Monday 3 March: The West has been fooled by Russian promises before – it can’t be again

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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484 thoughts on “Monday 3 March: The West has been fooled by Russian promises before – it can’t be again”

  2. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTL chums.
    It's Monday Chuckle time again, so here are two for the price of one…

    A puny guy went for a job as a lumberjack, but the head lumberjack told him: "Sorry, pal, you're too weak."
    "I may look weak,” protested the guy, "but I'm not. At least give me a chance to show what I can do."
    "OK then, see that giant redwood over there. Let's see you chop it down."
    Half an hour later, to the amazement of the head lumberjack, the giant redwood was lying on its side.
    "Where did you learn to cut down trees like that?”
    "The Sahara Forest."
    "You mean the Sahara Desert?"
    "Sure, if that's what they call it now."

    Several weeks after being hired, the young man was called into the personnel manager's office.
    "When you applied for this job, you said you had a degree in English Language from Cambridge plus five years' experience in this line of work. Now we discover that you have absolutely no qualifications and that this is your first job of any kind. What do you have to say for yourself?"
    "Well, your ad said you wanted somebody with imagination!"

    1. One for the price of two:

      My name is Rachel Reeves, dressed as a bloke, what did you expect?

  3. Good morning's chums. And thanks, Geoff, for this morning's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,352 4/6

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

  4. Net zero is over, and with it many other luxury beliefs we can no longer afford. 3 March 2025.

    Our open borders have undermined the coherence of whole countries, destroying social trust, solidarity and shared identity, and with those things support for progressive ideas like the welfare state. Our open economies have been exploited by mercantilist powers like China, which run huge trade surpluses that cause corresponding trade deficits, debt and the destruction of our productive capacity.

    So total is the failure of liberalism one might ask if recovery is even possible. The radical diversity of our society and the loss of shared norms of behaviour has contributed to the low-respect, high-crime culture of fear in our cities. Millions of working age people live on health-related benefits.

    The first of many conversions one suspects. I can remember when the Soviet Union collapsed commenting that very soon the same people would emerge professing the virtues of Capitalism. Timothy, who wrote this piece, was on of May’s lieutenants.

    Trump, by his rapprochement with Putin, has cut the neo-liberal consensus off at its knees. They can no longer afford it. They are trying to limit the damage but it will be tricky. If we, the peasants, are lucky he will pull the plug on Ukraine and bring the whole rotten structure down.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/03/net-zero-is-over-with-it-many-luxury-beliefs-we-cant-afford/

    1. Most of this piece is about the breakdown in the moral and ethical standards in Western Europe down to indiscriminatory favouring of alien and often violent culture whilst talking down our own in insidious references to "anticolonialism", which I find ironic in the extreme.

      I do not think it has anything to do with the situation in Ukraine, which is an old-fashioned invasion of a weaker neighbour by a mighty power trying it on. We saw that sort of thing in the Middle Ages, when people were supposedly better behaved.

      1. I think May was the wrong PM for the wrong time. She is a middle manager during easy times. The UK needed a battle hardened intellect to take the fight to the EU.

        Sadly, the Tories simply don't have anyone like that – except perhaps David Davis but he made the error of trying to discuss all things at once – which the EU wanted, as they have vastly more pointless non-entity bureaucrats.

    2. Affordability was never considered. The state doesn't bother to ask if we can afford anything. Nor is it stopping the insane assault on society, the economy, health and wealth for the minor hinderance of the damage it is causing.

      They do not care. This is the Left's greatest invention. A tax and hoax perpetrated on the very basis of civilisation. Control what people can do and when and they are utter slaves to the Left wing will. That's the intent. It's never had anything to do with the environment.

      3. My sister went to Paris recently for a weekend. I warned her of the pollution but she laughed it off.

        Lo! She returns and raises how disgusting it is with people pooing in the street, litter everywhere and thugs staring at you.

        Bluntly we need a simple rule that ways if you're not white you're not right, and send them back. Where doesn't matter. Create a floating raft in the ocean, put them there some 50 miles off Devon for all anyone cares.

    2. We're supposed to get another week of it, then temps steadily rise to around 12-14, which would be a welcome change.

    3. Very interesting article. Eighteen months ago 7000 migrants arrived in Lampedusa in just three days. All of them of fighting age. That's more than the population, and it wasn't the only illegal invasion. A great number of them were taken in by Germany and France and no doubt many of them reached the UK. It must be being organised by Muzzie leaders.

      In the twelve months to December 2022, approximately 1.16 million people migrated to the United Kingdom, while 557,000 emigrated away from the country, resulting in a net migration figure of 606,000. We're literally being invaded.

  7. Good morning, all. Blue sky, sun up. Heavy frost. Cold. And, like a fool I forgot to turn the CH on last night – so the house is cold….

  9. The West has been fooled by Russian promises before – it can’t be again

    Surely that works both ways with the agreement in 1990 to not let Ukraine join Nato or the EU
    Not sure if imposing a puppet President was in it.

    1. That agreement was made in 1990 when the world was quite a different place. The USSR was breaking up into sovereign pieces and the Warsaw Pact nations in central Europe were not then members of either NATO or the EU.

      Agreements made in 1990 cannot always be binding some 35 years later, when a different generation is running things – those who cannot be relied on to clone the conditions their parents lived under.

      Ukraine agreed in the 1990s to relinquish its nuclear weapons and allow Russia indefinite use of their naval base in Sevastopol. In return Russia would recognise the national borders of Ukraine as they were decreed by Nikita Khrushschev and give preferential terms on the supply of gas and oil. Any question of NATO membership was absurd, given that none of its neighbours at that time were.

      How times have changed.

      I maintain that it was foolhardy for the Labour Party to pledge not to raise Income Tax when an American President is threatening to withdraw its protective military umbrella in Europe. Protection does not come cheap, a home truth rammed home by Donald J Trump.

      1. I value your efforts to inject some Realpolitik into this forum, Jeremy. I don't have the patience to follow your example, at least not to the same degree, but I support your contributions, for the most part.

      2. The Ukraine did not have any 'Nuclear Weapons', the Soviets did, Just because they were based in The Ukraine doesn't mean it was Ukrainian. The government was a puppet of the Soviet Union.

        1. By your argument though, these weapons were no more the property of the Russian Federation.

      3. We gave Scotland a referendum to see if they wanted independence which they rejected
        I suspect the outcome would have been different if England had spent some years shelling and killing 14,000 Scots
        How about a referendum under international scrutiny for the Dombas??

  10. 402502+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Through my eyes I believe we will witness a "gathering of the mob bosses"

    Similar to having a crafty smoke in a munitions factory, in time there will be an Archduke Ferdinand,
    very serious incident at the border, then let the culling
    again commence.

    Britain has finally restored its power in Europe after Brexit
    Starmer and Macron propose ‘coalition of the willing’ to protect peace in Ukraine with British and French troops on the ground

    Britain has finally restored its power in Europe after Brexit

    On the 25/6/2016 as a UKIP member I was seemingly forever posting calling for TOTAL SEVERANCE whilst a multitude were posting WE WON no need of UKIP now
    and sculling back to the lab/lib/con anti Brit coalition.

    1. No one wins in international politics. It's always shades of grey.

      'Winning' would be the abolition of the EU and the seizure of all property stolen by the eurocrats and their being jailed for corruption and war crimes.

      The idea of promoting another war in Europe when the 'vaunted' EU's waffle bashes on about ending the conflicts in the continent (it hasn't, it's intent was forever control over the nations of Europe, not peace) is just offensive.

  11. 402502+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Through my eyes I believe we will witness a "gathering of the mob bosses"

    Similar to having a crafty smoke in a munitions factory, in time there will be an Archduke Ferdinand,
    very serious incident at the border, then let the culling
    again commence.

    Britain has finally restored its power in Europe after Brexit
    Starmer and Macron propose ‘coalition of the willing’ to protect peace in Ukraine with British and French troops on the ground

    Britain has finally restored its power in Europe after Brexit

    On the 25/6/2016 as a UKIP member I was seemingly forever posting calling for TOTAL SEVERANCE whilst a multitude were posting WE WON no need of UKIP now
    and sculling back to the lab/lib/con anti Brit coalition.

  12. So where did Rachel find the extra £ 1.6 billion for Ukraine?

    Some say that she has filed it under missileaneous expenses

  14. Shouldn't that be Ms oleaginous expenses?

    Good morning Bob Trinity and all…

    1. Morning Johnny – the panels are generating free energy just tipping the house on to the grid rather than full demand.

    1. The hoax of 'climate change' has done incredible damage to every level of this country – economically we're now not growing, we don't have the industry we need, we can't make anything due to costs. We can't build because of demento Left wing scams. It's a gravy train for wasters, troughers and failed communists. I is a crushing tax on jobs, businesses and people. Worse it restricts human freedom, the sole differentiator.

      When the lights do go out – properly out – watch out Milioaf. You'll realise that you can't call for help and too late will you understand what your stupid, spiteful, hateful ideology means for your neck.

      1. I'm not a fan of (scuz the pun)
        But the middle east especially Dubai and Doha are thriving on oil consumption and still building thousands of new homes and other types of property. And the desalination of sea water is a massive ongoing project. As is the 24/7/365 air-conditioning in every single property. I expect millipede will be moving there following his own discharge.
        He can learn a lesson or several.

  17. Morning, all Y'all. Late today: dropped car at garage for MoT test, then waited forever for bus to office – there's been a smash on the motorway, and the commuting traffic was backed up as far as Sweden… including all the local roads too.

      1. The road works and traffic here is by design, specifically set up to make travelling by car hard, expensive and long winded.

        1. Plenty of roadworks, but no-one actually filling in potholes and replacing road surfaces.

    1. The irritating nasal whine addresses the UK nation at 5pm.

      "We must defend our shores, defend our democracy, defend our free speech.
      I cannot rule out war with Russia."

      1. Yet he rules out defending this country from a criminal invasion. In fact, he in particular has done more to damage this nation by promoting the invading savage than any other treacherous Lefty.

      2. You are one of several to point out Starmer's nasal whine. I've never heard it.

    3. The irony being that rather than taking the opportunity for a different route Two Tier is continuing straight on, to more war.

      He should be backing America and saying 'Stop this. End the conflict' but he far and away prefers the EU expansionist choice.

      As usual, when faced with a choice he makes the wrong one.

    4. 402502+ up ticks,

      Morning R,
      Going the wrong way on a moterway would be more apt.

    6. I saw that headline and thought, yes sanity and peace or WW3. Starmer is heading for the latter.

  19. With the electorates of Europe are moving away from their old traditional nation state demolition parties, the old establishment parties that have failed them from the supposed Left and Right, they are now voting for new parties that espouse traditional western values and culture, like defending their borders, being a viable country that can feed it's people and manufacture all the essentials like steel and energy for when times get tough, that sort of thing, now known as far right by the old demolition parties.
    So after the recent surge to the right in Germany it looks like they have finally caught on.
    Now they are on the warpath as a distraction, all of a sudden they must defend Europe, but what with? they have broken everything.
    They have been more a friend to Putin by deliberately weakening us beyond salvation whether on purpose or by through ignorance.
    Now we are expected to all come together and get behind them.
    They should all step down, their time is up, get some real people in that want to defend freedom and democracy.

    1. I assume the only reason he wants the war to continue is to fatten his already obese wallet, same for all the 'generals' siphoning off cash.

      Why does the EU want it to continue though? Expansion? Is it really so venal that it would slaughter thousands of Russians and Ukrainians solely for it's own political ends?

      Of course it is. The EU is a communist abomination.

    2. A BTL Comment from ZH:

      "I can't imagine what they really have in mind. The two options are (1) Ukraine withdraws from the annexed territories and stops firing missiles into them (and Russia proper), or (2) another million Ukrainians die, followed by option 1.

      Everything else is fantasy, and/or suicidal."

  21. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/03/net-zero-has-made-britain-poorer-warn-city-economists/

    Of course the department for economic ruin doesn't 'recognise' the facts. If it did it would be shut down, disbanded, destroyed and consigned to the bin of history as a spiteful fraud perpetuated on the tax payer solely for the aggrandisement of nasty little Lefties intent on forcing socialism on this country which, of course, is all the tax scam hoax of 'climate change' is.

    1. Yes, but it's bloody cold too!
      I've just been out to hang up a load of washing the I put on when I got up and my fingers are frozen!

      1. Cripes. I haven't even got any washing done.
        Checked the week and it would appear I don't need to rush.
        Festina Lente (nice girl – for a foreigner)

        1. I did half of mine yesterday, Annie, and I plan to complete the job today. As they say "Make hay whilst the sun shines".

          1. Spare Solar Power
            When yesterday morning I saw that my solar panels were exporting a continuous 4 to 5.5 kiloWatts to the grid I switched on my washer-drier to wash AND dry and then kept an eye on the Smart Meter to see what ensued. With the drier full on there was still a 'spare' Solar 3 kW being exported so I made a loaf using my breadmaker (505-550 Watts).

            The Sun certainly had his hat on yesterday. And no need for clothes pegs or freezing fingers outside.

            OK, so somebody's gonna say "But how much did the Solar kit cost you?". I still feel smug.

      2. Better out than in in this weather though. The sun, despite being a bit anaemic will do more to dry your clothes than their being inside.

        1. Another push for an EU suppression force – answerable to the commissars, of course.

          As soon as they get it we'll have a secret police, commissariat, political officers and then armed police controlling what we can do and where we can go.

    1. Is there going to be an indemnity clause, that regardless of the outcome of the 'troubles', servicefolk on the ground will not be prosecuted

      The responsibility will be firmly on the (sloping) shoulders of the politicians.

    2. Good set of questions.
      I would add:

      Where is the equivalent dis-embarkment point of a Dunkirk and are there sufficient "little planes" if it all goes to Hell?

      1. 402502+ up ticks,

        Morning A,
        Pensioners WILL mandatory donate two months pension and dying of heat & meat starvation knowing they had done their bit for the coalition party.

      1. 402502+ up ticks,

        Morning O,
        All the time there are warmongers
        there never will be.

        1. I understand that a lack of ammo for pretty well all calibres is now hampering operations.
          Maybe it'll save a few poor bastards being maimed and killed, so the less the better.

      1. 402502+ up ticks,

        Afternoon C,

        More important than that, why was the entry strategy triggered ?

    1. Quite. Europeans evolved with paler skin to cope with the lack of sunshine. Pale skin more readily absorbs sunlight to make vitamin D. Why would we want to go backwards.

    2. Yo Fizz

      The white men living in Africa built big boats and crossed many seas to Britain, where they enslaved all the black people living there and took them back to Africa.

      The White King of the Africans at the time, decided that he liked Britain so much, that he used the slave ships to move all the white people to from Africa Britain, where they prospered until the arrival of the Wokes.

        1. Yes, and the Jocks were blue skinned and the Welch were green from eating nothing but leeks.

    4. Morning Phizz.
      I can't read mail items now and I'm not paying.
      someone scratching around in a cave found one skull in a cave in the west country and somehow came to that conclusion.
      The skull had skin ? And the previous owner had spent his or her life walking all the way from Africa just to make a point. 🤔😆

      1. Good morning…It's complete tosh but …

        The Britons responsible for the building of the iconic Stonehenge were probably black, a study has suggested.

        Data from 348 ancient genomes gathered from across Eurasia have been reconstructed by scientists at the University of Ferrara in Italy which show almost all Europeans had dark skin until around 3,000 years ago.

        With Stonehenge, just outside the town of Glastonbury, being constructed around 5,000 years ago, experts have said we can assume the builders had dark skin.

        Until around 1,700 years ago, the majority of Europeans had dark skin, the authors of the study say, adding that most of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the Britons who built Stonehenge, had dark skin, eyes and hair.

        The study confirms that the shift to lighter skin, thanks to the movement of people to higher latitudes and more vitamin D intake as a result, was slower than previously thought.

        Experts are still unsure why the change from darker to light skin was so slow.

        However, scientists believe farmers may have compensations for vitamin D deficiencies in their diet with accessible sources such as milk and meat.

        Samples for the study were taken from the British Isles, mainland Europe, Russia, central Asia and the Middle East.
        With Stonehenge, just outside the town of Glastonbury, being constructed around 5,000 years ago, experts have said we can assume the builders had dark skin

        With Stonehenge, just outside the town of Glastonbury, being constructed around 5,000 years ago, experts have said we can assume the builders had dark skin
        Stonehenge is largely sealed off to the public, with visitors no longer being permitted to touch the stones

        Stonehenge is largely sealed off to the public, with visitors no longer being permitted to touch the stones
        The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the and sunset on the winter solstice

        The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the and sunset on the winter solstice
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        Dr Silvia Ghirotto, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Ferrara in Italy who led the work, told The Telegraph: 'By analysing ancient DNA from 348 individuals spanning 45,000 years, we reconstructed an intricate picture in which light pigmentation emerged sporadically during the first phases of our presence in Europe.

        'Our ancestors had dark skin until very recent times.

        'Given that Stonehenge was built during the transition from Neolithic to Bronze Age, and given the high frequency of dark-skinned samples we inferred for that period even in northern Europe, it is likely that Britons who built Stonehenge displayed dark features'.

        Stonehenge is an iconic part of Britain's history. It is largely sealed off to the public, with visitors no longer being permitted to touch the stones, but they are able to walk around the monument from a short distance away.

        The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the and sunset on the winter solstice.

        Large crowds can usually be seen at the monument during the solstice periods as it is considered a place of worship to Neo-Druids, Pagans and other 'earth based' or 'old' religions.

        English Heritage does, however, permit access during the summer and winter solstice, and the spring and autumn equinox.

    5. Does that prove that being black means you are less advanced or that being white means you are more advanced?

      Neither, of course, merely that humans are just a type of creature that evolves according to its environment.

    6. "With Stonehenge, just outside the town of Glastonbury" D Fail: What a load of 'blakllocks'. Glastonbury is 44 miles from Stonehenge.

      The rest of their research is as reliable as their map reading skills – or even worse. They are completely disoriented.

  26. It's notable how far the Left have pushed things, their grip on the media that common sense is called 'far Right'. It isn't,, of course. It is just common sense but if they lose control over the narrative they're finished.

  27. When I first get out of bed, if the washing bin has enough for a load it gets bunged into the machine before I make my 1st mug of tea.
    Though, in this weather, I do get dressed first before hanging it outside!

    1. Yo B of B

      I thought I recognised you as the washing-line streaker of Matlock

  30. I hate to think what appalling abuses that was put to for it to be flagged when other MPs were claiming to heat their swimming pools, paying for porn and stable cleaning.

  33. Morning all 😊🙂
    Lovey sunshine melting the frost on the cars.
    What's happening today?

  34. Morning all 😊🙂
    Lovey sunshine melting the frost on the cars.
    What's happening today?

    1. Morning OLT,

      The 1960's were strange times , girls/ women thought the idea of becoming a Bunny girl or an Air Hostess was a giddy height to aspire to ..

      University entry was a very rare thing in those days for women , they didn't offer frivolous course the way they do these days , anyone can achieve university status it seems .

      I also think that the freedom the 1960's offered was so new and exciting for some .

      If you look back to pop groups of the 60's , most of the male bands looked androgynous and flowery ..

      Some of us preferred nicely groomed men in uniform ( or out of it sometimes🙂 ) with nice round bottoms!

      1. 'Some of us preferred nicely groomed men in uniform ( or out of it sometimes🙂 ) with nice round bottoms!'

        Cheeky !

  36. Good morning all,

    Wow , what a thick frost again .. so pretty .

    Moh wrapped up like an Eskimo went off to play golf at 8am . His car took 10 minutes to dethaw.

    Son was out of the house by 06.30. Organised , he packed his lunch the night before , microwaved a can of soup this morning to put in his soup flask , coffee , etc and de thawed his car , and off he went to work on the other side of Wimborne .. on a very amazing gigantic innovative building project .. something beyond all imagination ..

    I cannot say much more , but the progress of the work and technical detail is awesome ..

    No 2 son and partner are on the IOW, and they are finding travel expensive and difficult . /The reality has sunk in!

      1. Yes , my thoughts exactly ..

        Their landlord had increased the rent by double , totally unsustainable , so they decided to move to the IOW.

  37. For all those who think the stopping of USAID is wicked…

    I call this 'Spiffing Spaffing!':

    Topline: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sent $1.3 billion in foreign assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year, the world’s fifth-poorest country by GDP per capita.
    The spending would be easier to stomach if the Congo was devoting all of its own resources toward caring for its people and still coming up short.

    But new reporting from the Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche revealed that the country’s officials are splurging on their travel expenses. The Congo spent the equivalent of $488,000 on a six-night hotel stay during this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
    Key facts: The Congo delegation booked “several dozen” rooms at the five-star Hotel Quellenhof, even though there were only six official members in the country’s delegation to the Forum.

    The tab works out to over $81,000 per night. The hotel describes itself as “a haven of peace where you can take time for yourself and your loved ones” and make “your holiday dreams come true.”

    Switzerland’s delegation came under fire in 2023 for spending $128,000 on a hotel for the World Economic Forum, violating the country’s expense regulations, Die Weltwoche reported. The Congo, with much more limited resources, spent almost four times that amount.

    The Congo is one of the 30 most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International. At the World Economic Forum in 2020, the country booked 30 hotel rooms for almost $16,000, paid only $4,000, and then left Switzerland, Die Weltwoche reported.

      2. Given the amount of aid given over the years perhaps it should be called The Mint in the hole!

    3. So they booked the rooms, paid the deposit, and then left without paying the rest of the bill? Nice one! What did they do with the rest of the money? Behead a few Christians?

    1. Morning Rastus! Indeed, in my opinion it was the underhanded behaviour of the West that caused this debacle, not the Russians or Putin.

  39. 402502+ up ticks,

    Will we have the killer girls doing the monster mash at the front line, a repeat of the hospital corridor trot during the covid era.

    Live Defence stocks surge as Europe prepares to rearm

    Of course they did.

  40. Morning all! Another bright day. It is going to be warm. Opened the front door at 8:30 again to let the cool air in. I really have to figure out some sort of air conditioning for summer. Still open to suggestions on that one. A real system is not practical but any portable type that people think is good, please let me know.

    First contribution of the day.
    If people are interested in understanding what Trump is up to please watch this explanation by Scott Ritter. It is the best thing I have come across so far. Explains why any sane person should stand 100% with the President if we all want a better future.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yf-pAL9aeU&list=TLPQMDMwMzIwMjXELz4V7jctcA&index=4

  41. Good Morning!

    Today I have a special request. Nanumaga is writing a comedy, a satire, about the Brexit referendum to time with its tenth (yes) anniversary next year and we’ve agreed to help trial sections here. In my opinion it’s very good, but he’s looking for advice and suggestions, so please do read this short section and leave a comment. Life in The Bunker (Incorporating extracts from Jeremy Corbyn's Secret Diary – Age 96¾). Please support him.

    Following on from the White House wobbler between Trump, Vance and Zelensky we look at why Vance told the Ukrainian his fortune and what was the real cause of the war in Ukraine. Please do read Zelensky V Trump and Vance and let us know what you think.

    Energy watch 08.00: Demand: 38.04 GW. Total UK Production: 32.82 GW from: Hydrocarbons 34.6%; Wind 20.5%; Imports 19.9%; Biomass 7.9%; Nuclear 10.8%. Solar: 3.1%.

    We are importing nearly 20% of our electricity, mostly from France on which we are increasingly reliant for our supply.

  43. Interesting last night, not seen it for a long time but Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
    I contestant who told of his time spent in North Korea. And mentioned how easy it is to be taken in by continuous propaganda.
    It all seems to be more evenly spread around these days.
    Dopey Wokeyism seems to be thriving here.
    But hopefully when millipede gets his 'march ching' orders things might start to change.

  44. Nightmare for the day.

    Starmer sacks Reeves, replaces her with Miliband, replaces Miliband with Lammy and replaces Lammy with a recently ennobled Blair.

    1. Then Slammer is replaced by Oik Streeting….(to complete your tale of woe).

    3. Gawd. I think I'll go back to clearing out the fridge to make myself feel better.
      So far, I thrown out a rotting triceratops and a mammoth definitely past its Best Before date.

      1. Had a clear-out just before shopping on Saturday.
        There was some petrified ham, and something purple from outer space in a plastic wrapper…

  45. It seems very strange to me that not one letter supporting Mr Trump, got past the vetting stage for being printed today

    Is the DT being Neutral in what it prints, ot toeing the 'approved' agenda?

    1. If one believes the Mail comments, support for the plucky little cokehead was overwhelming.

    1. People are stupid. Sorry, but they simply are. What the EU wants is, shockingly, more EU. More it wants a military. Can you imagine a communist government with control over weapons? The first thing – the very first thing they'll do is turn them on dissenters and their enemies: freedom, democracy and rule of law that is not theirs.

      The EU will start the next war and must be destroyed before it can do so.

      1. Wars are very easy to start, and very difficult to end. Mr Zelensky needs to remember that.

      2. I think the EU is well on its way to disintegrating. Both its core members are in chaos, or near chaos. AFD will triumph in Germany and that will be it for them as members and La Pen will triumph in France and it will be the end of the EU. 10 years maybe. What do you think?

    1. My father faked Englishness very effectively. He Anglicised his name, lived in Yorkshire long enough to sound like a native and claimed to be Anglican when he signed up for WWII. He knew more Hebrew than Book of Common Prayer but he listened and learnt. In his latter years he even voted Conservative though he'd been a Labour party member in his youth.

      1. Second generation European immigrants – eg Poles and Italians after the the last war – manage quite effectively to become English.

        1. They become British, not English and I don't understand this eagerness to eradicate the English by pretending that anyone can be English. I lived in America for 40+ years. I was never an American, I was an Englishman in another country, despite the fact that Americans and English are very much the same. And the same goes for Canada or Libya where I grew up. This country is disintegrating because we are not willing to claim our uniqueness, our history, or our achievements because of some weak kneed guilt about who we are. We were a great nation, the font of the modern world and its achievements, we are the modern world, without us it wouldn't exist. We can be again if we start acknowledging who we are and telling our detractors, both those enemies within and those without, where to go.

          1. I agree with you Johnathan – as I said last week – I’m English first and British second. Apart from a line of Welsh ones, all my known ancestors in the past five hundred years were English.

            My point was that the European ones can more easily and seamlessly be assimilated than the ones of a different hue.

          2. Your last observation is certainly true. I am not prejudiced, I have lived in far to many places and cultures to be so but someone who is not white automatically means ‘the other’ to me. I’m sure that in Thailand or Ghana I would be perceived by the inhabitants in the same way.

  48. You could argue that Russia has been seriously misled by the West's promises on occasions too!

    1. See my post here which also appears in the BTL comments under the DT Letters.

  49. Bright and v. cold.
    Wordle 1,353 3/6 Not as easy as it looks:

    ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
    ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  50. A small church had a very attractive big-breasted organist, Mary, and her breasts were so large that they bounced and jiggled while she played the organ.
    Unfortunately, she distracted the congregation considerably.
    The very proper church ladies were appalled. They said something had to be done about this or they would have to get another organist.
    So one of the ladies approached Mary very discreetly about the problem, and told her to mash up some special green peppers and rub them on her nipples and over her breasts.
    This should cause them to shrink in size, but warned her not to taste any of the green peppers, because they are so strong they will make your mouth pucker up, and you won’t be able to talk properly for a while.
    The big-breasted organist reluctantly agreed to try it.
    The following Sunday morning the priest walked up to the pulpit and said, “Dew to thircumsthanthis bewond my contwol, we will not hab a thermon tewday”

    2. The Warqueen keeps complaining about hers. I offer as much support as I can but she complained about me following her around all day.

  51. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/03/net-zero-has-made-britain-poorer-warn-city-economists/

    Quote: "Our clean power mission will replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with homegrown clean power controlled in Britain – and create a new generation of good jobs across the country.”

    Clean power – nothing of the sort. 500 tons of concrete, 200 tons of steel, shipping over here on massive diesel container ships, rammed into the sea bed, 1000 litres of oil, unrecyclable windmill blades, a massive amount of rare earth metals in each hideous, avian slaughtering one.

    Nothing unstable about the energy markets if we dug up our own fuels and built nuclear alongside, then we would have a mix of energy generators without reliance on any one type.

    That 'generation' of jobs is practically welfare, as the tax payer is forced to carry the bill for every single one – and they're expensive jobs, too. Estimates put each job at £250,000 per year in subsidy.

    It's also not 'home grown' as the owners of these pointless, inefficient, useless abominations are mostly foreign investment banks.

  52. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/03/net-zero-has-made-britain-poorer-warn-city-economists/

    Quote: "Our clean power mission will replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with homegrown clean power controlled in Britain – and create a new generation of good jobs across the country.”

    Clean power – nothing of the sort. 500 tons of concrete, 200 tons of steel, shipping over here on massive diesel container ships, rammed into the sea bed, 1000 litres of oil, unrecyclable windmill blades, a massive amount of rare earth metals in each hideous, avian slaughtering one.

    Nothing unstable about the energy markets if we dug up our own fuels and built nuclear alongside, then we would have a mix of energy generators without reliance on any one type.

    That 'generation' of jobs is practically welfare, as the tax payer is forced to carry the bill for every ingle one – and they're expensive jobs, too. Estimates put each job at £250,000 per year in subsidy.

    It's also not 'home grown' as the owners of these pointless, inefficient, useless abominations are mostly foreign investment banks.

      1. I reckon we went 20+ years having Muslim players without doing any of this nonsense … Mo Salah alone must have played 300+ games for Chelsea/Liverpool before this ever happened.

    2. "Should we withdraw our offer to Trump of a state visit"

      Is that a royal 'We'?

  55. I remember being in India during Ramadan and visiting local governments. That was the first time I realised that slammers disappeared from work five times a day to pray.

  57. G'day tootle monde,

    Lovely morning at Fiscal's End. Wind North, 3℃, maybe double figures later.

    "We can't even defend Kent!" Vintage Starkey on Starmer and his government, its delusional fantasies and the absurdity of Lammy sitting in Palmerston's chair. Seriously though, it's a good a summary as you'll hear of the predicament of Britain in 2025.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItCYWJBSJX0

    2. At least Palmerston could send a gunboat. We don’t seem capable of sending a pedalo.

  58. G'day tootle monde,

    Lovely morning at Fiscal's End. Wind North, 3℃, maybe double figures later.

    "We can't even defend Kent!" Vintage Starkey on Starmer and his government, its delusional fantasies and the absurdity of Lammy sitting in Palmerston's chair. Seriously though, it's a good a summary as you'll hear of the predicament of Britain in 2025.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItCYWJBSJX0

      2. As Bill says not available but I used the Opera VPN and got there
        That's the one but not the original soundtrack which was far more chilling
        Well Done You!!

    1. Maybe we could start our own website if that is the case. We could call it something like Not The Telegraph Letters, or NoTTLe for short. Lol.

  62. Just finished watching FULL Body Language Analysis of Trump and Zelenskyy's MELTDOWN that was posted here last night. Now I'm exhausted! Time for a lie down. Resume in an hour

    1. Zelensky has already agreed a deal with Starmer about Ukraine's minerals?. This means that he went to USA in bad faith to discuss a deal that could not be struck.

      If this is true then it should be all over the MSM.

      But will it be?

      1. The images we have seen on line of Ukraine's forces physically grabbing young boys aged as young as 14 from the arms of their family to serve in the army is reminiscent of the pressgang crew used in the past in Britain.

        How is Starmer going to recruit the 'boots on the ground' that he claims he will be sending to Zelensky?

      2. The MSM et al. have placed Zelensky on a pedestal. He's their current hero and must remain so for the foreseeable future. If Zelensky falls what then for 'World Statesman' Starmer and the globalist dream for the UK and Europe?

    3. UK Signed up Ukraine's Minerals and green Steel

      Just checking – I went to the website that Lt. Col Tony Schaffer was waving in the clip and indeed it IS a British website here:
      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-ukraine-sign-landmark-100-year-partnership-to-deepen-security-ties-and-strengthen-partnership-for-future-generations
      …but if you scroll down to the fifth non-bulleted paragraph, this bit appears:

      It is expected to bolster military collaboration on maritime security through a new framework to strengthen Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Azov Sea security and deter ongoing Russian aggression, bring together experts to advance scientific and technology partnerships, in areas such as healthcare and disease, agri-tech, space and drones, and build lifelong friendships through classroom projects.

      It also cements the UK as a preferred partner for Ukraine’s energy sector, critical minerals strategy and green steel production.

      So (a) it doesn't sound like Stoma has locked up Ukraine's Minerals etc exclusively for UK and (b) in terms of Space and Drones, this partnership looks to me to be very one-way, and not OUR way. After all the bombing, Ukraine's minerals will probably be lying on or near the surface.

      1. This stupid government sought to close down Port Talbot under the premise that it would have a share in the virgin steel production in Ukraine. They also foolishly thought they would gain access to shipbuilding in Black Sea facilities and ports.

        Fantasy or what!

        1. "The best laid plans gan aft agley" along with "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" comes to mind. And such pompous naïvety.

  64. Nicked,Oof
    "My advice to Donald Trump is to cancel his State visit to the UK.

    He would literally be entering the lions den of demonic WEF aligned swamp creatures and I’m afraid that his security could not be guaranteed.

    I wouldn’t even drink a cup of tea poured by King Charles 3 himself for fear it contained Ricin.

    There is nothing to be gained by coming here unless we can throw off the yoke of globalism and end wokeism. That means getting rid of Starmer, Bad Enoch and the whole civil service.

    No Trump, you stay safe in your nice.Mar A Lago and leave us to descend into the seventh circle of hell where we are doomed to go before enough people wake up and throw off the yoke of tyranny ….its what we deserve to be honest"
    Sad but true

    2. The next thing we know will be when Trump signs a treaty with Putin, forms an alliance and together they decide to wipe out Europe!

      1. Those have been my thoughts today. No doubt they are working on a plan of action together at rhis minute.

    3. The seventh circle is the Hell of the Violent and Bestial. Mohammed is in the ninth ditch of the eighth circle, where those who sow discord and schism are punished, in his case by being perpetually disembowelled.

    4. He should just send a blimp of himself (a la Khan) to drift over Buck House and London.

  66. Younger Ukrainian Army generals are inflicting 'unsustainable losses' on Russian forces Dreary Fail

    Oh dear! The poor Russians are having to advance further and further into The Ukraine to avoid death and destruction from younger Ukrainian Army generals and their superior battle hardened teenage conscripts. It doesn't bode well for the despotic tyrant Putin.

    1. It's a bit sad that the deaths and casualties are now 'losses'. Nice and clinical that. Avoids suggesting some kids has had his leg blown off, or lost a hand or arm or eye.

      2. Tuxman 'If you could name someone for you [expletive] of the year award, who would it go to?
        bin bag hair in brown: 'Kier Starmuh'
        Tuxman: Mumbles
        Tuxman: 'We're going for a break now!'
        bin bag hair in brown 'You would ask these questions'

  68. Geo-politics & brutal war positioning happening in real time on X to the bewilderment of Leftie 6th formers & trolls.

    Mineral deposits already spoken for..
    We'll turn off Starlink then..
    Peace deal back on maybe..
    Farage says Donald Trump is " two or three moves ahead" of Volodymyr Zelensky..

    Note..
    Zero fascinating inputs from twin thickos Foreign Secretary & the ginger gobby Deputy PM.
    Perhaps, swash buckling go-for-it approach trumps 'ealth n safety after all?

    India space programme cost less than stabilisation repairs to Hammersmith Bridge..

  69. The remains of the High Down Test Site, now an AirBnB short term let, are a rare example of a 1950s British rocket test facility, built at a time when the country was amongst a handful of nations at the forefront of rocket and missile technology.

  70. During a lull at a White House dinner, Melania Trump leaned over to chat with Elon Musk…
    "I bought Donald a parrot for his birthday. That bird is so smart, Donald has already taught him to say over two hundred words!"
    “That’s very impressive," said Musk “but you do realize he just speaks the words. He doesn't really understand what they all mean.”
    "Oh, I know", replied Melania, “but neither does the parrot!”

    2. In the days before caller ID, I knew of a parrot that could imitate a ringing telephone, used to annoy his neighbours.

    1. And the pollution continues. Another 250,000 a day spaffed on utter, useless effluent.

  72. "Car hit crowd at a market, say reports in German media
    published at 12:46

    We don't yet have official information about the incident in Mannheim, other than the police warning we just brought you.

    But local outlet Mannheimer Morgen quotes a witness as saying a car "raced" through the city and hit a crowd at a market in the city.

    "You only see the injured and the dead, and you don't know what to do," one man at the market says. Police have not yet given details on whether there have been casualties.

    German outlet Bild says the car was a black SUV. We'll bring you more details as soon as we get them."

    Guess the religion of the driver.

    To follow: Known to authorities; lone wolf; mental issues; couldn't cope with cultural differences…charming neighbour; loved his Nan (yawns and drops off)"

        1. I think we all are. Even one of my apolitical neighbours was going on about the state of the country this morning.

    3. Muslims do seem to have problems controlling cars. Perhaps they should stick to riding camels.

      1. I think it would be better if the camels rode them. A taste of their own medicine.

          5. I’ve probly written this particular verse of the Eton Boating Song here before, but will nevertheless repeat it here now:

            “Oh, the sexual life of the camel
            Is not as everyone thinks
            At the height of the mating season
            It tries to bugger the Sphinx
            But the Sphinx’s anterior orifice
            Is blocked with the sands of the Nile
            Which accounts for the hump on the camel
            And the Sphinx’s inscrutable smile!

      2. As they use knives – Cur Ikea and the Pencil Monitor wish to "ban" pointed knives.

        As they use cars – why not ban cars? Seems pretty straightforward to me.

        1. Ah, but all those arrive in cardboard boxes (except cars, they arrive in metal ones.

          Obviously the problem is cardboard.

        2. They are working on it.
          First ban anything but EVs then start restricting how often the peasants can recharge their vehicles – net zero and all that.

    5. "You only see the injured and the dead, and you don't know what to do," ……
      Tell lies and blame it on Welsh choir boys is the usual tactic.

  74. If Zelensky wants some British boots on the ground, and Starmer is up for it, what about forming a 'Woke Brigade'? Think Children's Crusade.

  75. Afternoon all. Just sitting in the crematorium car park waiting for a chum to see to his wife’s grave. We’ve been to an AGM in Shrewsbury.
    People have been fooled by Labour’s promises before but it hasn’t stopped them falling for it again. Russia is more trustworthy.

  76. Posted three years ago – Could have been yesterday. Putin and Trump are now joint No1 with 'I Stand with Ukraine'.
    https://scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/274864882_10160146985099954_108656197827272785_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=LKxMdclulw8Q7kNvgFk4wUM&_nc_oc=Adj25T_xGCKXLNj2PymW0M8kpoxu0l_XuxffUmzBHwo0rPSBBhTwcsSSJfGGoXIUsrNYBYqqaIodKYcqAnN6mE-P&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&_nc_gid=A8sQ8OcuRsy1-adB7MBi-5L&oh=00_AYDfWKUWHYE4cLVk_dtyKKA_Y4btSioa5COvQX0xbf42tQ&oe=67CB8C7B

    1. Surely, "Applause For Heroes". "Clap for Politicians", now, that's something I could endorse.😎

  77. Please don't let this misogynistic erratic despot drive a SUV sized wedge between our communities..

    'We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don't end up like Europe!'

  78. Please don't let this misogynistic erratic despot drive a SUV sized wedge between our communities..

    'We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don't end up like Europe!'

  82. Thought this was rather cool
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsKJCuCRB0M
    I am your city, O Mother of God, I write to you banners of victory, O leader and advocate, and I offer you my thanks as a savior from adversity, but since you have the glory that does not fight, free me from the ranks of adversity so that I may cry out to you.
    Rejoice, O bride who has no bride
    Return by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

      1. 402502+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W.
        11.26 seconds watch / listen time how very, very precise.

    1. Your old friend Judge Anna-Rose Landes..

      from 2020..
      Killer is allowed to STAY in the UK… because he may harm people in Albania: Schizophrenic escapes deportation after Judge Anna-Rose Landes hears he might struggle to access medication in his home country

      She's never met a migrant killer she didn't like.

      1. I do actually do that. Normally when i have ordered something and they ask supplementary questions. 'Whatever' is the normal response.

  86. "Suspect is a German citizen" – yeah, right. Like the Southport killer was a Welshman.

        1. Yes. I melt down candles and make little dolls and call them Bill and Thomas and stick pins in them.

          2. Not really. I swept the poop deck. Moved some pots. Planted up the propagator with herb seeds. That's enough for one Spring. I shall give the gardener a call. Coincidently he was born in Malta.

  91. One shouldn't underestimate the strategic position that Turkey maintains being outside the EU yet having an impressive role in arming Ukraine with low cost Bayraktar drones for its defence. Turkey recognises the sovereignty of Ukraine and has its own interests in maintaing the integrity of the region with its own reasons for acting as a moderator in working towards a peaceful solution amongst the numerous players in this game:

    https://youtu.be/5cJ4J2zgcLk?si=AbBD8lBynbc9AGsq

      2. I think they are both members of Club Tyrant but Erdogan controls the front door.

  92. One shouldn't underestimate the strategic position that Turkey maintains being outside the EU yet having an impressive role in arming Ukraine with low cost Bayraktar drones for its defence. Turkey recognises the sovereignty of Ukraine and has its own interests in maintaing the integrity of the region with its own reasons for acting as a moderator in working towards a peaceful solution amongst the numerous players in this game:

    https://youtu.be/5cJ4J2zgcLk?si=AbBD8lBynbc9AGsq

  93. Scottish civil servants dodge SNP’s higher income tax by living in England
    Senior staff can save at least £3,300 a year by having their main residence south of the border
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/03/03/scottish-civil-servants-dodge-snp-income-tax-living-england/

    Hundreds of Scottish civil servants are able to dodge the SNP’s higher income tax rates by living outside of Scotland, it has emerged.
    The Scottish Government confirmed that 241 of its employees do not pay its tax rates because their main residence is in England or elsewhere in the UK.
    Those affected include seven senior civil servants in the Government’s highest pay grade, who receive salaries ranging from £100,000 to £185,000. Living in England would reduce their tax bill by at least £3,300.

    Having their cake and eating it?

      1. Oh Spikey! It’s not a blooming parliament! It’s a wee pretendy devolved cooncil!

    1. I did. It said…having or showing a lack of common sense or judgement; absurd and foolish.

      That you is it?

    2. I dared to raise this with a member of the Armed Forces, and he said there was plenty of footage available on youtube. Now I suspect that Careless Video Costs Lives, so the MSM have agreed to self-censor.

    3. We don’t watch or listen to the news if we can avoid it. So hadn’t thought about that. Very interesting point.

  97. On X there is a picture, reputedly from the Mannheim attack, of a woman's leg torn from her body. Describing this tragedy is sufficient, the picture is horrific.

  98. Wordle No. 1,353 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 3 Mar 2025

    A pike for Birdie Three!

    1. Retaining my title of divot king

      Wordle 1,353 4/6

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

    2. Well done, #metoo

      At last my starter word paid off and I guessed correctly on the second option of four……

      Wordle 1,353 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟩
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done. Birdie here as well. Hard not to with my regular starter word.

      Wordle 1,353 3/6

      🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Well done. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,353 4/6

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

  99. Britain paying £180,000 an hour to switch off wind farms
    60pc rise in constraint payments fuels concerns about UK’s creaking power grid
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/03/britain-paying-180000-an-hour-to-switch-off-wind-farms/

    BTL

    We can compress gas and store it in containers so we can have it when we need it. And we can put petrol and diesel fuel in cans and coal and firewood in bunkers.

    Ever since I can remember we have been on the brink of inventing a battery which can store electricity securely, efficiently and for a long period of time but we stay on the brink like a timid child who does not want to jump into the water.

    Is it that we haven't invented proper, economically viable electricity storage yet or are there vested interests stopping us from doing so?

      1. Ha, bring back gasometers….

        I store gas in a 1,000 gallon propane tank that supplies the boiler for the underfloor hydronic systems for the ground floor of the house, plus all the domestic hot water. It also supplies (when needed) the whole house back up generator. Power goes out, then there is the sound of a starter motor followed by generator start up, and the lights come back on again.

    3. …we haven't invented proper, economically viable electricity storage yet

      That's the number one issue. We can store it, but the batteries are expensive. Probably the only viable large scale storage is PSH (pumped storage hydropower). A reservoir/dam feeds generators, and when demand is low, those generators can run the pumps to pump the water back up into the reservoir. Not that efficient, but feasible on a large scale basis using mature technology.

    4. Trudeau tried selling the concept of wind power being used to drive electrolysis of water to generate hydrogen which could then be converted to ammonia and sold to germany.

      it's screwy enough that he might have come up with the idea but I doubt it.

      1. It simply offends me; it is graffiti. The police horses got it right when they refused to cross them.

        1. Oh, it was so lovely when those horses were branded racist (or something-ist) when they took the normal equine view. What idiots some people are

  101. 402502 up ticks,

    Live We must keep Ukraine military aid flowing, Starmer tells MPs – watch live

    Live We must keep Ukraine military aid flowing, Starmer tells MPs, not adding for fear of being accused of pouring salt into an already open wound, the last pensioners, last breath.

          1. They print it out of thin air, what they take in taxes comes nowhere near covering what they squander. But you know that!

    2. What a prize oaf Starmer is. The US has just announced that there will be no more aid to Ukraine.

      The UK is bankrupt and literally on the skids thanks to Starmer’s idiotic policies. The French are stony broke too. Just how long do they suppose the stolen Russian billions in the ECB will last?

      Shades of Eden and the Suez crisis on the horizon should President Trump pull the plug on Starmer. Bye bye Starmer, don’t let the door hit your fat arse on the way out.

  102. Just back from a 1½ mile walk. Very pleasant. Not cold. No breeze. Lovely sunshine. Plus the chance of another good sunset.

    1. These things stick with you, Paul. Around the same time, an Afghan Airlines (I think) aircraft crashed on its approach to Gatwick – just a few miles from where we then lived. Not only was everyone killed but house was destroyed along with its adult occupants. The only survivor was a baby in his cot.

    2. The only occasion I flew in a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 was 45 years ago when I flew in a Series 30 from Manchester (short stop at Prestwick) to Los Angeles. It was Freddie Laker's Skytrain.

      It was simply the most pleasant and comfortable aircraft I have ever flown on.

      1. Many BCAL flights to Nigeria and back. Mid 1970s. Lots of airy space, but in the back of the mind the concern over the design.

    3. Had an American colleague who was scheduled to fly Paris-London on Air France that day. The AF flight was cancelled, so they booked him on the Turkish airlines flight. He refused, on the grounds that he was only prepaed to fly on "proper" European flag carriers. So after much gallic shrugging, they booked him on a later BA flight.

      A couple of us took him out to lunch the next day and got him royally plastered as he could not function thinking about just how near the miss was.

      As an aside, one of the few times I ended up on a DC10, the nose wheel down and locked indicator did not come on as we were about to land in Baltimore. We ended up dumping fuel and then did a low, slow tower flyby, They reported that the nose wheels were down, but it was still an "assume the position landing" onto a foamed runway and a lot of emergency vehicles in position. Took us off the plane out on the runway and then towed it in. Never liked those planes, just too many accidents.

      1. Man… he must have felt the Devil breathing down his shirt collar. That would require some Scotch to settle the nerves!

        1. I flew back from Poitiers in an aircraft that crashed a week later in Stockport. There, but for the grace of God …

          1. Parents, then living in Nigeria, received an airmail letter with charred edges… turns out it had been on the Nigeria Airways VC-10 that crashed at Lagos with full loss of life.
            Yukk.

  104. That's me done for today. And very nice it was, too. Tomorrow we will be at a Study Day on the history of Troy of the UK's leading experts. So will not be around much.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – for a minute or two.

        1. Cousin to Magna Carta – brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John to sign the pledge at Runnymede and closed all the boozers at half past ten.

          1. As Tony Hancock famously said;

            Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain??

  107. I've just watched the News and my blood is boiling.
    What do the cretins of Europe think is going to happen if the USA stops supporting NATO and stops supplying Ukraine.
    The whole bunch of cunts cosying up to the tin-pot Mussolini called Zelensky are only encouraging him to believe he can carry on for ever.
    Europe cannot afford war and welfare; cannot produce the arms and ammunition let alone afford to pay for the arms.
    Why the Hell should European soldiers get involved on the ground to be killed, when so many Ukrainian men have fled, because they aren't prepared to defend their own country.

    To Hell with Zelensky; Trump's right, he really does want his legacy to be WW3 and Starmer and Co are the suckers who will facilitate it.

      1. I was born in South London where the maternity unit was on the flight path of V1s during WWII in 1943.
        There was nothing I could do.
        I did however tell my kids that I had a stash of grenades in my pram for use in an emergency.

    2. Well, I've just watched Dewbs and co. The message is the same. GB News has joined the Glob.

      1. GB news – just a different pathway for a different type to suck in the public for this very moment. All paths lead to the globalist WEF. We always had our suspicions on here that it was no different from the rest. I really feel the same about Reform – just a different path leading to the same destination.

        1. It is really as if one were trapped in a nightmare, or a horror movie, isn’t it? I don’t know what to do. I live in a lovely (relatively remote) place and have a pretty lovely life and people say “just live in the moment and enjoy” , a sentiment with which I sometimes agree. But then I venture abroad into our local towns and cities and I feel an alien in an alien land.

          1. It's the same for me. When I venture into the local town, it's like Mogadishu. Whatever happened to the peaceful rural town I used to visit for the market? Successive governments who hate the indigenous, is the answer.

        2. That's what I told my pal who rang up to ask my advice. As far as I'm concerned Reform is controlled opposition.

  109. Quite interesting how the same old gullible Lefties that fell for all the net zero madness, that fell for the pandemic madness, that fell for all the open borders citizen of the world madness, along with all the woke madness and positive discrimination and gender madness are now full square behind the Zelenski war madness.
    A few days of propaganda on tv and they are hooked
    It wont be long before they are all banging their pots and pans for Zelenski outside their doors on a Thursday.
    The thing about all those agendas is it allows them to unleash all their pent up anger against those that try to talk sense.
    Basically you are all national socialists at heart.
    Not happy unless they are imposing their will for crackpot schemes on those that have common sense.

    1. Lefties are motivated by their contempt – nay, hatred – for mankind outside their carefully selected little circle.

    2. Thank goodness I have ditched my TV. I had a letter from TV licensing this morning that started "Missing the latest TV series?" No, not at all. It went straight in the fire!

    1. Z/Ukraine notable for absence from Trump's announcement this evening, perhaps on Musk's plate, for now at least. (Press call was about Taiwan/AI chips in US.)

  111. Playing Bridge at the Club this afternoon. One said "I see Vance is being heckled in Canada". Another said: "The very thought of Trump then Vance Ugh". I chipped in and said I thought it was a very good prospect and then went on to quote this morning's story of corrupt practices in respect of USAID given to the Congo… surprisingly no one wanted to continue the Discussion…. :-)))

      1. Ding dong bell
        Tommy's placed in Hell
        Who put him in?
        Starmer with a grin?
        Who got him out?
        No-one has the clout….!

      1. I guess it won't be because perhaps it would have to show too many new arrivals?

  115. An absolutely beautiful sunny day, but one where the air temperature refused to warm up to match the sun.
    Got a load of stuff burnt in the oil-drum and did some tidying to the verge by the road.

    I'm now feeling extremely tired and may have a cold coming on. So that's me off to bed.
    Goodnight all.

    1. Take Vit C and D, Bob, plus echinacea to fight it off. I've got nothing done today; the first Monday in the month is manic with meetings.

  116. We have had a lovely afternoon with our 18 month old and beautiful grand daughter. It's been so entertaining to play with her. She is so enthusiastic with everything. Until she stood still stared and said pooh pooh. Fortunately nanny sorted that out. Daddy and five year old brother came to take her home.
    Salmon stirfry two glasses of vino……
    So now i really don't want to get involved with politics and all those useless arse holes involved in ruining our world.
    Back on the morrow.

    Good night all 😴

  117. King opens state rooms at Windsor Castle to Muslims breaking Ramadan fast for first time
    St George’s Hall hosted its inaugural Iftar in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust and Ramadan Tent Project….

    Whatever next? Duchy of Cornwall Prayer Mats?

    1. Why can't the Muslims do their doings in the privacy of their own homes?

      Let's do a pig run through the crowds, next time they pray on the public highway

      1. What? And miss the opportunity to rub the noses of the kuffars in their humiliation? If only.

    1. I hope they are badly affected by the medication; serves them right, thieving bastards.

    1. I saw this, 'mum..yet again Trump surprises. Vance on the case now, good luck to Z dealing with that hardhat.

      1. This is the deal that you are going to agree to, no negotiation, no changes so just sign away your countries resources right now.

        zelensky has lost the war and is being given no self respecting out.
        I hope that he does have those billions tucked away like many say.

  120. Mannheim:

    "He did not appear to have been politically or religiously motivated, but there were reasons to believe he was psychologically unwell, said Mannheim Chief Public Prosecutor Romeo Schluessler."

    Yeah, right.

    2. Plod was unable to draw any conclusions about motive from the weapons, ricin and the Al Queda training manual found in the choirboy's room either. An absolute mystery!

  121. To all those urging the war to continue (not nottlers) here is a reminder of what Wilfred Owen's experience was. (He was killed almost exactly one week before the end of the Great War)

    Dulce et Decorum Est

    Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
    Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
    Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
    And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
    Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
    But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
    Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
    Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

    Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
    Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
    But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
    And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime

    Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
    As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

    In all my dreams before my helpless sight
    He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

    If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
    Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
    And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
    His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
    If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
    Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
    Obscene as cancer,
    Bitter as the cud
    Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
    My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for some desperate glory,
    The old Lie:     Dulce et decorum est
    Pro patria mori.

    I shall post this again tomorrow.

  122. Evening dear people

    I had to do various things today , including a visit to Dorchester , it has been a lovely sunny spring day , a little bit of warmth in the sky .

    My 1phone 6 has been playing up, not keeping its charge , and losing power within half an hour , so visited a phone shop ..

    What an interesting after noon , a very pleasant well educated chap from Lahore dealt with the problem , the shop became busy very quickly , and I suggested he should rest and drink tea or whatever when the shop became empty .. he told me he was fasting ..I forgot completely it was Ramadan .. one is not even allowed to drink until dusk .. He had been doing so much talking to customers including me .. he said he was on day 3 .. I could see his lips were dry and he looked dehydrated .

    His English was beautiful, received English , no accent , and he told me he had been in the UK for a short while .. he had a degree in electrical engineering , a power specialist , cables and power stations , and other energy sources , but he isn't allowed to practise his profession here in the UK for 5 years .. that is the law , how stupid is that .

    He flew into the UK and attended English classes to help with his intended work and through friends got easy work , but feels his degree and experience are wasted and is looking forward to working for large companies .. and getting properly paid . He told me that £250 in Lahore buys you so much , but here despite earning good money , taxes and the cost of living are very soul destroying , and don't we all feel like that as well.

    I asked him about his family in Lahore , his brothers and sisters were qualified teachers , and one of them has a maths degree and teaches as well.

    People like that are educated and modern and put something back into society , I liked what he told me . He is here to earn money and send it back home to Lahore , just like any expat would do working overseas , here .

    Whilst I was in the store , a white woman , my age , with rasta dreadlocks , very Greenham common looking came in with her Gambian toy boy , she said she had broken the charging lead to her phone on the plane back from the Gambia , ( that's how I guessed ) and trilled on about her holiday , as her young boyfriend gurned and rolled his eyes.

    Is it because we have deindustrialised Britain that bright clever capable young men cannot get a proper job , and dare I raise an argument, that these people who have an education at a higher level are confined to car washes/barbers/ fast food / and phoneshops?

    1. Just remember that those earning here who send money abroad are not contributing to the country.

    2. Plenty of doctors in Canada who cannot practice because their qualifications are not recognized

      Not just foreign professionals, provinces do not recognize qualifications from other provinces. If you are a skilled master electrician in Ottawa , you cannot just cross the bridge into Hull and work as an electrician there.

    3. Our current (and recent) crop of politicians don't want well educated immigrants coming here. For whatever reason it is , they want the scum of the earth illegal immigrants to drag us down to Palaeolithic levels again.

    4. Belle, in his case there is a good reason for that five year rule. Power stations are critical infrastructure – it is very likely that the next war will include attacks on electricity generation and distribution (though Milliband is doing a good job of that already).
      Security is very tight in the power industry, it does not surprise me that a foreigner needs at least five years residency to get a job there.

      Britain would effectively have surrendered if the electricity supply was put out across the country for more than a day or two. This is not just theoretical – there has already been found malware on teh computers of many power stations across Europe – not activated, but just sitting there doing nothing. Was found in 2015, iirc. It is unknown how much more there is now, though security is tight at generators, networks and supplying companies.

  123. Oh well, Trump is going ahead with his twenty percent tariffs starting tomorrow, some premiers are threatening retaliatory tariffs and so it will go on.

    Just big egos throwing their toys out of the pram and not bothering who gets hurt.

    not impressed.

    1. The main difference between the men and the boys
      Is the size of their egos and their silly toys.

      1. The American auto industry is expected to shut down within a week of auto specific tariffs being applied. Those US owned car companies will be laying off a lot of people.

        They are now threatening to cut electricity / oil exports over the border. It is winter up north, you all worried about seniors in the UK losing their fuel allowance, this could be much worse.

        1. We have had ample warning since covid that not everything would be as plentiful in the near future as it has been for the last 70 years or so.
          We should hope that it won't get too bad, but prepare for the case that it might.

  124. Well, chums, my bedtime approaches so I am off up the stairs to Bedfordshire. Good Night to you all, sleep well, and I shall see you all tomorrow.

    1. Charlie would be quite happy for the muzzies to take over; he isn't defender of THE faith, after all. I always used to be a royalist. I am finding it difficult to remain so.

      2. I could stand one bad monarch, but William is shaping up to be even worse – he doesn't even pretend to be Christian.

    2. So will they be hosting an Easter Sunday dinner for Christians breaking the Lenten fast? I'm not holding my breath.

  127. Good morning fellow insomniacs.
    I've a bit of a cold that is stopping me from sleeping, I've been downstairs for a while.
    Will be heading back up to bed soon.

    And why have I suddenly been beset by adverts?
    It appears Google Chrome has been modified to block ad-blockers!
    Bloody arseholes.

    Still, £125 off ERNIE this morning. Sadly nothing for the DT.

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