Monday 4 March: British voters will not forgive a chancellor who fails to boost defence

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

516 thoughts on “Monday 4 March: British voters will not forgive a chancellor who fails to boost defence”

  1. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story
    SAY IT LIKE IT IS

    Lawyers should never ask a Georgia grandma a question, if they aren’t prepared for the answer.
    In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting Lawyer called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, ‘Mrs. Jones, do you know me?’

    She responded, ‘Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.’
    The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, ‘Mrs. Jones, do you know the defence Lawyer?’

    She again replied, ‘Why yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.’
    The defence Lawyer nearly died.

    The judge asked both counsellors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said,
    ‘If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair.

  4. Wordle 989 5/6 five for me today.

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

    1. Good Morning Elsie

      Another three putt four here

      Wordle 989 4/6

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

    2. Caught in the so many choices, so few clues syndrome

      Wordle 989 6/6

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

  6. BBC to give first live interview with a black spy as MI6 ups recruitment drive. 4 March 2024.

    An MI6 intelligence officer will make history on Sunday night by becoming the first black spy to give a live broadcast interview.

    The officer, who is at director level, is being interviewed on Radio 1Xtra as part of a diversity recruitment drive by the Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.

    A colleague, who is from an Asian background, will give a second interview on BBC’s Radio 5 Live on Monday in a concerted campaign to boost the organisation’s ethnic diversity.

    One is inclined to make the facetious comment that they are all black on the Radio. Nevertheless there is still a serious aspect to this. It’s called acclimatisation. Its purpose is to accustom the straight white population to the idea of the Multicultural and LGBT nature of the UK’s political institutions. This has been achieved over the last twenty years by Positive Discrimination and is largely responsible for the calamitous decline in their ability to carry out their tasks. It seems only reasonable to assume that the SIS has been similarly affected. This is largely hidden from us by the nature of their duties. Its effectiveness can probably best be seen by a comparison with its sister organisation Mi5 who no longer protect the UK or its inhabitants. This can be seen largely by its absence apart from the occasional; “far-Right” trial on request of which the EDL and UKIP were forerunners.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/03/mi6-drive-for-black-and-asian-spies-on-bbc/

  7. ‘Morning All

    Medley Part 1

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8bef06b4c7e6785e4d7c78f490b2242d556cd38755b75ab194cdeafc1bffe76.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c76ce01494be124fa967da4b0cd5d75970a3f61b83f91d40e89e78cc9b5abf69.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c4439c40f7977bddc489ee2b2a52a7ea0dcc26f6b26ef0dbe1b3ac8c3fea788.jpg

    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/159/933/088/original/03c3850ce4152a24.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25ce04fc6a0fd13c011543d6e3a80349dead60eec7c9c58c65856b877900a6fe.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2c27c610d9553c7ff531f231d2e647643396c6c13ce3d87a994e0e1a0bb8b315.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/289eba4f1efd63d4bc3e8693fc406b454b318ef0dd20a05759a8ff20847e9eaf.jpg

    1. Far right is just the latest slur when the ‘waycist!’ stopped having any effect. People stopped caring about it because they Left overplayed their hand. Their doing the same with far Right, trying to conflate Right with bad so they can pretend they’re good, but, as we know, all evil is Left wing.

  8. Good morning all.
    Back into the freezer this morning. A tad below -4°C on the Yard Thermometer, frosty with freezing fog.that appears to be lifting as when I first looked out I could not see the cafe up the road, bit it’s quite clear now.

  10. Part 2

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2b0205fa7cf2697c1fce87d857ba5d80634d1be21779e59dfa540f971482667.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bdbd8a8dd187ade7df1cac5a9d08c137493946d2276d83120c28329627a25e1f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1cae7be64a2bb87334cd523a664b20afef8156b87fdaa09b5ea2b38b3c06725.jpg

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHKJN4JWEAAC8JD.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8ae881ceb8f87393026c684a7efdc25c4d98279c2c9b3a0042d0e240057da314.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/08eabac5361bb4197ed804c417cfef7f53adcb5bc932738e6d86b7f397f1c22e.jpg

    Finally one for Grizz

    https://media.gab.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=568,quality=100,fit=scale-down/system/media_attachments/files/159/944/613/original/1975251497b6fa82.jpeg

    2. I read recently that whilst Sodding Arabia is currently happy to deal in petrodollars, they are looking to trade in yuan or roubles should the dollar collapse and the BRICS financial set up prove hardier to national debt. The interesting thing, to my mind, was that Sodding Arabia would not consider trading in Euros as there is no gold bullion to back the paper printed by the ECB.

      As to the last image; the Holyrood khlowns are pushing a list of food types that will be ‘banned’ from special offer food deals in supermarkets. As ever, the SNP/Green zealots bite off more than they can chew and have included porridge as one of the ‘unapproved’ options…even as they attempt to tax the populace to a level where gruel and porridge may be the only foodstuffs which are affordable and available.

  11. Good morning folks.

    “The German Officers crossed the line…Parlez-vous”

    Here’s a summary of what was said:

    Many parts of the conversation revolve around efforts to support the Ukrainians directly – including people on the ground – and thus to play a direct role in attacks on Russia. They are looking for solutions and “tricks” to prevent this from appearing to be the case.

    It is clear from the conversation that the Americans and British are already fully, directly and locally involved in the war in Ukraine; we pointed this out a year ago in our article “Sleepwalkers at work: World War 3 has probably already begun” – now the proof is there.

    Everyone involved is therefore aware that they are waging war against Russia, i.e. the NATO-Russia war is already a reality. This means that Russia is also entitled to attack NATO targets. The fact that the Russian government has not (yet) done so indicates once again that Russia is pursuing a de-escalating course, while the West is fully committed to escalation.

    Transcript (apparently) here:
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/complete-disaster-german-govt-scholz-promises-probe-very-serious-leaked-recording-plan

  14. British voters will not forgive a chancellor who fails to boost defence

    Hunt excels on underwhelming

  15. Oooh! That was quick!
    Got out of my seat to do a 2nd mug of tea and the freezing fog’s already cleared!

    Just hear on Radio 3 that the RNLI is having a self congratulatory celebration church service today.
    Meanwhile:-

    RNLI bosses pushed veteran volunteers to leave after viewing them as ‘disposable’, say lifeboat crew

    Bitter internal discord is rife at the charity, claim long-serving employees amid concerns over boats being replaced by inferior models
    Tim Sigsworth and Ewan Somerville 3 March 2024 • 8:14pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8299f0214569cfac297d311f6464634b920c3f0b955ca24387309ef1b2312d13.png

    RNLI bosses have snubbed veteran volunteers and pushed them to leave, lifeboat crew have claimed.

    Long-serving crew members at the charity told The Telegraph of bitter internal strife in some lifeboat stations and requests to management going ignored.

    One told of mass resignations of volunteers in protest at bosses viewing them as “disposable”, while another claimed he was sacked in a row after an all-weather was replaced with an inshore inflatable vessel.
    Controversy has hit charity

    It comes as the RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary, having saved more than 144,000 lives since 1824 and still serving as the primary rescue service for Britain and Ireland’s coastline.

    In a picture to celebrate the anniversary on Monday, the RNLI released a bird’s-eye-view image of a £2.5 million Shannon-class lifeboat being launched – which is one of the vessels at the heart of the row.

    Covering 238 lifeboat stations and many beaches, its current income of £230 million continues to grow along with donations and legacies, but controversy has hit the acclaimed charity at some stations.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5f4dd0687673a5920d1c106cb424fe02870105cbce8b164ef158a49d1b9e6af9.png

    Alex Smith, 69, said he was dismissed as the operations manager of Arbroath Lifeboat Station in Angus, eastern Scotland, in June last year after opposing the replacement of its all-weather Mersey-class lifeboat with an Atlantic 85 rigid-hulled inflatable boat.

    He claimed that he and other crew members were concerned that the Atlantic 85 had a six-mile radius range at sea and had been promised that a Shannon class would be given to them instead, a new hi-tech all-weather boat with a range of 250 nautical miles.

    “All I cared about was the safety of the crew,” the semi-retired charter skipper said. “Management just did not pay attention and they did not listen to us.
    ‘A fatality on your hands’

    “I’ve been sailing here all my life, I know that boat will not be able to handle bad conditions. Our superiors say the neighbouring stations at Montrose and Broughty Ferry will be able to step in if it’s too rough but it will take 30 minutes for them to get here.

    “That’s long enough to have a fatality on your hands.”

    Mr Smith, who joined the RNLI in 2001 and served as an onshore launcher until 2009 when he became operations manager, said he was eventually dismissed when a private WhatsApp conversation in which he described his managers as “lying b——-” was leaked to the charity. He had also been censured for speaking to the local newspaper about the boat swap without permission.

    Another crew member to raise concerns about management at the charity is Heidi Bakewell, 44, who quit the Pwllheli station in north Wales last month after she concluded that “volunteers are disposable”.
    ‘Division and disharmony’

    She was one of 12 crew members with a combined 170 years of experience who resigned after a row with a colleague who spoke only in Welsh on a rescue, which not everyone could understand.

    The station was shuttered last August as the RNLI investigated the row, which it has said was causing so much “division and disharmony” that rescue operations were “unsafe”.

    Ms Bakewell, a pub landlady at Y Llong in nearby Edern, said the volunteers were ready to start over on a “clean slate” last month until managers told them they would have to reapply for their roles, at which point 12 handed in their resignations.
    ‘Management have got no idea’

    “It is absolutely devastating,” she told The Telegraph. “I was absolutely gobsmacked that at a charity that has been brought up on volunteers, that the management just don’t seem to be trained to deal with any disharmony. They’ve just got no idea.”

    The claims came as former personnel at other RNLI stations told MailOnline they claimed to have witnessed “bullying”.

    This included Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, where Stewart Oxley, 55, a volunteer of 37 years, claims he was stood down by management after opposing the replacement of the station’s £2 million all-weather lifeboat that could carry 120 people with a three-man D-class dinghy, as bosses said the pier it launched from was unsafe.

    An RNLI spokesman said of the Arbroath row that “no change would be made that compromised safety” and a four-month consultation led to the boat swap, though one Atlantic 85, three Shannon-class and four D-class lifeboats covering 33 nautical miles from Anstruther to Montrose “will provide the very best life-saving response”.
    Agreed to move forward

    “We do not stand volunteers down for simply disagreeing or making appropriate challenges to decision making,” the charity added.

    The spokesman said of the Pwllheli row that after a “breakdown in relationships between people at the station”, two thirds of the crew and 13 new volunteers have agreed to move forward and an “intensive two-week training period is now under way” to get the lifeboat back in service.

    In response to the additional claims on MailOnline, the RNLI accused the publication of having “deliberately tried to diminish our 200th anniversary” and “chosen to rehash some mainly historic stories to create a false impression of our charity – one that most of our people just do not recognise”.

    2 min ago

    How many of the bosses have ever spent 10 hours in a raging sea with a force 8 blowing against the tide? They should try it, then crawl back into their chunder bucket of stupidity.

    Comment by Christoph Newcombe.
    2 min ago

    The RNLI was the one charity that everyone supported even though the chances of ever needing their help were remote. Sadly, from reading the comments below, it looks as if support and donations have dropped like the proverbial stone. The RNLI allowing themselves to become a migrant taxi service for what is, effectively, a government and Coastguard problem is destroying an institution we were once so proud of.

    Comment by Raymond Forster.
    4 min ago

    Anyone else noticed how many of our charities have become hotbeds of controversy? Who is appointing the people to run them that cause this discord?

    1. How on earth can someone only speak Welsh? If you speak Welsh, you live in Blighty (unless he’s popped over from Patagonia).
      English is all around you.
      Sounds like a chippy, attention seeking bu88er.

      1. Anything interesting and useful in Wales (very rare, of course) is always advertised in English. Funny that…

    3. To be fair you probably don’t need the very latest lifeboats to import illegals, although you might need such a craft in Arbroath? Perhaps the “managers” can’t understand geography?

    4. Just heard the boss of the RNLI on Today. None of the above mentioned. Blimey!

      1. The BBC is part of the same establishment. The same wonks trying for the same pool of six figure statist jobs.

    5. Christopher Newcombe might well be me: I agree 100% and would have written the same exactly if I’d known that the article was published.

    6. Is this desperate cost cutting effort part of the RNLI thinking it’s a business and the inferior quality tooling being used to cut costs?

      That’s like me putting in a fast ethernet hub rather than the 100gb 24 port fibre one we have.

  16. Good Moaning.
    Heck, it’s Monday again. How did that happen?
    Still, at least it’s sunny.

    1. Don’t. Just don’t. The four-weekly paper bill has just arrived. It is only a week since I paid the last one!!

    2. Sunny here now, but the freezing fog is still hanging about to knock the edge off the sunshine.

    6. Not here it isn’t. At least OH managed to get the heating back on but the house is cold still.

      1. Yep.

        I’ve the window open to vent the bathroom but even when that closes it won’t be warm. Turning the heating on has the heat lost in no time.

        My hatred for this government – on either side of the house – is endless.

  17. Good morning, all. Dry today and forecast is for dry weather until Thursday. Washing and garden on the menu.

    Meanwhile, not every animal will be happy with a lack of rain…

    https://twitter.com/2BJDJ/status/1764251750133858616

    Talking of animals wet, in the pejorative sense, politicians…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2b244276fad34299204062e56b9b7942747456c6cc75f1cacd6e8fa0bfd6e79.png

    I added the NOTA comment!

    Or even misguided wet NHS management…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc1810d2c1971899d72c7a98002488213cabc25c333d0883efe8e5dc60e88eed.png

    Or what we’ve come to expect from the wet BBC (other institutions and companies are available) handing out jobs…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37b6494191b9433db01f6c7e4eac84899475e398fac4552d6d0990461875a2a9.png

    1. If Winston Churchill were alive today, he would really be struggling with the Black Dog.

      1. After she has hosted for a while she can sue the BBC for putting her in a state of fear at work. Woof.

    3. You know, when Andi Peters fronted Live and Kicking I didn’t think once ‘Oh, he’s black!’. I, as an about 8-10 year old didn’t really care. One of my best mates was an Indian. We have been driven so far backward by the statist Left it’s suffocating. Their racism is putrid.

        1. Yep. It really, truly didn’t matter. It was just a nice, calm, fatherly voice on the news who presented serious stories with gravitas and daft ones with humour and then shuffled his papers.

          1. The only way to stop racism is for people not to notice a person’s race.

            But the left are determined to increase racism by constantly drawing attention to race.

          3. When we moved to the UK from just-post apartheid SA, I really hoped that I’d be moving from a race-obsessed socety to a colour-blind one. Alas , that wasn’t how it turned out.

    4. I love Boxer dogs. Our Rumpole was just as playful as the one catching the raindrops in your post.

      1. A while ago I visited some friends who were dog sitting a young Boxer dog*. I was wearing a brand new jersey. Big mistake.

        * Obvious adjectives would include boisterous, affectionate, playful, gravity defying.

      1. Yes, thank you,Jules.
        Still rocky, but I’m talking to the quack this afternoon, as they’ve discovered the cause in my medication but won’t stop it!

    2. Someone on this forum yesterday posted a video arguing that Thomas Mair was not a right ring activist and that Jo Cox’s murder had nothing to do with him and the whole thing was a set up.

      With Thomas Mair off the list the list of right wing assassins would look very thin!

  21. Good morning all, dull overcast Monday, 5c.

    So different from the lovely sunny springlike weather we had yesterday .

    My golfer put his wet weather kit on and I expect he will have a very soggy game .

    3. When I read Richie’s circumlocution I thought, “that’s just for public consumption; he won’t do anything to cut taxes”.

    2. Who will be doing the investigation? Other Left wing judges, safe and secure from the scum they let out?

  25. 384320+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Monday 4 March: British voters will not forgive a chancellor who fails to boost defence

    The british majority voter has found “forgiveness” at every general election since the creature that crawled out of the park public crapper, one anthony charlie lynton became PM.

    Entry latch lifter extraordinaire he certainly gutted the United Kingdom leading to currently ALL governing political cartels being in at the death fess.

    In short, the Country will, via LACK of defence
    bleed out its life blood via the Dover ebb tide.

    1. If “defence begins at home”, the UK, in 2024, has no visible defence.

      1. 384320+ up ticks,

        Morning LD,

        Agreed,

        Also i’m hard pressed to see any invisible defence either.

  26. Good day all and the 77th,

    Bright start to the day at the McPhee demesne but now clouding over. Wind in the South-East, 3℃ rising to 8 or 9 ℃. Rain later (again).

    They are getting excited about the budget, aren’t they. An election must be coming up. This woman who used to be something wants to abolish Stamp Duty.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/886bf5b5d8270056942461e048fe62ed3a6eef3e1d7177b6483112ab57bc9ae8.png

    Other rumours say that the man who accidently became the Chancellor of the Exchequer wants to put up the cost of business class air travel . Quite what that should have to do with him I don’t know. The other arm of the uniparty says people shouldn’t plan a life based on benefits (despite their being the main force behind the incentives to live a life on benefits). It’s all rather pointless anyway as the man who accidentally became chancellor will only tinker around the edges, not change the direction of travel and, in any case, once the other arm of the uniparty have gained office the woman whom they say is competent financially (but who almost certainly isn’t) will simply reverse what has been done in the ’emergency budget’ she will feel compelled have within weeks of being given her little red box.

    It’s all pointless diversionary hot air.

    ALL tax is theft. It started as a compelled tribute made by people to the local thugs in return for protection. Those local thugs then grew rich and started calling themselves kings which gave them more excuses to steal more from the people. Democratic control of the kings made no difference. They were simply replaced by a political class who thought they should have even more of the people’s money to spend. That’s how we got to Income Tax which was supposed to be a temporary measure introduced to fight Boney ( I think). It’s still with us.

    Income tax didn’t exist in the United States until the early 20th century. Then the business and financial elites there exerted their control to foist it on the people while at the same time avoiding it themselves by establishing their so-called philanthropic foundations which were tax-exempt and started to manage their affairs and exercise their influence and control through those.

    Tax is also a means of control through which the people who rule us can guide and modify our behaviour. It also stops us becoming too affluent and rising to challenge them. That’s why they like it. They have fooled us into believing that money taken in tax is used to do things which benefit us. Only if it benefits them first, of course. They don’t need our money. There IS a magic money tree. After Convid we know that. They can simply create more whenever they like at the tap of a few computer keys. Of course that debauches the currency and reduces our purchasing power which is another form of tax. It stops us getting too affluent again. That’s why they like it.

    Until such time as a politician or would-be politician openly admits this I’m not listening to them. Any of them. But they won’t of course, because they are all eventually bought and paid for (or blackmailed) by the wealthy who control them through the corrupt political party system.

    Good. That’s off my chest. I feel better already.

    1. All their “promises” are 150% meaningless. Any changes in tax will not come into force for years – by which time the Tories will be forgotten

      2. Worse the fundamental ethos is non-existent. They don’t understand why spending should be cut. They don’t really want to cut taxes.

        The OBR and Treasury explicitly exclude tax cuts from their calculations because every solution then becomes ‘cut taxes’.

    2. Thing is, Fiscal, if the state just creates money then eventually (well, very quickly) the currency is worthless.If the currency is worthless then the state can’t buy anything, do anything, it can’t sell it’s currency, can’t lend, can’t borrow.

      The state is utterly reliant on the private sector to create real wealth but is trying, so desperately to destroy it through tax and waste. It keeps lying about creating growth but really is determined to do the opposite. Why? The only logical assumption is to ensure we are never competitive against the EU. So wedded is the state machine to that useless organisation that it refuses to permit the UK to succeed outside of it, no matter the cost to the public, economy or society.

      2. It could be more sinister. If a foreign power were to have already developed a practical Quantum computer, it could call the shots anywhere and at any time. The Axis powers had no conception of Enigma and Ultra until long after their war was lost. Whenever and whatever I read about the Tory Government, it always appears to be throwing the match; why?

        1. A high up marketing bod I know says ‘AI’ in every sentence. He seems to think a glorified search engine can solve the technical debt his poor specifications have created.

          I don’t know on what planet people think a computer can know to look at a page, determine a changed entity, know precisely which script that file refers to, change the script with the updated change and then re-run the script, aware of and fixing any errors.

          Computers are dumb. Even a quantum computer. The best use for quantum computing is decryption.

          1. I thought IA was just another name for advances in programming. 30 Years ago, I would have seen a spell-checker as “AI” at that time.

          2. I thought IA was just another name for advances in programming. 30 Years ago, I would have seen a spell-checker as “AI” at that time.

    3. What did the WEF/Gates/Soros Mafia do to Truss in order to get her to appoint Hunt as chancellor. She knew full well that his ideas on the economy were diametrically opposed to hers. She cannot have done it of her own free will.

      Blackmail threats? Intimidation? Death Threats?

      Whatever it was it stinks to heaven and the sooner the story comes out the better.

    4. Morning all.

      Just for once I’d like Jeremy rhyming slang to stand up on Wednesday and say, ‘there will be only one change in the Budget – all thresholds will be raised by …’ and sit down again. Without all the self congratulatory lies about how we have done this, we are going to do that. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!

      1. It would, but I would far prefer he said something alonng the lines of:

        The basic rate will be reduced ot 18% and the tax allowance raised to 18,000.

        All other rates will be abolished.
        National insurance will be hypothecated
        road tax, insurance taxes, stamp duty, capital gains, green taxes will be scrapped.
        CFDs and marginal pricing will be abolished. Energy -of any sort will be solely market run with one requirement: that provision is 20% over capacity, taken from March 2020 (when we had snow and it was -x outside).
        Solar and insulation updating will be subsidised and offered at 0% for up to 5 years and tax deductible.
        VAT on fuel will be scrapped.
        We will repeal the climate change and net zero acts immediately.
        Corporation tax will be reduced to 10%
        Child benefit will be withdrawn over 5 years, replaced with a tax credit. If you work and have children you keep more of your own money.

        Over time, health will be moved to an insurance model, with no additional cost to the tax payer.
        The diversity, HRA, modern slavery acts will be repealed. We will leave the ECHR.

        We will be building ten new reservoirs and providing 2% interest loans to SMR reactor builders. Streets willing to accept micro reactors (the things the size of a container lorry) will receive free electricity for life.

        If someone offered my road free heat and energy, we’d bite their arm off. Some of the older folk are truly struggling. One chap – an IT manager – told me the other day they pay their bill with his second job as a cash in hand window cleaner/gardner/handyman.

    2. Every single one must be returned to France, or better yet, the Sundan, Eritrea or wherever else we stick a pin in a map. Dump them at the edge of the Sahara for all I care. Get of of the sewage.

      But our entire establishment is fighting, tooth and nail to ensure this miserable situation continues.

    3. No wonder councils are bankrupt, the roads are covered in pot holes, people who have served our country are sleeping on the streets. Taxes are all rising, along with the costs of the majority of consumer goods and services. Including insurance premiums. There is huge ‘housing shortage’. Too many people in real terms. The NHS is under enormous pressure. And the basic UK pension is impossible to survive on.
      And all the idiots in Wastemonster monster don’t give a damn.

    4. Inaction? The govt is positively encouraging, facilitating, aiding and abetting it!

  29. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d0bbe51d32cb318219569cdaaf11dc142bab0da5/0_0_5280_2970/master/5280.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=4b11e7dc737a4176a3391f213a501af8
    Sälen, Sweden
    The start of the 100th Vasaloppet cross-country ski-ing race

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/195b6d4154fbb89c557a8c0dc3a991eaf3f503f0/0_0_6329_4219/master/6329.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0a6762f78f2cdfa660a254801caf721d
    Anchorage, Alaska
    Mats Pettersson of Sweden at the start of the Iditarod Trail sled dog race

    1. I believe the huskies crap as they run, so the poor bod in the sled gets bombarded with rapidly-stiffening turds pretty well the whole time.

      1. The husky crap is known as ‘dash’ and those sleds were the first vehicles to provide ‘dashboards’ (a term since hijacked by the motor industry).

        When I took part in a husky sled ride across a frozen lake in northern Sweden back in 2018, that dashboard provided much relief from the dog crap, but did nothing to disperse the evil stench of it!

        1. Didn’t know that about dashboards… the things one learns on NoTTL!
          Morning, Grizz.

    2. Iditarod is a small obscure town in mid-Alaska that provides the mid-point of the annual dog-sled race from Anchorage to Nome. I watched a documentary on this gruelling race a few decades back. It is the toughest endurance race in the world; countless dogs succumb while performing it (and a few drivers do too).

      1. Although the race is a separate event and doesn’t do so, it should be in honour of the teams who took diphtheria serum to Nome in the winter of 1925.

    1. He’s one to pontificate given he is an imposed stooge without democratic mandate and has enacted some of the worst, most undemocratic, destructive policies going.

        1. Will the RNLI give their volunteers Arabic lessons so that they can communicate better with the people it ‘rescues’ in the English Channel?

  33. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/03/business-class-airfare-duty-budget-jeremy-hunt-tax-cuts/

    Hunt there admits that Lawson cut taxes and the economy boomed. In contrast, Brown hiked every tax going and the economy stgnated – well, anything not reliant wholely on the public sector. Brown left crippling debt, mass welfare and poverty. Lawson left a surplus.

    Yet.. Hunt wants to emulate Brown. He really is deliberately trying to do the country in. He’s just another Lefty socialist.

    1. My immediate reaction – given a choice between Brown – the worst chancellor ever except Osborne and himself – and Lawson, the best chancellor of our generation, he deliberately chooses certain socialist Failure rather than potential Conservative Success

  35. Gorgeous morning. Just waked to the letter box. Bright sunshine. Blue sky. Not a breeze to be seen (or felt). Chilly but invigorating…

  37. Sunlight’s getting stronger, but the freezing fog is persisting and appears to be rolling down the valley in waves. Look out the window and the cafe’s clearly in sight, 2 minutes later is obscured.

    1. The fog eventually lifted here and we had sunshine for an hour or so but it didn’t last long and it’s cold and grey now.
      OH spent several hours unblocking the waste pipe from the kitchen sink, so the expedition to obtain a replacement battery for my car will now have to wait till tomorrow.

    2. It is well over time the new Crusades began.

      Not necessarily to spread Christianity; just to wipe out the RoP will be sufficient.

      Where will we find the next Coeur de Lion?

    3. I don’t care if you’re a muslim. You’re a serving soldier and you will not wear that absurd rag. You’re in the British army. No the Iraqi one.

    1. Some areas of Jhb are not any better TB.
      I suspect if you asked Africans to clear up even their own mess, they make accusations of slavery.

    2. They’ve obviously gone from a weekly to a fortnightly bin collection, Belle.

  40. Morning all 🙂😊
    Signs of overnight frost but a blaze of sunshine ☀ now, wonderful.
    I think the British public will be more than determined to punish evey one of our disastrous political classes. They deserve nothing better.

    1. Good morning ogga

      Given the fact that we are not offered any real choice in most political elections we have to vote NOTA or for the least bad candidate. Whom would you vote for if the choice was between Galloway and Farage and NOTA was not allowed.

      1. 384320+ up ticks,

        Morning R,

        “or for the least bad candidate.”
        and that, in my book, has brought us as a once successful decent nation to the cesspit of a country we find ourselves in today.

        Currently in regards to voting for any of the three main overseeing kapo type parties it is more attune to shite grading

        A NEW party is needed with NO current ruling overseers / friends need apply.

        Nota has no content it just says”we are not voting for you”
        Now my choice is “Daisy the cow” a political pro British patriot and a member of a dairy party that has never been anything but beneficial to these Isles, also,without doubt, pro farmer.

        1. You dodge the question!

          I would never vote for either Sunak or Starmer – but if I were threatened with decapitation if I did not vote for one of them I would probably vote for Sunak.

          1. 384320 + up ticks,

            Afternoon R,
            Makes no odds because the current voting pattern dictates mass head loss
            post islammy take over.

            ALL roads via sunak / starmer lead to head loss.

  42. No leading about it, we’re being forced into it. Without an underpinning store of value a currency is just numbers.

  44. I see that Goering’s successor as head of the Luftwaffe is betraying the UK. Nothing changes, does it?

      1. I had a down-loadable sub when I was working to fill those few of those quiet moments I had on a 4 hour flight. Otherwise known as the time between my first coffee after take off and lunch before landing.

  46. Just had a good old laugh. I read out from front page of DT ‘ Lord Clarke warns Jeremy Hunt over buying votes with tax cuts’.

    Alf said, and what a fking tosspot he was!

    Did make me chuckle.

  47. A BTL comment I saw on The Conservative Woman site:

    We have Apartheid in Britain – but, as in South Africa, it is not the incomers but the indigenous people who are going to be excluded.

    1. It isn’t generally known that apart from the San, who have mostly gone the way of the American Indians, the first people to settle The Cape, were white. The Bantu arrived 100 to 150 years later driven south by Zulu expansionism who came from the north massacring and enslaving all before them. Of course due to the politics of apartheid we mustn’t talk about that but pretend that the Bantu are the natives rather than the invaders.

      1. Yup, same as South America before Europeans arrived. Colonisation and slavery was the norm.

      2. Jan van Riebeek 1600s.
        Hottentot were the local tribe.
        Many thousands in South Africa now have arrived from crossing the northern borders attracted by prosperity.
        Crime has now gone through the proverbial roof since.
        White people live in gated communities.
        Strangely the indigenous of Australia are now better off than some the working class in the country.
        But the indigenous in Europe are becoming second class citizens.
        Being pushed aside.

        1. Isn’t hottentot one of the words which has made Mary Poppins a film which requires parental guidance?

          Dad’s Army talked about Fuzzy Wuzzies and the French talk about les lapineaux de la jungle. (Jungle Bunnies) which are probably equally offensive terms.

        2. A friend of mine is South African, she will be visiting me tomorrow actually. She was a lawyer but got fed up of the corruption in the legal system and fled to the UK. I try to urge her to provide assistance to other South African who want to leave but, unfortunately, she wants nothing to do with the legal system either in England or South Africa. She loved her country but despairs for its future.

          1. Our neighbour is from JHB. Born and bred. In fact unbeknown to each other we lived less then two miles apart when I lived in JHB late 60s.
            Her mother and sister live now in Simons town. Her mother is very elderly now and L told me over a G&T Saturday, once her mother has passed away she want’s nothing more to do with South Africa.
            They have already renamed some of the towns Port Elisabeth being one. I lived there for 6 months.
            I have a niece who lives in Summerset West.
            The country is beautiful but those that now run it are nasty bordering on vile.

  48. On recommendation we watched the BBC programme named ‘Rescue’ last night
    The 13 lads including coach, trapped in the caves at Tham Luang Thailand.

    Those cave divers where magnificent and such brave heroes.
    Well worth the hour.

    1. Earlier reports said it was ‘for a track inspection’. Yes, indeed….
      That section of line was closed over the weekend for rail work. The very first train which went over that particular line around 5am hit something which caused it to derail at 90mph. It continued for 60 chains (about a mile?) ripping the track, sleepers, third rail and signalling cables to shreds. Fortunately it stayed upright and everybody was safely evacuated. I can understand why they are hesitant to talk about the real reason.

  50. Started with none . . .
    Wordle 989 4/6

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

  53. Politicians remain in total denial over extremism
    Rather than confront the real issue, the intelligentsia live in a fantasyland where death threats are the norm
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/04/politicians-remain-in-total-denial-over-extremism/ : Tim Stanley

    Stanley’s concluding statement is interesting:

    I prefer that very British quality: the quiet life. The most I’m willing to bring to the debate about Islamism is the courage to admit I’m too cowardly to talk about it.

    1. Another good quote:
      “Sunak pledged to defend British freedom by clamping down on our civil liberties.”

    3. Their well practiced denial supports the concerns they would have regarding being tried for treason. Most of them would probably be guilty of something that would lead to arrest for members of the general public.

  54. 384320+ up ticks,

    What’s the betting georgie boy will be sworn in shortly via the Quran ?

    Looks like the seventh circle of hell political dept. is not so fireproof, enter one George.

    1. The political classes. They comprise the power-crazed, the corrupt, the terminally inept and the clueless buffoon.

      In most cases more than one of those categories perfectly fits the candidate.

  56. The Dopey Wokies strike again.

    Private school head slammed for promoting ‘woke cancel culture’ after dropping references to British heroes
    Story by James Saunders • 4h

    The “woke” headteacher of a top private school has sparked outrage after removing references to “non-inclusive” British historical figures from school buildings.

    The row erupted after head Louise Simpson announced boarding houses at Devon’s Exeter School, including those named after naval heroes Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake, would be rebranded for having “less than positive connotations” in the modern day.

    Simpson said the changes were due to the houses’ namesakes no longer “represent[ing] the values and inclusive nature” of the school.

    Parents at the £17,000-per-year school were told the houses would be named after local castles, hills and woodlands instead.

    Fullscreen button
    Exeter School, Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh

    © GB News
    But Exeter alumni were quick to react to the changes, even calling Simpson’s “suitability for the job” into question.
    A former student told the Sun: “Instead of erasing the school’s history, the mature thing to do is let the pupils think for themselves.

    “Woke cancel culture like this just makes people question the head’s suitability for the job.”

    Several other houses, including one named after Victoria Cross-winning General Redvers Buller, are also set to see their history “erased” in the switch-up.

    LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

    ・’Woke culture has infiltrated’ British Army with resources ‘squandered to promote a political agenda’, says Grant Shapps

    ・The woke BBC is a DISGRACE and GB News is a breath of fresh air, says RUPERT LOWE

    ・Anti-woke course launched at University of Buckingham combats ‘distortion of academia’ in Britain

    Fullscreen button
    Louise Simpson
    Louise Simpson
    © GB News
    It’s not the first time “woke” authorities have taken aim at the two naval greats – a London primary school named after Drake was subject to a total rebrand last year for his association with the slave trade.

    While a hotel in San Francisco also named after the explorer was renamed in 2022 due to his links with Britain’s colonial past.

    Another school in East Yorkshire came under fire in 2021 for dropping links to Raleigh, Drake and even Lord Nelson in favour of Greta Thunberg and Marcus Rashford in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

    Sir Francis Drake, who was born in Devon, was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, and helped to lead English forces against the Spanish Armada.

    Sir Walter Raleigh, also Devon-born, was a key figure in England’s colonisation of North America, and was a close aide and confidante of Queen Elizabeth I.

    Paintings of the two men take pride of place next to the Virgin Queen in the National Portrait Gallery, but both figures have seen significant criticism in the 21st century for their role in the slave trade and imperialism.

    Alongside Raleigh, Drake and Buller, other names set to be removed from houses include philanthropists and benefactors Hugh Crossing, Sir John Daw, Elizabeth Dowrich, Sir Charles Goff and Wilfred Townsend.

    GB News has approached Exeter School for comment.

    1. I was a boy at Blundell’s in Tiverton and I taught at Grenville College in Bideford and Allhallows near Lyme Regis and each of these schools used to have sporting fixtures against Exeter School.

      I am not sure that Exeter is a ‘top’ school but more significant is the fact that Eton has a woke headmaster and many ‘top’ schools have fallen into the trap of condoning sex change.

    2. My old school dropped Clive (of India) as a house name a few years ago, similar damned fool wokery

      1. My old school was C of E.
        And one of the reasons I left before my 16th birthday.
        Although I was in the top five at examination time, the focus on relgious instruction drove me nuts.
        My old house was named after the Celts. Previous school After William Wilberforce….

    2. Problem is we keep seeing these protests but at the end of the day the state just does whatever it wants.

      There will be real change when the state is told ‘No, you’ll start obeying us now’. And has to.

      1. At least these people are getting off their backsides. People here in the UK simply can’t be bothered, even though the source of information, if they chose to seek it, is in their hands.

    1. Excellent and Good (onya) for him.
      Not one mention of the word ‘EXPERTS’.

  59. Apropos of nothing for some reason, t’other day, I was redirected to a page of this NoTTLe forum back in September 2020. It was interesting to note that just three-and-a-half years ago, a lot (if not most) of the current crop of NoTTLers still commenting today were commenting back then. There were, though, quite a number of who we seldom see, if at all, these days. I know that many still comment under new avatar names, but I know that many have been consigned to history. On the day I viewed, these characters were commenting:

    Bill Jackson
    Clydesider
    Hugh Janus
    Rik (Rik-Redix)
    Epidermoid
    grumpygrey (Alf)
    Bleusard (Still Bleu)
    Pretty Polly
    Richards Photoshop (?)
    Horace Pendleton
    No to Nanny (Tom)
    lms2
    Aberrant apostrophe
    Plum-Tart
    Eddy (Ready Eddy?)
    Meredith Mckay
    bassetedge
    Tony
    Dez
    cynarch
    Jewish Kuffar
    RKWL
    Michael
    Devonian in Kent (John)
    Duncan Mac

    I wonder what has happened to most of them?

      2. It must be almost time to wander over there and get polly would up over 3lection conspiracy theories.

    3. They might not have commented on the day you viewed but a couple whom you might have mentioned are:

      Ready Eddy who used to be Eh Calm Down and of course Peddy the Viking who reappeared briefly as Peter Andersen.

      Pretty Polly is a regular contributor to the comment sections under articles in The Conservative Woman . She is much more appreciated there than she was here

        1. Good afternoon, Bill,

          Please remind me – what was it you had against her?

        1. Did you ever appear under a different pseudonym? I once caused confusion by changing my avatar from rastusctastey to Rastus C. Tastey but most Nottlers managed to see through my deception.

      3. Those on my list were on it because they commented on that day: that is where I got the names from. If you look again you will see that I did mention Ready Eddy.

          1. Yes, I am aware of that and he stopped doing so when he was repeatedly attacked in a cowardly and curmudgeonly manner by Paddy. All I did in my comment was state one of the former names of a current poster.
            I could also have added Lord Rayne, to Tom’s portfolio, but I just mentioned NoToNanny and Sir Jasper.

    4. They might not have commented on the day you viewed but a couple whom you might have mentioned are:

      Ready Eddy who used to be Eh Calm Down and of course Peddy the Viking who reappeared briefly as Peter Andersen.

      Pretty Polly is a regular contributor to the comment sections under articles in The Conservative Woman . She is much more appreciated there than she was here

      1. This very topical last verse to Mr Coward’s song is sadly omitted in the recording I have posted.

        ‘Yertis:

        D’you remember young Phipps
        Who had very large hips
        And whose waist was excessively slim?
        Well, it appears a curious doctor in Washington Square
        Gave him hormone injections to strengthen his hair
        And he grew something here, and he grew something there
        I wonder what happened to her—him?

      1. No, Conners, you featured prominently on that day, as did a host of others who still comment (including me). I just highlighted a group of those who (in the main) have either changed names or have completely disappeared.

    1. Are they, by any chance, training in Ukraine? Not that I’m suspicious or anything.

    2. Echoes of Ursula fond of Lying buying planes that won’t fly, subs that are not seaworthy and sending her troops into exercises with broom handles for guns.

      1. You laugh. Canada bought four used submarines from the UK over twenty years ago.
        They still don’t work after years of refurbishment.

  61. Rule Britannia ‘alienates’ a lot of Britons, says shadow culture secretary

    Thangam Debbonaire welcomes a ‘good debate’ about it being performed at Last Night of the Proms but insists it’s up to the BBC to decide

    Dominic Penna,
    POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    4 March 2024 • 11:55am

    Labour’s shadow culture secretary has said Rule, Britannia! is “alienating” to lots of Britons as she welcomed a “good debate” about its performance at the Last Night of the Proms.

    Thangam Debbonaire described the patriotic anthem as “not my favourite bit of music” and insisted she would leave any decision about its future to the BBC.

    The broadcaster faced a backlash in 2020 over a plan to perform the composition without any lyrics in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, which was reversed within days.

    Critics have long said Rule, Britannia! has uncomfortable associations with slavery and colonialism. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the cellist, reignited the debate in January after arguing it should be axed from the Last Night because it made “a lot of people” feel “uncomfortable”.

    Asked about Kanneh-Mason’s comments, Ms Debbonaire told the Spectator’s Women with Balls podcast: “It’s not my favourite bit of music. And the Proms is a fantastic institution and it’s the world’s greatest music festival…

    “I think it’s a decision for the people who run the Proms and again, like I said, it shouldn’t be politicians who tell people how to run cultural events.

    “I think for a lot of people that feels like a very sort of British moment, which I think has to be respected as well, but for a lot of people, as Sheku Kenneh-Mason said, it will feel alienating.

    “As I want the Proms – I want culture – to be accessible to everyone, I think it’s a good debate for us to be having.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2024/03/04/TELEMMGLPICT000363376965_17095524743730_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqFtqbBstrxd8TQDTnHGoxe9Z8QBXtryejwhgkqnDDg0Q.jpeg?imwidth=960
    Ms Debbonaire said politicians shouldn’t tell people how to run cultural events

    The position taken by the shadow culture secretary is in contrast to that of Downing Street, which earlier this year dismissed calls for Rule, Britannia! to be scrapped and said Rishi Sunak was “comfortable in celebrating British traditions”.

    Ms Debbonaire’s remarks faced an immediate backlash from senior Tory MPs on Monday. Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former leader of the Commons, said: “I think that it is a uniting song. It is about the marvellous history of this country to which every British citizen belongs.

    “There are always some people who don’t like the country to which they belong. The overwhelming majority of people are proud of Britain, proud of its history, and this is encapsulated in the very stirring words of Rule, Britannia!”

    Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, added: “Rule, Britannia! is an integral part of the Last Night of the Proms. Without things like Rule, Britannia!, what on earth is the point of it?

    “I think this just gives everyone a sneak preview of the political correctness that we’d be likely to see from a Labour government and one that basically has very little pride in Britain and its history and its tradition.”

    Giles Watling, a member of the Commons culture committee, said: “Rule, Britannia! is traditional and people should be able to perform whatever they like.

    “I agree to a great extent that politicians shouldn’t interfere in what people do culturally. But we also mustn’t be prescriptive about certain forms of performance unless, and it is a big unless, it promotes hate and division. We should be less jumpy about these things.”

    ‘Great provider of joy and jobs’
    Elsewhere in her interview, Ms Debbonaire accused the Conservatives of “fighting culture wars more often than they’re fighting for culture” and lauded the BBC as a “great provider of joy and jobs”.

    She also recalled how at the age of four she had “demanded” a cello from her parents, both of whom were musicians, adding: “I was fairly insistent on the subject. There was no diverting me at all, and that was because I had a babysitter who played the cello…I had a small cello, a quarter size.

    “I was fairly impatient with the cello and the bow that you play it with when it wouldn’t make the noise that you wanted it to, and I’m afraid to say I threw my bow out the window. But I went on to practise very hard, and music’s been part of my life ever since.”

    ***********************************

    Square Peg
    1 HR AGO
    I’ve got news for the shadow culture secretary. “Rule Britannia” isn’t alienating to anyone who’s properly British and proud of our navy for putting an end to the slave trade.

    Conrad Sky
    40 MIN AGO
    Reply to Square Peg – view message
    People expressing dissenting opinions might find a more fitting cultural context in societies like the United States, where multiculturalism has flourished. Our commitment to preserving the rich tapestry of British culture, with its millennia of history, is paramount. It is essential to uphold our traditions gracefully, ensuring that those who may feel uncomfortable with our way of doing things have the freedom to abstain from events like the Proms.

    2. I’ve been to the Last Night of the Proms many times and it definitely doesn’t alienate the audience in the Royal Albert Hall. Those who don’t like it on television can watch something else.

      1. Depends what she means by Brits.

        Her definition might be rather different from that of most Nottlers.

    5. Also, it shows profound ignorance on her part on the origin of the hymn.

  62. Church of England told to raise £1bn for fund to ‘address past wrongs of slavery’. 4 March 2024.

    A new report published today by an independent Oversight Group has concluded that the £100 million fund will be too small and too slow to deliver on its aims, as it called for the target to be increased to £1 billion.

    However, the Church of England is being urged to raise the remaining £900 million from wealthy donors, companies and investors. It is hoped that the extra funding, combined with the interest accrued by the fund, will allow the church to reach its new target.

    Sounds like a scam to sell off the family silver and finish off the CoE.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/04/church-england-told-raise-1bn-slavery-fund-wealthy-donors/

    1. There’s all those church graveyards just begging to have new housing estates built on ’em. That should quickly fill the slave money shortfall.

    3. What an utter crock – I don’t see Islam raising money to address the past wrongs of slavery!

      1. Or indeed the present wrongs of slavery, given that the muzzies are still at it.

      3. Over the time of their occupation of Spain, they stole thousands of children from the shores of Britain Ireland France. They kept the poor little kids in caves near Alhambra. Used them for the obvious. And fed them to their caged Lions when they had finished with them.

      4. That’s because they don’t see anything wrong with it, even in today’s modern times.

    4. As I continually repeat Cameron specifically appointed Welby as Archpillock of Canterbury in order to destroy the CofE.

    5. They could ask the Anglican churches in Africa for donations, given that their people are still engaged in slavery.

      1. Replacement boats and dinghies for those damaged and discarded mid channel. You don’t expect the gimmigrants to pay for them, do you?

    7. Isn’t it time for congregations to get shot of Lambeth Palace, the Independent Oversight Group and the whole heirarchy of bishops going along with this bit of till-dipping, and form a new Church?

        1. Orthodox is better, priests can be married. Little known fact. Henry VIII had his bishops enter into dialogue with the Orthodox Church with the intent that the C of E become a branch of the Orthodox Church. It didn’t happen as you might have noticed. I can’t remember why the effort fell flat.

  63. 384320+ up ticks,

    Church of England told to raise £1bn for fund to ‘address past wrongs of slavery’
    £100m has already been pledged but Church Commissioners urged to find more from wealthy donors as current target is ‘insufficient’

    I believe that the congregation have been told to purchase and wear head size jubilee clips as headbands that can be tightened on any future under-funding.

    1. Is the Church of England suggesting that the UK was wrong in abolishing slavery?

      Or are they making British congregations blameworthy for what goes on in America since the time of George III, because nobody is able to challenge Trump?

    4. There was an article yesterday where a Newfie cross was caught after spending five months living wild in Haverford West. He’d absconded when being taken to a new home from a dogs’ home.

      1. Our Newfoundland was not at all happy when removed from his pack as we brought him home from the breeder as a puppy.. . We were astonished after we returned to the brerder’s home some years later for an overnight stay that he knew exactly where he was as we approached at some distance from the location.

        1. My border x cairn used to know exactly where the vet’s was; as soon as I turned off the main road he’d start getting twitchy. By the time I’d gone over the railway bridge, turned left and swung into the car park he was in full voice! There was never any need to announce our arrival; they could have heard him in Chester.

      1. We have a Waterley Bottom not far from here. We went to look at a house there before finding the one we live in.

      2. We have a Waterley Bottom not far from here. We went to look at a house there before finding the one we live in.

      3. I’ve been to Six Mile Bottom. It’s near Newmarket – well, probably nearer Cambridge than Newmarket, but it gets a mention on the course.

  67. And – from the Ministry of Lack of Defence comes this gem:

    “RAF pilots must train abroad because ‘Hawk jet engines blow up’”

  70. Donald Trump cleared to run for president after Supreme Court victory

    Ruling means Republican candidate will appear on the Colorado ballot and is expected to secure the party nomination on Super Tuesday

    Susie Coen,
    US CORRESPONDENT
    4 March 2024 • 3:02pm

    Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states over the Capitol attack
    Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states over the Capitol attack CREDIT: AP Photo/Chris Carlson
    Donald Trump cannot be banned from running for president and will appear on the ballot in Tuesday’s Colorado primary, America’s highest court has ruled.

    The Supreme Court ruling is a victory for the former president who is expected to sew up the Republican nomination during the Super Tuesday contest.

    While Monday’s ruling is specific to Colorado, it will set a precedent for other states including Illinois and Maine which also barred him from primary ballots.

    Last year, Mr Trump was ruled ineligible by the Colorado Supreme Court for his alleged encouragement of the Jan 6 riot at the Capitol in 2021 and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    Mr Trump appealed the ruling on Jan 3 and the court heard arguments last month.

    The Colorado Republican Party had requested that the Supreme Court rule before Tuesday’s primary contest.

    ‘A pretty daunting consequence’
    Monday’s decision was largely expected after both Republican and Democrat judges expressed concern about individual states having the power to decide the presidential election during last month’s two-hour court session.

    During the hearing, Chief Justice John Robert, a Republican, said if the Colorado decision is upheld, other states will proceed with disqualification proceedings of their own for either Democratic or Republican candidates

    “And it will come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election. That’s a pretty daunting consequence,” he added.

    Mr Trump did not attend the session, but told reporters he had listened to the hearing and thought “it was a very beautiful process” and he thought his team’s “arguments were very, very strong”.

    Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states – a mostly unsuccessful effort – over the Capitol attack.

  71. Donald Trump cleared to run for president after Supreme Court victory

    Ruling means Republican candidate will appear on the Colorado ballot and is expected to secure the party nomination on Super Tuesday

    Susie Coen,
    US CORRESPONDENT
    4 March 2024 • 3:02pm

    Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states over the Capitol attack
    Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states over the Capitol attack CREDIT: AP Photo/Chris Carlson
    Donald Trump cannot be banned from running for president and will appear on the ballot in Tuesday’s Colorado primary, America’s highest court has ruled.

    The Supreme Court ruling is a victory for the former president who is expected to sew up the Republican nomination during the Super Tuesday contest.

    While Monday’s ruling is specific to Colorado, it will set a precedent for other states including Illinois and Maine which also barred him from primary ballots.

    Last year, Mr Trump was ruled ineligible by the Colorado Supreme Court for his alleged encouragement of the Jan 6 riot at the Capitol in 2021 and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    Mr Trump appealed the ruling on Jan 3 and the court heard arguments last month.

    The Colorado Republican Party had requested that the Supreme Court rule before Tuesday’s primary contest.

    ‘A pretty daunting consequence’
    Monday’s decision was largely expected after both Republican and Democrat judges expressed concern about individual states having the power to decide the presidential election during last month’s two-hour court session.

    During the hearing, Chief Justice John Robert, a Republican, said if the Colorado decision is upheld, other states will proceed with disqualification proceedings of their own for either Democratic or Republican candidates

    “And it will come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election. That’s a pretty daunting consequence,” he added.

    Mr Trump did not attend the session, but told reporters he had listened to the hearing and thought “it was a very beautiful process” and he thought his team’s “arguments were very, very strong”.

    Anti-Trump forces have sought to disqualify him in more than two dozen other states – a mostly unsuccessful effort – over the Capitol attack.

  74. Since all this Dopey Wokey nonsense has been happening, I wonder how long it will be before using the word local could be deemed as racist.

    1. If the politicians wanted to stop illegal immigration they would have done so years ago.

    2. Don’t detain them. Don’t even remove them. When they squawk for help, go out and shoot them.

  76. Banks are bailing out of soulless Canary Wharf – and who can blame them?
    Financial district is in the midst of an identity crisis following an exodus of companies
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/04/canary-wharf-must-reinvent-itself-survive/

    BTL

    Nigel Farage’s exposure of some of the banks’ foul de-banking activities and their rewarding of those such as Alison Rose who broke their non-disclosure rules about their clients’ right to confidentiality revealed that the Banks are completely soulless.

    Surely the more soulless their premises the more appropriate!

    1. My school house names were Ebor, Severus, Alcuin and Minster. Severus was born in North Africa and didn’t some ignoramus recently declare that he must have been black? Of course he most certainly was not. The Romans had no interest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edward Gibbon states in his history of the decline and fall that they knew their limits and didn’t consider it worth the effort.

        1. My RC Boys’ grammar (Now closed) had St Augustine*, St Gregory, John Fisher and Thomas More.

          *I was a Gussie.

      3. Plus, his mother was Roman and his father Phoenician – around modern Lebanon. The BBC still managed to rebrand him as “black African”.

    2. My school houses were City, Finsbury, Stoke and Canonbury. How Stoke got in there I have no idea as it was an inner London school in London N5.

        1. Too far away I think. Stoke Newington is only a couple of miles from Highbury as are Finsbury/Finsbury Park, Canonbury and The City of London.

      1. Mine were after hills; Malvern (Dark Blue), Wenlock (Green), Bredon (Yellow) and Clee (Light Blue).

  82. The MR and I belong to the local Arts Society. It is one of many such groups across the country. There is a nation body that oversees the groups and provides speakers, information, publicity.

    There is a now a concerted effort by HQ to enforce diversity. I’d say that group membership is 99.5% white, educated middle-class. So this month’s magazine from HQ has a coal black rapper on the cover and three pages to devoted to his “art”.

    One of the advantages of individual, local groups is that we control who is invited to lecture. HQ may want dozens of blacks – but groups simply won’t hire them! Same with membership. Unless the local committee went out with nets, there is no way that black members could be found.

    HQ is also having a “consultation” about changing its constitution to remove local representatives and reduce the number of trustees to 15 – to be appointed by the trustees and NOT the membershp. One can bet a groat that – should the process go through – there will be getting on for 50% of co-opted black trustees. It is being resisted throughout the country, by the way.

  83. And another thing….

    For all the 40 years I have lived here, the letter box by the old school is emptied at 3.00 pm. So one can respond to letters delivered in the morning, or prepare stuff to send and be able to catch the post without a rush.

    The far-sighted (and benevolent) GPO has changed all that helpfulness. The box is now emptied at 9 am. And they wonder why fewer and fewer people use the Royal Mail…

    1. Letter deliveries here are typically at lunchtime. The nearest mailbox is emptied at 9:00 (7:00 Saturdays) but the next nearest, about10 minutes distant on foot, is emptied at 17:30 (12:30 Saturdays), so same day responses are still possible here Mondays to Fridays. As you live in a rural location, I imagine your nearest late-collection mailbox is more distant.

      For the record, Royal Mail has a webpage which helps you locate your nearest mailboxes, indicating which have late collections.

      https://www.royalmail.com/services-near-you#/

      1. Thanks, Stig. When I insert my postcode (NR21 0NJ) it gives a list of five addresses in Norwich (NR2) Really helpfl….not!!

      2. Our local box is emptied between 9.30 and 10 to meet the main van which goes from Achnasheen station (where the mail from Inverness is delivered) to Ullapool and back to Inverness. Depending on who is on the post the incoming mail is delivered between 11 and 5

    2. We no longer have an afternoon collection – ours is emptied at 9am and 7am on Saturdays. And the price is shortly going up yet again.

      1. We have similar collection times, although a trip to the sorting office would permit a later collection. Delivery can be any time between 08.00 and 16.00 depending on who is doing the round.

        1. And not every day either – our neighbours’ WhatsApp group has plenty to say on this issue. The postie is an endangered species these days.

    1. Couldn’t hear the name of the village.

      Excellent that a young man is willing to do this – and spread some joy.

    2. One of my closest friends came from Salisbury and went to Bishop Wordsworth’s School as did Ben Maton. I shall be coming over to England at the weekend and shall be speaking at his funeral in Trowbridge next Monday.

      The quiet beauty of England which this video evokes fills me with sadness because it will soon disappear as a result of the monstrous invasion by the barbarians.

    4. Lovely , tranquil, glorious , reflective , hopeful, cleansing the soul, music from a higher being , and the skill that beautiful hands interprets for us as we dream and remember .

    5. Thank you! It makes the CoE’s death wish all the more unfathomable. Why do they hate their heritage?

    1. This is one instance where I wouldn’t much mind if such an accusation were made. Hearing white youths mimicking black patois makes me cringe.

    2. Quite apart from his gibbering noise is his sense of entitlement. It doesn’t matter that it’s McD’s that he’s stealing from.

    3. Quite apart from his gibbering noise is his sense of entitlement. It doesn’t matter that it’s McD’s that he’s stealing from.

  87. A Blazing Birdie Three!

    Wordle 989 3/6
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟨🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, me too.
      Wordle 989 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Bit slower here
        Wordle 989 4/6

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

    2. Well done, me too.
      Wordle 989 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done. I made hard work of it today.

      Wordle 989 6/6

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

      1. Just to make you feel better, here us my almost failure
        Wordle 989 6/6

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

    4. Well done. 4today.

      Wordle 989 4/6
      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  88. Has anyone else here suddenly found themselves suddenly banned by ‘The Spectator’?

    I tried to reply to someone about recording techniques only to find this error message: ”

    We are unable to post your comment because you have been banned by http://www.spectator.co.uk.
    Find out more.”

    1. They have changed the Comments Section Jeremy so you have probably just been caught out!

  89. SIR – How can this Government have money to spend on aid to India and China, both of which run space programmes and align themselves to Vladimir Putin, yet say there is no extra money to spend on the defence of the realm?

    Judith Rixon
    Bourne, Lincolnshire

    I wrote the DT a similar letter , why wasn’t mine published?

    1. Your face doesn’t fit, Maggie. Or perhaps you forgot to slag off Putin as an aside.

    2. Did you bring in climate change, hamas/Gaza and Putin? If not, no chance.

    1. Rule Britannia pisses off a lot of British legal and illegal aliens. Good.

      Edited for silly spelling.

        1. If they don’t like the words, they can just hum along to the tune.

          Just experiencing the patriotism sown on the last night is a treat – or it was when we went.

          Oh damn, we went in 1967, I just checked and now feel old.

  92. That’s me for today. A three mile walk this afternoon.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

    1. Too cold and wet for walking here this afternoon. I got the washing in just in time. OH spent most of the day degreasing the the waste pipe from the kitchen sink.

      1. To reduce the build up of grease wipe out frying pans with paper towels. Also pour waste oil into the rubbish bin. Preferably on top of the rubbish. Set fats like lard go in the rubbish too.

  93. Wales’ council tax bombshell may soon hit England

    Putting cash into a rainy-day fund would be a wise idea, because there’s now nothing to guard us against high-tax socialists

    PATRICK O’FLYNN
    4 March 2024 • 1:48pm

    If one wants to track the likely course of a future UK-wide Labour government then it is a good rule of thumb to look at what is going on in Wales.

    Most of us by now know about the parlous state of the NHS in the principality and about the whacko obsession of its public authorities with creating a manana economy via the imposition of 20mph speed limits.

    But now comes evidence that at local government level too, the Leftish hegemony in Wales is pushing policies that are seriously against the interests of hardworking taxpayers.

    Pembrokeshire Council, which is run by a coalition of Labour, the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru, is looking to push through a council tax increase of 16 per cent in a budget-setting meeting of councillors on Thursday.

    For all the gradual tightening we have seen of the financial thumbscrews on council tax-payers in England, residents in the biggest constituent part of the UK are at least protected from such disproportionate increases.

    In England, councils are limited to a five per cent ceiling in the amount they can raise the council tax each year apart from under two special circumstances. The first is when they are effectively bankrupt and the extra funds are needed as an emergency. An example is in Birmingham this year where the local authority has been permitted by Whitehall to levy a ten per cent rise. The second exemption is where a council puts a proposed increase of more than five per cent to a local referendum and wins it.

    But the rarity of such referendums actually taking place tells us what a strong protection they form. Way back in 2001, Bristol City Council held the first such referendum in a large city, offering residents a range of choices including a four per cent “benchmark” rise, a six per cent rise and a freeze. More than half of those who voted backed the freeze and chastened council chiefs had to scurry off and find efficiency savings.

    I’d guess the same would happen in Pembrokeshire were residents there permitted a referendum rather than suffering the imposition of the agendas of tax-hungry Leftists at both a local and national level. Instead, a standard band D council tax payer in the county is now being lined up for an increase of more than £200, with even bigger rises for those in higher bands.

    So should we in England praise the Conservatives for maintaining stricter controls over local tax-raising? Clearly, the regime that taxpayers live under here is not as open to abuse by big-spending local authorities as the one that prevails in Wales.

    And yet, what have they done lately to promote a culture of low taxes and an expectation of public authorities zealously seeking to deliver value for money to those of us who pay their bills? Not a lot, I would argue.

    For instance, councils have been given permission to impose double council tax on second home owners and several have instantly opted to do so. Can we really be confident that a Labour government won’t turn that doubling into a trebling and point to the precedent set by the Tories?

    And given the enormous expansion in the size and cost of the state – both at a national level and a local one – that the Tories have presided over, isn’t higher taxation an inevitable consequence?

    Perhaps Jeremy Hunt will re-ignite low-tax Toryism in the Budget on Wednesday. But, then again, one wouldn’t want to bet on it. Putting cash into a rainy-day fund would be a better use of the stake money. Because Labour and the ways of Wales are heading our way very soon.

    ***************************

    Alex Greenwood
    3 HRS AGO
    I’m involved in local government administration and finances. My gut feeling is that that governance structure no longer works, and we need to rethink. After all, the last wholesale review was the LGA in 1972.
    Much of local government is now simply too big, involves too much money for the governance structure to work, and is being expected to do too much. There is also no longer a sanctions regime, so there is no incentive for councillors to ensure business is run properly and affordably, and, to be blunt, there are a lot of councillors who should be nowhere near local government — you wouldn’t employ them to run a chip shop.
    I despair at the lack of understanding, and the resultant flippancy of attitudes, that people within the local government arena have towards finance. I know I will be preaching to the converted here, but Labour councillors, in particular, seem to have no comprehension of value, the impact of taxation, opportunity cost, project management . . . or, indeed, how much 10 million quid actually is.
    Not that councillors in other parties are much better. I’ve got to the point where it is going to take virtual bankruptcy for many councils to get their act together and stop spending money on their pointless hobbyhorses. It’s also going to take legislative reform as well.

    Preston -Shanks
    3 HRS AGO
    Reply to Alex Greenwood
    And most services are contracted out.

    Alex Greenwood
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Preston -Shanks – view message
    Preston, do not get me started.
    For a service to be contracted out, one must first assess the viability and affordability of said tenders. This is the first hurdle, and it is lethal. So many optimistic adventurers fall even at this early stage, delivering us all onto the helter-skelter of impending disaster.

    Michael Staples
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Alex Greenwood
    I used to be a borough councillor and chairman of its planning committee for a small town of 80,0000. Last week I look at its preparations for a new local plan. They had paid consultants for a 52-page report on how global warming would affect it, which could be summed up, as for the rest of Southern England, as possibly be slightly wetter in winter and slightly warmer in summer and it was a good idea to insulate new houses.
    This sort of nonsense is being replicated for the other 67,000,000 people in the UK.

    Michael Souris
    2 HRS AGO
    How much does the CEO of Pembrokeshire County Council make?
    Pembrokeshire County Council’s chief executive and returning officer had a salary of £193,576 but took home a total of £212,807 according to the TaxPayers’ Alliance Town Hall Rich List 2022 which scrutinises the figures from 2020 to 2021.
    Cut his/her salary to the average of about £45k in Wales

    3. A lot of what my county council (seriously in the red) does is mandatory. A look at that would help. Mind you, if, instead of paying £6.2m to a consultancy agency to tell them how to save money, they had asked me, all the diversity and equality ranks would be out on their ear, there would be no multilingual translations and the “climate change emergency department” would be closed down. I bet they are left in place.

      1. That’s why they didn’t ask your advice.

        Think of all of those luvvie jobs that would dissappear if your concept of a slimline efficient council was implemented.

      2. That’s why they didn’t ask your advice.

        Think of all of those luvvie jobs that would dissappear if your concept of a slimline efficient council was implemented.

    4. Mother’s care home fees just went up by 15%, to pay for taxes, keep the wonderful staff they have, and address all the issues raised by inflation… my pay didn’t rise in like manner.

  94. Wales’ council tax bombshell may soon hit England

    Putting cash into a rainy-day fund would be a wise idea, because there’s now nothing to guard us against high-tax socialists

    PATRICK O’FLYNN
    4 March 2024 • 1:48pm

    If one wants to track the likely course of a future UK-wide Labour government then it is a good rule of thumb to look at what is going on in Wales.

    Most of us by now know about the parlous state of the NHS in the principality and about the whacko obsession of its public authorities with creating a manana economy via the imposition of 20mph speed limits.

    But now comes evidence that at local government level too, the Leftish hegemony in Wales is pushing policies that are seriously against the interests of hardworking taxpayers.

    Pembrokeshire Council, which is run by a coalition of Labour, the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru, is looking to push through a council tax increase of 16 per cent in a budget-setting meeting of councillors on Thursday.

    For all the gradual tightening we have seen of the financial thumbscrews on council tax-payers in England, residents in the biggest constituent part of the UK are at least protected from such disproportionate increases.

    In England, councils are limited to a five per cent ceiling in the amount they can raise the council tax each year apart from under two special circumstances. The first is when they are effectively bankrupt and the extra funds are needed as an emergency. An example is in Birmingham this year where the local authority has been permitted by Whitehall to levy a ten per cent rise. The second exemption is where a council puts a proposed increase of more than five per cent to a local referendum and wins it.

    But the rarity of such referendums actually taking place tells us what a strong protection they form. Way back in 2001, Bristol City Council held the first such referendum in a large city, offering residents a range of choices including a four per cent “benchmark” rise, a six per cent rise and a freeze. More than half of those who voted backed the freeze and chastened council chiefs had to scurry off and find efficiency savings.

    I’d guess the same would happen in Pembrokeshire were residents there permitted a referendum rather than suffering the imposition of the agendas of tax-hungry Leftists at both a local and national level. Instead, a standard band D council tax payer in the county is now being lined up for an increase of more than £200, with even bigger rises for those in higher bands.

    So should we in England praise the Conservatives for maintaining stricter controls over local tax-raising? Clearly, the regime that taxpayers live under here is not as open to abuse by big-spending local authorities as the one that prevails in Wales.

    And yet, what have they done lately to promote a culture of low taxes and an expectation of public authorities zealously seeking to deliver value for money to those of us who pay their bills? Not a lot, I would argue.

    For instance, councils have been given permission to impose double council tax on second home owners and several have instantly opted to do so. Can we really be confident that a Labour government won’t turn that doubling into a trebling and point to the precedent set by the Tories?

    And given the enormous expansion in the size and cost of the state – both at a national level and a local one – that the Tories have presided over, isn’t higher taxation an inevitable consequence?

    Perhaps Jeremy Hunt will re-ignite low-tax Toryism in the Budget on Wednesday. But, then again, one wouldn’t want to bet on it. Putting cash into a rainy-day fund would be a better use of the stake money. Because Labour and the ways of Wales are heading our way very soon.

    ***************************

    Alex Greenwood
    3 HRS AGO
    I’m involved in local government administration and finances. My gut feeling is that that governance structure no longer works, and we need to rethink. After all, the last wholesale review was the LGA in 1972.
    Much of local government is now simply too big, involves too much money for the governance structure to work, and is being expected to do too much. There is also no longer a sanctions regime, so there is no incentive for councillors to ensure business is run properly and affordably, and, to be blunt, there are a lot of councillors who should be nowhere near local government — you wouldn’t employ them to run a chip shop.
    I despair at the lack of understanding, and the resultant flippancy of attitudes, that people within the local government arena have towards finance. I know I will be preaching to the converted here, but Labour councillors, in particular, seem to have no comprehension of value, the impact of taxation, opportunity cost, project management . . . or, indeed, how much 10 million quid actually is.
    Not that councillors in other parties are much better. I’ve got to the point where it is going to take virtual bankruptcy for many councils to get their act together and stop spending money on their pointless hobbyhorses. It’s also going to take legislative reform as well.

    Preston -Shanks
    3 HRS AGO
    Reply to Alex Greenwood
    And most services are contracted out.

    Alex Greenwood
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Preston -Shanks – view message
    Preston, do not get me started.
    For a service to be contracted out, one must first assess the viability and affordability of said tenders. This is the first hurdle, and it is lethal. So many optimistic adventurers fall even at this early stage, delivering us all onto the helter-skelter of impending disaster.

    Michael Staples
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Alex Greenwood
    I used to be a borough councillor and chairman of its planning committee for a small town of 80,0000. Last week I look at its preparations for a new local plan. They had paid consultants for a 52-page report on how global warming would affect it, which could be summed up, as for the rest of Southern England, as possibly be slightly wetter in winter and slightly warmer in summer and it was a good idea to insulate new houses.
    This sort of nonsense is being replicated for the other 67,000,000 people in the UK.

    Michael Souris
    2 HRS AGO
    How much does the CEO of Pembrokeshire County Council make?
    Pembrokeshire County Council’s chief executive and returning officer had a salary of £193,576 but took home a total of £212,807 according to the TaxPayers’ Alliance Town Hall Rich List 2022 which scrutinises the figures from 2020 to 2021.
    Cut his/her salary to the average of about £45k in Wales

      1. From the Norfolk branch of the family, uncle Bill has probably come across them.

      2. From the Norfolk branch of the family, uncle Bill has probably come across them.

  100. A quiet coup is handing control of Britain to the lawyers

    The principle that Parliament is supreme is being subverted

    PETER LILLEY
    4 March 2024 • 12:53pm

    Police officers stand on duty outside the Supreme Court in Parliament Square
    Should we adopt the Iranian system of rule by a Council of Guardians – wise Ayatollahs – who oversee what elected representatives must, may and cannot do, to ensure government policies accord with the Ayatollahs’ interpretation of sacred texts?

    No takers for that in Britain you may think. But in fact the UK is well on the way to succumbing to such a system. In Iran it was established by the Islamic Revolution overthrowing the Shah. Here it is being imposed by a stealthy constitutional revolution.

    Our unelected, unaccountable guardians are lawyers, giving themselves power to constrain what elected representatives can and cannot do. Their sacred text is not the Koran but the European Convention of Human Rights which, they assert, Parliament cannot override or resile from, but which judges declare to be a “living instrument” – open to their subjective interpretation. This week, we will find whether these legal Ayatollahs have already gained the power to stop Parliament passing the Rwanda Bill.

    For a thousand years in Britain, law has been made by Parliament and implemented by the Courts. If the Courts interpret laws in ways that Parliament did not intend or feels is out of line with values of the public who elect it, Parliament can change the law. That is what Parliamentary sovereignty means.

    But senior judges and lawyers now assert that Parliament is not sovereign: it can no longer change the law if our legal Ayatollahs say it conflicts with the spirit of human rights and other laws as subjectively interpreted by them and their international confreres.

    If we allow this to go unchecked, it will be hugely damaging not just for democracy but for the rule of law. We will have moved from the rule of law to the rule of lawyers.

    The “rule of law” means that laws made and approved by our elected representatives are impartially implemented by the courts and all of us – citizens, public officials, ministers, police – are subject to those laws. But if we don’t like a law, we can try to persuade our elected representatives to change it.

    The “rule of lawyers” means that unelected and unaccountable judges can impose their opinions and there is nothing we can do about it. That appeals to (some) lawyers just as Iran’s system appeals to Ayatollahs. But ultimately it will erode public support for the rule of law. Moreover, it will inevitably lead to the politicisation of the judiciary.

    If lawyers can make essentially political judgements based on their subjective opinions which elected representatives cannot remedy, the appointment of judges becomes a hugely political issue. That is the case in the US – where the Supreme Court can interpret the Constitution to overturn Congressional decisions. Do we want to be like America, where two vacancies during Trump’s first term gave him the chance to appoint judges whose political opinions he liked and who were young enough to impose those views for decades to come?

    This week, as the Safety of Rwanda Bill reaches its final Parliamentary stages, lawyers will deny Parliament’s right to assert that Rwanda is a safe country for asylum seekers. Yet in 2004 – with no outcry – the Blair government legislated to create an irrebuttable presumption that a list of countries were safe. Our highest courts upheld this and declared it compatible with the Human Rights Act.

    Our would-be Ayatollahs will also assert that Parliament cannot empower Ministers to reject demands by the European Court of Human Rights to further delay sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. Yet the French government ignored the Court and returned an Uzbek citizen to his homeland. The international legal order has not collapsed.

    We are often told that the Convention merely codified human rights which had evolved in Britain since Magna Carta. So it would change nothing for us while obliging historically less fortunate nations to emulate us. A patronising view, and also untrue: it was the first step empowering lawyers to make laws, unaccountable to any electorate and unamendable by Parliament, particularly when they gave themselves the right to treat the document as a “living instrument”.

    No human rights are absolute. Freedom of speech is already significantly constrained. Rights to asylum must be balanced against saving lives by deterring dangerous channel crossings and the right to protect our borders. Balancing different rights is intrinsically political and best left to Parliament, not the courts.

    If the European Convention of Human Rights cannot be reformed to recognise this, reaffirming the rule of law, not rule by lawyers, may ultimately involve Britain leaving. Meanwhile, Parliament should have no qualms about enacting a Bill intended to save lives and implement the democratic desire to control immigration.

    Lord Lilley is a Conservative peer

    *********************************

    Daniel Westin
    5 HRS AGO
    The need to to reassert the primacy of parliament by leaving the jurisdiction of the ECHR has been perfectly clear for some time now.
    The problem is that the Westminster bien pensants on all sides of the house simply do not agree with that and will not allow it: The difference between the Tories and Labour on this issue is in handful of Tory MPs who occasionally and half heartedy float the idea, and that is it.
    I think we’ve all long since given up any hope of the Tories actually doing anything of substance on this or any other issue.

    Simon Jones
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Daniel Westin
    Quite correct.
    All we the people can do is vote and if the Tories didn’t get the hint that the vote for Brexit and that massive 80 seat majority was our way of giving them the overwhelming authority to take back complete sovereign powers to Parliament, they need to get out of the way and let someone in who does get it.

    Carpe Jugulum
    4 HRS AGO
    Really? Or is that merely a convenient excuse for a government of talentless incompetents? A government that introduces a truly witless and expensive policy aimed at a few thousand illegals whilst issuing 1,500,000+ visas to legal immigrants. A government of smoke, mirrors and liars.
    As to lawyers. How shallow is the Tory talent pool when essentially scientific posts are filled by lawyers?
    Minister of Health – a lawyer.
    Minister of Environment – a lawyer.
    Minister of SCIENCE – another ******* lawyer.
    Our problem isn’t lawyers it is the PPE, Classics and arts degree clutching dross finding a lucrative home in politics along with far too many useless lawyers.

    Simon Gleaden
    4 HRS AGO
    Reply to Carpe Jugulum – view message
    Mrs Thatcher made much of her being the first PM with a degree in science – have we had another one since 1990? I think not. Mrs T was also a qualified lawyer and practised as a barrister specialising in taxation for a time.

    1. We need to promote Christianity or we WILL be controlled by islamic ayatollahs, lawyers or not. Islam means submission after all.

    2. We need to promote Christianity or we WILL be controlled by islamic ayatollahs, lawyers or not. Islam means submission after all.

    3. 384320+ up ticks,

      Evening C!,
      Could not agree more ,to continue down the RESET WEF / NWO road will shortly lead to the “rule of thumb,” as in priming to shoot.

    4. 384320+ up ticks,

      Evening C!,
      Could not agree more ,to continue down the RESET WEF / NWO road will shortly lead to the “rule of thumb,” as in priming to shoot.

    5. “A government of talentless incompetents”. That lets them off the hook lightly. They can obviously see and understand exactly what is happening to this country but as is usually the case they are only in it for what they can get out of it. They give and do nothing. King useless.
      Peter Lilley was our MP. I met him a couple of times.
      Oh and how about the human rights of the people who built and made Britain safe to live in.

    6. “The principle that Parliament is supreme is being subverted”
      For sure, not that our Parliament is worth a toss. Most of Parliament’s aims are not directed towards a protected and secure (defence, financial and energy) country, these things are not on their agenda.

    7. Justice John Laws created the idea of a constitutional hierarchy in 2002 in order to let HMG off the hook in the metric martyrs case.

    1. As Tim Stanley said in his Terriblegraph piece today, “Baroness” Warsi is a Conservative in the way he is still 25.

      And Ofcom is to facts as “Baroness” Warsi is a Conservative.

    2. As Tim Stanley said in his Terriblegraph piece today, “Baroness” Warsi is a Conservative in the way he is still 25.

      And Ofcom is to facts as “Baroness” Warsi is a Conservative.

  102. Evening, all. I’m afraid it’s going to be ave atque vale again because, as it’s the first of the month, it’s Parish Council time.

    As for the headline, British voters seem to have forgiven tax and waste, erosion of freedoms and the active importation of an alien army that hates us, so why should continuing to fail the armed forces be any different?

      1. I’m about to shut down and disappear (poof!). The rest of this week is busy, but Wednesday is particularly manic.

      2. I’m about to shut down and disappear (poof!). The rest of this week is busy, but Wednesday is particularly manic.

  103. It might have been Winnipeg flu not Wuhan flu after all.

    Recently released documents show that two Chinese researchers were thrown out of the Winnipeg level 4 lab not that long before covid first appeared. Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng the two researchers have extensive connections to the chinese military and to the microbiology lab in Wuhan and documents show that along with other security breaches, they shipped several virus samples back to China without authorization.

    The information is only just being released because Trudeau blocked release of any information about the issue for several years – to the extent that they went to court to stop the Speaker of the House demanding the information.

      1. He can be forced to call an election if he loses a vote of confidence in the house and then loses the subsequent election but apart from that no.

        All power is held by the Prime Ministers Office, MPs are just performing seals and there is certainly no equivalent of the UK 1922 committee. MPs speaking out of turn are sidelined quickly and lose any committee status as well as not being selected for re election.

        The PMO also selects the chair of Inquiries and sets the scope of what can be covered. Consider the initial Truckers Convoy inquiry that was given to a long time friend of Trudeaus family.

        As for non parliamentary types speaking against Trudeau and his ilk, suppression of the freedom convoy showed us what happens when you cross the emporer. Jordan Peterson is a good example and several Freedom Convoy leaders are still on trial.

        It’s about to get worse, the latest online hate laws would allow people to be given house arrest if it is thought that they are about to publish something that could be considered hateful.

        1. Initially I read, the PMO also selects the chair of iniquities. That was my train of thought of course.

  104. Just done SWMBO a fry-up for supper. The bacon was lovely, tasty and crisp, but about 1/5 the size it was when raw… boo! Strangely, the eggs didn’t shrink the same way, just stuck to the pan like araldite, so the overall visual effect that I wanted to make, was lost. Bugger. It’s been that kind of a day – the sort where one regrets getting out of bed.

      1. We’re a bit light on Firstborn’s home-grown pig bacon. Hence the thin commercial stuff.
        And I buggered the eggs by frying them in the bacon fat. They stuck to bacon stickiness in the pan. and getting them out scrambled them very effectively.
        It’s been that kind of day.

        1. That’s a shame. I always fry my eggs in bacon fat and haven’t had a problem with them yet.

    2. Yeah. Good news my arse. What about the 1200 reported landing at the weekend? (see further down the page). 1 out, 1 200 in, not a good deal.

  108. We had a wine tasting event at work a few weeks ago and someone bought in a bottle of “The King’s Ginger” for auctioning off, which I “won” .

    I have been in the habit recently of making home-made ginger cordial, which is delicious made with hot water (in my opinion). I have developed a taste for adding a slug of King’s Ginger to the mix, for added gingeryness. Goes down well after a cold cycle home!

      1. Me too. Ginger is the one spice that works as well in sweet dishes as it does in savoury. Swedes will tell you that saffron also works well in both but I prefer it in savoury dishes, like rice, rather than in sweet dishes, such as saffron buns.

    2. My grandmother use to make non alcoholic ginger beer. I loved going to their house after school and cutting the grass. Always rewarded with her ginger beer and rockbuns.
      Lovely lady, they lived next to the Compton (cricket) family in Hendon.

  109. The bacon left sticky on the bottom of the pan. The eggs stuck to the sticky, and the slice wouldn’t shift them without breaking them.
    All that means I was a clumsy git.
    🙁

  110. – Last week it was assisted dying this week France’s parliament officially approves law to enshrine abortion rights in their Constitution

    Looks like the powers that be are going to war on two fronts

  111. 384320+ up ticks,

    Rule, Britannia! alienates a lot of Britons, says shadow culture secretary
    Thangam Debbonaire calls for ‘good debate’ about song being performed at Last Night of the Proms but insists it’s up to BBC to decide

    Not bonafide indigenous British I’m sure, only the political plastic manufactured brits would it offend.

        1. The phrase Black Out would be interesting now.
          I think you must have missed my post a couple of days ago regarding parking charges, Bushey was the focal point.

          1. Yes I did miss it. I will have a look – what day and roughly what time was it, please?

          2. Friday 1st. The page is closed now.
            But you can probably find the main story if you Google Bushy parking charges. Radlett is also included.
            It’s similar to where we live, we have two large free carparks, but Herts council couldn’t resist making charges.
            I suspect they’ll change the set up here as well.

          3. Thanks – I had a look going back a few days but couldn’t find it.

            Councils will charge us for the air we breathe soon – got to fund their “allowances” and pensions, haven’t we? Most local councils are a waste of time because so much is decided by the country council.

          4. https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6c81f4c877f41cdeJmltdHM9MTcwOTU5NjgwMCZpZ3VpZD0xNjExOGUwOC03YzY3LTY0MTQtMTBiMC05YTMxN2Q1ZjY1NTImaW5zaWQ9NTIwOA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=16118e08-7c67-6414-10b0-9a317d5f6552&psq=New+parking+charges+in+Bushey+&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2F0Zm9yZG9ic2VydmVyLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvMjQxNTUwODMubmV3LXBhcmtpbmctdGFyaWZmcy1idXNoZXktZmluYWwtbmFpbC1jb2ZmaW4v&ntb=1

  114. Steerpike
    BBC Verify sources under scrutiny
    4 March 2024, 3:32pm

    There’s rarely a day now that the blundering BBC isn’t the news itself. This time the spotlight is back on BBC Verify, the Corporation’s much-lauded fact-checking service launched to combat the scourge of fake news. Yet journalist David Collier has done some digging and has suggested that BBC Verify looks to be falling short of the high standards to which it holds others…

    Collier focuses on a recent report from the broadcaster which seemed to insinuate that Israel was directly to blame for Palestinians killed on Thursday as food aid arrived in Gaza. The reporting relies on incomplete IDF video footage, Al Jazeera video and the word of hospital manager Dr Mohamed Salha. Its main eyewitness account, however, is Palestinian journalist Mahmoud Awadeyah. He told the BBC: ‘Israelis purposefully fired at the men… They were fired at directly and prevented people to come near those killed.’

    But questions have been raised about Awadeyah’s biases after some questionable social media interactions were uncovered. The journalist works for Al Quds Today and the Tasnim News Agency – the latter of which is an Iranian outlet associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Awadeyah himself is an avid Facebook user and frequently takes to the social media platform to make controversial posts.

    On International Holocaust Remembrance day last year, a gunman opened fire on Israelis coming out of a synagogue in East Jerusalem, leaving seven dead. That same day, Awadeyah made a post which translates as: ‘A state of rejoicing, exuberance, and mosques confirmed with exuberance.’ Later that year, Awadeyah posted a picture of himself standing in front of a mural that depicted a building in Rehovot targeted by Palestinian resistance groups, in which an 82-year-old woman was killed by an Islamic Jihad rocket. Awadeyah captioned the post: ‘Always rest assured that what is coming is more beautiful, God willing.’

    Other posts show the journalist expressing his grief about the death of Khalil Salah al-Bahtini, a commander in the military wing of Islamic Jihad, with Awadeyah posting a photo of the men together, praising his ‘advice’ and ‘guidance’. It’s somewhat troubling, then, that BBC Verify decided to rely fairly significantly on this journalist’s testimony. Collier, the man who dug into Awadeyah’s background, expressed his anger online, writing:

    How can the BBC possibly consider this man’s evidence as reliable? He dances when Jewish civilians are murdered, and sits and breaks bread with the leaders of proscribed terrorist groups. Is there a sane person alive who believes this terrorist supporter would not lie for his cause?

    BBC Verify, Collier writes, ‘consists of amateurish hacks, who have a supremacist attitude, and who don’t even bother to do the most basic of checks. This is not journalism – it is activism.’ Ouch. For its part, the BBC says that:

    We stand by our journalism and reject the allegations in this piece. The BBC is not allowed access into Gaza, but we use a range of accounts from eyewitnesses and cross reference these against official statements and footage, including from the IDF. The fact that someone has expressed an opinion on social media doesn’t automatically disqualify them from giving eye-witness testimony. It is simply wrong to claim an agenda on our part – and ignores much of the journalism we have done, including BBC Verify accounts of the Supernova festival massacre.

    But it’s never a good look when the public is left to fact check the fact-checkers…

    ********************************

    Michael Turnock
    4 hours ago
    The fact that the BBC has a wet-behind-the-ears, left-wing activist as their ‘disinformation’ correspondent, who has openly admitted to lying on her own CV, tells you all you need to know about this atrocious organisation.

    Blindsideflanker
    4 hours ago
    Meanwhile Ofcom are going after GB news again.

  115. 18″/40 MK 1 Gun.

    These guns were designed to arm HMS Furious, which was a modified version of the Courageous class of “Large Light Cruisers” built during World War I. The two ships in the Courageous class were fitted with four 15″/42 (38.1 cm) Mark I guns in two twin mounts, but these were replaced on HMS Furious with two 18″/40 (45.7 cm) guns in single mounts. These three ships were designed with the intention that they would be able to force their way through the Baltic Narrows in support of lighter forces as part of an invasion of northern Germany. In reality, these ships were so weakly protected that they were nearly useless. As a result, all three ships were converted to aircraft carriers shortly after the end of World War I.

    The projectiles weighed 3,320lbs, with a velocity of 2,420 fps on leaving the gun and, with a super charge of 690 lbs MD45 cordite and a gun elevation of 45 degrees, travel 40,500 yards.
    The armour piecing (capped) projectiles would penetrate 18″ of armour plate at 15,000 yards

    http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_18-40_mk1_Furious_Turret_pic.jpg

  116. Why did Parliament refuse a debate on the WHO criminals when 100,000 plus people asked for it?
    (They said the matter had already been discussed!)
    4 MAR 2024
    by John Stone first posted in New Era

    We know that thousands of people across the United Kingdom have grave concerns about the UK giving up its sovereignty over public health matters to supranational bodies that are heavily controlled by nefarious actors. But many will be surprised that the Prime Minister, Andrew Mitchell and David Cameron have become so captured by WHO and Gates that they are ignoring the better interests of the United Kingdom and UK taxpayers.

    In just two months a critical meeting of the World Health Assembly will take place. This meeting is supposed to finalise the terms of two politically oppressive and financially onerous agreements: the WHO Pandemic Treaty and the updated International Health Regulations.

    In light of this, it might be useful to revisit information I published last year about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s rehabilitation of Andrew Mitchell (of “Plebgate” infamy) and former Prime Minister David Cameron who, together, instituted the British government partnership with Bill Gates’s Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) in 2011 – committing £billions of taxpayers’ money.

    It should also be noted that it was only disclosed – in a petition debate about the International Health Regulations in December 2023 – that Mitchell was the chief Foreign Office negotiator for the two WHO agreements.

    Moreover, it is now evident that although the government’s position was opaque and ambiguous at the debate in December it is not proposing to reveal any more details before the agreements are supposed to be concluded in May, by which point it will be very difficult for the UK and other nations to extricate themselves from them.

    Days after Cameron’s appointment, the British government hosted the so-called Global Food Security Summit in which Sunak, Cameron, Mitchell and Tedros all toasted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation while Mitchell also paid particular tribute to Tedros:

    “I now have particular pleasure in calling Dr Tedros, the head of the WHO, a friend of many of us who does incredible work against an extraordinarily difficult background”

    About all this, of course, there is an incredible lack of transparency.

    The event was hosted by the UK, UAE and Somalia and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation – an organisation founded by Net Zero proponent Sir Chris Hohn.

    Hohn, meanwhile, also bankrolls Extinction Rebellion.

    In his mysterious rise to power it should be noted that Sunak is himself a former employee of Hohn and his hedge fund, Children’s Investment Fund Management.

    We should note that even parliamentarians are beginning to worry about the integrity of the medicines licensing agency, the MHRA, which in turn is in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the WHO in manufacturing products it is supposed to be licensing (or the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is on its advice).

    None of this should be be happening without public scrutiny and discussion.

    Source: John Stone -published in The New Era

    https://www.thenewera.uk/p/sunak-mitchell-and-cameron-and-the

  117. I think I’ll be off now, for the rest of the evening.
    Good night all.
    An obscure tv channel sky history ? Prof Alice Roberts digging for Britain, witnessing the hard working people uncovering fabulous Roman mosaics in the middle of what is now agricultural land. I believe Must Farm near Colchester.

    1. Looks good, BoB. Have just watched the first 10 minutes and will continue to watch the remaining 40 until my eyes tell me it’s bedtime.

  119. Muslim Council of Britain could be among groups identified as extremist

    Michael Gove will unveil plans enabling Government and public bodies to bar groups from venues or campuses and block funding

    Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR • 4 March 2024 • 8:00pm

    The Muslim Council of Britain, Palestine Action and Muslim Engagement and Development could be among groups identified as extremist under government plans to broaden the definition of extremism. On Saturday, The Telegraph revealed that ministers are to create a broader definition of extremism to enable universities, councils and other public bodies to crack down on a wider range of Islamist and Right-wing groups.

    Michael Gove will unveil the plans, enabling the Government and public bodies to bar groups from venues or campuses and block funding if they are judged to be promoting extremist ideology that “undermines” or “overturns” British values, as early as next week. The Communities Secretary is concerned that the current definition of extremism is too narrow and allows Islamist and Right-wing groups to “get away” with behaviour that stirs racial and religious hatred, threatens communities and divides society.

    It is understood that officials have drawn up a list of organisations likely to be captured by the new definition, including the Muslim Council of Britain, Palestine Action and Muslim Engagement and Development. Mr Gove is said to be keen to publish a list, although the final names are under review because of legal concerns. One insider was sceptical that the Muslim Council of Britain would be included in the final version.

    The Government has a policy of non-engagement with the organisation over its alleged association with extremism, but Whitehall departments have still worked with it and given funds. The Ministry of Defence has used the council to appoint imams in the military. The police have worked with leading figures from the organisation such as Mohammed Kozbar, the chairman of Finsbury Park Mosque, who praised Hamas as “martyrs of the resistance”.

    Last year, more than three-quarters of funding for the Muslim Council of Britain Charitable Foundation – a total of £326,000 – came through Kickstart, a government scheme to get young people into work by part-funding salary costs.

    Palestine Action is committed to closing down Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, while Muslim Engagement and Development, a non-governmental organisation, campaigns against Islamophobia and promotes engagement with Muslim communities.

    The move comes after Rishi Sunak said on Friday that extremists were trying to undermine British democracy and called for the country to come together and “beat this poison”. The Prime Minister said there had been a “shocking increase” in extremist activity in the UK in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

    Mr Gove has long been an advocate of tougher action against extremism and has commissioned Sara Khan, a former head of the independent Commission for Countering Extremism, to produce a report on the threats to community cohesion, expected to be published within weeks.

    It is understood he originally wanted the new definition to be statutory but was warned that making it legally enforceable could capture political organisations such as the Scottish National Party [chortle!]. Instead it is expected to take the form of guidance, which will be less prescriptive.

    A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: “Mr Sunak’s speech not only attempted to smear hundreds of thousands of protesters calling for peace in Gaza, it was also peppered with ill-defined warnings of extremism from ‘Islamists’ and the far Right. We await to see how the Government will expand its definition of extremism and whether they would also cover large swathes of the Conservative Party leadership who have directed divisive and hateful rhetoric against Muslims, and the large portion of the party’s membership with conspiratorial views about Muslims.”

    The council said it fully supported Mr Sunak on the importance of the safety of MPs, the integrity of the democratic process and the need to ensure that Britain does not “descend into polarised camps”.

    A spokesman for Palestine Action said: “This Government, along with Israel, has killed over 30,000 Palestinians in a genocide. The primary target of our campaign is Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, which markets its weapons as ‘battle-tested’. No definition will deter our campaign to shut Elbit down. The majority of the population in this country share our view and reject complicity in genocide. According to the Arms Trade Treaty, of which Britain is a ratifier, it should not be arming Israel. Is the Arms Trade Treaty and international law extreme?”

    Muslim Engagement and Development has also been contacted for comment.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/04/muslim-council-of-britain-could-be-identified-as-extremist/

    What kind of extremist activity has increased shockingly? Objective discussion on the nature of Islam?

    Going after the SNP would be good sport, though…

    1. “Muslim Council of Britain could be among groups identified as extremist”

      “could” being the (non-) operative word.

      1. Indeed, but what happens next? Who will be ‘no platformed’ by government edict?

  121. I’m off to bed.
    Weather permitting, a trip to Stoke tomorrow.
    Goodnight all.

  122. Submitted my latest leccy reading this evening but goodness, it was difficult. The online system wouldn’t accept it and nor would the phone number on the last letter I received from EDF. Tried another number I found on their website and that did work. Logged back in to my account and the reading is there. I begin to suspect skullduggery. They hate me insisting on keeping my old meter!

    1. Try changing to Octopus, Sue Ed. I swear by it (in a good way of course).

    2. Hi, Sue.

      When I moved here in late 2020, I had to climb over a pile of EDF letters, plus others from “their solicitors.”

      In the several months between the previous tenant leaving, and my arrival, they had issued estimated bills, which bore no resemblance to the actual readings. Since no-one was here.

      They’re an utter shower…

  126. The exploiting of the issue is being done by Galloway. Does he really think that ‘millions of voters…wish to defend the Muslim communities in Britain’?

    He is a dangerous troublemaker. With a bit of luck it will backfire on him, hopefully with a proper turnout at the GE.

    Next election will be about Muslims, says Galloway

    ‘Muslims and Gaza’ are ‘wedge issue’ Sunak intends to use as his ‘only hope of re-election’, says new Rochdale MP

    Amy Gibbons, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT • 4 March 2024 • 10:43pm

    The next election will be about Muslims, George Galloway said as he was sworn into the Commons as the new MP for Rochdale. The controversial politician said it was “clear” to him that Rishi Sunak had identified “Muslims and Gaza” as the “wedge issue” that he intended to use as his “only hope of re-election”.

    He vowed to target Angela Rayner’s Ashton-under-Lyne seat, claiming to have “at least 15,000 supporters” in the Greater Manchester constituency – enough to overturn the deputy Labour leader’s majority of about 4,000. At an impromptu press conference after his swearing-in ceremony, he also urged Jeremy Corbyn to launch and lead an alliance of “socialist, progressive and anti-war organisations”.

    Mr Galloway, the leader of the Workers Party of Britain and a former Labour MP, stormed to victory in the Rochdale by-election last week, having courted the town’s substantial Muslim vote on a pro-Palestinian ticket. On Monday, he said the next election “will be about Muslims” and “the taking away of civil liberties in this country”.

    “It’s clear to me that Sunak has identified Muslims and Gaza as the proximate centre of that wedge issue that he intends to use as perhaps his only hope of re-election. They want to force [Keir] Starmer either to stand up and defend the democratic rights of the British people, including the rights of its religious and ethnic minorities – and if he does that I’m a Dutchman – or to engage him in what will turn out to be a Dutch auction of nastiness.

    “If he chooses, as I suspect he will, the latter, that’s going to allow us and independent candidates to pick up potentially millions of votes from those who treasure the free rights that we have enjoyed since the Second World War in this country, and who wish to defend the Muslim communities in Britain. Either way, that suits Rishi Sunak. So that’s what I’m predicting here. The next election will be about Muslims, and will be about the taking away of civil liberties in this country.”

    The MP claimed to be “speaking for a very large number of people in Britain”, and said voters in many constituencies supported his views. He said this would be become clear to Sir Keir Starmer, adding: “If I give you just one example: Angela Rayner has a parliamentary majority I think of around 3,000. There’s at least 15,000 supporters of my point of view in her constituency. So we’ll be putting a candidate against her, either a Workers Party candidate or more likely an independent candidate that we [will] support, and that will vitally affect the election of the Labour deputy.”

    Ms Rayner won a majority of 4,263 in her Ashton-under-Lyne seat in 2019, down significantly on 11,295 in 2017. Mr Galloway said he did not expect Mr Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now sits as an independent MP, to join his party, but said he had “called on him to launch and lead an alliance, a coalition of socialist, progressive and anti-war organisations”.

    Mr Corbyn was expected to introduce the new Rochdale MP to the chamber on Monday afternoon.

    It was also initially thought that David Davis, a former Tory Cabinet minister, would take one of the spots. But he had a change of heart when Chris Williamson, Mr Galloway’s deputy, refused to condemn the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Instead, Neale Hanvey, the Alba MP, and Sir Peter Bottomley, the Father of the House, carried out the introduction.

    Bim Afolami, the Treasury minister, told GB News: “The fact that people didn’t seem to want to do it is an indication of the standing with which he’s held in the House of Commons, which is not very high. But we’re in this position really because of the weakness of the Labour leader, and frankly the fact that Labour still hasn’t changed.”

    Mr Galloway’s return to the Commons is likely to reignite tensions in the chamber, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews calling for him to be “shunned as a pariah by all parliamentarians”.

    It comes just two weeks after the House descended into chaos when Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, broke with convention and selected a Labour amendment to the SNP’s opposition day motion on an immediate truce in Gaza.

    Senior backbenchers accused him of making the decision so Sir Keir could avoid the prospect of an embarrassing Labour rebellion. Sir Lindsay rejected the accusations and insisted he had been motivated by the fact that MPs were facing threats to their safety.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/04/george-galloway-election-muslims-rishi-sunak-rochdale/

    1. He’s right about the muslims taking away the civil liberties in this country, although I suspect that wasn’t what he intended to let on about.

  127. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LojqhHnmyvc

    Tuesday 5th March 2024

    Our Lovely Sue MacFarlane

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bab4375a73c857c116659edef44f68f27d5a5e2240e1cd45854837bdc717ee00.jpg

    and

    a Multitude More Happy Birthdays

    Very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=6416c49529b0d5b1&q=Runaround+Sue+movie+scene&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGmqy-4tuEAxWhUaQEHTpkATUQ1QJ6BAg7EAE&biw=1280&bih=613&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:33ee7489,vid:beb0ixalSPs,st:0

  128. Well, chums, I wish you all a very Good Night. Sleep well and hopefully wake up refreshed. See you all tomorrow.

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

  131. Sunak and his government are fucked. The reintroduction (salvage) of the wretch Cameron and other discredited politicos such as Andrew Mitchell both embedded with the monied piece of globalist excrement Bill Gates simply exhibits the desperation of an ineffectual and corrupt class of politicians.

    We have urgent need to dispense with the utter crap from all mainstream parties, presently occupying the Palace of Westminster. We have to clear out the lot of them and start anew from scratch.

    We just need to do a better job than Cromwell this time around.

    1. I have been silenced on ‘The Spectator’, They must be preparing for the General Election – stifling debate is routine these days, so that the electorate can be fed select information on which to cast their vote. ‘The New Statesman’ stifled debate years ago, with the consequence that there is precious little debate these days in the neo-authoritarian New Look “Changed” Labour under Starmer. The Liberal Democrats gave up on free, open debate with the Orange Book fifteen years ago. All we get these days are platitudes and faits accompli, and cancellation or being made to apologise if we disagree.

      Someone made an excellent suggestion the other day, and it deserves repeating over and over in the dwindling number of places that people actually listen. On the ballot paper should be a ‘None of the Above’ option. If this prevails, then the ballot is annulled, a by-election called, and all candidates that had stood are disqualified for this by-election only, forcing all parties to come up with a fresh slate, and the old candidates forced to spend a time outside the trough to revise what they present to the electorate, and hopefully get re-elected with a fresh mandate.

      2. Alf wrote to the Electoral Commission some time ago, asking for the NOTA to be on ballot papers, they wrote back to say they had considered it but decided the idea is not to discourage people from voting; the idea is for people to elect someone.

        1. Quite. Better to order the electoral process to start afresh with a clean slate than to encourage voters to sit at home in despondency at the options open to them. The Electoral Commission, like most national institutions these days, are overpaid fools, and are showing themselves up as not fit for purpose.

          1. IIRC the EC went after Brexit campaigners, didn’t they, and had an investigation into one person specifically- can’t recall the name. All came to nothing.

      3. To emphasise the point I made to the Electoral Commission the Rochdale by election had a turnout of 39.7% and Galloway got 40% of the vote ie 15.88% of the electorate.
        We have to ask ourselves if that is a democratic mandate.

        Edit. Of course none of the media would have commented on that.

    3. Hi Geoff , do I need to read the Telegraph ? I’m struggling with The Spectator comments section

Comments are closed.