Monday 4 July: GPs are quitting because their medical expertise is going to waste

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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585 thoughts on “Monday 4 July: GPs are quitting because their medical expertise is going to waste”

  4. We can rebuild this society, but only by restoring moral standards. 4 July 2022.

    Our inability to tell right from wrong is making communities insular and institutions corrupt.

    Norms change, of course, and nobody is arguing for the return of some of the regressive rules of the past. The stigma once applied to single mothers, or to gay people, or the norms that tolerated and encouraged racist discrimination belong firmly in history. But that does not mean we no longer need norms. For with many of the problems we confront as a society today – crime and anti-social behaviour, the decline in social trust, the misconduct of our leaders, corporate irresponsibility – the erosion of norms, of common social standards, is an important part of the explanation. For a society to prosper, we must be able to tell right from wrong.

    Mr Timothy like most reformers wants to return to a Society of Probity and Morality but “Not yet oh Lord!”

    The social rules that guided UK and the West for hundreds of years were Christian Teachings and as its Founder has been consciously destroyed so has its values. Their loss, even the ones we don’t like, has led to the chaos and corruption that we see every day; mostly visible in the political sphere because it is there that Wealth and Power coincide.

    This decline is a one way street. There is no going back. Like Babylon and Rome before them the UK and the West in general have lost their way and their destruction is set into their future as firmly as the decadence and disrespect for truth itself that now pervades every aspect of their being.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/03/can-rebuild-society-restoring-moral-standards/

      4. A few days ago I watched a section of Steve Bannon’s War Room programme in which Steve Cortes, a political consultant and market strategist, was the interviewee. Whilst he agreed that the overall inflation rate was around the figure on the above chart, on the basics e.g. fuel and food, the rate was closer to 25%. Cortes sees these figures a presaging a disaster for the working and middle classes in the USA.

      6. Argh – you mentioned the hymn which is one of my least favourite earworms!

        Enjoy doing a bit of boat maintenance!

  5. 353860+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    GPs are quitting because their medical expertise is going to waste

    If this be so then it is in tune, courtesy of the lab/lib /.con coalition supporter / voters, with the rest of the Country.

    The truth be told they have run out of bandages, plasters & crutches to continue to hold & shore the whole odious shebang up and staggering from one deceiving, lying, manipulating scam to the next.

    One thing the political overseers do demand is the neglection glaringly seen of mental health on account of if the majority of the electorate found the treatment they so obviously need the gutters would run red.

    Rest assured there will Never, Ever be enough medical staff EVER all the time the herd is shoring up the political, very dangerous, treacherous shite overseeing
    Dover, Dungeness etc,etc,etc.

    1. Whole letter here for those who don’t have access:

      “ – You report (June 30) that almost 19,000 family doctors plan to leave the NHS in the next five years due to retirement, stress and burnout.

      Another reason is that the current role of GPS is boring and a reflection of what they have become – public-health doctors buried in vaccination programmes, time-consuming and impersonal remote consultations, overwhelming bureaucracy and failing management.

      Look at what has been taken away from them: acute medicine and maternity care. These areas were what formed the long-term bond between doctor, family and community.

      To restore general practice, GPS need to be allowed to provide 21stcentury care, accommodating specialisation and embracing hightech diagnosis and therapy. Central to this is speed of access in the appropriate setting to specialised doctors. GPS should be able to work as specialists and team up with secondary care to develop a fully integrated personalised service. GPS need to be allowed to do what they were trained to do: practise medicine.”

      My initial reaction was: You took Bliar’s shilling and were happy about the increased money and reduced hours when you did so. And the quid pro quo was that you became the doctors that you are now. So don’t pretend it’s not on you. It is.

      1. 353860+ up ticks,

        Morning MIR ( a near scan)

        Good post, I honestly believe that the current lab/lib/con supporter / voter are a lost cause but, there are an unheard multitude I believe listening & waiting.

        The near forty year downhill run has truly to cease via the annihilation of the lab/lib/con anti United Kingdom coalition.

      2. While that’s true, the letter-writer is also correct in that we will never attract the sort of doctors we need if all they have to do is follow orders, as is now the case.

        I wonder if getting people to realise that the end point is diagnosis and treatment by AI alone might be useful in pushing back against the mechanistic ideology?

    2. Whole letter here for those who don’t have access:

      “ – You report (June 30) that almost 19,000 family doctors plan to leave the NHS in the next five years due to retirement, stress and burnout.

      Another reason is that the current role of GPS is boring and a reflection of what they have become – public-health doctors buried in vaccination programmes, time-consuming and impersonal remote consultations, overwhelming bureaucracy and failing management.

      Look at what has been taken away from them: acute medicine and maternity care. These areas were what formed the long-term bond between doctor, family and community.

      To restore general practice, GPS need to be allowed to provide 21stcentury care, accommodating specialisation and embracing hightech diagnosis and therapy. Central to this is speed of access in the appropriate setting to specialised doctors. GPS should be able to work as specialists and team up with secondary care to develop a fully integrated personalised service. GPS need to be allowed to do what they were trained to do: practise medicine.”

      My initial reaction was: You took Bliar’s shilling and were happy about the increased money and reduced hours when you did so. And the quid pro quo was that you became the doctors that you are now. So don’t pretend it’s not on you. It is.

  7. GPs are quitting because their medical expertise is going to waste

    I thought it was because they have good pensions and to carry on working means they are no better off financially

    1. Medical expertise eh? But they couldn’t recognise a dodgy ‘epidemic’? Hmm!

    2. Big Brother NHS is now in full control. They do not like independent GPs. who tell the truth.

      1. We had solid metal poles for vaulting at school – don’t think he’d had got very far with them!

        1. Morning Bob. I wonder what the pole is made of and the slot the pole goes into must be part of the mechanics of the jump. However it is a fantastic jump but probably not allowed in competitions.

    4. Can’t see anything, Korky – just a blank white space, despite refreshing.

      2. NtN, the link exists in the comment when I open the edit option but doesn’t open the tweet when saved. I’ll have a look at my settings.

        1. 353860+ up ticks,

          Morning KtK,
          I got it loud & clear I did think he had left my laptop in waiting for his return to earth.

      3. Reset my cookies and I can now copy in another tweet. Very odd. Will look for original tweet.

  9. For some reason news of all that grooming gang activity didn’t reach the mainstream media for decades
    There has been a shooting in Copenhagen and nobody on the mainstream media knows anything about it.
    An old serial groper gets drunk and carries on groping at a men’s club and somehow it’s the scoop of the century.
    I wish they would bring back RT news

  10. Putin’s Media Blitz on Africa Food Crisis Sparks Alarm in Europe. 4 July 2022.

    European governments have been alarmed by a Russian disinformation campaign that seeks to deflect criticism that President Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine risks leaving millions of people in Africa facing famine.

    Russian diplomats have gone on a media offensive in recent months to push the narrative that sanctions, rather than Russian blockades, are causing shortages of grains and fertilizer in Africa. The public-relations onslaught shows how the months-long war in Ukraine is becoming a global propaganda battle as food, fuel and crop-nutrient prices surge.

    EU and UK officials who’ve recently met their African counterparts at meetings in New York and Rwanda expressed concern that the Russian message is gaining traction, said senior European diplomats who asked not to be identified. In response, European governments are increasing their engagement with leaders on the continent and boosting their own information campaigns to counter the Russian narrative.

    It’s gaining traction because it’s true!

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-03/putin-s-media-blitz-on-africa-food-crisis-sparks-alarm-in-europe#xj4y7vzkg

    2. “and boosting their own disinformation campaigns to counter the Russian truth” There, that’s fixed that!

    3. “and boosting their own disinformation campaigns to counter the Russian truth” There, that’s fixed that!

    4. Russian message is gaining traction. Gah! Can’t have another opinion getting out! Ours must be the only voice you hear! The terror of these people is hilarious, well, it would be if it’s not so terrifyingly oppressive.

  11. 353860+ up ticks,

    A daily dose of common sense really is a must to combat
    the political overseers need of a braindead, open to manipulation support group, lab/lib/con is tailor made.

    Steve Bannon
    @SteveBannon
    ·
    Jul 2
    A man the Globalists fear with good reason— he understands exactly what their plan is and can articulate it like no other

    Abp. Viganò: Global liberalism and Communism are destroying the Church and society from within

    https://gettr.com/post/p1gum2k719f

    1. Such has always been their intent. If you undermine the basis of society then you can put anything you want in it’s place. When science replaced religion the state saw an opportunity to control what ‘science’ would be, thus leading to nonsense terms such as ‘the science is settled’.

      The entire point of science is that it is never, ever settled.

    1. I would suggest that anyone who is offended by a nickname might not be entirely suited to life in the SAS.

        2. Worryingly I imagine the first bit will be ‘creating an environment of abject fear, and keeping people afraid.

    3. I coommend Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly’s book Jackspeak to you all

      Jackspeak is a comprehensive reference guide to the humorous and colourful slang of the Senior Service, explaining in layman’s termsthe otherwise cryptic everyday language of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines and the Fleet Air Arm. Featuring more than 4,000 alphabetical entries, it was compiled by an ex-RM surgeon who spent 24 years in theservice. With useful cross-references and examples of common usagethroughout, along with excellent illustrations by Tugg, the cartoonistfrom service newspaper Navy News, it is the essential book forcurrent and ex-Navy personnel and their families, or anyone interested in the modern armed forces.

      1. When I was on a course at RAF Cosford I invented a cocktail (in a local village pub) that ended up with the name ‘Pink Pongo’. It can be had in some of the best known hotels in the world.

          1. Measures of Pernod and Bacardi with a shot of grenadine, topped up with lemonade (if you like it sweet0 or soda water. Ideal long drink for summertime watching sport or relaxing by the seaside etc. Can be found in Savoy Hotel, London; King David Hotel, Jerusalem and Raffles Hotel, Singapore. Á votre santé!

    6. We need them to make a strike on the 650 terrorists hellbent on destroying our country. Double taps all round at Westmonster.

    7. My neighbour is a straight bloke who was called by all and sundry, Shirley. Even by his senior officers. His surname being Crabtree.

      1. 353860 + up ticks,

        Morning B3,

        I do believe that there are secret mounds of shite being put in place
        adjacent to government / council offices / many police stations, steaming & waiting for the return of sanity.

      3. Really? I’m shocked! Over here DEFRA demand we plant more flowers and trees instead of growing crops. It’s the same policy – climate change communism over provision.

        However, they’ve made a fatal error. They want massive uncontrolled gimmigration to force genocidal societal change, yet, as with other places this has been tried it simply doesn’t work. The skills needed to keep the economy going are held by the natives, not the gimmigrants.

        Bluntly, these supra national organisations are pure scum and should be put to the torch. .

    2. Attacking police vans I disagree with. They’re doing a crap job at the behest of an authority they likely disagree with.

      However, this is how it begins. One pointless group of self important scum start to decide they want communism and set about controlling resources. Then there’s scarcity, then there’s riots, then the police are given ’emergency powers’ to do what they like and then you get fascism.

      The Left never change.

  16. Good morning all. A fine and dry start today, a bit cloudy, by with 7°C on the thermometer.

  17. Liz Truss mulls seizure of Russian assets in UK to give to Ukraine. 4 July 2022.

    Truss told MPs last week she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    She said: “I am supportive of the concept. We are looking at it very closely. The Canadians have in fact just passed legislation This is an issue that we are working on jointly with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to get the specifics of it right.”

    Of course. Let us just steal the property of those we don’t like and give it to those we do! The problem here of course is the underlying morality. Theft is still theft even when it is in a supposedly noble cause. Once the principle is established then no one’s property is safe! All those who have investments in the UK must bear in mind that through no fault of their own they may one day see those assets stolen.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/03/liz-truss-mulls-seizure-of-russian-assets-in-uk-to-give-to-ukraine

    1. Mugabe did that in Zim: stole farms and gave them to his mates. That went well.

      1. Morning Oberst. Yes. It never works. During WWII the Soviet Union stole vast amounts of German technology. It was left to rot!

      2. And Mugabe murdered around 20 thousand people he knew would never vote for him.
        And he handed over the mineral mining to the Chinese.
        Another one of the biggest POS that lived in and wrecked their part of Africa.

    2. One must begin to wonder about the mental state of Truss and others. These notions are verging on insanity, if not already there. Such actions are immoral and illegal. Worse than that, they can have consequences. Yet the actions are not thought through. As you state, those who invest in the UK, own property, have bank accounts, own shares in businesses, are all put at risk of waking up some morning to find that their assets have been sequestrated because of sanctions imposed following a spat between Bolivia and Turkmenistan, or indeed anything that really should not concern us at all.
      All such people would find themselves better off investing in Bolivia than in the UK.
      So, one wee question Ms Truss, have you talked to the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange, the CBI, about the possible repercussions over the next ten years?

      1. One, of the many, bad impressions I have formed about this government is that their worryingly common kneejerk reactions/U-turns result in decisions made on the fly.

      2. As most people only think ‘the bad guys’ would suffer from this they never think that one day, the bloated, obese state will just decide it wants to take your home simply because, well, it wants to.

        1. It’s been able to do that for years with a compulsory purchase order. If your house is in the way of a proposed by-pass or railway etc you can get one of those and there’s nothing you can do about it but look for somewhere else to live.

      3. One task for SWMBO this visit is to remove her savings from the UK to somewhere with a more stable approach to money.

    3. Once the principle is established then no one’s property is safe!

      Isn’t the expropriating of the non-elites’ money and other property the aim of the WEF, i.e. “You’ll own nothing and be happy”? Let this dangerous government legislate in a loose and easily misinterpreted manner and nobody’s wealth and possessions will be safe from it. To save the Planet, of course.

    4. Good morning Minty,
      It is one thing to freeze assets but stealing them to redistribute to perceived victims is dangerous territory which could have untold repercussions.

      1. Yep, but the state doesn’t care. It sees an asset and decides to take it. It has already given itself the power. That is why such must be removed.

        Same as it has the power to seize your bank accounts, to take money at a whim.

    5. “A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have. ”

      Eventually, of course, they’ll come for our homes – under a guise of needing the asset to provide for the state, of course. Then they’ll say you have X square footage, and will take X immigrants. Or a displaced family.

      Private wealth will be abolished under the ‘national urgency’ act. They’ve already taken the powers. It’s long past time we removed them.

    7. Possibly one of the most stupid Foreign Secretary’s we have ever had – and there have been many. She fits in nicely with the assorted morons running ruining the UK at present. What did we do to deserve such a bunch of blockheads?

    1. Yes they can, the powers that be think they have the greater good on their side.
      All evil dictatorships do.

    3. Not only stillbirths but large reductions in live births in several countries.

  19. Ten years after the Higgs boson was discovered, a lot is still unknown. 4 July 2022.

    The landmark discovery of the particle was made at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the “Big Bang” atom-smasher near Geneva – and announced exactly 10 years ago by Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research.

    The progress made since then to determine its properties have allowed physicists to make big steps forward in our understanding of the universe.

    Researchers have been able to measure the Higgs boson’s mass, which is a fundamental constant of nature that is not predicted by the Standard Model.

    Moreover, together with the mass of the heaviest known elementary particle, the top quark, and other parameters, the Higgs boson’s mass may determine the stability of the universe’s vacuum.

    I’ve always thought that!

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/large-hadron-collider-geneva-god-b1009970.html

    2. How tiny was the micrometer that Higgs used to measure his first Boson? He must have been quick, in any case, since it only exists for a millionth of a second.

  20. Good Moaning.
    Esther McVey in the Tellygraff:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/03/obsession-covid-has-allowed-diseases-thrive/

    “Our obsession with Covid has allowed other diseases to thrive

    It is time we acknowledged that our response to the pandemic has been worse than the disease, especially for children

    3 July 2022 • 8:39pm

    The news that polio has been found in Britain for the first time in 40 years is a worrying development. But sadly, it is not surprising to the many experts who have been warning of the unintended consequences of our narrow focus on Covid-19.

    Last summer, we were specifically warned that children were not getting vital vaccines for cancers, meningitis and other devastating conditions such as polio. It was revealed that globally, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines in 2020. This represented a major regression on routine immunisation programmes after so much progress had been made to protect against catastrophic but preventable childhood diseases.

    Here in the UK, children were also missing out on crucial vaccines, with the JCVI raising their concerns in a June 2021 meeting. They outlined a decline of approximately 20 per cent in the number of secondary school pupils receiving shots for HPV, meningitis and the three-in-one booster against tetanus, diphtheria and polio.

    Are we now paying the price of the worldwide Covid obsession? By throwing endless resources at the pandemic response, we disrupted access to routine healthcare and crucial immunisations. The stay-at-home messaging kept patients away from appointments and convinced health practitioners that it was appropriate to postpone their services.

    The JCVI suggested vaccination fatigue could be to blame for a decline in children getting jabs, but perhaps more seriously, there has been an erosion of trust in the powers-that-be. It would hardly be surprising given the unprecedented coercion we have seen employed to get the nation vaccinated against Covid-19. Jabs for jobs, Covid passes and threats of mandates, far from convincing the sceptical, have sown deep-rooted doubt in not just this vaccine, but all others.

    Incentives directly targeting Covid-19 vaccines at children have been particularly shocking to witness. This is a jab that we were originally told by Kate Bingham, Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, would be “an adult-only vaccine, for people over 50”. Such an unethical approach was always going to be profoundly damaging to long term trust in our regulators and health services, along with the medical interventions they promoted.

    Earlier this month, the Covid jab was added to the online NHS list of routine immunisations for children despite the fact that the JCVI only advised a non-urgent offer as a one-off response to the pandemic. Healthy children are at extremely small risk of suffering serious illness from Covid, and the vast majority now enjoy robust natural immunity. The benefit to children taking this vaccine is unclear while at the same time there are numerous known adverse effects and possibly more that have yet to be discovered. Without a clear and reasonable rationale for this policy, is it any wonder that parents are now losing confidence in all childhood vaccination programmes?

    The Covid pandemic saw one condition prioritised above all else, including life-saving vaccinations against childhood diseases. The return of polio could well be the latest example of how this approach created collateral damage that was entirely avoidable. It is time we acknowledged that our cure has been worse than the disease, especially for children.

    We need transparency. We need integrity. We need clarity and bold leadership from those in charge; only then can we begin to restore the faith that has been lost in the authorities responsible for protecting and promoting public health.”

    Esther McVey is the Conservative MP for Tatton and Co-Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pandemic Response and Recovery

    1. Has McVey been watching The Highwire or listening to the many renowned scientists and doctors all of whom have been making these points for many months? How soon before she is labelled a heretic by the ‘Covidians’ in government and elsewhere?

    2. Ms McVey, covid isn’t why other diseases have arisen. Your government’s massi e uncontrolled immigration policies are.

    3. …We need transparency…

      I agree, and the most transparent fact on polio, like TB, is that it is a direct consequence of the massive influx of sub-continentals to these islands.

      1. And perhaps as a result of Gates’s messing around (vaccine experiments) in Africa which ultimately encouraged and enabled a fiercer strain of the disease resistant to vaccination. Gates should never have been let loose within the pharmaceuticals but money is music to the ears of pharma.

    4. All the emphasis on covid jabs has made me and probably many others question the other jabs as well. My children had them all, but I didn’t. I had the smallpox one and polio, probably diphtheria and Scarlet fever. No need for measles or whooping cough as I survived the illness.
      Since then I’ve had the full works for travel but I won’t be taking any more.

      1. Children nowadays seem to treated like pin cushions. Children nowadays seem to suffer every possible intolerance/allergy.
        Could there be a connection? Overloaded immune systems, mayhap?

  21. Free Speech Union challenges chief constables over Lady of Heaven failures
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/662763c94cea984e24b1bc173a42192b63d12f5e065e1ee3279bfb2ddca246c0.png On 3rd June, The Lady of Heaven, an independent film about the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed, was released in cinemas across the UK, including at venues owned by Cineworld, Showcase and Vue and immediately prompted noisy protests. The Bolton Council of Mosques called the film “blasphemous”, the Muslim Council of Britain described the film as “divisive”, and the UK Muslim website 5Pillars called the film “pure, unadulterated filth”. Cinemas in Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, Bolton, Blackburn, Birmingham and Stratford were targeted by aggressive protests from some Muslims demanding the film not be screened.

    Cineworld subsequently pulled The Lady of Heaven from all its venues, and, shortly after, Showcase followed suit.

    The Free Speech Union has written to four chief constables about their failure to uphold people’s right to see The Lady of Heaven. We’ve published one of them on our website – to the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, John Robins QPM, concerning the protests in Bradford and Leeds (which were among the most intimidating in the country). The others we’ve written to are the chief constables of South Yorkshire Police, West Midlands Police and Greater Manchester Police.

    There are serious legal issues at stake here, and the letter is well worth a read. In brief, for the reasons set out in detail in the letter, we believe these police forces failed to meet their lawful obligations to police the protests proportionately, and thereby secure the right of local people to see the film, as well as the right of the film’s producers to show their film, and the right of Cineworld and Showcase to screen the film. Specifically, we believe that these forces breached the Article 10 rights of the cinema chains, who wished to show the film, and of the cinema-goers, who wished to see the film.

    We further believe it would be open to those parties to bring proceedings against these police forces under section 7 of the Human Rights Act and we will provide such assistance as we deem reasonable to any party that seeks our help in bringing such proceedings. In advance of any pre-action letter under the pre-action protocol for judicial review, which will trigger a duty of candour, we have requested a response from the chief constables to a series of questions no later than 13th July.

    Hatun Tash arrested

    While we’re on the subject of the police’s failure to uphold free speech, Hatun Tash, the evangelical Christian preacher and FSU member, was arrested at Speakers’ Corner last Sunday, the third time she’s been arrested in two years. A large number of officers were involved, and she was forcibly removed from the scene with her arms held behind her back. Hatun was then taken to Charing Cross police station, strip searched, interviewed, kept overnight in a cell and then released without charge.

    To cap it all, the day she was released – Monday, 27th June – was the 150th anniversary of Speakers’ Corner. We have written to the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Stephen House, asking him to justify this appalling treatment and, if he cannot, to apologise to Hatun. We’ve also put the following questions to the Acting Commissioner: First, has any investigation been undertaken into the robbery that Ms Tash suffered in the minutes before she was arrested; and second, has any investigation been undertaken to identify the individual who attempted to assault her while she was being arrested?
    You can read that letter on our website.

    FSU writes to Nadhim Zahawi and Michelle Donelan

    I’ve written to the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, and the Minister for Universities, Michelle Donelan, to thank them for introducing two essential amendments to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, both of which we campaigned for: first, removing the caveat “within their field of expertise” from Clause 1, so the new free speech protections in the Bill apply to academics regardless of whether they’re speaking or writing about something within their field of expertise or not; and second, making it harder for “security costs” to be cited by universities or student unions to justify no-platforming a controversial speaker. We were also pleased to see Ms Donelan confirm in the House that temporary and visiting academic staff will be shielded by the Bill’s additional protections, another thing we’ve been campaigning for. You can read the letter in full here.

    The FSU’s new briefing paper on the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d91d9e2a2dde981fb7c7ea594cd473076916f16f6af7a93d4387754e9c679e5d.png The Higher Education Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords last week, and it was heartening to see the Free Speech Union’s casework and policy briefings being mentioned in the debate.

    In a terrific speech that made the case for the Bill, Baroness Fox noted that “it is not being cancelled but the process of being accused and investigated that has become the punishment, leaving a stigma and a question mark on one’s reputation. You have only to look at the case files of Academics for Academic Freedom or the Free Speech Union to get the gist.” Sadly true. As I pointed out in the Mail earlier this month, we “get about a dozen requests for help a week from university students or academics who’ve got into trouble for exercising their lawful right to free speech”. We’ve intervened in hundreds of cases and in almost every one of those the individuals concerned would have been in a stronger position had the new law been in place.

    Earlier in the debate, Baroness Hoey said that she was “sure that amendments will come through your Lordships’ House… many of which have been suggested by what I consider to be the excellent Free Speech Union”. The amendments the Baroness was referring to here are set out in our recently published briefing paper, where we revisit the original case for the legislation, welcome the fact that the Government has accepted two of the amendments we’ve been campaigning for, reiterate the arguments for those amendments, and make the case for six new amendments that we think will improve the Bill, making its new free speech protections even more robust. You can read that document in full here.

    Over the next few weeks and months, we’re looking forward to engaging with the FSU’s allies in both houses of Parliament to ensure that the final version of the Bill contains as many of these amendments as possible.

    FSU-led amendment to the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act to rein in NCHIs

    Non-crime hate incidents were back in the news last month, after Wiltshire Police opened a file when an 11-year-old boy was called “shorty” in the street by another boy (Sun, GB News, Mail).

    We’ve been pointing out for a long time that NCHIs are a sinister form of thought-policing (our briefing document is here, and our handy FAQs on how to get an NCHI expunged from your record is here). According to the College of Policing (CoP) guidelines drawn up in 2014, NCHIs are any non-criminal act of hostility towards someone with a ‘protected’ characteristic that’s perceived to be motivated by hatred of that characteristic. They can be reported by the victim or by anyone who witnessed the incident and are recorded irrespective of whether there is any objective evidence to identify the hate element. NCHIs can then show up in an enhanced criminal records checks, which could affect the ability of the name-calling young boy in Wiltshire to get a job or enrol on an apprenticeship course.

    Still, at least he appears to know that he’s been given one, which means he’s one of the ‘lucky’ NCHI holders. That’s because police forces in England and Wales aren’t required to notify someone if an NCHI is recorded against their name – and the police are continuing to log ‘non crimes’ in the same way, in spite of the Court of Appeal declaring the CoP’s guidance unlawful in a landmark case brought by Harry Miller. Given that an estimated 250,000 NCHIs have been recorded in England and Wales since 2014, it’s likely that hundreds of thousands of people still unwittingly carry one around on their records.

    However, it looks like there may now be some good news on the horizon. The FSU worked with a group of peers to propose an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This amendment will enable the Home Secretary to issue statutory guidance concerning the recording and retention of NCHI data by the police which would supersede the CoP’s guidance – and we know from a subsequent FOI request that Priti Patel is going to avail herself of that option. Assuming she issues the guidance we think she will, NCHIs will only be recorded against people’s names in future and the information stored in police databases in exceptional circumstances. You can find the amendment at Section 61 of the Act here

    National coverage of the FSU’s victory in battle with Worcester College, Oxford

    The Telegraph carried news of a huge victory for the Free Speech Union in its long-running battle with Worcester College, Oxford this month (the story was subsequently picked up by other news outlets, including The Critic, Epoch Times, Christian Institute and Christian Post).

    The College has now admitted it “misled” students after capitulating to an activist mob back in 2021 and cancelling a Christian event that had been due to take place on its campus. Worcester College, run by David Isaac, the former Chair of LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall (2003-12) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (2016-20), had previously apologised to students for hosting a Christian Concern summer school – known as the Wilberforce Academy. Mr Isaac then proceeded to cancel a second booking after a small number of students complained that they had been “distressed” by the presence of the Academy on campus last summer. In what the Mail described at the time as an example of cancel culture in Britain’s universities, Worcester College emailed students to acknowledge that the booking “was a serious failure that has caused significant distress” and promised never to allow the Wilberforce Academy to come back.

    I first wrote to Mr Isaac in September 2021, pointing out that to exclude a group from holding an event on the College’s premises because of its Christian beliefs would be a breach of the Equality Act 2010: “Under section 29(1) of that Act, Worcester’s response to student distaste at the Wilberforce Academy seems to amount, quite openly, to a policy of discrimination.” You can read my letter, along with Mr Issac’s response, here.

    In March of this year, an independent review found “no evidence” for the allegations made by a fellow of the College, that “aggressive leafleting” had taken place and that conference attendees had made “unsolicited approaches” to staff and students to discuss controversial opinions on LGBT conversation therapy (Telegraph). As the review made clear, the College acted on these complaints despite staff and students being unable to locate copies of the leaflets, and despite Christian Concern stating that no leaflets had in fact been distributed.

    Following the report’s publication, I wrote again to Mr Isaac, asking him to retract his apology, and lift the ban he imposed on further bookings by the Academy. I also pointed out that “we continue to stand by Christian Concern and will provide whatever legal and financial assistance we deem appropriate should this matter escalate”. You can read that letter here.

    After these warnings, the College eventually admitted that it was “misleading to suggest that Conference delegates or representatives of Christian Concern acted improperly in an email to students in September 2021”.

    In a joint statement issued with Christian Concern, both parties reaffirmed their mutual commitment “to the right to freedom of speech and religious belief and the dignity of all people”. In a world where “differing views are strongly and sincerely held”, the statement added, “it is important to come together and listen to each other. To that end, Worcester has invited Christian Concern to speak at a debate which will take place as soon as can be arranged.”

    As I pointed out in the Telegraph, “the mistake Worcester College made was to immediately capitulate to the demands of an activist mob and ban a group from its premises without properly investigating the allegations against it. Sadly, we see this kind of institutional cowardice again and again, particularly in the higher education sector, usually motivated by a desire for a quiet life. As this case neatly demonstrates, the way to force such institutions to take their responsibility to uphold free speech more seriously is to make it clear that organisations like ours will create an almighty fuss if they don’t.”

    Oxford University changes harassment rules in free speech row

    As reported in the Times Higher Education this month, the FSU has been helping a group of nine senior academics formally petition the University of Oxford to reform its policies and protect free speech and academic freedom in accordance with the law. The question under Part 5 of the Congregation Regulations 2 of 2002, has now appeared in the University’s journal of record, the Oxford Gazette (here).

    Currently, Oxford professors are expected to adhere to the university’s harassment policy and its guidance on social media use, which requires “all members of the university community… to treat each other with respect, courtesy and consideration in all forms of communication with one another”. The purpose of putting the question to the University’s Council was not, of course, to allow harassment or encourage incivility – the FSU believes that the University should have power to restrain destructive and gratuitously abusive conduct. The concern is more that the requirement for colleagues “to treat each other with respect, courtesy and consideration”, while reasonable, is, as per the question in the Oxford Gazette, “legally baseless” because “speech that lacks respect, professionalism, etc., is still free speech within the law”. As a “matter of principle”, the question states, “the policy of the University – as an institution founded on tolerance, free thought and free expression – should in all circumstances be more liberal and open-minded than the policy of social media platforms”.

    The question to the University’s council, along with the Council’s reply, was published in the Oxford Gazette on 9th June, and Bryn Harris, the FSU’s Chief Legal Counsel, and Karolien Celie, our Legal Officer, have now written about this in an article for the Oxford Journal entitled ‘The Faltering State of Academic Freedom’. As the title suggests, they’re not particularly impressed by the University Council’s reply to the academics’ question. “Despite benefitting from the advice of a QC,” they write, the Council’s reply “could charitably be described as ‘thin’… prompt[ing] many questions, and answer[ing] none” (p. 5). They go on to note that the question “was an opportunity for the University to vindicate its position by setting out clearly those elusive legal grounds on which its policies can be justified”, and its failure to do so must “give rise to the inference that it has failed to identity such grounds because they do not exist” (p. 6).
    You can read Bryn and Karolien’s article here.

    Briefing paper on the Bill of Rights

    Following a Government consultation which the FSU contributed to, the Government has introduced a Bill of Rights Bill in the form of a Parliamentary bill. If passed, it will repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and introduce a new framework for domestic implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Free Speech Union has just published its briefing on the Bill, which you can find here. We’re pleased to see that the Government took up several of our suggestions and intends to re-establish freedom of speech as the pre-eminent right on which all other rights are based. That said, we have reservations about the way in which the Government proposes to safeguard that right. We’ve flagged up the Bill’s proposed exceptions to the application of the right, and the effective immunity from scrutiny granted to legislation, as areas for improvement. You can read the briefing here.

    New Scottish web page

    Back in April, the FSU opened a Scottish office due to overwhelming demand from its Scottish members. Last month saw the launch of our new Scottish webpage, which you can see here. Not only does the page showcase the work the FSU is already doing on behalf of its Scottish members, it also acts as a first point of contact for Scottish members – or prospective members – concerned that they’re being penalised for exercising their lawful right to free speech. As Fraser Hudghton, our Director of Case Management and the Director of FSU Scotland, notes, “There are specific challenges in Scotland with devolved legislation and it’s vitally important Scots know that we are there to provide help when they need it most.”

    FAQs on what to do if you are asked to declare your preferred gender pronouns

    We have been contacted by many members recently asking what to do about the fact that their employer has asked them to declare their gender pronouns, usually on a lanyard or name badge, or in their email signatures. Consequently, we thought it would be useful to pull together some FAQs on this issue.

    As with so many free speech issues, there are some legal protections for employees who do not wish to declare their gender pronouns, but there are also some legal justifications employers can cite for trying to get them to do so, namely, the Equality Act 2010. Then again, the Equality Act also provides some protection for employees if they’re being discriminated against on the basis of their religious or philosophical beliefs, such as the belief that sex is binary and fixed. So it’s complicated. The bottom line is that if you’ve been asked to publicly declare your gender pronouns by your manager or boss and you believe you might suffer a detriment if you refuse to do so, you should contact a member of our case team.

    FSU South Africa is launched!

    The FSU is delighted to announce the launch of the Free Speech Union South Africa (FSU SA). The FSU SA is a much-needed organisation.

    Free speech in South Africa is protected by Section 16(2) of the Constitution. The limits to free speech in that document, as FSU SA points out, are not too restrictive. And yet, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000 has markedly increased the grounds on which free speech can be limited. The recently proposed Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill is also now seeking to criminalise insulting, offensive and hurtful speech, with penalties of up to three years in jail – as the FSU SA makes clear, it’s not that offensive speech shouldn’t be challenged, it’s simply that no-one should have a legal right not to offended.

    It’s in this context that FSU SA will promote free speech, criticise restrictions of it and assist, where possible, anyone whose freedom of speech and freedom of opinion is under attack, or anyone whose employment by or membership of an institution has been terminated because of their exercise of free speech.
    You can see the FSU SA’s website here.

    General fighting fund

    This month we’ve helped people from all walks of life, with cases ranging from people being kicked off social media for questioning trans ideology, to members losing their jobs and livelihoods for comments made outside of work. People contact us every week who never imagined they’d need our support. Help us to help them: if you can, please donate to our general fighting fund.

    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 to 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,

    [All links mentioned in text:]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1261&v=6vmKFmIZz2M&feature=emb_logo
    https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-the-metropolitan-police-concerning-the-arrest-of-hatun-tash/
    https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-nadim-zahawi-mp-and-michelle-donelan-mp-thanking-them-for-introducing-two-vital-amendments-we-campaigned-for-to-the-higher-education-bill/
    https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Why-the-Higher-Education-Bill-is-needed.pdf
    https://freespeechunion.org/an-orwellian-society-2/
    https://freespeechunion.org/faqs-on-how-to-get-a-non-crime-hate-incident-removed-from-your-criminal-record/
    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/32/section/61/enacted
    https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-provost-of-worcester-college-about-his-recent-apology-for-hosting-christian-event/
    https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-the-provost-of-worcester-about-ill-judged-apology-to-students-for-allowing-christian-group-to-hold-conference-on-college-facilities/
    https://gazette.web.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/gazette/documents/media/question_under_part_5_of_congregation_regulations_2_of_2002_-_1_to_no_5352.pdf
    https://freespeechunion.org/the-faltering-state-of-academic-freedom/
    https://freespeechunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/The-Bill-of-Rights.pdf
    https://freespeech.org.za
    https://freespeechunion.org

      1. “Mmmmm” signifies a desire for something. Is that what you are saying?

        [If I am sceptical, I usually say Hmmmm!]

        1. It is a post-modern sarcastic expression. I may get up in the morning and throw on any old thing. I could have said, “lovely biscuits”. Police Scotland have made a number of dismal appointments. That has not stopped an incumbent who has left under a cloud from enjoying success elsewhere. The First Ministers have picked some real crackers to head up the police.

          House followed by Gormley. That went so well.
          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-42810671

      2. I’d forgotten about that poor lass left to die in her car.
        The man sounds a total MacKnob. He’s got the job.

    2. Whenever muslims complain about something plod should turn up and get rid of them as chances are it’s a good thing.

      The more they’re offended and insulted the better. This is not a muslim country. Don’t like it, they can leave.

    3. Good morning Grizz.

      …….. NCHIs will only be recorded against people’s names in future and the information stored in police databases in exceptional circumstances.
      Surely that must be accompanied by a list of exceptional circumstances otherwise it is arbitrary and another payday for lawyers. It should be stopped altogether, no exceptions. If it is NOTunlawful it shouldn’t be recorded.

      Added word NOT.

    4. Good morning Grizz.

      …….. NCHIs will only be recorded against people’s names in future and the information stored in police databases in exceptional circumstances.
      Surely that must be accompanied by a list of exceptional circumstances otherwise it is arbitrary and another payday for lawyers. It should be stopped altogether, no exceptions. If it is NOTunlawful it shouldn’t be recorded.

      Added word NOT.

    5. Good morning Grizz.

      …….. NCHIs will only be recorded against people’s names in future and the information stored in police databases in exceptional circumstances.
      Surely that must be accompanied by a list of exceptional circumstances otherwise it is arbitrary and another payday for lawyers. It should be stopped altogether, no exceptions. If it is NOTunlawful it shouldn’t be recorded.

      Added word NOT.

    6. “Still, at least he appears to know that he’s been given one, which means he’s one of the ‘lucky’ NCHI holders. That’s because police forces in England and Wales aren’t required to notify someone if an NCHI is recorded against their name – and the police are continuing to log ‘non crimes’ in the same way, in spite of the Court of Appeal declaring the CoP’s guidance unlawful in a landmark case brought by Harry Miller. Given that an estimated 250,000 NCHIs have been recorded in England and Wales since 2014, it’s likely that hundreds of thousands of people still unwittingly carry one around on their records.”
      Shades of the collapsed GDR when husbands discovered wives had been reporting on them to the Stasi – and vice versa.

  22. A pipe dream of mine is to bring back the old pre-decimal British coinage of my childhood, as well as restoring the money to when it was worth something.

    Since 5p buys nothing, and anything smaller than this is just a waste of metal, I would make the smallest unit, the farthing, equivalent to 5p, making the penny the equivalent of 20p.

    The coins are as follows:

    Bronze: farthing (5p), halfpenny (10p), penny (20p)

    Silver: threepence (60p), sixpence (£1.20), shilling (£2.40), crown (£12)

    Bimetal: florin (£4.80), halfcrown (£6)

    Bank notes: five shillings (£12), ten shlllings (£24), pound (£48)

    Gold: 50 shilling quarter sovereign (£120), 100 shilling or 5 pounds half sovereign (£240), 200 shilling or 10 pounds full sovereign (£480)

    Whilst the old £sd system required three columns at all times, a working arrangement would be to have three tiers of money trading, using a similar arrangment to that used by auctioneers, whereby insignificant units are discarded, rounded up or down. These are:

    Counting in pennies < 5 shillings (< £12), round to nearest farthing (5p) Counting in shillings 5 - 60 shillings (£12 -£144), round to nearest penny (20p) Counting in pounds > 60 shillings (> £144), round to nearest shilling (£2.40)

    Accountants using any mixed combinations need to adopt the full £sd system, and roundings only applied when settling up, not when pricing.

    The sovereign face value is above the metal value of the gold, but can be used for face value cash transactions.

    The decimal 1/1000 of the pound (4.8p) can also be used in electronic large value transactions.

    Whilst the traditional guinea (£50.40) can be used, a more practical guinea might be the crowned pound (£60) which is rendered in decimal form as 1.25 pounds or 25 shillings.

    1. Err, wouldn’t it be more sensible just to line up against the gold standard? However, that prevents big fat state from debasing the currency.

      1. If we went on the gold standard, the first question on many people’s lips would be, how long will it last this time?

      2. It prevents the economy from growing faster than you can accumulate gold, and it causes deflation which causes depressions. Did you learn nothing from Churchill’s tenure in number 11???

    2. There was a currency reform proposed in the 1920s: the main unit would be worth five pounds, which would be divided into 100 shillings, which would in turn be divided into 100 sub units

      1. Plantagenet Palliser – in the Trollope novels – was banging on (and on and on) about decimal currency in the 1860s! His main problem was the five “farthings” to make one penny….

        1. There was much talk of extending the Latin Monetary Union in the 1860s. The gold content of sterling would be slightly reduced, the sovereign (£1) would give way to the queen, worth 16s, which would be divided into 20 Francs, which would be divided in 100 centimes, ten of which would be worth almost 1d.

          Pres. Lincoln was an enthusiast, hence the 2.5 gramme dime (you do the math).

          NB. This was a specie currency union, not to be confused with the euro, which is a fiat currency union.

      2. It was Napoleon’s idea to decimalise everything.

        For everyday use though, the base 12 is much better, since it’s divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6. Base 60 brings in 5 as well as 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30.

        It makes casual trading and sharing out much simpler, and may well have given Britain a competitive advantage before decimalisation.

        Base 60 is still used for time. With the 24 hour day, 8 is brought in, and with the week, 7 too.

        Base 10 is divisible by just 2 and 5. Base 100 brings in 4 ,10, 20, 25 and 50.

        1. The infant United States led the way with decimal currency. Blame Jefferson.

      3. Wasn’t the Florin, 2/- bit, created as part of a decimalisation plan?

        1. Yes. I used to have a bun florin (Queen Victoria as a young woman on it). Alas, my mother took it out of the drawer in my bedroom and spent it. No wonder I didn’t get on with my mother!

    4. Hi Jeremy,
      Fascinating concept.

      The guinea as a coin (not as a unit of account) might have to be excluded owing to its links with slavery on the Gold Coast of west Africa.

      As for your proposed premium over face value, a scrap gold sovereign is now worth about £340, so at current levels of inflation the face value would be below the metal value within 3 years.

  23. Breaking news – The man behind the shooting in Copenhagen will be announced as soon as his skin bleaching and shave process has been completed

    1. First of all the MSM stated that he was a Danish national.

      Now the BBC claim that he is an ethnic Dane.

      No comment about his religion…….why am I surprised?

    2. Mental health issues, and such a sweet boy who was always kind to his nan.

    4. Name of Noah Esbensen, who was complaining online that his anti-nutcase medication did not work.

  25. SIR – I have just paid £242.89 for pulling off the road for 17 minutes, unaware that the leafy lay-by was a car park with solar-panel cameras managed by a private company (“‘Rip-off ’ private parking firms drive record number of fines”, report, July 2). The appeal process is in name only.

    When will this iniquitous, ubiquitous trade be controlled?

    SD Curtis
    Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire

    More fool you for paying the fine. If that “leafy lay-by” was not clearly signed as a car park, then those operating it can go to hell.

    1. That’s obviously a trap, the authorities need to act and shut it down. And make the owners liable for any designed problems they are causing.
      But……🤔

    2. It always annoys me that we pay to build these things – they’re not private land. They’re paid for from taxes. Then people we hire at great expense hire other people at great expense to force us to pay again to use land we have paid for.

      1. Rent-seeking is how so many of us make money these days. Success used to be a measure of how hard you worked. Now it’s a measure of what you own and can rent out to parasite on the incomes of those who do work hard. This is why we need LVT and a total change to the tax code to incentivise production instead of rent-seeking.

    3. Probably private property with warning signs stating that it is not a public carpark and only available for customers and tenants.

    4. It’s why they are pushing smart motorways, to stop people pulling over onto non-chargeable space. They’ve started putting the crash barriers right next to the carriageway on A roads too.

      The Worcester bypass is right now having its crash barriers brought in closer to the road to stop people pulling over if they break down. They say it’s for our own security, and of course we are paying for it.

    5. It’s not a fine it’s an invoice.
      Only courts can impose fines all other charges can be defended in court.

        1. In fact this sort of thing would be heard in a County Court which is a civil matter, not criminal, and it would be for the individual to take the sender of the invoice to court to plead his case.
          If the county court judge finds in their favour then costs would be awarded against the defendant.

          1. It doesn’t work that way any more.

            There is only one way to appeal these ‘fines’ and that is the appeals procedure to POPLA otherwise the private parking bandits take you to court often even without your knowledge, get their invoice turned into a fine which they then sell to a debt recovery agency who then add their own cut on top.

            I had a 60 quid fine for stopping on the forecourt of my local garage for literally 30 seconds to drop 2 black bags of clothes into the North London Hospice shop from a dead care home resident. I ignored the POPLA procedure. I rang them up saying we have no contract and as such I’m not going to pay this invoice. I heard nothing more until the letter from a debt-recovery agency appeared saying the fine had gone through the courts, they now owned it and it was now 600 quid.

            Needless to say we now burn old clothes instead of giving them to charity.

          2. This is the advise I took and used it successfully.
            The derby collection agency is a frightener and have no power to enforce the PCN, if they want you to pay but you think it unfair they will take you to court and if you turn up with a strong case against them they will have the finding against the issuer.
            These people know the ones they are likely to win but will pursue you but not proceed with the case. They rely on people being frighted but if you follow MSE,com you have a good chance of success.
            I have used it successfully twice.

          3. When?

            The law was changed during the coalition government. Before that getting out of these tickets was easy as they relied on people thinking they were fines and paying them. They couldn’t really be enforced. Now there’s no difference between a private parking bandit and the council.

          5. I know the government gave in to BCPA but the law still says you can appeal and if their ‘independent’ adjudicator disagrees with you you can still go to court, as I’ve explained, and get the decision from a County Court judge.
            I agree that things are not ideal but rarely is it.

          6. POPLA says…

            “What if your POPLA appeal fails? If you lose your POPLA appeal then you will be expected to pay the charge to the parking operator within 28 days of POPLA making its decision. If you do not pay within 28 days then the fine could increase or be referred to a debt collection agency.”

            The law changed in October 2012. It’s the Protection of Freedoms Act.

            You will not be notified if a private parking bandit :-

            1) Takes you to court.
            2) Sells your fine on.

            If you are not notified about court you have no chance to defend yourself. Your first notification that your debt has been sold is a letter telling you that the fine has increased massively. As I said my 60 quid fine ( err 120 quid but 60 if paid within 14 days) increased to 600 quid. I had no chance to defend myself. I insisted I wasn’t paying. They got an attachment to earnings order. Again I wasn’t notified of these proceedings and had no chance to defend myself. They took their money directly from my wages before I even received them.

          8. I don’t have date but within the last 10 years including the time I was a court usher.

    6. Since the Clegg changes it’s been very difficult to almost impossible to get out of private parking fines. The days of scrawling ‘No Contract’ across it and sending it back to them are gone. The appeals process now matches that for council tickets which are rarely revoked.

    1. Probably accurate, the media won’t really let us know the truth, they are too busy making up stories.
      I wonder when UK pensioners are going to get a payrise ? Zero percent lessened by massive inflation ?
      I think we should all go on strike 🤔

      1. They came up with all sorts of fiddles to reduce my two little company pensions that are now struggling to keep up with the Council Tax. I never quite got my head round why only a small part of my pension is eligible for increases, and the rest is frozen at the value of money decades ago.

        State pension increases are held back for six months and then only at the rates doctored by the stats department for September. There is then six months at the true rate of inflation, which is not included in the increase, and is duly doctored away the following September.

        Executive remuneration is way above inflation, so they are quite relaxed about it, and it is they who make the “difficult” decisions. It’s one reason they had to drop the triple lock, because executive pay was pushing up the rate paid to pensioners.

      2. Couple-three years ago, we all had a 10% cut, management 15%. All to avoid redundancies. It worked, too.

        1. Was that when our politicians awarded themselves a 10 thousand pound pay increase.

        2. A one-off?

          Many workers in the current disputes have had a decade of pay cuts and a lack of pay rises whatever inflation was doing. Many had their working conditions changed.

          We’ve got legal aid barristers complaining they earn less than minimum wage. We’ve got doctors and nurses leaving the profession to earn real money doing something else.

          I am doing IT support starting tomorrow and I will be paid the best wage I’ve had since I gave up writing software for a living, not far off what we pay junior doctors now and for that I’ll do 37.5 hours per week, and they are already telling me that there’s positions higher to be promoted to if I’m deemed capable.

    2. The railway ticket apple would allow government agencies to monitor people, and indeed refuse to allow them to travel if they did not have enough social credit.

    3. These work changes – will a van from one station be able to respond to the requests of the one next door?

      There’s three sides to all this – your side, their side and the truth. Vehicles to get to work sites…. are they paying your expenses to do that? As it sounds as if the private sector has been doing this since the beginning of time. They likely want to stop having to maintain an expensive fleet of vehicles that allow you to complain you can’t do the work.

    4. Another side may well be that management have identified the high rates of pay and decided to rein in the free-for-all.

      1. Most of the people involved in this dispute earn under 30k. Many of them earn 18-23k.

  27. Morning all😃
    Not much in the news today. Big fire in London 100 fire fighters in attendance.
    Probably the self igniting insulation again.

    1. 353860+ up ticks,

      Morning RE,

      Eddie that was in 1666 you had a bit of a lie in ?

        3. I remember seeing a cup final involving Southampton and a large flag that pronounced ‘Jesus saves but Channon hits rebounds’

          1. I saw a graffito once that said, “Jesus is coming!” Underneath some wag had added, ” Only if he changes at Crewe.”
            This was on a railway bridge.

          2. I like that.

            Years ago there was a church in Guildford that had a poster outside saying ‘Go to church for Christs sake’.

            Sleep well tonight Ann.

        4. I remember seeing a cup final involving Southampton and a large flag that pronounced ‘Jesus saves but Channon hits rebounds’

    3. Huh.
      I’ll have you know I can reverse the iron. The sheets have creases to prove it.

    1. Mps expenses eh, they take away three times their salaries in ‘expenses’.

    2. That last one is funny, but it still perpetuates the utter bollocks about a mute swan being able to break a man’s arm. I used to catch them (for ringing purposes), usually by rugby-tackling them. There are no instances of any swan ever breaking any man’s arm. It is an urban (rural?) myth.

      1. Good morning Grizzly, and everyone.
        Have you ever tried to handle or remove to a place of safety any recently hatched cygnets whilst the cob is nearby? Whilst I agree that a swan would be unlikely to break the limb of any healthy adult man, the shin bones of children would (IMHO) be vulnerable.
        My limited experience is with Embden geese, and a young gander is capable of a deliberate forward stroke of its wing, similar in style to a karate chop. Even if you are wearing boots it is prudent to avoid the force of such a blow. A gander is also capable of jumping on your back and pecking at your head whilst trying to simultaneously maintain its balance and beat your arms with its wings (imagine a pterodactyl attack).

        1. Been a while since i was attacked by a pterodactyl, I admit. The buggers used to steal our lunch money.

  30. Good morning all

    Cloudy morning , some sunshine , 15c.

    Moh off soon to play golf in the New Forest .

    I loved this letter

    SIR – It would be an act of insanity to import the coal we need for our steel industry when we have an abundance of it ourselves (Letters, June 30).

    I implore Michael Gove, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, to announce the opening of the coal mine at Whitehaven, Cumbria, urgently. It will contribute to the restoration of Britain’s economic vitality.

    Aneurin Bevan once said: “This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish in Great Britain at the same time.”

    Ian Burley
    Cookham Dean, Berkshire

    1. Appears that Bevan’s statement was taken as a challenge by many that have “governed” this Country. Johnson, standing on the shoulders of midgets and morons, has risen to the challenge, and won.

    2. Hilarious. Pushy little madam, ain’t she?
      Hazza’s chums were having none of it.

      1. He only rides it when wind speed is greater than 10mph and in the direction he’s travelling.

  34. Good morning, all. How’s tricks?

    We had a brilliant holiday. Having abandoned all heart pills, I discovered that I could still drive 2,000 miles; go swimming nearly every day (it was 30ºC plus every day but one – when it drizzled, warmly) and could descend and, more importantly climb up 2,454 steps. It was wonderful to be away, abroad – and to find that we could still speak French. One trip to Italy to stock up with olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes (among other things).

    No delays going out; returning, there were hold ups in Calais on the French side – to stamp passports and to do an explosives test on every vehicle. Straight through UK Border Farce – and, to my astonishment NOT ONE Customs officer. We could have brought in a vast amount of stuff.

    French people very glad to see us back, especially the excellent hotel Meurice in Calais (we have stayed there 19 times!) and the little bar Minck – away from the trippery part – they had been closed for nine months and said that they were so grateful for old customers returning.

    Then back to Narfurk. Pickles in the porch. A note saying that Gus had not been seen for two days. We spent half an hour searching the lane verges for a little yellow corpse. They went round the garden for the third time. Gus materialised from behind the woodstore and galloped towards us mewing loudly -as if t say, “Where the hell have YOU been?”

    So we are all happily ensconced – as usual. La vie continue. Had first trombetti on Friday!

    We don’t appear to have missed much…..

    2. Ayup Bill,welcome back,now to important business we may have missed you a bit but we missed G&P a lot,get the camera out!! {:^))

    5. Wow and good morning Bill.

      So pleased you have had a brill holiday, and delighted to read that your furpals meowed to you a happy welcome home x

    6. Excellent Bill. Sounds as if your holiday did you the world of good, including abandoning the pills. Welcome back.

    7. Welcome home and an especially warm welcome back to these pages. It all sounds wonderful. Gives us hope for the future, for us all.

    8. Great stuff BT, but think what you missed out on, a rubber boat, free meals and medical treatment. Free transport and free accommodation. Probably a selection of maybe used but in good condition designer clothing.
      Free hot water free electricity can’t be bad and we’ll worth turning up for.
      Welcome back both. 🤩☺

    10. While he pays us no regard – and isn’t ours – I do like to see Beast at least once a day.

      I also must remember that he is a she.

      1. Getting the sort of colour that would enable me to take part in a modern TV commercial…!!

    13. Good to see you back – glad you had a great time and that G&P are welcoming you in true cat style!

      1. Thank you. They have not exactly been “clingy” – but they have been more attentive than before!

  35. Explosive testimony suggests Trump was set on a coup that evokes America’s darkest hour. 4 July 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9878c23bc27aabcfc58ab4ff8ab05ab4768f353add320dcb01cff6f98c37fdce.png

    The “insurrectionists!” The people without Weapons, Means or Common Sense!

    But Thompson opened proceedings with that reminder for a very good reason: because the 6 January insurrection did not merely resemble the dark history of the civil war and its aftermath, it continued it. “Some people are trying to deny what happened,” Thompson added. “To whitewash it. To turn the insurrectionists into martyrs. But the whole world saw the reality of what happened on January 6th. The hangman’s gallows sitting out there on our National Mall. The flag of that first failed and disgraced rebellion against our union, being paraded through the Capitol.”

    Darkest Hour my foot!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/03/explosive-testimony-suggest-trump-was-set-on-a-coup-that-evokes-americas-darkest-hour

    2. insurrection. Oh the guardian does like to spin, doesn’t it? Rebellion? Obviously he’s forgotten their civil war.

    3. It keeps MAGA, Trump and his loons in the spotlight and is a total distraction from what is really going on in America, of course the Democrats are hoping it will run and run and their poodle press will do their damndest to ensure that it does

    4. Officially announced recently: The officer in charge of security at Capitol Hill has died.

      Unofficial news: The officer in charge of security at Capitol Hill has been shot dead as he was crossing the road.

      The one man that could have given a definitive answer on what really happened.

      That’s him out of the way.

        2. If he was the surprise witness and testifying against MAGA et al, the invaders might equally have trumped the ace.

      3. Post
        The Epoch Times
        @EpochTimes
        ·
        Jun 28
        #MichaelStenger, the former US Senate sergeant-at-arms who was in charge of Senate security during the #Jan6 US Capitol breach, died on June 27.

        The circumstances and cause of Stenger’s death were not immediately clear.

        https://gettr.com/post/p1g5pk61551

  36. Morning all. Re the headline “GPs are quitting because their medical expertise is going to waste”.

    Suggestion. 1. Start seeing patients
    2. Prescribe specifically for them
    3. Ignore government diktat.
    4. Stop moaning.

    1. Absolutely spot on.
      It was highly noticeable that our previously impossible to see GP arranged for dozens of elderly patients to line up around the building slaves rolled up while he and another, adminstered the flu jabs last year.
      I believe they are paid extra for that procedure. And no pre-bookings were required.

  38. Property deals involving Prince Charles and Tory donor Lord Brownlow under investigation
    Havisham Properties spent £1.7 million buying up houses in Knockroon, Ayrshire, to bail out the Prince’s failed eco-development
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/07/03/property-deals-involving-prince-charles-tory-donor-lord-brownlow/

    Prince Charles should never become king: too many people are getting so completely pissed off by this sanctimonious and stupid old man who keeps priggishly hectoring us and lecturing us about the environment, slavery, architecture, race relations, illegal immigration etc. etc.. Indeed, when was the last time this idiot was actually right about anything?

    Ireland and Germany have non-executive presidents; France and the US do not. In general constitutional monarchies succeed because their monarchs do not meddle with politics and presidents such as Macron and Biden are held in contempt.

    The Queen is much loved and respected – I wonder if it ever occurs to Prince Charles to ask himself why he is so despised?

    1. Good morning, Richard. Spelling error, I am afraid.

      It is Lord BrownNOSE

      1. Good morning Bill and welcome back to Nottl!

        I thought you said you were ‘brown’ from your holiday in the sun – does that include your nose?

          1. Nope. Nothing, so far. All gone swimmingly… Waiting for armageddon, however.

          4. Ah – the “first” 30 minutes before the “delay” and then the “cancellation”

      3. Welcome back!

        We have a girl from Gresham’s with us on a course at the moment. Interesting to hear the gossip and the scandal. It would appear that the spouses of some of the teachers at the school are rather cavalier about their marital vows and commitments.

      4. I wonder if there will be any mentions or memorials at Gresham’s activated by the passing of Peter Brook who died on Saturday aged 97?

        I am sure that Carolyn will have some thoughts about his influence on theatre and film. As well as his often very avant-garde productions of Shakespeare he directed the film of William Golding’s novel: The Lord of the Flies .

      6. Welcome back, BT. Good to hear that you are rested and restored by a good margin.

        1. Thank you. A combination of abandoning tablets AND daily swimming in the sea (24ºC) – and of simply doing nothing made a great difference.

          Back to the grindstone here, of course – ladder work; constantly watering (no rain of any use for many weeks).

        1. Now that would be a step in the wrong direction as it would be Blair that would turn up.

        2. Yay ……. Uncle Bill is back. All refreshed and rarin’ to go.
          Note to stroppy NOTTLers; p1ss him off again and you’ll have Nurse Ratched to cope with.

          1. He is such a sensitive soul. We should find a padded safe space for him. :@)

          2. I have actually been in a padded room. It was absolutely frightening – and that was with the door held open.
            All I can say is if you weren’t mad before you went in, you would be afterwards.

      2. Just read this in Private Eye…

        “The home Office today confirmed the first person to be put on a plane and deported to Rwanda is Charles Windsor”.
        “He thinks he’s gone to Kigali to represent the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting”. Said a Home Office spokesperson.

        “But if this interfering busybody expects a return ticket home after blasting our asylum policy, he’s got another think coming”.
        Refugee rights groups expressed surprise at the decision to deport Prince Charles to Rwanda, given the he didn’t meet the stated Home Office criteria, as Charles is not single, he’s 73 years old and Heir to the Throne.
        “On past form, I didn’t think he’d contribute much to our society in the near future”. Insisted a smirking Priti.
        (cont.p94).

  40. https://www.takimag.com/article/revolution-time/
    Very very pertinent.
    A few of the he opening ones and the closing paragraph, to give a taster.

    A century ago, a horse-drawn wagon packed with dynamite exploded in front of the J.P. Morgan building on Wall Street. Forty people were killed and another 150 people were injured by the blast. The bomb destroyed much of the building and caused an estimated $30 million in property damage. The most important aspect of the bombing was not how many or how much, but who was the target.

    The year before, a bomb went off at the Los Angeles Times building, killing twenty people and injuring over 100. The attack was called the crime of the century when it happened, but it did not register with the people in charge. Prior to the Wall Street bombing, there had been a string of attacks, mostly related to organized labor, but some of it was carried out for purely political reasons.

    From the perspective of the rich people benefiting from open borders, this was a worthwhile trade-off. Sure, the regular people were suffering from immigration, but that was their fault. They should have gotten rich so they could afford to avoid the poor huddled masses being imported to make rich people even more rich. The violence and chaos that came from immigration were not a problem for rich people.

    The Wall Street bombing changed how rich people viewed immigration. It was assumed the bomb was the work of radical opponents of capitalism, such as Bolsheviks, anarchists, and militant socialists. The government was charged with rounding many of them up and deporting them. Not long after, Congress passed new laws severely restricting immigration, especially from Southern and Eastern Europe.

    This short trip down memory lane is a good reminder that the people in charge of society, the rich and their servants in the managerial class, will act and act swiftly when it comes to things that matter to them. The threat of death focuses the mind on whoever or whatever lies behind the threat. In the case of immigration, the rich were suddenly focused on the problem and put an end to immigration.

    The thing that was obviously true about the bombings and murders was that they were the acts of foreigners. In fact, the civil and political unrest was exclusively a result of loose immigration policies. Big business was desperate for cheap labor, so they told Washington to open the borders. Many of those immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe brought their radical politics with them.

    A century ago, Americans learned that the people in charge have to be reminded from time to time that the people preserve the right to revolt. A century before that, the people revolted and installed new leaders. Revolt is the necessary ingredient to a functioning society. This Independence Day, Americans are slowly realizing that the tree of liberty is calling to them again. The rulers would be wise to hear it as well.

  41. Tory rebels are plotting another vote to oust Boris Johnson this month
    Opponents of the Prime Minister will try to overhaul 1922 Committee rules so that another leadership challenge can be triggered immediately
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/03/tory-rebels-plotting-another-vote-oust-boris-johnson-month/

    BTL

    There is one reason and one reason only why there should be a rebellion against Johnson – his apparently deliberate desire to renege on his election promises.

    But if the Conservative MPs cannot grasp the fact that many MPs – including remainers – would not have been elected if Johnson had not promised to ‘Get Brexit Done’ then they are far too stupid to remain as MPs.

    Any new leader must commit him/herself to addressing the 2019 party manifesto and this must start with getting Brexit fully done immediately.
    The alternative is probably the end of the Conservative Party and it will be good riddance.

    2. The daft thing is that they were staying away from the rainblow flag people and hanging around Piers Corbyn, Abi Roberts and company, where people were rolling their eyes, pointing at their cheeks and taking photos, doubtless for posts like the above.

    3. Are police officers being ordered to adopt these nonsensical symbols, or are they voluntary?

    4. My reply on Twatter:

      “If they were anything like a disciplined force, they’d all be charged with being improperly dressed at least. I would add conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.”

        1. No Avatar, just my real name. I only have an Avatar on here, because when I started, many moons ago, there were very few who used their full name and I just thought it de rigeur to disguise oneself.

    5. My reply on Twatter:

      “If they were anything like a disciplined force, they’d all be charged with being improperly dressed at least. I would add conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.”

      2. 36,000 a year then, likely more.

        We simply cannot sustain that. They must be deported. It is simple. If they’re brought here, then they go live with those who did so.

        1. 50,000 is the estimate for this year. In the last 10 years our population has increased by 3.5 million. They have no intention of stopping it. If they were successful in stopping the small boats the government would fly them in. Just as David Camoron did.

    2. Put them all in Ukrainian army fatigues and export them straight to the Ukraine

    4. Soon, if you are a Native Brit, there will not be any Hotels that will be able to accommodate you

    2. EU member states up until now have got away with succumbing to the pressures of reducing farm emissions which are deemed to contribute up to 10% of global warming.

      It is fortunate that the UK electorate voted against EU membership and is not governed by the CAP. which now threatens to put farmers out of business if they don’t meat (🐄) stringent animal greenhouse emissions (💨).

      https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/eu-farming-policy-failing-fight-climate-change-auditors-say-2021-06-21/

    3. EU member states up until now have got away with succumbing to the pressures of reducing farm emissions which are deemed to contribute up to 10% of global warming.

      It is fortunate that the UK electorate voted against EU membership and is not governed by the CAP. which now threatens to put farmers out of business if they don’t meat (🐄) stringent animal greenhouse emissions (💨).

      https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/eu-farming-policy-failing-fight-climate-change-auditors-say-2021-06-21/

    4. EU member states up until now have got away with succumbing to the pressures of reducing farm emissions which are deemed to contribute up to 10% of global warming.

      It is fortunate that the UK electorate voted against EU membership and is not governed by the CAP. which now threatens to put farmers out of business if they don’t meat (🐄) stringent animal greenhouse emissions (💨).

      https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/eu-farming-policy-failing-fight-climate-change-auditors-say-2021-06-21/

  45. Where did all those US sweet shops come from? The problem is, we don’t know, 4 July 2022.

    The answer to the first question is the long-term decline of the high street due to online shopping, compounded by the short-term shock of lockdowns during the pandemic. The increased number of empty units has created a headache for freeholders or long leaseholders of these buildings, who become liable to pay business rates on the empty stores. To avoid this, a number have let their sites to an intermediary company (or series of companies) or managing agent, who in turn let to other companies who run souvenir or sweet shops.

    Anyone moving into an empty shop becomes liable for business rates instead of the freeholder or long leaseholder. The problem is establishing who the occupier actually is. When council officers visit US candy shops, they frequently meet staff who claim not to know who the owner is and point to a shell company licence certificate on the wall. The council has the job of trying to unpick a trail of false occupation names or shell companies that dissolve before we can take court action for business rates owed. When we do find the occupier, we encounter shell operations where assets may have already disappeared.

    This is the sort of thing you expect in the Third World!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/04/us-sweet-shops-rip-off-customers-business-rates-owners

    2. Ah, my hairdresser recently brought this up in conversation while we were waitng for the colour to take. She asked if I knew that all those sweet shops that have suddenly sprung up along Oxford Street are actually a money laundering operation. She isn’t a Guardian reader though.

        2. Just as one (not me) can never get enough Convid Injections,so, there are never enough Turkish Barbers.

          1. Well, they have got all that money from drug dealing, sex trafficking and forced prostitution to launder.

    3. The landlord will know who he has let to. Perhaps it is time to make landlords pay the BR as they effectively do anyway.

  46. 353860+ up ticks,

    The serial moronics lab/lib/con current supporter / voters
    will go for this big time, privacy in the toilet department
    is NON essential and NOT as important as the party line
    that must be followed if we are to return to brussels.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    1h
    Why would a civilised country do this?

    Why would our ‘elected leaders’ want your wife, daughter, sister, mother, female friend to have to use a toilet that any sex perv can lawfully follow them into?

    Why, because they want females to be available to be preyed on by sex pervs. Can you think of any other reason?

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    1h
    Why would a civilised country do this?

    Why would our ‘elected leaders’ want your wife, daughter, sister, mother, female friend to have to use a toilet that any sex perv can lawfully follow them into?

    Why, because they want females to be available to be preyed on by sex pervs. Can you think of any other reason?

    previewImg
    Single-sex toilets ‘to be mandatory’ in all new public buildings — Metro

    The move is understood to have been quietly approved by ministers last month.
    apple.news
    I believe it is to reintroduce b liar to the political scene
    reappearing as coalition party minister Countrywide for
    toilets much of his past experience was gained in park
    facilities hence the “bog man” tag.

    In the past we must have been , as a nation. truly smiled upon …….by lucifer.

    1. I don’t think Lucifer is involved.

      I just remember when a trans kept using the Ladies loo. The ladies complained about the mess he left. He kicked up a stink about his ‘rights’ and as this was 4 years ago, fell on thin ice and he was tod to go where his genitals dictated. (pun intended).

    2. Single-sex toilets means separate facilities for men and women, not one for both.

  51. Here we go again. The recent murders by random shootings in Copenhagen have been dismissed as not being terrorist related. The poor chap had been found to have ‘mental health issues’.
    Get on yer knees Denmark like the rest of Europe has.

  53. A quote from a Reduxx article from a woman in a Domestic Violence Shelter in Canada, and SHE was the one who was evicted, not the Cock in a frock:-

    Woman Evicted From Domestic Violence Shelter After Expressing Concerns About Gender Self-ID

    “I had assumed there would be a really small chance of one of them being in the house, but I figured there would be some sort of screening process in place and there wouldn’t be any violations of our boundaries.”

    But shortly after Jane moved in, she found that a trans-identified male had been living in the residence, and her assumptions were rapidly proven incorrect.

    At first, Jane says she’d just tried to avoid Max*, who she described as being over 6′ tall and obviously male. But just weeks after arriving, Jane says she caught him in the hall outside of her room, completely nude but for a bra he was holding to his chest as he modeled his body in the full-length mirror near Jane’s door. He was fully intact, and was not covering his genitalia in any way.

    https://reduxx.info/woman-evicted-from-domestic-violence-shelter-after-expressing-concerns-about-gender-self-id/

    1. Having done work in Women’s refuge shelters we were accompanied at all times by a minder, moved out of corridors as women moved about. I wasn’t bothered by this, it seemed the decent thing to do.

      To find that men – and trans men ARE men – are getting in to those areas is disgusting.

      1. Especially as the women there have probably fled from an abusive man they were previously shacked up with. You don’t go into one of these places lightly.

      2. I think you really meant to say that “To find that men – and trans WOMEN ARE men – are getting in to those areas is disgusting.”

  54. German industry is grinding to a halt. 4 July 2022

    For the first time in a generation, the country has an export deficit.

    By the standards of Britain, the United States, or indeed France, the €1 billion deficit that Germany announced today might seem like a mere accounting error. Exports unexpectedly fell, while imports surged as the cost of energy spiked. It is not as if the country is about to go bust or call in the IMF to pay its bills. But here’s the catch. Germany is almost uniquely an export-based economy. Until recently it was racking up surpluses of 8 or 9 per cent of GDP, or €20 billion a month, the biggest in the world. And there are three big problems with that disappearing.

    This is just a pointer to the severity of the coming World Depression!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/german-industry-is-grinding-to-a-halt

    1. It’s even more worrying when you realise that Germany is keeping Greece, Italy and Spain going, an they’re buying Germany goods with that money you see the effects of long term protectionism.

    1. They tell me they’re done for today, but more protests could take place in the future if prices keep rising.

      Perhaps they should take up permanent residence?

          1. In cities like Inverness, Glasgow etc it’s sometimes cheaper than England but when you get out in the sticks like up the north coast it’s usually 20p dearer

        3. Here in the sticks it’s possible to buy petrol at 177.9ppl and diesel at 187.9ppl. It’s an independent who passes on any price drop to his customers.

    3. I agree with the protest, but until ministers are directly affected this is only ‘hindering’ likely the folk who agree with it.

      The people you hold up need to be civil servants and ministers – then they’ll use plod to get their way.

      1. Maybe they should glue themselves to the inside of Whitehall… …oh, wait, the Civil Servants are all working from home, aren’t they?

  56. Boris Johnson knew about Pincher allegations before his appointment, No 10 admits
    Claims were ‘either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint’ before he was made deputy chief whip, PM’s spokesman says
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/04/boris-johnson-knew-pincher-allegations-appointment-no-10-admits/

    BTL

    I am no fan of Johnson’s but I think it is dangerous to say that you cannot give a person a position if there are allegations – which may be false and maybe true – against him or her.

    If you do this then it opens the door to people making false allegations maliciously in order to stop somebody being given a job or being promoted.

    A parallel case is that of Prince Andrew. He has not been found guilty of anything and yet his despicable brother and nephew have turned against him. It is becoming more and more evident that US courts are corrupt and biased so it is clear that Andrew was wisely advised not to appear in front of one.

    1. Ian Hislop is no stranger to accusations of publishing falsehoods.
      That is why he qualifies everything he says on Have I Got News for You with ‘allegedly’.

        1. A good job that is true – you are in good positiin to defend a libel case!

  57. Prince Charles has got to go. Spiked. 4 July 2022.

    Prince Charles, the one-man constitutional crisis, is making headlines again.

    The Sunday Times has revealed that our future head of state gave a title to businessman Lord Brownlow in 2018, after Brownlow had bought 11 houses in Charles’ failed eco-town project in Knockroon, Scotland. Between 2012 and 2017, Brownlow’s Havisham Properties kindly spent £1.7million purchasing the unwanted residences. Such generosity from Brownlow is perhaps to be expected. This, after all, is the same Brownlow who helped fund the redecoration of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, and, if reports are to be believed, was being sounded out as a donor for a £150,000 treehouse for the prime minister’s son. It seems that Brownlow is there to help the powerful continue to live their lives of absurd luxury. Quite what Baron Brownlow of Shurlock Row, CVO DL gets out of this is unclear.

    We do know that Brownlow was appointed Commander of the Victorian Order (CVO) in 2018, with Charles personally granting him the honour at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. There is no evidence that this is connected to Brownlow’s earlier act of generosity toward Charles. Still, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is currently investigating the property deals.

    This tale of slightly eyebrow-raising financial transactions, with the merest hint of mutual back-scratching, comes on the back of the news last month that the king-in-waiting accepted bags and a suitcase containing €3million from a senior Qatari politician. It has been reported that in several meetings in 2015, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani – the former Qatari PM, owner of Paris Saint-Germain and a significant investor in London properties – gave Charles bundles of cash, which was then deposited into the accounts of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF). All of which looks like poor judgement on Charles’ part, to say the least. The prince’s PR team clearly recognised as much, hence a palace ‘source’ has since said that the practice of taking cash in suitcases, holdalls and plastic bags ‘would not happen again’.

    And that’s not the only controversy involving Britain’s future sovereign in the spotlight. The Met are currently investigating whether Charles’ close aide, Michael Fawcett, offered to help a Saudi billionaire donor secure a knighthood and UK citizenship in exchange for charity donations in 2017.

    Taken together, these tales of alleged cash for access, honours and dodgy eco-houses paint a rather damning picture of Charles. His defenders will say that the money was for charitable ends. Although quite why so much of it turned up in plastic bags is unclear.

    It’s not a good look for anyone. It’s an even worse look for a prince who has recently taken to rather zealous virtue-signalling. The eccentric, pompous Charles – once mocked for talking to and, even more worryingly, listening to plants and trees – has in recent years been busily presenting himself as a bastion of near Guardianista levels of right-on-ness. So ahead of last year’s COP summit, he attempted to burnish his green credentials by revealing that he runs his Aston Martin on ‘surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process’. And of course, last month he sang from the elite hymn sheet when he seemingly allowed it to be known that he thought the UK government’s Rwanda plan was ‘appalling’. Cue much applause from the smart set.

    Yet this oh-so-virtuous man has simultaneously engaged in a succession of financial transactions with potentially dubious implications. Given this, he’s perhaps not best placed to lecture anyone on morality, be it on immigration policy or petrol-fuelled cars.

    And that touches on the real scandal here. It’s bad enough that Charles is using his public, inherited position to make political interventions – something that he’s been doing for decades. And it’s bad, too, that he faces allegations of using this same position to leverage cash from the wannabe entitled and ennobled. But the worst of it, the most scandalous aspect of the whole farce, is that, as things stand, there’s little we can do about it.

    A cabinet minister told the Spectator last week that ‘a politician who had behaved in that way would have had to resign’. Possibly. Or failing that, the electorate could kick him or her out at the ballot box. No such luck with Charlie boy. There are few better adverts for a republic right now than this future heir to the throne.

    Well that’s pretty unequivocal! In fact I don’t think I’ve ever read an article about Charles so condemnatory. Is this a one off or the start of a campaign?

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/07/04/prince-charles-has-got-to-go/

    1. And yet in the world of such corruption the Biden family is perfectly acceptable with Potatohead Familias as leader of the free world!

        1. Agreed, and actually that makes it far worse as far as I’m concerned.
          Our monarch has zero power apart from allocating fancy titles, Biden can and has been used to provide access to riches beyond the dreams of avarice.

          1. No-one in their right mind would propose a USA-style Presidency for a Republic to replace the monarchy in Britain. The Irish model would be the type to go for, with a figurehead President as Head of State.

          2. A figurehead!

            And pray tell, what is the difference between that and what we actually have?

  58. Prince Charles has got to go. Spiked. 4 July 2022.

    Prince Charles, the one-man constitutional crisis, is making headlines again.

    The Sunday Times has revealed that our future head of state gave a title to businessman Lord Brownlow in 2018, after Brownlow had bought 11 houses in Charles’ failed eco-town project in Knockroon, Scotland. Between 2012 and 2017, Brownlow’s Havisham Properties kindly spent £1.7million purchasing the unwanted residences. Such generosity from Brownlow is perhaps to be expected. This, after all, is the same Brownlow who helped fund the redecoration of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat, and, if reports are to be believed, was being sounded out as a donor for a £150,000 treehouse for the prime minister’s son. It seems that Brownlow is there to help the powerful continue to live their lives of absurd luxury. Quite what Baron Brownlow of Shurlock Row, CVO DL gets out of this is unclear.

    We do know that Brownlow was appointed Commander of the Victorian Order (CVO) in 2018, with Charles personally granting him the honour at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. There is no evidence that this is connected to Brownlow’s earlier act of generosity toward Charles. Still, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is currently investigating the property deals.

    This tale of slightly eyebrow-raising financial transactions, with the merest hint of mutual back-scratching, comes on the back of the news last month that the king-in-waiting accepted bags and a suitcase containing €3million from a senior Qatari politician. It has been reported that in several meetings in 2015, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani – the former Qatari PM, owner of Paris Saint-Germain and a significant investor in London properties – gave Charles bundles of cash, which was then deposited into the accounts of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF). All of which looks like poor judgement on Charles’ part, to say the least. The prince’s PR team clearly recognised as much, hence a palace ‘source’ has since said that the practice of taking cash in suitcases, holdalls and plastic bags ‘would not happen again’.

    And that’s not the only controversy involving Britain’s future sovereign in the spotlight. The Met are currently investigating whether Charles’ close aide, Michael Fawcett, offered to help a Saudi billionaire donor secure a knighthood and UK citizenship in exchange for charity donations in 2017.

    Taken together, these tales of alleged cash for access, honours and dodgy eco-houses paint a rather damning picture of Charles. His defenders will say that the money was for charitable ends. Although quite why so much of it turned up in plastic bags is unclear.

    It’s not a good look for anyone. It’s an even worse look for a prince who has recently taken to rather zealous virtue-signalling. The eccentric, pompous Charles – once mocked for talking to and, even more worryingly, listening to plants and trees – has in recent years been busily presenting himself as a bastion of near Guardianista levels of right-on-ness. So ahead of last year’s COP summit, he attempted to burnish his green credentials by revealing that he runs his Aston Martin on ‘surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process’. And of course, last month he sang from the elite hymn sheet when he seemingly allowed it to be known that he thought the UK government’s Rwanda plan was ‘appalling’. Cue much applause from the smart set.

    Yet this oh-so-virtuous man has simultaneously engaged in a succession of financial transactions with potentially dubious implications. Given this, he’s perhaps not best placed to lecture anyone on morality, be it on immigration policy or petrol-fuelled cars.

    And that touches on the real scandal here. It’s bad enough that Charles is using his public, inherited position to make political interventions – something that he’s been doing for decades. And it’s bad, too, that he faces allegations of using this same position to leverage cash from the wannabe entitled and ennobled. But the worst of it, the most scandalous aspect of the whole farce, is that, as things stand, there’s little we can do about it.

    A cabinet minister told the Spectator last week that ‘a politician who had behaved in that way would have had to resign’. Possibly. Or failing that, the electorate could kick him or her out at the ballot box. No such luck with Charlie boy. There are few better adverts for a republic right now than this future heir to the throne.

    Well that’s pretty unequivocal! In fact I don’t think I’ve ever read an article about Charles so condemnatory. Is this a one off or the start of a campaign?

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/07/04/prince-charles-has-got-to-go/

  59. Today’s Wordle…
    Wordle 380 4/6

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

    1. Wordle 380 5/6

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

      1. #metoo Wordle 380 5/6

        ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟨
        ⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
        🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩
        🟩⬛🟨🟩🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Too many options.
      Wordle 380 5/6

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

    3. #MeToo: A Par Four

      Wordle 380 4/6
      ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨
      🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  60. Russia is losing, and it will be defeated if Nato keeps its resolve. 4 July 2022.

    If Putin thought his invasion of Ukraine would strengthen Russia, he must be greatly disappointed. If Putin intended to weaken Nato, he should think again. Kyiv’s ferocious and relentless defence, Ukrainians’ unbreakable spirit and will to fight, a Nato that is united in solidarity, and Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to the Alliance prove that Putin is failing. This is a defeat for Russia.

    Yes Russia loses as oil climbs to a $115 a Barrel; Ukraine retreats and the West sinks into a new Great Depression.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/04/russia-losing-will-defeated-nato-keeps-resolve/

    2. Yep, those sanctions really are working, pity the effects seem to be mostly here – like shooting yourself in the foot!

  61. A monk in a Trappist monastery far far away. The order was not allowed to speak except for two words to the Abbot every five years.

    A novice after five years said to the abbot ‘bad food!’.
    The next five years pass and the novice says to the Abbot ‘bad beds!
    Another five years pass and the novice monk says ‘I quit !’

    The Abbot responds with……’I’m not surprised. You have done nothing but complain since you came here !’

  62. Good for the French.

    Meat substitute products made and sold in France will no longer be allowed to use meat-related words on their packaging, it has now been confirmed.
    A decree in the Journal officiel on June 30 states: “It will no longer be possible to use terminology belonging to sectors traditionally associated with meat and fish to describe products that do not come from animals.”
    This will include terms such as ‘steak’, ‘lardons’ or ‘sausage’, to describe plant-based products that are considered as meat substitutes.
    The rule will enter into force from October 1, 2022. Products made and labelled before this date will be permitted to remain on sale until December 31.

    1. We should do something similar here. It would make it easier for vegans to avoid meaty things!

  63. Doh

    Wordle 380 6/6

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

        1. I share my ice cream cornet with Dolly. I go first and eat the Flake as she isn’t allowed human chocolate. Then we take it in turns to lick. I get the cornet too as she is on a diet.

          8. Theobromine (an ingredient in chocolate, particularly dark chocolate) can be poisonous to dogs.

          10. Dolly is a girlie doggie and she doesn’t get to lick bums. Mine neither !

          12. A well behaved dog.

            If my cat got anywhere near ice cream, her nose would be buried in the treat and it would have needed leather gauntlets to pry her away. Sharing was not on her agenda.

    2. Our lovely black lab is 12 on Wednesday.
      She’s slowed down a lot but she can still run faster than I can.

    3. A cafe not far from me serves doggy ice cream. I’ve never taken Oscar there. My GSD cross loved human ice cream. Oscar picked up an ice cube I dropped on the floor, but he wasn’t thrilled.

  66. That’s me gone. A very satisfactory day. Lots of gardening. A three mile bike ride – and I noticed, with pleasure, that the climbing of 2,454 steps in Cap d’Ail (plus about 400 more) has had a markedly good effect on my ability to cycle without having to stop on a “hill”… So I really AM fitter than I was.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

      1. In that case, shouldn’t the border service be encouraging fitness and having the new arrivals swim the last few miles to shore?

          3. We apparently have an intelligence service but it seems they are at a loss as to who has been supplying tens of thousands of the craft. I could tell them…it’s the Chinese but they would probably tell me to be quiet or even arrest me.

        2. They have already traveled several thousand miles through safe countries. They are fit and ready to rape, groom and kill.

  67. Doctor, 85, who killed mother-of-three during botched bone marrow biopsy after lying about his age ‘left another patient permanently disabled when carrying out same procedure three years earlier’
    Dr Isyaka Mamman, 85, pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter
    A previous botched operation by him left a patient permanently disabled
    Dr Mamman previously lied about his age – changing his birth date three times
    He was sacked for the lie in 2004 but later rehired by the same NHS trust in 2006

    Dr Mamman, of Royton, near Oldham, will be sentenced on Tuesday (July 5) after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to gross negligence manslaughter.

    The judge told him to ‘prepare’ himself to spend time in jail.

    Dr Mamman qualified as a doctor in Nigeria in 1965 and had worked in the UK from 1991. From 2004 until the time of the fatal incident he was employed by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

    But his ‘true age’ is a matter of ‘controversy’, the court heard, as his birthplace in rural Nigeria had no system of birth registration.

    During his medical training he gave a date of birth of September 16 1936, which meant that he was 21 years old when he began his medical training and 81 at the time of the fatal hospital incident.

    But he knocked years off his age by adopting a birth date in 1941, provided to the NHS, suggesting he began his medical degree at the age of 16.

    However, in about 2001 and approaching what was then the compulsory retirement age of 65, Dr Mamman adopted an even later birth date – October 1947 – which he relied upon in an application for naturalisation as a British citizen – suggesting he started his degree course at the age of 10.

    In 2004 he was found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council and suspended for 12 months for lying about his age.

    The Pennine Trust sacked him but then re-employed him in 2006, after he had been restored to the register by the GMC, who accepted his date of birth to be 1943 – which meant he was 14 or 15 when he began his medical degree.

    Dr Mamman had left his previous employment with the Medway Trust because of ‘poor performance’, and in 2015 a formal complaint was made to the Oldham hospital when a patient complained he used ‘excessive force’ during a bone marrow biopsy.

    The patient was told that Dr Mamman was in his 70s and his colleagues thought he should retire but they could not dismiss him purely because of his age.

    They were assured he would be put on light duties in future.

    However the same year there was another clinical incident which resulted in serious injury to another patient, again during a bone marrow biopsy, and again involving a needle being inserted in the wrong place.

    The doctor had also used various dates of birth and left his previous job because of ‘poor performance’.

    Shahida Parveen, 48, went to the hospital with her husband, Khizar Mahmood, for examination on possible blood cancer.

    A bone marrow biopsy had been advised and the routine procedure was allocated to Dr Mamman, who was working as a specialty doctor in haematology, Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, told the hearing.

    Normally, bone marrow samples are taken from the hip bone but Dr Mamman failed to obtain a sample at the first attempt.

    Instead, he attempted a rare and ‘highly dangerous’ procedure of getting a sample from Ms Parveen’s sternum – despite objections from the patient and her husband.

    Using the wrong biopsy needle, Dr Mamman missed the bone and pierced her pericardium, the sac containing the heart, causing massive internal bleeding.

    Ms Parveen lost consciousness as soon as the needle was inserted, with her husband running from the room shouting: ‘He killed her.

    ‘I told him to stop three times and he did not listen. He killed her.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10980793/Doctor-85-killed-mother-three-botched-operation-left-patient-disabled.html

  68. Talk about first world problems. No internet since Thursday and being a cheap barsteward, my phone is on a pay as you go plan – with as it turns out 15 cents credit! Drove into town, bought a coffee and used their free internet which let me top up the phone. ISP support desk is totally useless. Call us to resolve the problem they say – but my home phone doesn’t work because it uses your internet! Grrr.

    I see that by not having access to the news, we missed nothing new. Same old, same old rubbish in all quarters.

    1. Write a letter to Mr Trudeau – you now he just lurves white people with problems.

      1. There is a Mohawk reserve up the road from us. If they have had the same problem, he might act but there again he is probably off on another one of his photo op trips.

        Trudeau do something – gee I have really missed your bizarre sense of humour.

      2. Hello, Bill. Good to see you. Are you in the Midi or have you come home (to the UK as well as to Nottl)?

        1. We were a mile from Monaco – but returned to Blighty (by road) on Wednesday.

      3. Hello, Bill. Good to see you. Are you in the Midi or have you come home (to the UK as well as to Nottl)?

    3. We never listen to the news. Ever. Propaganda and total drivel. I switch off the radio when I am in the car and it is on the hour (news time). I got caught out by the adverts on Classic FM during the winter on one occasion. “Call in to get your winter covid and ‘flu vaccinations….” etc etc. My blood pressure must have gone sky high.

      Even though we don’t listen to the news, we still know what is going on in the world.

    2. Johnson is a disappointing PM. His standards in personal relationships are not mine. But he does not give impression of being a woman beater.
      That is outright slander.

  71. Letter D. Mail

    Boris Johnson suggests getting his pecs out to combat Putin…..

    Phew……. I misread that as penis!

  72. My phone just rang !
    Everyone knows not to call me in the evening.
    I could hear background office noise (time check !)

    There was a pause and then this, let us call it a human asked if i was fullip.
    I said no.
    Then this scum artiste asked me if i was fullip Johansen.
    I said no.
    Then thing tried to sell me something.

    I screamed down the phone yes give it to me baby. Give me more and more and more.
    The line went dead for some reason.

  73. Couple of things for now…. maybe more later.
    Outpatients at the hospital- not the Frankenstein unit but main dermo outpatients. Receptionist asked when I checked in, are you able to wear masks? No, we said, we are exempt. Fine she said. Very different from the bat out of hell the other day.
    Got there at 11.15, appointment was at 11.30 and was seen promptly at 12.15. However, she did spend 40 mins with us and there was no problem with MH being there and in the office with me.
    Maybe more later when I am stronger and a bit more relaxed.

    1. Hey Mola, enjoy open mic. Have a glass or several for us. Go on, force yourself;-)

        1. Be noble and strong- I know you can be ;-)))
          We did go to the pub after the hospital visit and had a drink or two and some grub but it didn’t go down too well. Making up for it this evening.

  74. I gather that eco-loons invaded the track at the British Grand Prix.
    Naturally, Gary Looney-cur supported it.

    There was a crash very early on, but had there not been, the poor drivers would have arrived at close on 200 mph to try to avoid pedestrians.
    Those idiots would have been turned into dog food, the drivers would have crashed, killing who knows how many, but they would almost certainly have walked away but then have had to live with what happened for the rest of their lives.

    Looney-cur, STFU, FOAD, and do so in great pain.

    1. Yup, I couldn’t live with myself after killing so many eco-loonies, mainly because it would have made martyrs of the bastards.

      1. molamola – these vermin want to force the country back to the Dark Ages, with them as the rulers. They deserve no remorse and would receive none.

    2. They should have started with tanks like they did in Taiannemun Square. Just hose the body sludge into the drains.

      1. Old fashioned steamrollers and tell the racing crews to fit wet weather tyres.

    3. When you’re lenient with scum they keep behaving like scum.

      The first time they got in the way the police should have cuffed them, dragged them away – regardless of glue -, thrown them into a wagon and let them soak for a few minutes while the traffic they wanted to stop sails past.

      Then drive back to the station, bung them in a cell together for the rest of the day and ignore their complaints, bangs, and screams.

      1. Did you see the twitter clip of a French policeman ungluing a protester? Just yanked his hand off the tarmac, left the silly bugger rolling on the ground screaming with pain, and no skin on his palms,

      2. If they had started that way the Turner painting would have been undamaged by the other yous today.

  75. Love him or loathe him …he is exciting to watch.

    I watched Kyrgios earlier ….perfectly well behaved and enjoying victory over his opponent.

    1. OH went to sleep earlier on, while watching two ladies play. He won’t watch Kyrgios.

          1. Do you remember transfers? Little sticker things you stuck on your arm. They did wash off though- especially after your mum saw them:-(

          4. Are you in UK now, Paul? Hope your trip was OK. Good luck with it all.

          5. Travel went fine, thanks.
            A few surprises when getting in some food for the week:
            Just how shabby the place is – ASDA, The Oystergatcher pub (more nutrients in the carpet than on the plate), and how nobody in Wales has a white skin any more. Or speaks any kind of recognisable langauge, just “Bud bud bud”…

    3. He uses gamesmanship to put his opponent off
      Feigned a bad should early on before being given a magic pill.

  77. GP medical expertise

    You can check up on what your GP searches for on the internet after your consultation by logging into:

    patient.co.uk

    Health information you can trust
    Patient aims to help the world proactively manage its healthcare, supplying evidence-based information on a wide range of medical and health topics to patients and health professionals

    There is a private message option for patients to discuss with others the similar ailments that they might like to get off their chest – like phlegm!

  78. Here are the grisly details.
    The cancer is deep and Dr. Frankenstein couldn’t get it all out. The wound is healing top and bottom but not in the middle which is red and somewhat inflamed- as MH already noted.
    Antibiotics have been prescribed to prevent any infection and also a cream for another small area of concern… a small area on my left clavicle.
    You are probably all familiar with the Bach Works – The Well Tempered Clavicle 😉
    It is suggested that I go for radiotherapy 5 days a week but this presents many issues. The hospital is miles from where we live, we don’t own a car and the buses are not reliable.
    Sod this for a lark. Sod this bloody government and their total lack of concern or care for the people of this country.
    To say I am pissed off would be the understatement of the sodding century!!!!

    1. That’s a tale of woe, I hope you get things sorted out so that the treatments can be undertaken.

      Best of luck, good fortune and skill on your side.

      You might find that there is a hospital voluntary organisation that provides transport, you may be able to hitch rides.

      1. Sos, I have had enough. We have looked into alternative transport- the response has been mediocre.
        Enough is enough.

          1. I’ll do it my way, Sos. I never give up!!!! Was talking about the bloody NHS.

          4. Stop trying to be brave ..

            Just pause a while and look at this

            Talk to our Cancer Information and Support Specialists
            Our Cancer Information and Support Specialists are here to listen, offering emotional support, practical information and guidance to help you find the right information and support.

            You might be feeling anxious about what’s happening, and you just need someone to talk it over with. They will talk to you about whatever matters to you.
            If you would like to talk to a Cancer Information and Support Specialist, you can:

            call the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00
            chat to a specialist online.
            They are available to speak to 7 days a week, 8am-8pm.

            They are available to speak to 7 days a week, 8am-8pm.

            You can also post a question for the team in our Online Community. Someone will aim to respond to your post within 2 working days.

            Other emotional help
            We have information about other ways people with cancer can get emotional help.

            This includes things like:

            Free specialist counselling
            Local support groups
            Macmillan Buddies https://www.macmillan.org.uk/

        2. Judy, with blood cancer is on a course of chemotherapy that is taken orally – capsules, requiring careful handling. Ask your consultant is there no alternative to radiotherapy.

    2. Oh my Gawd,

      Poor poor you , dear heavens

      I seem to remember you saying the damned thing was benign, did I misunderstand you ….

      1. No, that is what I was originally told….Bowen’s Keratosis. No, it is skin cancer.

          1. Never saw the supposed original consultant but the doc today was great. Thorough, she checked my upper body and arms and asked about my legs..any lesions etc. No, she was great, and as I said, spent 40 mins with us.
            From now on though, I shall make my own choices.

    3. Lotl, so sorry to hear this. Some villages have volunteers who get people to hospital in their cars if patients have to rely on public transport. It is worth looking into. Or put an ad in the Post Office or village magazine, your local church. Contact the vicar. I am sure there will be people out there willing to help if they knew you needed help. We are living through a bad time in the history of this country, but don’t give up or give in. And we are here for you.

      1. My neighbour (who has cancer) said that Macmillan were brilliant with practical help.

    5. I’m so sorry to hear this, Ann.

      Is there a chance that you might have a second excision to get the rest of it out? I’ve survived breast cancer in both breasts, and both times had a second excision, followed by radiotherapy.

      The left clavicle surely is a separate area of concern?
      Don’t let them put you off getting it treated.

      There are volunteer drivers to get people to hospital when they need treatment and have no transport.

    6. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/travel/public-transport/nhs-patient-travel

      NHS patient travel
      Who can use NHS patient travel
      Patients needing to travel to and from hospital or GP practice appointments are expected to make their own travel arrangements by using public transport or privately through taxis, relatives, friends or neighbours. In some areas, community and voluntary transport may be available. If you are unable to use these travel options because of a medical or physical frailty, you may be eligible for free NHS Non-Emergency Patient Transport (hospital appointments only). This transport is provided in line with Department of Health guidelines for medical reasons only.

      Find out if you’re eligible
      If you think you could be eligible for free patient travel, or need advice on getting to your hospital appointment, please contact the Patient Transport Advice Centre on 01278 727457.

      All requests will be assessed against the eligibility criteria. Assessments are carried out each time a request is made because medical conditions do change over time.

      If you are not eligible for patient transport, the Patient Transport Advice Centre will offer advice on alternative public, community and volunteer transport options. The Advice Centre is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 6:30pm.

    7. For what its worth, you have my deepest sympathy. And my best wishes ❤

    8. I’m sorry to hear you’re still (in deep doo-doo) I hope all works out well for you.
      Life can be a bitch sometimes but think positive thoughts and with luck and a following wind, all will work out.
      As Dave Allen would say ‘may your God go with you’.

    9. Oof, Ann. That makes for some hard reading. My sympathies for all this embuggeration you are having.
      Is there a local volunteer group who will drive you to hospital? Mother tried to join one as a driver when my Father died, but they demanded a CRB check, and she was offended and never joined.
      How often would you need to go? 5 days a week for how many weeks?

    10. Oh dear, nothing that I can add to the advice already given.

      Time to have a drink and take time to work out what to do. Rather than just saying sod the nhs, plot your revenge!

    11. Sorry to hear that. My neighbour is waiting for chemo (a bit like waiting for Godot). Was your OH ever in the forces? Organisations like the RAFBF or SSAFA often help out with things like this.

      1. Good move, Connors, I’ve been rather taken under the wing of RAFA (Royal Air Force Association and I’m talking with their welfare guy in the morning about an impending move to Moffat in Scotland. So far they have all been most helpful.

        1. In the days before Covid I used to fund raise for the RAFBF and do collections for RAFA.

  79. Why wasn’t this all over the MSM and BBC in the same way as Roe v Wade?

    The US Supreme Court has limited Joe Biden’s power to cut emissions.

    It has restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and gas-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act anti-pollution law.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/joe-biden-power-supreme-court-emissions-net-zero-2035-b1009569.html

    It might possibly be more important.

  81. Marine Le Pen. latest tweet.

    By a simple press release, Emmanuel Macron announces the new government. Those who failed are all reappointed. The President of the Republic is thus once again ignoring the verdict of the ballot box and the desire of the French people for another policy.

  82. Arrived at Mother’s house. From the outside, it looks like it always has looked, but inside, there’s quite a lot of furniture gone – sold to a nice lady called Belinda, and collected by her husband & son.
    Lots of books to take care of, and decorative plates on he wall. We’ll start tomorrow. And the windows need left open for a week, to let the smell of slightly damp unventilated house out.
    Otherwise, pretty damn good! Journey over was fine, the hire car is crap. Relaxing with strong cider – Thatcher’s Katy.

    3. And, My God, how the garden has grown! There’s a table abd chairs out in the bushes somewhere!

    4. And, My God, how the garden has grown! There’s a table abd chairs out in the bushes somewhere!

  83. If I may add summat else…. the doctor today asked me to take off my tee shirt to check my skin. She checked out my arms and I said that the faint red marks on my arms were the result of the two AZ jabs. Not a word was said either by the consultant or the nurse. They know! That is the 4th confirmation from NHS staff that they know what a lot of BS this is.

    1. 4th July. My late Father’s birthday.
      Nice of the Merkins to make such a fuss about it!

  85. Evening, all. Been a busy day today; had a hospital appointment this afternoon and the receptionist asked, “can I give you a mask for your appointment?” I’m exempt, I told her so she accepted that and nobody else challenged me. Then I had a Parish Council meeting. One of the new councillors had been on a climate change course – that’s £55 of taxpayers’ money that was wasted in my view. When I queried what it was about he was a bit vague and said it was about achieving net zero. When I asked him it was possible, he hesitated and said, “in the long term”. I refrained from asking him if he meant once we were all dead and not breathing out CO2 any more.

    1. It’s hard sometimes to keep stumm when you know the other person believes the crap they’re telling you and you know it’s balderdash…….

      1. I feel tempted to suggest that any councillor who goes on a “training” course should give a short feedback/resumé of what it was about to the council on completion, with the right for other councillors to question the data. I suspect I might be the only one happy with that, though.

        1. They’ve probably all been told it’s a mandatory course and they all believe the lies the they’re fed.

          1. It wasn’t mandatory; I had an invitation to go on it. He’s a new councillor and I suspect he’s signed up for anything and everything. He’s going on a project management course although he used to be a project manager in a previous job! He wants to know the “right” way to do it.

  86. Apropos the lead letter, I suspect many GPs are quitting because it is no longer cost effective for them to work. They have paid the maximum into their pensions and it’s time for them to cash in.

    1. What a crazy World we live in. GPs don’t want work because they will be penalised financially, yet we are crying out for more GPs. At the other end of the scale, low earners can’t afford to work because they will lose out on benefits, whilst employers can’t get staff.

  87. Goodnight Y’all. What a bloody day!
    Will see you tomorrow- stay well.

Comments are closed.