Monday 27 September: Why should a foreign lorry-driver want to apply for a visa lasting only six months?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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569 thoughts on “Monday 27 September: Why should a foreign lorry-driver want to apply for a visa lasting only six months?”

  1. Now spineless Starmer won’t even defend biological reality. Spiked. 27 September 2021.

    Imagine if the leader of a mainstream political party went on TV and said, ‘The Earth is flat’. Or ‘Man didn’t walk on the Moon’. Or ‘Dinosaurs never existed’. You’d think him mad. You certainly wouldn’t feel inclined to vote for him. And yet Labour leader Keir Starmer did the equivalent of this on The Andrew Marr Show this morning. Marr asked Starmer, ‘Is it transphobic to say only women have a cervix?’. Starmer’s reply was positively bonkers. That is ‘something that shouldn’t be said’, he told Marr. ‘It is not right.’

    Morning everyone. The truly scary thing about this is that Johnson would almost certainly have given the same answer along with a majority of the House of Commons and the very small minority who do not; agreeing out of fear. This is where adherence to Cultural Marxism has led them. They are all; Tory, Labour, Whatever; members of a Cult that denies reality. Its basic tenet that all are equal regardless of their race, religion or sex and would all achieve identical outcomes if it were not for socially constructed oppression and privilege may sound like harmless drivel but it requires the destruction of what already exists for this Utopian Fantasy to replace it. Feminism, Mass Immigration, Black Lives Matter, Net Zero etc, these are simply tools to bring about this Golden Age. Many have sought such a Time and it has always resulted in disaster. So it will be here since such a program can in its final stages only be implemented by Violence and Oppression.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/09/26/now-spineless-starmer-wont-even-defend-biological-reality/

    1. I think he actually was referring to trans men – ie, women who are trying to be men. Trans men would indeed have a cervix, and thus be at risk of cervical cancer, until (if?) said cervix has been removed.

        1. My point exactly, they are still women, and so still have a cervix. Thus, they need tests for cervical cancer.

          1. Why? They want to live a fiction, let them live it to it’s fullest. When reality smacks them in the face they’ll have to either continue their delusion or face reality.

            I’m tired of pandering to the mentally ill. By all means, live your life how you want to. Equally, it’s none of our business. You cannot, ever be allowed to force me to accept your psychosis.

    2. Morning, Araminta.

      So it will be here since such a program can in its final stages only be implemented by Violence and Oppression.

      Australia appears to be the globalists’ test bed for their foul idea of the future. Watching the police, at times kitted out more as paramilitary thugs, is disturbing as they attack easy targets. It was noticeable last week that the thugs weren’t too keen to attack the thousands of ‘burly hairy arsed’ construction workers who were demonstrating. Perhaps when they get the go-ahead to use live ammunition their confidence will rise and the ultimate terror will unfold.

  2. Now spineless Starmer won’t even defend biological reality. Spiked. 27 September 2021.

    Imagine if the leader of a mainstream political party went on TV and said, ‘The Earth is flat’. Or ‘Man didn’t walk on the Moon’. Or ‘Dinosaurs never existed’. You’d think him mad. You certainly wouldn’t feel inclined to vote for him. And yet Labour leader Keir Starmer did the equivalent of this on The Andrew Marr Show this morning. Marr asked Starmer, ‘Is it transphobic to say only women have a cervix?’. Starmer’s reply was positively bonkers. That is ‘something that shouldn’t be said’, he told Marr. ‘It is not right.’

    Morning everyone. The truly scary thing about this is that Johnson would almost certainly have given the same answer along with a majority of the House of Commons and the very small minority who do not; agreeing out of fear. This is where adherence to Cultural Marxism has led them. They are all; Tory, Labour, Whatever; members of a Cult that denies reality. Its basic tenet that all are equal regardless of their race, religion or sex and would all achieve identical outcomes if it were not for socially constructed oppression and privilege sounds like harmless drivel but requires the destruction of what already exists for this Utopian Fantasy to replace it. Feminism, Mass Immigration, Black Lives Matter, Net Zero etc, these are simply tools to bring about this Golden Age. Many have sought such a Time and it has always resulted in disaster. So it will be here since such a program can in its final stages only be implemented by Violence and Oppression.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/09/26/now-spineless-starmer-wont-even-defend-biological-reality/

  4. Morning all, boy am I glad I done my pruning and cut the grass yesterday, I would need flippers to walk across the lawn at the moment the way the rain is coming down.

    1. Well done, vvof. I cut the front lawn yesterday but didn’t get to tackle the back (larger) lawn as intended because a few spots of rain started. So I called it a day and did other things. Had I simply gone indoors for a cuppa and waited for half an hour I could have tackled the back lawn as planned. As it is, the job will now have to wait for at least another week or two.

      1. There is rumblings of the 2nd week of October may be dry so that may give us all another opportunity to cut the grass.
        Actually I am confident of the accuracy of the forecast, if they can predict 100 years ahead with climate change, 2 weeks should be no problem. 😂

      2. I completed cutting my lawns yesterday (written in a smug tone ). I edged the back one today, but the front one will have to wait. They don’t look so bad that they can’t be left for a week or two.

      3. Sunny now in Norf Zummerzet Johnny. I suppose it is what we should expect at this time of year. I am dog sitting today so will have the walks between any showers, thank goodness for my rain app.

      1. Some time spent indoors cleaning, watching final episode of Endeavour on ITV Hub, listing computer problems ready for visit by friend who understands PCs and has promised to help me tomorrow morning, shower and shampoo, trip to town to buy a slim pocket diary for 2022 and collect two books I have ordered prior to watching THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK with the Wrinklies at the local cinema, reading said books over a drink at a nearby hotel prior to a book club meal to discuss the Book of the Month choice, home to catch up on my current nightly watching of two episodes each of Sergeant Bilko and The Adventures of Robin Hood (currently at around episode 120 of the 143/144 produced), skimming the final few NoTTL letters, then bed to get some rest prior to another busy day tomorrow. Well, you did ask!

          1. What did you think of it, Conway? I thought the character development was good, although the plot was a little Agatha Christie – “Ten Little Indians Native Americans”.

          2. I am with you about the 10 Little Gibson’s Dogs. I thought it was somewhat contrived, to be honest. I arrived at the pools conclusion very early on (and I’m no Morse).

  11. UK far right promoting sexual violence against women, report finds. 27 September 2021.

    Sexual violence is increasingly being promoted by the British far right, according to new analysis documenting how misogyny is used to steer individuals towards adopting racist and antisemitic views.

    Investigators found that pro-rape comments were “not uncommon” among the UK extreme right and that a culture has taken root that endorses sexual violence. Analysing misogyny and anti-feminist channels on the messaging app Telegram, a key online platform for the far right, they found sexual assault was a “prominent theme”

    The report, from anti-fascist organisation Hope Not Hate and the Antisemitism Policy Trust, reveals how the far right has become adept at exploiting a perceived loss of status among white men

    Do you promote sexual violence? You are far right.

    Are you far right? You promote sexual violence!

    The problem is that there is no far right platform. No far right party. No anti-feminist channel. No Mope not Mate!

    Far right = Normal!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/26/uk-far-right-promoting-sexual-violence-against-women-report-finds

    3. Hate not hope is funded by the Open Society isn’t it?
      As is Guardian, the news agency that has a working relationship with the Guardian newspaper.

      So this is just the news brought to you courtesy of George Soros.

        1. No, the UK taxpayer (whether they like it or not) funds these people as the government has no money of its own.

    4. So, Rochdale and similat towns are full of Far Righters

      Or does , promoting sexual violence against women, only once the ‘females’ have left school

      At present the UK Legal System by not pursueing Grooming Gangs are promoting the violence,both physical and mental

    5. I was brought up on stories of chivalry, of knights doing right, and hacking the bad guys into small pieces. Now, it seems that knights, especially Crusaders, are the bad guys. There is a new reality in this country, unquestioned and unexamined. Which is why when the muslims commit a murderous outrage we place armed guards on their centres.

      1. Morning Horace. The political elites in the West have bought into the idea; through the medium of Cultural Marxism, that they are no longer the representatives of the ignorant masses or vulgar nationalism but the agents of enlightened change. They know what is best for us even if it hurts. To absolve Muslim terrorists of their crimes is a sign of a higher consciousness, a nobler state of being!

    6. Any one who opposes the extreme left according to them is far right, possibly just right which is normal. It seems that we need to make a lot more noise.

    7. Except, grauniad, that the recent anti semitism has come from the Left.

      As has mysogyny and anti feminism – or are you going to pretend you’re not denigrating women through the trans nonsense?

      Any funding for such advocacy groups must be stopped. They’re thugs, nasty, Left wing thugs.

      1. I wonder if anyone has explained to those whinging about Anti-semitism, that Arabs are also, mainly Semites.

  12. I’m told many lock chambers on the K&A canal were originally just earth banks. Most chambers now have brickwork sides. However, two have been preserved for boaters to ‘enjoy’. Here’s one:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cf40e3b2fa952ad8c34d2d856f522ca4ff98722aa6b831b3809a2c34bbbdc191.jpg

    And a spot the boat competition. Photo taken near Caversham on the Thames:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3353474f3e88995134ecee1855c3875acc6c18081895e6b807fab3d7d8f37881.jpg

    1. We met a bloke on holiday who ran a business, with his father, replacing the metal pilings on(in?) canals! Pretty specialist work!

  13. Breaking News – volcanologists have discovered the reason for the recent eruptions in La Palma, It’s all down to the repeated Remainer foot stamping over five years, non stop, it has caused shock waves in the earths crust thus triggering dangerous oscillations in the magma chamber.
    They keep this up for much longer and the whole island will go up they are warning.

  14. Virtue-signalling is now a clue that an institution is failing to deliver. 27 September 2021.

    Sometimes the problem is that virtue-seeking cloaks not unethical behaviour but inaction and failure. In Birmingham this weekend, the chief constable of West Midlands Police was garlanded at a Pride march, alongside uniformed officers wearing rainbow facepaint. After a spate of violent homophobic attacks, the chief constable said he wanted to stand with the gay community.

    This is understandable enough, but the mission of the police is to apprehend criminals and prevent crime, something West Midlands Police had failed to do. Few are brave enough to address the prevalent homophobia among hardliners in the local Muslim community, which is where several of the alleged perpetrators of the attacks come from. Efforts to educate local schoolchildren about different kinds of relationships were opposed by parents, who were backed by some local Labour MPs. So the symbolism of “standing with” the community is all that is left.

    The pursuit of virtue is a particular problem with the police, who make very clear the next problem it causes: that it gets in the way of delivery. In recent weeks, we have seen officers dancing with Extinction Rebellion protesters instead of arresting them, and pleading pathetically with Insulate Britain activists – hypocritical middle-class virtue-seekers themselves – instead of getting tough with them.

    The collapse of institutions is a sine qua non of decadent civilisations in their death throes.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/26/virtue-signalling-now-clue-institution-failing-deliver/

  16. Morning all

    SIR – The idea that allowing 5,000 HGV drivers to come in from Europe for six months is going to solve the distribution problem shows how little imagination the British Government has.

    We have a shortage of between 80,000 and 100,000 drivers – so until replacements are recruited and trained, that’s how many visas we need to offer.

    Visas are for six months. There are similar shortages on the Continent, where pay and conditions are more attractive than in Britain, so who is going to uproot themselves, pay for a visa and find accommodation, only to be sent home six months later?

    It will take longer than six months to recruit and train replacement drivers. A more reasonable visa would be for two years.

    Keith Appleyard

    West Wickham, Kent

    SIR – Urgently want more HGV drivers from overseas? Then just announce that a few petrol stations are closing, and – bingo! – the great British public oblige.

    Roger Montague

    Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire

    SIR – As I read of empty supermarket shelves and petrol station queues in Britain, here in southern Portugal, where I am currently on holiday, milk and other everyday items are conspicuously absent from the local store shelves.

    Panic buying and a lack of HGV drivers are clearly not peculiar to Britain.

    Ursula Starkie

    Almancil, Faro, Portugal

    SIR – Well done, Boris Johnson, for standing up for the wages of lorry drivers.

    People have had enough of cheap labour, mainly from EU countries. We need British jobs for British workers in a high-paid Brexit economy. Then watch Britain flourish.

    Geoffrey Brooking

    Havant, Hampshire

    SIR – I was saddened by the first-person article written by Adam Eastwood on being a HGV driver (September 25).

    At the peak of the Covid pandemic I had to go into work, being a nurse. If London transport drivers had not gone to work and HGV drivers had not delivered the food I was able to buy from M&S after work, I would not have been able to carry out my professional duties and look after my patients.

    As a country, we all, I feel, need to step back and see how everyone in every walk of life needs one another to get this great country back on its feet.

    So it is sad that Mr Eastwood ended up leaving his profession. It requires skill to drive those enormous vehicles.

    Mary Moore

    London E2

    SIR – Isn’t it strange that ministers can ask retired HGV drivers to come out of retirement to help with the current delivery problems? Would it be possible for the same ministers to ask their own staff at DVLA (and other Government bodies) to return to normal working so that we can get HGV licences renewed and returned ?

    Mike Metcalfe

    Butleigh, Somerset

    SIR – If DVLA staff working from home are barred from processing licences, and a backlog has built up (report, September 25), what work are these civil servants doing at home?

    Nicholas Moate

    Falmouth, Cornwall

    SIR – I am surprised our leaders have not come up with the batty idea of driverless lorries as a solution to the lorry driver crisis. Interestingly, they have not even mentioned electric lorries (although they also require drivers). I wonder why.

    Professor Bryan Woodward

    Loughborough, Leicestershire

    SIR – Please report a shortage in alcohol supply. We could all do with a good party.

    Stuart Buxton

    Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire

    1. We need British jobs for British workers in a high-paid Brexit economy. Then watch Britain flourish. Geoffrey Brooking, you will find that highly paid workers require highly priced goods to achieve the high pay levels. Just listen to the whingeing about electricity price rises and imagine what it would be like when everyday goods go up similarly to pay the raised wages.

      1. They will by inevitable relation. If energy gets more expensive shops use more, their bills rise, price of goods goes up.

        Our economy is built on pillars – one is fuel, another energy. If they get expensive, everything does. Government is stupid. It think sit can force people to use less gas and go green. However, the person filling up their meter with £5 is then getting the shop in and finding that instead of their usua buys being £40, they’re now 45.

        The person either goes without food or something else. In either case, they are made poorer. Their money buys less. Compund that with the NI hike so people have less money from the outset and boom! Tax makes people poorer.

  17. 339336 + up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Monday 27 September: Why should a foreign lorry-driver want to apply for a visa lasting only six months?

    Why apply at all ?

    Thin edge of yet another entry wedge the fat turk saying HGV drivers need more monies, omitting to say foreign HGV drivers,

    Masterful , first create the problem then in the main rhetorically supply the answer any actions taken currently anti Brexitexit.

    They have successfully spooked the herd via the garage forecourt, DOVER is running smoothly.

    Reset HGV drivers / families in for the new year, the “opposition leader”
    crooning a pacifying lullaby, the coalition in action,all on track.

    Shelf shortages for Christmas, just whisper the trigger words
    M/T shelves 🎵 See how they run, political black magic, herd
    manipulation, AND with the herd in compliance.

  18. Good morning all! And what a bloody foul on it is too! Just had a cold shower when I went out for the milk, but, surprisingly, the temperature is still in double figures! 11½°C.

    Now, does the UK have a fuel crisis or are we having a panic buying crisis?
    My money is on the latter.

  20. Morning again. Here’s the rest……

    SIR – Sir Anthony Seldon’s mealy-mouthed letter (September 23), which offered half-hearted praise of the work of the retiring schools minister Nick Gibb, suggests an ignorance of the task that he took on 10 years ago.

    Some 18 per cent of 16-year-old school-leavers were functionally illiterate then, and almost 30 per cent functionally innumerate. He identified the fact that most primary schools were teaching these subjects badly and set out to put things right. Millions of children owe their success at school directly to his determined efforts.

    It is wrong to suggest that Mr Gibb was ever a block to education reform. On the contrary, he saw that the right path for young people to social mobility, to technical skills, and to the creativity that Sir Anthony wants to see, indubitably begins with the ability to read and write fluently. The country owes Nick Gibb a great debt.

    Lord Lingfield (Con)

    London SW1

    Better drugs than fish

    SIR – The Lord Advocate has de facto decriminalised possession of Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine. But those who possess dangerous drugs had better not be caught with a dead salmon or sea trout in their possession.

    Taking dead salmon from a river, perhaps a fish that was killed by a seal, is a serious criminal offence, which always leads to criminal prosecution, with a fine of up to £2,500.

    What a strange country Scotland is, where dead salmon are afforded the full protection of the criminal law, but communities consumed with violence, drug gangs and record drug deaths have seen their criminal protection withdrawn by the Lord Advocate.

    Jim Stewart

    Musselburgh, East Lothian

    World beyond satire

    SIR – Michael Deacon is right to point out the satirist’s problem of reality outstripping fiction. My late father, Michael Wharton, often ruminated on the difficulty he faced trying to write the Way of the World column when so much he satirised had become reality.

    He did, however, write as Peter Simple for nearly five decades. Much to his amusement, his column in later years appeared alongside the obituaries. His last column appeared only a week before his death in 2006.

    Jane Wharton

    Marlborough, Wiltshire

    Sparse weddings

    SIR – While weddings happily resume across the nation, it is worth noting that some councils are using Covid restrictions apparently as a way to cut costs.

    Cambridgeshire County Council insists that only nine guests may accompany us for our register-office wedding, and also that my father is not allowed to walk me into the room to give me away. It even refuses to let any guests use the loo at the register office.

    Bianca Abulafia

    London SW6

    Cambridge concern

    SIR – Five professors and pro-vice-chancellors (Letters, September 24) assert that the claims in the articles by Ross Clark and Madeline Grant about “Stephen Toope’s Cambridge” are “extraordinary”.

    It is interesting, therefore, to note that they refute not a single one of those claims.

    Instead of deploying the reason and argument that one might expect of senior Cambridge academics, they make an appeal to the emotions.

    I fear their letter will reinforce rather than allay readers’ concerns as to what is happening to this fine university.

    David Monteath

    London E5

    Medieval pews burnt

    SIR – We feel for the parishioners of Thurcroft, South Yorkshire, whose church is beset by mould. Our affliction is dry rot. We don’t yet know the full extent of the bill we face, but £50,000 is at the very low end of current estimates, and delay is not an option. We feel similarly desperate.

    Ours is a Grade I-listed small village church – St Peter and St Paul, in the Gordano valley, Somerset. Already we have had to burn six medieval pews and the wooden floor beneath. About 2,000 Victorian tiles have had to be destroyed. We are also the anxious custodians of the only surviving psalm-singing gallery in use in Europe – it’s wooden.

    Our congregation is few and ageing fast. We too would welcome help and financial support from anywhere, but, as your report shows, neither Church nor Government is able to meet the extent of our material needs.

    John G Bridges

    Churchwarden

    Ian Robinson

    Treasurer, parochial church council

    Weston-in-Gordano, Somerset

    The highly skilled toolmaker knew his worth

    Toolmaker at leisure: Ray Willis with his wife and father-in-law at his sister’s pub, 1965, from a photo-essay by Terence Spencer

    Toolmaker at leisure: Ray Willis with his wife and father-in-law at his sister’s pub, 1965, from a photo-essay by Terence Spencer CREDIT: Popperfoto / Getty

    SIR – Toolmakers have been in the news, thanks to Sir Keir Starmer’s father.

    I worked for a large metal presswork company in the 1960s and toolmakers were some of the best paid employees, many earning more than their senior managers.

    It was a very skilled job commanding a high hourly rate because of supply and demand. The toolmakers, by choice in the main, were hourly paid rather than salaried, so that with enhanced overtime rates they could earn considerable amounts. The salaried did not have that choice.

    Incidentally, a standard working week was 48 hours, and it was not unusual to book 60 hours a week.

    James Rann

    London SW1

    SIR – I read that Sir Keir Starmer intends to save £1.7 billion for the taxpayer by removing charitable status from private schools.

    However, that will presumably result in higher school fees and more parents sending their children to state schools.

    So the saving will be eaten up by extra costs on what already appears to be an overloaded education system. Would not it make more sense to allow tax relief on school fees, so as to encourage more pupils out of the state system and relieve some of the burden of overcrowded schools?

    John Pearn

    South Molton, Devon

    SIR – I struggled to read Sir Keir Starmer’s essay, but one phrase impressed me as newly minted in the pile of old, dull cliche: “But the arc of history will not bend towards us unless we force it to.”

    What does this mean? Is it a neo-Leninist rallying cry or a darkly Francoist threat?

    Michael Downing

    Sheffield, South Yorkshire

    Bowlmen, fieldmen and battership

    SIR – I am no cricketer and so really do not mind what the person wielding a bat is called (Letters, September 25).

    However, I see that a great authority on the sport, Henry Blofeld, describes Don Bradman in The Oldie as the “most successful batter of them all”.

    At sea I hope the woke brigade will not now force me to call the helmsman the helmer.

    Ewen Southby-Tailyour

    Ermington, South Devon

    SIR – Surely we should now refer to the great cricketer as Don Bradder.

    Bob Massingham

    Bicester, Oxfordshire

    SIR – I have noticed that there is a female member of the team collecting our refuse. Should she be referred to as a lady binman, a binperson, or a binner?

    Steve Haynes

    Sidmouth, Devon

    1. Interesting letter from Lord Lingfield? Is he right? Ministers that actually achieve anything concrete would appear to be akin to hens’ teeth these days.

    3. Mr Pearn, Starmer is playing to his poisonous gallery. The same bunch who, despite going to private schools now hate them, because in some insane doublethink they’ve decided they are elitist, and you cannot have equality of opportunity.

      Of course, if Starmer were serious he would open discussion about school vouchers.

      As regards reading and writing – look at the parents. Junior has a bookcase full of books, most of the shelves are double stacked. I’ve rooms full of bookcases, themselves all overflowing. He reads because we do. Then you get the other side, let’s call him ‘Charlie’. Charlie is an abusive little swine who swears, shouts and screams to get his way. He is nearly 7 and cannot read or write. He can barely add two numbers. While Junior is no supernumerate, he can look at simple algebra and understand it.

      Charlie’s parents arrive at school late – neither work. They stink of pot. She is ‘disabled’ in that nebulous way that means she cannot possibly work, but is otherwise fully mobile. Charlie will never amount to anything and will spend his life on welfare. If Junior never gets the career he wants, it won’t be for lack of support, reading, listening to him read, helping with his homework and giving him the headstart he deserves.

      Mr Stewart, being a drug addict in Scotland is acceptable. In fact, you’re then a victim. The SNP loves making victims.

  21. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – Urgently want more HGV drivers from overseas? Then just announce that a few petrol stations are closing, and – bingo! – the great British public oblige.

    Roger Montague
    Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire

    Quite so, Mr Montague. The government has been out-witted by the RHA and other transport bodies…mind you, that isn’t particularly difficult these days.

    1. After a government leak, in roughly a weekend, we went from 5% with shortages to 90%+ with none or rationing. Law of self-fulfilling prophecy at its finest.

      And who gets the blame? The people who voted for Brexit.

      1. It’s not remotely related to Brexit though. It’s a combination of factors – the biggest one being the haulage companies not identifying the shortfall and getting more people in the door.

        However, that ignores the obsession with the green agenda which does endless damage of it’s own.

  22. SIR – Isn’t it strange that ministers can ask retired HGV drivers to come out of retirement to help with the current delivery problems? Would it be possible for the same ministers to ask their own staff at DVLA (and other Government bodies) to return to normal working so that we can get HGV licences renewed and returned ?

    Mike Metcalfe
    Butleigh, Somerset

    SIR – If DVLA staff working from home are barred from processing licences, and a backlog has built up (report, September 25), what work are these civil servants doing at home?

    Nicholas Moate
    Falmouth, Cornwall

    Ministers seem unable or unwilling to insist that organisations like the DVLA get their act together. Why so timid? Some sackings at senior level would, I suspect, work wonders…

    2. The ‘oh, we’re working from home’ excuse might have floated 18 months ago, but we’re in the nearly 20th month. It’s laziness.

      Apparently VPN traffic dropped off a cliff over the hot weather at my old place. I’m disappointed, but not surprised.

  24. ‘Morning again.

    Lengthy but interesting article in the DT. Conspiracy or cock-up? Sounds like the former this time, but with people like the narcissist Shapps involved it could so easily be the latter:

    Haulage body with anti-Brexit drive was behind fuel crisis leak, claim No 10 sources

    Road Haulage Association denies leak to media after being accused by ministers of kicking off panic buying in petrol forecourts

    By
    Gordon Rayner,
    ASSOCIATE EDITOR
    26 September 2021 • 8:45pm

    Sometimes, when sensitive details of a government meeting are leaked to the media, it can take months and a full-scale inquiry to identify the mole.

    No such inquiry has been launched into the leak that prompted the fuel crisis on Thursday, because the shortlist of suspects, according to Whitehall insiders, has only ever consisted of one name.

    The Road Haulage Association (RHA), which attended a Zoom call hosted by the Cabinet Office to discuss driver shortages, has been accused of prompting the weekend’s panic-buying in order to further its own political agenda.

    The RHA has been campaigning for months for cheap foreign labour to be allowed back into the country to make up a shortfall of lorry drivers which it has “massively exaggerated”, sources say.

    One senior Government source said that the RHA “owes an apology to the British people” for the weekend chaos.

    However, the RHA has hit back by denying leaking and suggesting the Government is trying to “divert attention away” from its own handling of driver shortages.

    Whatever the truth of the matter, the row has exposed bitter divisions between the Government and one of the bodies with which it needs to be working in order to solve the driver crisis that is causing not only fuel shortages, but also empty shelves in shops.

    Former BBC executive among group’s ranks

    At the heart of the row are three of the most senior figures in the RHA who opposed Brexit and are said to be locked in an ideological battle with the Government over the future of the labour market.

    The man who was on the Zoom call for the crucial meeting earlier this month is Duncan Buchanan, the RHA’s policy director. He answers to Richard Burnett, the chief executive of the RHA, while the public face of the industry body is Rod McKenzie, the managing director of policy and public affairs, who previously worked for the BBC.

    They have denied being the source of a highly partial leak of comments made in the meeting by a BP executive who said fuel stocks on forecourts were lower than normal.

    “Of course they are denying it, but we know it was them,” said one senior government source. “There have been occasions in the past when they have leaked stuff when ministers are on their way to brief the House of Commons about it. In the past, they have got away with it because no one has called them out for it.”

    The RHA has denied any involvement in leaking information to the media.

    Crucially, the RHA represents haulage operators, rather than drivers, and has been accused by ministers of wanting to import cheap labour rather than trying to attract more drivers by paying them better wages, which would come at a cost to its members.

    It has repeatedly claimed there is a shortage of 100,000 drivers in the country, though the Government insists the true figure is closer to 30,000 and that when it comes to tanker drivers, the shortfall is as few as 150-300 drivers.

    One source said: “There has been a shortage of drivers for months, largely because of Covid, which has meant new drivers can’t take tests and others are ill or self-isolating, so this is nothing new at all.

    “But because their agenda is to import foreign workers, they have gone out to ramp this up with massive consequences.

    “Duncan Buchanan spoke at the meeting and made exactly the same points that were briefed out to the media and caused all this. Their failure to tackle this as an organisation has been monumental, but their solution every time is to hire people from eastern Europe.”

    The sources claimed that the leak has been traced back to an industry taskforce meeting held on September 16, in which Cabinet Office officials discussed the driver shortage with those at the sharp end.

    Among those attending were Tesco, McDonald’s, Unilever, BP, Amazon, Kingfisher and Eddie Stobart, the haulage company. As well as the RHA’s Mr Buchanan, another trade body, Logistics UK, was also present.

    Hanna Hofer, the head of BP’s retail business, told the meeting that the company had “two thirds of normal forecourt stock levels”. She also said, according to others present in the meeting, that only five out of BP’s 1,200 forecourts were closed on any given day.

    There was no suggestion that any of those companies are the source of the leak.

    Panic at the pumps

    Last Thursday night, ITV News carried an exclusive report which referred to the first part of Ms Hofer’s comment, but not the second. By the next day, panicked drivers were queueing at the pumps and running them dry in chaotic scenes that continued through the weekend.

    By Sunday, BP said 30 per cent of its forecourts had run out of some types of fuel.

    “We knew who had leaked that stuff to ITV as soon as we saw it,” said a government source. “It was entirely in keeping with the RHA and their agenda.”

    In a letter to Boris Johnson in June, Mr Burnett said “the uncertainty of Brexit and future rights to live and work in the UK forced many drivers” to return to their country of origin. He requested temporary work visas for EU-based lorry drivers, though he also advocated recruiting and training homegrown drivers “so that our reliance on foreign labour dissipates over time”.

    Mr McKenzie, who has also blamed post-Brexit immigration restrictions for the crisis and has been a familiar face on TV in recent days, is a former BBC executive who was the editor of Radio 1’s Newsbeat for 12 years before joining the RHA in July 2016, a month after the UK voted to leave the EU.

    Mr Buchanan, meanwhile, has denied on Twitter that he was behind the leak, and claimed it could not have been Mr McKenzie because he phoned him up to ask if it was true after seeing it on the news.

    RHA condemns ‘disgraceful attack’

    An RHA spokesman said: “The RHA categorically denies accusations of creating fuel supply panic and believes this disgraceful attack on a member of its staff is an attempt to divert attention away from their recent handling of the driver shortage crisis.”

    Brian Madderson, the chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, said it was the leak that sparked the “frenzied buying” at the pumps, adding: “Whoever leaked it to a main broadcaster must have known the chaos that would ensue as soon as it hit newspapers, and that’s what we’ve had.”

    Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, took the unusual step on Sunday of publicly blaming the RHA for the crisis, telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr: “The thing which has sparked this particular rush on the petrol stations is some fairly irresponsible briefing from one of the road haulage associations.”

    Asked if he meant the RHA, he said: “I see in the newspapers this morning that they briefed out from one of the meetings they attended.”

    2. Well over a week ago that the problems started, as I was tipped off by a mate that he couldn’t find any diesel fuel in his area and so he was going to postpone a long trip planned for last Monday.

      1. About this time last week, on reading the news, I suspected which way things were going. As we had a 100 mile round trip in the offing for Friday and Saturday in order to attend a Golden Wedding bash, I filled my car to the gunwales on the Tuesday.

    3. I wouldn’t trust the RHA further than I could throw it.

      And I must be really unlucky. With BP’s claimed only 5 of 1200 forecourts closed, the motorway one I called in 3 weeks ago had no fuel and my local one has had none in every one of my twice-daily views for the past 3 weeks.

      1. No BP garages here; Shell, Esso and Texaco for us. All seem to have fuel. Texaco has emailed me to say they are keeping their garages well supplied (that’s my local garage of choice because their fuel is a reasonable price).

    4. I had understood ( incorrectly?) that any EU citizen working in the UK before Brexit could apply for permanent residence. Millions did so and by the end datte there were hundreds of thousands of unprocessed applications. (Thank you, government bureaucratic ineptitude.). It beggars belief that HGV drivers who wished to stay would not have applied to do so.
      “Mr Burnett said “the uncertainty of Brexit and future rights to live and work in the UK forced many drivers” to return to their country of origin.” surely Mr Burnett was not telling the truth?

  25. Just put up by the DT:

    Grant Shapps has been told to address the “unacceptable performance” of the DVLA, which is exacerbating the country’s petrol crisis.

    Brian Madison, chairman of the Petrol Retailers’ Association, told Sky News that the division was “sitting on” 40,000 applications for HGV drivers’ licences, which would be a more effective solution than alternative options – including sending in the Army – because of the training required.

    “They have had strikes in Swansea, and working from home, but whatever is going on, it is a completely unacceptable performance,” he said. “This is the responsibility of the Department of Transport, Grant Shapps’ department. I wonder if he has ever been there to sort it out. ”

    Getting in the Army was “not quite as easy as you think, because HGV tanker drivers are a highly trained, specialised breed”, so replacing them would require additional training.

    Meanwhile attracting foreign drivers back from the EU would be problematic because there are “shortages across the continent”. He also questioned “quite how many we can attract back for just three months” under the temporary visa plan as currently envisaged.

    * * *

    No buses for ages then two come along together! (see earlier post about the RHA etc)

    1. How does the army transport its fuel if their tanker drivers are not also “a highly trained, specialised breed”?

      1. Clearly there won’t be sufficient army drivers, but together with the existing private sector drivers it should be possible to ameliorate the problems.

          1. You can’t fill an already full tank and banning filling of jerry cans would help a bit. (I appreciate some idiots would siphon petrol into cans at home.)

        2. Once everyone has filled their tanks the panic will reduce to acceptable levels. But unlike the Whitehall bureaucrats in warm ivory towers or wfh, UK tradespeople dare to use their vans at least five days a week.

      2. You can’t use just any HGV driver for fuel delivery. Service (don’t forget the RAF and RN) fuel is moved by a combination of civilian and Service drivers. The Services use only a proportion of their drivers for fuel work and train up only those needing it. The Services will have some trained and experienced drivers that they can release, but that number is small. The vast majority of their HGV drivers will not be trained, qualified and experienced in fuel operations; by the time they could be this current crisis will be long gone and using them is no solution to the underlying chronic problems of the haulage industry.

        FWIW, for those interested in my ‘expertise’, I spent 6 years being heavily involved in the movement and supply of large amounts of aviation and vehicle fuels on and off base. I may be a little out of date and the Services changed substantially, but I have kept in touch.

        1. Good to hear an informed view, thanks. Could you let the buffoon in No10 know what’s what?

    1. That is funny but not surprising. It’s what attracted me to Crypto in the first place. You don’t need to be a financial whizz to make money.

      My initial investment has tripled. If i withdraw that then everything else is superprofit.

      I’m ahead of Mr Goxx on that wheel. :@)

      1. Said Phizzee, speaking from his cage in southern England. He added “All this hard work is making me hungry. How about some more sunflower seeds?”

  28. Crete earthquake;: 6.0 – magnitude tremor hits Greek Island. 27 September 2021.

    A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Greek island of Crete at 9.17am, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) and United States Geological Survey (USGS). The EMSC initially reported that the quake had a magnitude of 6.5, adjusting the magnitude to 6.0 shortly thereafter, with a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). The epicentre was reported to be 16 miles south south east of the city of Heraklion.

    Signs and portents fellow Nottlers!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/crete-earthquake-today-heraklion-update-b1927471.html#comments-area

    1. I’m sure the feckers already have a plan for how they could use a handy tsunami or earthquake to impose their digital currency slavery.
      Catherine Austin Fitts hinted that there are ways to predict or precipitate earthquakes. She usually has a point even when she sounds far out. Does anyone know if this is true?

      1. So far as I am aware BB there is no long term way to predict let alone precipitate an Earthquake. Once awakened their activities can be foreseen within limits!

        1. When we visited Vesuvius, we were told the area is sown with sensors that can give a fortnight’s warning.

      2. This phenomenon is undergoing research. In a number of incidents the light was mistakenly interpreted as UFO sightings.The following quote is from Wikipedia.

        An earthquake light is a luminous aerial phenomenon that reportedly appears in the sky at or near areas of tectonic stress,
        seismic activity, or volcanic eruptions. There is no consensus what the phenomenon causes are, or even whether it is a single phenomenon or several.

        The link below is to a National Geographic article.

        Bizarre Earthquake Lights Explained

        2. I notice one of the author’s name becomes changed, a Freudian slip perhaps?
          ‘“Sometimes called earthquake lightning, the lights can take “many different shapes, forms, and colors,” says study coauthor Friedemann Freund‘
          ‘”In the past, people often interpreted [earthquake lights] in religious terms, and in modern times they thought of UFOs, although there is a completely rational physical explanation that we are working on,” Freud says.’

        3. The next article in the National Geographic is this;
          ‘COVID-19 may impair men’s sexual performance
          Men may be six times more likely to develop brief or long-term erectile dysfunction after contracting the virus. The vaccine can prevent this.’

    2. Sonny Boy went to a trade exhibition at the ExcelCentre last week.
      The door keepers were asking for details of vaccination. SB said he was exempt, he didn’t have to share medical details and sailed in.

      1. I’m off to Manor House Stables at the end of the week (a fund-raiser for a local hospice). They have “respectfully requested” that people take a lateral flow test the morning before going. They can request, but I shan’t be complying; I know I don’t have the lurgy.

      1. It’s interesting that Hoyer don’t pay for the first hour of overtime.

        I should have thought that is illegal??

        Any experts in Employment law care to comment?

  32. Boris Johnson considers bringing in army amid queues at petrol stations.
    Emergency measures were taken on Sunday evening.

    ” Stupid boy……”

    1. Instead of flaunting himself ineffectively around parts of the US you’d think he might have been paying attention.
      Good job he had plenty of avgas to fly back on …..or was it.

    2. I didn’t realise all soldiers were also lorry drivers.

      And firefighters.
      And police officers.

      Astonishing training they get.

  34. OT – the MR is a petrol-head – so we watched a recording of the Russian Grand Prix last evening. I find motor racing unbelievably boring – but, as a loyal husband, I agreed to look at it.

    First, those weird “commentators” all standing round holding mikes, looking like exhibits in a waxworks. Secondly, the cars. They all look alike. I remember when one could tell S Moss (no 7) and J Clark (no 3). Now I had no idea which car was which – especially as they kept changing the telly shot. Thirdly, the race commentary was so fast and so gabbled – meaningless. Lastly – that mad thing with the big bottles of fizz. I would have thought that very, very fit young men driving for their lives, would not drink. So do these flagons contain fizzy water? And what is the point of all that squirting, anyway.

    Lastly, the English boy was let down by his team. They should have changed his tyres immediately the rain started. Then he might have (to use the ghastly word I heard yesterday) “podiumed”.

    Never again, as far as I am concerned.

  35. A few years ago, we were Tintenting, in the Vendee, al la Frogland

    They had a fuel crisis and limited each refuelling vehicle to 20 Litres, or was it Euros.

    The system worked well

  36. Anyone having Disqus problems e.g. being logged out and having difficulty getting back in? Include posting!

  37. Wow – I’m back in! what a palava! It even set up a new account for me under my real name when Ii tried logging in with Google.

    2. Is it funded by the usual suspects? If yes, then it is guaranteed to be the opposite of what it says.
      eg Antifa(scist)
      Hope not Hate
      Greenpeace
      Bright Blue
      etc.

  40. Morningall, it’s taken me 45 minutes to get logged in today Norton scans and fixes applied. ???
    Doya think were being monitored ??
    So in the meantime I spent 202.69 on two new front tyres and realignment out side of tyres worn close to legal. Fixed for Wednesday.

    2. My car is in for servicing at the moment, and I am getting the tyre bill this afternoon.
      My bank account is bracing itself 🙁

      1. Mine passed its test (Katsustus)last week.Because we need 8 wheels…Winter and Summer tyres we don’t need to buy new tyres as often.

  41. Good morning my friends.

    A bit of lateral thinking.

    In France a few years ago when there was a shortage of petrol and diesel at the pumps they imposed a limit on how much you could buy – not more than 20€’s worth at a time. This resulted in people going from filling station to filling station and topping up with 20€’s worth at one pump, 20€’s worth at the next and so on until they were full. This only increased the congestion and queues and everyone was driving around in cars with full tanks.

    A wiser solution might have been to impose a minimum rather than a maximum that you could buy at any one time – i.e. however much petrol or diesel you bought – even if it was under 10 litres – you would be charged fully for 80% of your car’s tank’s capacity. Our car’s tank holds 80 litres – so if we only bought 10 litres we would be charged for 64 litres. This would result in people only filling their tanks when they needed to do so.

      1. Of course the shortage was caused by Brexit. Even Krakatoa blowing its top was a forewarning of the consequences of Brexit. Even the Mayan calendars failure to correctly predict cataclysm is the fault of Brexit. All evil is the fault of Brexit. Haven’t you cottoned on yet?

        1. So what you’re saying is that my inability to blame everything on Brexit was caused by Brexit.

        2. So …. Boadicea was really looking for Junction 28 on the M25 so she could demand the Romans insulated all the wooden huts. Expunging Colchester and St. Albans were the result of her poor navigation skills.

    2. Certainly a minimum charge might be effective, but apart from cars with very small tanks why relate it to the tank capacity? Surely it would be too difficult to monitor at self service pumps.

    3. Easily done through applying a minimum charge. There will be some practical problems with eg some people refusing to pay, but they should be relatively few. All the pumps near me have a pay at the pump option that I presume can be made to require payment cards before operating.

  43. Good morning all, sunny here after a lot of rain early this morning. Positive news and, again proof, that the climate scaremongers are liars. I have pointed out for years that the same corals supposedly being destroyed by heating of the water around the Great Barrier Reef, exist in much warmer waters around Indonesia. No one has ever been able to explain to me how it is that identical corals thrive around Indonesia but die in Australian waters. The truth is, and the liars wont tell you this, is that it is cold water that comes up from Antarctica that kills the coral. But of course that contradicts the global warming lie. Anyway, recent news on the Great Barrier Reef that the BBC wont tell you.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znOidiyUnq8

    1. Which is based on the biggest lie: the man-made global warming scam; that Biden won the 2020 presidential elections fairly and squarely; or that the Covid jabs hold no risks or dangers in the future that we do not yet know about?

      2. 100% agree Rastus. They can only claim global warming by erasing the contradictory fact of history, as the infamous ‘hockey stick’ graph tried to erase medieval warming, to give an example. People are dying from Covid jab as you know, so never mind the future on that one although I’m sure it will get worse. And I believe that Biden is President as much as I believe that all Labour politicians that aren’t women have a cervix.

  44. Morning all!

    Disqus seems to be working again but the shared drives at work are down. Deep joy! Oh well, it means I’m on here legitimately as I can’t do much else for the time being.

  45. A break from politics will do us all good.
    This may put a smile on you face.

    Keep this in mind the next time you are about to repeat a rumour or spread gossip around.
    In ancient Greece, Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.
    One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?”
    “Wait a moment,” Socrates replied, “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”
    ‘Triple filter?” asked the acquaintance.
    “That’s right,” Socrates continued, “Before you talk to me about Diogenes let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
    “No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it.”
    “All right,” said Socrates, “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?”
    “No, on the contrary…”
    “So,” Socrates continued, “You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”
    The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter
    of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?”
    “No, not really.”
    “Well,” concluded Socrates, “If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?”
    The man was bewildered and ashamed.
    This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
    It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was shagging his wife.

  47. Oh dear I’ve just had a phone call from my mate in north London, we are supposed to be meeting him and his wife in Somerset this coming Friday afternoon, staying the night, meeting up for dinner with some other friends who live there and then both traveling on to Carbis bay for a weeks holiday. He can’t get any petrol for his car, fortunately we filled ours up last Wednesday before all this stupidity started.

    1. Tell him there are no lines in West Sussex, if he can go that far. I think the problem is that people in London think the world stops and starts there and that there may be possible solutions outside that concrete disaster of a place, doesn’t enter their heads.

        1. I’m near Haslemere/Midhurst, so much closer to London than Worthing. Looking it up it’s 40 miles from central London.

  48. Residents in limbo as pressure in the Cumbre Vieja volcano drops – but eruption threat remains. 27 September 2021.

    People on the Spanish Canary Island are becoming increasingly desperate as experts predict the lava explosions will last another three months until December.

    While this is happening this thing is pumping out dust and Co2 into the atmosphere. Don’t forget to buy some Thermal Underwear while you are stocking up!

    https://news.sky.com/story/la-palma-residents-in-limbo-as-pressure-in-the-cumbre-vieja-volcano-drops-but-eruption-threat-remains-12419269

    2. It seems there is another problem now, hobby knitters are complaining that there is no wool in stock because the government have been pulling it over the public’s eyes.

    3. His real name is Phil McCrack but the BBC asked him to change it as everyone would know immediately that he was employed by them.

      1. Bit chilly this morning.
        “Would you like a nice cuppa or a hot chocolate? With or without sprinkles?”

  52. ‘People aren’t listening!’
    Alastair Campbell rages at panic-buying ‘no diesel, no unleaded.
    Members of the public have been panic-buying, amid the ongoing fuel crisis.

    1. Well Mr effing Cambelt it’s people like you who have caused most if not all of the problems we the British public face today. Go and nurse yer rather lamenting past brow furrowing, new book out pathetic mental health issues.

    1. I suspect they would like us to put up both hands in abject surrender. Agincourt that for a game of soldiers!

    5. They really are racists, the left is appalling they really do practice the principle of ‘run with the foxes and hunt with the hounds’. No principles at all other than what suits them. Even the pseuds that pretend they’re the Conservative Party have some sense of decency, no matter how meagre.

      1. They always have been. The Left never change. Comically they think this is a good thing. I do wonder what Labour would do if those white men were to stop paying for it?

  55. Wykehamist Scum! and son of a Wykehamist, Alasdair Milne, D.G. of the BBC

    Steerpike
    Seumas Milne makes his comeback
    27 September 2021, 11:00am

    https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltf04078f3cf7a9c30/bltbe6678fa8fd29984/61518bae64c8007a9bdec970/GettyImages-1193721923.jpg?format=jpg&width=1920&height=1080&fit=crop

    Much like Brighton’s weather, Labour’s conference started brightly but has now become a much more gloomy affair. As ‘scumgate’ rumbles on, cranks scrap in public while frontbenchers take subtle pot shots at one another. Still, despite all the bleakness and infighting, Mr S is delighted to bring news of one ray of light amid the darkness – the return of Seumas Milne.

    Jeremy Corbyn’s former director of communications was spied by Steerpike’s man in the Grand, holding court in the bar of the Brighton conference hotel yesterday afternoon, sporting a fresh trim and his trademark black suit. Among those hosted by the former Corbyn spin doctor was union baron Len McCluskey, the recently departed General Secretary of Unite who believes Keir Starmer risks being ‘dumped into the dustbin of history’ if he continues to ‘marginalise’ the Labour left. It must no doubt be a more relaxing conference than the last Milne attended as Corbyn’s righthand man when allies tried to abolish Tom Watson’s post and the Supreme Court slapped down Boris Johnson’s prorogation.

    What were the two men talking about over their pot of tea? Perhaps Milne’s long-awaited memoirs? The former Guardian columnist has spent much of the past year writing about his experiences at the Corbyn coalface alongside helping Jezza on his Peace and Justice Project. Len meanwhile launched his own book – Always Red – at conference on Saturday night, using the occasion to take (another) shot at Keir Starmer’s leadership.

    Other possible topics for conversation could have been the irony of their setting. The Grand of course was blown up by the IRA back in 1984 – an event Corbyn marked by inviting two convicted IRA volunteers to the House of Commons two weeks later. Len is a man who knows a thing or two about decent hotels – his union spent £95 million on a Birmingham site which was initially supposed to cost £7 million. The project’s costs were approved by Unite’s executive council with the firm involved being owned by an associate of McCluskey.

    Steerpike is glad to see at least some comrades are having a good conference and sharing happy memories.

    1. The Wykehamist: John Betjeman

      To Randolph Churchill, but not about him

      Broad of Church and broad of mind,
      Broad before and broad behind,
      A keen ecclesiologist,
      A rather dirty Wykehamist.
      ‘Tis not for us to wonder why
      He wears that curious knitted tie;
      We should not cast reflections on
      The very slightest kind of don.
      We should not giggle as we like
      At his appearance on his bike;
      It’s something to become a bore,
      And more than that, at twenty-four.
      It’s something too to know your wants
      And go full pelt for Norman fonts.
      Just now the chestnut trees are dark
      And full with shadow in the park,
      And ‘ six o’clock! ‘ St. Mary calls
      Above the mellow college walls.
      The evening stretches arms to twist
      And captivate her Wykehamist.
      But not for him these autumn days,
      He shuts them out with heavy baize;
      He gives his Ovaltine a stir
      And nibbles at a petit beurre,
      And, satisfying fleshy wants,
      He settles down to Norman fonts.

    2. I honestly don’t understand how a grown man can be convinced the socialism or communism are the right choices.

      Ignoring the mass slaughter of millions, these simply don’t work. They are not fair, not reasonable, not rational. All they do is create poverty and misery. I assume they now this, so such people are either truly thick or malicious.

    1. All the replies I could now see are from Birmingham Police defending this person’s actions – if not at work, why is Skye wearing uniform, by the way? – ending with a threat to pursue and prosecute people posting criticism on Twit.
      Absolutely disgraceful.

    1. I am not normally against high pay for people who have earned it, but there is something very unpleasant about a man paying himself that much from funds raised mainly by extorting the poor, for a job that ought to be serving the public. The same goes for the whole lot of them.

      1. Yes, having seen what a chum who was high up in the banking world had to do for her money, I certainly couldn’t have coped with it. I value my home and peace of mind too much.
        I wouldn’t mind the £75,000, let alone the rest.

    2. Poor fellow has taken a pay cut. In 2019 he earned £642,000 and was the BBC’s highest paid executive. How he has scraped by should be an example to us all. Davie justified the salary of BBC’s highest paid star Gary Lineker saying the salary was worth it because of the value of analysis to the viewing audience. During his time as acting director-general he oversaw the investigations into BBC management and conduct following revelations the broadcaster had known about sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile.

      Perfect CV for the most important man in national and international broadcasting. He is (claims) to be a coonservative. (The typo was unintentional, perhaps my computer knows better).

    3. Poor fellow has taken a pay cut. In 2019 he earned £642,000 and was the BBC’s highest paid executive. How he has scraped by should be an example to us all. Davie justified the salary of BBC’s highest paid star Gary Lineker saying the salary was worth it because of the value of analysis to the viewing audience. During his time as acting director-general he oversaw the investigations into BBC management and conduct following revelations the broadcaster had known about sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile.

      Perfect CV for the most important man in national and international broadcasting. He is (claims) to be a coonservative. (The typo was unintentional, perhaps my computer knows better).

  60. Mr Mohamed Bouhnika was arrested on13 September for running over 5 people in Edinburgh. The various reports state that he would appear in Court in a week or so. No Court appearance has yet been reported. In the meantime I would not hire a chauffeur driven car from Capital Cars.

    A file may be downloaded for viewing from Edinburgh Council of applications and renewals of private hire car licences applications. It looks like 4 out of 5 applications this year were by people whose names do not seem to be of UK origin.

    Edinburgh.https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/man-36-appears-in-court-after-five-pedestrians-hit-by-car-in-edinburgh-3381609

  61. WalMartians…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bde7946a34b4a57b5c61f8c63c19e0d1c8a6bce75fdb9d5b3ac1ed0f54b4f8b1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/977087380bca49f9718cc0807910cea46fea3c7420afa1e395edb9662190835f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c1671ab6bdd38ce511299a89ba6d920910913b2f2cc559bf8f6169f1f7aa871.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/279629576fa76efd82a2854e70380cf2feb4de61e65978485d4f29dfb85a1c1b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af04db16f1f5f1e7ef7b12ae7bb9c767215e34927666c9c98df11fffa94e9b6f.jpg

  62. Joe Biden’s staggering reaction to German election and Merkel’s downfall D Express headline

    US President Joe Biden has reacted to the results – a reporter notified him of the SPD’s narrow win.

    He responded: “I’ll be darned. They’re solid.”

    Oh my God! How staggering is that?

      1. Knighthoods and damehoods should be merged into one title: Sir Vixes. (or Sir Vixens for younger vagina and scrotum owners)

  65. Vivian Linacre, opponent of metrication who helped sow the seeds of Brexit – obituary

    He campaigned unsuccessfully for the continuation of dual marking and later became UKIP’s first candidate in Scotland

    By Telegraph Obituaries • 27 September 2021 • 7:00am

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/75260f4acf6dba51005674dfe931ad6ed374a80dcca32fe6c728f2e5d0f74bec.jpg
    Vivian Linacre, who has died aged 93, was a property developer who became a vigorous anti-metric campaigner.

    Linacre formed the Imperial Weights and Measures Preservation Society to resist the compulsory metrication that was being pressed on the property trade. Noting that the British Weights and Measures Association had become moribund decades before, IMPS changed its name to that, and from 1995 the BWMA became central to the campaign to resist compulsory metrication when European Union’s weights and measures directive came into force.

    Rather than resist metrication per se, the BWMA campaigned for the continuation of dual marking, which the EU had allowed for some time.

    When a Sunderland street trader, Steve Thoburn, was convicted in 2001 under the Weights and Measures Act after trading standards officers bought 34p’s worth of bananas from him weighed on imperial scales, the BWMA had its cause célèbre – and although Thoburn’s three-year battle, which reached the European Court of Human Rights, was ultimately unsuccessful, it was believed to have helped to sow the seeds of Brexit.

    Linacre, who had no truck with Europe, became the UK Independence Party’s first candidate in Scotland, Nigel Farage acting as his agent, and the two of them served together on the fledgling party’s national executive.

    Vivian Linacre was born on August 5 1928 in Liverpool, the third son of Bert, who worked for Woolworths, and Connie (née Ellis), a stenographer. He attended Knotty Ash Primary School – alongside Ken Dodd – then Prescot Grammar School.

    The family moved to Birmingham and then Edinburgh, where Vivian attended George Heriot’s School and Edinburgh University. In his final year he met the gay poet Edwin Morgan, who developed a strong attachment to him and over the course of four years sent him a series of passionate letters and poems.

    Linacre moved to London and established himself in property development, going on to be responsible for many town-centre developments in England and Scotland. He joined the Scottish developer Murrayfield, and then City Wall Properties in London. He became group property manager at Trust House Forte before tiring of corporate politics. He returned to Scotland and set himself up on his own, beginning with a site he converted for Debenham’s in Princes Street, Edinburgh’s prime shopping thoroughfare, with developments following in Inverness, Erskine and Penicuik, and Co Durham.

    He drew on his experience to write several books, including How to Save Our Town Centres; Ground- Breaking, a history of commercial property development; The Marshall Place Conspiracy, about a historic property scandal, and a book about an Italian ancestor who fought for Napoleon, The Several Lives of Alberto Bioletti. Linacre was sitting in his bath when he had the idea of establishing an industry charity. “Estate agent” and “property developer” were, he thought, two of the most popular terms of abuse, and a charity could begin to change that. The Scottish Property Industry Festival of Christmas, or Spifox, began life with a few dozen property professionals attending a concert in Edinburgh New Town followed by an industry lunch, and has grown to raise millions for Childline and other charities.

    Linacre was also Scottish chairman of the Scottish appeal committee for the 1987 UN International Year of Shelter for the Homeless.

    Late in his career he embarked on further property schemes, including a drawn-out effort to redevelop Perth City Hall. When that was blocked, he launched a successful campaign to save the Hall from demolition. Vivian Linacre married, first, Joan, a receptionist at the first firm he worked for in London. They had four sons but divorced, and he married, secondly, Margarethe. She survives him with his sons.

    On the last day of his life, Linacre heard the news that it will again be legal to sell goods using Britain’s traditional weighing system without any metrical equivalent being shown.

    Vivian Linacre, born August 5 1928, died September 17 2021

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/09/27/vivian-linacre-opponent-metrication-helped-sow-seeds-brexit/

    1. A colourful character… I don’t mean a person of colour – I bet he had a cervix though. Everyone has a cervix nowadays.

        1. If a person’s born with bollocks he’s a bloke,
          If a person’s born with bollocks he’s a bloke,
          If a person’s born with bollocks,
          Though they call him Betty Swollocks,
          If a person’s born with bollocks he’s a bloke!

          Chorus:-
          You can shove your Trannie bullshit up your arse,
          You can shove your Trannie bullshit up your arse,
          You can shove your Trannie bullshit,
          It’s really such a farce,
          You can shove your Trannie bullshit up your arse!

          If a baby’s got a fanny, it’s a girl,
          If a baby’s got a fanny, it’s a girl,
          If a baby’s got a fanny,
          Just like your dear old Grannie,
          If a baby’s got a fanny, it’s a girl!

          If a baby’s got a willie, it’s a lad,
          If a baby’s got a willie, it’s a lad,
          If a baby’s got a willie,
          Don’t start being silly,
          If a baby’s got a willie, it’s a lad!

      1. That is the point.
        He’s not a complete c**t, in fact he does not have one!
        He’s a complete prick.

    5. Holding two opposing views and believing fervently in both.

      Is she especially uneducated or has she never read 1984? Did she understand it wasn’t a manual?

    1. I wonder if Yamaha know and approve of him using their trademarked symbol?
      (The three tuning forks)

    3. Amusingly, I was talking to a lefty friend yesterday, and discovered that she too has cottoned onto the fact that most of the news is made up! We also agreed about Welby, whom she doesn’t trust at all. Most satisfying!

  69. Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary accused anti-vaccine protesters outside schools of behaving in an “outrageous and completely unacceptable” manner. (DT today).

    I do not recall this jumped up wanqueur accusing his co-religionists of behaving in an “outrageous and completely unacceptable” manner when they blockaded schools and threatened teachers.

    1. Politicians rely on us having the memories of a shoal of goldfish. The tragedy is, they are right most of the time.

    3. “outrageous and completely unacceptable”
      Surely he’s talking about the JCVI conclusion that Clotshots for children couldn’t be justified………
      Tosser

  70. Motor racing – and another thing….

    Why did the lads who were “podiumed” put masks on, take them off, put them on again, take them off again – all in the space of five minutes – and all on the podium…?

    No wonder Sir Kneeler Hamilton is confused.

      1. Hannah is a moron who needs to go back to school. Once she completes basic economics she may apply for a real job in the private sector and work for a living.

        1. Or she could make herself useful and do one of those Greenie jobs she wants everyone else to do.

          See you in the cabbage fields Hannah.

          Hannah….Oh i didn’t mean me. I meant everyone else….

          1. Like Greta thunderbug and the little black African kids – who stole whose childhood, I wonder?

      2. Hannah of Edinburgh obviously never visited the Russian countryside around Nikel. Huge expanses of land are utterly dead as a result of nickel refining giving off poisonous fumes. And it’s difficult to get more socialist than Russia has been this last few decades.
        So, she’s an idiot.
        Edit: Spelling of Nikel.

    2. Some blockers have been arrested this morning on the Heathrow spur. Let’s hope a real example is made of them as a caution to others.

    2. Nah! Nothing like it. I’ve been on the real HMS Stephen which has a helipad and a docking facility big enough to accommodate Jacques Cousteau’s submarine.

    3. The ‘boat’ is for sale for £1.75 million.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/sale-175m-houseboat-three-decks-circular-bath/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

      Back in the day, when the RN had warships (that could go to sea), it had 26 Leander Class Frigates built between March 1963
      to February 1973

      Leander, the first cost about £4,630,000 , with Ariadne, the final at £6,587,000.

      Puts things in perspective a bit

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leander-class_frigate

    4. The ‘boat’ is for sale for £1.75 million.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/sale-175m-houseboat-three-decks-circular-bath/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

      Back in the day, when the RN had warships (that could go to sea), it had 26 Leander Class Frigates built between March 1963
      to February 1973

      Leander, the first cost about £4,630,000 , with Ariadne, the final at £6,587,000.

      Puts things in perspective a bit

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leander-class_frigate

    1. Lots of Chelsea tractors and stupid champagne socialists who are worried they might not have enough fuel to get to their country houses for the weekend.. Anyway, Khan has sequestered all available supplies for his motorcade.

    2. Apparently there are people in London who would not be seen dead on the Tube or a bus. Rather like Paris.

      When the MR and I pay our state visit to London, we always use public transport – except when walking is quicker (as it often is, as I am sure you know).

        1. Only the sensible people…

          The Tube has make a remarkable recovery from what it was when I lived there in the 50s to 80s.

          2. No, silly. Lots more trains – and lines! Especially noticeable at weekends. When I lived there, one could wait for ages – now the trains come every few minutes.

            Buses, on the other hand, are much slower. Far too much other traffic. I only get on a bus if I have plenty of time in hand.

      2. I only ever travel by limousine when in town. A black cab at a push. What is this thing you call public transport?

          1. I did use the Underground when i lived there because it was convenient. Now if i go up to town it will be to the Theatre or a restaurant and i’m not dressed for Public Transport.

  79. Budapest signed a new long-term contract on Monday with Russia’s energy giant Gazprom for gas supplies bypassing Ukraine, Reuters reports.
    The agreement was sealed by Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller and Hungarian energy group MVM executives at the Hungarian Foreign Ministry.

    The deal was signed after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced last month that Budapest had agreed with Moscow on all the conditions for a new supply contract to take effect from October 1. The minister said that under the new deal, Hungary will buy gas “at a much better price than under the expiring contract,” which was signed in 2020.
    According to Szijjarto, the duration of the new agreement with Gazprom would be 15 years, with a clause to change purchased quantities after 10 years. The price had also been agreed.

    Gazprom would ship 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Hungary annually, Szijjarto said, adding that some 3.5 billion cubic meters will come via Serbia and 1 billion cubic meters via Austria.

    2. Cubic metres at what pressure? Natural gas is traded in millions of therms. Somebody please put up a picture of Mr Therm.)

      2. Standard cubic metres – so Standard Cubic Metre or “SCM” means the volume of gas which occupies one cubic metre of space when such gas is at a temp of 15.50C and at a pressure of 1013.25mbar(14.695 psi).

      3. Standard cubic metres – so Standard Cubic Metre or “SCM” means the volume of gas which occupies one cubic metre of space when such gas is at a temp of 15.50C and at a pressure of 1013.25mbar(14.695 psi).

    1. P.G. Wodehouse always misquoted the song about the unwary King Wenslas who must have been a bit of a hermit because he last looked out on 26th December. He instructed his exploited young house servant to “…… bring me fish and bring me fowl.”

      2. Sounds like my daughter-in-law’s father.
        Every Christmas morning, he says to his wife “I suppose everything’s under control”?

    2. My winter fuel arrived this morning. All set for the worst the weather (but maybe not the government) can throw at me.

    5. Is Boris saying “Why are you complaining? Don’t you want to be cold and have no fuel? These help the government reach it’s targets!”

  84. DM Story

    Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller to launch NEW political party ‘True and Fair’, to ‘hold Government to account’ saying ‘voters deserve better than the current politics of incompetence and self-interest’

    If the True and Fair Political Party follows current practice it will be neither true nor fair just as the Lib/Dems are neither liberal nor democratic, the Labour Party despises the working class and the Conservatives are not conservative.

    Maybe somebody should set up a Woke Party that is completely unwoke?

    2. I read that earlier on but it’s a bit technical for me. I think I got the gist but not necessarily the substance, nor in the right order.

  86. That’s me gone for another day. Turned out sunny in the afternoon – but very strong gales blowing.

    Have a jolly evening. Play nicely.

    A demain.

    5. Bedrettin deserves to have an egg thrown at him/her.
      Während governs the genitive, not the dative – that should read Während seines Besuchs…

  88. I think I may have to give in and replace my old 3/4 TV. Switched it on when I got home and it went pop and flipped to standby mode with a red light alongside the green one. It’s working now but it gave me a fright and put me off my supper. Could it be a power problem? I don’t know.

        1. Ah… quite small, then.
          Hope it keeps going. Don’t need the extra enpense of a new telly.

          3. I am OK for see view now, living on the coast, Norf of Skeggy, but it were hard in Salop, where we used to live

    3. Alterntively, watch whatever on the pc and stuff the TV. Rarely anything worth switching on for – even though SWMBO does, with high volume… 🙁

    4. Don’t know which channel you are trying to watch (Not the Beeboid channel obvs) but channel four had a server fire.

      Is it full of dust? Have you tried hoovering the vents? They do get clogged and buggerup the telly/laptop.

      1. It was on channel 49 (Sony “Great TV”) which does have dodgy reception sometimes and yes, plenty of dust. I’m not big on housework I’m afraid. My mum would be appalled.

        Big server probs at the Beeb today too but only internal shared drives down. Usually sorted quite quickly though and it was out all day and still unresolved when I left this evening so a serious problem.

        2. Computer couldn’t believe the work it was going to have to do to calculate the new monthly pay of the DG!

        3. If servers are running Microsoft Bill Gates has finally scrapped what was known as Homegroups for network integration on one of the latest Win 10 ugrades

          All network accessible devices on my home network ceased functioning and I gave up trying to reverse engineer on the upgraded Windows 10. I rewired devices back onto their nearest desktops.

        4. If servers are running Microsoft Bill Gates has finally scrapped what was known as Homegroups for network integration on one of the latest Win 10 ugrades

          All network accessible devices on my home network ceased functioning and I gave up trying to reverse engineer on the upgraded Windows 10. I rewired devices back onto their nearest desktops.

        5. I’m not big on housework and my husband has learnt to live with that. I’m like my mum in lots of ways but she was even less inclined than I am to do housework. She just didn’t see the cobwebs and dust……..

    5. Just a thought:
      Why not tell al beeb that a high quality TV is essential to allow you to do your job, ensuring that content is properly attributed.
      They should supply that HQ TV

      1. To be honest, I can afford a new TV, I just can’t be arsed. I’ll persevere with this one as long as it poses no danger. It does seem OK now. The popping sound startled me and the standby button on the remote seems dodgy.

        2. Do you still unplug it at the mains? Could be a fire hazard you know. Given your dilatory attitude to dust… :@)

    6. I suspect that there have been some national grid problems in the last 24 hours, possibly related to frequency. They ain’t going to tell us, but FYI I had unusual issues last night with a cooker hob.

    7. I suspect that there have been some national grid problems in the last 24 hours, possibly related to frequency. They ain’t going to tell us, but FYI I had unusual issues last night with a cooker hob.

    2. Here it is:
      The real shortage we face is political honesty – Brian Monteith
      There really is a great deal of exaggerated nonsense being talked-up about shortages in our economy and then being reported mischievously. There is no fuel shortage, but there is a shortage of political honesty.
      By Brian Monteith
      The scares we have been witnessing – and maybe some readers have experienced – of shortages of a favourite marmalade in the grocer’s or fuel at the forecourt have longstanding origins – but that means nothing when they can be used to energise a political campaign that would rather create grievances and spread genuine hardship than find solutions that make life harmonious.

      It has come as a great surprise to many that there is, all of a sudden, a shortage of HGV drivers able to ensure supermarket shelves are stacked – but it is no surprise to me. For the last four or more years people have been telling me this development would come – and interestingly all of them have been supporters of Brexit rather than opponents inventing yet another scare. You see Brexit is not the cause of the shortage so many would like to claim it is, all Brexit has done is remove the cloak that hid the appalling de-skilling and mistreatment of drivers in the road haulage industry.

      Those behind the wheel have too often been mistreated and taken for granted at the hands of some employers driven only by greed, forgetting their duty of care is a better route to delivering improved and sustainable profits. Meanwhile officious bureaucrats and lazy disinterested politicians only ever interested in the next headline have been unwilling to heed the warnings that a perfect storm was heading our way.

      Back in 2017 the late Bob Durward, a highly successful Scottish businessman who originally started out in haulage used to assure me ordinary British drivers were being forced into early retirement or switching to other jobs due to the masses of East European drivers being recruited on very low wages once their countries acceded to the EU and they could take advantage of free movement of labour. He predicted huge problems ahead because adaptable smaller family haulage firms were being put out of business and we were not training enough new drivers to tackle natural wastage, never mind any shock that might come from EU drivers choosing to stay away.

      Last year June Slater, a retired businesswoman I keep in touch with and in contact with hundreds of British drivers through her special Facebook group, reported similar and compelling concerns to me, only now we were in the middle of the government’s lockdown in response to the Covid pandemic.

      Large numbers of East European drivers were either caught in the continent or, given the harrowing and unpredictable circumstances they faced, preferred to be with their families. What would happen when travel became possible? She predicted most would not come back – not least because the UK Government’s tax policy IR35 for self-employed people would impact on the thousands of foreign HGV drivers who work through agencies. They had their tax liability deferred for a year but it would now be due on arrival in Britain, while some faced repayments of £10,000 from Covid grants a loophole had allowed them to claim.

      This is where blaming Brexit can be seen as nonsense. The undeniable fact is there are huge shortages of HGV drivers in the rest of Europe too (for similar reasons as those in the UK) amounting to 400,000 in the EU 27 – with the highest being 45,000 in Germany and 20,000 in France. Why would a Czech driver wish to pick up work in the UK and face a tax bill run-up from previous years when there is enough work in the rest of the continent that is cost free? The driver shortage in EU members states is not caused by Brexit and the unwillingness of self-employed drivers to come back to Britain is not caused by Brexit. Temporary visas are therefore not the answer.

      Last year there was a drop of 42,658 LGV tests in the UK. The DVSA and DVLA’s outstanding HGV licence examinations have nothing to do with Brexit and are entirely a product of the Covid lockdowns with home working, social distancing rules and associated strikes at the agencies.

      The last straw for many HGV drivers was the treatment they received during the national and local lockdowns – as if they were the carriers of a plague rather than critical workers ensuring our foods, fuel (and toilet rolls) were getting to us. They found their motorway toilets and showers locked up, their canteens closed and even supermarkets refusing to let them use the staff facilities after a long drive to get supplies delivered. Now, many drivers are finding they are due a routine medical but cannot get a doctor’s appointment so their licence can be renewed.

      If you take a step back from what’s happening in the supermarkets, the forecourts and in the meeting rooms of lobbyists pushing their vested interests upon the government – where nobody is there to speak up for the consumer or wider public – what we see is Brexit has had a role, but it is not the one being tweeted by BBC reporters, SNP politicians or the big corporations. Brexit’s role has simply been to put power back in the hands of the ordinary British workers, who were taken advantage of for so long and are willing to get back on the road – but find government incompetence and mendacious opposition leaders politicising the remedies. Brexit has made visible the dishonesty of our political elite.

      The answer is to clear the administrative barriers, pay decent wages and welcome the British drivers back to the job they used to do.

      Brian Monteith is a director of GlobalBritain.co.uk and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.

    1. Too obvious.

      Find out who they are and where they shop and then refuse to deliver to those shops/supermarkets.

      Advertise this fact and their neighbours will be the ones who take up the baseball bats.

        1. Protesters, Think tanks and Psyops get others to do their dirty work for them. We should use their tactics against them.

          1. True.
            I was considering the Heathrow chaos.

            The passengers should claim they are in far great danger of getting Covid by being rammed together than being checked through, storm the barricades.

      1. As British as you are, and because I live in France even more British than I am, I’m sure they will claim.

          2. I understand, that young girls are totally safe from Vaz

            Young lads (in fact all lads)…… however

    1. Free accommodation, free healthcare, free food, as many young girls as you can molest, what’s not to like?
      Welcome to Britain.

      1. The Afghan family settled in Scotland. The three bed flat wasn’t big enough, too noisy and not near a Park for the kiddies.

        Ungrateful bastards.

  95. Evening, all. Rained heavily on a couple of occasions, curtailing work in the garden. It’s been a bitza day; I managed to get bits of the tasks I needed to do done, but nothing completed.

    1. One manufactured panic-buying episode and people blame it on Brexit and want to rejoin the EU? Total bollox.

      1. Not really; there has always been a large sore loser remaniac element who would use any excuse to get us back in. They are plotting behind the scenes to achieve their desired result, so are better organised than those of us who believe in democracy (despite the evidence of our own eyes).

        1. The ‘total bollox’ was my reaction to Remainers using this panic-buying farrago as a justification for rejoining the EU. I don’t doubt it’s true.

    2. That’ll give him the excuse to do yet another U turn – after all, we haven’t properly left (by design) so we can slip seamlessly back into bondage.

    1. The one about the dog raiding the garden made me think of Charlie; he used to be eating the peas at one end of the row as I was harvesting them at the other.

  101. 339336+ up ticks,

    The political sell out of these Isles is picking up pace daily the sell out is near completion, should have taken heed of the post referendum cry of
    “job done, leave to the tory’s (ino)” treachery triggered, the may placement, the nine month delay, we hurt the rubber stampers no doubt of that.

    Importing Foreign Drivers to Solve Shortages Caused by Reliance on Cheap Labour Is ‘Folly’: Migration Watch

    Is orchestrated folly reset marches on unhindered

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