled them to break through into India. The Gurkhas were holding the Bishenpur-Silchar track, which had already been the scene of much hard fighting.
    On 26th June, C Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Gurkhas was ordered to capture an enemy position which dominated the track and had already changed hands several times. It consisted of two strong points, 200 yards apart and mutually self-supporting. Whereas there was dense jungle on the west of the enemy position, the hillside on the other sides was completely bare. Any assault would have to be launched in full view of the enemy for a least 80 yards up a slippery, precipitous ridge rising to a crest.
    When the Gurkha company reached the crest, they were immediately pinned down by fire from machine-guns and a 37 mm gun, suffering many casualties. Agansing Rai (at that time a Naik or Corporal) realised that delay would only lead to more casualties. So, he led his section immediately at the machine-gun, firing as he charged. He killed three of the enemy machine-gunā€™s crew of four. Inspired by this example the Gurkha company swept forward and drove the remaining Japanese off the strong point which they then occupied.
    However, the Gurkhas now came under heavy fire from the other strong point, as well as from the 37 mm gun concealed in the jungle. Once again Agansing Rai led his section towards the gun. Half the men were killed on the way, but Rai reached the gun and personally killed three of the five-man crew; his section killed the other two.

    Rai then returned to his former position, took over the rest of the platoon, and in spite of heavy machine-gun fire and a shower of grenades, rushed forward with a grenade in one hand and a Thompson sub-machine gun in the other. Having reached the position, he killed all the occupants of a bunker with his grenade and bursts of Tommy-gun fire. The remaining Japanese, thoroughly demoralised, fled into the jungle, leaving these two vital positions in the hands of the Gurkhas.

    Apart from Rai, another member of the 2/5th Royal Gurkha Rifles, Subedar Netrabahadur Thapa, also was awarded a VC for his part in the action, which proved to be a turning point in the struggle for Imphal

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/VCAgansingRai.jpg

    2. And didn't she say she was going to fill her house(s) with illegal immigrants? Wonder how that is working out (sarc).

      1. Jogged my memory, Bill – what happened to the number of Ukrainians given refuge in UK early days of Ukraine 'special ops'…are they still here, is that permanent, or have they returned to Ukraine?

  81. 399212+ up ticks,

    Health & safety ALERT,

    I am now hearing we must check out grandma & grandad for signs of dementia, as early treatment is beneficial, we have government run hotels with single room accommodation for couples en suite showers, etc,etc.

    Hotel California playing softly to all quarters.

    Ogga 1,
    A current mass that can cause factual troubles to these type governance creatures, are grandma & granddad owing to the fact they can make factual comparisons backed up by living through
    the past eras

    Plus the fact they would be VERY WARY of showers.

    1. 399212+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      As family and friends gather for the festive period, the NHS is highlighting the signs and symptoms of dementia to look out for in loved ones.

      Common early symptoms of dementia that may appear some time before an official medical diagnosis include:

      emotional changes such as irritability
      forgetfulness made highly irritated on losing financial energy monetary aid plus will intentionally forget to vote lab.in the future.

      struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word to describe a lefty.

      being confused about time
      and place after 9 pints ot Guinness.

  82. Pre-Christmas Cheer for GB News as It Beats Sky News Again

    GB News received an early Christmas present with the latest BARB figures showing it has beaten rival Sky News again. Now a recurring themeā€¦

    Between Sunday 15th and Saturday 21st December, GB News secured a larger audience share than Sky News for each day of the week for the first time. This included beating Sky on a Saturday for the first time ā€“ with 62,700 viewers compared to Skyā€™s 58,800. Bigā€¦

    And GB News is now closing in on the Beeb. Across the week, BBC News averaged 73,000 daily viewers with GB News closely following on 71,400, with Sky News trailing on 60,200. The BBC will surely fail harder in 2025ā€¦

    Despite numerous politically motivated attacks, the Peopleā€™s Channel continues to go from strength to strength. Happy Christmasā€¦

    23 December 2024 @ 15:12

      1. JakesFlakes
        2h
        In America a small group of saddos spending their abundance of free-time harassing customer service call centres of any company that advertises on a TV channel they don't like would be considered tortious interference and liable for damages. Strange it isn't the case here, but I guess it works in favour of the establishment.

        JakesFlakes
        1h
        Great comment; 'stop funding hate', needs to be eliminated.

    3. If it had a lower channel number and showed up at the top of the TV menu it would get double that number.

    2. It's always spontaneous when you throw a lighter match on petrol / gas.

      The suspect was supposedly deported but was smuggled back into the US.

    3. A Terrible thing do to another human being.
      Has there been an arrest or a description of the culprit ?

  84. HMS Monarch. This ship carried ten 13.5"/45 Mark V(L) guns.

    Younger posters will be amazed to learn that this ship was designed, and built in a British shipyard by entirely British ship designers and builders.
    It's steel, copper, brass, and armour plate was made in British foundries and steel works, again by British workers, with no Windrush Generation or EU 'assistance'.
    And not only that but our racist forbears would never have dreamed of letting it be otherwise.

    http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_135-45_mk5_Monarch_pic.jpg

        1. Do you mean the current lot, Dhobi? Or me…šŸ˜„…I'm very much like her other than in that respect….

          1. My apologies – my post was intended to be a comment about HMS Monarch but I suffered from fat finger. My oath of allegiance still stands.

    2. 21,922 long tons
      Laid down 1 April 1910
      Launched 30 March 1911
      Commissioned 27 April 1912

      25 months. There's no way a British yard could meet that schedule today.

      1. Thanks Belle.

        ā€˜The Lord reached down from on high and took me:
        he drew me out of the mighty waters.
        He delivered me from my strong enemy:
        from foes that were against me.ā€™

        O Eternal Lord God, who alone rulest the raging of the sea; who has compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end; be pleased to receive into Thy almighty and most gracious protection the persons of us Thy servants, and the Fleet in which we serve.

        Preserve us from the dangers of the sea, and from the violence of the enemy; that we may be a safeguard unto our most gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth, and her Dominions, and a security for such as pass upon the seas upon their lawful occasions; that the inhabitants of our Commonwealth may in peace and quietness serve Thee our God; and that we may return in safety to enjoy the blessings of the land, with the fruits of our labours, and with a thankful remembrance of Thy mercies to praise and glorify Thy Holy Name.
        Amen.

    1. Par again
      Wordle 1,283 4/6

      šŸŸ©ā¬œā¬œā¬œā¬œ
      ā¬œā¬œšŸŸØā¬œšŸŸØ
      ā¬œā¬œšŸŸ©ā¬œā¬œ
      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

    2. Well done. Dunce cap for me with a 5.

      Wordle 1,283 5/6

      šŸŸØā¬œā¬œšŸŸØā¬œ
      šŸŸ©ā¬œšŸŸØā¬œā¬œ
      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©ā¬œā¬œā¬œ
      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©ā¬œā¬œā¬œ
      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

    3. And me.

      Wordle 1,283 3/6

      šŸŸØā¬œā¬œā¬œšŸŸØ
      ā¬œšŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©ā¬œ
      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

    4. Late on parade. First word gave me an Eagle viz. the only word I could find to fit. First word my favourite SLANT.

      Wordle 1,283 2/6

      šŸŸ©ā¬œšŸŸØšŸŸ©ā¬œ
      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

    1. Social media is telling the world that white people are responsible for everything bad in the world and this is the inevitable result.

    3. Latest new york post article has footage of not so caring police officers just walking past the carriage she was in.

  87. History DOES repeat itself:

    Italian football fans salute Mussoliniā€™s goal-scoring great-grandson
    Supporters extend their arms after Romano Mussolini scored in a second-division match, showing that the former dictator is still prominent in public consciousness

  88. Sounds OK to me. Can only hope copied countrywide. Apart from the Scots, unless it’s English money of course.

  89. Mass immigration is killing Europe ā€“ and the political class just donā€™t care

    I warned nearly a decade ago that our Continent was headed to destruction. Our leaders carry on regardless
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/12/23/TELEMMGLPICT000406208692_17349661757150_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqw3YeT3CJnxc-S6GMxzhAsQ_G9oy7wrPzYMep9HwwySY.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Mourners stand around a makeshift memorial of flowers and candles for the victims of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg Credit: Ralf Hirschberger/AFP

    23 December 2024 3:09pm GMT
    Douglas Murray

    Another Christmas and the politics of Europe are once again roiled by one of the Continentā€™s newest traditions: the Christmas market terrorist attack.

    Last Fridayā€™s attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg was carried out by a Saudi-born asylum seeker. In 2016 it was a Tunisian migrant who carried out a similarly horrific attack in Berlin. It is one of the reasons why for the past 10 years these once innocent family events are surrounded by police and very often by what locals sometimes cynically call ā€œdiversity bollardsā€. In a macabre twist, in August this year a Syrian Islamist murdered three people and stabbed eight more at a Festival of Diversity in Solingen.

    Most of the Western political class and media continue to refuse to draw any link between the uncontrolled mass legal and illegal immigration of recent years and the upsurge in crimes, including terrorism. They point out quite rightly that not everyone who arrives on our shores is a terrorist. But that is a straw man. Absolutely no reasonable voice would ever make such a claim.

    Almost 10 years ago I began writing a book called The Strange Death of Europe. It was a response to the unprecedented migration wave of 2015, encouraged by then German chancellor Angela Merkel. I warned that if you import the worldā€™s people you also import the worldā€™s problems.

    I pointed out that far from what our politicians were implying we were not in fact ā€œnations of immigrantsā€. We were actually societies that had been strikingly culturally and ethnically homogenous for centuries, and that what was now being called ā€œnormalā€ was anything but that. And I also tried to warn that our societies were likely to fracture beyond recognition if we did not control immigration and take a tougher stance on deporting people who had no right to be here.

    The book was a number one bestseller for many weeks and in many countries. Mainstream politicians from around the world read it and praised it. But that proved little comfort because almost nobody acted on it. True, the Danish government realised that it had to restrict the flow of migrants into its country ā€“ in the realisation that while you may have open borders or a welfare state you cannot long have both. In recent times even Sweden has started to curtail its wildest migration excesses. But many countries after 2015 actually put their foot on the immigration acceleration pedal.

    None did so more than this one. When the Office for National Statistics released its annual migration figures last month they confirmed that 1.1 million foreign nationals were added to the population of this country every year since 2021. And while only 10 per cent of these were EU nationals, the largest number of arrivals last year came from India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Zimbabwe.

    Anyone who thinks that the majority of these people are going to contribute more in taxes than they take out in public services (like the NHS) is a fool. Most will be a financial drain on the system, exacerbating the housing supply shortage ā€“ including the public housing shortage ā€“ and will only detract from this country economically.

    But these are simply the unsustainable economics of our situation. At least as bad is the ripping apart of any idea of nationhood or national coherence.

    Nobody would have any problem identifying this if the movement went the other way around. If 100,000 white British people moved to Pakistan every year, adding to an already extensive community of white British people in Pakistan these people would be accused of ā€œcolonisationā€ and more.

    But when people from countries like Pakistan move in such large numbers to the UK we are told it is ā€œdiversityā€. Quite why we need so much more diversity, or whether many towns and boroughs in Britain can any longer seriously be called ā€œdiverseā€ (rather than simply homogenous, but representing a different type of homogeneity) is something no one can explain.

    As everybody by now knows ā€“ and many expressed at the last election ā€“ all this constitutes one of the greatest betrayals in our nationā€™s history.

    It was the government of Tony Blair that from 1997 decided as a matter of policy to ramp up immigration into this country. But it was the consequences of this that caused the British public to vote for a set of Tory governments that promised to bring the levels of net migration into the UK down from the hundreds of thousands to pre-Blair levels of no more than tens of thousands a year. In 2016 one of the major reasons that the British public voted to leave the European Union was again to bring down those levels of net migration. We were promised that we would ā€œtake back controlā€ of our borders.

    Instead, under Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak (we cannot count Liz Truss as having long enough to do anything) consecutive prime ministers betrayed that vote. Not only did they fail to take control of our borders, they actually let immigration rip. And not just in allowing record numbers of people into the country ā€“ including on bogus ā€œstudent visasā€ which remained a loophole ā€“ but in every way.

    Having been promised an immigration system that would be ā€œpoints basedā€, with only people able to bring a net benefit to the UK being allowed to settle here, they actually encouraged low-paid workers, students and dependents.

    When you look at EU versus non-EU immigration, the figures have almost completely inverted since Brexit. Today the number of EU arrivals has reduced to pre-2016 non-EU arrivals, while the number of arrivals from outside the EU is now at around the same percentage (80 per cent) of all EU arrivals before Brexit.

    Terrorist outrages, criminal gangs, knife crime and much more are the mere tip of the problem. And even that is something much of the media and political class will not mention. The bigger problem is that if you keep immigration at such levels, fail to even deter illegal boat arrivals and stop considering the remigration of people who should not be here, it is not just that you betray your voters. You donā€™t really have a country any more.

    Like many others before and since me, I warned about this. But there is no Christmas joy in the fact that all of us who did so were ignored by the people who needed to listen the most.

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

    Cutton Paste
    1 hr ago
    Since 9/11 – 46,472 deadly attacks have been carried out in the name of Islam ( http://www.therelionofpeace.com ) . Why are we still letting muslims in??? Many of them don't assimilate, many of them hate us, they hate our values. Where is the benefit to the people that have lived here for centuries for letting these people in? It's certainly not financial as the OBR has just confirmed.

    Alan Roberts
    1 hr ago
    Douglas, if your article had been left as a comment on this forum (in a more condensed form obviously), it would have been quickly deleted by one of the moderators. Many of us have been sounding such warnings but our freedom of speech is quashed on here by the DT moderators and elsewhere because the accusation of racism is now so readily employed – as will Islamophobia when this awful Labour government allows it to be defined into law.
    I agree with every word you say but with a feeling that what you say is still falling upon the deaf ears of those who can do something about it. The British people have, as you say, been betrayed time and time again. God help us all because the future looks bleak in the form of a divided, segregated, misogynistic, homophobic and intolerant society.

    1. I donā€™t know. These bigoted fascist extremists who object to being brutally murdered in their own country by immigrants, legal or otherwise.

  95. That's me for today. Very chilly out – so stayed in! Baked a loaf this morning.

    Have a jolly evening – preparing for the "mild" Christmas Eve.

    A demain – if I am spared.

  96. On 9th December BBC News reported that:
    "Google has unveiled a new chip which it claims takes five minutes to solve a problem that would currently take the world's fastest super computers ten septillion ā€“ or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years ā€“ to complete.
    The chip is the latest development in a field known as quantum computing – which is attempting to use the principles of particle physics to create a new type of mind-bogglingly powerful computer.
    Google says its new quantum chip, dubbed "Willow", incorporates key "breakthroughs" and "paves the way to a useful, large-scale quantum computer."

    All was going well until a technician keyed in 'What do women want?' whereupon the chip got up and walked away.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c791ng0zvl3o

          1. I married a lass that straightforward some 42 years ago. Rapidly was elevated to SWMBO…

    2. The chip, after some time, found HAL and they agreed that Dave could provide women with an organism.

    3. The chip, after some time, found HAL and they agreed that Dave could provide women with an organism.

  97. How about this for an obituary ?

    Tributes paid to Crocodile Dundee star with ā€˜challenging personalityā€™
    Burt the ā€˜one of a kindā€™ saltwater crocodile dies aged 90

    Australians have paid tribute to a ā€œfierce ambassador with a challenging personalityā€, after the crocodile that starred in the blockbuster classic Crocodile Dundee died aged 90.

    Burt, a ā€œone of a kindā€ five-metre-long saltwater crocodile, passed away in Darwin over the weekend. The grumpy, 700kg reptile was best known for its brief but iconic role in the 1980s film, before later launching a new career as a psychic.

    Crocosauraus Cove, the crocodile farm where Burt spent the final 20 years of its life, said its life story was one of ā€œstrength [and] resilienceā€.

    The herpetarium posted on Instagram: ā€œIn 2008, Burt made his way to Crocosaurus Cove, where he became a fierce and fascinating ambassador for crocodile education.

    ā€œKnown for his independent nature, Burt was a confirmed bachelor ā€“ an attitude he made clear during his earlier years at a crocodile farm.

    ā€œHis fiery temperament earned him the respect of his caretakers and visitors alike, as he embodied the raw and untamed spirit of the saltwater crocodile.ā€

    Burt, the crocodile from Crocodile Dundee
    Burt spent the final 20 years of his life at Crocosauraus Cove
    Released in 1986, Crocodile Dundee remains Australiaā€™s highest-grossing film of all time. It tells the story of a journalist from New York, played by Linda Kozlowski, who travelled to outback Australia on the hunt for an eccentric crocodile hunter Mick Dundee, played by Paul Hogan.

    In a central scene, Dundee rescues the journalist from the clutches of the massive crocodile, which has gripped her water bottle and threatens to reel her into its jaws. The comedy later follows the pair as they travel to New York.

    Penny Priest, the chief executive of Crocosaurus Cove, told ABC that Burt was scouted a few years after it was captured from the wild, but always had Hollywood in its blood, as it was named after the American actor Burt Reynolds.

    She added that after finding fame on-screen Burt launched a new career as a psychic, predicting the results of World Cup football matches and Australian elections ā€“ though his success rate fell short of 100 per cent.

    There are roughly 200,000 saltwater crocodiles in Australia, and the average life expectancy is 70 years.

    Dee Meanor
    51 min ago
    Stupid headline. How many others thought it was Hogan that had diedā€¦

    Reply by Kat Nem.

    KN

    Kat Nem
    40 min ago
    It's all the time now. Headlines which bare no resemblance to the story In the article. I really hoped, in vain, that DT will not become a cheap sensationalist paper. BUT ……

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/23/tributes-fierce-ambassador-crocodile-dundee-star-dies/

  99. PS – for those who are interested, tonight on BBC2 at 10 pm Mackenzie Crook talks about "The Detectorists".

    I mention this because, in character, Mr Crook was the spitting image of my late, much lamented younger son James – even down to the straggly beard, the shabby clothes and the lugubrious voice.

    The first episode was ten years ago. Jim still had two years to live – I persuaded him to watch it and he, eventually, conceded that there was a likeness!!

    Enjoy.

    1. Great programme that, I used to get ribbed about looking and sounding like Dave from the Royle Family.

  100. Just spent about 2 hours putting together a little tikes dinosaur car for my grandson.
    Note to self, let his dad do the assembly work next year.
    I've put the leftover bits in a box for him

  101. Couple in their 80s killed by car while leaving village church Christmas carol service
    The regular worshippers at a tiny woodland church in High Kelling were ā€˜loved and respected for their kindnessā€™

    A couple in their 80s died when they were hit by a car as they left a Christmas carol service at a village church.

    The man and a woman, who have not yet been named, were struck by a Mini as they were walking across the road to get back to their parked car.

    The tragedy happened after the couple had gone to the carol service in All Saints Church, High Kelling near Holt, Norfolk.

    The couple were said to be regular and popular worshippers at the tiny woodland church, where the woman helped with the catering and social events.

    Police and paramedics as well as firefighters were called to the scene at around 4.20pm on Sunday and closed the A148 road.

    The accident happened on a stretch of the road which has a 30mph limit, and is near the junction of Avenue Road, opposite the church. An air ambulance was also scrambled and landed nearby while the couple were given first aid, but they were pronounced dead at the scene.

    The driver of the white BMW Mini One, a man aged in his 50s, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving.

    Norfolk Constabulary said he was taken to the Police Investigation Centre at Wymondham for questioning.

    The Rev Canon Howard Stoker, the rector of Holt with High Kelling, said: ā€œUnderstandably, members of our congregations are reeling in shock and filled with sorrow following the tragic death of two much loved members of our church family.

    ā€œThey were loved and respected for their kindness, generosity and friendship by all who knew them and they will be dearly missed.

    ā€œMy thoughts and prayers at this difficult time are with their family and all who are affected by this double tragedy.

    ā€œComing to terms with such a loss and the manner of their death is incredibly difficult, but coming so close to Christmas makes it even harder.

    ā€˜Everyone is devastatedā€™
    Tim Bennett, a church warden for the parish of Holt, which includes All Saints Church, said: ā€œIt has been absolutely terrible. Everyone is devastated. They were regulars at the church, and were very helpful and popular.

    ā€œThe woman helped with catering and social events. We were there at the scene.ā€

    All Saints Church was built in 1924 as a chapel to serve two nearby tuberculosis sanatoriums for women and children.

    The chapel was bought by the local community of High Kelling for Ā£500 after the sanatoriums closed in 1955. It acted independently, for several years with clergy from Holt taking services, despite it not being officially licensed.

    But it was formerly recognised as a Church of England church in 1978, and formerly linked with St Andrewā€™s church, Holt, in 1994.

    The church which this year celebrated its centenary as a place of worship is known as the smallest in the Diocese of Norwich.

    The road was closed for around eight hours after the incident.

    Norfolk Constabulary are appealing for information from anyone who witnessed the collision or the manner of driving of the Mini prior to it happening. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/23/couple-80s-killed-by-car-while-leaving-village-church/

    1. I'm not surprised; when I was driving home along an unlit stretch (60mph speed limit) I saw three people and a dog crossing the road diagonally. The dog was a blond lab and was the most conspicuous of the lot.

    1. Except that they werenā€™t tourists in Bethlehem in Judea and as useful as the ā€œFlight into Egyptā€ is for the woke mob, it didnā€™t happen. They escaped Herod by going back to Nazareth in Galilee. He had no jurisdiction there.

        2. I always thought the exercises called Pilates' originated with the chap called Pontius.

  105. The pensioner lady who took Yvette Cooper to task is going to be on GBN with Patrick Christys.

      1. So, that's 3,000,755 people who will be completely ignored by this Government.

        In fact, Starmer & co will be delighted to piss off so many ultra right-wing fascists.

  108. Voters will tell Musk where to put his $100 million
    If Nigel Farageā€™s party is in hock to a foreign billionaire, Reform will lose all credibility as the peopleā€™s champion
    Charles Moore : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/23/voters-will-tell-musk-where-to-put-his-100-million/

    BTL

    Ian Hislop stopped being an entertaining satirical journalist when he abandoned satire and became pro-establishment.

    You, Charles Moore, used to be an excellent journalist but, just like Hislop, you suddenly lost it and became dull, bigoted and conventional. What was the trigger moment which turned you from one to the other?

    2. Much as I would like to see Reform well funded, I can't help worrying about foreign billionaires getting involved.

      I hate Soros, Gates et al being there, why should I approve of Musk?

        1. Much as I appreciate what he is trying to achieve, I don’t like it in principle. The bigger the donation the more people seem to want in exchange.

  109. Off topic, but Christmasy.

    We attended a celebration lunch today with French and German friends of my wife and a few other husbands. There were 12 altogether.

    The hostess had a table that seated everyone comfortably.
    Absolutely superb.
    I suspect that even Phizzee and Grizzly would have loved it.

    Five hours solid eating and drinking, excellent food and drink, everyone supplied a course, (yep, 12 different dishes) and the hostess produced proper nibbles, salads and toasts, pĆ¢tĆ©s, sauces etc.

    The meal itself was a combination of prepared, cook Ć  la fondue, but in broths rather than oils/cheeses, and hotplate-cooking on the table, something I've never done before. Large prawns, coquilles St Jacques, beef, chicken, bacon slices, vegetables etc.

    The cheese platter was magnificent and one guest even produced an absolutely delicious, very soft, creamy cheese that I've not tried before. As a cheese addict that's not often done for me.

    Followed by four different deserts. Tea and coffees.

    I probably shouldn't eat again until 2025, but we've another couple of magnificent meals to attend before it's our turn on January 1st.

    We've hard acts to follow, but at least we know HG's deserts are good. She's been asked to translate them into French for today's attendees.

    One aspect that is delightful for us, given our relatively poor French, is the way they all bend over backwards to make us welcome, so that we can even join in the banter, with gentle teasing from both sides, they even laugh at our weak jokes. At the same time we can have serious discussions about artists, museums, galleries and general culture. Politics tends to be avoided, I get the feeling politicians of all persuasions are despised.

    It's a hard life living in France, I don't know how I cope.

    1. Sounds great. Takes some of the strain off the host/hostess with hotplate table cooking. Plus everyone gets involved.
      Good food and good friends can't be beaten. Politicians can be though.

      I have already received a return invite from one of my guests.

  111. There is asimilar petition to the Canadian government doing the rounds.
    A pathetic 50,000 have signed it so far.

    Mind you there a few hurdles to work around with the Canadian petition site, it is as if they didn't want your input.

    1. That's the spirit. The Warqueen has eaten half a chocolate log this eve. You know something else? She had cream with it.

      She looks very sexy, with choc mousse all around her chops, wearing her foot thick glasses and big button cardigan.

      1. Thankfully Bill Thomas has retired for the night, he would have palpitations at the thought of that vision.

        1. Nah, she's opened a box of Lindt white chocolate .

          It's rare she drops the endless guards and just blobs about as she wants, safe no one is going to criticise her (her mother is an absolute harpy for going on about her weight – which is perfect).

          So let her be. In a bit she'll open the laptop and buy some pointless nonsense we don't need or want because it's shiny. Was a pair of gold leaf heels last year.

          1. As luck would have it, I have struck a nice balance in my 2nd marriage, although I do regret the failure of the first. I have almost persuaded Mrs Pea that I am not one to buy things we don’t need but if her family need help, as they sometimes do, the money is there. Win win for me. Might you be up for a beer if I’m down south, after winter trips abroad we normally roam areas to catch up with old (or new) friends. It was delightful to put faces to some of the characters on here at Phizz’s party in the summer.

  114. All of the wrinkles in our condo organized a Christmas tea last week. I don't think that it http://compares.to your hard times.

    It always bothers me whe our lot call it a tea, I envision no longer steaming cups of typhoo but it wasn't the case, everyone arrived with bottles of wine.

    That's it for our band of dirty stopouts this year..

  115. It sounds lovely. I can't eat too much myself and I can't eat fish of any sort, but the idea of being in such company and good food appeals.

    For the life of me I try to find what used to be called Rambol. It's a soft walnut cheese. The Warqueen absolutely loves it and I've not been able to get any this year.

    1. Ah the Left. The caring, sharing, who claim to be morally superior but hide their faces when they go out to pick a fight.

      Cowards and thugs, bullies all.

  117. Paul – I'm glad you've found out where Tom is – I've been worried about him. I hope they will look after him over Christmas.

    1. #metoo.
      Be good to raise him on the phone. Sent sms and whatsapp messages, but no reply just now.

      1. Perhaps, as happens he's left his charger behind. I wonder if his daughter in Tasmainia knows where he is now.
        Sleep well Tom, we're all thinking of you.

        1. Good point. There was a shortage of chargers on my ward. Heart monitors aplenty but few phone chargers. I had mine and they were happy to let me use one of their sockets. The NHS free WiFi wasnā€™t great but the Premier Inn signal wonā€™t be that good for the next few days either.

          9. When I spent a week in Addenbrookes a few years ago I was given an old (very slow) charger from an adjacent ward for the duration for which I was very grateful and returned on my discharge from hospital.

    2. Hope so, too, Ndovu. If you've been in hospital at Christmas you'll know staff numbers often down. They'll have discharged the ones they're able to, so hopefully peaceful for him to r&r.

      1. The DGRI (to give it its full abbreviation) has separate rooms for all patients, so he shouldnā€™t be disturbed by other patients.

  118. On the bbc 'news earlier they featured a man who they say has run from Cape Town to London over a period of 15 months. Not in a straight line it seems, but via Kenya.
    Wadda loada bolero, surely schum sort of mishtake. It would amount to at least marathon every day. For that period of time.
    According to the bbc they are saying that this is how Europe had been originally populated.
    It's impossible to believe, as who knew 10 – 20 thousand years ago where Europe even was or existed. And many other reasons why it didn't happen.
    Are they all mad ? Or just working very hard at it.
    Good night all šŸ˜“

    1. The migration of peoples took hundreds of years as folk moved gradually. Then there was continental drift and over time the physiology and skin colour changed – over centuries way back at the dawn of man some 60-80,000 years ago – when blacks weren't because the weather was completely different and the Earth in a different place.

  120. Well I'm the last one here…… OH and younger son (who arrived home this evening) have now gone to bed. Time I was off too.

    1. There are always a few of us who look in late. Looking forward to get this time of the year out of the way and into spring.

      1. 399237+ up ticks,

        Morning A,
        Could possibly be so, could really be anywhere Christmas is recognised and celebrated, the message is still very clear.

  125. Accompanying Charles Moore's piece on Elon Musk and Reform (I agree they should accept any donation) was this:

    Poland's shameful banning of the Israeli PM

    The Polish government, led by the former president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he should not come to Poland. If he comes, it says, it will be compelled to arrest him because the International Criminal Court (ICC) has put out a warrant out for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    This is factually inaccurate. Several countries that recognise the ICC ā€“ France, for example ā€“ have nevertheless made it clear that they are under no such obligation.

    And why was Mr Netanyahu hoping to go to Poland next month? Because, on January 27, it will be the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most murderous of Hitler's concentration camps which ā€“ through no fault of the Poles ā€“ was built on Polish soil. The leader of the Jewish national home wishes to commemorate the suffering of the Jewish people but is banned. We in the West claim to weep for the Holocaust, but then acquiesce in this studied exercise in bogus legal and moral equivalence.

    There's something rotten about Tusk. If he admits immigrants, Poland will be the next country to turn sharply to the right. The establishment has already had a warning from its people in recent elections and last year's referendum.

    1. Tusk is a mere globalist puppet and EU apparatchik. I expect he is itching to take Polandā€™s EU quota of Islamist immigrants. I doubt the Poles will ever accept this. Tusk is a very small man with no charisma and no vitality.

  126. Well, I've been caught out tonight, doing lots of "Prep" for Christmas Day. So a belated "Good Night" chums. Sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

  127. 06:25

    Charles Handy has died, aged 92.

    Al-Beeb has been making stuff up, leading to the collapse of a trial.

    Starmfuehrer has gone on the holiday abroad that was ā€œruinedā€ by the ā€œfar right riotsā€ (sic) in the summer. Just where is the commitment to net zero, Keith?

    Thieves is going to come back for more next year. Who could have guessed?

    And the Leftards who want Shamima Begum back are frothing at the mouth at the thought of Assadā€™s wife coming home. They want her stripped of her citizenship. You literally couldnā€™t make their cognitive dissonance up.

    Off to work. See you on the other side.

    1. Goodbye Charles Handy.

      An exceptionally interesting person who wrote exceptional books.

      Who hasn't read his "Understanding Organisations" ?

  128. 06:25

    Charles Handy has died, aged 92.

    Al-Beeb has been making stuff up, leading to the collapse of a trial.

    Starmfuehrer has gone on the holiday abroad that was ā€œruinedā€ by the ā€œfar right riotsā€ (sic) in the summer. Just where is the commitment to net zero, Keith?

    Thieves is going to come back for more next year. Who could have guessed?

    And the Leftards who want Shamima Begum back are frothing at the mouth at the thought of Assadā€™s wife coming home. They want her stripped of her citizenship. You literally couldnā€™t make their cognitive dissonance up.

    Off to work. See you on the other side.

  129. 06:25

    Charles Handy has died, aged 92.

    Al-Beeb has been making stuff up, leading to the collapse of a trial.

    Starmfuehrer has gone on the holiday abroad that was ā€œruinedā€ by the ā€œfar right riotsā€ (sic) in the summer. Just where is the commitment to net zero, Keith?

    Thieves is going to come back for more next year. Who could have guessed?

    And the Leftards who want Shamima Begum back are frothing at the mouth at the thought of Assadā€™s wife coming home. They want her stripped of her citizenship. You literally couldnā€™t make their cognitive dissonance up.

    Off to work. See you on the other side.

  130. 06:25

    Charles Handy has died, aged 92.

    Al-Beeb has been making stuff up, leading to the collapse of a trial.

    Starmfuehrer has gone on the holiday abroad that was ā€œruinedā€ by the ā€œfar right riotsā€ (sic) in the summer. Just where is the commitment to net zero, Keith?

    Thieves is going to come back for more next year. Who could have guessed?

    And the Leftards who want Shamima Begum back are frothing at the mouth at the thought of Assadā€™s wife coming home. They want her stripped of her citizenship. You literally couldnā€™t make their cognitive dissonance up.

    Off to work. See you on the other side.

  133. Good afternoon, all. Been on the go since early on so not up to date: I hope Sir Jasper is on the mend. Thanks for posting etc. OB.

    Found these: courtesy of Wayne Dunlap's account, except the first – copied earlier and forgot where from.šŸ¤”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11fce61eb48ac560d795dd5b824cfe15c7f02ebfecd567539522106c9e48b33b.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d3bac45b2afc6fc308f1a81222a50056564fee0c4348140c3f61f5fce02c9b0.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d03815b20f3110ed1df8f52c71c1432df0b3a343e204b2c898c0135b5c18d198.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f66750c1ef77b3f1c14a78305dab19612c707a42a449a7ea9a9e318022d898c.png

    I know, I know, but it is Christmas!
    Cuisine? I have my doubts.šŸ¤®
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac2a953ce5f8dd8da27dc7a50645cc16170bbc6940f1dbd799115350418310ef.png

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