Monday 31 October: Unfair Oxbridge admissions will force bright British students abroad

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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685 thoughts on “Monday 31 October: Unfair Oxbridge admissions will force bright British students abroad”

    2. Well that was a short-lived rebellion, wasn’t it…

      I suspect that more power lies with Sunak than perhaps he realises. After all, they can’t stage another coup, can they?

    3. 366878+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      The peoples had the opportunity for change but still had trust in the old party ( long defunct ) names,comforting stupidity seriously injures & claims lives.

  5. Good morning all. A cloudy but mild & dry 8°C start today.

    So. Brixton is getting Gentrified and the locals are not happy about it!

    ‘Not welcome in my own neighbourhood’: How gentrification is segregating Brixton

    Jeff, who has run a jerk chicken van on Brixton Station Road for 17 years, said: ‘If you go to some places in Brixton nowadays, you will not see any black people. It never used to be like that.’

    https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/30/not-welcome-in-my-own-area-how-gentrification-is-segregating-brixton-17587009/

    1. How shocking, you don’t see any black people in an area of Britain! Something is clearly very wrong.

      1. They have all moved to exclusive gated communities with the fortunes they are making from TV ads!

        ‘Morning, bb2.

    2. ‘If you go to some places in Brixton nowadays, you will not see any black people. It never used to be like that.’

      lol lol lol

    3. I’m waiting to hear the ethnicity of the gunman /woman and the two people who were shot dead there yesterday……

  8. Good morning.
    Re the headline, bright British student have been going abroad ever since fees were introduced. Increasingly, they’re not going to university at all.

    This has the unfortunate effect that the degrees will tend in the future towards being held by those people who believe in the system, were too thick to avoid 50K of debt and ticked all the minority boxes to get offered a place at increasingly tarnished “good” universities.

    And from where does the massive, bloated public sector recruit the next generation of communists and wreckers to dictate to us? Universities of course!

    1. When I left UEA my girlfriend at the time was at the London School of Economics which had the reputation of being a hotbed of left wing fanaticism – but, believe or not, the political club at the university with the largest student membership was the Conservatives!

      1. Was it true, Richard, that in the LSE toilets, above the toilet roll holders, there was a notice saying, “Sociology Degrees. Please tear off.”?

    3. I washed lots of pots in the kitchen and have spent an hour planting Spring bulbs in ceramic pots to brighten my life when they bloom. (Irises, Crocuses, Daffodils, and another large single blue bulb who name escapes me.) Also I have filled four small soup bowls with BoB’s apple crumble. And have also had an early “elevenses” of buttered Hot Cross Bun and a cafetière of decaffeinated coffee grounds.

  10. Bloodbath in Brixton as two men are killed in drive-by shooting: Cops launch hunt for ‘gunmen’. 31 October 2022.

    Two men have been killed in a drive-by shooting, as police officers launch a hunt after ‘at least 12 shots’ were fired between ‘pair on a moped and people in a car’ in Lambeth, south London, on Sunday evening.

    Turf War. Probably Albanians.This is what Westminster and its Woke Policies have brought us too. It will get much worse.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11371585/Halloween-horror-two-men-shot-dead-Lawless-London.html

    1. Ah. That sheds some light on the post below about the Brixton man complaining about there being no black people left in parts of Brixton.
      Sounds nasty.

    2. If the culprits are Albanians, there will be no arrests. Partly because the police are frightened, and maybe also the police are being paid not to interfere.

    3. Morning, all. Bright and calm but everything remains saturated in N Essex this morning.

      Societal decay followed by disintegration; all going to plan. What other reason can there be for the lunacy of opening our borders and literally giving what’s left in our coffers to illegal ingrates who will take everything and offer nothing constructive in return?

      1. I totally agree, Korky. Incidentally, can you make use of some Bicarbonate of Soda, which I purchased in error when what I really wanted was Baking Powder?

        1. I can, as a cleaner it’s excellent mixed with white vinegar and then spread on the inside of the oven and left overnight.

  11. Good morning this All Hallows Eve. Remember that we are all dust eventually. Yet what we do does matter. The Norwegian bloke who was on the video posted yesterday said much the same. We need to stand in the way of what is wrong. Heaven help us, it’s a huge and dangerous task.

    2. 366878+ up ticks,

      Morning HP,

      What we are suffering currently was with a condoning
      electoral majority over the last 40 years, and can be undone the same way even though innocent blood has to be spilt, that is the nature of the state of play at this moment in time.

    3. I don’t think we’re getting much help from Heaven, Horace. A real help, would be a thunderbolt descending upon, and utterly destroying, Westminster. Then we might start again.

  12. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A miserly 15°C forecast here today, with changeable weather.  And a very windy night and early hours tomorrow.

    SIR – Britain has one of the lowest state pensions in the developed world and the Conservative Government seems intent on devaluing it yet further.

    If it reneges on its manifesto promise to maintain the triple lock, it will ensure its own demise at the next general election. Retired people form the largest percentage of those who consistently turn out at the polls, and Conservative electoral success depends on this “grey vote”.

    Rather than being the saviour of the party, by alienating core voters Rishi Sunak may well be its executioner, because lifelong Conservative voters will abandon the party in droves, and many will probably never return.

    Malcolm Halliwell
    Buckingham

    If Richly Suntanned is so keen on keeping manifesto promises then having effectively reinstated the fracking ban he will also be obliged to reinstate the pensions triple lock – or will he just pick and choose?

    1. …will he just pick and choose?

      He will do as planned. It’s going to be an education watching those Tories that appointed him performing their contortions as they attempt to explain away the policies. This appointment may be the catalyst that tears the Tories apart. Very difficult time ahead, I fear.

  13. Russia has declared hybrid war on Britain. 31 October 2022.

    Putin will undermine our national infrastructure by any means possible, but Whitehall is still in denial.

    The reported hacking of Liz Truss’s mobile phone over the summer, suspected to have been conducted by people working on behalf of the Kremlin, should raise alarm bells across Whitehall. Britain is under fierce attack in this new era of hybrid warfare. While we may not be exchanging fire on the battlefield, our critical national infrastructure will be severely undermined and potentially destroyed if we fail to get a grip.

    This is just a piece of infantile propaganda. Judging by the nit picking detail and grasping at straws it is probably by an Mi5 Ghost Writer and published under Kemp’s name. As to the Hybrid War; well we are helping to wage a proxy one against Russia. The real mystery is why Vlad hasn’t struck back more directly.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/30/russia-has-declared-hybrid-war-britain/

    1. 355878+ up ticks,

      AS ,
      Considering the current state of play regarding these Isles currently could his intentions not prove be to our advantage ?

      Putin will undermine our national infrastructure by any means possible, but Whitehall is still in denial.

    2. Our infrastructure is already undermined by incompetent government, no need for any help from Vlad. Destruction of our coal power plants for starters.

  15. Good morning all

    Another early golf start .. very mild morning so far 15c, slight breeze .. a few leaves fluttering down , and the grass looks so green and nourished .

  16. A heartfelt BTL post:

    Helen Andrews
    1 HR AGO
    Never have I woken up so fed up.
    We’re living in a country where the police have to be told to ‘protect people and property’, GPs’ receptionists are doing their work for them, education is about being told what to think not how to think, and the government doesn’t protect us and our country, it actually rewards those who have illegally broken our borders – and that’s just a few of the things bringing us down.
    All whilst those of us who do pay anything at all are being squeezed for every single penny to keep this utter madness going.
    What on earth is happening and what can we, as individuals, do to stop this? We have to do something because those ‘governing’ us have a very different agenda.

    * * *

    I share her worry and frustration. We are a country in terminal decline with no means of changing course. To me the damage already inflicted is irreversible.

    1. And if Martin Selves feels the same then we really are done for:

      Martin Selves
      1 HR AGO
      Helen. Your letter is very perceptive. The situation has become much worse under the Conservative time in power, and it is towards them we must vent our anger. And I am no Labour supporter. They are to blame. and “we” have watched the problems you list grow bigger for the last 10 years or more, and “they” have not done enough or anything to correct it. The opportunity that Brexit should have given us is slowly but surely being lost. The opportunity of fracking has been lost in a nano second by Sunak. Our Borders do not exist today, and they have no protection. Our NHS is unable to perform its Duty.
      If the Party in Power cannot see all these Elephants standing on their foot, then our Country will simply fall further into the pit of its own making. And sadly it will because this Tory Party is an example of WOKE and maladministration, frozen in the headlights and unable to act. This is everywhere. They are simply unable to make the right decisions, or indeed any decision, for example in NI and the ECHR. I am at a loss to explain it.

      1. The explanation is simple: most of those in power are in thrall to the ideology. All deliberate.

      2. The latest podcast episode of “So what you’re saying is” with Peter Whittle had a very well-spoken Romanian girl who basically said, the UK police don’t care about you because you are not their target client base. I suspect that is the same with the politicians. But what they will do when we all decide it’s not worth working full time and paying tax (rather work 10-20 hours and claim benefits) I don’t know.

    2. Helen Andrews, welcome to the end of a long economic cycle. Search for a Lynette Zang video for some practical guidance on what to do next. Her business is selling gold, but watching her videos is like being lectured on survival by your primary school teacher. Food, water, community, security, metals….

    3. That’s why Helen and thousands of younger adults need to converge on Westminster. Ignore the guards do not use any violence and force there way in to confront these ignorant idiots who are destroying the future of their lives and their communities, their country and the future of their children.
      Get on with it.

      1. Mobilise all the illegal immigrants, I’m sure they would all be delighted to tear down the British parliament.

  17. Yesterday evening the Brasilian presidential election was in full swing. The BBC were interviewing a youngish man about the state of play. The figures were that 51.5% of votes so far were for Bolsonaro and 48.5 for% Lula. The youngish man, a representative of the Open Society, was pretty sure that Lula would win. A spot on prediction by Soros’ man in Brasil. Bolsonaro has expressed some concern about the reliability of the electronic voting system.

    1. “Bolsonaro has expressed some concern about the reliability of the electronic voting system.”

      That seems to be the automatic claim of most losing parties these days!

        1. Bad enough, Horace, with the corrupt Muslim Postal Voting. That Mr Rashid needs finding, quickly.

  18. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e74889b4b275718d5f8070da2a241f6a52aae6180bdf902548ccb859b9b6efbc.png
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzNDM2ekSio
    On holiday in York a few years back, people (complete strangers) standing at bus stops would automatically engage me in friendly conversation. On a walk down in Kent, each time I greeted a local with a friendly “good morning”, they would look the other away in abject terror and hurry away from me! Even neighbours doing the gardening, when I moved to Norfolk, would turn away as to avoid eye contact as I passed on the street. What I would like to know is this: is this learned behaviour or is it simply ingrained.

    2. Gerard Hoffnung, advice to foreign visitors “On entering a railway compartment make sure to shake hands with all other passengers.”

    3. Morning Grizz,

      I bimble along quite happily usually with a smile on my face , Moh ALWAYS comments on the amount of people who smile back and say hello to me , ….where ever we go , even on a remote dog walk .. Who zat who zat who zat..

      How on earth do I answer him apart from saying dunno ?

      I often wonder whether people mistake me for someone else … do we all have a doppleganger ?

      1. They are probably surprised to see a Marilyn Monroe lookalike out for a walk with her grand dad.

      4. Yes, dog walking is always a bit of a Chatathon.
        It’s also good for Spartie to brush up on his social skills.

        1. Having a fox terrier seems to cause people to want to chat; What breed is he? Is he a Bedlington? I had one of those as a child. I had a toy like him on wheels when I was a child. I wanted a fox terrier. Or, this morning, “you’ve got my dog!” (from the owner of a bitch fox terrier) 🙂

    4. When taking our dog for walks other dog walker’s/owners, Always say hello or Hi. And quite often stand blocking the footpaths and have short conversations. But let’s be honest the closer we get to London the less we’ll have in common with locals.

    5. We get ‘refugees’ from cities moving to the village and it can take some of them a long time to get used to being smiled at and “Lovely morning, eh.”

      1. We have similar problems, the recent newcomers first priority is to build a loft conversion or massive extensions. Seemingly to try and make some sort of point. But the only obvious point they are making is, why did they buy the house if it was so obvious that it wasn’t large enough to accommodate them.
        And of course the electric plug-ins on the drive ways. After the front gardens have been destroyed to fit their huge 4×4 electrics.

    6. You should know, George, an incomer in Norfolk, must wait for forty years before they gain acceptance. This I know, being a Norfolk Dumpling.

      1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa24a12533c32bc7423da2040d18165259d1d7248f5cfd3410a2feccbe7ec01c.png A wonderful butcher’s shop on Plumstead Road, in Norwich, Tom (Archer’s), has been run by a good ol’ boy for decades. When I first moved to Norfolk I visited to buy a hot sausage sandwich. The old boy said to me, “You not be frum around here, boy?” I told him that I’d just moved to the county and had bought a house. “He scratched his chin, smiled at me, and said (with a wink), “Ah, you be an outsider. Oi reckon that when you been here for another 25 years, you become one of us!” His sausage sandwich was delicious.

  19. Good morning, all. Sort of grey start. Leaf sweeping this morning.

    I wonder if the chap at Dover will become the Jan Palach of England – the first to kill himself because of impending disaster.

        1. Police have so far failed to connect him to any right-wing group. So it would appear that they have been and are trying still, to do so.

          3. Wasn’t the mentally deranged chap who killed the saintly Jo Cox MP an unaffiliated right wing extremist lunatic who killed the saintly Jo Cox MP. The waters became rather muddled when It transpired that her husband, Brendan, was very far from saintly and had had been sacked from his job for sexually molesting women in the office.

          6. I believe Jo Cox and Thomas Mair were both victims of “Don’t Care In The Community”.

            I would also like to know why evidence of Mair’s mental instability were deemed inadmissible by the judge.

      3. Of course anybody who does not want Britain overrun by an alien culture must be unhinged!

        I wonder if the next person to do something like this will manage to take a few down with him or her?

  21. Morning all 🙂
    Bright and crisp, as opposed to quint and crisp.
    Rain later, as we had yesterday, that’s probably because I had sprayed moss killer on our rear extension roof and weed killer on our lawn.
    Someone up ^ there’s been watching.

    2. Saw it and commented, yesterday but yes, it needs national coverage. Rage being the operative word in the end of the 1st sentence.

        2. There’s an MG Facebook page. I’m always trying to find my old car. It’s still registered.
          The guy I bought it from in Chelsea, 1972 now lives 10 minutes walk from our house.
          Neither of us realised that we knew each other. But nearly 40 years on, due to a recommendation from another chap in our village, who owned a white MGC. I was asked to build an extension on his cottage.
          We sat talking over a cuppa and HD told me he once owned a BGT. And suddenly it clicked. I wrote YYT 6H on a piece of paper. And showed it to him. He nearly passed out. We’ve been friends ever since.

        1. I’ve got a photo somewhere. Mine was bronze yellow with a sunroof.
          The guy I mentioned below rushed in to his house and came back with an album with several photos.
          Some with young ladies sitting on the bonnet.

          2. I must search through my old photos which are in a chaotic mess and are prints which need to be photocopied rather than the easily postable photos we have today.

            This is a stock photo of the 1958 MGA 1500 I had but it is exactly the model and colour (Old English White) I had in the 1960s when I was a student. I took her and the girlfriend of the time down to Southern Spain on a camping holiday one summer and the car performed faultlessly. A year or two later the car’s big ends went and I had to rebuilt the engine and a local engineering company re-bored the engine block for me from 1489 cc to 1598 cc making the car in effect an MGA 1600.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10407819ac9e63b4ede30a31cf5aab3f1f4ecc8363c4da7941d3d6a28e2879b4.jpg

          3. I’ve seen that before Richard, it the same model as the guy in our village had. Sadly he died late last year. I have no idea what happened to his proud and immaculate possession.

      2. I had a 1967 MGB GT dark British Racing Green. It was a money pit, but fun when it was actually on the road!

        1. I had to sell mine not long after we had our first mortgage to pay.
          Around 1975 when petrol prices went through the roof.

      1. Blimey that’s the one – the lady from the north of England was my late sister, she brought it back to England from Jersey where she was nursing, she sold it to me which wasn’t mentioned. She certainly didn’t keep it 46 years. I will contact them to correct their details

        1. Perhaps your sister had the car for four to six years, which was misunderstood as 46 years!
          Isn’t it wonderful to see that the vehicle has been well maintained, and also that the search took just a few seconds on the web.
          Also a little scary that your first car will probably outlast many of us Nottlers.

    2. Good morning ,

      That is a lovely photo , amazing how accommodating old tree branches can be .

      Please be careful of boggy areas, and … dare I mention quicksand .

      Years ago bods had to be extracted by RN helicopter !

        1. There was a strange event at Blundell’s in which I took part one year which was ‘The Pilgrimage’.

          About 30 of us were taken in a bus from Tiverton dumped in the middle of Dartmoor at about 9 o’clock p.m. in the evening and had to walk about 25 miles down to a church in Plymouth (where the Chaplain had a friend who was the vicar) for Holy Communion at about 6.30 am. We all made it – nobody got lost and apart from blisters on our feet no-one required the services of the Dartmoor Rescue Services – if such services existed at the time. We kept ourselves cheerful by inventing rumours of escaped murderers on the loose as we went past HM Prison at Princetown.

          1. HM Prison at Princetown is now a superb brewery. Their wonderful “Jail Ale” is one of the most delicious best bitters in England.

          2. When I was in Boy Service in 1960 we had a three-day hike across Dartmoor as part of The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. Plenty of stories but they’re all in the autobiography.

      1. It’s probably on their agenda. We have to vote them out of authority before they ban that ‘privilege’.

      2. They already have a rainbow pedestrian crossing.
        I always cross somewhere else, because I do not want to disrespect the rainbow flag by wiping my feet on it.

        1. I imagine that must be illegal – because there are very clear regulations about the size, shape, design and colour of pedestrian crossings.

          1. I detest using street furniture to make a political point. Those gay figures on pedestrian lights are simply appalling. It’s for safety, not advancing people’s favourite politics!

    2. Going the same way as Canterbury, by the sound of it. Once a town or City declares a ‘climate emergency’ it has carte blanche to introduce as may restrictions as they can think of.

      1. The lack of energy emergency is considerably more of an emergency than the climate emergency.

      2. I will never go for a day out shopping in Oxford again while these restrictions are in place!

        1. We used to visit Brighton, but after the greeniacs declared war on drivers we haven’t been back. The same has happened to Oxford, and is about to happen in Canterbury. The moronic councillors in these places simply don’t give a damn about the prosperity of their businesses, preferring to declare their ridiculous ‘climate emergency’ and then impose draconian restrictions on those who live and work there. It’s quite pathetic.

          1. Oxford has got about 40 000 students who have a vote in the city, but don’t pay taxes or own cars. Recipe for dictatorship.

  27. Cost-of-living crisis could erode public support for sanctions against Russia. 31 October 2022.

    The poll comes ahead of a special programme on Sky News in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum Institute looking at the war in Ukraine on Tuesday evening at 7.30pm.

    Yet more propaganda. The PTB must be getting concerned about the lack of enthusiasm for this war in which we have no stake!

    https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-cost-of-living-crisis-could-erode-public-support-for-sanctions-against-russia-12732733

  28. ‘Never seen before’ 500-year-old Elizabethan textiles turn up on Antiques Roadshow

    BBC presenters ‘bowled over’ by extremely rare ivory silk satin sleeve and sleeve support

    By Telegraph Reporters
    30 October 2022 • 8:00pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/10/30/TELEMMGLPICT000314508315_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqyuLFFzXshuGqnr8zPdDWXhbQKbwj1ZsnNMhuR7O6ySI.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Antiques Roadshow’s Hilary Kay (right) with the collection of Elizabethan textiles dating back 500 years at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham

    Antiques Roadshow’s Hilary Kay was bowled over when a never-before-seen collection of Elizabethan textiles dating back 500 years appeared on her table during filming at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.

    The discovery, which included a bedspread and two pillow cases sewn by Queen Elizabeth I and her ladies-in-waiting, was led by an “extremely rare” ivory silk satin sleeve and sleeve support.

    The items belonged to the Wollaton Willoughby family, who built Wollaton Hall in 1588. Until their discovery, no examples of sleeve supports were known to exist.
    *
    *
    ******************************************************************
    Top Comment

    Exit Strategy
    11 HRS AGO
    Quick! Get the national trust to declare it racist!!

        2. Fox’s Glacier Fruits were jolly good also.

          (And more diverse coming in several different colours)

        3. Fox’s Glacier Fruits were jolly good also.

          (And more diverse coming in several different colours)

  29. 366878+ up ticks,

    Always,always look behind the political bastards innocent sounding intention’s,

    Migrants set to share hotels with public as Channel crisis worsens
    Suella Braverman is considering plans to relieve ‘catastrophic overcrowding’ at the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent

    This could very well be seen as a political overseers “comfort battalion” to service a semi covert standing army.

      1. 366878+ up ticks,

        Afternoon A,
        The other half of the morally illegal immigrants. aided by the current lab/lib/con supporter / voters.

  30. Michael Gove stands by Tory plan to build 300,000 new homes a year
    Government needs to build the ‘right homes in the right places’, the new Levelling Up Secretary insists on BBC’s Sunday show

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/30/conservatives-manifesto-target-300000-new-homes-year-still-stands/

    https://twitter.com/LittleBoats2020/status/1586979308811190273

    https://twitter.com/True_Belle/status/1587011339163242497

    Three meaty links for you to enjoy at your leisure, all relevant to the idiots in government .

          4. I bet the PTB would demand that you removed the animal so as “not to upset the neighbours”…..

          9. You can be prosecuted for causing a nuisance if your dog barks persistently, fined (a grand, I think) and your dog taken away from you.

        2. Gosh the technicalities of fertilisation must be challenging.
          My sons have mentioned a method of locating the relevant area.

        3. Not a million miles from whereI live. I was brought up is a similar-sized house in Birmingham, along with my parents, grandmother, 2 older brothers and all my nine sisters. The girls’ room had four sets of bunks and a single.

          I feel a Monty Python moment coming on…

    3. Those houses had better be good big ‘uns

      Family of eight forced to move out of their home are living in TWO houses separated by a dual carriageway after council failed to find property big enough to squeeze them all in
      Birmingham City Council could not find a home big enough for the family
      Mother Rebecca Fenner lives in a one-bed home with four children on the A45
      Father Yassin Amrani is on the other side of the road with their eldest daughters

      https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/10/30/20/64005745-11371209-image-a-5_1667162453471.jpg
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11371209/Family-eight-forced-home-living-TWO-houses.html

      1. Erm,….. I really do think perhaps they should ‘go back home’. As what ever they have been given for free doesn’t seem suitable for their needs.

      3. They must be on bennies – surely no one who is paying their own way would breed that number of times? If every family consisted of ten humans what little space is left will soon vanish.

        1. It would certainly be interesting to know what the monetary value of everything they receive from the UK taxpayers amounts to.

          10’s of thousands a year I would expect.

          1. Probably more than i bring home net of tax – without a doubt.

            Still, maybe they are the smart ones. Maybe we are the stupid ones. I certainly feel like a mug.

    5. They do not simply need two homes. They will need seven, for when the children become adults.

  32. PayPal amendment to the Financial Services Bill needs your support

    As many of you will know, last month PayPal closed the account of the FSU with no notice and no real explanation. Because about a third of our members pay their recurring membership dues via PayPal, that placed a huge question mark over the future of the organisation. We kicked up an almighty fuss and about two weeks later a bloody and bruised PayPal raised the white flag and restored our account.

    That’s great, obviously, but there are plenty of other individuals and groups whose accounts have been closed by the company for what appear to be purely political reasons and we need to put a stop to this kind of censorship if we can.

    Encouragingly, the Telegraph reported last month that Conservative backbenchers were “considering launching an amendment” to a Parliamentary bill that would effectively ban companies like PayPal from deplatforming customers because it doesn’t like their politics. Suitably buoyed by this news, the FSU has been lobbying the Government to develop a legislative mechanism capable of stopping Big Tech companies censoring people for expressing legal but dissenting views (or, as in the case of the FSU, for defending those who express legal but dissenting views).

    An amendment has now been brought to the Financial Services and Markets Bill after 42 peers and MPs wrote to Andrew Griffith, the minister responsible for this Bill, to express their concern about PayPal Europe’s decision to close without notice or explanation the accounts of several advocacy, campaigning and journalistic groups in the UK, including the FSU, UsForThem and The Daily Sceptic.

    New Clause 15 has been tabled by Sally-Ann Hart MP and will make it illegal for payment services providers to refuse service to customers in the UK because they have said something, or supported a cause, which the provider disapproves of, even though it’s perfectly legal.

    This is the amendment we need to stop the emergence of a Chinese-style social credit system in the UK. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At present, New Clause 15 has been tabled but not yet accepted. To ensure that Sally-Ann Hart’s proposal is adopted by the Government, we need to keep up the pressure on legislators, mobilising the extraordinary public opposition to PayPal’s recent behaviour.

    So please use the FSU’s campaigning tool to write to your MP and urge to tell their whip that they support New Clause 15 of the Financial Services and Markets Bill.

    The link to the tool is here and it only take a couple of minutes to fill out the form and send an email to your MP. The more people that click the link and get involved, the more likely we are to check the creeping trend of Big Tech platforms financially censoring people who express dissenting views before it starts to become institutionally normalised.

    If you’re not a member yet, please sign up and join the fight against these censorious financial services companies.

    If you’re already a member, please make a donation so we can devote the time and resources we need to win this battle. This the new front in the ongoing war against free speech and if we lose this one then free speech as we know will effectively be dead.

    Neil Oliver

    On 9th November I’ll be joined in conversation by historian, author and television presenter Neil Oliver. After a successful career as a TV historian, Neil has become one of GB News’s most popular presenters, with social media clips of his monologues often clocking up several million views. He was an outspoken critic of the UK’s lockdown policy and has subsequently raised questions about the efficacy and safety of the mRNA Covid vaccines. I’m looking forward to hearing Neil’s thoughts on his transformation from pillar of the Establishment to anti-Establishment rebel. Our online events are exclusive to FSU members. Members can find the link to register and receive the Zoom link in last Friday’s weekly Round-Up or in the regular emails from FSU Events. If you’re not receiving those, please email Events@freespeechunion.org.

    FSU helps secure apology and £10,000 damages for Christian Activist Hatun Tash

    The Met Police has paid £10,000 in damages and apologised to the evangelical Christian activist and FSU member Hatun Tash, who was wrongly arrested at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, of all places. A letter from Inspector Andy O’Donnell, from the Met’s professional standards directorate, apologised to her “for the distress that you have suffered”. He said he was “satisfied that on these occasions the level of service did fall below the requisite standard”.

    Although welcome, Inspector O’Donnell’s apology is long overdue. Over the past few years, Hatun has had to endure some truly appalling treatment at the hands of the police.

    The FSU first wrote to the Met on Hatun’s behalf in 2021 after she was slashed in the face with a knife at Speakers’ Corner. (You can read that letter here). We urged the then Met Commissioner, Cressida Dick CBE, to do more to protect Ms Tash.

    The second time we wrote to the Met was after I’d visited Speakers’ Corner in June of this year in my capacity as General Secretary of the Free Speech Union to celebrate its 150th anniversary, only to discover that she had been arrested her in the same spot the previous day. (I wrote about that episode for the Spectator.)

    In a scandalous miscarriage of justice, Hatun was arrested and dragged away from the scene after being robbed — yes, you read that correctly — and taken into police custody for 24 hours where she was needlessly strip searched, interviewed, kept overnight in a cell, and then released without charge. She was later told by the police that the reason she’d been arrested was because she was wearing an ‘offensive’ t-shirt — it reproduced one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

    We wrote to the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Stephen House, asking him to justify this appalling treatment and, if he could not, to apologise to Hatun. (You can read that letter here). I’m delighted that the Met has, belatedly, done the right thing and that Ms Tash has now received an apology.

    Thanks to the efforts of the Christian Legal Centre, who helped her bring a legal case against the Met, Hatun has also now been paid £10,000 in damages (which she has given to Christian Concern).

    Joseph Kelly fundraiser – help stop the creep of blasphemy laws by another name in the UK

    One of our most high-profile current cases is a good test of anyone’s free speech credentials. In fact, it’s probably best if you read this one with Lord Justice Sedley’s statement that free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the “heretical, unwelcome and provocative” fresh in your mind.

    Joe Kelly was convicted and sentenced in Scotland for contravening the Communications Act 2003, section 127(1)(b), which makes it a criminal offence to make an electronic post which is “grossly offensive”. Mr Kelly was at home on 3 February, 2021, when he tweeted “the only good Brit soldier is a deed [i.e., dead] one, burn auld fella buuuuurn” in response to the news that Captain Tom, the 99-year-old former British Army officer who raised money for charity during the first Covid-19 lockdown, had died. The tweet was only visible to his handful of followers for 20 minutes before he began to receive threats directed against him and his family and deleted it. It wasn’t fast enough, however: someone had already reported Joe to the police for his tweet. So began a long legal process (Spiked have the full story and context).

    The Scottish authorities decided to prosecute Joe, and despite his counsel’s best attempts to defend his right to free speech he was convicted and sentenced to a community payback order. Having had his appeal denied by the Scottish Courts and having been labelled an “example case” to deter others from “pressing the blue button”, i.e., posting offensive content on Twitter, Joe is now trying to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

    Yes, Kelly’s tweet was offensive. But so what? The right to offend is a crucial element of free speech, and it shouldn’t be the business of the police or the courts to protect people from hurty feelings.

    The strength of free speech, the foundation of liberal democratic societies, is measured exactly by how tolerant we are of speech that we find reprehensible and offensive. Now more than ever, we should resist the urge of the state to criminalise expressions of dissent which relate to society’s ‘sacred cows’ — we cannot allow the development of blasphemy laws by another name.

    That’s why this particular case is about much more than Joe Kelly’s own fight for justice. It’s about ensuring this punishment beating administered to deter others from speaking their minds does not achieve its aim.

    Any donations made to Joe’s crowdfunder are to fund the legal expenses associated with preparation of an application to the European Court of Human Rights. We believe it’s a case that’s worth supporting — you can pledge your support here.

    The FSU complains to Gonville and Caius’s College Council and Cambridge University’s Vice-Chancellor about the Master’s Email denouncing Dr Helen Joyce

    As the Telegraph reported over the weekend, the FSU has written to Cambridge University’s Vice-Chancellor, as well as Gonville & Caius’s College Council, regarding the free speech implications of the astonishing email sent to all students last week by the College’s Master and Senior Tutor denouncing FSU Advisory Council member Dr Helen Joyce.

    In their email, the Master of the College, Professor Pippa Rogerson, and Senior Tutor, Dr Andrew Spencer, dismissed Helen’s work as “polemics”, described her gender-critical views as “insulting and hateful to members of our community”, and declared that they would not be attending the talk she was due to give at Caius. On the eve of the event, the head of Cambridge’s sociology faculty also decided to apologise to students for the “distress caused” by sending them an email invitation to the talk.

    No doubt encouraged by these expressions of disdain for Dr Joyce’s work, around a hundred protesters, some masked, gathered outside the talk chanting “trans rights are human rights” and banging drums. Witnesses claimed a fire door was hit and microphones had to be turned to full volume because Ms Joyce was becoming impossible to hear.

    The first complaint the FSU has made is to the College Council, Caius’s governing body. As I pointed out to the Council, the email looks like it may have been a breach of the College’s Statement on Freedom of Speech. I also pointed out that “the inhospitable reception of Dr Joyce has turned the attention of the world on the College”, and that the College Council really “must now decide whether the College supports freedom of speech, or whether it is merely play-acting at being an institution of learning”.

    The second letter we’ve sent was to Dr Anthony Freeling, Cambridge’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, arguing that the email, which was sent by the Master using her University email address, may have been a breach of her duty under s43 of the Education Act 1986 to uphold free speech on campus, which applies to all officers of English universities. We argued that Prof Rogerson’s email was at odds with the University’s own free speech policy and that she “must bear some responsibility for the intolerant and discourteous” protests that “rendered Dr Joyce inaudible at times”.

    You can read both of the FSU’s letters here and watch FSU Advisory Council member Professor Douglas Stokes taking about the episode on GB News here.

    FSU member Rachel Meade’s “Orwellian Nightmare” is finally over

    As reported by the Mail this month, the year-long “Orwellian nightmare” of social worker and FSU member Rachel Meade, who was suspended for posting gender critical views on her private Facebook account, is over. The dedicated social worker with an unblemished 20-year record was suspended from her job at Westminster City Council after a single complaint was made by a Mr Aedan Wolton, then a colleague of hers and now Sport England’s ‘Diversity Champion’ about allegedly “transphobic” posts on her private Facebook page.

    According to Mr Wolton, Rachel’s “transphobia” was evidenced by the fact that she shared links to news articles, including one from The Mail on Sunday, about transgender issues, as well as to blogs and petitions surrounding the national debate over whether it should be made easier for people to legally change their gender. Mr Wolton’s single complaint to the regulator Social Work England led to Rachel being suspended from her job for a year. She also faced being struck off by the watchdog at a ‘fitness to practice’ hearing. Legal proceedings hung over her for almost two years.

    In a humiliating climbdown, Social Work England has now dropped its case against Rachel, who told the Mail that the “last two years have been nothing short of an Orwellian nightmare for me and my family”. She added: “My apparent crime was to share some news articles and petitions about the self-ID gender debate to fewer than 50 friends on Facebook. I found myself wrongly accused of holding abhorrent transphobic views.” Ms Meade’s solicitor, Shazia Khan, has, unsurprisingly, accused Social Work England of failing to uphold freedom of speech and called for a public apology. So far, they have declined.

    It’s utterly ridiculous that Social Work England put Rachel through this ordeal on the strength of a single complaint from an ex-colleague. That said, I’m pleased that the FSU were able to support Rachel with her case and it’s good to hear that she will now be free to resume the career that she loves.

    It’s probably also worth pointing out that Rachel’s “Orwellian Nightmare” demonstrates exactly why one strand of the FSU’s Parliamentary and lobbying work is now focused on persuading ministers and senior officials to amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 to make it impossible for companies to discipline staff for saying entirely lawful but contentious things outside the workplace. (You can watch me make the case for this amendment on GB News here.)

    The FSU writes to the National Education Union regarding its definition of “transphobia”

    Earlier this month I wrote to the National Education Union (NEU), Britain’s largest teaching union, after a whistleblower leaked a document to our organisation containing the NEU’s proposed definition of “transphobia” (LBC, iNews, Unherd). The definition has been drafted after a resolution to develop a definition of transphobia was passed at the last annual NEU conference in the spring, and now looks likely to be adopted.

    The proposal suggests that anyone who expects trans people “to participate in discussion or debate about their rights and/or identities” is transphobic, and cites “propagating ideas, concepts and misinformation harmful to trans people and which erase and ignore trans history” as examples of transphobic behaviour (while neglecting to define what is meant by “trans history” nor what “ideas, concepts and misinformation” would be considered harmful). It further defines transphobia as a “rejection of trans identity and a refusal to acknowledge that those identities are real or valid” or the “incorrect use of pronouns” (Telegraph).

    While protecting trans pupils, trans teachers and trans support staff from harassment is a worthy aim, it’s clear that this proposal goes way beyond compliance with equalities law and would have the effect of rendering any challenge to gender critical ideology or the agenda of trans rights activists as a legitimate reason to sack a teacher. So much for trade unions protecting their members rights.

    The NEU is effectively saying to all its dues-paying members that don’t want to go along with gender identity ideology that it regards them as transphobic and no longer wants to represent them or defend their rights. As member relations campaigns go, it’s certainly bold.

    And what about the policy’s effect on staffrooms up and down the country? The Telegraph spoke to a whistleblower in the teaching union who is concerned that it will stop people speaking out on this issue. “I am extremely worried,” he told the paper. “I’m from a Left-wing background and I hate this nonsense. We need free speech. Women need safe spaces. If this definition is accepted, anyone who says: ‘You can’t logically self-identify as the opposite sex’, you’ll be a transphobe.” The source added: “I think it will mean that teachers will be too scared to speak up in schools and they will go along with the NEU policy.”

    FSU Chairman’s Lecture on Decolonisation

    The FSU’s Chairman, Professor Nigel Biggar, explained to a packed Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford last week why he believes the cultural revolutionary version of decolonisation is based on several false premises, starting with the claim that Britain is “systemically racist”. I was in the audience and thoroughly recommend you watch the YouTube video of this lecture (available here). The discussion afterwards with FSU Director Douglas Murray is also worth watching.

    Sharing the newsletter

    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join, and help us turn the tide against cancel culture. You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below and help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    Kind regards,

    1. New Clause 15 has been tabled by Sally-Ann Hart MP and will make it illegal for payment services providers to refuse service to customers in the UK because they have said something, or supported a cause, which the provider disapproves of, even though it’s perfectly legal. – would also make it difficult for government to block payments to dissenting people – as in the Canadian truckdrivers – without getting an act through Parliament making dissent illegal.

    2. The provision to fine customers 2500 dollars for “hate speech” defined by PayPal still stands in the company’s terms and conditions. PayPal apparently have a partnership with some shady US lefty group that trawls the internet looking for stuff they don’t like, so it’s a fair assumption that they will be policing these “hate speech” occurrences.

      1. “Hate speech”? I’m going to write to PayPal and tell them of my intention of standing at Hyde Park Corner, rabidly telling the world that I HATE rocket (the weed, not the projectile); HATE rabbits; HATE overcooked food; HATE horizontal sleet; HATE mosquitoes and flies; HATE corruption; and HATE all those cretins who consider that the artificial concept called “hate speech” is a crime!

        1. They are simply too dangerous to have an account with. Customers should consider themselves duly warned of the theft that may be perpetrated on their bank accounts.

    3. Grizz,
      thank you for posting the weekly FSU newsletter. Unusually, I took a step back and tried to understand Paypal’s point of view. As a commercial enterprise one of their goals is to maximise profits, and simultaneously their policy is to comply with all Federal and relevant state laws. The essential role of Paypal is to offer an escrow service wherever there is a risk of non payment or non delivery, ie to protect both parties during a transaction. But after one payment, the FSU subscription is simply repeat business. For that we have debit cards and direct debits etc. If there were ever any serious complaint, Paypal would be on the hook to deal with loads of tiny refunds. Lots of administration after little original gain. Buy an electric drill for £150, new with guarantee, use Paypal, that makes sense; but piddly amounts to a lobby organisation with no credit history might have raised a flag in Accounts.

      1. If they don’t want my small payments, they can do without the large payments as well. That sounds very likely, but they are also entrenched in a particular ideology, see my post below.

  33. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s funny:

    Bob & The Blonde

    Bob, a handsome dude, walked into a sports bar around 9:58 pm. He sat down next to a blonde at the bar and stared up at the TV.

    The 10 pm news was coming on. The news crew was covering the story of a man on the ledge of a large building preparing to jump.

    The blonde looked at Bob and said, “Do you think he’ll jump?”

    Bob said, “You know, I bet he’ll jump.”

    The blonde replied, “Well, I bet he won’t.”

    Bob placed a £20 note on the bar and said, “You’re on!”

    Just as the blonde placed her money on the bar, the guy on the ledge did a swan dive off the building, falling to his death.

    The blonde was very upset, but willingly handed her £20 to Bob, saying, “Fair’s fair. Here’s your money.”

    Bob replied, “I can’t take your money. I saw this earlier on the 5 pm news, and so I knew he would jump.”

    The blonde replied, “I did too, but didn’t think he’d do it again.”

    Bob took the money

  34. Good morning, my friends.

    We are two nations: one at ease with racial diversity, another still badly divided
    Rishi Sunak in No 10 marks progress, but Britain is not yet the perfect melting pot

    DT Article : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/30/rishi-no10-marks-progress-britain-not-yet-perfect-melting-pot/

    We already have made progress towards the elimination of indigenous white people in positions of power? Is this a) what the British want; or b) is it desirable?

    The holders of three of the four great offices of state: the prime minister, the home secretary, and the foreign secretary are not indigenous white, and the chancellor of the exchequer is married to a non-white woman and the Mayor of London is of Pakistani descent so we seem to have made quite enough progress to be getting on with!

    Can you imagine any African or Asian country in which virtually all the officers of state are white?

    1. 366878+ up ticks,

      Morning R,

      “Can you imagine any African or Asian country in which virtually all the officers of state are white?”

      If it were so then it would be seen as repressive racism

      Catch 22.

      1. Certainly not African. Are the rulers white in the Asian republics? Russia is, of course, the European part.

  35. Yesterday at Mass, we had that passage from Luke 19 about a dodgy tax collector who, after hearing Jesus speak, pledged to give away half of his wealth to the poor and repay four times over all those he had cheated during his career.

    Why is it that some grown-ups consider children to be mentally deficient and have to be spoken to in a baby voice? That opera I went to see five years ago that is the best I have ever seen to explore the merits of generosity of spirit, the obligations of duty and the wonder of symbiotic love (‘Cinderella’ by Alma Deutscher) was written by a 10-year-old. It is far superior to the offering coming from Andrew Lloyd Webber.

    Cringeingly, Father Naz in his ‘hello little kiddies’ voice explained to the returning children back from Sunday Liturgy that before meeting Jesus, this man was sad, and asked the children what he was after meeting Jesus. The correct answer was “happy”, and they made a model of a little man with a smiley face to show this. I thought to myself “poorer” is a better answer.

      1. Yep. I had a depressing interview this arvo with the rectorette who basically told me change was coming whether we liked it or not and the Bishop had a “vision” (not the sort on the Road to Damascus, I should think) to which we would have to adhere. Less celebration of the eucharist, more lay involvement (I politely declined to do more than I am doing at the moment) and what I called “Janet and John” services to become a regular thing while BCP services were phased out. One of my friends has a bet with me how long before I jump ship. Judging by this “chat” where she confirmed herself a box-ticker, a CV builder (she’s always off on courses) and a rule keeper even when common sense would suggest bending them would be humane and prudent, it won’t be long. After all, I can read morning service at home if there is no eucharist.

          1. I don’t think she picked up on the parallels when I told her about my eschewing the National Distrust because they were obnoxious and didn’t listen. She says she’s getting to know all the members of the PCC – I must canvass the others to find out if they’ve been approached yet.

  36. This was headlined by Ogga earlier. I haven’t copied the whole article. It isn’t necessary. You’ll get the gist.

    Migrants set to share hotels with public as Channel crisis worsens

    Suella Braverman is considering plans to relieve ‘catastrophic overcrowding’ at the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent

    By Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR • 30 October 2022 • 10:37pm

    Migrants are set to share hotels with the public under plans being considered by Suella Braverman to regain control of the Channel crisis.

    Home Office officials are drawing up proposals for spot bookings of rooms rather than reserving entire hotels as part of a series of measures to tackle “catastrophic overcrowding” in the main asylum processing centre for Channel migrants at the disused Manston airfield in Kent.

    The proposal was disclosed as pressure on the Home Secretary intensified after new questions emerged about her reappointment following her resignation for breaching the ministerial code and her handling of the migrant crisis.

    Home Office officials are considering the use of holiday parks and former student accommodation to take people from Manston.

    The facility was overwhelmed on Sunday night, with 4,000 having to be housed in a centre originally designed for 1,600 to be moved on and processed within 24 hours.

    Ministers are also proposing a major expansion of the Manston camp amid warnings by officials that the Home Office is at risk of acting unlawfully by detaining so many within it – including some for up to four weeks – without additional accommodation on the site.

    “To make it easier and more efficient, we are looking at spot booking of hotels rather than requiring a whole hotel,” said a government source.

    “We have two competing legal duties. First, we don’t want to have people in Manston for too long. Secondly, we have a legal duty not to make people destitute. You cannot have thousands of people sent away with no plan to safely accommodate them.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/30/suella-braverman-channel-migrant-crisis-manston-kent-dover-fire

      1. The MSM journalists ask the government why they cannot do anything about the problem of illegal immigration. But none of the journalists ask the more important and searching question:

        Why don’t they want to do anything about the problem?

        1. Orwell Speak watchers were impressed to find the way in which globalist can now be considered an anti-Semitic racist term.

          Those who arrive on the south coast of Britain with no identity papers are deemed to have done nothing wrong and therefore must no longer be referred to as illegal immigrants.

        2. The future of my grandchildren looks bleaker by the day. I think I’ll apologise to them all before I pass on.

      2. I can’t believe the damage that has deliberately been inflicted on the UK. Hitler did less damage than these morons.

    3. Home Office officials are considering the use of holiday parks and former student accommodation to take people from Manston.
      Can some one please explain just who and how many people voted for anyone in the Effing Home office to wreck this country.
      Sack the lot of them.

    4. Of course they could use rebuild all those Nightingale Hospitals they organised for Covid so that the cronies can be paid yet again.. [/sarc]

    5. I reckon when it says “Braverman is considering”, we need to take into account that 90 per cent of present Home Office staff are working 24/7 – including constant leaking to journalists** – to undermine the Home Secretary. This Department of State was thoroughly taken-over by pc/woke acolytes in the Blair years. The few whistleblowers and patriotic types within have been frozen out.

      ** Including getting her dubbed “Leaky Sue”.

    7. Thirdly, we need to stop them at the border in the English channel and forcibly make them retreat or be blown out of the water. Only one incident required to make the rest decide against it.

    8. The government source isn’t worried about the many Brits who are sleeping rough, and destitute.

  37. In full, another article mentioned elsewhere.

    Oxford has gone back to feudalism

    New plans for a ’15-minute city’, featuring unprecedented restrictions on drivers, channel the controlling spirit of Medieval England

    SIMON COOKE • 30 October 2022 • 11:00am

    In the 11th century, when Oxford University was founded, the King recorded his control of land and people in the Domesday Book, a catalogue of feudal authority. Under that serfdom, a man couldn’t simply travel to another place without the permission of his lords and masters. Now Oxford’s 21st century city fathers want to reintroduce these controls in the form of a concept known as the “15-minute city”.

    The 15-minute city sounds lovely in theory; a place where you can find all the goods, services and amenities you need within a gentle quarter of an hour’s walk. It’s the brainchild of Paris-based academic Carlos Moreno, who sees cities not as places made by the choices of citizens but as complex systems to be managed with “smart” technology. And Moreno wants urban planners to manage the city’s inhabitants as well. His ideal relies on a set of controls and limits imposed, in true feudal style, on residents.

    In Oxford, and in a similar scheme in Canterbury, councils will require residents to have a permit to work elsewhere in the city and will limit the number of times they can drive across the boundary of their allocated 15-minute zone. If you don’t comply, the city’s automatic number-plate recognition systems will allow the council to levy a £70 fine.

    The scheme won’t affect Duncan Enright, the Oxfordshire councillor leading its introduction, since he doesn’t live in Oxford, but he helpfully explains that it is about “those essential needs, the bottle of milk, pharmacy, GP, schools which you need to have” and that it is all part of the council’s plans for net zero. Or to put it another way, you’ll need a permit to visit your mum a few streets away and can only do this twice a week.

    The stated purpose of the Oxford and Canterbury schemes – reducing congestion in their city centres – hides an authoritarianism commonplace in contemporary urban planning.

    These modern urbanists believe it is a terrible thing for people to enjoy the flexibility, comfort and efficiency of affordable private transport. Despite the forced shift to electric vehicles and the elimination of fumes and carbon emissions, green planners still want to ban the car.

    The 15-minute city seeks to limit the freedom and choice people get from driving, in the name of the environment. Moreno has even spoken of exploiting the pandemic to impose his ideas. “Were it not for Covid-19,” he said in a recent interview, “I think that the conditions for deploying the 15-minute city concept would have been very hard to instigate.”

    The 15-minute city aims for a radical remake, not of the city, but of daily life. In what we could call neo-feudalism, urban planners see citizens as counters to be moved about within smart cities; peons not people. They seek to reduce the choices available to residents – making their lives worse, not better.

    For the grander and wealthier parts of a city, places that already have that vegan cafe or award-winning deli, the impact of a 15-minute cordon around your life may be tolerable. But poorer people in a place without these amenities – where the only shop is an overpriced convenience store without fresh fruit and vegetables – will suffer greatly for such policies.

    The 15-minute city isn’t merely anti-car and anti-choice, it echoes the social controls and limits of communist China. This might be fine for Oxford’s guilty rich but for ordinary workers, already struggling with housing costs in one of Britain’s least affordable places, the 15-minute city will only make life more limited, more expensive and less free.

    Simon Cooke is an urbanist and housing campaigner and is the former leader of the Conservative Group on Bradford City Council

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/30/oxford-has-gone-back-feudalism/

  38. On the subect of the illegal incomers to Dover .

    We have given France £ millions , the migrants are costing the taxpayer £ millions and millions .

    Are the French as thick as we are .. why haven’t the French diverted these people to Morocco , Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria

    Are the Muslim migrants escaping from sharia law.. are they all GAY or have we missed a trick or two.

    What do they want from us , that say the Gulf states cannot give them , why cannot the Egyptians look after them ..

    Are the Paki Muslims more severe in their communities here than Arab/Afghan/Syrian Muslims .

    The the Gulf states can build mega cities on sand , why don’t they build a Mecca type of city for the thousands who are parasitical pests here in the UK.

    We have no use for people like that.. or any off them .. The have created huge community divisions and dislike , the news has become unbearable .

    The other social difficulty is the blacks … the absent fathered black children are costing the tax payer £ millions .. and their stab fest now commands a tiny paragraph in the daily papers .

    Cannot the Home office get their ducks in a row and do some serious thinking for once.

    1. What about the Albanian gangsters? Most boats, lately, have been jam-packed full of them, all males in their 20s and 30s.

    2. Well said, Maggie. All true and the Near Eastern states could do a lot to help our unwanted trash. Rishi could take a few (and so could Charlie III) en route to the COP27 farrago in Egg Wiped. Plenty of room in their luxury jets.

        1. The Home office should do the right thing then and deport the scum and let none here in the first place.

          Or, Home office staff should take them in – say 50 to an employee. See how they like it.

        2. The “distressing incident”, little Miss Braveheart – was the arrival of 1,000 illegal economic migrants.

          1. An overseer with a bull-whip would MAKE ’em work and work hard, until they drop and get another whipping.

        2. Some time ago the Home Office declared to the Sunday Times that at any one time 70% of “migrants” are without jobs,

          and 60% have never worked.

          Why would the Gulf States want them?

    5. Good day, Lovely Veracity

      “Cannot the Home office get their ducks in a row and do some serious thinking for once.”

      The problem is that the government actually wants Britain to be overrun by an alien population – it is one of the cornerstones of the great reset.

    6. Good day, Lovely Veracity

      “Cannot the Home office get their ducks in a row and do some serious thinking for once.”

      The problem is that the government actually wants Britain to be overrun by an alien population – it is one of the cornerstones of the great reset.

    1. Poor chap! I should imagine that anyone married to Nancy Pelosi must have questions about his own sexuality.

      1. I’ve also got loads of excellent dried yeast that keeps forever in a jar in the cupboard. I moved back to using fresh yeast, earlier this year, when I discovered how much better the bread rises, and how the flavour of the bread is vastly improved by using it.

      2. They don’t bake bread! The muck produced by the CBP (Chorleywood Bread Process) doesn’t even closely resemble bread.

    3. My bread breaking (baking even) , apart from pizza bases, is done with my sourdough starter yeast, just coming up to 2 years old.

  41. Interesting taki mag piece

    Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle famously said that the history of the world is the biography of great men.
    English philosopher Herbert Spencer countered that great men were merely products of their social environment. The times made the man.

    These two conflicting ideas are being put to the test. Throughout the West, we see the sorts of leaders you would expect if great men need not apply. Great Britain is on its third prime minister this year. The reason for that is the prior two were mediocrities the times decided were not up for the job. The newest prime minister is a man selected because he has no remarkable qualities.

    On the continent, France is led by a ridiculously dull person who managed to make it to the position having never accomplished anything. The Italians replaced an unelected technocrat with someone who has never had a job. Similarly, the Germans have a leader who somehow made it to old age never having had a job. All of Europe is run by people who are the exact opposite of great men.

    In the United States, it is election season, and the great-man theory is being mocked by the various candidates running for office. In Pennsylvania, the Senate race is between a brain-damaged hobo and a Turkish carny. In Georgia, the Senate race is between a black Marxist preacher and a black former sports star. Perhaps their combined IQ is over one hundred, but no one would bet on it.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-mystery-of-history/

    3. Ha – many a true word. Let’s see. I wouldn’t not bet on it. Could they be that (tries to think of right word) crass?

    1. I’ll not take that bet. It’s a sure thing. From the first protest plod should have removed them forcibly, chained them to a railing and left them there. If there were any future ones the same attitude. Force. Overwhelming, brutal force.

      The state is veery swift to force others how to behave. It should apply that to these criminals.

      1. Any school master or schoolmistress knows that if you allow a class to get out of control it is very difficult to get the children back again. But if you take control and keep it from the very beginning then the class will be far more relaxed and there will be few disciplinary problems. And another failing of weak teachers is to suck up to the pupils – it will only win you contempt.

        Those of us here who have taught in schools will have learnt this by experience – why are our asinine police incapable of seeing that you need to be firm as well as fair.

        The police,who have lost the plot with rainbow painted cars, silly dancing and offering tea and sympathy to protestors rather than upholding the law, have lost the public’s support. This is neither firm and fair nor is it effective.

        A good example of the consequence of giving in too easily can be seen with Liz Truss. Her very first U-turn as PM followed by the betrayal of her chancellor marked the end of her career. And it would be interesting to see how much people’s contributions to the RNLI have fallen since it became an illegal immigration passenger service rather than doing its job.

  46. The Brexit revolution has come to an end
    As with France in 1799, the elites are back in control, but Britain has still been changed for the better

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/31/brexit-revolution-has-come-end/ Tim Stanley

    I agree with this BTLiner that however bad Truss might have been it will probably turn out that Sunak will be very much worse:

    “……. And why did the Tories elect Liz Truss even though it was obvious six weeks ago, now confirmed, that Rishi would be a far better PM?”
    That is a matter of opinion at the moment and will soon prove to be factually incorrect when the full truth about the sinister globalist Mr Sunak
    emerges.

    2. 366878+ up ticks,

      Afternoon R.

      Most peoples of a sane standing look automatically for the real purpose behind the deflection, nothing but nothing must be taken as first hand from today’s ruling politico’s.

  47. Doctors claim that prolonged heavy alcohol use actively shrinks the brain and causes a decline in intelligence.

    Nonsense.

    I’ve been drinking like a fish since I was 15, and I don’t feel any uncleverer.

  48. A teacher asked the children in her 3rd-year class, “What do you want to
    be when you grow up?”

    Little Johnny answered first. “I want to start out as a S.A.S. officer,
    go to the Middle East and kill loads of militant Muslims, return as a
    national hero, then become a billionaire, go to the most expensive
    clubs, find me the finest nymphomaniac tart, give her a Ferrari, an
    apartment in Copacabana, a mansion in Paris, a jet to travel throughout
    Europe, an Infinite Visa Card, loads of cocaine, and all the while
    banging her like a loose barn door in a hurricane.”

    The teacher, shocked, and not knowing what to do with this unfortunate
    response from little Johnny, decided not to acknowledge what he said and
    simply tried to continue with the lesson.

    “And how about you, Sarah?”

    “I wanna be Johnny’s tart Miss!”

    1. I suppose it must be difficult for thoroughly unattractive people to express their libidinous urges when nobody has the faintest wish to have these urges expressed in their direction. Fortunately most Nottlers are thoroughly attractive people!

  52. The Dutch are being heavily punished for electing Rutte (their Tony Blair).
    The government is currently busy turning farmers off their land to make way for a mega-city of controlled people (and who’s going to live there??).

    Now, they want to force the banks to monitor all transactions over 100€. As someone points out in the comments, if the monitoring process is there, then that magic number of “100” can easily be changed to whatever they want it to be.

    https://twitter.com/wmiddelkoop/status/1586644033304141824

    2. It’s all about tax. The state hates the idea of people earning and keeping their own money. Thus it want to simply take it at source and on every transaction. It simply doesn’t care about privacy (although I’ll bet ministers are not subject to this law). It is solely, entirely, completely about robbing you of as much as it possibly can.

      1. It’s marxism, sneaking in under another flag. Riches for the elites, poverty, control and punishment for the rest of us.

          1. 366878+ up ticks.

            Afternoon MIR,

            “Nail. Head.” of politico’s / bankers
            To wall by ears.

            Nothing is going to get rectified by the nicely .nicely approach yet all the while they carry on killing & maiming.

    3. Indeed – and the stupid little git “in charge” at the Yard threatens to arrest people who have a go at the wanqueurs.

  54. 366878+ up ticks,

    O all right then, we are being told by our betters ( the political elite overseers) that Brexit is over we must then await a re-entry to the fat bloated corrupt eu.

    The Brexit revolution has come to an end
    As with France in 1799, the elites are back in control, but Britain has still been changed for the better

    Prime crap,

    ” but Britain has still been changed for the better”

    May one ask could one instance of this being fact be pointed out .

    1. I knew back in 2016 that the state would never, ever let us leave. Such potential, so much opportunity. We could be soaring ahead. Low inflation, low taxes, no gimmigrants, an end to the welfare society, a functioning NHS, legal system and police doing their jobs. Instead, big government has done everything it can to destroy this country.

      1. 366878+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W.

        Check my back post, the voting majority went straight back to supporting / voting for the mass uncontrolled immigration, paedophile umbrella, pro eu coalition.

  55. There are wildly differing reports on the energy reserves held in various European countries but the EU is congratulating itself in exceeding a self imposed storage strategy that should alleviate winter shortages. There are however still dangers ahead for all European countries and this video spells out the state we are in:

    https://youtu.be/uGjBtNu2rZs

  57. Good moa ooops, Afternoon.
    What a plus: I’ve been too busy to read the news.
    Has Vlad dropped the bomb? I need to know because the dust could affect the Hoover filter.

    1. No, but we’re one day closer to the hyper-inflation event that they need in order to inflate away all the debt for the money they’ve printed and stolen…

      1. Inflation is a policy decision, never an accident. Inflation helps government destroy currency. It doesn’t care about the people it ruins.

        Besides, I know folk likely dismiss it as conspiracy but I honestly beleive the intent is to do so much economic damage that we’re forced to the IMF who will ram us back into the EU under onerous conditions.

        1. I agree, but I think they will try to take control of us in a different way, i.e. via the CBDC. Pushing us back into the EU would only be the icing on the cake for them – we’re already bound hand and foot by so many international treaties, they can probably afford the illusion of independence. Plus, their tax fiddles are so much easier when London’s out of EU scrutiny.

          1. When it came to the crunch the problem was not Brexit but the feeble, weak and easily surrendering politicians who lacked true conviction and failed to do the job properly.

            And weakest of the buffoons was Johnson.

          2. I doubt it was weaness but intent. The disempowered have no ability to affect policy. The high ups get offered a free house, or a 7 figure job after office, or a few hundred grand of our money to buy their vote.

            Our government is corrupt. It’s bent so much you’d fit kilometres in a match box. The EU is far, far worse and rotten to the core, a festering cancer. It’s staffe by far Left fascists determined to further their own ideology: power, at any cost. What’s money – especially when it’s not theirs – against that?

          3. You may well be right – but if you are is there any alternative to rebellion and the overthrow of the government not through the ballot box but through rather sterner action?

      2. The nudge unit is trying to push the misery tales but at the end of the day, you must remember they’re only a bunch of civil servants and therefore incompetent.

        1. The psyops unit ran a pretty convincing psychological warfare campaign against the whole country. Didn’t see any incompetence there!

          2. Agreed. the NHS could avoid wasting more money by banning all adverts for Diversity Managers/Inclusivity Managers in fact all Managers. There are far too many “managers”. Too many chiefs not enough Indians.

        2. While true, they’re doing a huge amount of damage. Much like a very large but poorly trained dog.

          3. Our large dog has never been on anyone’s lap. She’s only been up the stairs twice.
            That’s good we don’t need to have a Stana installed 😊😉

          4. Rumpole, never went upstairs – he was The Downstairs Dog but he gave us wistful looks trying to make us feel guilty when he stood at the foot of the stairs and saw Chaucer the cat ran up them.

            However he did sit on our knees for as long as we let him because he weighed 35 kilos.

        3. The hyper-inflation is scheduled for the beginning of next year, I believe.
          Nothing will happen before the US mid-terms if they can help it at any rate.

      3. The nudge unit is trying to push the misery tales but at the end of the day, you must remember they’re only a bunch of civil servants and therefore incompetent.

        1. Anyway, if you don’t have a Survive attachment on your vacuum you can always clean its dust filter but by using another vacuum to get the dust off rather than soaking it in water and drying it – I find drying it after getting it wet doesn’t work that well as the fallout doesn’t fallout very well! 😉

    3. I’m safe as I have a copy of this 1980 government booklet. 🙏🙄
      Protect & Survive.

      I give up trying to insert the cover image.

    1. Now punch the whinging vandal in the face a few times. He has nothing to say worth listening to.

    2. So, the vandal says “I did not want to do this but…”

      Looks very much to me that you really did want to do it. Else you wouldn’t have.

      You must think we are stupid.

      Unfortunately, quite a lot of “us” appear to be.

      1. He just accidentally happened to be carrying 5 litres of orange paint in a sprayer with him as he strolled through The Great Wen?
        Doesn’t everyone always carry one around – just in case?

        1. Got the HQ of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, apparently, with orange paint. They are one of the few institutions that are actually on our side.

  59. DM Story:

    Suella Braverman admits sending SIX MORE official documents to her private email amid growing government security row after Liz Truss phone hack – but she fights to stay in office with apology

    “Well,” thought Suella Braveman,”Hillary Clinton got away with e-mail skulduggery on a far grander scale and she got away with it so why shouldn’t I do so too?”

    1. To my mind it is not Ms Braveman’s e-mail which is the problem – the problem is that the alliance of the wokery, the WEF and most of the front bench of the cabinet want her gone and will not stop their Machiavellian nastiness until they get her out.

      1. It’s like a nasty gladatorial sort of sport.

        According to Dominic Cummings, everyone in the government and the civil service routinely sends documents via private email and nothing is said.
        I am disappointed in Braverman though. It’s like using the internet at work – if they want to sack you, they will use it as an excuse. So don’t do it! My motto in life is to assume that if your enemies have something they can use against you, then they will use it.

    1. Absolutely.
      It is not rage that drives me to want revenge, merely the cold certainty that if they get away with it, they will do exactly the same again.

      I do not refer to the elites – we have no chance of making them pay. No, I am talking about the useful idiots that supported vaxx mandates, lockdowns and masking with all the zeal of a Stasi informer or a Blockwart. The people who wanted to lock the unvaxxed up, or fine them.

      These little people need to realise the error of their ways, so that they don’t try to inflict torture on their fellow citizens to make themselves feel justified and important EVER again. Otherwise we shall never be safe.

      1. I particularly remember what Piers Moron wanted for the unvaxxed; I won’t be forgiving him or the other sanctimonious idiots any time soon – not even if the infernal regions were to have a new ice age!

        1. Yes, Morgan lost any goodwill I might ever have had towards him, permanently, with his ludicrous authoritarian vaxx stance.

        2. I can’t imagine that it must be much fun living with him. Celia Walden could play the role of Delilah and give him a haircut!

      2. Fcuking tin pot, hi-viz hitlers bossing us around; cordoned off ‘walk ways’; sodding plastic footprints on the pavements.
        Being counted in and out of the shops; grandchildren cooped up at home; all joy, spontaneity and fun in life – even the most simple of human contacts criminalised. Living in Stasiland where your every movement, every word, every facial expression could condemn you.
        Oh, I will neither be forgetting nor forgiving. For the first time in my life, I can understand why crowds flocked to public executions. To see those shiites dancing on the end of a rope would give me real pleasure.

  62. A tiny piece of good news.

    A French production company to bring back The Magic Roundabout
    A Manchester-based animation studio is in talks to help develop the reboot of cult children’s TV show The Magic Roundabout, which was originally created in France

    The comment comes from a subscription only site, so I haven’t linked it.

  63. Re French farm reservoirs protests

    Why is the site controversial?

    It is the location of a construction site of a water reservoir that will store water reserved for farming. Its capacity alone is set to be equal to 20 Olympic swimming pools.

    Protesters say that this storage and supply of water is inappropriate given the current drought situation in France and climate change. They are intent on occupying the site and stopping the work from going ahead.

    Sainte-Soline is the second of a project to build 16 reserves, developed by a group of 400 farmers, united under the banner of the ‘Coop de l’eau’. The aim is to “reduce summer water withdrawals by 70%”, in a region that is still subject to irrigation restrictions, after an exceptional summer drought and continued warm weather.

    The reserves are open-air basins, covered with plastic, which are set to be filled by pumping water from the surface water table in winter. Once all of the reserves are built, together they are set to store up to 650,000 m3 (or 260 Olympic-sized swimming pools) of water.

    The farmers say that this will stop them from needing to take water from the under-pressure water table in summer, but protesters say that even taking water from the ground during winter is inappropriate.

    Former presidential candidate and MEP Yannick Jadot, who is in support of the protest, said: “It’s October 29, it’s dry everywhere. It’s absurd to take all the water available for use by a few corn farmers. Political party La France Insoumise was also in support at the protest.

    However, Ecology Minister Christophe Béchu has said that the project will have “no negative consequences” for water levels.

    Speaking to FranceInter, he cited a geological study from the Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières (BRGM), saying that on the contrary, the project could increase the flow of rivers “by 5% to 6%” in the summer, compared to a decrease of 1% in the winter (compared to the period 2000-2011).

    However, the study did not take into account the potential evaporation levels at future reserves, nor the threat of recurrent drought due to global warming.

    And Mr Béchu also said that the “proposals signed by everyone four years ago” – after a long consultation between farmers, elected officials, authorities, and relevant associations – stated that access to the water was supposed to be conditional on changes in certain farming practices, such as the reduction of pesticides, planting of hedges, and conversion to eco-friendly farming.

    Yet, none of the 10 farmers using the first reservoir “has signed up to a reduction in pesticides”, said Vincent Bretagnolle, a member of the project’s scientific and technical monitoring committee (CST).

    He added that since the signing, several associations have withdrawn from the plans.

    The controversy continues.
    It’s a great pity that the farmers can’t selectively starve the protesters.

        1. Leave them long enough and they’ll provide added nutrients to the water for the crops.

    2. “It’s absurd to take all the water available for use by a few corn farmers.”
      Yeah, those greedy farmers eh, taking the water just for themselves!
      What have the farmers ever done for us???

      Honestly these protesters must be as thick as Just Stop Oil, and probably funded by the same evil influences.

      1. I can’t, I’ve got the ‘nonstick’ variety.

        Ps. I would probably get advise from the ‘Hibakusha’ if things got desperate.

          4. The difference in the shiny side and the matt side is purely due to the rolling process. When cooking, it makes not a ha’porth of difference. which side is up or down.

      2. Only 4 children are missing and she’s not wearing a burka and where’s his nightshirt?

  65. Little Miss Braveheart will risk opening her mouth in the Commons at 5.15. Resignation? Again??

      2. Must be a sewer close by, just have to time their runs along it to avoid people’s er, runs.

  68. Thank God this dimwit is no longer immigration minister. The boat crisis began on her watch (1/18 – 7/19) and here she is telling us what a sorry mess it all is. She doesn’t like the language people are using. Diddums.

    The comments about compensation, if correct, are worrying.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83v2cs72j8

      3. Surely, Bill, she can’t be, arguing for illegal immigrants, as if they have a ‘right’ to be here.

    3. What Bloody Duty????!!!!!!
      These people are criminals. They are ILLEGAL.
      Jesus H …..
      Yes, I am watching my language: that’s why I’m typing *!!!!!****()++£££$$%%%!!@********

  69. Effin Five again…

    Wordle 499 5/6
    🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Another 4. Knowing the answer, you can see what happened here:-)
      Wordle 499 4/6

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

    2. A little par 4 here

      Wordle 499 4/6

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

    4. Par today.
      Wordle 499 4/6

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

  70. Time for my evening rant:

    ‘Auntie, he will kill me’: The woman murdered while the police asked her for paperwork
    After her husband’s campaign of abuse, Raneem Oudah and her mother were brutally slain in a so-called ‘honour killing’. How did this happen?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/auntie-will-kill-woman-murdered-police-asked-paperwork/

    ‘While Raneem was still speaking to the police Tarin attacked her – and the officer heard her dying screams.’

    As you can imagine there are no comments allowed under this account.

    And you do not have to be a genius to work out that Klaus Schwab at the WEF and all those under his influence in the British Government and Opposition want to hasten the Great Reset by not impeding the flow of people of Tarin’s religion and culture into Britain. And not just the politicians, King Charles is an acolyte of Schwab too and so is The Arsehole of Canterbury.

    What other possible, plausible reason can there be for the fact that it is now quite normal for thousands of so called asylum seekers to arrive on our shores each week knowing that they will never be asked to leave and are encouraged to stay by being lavishly housed and fed in hotels and given pocket money on top of free medical services all at the taxpayers’ expense.

    Our politicians and the very Establishment itself actively want to destroy Britain.

    2. So, what is the end result? Effectively, a nuclear wasteland, like the arse end of Pakistan or Congo. Utterly useless… so how does that benefit them? Make them richer? No. Make them more powerful? Power over what – sand? No. More influential? Yeah, right. So, it will be a pyrhhic victory for them, and in the process, they may well end up having their throats slit and their entrails dragged out through their arseholes.
      That will be a real success, that will.

    4. How did this happen? The government kept importing followers of a cult that mandates this sort of behaviour. Then protected them from the consequences and from protests.

    2. I wonder if the bomber had a terminal illness and decided this was the best exit he could make?

  72. Braveheart didn’t do badly. Set out her intentions – if not the means of making them work.

    That Mrs Balls hasn’t half put on weight. Must be Eddie “Izzard” Balls’s cooking.

      1. Nowt wrong with Pontefract Cakes.
        One of my favourite sweets.

        The have the advantage of stopping one being like, chose your own Nottler, (full of shi’ite)

          1. I’m convinced that there were two recipes, one was much more solid and had a stronger flavour, the other was softer and sweeter. I prefer the former.

          2. There was a girl at grammar school who, so it was said, ate a whole packet of Pontefract cakes all in one session. She was off school for several days….

        2. My mum, Min, said, “Liquorice gives you a good run for your money.”

          ©The Goon Show 1950 something.

    2. Reading the transcripts on the DT (via the 12ft ladder) it sounds as if Braveheart was quite robust in her rebuttals.

      1. I am afraid that I couldn’t be arsed to watch after Mrs Balls dragged herself to her feet.

        I commend you for your public spiritedness.

  73. Did anyone watch the SAS “drama” last night? I fear it will be dire. I shall watch it while the MR is at a meeting shortly.

    There was one amusing comment BTL on The Grimes. “I thought it was a bit 1950s stiff upper lip” – the writer failing to understand that it was set in the 1940s when upper lips were meant to be stiff…!!

  74. Just seen the headlines.
    Migrant processing centres.
    Look you arseholes, you chose to come to the UK; if you don’t like it FO to where you came from.

  75. That’s me for today. Have a jolly evening deciding how many Albanians you would like in your spare room..

    A demain

  76. Off topic but for Sue Mac, no not Sunak.

    Is Max Verstappen the greatest ever F1 driver or is it, as I argue, the car?

    2. Bring Jim Clark and Juan Manuel Fangio back, at the same age, and put them in identical cars as Verstappen. We’ll see then who is the best. Otherwise stating who is the “best” (at anything) is just subjective nonsense.

      YouTube is awash with people — mainly young and of limited intelligence — spouting off their “all-time greatest” lists of sportsmen and musicians. The majority of those “all-time” lists only cover the lifetime of the compilers. I don’t subscribe to the concept of “the greatest” in any endeavour. There may be a great number of people who have proved to be virtuosi in any given sphere of excellence. Listing them in some kind of order (i.e. ‘he’ is better by one-umpteenth of a degree than … ) is specious, vacuous and pointless.

      1. I suspect that the only people who are remotely qualified to judge are those at the level under consideration.
        Even then they suffer from what you describe.

      2. And bring back Richard Sharp in the England number 10 shirt and watch him bemuse the opposition in a way that Owen Farrell would love to do if he only could.

        Barry John and Phil Bennett were not bad in the Welsh No 10 shirt either!

        2. “They broke the mould of solid gold that once made Barry John….” Credit Max Boyce I believe.

        3. Barry John and Phil Bennett (not forgetting their equally wonderful predecessor and inspiration, Cliff Morgan) had a huge benefit of being in a world-beating half-back unit with the bloke who is frequently voted the best rugby union player of all time (there’s that “best” and “all-time” again!): Gareth Edwards at scrum half.

    3. wait another five years, srb!

      I regard Verstappen to be one of the most dangerous F1drivers in recent times …

    5. No it’s the car, he didn’t deserve last years trophy and Mercedes haven’t come up with a good car for this year or he may not have been champion this year – Ayerton Senna was the best in my opinion

      1. I think it’s the car, but who knows?
        Many F1 drivers themselves have argued that Jim Clark was the greatest.

    6. No, and he never will be. As lacoste points out below, he is a reckless and dangerous liability. Gets it from his revolting wife-beater of a father, I expect. As to your other question, no.

          2. Well that hardly makes him a goat! Pathetic whinger maybe, but he’ll never be a the goat, despite the bleating….

          3. The unfortunate thing is that I suspect that it will be many years, if ever, before that record is erased.

  77. Recycling bins emptied tomorrow so I’ve just been emptying my little bin and by God it’s bloody nasty out there!
    8°C and chucking it down!

    1. Indeed he should, but if he is, so should every Muslim hate preacher.

      Let people judge by what they see and hear.

      1. 355878+up ticks

        S,
        Sad to say their interpretation after every GE leaves a great deal to be desired.

      2. Watching those bastards preach hatred might be an eye opening moment for a lot of apologists. Then again, perhaps not.

        1. 366878+ up ticks,

          Evening M,

          If the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby RIP and the Jay report revealings didn’t do that then nothing will.

        2. A slot on the 9 O’clock news every night perhaps?
          Followed by a Government minister interpreting what was said and why the UK shouldn’t be concerned.

  79. 355878+up ticks,

    Been watching braveman and the enamas within

    at the moment ALL rhetoric, could very well be an in-house production
    for & against, talk tough & run.

    The electorate majority have been supporting parties that have blatantly
    neglected to protect this nations children`(rotherham) and the elderly tis unbelievable they, the politico’s, are still operating with the backing of the people.

          1. Sing your song of Bidens
            A bucket full of shit
            Four and twenty Hunters
            swimming hard in it
            Look out, there’s Pelosi
            Drinking at the rim
            Kamala’s standing by the side
            and waiting to jump in.

      3. If they wanted to live in the UK they should have made an application for immigration. But the dickheads in our government and civil service let that slide past. It won’t cost any of them. Only the British taxpayers and public.
        There will be no price to pay or gain forc the public for these stupid people who have allowed this to happen.

  84. This afternoon I watched TRIANGLE OF SADNESS with the Wrinklies Film Club. Don’t bother. 6 out of 7 of us voted it a “Thumbs Down” film. Far too long, obnoxious characters we couldn’t identify with, totally ambiguous ending. Hopefully next week will be LIVING with Bill Nighy. Now for an early night – Good Night all.

      1. Well, it was the only one in the cinema which we hadn’t seen. (Good morning, btw.)

    1. If they want mass gimmigration, move the gimmigrants in with them. All of them. fill their many homes with immigrants. See how they like it.

        1. Bloody dangerous things – Look what happened to Marie Antoinette – talk about coming to a sticky end….

          1. Actually, I believe that what she said was “Let them eat Brioche.” Which is a type of bread.

          2. Ah yes Brioche – the best thing since sliced bread. I was of course referring to the infamous Jam Doughnut incident when she took just one bite and the jam squished all the way down her sleeve – a sticky mess all day long and wet wipes had yet to be invented!

          7. It’s quite stodgy and has a sweetish taste, though, which is probably why it got translated as “cake”.

      3. I’m just reading a book about John Lackland. I always wondered why he was buried in Worcester. It seems that pretty much everywhere else was a no-go area either because of the French (invaded the south) or the bolshy barons (in the north).

        1. I confess to a sneaking affection for John. He truly didn’t give a shit. And he was the catalyst for Magna Carta.

          1. I’ve often wondered if he was as bad as he was painted.
            He peed off the barons and the clergy. Remember who writes history.
            Possibly like upsetting Remainers and Wokes nowadays

          2. He was very cruel as most were in those days but he hated the Catholic church and its control. I don’t think he was as bad as painted- ditto Richard III. History is written by the victors and the revisionists. Thus it was and thus it will always be.

    3. I advise that people remember the howls from the opposition side of the house and the complicity of the invasion from the Government side and cast your vote for none of them at the next GE.
      Hopefully egos will be cast aside and we will have a real alternative at the ballot box.

      2. 366878+ up ticks,

        Evening VVOF,
        In doing that I would once again advise caution, avoid any politico with a brexit party tag,as reform they carry baggage from 2019 brexit.
        Then led by a busted flush duke, they went hill climbing
        while the duke went vote splitting to satisfy his OTT ego, those peoples are still in action, many in ignorance of being a tory (ino) party top up.
        For me Lawrence Fox & reclaim.

        1. Don’t be silly, Ogga, Reclaim plus Reform, as a united party would be sufficient to garner enough votes for them to enter a formidable coalition, to get rid of the multitude of nonsense that currently swirls around us from all other parties.

          1. 366878+ + up ticks,

            that “silly” comment could very well bite you on the arse,
            learn from recent history lest we forget, once bitten twice shy.
            I would rather a few well vetted good peoples , joining one party, eventually the rest will follow.

          2. Still silly, no way one vote-splitting party can overturn the current Lib/Lab/Con (your words originally) they need to amalgamate and carry most of the electorate.

          3. 366878+ up ticks,

            NtN,

            Your words “they need to amalgamate and carry most of the electorate.”

            Most of the electorate AKA
            the electorate majority have been the problem these past 30 plus years.

            We could never have got into such an odious state without them.
            Proving my point.

      1. I disagree. It’s the Home office. Well, yes, you’re right, it is the Tories, but only in their failure to remove legal aid and abandon the ECHR entirely, the laws used ot keep the vermin here.

        If these were removed, the Home office as no power to force the criminals on us and they could be deported immediately back to France.

        1. Don’t forget the Human Rights Act, Wibbles, which must follow legal aid , the ECHR and the ECJ into the dustbin of history.

        2. In the immediate, these people are being housed as collosal public expense by SERCO (that I know of, but who else?).
          SERCO, I remember finding on the www but not any more, are run by a generous contributor to the “Conservative” Party.
          There is more to it than that.
          Many of the passengers are Albanians – their local (SE London) representatives are famous for being hoovered up by the police because they post instagram pics of themselves in front of their new Ferraris. These are not benefit scroungers. They are full blown gangsters.

          Never mind if they get nicked. There’s another boat load on the way. And the people bringing them and their merchandise are laden with dosh.

          If the rules are not applied to send them away it is because it suits certain people A LOT!

      2. 366878+ up ticks,

        Evening LIM,
        Many of them are right …… rhetorically but lack of action proves otherwise, as soon as action is seen to be taken that proves their intentions … up to a point.
        Peoples have been shown up to be fools in trusting politico’s fully imo.

    5. I just clicked on the logo “Continue watching on Twitter” and was confronted by a barrage of shite (in the BTL comments) from the massed ranks of rabid and brain-dead Pinkoes who support this invasion. Ask any of the twats to house one, however, and they’ll be squealing like the stuck Liberal pigs that they are.

      1. This is because they live in a bubble where gimmigrants are serfs, not violent criminals.

        Lefties are nasty, bitter, selfish evil people. The gimmigrant tide must be stopped because 1. it’s unfair on the UK, 2, it’s bloody slavery for the gimmigrant!

  86. Evening, all. Unfair admissions will give a sense of grievance. That will enhance social cohesion no end.

  88. Now this is an interesting article,

    Dreaded ‘little fire ant’ detected in France for the first time
    By Henry Samuel Paris 31 October 2022 • 3:07pm
    3-4 minutes

    They are only 1.5mm long but pose a major threat to humans and the environment.

    “Little fire ants”, regarded as one of the world’s worst invasive species and that can inflict powerful stings, have been detected for the first time in France as the country frets over the rise of tropical pests due to climate change.

    The first-ever invasive colony of the tiny insects, which originate from South America, was detected last month in a residence in Toulon on the French Riviera. The only other place in Europe they have been detected is in Malaga, Spain.

    Also known as electric ants due to their painful sting, which is stronger than that of a nettle and lasts up to three hours, they can cause blindness in pets such as cats and dogs stung around the eyes.

    Olivier Blight, a researcher at the Mediterranean institute for biodiversity and ecology at the University of Avignon and the first to formally identify the pest, said it was likely introduced in a consignment of “plants”.

    “We were already dealing with a super colony,” he said, adding that it had spread to the surrounding area.

    “It’s just been identified but has been here around four or five years because there are already several hundred thousand, or even millions, of individuals over a hectare (2.5 acres),” he told Le Figaro.

    Although it moves slowly, Wasmannia auropunctata – the insect’s scientific name – is highly invasive and its population can reach 90 million individuals per acre.

    “Its strength is its number,” said Mr Blight, adding that fire ants can multiply faster than other species because they mix sexual and asexual reproduction as queens produce clones without the need for fertilisation. They also can live in trees or on the ground.

    Present in Florida and Hawaii, Israel, West Africa, the Caribbean, Australia and many islands in the Pacific region, the ants can destroy biodiversity as they compete with, prey on and displace native animals, ants and insects. Since first detecting their presence in 2006, the Australian state of Queensland has already spent $30 million on containing the pests. Hawaii is overrun with them.

    Mr Blight has succeeded in getting the tiny fire ant added to the European Union’s “invasive alien species of Union concern” list.

    He said they must be dealt with locally to avoid them spreading like the Asian tiger mosquito, which is now present in 70 of France’s 100 départements, or counties, including the Paris area.

    In an unprecedented development, the Asian tiger mosquito has this year infected 65 people with homegrown dengue – a flu-like virus known as “breakbone fever”- mainly in the Provence area. The figure surpasses the total number recorded in the country in the last decade.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/10/31/dreaded-little-fire-ant-detected-france-first-time/

    I can tell you I was shocked, no I was really shocked, they blamed Climate Change.

    Imagine blaming Climate Change not Brexit or Suella Braverman, what is the world coming to.

    1. They’re not refugees
      If they were not here, the poor man would not have had to act and would not be dead
      Yes, it is a humanitarian crisis – of being rational and hard headed for the greater good of this nation.

      Yes, expand safe routes – to return and forbid use – by gimmigrants
      Yes, close down the centres. They should never exist in the first place as no gimmigrant should step foot on these shores
      No criminal gimmigrants, no hostility.

      Deport those here who are not working. That’ll save welfare hundreds of billions a year for those who need it.

    1. Just how many cheeks does Emily have to turn?

      Love this BTL comment:
      “No thanks, I’d rather see a full fledged Nuremberg trial to assure us that things like crimes against humanity won’t never again go unpunished.”
      Here here. Do we graciously give them cyanide pills or have a jolly public hanging?

      1. Needs to be public. Difficult to resurrect the Smithfield Elms or Tyburn Tree but Trafalgar Square could be a good venue. Plenty of space for the popcorn stands.

      1. Supposed to be gale force winds round here tonight. We took down the outside umbrella and brought the two remaining plants in.

        1. They’ve issued us with a weather warning about heavy rain and strong winds. That would be autumn, then.

    3. Euphrosene Labon aka Wise El
      @euphrosene
      Population replacement with entitled low-skilled migrants who are the ‘peaceful’ variety is either a non-starter or the brainchild of Satan’s spawn. It will only lead to serious discord and worse.

      1. It’s not amusing, that pile of dung seems to be running our lives.
        Why is he still alive.

  95. Want to save the economy? Scrap HS2 once and for all

    This is the Government’s opportunity to make the right savings in the right places for the right reasons. Please don’t squander it

    GREG SMITH • 31 October 2022 • 1:51pm

    Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have been crystal clear about the difficult financial decisions to come. That inevitably means reductions in public spending, which in turn conjures images of the axe falling on politically impossible budgets like health, education, social care and policing. But in an era of difficult decisions, there’s one cut that should be an easy choice: HS2.

    The financial incontinence of HS2 was once again under the spotlight last week, with the new Transport Secretary issuing the latest six monthly review. Horror show admissions littered the document, from revelations that contingency budgets are already being burned up, to the waste of £100m on design work at London Euston. “Unexpected” construction costs were blamed, but it was always a fairy tale to believe costs would not go up from the 2019 benchmark on a project that would take in excess of a decade (perhaps two) to deliver.

    HS2 is currently on a path to costing the taxpayer in excess of £100 billion, and the true figure is likely to be even higher once the sustained loss in productivity to impacted businesses and the ancillary costs associated with delays caused by the pandemic and inflation are accounted for. That could equate to £307 million per mile.

    If this hasn’t already sharpened the Chancellor’s mind, then he should read the latest analysis by Lord Berkley. Allowing for inflation, using indices published by the Office for National Statistics, he has calculated that the cost of HS2 at today’s prices is a whopping £155.52 billion. More significantly, he presents a compelling case that through absorption of existing works into the current railway and road network, with the vast swathes of land that have been compulsory purchased being returned to former owners or sold off, the money lost on this white elephant project can be reduced to just £8 billion, making the overall saving of £147 billion. That is around a third of the Covid debt.

    If this project is allowed to continue it will be an albatross around the Government’s neck. Costs will go up and up, with a continued need to find efficiencies within the project’s scope, including the potential for an alternative temporary terminus at Old Oak Common in West London whilst delayed and over-budgeted works at Euston, and on the new tunnel leading to and from it are carried out. Such contingency plans will ultimately have a very disruptive impact on the existing rail network, particularly on the Great Western Main Line, in turn spreading the economic damage far beyond the immediate vicinity of construction.

    This is to say nothing of the devastation being caused on a human level by the project within that vicinity. I speak with experience on this. HS2 will run for approximately 19 miles through my rural constituency, parts of which are currently being decimated without due regard or concern for the surrounding areas, none of which asked for such damaging upheaval to these otherwise peaceful and idyllic communities. Arable farms, the beating heart of the rural economy, have at times been made inoperable by construction, as have several other local businesses, including a bus company that transports school children from villages across my constituency. The cost to businesses and the residual effect on the local economy from HS2 remains stark.

    Rather, we must prioritise revitalising and upgrading our existing railway network, which would benefit far more people and businesses and would deliver those benefits in a much quicker, more effective, and more tangible way. Those travelling to work or school or for leisure simply want a seat, a fast and reliable internet connection and a toilet that doesn’t resemble the facilities on the final day of a third-rate music festival – not to mention the certainty that their train will turn up in the face of constant industrial action. These should and must be the Department for Transport’s priorities, not a multi-billion-pound white elephant.

    Likewise, if the case above is not convincing enough, if there was genuine demand for this monster, then why are private investors not falling over themselves to invest in HS2? Their silence and unwillingness to touch it with a barge pole should speak volumes. Furthermore, no test of public opinion has ever proved favourable towards HS2. Looking at the YouGov biannual tracker, since 2019 “strongly support” has never got over 8 per cent. So scrapping it would surely be popular, especially compared to wider public sector cuts.

    HS2 remains unviable, unaffordable, and undeliverable. It needs to be scrapped in its entirety. Chancellor – this is your opportunity to make the right savings in the right places for the right reasons, please don’t squander it.

    Greg Smith is the Member of Parliament for Buckingham

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/31/want-save-economy-scrap-hs2/

    He’s correct up to a point – the moment where he suggests any savings might be spent on the rest of the network.

    What it is particularly alarming is that if HS2 is dropped, Nottlanders will have to say: “Well done, Jeremy.” Can you bear the thought?

  96. Dan Woodentop has on the evil twerp who poured you know what over the memorial to Tom Moore. She has no idea what she’s talking about. What a total fuckwit.
    I cannot moderate my language anymore. This country is sunk.

    1. She tried, and failed miserably, to justify her actions. She said she would continue; just one further action should be enough for the suspended sentence to become fact, PLUS a further HARSH sentence for what ever crime(s) she subsequently commits.

      Teach the bitch a hard lesson – YOU are responsible and accountable for your law-breaking.

  97. Well the parents all around us who set up trick or treat this evening must have been more than pissed off.
    It chucked it down. All those lights, giant cobwebs, blow up pumpkins and the rest of it all. Oh well, next year…… I can’t wait…😆😅🤭😏
    I’ve already dozed off, it must have been the busy day I’ve had tidying the garden. And entertaining little grandson. Or possibly three glasses of shiraz with our delicious veggie lasagne.
    I’ll be off soon.
    Oh well no excuses, …times running out and your only here once.
    So it’s good night from me. 😴😉

    1. Ho ho ho – ha ha ha.

      Serve the little bleeders right.

      I loathe this phoney “celebration”

  98. Nigel on Suella – Should she stay or should she go?

    Nigel has at last recognised that a Government minister is now prepared to use his own kind of language in describing the UK immigration debacle and asks you what you think she should do:

    https://youtu.be/YRTKV7cFlAE

      1. Ah, but they could be religious books 🙂 As for the weather – look at the sky if it’s daylight! It’s nominally daylight here now, but it’s wet, dank and very miserable, so there isn’t much light.

  100. 366878+ up ticks,

    breitbart,

    Farage: Open Borders Lobby Will Use Border Force Petrol Bomb Attack to Shut Down Action on Channel Crisis.

    That can surely be countered by the Jay report revealing the actions of
    lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella imports, and that would be just for starters.

  104. Stunning evening at the pub’s open mic. Had a chat with a Tanzanian girl, (white if that doesn’t offend), who sang like an angel. Jamey, she was very androgynous, but I thought she was wonderful.

  106. Ben Battle was a soldier betrayed by his love and Young Ben was a sailor who was equally badly treated

    Faithless Nelly Gray : By Thomas Hood (1799–1845)

    BEN BATTLE was a soldier bold,
    And used to war’s alarms,
    But a cannon-ball took off his legs,
    So he laid down his arms.

    Now as they bore him off the field,
    Said he, “Let others shoot;
    For here I leave my second leg,
    And the Forty-second Foot.”

    The army surgeons made him limbs;
    Said he, “They’re only pegs;
    But they’re as wooden members quite
    As represent my legs.”

    Now Ben he loved a pretty maid,
    Her name was Nelly Gray;
    So he went to pay her his devours,
    When he’d devoured his pay.

    But when he called on Nelly Gray,
    She made him quite a scoff;
    And when she saw his wooden legs,
    Began to take them off.

    “Oh, Nelly Gray! Oh, Nelly Gray!
    Is this your love so warm?
    The love that loves a scarlet coat
    Should be more uniform.”

    Said she, “I loved a soldier once,
    For he was blithe and brave;
    But I will never have a man
    With both legs in the grave.

    “Before you had those timber toes
    Your love I did allow,
    But then, you know, you stand upon
    Another footing now.”

    “Oh, Nelly Gray! Oh, Nelly Gray!
    For all your jeering speeches,
    At duty’s call I left my legs
    In Badajoz’s breaches.”

    “Why, then,” said she, “you’ve lost the feet
    Of legs in war’s alarms,
    And now you cannot wear the shoes
    Upon your feats of arms.”

    “Oh, false and fickle Nelly Gray!
    I know why you refuse—
    Though I’ve no feet, some other man
    Is standing in my shoes!

    “I wish I ne’er had seen your face;
    But now, a long farewell!
    For you will be my death; alas!
    You will not be my Nell.”

    Now, when he went from Nelly Gray,
    His heart so heavy got,
    And life was such a burthen grown,
    It made him take a knot.

    So round his melancholy neck
    A rope he did entwine,
    And, for the second time in life,
    Enlisted in the Line!

    One end he tied around a beam,
    And then removed his pegs,
    And, as his legs were off, of course
    He soon was off his legs.

    And there he hung till he was dead
    As any nail in town;
    For though despair had cut him up,
    It could not cut him down.

    A dozen men sat on his corpse,
    To find out why he died;
    And they buried Ben in four cross-roads,
    With a stake in his inside.

    Faithless Sally Brown
    Hood, Thomas (1799 – 1845)

    Young Ben he was a nice young man,
    A carpenter by trade;
    And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
    That was a lady’s maid.
    But as they fetch’d a walk one day,
    They met a press-gang crew;
    And Sally she did faint away,
    Whilst Ben he was brought to.
    The Boatswain swore with wicked words,
    Enough to shock a saint,
    That though she did seem in a fit,
    ‘Twas nothing but a feint.
    “Come, girl,” said he, “hold up your head,
    He’ll be as good as me;
    For when your swain is in our boat,
    A boatswain he will be.”
    So when they’d made their game of her,
    And taken off her elf,
    She roused, and found she only was
    A coming to herself.
    “And is he gone, and is he gone?”
    She cried, and wept outright:
    “Then I will to the water side,
    And see him out of sight.”
    A waterman came up to her,–
    “Now, young woman,” said he,
    “If you weep on so, you will make
    Eye-water in the sea.”
    “Alas! they’ve taken my beau Ben
    To sail with old Benbow;”
    And her woe began to run afresh,
    As if she’d said Gee woe!
    Says he, “They’ve only taken him
    To the Tender ship, you see”;
    “The Tender-ship,” cried Sally Brown
    “What a hard-ship that must be!”
    “O! would I were a mermaid now,
    For then I’d follow him;
    But Oh!–I’m not a fish-woman,
    And so I cannot swim.
    “Alas! I was not born beneath
    The virgin and the scales,
    So I must curse my cruel stars,
    And walk about in Wales.”
    Now Ben had sail’d to many a place
    That’s underneath the world;
    But in two years the ship came home,
    And all her sails were furl’d.
    But when he call’d on Sally Brown,
    To see how she went on,
    He found she’d got another Ben,
    Whose Christian-name was John.
    “O Sally Brown, O Sally Brown,
    How could you serve me so?
    I’ve met with many a breeze before,
    But never such a blow”:
    Then reading on his ‘bacco box
    He heaved a bitter sigh,
    And then began to eye his pipe,
    And then to pipe his eye.
    And then he tried to sing “All’s Well,”
    But could not though he tried;
    His head was turn’d, and so he chew’d
    His pigtail till he died.
    His death, which happen’d in his berth,
    At forty-odd befell:
    They went and told the sexton, and
    The sexton toll’d the bell.

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