Monday 24 February: Insecurity and incompetence would surely scupper any ID card scheme

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – 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.

623 thoughts on “Monday 24 February: Insecurity and incompetence would surely scupper any ID card scheme”

  1. Good morning Geoff and NoTTLer chums. Am I first?
    Monday again – here are two Chuckles for the price of one:

    It was the worst winter in living memory. Thousands of homes were cut off by deep snowdrifts, including a family in a remote mountain cabin in Canada. After three months with no contact with the outside world, the family became the target of a Red Cross rescue mission. But for weeks even the Red Cross team couldn't manage to force their way through to the cabin which by now was almost completely submerged in snow.
    Finally the brave rescuers succeeded in hacking out a path to the front door of the cabin. Not knowing what they would find, they knocked on the front door. The father answered the door.
    "Red Cross," said the leader of the team.
    "Sorry," said the father. "It's been such a tough winter that I don't think we can give anything this year."

     A couple had been spending money at such an alarming rate that they didn't think they would be afford a holiday next year. So the husband came up with a bright savings plan: whenever they had sex, he would put 20 dollars into a piggy bank.
    A year later, he emptied the piggy bank to see how much they had collected. He was puzzled. "Every time we've had sex, I've put in a 20 dollar bill, but there are 50 and 100 dollar bills in here."
    His wife said: "That's your trouble – you think everyone's as stingy as you."

  2. Good morning Geoff and NoTTLer chums. Am I first?
    Monday again – here are two Chuckles for the price of one:

    It was the worst winter in living memory. Thousands of homes were cut off by deep snowdrifts, including a family in a remote mountain cabin in Canada. After three months with no contact with the outside world, the family became the target of a Red Cross rescue mission. But for weeks even the Red Cross team couldn't manage to force their way through to the cabin which by now was almost completely submerged in snow.
    Finally the brave rescuers succeeded in hacking out a path to the front door of the cabin. Not knowing what they would find, they knocked on the front door. The father answered the door.
    "Red Cross," said the leader of the team.
    "Sorry," said the father. "It's been such a tough winter that I don't think we can give anything this year."

     A couple had been spending money at such an alarming rate that they didn't think they would be afford a holiday next year. So the husband came up with a bright savings plan: whenever they had sex, he would put 20 dollars into a piggy bank.
    A year later, he emptied the piggy bank to see how much they had collected. He was puzzled. "Every time we've had sex, I've put in a 20 dollar bill, but there are 50 and 100 dollar bills in here."
    His wife said: "That's your trouble – you think everyone's as stingy as you."

    1. I planned to walk to the surgery so the vampire could do her stuff, but I think I will be driving.
      (The vampire is a nurse, not – thank goodness – a doctor. Doctors and needles are not a good combination.))

      1. As you note, professional Phlebotomists (vampires) are much better than GPs at taking blood and giving injections.
        When I worked with animals I had to have a Tetanus booster every six months. The young lady who did it was also jabbing over 400 animals a day, so as long as we looked the other way we didn't even know she'd done it.

      3. Our practice nurse is brilliant, I never even feel the needle. The only downside is the little round plaster she puts on is extremely difficult to remove

    1. Couldn't get much Greener than the founder of Greenpeace. As a retired Scientist, I wish I could give him a hundred upticks.

    4. "CO2 is the most important nutrient for all life on Earth."

      Badly put, Dr Moore. It is the absolute basis of all life on Earth. Plant nutrients are the elements essential for growth, most notably nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, the latter fundamental to photosynthesis.

    5. "CO2 is the most important nutrient for all life on Earth."

      Badly put, Dr Moore. It is the absolute basis of all life on Earth. Plant nutrients are the elements essential for growth, most notably nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magensium, the latter fundamental to photosynthesis.

  6. I see Dan Wootton & Alex Phillips have picked up on David Betz's baked-in doom-loop civil war.
    Cmon.. as if the police would allow a feral city to take hold. LOL.

    London's Regent's Park plagued by early morning hammer attacks on cyclists, intentional wheel punctures and masked thieves – but police say they 'can't' patrol before 8am.
    Terrified cyclists have called on the Met Police to start patrolling parks earlier in the day after swathes of violent robberies have seen them threatened with hammers and sharp objects.

  7. 402064+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    I cannot believe it is beyond our capacity to unite as we did in 2016 to trigger a nationwide boycott campaign in regards to halal within the food chain being unacceptable.

    This could prove to be one of the simple things in life that gives a great deal of pleasure to see the back of these islamic life thieves, and paedophile child molesters.
    https://x.com/TheBritLad/status/1893325119704961457

    1. 402064+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      I would say a great majority of English folk would unite against a terrorized animal ending up as nourishment on the Sunday dinner table.

    1. The titled photo is so accurate. We need one on every building and one on every street corner.

  10. Britain can only rearm if we are prepared to rewire our economy. 24 February 2025.

    We must be strong enough to defend ourselves in an increasingly dangerous world. Here’s how we do it

    It would take twenty years or more to rectify the UK’s defence posture and that assumes that the cash will be available. In reality of course the UK is in terminal decline. Starmer's posturing is just that. It has no substance to it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/24/britain-can-only-rearm-if-we-are-to-rewire-our-economy/

    1. A fair point, Minty. "Can we AFFORD to rearm?"
      Whilst politically it may be desirable, does the UK actually have the financial wherewithal to do so?
      I seriously doubt if we do and that is before we look at our industrial capacity.

    1. A long hot summer and the continuation, or worse, an increase, in stabby stabby and motor vehicle incidents etc. may very well force changes. People will only take so much. Eventually, even those people supporting the perpetrators will run out of excuses and surely tire of the bloodshed.

      1. Korky, you're forgetting recent history. People have had enough. What happened? Plod hammered the public. The state imprisoned and killed dissenters.

        The hard Left, authoritarian state does not tolerate those refusing the state line. You accept the lies or you are destroyed. They've made that very clear. We are not a democracy. We are not free. We are suppressed and had better get used to it. If we don't. if we refuse then we'll be destroyed however the hard Left decide.

        All the talk of democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech – utter bollox. As soon as it's tested in anger suddenly it doesn't apply. The state has endless money to do whatever it wants – our money and we'd better get used to it. .

  13. Insecurity and incompetence would surely scupper any ID card scheme

    As we all know it will be run under a two tier system, with all the law abiding natives required to have one

    1. The biggest problem, as it was in the Blair ID Card fiasco, will be to get the stakeholders to settle on the requirement, what would ID Cards do. And to strip out those who claim to be stakeholders but are no more than unimportant hangers on. Until the requirements are baselined the whole thing is doomed to be a costly fiasco.

      1. What the Left wanted was for 'other people' to have ID cards. Those they hated, which is practically everyone.

        There would have been gaping exemptions for the diversity, of course, it would only be law abiding white Britons who would be monitored, controlled and suppressed.

  14. 'Morning All
    Monday Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1664c8eac5b1e5f6d6718196702286da5ebb106f12d957d8162973bfa1b457aa.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4b423dde4a59df3cb35a5d056dfb2f2d272df93adb312d466bc94ac511054553.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ba9dbcd20bbd9ac6756e7f1c276fd52c40f60f8ab642c4b24c79fef088cb656.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/debb0f0d3cd72bbdf4674d5eef8b5931a70a8cabb1e762755e249db94429888c.jpg
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bee5010974cccc5e58be765942099e297c53bc09778acf0fd0c79e0a7a770d31.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15797d7f82e271de840256c4b16df8d3c5ef19d322bbf8c93a8fad3e70612177.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ecbeaf7c1b9c5f62cab57dc432ccc9adeb2aed17a3ab33f6e759881ab32a7116.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93356a1c9d6139369518533f29433ba0a6e83291c937c3d29481b7cac063257f.jpg

  15. Good morning, all. Dull and wet.

    Latest Microsoft update on W11 has removed the Wordpad function. Consequently I've lost access to my saved links as Notepad doesn't save them in a form that will open the links in HTML i.e. a browser.

    I've created a work round using Notepad and the HTML <p>Text here</p> tag for my new links and then saving the file as .HTML. However, I am wondering if anyone knows of/uses an open source text editor that is similar to Wordpad and is SAFE.

    1. I use Google Notes. The notes can be read by any machine that can log into your ID, so they are available on work & home-PC, mobile – and I can give permission for individual notes to be read by others, too, so for example the list of small jobs that need done at Firstborns smallholding, open to all in the family.
      No help with Notepad, I'm afraid, but a good alternative.

        1. Sorry, called Google Keep.
          My bad 🙁
          It's a Google app as well as accessed through their website.

      1. I did build a couple of websites back in the day. I had to wrack my brain and came up with the ‘p’ tag. Creating a paragraph allowed me to copy in the link in as it is written: not with all the garbage that a .rtf file creates. It works.

        Thanks for reminding me of notepad++. I had completely forgotten about that editor.

        1. Aye, sorry, I rather lost sight of what you were trying to achieve. Yes, wordpad has been removed, apparently. Notepad, being 7 bit doesn't include any of MS formatting garbage.

  16. Good Morning!

    Today we have a request for your help. Our correspondent Nanumaga is writing a book, Life in the Bunker , and is trialling it in FSB. It’s a funny satire on the Establishment’s shenanigans to scupper the Brexit vote and then capsize it afterwards, and Nanu has asked for your input, suggestions and anything else you think might help. Please read and give him your advice

    Youtuber David Bizley’s A Letter to King Charles sets out exactly why he no longer regards himself as a subject of the King. Please read and let us know if you agree with his sentiments.

    Energy watch 07.25: Demand: 33.55 GW. Total UK Production: 30.17 GW from: Hydrocarbons 13.8%; Wind 48.6%; Imports 18.1%; Biomass 3.6 and Nuclear 12.8. Solar: 0.

    We are importing 6.62 GW, including 4.3GW from France. They do this because they class French electricity as low carbon, Other imports, from places like Norway, are classed as ‘other’, so we are currently importing almost 20% of our power requirements very expensively just so Mad Miliband can boast that he’s reduced our carbon footprint.

    1. It seems that regardless wind is generating about 10-15gw of power. We are paying for 70gw. Clearly, wind is unreliable, expensive, inefficient and not fit for purpose.

  17. On topic (for a change): "That's not New Labour, that's old Home Office!" (Kenneth Clarke)

    1. Yes We know Ken, the whole place needs clearing out, all of Wastemonster and
      W(s)hitehall. You and your colleagues included.

  18. Morning all 🙂😊
    Horrible start to the week again thats only the weather and what's AH starmer
    been up to now ?
    I saw a picture of him shaking hands with fond of lying, of the eu mafia, saying he'd signed us back into the EU.
    Was this a fake ? We can never tell anymore.

    1. The creature is a big state, high tax socialist. He loves the EU – he fought for Remain, after all.

  20. Good morning all.
    A lot lighter in the mornings now, but today it's an overcast, dull start but with a forecast of sun later, though showers are also expected.
    Still quite mild with a temperature of a tad above 8½°C this morning after yesterday's high of 10.3 and a low of 7.9°C.

    The block had just been imposed on the Cromford road for the tree clearance so I'll be getting that large log shifted across the road once I get dressed.
    Still trying to find someone to make better use of it than being cut & chopped up for firewood.

    2. I wish you were a bit nearer Beverley. I have a friend there who works in wood and metal.

    1. I don't respect muslim. I think it's an appalling nonsense tthat has no place inn this country. If you don't like dogs, sod off back to dindu land.

      Europe grew up with wolves because we had forests because our green land had them. Those forests created engineering, science and construction, fuel and food.

      muslim has no business inn this country. They don't fit in, they don't disappear. They insist on living as they used to and they are foul creatures who, despite living parasitically off the host want special treatment. Sod. Off.

          1. 402064+ up ticks,

            PM,
            The undeniable craving for a bacon sarnie can strike anytime within the 24/7.

          2. It is of necessity to always have bacon in the fridge.

            That is indeed a truth universally acknowledged.

      2. Bally Mongo and Oscar are working as a tag team now. Both sit in the kitchen, tails a wagging. One then jumps up for a fuss/knocks something over and the other pinches whatever is cooking.

        Yesterday they knocked a drying rack of shortbread on to the floor and went berserk eating it.

    3. I am never without a trotter-or-four.

      My freezer always contains a stock of them … and copious amounts of the jelly (frozen in cubes) I extract from them.

      I wouldn't have the slightest hesitation at 'offering' some of those to members of any sect with a vested interest in destroying my way of life.

      Know what I mean?

      2. 402064+ up ticks,

        My old dad had half a pigs head plus rendering down all day prior to sitting on the window sill in a Buffalo, sorry bison, soree, basin
        to set.
        It did lower the tone of the royal borough of Kew somewhat, but very tasty.

    1. She is a seriously nasty piece of work. Katherine Birbalsingh made absolute mincemeat out of her.

      1. She is a cruel sadist. Why else would she have started imposing VAT in the middle of the school year.

        She is not unhappy at the consequences of her actions on children – indeed she seems to be taking orgasmic pleasure in their distress.

      2. She is a seriously nasty piece of work.

        She is exactly this. I caught quite a few of her Tweets in the period shortly after she became "Education" Secretary, Tweets which she has now deleted. She is, as you say, a seriously nasty little piece of work, who appears to derive sadistic pleasure in the distress and discomfiture of her class-enemies. She also seems to be as thick as a plank, but that in itself is unobjectionable- mustn't blame her for her innate characteristics, eh, what?

      1. Heh he, I do like Fry and Laurie. Some of their sketches went on too long, others were just right.

        I don't understand Philipson. She just seems desperate to parrot the 'it'll raise lots of money' – yes, but to what end? For education? How is destroying one side of education a good thing? Is it sheer, unadulterated class envy? Is it hatred of people choosing to dissent from the appalling education children get inside the state, where Labour's children abound?

        Why couldn't you just leave it alone? It's pure, political malice and won't raise a penny. I don't mind Camilla, but here Andrew Neil would have presented facts and figures – expected to raise/but you need to find X thousand places now at a cost of [more than was projected] so this has cost money. And with that, unravel the dumb bint and then hammer the hapless Lefty with the truth: that this is simply a tax on people rejecting the state machine and nothing but Left wing spite.

    3. I don't understand how education can be a human right – under the HRA Labour so love – and yet they tax it as a luxury good.

      Is an education of worth away from the state suddenly more valuable?

    4. Whatever happened to the concept of a good sound thrashing?

      Bitches like this, and the appalling party they represent, are directly responsible for the accelerating deterioration of every single aspect of a once-great nation.

      Surely there must be some legal facility for removing them from influence in order to safeguard the country?

      1. I cannot believe you were submissive as a schoolboy. I had a rebellious spirit and, as I have said above, I was frequently caned when I was at school – were you caned at school too?

        1. I was painfully introverted at school, lacking confidence in many areas. This was picked up by teaching staff at police training school. One instructor told me to “Project yourself!” Classmates picked up on this and laughingly parroted the phrase to me. It was a lesson learnt and I soon lost my inhibitions.

          As for caning. I was never officially caned by the headmaster (with a requisite entry in the punishment book); but I was occasionally (unofficially) slapped on the arse with a short plank of wood by a number of teachers for the odd bit of mischief.

          1. At pre-prep school Mr Mc Gregor, the headmaster of Gerrans School, broke several rulers while beating my hands.

            As a child there was obviously something in my personality which provoked those in authority to wish to chastise me.

  23. So it looks like Germany has overwhelming voted for a right-wing government, over 50%, but still won't get the right-wing government that they wanted, due to proportional representation.

    I note that we in the UK voted for a right-wing government for fourteen years, but we didn't get the right wing government we wanted, either.

    It's worse for us because in our country, governments are not constrained by having to do deals with smaller parties to form a government, so have no excuses for ignoring the will of the people.

    So it doesn't really matter what electoral system we have or who we vote for, the globalist agenda and ideology always remains the same.

    This political hegemony is what Trump is trying to break and why he is so abhorred by the political classes in most West countries.

    Breaking with that appears to be even harder than leaving the EU.

    Europe has a long way to go, it seems, before it can escape.

  24. Good Moaning all, from a dull, but not cold C d S

    Not long now until BST gives us an hours extra sleep

    2. I don't mind if they make it clear that's what they're doing. Then customers can know and reject it.

  27. Overslept, again. Looks like I am becoming nocturnal. Awake during the night, then sleeping during the day! Anyhow, chums, a very Good Morning to you all. And thanks, Geoff, for today's Monday morning NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,346 5/6

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

  28. I see that our Bob of Bonsall has had a letter taodaay, under a pseudonym

    There is a saying that firewood should warm you twice – once when you cut it, and again when you burn it

    Crispin Caldicott
    Warkworth, Auckland, New Zealand

    1. Farage has an uphill battle. Firstly his party needs to organise to fight and win vulnerable Labour seas. it needs to do the research and start pushing this out on the nonsense spewed by the treasury. It needs to start calling out the lies, as lies.

      Then it needs to say what it would do and how that would be paid for. This is vital as their plans need to be battle tested.

      It's all very well Kemi saying Tory HQ should be campaigning but what have they to campaign on? What are the Conservatives offering? Most of the appalling legislation pouring out of Labour now is just building on the horrific nonsense the Tories spewed out.

      2. 402064+ up ticks,

        Morning W,
        In my book, currently the lab/lib/con coalition need have no fears regarding continuation all the while ” hige” is ramrodding the reform herd, no reason whatsoever.

      1. I think I was the most beaten boy of my generation at school.

        I was caned by the Headmaster, the Housemaster and the Prefects: I took it stoically but I did not enjoy it!

    2. I can never see the point of including parties like SNP and PC in these surveys.
      They are not national parties so their share of the vote will be smaller because they are confined to small countries within the UK.

      1. He comments on TCW, and other places. I've wished him a Happy Birthday from Nottlers on his most recent post on TCW.

  34. Here's a performance worthy of any great actor. Completely fake.

    Vikings in Scotland 8,000 years ago? That was the Neolithic Age i.e. New Stone Age. I'm currently reading a book about the Picts. The book starts before the Pict's era and builds a history of what came before that group appeared. No mention of Vikings in that early era, a people speaking Brittonic, a Celtic dialect, inhabited the area before the Romans appeared. Probably misinformed rather than an outright lie but if he wants to impress and use some facts to emphasise what he is claiming then he should have been accurate when quoting. Par for the course, I'm not sorry to say!

    https://x.com/Bounce_BackLoan/status/1893622144833032577

    1. That cretin is as stupid as he is duplicitous as he is obnoxious.

      I cannot work out which character trait is foremost.

          1. Good point. The first time I experienced femevolence was at the age of nine when I and a fellow pupil had a serious dust-up because we both had fair curly hair. (But she was sallow while I had an English Rose complexion. So neh, neh, di neh neh, Susan Metcalfe.)

    2. He says "A thousand years old" but pronounces 'A' very deliberately as 'ay' rather than 'uh'.

      1. You know, I listened to him several times to confirm I heard “eight”. Luckily, I’m having my ears looked at next week: I’m sure that the money will be well spent.

    3. Did the Vikings include the Gaels, Picts, Scots and what we would regard as Northumbrians in their caring community?
      Did they respect the conquered people's right to property ownership reinforced by law?
      Did they treat them as equals?
      And yes, he does say "ay" rather than "eight", but you have to listen carefully.
      (The things I suffer for the welfare of the NOTTL community.)

      1. The book I’m reading doesn’t have the Pict’s appearing until the last two centuries of the Roman period. No mention of Vikings at this point but Saxons get a mention. First as mercenaries to defend against the tribes from the northern part of Britain. That’s as far as I’ve read. Tribes here and tribes there was the order of the day.

  35. Still raining , drenching rain , but the green colours in the garden are not dull, almost bright and variable, strange really.

    I don't normally bother with reading about EU politics , so complicated and the acronyms for political parties make no sense ..

    However , I read this article with interest , and just copying over part of it.

    "Today has shown that the German electorate overwhelmingly wants the country’s borders tightened up and closed to illegal migration – a visceral response to Merkel’s decision a decade ago to open the country to almost a million asylum seekers fleeing unrest in the Middle East. Since then, that number has ballooned to three million. The AfD has fanned the flames of outrage on the issue, making the link between immigration and law and order a central pillar of their campaigning.

    A number of fatal attacks carried out by perpetrators with failed asylum claims over the past year helped ensure that the subject of migration dominated the election campaign like no other. Merz saw this and recognised that the only way to ensure his political survival was to reject Merkel’s legacy wholeheartedly: he pledged to close Germany’s borders and effectively block any asylum seekers from enterring on his first day in power. According to one poll, two-thirds of Germans support his plan for a “defacto entry ban” into the country for anyone without valid entry papers.

    Germans are fed up with their stagnant economy, ever-growing cost of living crisis and stranglingly high energy costs. What use to them is net zero and bans on combustion engine cars and gas boilers if they can’t afford to heat their homes or run their businesses? Merz has promised them lower energy taxes, and a potential return to nuclear power – reversing Merkel’s decision to shut down the country’s nuclear generators.

    The former chancellor’s failure to decouple German economic interests from Russia, and her willingness to engage in realpolitik with Putin left the country woefully unprepared for the fallout of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, with US President Donald Trump’s overtures threatening to remove American security guarantees in Europe and force a Russia-friendly peace deal on Ukraine, Merz must reckon with Germany’s role on the changing global stage and bolster the country’s defences. He has also promised to boost aid for Kyiv and must decide how far to take Berlin’s support if Ukraine refuses to acknowledge a Trump-brokered deal.

    Merz will now have to follow through on his election pledges. It won’t be easy: he will face resistance from whoever he persuades to come into coalition with him. But they too are set to help unravel Merkel’s legacy further. Both frontrunners, the SPD and Greens, favour relaxing the debt brake introduced by the former chancellor to control Germany’s public borrowing. Merz has resisted this, but to win the keys to the chancellery he may not have a choice but to concede to them.

    Germany can’t afford to stick to the stately plod into decline that Merkel initiated any longer. Merz will have to act fast, and break things to pull the country out of the quagmire it finds itself in. It won’t please everyone, not even everyone in his own party, but he will only have one chance to start strong and forge a new path. Merkelism is dead, long live Germany." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/23/whatever-happens-next-merkelism-is-finished/

    The comments are interesting as well.

    1. Good for the Germans. My fear however is that their illegals will head here because they will know how easy it is to get in.

  38. 402064+ up ticks,

    Morning Pip,
    A change of label will not be tolerated, as should happen with political party names, random “trace to source” regular checks.

    1. My grandparents' memorial seat in Lulworth churchyard is more restrained. Maybe my father lacked imagination.

    1. Why the hell should any charity get funding from peoples taxes that they paid through their earnings in order to make a living? By definition a charity means one gives voluntarily, not by your money being taken from you and passed under the table by some grubby bureaucrat.

  41. Aaaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhh ………..
    If the vampire said "Bless" once more after my every sentence, something unfortunate would have happened with her syringe.
    THAT would have got her week off to a good start.

    3. In these parts they use an expression that I assumed was only common in Cornwall..

      That's all, my loverly .. my response is usually thankyou darling , see you again soon .

      Darling has become my expression of whatever for a few years now , my father called everyone darling , my 2 sisters use it .. just wondering where it originally came from, it can be very camp, but not as camp as bless.

      Mother used the word Honey as an affectionate/ facetious expression .. why I have no idea .

      1. It may have been coined by Charlie Drake. He always said 'hello, my darlings'.
        That was around 1958.

  43. Todays letter. I think an ID card would be a great idea. But it should have a chip in it that can track everywhere we go.All the better for the thought police when they need to caution or detain you for your own good, you understand. Jail time should be imposed if you fail to carry it.

    Good morning all 😊😊😊

      1. It should but it isn't sufficient for these gangsters. Are you aware they have forced Apple to drop its security system so that this government, the only one in the Western world to demand it, can poke around in your online information. Not any different, in effect for them to be able to walk into your house without your knowledge and rummage around in all your property.

        1. Yes – I'm aware of that – I don't use Apple or icloud but most of my unPC thoughts are recorded here on Nottl.

          3. Me neither. But to be honest it’s pure laziness on my part. Started off with Microsoft and couldn’t be bothered to learn how to use an Apple even though I know its a better system.

          4. I had an Apple hand-me-down from my son for a year or two before it died. It wasn't hard to get used to. But I find no issues using Linux – it does what I need to do.

        2. Not quite. That report was overexcited reporting that was lean on the facts.

          Yvette Cooper is fighting Apple over encrypted data access. The White House could soon be drawn in.

          ON DEC 2 2015, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik left their six-month-old daughter and drove to a Christmas party at the disability support facility where he worked.
          Armed with assault rifles, they opened fire on the attendees, killing 14 and seriously injuring 22, before being killed in a shoot-out with police.

          The shooting was America’s deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11. It soon emerged that the two had become radicalised online. Few would have been inclined to stand up for the couple’s privacy. But when the FBI asked Apple to unlock an iphone 5c belonging to Farook, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, refused. He argued that creating a backdoor into the iphone would compromise the security of its hundreds of millions of other users, causing catastrophe if it fell into the wrong hands.
          “We have no sympathy for terrorists,” Cook later said, but added: “The implications of the government’s demands are chilling.”

          In the end, both Apple and the government got what they wanted. The FBI cracked the phone with the help of an Australian cybersecurity company. Cook kept his promise to customers never to create a backdoor.
          But a decade later, Yvette Cooper has picked the same fight. This month a bombshell report in The Washington Post revealed that the Home Office had secretly ordered Apple to devise a way to break the securely encrypted version of its icloud storage service.

          On Friday, Apple took the nuclear option: rather than obey Britain’s order to build a backdoor, the company chose to stop offering what is seen as a vital security feature and pulled the icloud encryption feature, known as Advanced Data Protection, from British iphones. The move led to widespread criticism of the Home Office from privacy and security campaigners. Apple said it was “gravely disappointed” by developments.
          Cooper is now set for a fight with the world’s biggest company, and potentially, the White House. Apple’s British customers, meanwhile, have just had their security downgraded.

          ‘Snooper’s charter’

          The battle with Apple has been 13 years in the making. During the coalition government, the then home secretary Theresa May’s plans for a sweeping surveillance bill were torpedoed by the Liberal Democrats, who labelled it a “snooper’s charter”. But after David Cameron won a Commons majority in 2015, the Investigatory Powers Act gave the Home Secretary the power to issue encryption-busting notices, which could only be appealed through a secret tribunal.

          Apple opposed the law at the time, warning: “A key left under the doormat would not just be there for the good guys. The bad guys would find it too.” As the years passed, the threat of being ordered to break encrypted communications and storage seemed to subside. The technology became ubiquitous in messaging apps, and a string of high-profile cyber attacks and relentless scams appeared to settle the argument. Untampered with encryption was the safest option for everyone.

          In December, after a widespread Chinese attack on US telecoms networks, US law enforcement officials recommended for the first time that people use end-to-end encryption wherever possible. The warning was signed by agencies in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It was a clean sweep of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing nations, except the UK. Successive British home secretaries have continued to attack end-to-end encryption plans from companies including Facebook. Last year, the Conservative government tightened up surveillance laws, requiring that in some circumstances companies seek secret approval from the Home Office before launching new security features.

          “There’s a passionately held view in government that it’s just wrong for parts of the internet to be off-limits to those charged with lawful protection,” says one intelligence source. The Home Office has increasingly found itself at odds with Apple, which has made privacy and security major parts of its marketing. In 2023, the company suggested it would prefer to shut down services such as imessage and Facetime in Britain than weaken protections. It later accused the Government of seeking powers to “secretly veto” security features.

          End-to-end encryption

          Some security experts believe Apple’s increasingly strong rhetoric indicates it has been preparing for a secret order for some time, since the Home Office must consult with companies before issuing them. While Apple does regularly hand data over to security services when asked, Advanced Data Protection, the Apple feature at the heart of the secret notice, encrypts content such as messages and photos in a way that not even the company can access.
          Breaking this – as the Government’s secret order requires – could involve developing and then installing a custom piece of software on a target’s phone, allowing Apple unfettered access to their cloud storage that it could then hand on to law enforcement.

          Reports have suggested that the Home Office has demanded a wider “blanket” capability to read anyone’s backups. Peter Sommer, a cybersecurity expert who advised MPS scrutinising surveillance legislation, says this would be disproportionate and unlikely. “It’s technically entirely feasible to break encryption on a per phone basis,” he says.
          However, even if the order was targeted, security experts argue that developing the ability to crack an account, even that of a single terrorist, would put others at risk. Creating a master key for every door in town means your own door could be unlocked, no matter how well protected.

          Cook has made his position clear. Apple told the Home Office last year it would “never build a backdoor” and would prefer to remove features like icloud encryption in Britain rather than comply. When Apple removed the feature on Friday, ministers could not claim they were not warned. That will not be the end of it.
          In theory, Apple must still comply with the order, since it could cover overseas accounts. Even if the order is now dropped, Apple will not be satisfied with offering a less secure service in a crucial market.

          US involvement

          Diplomacy may be a more likely ending. Ron Wyden and Andy Biggs, a Democratic senator and Republican congressman, have written to Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s new intelligence director, attacking the UK’S “dangerous” and “short-sighted” efforts, and urging Gabbard to tell the Home Office to back down. The Trump administration is yet to comment. But Cook, who met the president on Thursday, will be urging him to intervene. While officials reportedly forced Apple to delay the introduction of Advanced Data Protection during Trump’s first term, Silicon Valley has forged strong links with the president, who has vowed to protect them from overseas interference.

          Elon Musk, the Tesla boss and adviser to Trump, criticised the UK on Friday, claiming in a post on X that the same thing would have happened in US if last November’s presidential election had ended differently.
          Ciaran Martin, former head of GCHQ’S National Cyber Security Centre, says US authorities are unlikely to accept the crackdown. “If there’s no momentum in the US to take on big tech over encryption, which there isn’t, it seems highly unlikely they’re going to stand for another country, doing it,” he says. “The argument is lost. The geopolitical forces and commercial imperatives for the companies make what the Home Office seems to be trying to achieve next to impossible, not just now, but likely in the future.”

          By taking on Apple, Cooper may have picked a fight she can’t win. Cabinet colleague, Peter Kyle, Technology Secretary, said last year that tech giants must be treated as nation states. The UK may be about to get a lesson in what that means.

          4. It is a good read. I understood Apple were unhappy about HMG having access to a back door and they preferred to remove the door entirely. I was not aware that Pixie Balls-Cooper stood a chance of being handed her @rse on a plate courtesy of the US. #TwoTierKeir will no doubt be appraised of reality later this week.

          6. I think it shows that Westminster/Whitehall (not to overlook the pretend parliaments and mayors offices scattered throughout the island) are positive about transparency in communications. I'm sure they're bursting to release all the emails, WhatsApp messages (and DMs), and any other communication systems they utilised whilst closing the country down amongst financially ruinous actions from the de facto coalition government during the Scamdemic.

          7. I think it shows that Westminster/Whitehall (not to overlook the pretend parliaments and mayors offices scattered throughout the island) are positive about transparency in communications.

            I think that if you shove your tongue any further into your cheek it's going to bust out of your ear'ole 😉

          8. Peter Kyle, Technology Secretary, said last year that tech giants must be treated as nation states. The UK may be about to get a lesson in what that means.

            Please, let it happen.

  44. What a cock-up
    All the kitchens in our court are being replaced even though I had a new oven and hob less than six months ago given the start date of today
    3 days of clearing the kitchen with ten boxes and multiple bags stacked against the wall of my studio exhausting work in my current condition
    Where are they??
    Working next door because they got the wrong "hand" kitchen delivered which will be fun for them as the old dear next door couldn't possibly clear her kitchen!!
    Just taken ten minutes to dig out the kettle,water jug and another ten to find a bloody teaspoon so i can make a cuppa
    Not a happy bunny
    Edit
    All bloody change as the old dear hasn't cleared her kitchen they've got a special delivery of my doors and worktops coming a somewhat sheepish lad (good bloke) came and said "can we start on yours after all"
    It's a complete rip-out units tiles flooring all new electrics be nice when it's done I suppose

    1. Oh Rik, I know what you're going through. When my kitchen was refitted, my studio room became the store for all the building materials and the fridge, which I kept, was plugged in right next to my bed. With the best will, fridges are noisy b*ggers. After a couple of days, I was at the end of my tether and moved in to a hotel for a fortnight. We have lots of those in Shepherds Bush now and I picked the Japanese one, the Dorsett Hotel. My kitchen had to be stripped right back to bare brick. Hopefully your refit is not as drastic.

    1. No.1. Oh pleeeeeese …… pretty pleeeeese ……..
      No.2. I was about to use my laddered tights as tree support ties.

    2. I think of the charity sector as existing to provide pointless employment for middle class lefties but a few charities do provide a real service to the needy. My old church in Fulham supported the Upper Room project in Hammersmith and St Barts supports the Whitechapel Mission. In both cases these are organisations that ask for donations of toiletries and non-perishable food, to feed and care for the homeless. Their volunteers are hard working souls not virtue signalling narcissists.

      1. Don't you mean:-

        I think of the charity sector as existing to provide pointless employment for otherwise unemployable middle class lefties?

  47. "smoke gets in your arris"

    I could more offer suggestions for this LGBTQ world, but they would be removed

  48. If France beats Ireland and loses to Wales; Ireland loses to both France and Wales; and England beat both Wales and Italy by just one point then England will have won the Six Nations having conceded more points than they won!

    1. Er … Ireland have already beaten Wales (last Saturday at Cardiff). France beat Wales on the first day of the current campaign (on 31 January at Paris).

      Ireland and France play each other (on Sat 8 March). Ireland play Italy and France play Scotland on the final day (Sat 15 March).

    2. If Finn Russell could kick between the posts, it would be academic. Another year of flattering to deceive .

    2. Copper knocking on my door.

      Copper: "I've come to check your thinking."

      Grizzly: "Well, best of luck with that, sunshine; many have tried before and all have failed."

      2. Copper….And just a reminder sir….”do you believe in glowball warming “?
        “No”!
        “Then you’re under arrest”!

        1. You’ve not yet answered my other reply to you (on rugby) where you think that France and Ireland are going to play Wales twice in this year’s Six Nations.

  51. G'day all,

    Leaden skies low'rin' over Fiscal's Folly, wind South-West, 10℃, showers.

    Computer's driving me round the bend.

    When I wake up my iMac in the morning it might be in a good mood but more often than not, it seems these days, some app has b******d off to do an auto-update and I have no control over it. I suspect MS Office for Mac is the culprit. Any way I've had to wait nearly two hours to do anything useful today. Click on anything and up comes the pizza-wheel of doom for however long it has a mind to spin around. I could get 'clean my mac' or somesuch but that's yet more expense on IT stuff when the bl****y manufacturer should just put a clean-up and efficiency function in the OS. Between that and Nord VPN deciding that I don't have an account (I do) and refusing to let me log in and random irritating pop-ups demanding login passwords for functions I'm not using, I spend more time trouble-shooting than actually doing anything positive or productive..

    1. A smug git says my second hand Dell with Win7Pro continues to do all that I require without those bothersome upgrades

    3. I wonder why you choose to use Microsoft Office for Mac when Macintosh's Pages word processing app is just as good, if not better?

      1. Habit, Grizz. I like Pages but since most people don't use Apple I find I have to write things in Word. I have migrated my personal spread sheets to Numbers but I have a large email archive in Outlook which I need to keep. It was also driven by having to use Powerpoint for presentations and briefings when I was still working. I've also thought of building a 30 minute to 1 hour anti climate-change presentation for which I think I'd need to use Powerpoint.

        1. I’m 74, Fiscal, and only last year I taught myself to use Numbers; never having done a spreadsheet in my entire life!

          I’ve never had any formal computer (or IT) tuition in my life; 4-year olds would snigger at my paltry level of non-expertise.

  52. You're right there, me duck.😘

    If I were a Sheffielder it would have been 'flower' or 'owd love'.

    1. It's worse than they think. For starters, it hasn't stopped. Secondly, every single politico & institution (bar Reform) have their fingers in their ears. All trust in government & polis is gone.. for a generation at least. And as Matty Taylor (aka Angry Bootneck) constantly reminds us.. if they are capable of being complicit in raping your children they are capable of anything & everything.

      .. including the sinister shenanigans relating to this one:
      End-to-end encrypted data can be decrypted only on your trusted devices where you're signed in to your Apple Account. No one else can access your end-to-end encrypted data — not even Apple — and this data remains secure even in the case of a data breach in the cloud.

  55. Any details on the. ethnicity or religious affiliations of the officers?
    I'm sure the National Black Police Association would like the facts for their data base.

  56. If France beats Ireland and loses to Scotland; Ireland loses to both France and Italy; and England beat both Wales and Italy by just one point then England will have won the Six Nations having conceded more points than they scored!

      1. Sorry – Caroline has been sorting out our internet connection and my post was in limbo – neither up nor down like Prince Andrew's men. I think it is now up just once.

          1. Have checked. It's not there twice on my computer. If you 'refresh' your connection you will probably find it is there just once.

          4. Have checked. It's not there twice on my computer. If you 'refresh' your connection you will probably find it is there just once.

    2. Here is a repeat of my first reply to you on this weird rugby timetable of yours:

      Er … Ireland have already beaten Wales (last Saturday at Cardiff). Also France beat Wales on the first day of the current campaign (on 31 January at Paris).

      Ireland and France play each other (on Sat 8 March). Ireland play Italy and France play Scotland on the final day (Sat 15 March).

  57. Sonny Boy Snr was impressed with "Moi Loverrr" when he went to Bristol University.
    East Anglia is not given to such effusions.

  58. Norman Wisdom, Charlie Drake and Jimmy Clitheroe.
    All distinctly unfunny 1950's dwarf 'comedians'.

    1. Norman Wisdom is a comic hero in Albania, and he must be pleased to have starred in the title role of the last five Bond films.

      1. Never found them funny at all, Phizz. In fact, I found NW really horrid and snivelling – repulsive. From childhood. CD also broought shivers to my spine and not in a good way. Don't know the other guy.

  59. Whoo! That took some finding:
    Wordle 1,346 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  60. I'm surprised by how little comment there has been on these two pieces by Peter Hitchens. If the BBC has expressed its outrage, I've missed it.

    I don't believe people would prefer an unending war in Europe to a peace deal in Ukraine – so here's what world leaders can learn from Churchill

    PETER HITCHENS, 11:52 EST, 15 February 2025

    We in Britain have lived in peace, safety and wealth for the past 80 years because of a huge act of appeasement and betrayal by our mighty, brave, patriotic and warlike leader, Sir Winston Churchill. His friend and ally, the much-admired President Franklin Roosevelt, joined in.

    At the Soviet seaside town of Yalta, in the Crimea, in February 1945, these men handed the heart of Europe to Josef Stalin, the Soviet tyrant and mass-murderer.

    In return, they believed (correctly) that the lands to the west of the line drawn across the continent at Yalta would be free. They knew beyond doubt that the great and famous cities of Prague, Warsaw and Budapest would sink into a twilight of secret police terror and communist misery.

    And they did it for you and me. They did not think the peoples of Western Europe or the USA wanted yet another bloody war, another ten years of rationing, death and danger.

    In their hearts, they knew this meant leaving the states they had betrayed to their fate. Moscow could and did send its tanks trundling into Prague and Budapest to extinguish any outbreaks of liberty, and we would do nothing.

    Please tell me if you would have preferred the colossal European war, which was the other choice. Of course you wouldn't. I mention this because I am often told that peace now between the West and Russia would be 'appeasement' and it would be so wrong that war would be better. Are you sure?

    Neville Chamberlain's earlier betrayal of Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938 is always dragged out of its glass case at such moments. This isn't the place to discuss it, but the view of political and media 'experts', who get their history out of GCSE picture books isn't worth much. Such people have never been east of Ipswich and don't know whether Vienna is west of Prague or the other way round. I do.

    I've made the journey between them (and plenty of others in the same part of the world, which is why I laugh at their ludicrous beliefs about foreign policy). I'll only say that if we had gone to war with Hitler in 1938, as everyone now claims to think we should have done, we would have done so with hardly any Spitfires (the first production Spitfire came off the assembly line in the spring of 1938).

    We are even more naked now. The Navy that saved us at Dunkirk has been reduced to a malfunctioning flotilla. Much of it can barely put to sea. We spend more on Housing Benefit than we do on the RAF. Our boasted nuclear missiles plop lifeless into the sea when we try to fire them. Our Army is a shrivelled remnant.

    So it is lucky for us that Vladimir Putin is not in fact a modern Hitler. Mr Putin's drunken, press-ganged slob armies cannot even capture Kharkhov, 20 miles from Russia's border. Perhaps this explains the ceaseless bombast of our senior spooks and treacle-voiced retired generals, thundering on about how 'we' must fight for Ukraine. By 'we' they mean Ukrainians, not them. Do these heroes in safety, far from any front line, do this precisely because they know the truth?

    For the truth is that this a brainless, avoidable conflict. I've explained here before how various American idiots and fantasists strove for years to make a war in this region, and eventually succeeded.

    They did so because the Russian regime they faced was even stupider than them. It became so nasty and foolish that it was successfully provoked into an illegal invasion. And now what? Here's another big war started by the USA, which it looks as if the USA cannot be bothered to finish.

    In Vietnam, and then in Iraq and Syria, the USA has spent billions on dimwit wars, and then pulled out leaving others to mop up the mess. President Trump's recent big-power bullying of his own peaceable neighbours has perhaps made the President more sympathetic to similar Russian behaviour. No wonder.

    The USA would never have put up with a hostile military alliance on its borders. Mr Trump's main interest has now shifted to China, and Washington's war party is looking the same way. Those in Europe who have spent the past few years posing as military musclemen – while relying on the Pentagon to supply the actual muscle – must now show how committed they really are to pushing NATO ever eastwards. What is it all for, exactly? Beats me.

    Look, the only power worth having, in life or in foreign affairs, is the power to stop others from pushing you around. Lots of countries, several of them our allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are appalling torture-chamber tyrannies which murder their people. I have visited nearly 60 countries in my life and I disapprove of the way they order their nations. But it is none of my business, just as it is none of theirs how we govern ourselves.

    In the end, the job of our statesmen is not to pose as saviours of the planet, but to keep their own people in liberty under the law, with peace, order and prosperity. If peace is to come in Ukraine, then it will now involve appeasement, because there is no other realistic way to end it.

    You may not like that, but do you honestly prefer unending war which might one day stretch into our territory? The greatest appeaser in our history, Winston Churchill, understood this. Why can't our modern leaders, who ceaselessly claim to admire him?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14400713/I-dont-believe-people-prefer-unending-war-Europe-peace-deal-Ukraine-Churchill-PETER-HITCHENS.html

    _____________________________________________________

    The moronic Ukraine war has done nothing but harm – so why are Europe's leaders intent on keeping it going?

    PETER HITCHENS, 11:54 EST, 22 February 2025

    So, does anyone want to buy a used war, and take it over? I can't think why they would do so. You might as well rush to obtain an unexploded bomb, or a leaking canister of some horrible virus.

    Whatever has come over the leaders of Europe, jostling to keep the Ukraine war going when it might at last be ending? This moronic, needless conflict has done this continent nothing but harm. As an event, it is horrible, a hellish panorama of innocent people shivering without electricity in half-ruined cities, broken homes, broken hearts and broken bodies, hospitals crammed with maimed soldiers, families staring quietly into space remembering when they had a father, brother or son.

    And even now press-gangs still roam the streets trying to drag more men off to a war they know is lost. And yet I doubt whether one person in 10,000 can work out why it happened, while nobody at all can point to any good it has done or could ever have done.

    I have said before that the Ukraine war was not even in the interests of the USA, which worked so hard for so long to bring it about. Like the equally bird-brained Iraq invasion, it was the desire of a militant foreign policy faction in Washington DC, inspired by the anti-Russian ultra-hawk Paul Wolfowitz and given impetus by the absurd President George W. Bush. Bush is possibly the stupidest person to hold high office in all human history. Of course, such people are bound to exist, but the rest of us do not need to listen to them.

    I greatly dislike Donald Trump, and think some of his public statements actively crazy, but if he is prepared to dump the Wolfowitz doctrine and stop trying to make war in Europe, I'm prepared to give him some credit. For years now I have been arguing here almost alone, against a storm of abuse and slander, mainly composed of dingbat claims that I am a Russian agent.

    I warned in 2012, in a dispatch from Sevastopol in the Crimea, and from Donetsk in the Donbas, that petty Ukrainian nationalist spite against Ukraine's Russian-speaking citizens, combined with threats to end Russian military rights in Sevastopol, were bound to lead to trouble. I have said for many years that the West will gain nothing by trying to push its NATO military alliance up to the borders of Russia, a view also held by some impeccably loyal Western diplomats, academics and political figures. No serious state in human history has put up with this sort of thing. England spent much of the Middle Ages fighting to frustrate French alliances with Scotland.

    Moscow's link with Cuba led first to a CIA invasion of that island and then to the 1962 missile crisis, which nearly ended the world. Why, the Americans even objected to Britain having an alliance with Japan in the Pacific, which they viewed as their lake, and they forced us to break off that treaty in 1923. Sure, we had the 'right' to resist this blackmail, but we also had the sense to give in to it. The idea that the USA is a global fairy godmother, smilingly showering its friends with benefits, is and always has been piffle. It is a hard-hearted great power that pursues its interests with ferocity and ruthlessness, and would cheerfully have gone to war with us if necessary.

    I was right about Ukraine. The war I feared came to pass. It was nothing to do with a fictional desire by Russia to sweep westwards across Europe. Russia lacks the strength to do this, and Putin knows it. Yes, incessantly poking Russia in the eye did not justify Vladimir Putin's invasion. On the contrary, it was a stupid mistake as well as a barbarous act. But it provoked it. And then what?

    I was right, too, that the USA used Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia. A direct war between US and Russian forces could easily lead to a nuclear confrontation. But if the USA's work was done under Ukrainian flags, that was not a risk. Yet Ukraine, even helped by huge piles of money and munitions, could not defeat Russia.

    So, goodbye Kiev. All those people who used to tell me I was 'denying Ukraine's agency' in the war can now see that the war always belonged to Uncle Sam, and Ukraine had no agency. Donald Trump is trying to extract America from yet another foreign policy mess because it turned out to be pointless, as these adventures so often are.

    It keeps happening, going back to Vietnam, but also to Afghanistan and Iraq. The Americans roar in like a hurricane, and depart like morning mist. They don't stay when it no longer suits them. Those who were their loyal allies in those countries will be lucky if they get a helicopter ride out.

    Mr Trump can see that President Zelensky can't agree to peace without being overthrown, so they have bypassed him. In the brilliant novel about Putin, The Wizard Of The Kremlin, this is foretold. A Russian character (based on a real person) is asked about Moscow's view of Ukraine. He sneers: 'What we're aiming for is not conquest but chaos. If you make the mistake of trusting the West, that's how it always ends. The West drops you at the first bump in the road, and you're left all on your own to deal with a demolished country.'

    President Trump has hit that bump in the road. He has looked at the balance sheet of the Ukraine war with his property developer's eye and he has concluded, coldly but rationally, that it is a futile waste of time and money, as it is. So he is brutally ending it. What could it ever have achieved? China and Israel are more important to him.

    Why then are EU countries, some of them severely economically damaged by the war, protesting at its end? Why is Britain acting as if we have been robbed of a noble cause? What did we have to gain from a bout of mud-wrestling between Washington and Moscow? We have been used, good and proper. America doesn't really care about us, could have done without our support and now doesn't really care about how we cope with the demolition site they have left behind.

    Time to grow up and worry about our own freedom and independence, while we still have them.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14424345/PETER-HITCHENS-moronic-Ukraine-war-Europe.html

    1. "Why then are EU countries, some of them severely economically damaged by the war, protesting at its end"
      Because they have "lent" so much to Ukeland that they will never get back if there is peace
      Economy destroying sized loans

    2. Probably because we were unable to read those two pieces by Hitchens because none of us subscribe to the DM's premium site.
      We used to be able to read his articles before they made them premium.
      I think he's right by the way.

      1. Afternoon Ndovu. I have a suspicion that they made them premium to stop people reading them.

        1. I don't know what else is on Premium but they probably have to pay a bit more for his work than their inhouse hacks.

        1. Does it work on that? I used to use it on the DT but then I succumbed to a subscription – £25 for a year. We then stopped buying the Saturday one for over a fiver.

        2. Interesting euphemism there, Sir William. Incidentally, I much prefer the unstreamlined version of the "Coronation" class- I saw all of them in revenue-earning service except for 46220 and 46257!

          1. 12ft Ladder is a tool for breaking paywalls. The DT, Times and Spectator have rumbled it but it still works on the Mail.

          2. Ah- that might be useful to know- I'm glad I posted that cheap gag now……I'll see if it works on Linux!

        1. Thankyou! I haven’t tried reading his articles lately since they were made premium – but he usually writes good sense.

    3. He is good.
      "Peter, people say you're always right."
      Ah, but unfortunately always too late..

    4. Thank you, William. Hitchens is correct to mention Wolfowitz, particularly Section 6(d) which seemingly states along the lines of 'if we even think you're even thinking about something we don't like, we reserve the right to whack you'. Very good business for arms manufacturers, if anyone's looking to buy stocks n shares and doesn't mind what business they're in.

    5. Those two articles by Peter Hitchens should be nailed to Starmer's head and all his moronic cabinet. I have said it all my life – The US politicians, moguls and oligarchs are not friends of the UK and never have been. They set about destroying the British Empire in the War of Independence and finally succeeded after WWII. They waved their big stick at the French, Israelis and Brits when they sought to retake control of the Suez Canal from the evil Nasser. It was downhill at full speed after that.

      1. There seems to be a new Peter (Hitchens) Principle about.

        Starmer is a prime example of this new, revised, Peter Principle, which states that: "a person is promoted to a position several ranks above his level of incompetence."

        I would not trust Starmer with a bog brush in a public convenience.

      2. Slight correction – it was Nasser of Egypt who nationalised the Suez Canal in 1956, not Gaddafi of Libya.

    6. 1984

      3 powers – From time to time the opponents and alliances change. But the state of War is permanent.

      ….. was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

    1. In a similar vein; David Lammy has claimed on average over £2200 per day on food and drink every day since he took up his post last July!

      2. Fact check: The Foreign Office spent £521,527 on restaurants and bars
        Story by August Graham • 3h • 2 min read

        Social media users have claimed in widely-shared posts that Foreign Secretary David Lammy has spent £521,525 on food and drink expenses since taking up the role in July.

        One said: “David Lammy has been in his role as foreign secretary for 233 days racking up £521,525 in food and drink expenses.”

        Another said: “£521,525 on restaurants and bars in the first four months of being in government. David Lammy won’t need to ask for reparations ever again since it looks like he’s already has his.”

        Evaluation
        This is not the figure for Mr Lammy’s personal expenses. It is the total spent by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as a whole on restaurants and bars for the four months from July to October 2024.

        The facts
        The Government publishes departmental spending of more than £500 via certain payment systems.

        At the time of writing, the latest month of FCDO spending data published is from October 2024. Data has also been published for July, August and September. Mr Lammy was appointed Foreign Secretary on July 5 2004.

        The spending is split into different categories in the spreadsheet, and one of those categories is “restaurants and bars”.

        This shows that spending above £500 in restaurants and bars was £136,443.92 in July, £93,005.02 in August, £108,422.64 in September, and £183,655.84 in October.

        That adds up to £521,527.42 – very close to the figure in the claims made about Mr Lammy – but is attributed to the whole department, which has around 17,000 staff.

        https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/fact-check-the-foreign-office-spent-521-527-on-restaurants-and-bars/ar-AA1zGRRs

    1. Agreed? The government took the money out of my pay-packets without asking my permission.

      1. D'accord.

        Just a small accomodation on your part…

        Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
        And here comes a chopper to chop off your….

  63. Concerns have been raised after Northern Irish port authorities seized around 600kg of illegal meat that was smuggled into port on the Stranraer ferry.

    The discovery has sparked fresh worry over the porous nature of the UK’s border controls, particularly at the country’s busiest port, Dover.

    According to reports, the vehicle entered the UK at either Dover or another port in eastern England, and travelled through the country unchecked, with the meat transported in loose packaging, thereby presenting disease risks.

    The find was discussed at a roundtable meeting of Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) officials and industry stakeholders on 17 January.

    An industry source, who attended the meeting, said: “The discovery begs the question what the port authorities in Northern Ireland are doing that those at ports in Britain are not.

    “Having entered the UK, the consignment exited Britain at the Scottish port of Stranraer, before it was eventually intercepted at a third checkpoint in Larne, Northern Ireland.

    “Every port’s health officer has a duty to have an enquiring mind when a vehicle appears to be suspicious.

    "It would be fascinating to find out what made the officers at Larne stop the vehicle after two other UK ports had allowed it through.”

    Recent disease cases in Europe, including foot-and-mouth (FMD) in Germany, have highlighted weaknesses in the UK’s biosecurity at borders.

    Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), said that, equally, the increased level of criminal activity involving illegal meat was concerning.

    "It has become more lucrative and easier to smuggle cheap, illegal meat products into the UK which get distributed to small shops and individuals via an established criminal network."

    A DAERA spokesperson confirmed that staff in Larne Port seized 601kg of product of animal origin that arrived from Great Britain on 16 January 2025.

    “The product was not permitted entry to Northern Ireland as it was judged to be non-compliant with sanitary and phytosanitary requirements,” they said.

    https://www.farminguk.com/news/concern-raised-after-600kg-of-illegal-meat-seized-in-ni_66139.html

  64. Starmer: Russia does not hold all the cards. 24 February 2025.

    BELOW THE LINE.

    Telegraph CommunityTELEGRAPH 4 hrs ago. PINNED.

    We’ve just published What You’re Saying, a new section where you can read the best of your comments and talk directly to our journalists. Please take a look – we’d love to know what you think.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/what-youre-saying/

    This explains why I’ve been able to comment this week without being blocked though they have deleted a few that they didn’t like..

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/24/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-anniversary-latest/

  65. Yes – we are having a problem with our computer and I posted inadvertently in limbo while Caroline was talking to the technician on the telephone without checking.

    Ireland have yet to play France and Italy and France has yet to play Ireland and Scotland.

    (Please correct me if this is wrong)

      1. My main point stands – England can still win the championship having scored fewer points on the field than they conceded.

  66. The DT comments editors have an agenda. If a BTL comment they disapprove of gets too many up votes too quickly they stop recording any more up votes.

      1. The Warqueen doesn't shout – she knows it just jams me up. I suppose for a woman she's quite quiet and reserved. I put that down to her having found women friends difficult – at school they were jealous, at work non-existent and in her new work the youngest is 19.

        She got on very well with Mrs Clarke though. Mainly as Mrs C was a bit Aunt Agatha.

    1. Sadly it doesn't work that way. If the car is plugged in it has to be locked for charging to start, and that locks the charger in place as well.

    1. Lent begins next week. There's a passage in Scoop by Evelyn Waugh where he describes a remote bush tribe in Africa who've long since been converted to Christianity, so that no self respecting tribesmen would be seen in public eating human flesh during Lent.

    3. Fried, boiled or roasted?
      I have a couple of spare jars of crab apple jelly to help the meal down.

    1. Apparently not. Can't remember where I read it – I think it was on the Russia Today site – but it seems that Zelensky offering the US minerals in return for arms is a bit of a scam, as the minerals don't actually amount to much and Trump is apparently well aware of this and not fooled.

      1. They may not amount to much in cash value.. however, strategiaclly they are critical. SCMP reports on this new cold war everyday.

        China digs deep on mineral security as battle for resources with US intensifies
        Rare earths and critical minerals with economic and tech value are prioritised in Beijing’s plans to maintain dominance over global supplies
        SCMP

        China is taking steps to ensure it has enough critical minerals. Photo: Xinhua
        Alice Li

        Having already reported a significant increase in mineral reserves that serve to enhance its self-sufficiency, China is digging deeper with plans to enhance support for finding valuable resources – a move that comes as the United States is pressuring war-ravaged Ukraine to surrender half of its rare earth deposits in exchange for security guarantees.

        A push to secure home-grown sources of 36 “strategically important” minerals kicked off in 2021, when Beijing laid out a plan that runs through this year and aims to reduce China’s reliance on overseas purchases while ensuring that it holds its own in the global battle for valuable resources.

        And on Monday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published an action plan aiming to guide the high-quality development of the energy-storage manufacturing industry, while also committing to the orderly allocation of mining rights and the enhancement of domestic resource security capabilities.

        The expanded effort is expected to unearth more substantial amounts of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

        The announcement came after state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday that China’s copper reserves – a critical resource for the manufacturing industry due to its importance in electric power, transport and construction – had increased by more than 30 million tonnes since 2021. The amount is equivalent to China’s total discoveries made in the previous decade.

        What’s more, China has established a 3,000km (1,864-mile) lithium mineral belt, estimated to hold between 20 million and 30 million tonnes of lithium. According to the CCTV report, this could help ensure that lithium prices are no longer subject to the control of Western mining companies.

        1. One thing I have to give to the loathsome Communist Chinese is that they think in the long term. Don't know if you are aware of it but what we call rare earths now a days was one, if not the major reason, along with water, that they invaded Tibet in 1950. That is the sort of long term thinking that we just don't do in the West.

          Ever read: "The Art of War."?

      2. I just listened to Trump talking on Fox. I'll post it with these remarks. He seems to be somewhat dubious about rare earth minerals in Ukraine but interested in the possibility. But he practically accuses Zelenskyy of being a con man on the issue.
        Sounds as though Trump has a cold too. One of the amusing things in the interview is Brian Kilmeade is somewhat nervous that it sounds as if Trump can't stand Zelenskyy but likes Putin.

        https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369149416112

    2. They're on both sides of the frontline, scattered across Ukraine. The mines have been closed for years.. same as most of the rare earth mineral mines all over the world.. the Chinese made them unprofitable to mine.

      China announced it would restrict its exports of minerals crucial to the tech trade to the United States on Tuesday.

      One of the key benefits of having an entire cabinet full of low IQ 6th Form thickos.. is that you don't really need to worry about rare earth minerals that make up Ai high-tech stuff because you are not involved.. not interested.. and have run down the armed forces to pitiful levels.
      However, the USA knows what's coming next.. and are busily preparing for that scenario in Asia.

      1. I doubt Starmer even knows that there's a degree of gold in a modern CPU. The man is a moron. We are not only going to be left behind ecconomically, but technologically. That's a gap we will never be able to bridge.

        Then there's the gormless moron's approach to energy and we have the perfect storm dragging the entire nation to ruin.

        They must be removed. Now, before it's too late.

        Then hang the swine.

    1. As in fishy politicians?
      Rather like designating otters as fish because they spend much of their time in water.

  72. Ah, you can tell it's going to be Sushi by the fact that they are wearing their chop sticks!

  80. Churchill portraits removed from Parliament after Labour’s victory
    Drawings, prints and photographs of Second World War leader were taken down following arrival of new MPs in Westminster

    Craig Simpson
    Arts Editor
    24 February 2025 12:35pm GMT
    Portraits of Winston Churchill have been removed from Parliament since Labour’s landslide general election victory, The Telegraph can reveal.

    Drawings, prints and photographs of the Second World War leader were taken down following the arrival of new MPs in Westminster last year.

    Churchill’s legacy has been revised in recent years, with some academics and activists arguing that he was a racist imperialist who was responsible for the Bengal famine.

    Five images of the two-time prime minister were removed from parts of the parliamentary estate occupied primarily by MPs’ offices. One photograph removed from Portcullis House, Parliament’s main office building, showed Churchill standing at the Cenotaph in 1945.

    Images of other great Britons, including the Duke of Wellington, were also removed from display after Labour’s victory.

    The portraits form part of the Parliamentary Art Collection, a repository of 10,000 works from which MPs can choose for the purpose of decorating their offices.

    The collection was audited for possible links to slavery and racism following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. The audit was carried out by the Speaker’s advisory committee on works of art, which produced a dossier of artworks depicting historical figures deemed to be controversial.

    Portraits of several figures included in the dossier were taken down following the election, in which 335 new MPs were returned to Parliament, with Labour gaining 211 seats. The intake was said by some think tanks to be the most racially diverse ever.

    Days after the July 4 election, five portraits of William Gladstone, the four-time liberal prime minister, were taken down. Gladstone’s father had owned slaves and was compensated financially following the abolition of slavery.

    At the same time, five images of Oliver Cromwell were also removed. He had been listed in the audit as someone who “supported slavery, had financial or family interests in the transatlantic slave trade and slavery”. Lord Liverpool, a Tory prime minister, was listed in the same way, and a portrait of him has been removed.

    Three portraits of the Duke of Wellington were also taken down a week after the election. The general and prime minister, although not mentioned in the dossier, furthered colonial interests in India.

    Although William Wilberforce was a famous campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade, a portrait of him was also removed.

    A portrait of Lord Salisbury, the Victorian prime minister, was taken down, along with artwork depicting the poet John Milton, Charles I, and a painting of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

    Most affected artworks were removed from the office buildings of Portcullis House, Derby Gate and the Norman Shaw building, outside the main Palace of Westminster and used for offices for MPs. It is understood they are now in storage.

    Within the Palace of Westminster, which is not subject to the same choices as an individual office, there are several statues and paintings of Churchill.

    The display and location of artworks in the Commons is overseen by the Heritage Collections Team and the Speaker’s advisory committee on works of art. Some artworks are built into the fabric of the Palace, while others have more or less permanent positions. Some rotation of artworks also takes place, not necessarily dictated by MPs.

    News of the changes comes after The Telegraph revealed that Sir Keir Starmer had removed a portrait of William Shakespeare from No 10, along with images of Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Margaret Thatcher.

    The Telegraph has also revealed that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has taken down images of leaders including David Lloyd George and Benjamin Disraeli from No 11 in favour of works commemorating lockdown.

    1. You're lucky they only removed them and didn't destroy them or throw em in the nearest canal.

      Totems are the first thing that goes in a civil war.. anything regarded as being symbolic or representative of a particular quality or concept.

      1. Absolutely. There's a common theme with all the removed paintings which make it obvious that the regime is hostile to England.

      2. I think the Left would have preferred Hitler had won. They're certainly still fighting the second world war, just with different weapons.

    2. They had to make room for their idols. Stalin, Marx, Mao Zedong., Lenin, Ho Chi Min, Kim Il Sung, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Bill Gates, . . . God! There are thousands of them.

      1. Note that this was written today. It was tucked away in the arts section. Deliberately hidden I would be willing to bet. I only became aware of it due to a blurb on MSN and then tracking the story down to the Telegraph via my search engine, Duckduckgo.

      3. … Pol Pot, Papa Doc, Erich Honecker, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Leon Trotsky, Viscount Stansgate, Arthur Scargill …

    3. Academics and activists who owe Churchill their freedom to whinge. Odd how spoiled, useless wasters complain about great men.

  82. So, after shifting the big log over the road, I goes out to do other jobs.
    And it rains so I come indoors for a mug of tea.
    Finishes tea and goes outside again to do some more jobs.
    And it rains again.
    Now bright and sunny, but the fish fingers and chips are nearly ready!

      1. There may or may not be God.
        But there's definitely Allah, the world is going to Hell in his handcart, dragged, pushed and driven by his devil-worshipping adherents.

    6. First thought, a mother telling her ten year old daughter, "Don't worry, he's an old man, and the family needs the money".

  87. Steerpike
    Energy bosses lose faith in Miliband’s net zero goals
    24 February 2025, 1:36pm

    When it rains for the Labour lot, it pours. Now Ed Miliband is in the firing line after a new global survey revealed a sharp fall in confidence about net zero among top energy bosses. The Energy Industries Council polling found just one in six energy chiefs believe the world can achieve net zero by 2050 – compared to nearly half of bosses who thought the same last year. Dear oh dear…

    Miliband’s Tory counterpart Andrew Bowie was pulling no punches about the results, telling the Daily Mail:

    "When nearly half of senior energy executives lose faith in it, the government’s energy policy isn’t working. Instead of backing British industry, Labour throws billions at Ed Miliband’s GB Energy vanity projects, lets eco-zealot donors dictate policy and flirts with handing our energy security to China.

    Ouch. Don’t hold back, eh?

    This shift in confidence is a blow for the Energy Secretary, who has been busy pushing his green agenda since his party came to power last June. Yet despite Miliband’s efforts, just 16 per cent of senior energy execs believe the 2050 target can be achieved – and now his own Prime Minister has watered down his stance on the green goal. Speaking at Scottish Labour’s conference in Glasgow on Sunday, Starmer first pledged £200 million for the Grangemouth oil refinery before promising that ‘oil and gas will be part of the future of Scotland for decades to come’. How curious…

    It’s not the first time the Labour leadership has diverged from Miliband’s stance – with the party’s recent turnaround on a third Heathrow runway proving rather controversial, not least given the lefty politician previously threatened to resign over the plans under Gordon Brown. Starmer’s softened stance and the latest polling will come as yet more bad news for Miliband. Bad luck, Ed!

    1. You'd think even the gormless oaf Miliband would realise that the attempted spin of patriotism with 'Great British Energy' will just see energy go the say way as every other Left wing union run for state not market industry: cars, steel, telecoms, mining, energy…

      The man is a fool and needs to be kicked in the face repeatedly until he learns how dumb he is and admits it is just a tax scam to enrich nasty little Lefties.

  88. Tom Slater
    The British police are deeply hostile to free speech
    24 February 2025, 10:45am

    Are you angry about bin collections? Potty about potholes? Incandescent about the behaviour of your local council or councillors? Well whatever you do, don’t post disparaging things about them on the internet. Unless you want a visit from the police, that is.

    Yes, saying critical things about your elected local representatives is the latest thing that can get you in trouble with Britain’s speech police, if the experience of Helen Jones in Stockport is anything to go by. She was paid a visit by Greater Manchester Police last week, after she called on a local councillor to resign.

    The local councillor is Labour’s David Sedgwick, who has been implicated in the infamous ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ scandal – the WhatsApp group in which now-ousted health minister Andrew Gwynne and other Labourites in Greater Manchester shared off-colour jokes, many of them about their constituents.

    On Facebook, Jones posted: ‘Let’s hope [Sedgwick] does the decent thing and resigns. I somehow think his ego won’t allow it.’ For this and other comments, she was reported to the police for harassment and got a knock at the door from two of Manchester’s finest.

    Can the police be charged with wasting their own time? If so, those officers should be written up pronto. They conceded Jones had committed no crime, but wanted to ‘advise’ her about the complaint anyway. Why they didn’t just dismiss the complaint – which Jones believes came from Sedgwick himself – out of hand is anyone’s guess.

    I know we have become accustomed to the police showing up at someone’s home because they have posted something somewhere that someone else found offensive. But we really shouldn’t. From the thousands of arrests each year over ‘grossly offensive’ tweets to the Orwellian harvesting of ‘non-crime hate incidents’, the police are fast becoming the armed wing of offence culture.

    What’s more, just because no further action was taken with Jones, that doesn’t mean cases like hers aren’t a problem for freedom of speech. If ordinary people fear a police officer showing up if they speak their minds online, this is bound to intimidate some of them into silence.

    What’s more, this credulous pursuit of vexatious complaints effectively turns the police into the personal goon squad of the easily offended – whether they are a trans activist, furious about being accurately gendered, or a local politician who doesn’t like to be criticised.

    Indeed, cases like this are a reminder that, where Britain’s literal PC police are concerned, our censorious laws are only half the problem. From those Merseyside coppers who drove around with a billboard declaring ‘Being offensive is an offence’ to the Glasgow police social-media team who tweeted ‘Think before you post or you may receive a visit from us this weekend’, many police forces have been willing participants in their collective rebrand as a Poundshop Stasi – often going above and beyond what the law actually says or requires of them.

    Far be it from me to tell the police how to do their jobs. But how about they… do their jobs? You know, enforce the law, chase down criminals, attend the occasional burglary. All this speech policing makes them look sinister and ridiculous in equal measure.

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

    Anitawales
    4 hours ago
    If Sedgwick made the complaint then that must be made public.

    The powers-that-be, when they want to silence someone but know an official police complaint will be deemed spurious, now employ the highly effective tactic of punishing the accused by forcing them to go through the legal process of being investigated- even if it is known that the case will come to nought.

    For the accused this means a protracted period of anxiety, sometimes the loss of livelihood, huge expense if legal advice is necessary and sometimes social isolation and trolling. It is a protracted punishment when no crime has been committed, and a cruel tactic that merits exposure with punishment meted to the accuser. If there is no recourse for the accused, then future spurious complaints will proliferate and freedom of speech will suffer even more erosion.

    So let's see who made the vexatious accusation to Helen Jones, so that we will know what a spiteful individual who cannot cope with deserved criticism looks like.

    Boot
    3 hours ago
    Tom Slater misses the point completely. Greater Manchester Police are clearly the enforcement arm of the Labour Party around Manchester. The reason the "grooming" gangs were not simply ignored but protected was because senior Labour local and national politicians gave the orders. Now we have intimidation of people who post very mild criticisms on Facebook. There's a pattern here, and it absolutely stinks.

    1. I don't know how they go about recruiting (or training) these days but, back in the 1970s when I was a recruit, 95% of my fellow officers were all true-blue since we only ever got pay rises and respectful treatment under Conservative governments. Labour treated us like a piece of dogshit under your shoe.

    2. East Germany, West Germany and Bavaria. The East see themselves as the poor relations, and the Bavarians have always had a strong local identity. Just a surprise more of the "west" workimg class did not vote Afd.

      1. It's also that the East doesn't want to go back to the Communism that's on offer from the mainstream parties.

      2. Isn't it the case that the CDU doesn't contest Bavaria, allowing the CSU, its sister party, to be the sole traditional conservative party in that region? The CSU, as far as I know, stands nowhere else in Germany. The two parties are distinct but have a longstanding electoral alliance.

        AfD's electoral success in what was East Germany is quite striking. Nearly 35 years after reunification, the East remains less affluent. Economic hardship is never a good breeding ground for welcoming migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

    3. East Germany, West Germany and Bavaria. The East see themselves as the poor relations, and the Bavarians have always had a strong local identity. Just a surprise more of the "west" workimg class did not vote Afd.

    4. Looking at that map and going by memory – it would seem that Potsdam voted CDU. It has become a luvvy area; media types are the only people who can afford the houses.

  90. Starmer faces by-election headache
    A recall petition could now be triggered in Amesbury’s constituency, paving the way for a potentially perilous by-election for Sir Keir Starmer.

    If 10 per cent of his constituents vote to oust him, a fresh poll will be triggered in the seat, in which Reform UK beat the Tories to second place at the general election.

    That would be the first major electoral test of 2025 for Labour and Reform and could spark a major headache for Sir Keir, with Nigel Farage aiming to win over Labour voters in traditionally working class communities.

    While Labour won with almost 53 per cent of the vote compared to Reform’s 18 per cent last year, Mr Farage’s party will be primed to capitalise on Sir Keir’s rocky start in government.

    Reform said Amesbury should stand down immediately as an MP and allow a by-election to take place.

    Zia Yusuf, the party’s chairman, said: “Today, Mike Amesbury has been sentenced to 10 weeks in prison.The great people of Runcorn deserve far better than waiting six weeks for a recall petition to take place. We call on Mike Amesbury to do the honourable thing and resign immediately so a by-election can be held.”

    3. "Major headache" is something of an overstatement. Even if Labour were to lose Runcorn, the party's parliamentary majority would barely be dented.

      1. Maybe not. But maybe they would be more alert to their deep unpopularity. Not that that would make any difference to their ghastly agenda.

  91. Afternoon, all. Have just spent ages jumping through hoops to renew my blue badge. Given that I already have one and nothing has changed apart from more degeneration in my joints you would have thought that it would be simple. Not a bit of it. I effectively had to reapply from scratch giving proofs and uploading medical documents. Now I have to wait until they decide whether I can have a new badge or not. If I lived 2 miles down the road it would be free as well.
    It doesn’t bode well for an ID scheme. Their incompetence would make life a misery for the law abiding and the scrotes would get away with everything.

      1. Nah – only the right people will be exempt from ID cards.

        The Left want everyone else to be on 'the system' but the favoured comrades are exempt

    2. The horrible answer is for us all to become scrotes. Pay no rates, no tax, no tv licence, road tax, insurance, visit food banks and shoplift all the little extras in life. Add to that a little bit of black on the side, and watch the socialist dream die in the bedlam of anarchy.

    2. They couldn't have done that with mere smear noses as the Bi-coloured-Python-Rock-Snake could have told them!

  94. Just watching a cameo of Antonnio Carluci and Gennaro Contaldi in Piedmonte. Antonnio's home village.

    He gives him a slice of local cheese and says 'eat that' and forget about your stupid vegetables.

    Definitely one for Grizz !

      1. I don't think any supermarket sushi is any good. It might be okay but i really couldn't say.

        What is it about sushi you are looking for?

        1. Just that I have been craving sushi but I can't go out for it because of my health. So supermarket it has to be.

          1. In that case go for it. Waitrose and M&S are likely to be the best but…………..the fish has to be the freshest of the fresh and supermarkets can't manage that very well.

    2. I ate at one of Antonio Carluccio's restaurants (in Kensington) before he died. The food was good if a little pricey. The waiters were excellent and hard-working but very poorly paid. I tipped generously.

      1. Carlucci was annoyed that he was expected to pay his staff. I can understand that in a way.

        I always tip well because i have been the server in the distant past and it made a big difference to me.

        1. I don't, as I think that should be included in the cost of the dinner.

          The hospitality industry is nasty in expecting decent people to be nice to idiots like my mother who doesn't like anything.

        2. The Queensbury Hotel in Bath has done away with the 12 &1/2% 'Optional Service Charge' and has taken the decision to incorporate it in its Menu Prices …"In order to pay its staff a more realistic wage above the minimum basic wage'….

          1. Given the attacks by this government on all industry i am not surprised. A problem remains for staff though. If they go over the tax threshold they lose out in paying more tax.
            It is no surprise that most people are opting for flexi time or fewer hours and then claiming benefits as a top up.

            Government doesn't have a fucking clue.

    1. Er ….. possibly.
      After I've had a coffee …. walked the dog ….. finished the crossword ……..

  100. Thank you Pip. I have bookmarked it. Perhaps I can arrange some self indulgence with my South African friend. That is expensive but once or twice a year would be OK….or three…..or four…..or

      1. Lovely stuff. Haven't had sake in years. There was a Japanese brewery in Berkeley. My first wife and I would often go there. We both liked sake and Japanese food at Yoshi's, a wonderful restaurant in Jack London Square in Oakland. I wonder if both are still around?

    2. As it happens there is a sushi chef on Saturday Kitchen Feb 22nd on iplayer. You could make your own !

  101. Come on ladies. Own up. Is your other half like thIs?
    https://scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/480634525_642257391787066_8685496701879704002_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=PRPcxIJ29-kQ7kNvgEnOQ40&_nc_oc=AdiIW4lDqa_PD-vlZZ-Kk5zKp1lU-D6RQyr14vVMUnHHEzXBXISwBXN0FCbfn03XRSOcyCcbXaIQuk3Z-btw_mxP&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&_nc_gid=AN0hWmm4gOmqEbUHrwTBmcv&oh=00_AYBx2X9gSehhNfooENd9RogVUniUe01bv6ucjbqO33Md2A&oe=67C27012

    1. I once admonished a gang of unruly teenagers.
      I told them, "It's drips like you … and squirts like you … that make up this shower."

  102. The best I ever had was at a sushi/sashimi restaurant in Sydney. It was sensational. They even had freshly teppan-yakied hot kobe beef on some dishes.

      1. Yabbies and barramundi were delicious. Sydney fish market has to be seen to be believed. The singlemost tasty mouthful — of my entire life — was a Sydney rock oyster, served on the half shell and dressed with mirin, lime juice and grated ginger. It was orgasmic!

    2. I ate sushi in Melbourne (Victoria, rather than Derbyshire). I'll try anything once. I ate Prince Edward Island oysters when I was in Canada.

    1. Different strengths and different tastes too. Now a days I would not dare drink any alcohol.

    1. Thank you Bill. That actually made me tear up. There are certain things that you miss as you get older. I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.

    2. In Argentina, notorious as in many South American countries for "Mañana", there is an expression "Hora Inglesa" ("English Time") meaning that the time you state will be kept to the minute.

    3. Elisabeth Dampier
      Germans won’t get the right-wing government they voted for
      24 February 2025, 7:13am

      Germany is still a divided country – at least when you look at its electoral map. After this weekend’s federal election, the east of the country is coloured in the light blue of the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), while the west is dominated by the black of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with scattered green and red spots that show where the Greens and the Social Democratic party (SPD) have maintained their left-wing hold on the cities. One third of all voters were undecided just one week before the election. That shows how many voters felt dissatisfied with all the parties.

      As expected, the CDU did best in the election, achieving 28.5 per cent of the vote, above the AfD on 20 per cent. However, the CDU shouldn’t celebrate yet. The party polled at 33 per cent back when Merkel was in charge. To get under 30 per cent of the vote when the incumbent SDP-Green-FDP government was so hated and voter turnout was a record 84 per cent really is an underperformance for the party.

      The truth is that their leader, Friedrich Merz, is now in a tricky position. He will likely go into a ‘grand coalition’ with the SPD. As the populist-left BSW failed to reach the 5 per cent threshold to enter parliament, he is less likely to need to partner with the Greens as well, in a so-called ‘Kenya’ coalition after that country’s flag (black-red-green)

      Even so, Merz will struggle to balance his coalition partner’s very different views on the economy and on immigration. When he announced plans to ditch dual citizenship for criminals, SPD party leader Saskia Esken was quoted as saying, ‘he would make naturalised citizens second-rate citizens’. The SPD will also be against any reform of the Bürgergeld welfare system it introduced, even though around half of it is paid to foreigners. If Merz does have to go into coalition with the Greens too, it will be hard to lower sky-high energy prices given the party wants to double-down on net zero.

      One surprising area where they might come to a mutual understanding, however, is the lowering of the public debt brake. Introduced in 2009 after the global financial crash, it is supposed to lower public borrowing, but it has been blamed for low rates of investment. It was suspended during Covid and again after Russia invaded Ukraine but its reinstatement last year helped to collapse the old government and usher in this election. Merz wants lower taxes but he knows Germany needs growth, so he has said, ‘I am used to saying never say never in politics.’ With Europe having to stand on its own two feet when it comes to defence after Vice President JD Vance’s speech in Munich, the new German government will also need to open its wallet.

      On the left of German politics, Olaf Scholz’s SPD has seen its share of the vote decline to 16.4 per cent, losing some of its voters to a newly rejuvenated Die Linke (‘The Left’). The far-left Die Linke had a successful last minute social media blitz to save the party, which initially looked like it wasn’t going to reach the 5 per cent hurdle needed to enter the Bundestag. It eventually reached 8.6 per cent. The SPD also lost some of its core working-class voters to the AfD, including in West Germany. Only 8 per cent of working-class voters believe the SPD can solve the country’s problems.

      Last but not least, the elephant in the room: the AfD. The party has achieved its best ever result, doubling its share of the vote since 2021 to reach 20 per cent. The party was the most popular choice for first-time voters, with 20.5 per cent of those casting their ballot for the first time backing the AfD.

      It seems unlikely though that the AfD will enter government. The CDU rowed back on the idea of forming a coalition with the AfD after they passed an anti-immigration motion with AfD votes and there was a huge media backlash. Merz has vowed publicly never to work again with the AfD. Although as Konrad Adenauer, the founding father of the CDU, famously said, ‘What do I care about my chit chat from yesterday?’

      In the end it seems like almost any kind of coalition is possible – except the right-wing government that Germans actually voted for. Even though two right wing parties – the CDU and the AfD – received 49 per cent of the vote and a majority of seats combined in Parliament, the CDU’s refusal to join a coalition with the AfD means the will of the voters will be frustrated and important reforms made impossible.

      A CDU coalition with two left-wing parties will likely fail to reduce immigration or improve the economy. Merz then faces a difficult choice: he can either persuade a coalition with the left to deliver reforms they don’t want. Or he can make an alliance with the AfD and face a meltdown by the entire political elite, including his own party.

    4. I bet the whole stunt of voting with the AfD and being dramatically defeated at the last moment was just a political manoeuvre to try and get potential AfD voters to vote CDU/CSU.

  113. The Albanians did go head over heels for Norman Wisdom for some bizarre reason, Elsie, – they adored him. I remember reading an account of the NW craze there, way back when, he was a Superstar. I supposes that F the C is indicating that the craze still endures.

    1. Opopanax, I knew that Norman Wisdom was an Albanian hero. What baffled me was the statement that Norman starred in the title role of the last five Bond films.

  114. Funny how one can remember a single mouthful of food for decades. I have happy memories of a particular delicious mussel in Sardinia. 🙂🙂

    1. My Grandmother's fresh cooked and picked crab in Weymouth. Served in a large crystal bowl. My first time. Never forgotten and never bettered.

      Most of the stuff they serve in restaurants now is pasteurised and mostly flavourless.

      Mum and Dad. Me and my annoying older brother on holiday. He didn't like his. Double joy ! :@)

  115. Uneffing believable !

    Mark Carney’s investment company has bought National Grid’s renewables business as the former Bank of England governor runs for political high office.

    The Canadian asset manager Brookfield, which is chaired by Mr Carney, is expected to complete the $1.7bn (£1.3bn) takeover of the National Grid operation by the end of September.

    The deal comes as Mr Carney, who last year raised $10bn for the group’s eco-friendly investment fund, battles to succeed Justin Trudeau as the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party in a contest on March 9.

  118. Wordle No. 1,346 4/6

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

    Wordle 24 Feb 2025

    A secretor for Par Four?

    3. Thought I'd rescued a par after a lousy start, alas no, wrong call from two! B-b-b-b-Bogey!

      Wordle 1,346 5/6

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

        1. I'm 'busy' tonight (meeting a couple of old buddies for a beer or ten) – I'll do it tomorrow morning and get back to you!

          1. Just finished on 56.00, currently 2nd in group, second by nearly 12 minutes.
            Lots of other finishers nearby and plenty of potential over takers.

            The leader is almost certainly a cheat or a fluke, judging by their record. One 3rd place and lots of no better than top 25’s, which suggests experimenting with a bot.
            A few hints, for what they’re worth, because I’d like you to beat any potential cheats in your group, and yes I know I’m cheating on your behalf!

            15 Complete deal one and head right every time on deal two
            16 It goes through to deal 3 and 4
            17 can certainly be done in two deals. Don’t try for deal 3!!
            18 maximise your scores, it completes if you do so.
            19 two deals, don’t try for the second/third if you miss one.

          3. He’ll understand.
            We both like playing Microsoft Solitaire.
            He enjoys a game called Tri Peaks, and he’s very good at it. Tonight the racing Solitaire is Tri Peaks, I’ve finished and am trying to offer some hints so that he can get a really good score.

            https://www.microsoftcasualgames.com/

          5. There are 20 challenges of varying difficulty.
            Some only allow one attempt, some allow two or even three.
            It is tempting to move on if the play looks improbable, a few were like that tonight, so I was offering some advice.
            I’m down to 4th now in my group of 50 and those above have odd looking records, eg more firsts than seconds and more seconds than thirds, by a substantial margin.

          6. Bugger, just remembered about this (I generally stay off sites like this till later in the afternoon) and it’s changed to a different game!

            Thanks for the tips though – I’ll try in future to keep an eye out for the TriPeaks challenges myself………

          7. I trust you had a good evening on the town.

            My 56.00 was pretty poor.
            The overall winner finished all the 20 challenges in about 3 seconds!!!

          8. Errr… Yes, very much so thanks, an excellent, riotous night. I’m afraid it had more than a little to do with my memory lapse!

            Yes, the number of bots on there is a major irritant – not sure what the point is??

          9. Exercises for programmers?
            That one yesterday was about 4 minutes faster than the one in second place.

      2. I wonder if your second word was the same as mine! A long shot, but it'll come up one day!
        Wordle 1,346 4/6

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

    1. Everything changed on 25th December 2024.. with that Xmas message. He chose his side, and it wasn't his people.

    1. Silly me – I thought suddenly forming blood clots might be from various jabs – well, that's a load off my mind /sarc

  123. That's me for today. Grey and raining most of the time. A few minutes of sunshine. Now, of course, as darkness starts to fall, clear sky and a biit of a sunset.

    Have a spiffing evening. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Mr Trump meets Toy Boy.

    A demain.

    1. The weather was unkind to you Bill. After early rain, the skies cleared to give Stevenage a dry day with some more than welcome sunny spells.

  125. I always got the notion that Daniel Craig’s Bond used the same tailor as Norman Wisdom. If he’d put on a flatcap and shouted for Mr Grimsdale rather than M, I wouldn’t have been the least surprised.

      1. Probably.
        Why do you think the Left are importing so many fighting age men who hate us, and they think will fight for their side?
        Being stupid, the Left don't realise that when they've done with us they'll turn on the Left.

  130. Psychologists who have been observing Trump's dialogues with various groups and individuals have the opinion that he has some form of disorder.
    After a recent altercation with someone who was thought only to be telling the truth, there was an hypothesis that POTUS may be displaying psychological projection.

    I watched a thirty minute video about how psychological projection presents itself but I lost it.
    Basically it's about projecting your own deficiences onto other people – as such it can be received as offensive and hurtful.

    2. That explains why Grizzly gets so cross when I have the temerity to challenge his dogmatic statements.

        1. Possibly, I’m not keen on being told categorically that something is correct when I know there are elements of considerable doubt or sometimes better evidence for the opposing view.

        2. PS.
          I missed the “cat”, too subtle for my replying to replies the following day.

          Catatonic perhaps

  131. Psychologists who have been observing Trump's dialogues with various groups and individuals have the opinion that he has some form of disorder.
    After a recent altercation with someone who was thought only to be telling the truth, there was an hypothesis that POTUS may be displaying psychological projection.

    I watched a thirty minute video about how psychological projection presents itself but I lost it.
    Basically it's about projecting your own deficiences onto other people – as such it can be received as offensive and hurtful.

    2. But Danish Bacon. Was it being picked up for a large sarnie on return to the office? 🤗🐷

    4. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/670601a30820f91554ec38222a3ecdfd4b5c8115f2c444d49747824605c6fae8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49f484802924987aabc837df6e3351958b55d7f9092d1ef000713ee9fdf218b0.png Ceentral Pavement is the part on the right of BoB's photo The back entrance to the Cop Shop is on Low Pavement. I've driven in and out of Theatre Yard more times than I've had hot dinners.

      The 'Danish Bacon' sign referred to the previous owners of the shop on the right when it was known as the Home and Colonial store, a grocery that specialised in bacon, cheese and bread, alongside countless items of tinned goods. It was later taken over by Davidson's cheese factor.

      The lower photo shows the front of the Cop Shop as it was when I worked there in the 1970s.

  136. One of our favourites for dinner tonight, not too filling but very tasty. Smoked salmon linguine. Delicious.
    And not much washing up for the chef.
    I might have another glass of before bed.
    Finished some of the eye drops later tonight and tonight is the last time I have to wear the plastic eye shield.
    Number one's FiL had his first cataract removal today. He rang me yesterday and I talked him through it. As in, whatever happens, there's nothing you can do…..just lay back and put up with it. I'll phone him in the morning to see how he is getting on.
    So goodnight all enjoy your evening.
    😉😴

  137. Litmus test coming up.

    Mike Amesbury the Runcorn and Helsby MP is now under pressure to resign from the Commons, which would trigger a by-election that Nigel Farage and his party hopes to win.

    2. I doubt the fat thug has an honourable bone in his slug-like body, so he’s unlikely to do the decent thing!

  138. Did any of you listen to the Archers this afternoon .

    We were driving back from somewhere or other .. my daily walk with out the dog .. in fact to tell you the truth we visited a couple of charity shops and we both purchased a couple of things, Moh bought a Mountain Warehouse jacket , suitable for golf , not crackly sounding .. £20 .. he was thrilled , and I bought an M&S gilet for £7 , very nice.

    Going back to the Archers , my goodness , the conversation was about Ramadan and fasting ..

    This is todays 2pm afternoon episode https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/23-02-2025/id265970428?i=1000695332887

    Frustrated Natasha thinks Emma’s wasting her time pursuing the water company when she should be focusing her efforts increasing footfall at the Tearoom. Later she apologises for being snippy, admitting she’s worried. They’re losing money and it’s demoralising. She’s pleased to see Kirsty, joking she’s at least one paying customer. Kirsty wonders whether Natasha and Tom have had a chance to progress the house purchase. Natasha promises they’ll all sit down together soon. Her priority currently is getting the business back on a firm footing. Emma suggests a Pancake Day initiative, and after some debate they settle on a pancake eating contest. What have they got to lose?
    Azra confides to Lynda there’s no chance they’ll be back in their own house in time for Ramadan – the house smells and the utility room is still damp. Kirsty reports she’s got a professional company in to clean her house. They’re doing a complete refit. She can’t afford to wait, she just needs the house sold. Later Azra explains to interested Lynda how she manages her and the family’s fasting arrangements, admitting that this year will be particularly challenging with all the stress of the house. Lynda suggests contacting Justin to see if he can advise on who should take responsibility for the sewage issues. Meanwhile she offers Azra the use of her kitchen as much as she needs it – she and Robert will work round her. In a moment of inspiration Lynda offers to fast alongside Azra so that they’re synchronised.

    Unbelievable!

      1. No wonder I gave up on The Archers years ago. It's clearly gone downhill faster than JC Killy since then.

      1. Can't have that – too realistic! Then the farm had to be sold to pay inheritance tax and a developer came in to build houses on the land. Azra decided that the kuffars were disrespecting islam because Lynda hesitated about wearing a burka and mowed down a line of school children in a 4×4.

          5. PS.

            I was tempted to write:

            As opposed to Sue M who is a lot of insanity in a sane world.

            But decided she might not be amused

    4. I've never been an Archers fan – I definitely won't be breaking the habits of a lifetime to bother with it now!

    5. I really cannot believe there is a person of colour in the countryside, its soooo racist. Ramadamadingdong is meant to be taxing for the individual, that is the point of it, to feel the suffering of those who do in their everyday lives. I have an interest here close to home, of course, but I shall still knock up a bacon sarnie…

      2. One of the local charity shops had ramadan cards for sale. I didn't visit for a while. Then, when one of the staff met me in the street and remarked on my absence, I told her exactly why. We'll see if they're on sale again this time.

    6. I've never willingly listened to The Archers. I have been within earshot, on very few occasions, when others are listening.

  139. 402064+ up ticks,

    Pillow Ponder,

    A multitude of indigenous peoples have suffered these past forty years via the voting actions of the lab/lib/con coalition, setting us well and truly on the path to mecca, sadly not at the defunct Odeon cinema
    but the Saudi jobee.

    It has had a great deal of help via the voting pattern and the voters continuous voting tribal diligence is now paying off.
    https://x.com/Wyatt_Earp_II/status/1893683106596471222

      1. We may have a day's grace, it might be the 1st. Alhamdullilah. Yer slammers have to go and look at the moon to check the astronomical tables. Its just soo exciting I cant wait…

      1. The problem in the West is that our great leaders don't listen to what the leaders of islam actually say. Evening Conners!

        1. Evening, Kaypea. If they'd only use the English translation (submission) they might get an inkling of what it's about.

          1. Very often we have to click 'Submit' when doing paperwork online. Cunning form of conditioning I suppose.

    1. What goes on under the surface doesn't bear thinking about. I await the Don's revelations on 4 Mar, if the Tweet was accurate.

  146. Mr Amesbury's violence reminded me of the Joe Pesci character in the film GoodFellas.
    I wonder what the family surname was before they became 'Amesbury'?

Comments are closed.