Monday 25 March: The almighty struggle to resolve a tax problem via the HMRC helpline

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738 thoughts on “Monday 25 March: The almighty struggle to resolve a tax problem via the HMRC helpline

  1. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) List

    16 LOGICAL REASONS WHY SOME MEN HAVE DOGS & NOT WIVES:

    1. The later you are, the more excited your dog is to see you.

    2. Dogs don’t notice if you call them by another dog’s name.

    3. Dogs like it if you leave lots of things on the floor.

    4. Dogs’ parents never visit.

    5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.

    6. You never have to wait for a dog; they’re ready to go, instantly, 24 hours a day.

    7. Dogs find you amusing when you’re pissed.

    8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.

    9. Dogs won’t wake you up at night to ask, “If I died, would you get another dog?”

    10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and sell ’em.

    11. When you squeeze off a silent one, dogs don’t run around frantically with room spray.

    12. Dogs love to ride in the back of a pickup truck.

    13. Dogs never tell you to stop scratching your balls. Instead, they sit pondering why you don’t lick ’em.

    14. Dogs will let you put a studded collar on, without calling you a pervert.

    15. If a dog smells another dog on you, it won’t kick you in the crotch; it just finds it interesting.

    And last but not least

    16. If a dog runs off and leaves you, it won’t take half your stuff.

    To verify these statements, lock your wife and your dog in the garage for an hour. Then open the door, and observe who’s happy to see you!

    1. All a bit true, but since ‘the talk’ early in our marriage the Warqueen is fairly laid back and has got into the habit of actually communicating rather than hinting, as some women do.

      My mother, for example would say ‘It’s a lovely day.’ And I’d sort of grunt and think ‘yes, it is.’
      My wife will say ‘Hang the washing out so it dries.’

      The difference is obvious and why our marriage sort of works. She also knows full well what I’d do if she died. She’s told me. “You’d spend the rest of your life visiting my graveside and telling me what the dogs have done, how Junior’s doing and how you’re fed up with taxes.”

      And you know – she’s right. The only thing she did say was that if she were to go first, to get another dog. Without her or a dog I’d not survive.

      1. Man management 101 – give them concrete tasks to do, don’t expect them to just know. She’s a smart lass.
        When you share the kitchen with a much loved mother, daughter or sister, your kitchen management minds run along the same lines, so you never have to say anything, someone just does it.

      2. Lol i’ve ingrained it into my husband and children that the first thing they must do if I die is get tax advice!!!

      3. Oh Wibbling ,

        You sound so normal , steady and reliable , and unphased by many things .

        Over a week ago , when I drove haphazardly to A+E with the unbearable pain in my side , my Moh stayed at home to guard the dog and wait for further news .

        After several hours of investigation had elapsed in A+E , my phone rang , and poor Moh was all of a dither , and asked me how to navigate the washing machine switches .. because quite a few things needed laundering .. I didn’t mind, and I was happy to focus on domestic tasks .

        Now please excuse me , because I need to measure up the small outside door at the rear of the garage which has seen better days , then visit a timber merchants , oh yes and walk the dog, put the washing on the line , and what else .. I will remember when the other tasks are completed .

        Dear Moh will be enjoying some nice Spring weather playing golf this morning .

  2. China and Russia ‘spreading slurs against Princess of Wales’. 25 March 2024.

    China, Russia and Iran are fuelling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to destabilise the nation, Whitehall sources believe.

    Senior Government figures fear that hostile states are behind the spread of wild conspiracy theories and online rumours surrounding the Princess’s health.

    Most of this “disinformation” came from the MSM. This article is just more of the same and a boost for the Online Harms Bill and Ofcom.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/24/china-russia-fuelling-attacks-princess-wales-after-cancer/

    1. The Statistics about the Megan Markle aligned bots were interesting. The issue is who controls them.

      1. An analysis of accounts that together created a “Meghan Markle” Twitter community found around 1,000 “highly-connected” ones that had tweeted more than two and half million times over a six-month period in 2018-19.

        That was probably her during her lunch breaks!

        1. Meghan and Harry are only reported as having sent one entirely appropriate message of sympathy. In fact, the media coverage was so kind to them, that I wondered if they were going to be brought back!

    2. The only group destablilising this country is infesting Westminster and Whitehall.

    3. Our media, and our media alone stirred up the whole Kate thing. Typical, they blamed the public for gossiping about Kate when that was EXACTLY the reaction they sought, and now they’re blaming the good old Russians, always handy scapegoats!

      Does anyone know ANYONE at all who was asking where Kate was before the press started their “Everyone is asking where Kate is” articles? I don’t!

      1. Clickbait-chasing churnalists seeking advertising fees is their game, from the depths of the bBC through to the Sunday Sport. It’s all about creating revenue.

        It certainly has nothing to do with keeping the public informed on any subject matter. Indeed, in many cases the opposite is true.

    1. Morning Johnny, it’s raining in ‘Ampsheer again.

      We had a dry one yesterday but otherwise it’s just rain. A bit annoying as I’d like to stick the towels out to dry.

    1. Massive uncontrolled immigration causes problems everywhere. A nation should take in no more than 0.001% of foreigners and only then demand the absolute highest skill set. When politicians whinge about a race to the bottom they mean their end, not ours. Low taxes, small government, efficient, cheap services are the last thing they want. That is their ‘bottom’.

      We should be competing globally with every other nation on the planet to get the very best – and rejecting the overwhelming majority. Government will just have to work harder – something it’s not used to (work that is, not working harder).

    2. Good Morning, JD

      I have just caught up with your desperately humourless insults that you posted last evening. You are a recent arrival and appear to be massively pleased about what you have done, although I haven’t bothered to read all wot you wrote and don’t know what it might be. I have no idea which illustrious NoTTLer invited you to join this forum but there is a whiff of west country parrot about you. She is a known and not entirely welcome quantity hereabouts.

      Anyway, welcome and I must get on because, as Uncle Bill could tell you, the wind is in a propitious direction… for burning Protestants.

      Here’s a copy n’ paste of some blah, blah, blah to cheer you up.

      Bloody Bess
      The Persecution of Catholics in Elizabethan England
      Rafael E. Tarragó
      Introduction
      QUEEN MARY I of England is called Bloody Mary because she persecuted Protestants during her short reign (1554-58). Her sister, Elizabeth Tudor, persecuted Catholics during her long reign (1558-1603) and she is called Good Queen Bess. Mary is criticized because she burned Protestants whom she considered heretics, but Elizabeth is praised as shrewd for persecuting Catholics, who did not accept laws passed during her reign making her both secular and spiritual ruler. Violations of these laws were considered an act of treason punishable by hanging, drawing, and quartering. 1 Mary’s love of England has been questioned because she believed in a universal Christian church united under the Bishop of Rome, and because she married a Spaniard. Elizabeth has been called a nationalist because of her assumption of spiritual authority over Christians in England, because of her protection of English pirates who raided towns and cities in the Americas under the sovereignty of the Spanish [End Page 117] Crown, and because of her support of those who revolted against the Spanish Crown in Europe. The year 2003 marked the 400th anniversary of the death of Elizabeth Tudor, and most likely there will be many books, documentaries, and academic conferences singing her praises. But, as Richard Harrison has written in the 3 January 2003 issue of the London Times, the fact is that she persecuted minorities, encouraged the systematic pillaging of foreigners’ property, and suppressed dissent. 2

      In this article I revisit religious persecution in sixteenth-century England under Elizabeth Tudor. In addition to those Catholics condemned to death, I discuss the persecution of Catholics by fining and imprisonment in Elizabethan England. Furthermore, I analyse the identification of Protestantism and patriotism in a supposed struggle for survival of a peace-loving England against an aggressive Spanish “Evil Empire,” and then examine the meaning of the word “reformation” in the context of the religious policies of the English state during the reign of Elizabeth Tudor

      Religious Martyrs or Traitors? The Execution of Catholics under Queen Elizabeth Tudor

      1. It was rather the other way around.. I was merely stating the historical facts. I never insulted you at all.
        I regard normal RCs as fellow Christians, the issue being that too many RCs still regard Protestants as heretics.
        The facts are that are that too many RCs tried to overthrow or assassinate legitimate English governments over two centuries working with hostile foreign powers like Hapsburg Spain and Bourbon France. You can quote all the revisionist Papist propaganda you want but the facts remain.
        In many ways Recusants were the hardcore Remainers we see today, supporters of a foreign hostile Globalist power against the aspirations of the English people to self govern and too many were traitors and the law for treason used to be, sensibly, death.

        1. What is it that gets people so riled up about religion that they cannot tolerate a different style of worship, even? To the extent of killing the wrong ones…

          1. I don’t know but it is very sad to see it here – a few people have already attacked me for being a heretic for merely being an Anglican Protestant. It seems I am supposed to remain silent while they insult me.

        2. Recusants – Remainers. I had never thought of that. And Henry VIII was the one who got us out.

        3. I confess I saw the Reformation as Brexit Mk 1, freeing England (as it was then) from rule by foreign power.

        1. Yo Sos. By my reckoning you were Pembroke +/- the years I was hiding in Trinity. Does the name Christopher Bell ring a ding-dong with you? Not my favourite person and devoid of integrity despite being the son of a CofE vicar and having been poshed-up by Marlborough Coll. I never trusted him but knew both his ex-wives who were far more worthwhile than he ever was or will be.

          However, I’m not sure that I could ever muster the gumption to advocate his burning at the stake. On the other hand, JD appears to be an insufferable pompous prat…..

          1. Neither Ding nor Dong.
            The only trainee vicar/vicar related that I was aware of was a chap called Dave Whitehouse, if he ever became a priest whichever parish got him will still be counting their blessings, a thoroughly decent, down to earth and very amusing man.

            As far as the spexiles are concerned, win some, lose some.

  3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/24/our-economic-model-is-bust-we-cant-rely-on-services-alone/

    It’s an interesting article arguing that we have been specialists and that government gets in the way. Well, yes. His especially. This is May’s advisor.

    * The state has made our exports expensive by taxing us to death.
    * It’s made manufacturing expensive so that’s off shored now, leaving us vulnerable.
    * Our services economy is stagnant because much is made elsewhere and imported under JIT because energy is so expensive
    * Services worker wages are suppressed by the massive pool of labour.
    * Rather than wages rising naturally, the government has rigged the market with the min wage
    * Of course, government then proceeds to tax that wage, hammering the employer, leaving the worker no better off and the company worse off, which means higher prices – solely for tax.

    * This means less demand, so no new jobs are created and it’s harder to start a new industry.
    * Zero hours contracts stifle market flexibility – in themselves a response to collapsing demand caused by.. yes, tax.

    * Planning laws are burdensome
    * Risk is punished with high taxes
    * Energy is unaffordable and increasingly the plan is to socialise the costs

    The problem isn’t our industry. That’s fine. It’s not markets. Those work, relentlessly – this is why we are still here. It’s why Soviet Russia collapsed – the problem is here comes a useless, spiteful, arrogant, incompetent and gormless obese state, with all the brains of a toddler and throws a whole pile of scrap metal in the form of tax, regulation – the revolting, stupid, mind numbing tax scam hoax of net zero and treies, deliberately to stop the wheels turning… because ‘that’s fair’.

    Newsflash statist scum: the poor remain poor because you want them there. You don’t remove barriers, you keep hiking taxes, you keep punishing business – the useless zombiefied state is literally eating the corpse of the economy. It isn’t about poverty or the diversity – this country has the first because of the last. You’ve set out how to make and keep us poor when you poured 30 million foreigners on us. Then you taxed the economy into the ground.

    Is it any wonder the economy is suffocating when you’re sat your scabrous, putrescent 40 stone on it’s chest, have tied a noose around our neck and keep trying to cover our nose and mouth with tax and stupidity? Then you have the temerity to claim you’ve a plan for growth!

    The state wants to destroy this country out of sheer spite. Nothing else explains their malice.

    1. Hardly surprising because Soros has been pulling the strings of the puppet theater since at least 1997. That’s why Britain has been stuffed with Soros’ progressive policies including open borders, extension of human rights and the Climate Change Act 2008 and why Tony Blair and others got rich quick.

      1. You’re scooting past the point in to a pet project, Polly.

        The problem is government does not serve. The entire state machine is dedicated to immersating the economy, to literally destroying it. George Soros is just one person. At any point government could say .. you know, let’s repeal the HRA. They don’t. They don’t want to. They don’t care who is hurts. It’s just about the next carriage on the gravy train, or some demented globalist agenda.

        This is why they all hate Trump. He said no and turned the US around.

        1. Well said. If there genuinely is a global conspiracy, and I don’t believe there is, it isn’t run by publicity seeking James Bond cutout villains like Schwab and Soros. It would be run by people without any public profile and the WEF would be a complete distraction to hide the real conspiracists. People like Polly, if there is a real person behind it, simply cannot grasp this because they cleave to a simplistic explanation for everything happening and cannot grasp that whole civilisations can go mad.

          1. Read The Creature from Jekyll Island. It doesn’t try to tell you there’s a secret global conspiracy, it just describes to you how the central banks were founded and how they run the world.
            Soros is just one of their greedy bright young men who was given an opportunity early on in his career and has served them faithfully ever since. They’ve had so many of them over the years.

            Quoted in The Great Taking, Soros himself said “you don’t know what they can do” referring to people more powerful than himself.

            Whole civilisations can go mad, however nothing is more artificially contrived than the situation in which we find ourselves at the moment. Left to ourselves, we might have run out of steam gently, but what is actually happening is a managed transition to the next long economic cycle. That pipeline didn’t sabotage itself, the climate scam didn’t grow organically, Britain’s gold didn’t sell itself, BRICs countries aren’t filling their coffers with gold while the Bank of England looks on and does nothing because our bankers are stupid, our borders aren’t open because British people don’t want to defend them etc. etc.

      2. How can anyone with an ounce of commonsense take any notice of that nasty hateful old POS ?
        Or indeed any of these Unelected self assuming interjecters.
        Oh yes I’ve just remembered the lyrics, “Money, money, money, it’s a richmans world”.

      3. ‘…at least 1997.” I agree, I think Blair learned much between 1994 and 1997 from the Clinton Crime Cartel, another Soros sponsored outfit.

    2. I run two manufacturing companies. One I have been turning around for over a decade and another just a couple of months. The issues are similar although the sectors totally different. Some are self inflicted but fundamentally the real problems are:
      1. Very high energy costs relative to foreign competition – manufacturing uses vast amounts of energy.
      2. UK consumers just buy the cheapest unless it’s German. They won’t pay a little more for UK made even when it’s better.
      3. UK retailers and distributors are the same as in (2) above – just want cheap cost.

      1. Yep. Folk simply don’t understand how much the cost of an item is buried in energy. As absolutely everything uses energy having half the cost as tax just makes the UK uncompetitive. The continual fight just to keep going is exhausting and it is all down to big, fat state.

        1. I would say that the cost of everything is the labour, even the eventual cost of raw materials and energy is labour. The earth doesn’t charge us for raw materials – it’s the cost of getting them out of the ground is the labour cost. Yes there is the cost of machinery but again that is a raw materials and labour cost. The bottom line of everything produced is the labour cost. Energy? plant to produce it – already covered then there’s the labour cost (including profit).

      2. “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When
        you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you pay
        too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
        bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
        common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
        lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
        to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
        have enough to pay for something better”. John Ruskin

        1. Working in the services sector, our mantra was “if you think the professionals are expensive, wait until you hire an amateur.”

      3. What happened in Britain was that when I was young “Made in England” was a guarantee of good quality. A little overengineered maybe compared to the elegant French, but robust and fixable.

        Then we brought in American marketing gurus who said that all we needed to do was to trade on the good name, sell it on “designer” style, double the price and get it made cheap abroad. The old factories could then be torn down and turned into retail parks or exciting housing development.

        Sooner or later, customers realised that they were being conned and decided that if they had no choice but to buy rubbish, best to get it at source from the places abroad where it was being made anyway.

        Very occasionally, the Left get themselves together, and realise that a gap in the market has opened up and there is a viable business at home, but wary all the time of the determination from the shysters to drive them out of business if they can. One example was over a traditional shoe company in Yorkshire. This was closed down “for business reasons” in the late 1980s. The workers, many of whom proud craftsmen, decided they’d had enough of this sort of Thatcherism, and organised a Workers’ buyout of factory before it was broken up. Altberg was established in 1989.

        The Falklands War reported many instances of British troops taking the boots off dead Argentinians because the British standard issue military boot was rubbish, but the Argies, with their vast herds of cattle, made rather good boots fit for yomping. The workers in Yorkshire, spotting a hole in the market, then created a new company specialising in proper boots (of the old “Made in England” quality) for the military and the police. It was not long before they became desirable for hikers too. I have a pair – they cost me £200, but they are wonderful and hopefully will see me out.

    3. Explanation of malice from a Nottler (not us):

      The political class are intent on doing as much damage to the economy as possible to drive it into the ground so they’ve a

      reason to go to the IMF. The IMF will then say ‘you must rechain to the EU and adopt the Euro.’

      The smirking scum will then say to the public ‘Oh, it’s terrible, there’s nothing we can do…’ and happily sign up to it, with lots

      of gravitas laden photos and then popping champagne corks at achieving their goal.

      1. Good summary, but you missed out the part where the government tell the public that’s all their fault because they asked for a wage rise to cover the effects of inflation on their little salary…

  4. Good morning all.
    A rather chilly damp start with light rain and 2°C on the Yard Thermometer.
    Forecast is not so brilliant either with rain expected through the day.

  5. Yes, if it wasn’t for the good people employed I’d walk away from the stress of it all.

  6. Germany’s dangerous crackdown on dissent. Spiked 25 March 2024.

    The reasons for this are simple. German industry is in steep decline, communities are financially overburdened by illegal migration, and there has been a disproportionate increase in violent crime against women, Jews and gay people. In short, life for the average German is getting worse. The reasons for this are simple. German industry is in steep decline, communities are financially overburdened by illegal migration, and there has been a disproportionate increase in violent crime against women, Jews and gay people. In short, life for the average German is getting worse.

    Things seem to be going downhill faster in Germany that they are here. I don’t suppose that the Americans sabotaging the Baltic Pipeline helped much. That the German Elites find themselves unable to address this issue will not have helped either their credibility or popularity!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/23/germanys-dangerous-crackdown-on-dissent/

    1. Sabotaging the pipeline led to more expensive energy which closed a lot of industrial plants, some of which were offered incentives by the Americans to move to the US.
      BASF closed a huge factory and said these jobs are going boys
      and they ain’t coming back
      to your home town…

    1. I tried explaining to a chap on min wage the theory ‘rich people spend less’. He didn’t understand.

    2. “Cheap is expensive”, as an owner of one of the Northampton shoe manufacturers often told me.

  7. Of course they don’t repeal the HRA because Soros wants it. Along with the Climate Change Act 2008 and Legal Net Zero 2019 which have Soros’ money behind them. Even the Climate Change Committee is a Soros fiefdom with Soros jobs handed out like confetti!

    1. No, it’s not just one person. There is an overarching agenda to force massive societal and economic change. All the things you specify come from the UN, by the way. Has George Soros bought that entire – tax payer funded – organisation?

      No. It’s a bunch of very Left wing people who have no abliity to function outside of an expenses account desperately pontificating on how other people must live cheerfully isolated from their own stupid arrogance.

  8. Why do you think Alex Soros has open door anytime access to the Sec Gen of the UN, Antonio Guterres?

    In Manhattan, there’s even interchange of personnel between UN HQ and Open Society.

    1. Because they attract the same mindset.

      Pol, your personal obsession is blinding you to the simpler truth. The problem is government. Democratic accountability, financial disicipline, democracy itself.

      1. Come off it. Antonio Guterres wouldn’t give Alex Soros a look if there wasn’t something in it for him. He doesn’t mix with broke socialists, only billionaire socialists.

        There is no democracy when politicians accept billionaire money. They then become puppets and do everything their billionaire masters desire. Tony Blair is a perfect example having been plugged in to Soros’ promises and Soros’ money from the start.

          1. Tony Blair worked for Soros from the moment he stepped down and advised him on strategy for years. Including accompanying Soros to meetings with the European Commission after Brexit. Soros’ close friend and partner Gates pays Blair about $5million pa for consultancy so Blair must have had a minimum of $25million out of Soros and probably much more.

            Doing what billionaires wanted while in office payed off perfectly for Tony and that’s why Britain has been wrecked.

          2. The stinking unflushable turd in the shitpan worked for Soros before he even got the keys to No.10.

      2. You’re banging your head against a brick wall. I’ve tried with her and others over years. They are immune to reason and simply don’t understand how big organisations suffering from group think work.

  9. Good morning, all. Indications of a light frost around 06:00 but bright and calm now.

    Interesting short article on why Varadkar resigned in short order. If Vance is correct then were the changes to senior positions in the UK government since the start of “Covid” inspired by a globalist policy of succeed or be gone?

    Clearly, Truss wasn’t wanted.

    Sunak remains in place…?

    The thing to understand about globalists is that once in their demonic club, you have to deliver – or else. Irish PM Leo Varadkar, a particularly nasty piece of work, has found this out the hard way! Just a few weeks ago, at the behest of the Irish Government led by little Leo, a referendum was held which was designed to further push Ireland into the moral sewer. Essentially it was asking to remove the centrality of the family and in particular the Mother from the Irish constitution. In addition, it sought to subvert the meaning of marriage by substituting the bizarre concept of “enduring relationships”.

    The Irish establishment fell into line, predictably, and supported this subversion of the Constitution, the corrupt media ran opinion polls showing these changes were very popular with the Irish people. And then they voted. By a miracle, the Government proposed changes were REJECTED and my a massive margin of 67% vs 33% so not even close. In places like Donegal that rose to 80% rejection. Just for a moment, one precious moment, the Cabal had been stopped in their tracks by people power.

    So Varadkar had failed and Varadkar had to go. Immediately. No hesitation. That’s how Globalism works. You deliver or you get removed. In this case, they will ease in another compliant globalist, and with an Irish General Election looming, it may even be Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou (how do you do?) McDonald who has another go at destroying the family and marriage. It’s worth pointing out that she and her Party also supported Varadkar’s attempted subversion so there is NOTHING rebellious about Sinn Fein! Once you OWN the entire political spectrum, which is the case in Ireland, the only resistance can come from the people up. And THAT is what caught Varadkar out this time around.

    ​ David Vance SubstackRead More

      1. Plenty of ‘new’ voters being introduced into Eire. Same happening in the USA, trouble coming down the line.

    1. Varadkar will be looked after to ensure his silence.

      It was the same with David Cameron who resigned immediately after the Brexit vote. Because he’d failed his billionaire friends at Davos.

      Cameron got a juicy consolation prize as a director of an organisation financed by Soros and Gates. Later to be reinstated because he was useful to the globalists as Foreign Secretary.

  10. Wordle 1,010 5/6

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

    Good morning, chums, I hope you all slept well.

  11. Morning all 🙂😊
    After two bright days back to grey and chilly.
    The snivelling services are expert in making life difficult for the public. The same goes for pension enquiries. You’ve got no chance.
    So almost at the start of March I wrote to my MP about the difficulties I had experienced……
    So I wrote to him again on Saturday because I thought his team might be able to help me out.
    I’m still waiting……
    To be fair they’re probably all flat out claiming expenses from the public purse.
    No answer, no vote. And I have the feeling that he’s going to need every one he can get.

  12. Morning, all Y’all, from a mountain hotel in Southern Norway. Snowing. Wonderful breakfast… Skiing in a bit.

  13. Good Moaning.
    Garden storage cupboard looks loverly in the sunshine.
    (My next project is to get a life.)

      1. He got beat up outside a pub in central London. He said it was a homophobic attack. I put it down to him being a sniveling little shit.

  14. Good morning! Up early this morning. The call of the bathroom got the better of me. Anyway, experiences of HMRC vary similarly to experiences of the NHS. They did try to pull a fast one when I first began drawing my little pension from my ten years at Selfridges in the eighties, by inappropriately charging higher rate tax on it (I was earning nowhere near the limit) but I phoned and all was sorted. When BBC payroll details were thought to have been hacked, HMRC were again helpful and sympathetic and logged a warning note against my NI number, lest there be any spurious claims. Only one of my colleagues thought to do that, which I found odd – perhaps they think benefit scammers have an entitlement.

  15. 384995+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Why a healthy brain requires a meaty diet
    Animal-sourced foods contain nutrients that are wonderful for our grey matter that are difficult or impossible to obtain from plant sources.

    And any supermarket at a reasonable price, the political overlords these past four decades would like it made mandatory that our beneficial brain fodder comes no longer via the field but via the printing press.

    What I believe is that a rib eye steak printed in china would go down very well currently, with ALL
    political overseers and about 48% of the electorate.

    1. From China ?
      Probably making use of all the ashes left over from burning millions of tonnes of Australian coal.

  16. Tim Sarson, KPMG UK’s Head of Tax Policy has an interesting article in City AM on the potential unintended consequences of the recent budget. Here is an excerpt:
    “…Despite a couple of tax rises, the Treasury is now operating with less fiscal headroom than at almost any time in the last couple of decades. Those NI rate cuts were expensive, and even with continued spending restraint this means that any downside surprises in the public finances could take it close to breaking its own fiscal rules. This brings the inevitable reckoning closer. Barring some 2024 economic miracle, further tax cuts in autumn could use up the remains of any potential headroom.
    Whichever government assumes power after the election will need to make sweeping cuts to already creaking public services or ratchet up some significant tax rises. Or they will need to overhaul our fiscal rules and hope the bond markets play along.
    Then there’s the structure of the tax regime itself. I suggested last month that the Chancellor might want to use his Spring Budget to fix some of the long-term distortions in the system with a view to posterity, and to an extent he did just that. He went some way towards reducing the punitive marginal rates for working parents earning over £50,000, and rebalanced payroll taxes away from National Insurance to Income Tax, both as predicted last month. His ambition to phase out NI altogether is all about posterity and little to do with current fiscal reality.
    He also raised the VAT registration threshold a little, again as predicted, though far from dealing with the registration cliff edge it simply kicks the can a few centimetres down the road. The cut to capital gains on residential property goes against the grain and achieves the opposite. It increases the distortive gap between CGT and income tax rates.
    Perhaps more fundamental are two philosophical changes buried in the announcements.
    With the hasty dismantling of the non-dom regime we find large chunks of the tax code moving from a domicile to a residence basis. This affects Inheritance Tax as well as the income taxes of mobile individuals and in theory it reduces the importance of “Britishness” in our system. Home will be where you live long term, rather than where your heart is. The wider behavioural impact of these changes will be fascinating to watch. Expect a few of those unintended consequences to pop out of the woodwork in the coming years.
    Hunt promised a more fundamental overhaul of the Higher Income Child Benefit Charge which if it went ahead would also herald a long-term shift from individual to household-based taxation. That’s a pretty big deal. Quite common in other European countries but not here. Tax changes like these, made with little fanfare, have social effects way beyond their financial impact. I don’t think that was the intention. Simply the logical consequence of trying to fix a rate anomaly.
    Those are major shifts in the principles underlying our system. Extending full expensing to leased assets (“when affordable”) isn’t. It’s the essence of niche to most readers. But it’s quite a complex change to effect. And it’s another change likely to influence behaviour in interesting ways, probably boosting finance leasing at the expense of debt financing among other things.

    So, it wasn’t just about NI cuts this month. Scratch the surface and there’s a lot more going on. Our final pre-election statement, and the emergency budget that might follow shortly after if the polls are right, will tell us just how much further these changes are likely to go.”

    https://www.cityam.com/some-big-changes-to-the-tax-system-no-one-is-telling-you-about/

    1. When Hunt leaves, his final note will read:

      “There’s no money left, the credit limit has been broken and the card has been cancelled”

  17. Train drivers to be paid £100,000 a year. No doubt this time next year they’ll be on strike demanding another 10% pay rise and reduction in hours, with no loss of pay, to 3 days of work a week.

    I have also heard civil servants are about to go on strike for a 4 day work week, again with no reduction in pay.

    These people are truly a bunch of fifth columnists.

    1. City AM’s headline article today is “concerns grow over the Met’s costs, as accounts show it spent £35 million on staff earning over £100k”. Over 290 of them apparently.

      The Terriblegraph had an article today on the amount of money spent equipping Civil Servants to work from home. No doubt they are also reimbursed electricity costs, too – something no private company would allow if it gave you the privilege of wfh.

      All together now: “Don’t worry, the taxpayer will cough up”.

      1. I presume that the “Met” referred to is the Metropolitan Police and not the Meteorological Office?

  18. SIR – I have just returned from five days staying on the outskirts of
    Paris. This included forays into the heart of the city, as well as a
    200-mile round trip to Le Havre.

    Incredibly, in all that time I
    did not spot a single pothole, either within the urban sprawl or on the
    long journey west. Even more incredible was the lack of discarded
    rubbish on the pavements, which were pristine, as were the road
    surfaces.

    As an engineer, I could only admire the numerous road
    tunnels, which were all well lit and signposted, and as a farmer, I
    appreciated the beautifully groomed fields on either side of the road to
    Normandy.

    I now realise what a terrible mistake I made in
    voting for Brexit. Europe is leaving us behind and we are now just a sad
    remnant of a once-great Britain. Our politicians should bow their heads
    in shame.

    Duncan Ferguson

    Castle Douglas, Dumfriesshire

    The British tax payer paid for those roads and tunnels. The same as we paid for all those wonderful promenades and palm trees across all the European beaches.
    It is a question of priorities. In Britain the priorities are to tax, spend and waste as much as possible so we do not outshine the EU.

    1. And we are still paying, god knows why, £billions into the EU coffers as a penalty for leaving. Johnson and Gove overruled David Frost.

      1. Lord Frost was completely adamant that the UK would not give way on either Fishing or Northern Ireland. Then Gove and Johnson both arrived in Brussels on the eve of the agreement being signed and the UK spinelessly surrendered on both issues.

        A question which I frequently repeat and to which I have never had an answer is:

        Why did Lord Frost give in to Johnson and Gove?

        1. Because they out-ranked him and gave the orders.
          He should have resigned that night.

        2. It would be interesting to hear more from you on this subject generally – perhaps you have already written about it at length elsewhere.

    2. I remember keeping very quiet in the taxi from the airport into Funchal as the driver extolled the wonderful EU provided roads and viaducts.

    3. It seems Duncan didn’t get to the parts of Paris that are “improved” by multiculturalism! He also seems not to have realised that we haven’t left the EU – we still pay in to fund such things as French bridges, and we still get nothing back!!

    4. Paris is emphatically not a place in which to repent of leaving the EU. More and more of the French themselves want to leave, partly because of what they see happening in Paris. If we had a decent government we could take advantage of our power to be free, but we are still under the control of remainers.

  19. I posted last night that Starmer’s determination to strangle private schools financially was typical Old Labour:

    Spite, Envy. Class Hatred, Suppression of Aspiration.

    Starmer is following Blair – one of Blair’s first acts as PM in 1997 was to remove the assisted places scheme designed to send bright children to private schools when a local school could not provide the necessary teaching. And of course Blair sent his own children to high-performing state schools and then employed private tutors to ‘top up’

    However what is equally alarming is that the Conservative Party refuses to confront Labour on this issue and its silence on the matter is indicative of the fact that The Conservative Party is just as anti-aspirational and doctrinaire as Labour is.

    Of course Eton-educated Cameron sent his children to state schools when he was PM as he was shy about being called a toff! And, of course, as soon as he resigned as PM the hypocrite put them back into private schools!

    1. The Conservative party politicians cannot advocate the provision of more Grammar Schools, for example, as more provision would cause a degree of financial distress for the independent schools.

      1. I was thinking of taking a degree in financial distress but I couldn’t raise enough money for it! 😉

    2. Labour and Education Tax. It was ever thus. Labour tend not to like education, I find.

      But then they don’t condone independent thought of any sort whatsoever. I understand Sir Kneelalot wants to restore and increase many trade union rights, too. He’s the typically low grade class envy riddled gnome there’s always been in Labour basically.

  20. Good day all and the 77th,

    Grey, cold and wet at Castle McPhee, wind in the South-East, 6℃ and forecast to stay in single figures.

    Just been onto the DT to discuss renewal of my digital subscription. It wanted £139 so on threat of cancellation that was reduced to £39 for the year. The agent said he couldn’t do anything about my being shadow-banned in comments or provide a direct line to the moderators so I’ll have to resort to emailing ‘complaints’ which I think I have already done to no avail.

  21. Off topic
    The BBC has run a survey of elite British sportswomen which has produced some interesting responses on various aspects of top level competition.

    More than 100 elite British sportswomen have told the BBC they would be uncomfortable with transgender women competing in female categories in their sport.

    But many have expressed fears over sharing their opinion publicly because of concerns they would be seen as discriminatory.

    One told the BBC “your career is over” if you speak on the subject, while another said: “You can receive abuse if you support it or don’t support it. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

    The questionnaire was sent to British sportswomen above the age of 16 who compete for their country in senior sport, or at the highest level in their sport at top club level.

    In total, 104 athletes said they feel “uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” about transgender women competing in the female category in their sport. Only 11 said they feel comfortable or very comfortable.

    Asked how they would feel speaking publicly on the topic, 96 said they felt uncomfortable or very uncomfortable.

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/68564019
    My own view is that the time has come for three categories.
    Male, female and open.

    Transgender people should have ‘a place in sport’
    “I care a lot about inclusion and equality and as such want transgender people to be treated with respect and kindness,” an athlete told BBC Sport.

    “Whilst I acknowledge that their inclusion in high-performance sport can be a complex and certainly contested topic, I also feel that transgender women have been unfairly targeted.”

    In 2022, British Triathlon became the first British sporting body to establish an open category in which transgender athletes can compete.

    Several of the athletes BBC Sport spoke to called for open categories to be established in their sports, not wishing to restrict transgender athletes from competing entirely.

    “I believe sport should be for all so there should be a place in sport for transgender people, but not at the detriment of fair competition,” one athlete said, with another adding: “I’d never wish for anyone to not be able to participate.”

    “I wholeheartedly feel transgender athletes should be represented in sport, but within their own divisions,” said another.

    1. I find it grossly unfair that born women who trans to men have no chance of success if, willy-nilly, they have to compete against male born men in sporting events!

      1. I might suggest that that depends on how one discriminates and what the outcomes are.

        I would argue that discrimination in favour of people other than “your own”, so that those people take over, is positively unintelligent

  22. Kier Starmer is plugging floating windfarms as an election gambit.
    Admittedly these will not spoil either the UK landscapes or seascapes visible on the shallow waters visible on the continental shelf.

    One should however see the economic reason for floating wind farms in deep water.
    Using Norway for instance the power from such windfarms is justified by supplying the power to nearby oil and gas platforms which are exactly the industry that Starmer wishes to eliminate.

    Floating windfarms will put UK further into deep water.

    1. I’m sure engineers are very clever these days, but I cannot imagine how a floating windmill of any size could be built..

      1. I was thinking that a floating watermill might just be possible – but that would be too corny!

    2. Lady on the wireless referred to the Celtic Sea, by which she meant the Bristol Channel.

      1. She should have known better as she was looking down her own cleavage clue : the Bristol Channel!

    3. They need to put one mid-Channel so that the refugees can recharge their phones and laptops whilst en route.

      1. That would make sense particularly if Border Force implemented Applepay immigration turnstiles at Rubber Boat Landing Points (BBLPs). 😉

  23. Aparently there has been a poll regarding migration. 69% of people asked, are against it continuing.
    As has always been the case in these supposed public polls I have never in all my life been asked for an opinion. I just wondered if any nottlers, friends or relatives have ever been included in these supposed questionnaires.

    1. In the Nineties, I was accosted by a young woman working for one of the polling companies, who asked whom I would vote for if there were an election tomorrow. She expressed her displeasure when I told her that I would hold my nose and vote Conservative.

    2. Not me. Obvs. I am probably on a Govt. watch list. They don’t want me for jury service either.

      1. I was summoned for Jury service around ten years ago. It was quite an interesting experience.
        After the trial and verdict we had reach, the ’12’ had to be escorted via the rear door of the St Albans Court house, because a load of scum ‘traveler’ types, friends of the accused, had been in the public gallery staring and then moved to the front of the premises. We all managed to escape unharmed.

    3. I used to contribute to YouGov.
      I only bothered because the name suggested that politics was its raison d’etre.
      For years I dutifully answered questions about day-glo ‘orange’ juice, men’s toiletries and dongles (which sounded vaguely indecent). In that time I was only ever once sent a questionnaire about current affairs.
      I think they had sussed I was Right Wing – now, of course Far Right – and would not supply them with the answers they wanted.
      I gave up. One thing less to clutter my in-box and waste my time.

    4. I have been doing YouGov surveys for a while. I finally got enough points for £50 paid in to my bank last week.

    5. I’ve never been asked anything about anything meaningful. Only trivia by trivia-market researchers whom I can’t be bothered with.

  24. Nice article on the DT about Bob Wilson:

    A couple of extracts:

    ““My heroes are two guys I never knew,” he says, pointing. “My brothers Jock and Billy. I was four months old when Jock was shot down and killed in his Spitfire. He was head boy at his school. And I was two when Billy died as rear gunner in his Lancaster.
    “My mother was so proud of them. Ultimately Hitler and that regime were booted out, and it was thanks to hundreds of thousands of guys like Jock and Billy. Nineteen-years-old, and they’re lives were over. They will always be my heroes. Whatever I do will never come near what those guys did.”

    ““Jimmy [Hill] was a law unto himself. He always worked off the autocue – that was why he never presented Grandstand – and he failed to check his autocue one year on Match of the Day when the clocks went back.
    “The ‘L’ was missing from ‘clocks’ so he was ‘That’s all from Bob and me tonight, hope you enjoyed it, and don’t forget to put your c—- back’. I could hear the gallery in hysterics but, by the time Jim realised, the music was going.”

    (Once had the pleasure of meeting Jimmy Hill and sat next to Bob Wilson at a Birthday Party.)

    1. My brother used to play rugby with his son Jamie back in the mid-80s. Jamie had a side-hustle going as a George Michael lookalike (swoon).

  25. My old school has got to the semi-finals of the Schools rugby competition two years running and each time they lost to the eventual winners.

    I would be interested to see how the school team would do against England’s national women’s rugby XV.

    1. Not quite the same, but the Australian women’s national football team lost 7-0 to a boy’s under 15 side.

      Assuming your school’s team was the under 19 age group I think they would win, but it might be closer than one would think, the women are very skilful. However, I suspect it might be dangerous for the women.

      Some time ago, when England women were totally dominant domestically Brian Moore suggested they should train with and play the men’s U18 and U20 sides, but I think he was being slightly facetious.

  26. We must protect British people from malign actors, says minister. 25 March 2024.

    A minister said it is “imperative” British nationals are protected online from “malign actors” as the Government prepares to announce fresh sanctions on China over cyber attacks.

    Andrew Bowie, the minister for nuclear and renewables, said the Government takes the threat of online interference “incredibly seriously” as he suggested measures to combat the problem are going to be toughened up.

    The threat of Chinese state interference in British democracy is due to be raised in the House of Commons this afternoon by Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister.

    The only people I want protecting from are the actors in Westminster.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/25/rishi-sunak-latest-news-uk-nuclear-defence-china-cyber-hack/

    1. And the puppet masters pulling the strings of the malign actors in Wastemonster.

  27. Jeremy Rhyming only has to ask his CCP employee wife to have a word in the right ear…

      1. Perhaps you’re not too far off the mark!

        How many wrong’uns in >100,000 could we expect?

    1. Moral of the story: If you don’t want electrodes attched to your goolies don’t go murdering 137 Russians in Moscow.

    2. While I have no truck whatsoever with people who can do what they did, and always assuming that they really are the terrorists which in Russia, one can never be 100% sure, something did cross my mind. Can you imagine the outcry if pictures like that were released by say, the IDF, showing how they treated and extracted confessions from Oct 7 Hamas suspects who actually did far worse than these men?

    3. Sometimes getting to the required truth takes a little bit of additional encouragement.

    1. “President Trump stood tall by grounding the 737 Max when the FAA failed to do so. He doesn’t get everything right, far from it, but unlike most other politicians he doesn’t get everything wrong either. Yet he is universally hated by the political and chattering classes. I wonder why. Perhaps it is because they know he hasn’t been bought and sold like the rest of them.” BTL comment. Seconded.

      1. How long did Trump wait before grounding those 737s? Many other countries had suspended flights and Trump was slow to pull the plug.

      1. Let’s keep an open mind about this. I think there’s probably a cover up about something else they don’t want us to know about yet. I also don’t think she had anything to do with the pics or the video. That’s just my reading of all the things that have happened. I hope I’m wrong about it.

    1. Having been a fan, I now find I am going off Moran.
      His posts are becoming too vicious.

  28. According to the forecast, the next day free of precipitation in Bournville is 11 days hence – Friday, April 5th.

    So that answers one question for me: I should have mowed the lawn yesterday.

    1. I read that as “participation” and immediately thought: “FREE CHOCOLATE”…{:¬))

      1. Strange, because I was wondering whether I should have used the past particip(le) of the verb to mow, mown, with that verb tense. …. to recall a Beatles’ lyric:

        “I should have known better”

  29. The denials, coverups and eventual suppression from MSM for this one will be interesting.

      1. And they’ll feel safer and more at ease with their culture and social structure in their own group of islands than we now do Bill.

    1. I don’t think he’s insane, but family issues have certainly harshened his world view.
      On that score I have every sympathy with him, given what happened.

  30. Culled from ‘Let’s Discuss’ at TCW:

    uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76816ea8a94671a6977fe5a783983e6ce9222e87d011a8cee46692d85e34f708.png

    1. EXCLUSIVERevealed: Businesswoman who bakes gourmet birthday cakes for children of Man United stars was jailed for keeping a deaf and mute girl in a cellar as a slave in horrifying abuse
      Tallat Ashar’s cake creations have attracted thousands of likes on social media
      Celebrity customers include Bruno Fernandes, Raphaël Varane and Paul Pogba
      In 2014, Ashar was jailed for six years for abusing a young girl from Pakistan
      By JAMES TOZER FOR MAILONLINE

      PUBLISHED: 12:38, 24 March 2024 | UPDATED: 17:30, 24 March 2024

      In 2014, Ashar, the sole director of her firm Sugared Luxe Ltd – based in Eccles, Greater Manchester – was jailed for six years after she and her husband Ilyas were revealed to have smuggled a ten-year-old girl from Pakistan to the UK where she was subjected to appalling abuse.

      Kept secretly in the ‘sparse, cold, damp’ cellar of the five-bed family home, the girl was repeatedly raped by Mr Ashar as well as being ordered to cook and clean for her captors.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13228931/Businesswoman-bakes-gourmet-birthday-cakes-children-Man-United-stars-jailed-keeping-deaf-mute-girl-cellar-slave-horrifying-abuse.html

    1. From a couple of years ago there is quite a lot on Japan removing certain vaccines for various reasons, including contamination and lack of specialist syringes!
      The paper it’s based on regarding risks was only published for discussion recently.
      IF the findings are true it could be a game changer.

      There is a history of vaccination problems in Japan so they might well react swiftly to ban things; Covid vaccinations were not compulsory

      1. Yes, I’m aware of Japan finding faults with a batch of Pfizer syringes and particles in Moderna vaccines back in 2021, but nothing to suggest an immediate Japanese ban on all mRNA vaccines.

        1. It was all over Twitt at the weekend, but I wasn’t paying attention. I think a Japanese academic called for all mRNA products to be withdrawn iirc.

  31. That’s Oxford off the destination list then if this goes ahead. Already it costs £13.20 to park for two hours in one of the city centre car parking areas such as St Giles or in Keble Street where you could even have three hours. It was £4 pre-scamdemic and if your ticket was valid beyond 1830 that covered you for the whole evening so you could shop, go to the theatre or have supper or both. As we used to do.

    The bloody greens are determined to kill life.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f8b2834399428f58cc99908dcec6787113ed87bd9018b63c5a91f14e7d5b58e.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/suv-drivers-to-pay-more-to-park-in-oxford-under-green-party/

    It could only be someone with a name like Lois Muddiman. I see pink hair, tattoos and facial metal.

    1. “…heavier cars cause more damage to roads…”

      But not the electric ones…

      1. With all the pot holes an SUV or 4×4 is becoming more necessary to stay safe on the roads.

          1. I know you mean, 50 years ago I use to own an MGB GT. A few years later 45 ish, a friend who owned one in Oz took me for trip around in it.
            I had to roll out of it with one hand and a knee on the ground.

          2. Same with my Healey 100/4. You realised just how near to the ground it was as you could actually see the road going past through the rusty floor.

        1. If you see her coming, better step aside.
          A lot of men didn’t, and a lot of men died.

    2. How do laws and regulation that people do not want get adopted in democratic institutions? At some point in the process there was presumably a majority of whoever-they-were in favour of all these insufferable bits of tyranny.

      1. These regs are passed because, generally, we are all apathetic about making our views known. We write to our councillors and MPs but I think, in the end, direct action is needed. But then an “organiser” would be needed and …

    3. What about electric vehicles then?

      It’s all being done to force car drivers off the road. Councils will lose a lot of wonga and then what? Having successfully herded us all into 15 minute cities/towns HMG will bring in ID cards, CBDCs and we’re all stuffed. I hope the constituents of those Oxford councillors make their feelings plain. NOT IN MY NAME.

      1. Students are the problem. IIRC, the University has about 20 000 of them, and Brookes another 17 000 odd. They vote for these fanatical policies. Then there are all the academics and university hangers-on who live in and around the city.
        I think the 15 minute city stuff comes from the County Council which is infested with Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens. The Cons are the largest minority – by one councillor.

        1. Didn’t think students had much interest in politics (they shouldn’t have the time!). Does Oxford have some kind of referendum then? Otherwise how would students have so much influence?

          1. That’s dead sneaky because none of these students live in the real world. Bet they don’t go home and tell the parents what they’ve voted for.

          2. Yes. They’ll put people off from going shopping or for a night out in Oxford, without even thinking of the consequences for people from the Town.

  32. The English town where children grow up doomed to worklessness

    Middlesbrough offers a devastating snapshot of how young people’s prospects are being destroyed

    Melissa Lawford and Ben Butcher • 24 March 2024 • 10:00am

    Growing up in a workless household means children are less likely to expect to work themselves, says Heather Insull, strategy manager at Focus Youth North East in Middlesbrough, which works with young people aged 10 to 18. She estimates around 30pc of the children and teenagers she encounters come from workless households.

    “Some of the kids have parents and grandparents who also haven’t worked for whatever reason,” says Insull. “For the child, it seems quite normal to them that their parents don’t work. Some young people when we talk to them, say, ‘well I’m just going to do what my mum does’. When you’re surrounded by that, you don’t know any different.”

    In the decade up to 2020, the number of children in households where all working-age adults had been out of work for at least a year steadily declined. Then came the pandemic: between 2020 and 2022, the number of children in workless households rose by 129,000 to 1.13 million.

    The epicentre of the crisis is the North East. Here, nearly one in seven children, or 13.5pc, are growing up without a member of their immediate family in a job. Within the area, Middlesbrough has the highest proportion of children in workless households. The town, where White lives, offers a window on how the pandemic threatens to derail the prospects of future generations.

    Helping young people into the world of work can be an involved process. “It’s right back to the basics,” says Jan Sturdy who works at the Lingfield Learning Centre, which runs study programmes and supported internships for 16 to 24-year-olds who are slipping through the net. “We have gone to their houses to get them at the front door to travel with them.”

    As well as helping young people get jobs, their work also includes sessions on how to budget and buy ingredients from a supermarket. “A lot of them have no concept of money at all,” she says.

    Around half of the young people Sturdy works with come from long-term workless households.

    “We have some people who come to us who don’t know what it is to have to get to a place of work by nine in the morning, because three generations of their family never have,” she explains. Some parents actively discourage their children from getting a job, she says. “We have parents who are receiving benefits who don’t want their kids to work.”

    This is a particular problem when children are on educational healthcare plans, which means their parents receive money to support their special educational needs.

    “You wouldn’t believe the amount of money that’s coming into some households because of the educational healthcare plans,” says Sturdy.

    She knows of one family where at least three of the children were on plans, meaning the household received more than £90,000 per year in benefits. “The mum didn’t want her kids to work because she would have lost that.”

    The issue is complex. But what most agree on is the pandemic has turbocharged the problem.

    Full article here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/24/middlesbrough-children-grow-up-doomed-worklessness/

    It’s too easy to say “Cut their benefits!” but what comes next? There’s no work. The economy has been shattered. Welfare dependency has been with us for too long and, yes, the pandemic has made it far worse. These people would once have been the concern of the Labour Party, who would have blamed the evil Tories. Not now. They look on the ancestral British underclass with contempt.

    1. Absolutely tragic and such a waste of human potential and so crushing for the people consigned to such a nihilistic experience.

    2. Almost ten million people living on benefits and not contributing, that’s quite a load on the system.

      I suppose that Nirman Tebbits “On your bike” suggestion dies not apply anymore. Even if these kids could find a job, the boat people have taken all of the accommodation and entry level wages will be undercut by illegal imports working outside the tax system.

      National service calls, not armed with guns but with shovels and other pot hole filling equipment.

    3. What sort of benefit income could I expect if I had 4 wives, each of which have 6 children? Asking for my friend Mo.

    4. Most people in the Telegraph comments went straight to the benefits part and extrapolated from that. That really doesn’t tell the story, though.
      In the north-east, the schools are rubbish, transport is rubbish, there are few jobs and the type of jobs available are narrower than other places. Growing up there, folk see other parts of the country and feel like its a different world. You don’t feel connected to the rest of the country at all. It’s difficult for outsiders to understand, but growing up in that environment gives you no sense of hope. Few people have the connections to get out. If you’re lucky, you will go elsewhere for uni and then remain there. Few ever return.
      I’d argue that the whole country no longer really offers any sort of decent future for younger Britons now. In the north-east and other similarly poor parts of the country, it’s that times 100. And has been for decades now. It’s a tragic mess.

  33. Well done that’s the picture I found but I just can’t post pictures on here.

      1. But there’s the likelihood of splitting your infinitives should you do that.

    1. Q: What’s the difference between a ski instructor and a mutual fund?

      A: Eventually the fund will mature and make a little money.

    2. What’s the difference between God and a ski instructor?

      God doesn’t think he’s a ski instructor.

  34. Kremlin bot army blames Mi6 for Moscow terror attack. 25 March 2024.

    The Kremlin has launched a disinformation campaign spreading false claims that MI6 and other Western intelligence agencies were responsible for Friday’s terrorist attack in Moscow.

    A network of automated “bot” social media accounts has been sharing links to fake websites, designed to look like well-known news outlets, that blame the West for the massacre that left 167 people dead, The Insider reported.

    A lot of fake stories this morning about Foreign Online Activities. This is almost certainly to provide cover for the Governments move this afternoon to crack down on domestic dissent,

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/25/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news2/

    1. Yet another chorus… “We’re all Far-Right now, we’re all Far-Right now”.

    1. “He noted how drivers in a 20mph zone are having to focus on their speedometer enough, describing it as a distraction.”

      Too bloody right. How making roads ‘safer’ makes driving more dangerous.

      1. Not far from us, we have a 40 leading to a 30 mph speed limit with a warning of the speed of the vehicle approaching. Despite the warning 90% of drivers ignore the speed reduction. A perfect place for a camera with fines attached. No chance.
        I think after a week or two of fines the usual suspects would stop speeding and the installation would not have been profitable.
        Basically they can’t be bothered.

        1. Near me there is a 30 zone leading to a 20mph zone. Many ignore the restrictions but some obey the law to the letter. Luckily the road is nice and straight so I overtake them if nothing is coming in the opposite direction.

      2. I’ll say. It’s too slow. I can drive with no hands, and looking out my side windows at the houses i am going past. Can’t do that at 30!!!

        1. “I’m most terribly, terribly sorry officer. I was concentrating on my speedometer to keep below 20, and as I looked up again you had stepped out and I hit you before I could brake. Do you think both your legs are broken? Shall I call the ambulance or will your radio be quicker?”

      3. I’ll say. It’s too slow. I can drive with no hands, and looking out my side windows at the houses i am going past. Can’t do that at 30!!!

  35. Shopping just arrived. I was looking curiously into the crate when the driver said

    ‘you’ve been meloned’.

    They substituted a pack of cornflour for the biggest watermelon i have seen.

    1. Yeees, I find that too. Any substitutions seem to bear no relationship to what was originally ordered.

      1. I didn’t mind. I thought it was funny. They didn’t charge me for it either.

        Not so funny was the last Waitrose shop. I had ordered 12 large thick cut pork steaks which were on special offer and they sent 12 skinny little chops at full price. I told the driver i wasn’t going to accept the entire delivery. Then i emailed Waitrose and politely told them how crap they have become and i wouldn’t be using them in the future.

        I then used Ocado/ M&S but noticed a big price difference between them and Sainsbury’s. I buy 6 litre packs of semi skimmed milk monthly. Sainsbury’s price is £4.25. Ocado/M&S £7.80. And the Ocado ones are French !

        Also Sainsbury’s do a price match on many items with Lidl and they refund the difference.

      2. I didn’t mind. I thought it was funny. They didn’t charge me for it either.

        Not so funny was the last Waitrose shop. I had ordered 12 large thick cut pork steaks which were on special offer and they sent 12 skinny little chops at full price. I told the driver i wasn’t going to accept the entire delivery. Then i emailed Waitrose and politely told them how crap they have become and i wouldn’t be using them in the future.

        I then used Ocado/ M&S but noticed a big price difference between them and Sainsbury’s. I buy 6 litre packs of semi skimmed milk monthly. Sainsbury’s price is £4.25. Ocado/M&S £7.80. And the Ocado ones are French !

        Also Sainsbury’s do a price match on many items with Lidl and they refund the difference.

  36. Is it only me that thinks the media/internet is getting a bit too weird?
    Apparently Russia and China have nothing to do but make up stories about princess Kate.
    I mean I’m all for a good conspiracy theory but that’s stretching it a bit. Why on earth would they care about a member of royalty from a rapidly declining former power; whose elite hate its population.
    Our country is well on the way to successfully destroying itself without the need for anyone else to join in.
    The other weird thing is Putin accusing Ukraine of its terrorist attack. I suspect that is not a real accusation, but a way of bolstering the war against Ukraine.
    He would be very daft if he didn’t do something

    about his ropers though.
    Attacking Russia just shows how much the religion of peace believes it can get away with.
    Having had the west bend over backwards to

    change laws and facilitate Muslim atrocities in pursuit of the global caliphate; they now think that no one has the right to stop their divine mission.
    If Putin caves into them, we might as well start introducing sharia law as there is no one else apart from Russia and China (ironically the two countries we are against) to stop them.
    It looks like the wests first priority is to get rid of its history by enabling the caliphate to arise as soon as possible.

    1. Its distraction politics. its aim is to stop you looking in to how things are in yourown country. So many fall for it time & again.

    2. I agree that Putin’s accusation against Ukraine is probably propaganda rather than a sincerely held belief.

      1. Likely the animals who murdered and maimed innocents were paid mercenaries. There are reports that one of the perpetrators had served in the Ukrainian Army.

        The Russians will presumably tell all in due course. It is unusual for IS fanatics to seek to escape the carnage, they usually die as martyrs thus ensuring their place in paradise.

    3. Apparently Russia and China have nothing to do but make up stories about princess Kate..

      Afternoon Mrs Croc. These are simply false allegations to justify measures against Domestic Dissent. Oliver Dowden is going to speak about it in the Commons this afternoon.

    4. It’s a squirrel, intended to get people talking about Kate’s illness.
      In May, the amendments and the treaty should get passed at the WHO, delivering us all into the slavery of a one world government whose dictats will also cover the climate “emergency.”
      We are about to have draconian laws to control the internet. WeThey are losing in Ukraine.
      There’s plenty the establishment doesn’t want us talking about!

    1. I’m no fan of Gina Miller but activities such as the wholesale dumping of raw sewage into the UK’s waterways and coastal waters needs stronger discouragement.

      1. If you were a landowner the Environment Agency and Water Company would have you in court for immense fines in no time.
        Meanwhile the EA allows water companies to pump raw sewage into the sea.

        1. Indeed, but why the wide disparity beyond the immediate reason that EA permission protects polluters from law enforcement?

      2. Part of the problem is following EU environmental directives to the extent that infrastructure and drainage can’t be maintained to ensure that re-wilding is facilitated.
        Without proper land drainage, sewage systems get overwhelmed when extreme weather occurs (yeah, yeah that’s down to climate change) and massive population movements brought about by EU policies have also resulted in too many people’s waste blocking the systems. I may have faulty recollection, but I don’t recall the constant problems we see now happening 30 years ago.

        Too little investigation of the likely short term, let alone long term outcomes of policies takes place.

      3. Part of the problem is following EU environmental directives to the extent that infrastructure and drainage can’t be maintained to ensure that re-wilding is facilitated.
        Without proper land drainage, sewage systems get overwhelmed when extreme weather occurs (yeah, yeah that’s down to climate change) and massive population movements brought about by EU policies have also resulted in too many people’s waste blocking the systems. I may have faulty recollection, but I don’t recall the constant problems we see now happening 30 years ago.

        Too little investigation of the likely short term, let alone long term outcomes of policies takes place.

      4. Dates back to before Mrs T’s privatisation of water firms. IIRC Reader’s Digest had an article in early 1990s about a crusading couple whose child had developed poliomyelitis after swimming in the sea polluted by raw sewage.

        1. Some early EEC directives concentrated on drinking water quality. UK companies spent time and money on improvements that weren’t always necessary while neglecting sewage and infrastructure.

    1. Well, let us hope that she and her “party” get well and truly stuffed come the election.

      1. Ah, a new party.

        I got to the :
        “We are not only pitifully lagging behind Europe, but we have lost all credibility as a global leader in environmental protection.”
        and then gave up on the article before I got that far.

  37. I am puzzled by the lack of research journalist’s have done into the cause of Harrys departure from the Firm, and the assumption he can return?
    Harry was dismissed by the Queen, following an investigation into the couples behaviour whilst working with William and Catherine in the Royal Foundation.
    The whistle was blown by Meghan’s own Private Secretary Jason Kaulf. The Queen appointed Sir Edward Young to investigate and following his report, the Queen immediately removed the couple from the Royal Foundation and gave them a small office in Buckingham Palace and placed them under supervision.
    However their continued behaviour after this incident, convinced the Queen, that they did not, and would not meet the standard of integrity required to represent her, either full or part-time.
    In agreement with Charles and William, the Queen convened a meeting, known as the Sandringham summit, where Harry had to agree to follow the Queen rules or leave. He chose to leave, signing a legal document, thoroughly prepared, depriving him of his HRH status, and all entitlements for himself and his children. Due to the seriousness of the situation he was given a years grace before it was made final. However Harry lost his temper and told his grandmother he would not change his mind and to make it final.
    So the Queen finalised it, it cannot be reversed and Harry will never recover his HRH or represent the Monarch under any circumstances. To suggest this is a possibility is misleading.
    Calls for “reconciliation” are disrespectful to William. Harry had plenty of time given to him by the Queen , to reconcile 4 years ago. He ignored her and doubled down on his false accusations.
    All suggestions of reconciliation and Harry helping the RF with duties should STOP. EDITED

    I’ve just seen this BTL in the DT
    Very informed! Any comment anyone!
    Edit She’s commenting as Hannah Brough

      1. Not only is she American she is also an actress. Oh dear. When her looks go……………….When it all finally falls to pieces the half blood Duchess and the half blood Prince will have to prostitute themselves. Oh…that’s what they have been doing !

          1. Entirely O/T

            Who in the name of unholy hell invited JD to join us on this ‘ere blog. It wasn’t you was it? Poisonous little oik and utterly humourless. Obviously never loved by his mother and really enjoys being offensive with a general demeanor even less appealing than the Parrot’s. Is he Parrot’s unwanted illegitimate brother? Time for the Spanish Inquisition, methinks. Don’t involve yourself. I’ll get Phizzee to do it. Nobody will suspect anything.

            BTW: A month or so ago you described how you &MR had been to a funeral at Holkham, your parish church. I had always imagined that you had a parish church in Fulmodaston. Do you know Richard Worsley who used to be a churchwarden at Holkham?

          2. I have found that if you imagine many of those posts ending /sarc, (as I try to remember to write when I am making a flippant point,) you will see there is a sense of humour there.

          3. We DO have a parish church in Fulmodeston. The reference to Holkham was where our late neighbour was buried (because he was born on the Estate and was christened in that church.

            EDIT: A memorial service was held in Fulmodeston – because he had lived in the village for 30 years.

            JD = nothing to do with me. Blame Geoff (if you dare) for the Spexators.

          4. My great grandfather was a gardener on the Holkham estate. I know they keep meticulous records and have been in contact to ask if they had anything they could share with me from their records.

          5. Eh, calm down, calm down !

            I think both of you need to be aware of each others sensibilities and kiss and make up. There was always going to be some friction with a new influx. If you don’t i know a big Nottler (Alf the Great) who will give you both a thick ear !

          6. He can give you a thick ear too. Just sayin’.

            BTW. Your name came up at lunch as there is a possibility of the next anniversary being in East Anglia. I told them no. Bill has made it plain in no uncertain terms that he would sooner ice skate on the edge of crumbling glaciers than meet any of us for lunch. At least three of them said ‘what? I can’t hear you because i’m as deaf as a post. Mentioning no names.
            Though if you send me some money i will tell you ! :@)

          7. You too? They love him, those BTL refugees from the Speccie. I blocked him a few weeks ago. I will probably be blocking more. They are an argumentative bunch.

          8. Entirely O/T

            Who in the name of unholy hell invited JD to join us on this ‘ere blog. It wasn’t you was it? Poisonous little oik and utterly humourless. Obviously never loved by his mother and really enjoys being offensive with a general demeanor even less appealing than the Parrot’s. Is he Parrot’s unwanted illegitimate brother? Time for the Spanish Inquisition, methinks. Don’t involve yourself. I’ll get Phizzee to do it. Nobody will suspect anything.

            BTW: A month or so ago you described how you &MR had been to a funeral at Holkham, your parish church. I had always imagined that you had a parish church in Fulmodaston. Do you know Richard Worsley who used to be a churchwarden at Holkham?

  38. A poem for our times:

    A Chancellor who was just about broke
    Said “How about taxing the woke?”
    “Just Do it!” he said to the HMRC
    Who happened now to be all at sea –
    (I think they were all snorting coke!)

      1. We had a card in the post today about smart meters and what a huge benefit they are. I ripped it up.

    1. Seriously? Did anyone believe that smart meters were just there to allow occasional nighttime discounts?

      A few years ago when they had big power generation problems in Texas, people that didn’t have service plans and were just paying spot prices for electricity received some mighty big bills. Smart meters will just make the whole overcharging process even easier.

      1. My electricity company is quite open about it. In the T&C about accepting a smartmeter it clearly states that at times of high demand your electricity can be turned off!

  39. Iain Duncan Smith: MPs won’t be bullied into silence by China . 25 March 2024.

    Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he and other critics of the Chinese government will not be “bullied into silence by Beijing”.

    He argued the West had been “too passive” in challenging China over its activities abroad.

    The former leader of the Conservative Party told a press conference in Westminster this afternoon: “Neither we nor other parliamentary colleagues will be bullied into silence by Beijing.

    This is all a pantomime for the benefit of the hoi polloi. They are not even the real rulers of the UK. That function is carried out by the Islamic Civil Service. The Chinese know this. No threat from these clowns is going to worry them

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/25/rishi-sunak-latest-news-uk-nuclear-defence-china-cyber-hack/

    1. As all Chinese everywhere are required to swear allegiance to their ‘Dear Leader’ Sir Iain Duncan Smith could interview Jeremy Hunt’s wife about what she gets up to. Hunt married her in China.

      1. Didn’t the Mr and Mrs Hunt think that it was jolly good for Mrs Hunt’s sister to be locked up in her own house during Covid?

    2. HA! HA! HA!
      breathe…
      HA! HA! HA!
      Don’t need to be bullied, they’ve already been bought.

    1. I think we all know quite enough about Muslims, ta very much.
      Is this a spoof? Trouble is, nowadays every day is 1st. April.

          1. The last time I checked, there was no record of him ever having said it. On the contrary, he was urging our new arrivals to learn English.

    1. Forth.

      Wordle 1,010 4/6

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

      1. Bit slow here!
        Wordle 1,010 5/6

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

      2. Me too.

        Wordle 1,010 4/6

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

    2. Forth.

      Wordle 1,010 4/6

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

    3. I had more fun before stumbling on the solution
      Wordle 1,010 5/6

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

      1. ‘Streaked’ – Me too, RT!
        I tried several non-name options …

        Wordle 1,010 X/6
        ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
        ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟩
        🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
        🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
        🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
        🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩

  40. FFS! The Mail has an article about floating windmills now. I have a better idea, why don’t we put windmills in the sky, attached to balloons? We could tether the balloons to rainbows. Perhaps I should write to Keir Starmer and suggest it for Labour’s next manifesto.

    1. Fear not. Liebour and Cur Ikea have patented perpetual motion. Everlasting power generation guaranteed.

    2. Powered by unicorn farts? My 5 year old granddaughter says they’re very strong!

  41. No Shite Sherlock

    Our economic model is bust. Being a services superpower is not enough

    Britain is in a bad way, let down by the promise of globalisation and free trade. We must face reality

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/24/our-economic-model-is-bust-we-cant-rely-on-services-alone/

    What is the absolue essential for industry?

    Cheap energy

    Just as well our politicians are working so hard to provide it…………

    https://imgb.ifunny.co/images/fa59010f66180b3840684977965d81e37c570bda6b789fbf1c7ca3b57f0a175b_1.webp

      1. The government is determined to make our energy costs amongst the most expensive in the world.

        Does the King have no idea what Net Zero is doing to Britain’s competitiveness? Will it ever dawn on him and his son that there is no climate emergency and that carbon dioxide is both beneficial and necessary?

        1. Net Zero isn’t about carbon or climate, it’s about global socialism and giving advantage to the third world who are exempt.

          Just as Ottmar Edenhoffer of the IPCC explained thirteen years ago. His statement about climate policy being international socialism in disguise was 100% correct.

          ”One must say clearly that we redistribute defacto the world’s wealth by climate policy. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy.”

          https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-climate-alarmist-admits-real-motive-behind-warming-scare/

          Shortly before that revelation relating to global socialism, George Soros, who is highly influential at the World Economic Forum, Davos, the UN and on the IPCC, unveiled a proposal to provide up to $150 billion, later rising to $500 billion, of public money for the third world.

          This intervention by George Soros, who inevitably wanted to control the $500 billion through the IPCC, came after the UK’s Climate Change Act 2008 which Soros strongly desired, with the organizer of the legislation, David Miliband, later awarded a highly paid CEO position arranged and financed by none other than George Soros!

        2. The King is only interested in having enough power to make his Dutchy biscuits.

        3. I have little interest in the opinions of our monarch or that of his heir. Or am I naïve in thinking they carry little weight?

    1. I recall articles saying that the German economy, based more on manufacturing, was not the way of the future. Maybe it’s not as simple as services vs. manufacturing, more that we’ve established international rules of trade that favour non-Western countries with very cheap labour and energy, funded by Western money. Dan Hannan and his free-trade absolutists have an awful lot to answer for.

  42. Two men found guilty of murdering footballer Cody Fisher at Crane nightclub. 25 March 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/247c4513c188fe83e5ebf77d415a84a788913b3d843c58b01b4db069bb2f4422.jpg

    Two men have been found guilty of murdering a semi-professional footballer who was fatally stabbed on a nightclub dancefloor in Birmingham.

    Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter, 22, killed Cody Fisher in a knife attack on Boxing Day 2022 in an “awful revenge” after a minor altercation two days earlier, the city’s crown court was told.

    Just thought that I would put this picture up. There isn’t one on the Guardian article. Lol!

    https://news.sky.com/story/cody-fisher-two-men-found-guilty-of-murdering-footballer-at-nightclub-13095099

    1. You had me there for a moment, Minty.

      Seeing that the first convict’s name was Remy, I immediately assumed that the second was known by a more traditional English name of Martin XO. On closer inspection of his hue, this appeared unlikely

        1. It is all so very, very tiring, Sue. Every day we NoTTLers throw up our hands when we see such photographs… many casual readers of our comments would miss the point that the vast majority of the perpetrators are quite obviously DRUGGIES.

          1. Nah – deprived (by white supremacists) and misunderstood. Token sentence followed by rapid release into the cummunidy. To re-offend.

          2. Having read? the article in the Birmingham Mail which sos posted, I feel absolutely incensed and astounded that such feral beings exist in our cities. They’re not human at any level – hell, they can’t even speak any language but their own made up grunting and verbalising. How have they been allowed to sink so low that they kill without thought, seemingly for the hell of it or because someone else speaks differently?

          3. They are the spawn of the devil , what are they doing in the UK .

            I wish the Russians could deal with them , wire their balls and sizzle their hair and ears ..

            The public should be allowed to deal with blighters like that , the law is too slow .

          4. I couldn’t really get my head round the state of mind of the scum who murdered him.

  43. Ah! Just back from visiting step-son with the weather somewhat improved.
    Stopped off en route back home for a bit of shopping and bought some pies, so dinner now on for the DT when she gets back from work and the two lads when they return from where ever they’s gone to.

    Got a few things done with stepson, sorting out a couple of things with his gas & electric accounts, applying for a disability bus pass and advising the housing benefits office that his rent is going up.
    At least he bought me a mug of tea and sausage cob!

  44. There are 9 living past and present Conservative Party leaders. Is this a record?

    John Major, William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

    1. A Conservative poem:

      A PM of Turkish descent
      Warned: “Ruskies – dont’t trust them – they’re bent”.
      So the Ukies got arms
      causing NATO alarms
      and guess where the neutral guys went.

    2. John Major, john Major, lend me your grey hair.
      All along, down along, out along lea.
      For I want for to go see Anne Widecombe Fair,
      William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard,
      David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss,,
      Old Hindu Rishi Sunak and all,
      Old Hindu Rishi Sunak and all.

    1. Cameron: “Great! Can we have Special Fried Rice, Chicken Chow Mein, Stir-fry crispy beef and 1/4 Peking duck please?” “Oh and some prawn crackers?”

    1. Is there a convention covering how far ahead of a General Election a seat may stay vacant? The time will soon come when by-elections are a pointless expense and waste of time.

      1. I don’t know, but the papers seem clear that this one will take place at the same time as the local elections to bury the bad news.

        1. I suppose that’s reasonable enough as polling stations will be open anyway. Even so, the new MP (almost certainly Labour) might only have about six months before the GE.

          1. It’s quite a Brexity area, Blackpool South. Using the same tool for the North West showed support for Reform above 30%. The ex MP is popular locally – perhaps he should stand for Reform?

    2. 107 seats would do nicely, thank you very much. I somehow think that it’s a tad optimistic, mind…

      1. They would become The Official Opposition with all the privileges that go with it!

        1. Being the official opposition in any capacity would be a dream come true. At least some seats in Parliament. I don’t know what’ll happen if Reform gets 20-odd per cent and no seats.

        1. I’m open to a discussion about it by people who know the proper details. Remain to be entirely convinced, though. The problem is that the debate is always shut down.

  45. Saw this BTL Comment on the DT:

    Neil McEvoy
    6 HRS AGO
    BBC R4 is an infinite bowl of word salad, with a copious dressing of marxism, endlessly tossed by a stream of guests who’ve never done a decent day’s work in their lives, who aren’t half as clever as they think they are.

    I think what Mr McEvoy is implying is that the guests are tossers!

    1. I get a similar vibe from Times Radio when exposed to it at my mum’s house. The thought “Will you people stop talking or get to a point” quickly then often passes through my mind.

      1. I do agree here, AA. And it is also an extreme irritation that even sound you-tubers take ages to get to the point. Boring and unnecessary.

  46. Farm protest in London – Daily Mail.

    Slow-moving
    tractor convoy descends on central London during rush hour: More than
    100 furious farmers threaten to cause gridlock in capital as they
    assemble in Westminster for angry protest over government support

    1. I don’t watch the news anymore. It’s become very depressing.
      They should drive their tractors through the lobby in Wastemonster.

        1. Of course there wasn’t. Tomorrow there will be a footnote saying that a few far-right extremists had been arrested (as I have no doubt they will be) and many tractors, intended for insurrection, confiscated.

          Actually, don’t forget that the humble tractor is now a sex object for some. Let’s keep an eye on those that are confiscated by our pervy police.

        2. If doesn’t suit their own adgenda Ellie. 🤫🐘
          I visited and old friend last week.
          We talked about an old recently departed couple from our village.
          Further to our conversation came Gary, his second name I can’t remember.
          About 20 years ago maybe more he came to stay with a couple who he’d met in Zimbabwe. He worked at the wildlife resort of Manna Pools. He had come to the UK to bring to the attention of our government the dreadful treatment of elephants. A lovely guy who I became very friendly with. I gave him a job for a few weeks because he had very little money. Before he returned he told me that his life would be in danger. I tried many times to contact him via the Manna Pools website, but never had a response.
          Another Sad story about or precious global wildlife.

          1. Do you have any contacts in Africa that might know ?
            There’s a bus stop as you leave our village and he left his pair of boots underneath the seat.
            Long gone of course.

      1. You can’t get near it any ore. Not only have they closed the road off, they’ve got barriers too.

  47. This video, re-tweeted by James Delingpole is chilling if true. Can anyone confirm from their own contacts or observations whether it’s true or not?
    The narrator claims that most farmland in Britain is too waterlogged to plant at the moment, and the Government is offering farmers money in order to take their land out of agricultural production and “re-wild” it for three years, after which time they will allegedly get it back.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECRFC0yPalI

    1. I haven’t watched all of this (had to stop because of the OTT hyperbole, a la Polly) I don’t know whether or not it is a true analysis of government malfeasance where this gentleman resides (which I presume to be in the SE of the UK).

      What is happening here in Wales is that the WAG is using public money to “persuade” (read “compel”) farmers to remove 20% of their prime agricultural land from food production (10% for planting trees and 10% for “rewilding”).

      Additionally, the WAG seeks to create huge “solar farms”, whereby prime agricultural land is covered with toxic and indestructible solar panels, and also seeking to create inshore and offshore wind farms.

      It is disturbing, counterscientific and immoral, in my opinion

      1. I was listening to R4 while driving back from work and heard the farmer leading the protest interviewed. She said that these changes were enacted and sneaked through in England during lockdown but that devolved Wales is doing it later and in different ways, but the end is the same.

      2. We had plenty of wet springs in the 1970s and it didn’t stop farmers from planting. But the government has been trying to buy the farmers’ compliance by pushing money at them (to produce a famine) and at some point that is going to bite.
        I’d like to know how many farmers have taken the poison chalice to stop producing food though.

        1. They’re doing the same in Scotland. Our farmer SiL is being offered money for leaving land ‘fallow’, but they haven’t mentioned what happens next! Odd that!

        2. Farmers are squeezed, though. All their activities have long been skewed by the CAP and now we have this. Farmers do, for the most part, farm because they love the land and love farming it but there is a limit and everyone needs to make an honest living from their labour.

    2. The bits of farmland not built on round here are wet, certainly. My garden is too wet to plant at the moment. I wouldn’t call it waterlogged. I do believe the govt is offering incentives to take land out of agricultural production. Don’t know if it’s for “rewilding”.

      1. According to the narrator of this video, the rewilding involves planting seeds dictated by teh government and spraying what they mandate onto the land. The deal is only for three years apparently. Doesn’t sound much like rewilding to me, but I havent checked it. When I was a child, we didn’t plant anything until about May because the land was so wet. But farm machinery is so heavy now – does it rely on not having a wet spring?
        Reducing the amount of food grown is clearly planning for food shortages.

        1. In the days when we ploughed with horses, they did little damage to the land, wet or not.

  48. SIR – I have just returned from five days staying on the outskirts of Paris. This included forays into the heart of the city, as well as a 200-mile round trip to Le Havre.

    Incredibly, in all that time I did not spot a single pothole, either within the urban sprawl or on the long journey west. Even more incredible was the lack of discarded rubbish on the pavements, which were pristine, as were the road surfaces.
    As an engineer, I could only admire the numerous road tunnels, which were all well lit and signposted, and as a farmer, I appreciated the beautifully groomed fields on either side of the road to Normandy.

    I now realise what a terrible mistake I made in voting for Brexit. Europe is leaving us behind and we are now just a sad remnant of a once-great Britain. Our politicians should bow their heads in shame.

    Duncan Ferguson
    Castle Douglas, Dumfriesshire

    Rose tinted glasses or is he speaking the truth?

    1. He didn’t visit the banlieus – Seine St Denis etc. Yes , the EU spent a fortune of OPM building roads. But.

      1. Oh don’t rub it in Sos. I’ve had enough of this dump (again) along with millions of others.

    2. This man is a complete tosser. That the French have decent roads is NOTHING to do with the UK leaving the EUSSR. He also appears to have been lucky enough to miss the no-go parts of Paris and its Banlieue. And the streets full of illegals.

    3. What he saw has bugger all to do with the EU and everything to do with a nation that still has some self-respect.

    4. He’s been taken in by the fact our government has deliberately ruined our country to punish us for voting for Brexit. I suspect the EU is still being given our money (via VAT). We will have paid for those pothole-free roads. The streets are litter free (except in immigrant enclaves, I suspect) because the city governors have the roads swept. The CAP was always designed to favour French farmers. I never thought that the Norman fields were particularly well groomed. Did he notice the infestation of mistletoe in all the trees?

      1. Thank you Conway. You’ve written exactly what I wanted to say, and much better than I could!

  49. That’s me for this chilly day. Did an hour’s heavy digging. Hoped to do more but it was exhausting. Will have another bash tomorrow.

    Over the last six nights, the MR and I did something we have never done before. We watched the three “Godfather” films – half of each per night. Very hard to come to terms with the way of life led by the mobsters… Amusingly, there was (inevitably) a “trigger warning” – “Violence throughout the film”!!

    Tonight, something less hectic. By the way, I do repeat the recommendation for people who like to hear French spoken. The French “Maigret” series on Talking Pictures is brilliant. Not least because the actor playing Maigret (Bruno Cremer) is the image of my late great mate Gérard!

    Anyway – have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. Entirely agree about Maigret with Bruno Cremer. I never went beyond ‘O’ level French or Latin but I can just about follow the plot with my eyes closed.

    2. Lucky you! It was tipping it down here (again) so outdoor work had to be put on hold.

    1. His brother, David, received a million dollar job from Soros for fixing the Climate Change Act 2008!

      1. Thank you, opopanax! Fern lives with 7 Border collies, so is very good at herding and guarding!

    1. Lovely.
      Our youngest grandson was with us today. He’s four and loves helping his nanny in the garden. And he and others loved our lovely labrador. And she was very understanding and gentle with them.

      1. Our Lab Hector was called ‘nanny dog’ when the twins were babies as he used to leap up if they made a noise when they were asleep!

        1. They are such lovely friends.
          I miss ours so much.
          Over the years amongst other displays of affection. I’d sat in the evening she laying on her rug on the floor. I’d had a couple of debilitating coughing fits.
          She’d get up come over and put her head on my lap.

  50. It seems a strange sort of business model, but under net zero energy suppliers say that you the customer can save money by not using their product.
    Don’t put that heating on, sit in the dark, wear more clothes instead.
    What other business has ever been able to get away with that and still make £ billions in profit.
    Imagine Ford in the past saying that you can save money by not buying our cars and staying at home or holiday companies saying that you can save money by staying at work instead.
    Whomever thought of net zero is sitting on a gold mine.

  51. Netanyahu CANCELS Israeli diplomatic trip to Washington after the US refuses to veto United Nations resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire over Ramadan

    That’s strange, I don’t seem to recall Muslim Arabs hesitating to attack on Jewish festivals, in fact I have the impression that that’s their preferred modus operandi

  52. How craven to woke can you go?

    BBC presenter John Craven, 83, claims there is ‘disturbing’ evidence of racism in the British countryside as research team carries out two-year survey aiming to find the ‘true extent’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13236833/bbc-john-craven-countryside-racist.html

    I wonder if the British countryside looks at the black people and asks itself whether it wants to go back millions of years to primeval forest or stay developed and tells them it would prefer to stay as it is and that’s why they feel rejected?

    My explanation can’t be any worse than Craven’s

    1. Another ‘king brain washed bbc idiot.
      They be finding black fingerprints on Stonehenge next.
      They’re all at it now.

        1. If it could be stolen easily the pìkies would have had it ages ago. Good job it’s not made of lead like church roofs.

    2. I can’t take him seriously since he had those comedy false teeth fitted? He can’t speak properly!

  53. Just in.

    Trump’s $454M Judgment Bond Slashed By More Than Half In Appeals Court Ruling.

        1. I’m sure he will……but why the hell should he? It’s a blatant attempt to try and impede his running for President. Once he is President again I hope he takes the most severe revenge on these people.

  54. Spot the difference

    Nearly HALF of Haiti is starving as gangs running 90% of the nation push locals to brink of famine – with thousands fleeing the bloody chaos

    Nearly HALF of Gaza is starving as Hamas gangs running 90% of the nation push locals to brink of famine – with thousands fleeing the bloody chaos as Hamas terrorists shelter in their boltholes and the IDF try to flush them out

    1. The difference could be the ‘I’ word
      But having said that, it shows the extent of the influence of the garbage at the top of the tree.

      1. I think we had adequate warning of the way the US (In)Justice System has been weaponised for political purposes when Conrad Black was railroaded through a kangaroo court.
        As I’ve said several times before, the USA has interfered in the affairs of a lot of countries to advance American interests, starting with South America which coined the phrase “Banana Republic”, so it is VERY ironic that the USA has, its self, become a Banana Republic.
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b533367615a80098b57ed5702f3eecaa189644fb86ab0497762d4fba1d8ad141.png

        1. The question of hate was uppermost in my mind tonight (there were long periods of silence when we were expected to meditate/pray/think. Is it right to hate one’s enemies (and the enemies of one’s people)? I concluded it was not only right, it was necessary or they’d get away with wrecking everything.

  55. Evening, all. Went to Tenebrae this evening – a very peaceful, if sobering, way to end the day. At least they learned from last year when it was so dark we couldn’t read the responses! We sang a capella since there were ex-clergy and choir members in the congregation.

        1. Fair enough although it’s not a crime to go to a Christian choral concert yet, is it?. 🙂
          Mind you, you’re probably on a Prevent far right watch list now.

          1. This was the service of Tenebrae. There will be a reflective service tomorrow (although I shan’t get to that one), Compline on Wednesday, the washing of feet on Maundy (Holy) Thursday and a vigil, the Good Friday liturgy and the First Eucharist of Easter on Holy Saturday. A busy week.

          2. Sorry, misunderstood. We’re doing Compline this Wednesday, Maunday Thursday at the next church, then Good Friday at ours and then Easter Day.

          3. Since our vicar went off in a huff I’m having to pull it all together in just over a week, including taking Easter Day myself (gulp!)

      1. I have a vinyl recording of Victoria’s Responsories for Tenebrae sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir and dating back to the early seventies. Exquisite.

  56. If you had put this up on-line about Islam three months ago you would have been pilloried or possibly even prosecuted

    It really is a primitive misogynistic creed.

    Saudi Arabia unveils female humanoid robot that has been programed not to talk about sex or politics because it is illegal under Sharia law – weeks after nation’s male robot groped a woman

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13236323/saudi-arabia-female-humanoid-sex-politics.html

    1. I’ve heard that the male robot is completely useless…….it just hangs about doing nothing useful, shouts Allahu Akbar and explodes?

    1. What if you’re Diana Ross but have yet to sing … And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)?

  57. I look forward to the reaction down here when Max & Co sneak something similar into their manifesto.

    Yousaf’s ‘Tory free’ Scotland is no longer free

    The SNP’s Hate Crime Act is liberal hypocrisy in its purest form, defending only the beliefs of its authors

    TIM STANLEY • 25 March 2024 • 7:00am

    Devolution has been a disaster for the UK. Wales is run by incompetents; Northern Ireland by the political wing of a terror group; and Scotland by a bully who has issued a call to make his nation “Tory free”. Whether Humza Yousaf meant “Tory” as a synonym for “the English” or just people to the Right of him, it fits with a party that has used self-rule to remake the nation in its own image, willing Scotland to become so self-consciously progressive that it will simply have to break away from far-Right Britain to preserve its virtue.

    Consider the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which takes effect on April 1 and extends the offence of “stirring up racial hatred” to the realms of religion, age, disability, sexual orientation and transgender ID. Appropriately, it replaces the old Scottish blasphemy law. Hate crime legislation, like edicts against blasphemy, isn’t only about order and justice but also defining what the community regards as sacred or taboo. In past ages it was God vs sacrilege; today it is identity vs prejudice. Lo, the Scottish Government’s own website says that the Act clarifies “the type of behaviour that is not acceptable”, pointing towards “the inclusive and equal society that Scotland aspires to”.

    Well, I cannot object to that – if only to avoid arrest. Braver writers, however, have raised a few criticisms.

    First, blasphemy laws rarely defend all faith in general, but rather the specific beliefs of the authors – and in that spirit, the Stirring Up Act makes an interesting choice. It proscribes hate on the basis of transgenderism but not on the basis of sex, suggesting that transphobia is a more serious problem than misogyny and potentially creating a loophole by which trans activists can be horrid to feminists but not the other way around. (The SNP promises that all this will be cleared up with a later law on sexism.)

    This leads us to the inevitable challenge of vexatious complaints: highly likely when the offences are so poorly defined and the Act covers everything from newspaper columns (oh dear) to tweets (yikes!) to private conversations (I’m going to jail).

    Anonymous complaints are welcome; centres have been set up to receive them. The SNP has told Scots not to worry because the fuzz will receive training not to overreact – and if the notion of the police being objective and proportionate makes you howl with laughter, enjoy this expression of free thought while you still can. Police Scotland has already issued an instructive cartoon of a “hate monster” that grows “when yer feeling insecure [or] when ye feel angry”, erupting into prejudice “just ’cause folk look or act different fae you”.

    If anything, the patronising language makes one feel more inadequate by evoking a telling off by a primary school teacher, as if 9/11 could have been avoided had Osama been taught the importance of sharing. But of course, this guff isn’t aimed at Islamists. Just as the liberal/Left state gets to decide what is or isn’t a crime, so coppers turned social workers are let loose to define the criminal type according to their own instincts. Police Scotland’s website says that hate crime is most likely to be committed by “young men aged 18-30”, especially those with feelings of social exclusion “combined with ideas about white-male entitlement”. In plain English, white, working-class boys. Rich, educated, well-travelled people rarely express hate, as we all know. To quote The Simpsons: “No one who speaks German could be an evil man.”

    It’s the ultimate indictment of liberal hypocrisy that Scotland’s long march towards a hate-free future begins with a display of racial and class profiling. But that, I suspect, is the point. It’s often said that conservatives are better than the Left at winning power, because their values are more popular. The Left, however, is infinitely better at using power when it gets it, because it rewrites the rules, packs the institutions and sets the country on a course that it is almost impossible to correct – shaming those who object. New Labour did this by creating devolved administrations. Once established, it was hard to question them without sounding anti-democratic. The SNP then transformed devolution into a theatre for independence, doing all the same woke rubbish England does, only quicker and more aggressively – to suggest that Scotland is naturally, historically more tolerant than the bigots down south.

    You’d be forgiven for not realising that, for centuries, the culture and politics of Scotland were dominated by conservative Calvinism. In fact, you could argue that the nation has become once again a dictatorship of consensus enforced by a pious elite, reverting to type after a period of social change.

    One reason why it is hard to resist the SNP is because, as Yousaf dreams, the nation is almost already Tory free, that the decline of the old, church-going elite deprives it of a force equal and opposed to nationalism. This is a problem for conservatism nationwide. It used to be a thing of social substance, representing a philosophy with loyal demographics, be they landowners or shopkeepers or the vast ranks of Unionists. Now, because they stand for nothing, the Tories represent no one.

    No doubt the Conservative Party will squeal about the SNP’s war on free speech etc. But it long ago conceded all the Left’s points on devolution, equality, policing, secularism – and thus has surrendered in a culture war that it doesn’t have the troops to fight, even if it wanted to.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/25/not-everything-muslim-work-related-religion-tribunal-judge/

    1. I commented on that article about 7.30 this morning, then bingo – 10 minutes later the comments were closed! The photo is enough to give you nightmares!

    2. Misogyny will not be a “hate crime”? Remind me again, which ideology is misogynistic?

  58. Well, chums, I’m off to bed now. Good Night, chums, sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

  59. Nope. They are building massive housing estates on green fields and there is a “consultation” (ie we’ll go through the motions and get it through despite your objections) on another enormous estate just outside a smallish village. The way things are going, all the villages will become suburbs of the towns and the towns will be well on their way to becoming a metropolis.

    1. How the f*ck do we stop this? It has gone into overdrive under cover of the Covid scam and it now seems like a leviathan

      1. We voted for Brexit and much less immigration.
        The Tories gave us a hollow Brexit and even more immigration.
        And Labour are worse.

        1. Correction; the Tories gave us NO Brexit (they adopted all the EU regs into UK law, repealing nary a one, and kept NI in the EU).

          1. If they had repealed some of the legislation and kept the rest I’d have called it hollow. As it was, there was none at all. A hollow laugh is a laugh nonetheless.

          2. Have we really left those structures? The army undertakes exercises with EU units (and there is a move afoot to join us more closely). We seem to be adopting more EU diktats (to keep us closely aligned).

          3. We left the structures but the choice of military cooperation is a sovereign decision and of course our NATO membership predates the EU.

          4. I agree about NATO. “A sovereign decision” taken by people who don’t want us to be sovereign, of course. The EU is still pushing out diktats which we, or rather our government, is still adopting. We are not independent at all.

        2. Con and Lab are Davos local management groups, so the outcome couldn’t be otherwise.

      2. I don’t know. Every time some bod from Shirehall said, we need more housing because people are splitting up and living longer, I’d sigh, “I suppose importing the equivalent of Southampton every year had no effect on demand” – I am persona non grata.

      3. Food shortages & covid jabs are supposed to sort it out if one believes the result of the Deagel Report.

  60. Another day is done so, I wish you goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

  61. Just back from the pub’s openmic. Stunning for most of the music. A few regulars who are ok. The quality was brilliant though and the last girl who sang, with her own acoustic guitar was fabulous. I’m fussy, I can’t quite explain how good it was.
    G’night all.

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