Monday 23 January: Germany’s shameful dithering over Ukraine shows that it is the weak link in Nato

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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669 thoughts on “Monday 23 January: Germany’s shameful dithering over Ukraine shows that it is the weak link in Nato”

  1. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s story:

    Scottish Diplomacy

    One thing about blokes from Scotland is that their hearts and humour are always in the right place!

    Jimmy MacDonald, a City Councillor from Glasgow, was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought about the allegations of torture of suspected terrorists. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

    His statement:
    ‘If hooking up one rag-head terrorist’s testicles to a car battery gets the truth out of the lying little camel shagger, to save just one Scottish soldier’s life, then I have only three things to say: Red is positive, Black is negative and make sure his nuts are wet’

        1. Prolly. Lots of assessments, anyhow. Headache gone, its suspected yesterdays forgetfulness was concussion.

          1. Morning Obs.
            Glad you’re feeling better, are they not sure of the cause of the collapse yet ?

          2. No. Hence CT at 03:00. Dr scratching head over it now, but based on nil by mouth, suspect they are considering cutting me up. Be lots left over for dog food…

    2. Thirded! Happy birthday to Rose and Kifaru. Have a lovely day (it’s frosty and a bit foggy again here in Surrey).

      2. Not bad, thanks. No solid sleep as woken hourly for blood pressure etc measurements, plus a trip for CT scan at 03:00. Believe they found a brain cell or 2 rattling around in there.

  5. Good Morning Folks,

    Another heavy frost out there that will last all day in the shade, I expect

  7. Germany’s shameful dithering over Ukraine shows that it is the weak link in Nato

    Maybe they just don’t want to bring about another needless European war through sheer stupidity

    1. Germany gets heat for “dithering”, but nothing aimed at the US for refusing tanks. Hell, they gave everything to the Taliban, why so picky now?

    2. When WW3 ends, who will inevitably get the blame for starting it, assuming there is anyone still alive to do so?

      Germany, and that’s why the Germans aren’t keen.

    1. Good morning, Minty. Enjoy your day. Mine will be fairly busy, so I shall sign off now and return later in the day.

  9. Germany’s shameful dithering over Ukraine shows that it is the weak link in Nato. 23 January 2023.

    SIR – Whatever Germany’s final decision on the Leopard 2 tanks, it has probably permanently damaged its reputation among Nato members and put the death nail into its defence industry. Who will buy its kit if permission is required to use it?

    The Germans’ prevarication is no doubt in part to do with the horrors of the Second World War, and the role that some of their forebears played in them. But by not providing tanks, they are simply helping another murderous dictator.

    Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

    It’s not shameful dithering, it’s the refusal to be dragooned into supporting a non-essential war that may well bring down the curtain on Germany itself! Bretton-Gordons motivations are clear (aside from his being an agent of the UK Government that is) with his spurious comment about permission. All weapons sold by states are subject to End User agreements in the contracts. These prevent them being sold on to third parties and specify that only the purchaser may use them. This is the reason the Poles have given for not passing them on to Ukraine, though the Germans have explicitly stated today, that they may do so if they wish. We shall see if they take up this offer! They are of course no more willing to start WWIII than Germany but if the present Russian offensive begins to gain significant ground they may well break ranks with the Americans and gift them to Ukraine.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2023/01/23/letters-germanys-shameful-dithering-ukraine-shows-weak-link/

        2. That’s not what I think of them Tom. They are out and out warmongers, clever, too. Getting the U.K., EU and others to do their dirty work for them.

      2. Morning Oberst. It’s really about politics not tanks. If it all goes tits up no one wants to be pointed out as the cause of it. Beside which of course no war can be waged in Central Europe without Gemany’s participation. The Americans must get them on side and a little arm twisting as well as blowing up the Baltic Pipeline is not going to stop them!

        1. The US have the added bonus of selling LNG to Germany (shipped across the Atlantic by tanker) at 40% more than the Russians were selling through their pipeline.

          The media scoffed at Trump pointing out that the Germans would become reliant on Russia for energy supplies. I don’t recall the media suggesting that the US replace Russia as the supplier, or that they would mark up the costs.

          German industry needs a safe and secure supply of energy to compete on the world stage (as a byproduct they may just keep the ECB afloat). Unfortunately, for the US, Russian energy supplies through Nordstream provide no profits to US business interests. Having to divert oil/gas through Ukrainian pipelines offers the US a cut of the transit fees, as the US has bought large tracts of Ukrainian land (600m hectares? – my memory of the total may be out by a Ferguson) through which the pipeline runs.

          I’m sure US businesses would prefer that Europe (not NATO, hence the piecemeal approach to military/financial support) and Russia knock seven bells out of each other before swooping in to claim the spoils.

    2. I think it’s time Hamish de Feckwit was told to wind his neck in – he’s spouted more than enough garbage over the years; I wonder who feeds him the scripts?

  11. Morning all. -5 and fog in leafy Richmond upon Thames so gave ditched the motorbike again for public transport. Tube cancellations but trains OKish.

    My rant for today is obvious. More than half of Britain’s households are reported to be receiving more from the state than they pay in taxes – 36 million people or 54.2%. It’s a tiny piece at the bottom of the front page (continued on page 8); not even headline news. How depressing is that?

    Quite why i flog myself with a 60 hour working week and 40/45% flat rate tax (no personal allowance for fat cats like me, no siree!) is still a mystery. Well. I have news for Sunak and Hunt. It won’t last forever. Mugs eventually wake up.

    1. You have my sympathies re the loss of personal allowance. I was caught in that trap from the moment Darling brought it in but mercifully I’m free of it now that I’m retired. I used to rage at the faux-conservatives for not abolishing it but now I see that it’s all part of their oppressive plan. My son-in-law is caught so it affects my daughter and more importantly my grand-daughter indirectly.

    2. Rather raises the question, More info – why do you? I think the upper and higher rates are simply egregious. Fiddling then downward, clearly trying to make them the defacto starting point is simple insult.

      1. Trying….have given 15 months notice of my intention to “retire” but would like to work part time for another 4 or so years while the kids finish Uni and we get all our retirement plans in place. I’d quite like to work part time in a more menial role at my current employer because i know the business inside out and it’s an interesting business. But my employer isn’t very good at part-time.

  12. Russia ordered white supremacists to letter bomb European politicians, US believes. 23 January 2023.

    Russia ordered white supremacists to post letter bombs to Nato targets in Europe last year, the US believes.

    US intelligence officials think that a group called the Russian Imperial Movement, which has military-style training centres in St Petersburg, wanted to scare Ukraine’s allies.

    “Russian officers who directed the campaign appeared intent on keeping European governments off guard and maybe testing out proxy groups in the event Moscow decides to escalate a conflict,” the New York Times quoted unnamed US intelligence sources as saying.

    Unnamed US intelligence sources! White supremacists! Not Antifa or Black Lives Matter then? Lol! Who thinks up this guff one wonders.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/22/russia-ordered-white-supremacists-letter-bomb-european-politicians/

  13. National Grid to pay households to use less electricity, as coal-fired power generators put on standby. 23 January 2023.

    Some households with smart meters could be eligible for discounts if they cut their use of electricity between 5 and 6pm today.

    The National Grid ESO (electricity system operator) is, for the first time, activating the “demand flexibility service (DFS)” – which allows it to access additional flexibility when national demand is at its highest during peak winter days.

    The scheme entitles households with up-to-date smart meters, who are signed up to the scheme via their supplier, to discounts if they cut their use of electricity by turning off energy intensive appliances during set times.

    If you use less electricity at any time you get a discount because you haven’t used it. There is about this the stink of deception. How do they know that people have reduced it in response to DFS and not simply gone out to the shops or gone to bed? Is it really voluntary or do they just turn it off and thank you? If someone knows how this works (assuming it to be genuine) I would be obliged for the information!

    https://news.sky.com/story/national-grid-to-pay-households-to-use-less-electricity-as-coal-fired-power-generators-put-on-standby-12793319

    1. There is a converse for this.

      I, well the house, has Solar Panels, which work fine,when the sun shines.

      If my “sunny usage” is taken to be the norm, then, when it is dull and dark, like Riski Sunhat, I will use more from the Grid and be doubly penalised.

      To add insult to injury, a lot of the time I am supplying power to the Grid, with no recompense

      1. The government has royally stuffed up that whole area. It should make solar panels tax deductible immediately. Then folk would install them en mass. Once that’s done there’s less demand on the grid generally.

        However, government provides a grant, and the feed in tariff, which isn’t exactly fair because that means folk who can’t afford the panels are paying for them, and then not getting the advantage of the return, either. It’s a typical public costs, private benefit.

    2. I think that is a call to switch on EVERY electrical device you can for 10 minutes from 5:30!

      1. Current UK population is estimated at over 80 million – and growing, especially among gimmigrants.

      1. Our supplier keeps trying to persuade us that we need a smart meter. But I’m a smart reader of the meters and send the readings in with monotonous regularity.
        What’s their problem?

    7. Furlough has got us used to the idea that some people can be paid for not working. So why not pay everyone for not using electricity – even if this is absurd.

  14. National Grid to pay households to use less electricity, as coal-fired power generators put on standby. 23 January 2023.

    Some households with smart meters could be eligible for discounts if they cut their use of electricity between 5 and 6pm today.

    The National Grid ESO (electricity system operator) is, for the first time, activating the “demand flexibility service (DFS)” – which allows it to access additional flexibility when national demand is at its highest during peak winter days.

    The scheme entitles households with up-to-date smart meters, who are signed up to the scheme via their supplier, to discounts if they cut their use of electricity by turning off energy intensive appliances during set times.

    If you use less electricity at any time you get a discount because you haven’t used it. There is about this the stink of deception. How do they know that people have reduced it in response to DFS and not simply gone out to the shops or gone to bed? Is it really voluntary or do they just turn it off and thank you? If someone knows how this works (assuming it to be genuine) I would be obliged for the information!

    https://news.sky.com/story/national-grid-to-pay-households-to-use-less-electricity-as-coal-fired-power-generators-put-on-standby-12793319

    1. They need to go and read about how the Rebecca rioters put an end to turnpike toll gates.

    3. I was just reading that article. Such indoctrination is totally sick and depraved. What on earth goes on in the minds of the vile creeps (I could/should use stronger language) that come up with these disgusting policies?
      88% of parents objected but, clearly, they are irrelevant.
      I doubt many teachers will be comfortable teaching this depraved filth.

    3. Banks don’t ensure we stay in debt. The government dos by making borrowing expensive against saving up. Borrowing restrictions are tight, but interest is low, so more people are borrowing money – heck, we borrowed about £1600 last month on the credit card.

      The problem is that the money has no value. It’s not backed by anything. Thus every time a bank creates faux money in a database, gives it to us what it’s really doing is devaluing the currency ever further while not really adding anything.

      1. Yep. Cold or wet, she doesn’t care. In about an hour I will be taking her for an hour’s walk. There is till enough lying water in the forest to require wellies.

      1. Evidenced too by his reluctance to get stuck in again. He’s only interested in money really.

    2. 370317+ up ticks,

      Morning NtN,

      In my book and on reflection “nige” has always been a covert coxswain for the tory (ino) party.

      1. I don’t think that the fact that Farage started out as a Conservative is the problem – the problem is that when the crunch came he abjectly surrendered to Boris Johnson by removing Brexit Party candidates from the fray and receiving absolutely no quid pro quo from Johnson for so doing.

        As I made clear at the time that I would have preferred the 2019 election to have produced 50 seats for the Brexit Party and the Conservatives incapable of forming a government without them. This of course was a naïf hope but once Farage had capitulated it was completely impossible.

        1. 370371+ up ticks,

          R,
          As I posted, on reflection, say going back to the Election result for South Thanet (Constituency,

          Craig Mackinlay. Conservative 18,838 38.1% ‑9.9%
          Nigel Farage. UK Independence Party 16,026 32.4%

          His old mate carried the day.
          A multitude of missing votes to my knowledge ,never found.

          He carries TO MUCH mishap baggage, then brexit party & hill climbing in a very
          pro johnson / tory (ino) party manner.

          Then swift name change and reform appears under tice, farage in the wings, hey- ho of we go again.

    3. I’m not quite sure Farage is all he’s cracked up to be.
      For a seeming opportunist, he slipped up dramatically.
      But he talks too much (commonsense) with no obvious action leading to any results.

      2. Those who follow my inane utterings on this forum will confirm that I have been arguing from before the 2019 general election that Brexit would be betrayed by Johnson who didn’t believe in it but thought it would win him votes. This betrayal was aided and abetted by Nigel Farage who weakly capitulated and withdrew his Brexit Party candidates from contesting seats held by Conservative remainer MPs. The consequence of this is that the Conservative Parliamentary Party is still stuffed with remainers and with the rest of both Houses of Parliament, the civil service and the MSM being vehemently pro EU I cannot see Brexit surviving.

    4. A comment:-

      Bob of Bonsall
      a few seconds ago
      On the morning the result was announced, my first thought was, “Now UKIP’s most important task begins, ensuring the result of the referendum is honoured.”
      Whilst for understandable reasons, Farage’s stepping down from the leadership dismayed me as there was no obvious successor to him for leadership.
      His subsequent stabbing of the membership of his party in the back over Gerard Batten was reprehensible.

  20. G’morning all,

    Lots of climate change at McPhee Towers again. Minus 6C when I was out at the bins. Not a breath of wind. Good job we’ve got all those windmills.

    Re today’s DT letters: Is there something about Leopard 2 tanks the Germans know but nobody else does? Could that be why Olaf doesn’t want them going into battle? Heinz Guderian must be spinning in his grave.

    1. The Russians will get all the secrets-if they don’t have them already.
      Why don’t the Merkins hand over a load of Abrams? Same reason.

  21. A word to the wise: don’t allow Nurse to spike the finger you use for typing on your phone when she comes for a blood test. You can’t type with a plaster.
    😠

  22. Morniing all,

    The LGBTQ movement became Putin”s s target as he started his plans to take over Ukraine.
    BBC R4 this morning revealed that laws in Russia are now banning the extremely popular LQTBQ displays in Russia exemplified by Miss Tizzy’s in St Petersburg:

    https://youtu.be/yiLKZq_7ft4

    A BBC comentator sees Putin’s latest legislation as depicting the West as an evil enemy in support of his military objectives.
    However this has prompted those Russians who wish to openly display their sexuality to seek urgent relocation in the West.

    1. Literally no one cared if someone was gay until the activist mob demanded special treatment.

        2. That’s the key word, Belle – labelling. The Left do so love to label. It makes people easier to manipulate if you stop thinking of them as individuals and just use a blanket term.

          (and I am very aware that I have done this myself!)

      4. It’s one of the oldest tactics. Provoke the public until they respond badly and then cry “Look! The bullies hit me!” It confers victim status on people who would otherwise go largely unnoticed.

    2. It’s an amazingly sad state of world affairs when powers that be, are having to make important decisions about absolute effing nut cases who don’t actually have any idea whether they are Arthur or Martha.
      They should be under lock and key.

  23. The fog has lifted , sun is shining through BUT it is even colder -7c

    The 20ft + trees in the long driveway leading up to the farm, next to our house are all frosted up , the naked silver frosted branches look magical ..

    A Narnia effect, I have not seen them like that for quite a few years .

  24. Morning all 😉 😊
    Blimey it’s cold out there.
    I don’t think the Germans will be easily persuaded by that old dick head Biden.
    IMHO Nato had caused this problem right from the start.
    We had a lovely lunch with my two sisters and BiLs yesterday. All as well as can be expected at our advanced age. Younger BiL lined up for a hip op soon. He puts it down to too much golf. Funny how exercise is encouraged by those who know best. But it’s not always such a good idea, as I and many others have also discovered.

  25. SIR – My father was once dining in the Netherlands. When he asked if he could have some cheese for pudding he was told quite emphatically that cheese was for breakfast.

    William Fleming
    Chichester, West Sussex

    On one of the rare trips my sister and I had when we visited London , was when we booked into a small hotel near Earls Court .

    We had no idea that it would be full of European and Aussie guests, because when we arrived for breakfast , there was a buffet .. trays of different cheeses, and a bowl full of hard boiled eggs , cold toast , and pots of coffee, no tea available , and some fruit.

    The smell of cheese first thing in the morning was very off putting .

      2. One of the advantages of getting older is that one’s feet stop smelling – indeed my feet do not have even a whiff of unpleasant cheesy odour.

        Apparently it is down to testosterone – when I was younger and offensively virile my pedal extremities (to borrow a term used by Fats Waller) could give a ripe Stinking Bishop cheese a good run for its money.

    2. For Exercise Lionheart 1984, we loaded our regiment’s vehicles onto a ship called Dana Anglia at North Shields for a 23 hour crossing to Zeebrugge. After a quick dinner, we hit the bar as one does. Breakfast the next day was as you describe – cold meats, cheese and coffee (No tea!) Cue about 1500 seriously brassed off hungover squaddies growling menacingly.

      On the return trip, it seems they got the message and breakfast was our usual bacon eggs and lots of tea and toast.

  26. I see the Telegraph’s favourite sabre-rattling colonel has a letter published and he’s pioneering a new term- the “death nail”. Older readers remember the term of sounding or tolling the death knell but that’s old hat.

      1. You may be right- but the body is already dead when the last nail is driven into the coffin. Either way, if his understanding of conflict and communication, is as good as his written English, then I’m a bit scared, if he’s influencing events.

        1. Føler meg ganske pigg ut, N. Takk for at du spør.
          Nothing a full night sleep won’t cure. Just been allowed to break the pre-op fast, so believe Dr decided no knives – thank God. Needles are bad, but knives… 😵‍💫 They offered paracetamol against the “pain” of fasting, but I normally don’t eat brekker and often miss lunch, so fasting no problems.
          Hoping for discharge soon, then home to my sofa, family & cats!

          3. Yes. Now being wheeled to top floor for tests – in Geriatric ward! Not that old… Yet.

    2. I suggest it was transcribed incorrectly in the telegraph offices either by a typist or more likely voice recognition software and has nothing to do with a self promoting colonel.

  27. This is very interesting, and it may just be something GB News might report on. It seems that the ONS figures on the “benefits” of the jabberwocky are misrepresented and are therefore not what we have been told.
    “New UK government data shows the COVID vaccines kill more people than they save”

    More here to understand this new look at the figures:

    https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/uk-government-data-shows-nobody-should?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

          2. That’s what I meant, Jules, up until July 2022 ONS where spouting false figures – as propaganda for the vaccinators.

    2. Shocking figures. Goodness knows what the figures for ages under 10 are. I still can’t get my head around the fact that my son and DiL in Canada took their young children (age 4 and 5 at the time) for the jabs. Double jabbed and, fairly sure, the older one boosted.

      1. “It’s for the greater good.”
        When you have a medical procedure, it should be done for the benefit of the individual who has received “informed consent.” Nobody, should be brow-beaten to have an experimental intervention on the basis that some others- your granny or your neighbour etc will then be “protected”. You may recall that the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested you should “love your neighbour” by getting jabbed. The world is a dangerous place with this sort of dynamic being created and promoted and those that do this need to be shunned and isolated- not the other way around as was attempted by those in charge- along with their nodding donkeys.

        1. I have sent this to the Reform Party anyway:

          I am afraid that the Reform Party is in serious danger of alienating potential voters by following the PTB and MSM and slavishly taking their line on the dangers and consequences of the Covid vaccinations.

          Richard Tice should take the time and trouble to consider the following link. The last thing that the voters want to see in him is a closed mind.

          https://stevekirsch.substac…

          1. I have a feeling that one day, all these fractures in the dam will lead to a massive collapse of the structure itself. It will take time but much of this is now “common knowledge” especially, among normal skilled workers- less so with the bien pensant middle class people who rely on the BBC and the other members of the “Trusted News Initiative”. This is, apparently, billed as “beyond fake news” which I assume means ultra-fake news.

  28. Did anyone watch the new warship series on TV last night. It featured the aircraft carrier QE , Moh was frothing at the bit , and several characters on there were cringe factor no 10, and my goodness how our Royal Navy has changed .

    What has happened to the Royal Marine bandsmen who used to accompany Aircraft Carriers.

      1. I recently watched a YT documentary set on HMS Eagle on a world tour in the mid-sixties. Fascinating.

      1. Of course at the end of every firefighting water hose

        One RAF Sqn (617) , One USN Sqn

        When we were out in the States, on the old Ark, we were operating with USS America, who was getting ready to go to Viet Nam
        We flew some of her CAP (Airbourne protection) sorties and sent our maintainers to help with their Seakings and Tooms (Phantoms)

        1. One RAF squadron (617). How many jets? Probably only 8-10. On a ship capable of carrying, I think, 48 aircraft. Says it all. Hence the need to borrow a sqn from the USMC.

          1. In my day, normal squadron strength was 12 aircraft plus a trainer.

            In October 1962 we had the whole 13 lined up on the ORP (Operational Readiness Platform) fully armed, Missiles and Aden 30mm cannon, all ready to go instantly, telescramble with pilots and navigators aboard, should a threat appear.

          2. Javelins?

            Squadrons I served on had variously 12, 18 and 15 jets (Harriers/Tornadoes) but only about 60-70% would be available on a daily basis. I don’t think I ever saw the whole squadron strength available to fly even on TACEVAL without some being ‘war-goers’ i.e. less than fully serviceable/capable.

    2. The top one has been debunked as a fake.
      However, it is so close to what is happening in our cities that the actual status is uncertain.

    3. If muslims don’t like dogs, they should sod off to their own country. In fact, if they don’t like anything about this country, they are free to leave. A good starting point would be to scrap all welfare to 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation immigrant, forbid council housing and make them pay for medical care and school places. Stop fiddlinng about with emissions, Khan. Get charging the dross – or have them leave.

    4. “Please do not shit in supermarket aisles” would also be an apposite sign aimed at many of the niqab-clad.

        1. Going well, thanks.
          By the ending of fasting, I guess that Dr decided no knives needed (for what, I wonder), so am bored waiting for some kind of summary & conclusion.
          BYW, the coffee here is good! Strong, fresh, smooth and tasty! Big surprise for institution coffee.

          2. When you get home tell your other half that the Doctors suggested you stay in bed every morning until after you have had your Coffee, Toast and Marmite.

          4. You get a glass of wine in France with your lunch and evening meal, actually it comes in a small carafe.

    3. The very term is moronic. By default, to level up one side of three piles means taking from the other two. That’s just plain socialism.

      Whatever the director of the CBI says, we do have a socialist government if they think that taking from one earner and giving it to another provides value.

  33. “Motorway 60mph speed limits remain – despite no evidence that they work. National Highways has been told to come clean with air pollution data – or end the trials.”

    And the 50 mph section of the M4 around Newport.

    Unsubstantiated claptrap imposed by virtue signalling ignorant councillors. This statement tells all (my italics)l:

    “The lowering of the speed limit was introduced based on modelling that claimed it would significantly reduce the annual mean nitrous dioxide concentrations in the affected zones. It was suggested this would help the areas around the trials near Rotherham in South Yorkshire; Witton in Birmingham; Eccles in Greater Manchester and Oldbury in the West Midlands meet pollution limits one to two years earlier than expected. But The Telegraph understands the modelling did not take account of particle pollution produced by braking. The policy also penalises electric vehicles which produce no exhaust emissions and newer, less polluting cars. More than two years since the trials started no data has been published to support claims it improves air quality. But the restrictions have caused huge frustration for drivers who have endured years of roadworks as part of the Smart Motorway upgrade.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/22/motorway-60mph-speed-limits-remain-despite-no-evidence-work/

    2. Happy Birthday, Rose! Enjoy your day! 🎼🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵🎂🥂🎉🎉💐

    3. Grattis på födesedagen to a fellow “Winter 1951er”. Wishing you a lovely day, Ruth. If I had been in the UK I would have baked you a very special Bath Bun for your birthday. 😘👍🏻🥂🎂

    3. Jamaica’s first-ever bobsledders, pilot Dudley ‘Tal’ Stokes and brakeman Michael White, were cheered on by fans during the first run of the Olympic two-man bobsled event February 20, 1988 at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. Stokes and White placed 31st out of 41. “[The team] was coming into cold weather

  37. The Irish are waking up to what is being done to them.

    Back in the land of blarney, the Irish are forging a new reputation as anti-immigration dissidents. Protesters have taken to the streets to voice their opinion of the importation of tens of thousands of foreigners into their country of 5 million people. ….
    ….The reaction of the Irish media and public officials to these protests shows a trend becoming wearyingly familiar in the West. If you are against limitless immigration, even in economically stressed times, you are clearly a racist creature of the far right.

    Drew Harris is Commissioner of the Garda Síochána of the Republic of Ireland, which means “top cop” in Irish.

    But Commissioner Harris is not alone in his belief that there are right-wing conspirators lurking, as monsters and Communists used to do, under every bed. He’s just following the playbook being used by both the USA and the U.K. The enemies of democracy and order, and their new cousins diversity and equity, are not the psychotic arsonists of Antifa or Black Lives Matter, or Islamist jihadis, or MS-13, but the white supremacist. And he is not some three-toothed hillbilly deep in the woods with a thirty-aught-six and 2,000 cans of beans (but no can opener. Doh!). He could be your neighbor.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/get-your-irish-up/

    1. What will happen is the Iorish will issue these people with EU passports and they turn up here. Job Done, two way invasion.

      1. I suspect they won’t even bother to do that, merely march them across the border, using old IRA lines.

  38. Well that’s a start made on chop-sawing a great heap of sticks from the elms I’ve recently felled. Filling mushroom trays and getting them stacked for next winter.

    2. Yo Bob

      There was a mosproint in my posting to you yesterday. The name is Dobinson. The Daddy is called Tom (can’t remember the son’s name). He sends you his regards. He stands corrected and confirms that the Sappers do a stint of amusing the tourists outside Buck Ho every three years or so. He never did it because, at 6′ 10″, he would look rather silly standing in front of one of those grey sentry boxes.

      He was born and raised in India and went to St Paul’s School, Darjeeling.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e91df17c8b1169fff7a8e1a43eba857f90486f6f210888d802528f9d603f57c.jpg

      He must be about 78 now so was probably a 1st Lt or Capt Rupert when you joined up. He is still in awe of what the Indian Army does today in spanning gorges and mountain torrents with their Bailey bridges.

  39. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9d53a6a82aefb83feb2fe67c7c17b6187ceb172cf4f2cd3d30ebdcd3e160d090.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5072594d5b61eec2005deb93f3449aadac6d296199e229875d3c93501fcc93ce.png Oh yes, Kenneth. I can imagine you being a bundle of laughs among your contemporaries if you were a youth, in the 1960s, as I was. It was a de rigueur rite-of-passage to buy a new pair of Levis and then sit in a hot bath, wearing them, in order to achieve the necessary shrink-to-fit they were famous for. Having blue-dyed legs was a mark of ‘belonging’.

    1. There are a few things that shouldn’t be tried (incest, murder & so on), but where’s the harm in jeans and Ikea? At least then he could be supercilious based on experience, not snobbery.
      Morning, Grizz.

      1. The fact that he’s ( I take that’s him) shown and didn’t know he was wearing jeans, emphasises he would find his way around IKEA if he tried.

          1. Oh, by the way, Paul. I’ve now received notification of acceptance, from Migrationsverket, of my permanent residence status here in yer Sverige, and my official card (showing that) is in the post.👍🏻

          3. Speaking of permanency, I still have a valid visa for entry into the United States of America that was granted to me in 1980, It stipulates that the visa is valid ‘Indefinitely’ and for ‘Multiple’ visits.

          4. Permanent.
            Do you have to take up citizenship?

            We can get a “carte de sejour”, which is a ten year but renewable residence permit, but to get a permanent one I believe we have to take up citizenship.

          7. No. That’s why we took it – fewer visits to police for renewals. Just a new ID card every 5 years.

          10. Permanent, as Paul states (below) and no citizenship required under Article 15 (1) of the withdrawal agreement (Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community).

          11. How strange, perhaps ours is permanent after all and the carte itself is all that needs renewal, although equally likely the French don’t bother with the rules that don’t suit them.

          13. Thanks for that.

            When we were granted the card itself we collected it from the prefecture and there was no paperwork supplied to us, we just produced our passports and signed an acknowledgement that we had received it.

            I’ve just looked at the carte itself, which says the residence is permanent, but renewable in 10 years. Somewhat anomalous.
            I’m hoping that the permanent is the reality and it’s just a need for a new photocard after 10 years.

            It also mentions article 50 with no other comment and under “remarques” mentions article 18.1 being retired in the UK from all professional activities.
            Our situation was slightly odd in that my wife got her OAP 5 years before I did and thus was retired for the period we were building our 5 year residency, so I was resident off her and whilst retired was still of working age, which may have made a difference.

            Fingers crossed that it’s permanent, although I’m not sure we will stay here until we’re dead.

            It makes me wonder why so many of our friends over here are applying for citizenship if it’s not needed for residence; unless the French state pays additional benefits to citizens, which is perfectly possible.

          14. Talk about a coincidence. Just after I posted that letter, my card arrived in the post. I had actually been in contact over the telephone, this morning, with the migration agency asking when my card might arrive. They confirmed that my residential status is permanent (it also shows this fact on the card) but I shall have to apply for a new card in five years time in the same manner as you renew your driving licence. On both cards an up-to-date photograph is required. My current Swedish körkort expires in March so I shall have to send in a photograph for the renewal of that soon.

          15. Our conversation set me looking at the various cards I get issued.
            The heath card appears to have no expiry date. It is the only card that has an English bit:
            “This card is not a paycard”.
            Even with the card I still have to pay upfront when seeing a doctor and then get reimbursed because I have the card. It stops people just arriving and expecting/getting free treatment and even so the French system then recharges the UK for my healthcare.
            The driving licence expires in 2030, where I would have expected it to expire in 2026 when I’m 75.
            Neither appears to need a new photograph until expiry.

          16. Health cards are not issued in Sweden. When I attend a GP, specialist or hospital for treatment I am asked for my personnummer (equivalent of Nat .Ins. No.) and I pay SEK200 (roughly £15·00) for each visit.
            After I have paid a total of SEK1,100 (around £87·00) in any 12-month period, every consultation thereafter is free of charge for the remainder of that 12-month period.

            I don’t know how the system works for non-nationals who do not have a personnummer.

          18. The card goes into a reader, rather like a shop checkout and as far as I can tell appears to link all my records to the doctor’s computer, as well as showing I’m qualified. I pay 25 euros per consultation, the majority of which is eventually refunded to my bank account.
            French people also tend to have a “mutuelle” which provides top up insurance and extra benefits, such as a private room, better hearing aids and other potential costs not covered by the health care system depending on what one chooses to cover. If the doctor’s fee is more than the standard French one the cover refunds the difference.

            In our experience the health care here is outstanding.
            Yes, there can be long waits for certain specialised things, but nothing like the time in the UK.

          19. I’ve only been into IKEA twice and I just cut the corners. I can’t wait to get out I hate shopping.
            My motto is get what I need and leave.

          1. I’m with you on that one all the way. Awful places. Hope you are soon ‘sorted’ and back to normal.👍🏻

    2. Jeans, being washable, are more practical than trousers, most pairs of which can only be dry-cleaned. Also, jeans don’t need ironing, unlike trousers.

      1. The only reason I stopped wearing them is due to the way they get saturated when worn in a downpour (especially in winter) and you end up feeling miserable with soggy and chapped legs.

    4. Feeling just as faded as my jeans
      [Kris Kristofferson]

      I’ll have on my sombrero
      And of course I’ll wear a pair o’
      Levis over my lead B.V.D.’s
      [Tom Lehrer – The Wild West]

      Forever in Blue Jeans, Venus in Blue Jeans – one could go on forever.

    5. The Billy bookcase is a marvel of design. Simple, efficient, designed to hold books. It’s not gaudy, with flashy curls at the top. It’s not too heavy so you can’t move it.

      My folks have an oak bookcases, far too dark from John Lewis. 5 fixed shelves, fancy crown moulding. Mother hates books so she’s dumps plants and plates on it and other nonsense. It cost £1400. It is a pointless ornament, not a piece of functional furniture.

          2. A fried egg is no good to me unless the white is brown and crispy .. and the yolk is soft and snotty.

  40. Oops, how dare he write this?

    Just like pandas, white people are fast becoming an endangered species out there in their traditional areas of natural habitat, and for the same basic reason, too—namely, a strange reluctance to keep producing enough new bear cubs. The main difference is that, in order to combat this sad population decline, the People’s Republic of China isn’t currently blindly importing millions upon millions of potentially hostile black and brown bears from abroad in order to usurp the panda’s traditional place in the domestic food chain, unlike the ruling politburos of the U.S. and Europe.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/save-the-pandas-kill-the-white-people/

    1. We’re told we have an employment problem and thus need immigrants. The state has imported half a million immigrants and none are working or have useful skills.

      Thus we do not need immigrants. We need less generous welfare to get people who can into work. We need to stop punishing the nuclear family and rewarding the dross.

      1. It won’t happen. The PTB, under instructions from WEF, are hell-bent on destroying this country.

        …and that is NOT a conspiracy theory.

  41. Has the cause of the tourist bus fire been found? Surely if it was an electric bus that should have been known and in that case was it the battery that started the fire?

  42. Morning, all. Frosty early but cloud appeared and the frost disappeared in an hour or so.

    Mass illegal invasion of the USA from Central America and states in northern South America is causing major problems in the USA but also on the long trek the invaders have to take. The tribal people along the route are having their living destroyed as the illegals are chopping down the coconut palms to harvest the nuts. In addition the detritus from the tens of thousands making the trek is horrendous. So much for the UN and NGOs caring about the environment.

    Rubbish washed down the rivers and then washed back by the tide and on to the shoreline. Human waste is also polluting the beaches.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/45bb741b4d871f6520dd80b753d307036fd9971ac83a52d57556452aa139c15e.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/314d7e661127fbd0539c271c6650a184452dcbbc5036c0b335b63b70400435d2.png

  43. I’m following the trial of the watchleader on KNM Helge Ingstad, that was run down late 2018 by Sola, an oil tanker.
    Seems that fuckwittery rules. It was dark, and a shipping lane. No room for manoevre. Starbd bridge watch was below eating his meal, but no relief. Radar off. The local control centre and the Sola called Ingstad many times to warn that they were on collision course, but Ingstad did nothing.
    Fortunately, although the frigate was lost, nobody died.
    https://youtu.be/sXUf6B2wLtw

  46. Mass flight cancellations at Heathrow as temperatures plunge to lowest in a decade. 23 January 2023.

    Dozens of flights have been cancelled at Heathrow Airport after temperatures plunged to the lowest in a decade.

    More than 50 departures and arrivals were axed at the London airport before midday on Monday, wreaking havoc for tens of thousands of passengers and commuters.

    Where’s Global Warming when you need it?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/23/heathrow-airport-mass-flight-cancellations-coldest-night-decade/

    1. Same old same old…..

      The hot spell in the summer was down to global warming; the coldest weather in a decade has absolutely nothing to do with global warming.

    2. In less than one month new records have been broken. Ist Jan was the hottest day of (🤗) the year and now we have the coldest spell for ten years.

    3. I once spent New Year in Cyprus and had to wait on the tarmac at Heathrow while the plane was defrosted. Arrived at Larnaca in 21°C.

  47. ‘Morning All

    Happy Birthday to D_R and Kifaru and all the best to Paul

    Today’s medley

    Been there Done that….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3c8a329eeb9dc87f9ce93c1ff12755b7332da9184fc9f8df8f183404401e92f0.png

    Oops

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0690b89f913f00dfd13381abcc390b20bac24d23b68ed032822c820daf83eb3.png

    Munchies!!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa8e220b0a9c56d3db14d8a8751f51c21c8f11871a67877a0e168a6843f4bffc.jpg

    Good Advice

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/751c09ef5247fbe7380b3548df66d9ef97eb7561f42c7ad7af675c5766ff0ef1.jpg

    Argghh

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6a2b0e88331bd91cffd9e886b89595bb5e55556c03c6c1862616368fd7cde29b.jpg

  48. I’ve just had a land line call on a local number i answered with Hello, a few seconds later the deeply pronounced Asian accent told me it was Wergin Media calling. I challenged him and asked him how he managed to call me on number with local dialing code ?
    He rang off.
    I saw a programme this morning about an elderly lady who was robbed of all her savings by scammers. It seemed the stress was too much for her and she died. Her daughter tried to stop her but she ignored her plea. It’s so sad that these vile bastards can get away with this.

    1. Advice posted here a week or so ago, for just that occasion: speak in a low voice & say “It’s done. But there’s blood everywhere!”, then hang up.
      Firstborn puts on a false Indian accent & shouts “Sanjeev is that you? Why you call me, can’t you dial properly?” And similar abuse.

    2. Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl
      Keep me cockatoo cool
      Ah, don’t go acting the fool, Curl
      Just keep me cockatoo cool.

  52. BBC News: “Coming up, war, rising energy prices and famine. But our main
    story tonight – A homosexual was shortchanged in Subway today.

    For more on this story, tune in after the news for an hour-long program
    in which we follow his journey in depth and investigate the effect this
    harrowing incident has had on his mental health, featuring exclusive
    interviews with several nobodies with pink hair”.

    3. I think the story is more likely to be about a trans woman. I don’t think the BBC cares much for gay men anymore.

      1. BBC News: Russia invades the Ukraine, leaving a trail of devastation,
        bloodshed and the Ukrainian people in a state of unimaginable fear and
        dread

        But, our top story tonight: A trans person has been reduced to tears
        because someone didn’t call them ‘they’.

  53. Majority of voters want Nadhim Zahawi to be sacked as Tory chairman
    New poll shows 59pc of people want Rishi Sunak to dismiss Zahawi from the Cabinet, and only 14pc want him to remain in post
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/23/nadhim-zahawi-tax-new-poll-majority-sack-tory-chairman/

    As has been the case with Prince Andrew the Court of Public opinion seems to have more influence than any other courts!

    Not that I am remotely concerned about Nadhim Zahawi – Anne Widdecombe was very lucid on GBNews last night. When asked what her opinion of this case was she asked how she could possibly know all the facts of the matter – it was for the courts to decide.

    BTL

    Why should what the majority of Tory voters want be relevant as far as Nadhim Zahawi’s position is concerned when the majority of Tory voters wanted – and voted for – a proper Brexit and did not want the EU holding sway in Northern Ireland and EU fishing boats ravaging British waters?

    1. Zahawi will be sacked because he embodies the essentially Conservative principle of ‘my money, my choice’. It sticks a poke in Sunak’s eye of hiking taxes. It nobbles Hunt just before he seeks to hike corporation taxes as it shows how easy it is to hide the money. It proves the failure of socialism.

      However above everything it shows how thoroughly disconnected they are from normal people working a shift in Tesco, struggling to get home on pot holed streets, in an old car they can’t afford to replace, to never be worried about the gas bill, to finding a decent school for their kids away from the welfare addicted wasters floating through the school system. When filling the car up is a days pay, not an expenses claim form.

  54. Quelle Surprise.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/23/afghan-asylum-seeker-murdered-aspiring-royal-marine/

    “Afghan asylum seeker murdered aspiring Royal Marine after posing as child to enter UK

    Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, stabbed Thomas Roberts twice in the chest after previously shooting dead two fellow migrants in Serbia

    Martin Evans, Crime Editor23 January 2023 • 12:55pm

    Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai

    Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai

    A 21-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, who has been found guilty of murdering an aspiring Royal Marine, had previously killed two people in Serbia before posing as a child to sneak into Britain, the Telegraph can reveal.

    Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai stabbed Thomas Roberts twice in the chest during a row over an e-scooter in Bournemouth, Dorset, in the early hours of March 12, 2022.

    Mr Roberts, 21, who dreamed of joining the Marines, had been acting as the “peacemaker” after Abdulrahimzai got into an argument with his friend James Medway.

    Abdulrahimzai was granted asylum in the UK in 2019 after claiming to be an unaccompanied 14-year-old fleeing the Taliban and was placed with a foster family and given a place at a secondary place.

    But it can now be revealed he lied about his age and was actually an adult who had shot dead two fellow migrants in Serbia on his way to the UK.

    He was convicted in his absence of the crimes, but was still able to come to the UK after travelling on a ferry from Cherbourg to Poole.

    The Home Office is now facing serious questions about why Abdulrahimzai was ever allowed into the UK and what checks were done into his age and background.

    Violent past

    The foster family who looked after him were unaware of his violent past as were the school where he was studying.

    Abdulrahimzai had admitted killing Mr Roberts, but denied murder, claiming he wrongly thought he was an agent of the Taliban trying to assassinate him.

    But the jury at Salisbury Crown Court – who were not aware of the Serbian killings – rejected his defence and found him guilty of murder.

    The court heard how on the night of the killing, Mr Medway and Mr Roberts had been looking to get a taxi home when Mr Medway suggested they take what appeared to be an unused E-scooter.

    The court heard they were immediately confronted by an “aggressive” Abdulrahimzai.

    Mr Medway said the young asylum seeker appeared agitated and told the pair to “get off the scooter, this was his scooter”.

    Mr Medway said Mr Roberts “felt threatened” after Abdulrahimzai squared up to him when he tried to defuse the situation.

    Knifed in the chest

    Mr Roberts slapped him across the face before Abdulrahimzai plunged a 10cm-long blade twice into his chest.

    The attacker, who had an Afghan flag tied around his neck, then fled the scene on foot.

    Nic Lobbenberg KC, prosecuting, described Abdulrahimzai as a man who “revels in violence”.

    Following his arrest for the killing of Mr Roberts, Abdulrahimzai told officers he believed he was 16 years old and had entered the UK aged 14 from Afghanistan leading him to be considered a juvenile.

    But subsequent tests carried out on his teeth ahead of the trial revealed that he was in fact 21.

    Nicola Marchant-Jones fostered Abdulrahimzai from early 2020 to mid-2021 before he moved out following a disagreement.

    In a statement read out to Salisbury Crown Court during the trial, she said his default setting had been to fight and he believed it was his right to carry a knife.

    ‘Very troubled individual’

    He was a “very troubled individual… I was always worried he would do something with a knife, particularly when reporting he was missing to police,” her statement said.

    “He’s seen things he should never have seen.”

    She said Abdulrahimzai regularly had “night terrors” about his past but would not often speak about his experiences before arriving in the UK.

    She described his behaviour towards the end of the time he was under her care as a bit “Jekyll and Hyde”.

    Describing how his mood could change, she said: “He would go from zero to 100 almost instantly.”

    He often got into trouble at school for fighting, she added.

    On a shopping trip to buy a new coat, she caught the defendant with a knife – which he had taken from her kitchen.

    She informed social services who arranged for a social worker to come around and talk to him about knives.

    Street fights

    Ms Marchant-Jones revealed he had also been engaging in street fights for money, earning up to £100 per bout.

    The jury was played a video of material posted on Snapchat by Abdulrahimzai of him beating up an older man.

    The court also heard about a visit to Alton Towers that the family went on In August 2021.

    Ms Marchant-Jones explained: “He struggled with the queuing and was constantly squaring up to people.”

    She said she told social services that he needed counselling but they said he did not meet the criteria because of his asylum-seeker status.

    The court heard that Abdulrahimzai’s uncle arranged for him to leave the country in 2015 and be smuggled away through Pakistan because his life was in danger.

    He then spent four years travelling through Europe including spells in Serbia, Norway and Italy before arriving in Britain in 2019.

    Abdulrahimzai claimed his parents had been executed by the Taliban for brewing alcohol and working with NATO.

    He said he had been tortured by the militants for weeks before his uncle helped him flee the country. He claimed he had been stabbed 28 times and left for dead at the side of the road.”

    1. Excuse the language, but why the FUCK isn’t testing to confirm, or otherwise, the stated age of ANY “under age” migrant, whether claiming to be a refugee or not, standard procedure?

      1. It makes no difference how old they a Bob, nobody in charge, not one person, has the slightest clue who they really are, or even where many of them have actually come from. Except from Calais.
        And now I read that dozens of young children have been stolen from the hotels where they are being accommodated.
        And seemingly vanished.

      2. Because Bob, the intent isn’t to check, it’s not to integrate them, they are economically worthless and the state knows this. It doesn’t care. The entire point of the invading horde is simple statist revenge.

    3. The Home Office is now facing serious questions about why Abdulrahimzai
      was ever allowed into the UK and what checks were done into his age and
      background.

      Are those serious questions: “Well done lads. Now, how do we bring in more scum to get our revenge for Brexit?”

      What checks? None. None whatsoever. The state doens’t bother enforcing the borders because it wants the vermin here. After all, once there here it’s someone else’s problem and the objective is achieved: chaos.

  55. That’s another load of sticks sawn & stacked. About 1/3 of the way through the stack to be done.
    Lovely up the “garden” today, bright sunshine, but still with a distinct nip in the air!

      1. Le Tiss is one of those few players whose skill fully met the demands of “The Beautiful Game”. Outrageous talent, I never tire of watching his best goals, and modest despite the accolades. Now a worker for others.

    2. The really sad thing is that they come here, commit violent crimes – usually drug related, prostitition and so on and we can’t even remove them.

      The nutcase activists, safely removed from their criminality don’t care and demand ever more such thugs be brought in.

      1. Why can’t we deport ALL illegal and criminal immigrants … along with ALL of the activists and sympathisers?

        1. Half deport them back to France

          ie take them by boat from Dover and ‘drop them off” roughly where the Rancid Nuckleheaded Lovers (of) Immigrants picked them up

        2. # bekind, Grizzly. These are vulnerable people, don’t you know?

          Edited to add: /sarc, in case it wasn’t obvious

      2. Why can’t we deport ALL illegal and criminal immigrants … along with ALL of the activists and sympathisers?

  58. I don’t understand it, they change the name of a road in Tottenham called Black Boy Lane
    Then rename it after a Black Man.

      1. And let’s get rid of all the civil servants in Whitehall claiming that they are racist for working where they do.

          1. The families of those who die?

            Yes, they bring it on themselves, but until the UN and EU and all the other do-gooder organisations get together to keep them in place and try to improve their own counties it’s only going to get worse.

  61. The National Grid is falling apart thanks to net-zero. 23 January 2023.

    So near, and yet so far. A couple of weeks ago, when the air was mild and the wind was blowing strongly, it became fashionable to thumb your nose at Vladimir Putin. We made it through the winter of 2022/23 without the blackouts he tried to inflict on us. Russia can keep its filthy gas and oil – we can do without it thanks to our cheap and plentiful renewables.

    Not so fast. Temperatures have plummeted again, Britain is becalmed by an anticyclone, and the National Grid is warning that supply is going to be tight this evening. Coal plants are being dusted down several months after they were supposed to have closed, and the National Grid is activating what it calls its Demand Flexibility Service. This means customers signed up to the scheme can earn up to £6 per kilowatt-hour saved if they agree to turn off their appliances between 5 and 6pm.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Paul Neczypir.

    Might as well switch on everything we can at 5 pm. If we crash the grid, and keep crashing it, perhaps eco-loons might eventually be shamed out of public life.

    I really can’t think of any other way of fighting these monstrous people

    Very gradually the Journalists at the Telegraph seem to be wakening from the Deep Sleep of the last fifteen years and realising that we are in the mire!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/23/national-grid-scheme-will-do-reward-heavy-energy-users/

    1. I have just come in after putting the car on charge, much like Paul Necypir I believe the way to kill Net Zero is to crash the system.

      I believe owning an electric car does not make me a green eco loon, rather I would like to see a sensible energy policy with security of supply at a reasonable price and whatever the energy sources used to pollute as little as possible.

      Not going to happen of course, not with all the political parties worshipping as one the God Net Zero.

      1. Before long, Sad Dick Kant (Typo) will make it illegal to recharge car batteries within the ULEZ.

      2. Before long, Sad Dick Kant (Typo) will make it illegal to recharge car batteries within the ULEZ.

      1. Ross Clark must have read your post Bob and gone off and written this stuff. You should do him for plagiarism!

  62. The National Grid is falling apart thanks to net-zero. 23 January 2023.

    So near, and yet so far. A couple of weeks ago, when the air was mild and the wind was blowing strongly, it became fashionable to thumb your nose at Vladimir Putin. We made it through the winter of 2022/23 without the blackouts he tried to inflict on us. Russia can keep its filthy gas and oil – we can do without it thanks to our cheap and plentiful renewables.

    Not so fast. Temperatures have plummeted again, Britain is becalmed by an anticyclone, and the National Grid is warning that supply is going to be tight this evening. Coal plants are being dusted down several months after they were supposed to have closed, and the National Grid is activating what it calls its Demand Flexibility Service. This means customers signed up to the scheme can earn up to £6 per kilowatt-hour saved if they agree to turn off their appliances between 5 and 6pm.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Paul Neczypir.

    Might as well switch on everything we can at 5 pm. If we crash the grid, and keep crashing it, perhaps eco-loons might eventually be shamed out of public life.

    I really can’t think of any other way of fighting these monstrous people

    Very gradually the Journalists at the Telegraph seem to be wakening from the Deep Sleep of the last fifteen years and realising that we are in the mire!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/23/national-grid-scheme-will-do-reward-heavy-energy-users/

  63. Another CT scan done, this time with contrast fluid. Like someone lit a candle & applied the flame to one’s a-hole. Weird!

        1. I hope you are out of there soon and back home. Hospitals are not good for the soul or spirit. Or the digestion;-)

          1. Indeed
            Foods not bad, but I draw the line at fishballs cooked in milk… like blancmange but fishy flavour. White & wobbly… Yukk.
            Tomato soup was good, tasty & thick.

          5. My younger son’s partner’s father has just died after a right cock up in the Essex hospital. he has been in for 5 days . If the poor chap had been 53 instead of 83 he would have survived ..

            We are all so upset , because it was unexpected .

          7. That’s so sad and unnecessary. The hospital my husband was in was dreadful. I cannot describe the relief I feel that he is home and out of that stalag.
            My condolences to you all.

          9. They had the nerve to call this morning and say they’d booked him for it on Thursday this week. Bloody cheek! He was there Friday and it didn’t happen and now they expect him to go at his expense. Plus, although his mobility is improving, even a cab is not an option.
            He told them no. He’s going to talk to his consultant at our local hospital before he agrees to anything.
            The behavior of the staff there has not impressed me at all.

          10. Hang in there – the both of you.

            Sounds more like a veterinary hospital.

            No, they are far superior.

            Just keep plaguing them for something that might pass for caring.

          11. Thanks Lottie

            The poor old chap had had problems with breathing 3 weeks ago, couldn’t get an appointment with GP, helplines on the phone were useless, no ambulances , nurses strikes .. and he was the bottom of the list .. when eventually a panic stricken elderly lady partner begged for help , he was taken into hospital , messed around with had a long long wait in A+E in all that cold weather , turns out he had pneumonia , and it got him 3 hours ago .. NOT Covid related . He was intubated /IV drips etc for 36 hours .. then yesterday all care taken away . ..

            The NHS are turning into criminals ..

        1. Left to go cold on the stove & reheated is excellent. Best at breakfast, wakens the tastebuds.

  64. A new Initialism for you Rancid Nuckleheaded Lovers (of) Immigrants

    They are responsible for lots of the problems in UK now

  65. Right, that’s me finished for the day! A large heap of sticks chopsawn and stacked in mushroom trays and stacked.
    I think I’ve done 3 dozen trays worth and carried them down to behind the house where they are now covered against the elements to dry out for next winter.

    I need a mug of tea!

      1. And that’s from just reading about Bob’s activities!
        How are you today, hope you are feeling better.

        Sorry just read further down, how long are they going to keep you?

          2. Nobody stops long enough to be interrogated.
            And every 20 seconds, someone shouts “Hoo!” loudly up the corridor… Bedlam.

  66. Right, that’s me finished for the day! A large heap of sticks chopsawn and stacked in mushroom trays and stacked.
    I think I’ve done 3 dozen trays worth and carried them down to behind the house where they are now covered against the elements to dry out for next winter.

    I need a mug of tea!

  67. Mire of corruption scandals force Volodymyr Zelensky to hint at reshuffle with mass firings. 23 January 2023

    Volodymyr Zelensky has hinted that he may fire several ministers following a flurry of corruption scandals, as anticipation grows of a major cabinet reshuffle.
    Mr Zelensky, who on Sunday fired a deputy minister accused of accepting a bribe, used his nightly address to promise “justice” at home, rather than talk about the war.

    “I want this to be a signal to anyone whose actions or behaviour violates the principle of justice,” he said of the dismissal of Vassily Lozinsky, the deputy minister of regional development, territories and infrastructure.

    A rare leak of reality. It’s not just corruption. I can’t prove it but I’m pretty sure that there is actually a low level civil war going on between the Ukies and the ethnic Russians. In many respects the place is like Vietnam just before the war got serious and where the Americans told everyone it was beacon of Freedom and Democracy and we should save it. In actuality it was a deeply corrupt polity even without the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. In my opinion Ukraine is like that. Zelensky should remember that the Americans conspired at the assassination of the President of South Vietnam when he was seen to be failing!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/23/mire-corruption-scandals-force-volodymyr-zelensky-hint-reshuffle/

    2. “I want this to be a signal to anyone whose actions or behaviour violates the principle of justice”

      He needs to signal his corrupt self.

      1. One gets fed up with the same old hypocrisy from these people. Always pretending to be fine, upstanding citizens.

    1. Shirley Williams told us we would only get better people in politics if their salaries were higher and their expense accounts were more lavish.

      We now pay them over £84,000 pa added to which they can charge many of the things to their expenses that the rest of us have to pay out of our taxed income and this is the sort of filth we attract.

  71. From the RT website.

    22 Jan, 2023 15:01
    World News
    The Davos establishment reveals whom it truly fears
    This year’s World Economic Forum featured calls to “master the future” and blamed right-wing populists for the rising distrust in global elites
    Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English.
    rachelmarsden.com

    The World Economic Forum at Davos used to be THE place to see and be seen, but the idea of the richest and most influential people in the world hobnobbing around a common agenda for the world has lost its luster as the policies peddled by its attendees spark increased skepticism among average citizens.

    Forum founder Klaus Schwab, the de facto frontman of the organization, has cranked out one distasteful hit after another in recent years. He has spoken of how the organization “penetrates the cabinets” of governments in its recruitment efforts. He coined the term “The Great Reset,” about which he published a book just a few months into the Covid-19 pandemic in July 2020, advocating that the pandemic be used as inspiration to “reimagine our world” at a time when much of the globe was locked down on orders of their governments – many members of which were Davos regulars. There was little appetite to turn lockdowns into a permanent lifestyle change, but here was Klaus promoting the benefits of burying the old life – all under the pretext of an event that the WEF had already wargamed in October 2019 in New York, just ahead of the crisis, in an exercise called “Event 201.” “The exercise will bring together business, government, security and public health leaders to address a hypothetical global pandemic scenario,” the WEF announced at the time. It’s all just a bit too creepy.

    It’s the constant effort of top-down global coordination around murky financial interests laundered through the Davos agenda that irks the common person. The fact that just a single leader of a G7 country attended this year’s event speaks volumes about how poorly it’s now viewed. The premier of the western Canadian province of Alberta, Danielle Smith, said of the WEF after her cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony last October: “I find it distasteful when billionaires brag about how much control they have over political leaders. That is offensive…the people who should be directing government are the people who vote for them. Quite frankly, until that organization stops bragging about how much control they have over political leaders, I have no interest in being involved with them.”

    Global political elite skipping Davos
    Those invited to preach at the altar during the high mass of globalism this year seemed to know exactly what kind of sermon the crowd wanted to hear. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was apparently the only G7 leader who thought it would be a good look to be seen hanging out with the unelected masters of the planet while Westerners – and Europeans in particular – grapple with the high cost of their governments’ policies in their daily lives. Scholz doubled down on the same green dreams that put Germany’s economy in peril with no viable backup plan once the European Union had effectively cut off Russian energy through sanctions.

    “Most importantly, our transformation toward a climate-neutral economy, the fundamental task of our century, is currently taking on an entirely new dynamic. Not in spite of but because of the Russian war, and the resulting pressure on us Europeans to change. Whether you are a business leader or a climate activist, a security policy specialist or an investor, it is now crystal clear to each and every one of us that the future belongs solely to renewables. For cost reasons, for environmental reasons, for security reasons, and because in the long run, renewables promise the best returns,” Scholz said in his address.

    Meanwhile, Germany is firing its coal power plants back up and reconsidering its nuclear power phase-out. How about worrying about how German industry is going to function in the next year when green initiatives, such as hydrogen imports from Portugal and Norway, aren’t set to even get off the ground until at least 2030? Scholz used his time at the podium at Davos to greenwash the economic uncertainties that Germany faces as a result of the EU’s energy sanctions on Russia. In other words, green hopes and dreams took center stage in this pitch to global investors, thus providing a convenient distraction from the more worrisome current realities.

    Greenwashing was joined at Davos by the pitching of anti-democratic initiatives via concern trolling. During a panel discussion dedicated to “disrupting distrust” – which really should have been called “How can we get people to better swallow our nonsense?” – Richard Edelman, the CEO of the eponymous global communications firm, blamed the derailments on right-wingers. “My hypothesis on that is that right-wing groups have done a really good job of disenfranchising NGOs. They’ve challenged the funding sources. They’ve associated you with Bill Gates and George Soros. They’ve said that you’re world people, as opposed to what you are, which is local,” Edelman lamented, ignoring the fact that they wouldn’t have needed to fly their private jets to a “local” event. What he’s really attacking are dissidents, many of whom just happen to be populists and right-leaning. And no doubt the fact that they’re digging into the special interests laundered through many NGOs makes the job of PR pros such as Edelman more challenging.

    World Economic Forum reacts to Musk ‘insult’
    “Edelman is a despicable human being – his job is literally being a professional liar!” Tweeted billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, whose controversial purchase of the social media platform and subsequent reversal of its heavy-handed censorship policies haven’t exactly endeared him to the Davos crowd. Mocking Schwab’s call to “master the future” in the opening keynote, Musk tweeted, “’Master the Future’ doesn’t sound ominous at all … How is WEF/Davos even a thing? Are they trying to be the boss of Earth!?” Musk then took a Twitter poll that found that 86% of 2.4 million respondents answered ‘no’ to the question of whether the WEF should “control the world.”

    A WEF spokesman said that Musk hasn’t been invited to the gathering since 2015. Musk confirmed his lack of interest in attending: “My reason for declining the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were engaged in diabolical scheming, but because it sounded boring af lol.”

    Boring, indeed – in the same way that a cult meeting where everyone nods their heads in agreement is a snooze fest. The last time things were even remotely interesting at Davos was when former US President Donald Trump showed up and rejected the Davos mantra of climate change doom. “The message represents a sharp departure from the official playbook at the World Economic Forum, where this year’s theme is ‘Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World’,” wrote CNN in January 2020.

    Who asked them, though? These elites represent no one’s interests but their own, which are economic and are for the benefit of their shareholders – hence the forum’s name. If the average citizen is now waking up to the fact that anything coming out of Davos should be scrutinized through that lens, then it can only be a good thing for freedom, democracy, and national sovereignty.

    2. This is why a world war is on the horizon. They need it to cover their tracks. ‘They’ are truly evil and must be got rid of.

    3. Scanning the German news, I noticed that mobile network providers will be fined if there isn’t enough coverage on train routes.
      Either the government cares whether people can get Facebook on the train, or else it’s another building block in the digital prison, as they want to be able to check people’s digital IDs and enable CBDC payments on all trains.

  72. We drove into the Poole connurbation to visit my dentist , a fine man educated in Britain, but originally from a wealthy area of old you know where , the cradle of ….

    Tears come into his eyes when he talks about Kabul .. and places in that region .

    I digress, because after my visit , we carried on further in the car , where we saw groups of hooded shivering men , we passed new Turish kebab outlets , lots of ethnic shops and head covered women , and we realised that the outskirts of Bournemouth have really changed in character since Covid hit the country for six.

    Now this , how on earth and why was he let into the UK, and how man more identical cases are there like this ?

    https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23269794.man-killed-bournemouth-dj-serbia-murder-conviction/

    1. And still there are people who say nobody should ever be executed. This creature should be hanged this evening.

      When he’s let out (probably in under 20 years) he’s unlikely to be deported and I would not be surprised if he kills again, in fact I would not be surprised if he kills someone when he’s in prison.

    2. What was he doing here when he had already been convicted of murder in Serbia? Why wasn’t he in jail?

          1. Imagine a full Wembley stadium TB, that’s how many this stupid government has allowed in already.
            No problem, just put the prices of everything the public need up. That will cover all the extra cost.

    3. What was he doing here when he had already been convicted of murder in Serbia? Why wasn’t he in jail?

    4. Deport them. Just get rid of the wretched waste. They’ve no right to be here, they were forced on us by pathetic government. Every single one must go, now.

    1. I got a 3 today too.

      Wordle 583 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Par Four for me.

        Wordle 583 4/6
        ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨
        🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
        🟨🟨🟨⬜🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. And me

          Wordle 583 4/6

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

    2. Hmm, it escaped me for a while.
      Wordle 583 5/6

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

    1. Why should it? Hydrogen is typically made by electrolysis or reforming petroleum, both requiring energy input, and that is less than the outputs due to losses in conversion.
      It is a means of storing and transporting energy, and that’s difficult too.
      Its not a source of energy, just a transfer of energy.

    2. Obtaining Platinum and Iridium shouldn’t be a problem: all they have to do is go and capture a large asteroid and bring it into Earth orbit and then mine it. What could possibly go wrong? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

  77. ‘Night All

    FFS will they never learn……….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c792ce17f38618c7e0a98c8bcc99e0f9b0752e1c9752d38b462e6233bd41aae2.png

    Bit Late……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fcd00d51887e62d9f5af1d6b2238e8cca3f44370b85e8e5d0f9337e0ae01dba.jpg

    How’s the grid going………

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e77ce66318bfe19dbcba8db65f958db56c29ec934da82a62b7f6a65e65914e0.jpg

    Ahem

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29e29b09b80f44333b4a5b8b2e9aba69607009de01985435153dce2a84d18629.jpg

    1. I hired through a telephone interview once. Never again, it was a disaster of the first water.

  79. Thought for the day:

    If every gimmegrant arrival was forced to work as hard as Bob of Bonsall on similar manual labouring tasks:

    1. Would they try to call it slavery?
    2. Would they leave the UK within a few weeks?
    3. Would they prefer to have stayed in France?

    answer:

    You’re wrong, the answer is all three!

      1. Yes I saw almost the same view over Amesbury, but a bit later and it immediately put me in mind of the moon-worshipping enrichment coming across the Channel.

          1. Poor taste joke…..
            What do Captain Kirk and loo paper have in common?
            They both circle Uranus looking for Klingons.

            Sorry folk. I’ll try and be good now…

          4. Nothing to do with Pinot?
            Are you schlure?

            Either way, gird up thy loins, muster thy cluster and stride forward with determination…

          5. We are the masters of our destiny
            The captains of our command.

            We can and will persevere.

          10. Bit of a rough start but doing better. Mobility slow but much improved…slowly is the answer. He is eating well and I made a chicken stir fry for dinner and he ate all of his. His leg still hurts but he’s doing OK.
            See below for further rantings;-)

          11. When I cracked my ankle three years ago it hurt like billy-o for nearly six weeks, and then it gradually stopped hurting over the last week. It was a six weeks’ job and I was not allowed to drive for another month. And that was for only a very minor crack, one was pushed to see it on x-ray, but it was certainly painful. Your beloved’s may take some time longer, it sounds like early days yet

      4. Sorry to disagree with William, but it is Jupiter. Venus is below the horizon from about 5.30. I use a site called UK sky map from Astronomy Now.

        1. You’re in Scotland. Everything looks squiffy from up there.

          (P.S. It looked like Jupiter to me…and I’m definitely squiffy.)

          2. It’s Venus. That photo was taken shortly after sunset, which was about 4.33. Jupiter isn’t visible in daylight hours.

        3. I was about to say that I was in ‘warp’ space, as I had forgotten the time difference between US and UK when I suggested it was Jupiter.

          1. Next time you go up the hill to see the stars, take Jack!
            Though to be fair I think you might be correct.

          2. I don’t need to go up the hill, to see the stars, just step outside on my deck. I could go out to the cliff-top, but I don’t do that in the dark!! Also, astronomy was one of my hobbies in my younger years, but mostly forgotten these days.

  83. Ha ha ha ha ha,
    Deep breath
    Ha ha ha ha ha ha

    Is a lack of WIND to blame for Britain’s energy shortage? How a ‘perfect storm’ of cold weather and low wind speeds is putting the UK at risk of BLACKOUTS

    Actually, no it isn’t, it’s a total lack of realistic thinking by half-wits who think “renewables” can solve our energy needs within the next ten years, let alone now.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11666311/Britains-energy-shortage-explained.html

    2. We on Nottl have been saying for years that in the winter, when the wind doesn’t blow but it’s cold, renewables are a busted flush. What’s needed is reliable coal or gas-fired power stations.

  84. 370317+ up ticks,

    Any views on who benefits with the May,by elections in the not to distant future and the tory (ino) party in a pitiful state fighting the
    United Kingdoms corner ?

    Has the light at tunnels end turn out to be the HS2 with tice in the driving seat putting the brakes firmly on the reform party allowing the tory (ino) party time to ketchup, ( blowing ones cover whilst running protection for the governing overseers)
    Yet another protection action was taken in 2019 with the forerunner to reform, the brexit party, causing name change to be necessary, that time under the farage leadership.

    The ukip party nec ( still in power) and good old “nige” killed of a
    successfully raising UKIP under the Batten / Braine leadership
    in doing so denied these Isle a true patriotic party so currently badly needed.

    The “nige” marched the candidates of brexit to the top of the hill then,wait for it, he marched them down again, only to stand them down in a pro johnson / tory (ino) party manner.

    Protect is the name of the political game today that is protecting
    the coalition party that in turn is running protection 24/7 for the eu, if the Dover politically overseen invasion is not making that clear to the shop floor punter then they are as thick as cow pats.

  85. Wendyball

    Frank Lampard has been fired.
    Almost inevitable, but I feel sorry for the man, he deserved better than Everton.
    OK it was partly his own fault, accepting a poisoned chalice is seldom a good idea.

  87. OK, I know that most Nottlers regard Chris Packham as a Neanderthal Nostrilopickithus, but have a look at Beeb4 at 8 your time UK.

    1. Weired is the understatement with Packham.
      Although I do know an ornithologist who had met him on a few occasions. He says he’s not quite the person we see on the screen.

      1. I’ve met him several times. He’s somwhat odd, and covers it up well on his programmes. He shows little empathy when you meet him in person, which is perhaps the result of his Aspergers.

        1. Joking aside.

          I suspect I might get on well with him, as far as I can tell we have similar problems, but I call them advantages.

          1. He did a series of talks a few years ago and the charity beneficiary was AfriCat. I helped on the stall at several of those. The final one was at the RGS in London and he left me in charge of his own stall of photos for sale – he hardly had a word to say. It’s as if he’s trained himself to communicate on a professional level, but not on a personal one.

      2. I am in a minority, I know.
        I think Packham, when he’s not being woke, is one of the best wildlife presenters on TV at the moment.
        If only he would keep away from politics

    2. 1963 Terrible weather, freezing blizzards.
      People dying of the cold.
      95 thousand miles of road snowbound.

    3. 1963 Terrible weather, freezing blizzards.
      People dying of the cold.
      95 thousand miles of road snowbound.

    4. I put ‘Nostrilopickithus’ into my spell checker and it corrected the word to Nooilpricktiteverthus…..

  88. I am so distraught- I forgot to turn off all electrical appliances and the radiators between 5-6. How will I ever live with the guilt?

          3. I have decided to be a Hell’s Granny. And why not? Anyone annoys me, I shall whack them!

          7. Bloody tough keeping up with your incarnations. If you had stayed as a penguin, you wouldn’t have felt the cold.

        2. You cooked a meal?

          Next you’ll be telling us there was meat included in it.

          Why are you determined to destroy the planet?

          PS I’m being ironic…

          1. Chicken Stir Fry with Oriental noodles. A little oyster sauce for my husband. And- pause for gasp of shock- I have steaks in the freezer.

    2. Well I was thinking of turning on everything electrical that we have. But we carried on as per normal.

    4. How many do you think obliged the power hungry gods and turned appliances off and froze in the dark?

      Just think of it as a taste of the future

      1. It’s not on a par with the cold in CT but it is bloody cold here right now on the south coast.

      2. I made a point of running the washer/dryer at 5 pm. Perhaps I should also have set the oven to “self cleaning”, but I did that this morning to thaw some overhead pipework. An oven set to 550 degrees certainly leaks heat to its surroundings…

      3. Not me; ignorance is bliss and as I don’t watch any propaganda TV I had no idea I was supposed to.

    5. Oh, just the time I returned home with grandaughter to turn everything on to feed with snacks and hot drinks before taking her on to her father (who was struggling to get a new boiler installed before the temperature dropped below zero again and everything froze). As far as I am concerned whoever is giving the directives are very welcome to turn off their electrical appliances as much as they wish, but I won’t be joining them.

    6. If your oversight brings down the scam, the whole nation will be in your debt.
      Console yourself with that!

    7. Yo, Big Sis. I thought I had signed up for that with Loop. Seemingly not. As it happens, I woke this morning to find I had no hot water in the Kitchen, nor any water in the bathroom. I don’t do ladders any more, nor do I own one, but I worked out that at least one pipe in the loft was frozen.

      So I opened the loft hatch a bit, cranked the CH up to 30 (not that it ever reached that). However, what did work was setting the oven to ‘self-cleaning’ mode. It heats to 550 degrees C, for 90 minutes, turns any deposits into ash, and it certainly warms the Kitchen. and eventually – the pipes above…

      By lunchtime, hot and cold water were restored,….

      1. Take care little Bro’. We all need to be safe and warm nowadays. Not easy when it barely gets much above freezing outside.

          2. It is. I have a funeral on Wednesday (the deceased was 102 and a bit, so it’s more a celebration of her long life). Lunch on Thursday with Sue MacF, Tier5Inmate and NoToNanny. In Sturgeon Country… And I hope to catch up with a few friends in The Great Border City… :-))

          4. Give my regards to everyone whilst you’re up in Sturgeon Country. And don’t drink too many toasts to Rabbie on Wednesday whilst eating your Haggies, Neeps and Tatties.

          5. Pass on my regards to the Nottl crew. Hope you have a great time celebrating a life well lived by the sound of it.

  90. I know it’s early but I was awake at 4 am. I did doze off for a couple of hours later. But I’m going to turn in.

    Although This programme on BBC 4 is good, it’s about the horrendous winter of 1963. Death toll caused directly by the freezing weather well over 100.

    Good night all 😴

    2. Yo, Eddy. My old man was indreckly wiped out by winter 1963. He was a back seat passenger en route to a work meeting. Long before the M6, passing through Shap village, in freezing fog, one truck was towing another across the road. The car driver didn’t see the obstruction until it was too late. The truck driver behind the car… ditto. Ironic; Dad was Safety Officer for Laing…

      3. That is tragic. When I was working in Whitehall on Richmond House in the eighties Taylor Woodrow Management Contractors’ Safety Officer was reported dead. He had used pliers to snip through a cable when mowing a damp lawn, to remove a faulty plug, but the cable was live.

      5. Oh dear how terrible.
        I was offered a start at JLs in 1962 but because it was winter, instead I decided to become a bench joiner for a company in Harrow. But I had to walk most of the way home in the snow. And past Laing at Page Street to my parents home in Mill Hill.
        I fact my father even worked for Laing for a couple of years organising travel for the executive management.
        Later in life I played golf with someone who knew him at the head office.

      6. 370317+ up ticks,

        Evening GG,

        Very sad, I was on a job in Kings Lynn
        east coast ,cold in summer.
        Go get a length of pipe from the rack and your hand froze to the pipe.

        Old anthrax ( had alopecia hair grew back different colour) fell through the dyke and his trousers froze to his legs,
        a drink was taken, work next day no problem.

  92. Maybe it’s because I was a Londoner that I now loathe London Town.
    Re the ULEZbians….On behalf of the Khan, TfL estimates that every day about 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans using London’s roads would be liable for the £12.50 fee. Thats a cool £2,525,000 per day or say £15 million per 6 day week or £780 million a year ….Nice!

    2. That £780million represents the closure of many small businesses. Which i think is really the point of all this. Clean air is a laudable aim but in the process many livelyhoods are going to be destroyed.

      You will own nothing.

        1. Good- long may it continue. You aren’t missing much- still bloody freezing here and the usual BS. Party for me too;-)

      1. Not my thing at all, but the bits I nibbled made for a nice doze on the ferry back to Buenos Aires. 🙂

    5. All on one plate? What happened to the tiered plates of afternoon tea (I’m a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to afternoon teas; I’ve enjoyed them at Chatsworth, Belvoir, Sandringham, Petwood Hall Hotel – the home of the Dambusters during the war – and, closer to home, Goldstone Hall)?

      1. One of the joys of being single. The couples got tiered plates.

        I am impressed by your extensive experience of afternoon tea! Does it mean you are an expert in preparing them? If so, I may have to visit… 🤣

      1. Me too, Phizzee. I was going to accompany A&D but I just couldn’t fit into the suitcase. Must lose a bit of weight ready for the next trip. Lol.

        1. Katy did say she was considering overwintering somewhere warm. I thought Bognor not Buenos Ares !

  97. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    Just completed the (free) laundry – a final snifter and I’m off to bed.

  98. Evening, all. It’s one thing being a bit challenged on the independent thinking front and quite another writing a letter to highlight it! “Shameful dithering?”

    1. A little bit late, Conners, but I’ve just got up after a good night’s sleep. When you wake up on Tuesday, I hope that you – and Oscar and Kadi too – have also had a good night and are ready for today.

      1. Thank you, Elsie. I had to be up and ready, all jobs finished, to meet the surveyor. Then the boys and I went to our favourite cafe for coffee and flapjacks.

  101. I know it is late and that most Nottlers have nodded off.

    I just feel compelled to ask the following question: what the fuck is our disgraced former Prime Minister, Bunter, doing entertaining, and being entertained by, the idiot clown Zelensky in Ukraine.

    Bunter has no standing having already been deposed as PM and is surely interfering with our foreign policy as should be directed by our Foreign Office. Has the UK completely lost its mind in allowing this buffoon to prance around, attending the Davos Jamboree presumably for Ugandan (on the UK Taxpayer) conversations with $3000 Turkish (more likely German) delights and then chuntering on to meet Zelensky and other war mongering Morons in Kiev.

    Our country and its foreign policy are now a sick joke. Is anyone with more than two brain cells in charge?

    For the uninformed, Ukraine has lost the US proxy war. Obama and puppet Resident Obama have orchestrated this debacle at the cost of huge numbers of a Ukrainian Army of sorts and a large number of Russian military.

    None of this was ever necessary. Russia simply wished to protect the areas and lives inhabiting those Eastern parts of the Ukraine. The same areas and regions had been mercilessly attacked by the Ukrainian government forces since 1914 when the elected government of Ukraine was replaced by the US puppet regime headed by the clown Zelensky.

    The last thing we should do is to send arms to Ukraine. Bunter has yet more to answer to, evil, vile lump of lard that he is.

    1. 2014.
      Morning, Corim.
      I agree, too much involvement by those removed from office & therefore no official authority.

    3. I had the same thought. Clearly he is up to something, probably involving oodles of our money.
      Very stinky indeed.

  102. Just noticed yesterday’s title. None of my German contacts want to go to war with Russia, or send tanks to Ukraine!
    They reckon Scholz knows this, so he is messing around pretending that he’s on their side, before obediently sending the tanks anyway.

    1. Sholz is showing unexpected and unwelcome steel against the enormous pressure being put on him by the Warmongers!

    2. More power to his elbow!
      If panzers are so crucial, why don’t the Merkins ship in some Abrams?
      I wonder…

  103. Just noticed yesterday’s title. None of my German contacts want to go to war with Russia, or send tanks to Ukraine!
    They reckon Scholz knows this, so he is messing around pretending that he’s on their side, before obediently sending the tanks anyway.

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