Monday 5 December: If private schools close the state sector will quickly be overwhelmed

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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560 thoughts on “Monday 5 December: If private schools close the state sector will quickly be overwhelmed”

  1. Good morning all.
    Not raining here at the moment, but a cool 1°C outside.

    Trying to decide whether to go to Derby or not today.
    Might not bother.

  4. Morning. Just noticed the time- better get the dog’s food ready for when he gets back from his walk, and dash into work. Meanwhile, I liked today’s 100 years ago in history:

    “W hen the country was running short of food during the worst crisis of the war everyone was interested in agriculture in all its branches, from stock-raising to corn production, and even poultry culture. “Was it not absurd,” it was asked, “that we should be paying away £220,000,000 every year for imported food?” “What reason was there for our having to depend on foreign corn for four out of every five loaves consumed?” Everyone agreed that the Great War had, at any rate, taught us one lesson – we had to do all in our power to encourage agriculture. In spite of all our asseverations, we are spending more on food from overseas than at any previous period in our history, and agriculture is passing through a far worse period of depression than has been known in the memory of anyone. In these circumstances, the holding of the Cattle Show at the Agricultural Hall occurs to remind us that agriculture is still the industry which employs more labour than any other, being far ahead even of mining, which, in its turn, outstrips our large army of officials of various descriptions. These are the three greatest classes among our population, and though we speak frequently of this country as industrial, agriculture still gives employment to upwards of 1,200,000 persons.

    The massing in towns of those who follow other occupations tends, however, to dwarf the importance of farming. The day is long past when the problems which agitate rural constituencies had much influence on the fate of Governments; the House of Commons, which less than a century ago was composed mainly of men who were more or less directly associated with “the land” – many cities being without direct representation – is now made up for the most part of members who know a good deal about many things, but least about agriculture and all its complex problems. With such a readjusted balance of power in the Legislature, the King opened the Cattle Show yesterday. His Majesty, like the Prince of Wales, the president of the society, still sets a fine example by breeding stock of the best strains and was rewarded by winning an unusually large number of prizes. It is a fortunate thing for all concerned, the urban dwellers, who want the best food they can obtain, as well as the farmers, that the Royal family, in face of many difficulties, still continues in this, as well as in other respects, to show the way to all sections of the community. Agriculture is not only an essential domestic industry, but it is an export trade. The most superb cattle to be seen anywhere are bred in this country, and specimens are sent all over the world.

    As Sir Walter Gilbey reminded the gathering at yesterday’s luncheon, this industry, in all its ramifications, is in a worse condition than ever before. He estimates that as a result of the withdrawal of the subsidy farmers are losing nearly £4 an acre, while hardly a landowner is making any profit out of his rents. On the other hand, the position of the agricultural labourer is deplorable; it wins the sympathy of everyone who realises what it must mean to endeavour to bring up in decency a family – usually a large family, too – on a wage of 30s or less a week, even when allowance has been made for all the amenities which such workers frequently obtain. Neither landowners nor farmers regard with anything but dismay and despair the downward tendency, but they cannot check it. Money cannot be paid out unless it is earned; and agriculture, owing to falling prices, is almost in a bankrupt state?”

    1. You need a policeman once or twice in a lifetime.
      You need a doctor once or twice a year
      You need a farmer three times a day.

    2. ‘better get the dog’s food ready for when he gets back from his walk’.

      Does your dog also stop by the newsagent and buy the morning paper?

      1. I gave up on funding the Terriblegraph in the first few months of Lockdown when they were pushing “the narrative”. Then I discovered i can get it via the local library service’s subscription to PressReader.

        There is one annoying troll in the comments there, banging on ad infinitum about Brexit, and it’s impossible to block him/her. But saves me money and I don’t have to care too much about the Terriblegraph’s editorial stance.

  8. Nadhim Zahawi tells nurses to accept lower pay rise to send ‘message’ to Vladimir Putin. 5 December 2022.

    But he told unions it was time to “try and negotiate” and insisted soaring costs facing Britons this winter were predominantly because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    “We have to come together, this is not a time to be divided,” he told Sky’s Sophie Ridge.

    “I hope to send a very clear message to Mr Putin that he cannot use energy as a weapon in this way.

    Breaking News. Vlad has agreed to withdraw from Ukraine if they give the Nurses and Railwaymen 5%!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/12/04/nadhim-zahawi-tells-nurses-accept-lower-pay-rise-send-message/

    1. And I suppose if we don’t clap for the NHS somewhere a fairy nurse dies

      Morning Minty.

      1. Morning Elsie. It is isn’t it? I have to confess to a little plagiarism. It was so good I couldn’t resist it!

  9. Good morning, everyone. I am back to normal today, so will hopefully enjoy the week ahead. And I hope you all do, too.

  11. 368686+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Dt

    We need a complete reversal in how our immigration system works
    Incremental change will not tackle record high migration. My new report sets out the way forward

    Ogga 1

    Relinquish the lab/lib/con /ukip coalition vote pattern or suffer unconditional surrender.

    The Modern Slavery Act – sadly abused routinely by gangs and illegal immigrants, governments, needs to be reformed that surely means erasing those that abuse in total.

  12. We need a complete reversal in how our immigration system works. Nick Timothy 5 December 2022.

    Incremental change will not tackle record high migration. My new report sets out the way forward.

    So what can ministers do? In a report welcomed by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, and published tomorrow by the Centre for Policy Studies, Karl Williams and I propose to turn the system around completely. Learning from experiences that have worked well – such as during the refugee crisis caused by the Syrian civil war – we recommend the creation of dedicated resettlement routes through which we bring vulnerable people to Britain. In cases like Hong Kong and Ukraine, where for reasons of history and geography there may be a case for taking more people, Parliament would be free to decide. But in normal circumstances, we propose a cap of 20,000 places per year for resettlement.

    Obviously Timothy’s understanding of the word reversal is completely different to mine. His means let’s have more of the same (unsurprising since he was May’s immigration adviser) but do it differently. Mine means not just block the Channel and issue no visa’s whatsoever but round up the ones already here and return them to where they came from!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/04/need-complete-reversal-how-immigration-system-works/

  13. If private schools close the state sector will quickly be overwhelmed

    I guess the state sector is already overwhelmed with the millions arriving every year they will be bringing their families over next .

  14. 368686+ up ticks,

    Monday 5 December: If private schools close the state sector will quickly be overwhelmed

    “So what” it is tailor made for the agenda going forward
    repress,replace, RESET they ( the political overseers ) have told the herd of their intentions, all it needs is the herds majority consent and on the last 30 plus years this will, rest assured, be granted.

  15. I expect our airports will be busy today,
    All the Senegalese flying back home from the world cup

        1. I understand that State benefits are fairly generous, but only if you qualify. Gimmegrants don’t, hence the various “jungles” in major cities and the exodus to the UK.
          As in Exodus, Macromoses has parted the sea so they can pass to the promised lands.

  18. It’s hard to forgive church closures in lockdown

    SIR – I agree with the Rev Simon Lane (Letters, December 1) that the closure of churches during the first lockdown was a major error.

    I am a convert to Catholicism and have not yet returned to Mass, in
    common with roughly half the regular congregation. Rolling over in front
    of a government edict and shutting the doors of our sacred spaces, at a
    time of great spiritual need, is something many of us are struggling to
    forgive. And, actually, wondering why we would even bother.

    Sandra Hancock
    Starcross, Devon

    Forget forgiveness. They must be held to account.

    1. Forgiveness requires true repentance on the part of the forgivee. Has the Church or Government repented yet? I don’t recall any.

      1. No. Like Mike Hancock he in his diaries he rewrites the narrative. He said covid got into care homes by staff and very few by people being released from hospital untested.

        Care home owners and assocs’ are incandescent.

    3. The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,
      But, swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw,
      Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread.
      [John Milton: Lycidas]

      And the Archpillock of Canterbury buggered off to his holiday home in France.

  20. Russian oil cap begins, trying to pressure Putin on Ukraine. 5 December 2022.

    Western countries on Monday began imposing a $60-per-barrel price cap and ban on some types of Russian oil, part of new measures aimed at stepping up pressure against Moscow over its war on Ukraine.

    With petrol at £0.69 a litre in Moscow and with no prospect of food shortages, power cuts and energy supplies the Russkies are really feeling the pinch from the West’s Sanctions! Lol!

    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-oil-cap-begins-pressure-putin-ukraine-94468951

  21. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, A little late in the year but here’s today’s story
    The Barbecue Season

    We will be entering the BBQ season, in spring. Therefore, it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity. When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

    Routine…
    (1) The woman buys the food.
    (2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables and makes dessert.
    (3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – drink in hand.
    (4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three-metre exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.
    Here comes the important part:
    (5) The man places the meat on the grill.
    More routine…
    (6) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
    (7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another drink while he flips the meat.
    Important again:
    (8) The man takes the meat off the grill and hands it to the woman.
    More routine…
    (9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauce and brings them to the table.
    (10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
    And most important of all:
    (11) Everyone praises the man and thanks him for his cooking efforts.
    (12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed her ‘night off,’ and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women.

    2. 🙂 I have never understood barbecues.
      In the vast majority of cases there’s a fully functioning cooker a few feet away.

      3. Because if you cook steaks property and fast indoors, the smoke alarms go off,and they’re very noisy?

      5. Barbecues done well can be a delight with food cooked over fragrant wood. Plus you have room for lots of people to stand around in the sunshine, drinking.

        *note. The majority of barbecues are not done well at all. Cheap burgers and sausages do NOT make a good barbecue !

        1. But my home-made hamburgers (made from shin beef and bone marrow); and my home-made sausages do (even though I’m not a fan of barbied snags).

          A decent thick steak, or some slow-smoked brisket, done properly over charcoal are heavenly.

      6. Burning some brash up the “garden” some years back, (this was when t’Lad & Dr.Daughter were still at school) I used to put some steel mesh over the embers and cook whatever was available in the fridge, sausages, burgers & even fresh sardines!
        It all tasted good too.

      7. They are good if properly done, i.e. if nobody asks me to make any greater contribution than eating the grilled meat.

      1. The problem with barbecues is that they are too ponsified with special equipment and utensils.

        When my snappers had not been fully whipped into shape a barbecue was a party on the beach in St Mawes. We gathered driftwood during the afternoon and bought sausages and bread and everyone was expected to bring their own beer. We lit the fire when it grew dark and cooked the sausages on sharpened sticks trying to ensure that they didn’t catch fire or fall into the inferno and we lost our sausages. No ghetto blasters in those days – those of us who played guitars or other portable instruments provided the music and we sang and snuggled up to attractive members of the opposite sex.

        1. Those were the days. I remember a large family gathering on the beach at Lepe just as you describe. Probably not allowed to light a fire now. It might ignite the sewage.

        1. TBF – our younger son does a good barbecue, but then he was a chef.
          Our elder son gets dragooned into doing a barbie by his other half; the food is good quality steak from a local butcher, but I’d enjoy it more without the draught whipping round the corner. Sort of like … er … um … in the dining room.

  22. The EU wants to bring Hungary to its knees. Spiked 5 December 2022.

    Back in the summer, following negotiations with Brussels, the Hungarian government agreed to implement 17 rule-of-law reforms by 19 November. Now the Commission has decided that Hungary has not met these targets. And to make sure that Hungary is taught a lesson, the EU has raised the stakes and invented further conditions. Hungary must now reach 27 ‘super milestones’ before it can secure the funds. Executive vice-president commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis warned that ‘the essential milestones must all be met in full before Hungary can submit its payment request’. He added that ‘in short, no funds will flow until the essential milestones are properly implemented’.

    The EU is a Globalist glove puppet and the enemy of not only Freedom and Democracy but of every individual native born European. We should be fighting it, not Russia, who share our traditional values.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/05/the-eu-wants-to-bring-hungary-to-its-knees/

    1. Hungary should withdraw from the EU. The EU will continue to move the goalposts until it has everything it wants.

      1. Perhaps Hungary should empty its prisons and asylums and bus the inmates to Brussels, Luxembourg, Paris and Strasbourg under freedom of movement rules, and dump them there.
        The UK might get some, but I suspect the EU centres will suffer more.

      2. A lot of Hungarians work in the EU. Exiting would be risky if people’s livelihoods were harmed.

        1. All their leaders need to be killed in a plane crash. Oh wait a mo. That already happened with Poland.

    2. And yet like lambs to the slaughter the remainers are still begging to be re-admitted.

      1. I don’t understand remoaners. They seemed fuelled by ‘the glory days’ of EU membership rather than the reality.

        The majority seem to hate that they lost rather than to want to rejoin.

  23. The EU wants to bring Hungary to its knees. Spiked 5 December 2022.

    Back in the summer, following negotiations with Brussels, the Hungarian government agreed to implement 17 rule-of-law reforms by 19 November. Now the Commission has decided that Hungary has not met these targets. And to make sure that Hungary is taught a lesson, the EU has raised the stakes and invented further conditions. Hungary must now reach 27 ‘super milestones’ before it can secure the funds. Executive vice-president commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis warned that ‘the essential milestones must all be met in full before Hungary can submit its payment request’. He added that ‘in short, no funds will flow until the essential milestones are properly implemented’.

    The EU is a Globalist glove puppet and the enemy of not only Freedom and Democracy but of every individual native born European. We should be fighting it, not Russia, who shares our traditional values.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/05/the-eu-wants-to-bring-hungary-to-its-knees/

  24. SIR – Writing about The Confessions of Frannie Langton (November 29) Tracy Borman says that “Jane Austen would neither approve nor recognise” her turbulent world.

    But what about this from Mansfield Park, when Fanny Price leaves the sweeping terraces of her aunt and uncle’s country house for her family’s cramped and squalid house in Portsmouth: “She sat in a blaze of oppressive heat, in a cloud of moving dust; and her eyes could only wander from the walls marked by her father’s head, to the table cut and notched by her brothers, where stood the tea-board never thoroughly cleaned, the cups and saucers wiped in streaks, the milk a mixture of motes floating in thin blue, and the bread and butter growing every minute more greasy than even Rebecca’s hands had first produced it.”

    When people dream of going back to inhabit Austen’s environment, this is not what they imagine. Even the sunshine in town is “a totally different thing” from rural sunshine.

    Bernard Richards
    Brasenose College, Oxford

    What an utterly disgusting picture Jane Austen presents of the inhabitants of Hampshire. I always knew there was something seedy and dirty about the southerners from those parts. Austen only forgot to mention the flat shandy and warm gin!🤣

    1. Portsmouth had its own power station. It destroyed the quality of the air and the light. At least we didn’t have any Satanic Mills.

      1. Our ‘Satanic Mills’ converted wool into jumpers. You lot just shagged sheep to keep warm!

          2. No. I took the coastal route. Cardigan Bay was the only highlight. Saw dolphins frolicking.
            Started at Rhyll where a cousin did a fantastic roast beef.

          3. I used to holiday at Rhyl (and Pwllheli) when I was nobbut a sprog. I’ve not been back since.

          4. Somewhere I have a small black and white photo of me and my family in Rhyl, all huddled together and swathed in the warmest clothes we could put on. Even my grandmother (in her fancy hat) looked frozen.

    2. Is it more acceptable to despise your compatriots from a different region than to despise them because they are of a different race. I am sure you are not a racist – none of us here is a racist – but are you a regionalist?

      2. Who do I despise? Please tell me.

        For eons I have enjoyed humorous repartee with friends from all over the U.K., and we josh about the relative merits of where we come from. We all give as much as we take. You cannot have missed the friendly jousting that goes on between Philip and me on this forum most days.

        Shirley not!

        1. ” ………. I always knew there was something seedy and dirty about the southerners from those parts.”

          That statement obviously put me on the wrong track!

          I was sad not to see you on the forum yesterday where the topic of how to pronounce the word scone came up and I was fishing for a response from you which never came up! Who puts the bad in badinage – probably like the chap who put something in Scunthorpe?

          1. Pronunciations will always vary with dialects. None are ‘wrong’, none are ‘correct’, they are just different. It is same with those small items of bread that may make a sandwich or be eaten with soup. Where I come from they are known as ‘cobs’ but there are around 25 names for them depending on where you hail from in the UK. ‘Buns’, ‘baps’, ‘rolls’, ‘bread cakes’, ‘tea cakes’, ‘batches, ‘barm cakes’ and ‘busters’ are among the more common. There are possibly more than a dozen-or-so other names for them around the country, but none are ‘wrong’.

    3. Living in ‘Ampshire I can confirm that it is full of chavs and scrotes who would be better off somewhere else.

        1. I was thinking the eye of Jupiter personally, but if you just want to cause problems for the North….

  26. 368686+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Iran’s leaders are in a crisis of their own making
    If there was any doubt that the ayatollahs are threatened, emerging rumours the morality police have been disbanded serve to dispel them

    Something the United Kingdoms electorate majority has in common with Iran then.

    1. Good morning Bob

      Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive …….
      [William Wordsworth]

      Your link is horrific: Oxford Council is planning to start confining people into their own areas and not allowing them to leave without permission beginning in 2024.

      Why not send all the illegal immigrants to Oxford.

      1. Too many brainwashed students in the electorate, who have no cars or householder responsibilities, and don’t care what havoc they unleash on those who do.

      2. Not Bob’s fault on the URL front. Disqus hack the url to add their own moronic cookie tracking to see who clicks on what to sell your data. It isn’t helped by the host site also adding it’s own tracking info as chances are the link itself is actually an alias. You can remove that tracking fiddling using an extension.

        Modern websites are infuriating.

        1. It will soon be everywhere. No travel without permission.
          The 15 minute city hides behind climate change but it is really more about control.

  30. Our future,,,‘A list of incidents has been shared with Home Office colleagues
    previously; these have included a protest/demonstration, sexual
    offences, assaults, multiple alleged racially motivated assaults of
    asylum seekers, (and) a huge negative social media presence surrounding
    both current hotel sites – including one surrounding the alleged
    attempted rape of a woman by an asylum seeker.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11501845/Council-chiefs-fury-given-15-HOURS-notice-plan-asylum-seekers-hotel.html

    1. A temporary measure, limited to three weeks. And then what?

      I find it strange that one hears so little about where these people end up 1 month /3 months /6 months and even further down the line: let alone details of how they are supported and what it is costing.

      1. If you don’t like our temporary measures we can always replace them with permanent ones.

      2. They disappear into the ghettos already created by the spearhead that arrived first. They are supported by our taxes. Enoch was right; we are heaping up our own funeral pyre – or at least our government is.

  31. Good morning, my friends.

    The DT has started with week with a trivial headline and a banal story so I shall respond with an appropriately puerile response!

    Frank Skinner reveals Countess of Wessex criticised his singing performance in ‘awkward’ exchange
    The comedian arrived for rehearsals feeling unwell, but still went ahead with the Royal Variety Performance
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/04/frank-skinner-reveals-countess-wessex-criticised-singing-performance/

    BTL

    He should concentrate more on playing the ukulele rather than behaving like a petulant adolescent – but however hard he practises he will never come anywhere near the standard of George Formby – he just hasn’t got the talent.

    But of course if you only ever want praise – even when that praise is either meaningless, a matter of form or sycophantic – you will never develop.

  32. This morning I have a trip to Gloucester to the dental hygenist. Absolutely the last thing I need today. I would have gone round to the hopital afterwards to see OH but he’s been moved to Oxford. He sounded very unhappy last night on the phone. The nurses in GRH were nice and chatty – he got to know and like them. Now he finds the ward large and unfriendly. Hoping his visit from the surgeon this morning will yield some information about when and how he will be treated.

    I’m beginning to feel I can’t cope with this much longer. Will be back later on.

      1. I’ve upset my dentist.
        She mentioned the dental hygienist and I told her she was too expensive; nearly £100 the last time she scraped at my teeth.
        I’m old enough to remember when a dental examination included the dentist giving you a scale and polish.

        1. My hygienist charges £30 for 30 mins. And that is paid for by Denplan which costs £30 a month. Good value.

          1. £30 is all right; scale and polish as part of the examination is even better.
            When she mentioned £97 (afterwards), I decided enough was enough.

        3. Wot, £100 to scrape your teeth and then say (as mine did last time I saw her) keep doing what you’re doing your teeth are fine!?

          1. Not much takes me aback – but that did.
            She was obviously trying to make the job last to justify the rip off.
            My dentist did thank me for the feed back when i explained my reluctance.
            Knowing how bad people are about complaining, I’m wondering if they’d noticed a drop off in custom but nobody was giving them the reason.

      1. Yes – thankyou – but he was getting a bit institutionalised, and now he has to get to know a new set of nurses and patients.

        1. I heard that Oxford CC is trying to implement zones folk could travel in, with going outside it limited to 2 days a week.

          Council wasters really have absolutely no value or purpose whatsoever.

          1. It’s not clear how this will affect people who live outside the city and have to go in, for example to visit relatives in the hospital.

          4. Well they’ll certainly need a departmental Head of Diversity and Inclusion.

            I suspect that he/she will be allowed to choose their staff.

      2. Not sure how many miles – but a lot further than Gloucester. He’s there because it’s a specialist cardiac unit and it was either there or Bristol for the surgery – they’ve been prepping him up for the last fortnight while they waited to get him on the surgeon’s list.
        I used to drive to Oxford quite frequently when my younger son was there but that was nearly 30 years ago – and not to the hospital. I tried J’s satnav in my car but it doesn’t fit as it’s a usb connection and I only have a cigar lighter connection in my old car. But my neighbour has offered to take me there – just waiting to hear a bit more about how long he has to wait to be done, and so on.
        I survived the trip to the hygenist – she was very gentle today.

        1. Sending you a warm hug, if that helps a little .

          I think the unfolding drama that J is involved in is unreal because I just have an image off a helpful tennis playing husband who appeared to be fit and healthy.

          1. Thankyou – it does help a lot. I feel much calmer than I did this morning. My neighbour Susan came round this evening and she’s going to take me on Wednesday morning (assuming he’s still waiting and not in the op theatre) -my neighbours have been very supportive.

            I’ll take note of where we go and should manage it myself in coming days, so long as I go early enough to get home in daylight. I can’t use J’s satnav in my car as it has the wrong fitting. I used to drive to Oxford regularly but Ed left there in ’96 and it will have changed a bit since then, plus I wasn’t going to the hospital.

            I’m cooking some chicken fillets with bacon, leek, mushroom, and a dose of wine – good excuse to open a bottle!

          2. He’s still much fitter than the other old boys in the ward – but the longer he’s there the more he’ll lose that fitness. He’s very light and small & not overweight at all, which should help his recovery time. It’s his birthday on Sunday but he will probably still be there. He has a portable monitor and can wander about and make himself a drink fron the trolley.

          3. J sounds as if he has the same build and fitness of MOH.

            I do hope they are feeding him properly and that he is able to sleep well with out any nonsense and distraction.

          4. He’s asked for some ear plugs as two old boys were nattering away very late last night and kept him awake. There seems to be plenty of food, apart from fruit. He’s not a big eater, really – little and often is what he needs.

    5. Oxford?? Gee…
      Hold in there, J. Lean on us if you need to, we’ve got strong shoulders!

    8. All the best, Ndovu. I hope things get sorted quickly now for him, and thus for you. Look after yourself, take time, and you will find reserves of strength within. They are so well tucked away from our conscious mind, kept safe for times such as these, that we don’t know they are there until we really need them. You know where we are if you wish to unburden, we are only a click away. xx

      1. Thankyou – I know you’re all good friends here. Anyway I survived the hygenist – she and the assistant have worked at the practice for years and they were quite sympathetic when I told them why I was so stressed and wound up.

      1. Well it should be so that he can now have the surgery – it’s a specialist cardiac unit and they don’t do stuff like that in Gloucester. I hope to find out more when I speak to him today, after he’s seen the surgeon.

        1. Like MB being moved from Colchester to Basildon.
          (My inner snob was most put out when I heard the word ‘Basildon’.)

      1. Thankyou – I was very stressed, but I survived and feel better now. The hygenist and her assistant have been there for years so I unloaded a bit and told them what the matter was – she was quite gentle with me.

  34. The FSU responds to the new version of the Online Safety Bill

    The new version of the Online Safety Bill returns to the Commons today and the latest iteration of the legislation seems, on the face of it, to be an improvement on the previous version (thanks, in large part, to our lobbying). We’ll know more when we’ve read it – all we have to go on at the time of writing is a DCMS press release and some amendments moved by Michelle Donelan, the Digital Secretary and architect of the new Bill. The devil will be in the detail.

    Something that hasn’t had that much press coverage, but is still important from a free speech perspective, is that plans to introduce a new harmful communications offence in England and Wales, making it a crime punishable by up to two years in jail to post a message online (or send one in the post) with the intention of causing “psychological harm amounting to at least serious distress”, have been scrapped.

    That’s good news and something we’ve been campaigning for. It means the new version of the Online Safety Bill won’t criminalise saying something, whether online or offline, that causes “hurt feeling”. The bad news is, the new communications offence was intended to replace some of the more egregious offences in the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and the Communications Act 2003 (henceforth ‘MCA’ and ‘CA’). As things stand, the offences in the MCA will be repealed, but not s127 of the CA, which is the offence Count Dankula was prosecuted for.

    The latter will remain on the statute books, and the FSU will continue to campaign for its removal. The restrictions imposed on what you can say, whether online or offline, by the CA are, we believe, out of date and may, in part, be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights — that’s a claim we’re hoping to test in Strasbourg as part of Joe Kelly’s forthcoming appeal against his conviction and sentencing for posting a tweet that contravened the CA, section 127(1)(b). (You can read about that case here, donate to Joe Kelly’s CrowdJustice fundraiser here, and read our latest briefing document on the CA here.)

    Another positive in Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan’s revised version of the Bill is that clause 13, which would have forced the big social media companies to set out in their terms of service how they intended to ‘address’ content that’s legal but harmful to adults, has now been scrapped. Instead, they’ll have to set out what tools they’ll provide their users with so they can block that content if they don’t want to see it – what’s being referred to as the ‘user empowerment’ model. That’s an improvement, but we shouldn’t exaggerate how much of a win this is.

    The Times, for instance, reported that “the Government has dropped plans to force social media and search sites to take down material that is considered harmful but not illegal,” but it never planned to force sites to do that.

    The FSU’s objection to clause 13 was always more nuanced. It was that if the Government published a list of legal content it considered harmful to adults and created an obligation on providers to say how they intended to ‘address’ it, that would ‘nudge’ them to remove it. Even though the option to do nothing was available to providers in the previous version of the Bill, it would have been a brave social media company that chose this route, given that the Government had designated the content as harmful to adults.

    That’s why back in July the FSU successfully lobbied for an amendment to the previous version of the Bill that would have made it clear that one of the ways providers could ‘address’ this content would have been to do nothing. (You can watch Adam Afriyie MP setting out that amendment in the House of Commons here.) Our main concern about the new ‘user empowerment’ model is that the default settings on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., will be the ultra-safe settings, which may mean that politically contentious content is blocked unless you ‘opt in’ to see it. That could amount to a form of censorship, particularly if it’s not easy to adjust the settings.

    There’s another respect in which free speech will be better protected in the new version. The previous one said providers would have “a duty to have regard to the importance of protecting users’ right to freedom of expression within the law”. That was pretty toothless since ‘have regard’ is the least onerous of the legal duties. In the new version, we’re told, that has been beefed up to ‘have particular regard’, which is something the FSU has been lobbying for.

    Taken as a whole, we think this is an improvement on the previous version. Michelle Donelan has had to steer a difficult path between those of us lobbying for more free speech protections and a vast array of groups petitioning her to make the Bill more restrictive, including factions within her own party.

    Nevertheless, we still have concerns about the Bill and will be scrutinising it carefully today. If, as we suspect, the duties to protect content of democratic importance and journalistic content have lost some of their force – two vital free speech protections – we will work with parliamentarians in the Commons and the Lords to reinvigorate them – and, as usual, we’ll be asking for the help of our members and supporters to get their MPs on side.

    You can read our more considered views on the new version of the Online Safety Bill on our home page.

    FSU’s New Year Regional Speakeasies announced

    The FSU will be kicking off 2023 with a new series of Regional Speakeasies. Each event will include an address from a senior member of FSU staff on the topic, ‘Why Free Speech is Worth Fighting For’ — I’ll be joining our Education and Events Director, Dr Jan Macvarish, at the Speakeasy in Brighton on Tuesday 7th February. The events are a great chance to find out why everyone at the FSU is so passionate about defending free speech and to hear about the many ways our work is having an impact across various fronts, from case work and campaigning to parliamentary lobbying and policy research. They also provide an important opportunity for us to thank members in person for their continued support. There will, of course, be plenty of time for socialising with fellow free speech supporters. All event details will be listed here later in the week. Doors open at 7pm, and we kick things off at 7.30pm.

    Letter to the Education Secretary about the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill

    In a letter coordinated by the FSU and sent to the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, more than 50 academics urged the Government not to water down the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill in response to intense lobbying from the higher education sector (Telegraph).

    We decided to pull this letter together in response to news that the government was considering making concessions to universities regarding powers contained in clause 4 of the legislation that would enable academics and students to sue institutions for breaching their free speech rights. There are several laws protecting academic free speech already on the statute books, but the problem is that they are usually ignored because there are now adequate enforcement mechanisms. Presently, for instance, academics can seek a judicial review if their rights are violated, but that typically costs hundreds of thousands of pounds, which clearly isn’t viable for most academic staff.

    The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill is particularly promising in that regard because it contains plans to create a robust mechanism for enforcing those existing laws via the introduction of a statutory tort to allow civil claims to be brought in the County Court against Higher Education Providers and Student Unions if they breach their new free speech obligations. That’s a key enforcement mechanism if higher education providers are to take their new free speech duties, as set out in the Bill, seriously. As our Chief Legal Counsel Bryn Harris pointed out to the Times Higher, the functional significance of the tort is that rather than making disputes costlier and nastier, it would, simply by dint of existing, deter universities from riding roughshod over free speech.

    As an organisation we feel strongly about this. The FSU gets about 50 cries for help a week, many of them from students and academics who got into trouble simply for exercising their lawful right to free speech on campus. If the Bill is passed as it stands — i.e., with the statutory tort remedy in place — then the vast majority of students and academics who find themselves in a similar situation in the future will undoubtedly be in a stronger position.

    Signatories of the FSU coordinated letter include Prof Kathleen Stock, the philosophy professor who was hounded out of Sussex University due to her gender critical beliefs (Unherd), and Prof John Finnis, an Oxford law professor who faced calls to be removed from his post because of his views on homosexuality (Oxford Mail). They also include Dr Heather Brunskell-Evans, who was no-platformed by university students at King’s College London after she discussed transgender issues on a radio show (Times).

    In the letter, the academics say that critics of the Bill “underestimate the scale of the free speech crisis in our universities” because “for the most part” they are “ideologically aligned with the enforcers of intellectual orthodoxy and therefore have not had to self-censor or contend with prolonged investigations merely for expressing their opinions, let alone the bullying and intimidation faced by academics who challenge the prevailing wisdom on campus about trans rights”.

    Stirring stuff, of course, and we think it dissuaded the Government from scrapping the tort altogether, which the higher education sector has been furiously lobbying for. Instead, the Government tabled an amendment to the Bill in the Lords seeking to strike a compromise with its critics (the amendment can be found here, close to the top of page 3). The amendment won’t ditch the statutory tort entirely, but will instead reduce it to a weapon of last resort, whereby students and academics can only sue universities if they’ve exhausted all the complaints procedures. That is worrying since it gives universities the whip hand. As Professor Jo Phoenix, who was defended by the FSU after she was no-platformed by Essex University, pointed out to the Telegraph, that would be “an excellent way that university managers can kick the problem in our universities into the long grass”.

    One of the other things the Bill will do is create a Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom role in the Office for Students. This new office holder will have the power to investigate complaints, which is obviously welcome. But the government amendment, by making it harder to sue universities, makes the enforcement of the new free speech duties in the Bill contingent on whoever is appointed to that new role. We have no guarantee it will be someone who cares about free speech, which of course brings us back to Professor Phoenix’s point — if the culture at the top of the proposed new regulatory system is one in which safetyism is favoured above academic freedom, then it’s likely to make it easier for university managers to, as Jo puts it, kick the problem “into the long grass”.

    The FSU’s position is clear — the only way to make sure universities uphold the new free speech duties in the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill is to give aggrieved parties the option of suing them in the county court. Without that, the Bill is unlikely to make much more difference than the Education (No. 2) Act 1986, which imposed a legal duty on universities to uphold free speech, but was never taken seriously by the sector. Why? Because there was no accompanying enforcement mechanism.

    The FSU ranks payment processors and crowdfunding platforms

    When payment processing company PayPal orchestrated a wave of partisan cancellations in September 2022, withdrawing services from numerous organisations including the FSU, thousands of our supporters cancelled their PayPal accounts in an incredible show of solidarity and support for freedom of expression. In the face of mass account closures, PayPal was forced to do a U-turn.

    In light of what happened, we thought we’d publish an analysis of the terms and conditions of the major payment processors and crowdfunding platforms, giving each company a score out of 10 according to how friendly they are towards free speech it was. That briefing came out last month.

    The link to the briefing is here. Unfortunately, the overall picture is fairly bleak. Six of the nine platforms we investigated get a score of 4/10 or below. The only crowdfunding platform we recommend for users concerned about protecting their free speech is Donorbox (8/10), although it’s not perfect. When it comes to payment processors, the only companies we’d recommend are Worldpay (8/10) and Stripe (7/10).

    The difficulty we’ve identified is that the majority of payment processors and crowdfunding platforms rely on subjective language that can easily be interpreted to withdraw service from users for purely political reasons.

    And this is in fact what’s happening, with numerous providers de-platforming users because they disapprove of their perfectly lawful political beliefs. Some of these companies even grant themselves the right to withdraw their services – even helping themselves to your funds – based on speech that’s completely unconnected to the platform, e.g., things you’ve said on social media.

    If you add in choice of law issues, which frequently define users’ rights according to legal systems on the other side of the world, and a hierarchy of increasingly opaque business-to-business user agreements, it is virtually impossible for customers to foresee precisely what they are and aren’t allowed to say. In other words, the hammer could come down with no warning and no real explanation, as it did for the FSU – which is why we’re lobbying the Government to amend the Financial Services and Markets Bill to make it illegal for financial companies to withhold or withdraw service from customers for purely political reasons.

    You can take a look at the briefing here.

    Policing Minister orders Chief Constables to stop recording non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs)

    During an appearance at the Oxford University Conservative Association this month, Policing Minister Chris Philp was asked whether he’d give a personal commitment to enforce Miller v College of Policing (2021), the landmark legal case that ruled that the then current College of Policing (CoP) guidelines on the recording of NCHIs were unlawful and should be replaced. The minister duly obliged, explaining that he’d recently met with the CEO of the CoP, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, and was in the process of arranging to meet all Chief Constables to tell them to stop recording NCHIs. If they didn’t listen, he added, then he would be prepared to use next year’s Police Reform Bill to force them to do so.

    That’s encouraging news. NCHIs are/were a threat to free speech in this country. The FSU knows that better than most — over the last two-and-a-half years we’ve supported plenty of people who’ve fallen foul of this sinister form of thought policing. Take FSU member Kevin Mills, for instance. Two years ago, Kevin was handed a NCHI by the police after refusing to work with a customer who he feared wouldn’t pay the bill. The FSU intervened and Kent Police deleted his record earlier this year.

    So how did we get here? Back in 2014, the CoP’s original guidelines defined NCHIs as incidents perceived by the victim or any bystanders to be motivated by hostility or prejudice to the victim based on a ‘protected’ characteristic (e.g., the colour of their skin). According to the guidance, NCHIs could be reported by the victim or by any other person who witnessed the incident and the police would then have to investigate them, irrespective of whether there was any objective evidence to identify the hate element. If the police concluded no crime had been committed, the NCHI would then be recorded against the accused’s name and could show up if a prospective employer carried out an enhanced criminal records check. Astonishingly, an average of 30,000 NCHIs have been recorded every year since then.

    The FSU worked with Lord Moylan and other peers earlier this year to secure an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Court Act 2022 that gave the Home Secretary the option of placing the recording of NCHIs and the retention of the data on a statutory footing, governed by a Code of Practice approved by Parliament instead of the say-so of an unelected quango. The Home Secretary has yet to avail herself of this option, but the fact she has it in her back pocket undoubtedly helped give the Policing Minister the confidence to tell chief constables to stop recording NCHIs.

    The next step, after we’ve reined in this practice, is to start getting the NCHIs already recorded against people’s names removed. If you want to know how to find out if you have one against your record, or how you might go about getting one deleted, the FSU has produced a short FAQ on NCHIs which you can access here.

    FSU Members Survey – the results are in!

    We promised that we would get back to our members and supporters with the headline messages from our membership survey at the end of October/early November.

    We had a great response, with around a third of FSU members completing the survey, enough for us to draw some credible inferences. We were happy to read so many positive comments from members highlighting what the FSU has achieved since its creation. The overall satisfaction score with the FSU was 89%!

    The top priority for members is for the FSU to keep lobbying the Government to better protect free speech – and we are seen as a unique vehicle to achieve that. We agree and will not be taking any pressure off our lawmakers when it comes to issues such as the Online Safety Bill, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, the Financial Services and Markets Bill, or any future bill that has an impact on free speech.

    We asked members why they joined the FSU and those in employment are particularly concerned about the ever-growing threat of being cancelled. This continues to be a top priority and we now have four people working in our case team. At any one time, we can have up to 75 open cases on our system.

    There is a wide range of professions represented across our membership. The chart below highlights some of the sectors that we see repeatedly in our case work (education, for example, in green).

    We’ve taken on board the message that more regional events would be appreciated, and we will continue to try to get the balance right between in-person and online events. Those working in particular professions – education, the arts – said they’d like us to organise more sector-specific events and we will aim to organise some next year.

    The open-ended final question (general suggestions for how the FSU could be even better) yielded over 1,125 comments! Here is just a flavour of what you said to us.

    All in all, it feels like we’re on the right track, but our members would like us to do more. The UK’s free speech crisis shows little sign of letting up and we will take the best ideas forward. Resources are tight, but the mission is far too important for us not to continue listening to our members and harnessing their expertise. The executive summary in our internal report on the survey was structured around two words: retention and growth. Both are essential if we are to win the free speech war!

    The FSU Christmas Special – a festive comedy extravaganza!

    The FSU’s live Christmas Comedy Special takes place on Monday 12th December, and looks like being a sell-out event. So if you’d like to attend, please do round up your friends and family today – you can book tickets here. The event takes place at the Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green from 7pm onwards. Comedy legend Bobby Davro will be the Master of Ceremonies, and he’ll be joined on stage by stand-up comedian and GB News presenter Leo Kearse, Comedy Unleashed favourite Mary Bourke, and comedian and Radio 4 ‘personality’ Simon Evans.

    Join us for the FSU Christmas Review!

    If you can’t make it to London for the Comedy Special, not to worry – you can join us online on Tuesday 13th December for our annual Christmas Review. The Review is a great opportunity for FSU staff and members to vote for 2022’s free speech heroes and villains and to discuss the year’s free speech ‘highs’, as well as ‘lows’. Please note that this event starts slightly earlier than usual, at 6pm, so as not to clash with the World Cup semi-final at 7pm which – based on last night’s easy victory over Senegal – England might be in. You can register for the event by clicking here.

    Sharing the newsletter

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

    Kind regards,

    1. Thank you for posting this. I remain ashamed that we need a free speech union at all – the extent the Left have eroded freedom is staggering and appalling.

      That the state so feverishly endorses and encourages this disgusting behaviour is beyond me.

    4. For goodness sake. I’d rather get them a ticket to sod off. If you’ve money to give away give to the homeless who the state has happily ignored for decades.

      I’m bloody furious. Endless oodles of cash for the dinghy scum but for decades we’ve had homeless folk in desperate need of mental healthcare left to rot.

      I hate these scum. The entire government is a farce. Stop paying criminal foreigners and start helping those who deserve it.

  37. Phew!
    That worked a bit of a sweat up!
    Just been up to tidy up the next bit of the wall to be done and decided a large rock projecting from the ground where I want to drop the next lot of concrete would be better off removed.
    Turns out the large lump projecting above the ground was less than a half of the full size of the thing!

    1. The new CO of RAF Shawbury came to the Christmas “do” this afternoon. He had quite a strong Celtic fringe accent. I would have loved to ask him “and where are you from?” but I didn’t want to blot my copy book 🙂

  40. Hi all

    Disqus seems to be having a hissy fit. I made a comment “You are sooo right” about bbqs and I’ve just deleted 43 replies in which nothing was actually said. And I supposedly had 5 upticks! Anyone else having this?

    1. Not so far ……… (crosses fingers, waves rabbit foot around and puts out a saucer of cream for the house elf).

          1. I have had unexplained rashes. GP useless. Pharmacist brilliant. I recommend O’Keeffe’s skin repair cream. Works quickly too.
            The Pharmacist also said to be careful of soaps and detergents when showering and in laundry.

  41. Here we have it, folks. We are to be reduced to eating, and I suppose drinking (surely booze will be verboten), what ‘The Government’ decides we should eat/drink. All neatly – so they believe – wrapped up behind the curtain of saving the Planet. Putting these proposals in a manifesto will be as welcome, to most but not to the green maniacs, as a cup of cold vomit.

    https://twitter.com/BernieSpofforth/status/1599421294595874816

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/02558245945d0a873bc2ad040f7761c72b8cc5e77503758140b552d697581e8b.png

    1. I’m sure that the Elite will set an example to us peasants by giving up Beef Wellington, fillet steaks

      and flying away on holiday.

      I’m quite sure.

      Quite, quite sure.

      1. Like hell they will.

        The press managed to find details of food served on a recent trip by our Governor General to Dubai. You guessed it – Beef Wellington was on the menu.

        There again when you spend $100,000 on catering for an Ottawa to Dubai flight, you can expect nothing but the best.

    2. Oh Korky. I almost wish you hadn’t posted this little snippet. What the hell can we do about their plans? Alf and I wrote on Friday to our MP in response to a Conservative Party questionnaire. We have said that it is not a Yes/no answer to the questions and have instead sent quite a long list of all the problems caused by HMG. Covering refusal to utilise our own energy assets, illegal immigration, NHS, Russia/Ukraine war and finance, all in some detail.

      He probably will take one look at the length of the email and shut it down, the rest unread. But seriously what can we old fogeys do about their diabolical plans? I’m not sure our children have any clue about what is planned for us, they’re far too busy earning a living and paying tax, paying for University and illegal immigrants. A pox on all of them.

      1. vw, it is disturbing to uncover the fact that your government is planning to, and let’s be blunt here, starve the people by forcing on them a diet that will be lacking in much that aids a healthy lifestyle. Good health and a good diet are intrinsically linked.
        Are the ‘run-of-the-mill’ MPs completely unaware of what this NWO/WEF policy following government is proposing and what the outcome of those proposals will entail for the people? All MPs must be bombarded with communications that explain clearly what their fate will be come GE time if they support the proposals.
        It beggars belief that hundreds of elected representatives could be coerced by a small cabal to support attacking the people’s wellbeing by deliberately reducing the food necessary to both build and maintain good health.

        1. There would be no point in contacting my MP, she’s a Limp Dim and as such fully signed up to the green nonsense.

      1. I have no information on the Indians but word on the street in the USA indicates that the CCP’s crackdown is less, much less, oh alright, next to nothing to do with a virus but all to do with the inability of the Chinese to feed themselves.

    4. During the time when Stalin was dictator in the Soviet Union there were special shops selling luxury foods and goods called Beryozka that were only permitted to be used by members of the ruling élite.

      Perhaps that is what our ruling classes have in store for themselves in their totalitarian superpower (and the rest of us can go to hell).

        1. I must admit that arson was my first thought too. But as in any post apocalyptic scenario those stocks will be well defended.

          1. Thank you, Philip for the Christmas Card. I did wonder who with a Soton Postmark but the dogs gave it away.

            I do have a cousin Philip as well.

      2. They were still going in the late sixties when I was in Moscow, but they had morphed into “foreign currency shops”. Naturally the plebs didn’t have access to foreign dosh (hence the furtive exchanges attempted with foreigners). Beryoza, incidentally, is a silver birch. Iconic in Russian songs and literature.

      3. Doesn’t that already exist in Brussels? There are shops that are exclusively for those with a pass to the Brussels parliament.

        1. Yup. Heavily subsidised. I wanted a coffee when I was visiting (sponsored by Gerard Batten) and my “godfather” (aka warder) took pity on me and led me to the EU parlement (in Strasbourg) cafe. Coffee a good half the price of the drink outside and on the way we passed lots of shop windows with high-end goods on display. Trough Central (or rather just one of them – there are three EU parlements altogether, including one in Luxembourg, which is never used but, in true EU fashion, costs a fortune to maintain).

    5. The state doesn’t want people to know that the green communism is going to completely destroy their lives and choices.

      As it is, cattle farming is note remotely involved in climate change. As always, it’s about them pushing themselves on you.

    1. The guy’s smelling that baby as if he’s just about to take a bite. Are we supposed to believe he gave birth?

    2. “Threat to mankind’s survival”?

      With a population now upwards of 8 billion and still rapidly rising, hysterical outbursts such as that are idiotic, Mizz Cohen.

      I wonder what a poll among all other species of living things would think of that?

      2. There are reckoned to be a mere 15 million Jews in the world, so Claire Cohen is right to be concerned.

        3. Although she has a Jewish name, she mentioned neither race nor religion, just mankind in general. My well-considered retort was based purely on that.

      3. Less the survival of mankind, more the survival of civilisation. Those who are breeding are not high achievers.

          2. Had an email this morning from a friend who moved to Scotland a year ago – she had covid booster (tested on eight mice) in one arm and flu jab in the other…… people have been thoroughly brainwashed.

  43. Back from hospital all good as far as it went MRI to be scheduled at some future date
    Two “volunteer” mask nazis quite aggressive at the door trying to press masks on everyone as they entered obviously I politely declined in the usual irony neither of the two receptionists they were working in front of were masked what a farce
    Waiting for the consultant at least 1/3 of staff were either unmasked or wearing in a manner that made the useless rag even more useless
    It’s a cult

    1. That’s good – in GRH all the staff were masked but happy to remove them if you couldn’t understand what they were saying. None of the patients I saw and few of the visitors were masked. No Nazis on the desk.

    5. When i rolled up in my wheelchair the nazis on the door said my friend who was pushing me would be classed as my carer but when she came later to pick me up she would be classed as a visitor and would need to wear a mask. The total idiocy of this policy was torpedoed by using another entrance. They only thought to guard the main door.

      Glad you are being seen.

  44. Cold weather alert issued in England as lows of -10C possible. 5 December 2022.

    Health agency warns of frost and wintry showers across UK from Wednesday as Arctic airmass hits.

    The UK health security agency (UKHSA) has issued a cold weather alert for England, as temperatures were expected to plunge to -10C in some places with possible wintry showers and snow.

    The severe conditions, brought by an Arctic maritime airmass and expected to start on Wednesday evening and last until Monday 12 December, could lead to disruption and increased health risks for vulnerable people.

    The level 3 alert, which requires social and healthcare services to take action to protect high-risk groups, comes as temperatures are expected to drop across much of the UK late on Wednesday.

    It’s all those Heat Waves!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/05/cold-weather-alert-issued-in-england-as-lows-of–10c-possible

    1. But you have to stop flying and eating meat because of global warming. Honestly how can people be so gullible as to believe this BS?

      1. They are scolding the earth? I thought they were scolding everybody else for trying to live a normal life.

    3. It’s going to be the same here this week, just as it was back in early November, and in every winter period that I’ve lived here. We call it “winter”.

    4. Peerhaps the government could reduce the heating costs for us all, that theri policy created.

    5. It’s winter as most people here would agree.
      It gets cold and sometimes very cold.
      What is all this hysterical nonsense? central heating, double glazing and so much insulation that modern houses are a health hazard.
      I don’t recall being warned that i could be in danger of hypothermia when I was knee high to a Grasshopper in the 50’s.
      My mother would bank up the fire at night, went to bed with a hot water bottle and woke with sometimes jack frost on the windows. How the hell have I managed 72 years with all this apparent trauma that I’m going through?
      Sorry…. rant over, I’ll go back to my after lunch wine 🙄
      It seems that life is a bitch and then you die.

      1. My mother used to keep the kitchen warm by having the oven door open and the gas on. She’d warm her shoes in there before putting them on. I used to put my clothes under the eiderdown to keep warm for the morning. There was frequently ice on the inside of the windows. It was normal.

        1. Ha, memories, that’s probably why most of us here are so cynical about the so-called trials and tribulations of modern life.

          1. In February next year we are having a “pre-decimal quiz” at our RAFA meeting. As my nonagenerian friend remarked, “they don’t know they’re born these days with ten of everything.”

          7. A hard back book cost 6/8 and I used to spend my money on them (they are now expensive first editions). Then they put them up to 12/6 and I had to save up to get them!

        2. Yo Nd,

          Do not forget as well, if you were bored sitting on the loo, you could always resd the Local (or Daily Newspaper,which had been torn into quarter sheets and hung from a rusty nail

          2. There’s posh, look you! I remember squares of newspaper on a nail in my grandmother’s outside privy down the yard.

          3. Not sure why she favoured that stuff – it was a bit hard & shiny – but she didn’t like the soft rolls at all.

          5. Who ever thought that paper was a good idea, never used it
            !
            I seem to remember something similar supplied by MOD in ration packs.

      2. I agree. It was the same for me. The latest “worry” is the number of Darwin awards given out to people near the River Severn. The answer seems not to be “don’t get drunk, don’t swim because the currents are treacherous and stay away from the edge”, but “we must provide gates to keep people safe”. Dumb and dumber doesn’t come close. The advice is excellent and free, the gates will cost a fortune and some dumbo will climb them just because they’re there.

        1. One of the things like about Norway, Conners.
          You’re free to fall off the scenery if you are careless/stupid/drunk. No fences. Watch out for yourself.
          It’s only idiot foreigners who get caught out by that. Often Germans, over for fishing.

          1. A bit like me when I fell while climbing Trollveggen.
            I’m only now suffering the consequences with a zip like scar on the back of my neck after surgery sorting out problems as a result of the abrupt halt at the end of a rope.
            Such are the consequences of an adventurous life before common sense arrived in my brain.

          2. Ow!
            Hope you’re fully recovered.
            What’s common sense? I think I was at the back of the queue when that was being handed out. Daft as a brush, according to SWMBO (She’s from Kent – is that expression cultural appropriation?)

          3. I was very lucky: my first protection loop failed but the second held.
            The guy below holding the ropes managed to stop me about 2 feet from ground zero.

          4. I remain eternally grateful to the [thankfully] rather large Royal Marine who held me on the last major fall of my climbing career – I reckon I was pretty much the same height as you above ground zero when the downward motion stopped! I was a bit more careful after that, so no more real traumas.

          6. Funnily enough someone I climbed with a few times took a really serious flyer off Centurion and got quite broken up. I met him a while later and wasn’t surprise to hear that he was giving up rock climbing as it was too dangerous – it was a shock to hear though that he was taking up cave diving!!

          7. I moved from mountain rescue to cave rescue and only got wet if it was unavoidable.
            A couple of freinds I dived with, went onto mixed gas deep diving – no thank you.

      3. After Alf and I married in 1968 we moved to Maidstone. Boy was it cold in winter. We would wake up in the morning to find the bedroom windows iced over. We tried to borrow £100 from the bank, to go with the £300 we’d saved up, to instal central heating (can’t remember the year). They turned us down. Said if the engine had fallen out of the car it would have been ok.

        “… which requires social and healthcare services to take action to protect high-risk groups”…. What on earth are they supposed to do FFS? They make me sick this government; when they’re planning to starve us all …. Or freeze us.

        1. When Moh and I married , he started his flying course at RAF Church Fenton, we had to hire a cottage , a farm cottage .. for several months .. it dripped with moisture and mould .. We were there in the winter of 1969.. frost , fog etc .. we used the Times newspaper as extra warmth between our blankets ..the water froze in the taps . Jack Frost attacked the windows and . We kept our clothes next to an old inglenook stove / aga whatever it was , probably 100 years old .. We were in our early twenties , and we went to bed in wincyette jimjams , bedsocks and woolly hats … The farmyard hens used to peck at the kitchen door to be let in to rest near the warm fire !

    6. Our local rag is carrying articles about the SS telling people to leave the heating on low rather than switch it off at night while temperatures are low. I couldn’t switch my heating off (without letting it go out) anyway.

  49. Afternoon, all. After a great Christmas social at our monthly RAFA meeting, I’m now at home twiddling my thumbs waiting for a doctor to ring for my “telephone consultation”. It may be any time between 16.00 and 18.00 (was going to be betwen 14.00 and 18.00 but I told them I wouldn’t be able to answer the phone earlier). To round off the action-packed day I have a Parish Council meeting tonight. Tomorrow is a free day, fortunately (when I catch up on all the things I haven’t had time for over the weekend).

  50. Sorry if it’s already been posted but this is my favourite letter in today’s DT:

    SIR – Many years ago my mother was invited in for sherry after church by a retired admiral (Letters, December 3). Noting her eye on the decanter, he exclaimed: “We’ll have the decent stuff, that’s for the Rector.”

    Philip Barber
    Lieutenant Commander RN (retd)
    Havant, Hampshire

    1. I wonder if Plum-Tart keeps the good stuff for herself and the lesser stuff for visitors?

      Personally I’d rather enjoy a decent Madeira (Sercial, Bual, Verdelho, Malmsey) than Sherry (Jerez-Xérès); or a really good vintage Port, such as Graham’s.

      1. I have sailed into Funchal, Oporto and Marsala in either Raua or Mianda and have passed near Jerez on the way to Gibraltar and have sampled their local beverages. Caroline loves Port but I enjoy Italian Vermouth when mixed with gin and a frozen lemon juice cube. I prefer Cinzano to Martini.

        1. I love a nice Marsala but I rarely drink it. I prefer to use it to make a superb Zabaglione served with Savoiardi (Lady finger biscuits).

          1. You’ve made history, Griz; the first – ever – Yorkshire man to admit to liking Savoiardi (Lady finger biscuits)!

          2. I would be if I were a Yorkshireman, Lacoste. My dad was one but I was born in Derbyshire.

            I use lady finger biscuits in a trifle and in a tiramisu.

      2. At various points in my career I sold Fonseca port and was involved in the launch of their Bin 27 in early 70s. Excellent full bodied reserve style Ruby and still buy from Majestic, the only stockist I can find. I also sold Sandeman in the 80s and 90s.

          1. Living in a country that has a Soviet-style State-run outlet for alcoholic drinks, I miss the freedom of pubs, bars, off-licences and wine merchants.

          2. From all the skullduggery going on at the moment our freedoms will not last much longer with politicians such as those occupying our Parliament buildings.

          3. Don’t know about Systembolaget, Grizz, but Vinmonopolet have an absolutely massive catalogue you can order from. Cheap booze isn’t so cheap, but the really good expensive stuff is very reasonably priced when compared to elsewhere – and even available!

          5. I like Vinmonopolet. They actually know something about their wares, can give informed advice about what to eat with it, what goes well. It’s not just a bunch of shelf-stacking monkeys.

          6. It’s still a government monopoly. Wouldn’t you prefer a free market economy with a load of choices as to where to buy your booze?

          7. In Norway, it’s a private company monopoly.
            Problem is, if everybody can sell anything, they will focus on the bulk sales rather than the special boozes that are available, and the range of choice will be the same as in Tesco in the UK – which it is already. Having access to knowledgeable people, and the huge range available (often by delivery) all over the country, is an advantage I would be sad to lose.

          9. One can import, but the costs and duty make it stupidly expensive.
            There are a lot of boutique breweries here now, so the choices of beers are excellent – traditional, such as IPA (American and English style, for example), and cross-overs – White IPA, a blend of IPA and weissbier (excellent too!). These come from the boutiques as well as the mainstream brewers.
            Cardinal pub in Stavanger has the most amazing selection of beers, bottled & draft, and the occasional keg of Thatcher’s Gold cider (drool). Many bars in Oslo are close in selection… my local, a dive in Sandvika, has Fullers London Pride! (a gnats too cool, but hey…). And excellent Thai food!
            25 years ago, Norway was a beer desert. No longer.

          10. So both Sweden and Norway are protecting their state monopolies, which the EU declares is verboten.
            But then the EU is the biggest store of hypocrites , only beaten by the US Democrats.

          11. More choice than the “free” market offers, Grizz, and the State version doesn’t have to be 100% commercial at all times – they can get (at large volumes, and so at good price) some quite esoteric booze.
            Well-run State business isn’t automatically bad.

      3. Each has it’s merits. The great thing about sherry is it comes in desert-dry through to sugar-sweet, and has flavour enough to cope with being chilled & poured over ice and being drunk with strongly flavoured food.

    2. I drink the stuff in my decanters and I share it with friends. Just because it doesn’t have the label showing on the bottle doesn’t mean it isn’t drinkable.

  51. Apparently euthanasia is now the sixth commonest cause of death in Canada.
    Anyone like to hazard a guess about how quickly it would become the leading cause of death among patients of Our World-Beating NHS?
    Or would that honour belong to Sudden Death?
    Anyone would think the elites couldn’t wait to see the back of us!

    In totally unrelated news…
    https://twitter.com/wmiddelkoop/status/1599746976278454280
    (means they’re all feckin bust!)
    Have a nice evening……

    1. It’s when you see ours is around 18 trillion that the scale of fraud, incompetence and spite hits home. Then folk might start to understand why inflation is at 16% -to be 21% next year.

  52. Just thinking about the ginger whinger. He has put me off titles for ever.
    I wonder if British children could be prevented from using any aristocratic name-candy until they were 18 or even 21?

    1. I am afraid that his brother and his father have finished off the monarchy for me with their reaction to Lady Susan Hussey who had clearly been set up in a sting by that strangely dressed black woman in un-English clothes and an un-English name under instructions to cause a racist storm by the Migraine Markle Special Venom Squad.

      King Charles is completely gormless and, as far as his sons are concerned, William is potentially worse as he might be King while Harry probably will not. Tel père, tel fils.

      1. A glance at the Mail today was vomit-inducing. As you know, I’m not specially keen on Charles and William, but the Markles and Netflix seem to have written a fantasy drama starring Meghan.
        Very distasteful.

        1. I call her Migraine – but she would probably approve of my soubriquet as it is just what she wants to give her husband’s family.

      2. ‘Tis hardly three months since the death of our late Queen Elizabet II; already her son – and Prince William – have holed the constitutional monarchy below the waterline …

        Their wokery and green politics may well sink the ship.

      3. Without wishing to appear insane, I am more optimistic than you. HRH the Princess of Wales comes from good stock, and her children look happy and well. It is not in her interest to allow people to make a fool of her husband.

        2. “HRH the Princess of Wales comes from good stock.”

          Would that be roasted veal bones, onions, carrots, bouquet garni and peppercorns?😉

  53. The commentator on the World Wendyball Cup match between Japan and Croatia has just opined: “Japan need to find a chink in Croatia’s armour.”

    I cannot say that I feel comfortable with the use of that type of language on a public forum. He should Nip it in the bud!

    1. Unseasonable for those who have moved to the UK from an unEnglish, unScottish, unWelsh, unIrish or unNorthernEuropean environment.

    2. Unseasonable for those who have moved to the UK from an unEnglish, unScottish, unWelsh, unIrish or unNorthernEuropean environment.

  55. ‘Climate protesters who caused almost £100,000 in damage after smashing glass windows at the London headquarters of Barclays bank could face jail after being found guilty of causing criminal damage’.

    They put forward the bizarre defence that Barclays staff would have consented to the damage if they were fully informed about the climate crisis.

    Carol Wood (53), one of the defendants, cried throughout the verdicts.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/extinction-rebellion-claimte-change-protesters-smashed-barclays-bank-windows-guilty-b1044957.html

      1. I wonder if Migraine would be happier if the Duke of Sussex’s were like this and had a rather less offensive Caucasian tone to them?

  58. ‘Climate protesters who caused almost £100,000 in damage after smashing glass
    windows at the London headquarters of Barclays bank could face jail after being found guilty of causing criminal damage’.

    They put forward the bizarre defence that Barclays staff would have consented to the damage if they were fully informed
    about the climate crisis.

    Carol Wood (53), one of the defendants, cried throughout the verdicts.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/extinction-rebellion-claimte-change-protesters-smashed-barclays-bank-windows-guilty-b1044957.html

    2. The last thing the climate protesters know anything about, is the complete SCAM that climate change is.

      For them, ignorance is bliss.

    4. Put them in a prison where they are screaming out to be given petroleum based lubricants.

      and refuse

        1. Issue them with extra abrasive soap.
          Make sure there are enough trannies to satisfy the wimmin too.

      1. Better yet, fine each of them the equivalent of the total cost of the repairs.

        Donate the money to pensioners who can’t afford to heat their homes because of climate lunacy.

    1. Bill always grumbles if anyone gives the score in either a cricket or a rugby match before he has had time to see it.

      It is extraordinary how well Pakistan played in order to snatch victory out of the clichéd jaws of defeat.

      or, alternatively:

      The new captain has Stoked up his team’s fires and his hyberbollically brave gamble has been rewarded with victory.

      Won’t say which I shall go with until we get Bill’s clearance.

      2. That expression always confused the hell out of me when I were a nipper. I thought a ‘test’ match was a practice match.

        ‘I’ve got a new car.’
        ‘What is it?’
        ‘It’s a Toyota.’
        ‘Couldn’t you afford a real Ota?’

    3. TBH, I thought we’d blown it yesterday after Stokes et al went for nothing but boundaries after Root was out, and we didn’t have a huge lead. But what do I know?

  61. A rubbish Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 534 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Ye old par 4 but it was an odd one today.
      Wordle 534 4/6

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

  62. Watching the news , Orla Guerin in Haiti..

    Hopless gang violence , black on black slaughter . You cannot take Africa out ex Africans .

    Taking the knee, wot a load of codswallop.

    1. She does get around these trouble spots, doesn’t she – I wouldn’t want to be her – no wonder she always sounds so dire – she gets all the hell – holes to report from.

    2. She does get around these trouble spots, doesn’t she – I wouldn’t want to be her – no wonder she always sounds so dire – she gets all the hell – holes to report from.

  63. The NHS is hopeless. Had 4 letters today; MH had an appointment with his consultant on Dec 21- this has been changed to Feb 7. He needs this appointment. Of course, are the sainted NHS going on strike on the 20th?
    My follow up in Feb has been brought forward by a week but I had a copy of the letter the “consultant” sent to my GP. Complete fabrication. Claiming all sorts of things that never were said or discussed. If she’s a consultant then I am Willy bloody Wonka. But still it is 4 months for a follow up which is not good as far as I am concerned.
    No report back thus far on MH’s blood tests and my X-rays.
    I really feel for others who are caught up in this nonsensical limbo which calls itself the NHS.

    1. Haven’t seen much from you lately, Ann, so I’m sorry to see you are still suffering. Take care and don’t let the turkeys get you down!

      1. I took a few days off.
        To which turkeys are you referring? The NHS, our splendid government or the posters here ?;-)

          3. Ho ho!
            Caught in a cunningly hidden gin trap.
            You rose to the bait, which is tonic to all Lotl hunters…

            You’ve said it isn’t a LotL tipple in the past(sed-out)
            };-))

        3. No turkeys on this NoTTLe site, Ann. And the annual White House pardoning of the Turkey has been cancelled, as no bird could be found who was prepared to pardon the sitting President. Lol.

        5. I should have said it’s much the same here, particularly as far as government is concerned…..

  64. A bientot, mes amis. I am taking my laptop and going to a meeting. It saves me having to print out the agenda.

  65. 368686+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    5m
    TOP TIP

    Emigrate – if you can.

    Keir Starmer announced his plan for a Labour Britain. Here’s what’s in it. – inews,
    Keir Starmer’s new plan for a Labour Britain, explained — inews
    Keir Starmer’s new plan for a Labour Britain, explained — inews

    The report, titled A New Britain, is the strongest indication yet of the policies Labour could include in its election manifesto

    apple.news

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    15m
    Tory Govnt imports migrants at a current rate of 1 million every two years & then doesn’t want to build new houses to put them in – never mind our own millions of homeless & people in sub standard housing.

    They really can’t have it two ways: either they deport all the illegal immigrants & stop mass immigration or they concrete over their precious Tory shire constituencies to build millions of new houses.

    Never mind, when Labour get in they will do the concreting for them.

    Michael Gove to drop house building target after Tory MP backlash – Sky News,
    Michael Gove to water down house building target after Tory MP backlash — Sky News
    Michael Gove to water down house building target after Tory MP backlash — Sky News

    Michael Gove is set to water down the government’s target to build 300,000 homes every year following an angry backlash from his own party’s MPs.

    apple.news

    https://gettr.com/post/p20s2ezea3d

    1. All this talk about 300,000 homes each year is utter nonsense. For the simple reason that HMG doesn’t actually want us to live. All our homes will end up being appropriated for gimmegrants. There. Problem solved.

      Sorry. Feeling so disgusted and depressed by what’s going on. Another email to our MO this evening regarding the “Nudge unit” using all levers to change our behaviour. No flying, no meat or dairy foods.

      1. 368686+ up ticks,

        Evening VW,

        Gerard Batten has been fighting these type politico’s & their supporters for years in rhetoric & book form, warning of what the future held via these parties,he was never far wrong.

  66. Reference the lump of rock I shifted today, it was roughly triangular, about 11″ thick, with base and vertical height of about 16″. Converting to metric, working out the volume and chucking the density of limestone into the formula, gives about 110 to 120kg.
    It will, eventually, get set into the wall.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0eb75c13143c412d5762abfee97ecafb966ca79dee1915e6e8c8242ed426968a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38bda4e096802014ca74f5d2f253dac049fc95fad380d9d6ead0f17e461076d0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/870f195131e86291c1bb073484d73f3aeaf7b61650c0bb444d9cdcf745ba7ba3.jpg

    A view along the wall:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c9bbbff5fd311664074e9ef2f0c2eba82e0f5128594d968bd084a4636daba17.jpg

    From a bit further back, giving an idea how far above the road I am working. The rather handsome looking conifer in the picture was the 1st Christmas Tree that we planted out 20odd years ago! No idea what variety it is though. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8970f53ed7fc0d9a4863a7a1a227d49a5ffabb5b04b1af1eef1a12bcdd3c153c.jpg

    I mentioned a couple of weeks back that I’d dropped a dead elm tree, this is the resulting log pile.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/219e2f2d6bbddd2ea8ca7dbcca2626ef077288fa53089f772d777ef0911ce417.jpg

    1. CORRECTION!
      Weight of aforesaid rock is about 60kg! I did Base x Vertical Height instead of ½Base x Vertical Height!!

      2. Hell I have enough trouble lifting curling stones and they only weigh 40 pounds.

        Well one Rick is OK, it is when we need to shift all 64 of them.

    4. Thanks for the photos, it helps to keep a perspective on all the hard work you have done!

    5. I really feel sorry for you Bob .

      The works seems to be harsh and unforgiving considering the hard slog you are putting into the wall.

      Especially as ou have mentioned before , bad knee , back etc.

      Please take care .. did you buy or inherit your property, because life could have been much easier if you had had an easier property to maintain.

      1. Thank you for your concern, Maggie, but believe it or not, as much as I complain, I actually enjoy it as it gives me a challenge and something to do.

  67. Getting the impression that Starmer is getting really worried that he might actually get elected, so is now unleashing policies to thwart it.

  68. The BIS has put out a statement saying that pension funds collectively have 80 trillion dollars’ worth of FX swaps (don’t ask me what those are, but I understand that they are basically worthless once the bubble pops).
    Just wondering how much of my and other people’s savings have disappeared down the Great Pension Khazi Scheme, but there is NOTHING about this in the mainstream media unless it’s behind paywalls.
    How responsible I felt when I started saving in a pension scheme!

      1. I read from another source that the pension companies had been investing in derivatives because they couldn’t get the gains that they promised to customers any other way (so using them as a betting tool??).
        From multiple sources, I have read that derivatives are the top of the upturned pyramid and the most likely to be worth nothing when the bubble bursts.
        I’m not an expert though.

        1. “Derivatives” covers a multitude of products of widely varying degrees of risk. The gross numbers can appear to be absolutely enormous, the net positions will generally be a lot smaller. Institutions such as pension funds often use them to reduce risk. The problems tend to arise when senior management do not fully understand what their dealers/traders are doing or reporting, and positions get out of hand when the dealers making losses try to double down, eg Barings.

          As in most areas, robust systems of internal control and accurate reporting are vital. An aspect sometimes overlooked is the worst case scenario, where dealers report the positions accurately, but insufficient attention is paid to the potential outcome of an extreme set of circumstances, the so-called Black Swan.

          1. Hmm, if it’s anything like software, senior management could be characters out of Dilbert.
            I just have to hope that my pension providers are intelligent and competent. Not something that one can take for granted, but I live in hope.

    3. A series watched religiously every Advent, like “Tea for one” in Germany.
      Weird mix of Norwegian and English, originally from Denmark.
      Bizarre story…

  70. Labour government would block spread of new grammars

    ‘The priority should be about driving up standards in the schools that we already have’

    LABOUR would oppose the expansion of grammar schools if elected, the shadow education secretary said yesterday.

    Bridget Phillipson confirmed Sir Keir Starmer’s party would seek to block the creation of new selective schools and stop existing ones from taking on greater numbers of students.

    Ms Phillipson insisted Labour would not seek to abolish any grammars but focus instead on improving standards in state education in England.

    She told Times Radio: “I wouldn’t begin with a system that involves selection at 11, but we are where we are.

    “My priority wouldn’t be to see big structural upheaval in our schools, given the pressure that they’re under, but making sure that we do deliver a brilliant state education for every child in our country.

    “We do not support expansion of grammar schools. I’m saying that we wouldn’t seek to significantly change the existing system that we have. But we absolutely oppose any expansion.”

    Asked why she opposed the creation of new institutions, Ms Phillipson replied: “I don’t think that should be the priority. It should be about driving up standards in the schools that we already have.”

    She went on to reveal that a Labour government “won’t allow expansion to take place” even where it is currently planned to do so.

    Maidstone Grammar School for Girls will soon take on an extra 30 pupils per year and replace two of its blocks of classrooms after Kent county council approved an expansion worth £7.8million in August.

    Ms Phillipson also branded Rishi Sunak’s defence of tax breaks for private schools “indefensible” in the wake of his row with Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, about aspiration at last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions.

    However, she added: “I think parents will choose to do what’s right by their children. I’m not suggesting we deny parents that opportunity.”

    Labour railed against a planned selective education push by Theresa May, under Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir’s predecessor, who claimed her plans were “divisive”.

    “Grammar schools … siphon off a few better-off children at the expense of the rest,” he said at the time.

    Labour’s Policy: “Keep ’em thick; keep ’em stupid; and they’ll keep voting for us morons.”

    2. Grammar schools WOULD drive up the standards – at least for those bright enough to be able to take advantage of a proper education unhindered by having those barely able to read and write in the same class. The problem is, these children would then begin to think and be aspirational, so they would no longer vote Labour

      1. But a surprising number of apparently well-educated and intelligent people, for some reason vote Labour.

        1. Champagne socialists; they can afford it. I was thinking of the bright, working-class boys and girls who saw how they had been kept down by socialism.

        3. And some apparently well-educated and intelligent people will continue to vote Conservative not realising they have been totally disenfranchised.

  71. Hi all

    I’m having real problems with Disqus. It keeps telling me I’ve had a reply to a comment and when I open it there’s nothing there. So I shan’t be replying to anyone’s replies to me I’m just going to delete the comments to me, if that makes sense, while I try again to sort out the problem.

    4. Do you have it sending email notifications? I never use those (turned them off years ago) just the red blob (or black as it is now) by my name.

        1. The blob turns red when there are new notifications, but usually only when you refresh the page. They are therre if it’s black but you just need to look.

      2. Thanks have just done the same. So If I don’t acknowledge a response please don’t be offended….!

        1. The emails are just too annoying, unless you are an infrequent poster. The notifications are easily accessible under the blob.

          1. The emails worked well for me previously as I’m an infrequent poster. But since Disqus went all schizophrenic on me …

      3. I don’t think I have ever seen a blob, be it black or red, next to my name. Like you, I turned off email notifications years ago so I only know someone has responded by going through my profile, is that what you mean?

          1. Washington DC is in a “bubble” doncha know, and should not be confused with “blob” and we live far enough away to be unaffected by whatever goes on there!

        2. No – just by clicking on the blob (sort of shape of a speech bubble), at the top right hand of the page, just by your name, above the box at the top of the psge where you would post a new comment. It’s red if you’ve refreshed the page or just come to it. It can show you how many notifications you have, up to 9+ – there can be more than 9 if you’ve been busy posting. You can look through your profile, but I don’t often look there.

          1. Thanks, learn something new every day!! It never occurred to me to actually click on that blob, it always shows the number 9+ and never changes, yet I am not that busy a poster.

      5. Like Jillthelass, I had never clicked on the red blob before. Much more efficient than trying to look at replies to my comments – few as they are – in my profile.

        Thank you for mentioning this!

    1. Appalling. Reopen Tyburn with 650 nooses for HoC plus many more thousands more for NHS Senior managers and D.I.E. managers.

  75. So you apply for a full time job and you are interviewed, you succeed and sign a contract and then….
    “Employees will be given the right to ask for flexible working from their first day at a new job, the government has proposed.
    New legislation will mean that workers will not have to wait for 26 weeks to seek flexible arrangements, as set out under the current law”

    Is it me?

    1. Apply for a job, or any post, claiming to be a transvestite bisexual Bame, and when you get the inevitable interview tell them that that is how you identify.
      If you don’t get an interview sue them
      If you do get an interview but not the job sue them.
      If you do get the job, sue them and claim they would have paid a WASP more money.
      Fight fire with fire

  77. An interesting day today. I tried this morning to increase the mid-morning temperature from 15 degrees to 21 degrees for a couple of extra hours of warmth. At this point the CH gizmo went on the blink, and for the rest of the morning the temperature shot up to some 30-plus degrees. I reckon I wasted as much gas in the next four hours as I’d saved by careful husbanding of gas throughout the whole of October and November! In the end I had to switch off the power to the CH boiler.

    Then I went to watch a new film called AFTERSUN with the Wrinklies (ten of us in all). Had I not been “in charge” of the Wrinklies I would have walked out within 25 minutes. I stuck it out to the end and it didn’t improve. Just when I thought it could get no worse the child star took part in a singing/Karaoke competition and we discovered she was tone-deaf. Aaargh!!!!

    But at least I enjoyed my evening meal of spaghetti bolognese – a treat I hadn’t had for some considerable time as my meals normally don’t include pasta, bread, rice, etc. to avoid putting on too much weight. Tomorrow was to be a day of rest, but instead I shall need to find someone to “fix” my CH gizmo. Life is indeed a series of Plan B’s. At least I am now feeling just about 100%. So I’ll now sign off for the day, fellow NoTTLers. Sleep well, all of you.

  78. I see that word of the year has been announced as Goblin mode.

    Would one of you literate mob kindly define word for me? This pleb would count that phrase as two words.

      1. We have one of those in the loft.
        You’re right, it was abandoned for exactly that reason.

          1. Can’t believe someone would pay that amount or even ask it.
            We thought it was a good idea when we purchased it, but…. it made a noise when the water moved from kettle to tea pot (would wake us up) and then we needed to wait while the tea mashed.

    4. There used to be Goblin vacuum cleaners, with powerful suction.
      So I suppose if you claim to be in ‘Goblin-mode’, someone is going to get lucky.

    1. She is one of seven children. Silence from the rest of her siblings, which either implies that they have something to hide, or that they are simply embarrassed.

      1. Not our heritage – and it seems not hers either. But cultural appropriation only applies to white people.

  80. Have they given up all pretence of defending the indigenous population?

    A 14-year-old girl has died and another, aged 13, has been seriously injured after they were attacked by a man with a knife while walking to school in southern Germany.
    Police say the suspect came out of a refugee shelter in the village of Illerkirchberg on Monday morning and attacked the pupils.
    The older girl later died in hospital.
    German police have arrested a 27-year-old man, who they say is an asylum seeker from Eritrea.
    Officers searched a nearby building and found him with a knife they suspect was used in the attack. Two other men were also detained.

    1. It’s not complicated. Round them up, get rid of them. At this point how is irrelevant. Hollow point, jam them in a shipping container. Don’t care. Get rid of the vermin.

      Put the home office officials in there as well.

    2. Terrible – they put these nutters in small villages with normal people – it’s asking for trouble.

      1. How’s your husband? From what you said, he was quite despondent yesterday. I really do wish you both well. It ain’t easy!

        1. He sounded a lot brighter today – didn’t see the consultant though so still no date for his op. He’s supposed to see the consultant tomorrow morning now. He was busy operating on a couple of emergency cases that had arrived overnight.

          I was wound up like a spring this morning but that was partly because I had an appointment with the dental hygenist. But I managed to offload some of my stress onto her and her assistant and they were both sympathetic and quite gentle with me. I felt a lot better by the time I got home at lunchtime.

          My friend next door is going to take me on Wednesday morning to Oxford so that I can see the route – I don’t normally drive that far these days. I used to when my son was there but that was in the 90s. Unless he’s actually on the surgery list by Wednesday, in which case we won’t. But he might find out tomorrow.

          1. My very best wishes to you and your husband. It is not easy these days to cope with all the BS that the NHS dishes out.
            I am so concerned about MH because he needs the appointment this month and, also, whether I can make it to Feb without an appointment is also an issue.
            KBO- all we can bloody do, innit?

          3. Suppose we can try but if the buggers are going on strike…. re my issue, I shall try to cope and see if I can make it to the new year.
            Honestly, I am wearied by it all. As you, and others, may well be.

          4. If it’s any consolation, I have been remembering you and YH in my prayers when it mentions those who are sick or in any kind of adversity – and I lit a candle for you at Advent. May you find the strength to cope and carry on.

  81. BTL Comment from a wistful former Twitter Account user:

    “The Merovingian
    2 hours ago
    Still banned after 4.5 years for sarcasm. Nothing hateful or threatening. I’d at least like my account reinstated so that I can cancel it myself versus the what actually happened. ” :-))

  82. This comment was just posted on TCW, on the article about the Bible being illegal. Posted here for interest.

    “I am an ex police officer.
    If you are inerviewed by the police my strong advice is

    1)Access the free solicitor, doing so does not make you look guilty it makes you look like someone that isn’t a chump, police prefer there to be no solicitor present as it mkes their job easier.

    2) refuse to answer any questions put to you in that interview, just remain silent, if the police officer states you should say ‘no comment’ in answer simply refuse.
    The first part of the police caution is ‘You do not have to say anything’ exercise this right as the police will use anything you say in order to prosecute you.
    They will also use anything you say during he interview to try to trip you up later on.
    Just let the interview progress and let them reveal what they claim to know as they go along.

    Then once the interview is finished ask to consult your solicitor and produce a written response.
    It is much easier for you to produce a written respnse after the allegations have been put to you in full and you aren’t under the pressure of being interogated.

    Remember the police are the enforcer of the State, as such they hate you and wish to harm you, just as the modern State hates you and wishes to harm you.

  84. Elon Musk: worse than Hitler
    Titania McGrath
    December/January 2023

    “It is no exaggeration to say that Elon Musk’s annexation of Twitter is the most terrifying development in recent history. Only a fascist would seek to impose free speech on humanity.

    This is why there has been such a chorus of execration from left-wing commentators, celebrities and influencers. On the day that Musk seized control of Twitter, Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz noted that it was “like the gates of hell opened on this site tonight”. Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic wrote that there was “an apocalyptic feel to the ordeal”.

    But it was the Independent that really grasped the full gravity of this moment. Its headline read — “RIP Twitter, 2006-2022: Dead at the Hands of Elon Musk”. It is a testament to the cool-headed stoicism of left-wing journalists that they have managed not to overreact.

    Musk’s takeover of Twitter is far worse than anything Hitler ever did
    I also am trying my best to keep matters in perspective, but Musk’s takeover of Twitter is far worse than anything Hitler ever did. I do not approve of mass genocide, but it pales in comparison to providing a social media platform where Eddie Izzard might be misgendered.

    The whole point of Twitter is to ensure that the masses aren’t exposed to wild conspiracy theories. If tweets aren’t censored, people might start to think that Covid-19 could have originated from a lab in Wuhan, or that there was something dodgy on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

    Musk has argued that Twitter ought to be a place where all political viewpoints can be aired. But keeping people informed can have dire consequences. Democracy has no chance of working properly if people keep insisting on voting for the wrong candidates.

    Like many on the left, I have decided to delete my Twitter account in protest. Musk won’t know what hit him. Without my wisdom on the platform, the company will soon collapse into oblivion. There will be an outcry, share prices will plummet, and Musk will come begging for me to return. But I shall stand firm.

    Come to think of it, maybe I should wait until next week to delete my account. I’ve got a book to sell.”

  85. Me voici de retour, mes amis. Meeting over ran again. Still, we did finish with port and mince pies courtesy of one of the councillors, which was nice. I used to have sherry and mince pies with my sixth form on the last day.

  86. Double bogey 😠😠
    Wordle 534 6/6

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

  88. Just back from open mic. Very good. Last night I watched “Sergeant York”. A film I probably watched on a Sunday afternoon when I was a kid.
    Very good, half western and half war movie.

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