Monday 23 May: Civil servants must be made to earn the privilege of working from home

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

591 thoughts on “Monday 23 May: Civil servants must be made to earn the privilege of working from home”

    1. Truly it is a miracle how fast those clever scientists at Pfizer can develop new vaccines….

          1. Thanks, BoB, the Google page was mainly made up about some snooker player. Load of balls.

    3. Good morning Rix.
      Is that true about the monkeypox jabs? If so, it’s beyond sinister.

    1. I see @JoycesWake has had her account suspended and I can’t find Andrew Torba on Tw@ter.

    2. I don’t remember Jesus being all that understanding of w bankers trading in the synagogue.
      Please let him loose in our local Lloyds branch; particularly on the ‘greeters’ wafting around uttering platitudes.

    1. Why are things only “controversial” when they challenge the WEF agenda? Why isn’t it described as controversial to claim that people have to stop driving their cars because of computer models and theories that have been disproven by actual evidence?

      1. He was wrong about the elephants but he seems to have admitted that was a mistake.

  7. Do look back in anger. Spiked. 23 may 2022.

    From the calamity in Manchester to the Islamist murder of MP David Amess, from the 2017 slaughter in London Bridge to the Islamist killing of three gay men in a park in Reading in 2020, every i-word attack in the UK is followed by a brief period of mourning and then a far longer period of avoiding the issue. Fear of the public, fear of causing offence, and fear of their political ideologies being exposed as the facilitators of division and violence – this is what underpins the elites’ cynical shushing of frank debate about the problem of Islamist extremism. Enough is enough. Let us remember the people killed in Manchester, and let us also remember that the only way to tackle extremism is through naming the problem at hand and then confronting it intellectually, politically and forcefully. Do look back in anger.

    For the Political Elites (the parties are unanimous) to face the truth about Islam would require not only the abandonment of one of their most precious beliefs; Multiculturalism, but the repudiation of twenty years of Diversity Indoctrination and Mass Immigration. They simply cannot do it! It would be like Christians abandoning the Bible or the Jews denying the Torah! It would destroy their very raison d’être. We must wait for the entire system to collapse due to its own internal contradictions before any change is possible and that change will be, more likely than not, an Islamic Government!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/05/22/do-look-back-in-anger/

    1. Thanks for cheering me up this morning, Minty! Seriously, though, our trajectory as a nation is frightening. (And good morning, btw.)

    2. 352768+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,
      That far right racist fruitcake Gerrard Batten was warning of the dangers of Islam rhetorically & in book form but was taken down via the UKIP party pro tory (ino) nec / farage.

      I posted many a time saying a need for a multitude of Tommy Robinsons is close at hand.

      Party first, before Country is a nation killer the lab/lib/con coalition supporter / voters must be given credit for the demolition job done on the
      United Kingdom it could never have been achieved
      without their continuing input.

      The only one I see standing four square against the odious issue and fighting the teachers corner (whilst he is in hiding in his OWN country)
      is Anne Marie Waters.

    3. If you dare to put a link to the factual web site thereligionofpeace.com, the comment is automatically removed. Time, I think to cancel and get offered the £1 sub.

  8. Do look back in anger. Spiked. 23 may 2022.

    From the calamity in Manchester to the Islamist murder of MP David Amess, from the 2017 slaughter in London Bridge to the Islamist killing of three gay men in a park in Reading in 2020, every i-word attack in the UK is followed by a brief period of mourning and then a far longer period of avoiding the issue. Fear of the public, fear of causing offence, and fear of their political ideologies being exposed as the facilitators of division and violence – this is what underpins the elites’ cynical shushing of frank debate about the problem of Islamist extremism. Enough is enough. Let us remember the people killed in Manchester, and let us also remember that the only way to tackle extremism is through naming the problem at hand and then confronting it intellectually, politically and forcefully. Do look back in anger.

    For the Political Elites (the parties are unanimous) to face the truth about Islam would require not only the abandonment of one of their most precious beliefs; Multiculturalism, but the repudiation of twenty years of Diversity Indoctrination and Mass Immigration. They simply cannot do it! It would be like Christians abandoning the Bible or the Jews denying the Torah! It would destroy their very raison d’être. We must wait for the entire system to collapse due to its own internal contradictions before any change is possible and that change will be, more likely than not, an Islamic Government!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/05/22/do-look-back-in-anger/

  9. Good morning all.
    A brighter start, dry, scattered cloud and the outside temperature is 9½°C.

  10. ‘Morning, Peeps.  Overcast here and plenty of rain is forecast.  Today’s first letter:

    SIR – The eight organisations I’ve worked for in my career all offered a contract of employment, specifying the address at which I would be based.

    Either civil servants do not have similar contracts, or their managers have ignored the rules and let employees choose where they work from (Editorial Comment, May 21).

    Flexibility and a “work/life balance” are laudable goals, but they must be secondary to the efficient delivery of government services to the public.

    Would it not be reasonable to mandate that all civil servants will be based at the office defined in their employment contract unless a specific condition is consistently met?

    Employees could be allowed flexibility on where they work only when predefined performance benchmarks are met and customers are happy with the service they are getting.

    Garry Curran
    Crowthorne, Berkshire

    Quite right, Mr Curran.  It’s the speed and quality of service that counts.  If either of these are not being met then it should be back to the office until it is.  In my lifetime I cannot recall a time when snivel serpents were able to dictate, with impunity, where they will work and the bosses being so useless at bringing them to heel.  Not unexpectedly, ministers have shown themselves incapable of correcting this shambles.

  11. SIR – Some government departments, such as the Office of the Public Guardian, admit they are five months behind because staff have been working from home (Report, May 20). Yet others claim that homeworking has not affected employees’ work rates. Can someone explain this dichotomy?

    Bob Salmon
    Greetham, Rutland

    The proof of the pudding…  If heads of government departments are incapable of delivering the goods then it’s time for them to be replaced by someone who can.

    1. Morning, HJ. My cynical view on your final paragraph:

      If heads of government departments are capable of delivering the goods
      then it’s time for them to be replaced by someone who will not.

      From the state we in the UK find ourselves in, then it’s clear that something has been going wrong for quite some time. The politically motivated ‘scandemic’ has exposed so much that is wrong with those people in positions of authority. Incompetence, either wilful or endemic, moral weakness, laziness etc. abound for all to see.

  12. SIR – Two recent letters (May 20) made me reflect on my 40 years on the wards.

    The disequilibrium in the work/life balance is thought to be related to “burn out” in junior doctors and is used to explain the early departure of so many from the profession.

    Burn out, in my opinion, is more related to the lack of support and absence of collegiate working in modern medical and surgical practice.

    Doing phone appointments, paperwork and professional development at home has become increasingly common among consultants. Conducting virtual ward rounds will be the final nail in the coffin of the old hierarchy that has all but disappeared from hospitals.

    Junior doctors need support from both their peers and senior colleagues, which is best delivered not online but face-to-face in hospitals.

    Medics have always needed resilience and determination. They will need even more in the lonely, isolated virtual practice of the future.

    John Skipper FRCS
    London SW19

    SIR – While it is technically possible in some specialities for consultants to do parts of the job from home, if you can do it from your home, somebody else could do it from theirs – possibly in a different country and for less money.

    Be careful what you wish for.

    Hilary Aitken
    Retired consultant anaesthetist and former BMA representative
    Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire

    What they and the snivel serpents are lacking is leadership.  And this government even more so.

  13. SIR – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using Turkey’s power of veto to block the admission to Nato of both Sweden and Finland (report, May 18). Notwithstanding the provisions of the North Atlantic Treaty, this must be overruled.

    Turkey is, of course, not a Western nation: its culture, religion and politics are different and, although nominally a democracy, it is ruled like a dictatorship with the associated human rights abuses. It also has a history of extreme policies ranging from the genocide of Armenians in the Second World War to the invasion and illegal occupation of Cyprus in 1974.

    As a Nato member, it has provoked incidents in the Aegean Sea that have almost resulted in military action with Greece. More recently Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system was hardly the action of a trustworthy ally.

    Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the time is right for Finland and Sweden to join Nato. Perhaps it is also time for Turkey to leave it.

    Group Captain Michael Clegg RAF (retd)
    Market Drayton, Shropshire

    Your final paragraph is spot on, Gp Capt Clegg!

    1. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using Turkey’s power of veto to block the admission to Nato of both Sweden and Finland.

      This is simply a negotiating ploy to gain concessions of various kinds Capt. Clegg. It has no reality!

    2. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using Turkey’s power of veto to block the admission to Nato of both Sweden and Finland.

      This is simply a negotiating ploy to gain concessions of various kinds Capt. Clegg. It has no reality!

    2. It’s people buying pangolins as pets. The pangolins have had relations with the bats that had congress with the monkeys. It’s obvious.

    3. It’s still there, but the MSM is only interested in where it has suddenly appeared in places out of the ordinary (aka the civilised bits).

    5. Touring sleazy men-only bath houses and swabbing the ‘clients’? Seek and ye shall find.

  15. SIR – Nigel Price (Letters, May 20) laments: “There is no Thatcher-in-waiting that I can see, no truly Conservative heir to the throne.” He is overlooking David Frost.

    Some years ago, Lord Frost was tasked with the seemingly impossible: to negotiate the UK out of the EU in an orderly manner. He was opposed by two powerful armies – the Brussels-based bureaucracy, lusting for our huge contributions with precious little in return, and the British Civil Service, which still seeks our re-entry on any terms. He won.

    If Lady Thatcher – whom I knew fairly well – were still in Downing Street but nearing the end, I have no doubt that she would elevate him to the Cabinet, secure him a safe seat and groom him for successorship. That no such move exists is because he would reconstruct his Cabinet with fresh talents, and mediocrities are always terrified of such a person.

    Frederick Forsyth
    Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

    And with the present incumbent?  No chance at all.  An excellent BTL comment:

    Isabella Maeer 3 HRS AGO

    The letters today were all wonderful and cumulatively they give rise to the hope that the quiet undercurrent of the British nature is recognising that enough is enough. So eloquent in this portrayal of the Best of British, isn’t it time the British Bulldog that for so long reflected our backbone and resilience, was emblazoned again on the Front Pages.

    Yes, I mean David Frost.

    Be gone the mediocrities uncovered by Frederic Forsyth, begone the enemy within. Being British used to inspire to the highest of standards, shame on you.

    1. There is no doubt in my mind that Johnson and Gove arrived in Brussels with the express intention of undermining Frost who, if you remember, was all set to go for No Deal and WTO terms if the EU did not give way on UK fishing rights and the Northern Ireland Protocol. So, thanks to Johnson and Gove, the UK capitulated and we are in the mess we are now in.

      Johnson’s two priorities must be to keep David Frost out of the House of Commons and to continue to do all he can to thwart Brexit’s chance of succeeding.

      1. Johnson and Gove, “You will know them by their fruits”. A pair that exposed their globalist leanings when they undermined Frost and have since confirmed those leanings.

      2. 352768+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        UKIP under Gerrard Batten never capitulated, far from it, they were taken down via treachery.

  16. I have the utmost admiration for the wartime escapees, as I do also for the members of the Resistance who risked their lives sheltering them.

    Job Witton, private who made a habit of escaping from enemy captivity and was awarded a Military Medal – obituary

    He became lifelong friends with the husband and wife who were members of the Resistance and sheltered him and his comrade

    ByTelegraph Obituaries
    22 May 2022 • 11:47am

    Job Witton, who has died aged 103, escaped from captivity several times in the Second World War and was awarded a Military Medal.

    In May 1940, Witton was a private serving with the 5th Battalion The King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster). He was on the road from Lille to Armentières when he became detached from his company.

    On May 29, during the withdrawal to Dunkirk, together with about 60 comrades, he was fighting a rearguard action at Lille. His best friend, Leslie Window, was escorting French civilian casualties to hospital the day he was killed. Witton’s last words to him were, “Trust you to get the pretty ones.”

    Witton was taken prisoner. The German officer said, “You are going to Berlin. I’m going to London.” Eight days later, he slipped away from the column and hid in a wood. With the help of a friendly farmer he managed to swap his uniform for civilian clothes and made for the coast. After he stole a bicycle, progress was quicker.

    At Fécamp, near Le Havre, an excited French farmer told him that the war was over. But it was only over for the French. He crossed a bridge, having failed to understand a notice in German banning access to civilians, and was arrested and taken to the town hall. A German officer who had been a shipping agent in Liverpool before the war picked up on Witton’s Liverpudlian accent, assumed that he was an English sailor, and handed him over to the French chief of police.

    A week later, Witton was marched to the citadel at Doullens, near Amiens, a journey of about 100 miles. On the way, the French prisoners, who were outraged by the sinking of the French fleet at Mers-El-Kébir in Algeria, by the British in July, punched and kicked Witton at every opportunity.

    The walls of the citadel were 40 feet high and six feet thick. He joined an outside work party and managed to scrounge rope and pieces of string. Under cover of darkness, he lowered himself over the wall. The rope snapped when he was half way down but he was able to break the fall of three comrades who followed him. Two were from the Black Watch; the third, Sergeant Don Phillips, was a sergeant in the RAF.

    The two soldiers from the Black Watch went their own way while Witton and Phillips trekked south on stolen bicycles, often travelling a night, with Phillips navigating by the stars. Whenever they came across a German patrol they steeled themselves to greet them with a confident, “Heil Hitler!”

    In mid-July, they were concealed and fed by a couple, Albert and Yvonne Eveloy, who belonged to the Resistance and were to become lifelong friends. While Witton was having a strip wash at a standpipe, a German soldier arrived. Witton quickly covered up the red Rose of England tattooed on his forearm. The soldier noticed nothing and took him for a farm labourer.

    They skirted Paris to the south-east, dodging enemy patrols by keeping to fields or small roads and swimming across rivers to avoid bridges. On one occasion they were ferried across a river in the company of a German soldier who also helped them to load their bicycles on to the boat.

    In mid-August, they crossed the demarcation line into unoccupied France. They took a bus to Lyon but found the British Embassy closed. The Americans had not yet come into the war and at the US Embassy the pair were given money. They moved to a camp at Grenoble, but had to return to Lyon when they heard that the Germans were coming to take over the barracks. They were joined by another man on the run, a captain in the British Army.

    A member of the Resistance bought train tickets to Perpignan and they stayed the night at the foot of the mountains with an old lady whose son had been sent to a POW camp for being anti-German. In the morning, the three men set off to cross the Pyrenees into neutral Spain. It involved an arduous climb hampered by icy slopes, drifting snow and freezing fog.

    They kept some distance apart as a precaution against being ambushed but when they were close to the frontier, two armed French policeman jumped out from hiding and captured Witton and Phillips. The Army captain made a bolt for it; he was pursued by shots but got away. Witton offered the money they had been given by the officials at the American Embassy and the gendarmes let them go.

    Once across the frontier into Spain, they stopped at a farmhouse for a meal. Their hosts produced a bottle of wine and insisted that they stay and drink it.

    This was simply a ruse to delay them while the Spanish police were alerted. They were arrested and taken to the internment camp at Figueres, near Girona, then transferred to Miranda De Ebro, a notorious concentration camp south of Bilbao. Brutal treatment by the guards was rife and the sound of executions could be heard every morning. After three weeks, the British Embassy was able to obtain their release.

    They were taken to Gibraltar and, having embarked on November 19 1940, they arrived in Liverpool on December 4. Witton received his MM from King George VI at Buckingham Palace and the award was gazetted in March 1941.

    He was posted to Malaya, and was in Kuala Lumpur when he heard that he was due for demobilisation and was to be sent to Singapore. For a time, he was an officer’s batman and stayed in considerable comfort at Raffles Hotel. From May 1944 to December 1945 he served in the Public Relations Division at HQ South East Asia Command.

    Job Witton was born at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, on July 12 1918. He left William Stockton School aged 14 and in July 1939 he enlisted in the King’s Own Royal Regiment and posted to the 5th Battalion. The battalion, which recruited from North Lancashire, was mobilised in September 1939 as part of the 42nd East Lancashire Division of the TA. In April 1940 it joined the British Expeditionary Force in France.

    Witton left the Army in May 1946 in the rank of private and worked in the Bowater Docks at Ellesmere Port before retiring in 1983. He settled there and enjoyed gardening, walking and a pint of beer.

    Job Witton married, in 1947, Catherine Tully, who predeceased him. There were no children.

    Job Witton, born July 12 1918, died March 14 2022

    * * *

    A fitting BTL comment:

    Marianne Lindsey5 HRS AGO

    A very brave man, of a generation I admire and envy for their courage and patriotism.

  17. Morning all! Back from the Better Way conference in Bath – so heartening to be surrounded by those who think the same way (but argue happily and politely about differences of opinion). And on a personal note, meeting and chatting to many of the people I’ve come to respect during the last two years was glorious. (Although I have to admit that I forgot to mention to Neil Oliver Sue McFarlane’s chimney sweep – mea culpa).

    Once more the glamour of Scunthorpe beckons – hope they can fix the car properly this time.

    So I don’t care what the weather does as I’ll be driving, and am basking in the renewed feeling of hope, and wish you all a pleasant day!

  18. Syria’s barrel bomb experts in Russia to help with potential Ukraine campaign. 23 May 2022.

    Technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe.

    Intelligence officers say more than 50 specialists, all with vast experience in making and delivering the crude explosive, have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from Vladimir Putin’s military.

    Let me see. The Russians having no ordnance experts themselves have imported 50 Syrian “specialists” to teach them how to fill barrels with explosives and drop them on the battlefield from helicopters. No doubt experts in balloon observation, musketry and elephant handling will follow shortly.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/22/syrias-barrel-bomb-experts-in-russia-to-help-with-potential-ukraine-campaign

      2. Morning Rik. The Ukes are now just NATO and US Cannon Fodder! An awful lot of them are going to be killed before it dawns on them!

      3. Morning Rik. The Ukes are now just NATO and US Cannon Fodder! An awful lot of them are going to be killed before it dawns on them!

  20. Good morning, everyone. One letter today from a (then) single man tells of how his mother gave him a basic cookery book when he bought his house as “a batchelor”. I wonder what she might have given him had he been a Cross and Blackwell man? “How to use a can-opener” manual, perhaps? The standard of spelling in today’s world (either letter writers or sub-editors) never ceases to amaze me.

    1. Tins ain’t what they used to be. Mainly pull-rings, now.

      Morning, Elsie.

      1. Morning, Korky. Much rain forecast for today, which will undoubtedly help our respective gardens.

        1. I’m torn on the rain issue, Elsie. I have a step to my shed to build. It requires quite a few pavers to be laid and the rain will put paid to that work, but, I am grateful for the rain on the ground and in my rainwater butts. Veg plot is looking very good at the moment. I can always fall back on housework and ironing.😒

          1. If you run out of housework and ironing, Korky, you can always come over and do some of mine! Lol.

      2. It would have made life easier for the Three Men a Boat when they wanted tinned pineapple if they had had a pull ring on the tin.

        1. I was 9 when I read 3MIAB. It introduced me to a past peopled with human beings who had a similar sense of humour; up till then history had been rather short of laughs.

      3. Ring-pulls don’t keep as long as traditional tins, and are easily damaged. I can’t stand them!
        People are too darn lazy to use a tin opener these days! It’s a pet peeve of mine!

    3. Mum was a dyed-in-the-wool Crosse & Blackwell woman. I once brought home, from my shopping errand, a can (tin) of Heinz vegetable soup. I was swiftly (and angrily) despatched back to the Co-op to exchange it for a similar item with a Crosse & Blackwell label on it.

      I was also involved in a similar scenario when I came home with a carton of Jacob’s cream crackers instead of the regulation Crawford’s.

      😉

  21. Good morning, everyone. One letter today from a (then) single man tells of how his mother gave him a basic cookery book when he bought his house as “a batchelor”. I wonder what she might have given him had he been a Cross and Blackwell man? “How to use a can-opener” manual, perhaps? The standard of spelling in today’s world (either letter writers or sub-editors) never ceases to amaze me.

  22. Good morning, all. Cloudy.

    I am reet glad that the slammers have laid down the law about no women in short skirts at Linton-on-Ouse. About time these hussies were sorted out.

      1. In Algeria in the late 90s, when the islamic party was predicted to win the election, one of them went on the TV and said “and women should check their wardrobes” – meaning they would be expected to cover up and not wear western clothes.
        In response the ruling FLN simply postponed the elections (and were condemned as undemocratic by the idiots in Britain, who happily accepted “persecuted” islamist refugees from Algeria!).
        As long as we are in thrall to islamists, nothing will change.
        The left always seek out the worst behaviour from other cultures, and glorify it.

    2. Good morning Bill.
      Where did you read that? Vile, intolerant, backward savages.
      All the young (and maybe the not-so-young) women and the parents of daughters should be very concerned for their safety. As house prices there will drop (maybe they already have), selling up and moving away is probably not an option.

        1. Northern Echo:

          “A resident claimed that a police officer had advised that women should not go out in short skirts, but the police officer said it would be unacceptable for any officer to have said that.”

          The ref yesterday was to a Slammer Council statemnt

      2. It was True Belle yesterday posted a tweet from the Muslim Council of Britain, warning the young girls of Linton on Ouse to dress appropriately!! The disgusting bastards will stop at nothing!

        1. Bl**dy hell. They will no doubt use that as an excuse to ‘help themselves’, claiming the victims were ‘warned’ to not dress normally and, anyway, it’s ‘part of our culture.’
          Why do tptb allow this intolerance and vile attitude to prevail?

      3. This may help, MIB.
        https://twitter.com/lokshensoupjek/status/1528356502372859906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1528356502372859906%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dnottlt_i%3D235420https3A2F2Fnttl.blog2F3Fp3D2354t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fnttl.blog2Fsunday-22-may-the-nhs-is-not-beyond-reform-but-it-needs-to-be-taken-out-of-politics2Ft_e%3DSunday202220May3A20The20NHS20is20not20beyond20reform20E2809320but20it20needs20to20be20taken20out20of20politicst_d%3DSunday202220May3A20The20NHS20is20not20beyond20reform20E2809320but20it20needs20to20be20taken20out20of20politicst_t%3DSunday202220May3A20The20NHS20is20not20beyond20reform20E2809320but20it20needs20to20be20taken20out20of20politicss_o%3Ddefaultversion%3D9db7f31f906666f4d56c3f4488ea0e6c

        1. As some of the replies to that suggest, stop all benefits for invaders and stop with all the tolerance. The flood will disappear.
          Accept and follow OUR laws, customs, behaviours and way of life, or get out.

  23. Birmingham Children’s Hospital nurse arrested on suspicion of poisoning after infant death
    Police said the hospital worker was arrested at a property in the West Midlands and has since been released while investigations continue
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/23/birmingham-childrens-hospital-nurse-arrested-suspicion-poisoning/

    Teaching, nursing and medicine, social work, the police and the priesthood have always attracted oddballs who prey on the vulnerable. I suppose it will always be so.

    Those who crave power over others should be given a wide berth.

  24. I’ve just been on the website of my old school, as I wondered whether it was the private school that mustn’t be named in the row over the girl who was bullied for speaking of biological facts.
    It’s another country – I don’t recognise ANYTHING of my old school any more. Website is filled with tick-box correctness and mindless, silly, woke clichés about girls going out “fearlessly” into the world since 1875 – NO, that was NOT my experience! It took me YEARS to get over the sheltered environment of a middle class all girls’ school!
    Worse, apparently Cressida Dick is an old girl, which I had not realised – she was before my time.

    They’re just trying too hard these days to be cool. They’re massively over-selling an unrealistic dream to parents. All your daughter will get is a place at Oxford or Cambridge – bully for you if you think that’s your money’s worth for the fees.

      1. It was much more laid back in our day, wasn’t it! Sounds exhausting nowadays, all that excellence!
        We had one girl in about 1980 who did a striptease in assembly on her last day, and another who tried to set fire to the chemistry labs.

        1. So ‘worthy’ and ‘empowering’! Good grief, we just got on with it! White privilege I expect! And we were rebellious! Well, some of us…

        2. So ‘worthy’ and ‘empowering’! Good grief, we just got on with it! White privilege I expect! And we were rebellious! Well, some of us…

  25. 352768+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Monday 23 May: Civil servants must be made to earn the privilege of working from home
    Total disagreement from Ogga1 that is allowing this odious political crew to go underground.

    A peoples party must surely be formed who’s main policy will be a reset, replace
    regarding the lab/lib/con / civil service political hierarchy campaign.

    1. The ministers and MPs are largely pointless. What needs radical reform is the civil service. An organisation wedded to empire building, waste and inefficiency. It has too much power, does work badly, and at great expense. Yes, ministers change their minds like children, but the CS is responsible for wasting 37 billion on an app. The CS is responsible for the tidal wave of criminal gimmigrants. The CS is responsible for appalling schools, wokeisms and, fundamentally the NHS – whether by wanting to continue how it operates or implementing change.

      There’s finally an action to tackle benefit fraud. All 600bn of it. A sum so vast, if we stopped it, we could scrap the basic rate of tax. However, a treasury official then accidentally said ‘we;d move everyone into the upper rate. They see the state as the centre of the economy, not an obnoxious perpiheral element.

  27. Some government departments, such as the Office of the Public Guardian,
    admit they are five months behind because staff have been working from
    home. Yet others claim that homeworking has not affected employees’ work rates. Can someone explain this dichotomy?

    Yes, it’s simple. The work you do is unecessary and pointless, so not having it done wasn’t noticed.

    If your staff are ‘working’ from home and still 5 months behind then they are not working, are they?

    1. “…You could get £140 off your electricity bill for winter 2021 to 2022 under the Warm Home Discount Scheme….”

      May… not paid to you….

      Far simpler just to cut taxes on energy, but the state doesn’t want to do that. It wants to hurt some to reward others and so the politicisation of taxation has created an unholy mess.

  30. I see the knives are out for Sue Gray. As predicted in NoTTLand the day she was asked to investigate.

    1. My second AZ jab was delivered by a newish, youngish GP at our practice, moonlighting at a vaccination centre.

    2. My second AZ jab was delivered by a newish, youngish GP at our practice, moonlighting at a vaccination centre.

    3. I’ve been able to see my GPs throughout lock up. Yes, there’ve been restrictions and the daft wear a mask nonsense and some daft bint made life incredibly difficult by refusing to get out of the way of the door buzzer to let me sign in because she wanted 50 metres of space around her because she is ignorant and paranoid but hey, that was a patient.

      1. I haven’t needed to see a GP sice 2019, but I did go to the surgery for the shingles jab last year. It was deserted, apart from the nurse we saw. I don’t think OH has had a problem seeing the GP when he has needed to – in fact the doc phoned him and asked him to come in that morning.

    5. You got it in a nutshell.
      If it wasn’t for all the inconsiderate patients, their job would be perfect. How dare we be ill.

    1. He was killed by Muslim terrorists. The press – except Starmer, oddly, didn’t seem able to present this fact.

        1. Yes, and rightly so, as killed implies he was accidentally hit by a car. The lad was murdered.

          Ah well. Yet more to add to the 70% muslim prison population.

          Do you know what annoys me most? About a decade ago I sold my Dad’s old hifi to some fellow. Black chap comes to the door. I invited him in. He looked really shocked as if this were unusual. Fast forward and I’ve become bitter, cold and yes, I think racist.

          I asked a black chum of mine – a coal black neuro surgeon I call ‘Darkie tea boy’ (he calls me white boy slaver) why this is and we both concluded that society was eating itself. It was wrong, but with one side set against the other, such division in the labelling, the tensions enforced by the demands for ‘respect’ just because they’ve been told to have it. I told him that I was angered at what I’d become and he said it was normal. It shouldn’t be, but when we’re never allowed to get to know people all we have are the labels. When the labels become more than the individual, you erase identity. No identity, no person, and then – sadly – all we see are the stereotypes and naturally they’re the worst ones.

          I want to live in the world I grew up in. My best mates at primary school were a Pakistani Sikh and a black chap who left after a year to go to Greshams. Hell, we were 7 and got on like a house on fire playing tanks in the playground because it just didn’t flipping well matter what colour someone was. They were just my friends.

          One where Mr Rigby is alive and well, with the two Muslims asking him directions and thanking him in return. Where people value one another for who the feck they are. I worry about the example I set to Junior and the anger I feel at my own dissonance.

          Is this how Lefties live all the time? Chock full of cognitive dissonance and doublethink?

          1. They actively promote division and spawn hatred. I was furious to see yesterday that the wicked and demented female bishop of London has told Calvin Robertson, a black trainee vicar and sports presenter, that he will not get to be ordained because he doesn’t think that Britain is racist! She knows, as a white person, that it is!! How on earth do these dreadful people get to be in charge? She’s a no-nothing moron!

          2. Our country was not racist. If it has become so, who made it happen?

          3. I don’t believe it is racist. There may be some racists living here (some white, some black, some yellow and some mixed race) but we are not a racist nation, and for the very nasty so -called Christian, Sarah Mulally to tell a black man that she knows better than him, then I despair! Someone needs to sort her out.

          8. I had a keyboard going spare so i put it on a free site. A chap responded and said he would drive down from London that day. When he arrived i took him through the house to the garden office to get the keyboard. On the way through the garden he spotted my fruit tree. He said ‘is that an apple tree?’ I said yes.
            It had apples on it.
            He was as black as the ace of spades.
            Nice polite chap though and appreciative of the freebee.

    2. 352768+ up ticks,

      Afternoon TB.
      Very sad state of affairs but he will be remembered right up until the General election then the party comes first takes over and the call for more of the same goes out via the lab/lib/con pro illegal mass uncontrolled immigration
      coalition.

  34. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/006331137b2fdd713ee7828a32a81e2a3c566852d405585d0a6874f2d5bd6bdc.jpg With reference to my post, yesterday, of the various (old and modern) pronunciations of foreign towns (and other words of non-English provenance); fellow-NoTTLer, John Standley, gave support to my views and added his own take on the clamour for modernism which (and apologies to John for copying his excellent post) I reproduce here:

    I posted this on Disqus a few years ago:

    I once coined the term: “Bouddicology” for this habit. Definition: “The immediate and enthusiastic embrace of a revised pronunciation of a historic name.” Thus, “Boadicea” seemed to become “Boudicca” virtually overnight.

    The true Bouddicologist will then insert the word into conversation with an admirable frequency, such as to suggest that they have “…always known this, actually..”

    How strange that it never applies to Bayern Munich. Or should that be Bayern Muenchen? Or Bavaria Munich? I am confused.

    That is so very true, John. These modernist bandwagon-jumpers go to extraordinary lengths to display their zeitgeist kudos, don’t they? I find it strange how the word “Beijing” has universally supplanted Peking, yet we still speak of Pekinese dogs and Peking Duck.

    Curiously, my old (1977) copy of The Times, Concise Atlas of the World advises on the intrinsic difficulties that westerners have in attempting to approximate the inscrutable Mandarin vocal fricatives. That tome advises that the nearest it is possible for us to achieve is Pei-ching, which is closer to Peking than it will ever be to “Beijing”.

    1. Oddly – yer French have no truck with this name change nonsense. They stick to Pekin etc.

          2. You could get 20 years in solitary for posting that if the other Robert Preston, who ‘bends’ for the BBC, finds out. 😀 🍷 🍾🍸

        1. I watched a cricket match in what is now known as Chennai just before Christmas 2004. Inside the cauldron of a ground there are large old plaques at either end proudly proclaiming ‘Madras Cricket Club’.

          1. The name change seems calculated to imply that there was a place called Chennai which those rotten British overran and conquered when in reality surely the British founded Madras? It didn’t have a prior existence.

    3. As a young teenager, I collected foreign stamps. A few years ago, I came across my long-forgotten collection while clearing my late mother’s house.
      There were so many countries which either no longer exist or have ‘modernised’ names which have no resemblance to the originals.

  35. Hi all. I’m to incapacitated at the moment to participate, I can either stand, or lie on my right side and that’s about it. Neither position conducive to typing. So my apologies, hopefully better in a couple of weeks when and if sorted out.
    But I saw this last night and would really like to know what sort of Chrysanthemum this is because I know next to nothing about them. Is this a “charm, spray” or what?
    In the mean time my best wishes to all.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KohSw5reTlo

    1. Wow, what a size. Afraid I know nothing about chrysanthemums so can’t help you. Do hope things improve for you Johnathan. .

    4. Pleased to see you Johnathan. I thought that you might have cocked your clogs!

    7. Good luck, Jonathan. I have a friend in a similar position due to a rotator cuff injury and a fracture. Her email today suggests she is gnawing the bedposts in frustration.

  36. Morning all.
    Woohoo!

    Sorry to be so early but daughter in Dubai sent hers. They’re 3 hours ahead of us.
    Wordle 338 2/6
    ⬛⬛🟨⬛🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Didn’t think I’d get it today but scraped in.
      Wordle 338 5/6

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

      1. Lucky par 4 today
        Wordle 338 4/6

        ⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
        ⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨
        🟨🟩🟨🟨⬛
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. #MeToo, Sue
        Wordle 338 5/6

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

        1. Similar.
          Wordle 338 5/6

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

          4. Thank you. All too complicated for my pore brane. I’ll stick to The Times crossword.

  37. First hour’s ladderwork successfully completed. In for a break. Then I attack the east side of the house.

    2. You’re having your breaks indoors now, are you, as opposed to outside? 😆😆😆

  38. They’re after most of us (again).
    Not just the over 70s, now it’s over 65s. Come the autumn, we’ll once again no longer safe from the harassment of repeated texts, phone calls and emails until we comply.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1a2fbed2d81c0c6c15ecadca1d634afa25535edf01868caf383d7627890f6e38.jpg I will probably have the flu jab but wonder how long I will be able to stand up for myself against the repeated pressure and emotional blackmail from husband and sons (and the sharp tongued DiL) when I refuse the Convid jab. I am seriously not worried about catching it. After all, any ‘protection’ wanes within a few weeks anyway. Son 1 & DiL will likely tell me they will not visit us next summer if I haven’t had the full quota.

    1. Hope they will see sense and not pry into your medical decisions. Would not visiting you be in order to protect you or to protect themselves?

      1. To ‘protect’ themselves. By saying they wouldn’t visit, they would be hoping the added pressure/emotional blackmail would persuade me to change my mind as they know how much I miss the children. I probably would cave in too!
        At least we are still sufficiently jabbed (for now) to be allowed into Canada to see them this summer
        They are triple jabbed, the 6 year old double jabbed and the younger one is almost 5 – they can’t wait for that day, chances are they will get that done at 5 years and 1 day.
        So tempting to point out that if the jabs are so great, what difference would it make if I didn’t have any more. There would follow a hectoring lecture about being irresponsible, including that I might spread ‘it’ to HER (much older) parents via them.
        I have been on the receiving end of plenty of what is effectively verbal abuse many times over the years.
        We’ll cross that bridge when we reach it.

        1. Much sympathy. I have come across this attitude as well. There is really not much to say to someone who has taken a medical treatment and is convinced that you pose an existential threat to them because you have not also taken it!

          1. I do, thanks! Sometimes I need more than a hug! I will make sure I pick up a bottle of something appropriate in duty free before we fly over.

    2. Oh dear oh dear MiB. I am so sorry. Tell them you do not wish to be blackmailed into doing something you are not happy with. They are all being so cruel. I feel really sorry for you and cross with them.
      ETA: It just doesn’t make sense. If they “know” they are “protected”, having had the jabs, why should it worry them if you haven’t? And when they go anywhere do they ask everyone they come into contact with if they’ve been jabbed? Of course not. It’s an awful way to behave.

      1. Being brutal – in that situation I would go very quiet. If pushed, they would find they preferred silence, rather than hear what I had to say.

        1. The trouble is that we vax decliners have been bullied all along, and been quiet all along, and I decided some time ago to not be bullied. It is not for other people to tell me what to do with my body. (At the moment I can still decide one way or the other but the majority of the population have been scared witless into being jabbed). There comes a point with one’s own family that enough is enough and, to save everyone’s feelings, one must say I do not wish to discuss it any longer.

        1. Indeed there isn’t. One of my friends, with whom I used to regularly have coffee, has banned me from visiting because I haven’t been jabbed! Too bad, I’m not getting the jab. To be honest, I haven’t missed the visiting; I’ve found other places to go and people to see.

          1. Who needs friends like that?
            I have an old friend who was posting all the project fear threats on farcebook, and she was convinced they would die if they caught the wu-plague. A few years ago, much to her disgust, her GP told her she was a hypochondriac – he wasn’t far wrong.
            Last autumn, while her daughter collected a child from school, I went with her to look after the youngest grandchild. As I was leaving, she asked the little one if she was going to give me a goodbye kiss.

    3. Just tell them that my husband had a heart attack (big clot – blood, not husband) a fortnight after his jab.
      Previously strong and healthy for his age, now having to think about physical exertion – including steps at stations and large venues.

      1. Ah yes, I could truthfully claim I know somebody adversely affected by the jab. Was that the Oxford one?
        I do hope time will bring improvements to his health and fitness.

      2. Brother-in-law had a massive heart attack and died there & then, with wife pounding on his chest. YoH did well to escape that.

    4. A triple-jabbed neighbour caught Covid at the same time as Caroline and I did and it could have been from the same source. She was quite ill for a week; I went to bed for a day and a half and slept and then was fine; Caroline didn’t need to go to bed with the disease at all

      2. Not surprised to hear that.
        If the jabs actually provided long-term protection, even if only needed once a year, I suspect a lot more people would come forward.
        With this latest one, I doubt it will work for any longer than the others.
        Also, has it been ‘tweaked’ to cover Omicron or other new variants which have appeared since the original jabs were formulated?

        1. I think it’s still the same old spike protein, for a disease which has long disappeared and evolved.

          1. Why would they bother with costly further development when project fear and coercion have convinced so many that their lives are in real danger if they forego the jabs then catch the Con.
            On a related note, lots of fear-eyed, muzzled folk in the supermarket this morning. Even more if you count the muppets with only their mouth covered.

          2. I spotted one woman walking down the street this morning – she was wearing one of those pointy white ones. Other than that, our small local town is pretty much back to normal, though there are still perspex screens in the supermarket. On Saturday, everyone was out in force for the first day of the Festival, and

            hardly any masks were on show.

    5. I succumbed to the propaganda and had the flu jab in 2020 for the first (and last ) time. Had the two AZ jabs. Definittely not having any of the gene therapy.

      1. We had flu jabs for the first time in late 2017 – we were ‘told’ to get them if we wanted to visit the new baby grandchild (baby too young to get one). We hadn’t been allowed to fly until baby was over 2 months old – I wouldn’t have dreamt of banning our parents from seeing their only grandchildren as soon as we were home. Knowing how exhausting life with a new baby and a toddler can be, we even suggested we would just fly for a 2-3 day visit.
        For crying out loud, how did we ever survive before flu jabs?

        1. I first had flu at Christmas 1972 – I was 24. It put me in bed for several days and I had a relapse a few weeks later. Second time in 1984 – spent the best part of a week in bed. I had something not quite as severe in January 1995. Nothing like it since.
          The flu jab that I was coerced into in 2020 was the first time. I won’t be having any more of them, although I had no reaction. I’ve had loads of jabs for travel purposes, but all this coercion has made me very reluctant to have any more. I’m going to rely on my immune system, with help from Vitamins C&D.

    7. If you need to show evidence of the full quota, then you will be in for a long visit to the doctor. We are on four jabs already plus an expected late summer jab, add in flu and monkey around vaccines and you could be looking at quite a long procession.

      Of course the answer to covid jabs if you want one is a Canadian developed vaccine (a real one) that according to their marketing pitch supposedly gives lasting protection. Trouble is a tobacco company has shares in the company so the world health organization are refusing to consider this solution to the crisis.

      2. That new Canadian vaccine sounds promising. But if it gives longer lasting protection, it will never get approval as there won’t be so much profit. The tobacco connection is a further hindrance.
        I think we get proof of the 3 jabs using the NHS app (which my old phone won’t support), and then I think we have to upload that onto the mandatory (for visitors) Canadian app. We haven’t looked into that in too much detail yet; we are just aware we have those hurdles to cross. New phone first!

      1. That’s an understatement. They even managed to poison the other DiL, though she soon saw sense. (Now an ex DiL, best all round for that son. Hoping the new young lady will be better 🙂 )
        One visit, I would have dialled 999 had I been in reach of my phone. Had a friend on speed dial with a spare bed ready. I had a nervous breakdown less than 12 months prior, nearly went over again.

        1. That bad? Understood though, MiB, family feuds are the worst, especially when the young, and often immature, are so sure that they’re right, despite much evidence to the contrary.

          Chin up, old girl, we will survive.

          1. Hey, less of the old …. oh, actually, it’s true. Though in today’s warped world, does that mean you are cancelled because you spoke true words?

        2. Wow! That’s bad. My commiserations (for what they are worth). If they don’t visit, it will be much better for you, by the sound of things.

    9. Blimey, your lot sound like a right miserable bunch. If they don’t visit, that can only be a benefit.
      You could remind them that the only people getting covid have been 19thly jabbed…

      1. Miserable I could handle. it’s the barbed nature of some comments, manipulation of what I say, and such like. Some people can do a good line in making one feel inadequate.
        I sometimes think if it weren’t for the grandchildren …..

        1. They are using them as emotional blackmail. Not a good look. If I were you, I’d call their bluff.

          1. They are serious though. In early 2018, we were told we could only fly over to meet our new grandchild IF we had the flu jabs. That was fine by us, so we duly got jabbed.

          2. So no toys from you for the grandchild, no cards, no interaction and tell them you’ve cut the pair of them out of your will due to their cruel and unreasonable behaviour. It will probably only be for a short while until they come to their senses.

    1. One can’t help feeling that “Monkey Pox” was a branding error. They did so much better with the sciencey-sounding “COVID-19.”

  40. A blonde woman was speeding down the road in her little red sports car
    and was pulled over by a woman police officer, who was also a blonde.

    The blonde cop asked to see the blonde driver’s license.

    She dug through her handbag and was getting progressively more agitated.

    “What’s it look like?” she finally asked.

    The policewoman replied, “It’s square and it has your picture on it.”

    The driver finally found a square mirror in her handbag, looked at it
    and handed it to the policewoman.

    “Here it is,” she said.

    The blonde officer looked at the mirror, then handed it back saying,
    “OK, you can go. I didn’t realise you were a cop.”

    1. Not just that, but doctors’ surgeries in Britain look like benefits offices. On the continent, they have sofas in the waiting rooms and fresh flowers on the receptionists’ desk!

    1. The Ukrainians really need the French, rather than NATO.

      They would have surrendered by now.

  45. That’s the east side gutters and cutting back done. The MR – as Head Gardener – has instructed me to leave the south side for two weeks – as it will grow like mad in the event that we go away. I am quite pleased….!

    1. A friend of mine has bought himself one of those tv radio controlled drones. So he can inspect his gutters! I think that’s not a very good excuse for another toy… But it saves climbing a ladder…

      1. But a drone won’t prune 20 yards of foliage growing into the gutter…

    1. Doyen? Shirley that accolade belongs to Percy Thrower, the original and best. I found Hamilton to be bland and anodyne.

          1. The svensk have claimed him as their own. They are fiercely protective of him.

      2. There is a bust of Percy Thrower in the beautiful Quarry Gardens in Shrewsbury where he was Head Gardener in charge of Parks for years.

        1. Used to go to the Shrewsbury flower show every year: I assume it still exists?

          1. I believe so, ditto Harlow Carr near Harrogate (RHS) another place owing a lot to another Gardeners’ World presenter, Geoffrey Smith, but partly wrecked by that Irish oaf Dermot (O’Leary?) whatever his surname escapes me. (Think ‘shark’s fin’.)

          2. I believe so, ditto Harlow Carr near Harrogate (RHS) another place owing a lot to another Gardeners’ World presenter, Geoffrey Smith, but partly wrecked by that Irish oaf Dermot (O’Leary?) whatever his surname escapes me. (Think ‘shark’s fin’.)

          3. It was on last year. Don’t know about this. I haven’t been for several years and the last time I went it (fund-raising for the RAFA) was a shadow of its former self.

  47. Just listening to an old Capital tape. The bakers from 4 independent bakers have accepted a 26% increase says IRN… 1970 (edit, 77!) I think, will those days return… Clive Jenkins has advised other unions to ask for similar rises…Duncan Johnson on now, must be Sunday afternoon…

    1. At least we can remember life when
      – fruit was seasonal
      -avocadoes were some fancy luxury treat
      – your mother cooked with lard instead of vegetable oil
      – prices kept rising
      – electricity kept going off
      – nobody owned any electronics
      – nobody could afford anything
      It’ll be a real trip down memory lane for us!

          4. My mother was recently retired that year, and she picked up a nasty virus from somewhere when she went on a visit to old friends and family.
            There was no queue at the baker’s shop where I live. My bread- making efforts were not too well received so I stopped bothering.

      1. I imagine it was an open ended investigation designed to dig dirt for use in an upcoming election rather than any attempt to actively find a problem.

    1. I’m happy that you spelt the long word on the bottom picture correctly. You’d be surprised by the number of — supposedly educated — people who think that the word prevarication (which means being devious and evasive with the truth) is a synonym.

      It is not!

    2. Don’t forget 10% for the Big Guy!

      I guess that’s inflation for you. I my day it was only a penny for the Guy…..

  50. A productive morning. Did a mix of mortar and then a bit more to the wall.
    About 4h in all mainly building up the facing and filling in the voids between the concrete blocks and the stone.

    1. When do you expect the job to be finished? Want to see the end result pics pls.

        1. I seem to have put up the wrong image, my apologies. This the entrance to the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. Mr Bob’s work is much more complex.

      3. I’ll probably not live that long!
        I view this as a project for someone else to finish.

      1. I’ll put the kettle on then!
        You can possible give me a hand with the apples if we get a decent harvest.

  51. Talking of a productive morning, I’ve just finished off making a bookcase* from spare draw and cupboard fronts that had been damaged prior to delivery and replaced free of charge. The corner cupboard adjacent was salvage from the previous kitchen and repainted and serves as a cupboard for glasses and china. I’m glad to say that having finished installing the plinths the new kitchen is also finished!

    * Yet more cookery books are in the boot of the car and these will fill the remaining shelf space….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99674ad4f5e0b5a5befd6a38163044091b787656a2103f25f0bc25044b21a642.jpg

    1. Bravo! Are you sure you didn’t incorporate parts from an electric stove as well??

    2. I miss my library. I had nigh 1500 books in it. All in storage now pending operation shift.

      1. Commiserations – 99% of ours are still in storage boxes packed two years ago. They probably won’t be unpacked until we get around to buying new bookcases / book shelves in the autumn….

      2. #MeToo, Wibbles, when I left Spain in 2016, I also left nigh on 2,000 books but allowed the daughter of a friend to take her pick. What the ex did with the rest, I have no idea. I mourn them still.

    3. I miss my library. I had nigh 1500 books in it. All in storage now pending operation shift.

      1. Stern hung up on the top gates cill whilst the lock is being emptied. Result bow descends under water. If you try refilling the lock the water level simply keeps rising inside the boat. Insurance company not happy!

        1. As the participants were all drunk (allegedly) I expect the insurance will wash their hands of it – leaving the partygoers to pay ALL the damages…..

        3. I’ve had one of those installed. Looks good but I haven’t a clue how to use it. Plays a nice bleepy tune when switched on and off.

          1. Needs heavy-based utensils (pots, pans etc), Sue, to operate successfully. You can buy a special heavy base if your current utensils are light-weight or copper-bottomed.

    6. Nice one…. especially with the convenient top shelf!
      When our kitchen was refitted three years ago, by the time the job was complete we ended up with a garage full of damaged and incorrect parts. The units were delivered ready made and the rejects included a 1000mm base unit cupboard that was sent instead of drawers.
      Terrible company. Poor workmanship, zero quality control at the factory, refocusing correct undamaged items were sent out and non-existent customer service.
      They subcontract the installation. We were lucky with our man but I have since heard of customers who were assigned fitters who wouldn’t even scrape a basic woodwork GCSE.

      1. The double doors of the cupboard under the kitchen sink in the newly built part of the house in Laure came from a cottage three miles away from THIS house. The cottage was being renovated and, natch, the kitchen was ripped out. The double doors were about 150 years old!! They matched perfectly the rest of the new kitchen – hand built from pre-war wood brought from The Netherlands!

        1. That sounds impressive. A kitchen full of character and parts with a story to tell.

          1. Though I say it myself, it was a lovely house. The 18th century cottage had two ruined cart sheds attached – we converted them into a beautiful modern house. We have so many happy memories of it – which are enhanced because the two chaps who bought it have fallen in love with it!

          2. It definitely softens the blow of leaving a much loved home if the new residents are decent types.
            The home which my parents bought from new, and in which my mother lived for over 30 years, was bought by a lovely young couple. They had to move away for work a few years ago and the new owners have added an extension. Nice enough in itself but they have ruined it with tacky light grey rendering (Covering the attractive mellow brick) and trendy dark grey window frames. And they replaced the roof with …. you guessed it …. grey tiles. I wonder if they have some ‘live, love, laugh’ wall pictures or accessories.

          3. I have been extraordinarily lucky. In a long life, I have bought three houses. In each case the sellers were nice, friendly, helpful and a pleasure to do business with. The first was sold to a delightful couple who lived there for many years; the second to a young couple who fell for my hand built kitchen and dining room.

          4. The people who owned this house before me were awful; they took away the greenhouse that was mentioned in the contract, stripped the house of light fittings (left the wires sticking out of the walls where the wall lights had been and removed the chandelier, leaving the bulb holder suspended from a wire connected by connector block), never mind the bulbs, and were wheeling barrow-loads of shrubs out of the garden when I arrived with my furniture! On a plus side, I did discover that I had a Minton tiled hallway (it had been covered by carpet when I viewed, but unfortunately, they’d tried to nail Griplock into it!).

          5. My second house, was in Clapham. The owners had hard-boarded every door and the three fireplaces. Once installed, I gently removed the hardboard to find ALL the original 1882 doors…AND fireplaces!!

          7. Wow! What a find! The loons who had my house before me had removed all the panelled doors downstairs and replaced them with modern, reeded glass ones. I had to replace them (one broke within a few days being flung open against a piece of furniture) with panelled ones again. They had bricked up the fireplaces so we opened them up and installed new grates. Thank goodness they hadn’t capped the chimneys!

          8. What is it with the fashion for dark grey window frames? They look awful. I haven’t been back to see what has been done with my first house (this is only the second one I’ve owned and I’ll be carried out of here in a box).

          9. Quite – the chap two doors down has just had them (very expensively) installed.

            I expect they are eco-friendly…..

          10. One of a pair of cottages down the road has had an extension built. It’s a nice job, in keeping with the style of the rest of the semi, BUT … it has grey window frames and they look SO wrong (even when they replace the originals in the main part of the building), not least because its pair has traditional frames.

          11. They are and the colour is called Anthracite! It contrasts nicely with the colour of Bath stone….

          12. Quite by chance I discovered just now that my first house is for sale. Amazingly not much naffing up has been done. Apart from the kitchen and bathroom.

            https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/61402847/?search_identifier=97c567ad44d344af22137c54e4e2fa2e

            The nameplate – I dug out the original boundary post and put it on the roadside. I ordered the sign – which, on delivery in 1969, was no the style I had ordered. They irm said that I could keep it and not pay!! Very satisfying to see that it is still there.

          14. I paid £9,500 in 1968 – and used half my pay (after tax) to manage the mortgage…

            To call it a “semi” is really daft. It was the house provided for the agent who ran the estate of the “big house” (owned by Wilfred Scawen Blount) – and the attachment (since transformed into a dwelling) was the laundry for the Blount family…!!

          15. My house was built (in the thirties) on land owned by the “big house” – it’s why I and my neighbour to the south only have a name, not a number. A few doors away is the former laundry and on the other side, again a few doors away, is the former chauffeur’s house.

          16. Grey is ‘in’. That’s what the talentless ‘influencers’ tell the gullible. Grey walls indoors, grey soft furnishings, grey outlook on life.

        1. Go on, humour me and take a guess.
          When we had wardrobes from them decades ago, the company was small, fairly local and was superb. From hero to zero status.

          1. Sounds like reports I’ve heard about Wren – both cheap and very nasty.

            Consider yourself humoured, MiB.

          2. Close. Our fitter reckoned Wren were just as bad. He’d worked for both (as contractor, they only contract out), and was refusing to carry out any more installations beyond what he’d already signed up for with both companies.

    1. Where’s Archie Andrews? I suppose she just cast him aside when she got famous, like a broken doll…

  56. “A handful of wealthy attendees gathered in Davos are calling on world leaders to tackle the cost of living crisis by pushing up taxes for people like them.
    They took to the streets on Sunday alongside left-wing activists to call for fairer tax systems worldwide”.

    There is absolutely nothing stopping them from writing a Cheque to the Government Treasury of their choice, thereby signalling their virtue and encouraging other millionaires to do the same. Loaves and fishes spring to mind….

    2. Relying on funding from the world bankers means every one of us is owned. Russia’s self-sufficiency is the way to go. Drill, mine, farm.

    3. Do you think someone ought to tell them the skiing season finished at the end of April. They’ll all be wandering around in their skiing outfits, wondering what on earth to do. I’ve been to St Moritz at this time of year and it’s pretty dead. Though the chocolate shop will be open.

      1. Black? Quite possibly – black Christians do generally seem to be keen on their religion.

        1. Very, and unlike certain other religions they don’t tend to attack other religions people physically.

    3. The big question is, how could we take our parish church out of the corrupt C of E and into GAFCON? Legally, I don’t think there is a framework to do that without paying market price for it.

      1. Probably not though I think some of the the ACNA churches in the US managed to keep the buildings despite the best efforts of the Episcopal Church. I’m vague on it but there were some court cases?

      2. Set up an account with a Muslim name and tell them you need it to convert to a progressive mosque for the trans-BAME flowerpot community.
        They’ll pay you to take it.

      3. Set up an account with a Muslim name and tell them you need it to convert to a progressive mosque for the trans-BAME flowerpot community.
        They’ll pay you to take it.

    4. I’m guessing they don’t think Britain is a racist country? Thank you for that, Sue.

    5. I’m guessing they don’t think Britain is a racist country? Thank you for that, Sue.

    1. I don’t know the details of this case, but when they’ve actively armed citizens, how trustworthy is it to convict Russian soldiers of killing citizens?
      It smells of setup.

      1. Morning BB. Most of these “civilians” were almost certainly armed and met the fate common to such!

      2. When this is all done and dusted he will become part of a prisoner exchange.
        See Belfast Agreement.

    2. He was instructed to kill someone by his commander who considered him a threat. This is quite common. In Afghanistan Americans would instruct their snipers (Top Cover) to shoot anyone with a telephone in case they were communicating with the Taliban.

    3. …and of course the War Crimes investigation will be investigating the killing of some 14,000 civilians in the Donbas region during and since 2014, by their own Azov Brigade..

      No, thought not…

        1. And will the civilians who poisoned the Russians with cakes be similarly tried and imprisoned?
          No?
          What a surprise, they will no doubt be awarded medals.

    2. As Lavrov has pointed out, what Zelensky says depends on what he has smoked or drunk.

        1. My record so far is
          1 – 0
          2 – 6
          3 – 10
          4 – 33
          5 – 10
          6 – 4

          I think I have had a couple of blanks

  63. Afternoon, all. Dull, wet and miserable here (and the weather isn’t good, either). I don’t see working from home necessarily as a privilege, but civil servants should indeed earn their salaries.

    2. After a bright start it became overcast this afternoon with a bit of rain. It’s turned bright again now.

      At least I managed a bit of wall building!

    2. Small pox used to be a scratch… called an innoculation .

      Africans love needles , they go to markets for a jab, fo a headache , or malaria , stomach ache or what ever .. Same needles are used , and usually dirty water or some other concoction , cross infection is rife . Africa will never ever address the Elephant in the room /

      Africans are promiscous and men will even rape babies to free themselves of aids / HIV or what ever penis drippy illness they have .. babies are born with aids , their mothers have aids , it is such a very sorry saga .

      Britain has a huge problem now with thousands of Afro or whatever children in social care , costing the UK millions , local councils are pulling their hair out , and many many youngsters carry HIV/ Aids .. passed onto them by their parents , who are either druggies or something else .

      There is a social care time bomb , folks and it will get worse .

    3. I hope those bastards burn in hell. I also hope someone sends them on the way soon. So many lives ruined. So many lives died in agony. I want the fucking bastards dead.

    2. When I was working in Tokyo it was acknowledged by the Japanese staff that working for a British bank meant that they were unlikely ever to be employed by a Japanese bank if they left us.

      They said that tended to apply in most areas, work for a foreigner and you were tainted..

      One hardly ever saw a black face anywhere.

      1. I know at least some of the Warqueen’s clients are Japanese. She speaks it fluently. That and German, French and Italian and enough Slavic language to work with her Russian/Eastern European clients.

    3. Anyone should be welcome in this country as long as they are not an economic or cultural burden. A group that refuses to integrate is such a burden and should not be allowed to spread.

      It was obvious that Islam was dangerous back when they got all uppity over Salman Rushdie’s book (which is terrible) . At that point we should have bolted the door, but no. Blair wanted a voting block and Neather wanted to drown this country in sewage.

      70% of the prison population is muslim, the vast majority of those for rape and paedophilia. There’s a problem in that demographic and we need to start talking about it before they never let us.

    1. But locals still won’t be able to see a doctor. No free gyms for the locals either.
      Any bets on how long before the first rapes & sexual harassment or other crimes happen?

    2. They deserve it, poor sods.

      And when even one of them sexually assaults or rapes a local the whole damned lot of them should be on notice that they will ALL be deported to Rwanda the next day.

      1. It’s really sad: All that positiveness and other-world niceness being abused and taken advantage of. Instead, they need to develop the same nasty strain of cynicism that I have, but what kind of world would that result in? Enough to make one despair.

      1. I thought it might be the Abbotapotamus but that laid-back animal looks far more intelligent.

  71. Well, that was a first. Had to get Eurotunnel to phone me because their system was down. Chap didn’t say “Hi, William” but “Good afternoon, Mr Thomas”. WHAT a pleasant surprise. Their payment server was down. All done and dusted.

    1. I’ve had to contact Eurotunnel a few times over the years and I have always found them to be polite, efficient and helpful.

      1. The other surprise today. The MR phoned two hotels to make reservations. Both receptionists had very good English.

          1. Indeed; I made some enquiries at the National Horse Racing Museum (there’s a Munnings Exhibition I want to see) and the text that came back was clearly not written by a native English speaker (grammatical and lexical mistakes).

  72. Good evening, everyone. I’m away to read the racing results and then get stuck into a book.

    2. Is the Rebel News reporter accredited to the Press?

      If not, why not, and if so why isn’t he just as badly placed as the two he approached?

        1. Nor do I.

          BUT, however you view their, the MSM’s reporting, the WEF should be inviting people to watch, question and comment.
          Imagine the outcry if it was all held behind closed doors.

          At least with invited reporters there is a chance, however slim, that genuine unbiased analysis might take place.

          OK, I’ll get my coat.

          2. So I believe.

            Naturally they now pretend to be open, but most of it will still be behind closed doors

          3. And, of course, the Bilderberg Meetings are still shrouded in secrecy.

  74. That’s me for today. Useful ladderwork completed. Some rain – not enough. Holiday plans progress (expecting disaster, of course).

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    2. Don’t forget, UK can insurance isn’t valid, nor driving licences, without Green Card and international driving licence.

      1. Not according to the UK Government web-site https://www.gov.uk/guidance/driving-in-the-eu

        Driving licences and international driving permits
        You need to carry your UK driving licence with you.

        You do not need an international driving permit (IDP) to visit and drive in the EU, Switzerland, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

        You might need an IDP to drive in some EU countries and Norway if you have:

        a paper driving licence
        a licence that was issued in Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man
        Check if you need an IDP.

        You will not need an IDP to drive when visiting Ireland if you have a UK driving licence.

        You can get an IDP over the counter at the Post Office.

        An IDP costs £5.50 and drivers must:

        be a resident of Great Britain or Northern Ireland
        have a full UK driving licence
        be 18 or over
        Driving licence exchange
        If you live and drive in an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you need to exchange your driving licence for a local one.

        Check the deadlines and rules for licence exchange in the country you live in.

        Insurance for your vehicle, caravan or trailer
        All UK vehicle insurance provides the minimum third party cover to drive in the EU (including Ireland).

        You do not need to carry a green card when you drive in the EU (including Ireland), Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia, or Switzerland. You still need valid vehicle insurance.

      2. UK insurance is now treated as Green Card.
        You do not need an IDP to drive in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein if you have a photocard driving licence issued in the UK.

    3. There must be a good opportunity to charge a small fee to be the 60 year old buyer for younger people.

  76. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one pox open slay.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10846183/UK-records-THIRTY-SIX-monkeypox-cases.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10845749/Conspiracy-theories-swirl-China-monkeypox-deliberately-leaked-US.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10845043/NHS-running-monkeypox-beds.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10845939/WHO-issues-rallying-cry-officials-beg-countries-not-eye-ball-monkeypox.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10844469/Monkeypox-NOT-repeat-Covid-UK-minister-insists-outbreak-near-serious.html

    1. Yours shincheerly

      Plump tartes

      Runs away, tries to find a very deep bunker and hide.
      Discovers Phizzee is already there.

    1. Almost anywhere else on the planet, if someone posted this their door would be being broken down.

      Take pride in the fact that such turds can post such things.

      It means Britain is still a beacon in a darkening world.

    2. Isn’t it terrible, the national flag of the UK being displayed?
      However, it’s ok to display the national flag in Paris, New York or Amsterdam:-
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2278976ab1d0e1252e2f6506e8a97bed19493ae227dd533ce13bc3587bdf127c.jpg
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6543361ad3c0093cbc46db78bd9f644e1b639bdce589aa21bd7c909908764e57.jpg
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a676a978906ee162e5017715c14d2cb67a9e9cf3bee5fba59cdc9bdb3c639810.jpg

    5. There’s something in it. It’s not long since we were living under what might be described as petty fascism…

      1. Certainly Not! He’s an International Treasure (and you know what you are supposed to do with Treasure. ….(it’s only a question of time…)

    2. Grizzly

      Read this please, and then tell me whether the DT knows what it is talking about .. I don’t think they do.

      All those in favour? Jackdaws use democracy to decide when to leave their roosts
      Cacophony of noise in the early hours of the morning is a sign consensus has been reached for take-off, research shows

      It is no coincidence that the collective noun for jackdaws is a “clattering”.

      From the early hours of the morning, huge roosts of the small crows will call to each other in a loudening cacophony – before taking flight in a sudden and boisterous collective getaway.

      Now, scientists have discovered that the noise is a form of democratic decision-making.

      When the cawing reaches a critical mass, it signals that a consensus to leave has been reached and that the birds will take off in unison.

      Jackdaws effectively ‘cast a vote’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/23/favour-jackdaws-use-democracy-decide-leave-roosts/

      Please continue reading …

      1. Sounds like all the parliamentary debates I’ve had the misfortune to listen to….

        1. I don’t think the know their rooks from their crows or their jackdaws .

          I always assumed rooks made a din and gathered in huge numbers ,, either to roost , nest or feed.

          1. A rookery is a colloquial English term given in the 18th and 19th centuries to a city slum occupied by poor people and frequently also by criminals and prostitutes. Such areas were overcrowded, with low-quality housing and little or no sanitation. Local industry such as coal plants and gasholders polluted the rookery air.[1] Poorly constructed dwellings, built with multiple stories and often crammed into any area of open ground, created densely-populated areas of gloomy, narrow streets and alleyways. By many, these parts of the city were sometimes deemed “uninhabitable”.[2] – Westminster?

          3. The folk on Nottl have been around a while and know that Black isn’t White and vice versa….

      2. I’m not able to read that, Maggie, unless I subscribe. If it is printed in the “virtual paper” version tomorrow, then I’ll let know know my thoughts.

        For the record, the only scientists that I trust, when it comes to bird behaviour, are those at the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU), or the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) the latter of which I used to be a member when I was a licensed ringer.

          1. Licenced ringer, is that a euphemism?

            Ringer, a competitor who is generally much better than ranked and is entered to win a competition to win at long odds

      3. That reminds me. Yesterday I was doing a bit of gardening in the front when I heard magpies screeching, Looked up and there were a couple of magpies literally attacking a red kite just above our house. It didn’t seem able to accelerate away from them but did manage to fly away followed by another red kite. The magpies then flew off in Another direction. The magpies often dive bomb other birds in our garden.

    2. Farage has just interviewed Robert Malone on GB News. Should we be worried about monkey pox? No but Imperial College will probably overstate it.

      2. “They don’t make popular music like that anymore”. There, that’s corrected your post for you, Bob3.

    3. I could never stand that dirge. 1972 was truly an Annus horribilis for popular music. My worst year … until the 21st century dawned!

        2. Played every Saturday morning on Uncle Mac’s Children’s Favourites, 9:00 a.m., Light Programme.

  82. With all that’s going on in our increasingly sick and dangerous world, what’s the BBC’s lead story on the 6pm news? Another set of party photos…

    There’s no escape from the madness.

      1. PARTY DOWN Drunk ‘idiots’ on wild boat stag party SINK 30ft barge and crash another – forcing canal to be closed
        Tom Hussey
        16:54, 23 May 2022Updated: 18:35, 23 May 2022

        A MOB of drunk “idiots” on a stag do managed to SINK a 30ft canal boat and crash a second forcing a massive water network to shut.

        The slaughtered blokes wreaked so much havoc they even ended up flooding a nearby road as chaotic scenes erupted in Worcestershire on Friday..

        https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18661212/canal-boat-sinks-stag-weekend-worcestershire-droitwich/

        1. Thankfully I’ve only been broadsided once by an effing middle-aged idiot showing off to his girlfriend in a hire boat trying to take a 90 degree bend at full speed! The collision meant my boat swayed so much that kitchen draws flew open with such force that several plates were broken.

          2. The air was a deeper colour blue than the boat. Fortunately no damage was done to the steel hull.

    2. It’s a pity they aren’t waiting for dinghies to take them back to France.

    1. Now if Putin wanted to test his new missile are you thinking what I’m thinking?

    2. The badge looks like a pair of Chinks about to thrash a protestor with canes.

    3. Surprise, surprise! Australia were early to the party. Under the guise of a declared emergency foreign troops/security personnel can now be brought into Australia. The quote is from AAP Factcheck!

      A social media post claims a Bill before the federal parliament will allow the government to bring in foreign forces and control Australians with complete immunity.

      It’s true the Defence Bill provides some immunity to foreign forces when called on to help in case of emergencies. However, the proposed laws do not allow for unfettered actions from foreign forces without any criminal or civil liabilities. Instead, it brings their immunity provisions into line with those granted to Australia’s state and territory emergency-services personnel, according to legal experts.

      AAP Factcheck

    4. Surprise, surprise! Australia were early to the party. Under the guise of a declared emergency foreign troops/security personnel can now be brought into Australia. The quote is from AAP Factcheck!

      A social media post claims a Bill before the federal parliament will allow the government to bring in foreign forces and control Australians with complete immunity.

      It’s true the Defence Bill provides some immunity to foreign forces when called on to help in case of emergencies. However, the proposed laws do not allow for unfettered actions from foreign forces without any criminal or civil liabilities. Instead, it brings their immunity provisions into line with those granted to Australia’s state and territory emergency-services personnel, according to legal experts.

      AAP Factcheck

  86. TAXPAYERS have given £7.7million to groups now fighting government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

    The grants or loans went to five organisations who have attacked the policy.

    Migrant Help received £6.9million, Stonewall got £593,000, Refugee Action £58,000 and Home Not Hate £50,000.

    They signed an open letter condemning minsters and the resettlement scheme.

    Legal firm InstaLaw received £1,000 in the past 12 months for apprenticeship training.

    Last month, it began proceedings challenging the legality of the plan.

    The firm claims ministers cannot push ahead with the deal without the approval of Parliament.

    The UK agreed to pay Rwanda £120million for housing and integrating those sent to the African country.

    Home Secretary Priti Patel says the deal tries to help them rebuild their lives.

    Despite 50 notices being handed to the first batch of migrants, there will be no flights before June 6 owing to challenges. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18646960/rwanda-migrants-cash-lefties/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebarweb

  87. It’s going to go down to 8C here tonight, and there’s a gusty wind. This is no way to get my oleanders into flower…

      1. If it weren’t for the Atlantic Conveyor Current we would still have snow on the ground!

    2. Might explain why my two year old runner bean seeds haven’t yet appeared above soil level…: -(

    3. I have two standard Oleanders and every time it looks like flowering it dies back. The leafs are a bit yellow too. I know they don’t like their roots in water but i’m at a loss as to what to do.

    1. The solution’s simple. When our lot get back, when they get off the plane we command our paid for protection people to stand back and slap a metal collar on every throat. These are chained together and the lot of them kicked to their knees and taught to walk in a circle.

      Some might consider this unfair, and it is – to dogs. A dog is learning the difference between right and wrong. The political class have never known it. Then they stop yapping, braying and barking and learn to sit, quietly and obey then they are walked to their cages and taken home – where they learn to behave all over again.

      The collars don’t ever come off. These people are scum, and should be treated as rabid.

      1. 352768+ up ticks,
        W,
        The same can be said only more so
        for the electorate
        majority.

    1. The current mass of gimmigration is plainly illegal and completely unnecessary. Our immigration policies are simple, as are our refugee policies. These creatures meet none of them. Not one. We’ve no obligation to them at all.

      Thus the state is bringing these paedophiles, rapists and murderers here deliberately out of spite. You can almost imagine the conversation “Thought Brexit would stop immigration? Think again. We’ll drown you in the [beepers]! Learn your place!”

      1. 352768+up ticks,,
        Evening W,
        Hit the issue clearly on the head, yet the political importers still find support via the polling booth.

      2. Our government are complicit in allowing illegal immigrants to enter our country where they are housed in hotels and granted privileges that no Englishman has ever been given.

        This is obviously government policy and designed to cripple our ability, as a nation, to resist the coming globalist tyranny whereby we natives will own nothing and yet be happy to fund the feckless and useless incomers.

        Johnson and the rest of the Davos crowd have seriously miscalculated if they believe they can carry this deception forward any longer. We are long onto them and the reprisals will be awesome. What with the medical tyranny these politician bastards have inflicted on the population, whether (unwittingly) willing or not, will become a high water mark in our disdain for them.

        They can stuff their latest Monkeypox crap where the sun doesn’t shine while they are at it.

        I hope they suffer grievously for their sins.

  92. Goodnight and God bless – feeling all of my new 78 years.

    Whether I shall sleep or not – I’ve got a new series of books to read on my kindle.

    1. Happy Birthday to you Tom! I hope you have a wonderful day, and that your troubles resolve themselves! 🍾🎂🌹

    4. Happy birthday Tom and have a great day doing what brings you pleasure.

  93. Tuesday 24th May, 2022

    No To Nanny
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/07d0b06af98d24c223aa9bcaff542f51e4272525500b1e4d38eb58866156a051.png

    and all the Nottlers hope, Tom, that there will be many more to add to the ledger now showing 78!

    With very best wishes from

    Caroline and Rastus

    (It is 0715 here in Turkey but 0515 in Britain so Geoff is very sensibly still in bed. We shall repost this if we have a good enough internet connection when Geoff has arisen from his well merited slumbers and put up the new page)

    2. Happy birthday NtN – and may the coming year bring good things for you.

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