Monday 24 January: Our politicians must stop point-scoring and address the greater issues

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

715 thoughts on “Monday 24 January: Our politicians must stop point-scoring and address the greater issues”

  3. No 10 casts Johnson as head of anti-Russian alliance over Ukraine. 24 January 2022.

    The unusual Foreign Office revelation on Saturday night that British intelligence had unmasked a plot to install a Russian puppet government in Ukraine was issued alongside a lengthy release from Downing Street in effect claiming Boris Johnson was now at the helm of an anti-Russian alliance.

    The release said a deeply engaged Johnson was being briefed daily on the crisis, had ramped up the Whitehall response and was willing to engage directly with Vladimir Putin. It also touted his close personal friendship with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the number of calls he had made to world leaders in recent days.

    The release, promising ministers would be fanning out across Europe and a gear change across Whitehall, sought to give the impression of an animated leader gripping a crisis, some distance from the impression of a broken man unable to shed the travails of Downing Street parties in lockdown.

    This is just posturing for distraction! Boris no more heads such an alliance than I am Editor of Nottl! He has of course dispatched advanced and expensive (without charge) weaponry to Ukraine and thus risked drawing us directly into the purported conflict without it being debated or discussed in Parliament or Public. This grandiose gesturing is more likely to cause division than unity. Macron would certainly not agree, the new German government would find it unacceptable and Biden cannot bear to speak to Boris except when public appearance compels it! This said no one should discount the possibility that he will commit troops on the ground to save his own political skin and thus risk a wider war! Shades of 1914.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/23/no-10-casts-boris-johnson-as-head-of-anti-russian-alliance-over-ukraine

    1. Morning Minty et al.

      With a bit of luck Ms Grey’s findings will result in Habeas Corpulent….

    2. The problem is that there is not, one BIG man or woman in the Cabinet capable of taking the stick from Johnson that the fool would use to provoke Putin. It’s not in doubt that Putin has the measure of Johnson who by comparison is a little man politically and not even secure in his role as PM. Foreign forays to divert attention from his massive entanglement with the globalist covid scandal is the mark of a foolish man when if he wanted to improve his standing, indeed a task of Augean proportions, he could do worse than try to repair the damage his alliance with the globalists has wreaked here in the UK.

  4. No 10 casts Johnson as head of anti-Russian alliance over Ukraine. 24 January 2022.

    The unusual Foreign Office revelation on Saturday night that British intelligence had unmasked a plot to install a Russian puppet government in Ukraine was issued alongside a lengthy release from Downing Street in effect claiming Boris Johnson was now at the helm of an anti-Russian alliance.

    The release said a deeply engaged Johnson was being briefed daily on the crisis, had ramped up the Whitehall response and was willing to engage directly with Vladimir Putin. It also touted his close personal friendship with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the number of calls he had made to world leaders in recent days.

    The release, promising ministers would be fanning out across Europe and a gear change across Whitehall, sought to give the impression of an animated leader gripping a crisis, some distance from the impression of a broken man unable to shed the travails of Downing Street parties in lockdown.

    This is just posturing for distraction! Boris no more heads such an alliance than I am Editor of Nottl! He has of course dispatched advanced and expensive (without charge) weaponry to Ukraine and thus risked drawing us directly into the purported conflict without it being debated or discussed in Parliament or Public. This grandiose gesturing is more likely to cause division than unity. Macron would certainly not agree, the new German government would find it unacceptable and Biden cannot bear to speak to Boris except when public appearance compels it! This said no one should discount the possibility that he will commit troops on the ground to save his own political skin and thus risk a wider war! Shades of 1914.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/23/no-10-casts-boris-johnson-as-head-of-anti-russian-alliance-over-ukraine

  6. Morning, all Y’all.
    Starting with another home office clusterfcuk: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60091127
    Liverpool bomber papers raise fresh questions for Home Office
    Emad al-Swealmeen and the UK:
    October 1989: Born in Baghdad
    December 2013: Applied for a visitor’s visa and is fingerprinted
    April 2014: Arrived and sought asylum
    November 2014: Rejected and appealed
    April 2015: Lost appeal
    August 2015: Lost challenge to that appeal
    Unknown date in 2017: Applied again under a new name
    By end of 2020: Lost that second claim
    January 2021: Lodged another appeal
    Separator
    During his interview with a Home Office assessor, Al Swealmeen confirmed he had been living in the United Arab Emirates for 14 years and gave a vague account about returning to Syria to visit family, despite the raging conflict.

    He said he had then left out of fear for his life, returned to the UAE and flown on to the UK to claim asylum.

    That flight, on a genuine Jordanian passport, came four months after he had already applied for a UK visa – meaning that British immigration officials had a copy of his fingerprints before he arrived.

    When a Home Office asylum case worker questioned Al Swealmeen closely about his travels, he couldn’t explain why he had been in danger or describe his purported family’s situation in Syria – such as basic facts about the geography of where they lived.

    An expert in Arabic also analysed Al Swealmeen’s speech and concluded he was almost certainly Iraqi.

      1. I’m impressed with the efforts made to find out where he really came from. Should have been arrested on failure of application and sent back to Emirates immediately. Appeals to be made from abroad (as in Norway).

          1. Bread, butter, champagne, oysters, caviar, home in Cap d’Antibes, nice car, nice yacht…

    2. ‘Morning Stephen. Scandalous, isn’t it? So long as we demonstrate such rank incompetence other illegal immigrants, and those contemplating arrival here, will seek to destroy us. I imagine that some potential bombers will find this shambles most encouraging.

    3. Genuine Jordanian passport?
      Would that be a passport produced by a ‘genuine’ Jordanian or one purchased in the back streets of Amman?

    4. It has taken eight years for this to come to its conclusion. The BBC had to use legal force to pry this information from the Home Office.
      There are another 40,000 of these people “known” to the security services. There is no will in any of our successive governments to end this ongoing murderous danger to our people,

    1. Morning Bob. The whole purpose of the West’s MSM is to distract attention from Home Grown problems!

  8. Ukrainians baffled by ‘Putin’s choice of puppet’ to lead after invasion. 24 January 2022

    He is supposedly being lined up by Vladimir Putin as the future leader of a pro-Russian government in Ukraine.

    But in Kyiv, few have even heard of Yevhen Murayev – and those who recognise the name doubt that he wields enough influence to govern the country.

    At Maidan Square, the crucible of Ukraine’s 2014 revolution, the Daily Telegraph was met with puzzled looks when Mr Murayev’s name was mentioned.

    They are puzzled because the whole thing is a fantasy dreamed up in Boris’s bedroom!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/01/23/ukrainians-baffled-putins-choice-puppet-lead-invasion/

  9. Ukrainians baffled by ‘Putin’s choice of puppet’ to lead after invasion. 24 January 2022

    He is supposedly being lined up by Vladimir Putin as the future leader of a pro-Russian government in Ukraine.

    But in Kyiv, few have even heard of Yevhen Murayev – and those who recognise the name doubt that he wields enough influence to govern the country.

    At Maidan Square, the crucible of Ukraine’s 2014 revolution, the Daily Telegraph was met with puzzled looks when Mr Murayev’s name was mentioned.

    They are puzzled because the whole thing is a fantasy dreamed up in Boris’s bedroom!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/01/23/ukrainians-baffled-putins-choice-puppet-lead-invasion/

  10. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    First letter:

    SIR – The Government is currently seeking to resolve at least six complex strategic issues, all of which require great political, social, and financial care and skill: these are Covid, the implementation of Brexit, levelling up the Red Wall constituencies, climate change, saving the Union, and financing social care.

    Now, in addition, the Russian threat to the Ukraine poses an immediate problem. Please can we escape from the present tangle of low political manoeuvres and redirect our attention to these important matters?

    Anthony Pick
    Newbury, Berkshire

    This assumes, Mr Pick, that there is anyone in government who has the knowledge and the skill to sort out these matters. On current form I think you are wasting your breath. Besides, I have no confidence whatsoever in tbis useless shower – if there’s a wrong way of doing something they will find it.

  11. I think this should have been the first letter:

    SIR – As a Cold War warrior, between 1959 and 1982 I completed three tours of the Rhine with the British Army.

    Back then, we could field three well-equipped armoured divisions supported by tactical nuclear weapons, a robust resupply and reinforcement system and a strong RAF. Alongside us were the Americans and Canadians, and the forces of the Nato European countries – and we practised together constantly. Even so, our strategy was based on a fighting withdrawal, which would give us 40 days to defeat the enemy or time to enforce a political settlement before the use of strategic nuclear weapons.

    Now, as a result of the Peace Dividend, we have few, if any, British, American or Canadian forces on the Continent, and our army is pitifully small and lacks up-to-date armour and missiles. Nato is a busted flush but, nevertheless, our politicians have enlarged its membership and pushed its influence on to the Russian borders.

    Our only response to Putin’s posturing over the Ukraine is to threaten him with economic sanctions, while in the pursuit of Green policies we have made ourselves dependent on his gas.

    Nato – and the West as a whole – needs to wake up, reassess its future and quickly develop a workable policy towards Russia.

    Malcolm Allen
    Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

    Just as we ran down the NHS and our energy production, and are now paying a terrible price for doing so, the armed forces have suffered the same fate. Short-termism remains the name of the game for successive governments, and we are reaping the rewards of such stupidity.

  12. SIR – If anything is representative of our muddled thinking in the face of the pandemic it is the mandatory mask (report, January 22).

    Face masks serve chiefly as a constant reminder to us all to be afraid of social interaction and of normal human contact. As a hospital doctor, I find it deeply frustrating that I have to have important, sometimes devastating discussions when my face is half hidden. In so doing I make real human connection and trust almost impossible. The mask insidiously prevents us from healing after the pain of the past two years. We need to resume normal behaviour: the risk that is associated with coronavirus needs to be accepted as part of life.

    Children are learning to be afraid of interaction. Adults are not communicating, and are suffering isolation and mental distress as a result. Steamed glasses for those with impaired vision and an inability to lip read for those who are deaf are two of the overlooked but harmful effects of mask-wearing.

    It is time the small transmissibility benefit of mask-wearing was properly weighed up against the damaging parallel harms, and dispensed with. The mask is not protecting us, it is oppressing us.

    David Hildick-Smith
    Professor of Cardiology
    Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals

    SIR – It is not only head teachers who are ignoring recent changes to the face mask regulations (Letters, January 22). I had a text from my GP’s surgery saying that I will not be allowed to enter it unless I’m fully masked.

    Russell Hunt
    Fleet, Hampshire

    The dispensation with the face-nappy is still some way off…

    1. I have never worn one. I wonder why so few people did not exempt themselves. Most masks only protect against splash and nothing else. The whole thing is a con .

      1. 334588+ up ticks,

        Morning JN,
        But a very affective control tool, if the fight back was as strong as the current support for the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled / govn. controlled
        illegal immigration coalition then we would be well along
        the road named sanity.

      2. 334588+ up ticks,

        Morning JN,
        But a very affective control tool, if the fight back was as strong as the current support for the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled / govn. controlled
        illegal immigration coalition then we would be well along
        the road named sanity.

    2. “The dispensation with the face-nappy is still some way off…“. Not in this household it isn’t. We have never worn these abominations, they are bad for your health. All anyone had to do was read the government instructions and exemption is available to all “to whom it causes severe distress to wear”.

    3. My optician is telling me that masks are still mandatory. I’ll be taking my exemption badge then.

  13. SIR – On a recent train journey (Letters, January 22) from Cambridge to Leicester, I heard the following announcement: “Customers are advised that revenue protection officers boarded the train at Peterborough.”

    I think I know what that meant.

    Chris Bocock
    Quorn, Leicestershire

    Why give a warning? This allows freeloaders to make a tactical withdrawal to the bogs until the danger has passed, or to get off at the next (possibly unmanned) station.

    Someone needs to have a word with the useless Grant Shatts; he obviously has time on his hands having finally suspended the introduction of dumb and deadly ‘smart’ motorways that he has, until recently, tried endlessly to justify.

      1. Probably. And I would much prefer to be called ‘passenger’ by the train operators instead of ‘customer’. Change for the sake of change, it would seem.

  14. Nearly 100 migrants are brought ashore after crossing English Channel (not that the Home Office wants you to know how many). 24 january 2022.

    Nearly 100 migrants attempting to cross the Channel from France were rescued off the coast of England and brought to Dover today.

    It came after a coastguard spotter plane flying over the Channel reported a sighting of several migrants in severe distress around midday.

    This is of course just a part of the reason for the hysteria over Ukraine. The voters must be distracted from the reality of the Human Wave that is about to overwhelm the resources available to take in these people and don’t forget there is the Chinese and Afghan contingents as well. A war would serve well to disguise the solutions that will be applied! We Nottlers are extraordinarily fortunate. We have lived through the best of times but the ending of it will be extraordinarily unpleasant! The end not just of the UK and its people but the whole of Western Civilisation!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10432787/Nearly-100-migrants-brought-ashore-crossing-English-Channel.html

  15. SIR – The proposal to ban big windows or conservatories due to the possibility of warmer summers smacks of Covid-style “modelling”. I lived for two years in Virginia Beach in America, where temperatures were in the 40s. The first summer we used the air conditioning; by the second we were acclimatised.

    The hottest house I lived in was in Belgium, with long cold winters but warm brief summers; the house had tiny windows but was built of red brick with terracotta roof tiles. The modellers should think again.

    Gary Spalton
    Higher Tremarcoombe, Cornwall

    Well said, Sir. It seems all echelons of authority have become tainted by the idiocy surrounding “Covid”. This has adversely affected many people’s ability to think clearly. That, as an adjunct to the increasing stupidity of the species in general, does not bode well for the future.

    1. Since I’m not a ‘professor’, I can ask this without losing my job.
      Have medical advances allowed the dim to survive long enough to breed? Or did WWI wipe out so many young alpha males that the western breeding stock was depleted?

      1. I’m guessing the latter has much to account for. Up until WWI, people spoke and thought clearly (just read the literature of the time). Since then, slovenliness in speech and deeds seems to have proliferated at an accelerating rate.

        Those lions with the hearts of lions who succumbed in that pointless conflict were the last of a truly backboned breed.

        1. Oh – I don’t know- but the recent run of obituaries are of people born since that conflict.

        2. The thing that struck me, reading letters from even private soldiers in the Great War, was how literate they were and what legible handwriting they had!

  16. Good morning, everyone. Off to Fitzpatrick Referrals to have the Springer’s leg x-rayed to confirm metal plate and screws are intact.

      2. I recently read on a couple of local farcebook pages about several dogs getting sick after walks. Maybe there’s a bug going round. Hope your dog is better soon.

        1. There have been at least two dog deaths near me from swimming in the sea.

          I wonder if their owners realise that the dogs were swimming near a sewage outlet. Eastney, Portsmouth.

      3. Sleep is nature’s remedy. The late, great James Herriot described how he once covertly gave a stonking dose of something (Nembutal) to a dying ewe to relieve her misery, and to his astonishment she recovered, after having slept for at least two days.

    2. Good luck to you both.
      Keeping a springer spaniel still while the metalwork beds in must be a nightmare.

  17. SIR – Building regulations to make windows smaller (report, January 19) are a ridiculous idea.

    I have been sitting in my south-facing lounge basking in the free heat of the sun. My windows are 1970s size, and with the sun low at this time of year it floods in. All the heating can go off by 11am and stay off until 3pm, which is good for the environment and my bills. It stays cool in summer as the sun is high.

    Surely the rooms in these new houses will be very dark, meaning they will have to switch their lights on very early, using more electricity.

    Janet Cross
    Warrington, Cheshire

    SIR – Low-emission glass has been available for 20 years or more. Shades can be pulled down on hot or cold days to limit heat transmission even more. Heat loss or gain between the main house and the conservatory can be similarly controlled. This is a non issue.

    Alison Rhodes
    Waxhaw, North Carolina, USA

    SIR – The proposal to ban big windows or conservatories due to the possibility of warmer summers smacks of Covid-style “modelling”. I lived for two years in Virginia Beach in America, where temperatures were in the 40s. The first summer we used the air conditioning; by the second we were acclimatised.

    The hottest house I lived in was in Belgium, with long cold winters but warm brief summers; the house had tiny windows but was built of red brick with terracotta roof tiles. The modellers should think again.

    Gary Spalton
    Higher Tremarcoombe, Cornwall

    SIR – Appending a greenhouse on to a building was never a good idea. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter, the conservatory should be consigned to history. Where is the sense in using energy to keep such buildings cool?

    Thatched roofs are a proven and entirely natural insulator. Instead of covering our beautiful land with boring boxes, a few thatched houses could add beauty to the built environment as well as protecting occupants from climate changes.

    Catherine Lewis
    Levens Green, Hertfordshire

    We can be sure of one thing: if there’s something with a right and wrong way of legislation, this government will always seek the wrong way!

    Some of the BTL comments:

    Ian Lander
    7 HRS AGO
    Catherine Lewis. Get off your backside and open a window!

    Ian Lander
    6 HRS AGO
    And if you’re at hone open the conservatory door. Heat gain in early spring, late autumn and even a winters sunny day far outweighs summer heat.

    Charlotte May
    29 MIN AGO
    Instead of reducing window sizes why aren’t shutters, widely used in hot climates, considered. These can be closed on hot days with the windows open allowing air movement inside and reducing direct sunlight.

    1. We had a ceiling fitted in our conservatory a few years ago and it is equable all year round now. Previously it did get too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

      1. My conservatory (uterum) is very big at 30m² floor area. It has its own warm air/air heating system but, since it is not insulated, we rarely use it in winter.

        During the spring and summer months it is an outside room which we use as a dining room and sitting area (with the doors open on hot days).

        In the autumn and winter it is a large walk-in refrigerator. Having said that, my exercise bicycle is situated in there and I use it daily on days of inclement weather, when I can pedal fiercely whilst watching the birds outside on the feeders.

        1. Ours is our dining room but it used to get uncomfortably hot in summer and in the winter we just shut it off and retreated to the kitchen. So it’s good to be able to use it all year round. We also have two nesting boxes to watch from there – usually used by blueys or gt tits.

      2. ‘Morning N. We are about to do the same. Currently we either freeze (4° C the lowest we have seen) or fry (44°). The latter is far easier to cope with – we just open the windows and doors. We don’t heat it at any time. We have just completed our first year here, and find it useable in from about late Feb until Oct/Nov, but it is about to be completely refurbed- including the roof.

      3. Same here with my new, double-glazed conservatory. I’ve now got an insulated roof to complete it. Much more equable temperature and no longer freezing even on wintry days. An added benefit is that the sitting room, to which it is attached, no longer has an icy draught coming through the double doors.

    2. Means you need inward-opening windows or tilt/sash-type. Not many of the former in the UK.

  18. SIR – If anything is representative of our muddled thinking in the face of the pandemic it is the mandatory mask (report, January 22).

    Face masks serve chiefly as a constant reminder to us all to be afraid of social interaction and of normal human contact. As a hospital doctor, I find it deeply frustrating that I have to have important, sometimes devastating discussions when my face is half hidden. In so doing I make real human connection and trust almost impossible. The mask insidiously prevents us from healing after the pain of the past two years. We need to resume normal behaviour: the risk that is associated with coronavirus needs to be accepted as part of life.

    Children are learning to be afraid of interaction. Adults are not communicating, and are suffering isolation and mental distress as a result. Steamed glasses for those with impaired vision and an inability to lip read for those who are deaf are two of the overlooked but harmful effects of mask-wearing.

    It is time the small transmissibility benefit of mask-wearing was properly weighed up against the damaging parallel harms, and dispensed with. The mask is not protecting us, it is oppressing us.

    David Hildick-smith
    Professor of Cardiology Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals

    Excellent letter, Prof. David. The professional scaremongers are now on the run, it seems. We should pursue them all, with hounds if necessary, and bring them all to account. A period of quiet reflection and contemplation for them, maybe in a dungeon, would be an apt precursor to their prolonged interrogation and incarceration.

    1. Drag them down and tear them to pieces. Let the dogs eat their guts whilst they still live.

    2. Masks are a psychological tool.
      They reinforce fear of fellow human beings and the individual believes he is an inferior being, a carrier of certain death.
      In their fearful minds, all are reduced to the level of black rats with their infestation of plague bearing fleas.
      Remember the Nzis conflated Jews with rats; we have been down this path before.

      1. Doris et al prefer the (less objectionable?) term ‘selfish’ – after all, nobody wants to be thought of as selfish so labelling the unjabbed or unmasked as selfish is far more effective form of coercion.
        Whoops, good morning!

          1. And it works. I still see teenagers walking home from school wearing masks. OK, I think they still ‘have to’ wear them on the bus but one would have thought peer pressure would have encouraged them to remove them asap. Either the others are so brainwashed they no longer notice masks as out of the ordinary (ie normal) or they are simply too bone idle to expend the effort of sticking the mucky things in their pockets.

      2. I’ve just stolen your excellent comment for my own use, Nursey. Hope you don’t mind.
        I shall not claim authorship.

        1. No. absolutely delighted that my words of wisdom (?) are circulating east of the North Sea.

    3. I loathe the damn things – I stopped wearing one when last summer’s ‘freedom day’ was postponed but when others wear one I can’t hear what they are saying.

    4. “would be an apt precursor to their prolonged interrogation and incarceration”.

      You forgot the beatings.

  19. This is what real leadership, courage and dedication looks like:

    John Riggs, officer who led a platoon of Chindits through thick Burma jungle as part of Operation Thursday – obituary

    The platoon slowly carved a path through through dense bamboo, thorn and scrub and used elephant tracks to move more quickly

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    23 January 2022 • 5:52pm

    Captain John Riggs, who has died aged 101, took part in Operation Thursday, the Second Chindit Expedition, in Burma, in 1944.

    The 1st Battalion the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment (1 BHR), part of 14th Infantry Brigade, 70th Infantry Division, were stationed at Bangalore in India when they learned that they were to be transferred to Burma.

    The Battalion moved to an area south of Jhansi for six months’ rigorous training in jungle fighting. They were to become Chindits, as the force became known, long-range penetration troops whose objective was to support the American-Chinese advance by establishing fortified bases behind Japanese lines.

    From these strongholds, given the code names of cities, raiding columns would slog across some of the toughest terrain in the world to strike against the road, rail and river systems serving the Japanese army.

    Operation Thursday began in March 1944. Riggs commanded the Recce Platoon of 16 Column numbering about 40 men, including Karens from the hill tribes on the Thai border, rifle sections, signallers, and mule leaders. More lightly armed than the rest of the Battalion, they could move further and faster.

    Riggs’s column flew into “Aberdeen” stronghold on March 31. The mules were in makeshift bamboo stalls behind the pilots and crew. His men sat on their packs on the floor. They had orders to shoot the mules if they kicked away their stalls and threatened the safety of the aircraft.

    On landing, they bumped along the rough airstrip. Others were not so fortunate; in a bad landing, heavy earth-moving equipment could break loose and cause heavy casualties. The mules had to be coaxed out; they had lost their usual steadiness and for some minutes they staggered around as if drunk.

    The Battalion set off on a 30-mile approach march towards Indaw, a major road and rail hub. Where the teak had been cut and abandoned there was dense bamboo, thorn and every kind of low-level scrub through which a path had to be cut. Progress was slow and, where possible, the platoon used elephant tracks to move more quickly.

    Japanese trucks, loaded with soldiers, came looking for the platoon. Riggs was tempted to set up ambushes, but his orders were to reach Indaw undetected. On reaching the outlying villages they found many enemy fuel dumps. Information was passed back to the column’s rifle platoons, who destroyed them.

    Close to Indaw, the railway line was blown up and two enemy troop trains were held up. A nearby station was bombed and a platoon from Riggs’s column had to drive off a strong enemy patrol. Mawlu was attacked and the position held for three days while preparations were made for the evacuation of the “White City” stronghold.

    One member of Riggs’s platoon developed a high fever from malaria or scrub typhus, but Japanese troops were combing the area and any delay was dangerous. Riggs had a syringe and gave the man an intravenous injection of quinine. To his great relief, within 20 minutes the man was on his feet. Riggs said afterwards that he had never been so close to leaving one of his men behind.

    After leading a patrol north of Indawgyi Lake in an attempt to make contact with American and Chinese forces, he developed an outsize abscess on his back and had to be evacuated. At the end of November 1944 he embarked in SS Almanzora in charge of a draft of 100 soldiers for the voyage from Bombay to Glasgow.

    John Sydney Riggs, the son of a Master Mariner, was born at Ilford, Essex, on March 1 1920. Aged four, together with his mother and sister, he sailed to China to join his father, who was working at Hankow Port.

    John returned to England to attend St Paul’s Cathedral School before starting work with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The outbreak of war, however, was close and he joined The Artists Rifles before being commissioned into the BHR.

    He was posted to the 1st Battalion and joined the unit in Palestine, where he commanded the Signal Platoon. After a period on the Greek island of Lemnos and a campaign against the Vichy French in Syria, in October 1941 he sailed to Tobruk with his Battalion to relieve elements of the hard-pressed garrison.

    After the siege was lifted, Riggs rejoined 1 BHR on internal security duties in India. There was considerable civil unrest and they were tasked with guarding a long stretch of railway line which was threatened by Japanese forces on India’s eastern frontier.

    About that time, he learnt that his father had been imprisoned by the Japanese military police in Shanghai.The Indian Army provided the transport but the newly recruited Indian drivers had difficulty in controlling large lorries and sometimes these left the road and plunged into deep ravines, taking 20 or 30 soldiers to their deaths. Riggs realised a schoolboy dream by cultivating the Anglo-Indian train drivers and being allowed to ride in the cab of some of the great steam engines.

    After his return from Burma, he was posted to the Infantry NCOs’ School at Warrington, which soon merged into the newly-established School of Infantry, Warminster. In August 1946 he was demobilised.

    Riggs and his family spent 16 years in the Far East, initially in Singapore and subsequently at Yokohama in Japan, where he worked for Jardine Matheson.

    After returning to England, he joined the Royal British Legion and rose to become chief accountant. He subsequently became vice-president of the Burma Star Association. In August 2015 he played a prominent part during the VJ-Day 70th Anniversary Commemoration on Horse Guards Parade.

    In 1946 John Riggs married Marjorie Neale, from whom he was separated and who died five years ago. Their two daughters and a son survive him.

    Captain John Riggs, born March 1 1920, died December 8 2021

    * * *

    A fitting BTL comment:

    Anna Burton
    4 HRS AGO
    An extraordinary man. As others here have mentioned the photos say it all. RIP Sir and thank you. Thank you DT as well.
    The Imperial War Museum’s website has a magnificent oral history recording by Capt. Riggs. He’s an absolute delight to listen to.
    Anyone interested in Burma in WWII might also enjoy ‘Elephant Bill’ and ‘Bandoola’ by Lt.-Col. J.H. Williams, Richard Duckett’s ‘The Special Operations Executive in Burma’ (Duckett also has a marvelous website devoted to the same subject) and ‘Jungle, Jungle, Little Chindit’ by Maj. Patrick Boyle and Maj. John Musgrave-Wood (‘Emmwood’ of Punch and the Daily Mail.) ‘Jungle, Jungle’s’ poignant cartoons speak volumes about conditions in Burma.
    Here is a link to the IWM’s recording of the late Captain Riggs
    https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80021220 EDITED

  20. Good morning and a Happy New Year to all parishioners of this diocese, I trust you are all well.

    I wonder, have any of you heard, lately, from my old chum, Peter Busford, who occasionally goes under the pseudonym of ‘Anderson’, formerly, ‘Peddy the Viking’. It seems very quiet on this vaunted symposium since his disappearance. Is he still around?

  22. Good morning all. A grey start again with no frost, mist clinging to the tops of the trees up the opposite side of the valley and a chilly -1½°C on the yard thermometer.

  24. Good morning all, a grey day which means a day for helping the daughter with some long outstanding DIY jobs she has.
    At least most of them are inside.

  25. Good morning Nottlers.
    It seems the worldwide ‘freedom’ rallies over the weekend have, unsurprisingly, been largely unreported in the MSM. Where they are mentioned, numbers are claimed to have been in the ‘hundreds’ but images show a different story. I came across a farcebook group 2020: What’s the Real Truth’. they show some good images …. that seem to be removed at times!
    https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=3099172293672669 (makes me sad, thinking, ‘I walked down there with my son and his family, wishing I could be there again.’)

  26. https://www.takimag.com/article/the-madonna-of-modern-politics/

    A discourse on how to get to the top in politics, it’s obviously with an American slant but seems to apply somewhat here.

    For Senate there, read Cabinet/HoC here.

    It takes special skill to make it to the Senate. It is one of the best jobs in politics. You do very little, you get massive bribes, and you get to live outside the law. As a result, it is a great job, which means it attracts the worst people in politics.

    Edit And for Sinema read people like Johnson and Blair

  27. Morning all, none eventful so far. No news smells of a cover up. And what a grey winters day. 🤔

    1. This should be shown to all children in secondary school. It may be described as ‘anti-vax’ propaganda – but why should children not receive a balance with propaganda coming from different sides of the argument!

      When I was in the Sixth Form 60 years ago it was compulsory to take exams in Use of English and the General Paper. The idea was that they wanted to get children to think for themselves. This philosophy has been completely overturned – they now actively do not want children to think for themselves.

    2. Because they are not good people!!
      Being good requires that sometimes you stand up to evil!

  29. 334588+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Short term if, push comes to shove with the Russian issue it will at worst be over quick enough via a portion of mushroom.

    Long term these Isles are being sold out piecemeal to the
    chinese / saudi, both groups gaining strength and operating in parliament.

    The fall out from the first issue will terminate many instantly , whereas the fall out from the latter will guarantee suffering ongoing for many a decade.

    By the by is there an honest DOVER watch in place to give us a daily numbers count because eventually we will need an alert signal
    signifying it is time to run……..

    https://twitter.com/AgainBraine/status/1485528239988781060

    1. I’ll ask the obvious question again…”Has this spy been arrested and charged with any offence”?

      1. 334588+ up ticks,

        Morning HM,
        It is such a political thieves kitchen, I believe they are not to keen on putting one of their own type down.

  30. What have they done to our immune system?
    What they intended, to destroy it and expose millions to other infections?

    The pressure to keep sticking needles in people is unrelenting across the World. Those declining to accept the potion are being vilified, and in some countries, criminalised with the threat of incarceration. Is this about health? Yes, a plan to destroy it worldwide.

    What Have They Done to Our Immune System?

  31. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi was under attack this morning by BBC presenter Sally Nugent with an allegation that the Conservatives were institutionally anti-muslim. This was based on a whip’s reason for her being sacked as a minister was the complainant’s “Muslimness” two years ago:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60108377

    2. Christians are persecuted far more than those of any other faiths.

      We hear all the time about how the uyghur Muslims are badly treated in China but the treatment of Christians on the African continent – and particularly in Nigeria – is far worse. The main causes of this persecution of Christians are Islamism and Communism and yet we hear nothing about this. Why?

    3. Hopefully now moved on from blowing up children and people at concerts and targeting others carrying out normal social events as part of their lives.
      I think I might speak for many others, these people who have disregarded the culture that saved their lives, might have moved on and arrived closer to the 21st century. But even having been rescued from persecutions and or death in their countries of origin they are still ‘waging war’ against cultures that have shown kindness and taken them in. The door swings both ways please leave if things don’t quite come up to your expectations.

      1. Never, Eddy. They won’t stop until they get entirely what they want – thing is, they don’t want anything but from chaos and sufferng of others.

        They’re psychotic.

    1. The most sickening thing is that they are now claiming that covid has gone away because of the mass vaxxing, whereas the complete opposite is true – it lasted longer because of the mass vaxxing!
      But people will believe the lie.

      1. 334588+ up ticks,

        Morning BB2,
        For me that sums up current lab/lib/con voters, the lie, vow,pledge, is more comfortable.

        Like trying to pick up quicksilver, the political overseers create a problem
        whilst having alternative answers to suit the herd to select from.

    1. All those pupils in night-shirts need is a nightcap and a candlestick and they would look like Wee Willie Winkie.

    4. Our two elder sons were at Verulam boys school, the preference of asian parents in sending their sons to school there was becoming more obvious each new term. It now seems to have been successful in every aspect.
      Even the long established playing fields are now a new housing estate.
      Our youngest chose another local school, as he said at the time there were no girls at Verulam.
      Perhaps he ment something else.

      1. In the St Albans area there are a few more single sex schools it seems to have been an accepted format for many decades. There’s St Columba’s college. St Albans girls school. Aka Stags. The Abbey College I think that’s boys only. And of course many more mixed.

  34. Good morning everyone.

    A thought popped into my head just now – I wonder what the Covid Marshalls are for?

  35. “SIR – Is modern Germany, with its ever-growing dependence on Russian gas, destined to be the new Vichy France in thrall to Putin’s Russia?

    Of all nations, I hope Germany will recall the tragedy of giving succour to an expansionist dictatorial regime.

    John Earl
    Knebworth, Hertfordshire”

    Perhaps they should try invading – again. Worked so well in the 1940s….

    1. Too late, they are already the new Vichy France in thrall to the WEF.
      See Ursula van der Leyen announcing the new Chinese style social credit system for the EU, linked further down the page.

      1. I suppose the only bright light for us is that all UK IT systems run by HMG are useless, don’t work, break down, fail to interact….{:¬))

        (Just being cheerful, you understand…)

          1. It has already ended – the MR is planning a trip to Lunnon this Saturday. Just looking at the effing rules, rules and more rules to go to the Courtauld…..{:¬(((

          2. The last time I went to the British Museum was in 2018 – one way system instead of just walking in through the main entrance; bag searches, waiting for ages, at least we didn’t have vax passports then.

    2. People are frightened. They’re scared corona will ‘get them’ or their families. When terror is your default position you’ll give up almost anything.

    3. ‘Expansionist dictatorial regime’. That sounds like nothing so much as the EU, which is – ah ha – run by the Germans, so no Vichy they.

    4. ‘Expansionist dictatorial regime’. That sounds like nothing so much as the EU, which is – ah ha – run by the Germans, so no Vichy they.

  36. Do the politicians ever ask themselves why so many people who work in the health sector – specialists, doctors and nurses – are so very reluctant to be ‘vaccinated’ gene therapied? It is the same in France. (For example Christian Perronne, one of the top scientists and experts in the world in the field of respiratory diseases, is banned from expressing his views because they go against the official orthodoxy.)

    We visited a friend yesterday who is a nurse. In order to keep her job she has had to be jabbed. She has had two jabs and on both occasions she was unwell – she now refuses to have a third jab and will lose her job. Her eldest daughter is a midwife and she also has had to have the jabs. She has six other children and only one has had Covid and so the others did their best to catch Covid from him. They hugged him, they kissed him, they shared his drinking mugs and glasses and cutlery but without success – they remained Covid free. They clearly have very strong natural immunity but the state wants to bugger this up.

    It is becoming increasingly difficult not to be a conspiracy theorist.

    1. The narrative is to stress how many in the health service are not medically qualified, and to ignore those who are.

    3. Politicians never ask themselves anything Richard. They already know the answers to everything.

  39. “Since 2018, I have been under Russian sanctions due to a conflict with Medvedchuk [chairman of the Opposition Platform – For Life party]. My family’s assets have been seized there. How do the British intelligence services and the Foreign Office manage to connect it with the fact that Russia allegedly wants to appoint me the head of the ‘occupation government’? This is a question for Mr. Bean,” Murayev told the Kiev news outlet Strana, referring to the foolish protagonist of a popular British comedy series.
    In a separate interview, Murayev, who is also the founder of Ukraine’s Nash TV network, expressed his amusement at the allegations, and offered a possible explanation for the motives behind them.

    “I have a hard time digesting stupidity and nonsense. Maybe someone wants to shut down yet another independent TV channel,” he told The Telegraph.

    “As someone who has been under Russian sanctions for four years, barred from Russia as a national security threat, and whose father got his assets frozen in Russia, I find it hard to comment on the Foreign Office’s statement,” he said.

    1. 334588+ up ticks,

      Morning JWE,

      May one suggest that a fringe party be selected and mass ( people power) support / finance be the way to go.

      Personally I would put Anne Marie Waters name top of the frame.

      That has been the endgame choice for a long,long time
      submit & quit or face facts & reset the voting pattern
      omitting any lab/lib/con / greens / current uKiP candidates.

    2. Reconstruction is the only sane option. The state must br brought to heel. It is a rabid dog.

      As a puppy, Mongo was a lovable ball of fur. He looked sweeet and twee and very nice. However, if he hadn’t been told no, and rewarded when he obeyed, that 15kg puppy would have turned into a 75kg grouch. Like his Boss.

      Oh he’s still stubborn. He’ll still plant himself and say no. As he’s overall a very well behaved and patient fellow I usually give in to him, but more likely we’ll sit and wait out whatever’s bothering him. Government doesn’t deserve that sort of patience.

  42. Oh what fun we’ll have.

    Keep poking the bear and eventually it will bite your arm off.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10434611/America-threatens-novel-export-control-deprive-Russia-key-tech-components.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10433561/Britain-face-record-breaking-gas-petrol-prices-Putin-launches-Russian-invasion-Ukraine.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10433933/Biden-considers-sending-thousands-troops-warships-aircraft-Eastern-Europe-Ukraine-Russia.html
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10434583/EU-set-unity-Russia-invasion-fears-mount.html

    1. Biden is a complete Dick Head. The American people must be ashamed and embarrassed of and by him by now. But as is happening across the border the Canadians I know are in the same boat with Justin Trudeau. How did these people actually get elected if nobody voted for them 🤔
      Same here with the capital’s mayor.
      Useless but in the job.

        1. Oh bloody hell,just reading “2034 A novel of the next world war”
          At the point the Chinese have destroyed two Carrier battle groups and invaded Taiwan,a weak American President responded with a tactical nuke on a Chinese naval base………….
          I fear this isn’t going to end well………..

          1. Have you read Ghost Force by Patrick Robinson. The Falklands get invaded again and a weak PM manages to get the RN destroyed. The Americans eventually win but the Falklands become the Malvinas.

      2. Khan’s in post ebcause of demographics.

        Biden’s in post because the Left so hated Trump they attacked him continually and labelled anyone who voted for him a racist. Middle america, not wanting to be tarred with that brush stopped voting for him – that’s where his base collapsed.

        In all honesty, and utterly without partisanship, I think it is unfair that Biden continue to serve. He is clearly ill, likely early dementia. He is also an elderly fellow. It seems utterly wrong to expect him to have the energy and mental wherewithall to manage America.

        While I appreciate he is the figurehead of an organisation and it is the organisation runs things, the man isn’t well.

        1. Biden is two things, a scape goat for his backers and an inbuilt excuse for his own failures, he was selected for his obvious weaknesses.

          IMHO kahn had more votes than existing voters. That’s the know format in the country of his family origin.
          Thousands of Jewish people in the fust election didn’t get their voting papers on time. Admin error?
          Most of his aids and staff would have been chosen for their links with his favourite country.

      1. TSMC?

        I consider it bad form to use obscure abbreviations and acronyms without explanation.

  43. On the 17th of Jan-uary my dish-washer gave to me…..
    One giant leak
    2 insurance forms
    3 chipped mugs
    4 broken plates
    5 argu-ments
    6 angry stares
    7 grumpy evenings
    8 days of strife
    9 hungry children
    10 ruined fingers
    11 days of hassle
    12 feet of pipe

    With sincere apologies to Bill, who I didn’t intend to rile yesterday.

    Now, if someone could tell me how to keep a cover on a car to stop birds crapping on it, I’d be very grateful.

      1. I thought my post a bit of a throwaway grumpy – I came back to a leviathan!

        I also noticed folk were put out at the hogging, so I felt rather guilty.

    2. And a partridge in a pear tree.

      I read the DW discussions yesterday but we had friends for dinner…….
      After changing to a water meter our contributions to Affinity Water halved.
      It took nearly two years from initial survey to get them to carry out the work.
      My theory is that it wasn’t cost effective with now only two people in the house.
      I mainly do the washing up. But there was too much last evening, so rinse and breakfast dishes in this morning job done.

      1. Because i’m sad, I worked out the amount of time I spent washing up, the water used and the energy involved and added up my time spent washing while I couldn’t do other things and, of course, the clutter that would accumulate from my *not* doing it and worked out that the washer was about 13 times more efficient.

        It’s on practically twice a day – breakfast stuff, evening stuff, cooking stuffs -from- the evening stuff.

        And I’ve waited for this bloke who quoted a week ago to get back to me and I’m going to call someone else.

        1. Our old Neff DW was around 25 years old. And I had to disconnect it, it kept tripping the RDC.
          We replaced it with a Hotpoint. All in delivered old one taken away just under 400 quid. It’s excellent value as many others are at least twice that price. But I’m still against using it on a regular basis as quite often I have to take certain items out and wash them up because I need to use them for cooking.

        2. We just keep loading ours till it’s full – usually on Sunday evening and Thursday evening – unless we have visitors – though some things don’t go in till just before it’s turned on as they are used all the time – favourite tea and coffee mugs, etc.

    3. Learn not to care about bird crap on your car.
      It’s simpler in the long run.
      Or pay the children to wash said car.

    1. He he! They do seem to have distinct personalities. Pickles the extravert and Gus happy to doze the world away.

  45. Good Morning,all

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/01/20/DAVEY21012022_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqXLf5rZYUXGKwZgSx01hvqAjj8ErxbDGRAuacUwyQXO0.jpg?imwidth=640

    I have been battling some sort of ‘flu for the past two weeks. Three days feeling crummy, grumpier than usual, and foul tempered and living off mugs of tea followed by 24hrs of feeling OK then back so three more days of feeling lousy and so on. Yesterday was my first adventure out of the house since the 9th. Nagsman has had the same lurgy but started two days earlier. We are both more or less OK now and have reverted to our normal level of grumpiness.

      1. Neither Nagsman nor I know. I haven’t had ‘proper’ ‘flu for at least 20 years (last time I had a jab) and my lurgy was milder than that. A friend who visited me had been staying in an Omicron household in Devon but she and Nagsman and I didn’t have any covid symptoms. We couldn’t tolerate reading anything on laptops, kindle or whatever for more than 15 or 20 minutes, no appetite and just crawled back under the duvet and growled.

        1. Didn’t you know, ALL symptoms, including broken bones, are definitely convid, and you must take The Test to ‘keep everyone safe’ otherwise you are a very selfish individual. Isn’t that what Doris and al-Beeb say?
          Otherwise, best wishes for getting properly well.

        2. No test then? Proper Flu is nasty – I’ve had it three times in my life, though the last time (in January ’95) might have been more of a really nasty cold. Since then I’ve had nothing like it. Still think I had covid in January 2000 – not particularly ill but the dry cough lasted several weeks.

          4. “Still think I had covid in January 2000”
            Shh, some people still think it originated in Wuhan.

          5. No test. I think I had a mild dosage of an earlier version of covid in February 2020 – I felt really lousy for 24hrs and fully recovered after three days. I don’t like people with needles or shoving things up my orifices.

    2. Glad you are on the mend. It is prolly what we used to call “seasonal ‘flu” (which of course covid completely killed).

    3. Poor you. Was Nags ill on her birthday? That would be a shame. Still, at least you got out of paying for a Birthday lunch. :@)

      1. We postponed The Big Birthday Bash until sometime in February. However she did get her Birthday presents of a new pair of blue Goodyear farmyard wellies and a fleece lined blue dressing gown. I’m told she looked ravishing when she showed up at the barn on Saturday afternoon to muck out the horses.

    5. Sorry to hear you’ve been ill – hope that it’s well and truly behind both of you now.

    6. Thank goodness. We’ve had Uncle Bill being cheerful, I really can’t cope with change.

    7. That reminds me of a scene in the marshes in Great Expectations.

      I’ve just about managed to get over a terrible respiratory infection. Last Tuesday I actually managed to see a GP and get some antibiotics.
      But because of my (not covid) illness, I forgot to request a repeat of one of my most important medications. Although the request was put into the system Saturday morning. This morning on the phone I had one hell of a time with the GP receptionist and the pharmacy. WhyTF don’t people listen when your telling them something, instead of talking over what you are trying to explain to them ? 😡
      My beloved Erin drove to the pharmacy and sorted it out.
      She apologised for ‘their mix-up’.
      But the pharmacy made a comment about the difficult gp receptionist 😉
      Phew feeling much better.
      I can get out of bed now.

      1. Alf has had a similar 2 week plus tussle with a prescription. A long long story where, yet again, the GP or surgery pays no attention to what the patient is saying.

        1. I thought it was just me being unlucky with my current GP.
          It seems that my idea of the new NHS logo is true. FOAD efF Off And Die.

      1. Somehow, Sos, I think I’d rather he went over the edge, Johnson, I mean, not Citroen.. Just a complete waste of space!

    1. Yep! I am of the opinion that all those in the public sector who are “working from home” are doing nothing of the kind. Land Registry Scotland is three years behind in admin work.

        2. All those who forget or don’t know about the Cuba Crisis of 1962 should be made to watch: ‘Threads’ a 1984 film about the nuclear destruction of Sheffield.

          1. If you want to destroy a country you don’t need a nuclear bomb. You just need the civil service.

      2. ‘Afternoon, BB2, it says it how it will be.

        I remember how I felt, as a serving airman during the Cuba Crisis of October 1962.

        1. Me too Tom, 2 weeks on QRA camping underneath a fully bombed up Canberra on the end of the runway……..in Germany
          If that aircraft had taken off I’d have escaped to my (then girlfriend) in Holland just across the border

          1. 18 firestreak armed Javelin Mk 8s on telescramble at the end of the runway at West Raynham. That included any unserviceable, plus the T3 trainer.

      1. If it’s her own money it’s her business. We’ve each got our own accounts, plus one for the bills which we both pay into by standing order. That saves any arguments over money.

          2. I have been similarly lucky, but I believe it’s the most common cause pf marriage diisputes.

    1. Perhaps dressing in more British/Western clothing in the BRITISH parliament might be more appropriate. Did anyone tell her she was representing British voters not just her fellow ‘enrichers’ in whatever backward constituency she is in.

      1. Everything single thing they say or do is designed to have an intimidatory effect.
        Let’s face it, they can’t even get along with people of the same religious history.
        They have no place in western cultures.

      2. Spot on. She’s not representing the pakistani government, she should be asked to leave and return in more appropriate attire.

        But then that’s their plan, isn’t it? Infiltration, exploitation, execution.

    3. I must admit that her appearance does somewhat resemble the features of a letter box and that she is also holding on to the post in this image!

    4. When I read about her accusation I immediately smelled BS.

      If it were true, she should have immediately complained through the proper channels. She did not. She raised it in the commons because there she cannot be called a liar, it’s public and casts aspersions on the governing party.

      She is a liar and a crook playing the race card to avoid consequence and responsibility. She should be immediately sacked as a minister and as an MP.

    5. When I read about her accusation I immediately smelled BS.

      If it were true, she should have immediately complained through the proper channels. She did not. She raised it in the commons because there she cannot be called a liar, it’s public and casts aspersions on the governing party.

      She is a liar and a crook playing the race card to avoid consequence and responsibility. She should be immediately sacked as a minister and as an MP.

    6. Underworld, 3rd Class, time to do as we did with the usurious Jews in 1290 – Keck ’em all out, destroy their mosques and just make them persona non grata.

    1. THE SCIENCE as portrayed by Ms Stupid. Globalist grip on Aussie politicians appears to be unbreakable at the moment.

      Repeating the same action… insanity.

      The third dose is playing havoc with the human immune system, add on a fourth and all bets are off on what may happen.

    1. Sometimes speedreading can cause one to misread.

      That sign over Rabid Jabhead doesn’t say arsehole.

      2. I think you posted earlier today that you are going to London. I think you would look gorgeous dressed up like this

        https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f0141805dac49078a1297f464a2fb03058b71848/0_0_3500_2333/master/3500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=504df01a01c61a3ca3e2943e737bb18f
        Children walk in front of The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough at the National Gallery. The painting was last publicly displayed in Britain 100 years ago and is on loan from the Huntington Gallery in San Marino, California

  57. Just whizzed this off to my MP. Held back to see if Javid the Bald would see sense and abandon his destructive proposal but…

    Mr Quince,
    The proposal by the Secretary for Health that NHS workers, formerly heroes and heroines who worked tirelessly before the “vaccine” arrived, either accept a series of inoculations or be sacked, is an act of health vandalism never before contemplated, let alone seen, in this Country. At a time when government reactions to a virus attained overreach in reducing individual freedom to a level not even seen in war, this proposal stands as an outrage. Bodily autonomy is an innate right, not something to be bargained for employment, quality of life etc. on the whim of a politician.
    I won’t labour the scientific evidence re the “vaccine’s” failures and dangers as I’m sure that you, a government minister, are kept fully apprised of the situation. The Secretary for Health must also be fully aware of the failings and dangers of the “vaccine”, so, how is the Secretary of Health capable of pursuing this act of vandalism when ALL of the science is stacked up against him? On a purely health perspective his proposal defies all logic.
    The latest rumour is that the proposal is likely to be put on hold, again. On hold should not be a position, the total abandonment of the proposal should be the position.
    I ask you to add your support to the growing opposition to the coercion that is being applied to this essential group of workers. Losing 5%+ of the NHS’s frontline workforce at a time when the waiting list is reported to be around six million would be an act of folly by the Secretary of Health and a political mistake of major proportions. Adding another political disaster to the total that your party has been accruing recently would not be a good idea, would it?
    Regards,

    1. I would imagine that anyone sacked for not accepting the vaccine would have a very strong case if it went to court. The first thing to look at would be the contract of employment.

      1. It’s like the WFH scandal, where most employment contracts don’t specify the place of work. However, I suspect new ones will in future.

      4. As I’ve stated before, Aeneas, sue for wrongful dismissal. The bill for compensation would be eye-watering for the Government and NHS.

    2. Squalid Jawdrip needs to explain why so many people in the health care system both in France and in England are so very reluctant to have the jabs themselves.

      Have they got wind of something the politicians don’t want us to know?

      1. Of course they have, the effects on your imune system inparticular. My advice to anyone that has had a stroke or any heart problems is to avoid taking any of the covid so called vaccine or boosters. More about all this is about to start coming out.

      2. No, just that for them, of working age without serious underlying conditions, the short term benefits of the jabs are insufficient to outweigh the unknown long-term risks when the risk of their being affected by the disease is so low.

    3. Hi, Korky. It is much more than “health vandalism”, in the UK it is grievous bodily harm with intent (contrary to S.18 Offences Against the Person Act, 1861).

      Anyone knowingly administering any noxious or injurious chemical to anyone else, without their permission, is guilty of this serious offence, which carries a life term on first conviction. Anyone attempting to do so, even though they failed, is liable to prosecution for an attempt to cause grievous bodily harm under the same Act.

      Just let anyone try it on with me. Anywhere.

      1. Hi, Grizz. I’m not knowledgeable of the actual offences but yesterday I read a long series of tweets from a doctor who explained the medical ethics and confirmed consent position. There must be millions of people who were ignorant of their legal position re the inoculation, then again, so many were frightened or persuaded that the jab would protect them and at the same time restore normality they were desperate to have it. Coercion and completely unethical however you slice it.

    4. Thank you Korky, copied, modified and sent to my MP who is also a doctor. Dr Dan Poulter.

    1. Now that’s a coffee house I could patronise. I hate it when they ask what I want, and I say “coffee, just normal” and they start with some fancy Italian term.

      1. I asked for a flat white and he didn’t know what it was. I said just make the coffee as normal and put a bit of milk in it.

      2. I had a coffee at the hairdesser’s this morning – the girl asked me what I’d like – so I said “black with just a dash of milk please – I don’t like it milky” and what came was just fine.

      3. Ha! I’ve done that for years, too. I have been known to switch into Italian if they persist.

  61. 334588+ up ticks,

    Seeing as the lab/lib/con coalition are the purveyors of incoming foreign paedofilia ( ongoing) with majority backing from the herd, it will be a difficult field to plough without a radical change in the voting pattern.

    Also bearing in mind it was the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled / govn. controlled illegal immigration, backed continually by majority herd that brought about this highly odious situation, inclusive of being paedophile
    umbrella holders.

    https://twitter.com/AgainBraine/status/1485605073359183873

    https://twitter.com/AgainBraine/status/1485605073359183873

  62. Just completed my online cardio-vascular review.

    Usual Q’s about bp readings., alcohol and fags.

    It also asked for height and weight.

    I’m an inch shorter and since my last review i have lost 10kg.

    I wonder if they will pick up on that.

        1. Good luck with that! Our chief resident squirrel, Nutkin, hasn’t been seen for ages. We think he’s buggered off the the Seychelles for warmer weather ;-))

          2. “However, in winter squirrels are far less active, sleeping for long periods, sometimes several days at a time, and they are less frequently spotted during this season.”

          4. I thought your humour well-placed.

            I thought that squirrels hibernated – and was hoping to trump your post!

            Hence my damp squid of a post…

          5. We looked it up too as we were worried about him. He’s quite a character and has been , mostly, forgiven for chewing through the cables and causing an internet outage last year;-)

    2. I believe the tax rise in NI was announced just so they could later say they were not going to implement it to make themselves look good.

      Vacuity politics.

    1. Earlier today on FB there were some of the new road regs that basically allow cyclists to do whatever they want. The regulations are so stupid and I’ll thought out many people had commented. Comments now closed. Well there’s a surprise. Testing times ahead that’s foreshore.
      One of the regs supported cyclists who choose to ignore cycle lanes.
      Only in Britain would we pay morons to come up with and enforce such complete and utter stupidity.

      1. We already have the idiotic rule where pedestrians have right of way at junctions.

        Not many get mown down but it has lead to a whole generation that appear to have no sense of self preservation and will just step off the curb with nary a look.

        Whatever happened to looking looking left and right, then a final check?

        2. It’s been like that here for years and I’ve often said that younger generations just rely on the traffic lights and don’t even bother to look in case some runaway or mad motorist is hurtling towards them.

    1. I saw something similar myself last summer. Anti corona grafitti, questioning the narrative, with “anti-nazi” stickers stuck over it. It questions the narrative, therefore it must be “nazi.”
      The stupidity is depressing.

    1. 334588+ up ticks,

      Afternoon LD,

      The fat turk is not wrong on knowing he could always count on the hard core fools, been as such since major ongoing.

      You really cannot deny him getting that right.

  70. The odds continue to narrow today:

    While Boris hangs on, poison is spreading through the Tory party
    Collective indecision may save the Prime Minister. But the Conservatives are now in a perilous position

    NICK TIMOTHY
    23 January 2022 • 9:30pm
    Nick Timothy
    We are all familiar with the final stages of American gangster movies. Facing prosecution and prison, the accomplices and henchmen eventually talk. With nothing left to lose, their testimonies help to bring down the once imperious and untouchable kingpin.

    Tories still loyal to the Prime Minister fear something similar will happen as the Downing Street parties are investigated. Senior officials, who once expected promotions, peerages or embassies in important countries, face the most ignominious of departures: sacked amid a wall of public criticism and anger.

    The PM offers them no protection. Indeed, he considers their demise necessary to save his premiership. So what, other than unrequited loyalty, and perhaps a promise of compensation in the distant future, will stop Martin Reynolds and other Downing Street officials incriminating Boris Johnson? Why, if the accusations Johnson faces are true, would they not assert or even prove that the Prime Minister broke Covid rules knowingly at the notorious garden party and, perhaps, on other occasions and in different places?

    Those Conservative MPs who have not yet submitted letters requesting a vote of no confidence are waiting for the Sue Gray report. Some hope to find in the report reason to grant a reprieve. Some know already that they will send their letters once the report is published. Some await the Prime Minister’s response: one false step, they say, and he will be finished.

    Let us assume that the report will stop short of branding the PM a liar. Gray is, like Sir Christopher Geidt, who investigated the financing of the Downing Street flat refurbishment, a custodian of “the system” who will worry about the consequences of an unelected official bringing down a prime minister. But let us also assume, as seems likely, that the report will say enough for those sceptical of Johnson’s honesty to conclude that the PM flouted the rules he imposed on others and then lied about doing so – to the public and to Parliament.

    Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, will quickly receive the requisite 54 letters, and a vote of no confidence will be held. Whatever the bravado from No 10 – “bring it on” has been the message – this will pose a moment of mortal danger for Johnson.

    Loyalists who insist that the difficulty in getting to 54 shows that the PM will easily win the vote are wrong. There are many MPs who have not agitated for a vote, but will, when asked the question, still vote against Johnson. There are, according to senior MPs, junior ministers who will resign from the Government to make the case against the Prime Minister. There are other members of the Government – including perhaps in Cabinet – who will vote against Johnson whether they resign or not.

    While all the attention to date has focused on the 2019 intake of MPs, senior parliamentarians will come out forcefully against Johnson. Some may form a deputation to tell the PM to resign. And Johnson can win but still lose: if 100 MPs vote against him, for example, he will be unable to continue for long.

    This is high stakes stuff. Some MPs and ministers – privately scathing about Johnson and his performance for months – have started to equivocate. The consequences of removing a leader who won a landslide victory only two years ago are giving them pause for thought. MPs consulting senior activists have found that their associations are divided between those grateful to Johnson for delivering Brexit and those who are appalled by his reported behaviour.

    Collective indecision, therefore, may yet save the PM. Here, the mooted rule change – in which a second vote on Johnson’s future might be held within six months, rather than a year – might not hinder but help him, as it would give wavering MPs the confidence to stick with him knowing it need not be a final decision.

    Regardless, the situation could hardly be more perilous for the Conservative Party. The polls show the public has concluded that Johnson lied. This is not a policy error, or operational failure, from which a government can quickly recover. Voters have judged the PM’s personal ethics, and their judgment will remain fixed. Every day Johnson remains leader, more Tory MPs and ministers – and the party overall – will have to defend him, and the public will conclude that they are as deceitful as he is.

    And the poison is already spreading. For Johnson has completely lost his authority in his own party. The support of Cabinet ministers is contingent, they openly say, on what Sue Gray reports. Never known for administrative competence or moral seriousness, now Johnson is no longer popular, he is no longer powerful. His authority – once derived from political strength and the dignity of the office he holds – is shot.

    In defending Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg has personally insulted Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Tories. Fellow Cabinet ministers responded by criticising Rees-Mogg. The police are speaking to William Wragg, a backbencher, after alleged ministers and whips have blackmailed and threatened rebel MPs. Nusrat Ghani says she was sacked as a minister, government whips told her, because of her “Muslimness”. The Chief Whip – by convention silent in the media – denies what Ghani says. Downing Street is undermining its own whips’ office by establishing an unofficial, parallel whipping operation, led by ministers who are supposed to be running departments.

    The Government, one senior Conservative says, is beginning to resemble the worst characteristics of the Prime Minister: chaotic and messy, secretive and shifty, while many Tory MPs – not nearly the majority, it should be said – are turning against one another. The collapse in Johnson’s authority is causing widespread political dysfunction and further danger for the Conservatives.

    Johnson, who famously grew up wanting to be world king, has discovered, like Richard II, that the crown he wears is hollow and rounds mortal temples. Whether it takes days, weeks or months for the pin to bore through his castle walls is no longer up to him. His future will be decided by his party – a party that considers itself tainted by his leadership.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/23/boris-hangs-poison-spreading-tory-party/

    1. Top (most liked) BTL comment:

      Don Coyote
      17 HRS AGO
      Whether he was once a Tory or not, his policies across a broad range of government are indistinguishable from those we would expect of a Labour PM.
      His Net Zero obsession is insane. The most unstable period in Europe for 30 years is being triggered by a lack of gas and his government, in the same month, is banning us from drilling in the North Sea and Lancashire for our own supplies – why, exactly?
      The only conclusion can be that this wife controls him, given that current policies are those she previously stated and are the opposite of Johnson’s own written articles in this newspaper.
      We cannot have our Kingdom ruled by pillow talk. He has to go. The garden parties are a complete irrelevance.
      My only fear is that there is no-one currently ready to replace him. I suppose we will have to put up with Sunak, in which case the best decision he can make is to get his mate and supporter Cummings back to run things for him. Or if he doesn’t have the stomach for that, Frosty.

      REPLY
      8 REPLIES
      316

    2. I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
      A chance to share some booze and drugs, and make some threats again
      When i got to the illegal party, they all knew no shame
      No one recognized me, so Carrie’s back on the game

      But it’s all right now, I learned my lesson well.
      You see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

    3. Why are government bods cavilling to the self named Muslim , why are people so scared to speak the truth ..

      Why are we Anglo Saxon or whatever we are , why are we being subjected to Muslim rules and their sensitivities.. Halal this that and the other .

      What about that poor young teacher from Batley , the pyjama hordes have us over a barrel , and they have messed our cricket up , fiddled with children , kidnapped our sheep , littered our streets with knife fights , and have just cause unpleasantness with their wailing Mosques and repression of women .

      If we wanted to get a good position in a Pakistan government , well that wouldn’t happen , would it ..

      Britain is being bullied by Asians , who are seeking to kill our culture . Enough is enough.

    4. They should be careful what they wish for. For all his flaws, BJ could be replaced by somebody far worse.

    5. Let’s hope it’s true and that that is what the outcome will be for this bunch of potentially despotic tyrants.

      I’m itching for the step-ladders, lamp-posts and piano-wire.

    2. Good heavens, Citroen! That’s about 10x as many people as turned up for the SNP Indy rally in Glasgow on Saturday!

      2. The last time the Jocks marched on London (under that poncy Italian Dwarf: Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart)
        they got as far as Derby where a group of horny-handed land workers faced them and said: “Ayup, girls. I think tha’s lost. Any road up, we don’t do trannyism in these ‘ere parts; so we reckon tha’d be better off poncin’ back oop t’ wheer tha’ come from. All reight?”

        And at that, the beskirted Jock rabble ponced off back ‘om and made plans for their country to be hijacked at some later date by a wee lassie from a failed comedy duo!

    1. The leopard looks quite harmless and calm!
      Are we sure that’s not Bradford, Rotherham, Dewsbury or some other formerly British location?

    3. Look at the size of those paws! My Retriever Fred had huge paws as a puppy. Sure enough, he grew into a very big dog- complete softie though.

  73. Weak institutions are giving in to the identity politics thought-police

    Under the guise of seemingly benign practices, ideas influenced by identity politics are becoming institutionalised without debate

    INAYA FOLARIN IMAN • 23 January 2022 • 11:00am

    The Left was once viewed as the primary vehicle for working-class people to find and use their voices to organise for their material interests. Now, rather than demanding better pay and conditions, its adherents seem to spend more time organising against working people who express widely-held views on race and gender.

    The campaign of harassment and intimidation aimed against the philosopher Kathleen Stock at the University of Sussex highlighted how academic institutions, which exist for the purpose of rigorous intellectual exchange, are failing to uphold this foundational ideal. However, the phenomenon is spreading. Far from a problem confined to universities, ordinary people are being censured and harangued for questioning divisive and partisan approaches to matters of race and gender, violating taboos they didn’t even know existed.

    Today, this newspaper reports the story of Sean Corby, an employee at ACAS – the government-funded employment arbitration service. He was put under investigation after complaints were made about messages he shared in an organisation-wide equality and diversity forum. One of the posts included a quote from the American civil rights activist Howard Thurman which criticised racial separatism and segregation. Another quoted the writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s critique of cancel culture. Another linked to an article by me.

    Most people would surely think that these posts expressed perfectly acceptable opinions on the importance of free speech and the problems with identity politics. But a complaint alleged that they demonstrated “hatred”. Although it was not upheld, Corby was informed last week that an appeal had been lodged and he has accused ACAS of acting like “east Germany”. ACAS says it does not recognise that picture.

    There is a wider problem in institutions across the UK, however. Narrow forms of social justice activism have moved to exploit the weakness and naivety of many organisations and, under the guise of seemingly benign “diversity and inclusion” policies and practices, ideas influenced by identity politics are becoming institutionalised without debate. Once implemented, it becomes very difficult for organisations to roll back from them because they have created structures and incentives that perpetuate censorious thinking.

    One of the most chilling aspects of this trend is the false consensus it creates. As institutions act as thought-police for their employees, they mislead the public into thinking these issues are settled, when in fact people are merely scared to express an opposing opinion. Institutions are in danger of compromising their impartiality if they fail to recognise the biases in their assumptions.

    It will take a long time to undo the institutionalisation of identity politics – a process that is becoming more and more entrenched. But it’s far from impossible. Any ideology that relies on the censorship of disagreement is already sitting on quicksand. Just as race and gender ideologues organise, so too must liberal-minded folk who support tolerance, open discussion and an end to the weaponisation of our institutions for partisan activism.

    Inaya Folarin Iman is a free speech campaigner and presenter on GB News

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/23/weak-institutions-giving-identity-politics-thought-police/

    1. Or they could use the money they saved by reneging on their agreement to fund licences for the over 75s, which they agreed to do as part of a previous deal with the government, described by the then DG as “a good deal for the BBC”.

  79. People in the West fearful of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
    I am more fearful of Ukraine invasion of Donbass.
    It will be interesting to see who’s fears are realised.

    1. I noticed, “We also dispatched by road London’s Air Ambulance.”
      I know they can taxi quite well, but it still sounds a little bizarre.

  81. Watch Live: Sen. Johnson Holds Star-Studded COVID-19 ‘Second Opinion’ Hearing

    US Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is holding a panel discussion, COVID 19: A Second Opinion, this morning.

    The invited speakers – a star-studded group of world renowned doctors and medical experts – will provide a different perspective on the global pandemic response, the current state of knowledge of early and hospital treatment, vaccine efficacy and safety, what went right, what went wrong, what should be done now, and what needs to be addressed long term.

    Medical experts and doctors

    Four Pillars of Pandemic Response

    Dr. Peter McCullough
    Pillar 1: Limit the spread

    Dr. Bret Weinstein
    Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
    Pillar 2: Early at Home Treatment

    Dr. Ryan Cole
    Dr. Harvey Risch
    Dr. George Fareed
    Dr. Pierre Kory
    Dr. Richard Urso
    Pillar 3: Hospital Treatment

    Dr. Paul Marik
    Dr. Aaron Kheriaty
    Pillar 4: Vaccines

    Dr. Robert Malone
    Dr. David Wiseman
    Watch the hearing live here (9amET-12pmET):

    https://rumble.com/vt62y6-covid-19-a-second-opinion.html

  82. If any of you have missed me ,well a visit to the our Vet was necessary, younger dog needed to be looked at.

    A retching vomitting pet is an unhappy event , especially over 24 hrs .. I feel exhausted , especially so clearing up and consoling him .

    Poor Pip, anyway he was given an anti vomit jab , some Omaprazole to line his tummy , and had his anal glands cleared .

    He is much happier now , he has eaten , I gave them both cooked chicken and rice for their tea, so far so good .

    My bill was £1 short of £100.. yep …

    Not sufficient , thank goodness, to claim back on his insurance !

    Pet insurances are a real pain !

    I have a meeting tonight , I hope I manage to stay awake .

      1. Thanks J,
        We will all be masked , sitting 6ft away on separate tables .

        Having conversations with masks on is difficult .

        Better than Zoom though !

          6. Why not? I haven’t been challenged when I tell people I can’t understand what they are saying. I can’t see whan my specs are steamed up and I can’t hear when I need to lip read.

    3. Your wee doggie saw the pet doctor, pretty well straight away? People in the UK don’t get to do that. Sounds like £100 well spent to me.

          1. The MR has a skin lesion which needs removing. Probably some form of cancer. GP “referred” her to the Norwich Hospital.

            A YEAR’S waiting list… She is going private.

          3. If she’s got the money – use it. OH did with his hernia op. He’d still be waiting for the initial consultation if he hadn’t.

    5. That sounds good value for Money Belle.
      It usually costs us 60 quid to cross the threshold at our local vets.
      We gave up on the insurance it became so expensive. And they wanted to charge 750 for three x-rays on one front leg. One a day of the Tablets Umove made her life much less uncomfortable.

  83. “….brazen Russia announces military exercises off Irish coast”

    Gosh – Russia sails warships in international waters. Shock.

  84. HAPPY HOUR – Proud to be British ?

    God Save The Queen trending in Ukraine as UK stands up to Putin.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58770237c363b306ea9118538ea5e3d0a5de41ed6818b6abc1c2eadb0ddd2ab6.jpg T
    The news of Britain’s national anthem trending on Twitter in the eastern European country led commentator Darren Grimes to tweet: “God Save the Queen is trending in the Ukraine in thanks for our support.
    Be proud to be British……
    hhttps://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1553960/ukraine-latest-god-save-the-queen-trending-in-ukraine-vladimir-putin

    2. I hope it doesn’t happen of course, but it must be pretty obvious to many countries with huge military resources that the UK is now a rather easy target for invasion. I’m not sure we have anything here that’s worth the trouble, or now enough hotel rooms left for another invasion force.
      It’s a shame we haven’t had a worthy of the position PM since Maggie T.
      To be honest reading and being confronted with UK news, it’s difficult to be happy for longer than 20 minutes let alone an hour. 😆

      2. I wouldn’t bother worrying about the UK being invaded by Russia, Canada will be taken over way before then.

        We have many more resources, defense is down to a disorganized, disheartened army led by a woke idiot who is more interested in pleasing Greta the doomgoblin than he is in concerns of Canadians. Hell, Putins army could invade the north and drive south for a day or two before anyone noticed.

        1. Assuming he comes via Alaska, he could stop for a cuppa with Sarah Palin- oh wait, she’s got covid 😉

        2. I’ve often said Vlad would have made a better job of running this country. The UK.
          China took over Zimbabwe and helped themselves to what they wanted. Mugabe sold his people down the river.

          2. Well let’s hope that the Africans there whinge as much as the ones who are living nicely here.

          3. And they send their own workers over to get what is needed built. They completely ignore the “native” (sorry, Lammy) populations because they know they are bone idle.

      3. Should the Russians invade and clear out (or slaughter) the Muslims, I’d almost welcome them with open arms.

      4. They don’t need an army to invade; they just need to black up (if they have white privilege) and float over in a RIB. Border Farce and the RNLI will do the job for them.

        1. We’ve had so many useless people in Westminster since those treasonous bastards chucked Thatcher out. This country has been ruined.

    3. They will all be claiming to be translators very soon. Shares in Premier Inn (Whitbread) anyone?

  85. “Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez … Issues of further coordination of the actions of the two countries in the international arena in accordance with the principles of strategic partnership and traditions of friendship and mutual understanding were discussed,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

    2. Wow. What a poisonous lie. If I get any of these coins in my change, I shall destroy them.

      You know, since the Duke of Edinburgh died, I think we are seeing the malign influence of Charles in all sorts of ways.
      Upon reflection, I do not think the Queen has ever reigned herself – we had King Philip, and now we’ve got King Charles.

    3. Here’s a suggestion; with a suitable tool, it could be altered to read
      I BUILT BRITAIN
      D E ITY BUILT BRITAIN
      VE BUILT BRITAIN
      DIVERS BUILT BRITAIN
      LI E S BUILT BRITAIN
      VIRS BUILT BRITAIN

      I’m sure there are many other possible variations!

      If only there was a way to transform BUILT to BUST!

    4. Not only that Gary after WW2 our parents and grandparents re-built this nation with dedication, hard physical work, mental determination and inherent skills.
      Unlike the people of ‘diversity’ who arrived in the UK after abandoning their own countries because they couldn’t be bothered to put in the hard work to put their own houses in order.

    7. Telling the Left that they’re lying has as much effect as an ice cube to cool a volcano. It’s also a pointless waste of time.

  87. 334588+ up ticks,

    breitbart,

    What Winter Slowdown? Nearly 100 More Illegal Migrants Cross Channel
    in Record Setting January

    After near on four decades of this daily illegal invasion shIte as the overseeing govn. are condoning daily boat loads of trouble there are STILL peoples supporting them as in, NOT my area mp but ” my mp”

    It has certainly come to a pretty pass when welfare of party ( the lab/lib/con coalition are rotten to the core) is put before the welfare of family / country, FACT, rotherham plus ongoing, ALL United Kingdom
    infrastructure near collapse via the daily DOVER invasion fleet ongoing.

    The law of averages dictates there is a shower of giant balls of truth shit on an earthly course enough for every wind turbine in the country when they collide there will be an almighty scattering of ” my mp” types.

      3. HE Bates wrote a book Fair Stood the Wind for France. Seems it’s t’other way round now:-(

      1. I like him in Lewis too. I think he got typecast which is a shame. I saw him in a detective show – one episode- where he played a really nasty character and he was great. A good actor but maybe it was easier to play the same guy all the time; regular work and good money.

        1. I enjoyed that series; great, well written, banter between the actors.
          Looking at that picture the boys certainly done well.

        2. He was also in a BBC schools drama series called “Geordie Racer” about racing pigeons! Nothing like a North Eastern stereotype! Actually, my daughters loved it!

  89. The Guns of February? Are we really that mad? 24 January 2022.

    Barbara Tuchman would have recognized the present situation. The hysteria sweeping the West is very reminiscent of 1914. American troops injected into the old-old, Russia-Ukraine imbroglio? Madness! Madness! Who are the fools in the US and the UK who think a NATO war against Russia with its 4,000 nuclear weapons is a good idea? These madmen are hiding in the shadows of meetings at places like Camp David and among the web of networks of post imperial angst driven idiots in Britain’s fantasy world of IO and conspiracy. Pat Lang

    With all due respect to Colonel Lang it’s, They, not We. As for the rest, Yes. It looks like we are on the Path to War with Russia, ably assisted by a Political Class that in their arrogance and self-delusion would have been quite at home in 1914. .

    https://turcopolier.com/the-guns-of-february-are-we-really-that-mad/

    1. “They” are determined to reduce the world’s population by any means.
      My only hope is that NONE of THEM survive.

      1. That is what I think it is all about – by any means. And a distraction from the ‘covid’ unravelling that is going on. Perhaps it is more that as there is too much to lose at this point, it is too coincidental and fortuitous (is Vlad in on it too?) but it does have the added bonus for govt of more of our fighting age young men being sadly seen off to their deaths.

      2. Take comfort from the fact that you’ll probably poison their drinking water from the radioactive fall out that you are destined to become!

        1. I’m not sure whether survival or vaporisation is the better bet, probably the latter.

          Survivors will be slaves for the elite and in worse conditions than anything of the 17th to 19th centuries.

    2. This I my post, on NoTTL, from 18th January

      Good morning all
      A bright, sunny and frosty morning in Woking.
      I have sent this to my MP this morning.
      My despair deepens by the day.
      We have a shambles of a government who can’t control illegal immigration nor teachers unions and masks and some idiot thinks it’s a good idea to sent ‘30 Elite Troops and a number of missiles to the Ukraine’.
      What on earth is going on. Is everyone in Whitehall dead from the neck up? It’s none of our business. If the U.K. and the EU continue to poke the bear, don’t be surprised if it bites back.

        1. The 30 Elite Troops are all WFH in accordance with new Whitehall guidelines and refusing to go anywhere near Ukraine.

  90. The Guns of February? Are we really that mad? 24 January 2022.

    Barbara Tuchman would have recognized the present situation. The hysteria sweeping the West is very reminiscent of 1914. American troops injected into the old-old, Russia-Ukraine imbroglio? Madness! Madness! Who are the fools in the US and the UK who think a NATO war against Russia with its 4,000 nuclear weapons is a good idea? These madmen are hiding in the shadows of meetings at places like Camp David and among the web of networks of post imperial angst driven idiots in Britain’s fantasy world of IO and conspiracy. Pat Lang

    With all due respect to Colonel Lang it’s, They, not We. As for the rest, Yes. It looks like we are on the Path to War with Russia, ably assisted by a Political Class that in their arrogance and self-delusion would have been quite at home in 1914. .

    https://turcopolier.com/the-guns-of-february-are-we-really-that-mad/

  92. Exciting day here! Quite apart from having made 7000 posts on Discurse, 2 plain clothes policeman came to visit today! When I saw them pass the window (the twins were having lunch) Hector barked and one of them held up his warrant card! Not having my glasses on, I thought they were a couple of Polish builders checking out the monobloc! Anyway, they were looking for our younger daughter, and after assuring me there wasn’t anything to worry about? they said they were investigating an historic incident and Vic may be able to help! I gave them her new address and off they went to see her. They were actually very funny and when I said something like “how exciting!” they laughed, and I said that I don’t get out much! I phoned Vic and then waited for news. Apparently one of her teachers has been accused of sexual assault! Bear in mind she left school in 2007! It was the guy who ran the swimming club but who the hell waits 15 years+ to fling accusations like that around?

    1. A few years ago while we were talking about school days, my brother told me how no swimming trunks were allowed in his school swimming lessons (late 1960s – mid 1970s. I was shocked! He couldn’t remember if he’d told our parents though regulation swimming trunks were part of the uniform list. He witnessed nothing untoward but that doesn’t mean nothing happened – after all, no decent teacher would have insisted boys swam naked.

        1. No, a dodgy old man. Boys school. Maybe he was also a housemaster to one of the boarding houses.

      2. Boys under 12 at RGS in Newcastle didn’t wear trunks either (1967 ish) and the swimming pool was overlooked by the dining hall of our girls school!

        1. I went to an all girl grammar school , C of E. Our gym mistresses were lesbians and, after gym etc, when we showered and were nude, they would stand and watch us. By 3rd year, we were aware enough to know this was inappropriate. A posse of us went to see the Headmistress and told her about it. She had been a Vicar’s daughter and was shocked and not pleased. The gym teachers were told to let the girls shower unobserved. Gym teachers weren’t pleased and they knew who was behind the delegation to the Head and took revenge. Many of us began skipping gym and PE as a result.

          2. A friend from student days went to an all girls school in Stockton (or might have been Middlesbrough) that had a boys school next door. One of the rules was that girls were not to have intercourse through the fence with boys at the school next door!

          3. Oh gawd! I don’t imagine things have got any better! Middlesbrough is quite a place…I met my old man in Thornaby!
            Edit: My cousins were at that school, and lt was Stockton!

          4. Oh gawd! I don’t imagine things have got any better! Middlesbrough is quite a place…I met my old man in Thornaby!
            Edit: My cousins were at that school, and lt was Stockton!

    2. One of our son’s teachers was sentenced to15 years recently. He had even stayed in our house. He was sentenced for relatively recent crimes and our son is adamant he was a good teacher, but who knows?

  94. Wine o’clock – at last. Chilly, grey day – but did get 1½ hours gardening in. Tomorrow is a similar day, apparently.

    Still, the good thing is that the Arts Society has a live zoom from Venice – which will be wonderful. The Italian lady who guides us is such fun – and makes one think one is actually there, a few feet from her.

    So – have a jolly evening cleaning your rifle and battledress.

    A demain.

    1. Watched a Dad’s Army episode before I went to bed last night, they’re good therapy I think.

    1. There is a picture of the wedding of the daughter of the Sultan of Brunei in the Mail today.
      She is not covering her face. Her attendants have islamic style face coverings.
      Peasants shall not show their faces in the presence of their betters. Face coverings have always been used to subjugate, thoughout history, I don’t know why anyone thought it would be different this time.

    1. Fear not – the medical person will have been sacked. So this wonderfully moderate and reasonable lady will be quite safe.

      1. I thought she was going to leave the country if Brexit happened, if Boris became PM etc – Is she still here; if so, why?

      1. I wonder if it ever crossed her mind that for her to threaten to leave the U.K it actually increased the Brexit vote.

    1. Spent many an hour on facebook groups over the years, the Lefties will never acknowledge that there is a particular problem with Asian grooming gangs, they just say all child abuse is wrong.
      Then they mention the abuse children have suffer in the church

      2. The point about child ‘grooming’ is that it is part of Asian culture and celebrated, and is therefore left unpunished. It is NOT part of our culture and is punished accordingly. In no way do I condone with my first sentence.

    2. Spent many an hour on facebook groups over the years, the Lefties will never acknowledge that there is a particular problem with Asian grooming gangs, they just say all child abuse is wrong.
      Then they mention the abuse children have suffer in the church

  98. TOLD YOU – the hero” driver has been arrested for murder.

    That’ll teach him to be white.

    1. The only person to be described by their skin colour was the white man, that’s white privilege, isn’t it?

      1. Take a deep breath, my “bold”

        Witness Mulugeta Asseratte told PA news agency: “It is a very terrible incident. I was coming up from the bakery to Chippenham Road and suddenly heard shouts of ‘stop it, stop it’ and it was a girl being attacked by a gentleman.

        Gentleman? Yeah, of course he was.

    2. That suggests the police thought the driver was an accomplice.
      At this stage, I don’t believe it

  100. Evening all.

    Just seen a British Gas advert for gas boilers showing the thermostat set at 55 degrees. I thought 60 degs was the minimum to avoid water borne bugs?

    1. I do not wish to re-ignite the dishwasher flame wars…
      but our dishwasher has 65, 50 and 45 settings.
      We usually wash on 50, and I thought that killed bugs?

        1. Ye gods…MH was talking about that earlier. Someone where he used to work complained that the water in the loos was too hot. The heat was turned down and guess what- two weeks later there was an outbreak of Legionnaires!!

    2. The problem only comes with bacteria growing over time. Water heated directly for machines or taps is not a problem. The issue comes for water storage systems, which is resolved by occasional higher temperature heating, say, 60% for one heating session a week.

      2. I detected, Paul, that the language was Swedish so, once again, the Swedes roll-over for German dominance.

  102. Mr Keating might find some agreement over here about the abilities of Liz Truss and the place of the UK in the world but here he just sounds like a man whose piles are troubling him.

    Liz Truss’s comments on China are ‘demented’, says former Australian PM

    Paul Keating lashes out at Foreign Secretary over claim Beijing could use same tactics in the Pacific that Russia employs against Ukraine

    By James Crisp, EUROPE EDITOR • 24 January 2022 • 3:42pm

    Liz Truss is “demented” for comparing Chinese aggression in the Indo Pacific region to the possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the former prime minister of Australia has said.

    The Foreign Secretary suggested that Moscow and Beijing were working together as they looked to dominate their spheres of influence in an interview in the Sydney Morning Herald.

    Paul Keating, a former Labor leader who left office in 1996, accused Britain and its “disreputable government” of suffering from “delusions of grandeur and relevance deprivation”.

    Asked if China could copy Russia’s tactics against Ukraine, Ms Truss said, ”I don’t think we can rule that out. Russia is working more closely with China than it ever has. Aggressors are working in concert and I think it’s incumbent on countries like ours to work together.”

    Ms Truss and Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, were in Australia last week for talks on countering Chinese influence in the region.

    Mr Keating, 78, said Ms Truss’s statement was “nothing short of demented”.

    “Not simply irrational, demented,” he added.

    He said that the UK Government was “disreputable” and “collapsing” in an attack that puts him at odds with cross-party agreement in Australia to condemn Chinese aggression.

    Mr Keating branded the visit by Ms Truss and Mr Wallace as a “desperate” effort to push the UK as a strategic partner to contain China. He has called for “deeper engagement” with Beijing and previously said Australia should not help Taiwan if China was ever to invade.

    Mr Keating, who lost a landslide election after five years as prime minister, said: “The reality is Britain does not add up to a row of beans when it comes to east Asia. Britain took its main battle fleet out of east Asia in 1904 and finally packed it in with its ‘east of Suez’ policy in the 1970s. And it has never been back.

    “Britain suffers delusions of grandeur and relevance deprivation,” he added. “Truss would do us all a favour by hightailing it back to her collapsing, disreputable government, leaving Australia to find its own way in Asia.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/01/24/liz-truss-demented-china-comments-claims-former-australian-pm

    1. Do you ever think?:
      ” OK, I get the picture. They’re all hypocrites, sack the lot of them and let’s move on.”

    2. There’s a prospect of a major European War.
      There’s a certainty of UK gas and electricity crises, unreliable supply and blackouts.
      President Xi can choose his moment when to annexe Taiwan.
      Kim Jong-un – et al – can sink our unprotected, fighter-few aircraft carriers.
      POTUS Dopy Joe has given up the role of Protector of the West.
      We have hitched our wagon to Zero-Carbon absurdity, thanks to Carrie-on Johnson.
      The Prime Minister and family are about to be evicted from Downing Street.

      Party gate ???

      Anyone for a large ?

      Mine’s a Courvoisier …

  105. Yes Minister in real time:

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/lord-agnew-resigns-minister-covid-business-loans-fraudulent-house-of-lords-b978486.html

    He told peers on Monday: “Given that I am the minister for counter fraud, it would be somewhat dishonest to stay on in that role if I am incapable of doing it properly.”

    In response to an urgent question from Labour about Covid loan fraud, he said he was unable to defend the Government’s record.

    But Lord Agnew claimed that the Government, which fully guaranteed loans in the BBLS, has so far reimbursed banks almost £1billion for loans that had been defaulted on.

    He added that more than a quarter of this money was estimated for loans that were fraudulent.

    Lord Agnew told peers that “schoolboy errors” had been made as he set out his reason for resigning from the Government.

    And, believe it or not, it gets worse and worse as you read on!
    wankers, WANKERS WANKERS

    1. Is that “counter fraud” as in “anti fraud” (like counter intelligence) or counter as in bar top?

    2. It jolly well makes you want to withhold your taxes until they can look after OUR money properly.

  109. Just in case I do sleep- here is a little ditty for you poor, long suffering people.

    Oh, I just wish that I could sleep-
    Or even a serious doze,
    But I turn and I toss
    So the night is a loss
    As the clock towards daylight does creep.

    I go to bed tired it seems
    All snug in my jammies and socks,
    But once tucked up in bed
    Thoughts fly to me head
    So farewell to any sweet dreams.

    I look in the mirror next day
    And see a face all tired and lined,
    Is it worry or old age I wonder
    Which I am sure the next night I’ll ponder.
    Wish I could send sleepless nights away.

    1. Things that go bump in the night
      Should not really give one a fright.
      It’s the hole in each ear
      that lets in the fear.
      That, and the absence of light!
      (c) Spike Milligan.

      1. You want a Spike contest?
        I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
        I left my shoes and socks there…
        I wonder if they’re dry.

        2. Somewhere, I have a handwritten letter from Spike, giving me permission to use “Bump” as the intro to my Ph.D thesis… all those years ago (1987).

          1. We have had this conversation… I too have a letter from Spike- it is one of my most treasured possessions.

          2. Mine is with the original thesis manuscript, in a box. I was delighted when he approved.

        1. Maybe but you, as is MH an engineer/ scientist person. I haven’t got a clue about any of that. Refer you to my mate and I causing an explosion in the chem lab many years ago- in a post yesterday.

          1. Excellent!
            Like, when my boys really wipe out when skiing – “At least you were trying hard!”
            and a mate blew his thumb to bits when making mercury fulminate, and not being careful. Eejit. He was about 15.
            As an inj Enj Ongin Engineer, I have great respect for those that are creative – as am I, but not visually or emotionally, but technically. Here’s one for you: Boeing had barely got the 707 flying, De Havilland were picking bits of Comet off the Mediterranean seabed, the Vickers VC-10 had barely taken off, and a few pointy-heads decided to make a passenger jet that could travel across the Atlantic at Mach 2. Using hand calculations, and calculator was a job, not a thing. Thus, they came up with Concorde, where you could travel as if you were in a Lockheed Balckbird, except you could wear a lounge suit and drink Gin & tonic, not be bolted into a spacesuit and have to pee into a bottle. The worlds most beautiful aircraft, especially in all white with the BA “flappy flag” tail logo.
            They had to develop new calculation methods, new materials, new engines, cope with massive thermal expansions, yet keep people cozy and happy, well-fed and boozed up. And safe. Just after jet passenger transport had started, and most hadn’t participated.
            That’s creative. Deepest respect.

          2. I am so thick when it comes to that stuff but re Concorde you are dead right. My late aunt lived near Heathrow and she always recognised when Concorde went over.
            Once in CT, Concorde was diverted to Hartford Bradley airport because of serious weather at JFK. Hundreds of people drove up to see this plane. All congregated outside the fences outside said airport and total media coverage. Was great.

          3. My Brother lived near Heathrow for years. You could tell Concorde flying by – the noise rattled the windows!
            Anyhow, don’t call yourself thick, Ann, that’s not fair on you, nor correct. Different interests and different abilities – now that’s diversity, and great! What price Concorde if you couldn’t eat great food and listen to music onboard, or fly to a Caravaggio exhibition, or marvel at a cathedral? One is uplifting practically, the other is uplifting to the soul. We need both types.

          4. You are right- I am not thick but my brain is differently wired. Give me Lit and English history and I can bore for the UK;-)

          5. I don’t understand all that Literature analysis, and absolutely hated it at school. It was so utterly humiliating – like being the only one in class who never got the jokes. I even went as far as to tear to tiny bits and then burn a Shakespeare book – and I love books. I just can’t do it.

          6. I can’t live without Lit or any books. I also listen to Lit and History talks online. I really do wish now, at my great age, that I’d gone on to do a Masters- well I didn’t.

          8. Used to fish Sunday mornings for pike in the winter on the Thames. About 0930 the rumble would start and the beautiful aircraft would climb into the sky and we would realise (again) that we were blessed with its presence.

          9. I used to play skittles with a mate who was a senior designer on the Concorde team. A lovely guy who lived a full and interesting life. After his funeral his daughter recounted to me the story where she and her mother were kept waiting for him as he was late home from work.
            He from all accounts nonchalantly explained he had just been to Spain and back across the Bay of Biscay in the cockpit of Concorde with chief test pilot Brian Trubshaw. Just another day at work for him.

          14. We went to see Concorde when she was being tested at Fairford. My elder son was in a pushchair- he’s 51 now.

          15. OL, here’s one for you. Yesterday I was curious about the not-very-famous B-58 Hustler, produced by Convair, so I had a glance at Wikipedia. The B-58 was designed after a defence research paper, the Generalized Bomber Study, called for a supersonic strategic bomber. In February 1949.
            The plane was powered by four General Electric J79 engines, and one of the engineers was Gerhard Neumann. Yup, a German, and one who had a good war in China.
            If we switch now to the Concorde, let’s recall the work of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, particularly the aerodynamic research carried out by Johana Weber and Dietrich Küchemann…..

          16. And the result was… gin & tonic at 70.000 feet and twice the speed of sound, all warm & comfy, with the toilet down the back. I have deep respect for that development.

          17. Convairs jets always were faster than the average, but lacked the seling power of Boeing & Douglas for commercial airliners. That speed cost quite a bit in fuel, so made the planes less economic than their rivals, who were “fast enough” – the same went for Boeing & Concord – the commercially correct call was “never mind the speed, feel the width” – mass travel, not elite travel.
            Sigh…

      2. That is how I feel now , your poem is wonderful.

        Time was when I was younger , a cuddle would send me to sleep .

        Last night I was clearing up puddles of frothy dog vomit , he was wretching all night , Moh was up and away early to play golf , and I had paper kitchen roll a shovel , a carpet spray trying to clear up the mess , and more mess.

        I was on automatic , remote control cleaning up . Poor dog .

        Sleep can be erratic , can you catnap in the afternoon ?

        Moh can sleep anywhere, he bought a brand new kingsize bed about five years ago , he loves it I hate it , it is so hard and too high off the , ground .

        Our old bed was a lovely old fashioned king size divan , properly sprung cosy and memorable , probably had it 45 years.

        My parents , aunts , inlaws loved it , and so did our previous spaniels , that bed HELD nice dreams and permanancy .

        I regret the day the bed was taken away and replaced..

        It represented our younger more vigourous relationship …

        Hey ho and all that .

        2. SWMBO likes replacing stuff – I like the old familiar… I wonder when it’s my turn to be replaced with something new and whizzier… Being as I’m weird, I believe older stuff developes some kind of soul, personality. Old cars don’t respond well to being shouted at, old houses and buildings have opinions as to what you are doing, old trees have feelings.
          The farm next to Firstborn’s had a visit a year or so ago from a “Ghostbusters” type programme, because they had trouble from a ghost hiding stuff. Weird, eh? I have the definite impression that Firstborn’s farm approves of the renovations and updates we are doing – just a feeling, but…
          And the next-door ghost was called for the farm that Firstborn owns. So, maybe it is the old Farmer who approves?
          Like I wrote – weird.

          4. I love my old stuff, it is cosy and familiar and makes me feel secure in my life. New things are like having imposters around me, you don’t know if they are friend or foe.

        3. How was your masked meeting?
          We were luckier than you with our replacement bed a few years ago. It’s very comfortable.

          1. The meeting was quite short , we were asked to wear masks . I had a severe coughing fit , and was very pleased to get away .

            Our voices were very muted , our village hall is quite large .

          2. Sounds pretty pointless then. Sorry you had a coughing fit – have you you a bug or was it just from stress?

          3. It was just my mask , and I hadn’t taken my bottle of water with me or something to suck. Talking with one’s mask on is difficult and others were having the same problem .

            We galloped through the agenda, and the pile of stuff I had copied when the inkjet ran out , so a few pages were missing . The clerk had a few spare copies .. thankfully .

            The stress of responding to documents etc is too heavy , and we are volunteers after all.

          4. We’re currently having to get our trustees’ report ready for the Charity Commission but some are reluctant- foot dragging- it has to be done for compliance – no good saying our income that year was just a spike.

        4. Is doggo all right now? Did you find out what was the cause? I hope the other end wasn’t involved…

          1. Woofle’s rear end , no runny tummy, just couldn’t keep food down.
            Probably a bug , much better this morning thank you pm.

            I have been topping up the bird feeders , and the fatty ball containers could be responsible , with bits and pieces that drop through onto the grass , he could have snaffled bits and pieces, the list is endless.

            We usually take them for a run that doesn’t attract many dog walkers .. how ever rabbit poo bits are similar to little fresh bar snacks .. spaniels are nose to the ground dogs , and of course , love to roll their necks in sticky fox poo, which is a heavenly scent … haha ha ha .. Worse than cooked kippers.

    3. I can’t sleep at night to save my life. Worse than that is that even when I try to have a nap in the sun room with Oscar in the afternoon, there is no ‘sleep’ involved. Sleep is a foreign thing.

    1. Sorry, not being covered by the media here, they are more interested in the truckers association who are following the Trudeau line and saying “Bad Truckers”.

      1. 334588+ up ticks,

        Evening R,
        Very tame, in the United Kingdom many are following the johnson & Co.line
        and calling the unjabbed & opposition to incarceration treacherous
        -uckers.

      2. Why should your media be any different to our media, it looks to me as they could all with one or two honourable exceptions be described as scum.

        1. I imagine that they will toot their horns as they drive past little potatos cottage.

          The shame is that our conservative leader (like yours, in name only) is not supporting them.

    1. Clive Myrie gave us another dose of fear tonight on his visit to a hospital where a couple of people nearly died because they were unjabbed.

      1. Clive: “Look at this enormous ICU ward. It’s all but empty. It’s waiting for them, the selfish ones.”
        Joe Public: “A terrible thing, all those spare beds…”

      2. Perhaps Myrie should do some research and then ask Hancock, Javid et al. why the drugs that could have been used for early intervention treatment i.e. preventing hospitalisation, were banned as the “pandemic” got under way. The banning of those cheap, and proven to work, drugs must be one the main questions to be asked at the inquiry – I’m displaying a very rare, for me, optimism at this point.😠

        1. Also hardly ever a mention of Vit D & C which can be taken as a prophylaxis to avoid illness altogether.

  116. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Bike lane Britain…the Great Leap Backwards. Under cover of Covid, officials have turned our city centres into crazy golf courses giving priority to Lycra-clad lunatics on racing bikes .

    Chairman Mao’s stated ambition, as part of his Great Leap Forward, was to turn China into a ‘kingdom of bicycles’.

    The pedalling masses would be proof positive of the triumph of the proletariat. By the 1970s, there were more than half a billion pushbikes on the streets of Peking and other big Chinese cities.

    Cycles became status symbols, along with watches, sewing machines and steam radios. A bike was one of the must-haves young women in the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) looked for in a prospective husband.

    If you wanted to get ahead in the former Forbidden Kingdom, you got a bike.

    Any young party apparatchik who could get his leg over a crossbar was guaranteed a legover.

    Yet after Mao popped his little wooden clogs in 1976, his forward-looking successors realised that their great nation was cycling its way into an economic cul-de-sac.

    Pedal power fell from grace, giving way to the development of modern technologies designed to compete with the capitalist West.

    Today, China is the world’s largest manufacturer of automobiles and the Chinese are well on the way to overtaking America as an economic powerhouse.

    As an efficient means of transport, bicycles proved about as progressive as doing the doggy paddle down the Yangtze, Mao-style.

    Sadly, it’s a lesson lost on the mutton-headed communists who appear to be running 21st-century Britain.

    Under cover of Covid, they have turned our city centres into crazy golf courses, intended to frustrate freedom of movement by giving priority to Lycra-clad lunatics on racing bikes and suicide jockeys on e-scooters.

    Transport policy has been captured by single-issue, anti-car fanatics, hell-bent on bankrupting businesses and causing the maximum possible inconvenience to the travelling public.

    Genghis Khan’s London looks as if it has been hit by a cluster of neutron bombs, which has left the buildings and bike lanes intact and laid waste to all commercial human activity.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10437241/Bike-lane-Britain-Great-Leap-Backwards-writes-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN.html

  117. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Bike lane Britain…the Great Leap Backwards. Under cover of Covid, officials have turned our city centres into crazy golf courses giving priority to Lycra-clad lunatics on racing bikes .

    Chairman Mao’s stated ambition, as part of his Great Leap Forward, was to turn China into a ‘kingdom of bicycles’.

    The pedalling masses would be proof positive of the triumph of the proletariat. By the 1970s, there were more than half a billion pushbikes on the streets of Peking and other big Chinese cities.

    Cycles became status symbols, along with watches, sewing machines and steam radios. A bike was one of the must-haves young women in the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) looked for in a prospective husband.

    If you wanted to get ahead in the former Forbidden Kingdom, you got a bike.

    Any young party apparatchik who could get his leg over a crossbar was guaranteed a legover.

    Yet after Mao popped his little wooden clogs in 1976, his forward-looking successors realised that their great nation was cycling its way into an economic cul-de-sac.

    Pedal power fell from grace, giving way to the development of modern technologies designed to compete with the capitalist West.

    Today, China is the world’s largest manufacturer of automobiles and the Chinese are well on the way to overtaking America as an economic powerhouse.

    As an efficient means of transport, bicycles proved about as progressive as doing the doggy paddle down the Yangtze, Mao-style.

    Sadly, it’s a lesson lost on the mutton-headed communists who appear to be running 21st-century Britain.

    Under cover of Covid, they have turned our city centres into crazy golf courses, intended to frustrate freedom of movement by giving priority to Lycra-clad lunatics on racing bikes and suicide jockeys on e-scooters.

    Transport policy has been captured by single-issue, anti-car fanatics, hell-bent on bankrupting businesses and causing the maximum possible inconvenience to the travelling public.

    Genghis Khan’s London looks as if it has been hit by a cluster of neutron bombs, which has left the buildings and bike lanes intact and laid waste to all commercial human activity.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10437241/Bike-lane-Britain-Great-Leap-Backwards-writes-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN.html

  118. Evening, all. The problem is, our politicians aren’t in the game to address any issues other than self-interest.

  120. Here is the report on today’s activities, as promised. The good news; 17 of the “wrinklier” Film Club went to watch BELFAST this afternoon and unanimously voted it a “Thumbs Up” film. The better news: There were just as many if not more members of the general public, who also loved the film. The bad news (sorry M’Lady of the Lake); my local Asda has run out of mince pies.

    And finally: Good night, everyone! See you all tomorrow, DV.

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