Monday 5 July: Diana, Princess of Wales, deserved better than this unbecoming statue

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/07/04/letters-diana-princess-wales-deserved-better-unbecoming-statue/

737 thoughts on “Monday 5 July: Diana, Princess of Wales, deserved better than this unbecoming statue”

      1. It’s Monday, AWK. Who looks forward to Monday enough to get up early for it, FFS?
        Morning, anyhow! :-))

        1. this am, no way out. Had to get the wee one’s brain into gear and then get moving, for her first day in new job.

          2. marketing, the latest fad rolling here in Nbo. Part of what she did in her degree. Not what she wants to do, but post today completing admin, she’ll earn US$500 pcm working from home. Told her take the money and make use of time at home to continue looking at other strands. Told here it’s essentially free money for doing something being good at despite not her real interest.

          3. It’s easier to move from one job to another than it is to get the first job. The money comes in handy, and she might meet someone who offers her a better position…

          4. Kenya has its own ways and means. I explained exactly what you posted, which never seemed to sink in. she had her first job [internship] when finishing degree, then straight into same job FT. Continued prompting eventually got her arse into gear. Hence now having got next opportunity and I presume most of time working from home, gives the latitude to look at other gigs [time management], given basic work she’ll waltz through.

          5. Horses. Water. Lead.
            Same with Second Son. He’s 20, out of work, but assumes that a job will waltz in taht he wants to do. Meanwhile, jobs that pay yer actual money blow gently by like tumbleweed, untroubled by his lack of applications… Sigh, I expect he’ll wake up to it some time.

  2. ‘Morning All

    #CovidClownWorld

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6a92270b4bba1a9d0e8d6ef454a7d8e8fb9d79d305346079d95b1a9b81b5d922.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/641a10d70b66ac0e6b9fcf3ccde75043a4ce01cad7f569c9e08442f759de1727.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/22d6189c009a90a3261549ecf6f105b8f7367c4cad83db00e40e3d2f14664bf6.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb9e568ebc520290d0ec278b330009cf6ec89812afd50b22734a1dac2e66817a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74e22da8cbc4bcca87dede7cd4c838f7383eafe180e9a3ef0f182f89e1277c95.jpg

  4. mng to others as they appear online: The usual for Monday:

    SIR – It was astonishing, but somehow not unexpected, to see such an unbecoming memorial to Princess Diana unveiled last week (report, July 2). It is positively Stalinist in its dreary greyness, its unsympathetic portrayal of its subject, and its consequent failure to capture a likeness or her ebullient character.

    Much better would have been an even more extensive memorial planting of the Sunken Garden.

    Marian Waters
    Pebworth, Worcestershire

    SIR – Simon Heffer explores important issues in his lament over the poor quality of modern public statues (Features, July 3), perhaps most 
 clearly shown in the festival of tat inflicted on the “empty plinth” in Trafalgar Square.

    However, I take gentle issue with him when he says “one must go back to before the Second World War to detect a public piece of art that was well-executed, dignified and inspiring”. On a recent visit to Sheffield I was struck deeply by Martin Jennings’s 2016 work “Women of Steel” – a simple, dignified and compelling celebration of the women who contributed to that great city’s industry in two world wars.

    Neville White
    Orpington, Kent

    SIR – I would urge Simon Heffer to consider the excellent works by Alexander “Sandy” Stoddart in Scotland and, in particular, Edinburgh. I suggest he will find they satisfy his criteria for dignity and excellence.

    John Maloney
    Edinburgh

    SIR – If Simon Heffer was disappointed by the Harold Wilson in Huyton, 
 he might find the one of him outside Huddersfield railway station more acceptable.

    Commemorative sculpture doesn’t have to be cautiously dignified. Graham Ibbeson’s representations of William Webb Ellis at Rugby, Fred Trueman in Skipton and of the footballers Cunningham, Regis and Batson (the “Three Degrees”) in West Bromwich are all are all fitting tributes to important figures. Ibbeson’s statues, such as Eric Morecambe in his home town and Laurel and Hardy in Ulverston, often put a smile on the face of the passing public.

    John Birkbeck
    Barnsley, South Yorkshire

    SIR – Sadly, it is not only public sculpture that is a dying art. The ability to produce a beautiful and detailed coin or medal has also been lost. It is no coincidence that Benedetto Pistrucci’s image of St George slaying the dragon still adorns our coinage after more than 200 years.

    The real or symbolic scenes once depicted on our military medals were true works of art; now they lack detail, are simplistic and largely meaningless. The effigy of the Queen on modern medal issues is quite hideous. It is totally disproportionate, with a crown so large that Her Majesty’s head is pushed to the bottom of the frame.

    Nicholas Young
    London W13

    Afghan wars

    SIR – I fully concur with General Lord Dannatt’s article (“Our success in Afghanistan was squandered”, Comment, July 2).

    In my recent book, I too pointed to the deleterious impact of the fatal 2003 Iraq War strategic diversion and the abject failure of both Britain and the US to supply sufficient military resources to contain the Taliban and thereby successfully “nation build” in Afghanistan. In addition I highlighted Britain’s specific political failure – in view of her longer experience in Afghan political and military affairs – to harness fully the support of regional allies (notably India and
    Pakistan) and indigenous allies/collaborators (notably the Hazara) in stabilising this unfortunate nation.

    We were far too complacent after our Christmas 2001 premature claims of “victory” and sacrificed far too many of our brave soldiers by failing to manage a country of which Sir Olaf Caroe, Britain’s last governor of the North West Province of India, said in 1947: “Unlike other wars, Afghan wars only become serious when they are over.”

    Dr Edmund Yorke
    Visiting Research Fellow
    University of Reading

    Precautions set to stay in place after lockdown

    SIR – Of course the emphasis post-lockdown should be on personal protection (report, July 4). I would agree that the wearing of face coverings and social
    distancing can be optional in most situations, but control should remain in some. I would include essential shops (easy to determine – those that were allowed 
to open in the first lockdown) and public transport.

    Personal protection is dependent upon the actions of others.

    Dr Frank Booth
    Exmouth, Devon

    SIR – On the same day that Cambridge University reported that they were resuming in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, my daughter, who graduated from Bishop Grosseteste University last year, received a message from that establishment stating that the deferred graduation ceremony, arranged for July 20, has been cancelled. Given that all restrictions are set to be lifted on July 19, this is another slap in the face for a group of young people who have already suffered greatly over the past 15 months.

    Graduations are an important rite 
of passage, both for the graduates 
 and for their families. There has been little enough to celebrate recently, 
and by this action Bishop Grosseteste has removed the opportunity for a family celebration that has long been anticipated.

    Tony Green
    High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

    Power failure

    SIR – Your report on
    Britain’s reliance on electricity is very worrying (“Power cuts ‘will become more severe’ as electricity use explodes”, June 16). To put all our eggs in one basket is crazy. Would it not be better also to use and concentrate development on alternative power sources such as hydrogen and biofuels?

    John Heywood
    Kingsbridge, Devon

    Trust in Scotland

    SIR – Perhaps Cornelia van der Poll and her colleagues (Letters, July 2) – and any other readers who are concerned about the direction of travel of the National Trust – might like to consider joining the National Trust for Scotland.

    My wife and I, despite being English and living in England, did this many years ago and we have not regretted it. It is an excellent and friendly organisation; it produces a splendid magazine, and it is not run by the “woke” brigade. Annual charges are less than the English version. We don’t get the comprehensive printed guide to properties, but all the information we need is readily available online.

    Give it a thought. A mass exodus of members to the National Trust for Scotland might concentrate a few minds in England.

    David Pound
    Daventry, Northamptonshire

    Houses for downsizers

    SIR – Roger Bootle (Business, June 28) calls for downsizing to be encouraged through the abolition of stamp duty for the the many moving from properties that are under-occupied. The bigger problem for those seeking to downsize, however, is where to go next.

    The Government and planners all seem wedded to the idea, sold to them by developers, that anyone over pension age is a “last-time seller” and thus ready to go straight into a granny flat. Most people in their sixties whose families have flown the nest can look forward to 20 years of good health. There are many who would happily downsize, but who are not ready to part with either a garden or with most of their possessions in order to squeeze into a flat 20 years too soon. They just want a smaller house.

    The problem would seem to be that developers are allowed to build the houses they want to build, rather than the ones needed to complement and make best use of the existing housing stock.

    Mike Bussell
    Yeovil, Somerset

    Nature disappearing

    SIR – The ongoing overdevelopment of housing estates in the county has seen a huge increase in roadkill. The developers’ idea of landscaping is to plant “token trees” – namely cherry, almond and birch.

    These give no shelter to nesting birds and provide no autumn fruits for feed. Hedgehogs and birds die on the roads as they have to travel greater distances to forage for food.

    Maggie Sichel
    Wellington, Shropshire

    Life on the canal isn’t always plain sailing

    SIR – Your article (Property, June 19) about boat living highlights the arrival of more people and money to the canal.

    I have been living on my 50-year-old narrowboat for four years, and it brings me much joy. However, it is important to find properly accredited and registered professionals to work on your boat.

    I had a lower cost pre-purchase survey done before deciding to buy. This assured me of the hull integrity and various other safety requirements. However, two years later it became apparent that the hull was in fact paper thin and cracked through in places, as well as other safety concerns. The repairs cost £12,000 and I spent five months in the spare room of a life-saving friend. It turned out the surveyor is not a member of any official body, or properly registered. My insurance claim against him failed and so he has got away with negligence.

    Canal living is wonderful, and affordable. It doesn’t need to be about bigger and more expensive boats – but you do need to make sensible decisions about spending where necessary.

    Rachel Burn
    Bath

    How to hull

    SIR – The Duchess of Cambridge was shown how to hull strawberries at Wimbledon using a spoon (report, July 3). The easiest way is to use a sturdy straw; push it through the strawberry from the bottom to the top and the hull will be left in the straw.

    Pamela Ashton
    Ramsbottom, Lancashire

    SIR – The best way to remove the hull of a strawberry is by using the pointed end of a potato peeler.

    One twist and the hull is out.

    Liddle Stokoe
    Ashtead, Surrey

    SIR – The appropriate implement is a pair of sugar tongs.

    James May
    Hurst, Berkshire

    Toasted delight

    SIR – I was intrigued by Annabel Bailey’s way to toast crumpets (Letters, July 1).

    My recipe for serving these English delights has gone down well with friends. Toast crumpets in the usual way, drizzle with Worcester sauce, top with a thick slice of Cheddar and pop under the grill to melt and brown slightly.

    Our Jack Russell, Santa Claws, thinks they are the bees’ knees.

    Trisha Fermor
    Sissinghurst, Kent

    Return to work

    SIR – Have you noticed that nobody works these days?

    Everybody works hard or incredibly hard.

    Ian Sandison
    Colinsburgh, Fife

    1. To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
      In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
      (You should look up ‘revocation’ in the Oxford English Dictionary.)
      Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).
      Your new Prime Minister, Bumbling Boris , will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.
      Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
      To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

      1. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour,’ ‘favour,’ ‘labour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix ‘-ize’ will be replaced by the suffix ‘-ise.’ Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up ‘vocabulary’).

      2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ”like’ and ‘you know’ is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter ‘u” and the elimination of ‘-ize.’

      3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

      4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can’t sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you’re not ready to shoot grouse.

      5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

      6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

      7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.

      8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

      9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth – see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

      10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.

      11. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full Kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

      12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. The children may play Rounders (look it up). It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

      13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

      14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

      15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.
      God Save the Queen!

      1. …” (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).”
        “Except California which too like Islington.”

  7. Has anyone noticed that since the Left has taken over art over the last 40 years or so and hideous works have been celebrated by the fashionable great and the good spending millions on what is essentially rubbish and tat, art has become artless and joyless. Just like everything else the Left touches.
    Works of art are about as inspiring as a 1960’s council tower block, hence the inane languid statue of Diana is now the best the nation can produce.

    1. Languid? Nothing so elegant, Bob – more like lumpen.
      Good morning!

        1. The proportions are wrong, too. In fact, it’s more like Shrek in a skirt.

    2. Someone said it looked like a social worker taking the children into “care”. Their fate is uncertain.

      I was never one of those that worshipped Diana and her celebrity values when she was alive. For me, she symbolised the short-haired urban crassness of the Thatcher/Blair era and I personally found her and it very dispiriting in the 1980s. The media experts loved her, and so too did her sons, which is natural and I do not belittle the princes’ desire to remember their mother.

      I would have preferred her memory to be honoured by something that would bring much-needed joy to children caught up by the grimness of lockdown, smartphones and woke indoctrination. For me, a wood full of dens to explore and games to play together would have been lovely, and the laughter of children a far better legacy than some grim woman official escorting the next generation off to court.

      Edit – if I had been the sculptor, I’d have done her crouched down and giggling at the same level as the kids, and done it in a material that would encourage real-life children to climb all over her and play “king of the castle” standing on her back.

      2. She already had a fountain/waterworks in her honour. That was more appropriate; I always thought she was wet.

  8. “Queen awards George Cross to entire NHS for courage during pandemic.”
    I think this is ill judged. While the NHS undoubtedly worked hard throughout the pandemic, so did thousands of other to keep the country running throughout the pandemic – dustmen, Post Office workers, train and bus drivers, shopkeepers, businessmen and many many others. This is Royal wokery of the highest order, the equivalent of the Royal Family standing on the Palace balcony and clapping. I’m surprised it wasn’t anounced by Charlie boy, it’s right up his woke street. For the first time ever I am disappointed by HM.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/04/queen-awards-george-cross-entire-nhs-courage-pandemic/

        1. I thought that having frumpy wives was part and parcel of respectable Conservative ministers

    2. What a good job they married each other and only made two people unhappy…..

        1. A friend has one of them and is for ever wiping away the tears that flow continually.

      2. It’s partly a tear duct problem, either blocked or too narrow to cope. The discolouration is due to staining, it won’t wash off. The tear itself is colourless, it is clear but it dries on the fur and stains it a pinkish-red, sometimes brown colour. Also saliva around the mouth. Our dog’s staining disappeared after a course of antibiotics for something else, this has happened three times, it returns when we change her manufactured food, though not when we give her any of ours. We didn’t realise at first what was causing this staining. When we discovered there was a relationship between the staining and what she ate, the vet was surprised and said he was not happy to give antibiotics for ‘cosmetic purposes’. I was surprised he did not use it as an opportunity for more blood tests…! We don’t change (i.e. hop from one manufacturer to another) Poppie’s food now and she stays clear eyed.

        1. You can, apparently, get a product that will remove tear stains (I haven’t tried it, but I did notice it on the shelf when I was killing time while Oscar was at the vet’s and I chose to browse a pet products emporium).

          1. We have tried quite a few of these but with no luck, and a product called ‘Diamond Eyes’ she absolutely hated, the smell was awful. Staining is notoriously difficult to treat.

          1. We give Poppie Lily’s Kitchen (can) and Science Diet kibbles. 65 gs of each or thereabouts. The thing is, get the dog established on what it likes, and then give it the antibiotics if you can find a vet that will prescribe otherwise one would have to wait until the dog gets infected anal glands (sorry, it is all I could think of!) or some other infection and hope for the best. The staining disappears really quickly if it is going to work, after 2-3 days you can see it fading. The trick is not to ever change the make of food once you have given it antibiotics otherwise it comes straight back. It is the make that is important not to change, not the variety under the brand name.

            We can give her any amount of home cooked meat and veg – she usually has some of our evening meal as well with a little veg, sometimes with rice, and it doesn’t affect the staining at all. It is changing the kibbles and/or canned dog food that makes the difference and causes re-staining.

      1. Most unfair on the canine species but the vulgar, yobbish and sexist term for an unattractive woman used to be to describe her as a dog.

    6. I am not convinced that Michael Gove and Mrs Symonds-Johnson are not having, or have not recently had, a carnal liaison with each other.

      Boris Johnson certainly fully deserves to be cuckolded.

        1. Is that why we never see his face, only a mop of hair to identify? (baby wig).

    7. Well, I knew that NO TIME TO DIE would be the final appearance of Daniel Craig as 007, but I had no idea that Mr Gove was to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

  10. Watched a bit of RT news this morning, surprisingly in Moscow the Russians are further ahead than us with the Bio tech vaccine passports, people cannot go into any public building, cafes, restaurants etc with an app proving one has been vaxxed.
    Coming here soon I expect, I thought the Russians had more sense.

    1. Good morning Bob, Covid-19 infections & deaths has recently surged in Russia & in particular in Moscow. By any measure the Russian made Sputnik vaccine is less effective than that of Pfizer, Moderna & AstraZeneca ( the least effective of the 3 western developed vaccines ). It would not surprise me if Putin & the Russian elites have been vaccinated with the top vaccine with its 98% proven effective rating against the British strain of Covid-19 made by Pfizer rather than the Russian invented one which is estimated to be at best 60% effective ( and the Chinese vaccine the least effective around 40% )
      The new Delta ( Indian ) variant is presenting something of a challenge as the currently available data suggests that even the Pfizer vaccine is only 80-90% effective in preventing infection with the Delta variant but the symptoms are mild & in most cases hospitalization not required.

      1. There is a Covid lambda variant from Peru. Our experts are concerned about its threat. 4 cases have already been discovered in the UK.

  11. Watched a bit of RT news this morning, surprisingly in Moscow the Russians are further ahead than us with the Bio tech vaccine passports, people cannot go into any public building, cafes, restaurants etc with an app proving one has been vaxxed.
    Coming here soon I expect, I thought the Russians had more sense.

  12. Unintentionally amusing comment from the kneeler:

    ‘Max is walking away with it right now,’ says Hamilton.

  13. Good morning, all. Grey and dull.

    I don’t think The Queen should meddle with the world-beating NHS.

    1. Make it impossible to say “No” to the NHS, after all that clap and now a GC.
      Morning, Bill.

  14. The UK needs a statue of Princess Diana the adulteress & bleeding heart liberal with a fondness for Arab lovers like it needs a statue of Nelson Mandela. Her legacy is leaving the UK two totally useless touchy feely woke sons one of whom will be king one day probably by the time that Islam will be the new state religion

    1. Not untrue but a bit harsh. Princes Diana was never a murdering terrorist.

      1. Mornin HP, I stand corrected ( even though I am sitting down ) my choice of Mandela was not a good comparison, either way its a needless piece of deity worship, perhaps a nice bronze bust of her in one of Harrod’s departments would have been a better place for the woke to pay tribute to her.

    2. The idolisation of George Floyd reminds one that some people who are idolised do not merit it.

      Do you remember that Mother Theresa died at about the same time as Princess Diana and her best epitaph was: Sandals in the Bin!

  17. 335120+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/07/04/letters-diana-princess-wales-deserved-better-unbecoming-statue/

    Beauty is in the eye of the………

    When viewing it bear in mind it is deflection material many will have a good word for it as a bad.

    We are taking the nigeria title over as a very nasty place to reside on hearing advice given to young women on taking the long route home, etc,etc, anti kerb crawlers, very reminiscent of nigeria, take the go slow route through town to avoid the guaranteed robbers hold up on the expressway, the one commenting was one of a pair of mid 70s MPs conversing with PIE,
    h, harman.

  18. How councils became parallel police forces. Spiked. 5 July 2021.

    But over the past 20 years, local authorities have started to take a more police-like role. They issue an increasing number of penalties, carry out patrols, and issue new legal orders. This trend has been furthered under Covid, with new powers and funding to issue legal orders and penalties, and a new patrolling role for ‘Covid marshals’, who ensure businesses and individuals are following social-distancing rules. Over time, local authorities have also been increasingly released from legal and governmental checks on how powers are used, meaning that they now hold remarkable power over the lives of citizens.

    An interesting and revelatory piece on the fragmentation of Governance in the UK. This devolution of Power is paradoxically antidemocratic since Councils go largely unscrutinised and appeals futile. They are often formed from mutual interest groups and the opportunities for corruption are large. The blatant ethnic and cultural bias of some make them immune to action. Like most of the UK’s institutions created for democratic purposes they are in terminal decline!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/07/05/how-councils-became-parallel-police-forces/

    1. 335120+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Will the herd go for
      financing a squad of
      kapos via the council tax, a very dangerous animal is the electorate in their
      selection mode of the last three decades.
      They really could get a person killed or a Country invaded & lost.

    2. Bring back local police forces; then the police and the councillors were open to greater scrutiny.

      1. That is the reason they got rid of them. Same with local bank managers. The next lot to go will be the GP Surgery. Anyone remember cottage hospitals?

    3. The one area where they appear reluctant to exercise their legitimate power is in planning and housing regulation. The consequence is gross overcrowding in urban areas. This is Bunkhouse Britain.

  19. 335120+ up ticks,
    The core coalition member / voters of the lab/lib/con coalition will be saying
    “old boris is alright he’ll free up the
    nation” forgetting he was the master jailer, they will take this forgiving route for the good,in this case of the (ino) tory party.
    The whole issue will be parked up for future regular use.

    https://twitter.com/RogerHelmerMEP/status/1411939871044874243

    1. There was only one paper left on sale late Saturday afternoon in the community shop in All Cannings – ‘The Times’. I decided not to buy it on the principle that it is owned by Turdoch….

  20. An oldie but a goody (maybe)

    Crossword Puzzler

    Bill is going on a trip, and when he gets on the plane, he hears the Pope is booked on the same flight. “This is exciting,” thinks Bill. “I’ve always been a big fan of the Pope. Perhaps I’ll be able to see him in person.”

    Imagine his surprise when the Pope sits down right next to him! Bill is awe-struck and speechless.
    Shortly after take-off, the Pope begins a crossword puzzle.

    “This is fantastic,” thinks Bill. “I’m really good at crosswords. Perhaps, if the Pope gets stuck, he’ll ask me for assistance.”

    Sure enough, just minutes into his first puzzle, the Pope turns to Bill and asks, “Excuse me, but do you know a four-letter word referring to a woman that ends in ‘unt’?”

    Only one word leaps to Bill’s mind.

    “My goodness,” he thinks, “I can’t tell the Pope that word! There must be another word for a woman that ends in U-N-T…” Bill thinks for a while, and then it hits him. Turning to the Pope, Bill says, “I think the word you’re looking for is AUNT.”

    “Ah! Of course!” says the Pope. “Would you happen to have an eraser?“

  21. 335120+ up ticks,
    Use your judgment on masks, Boris Johnson urges public
    The Prime Minister will say face coverings are up to the public but may still be enforced in shops and trains

    There you have it, the reset way NEVER fully return to the herd what is rightfully theirs, freedom of spirit & action.

    The johnson is playing off the herd against each other as in yet another form of voting for the lab/lib/con close shop coalition, the result of the continuing voting mode is guaranteed,
    without question, dangerous SH1TE.

  22. Reposted from late last night:

    Has Boris Johnson actually fulfilled any of his election promises?

    JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/07/04/completely-hopeless-brandon-lewis-delays-law-protecting-troubles/
    ‘Completely hopeless’: Brandon Lewis delays law protecting Troubles veterans
    NI Secretary criticised over decision to hold back legislation protecting British troops from killings prosecution until autumn

    By Robert Mendick and Christopher Hope,

    I thought this was promised at the time of the last election 18 months ago?

    Are we going to have the same sort of delay as we have had with Brexit? Our politicians are a shameful disgrace.

    “Conservative MPs were privately told that the new Legacy Bill would be brought forward before the summer break.

    However, a letter sent by Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, to party leaders in the province reveals that legislation will not be introduced until the end of autumn at the earliest.

    The letter, written jointly by Mr Lewis and Simon Coveney, the Republic of Ireland’s foreign affairs and defence minister, calls for discussions on Northern Ireland “legacy issues“ with “their objective to find an agreed way forward that will allow implementing legislation to be introduced in both UK and Ireland by the end of the autumn”.

    1. Ah, I see it now. The EU is going to review the proposed law. The outcome may be predicted given that the rabidly anti-British Coveney is involved.
      The only question is why the UK, any part of it, is involving an EU puppet in the policy and law of the UK?

      1. Boris Johnson’s EU deal will go down in history as the most humiliatingly disastrous surrender agreement ever made by a British government.

        I think that Johnson is entirely complicit in the betrayal and planned it from the outset.

        Why did he not deselect all remainer Conservative candidates at the last general election and, come to that, why did Farage’s party not oppose the sitting Conservative remainer MPs who were seeking re-election? The consequence is that we are left with a parliament which is still stuffed with remainers and an arrangement that seems to guarantee Britain’s failure.

  23. A classroom display produced by children at Arnhem Wharf Primary School in London

    The Free Speech Union has submitted a dossier to the Department for Education (DfE) documenting instances of ideological indoctrination in 15 English schools. Teachers have a legal duty to avoid promoting partisan political views in classrooms, but we’ve found evidence that this is routinely being ignored – with the encouragement of the National Education Union, Britain’s largest teaching union, which recently published a report saying schools are “shaped by colonialism” and there is an “urgent” need to “decolonise” every subject and every stage of the school curriculum in the light of last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, including educating children about “white privilege” and “anti-racism”.

    In our dossier, we detailed how: a secondary school in Peckham “persistently politicised teaching” with staff circulating Black Lives Matter petitions and students encouraged to create work featuring the slogan “All Cops Are Bastards”; an academy in Wargrave distributed a “kid-friendly guide to social justice terms” that defined police as “workers chosen by, protecting and serving people in power”; and a community college told pupils that disagreeing with people of colour was “covert racism”.

    Our submission to the DfE was reported by the Daily Mail and the article is essential reading. The 1996 Education Act imposes a duty to “prevent political indoctrination and secure the balanced treatment of political issues”, and schools are manifestly failing to uphold this crucial responsibility. In some cases, we suspect, they’re not even aware of this legal duty – either that, or the staff believe that depicting our society as “systemically racist” and white people as steeped in the ideology of white supremacy isn’t politically controversial but is an incontestable statement of fact. If you have an example of schools teaching about controversial issues in a politically unbalanced way please contact us.

    Rather than force-feeding pupils a diet of woke political views and stifling dissent, schools should be places which value and promote freedom of expression as a fundamental British value. We wrote to the Education Secretary following the events at Batley Grammar School in March calling for the addition of “freedom of speech” to the list of British values which English schools are obliged to promote, and the DfE has replied, claiming that freedom of speech is implicit in the term “British values” and so there’s no reason to make any explicit reference to it in the guidance. We disagree and this is something we will continue to campaign for.

    Success: Lisa Keogh cleared after two months’ investigation for saying women have vaginas

    Our member Lisa Keogh, the 29-year-old mother-of-two and law finalist at Abertay University, has been cleared of any wrongdoing. The University investigated the ridiculous complaints against her and put her through an extremely stressful, two-month-long investigation process as she tried to complete her degree and sit her final exams. She recently spoke to GB News about the experience. Weekly newsletter readers will have seen the extensive press coverage of this shocking case. Lisa thanked the FSU, citing in particular Fraser Hudghton, our Case Management Director, “who has been on hand at all hours to answer my calls and navigate me through this”.

    Stonewall’s Censorship Champions

    We’ve just published our latest report, “Stonewall’s Censorship Champions“. Written by Carrie Clark and Shelley Charlesworth, it describes how the LGBT charity has imposed its views on a range of controversial issues involving trans and non-binary people on various public institutions via its Diversity Champions programme, whereby government departments, local authorities, universities, museums, galleries, theatre companies, etc., adopt its policies to secure their “Champion” status. Not only do these policies firmly side with trans people in the conflict between trans rights and sex-based women’s rights, but they often invoke the Equality Act 2010 and claim it proscribes any criticism of what’s come to be known as gender ideology. (For a detailed account of how this works in practice, see this review of how Essex University came to no-platform two gender-critical feminists written by the equalities barrister Akua Reindorf.) Carrie and Shelley note that Stonewall has begun to haemorrhage support in recent months as its overbearing, dogmatic approach has been exposed to public scrutiny and suggest that the way to restore its reputation is to promote an open, grown-up debate about LGBT issues characterised by intellectual tolerance and mutual respect.

    “Sensitivity Readers” will destroy what remains of independent student journalism

    We’ve written to Oxford University Students’ Union (OUSU) to protest about the requirement that student journalists should submit their work to be vetted by official “sensitivity readers”. This follows a motion by the Students’ Union complaining about “problematic articles” which are “implicitly racist or sexist”. The move will compromise the editorial independence of the Oxford Student, which is owned by OUSU. I wrote a piece for the Spectator in which I said that operating within these guidelines when I was the editor of a satirical student magazine at Oxford would have been both unwelcome and done nothing to prepare me for a career as a journalist. Two of our Free Speech Champions wrote in UnHerd, pointing out that student “sensitivity readers” aren’t confined to Oxford, but are already a fixture in many other universities, including Edinburgh.

    The “decolonisation” movement sweeping British universities is a threat to academic freedom

    A push to “decolonise” courses at the University of Exeter will jeopardise academic freedom and leave the University’s College of Social Sciences and International Studies open to a legal challenge. That was our warning to the Russell Group university in a letter sent last month, which it has now replied to. The subject of our complaint was the College’s requirement that academics who propose new or revised courses must include content that moves away from a “white, Eurocentric curriculum”. These faddish proposals threaten the freedom of academics to teach their subjects and pursue their research as they see fit, and do nothing to ensure that students receive a rigorous and high-quality education. Moreover, the new policy is a breach of the “Agreement on Academic Freedom” that Exeter signed with its local branch of the University and College Union. That agreement states that academics should “not be forced to instruct against their own best knowledge and conscience” and sets out various safeguards for academic freedom. The agreement was signed in 2009, a lifetime ago in the culture war, and we’ve drawn the Vice-Chancellor’s attention to this important, and apparently forgotten, commitment.

    FSU’s support for the school chaplain who was referred to Prevent

    We’ve lodged a complaint with the Charity Commission about Trent College, the independent CofE school in Notthingham which referred Dr Bernard Randall, the school chaplain, to Prevent for telling pupils they could question LGBT policies and make their up own minds about gay marriage and whether trans women are women. In addition to referring him to the counter-extremism programme, the school also pushed him out, something Dr Randall is now challenging in the Employment Tribunal. The letter can be read here. If you’re on Twitter, you can watch this clip of Dr Andrew Doyle, a member of the FSU’s Advisory Council, interviewing Dr Randall on GB News.

    Dr Neil Thin will face no sanction from Edinburgh University

    Another victory for free speech was won in June with the clearance of Dr Neil Thin, an academic at Edinburgh University who was placed under investigation after student activists complained about his “problematic” views. His sin, in their eyes, was to object to the renaming of the David Hume Tower, as well as a university conference on “Whiteness” that included sessions which white people weren’t allowed to speak at. He is a member of the Free Speech Union and we supported him throughout the lengthy investigation during which he was suspended from teaching.

    New Zealand FSU wins first victory

    Our sister group in New Zealand has won a major victory in New Zealand’s High Court, achieving an injunction reversing the no-platforming of a feminist group, “Speak Up For Women” (SUFW), by the Palmerston North City Council and its libraries.

    SUFW is controversial because it rejects “gender theory”, prompting activists to brand it a “hate group” and refer to its members as “TERFs” (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists). The event was part of a nationwide tour to discuss a bill that’s currently before the New Zealand Parliament which would allow people to change their gender simply by making a declaration.

    The Court said that the Council was wrong to ban the group. The Judge went on to say: “There is sufficient evidence before me at this stage to be clear that SUFW cannot rationally be described as a ‘hate group’ in the sense that term can be relevant in making decisions about the extent to which a particular group should be allowed to exercise its rights of free speech and freedom of assembly.”

    Particularly satisfying was the Judge’s application of the New Zealand Court of Appeal decision issued earlier this year where the NZ Free Speech Union’s predecessor organisation – the Free Speech Coalition – was partially successful in an appeal over a similar council “no-platforming” case involving two controversial Canadian speakers. The Union is currently seeking leave to appeal to New Zealand’s Supreme Court for judicial guidance on balancing security concerns with free speech and to stop the no-platforming of controversial speakers on spurious health and safety grounds.

    Free speech and the war over sex and gender

    Join us on July 13th at 7pm via Zoom for an evening of frank, informed conversation about free speech, why it matters and how it’s threatened today. I’ll be in conversation with our special guest, Kathleen Stock, author and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex. Kathleen has been aggressively targeted by outrage mobs for her insistence that the relationship between sex and gender can never be “beyond debate”. She has become a figurehead for the pushback against the censorious approach of organisations like Stonewall, in which everyday language and ordinary people’s understanding of what men and women are have been declared offensive, bigoted or discriminatory.

    Kathleen will draw on the analysis set out in her new book, Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism, to take us through the reasons why this issue has become so controversial, not just amongst activists and intellectuals but across our institutions and our political and cultural life, leading to the extraordinary denunciation of JK Rowling and to significant legal cases such as those of Keira Bell, Maya Forstater and Harry Miller. Throughout, Kathleen has exemplified the spirit of good faith debate and has actively defended the free speech of others. Last year she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to higher education. The event is exclusive to FSU members. If you’re a member, please register here.

    Free speech: how can we combat campus cancel culture?

    The FSU is sponsoring an event at the Battle of Ideas mini-festival on the new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill and resisting cancel culture on university campuses. Professor Eric Kaufmann of our Advisory Council will be on the panel. Further details can be found here.

    We are delighted to be partnering with the Battle of Ideas for their live, one-day event, Open for Debate, on Saturday 31st July at Church House, Westminster, London. Sessions include Free speech: how can we combat campus cancel culture?, Beyond Culture Wars: how to argue better in an age of conformity and What does the Sewell Report mean for education? The excellent line-up of speakers across the entire day includes Eric Kaufmann, Dennis Hayes, Tony Sewell, Calvin Robinson, Claire Fox and Arif Ahmed. The Free Speech Champions will also be there manning a stall, so do come along and say hello.

    We have secured a discounted rate for FSU members of £10 for the whole day (down from £15). To book tickets, visit Eventbrite and enter the promo code O4Dpartners to get the special rate. If you have children currently studying for A-levels or at university, this would be a great event to bring them along to.

    Polish community newspaper saved

    Thanks to all of you who donated to the appeal for Polish-community newspaper Nowy Czas. It faced ruin after a vexatious libel case and a string of judicial errors. But the claim against it has been dropped. We’re proud to have played a part in defending freedom of the press.

    Watch: The Online Safety Bill’s threat to free speech

    The Government says the Online Safety Bill will make the UK “the safest place in the world to go online”. We say it will restrict online free speech to a degree almost unprecedented in any democracy and empower Ofcom, which it proposes to make the new social media regulator, to censor controversial views.

    Our two experts discussing the Bill were the FSU’s Director of Research Dr Radomir Tylecote and Matthew Lesh, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute. Rado and Matthew are co-authors of the FSU’s Briefing “You’re On Mute: The Online Safety Bill and what the Government should do instead”, a critical assessment of the Government’s Online Safety Bill. The evening was hosted by Claire Fox, Director of the Academy of Ideas and a member of the FSU’s Advisory Council. You can watch a recording of the discussion on our YouTube channel here.

    Work for the FSU: we’re recruiting a new Membership Director

    We’re looking to hire a part-time Membership Director. Do you have an excellent track record of managing member relationships and growing a membership organisation? Have you got strong experience in member communications and administration? Are you able to develop and deliver not-for-profit, digitally driven strategies? If so, and if you care passionately about free speech, please apply. The job will initially be for two days a week, but will grow as more members join. The salary is £45,000 – £50,000 per annum, pro rated. You can find out more here and you can apply by sending a CV and introductory letter to jobs@freespeechunion.org.

    Keystone Law Legal Insurance Scheme

    We have now put a legal insurance scheme in place for FSU members. All members will be entitled to “free to access” legal assistance when it comes to breach of contract claims. That means a free consultation with a legal expenses firm called Keystone Legal Benefits Ltd to consider your options. If it fancies your chances, Keystone Legal will offer you legal insurance on a straightforward “one stop shop” basis. You’ll pay nothing unless you win, in which case you’ll pay 25% of any damages awarded. If you think you might need their help, email Keystone at FSU@keystonelegal.co.uk. If you provide your contact telephone number and brief details of your case, one of their experienced underwriters will quickly get back to you.

    The Workers of England Union

    A quick reminder that if you’re worried you might be put through a disciplinary procedure at work because your beliefs are at odds with your employer’s, you should consider joining the Workers of England Union. The WEU has won tens of thousands of pounds for members whose philosophical beliefs have been discriminated against.

    We’ve negotiated a deal with the WEU whereby you can become a member for a fee of around £25. Unlike other unions, the WEU will go to bat for its members as soon as they sign up. If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, you can join online here, but don’t forget to email them here first, letting them know you’re a member of the FSU.

    Affinity

    We also have a relationship with another independent trade union – Affinity.

    Affinity represents thousands of people working in a wide range of industries including banking and finance, accountancy, retail, manufacturing, education, the law, hospitality and travel and tourism. Its members include teachers, bank staff, IT consultants, financial advisers, academics, local government staff, lawyers and civil servants.

    Currently in its centenary year, Affinity is different to most trade unions in that it has no party political affiliations, is not a member of the Trades Union Congress and has no ties to the employers it deals with, leaving it free to protect the rights and interests of its members without fear or favour.

    Many of the problems Affinity’s members face at work involve free speech issues and the union will be lending its support to the FSU’s campaigns.

    It is offering members of the FSU three months’ free membership (normally £7.65 per month for full time staff), which includes:

    • Access to its dedicated 24-hour Advice Line

    • Representation in all formal meetings with your employer, such as disciplinary hearings and grievances. Last year, Affinity supported over 2,500 members in cases of all different types and everyone was represented by a full-time Affinity official not a lay representative.

    • Access to a market-leading ancillary services package, including free CV writing, free will writing, free travel insurance, free income protection insurance, free personal accident insurance, free contract checking, free consumer rights advice… and more!

    To find our more, visit workaffinity.co.uk or call Affinity on 01234 716005. Its membership lines are open 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.

    Note: The FSU does not receive a commission if any of our members join the WEU or Affinity or become a client of Keystone and we are not being paid to promote their services.

    We hope you’ve enjoyed this monthly newsletter. We’re proud of the work we do, and we think it’s important. Your support is also vital. Please help us to carry on this fight by encouraging your friends and family members to join the FSU, and by sharing this newsletter. We currently have about 8,300 members, but we want to get to 10,000 by the end of the year. We also hope to open affiliate groups across the Anglosphere – and you can see the website of our New Zealand affiliate here. The United States will be next.

    Kind regards,

    2. I am continually frightened that there is a Free Speech Union at all. The fascist Left are growing like the tumour they are and worse, the state continues to support, endorse and promote their malice.

    3. The first item is the very reason why I am ambivalent about ‘lost’ schooling. Are schools actually of much use to children’s development into rounded adults?

      1. Why do people comply to the orders of woke idealogy?

        That little school was featured in a happy cheerful way this morning on Breakfast TV .. All delightful excited children , and surprise surprise , all white youngsters.

        Now their Twitter feed has also been cancelled … just for supporting England ‘s football team!

        1. Minority group think thank indocrination and increased “project fear” as the truth would collapse their views / intention and stance. Having all white youngsters didn’t fit the image so find another target. Many people not switching on, merely complying with latest diktats and Govt and its instruments know currently they can get away with ir, so will keep pushing it

          2. have mailed head about weaponizing idealogy enforced on kids. CC’d in Laurence Fox and made linkage to teacher in Batley

          3. Is the ‘headteacher’ male or female?
            The feminisation of teaching has had dire consequences for many years.

          4. Their website says it’s a man (one assumes he’s not transitioning). I’ve emailed him offering support. These woke zealots who take offence at everything and anything should be named.

  26. Good morning all from an overcast but currently dry Derbyshire. 10°C in the yard.
    I’ve the last bit of Mother in Law’s pram collection to pick up on Friday, so I’ve decided to make a trip of it by leaving today and meandering down to Southampton over the week.
    Hoping to stop at Hook Norton tonight.

  28. Good morning, everyone. Late on parade having walked the Springer for an hour or so.

  30. Relationships ‘Living 100 miles apart was the only way to save our marriage’
    Last year, my husband and I decided to start renting separately – and it’s best thing we could have done for our relationship

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/relationships/living-100-miles-apart-way-save-marriage/

    I often find that Shakespeare gives his characters words which summarise my views.

    Why marry if you are not prepared to live together and if you cannot bear the thought of living together why not give it up and move on?

    When Desdemona marries Othello she is determined to go to the war in Cyprus with him and not be left behind:

    That I did love the Moor to live with him,
    ……………… if I be left behind
    A moth of peace and he go to the war,
    The rites for which I love him are bereft me,
    And I a heavy interim shall support
    By his dear absence. Let me go with him

    Of course I am not sure that women should follow their husbands who are soldiers into war but there seems little point in marrying and then choosing to live apart.

    1. Morning Richard. Campfollowers were a regular feature of wars until quite recently. One thinks of Mrs Duberly trekking around the Crimea for example.

      1. Try before you buy.
        We lived together for two years before tying the knot. Still a couple after 42 years.

    2. In Wellington’s day wives followed their husbands to war, They did all the supporting admin, cooking, laundry. That is the origin of the phrase “camp followers”.

    3. Women and children often followed men to war. Then after the battle they tended to the injured and robbed the dead.

      And sometimes saw off the injured and robbed them too.

      1. Those were the days.
        “Mum, this one’s still breathing and won’t let me ‘ave ‘is ring!”
        “I’ll be over in a tick, just let me finish cutting this off.”

        1. Very often it’s those irritating habits you have to learn to live with…..or not! I’ve only so much patience……then the shite hits the fan.

      2. Caroline and I seem to have been extraordinarily fortunate. Thank God. Running our own business and living on a boat for half the year for many years as we home-schooled our boys means that we have been very rarely apart – and we are very happy with that.

        Both Caroline’s sisters and one of mine had unhappy marriages but our respective parents and the older of my two sisters had the same good fortune as we have had.

        1. Sounds as if you never had the time to row Rastus, too busy…

          Thanks for the Shakespeare quotes…I didn’t exacly dig him at school apart from Hamlet I thought he was boring.
          Alas, poor Plum

          1. English teachers generally took Shakespeare very seriously. Even the comedies. Maybe especially the comedies as most of them did not want pupils laughing in class. I remember laughing at something, possibly Bottom, and my classmates looked at me and looked at the teacher with bated breath. They surely expected the teacher to hand down a sentence of death “on the boy who laughed at a Shakespeare play”.
            Instead the teacher said he “was glad somebody got it”. Which was a death sentence. I was never particularly liked and that comment certainly turned my fellow pupils against me.

          2. My English teachers took us grammar grubs to the Shakespeare theatre in Stratford to see Henry V (it included a backstage tour and a chance to strut the boards – actually a metal stage). It was a complete eye-opener.

    1. Idiot female Muslim doctor on BBC Breakfast this morning saying that not wearing a mask is ‘silly’, and that wearing one is being ‘kind to other people’. She has had the two vaccinations and has had covid twice (she is in quarantine now for the second time). I thought to myself – she wears a mask when seeing patients, and the patients wear a mask while seeing her – and she has still caught covid (twice), so – it is quite obvious that masks do not work!

      1. They never have. It’s just physics – the mask material allows the passage of much larger molecules than viruses. (Strangely no one appears to ask why these viruses are worked on in Level 4 bio-hazard labs, if a plastic gown and a cheap mask would keep you safe?)

        1. For the same reason the kitchen table and fireproof nametags keep you safe against a nuclear bomb.

        2. That’s what I’ve heard, Horace. If the mask weave was made small enough to prevent the passage of a covid virus, the wearer wouldn’t be able to breathe.

      2. You are making the assumption that she contracted the virus in her surgery. What this suggests to me is that the vaccine doesn’t work, not the mask!

        1. Fair assumption, seeing as she must come into close contact with many different people during her working day.

    2. We were out all day yesterday – first outing for ages! we went to our friends in Bristol whose garden was open for the NGA scheme, and also for Swift Awareness Week – they have 25 swift nesting boxes on their house!

      Their garden is an ordinary suburban garden – but beautifully laid out in a wildlife-friendly way. Lots of lovely plants and a lot of hard work went in to make it just right for the day.

      It was an outdoor event! Many people wore masks!! Outside in the fresh air! The only enclosed part was walking through the open garage to the back garden through an open passage.

      One woman greatly upset our hosts by saying that they should have insisted on mask-wearing.

      1. It’s so nice when people go to all that effort. Glad you enjoyed yourselves.

        The whinger can safely be crossed of everyone’s lists.

        1. People self-select for an event like that – and this year the NGS had online booking, not just walk in and pay on the gate, though some still did.

          I think most people appreciated all the effort that had gone into the day, bought some plants and enjoyed the garden. The weather made sure they didn’t see very much swift activity, though there were four nests showing live on the laptop in the garage.

          1. Very nice.

            My bungalow isn’t really suitable with all the cats that can scale walls.

    3. I have the impression that it has become a sort of fashion statement for some people.

    1. Chairs and desk very colonial, they need tree stumps and flat rocks placed under banana trees that will sort it.

      1. Do they still use desks in modern classrooms? Primary schools tend to have tables grouped togerther – or they did before all this antisocial distancing malarkey.

        1. That’s likely due to the teaching methods used with younger children. I would expect secondary schools to use a mix appropriate to the subject being taught.

      2. Plus,

        the three mile walk to skule
        Living without the NHS (but that might not be all bad)
        2 Mile Walk for Life Water
        Little or no food
        etc

        2. No girls. Women are for breeding. Teach ’em to reed and rite and they get uppity.

    2. Chairs and desk very colonial, they need tree stumps and flat rocks placed under banana trees that will sort it.

    4. I used to work in a college and I have exactly no idea about how to layout a classroom based on colonisation.

      1. I spent 25 years teaching at the chalkface; I laid out my classroom according to the needs of what I was teaching at the time (areas for speaking, listening, reading, writing, group work or facing forward for grammar lessons/language games …).

  34. Just noticed that the autovents on the greenhouse are not working. So I shall be gone for some time. You’ll prollly hear the swearing…

    2. They are working, its just too blooming cold for them to open. Climate emergency innit.

    1. Levi Roots is a very successful entrepreneur and his Reggae-Reggae Sauce is delicious.

      1. Yes and good on him and even though he opened two restaurants (one now closed) he is not a Celebrity Chef.

        1. There are no ‘celebrity’ anythings. Anyone using that idiotic prefix gets altered to its correct form by me: NONENTITY.

    2. Is that the new zero carbon nuclear barbecue model to be press released at COP26?

        1. Nor did I – there also seems to be a flying burger that I hadn’t noticed.

      2. I thought it was a peanut feeder for birds! I had to expand the photograph and yes, it is a flying sausage.

        1. I think it’s a beefburger that has been “caught” perpendicular in its spinning.

          1. Unfortunately as I expand the photo it becomes more blurred. Now you mention it, I can see that it could be a beefburger, but it does have that shiny look of a sausage cooked (burned) more on one side than the other.

          2. I think Boris tossed a sausage and the other guy tossed a beefburger. I hope the sausage was a British one.

          3. I’m not keen on BBQ’s. I don’t mind the social aspect but the idea of eating sausages and burgers that taste of flame and charcoal is unappealing to me.

            If the host has made an effort with the salads i have those and squeaky cheese is always nice. (halloumi)

            Brits are pretty unimaginative when it comes to cooking outside.

            We do an annual event in September to prolong the Summer. It consists of a cook-off of either a Chilli or a Goulash. Hotdogs and burgers for the children.

          4. We have a pizza stone for the barbie.
            Pop the lid on once all trace of smoke & kerosene is gone, heat the stone, put pizza on stone, cook for a very few minutes.
            Vips! Perfect homemade pizza.

          5. We had a barbie for our wedding garden party 24 years ago – people who asked us what we wanted for a present were told “just bring something to cook on the barbie” and that way we didn’t run out of food….. we provided salads, strawberries & cream, drink……… people came & went and we had over 50 people in our garden at various times – not all together. It was the hottest day of that year. Some people stayed all day; some just for lunch and some came later on for the barbie.

    5. Boris has got a No 10 apron on. Look closely at the waist area. I wonder how much that has cost us?

      1. Just seen that – I also hadn’t noticed the carefully placed jar of sauce.

  36. Kate Middleton is forced into self-isolation: Duchess of Cambridge was ordered into quarantine on Friday after day at Wimbledon ‘following contact with Covid-infected person’ – despite having BOTH vaccinations and NO symptoms – and will miss NHS tea party
    Kate understood to have been alerted to Covid contact on Friday afternoon and began isolating immediately
    She regularly undertakes lateral flow tests as part of the Royal Household testing and has no symptoms
    The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is understood to have already received both COVID vaccinations
    Prince William will still undertake socially-distanced NHS engagements at St Paul’s and Buckingham Palace

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9756677/Kate-Middleton-forced-self-isolation-covid-scare.html

    We can’t have this! A cynical person making BTL comments on the Daily Mail website!

    The trouble seems to be that the vaccination does not prevent you from either getting Covid or from passing it on. But this is not relevant – what is relevant is that we should all be compelled to have it and trust to fate that no nasty unforeseen effects come about as they did with thalidomide.

    1. All this testing of healthy people is ridiculous and should be stopped – and I certainly will not be down loading the stupid app. None of this rubbish will be over until they stop this stupidity.

      1. The App is useless anyway as it can’t be used on 10-15% of smartphones. It’s a nice idea but really isn’t sufficient to be part of an effective test and trace system.

        1. Also as far as I know it’s still not compulsory to have a smartphone or download any apps or scan QR codes when you walk into a restaurant. So why do it?

          1. It’s not but makes it easier as you need to write down your name and address otherwise.

          3. I don’t get the choice. My brother makes the restaurant bookings and is a stickler for obeying the rules. It comes from having been a football referee I think. They used to call him Hitler lol!

          6. I did say mostly…and it was supposed to be humorous.

            (sticks out bottom lip).

    2. So the duchess will have no contact with palace staff – really? This is a stunt designed to silence those who are awake to the two-tier system.

  37. Right, Van is loaded so that’s me logging off.
    Might be on again later if I can get the laptop logged on.

      1. Meandering to Southampton.
        I’ve got until Friday morning to get there.

      2. Meandering to Southampton.
        I’ve got until Friday morning to get there.

  38. The Daily Human Stupidity.

    “It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognise danger when it is close upon you.”

    Arthur Conan Doyle.

      1. Where is that ‘jaw-dropping’ footage? Perhaps if the cretin holding the mobile phone had:

        (a) held it properly in ‘landscape mode’, and

        (b) zoomed in and kept the damn camera still,

        we might have actually seen something.

        1. Yo Mr grizzle

          and……. why did not the Para-glider take a selfie

          Any self respecting Brit Wokist would have done so, then decried that sharks were carvivores and that

          they must be re-educated to eat only seaweed etc

  39. I submitted a product review for “Daily’s Porridge Oats”to the Sainsbury’s website.
    This morning I received this email;
    “Sorry, your review wasn’t posted this time
    Hello Horace212212,
    Thank you for taking the time out to review the Daily’s Porridge Oats 1kg. Unfortunately your review didn’t meet our review guidelines this time.
    This was because your review contained inappropriate content and therefore can’t be shared on sainsburys.co.uk
    Please take another look at our guidelines and resubmit your edited review as it really helps other Sainsbury’s customers with their purchasing decisions. Plus, once your review has been accepted you will be automatically entered into our prize draw to win 20,000 Nectar points, worth £100.
    Thank you,
    Sainsbury’s Online Team”

    Here is my inappropriate review:
    “Sneaky Sainsbury’s
    Neither the online listing nor the packet says where this product originates. “Packed in the UK” is a weaselly cover up, I suspect. Their Daily’s Corn Flakes, which are neither as tasty or nutritious – maybe – as the box that they come in, are made in Germany.
    One might then suppose that the oats are German oats. Why? So that they can be as cheap as ALDI, of course. How far have Sainsbury’s fallen that they struggle to compete with German hard-discounters.
    Maybe Sainsbury’s should concentrate in restoring the quality levels and products that they formerly sold?
    There are fields at the back of my house currently growing oats, Scottish oats    .”

    All good fun.

    2. I have noticed such labelling for some time. All it says to me is that the product is definitely NOT made in the UK. I really don’t know why they should bother with such labelling.

      PS.

      I am now looking into rules of origin pre and post Brexit. The EU rules should be interesting. I so much enjoy reading their bureaucratic gobbledegook. The WTO does not have a fixed rule although it is looking to introduce one and is currently offering advice. Then of course there are the new UK rules which we are no doubt making up as we go along.

      1. If it is like “made in Canada”, made in the UK will mean very little.

        There are rules and regulations of course but it doesn’t stop abuse of the system where made in Canada can be limited to showing where bulk Chinese food was packaged.

    3. If Sainsbury’s are dumbing down to compete with Aldi and Lidl they stand no chance when ‘Mere’ arrives.

      Sainsbury’s also annoy me over their expensive delivery charges.

      I have gone back to Waitrose. At least when you point out an error you get a no quibble full refund.

      Last week i complained to Waitrose about the way my Charlie Bighams items were packed and they refunded me £7.75.

      You are right about them losing sight of their market. It isn’t all about price.

      1. Here, one chain has gone further than selling on price – selling on the basis you can shop REALLY QUICKLY!
        Naturally, an animated sloth is used as the TV character promoting this.
        Nowt about choice, quality, vegan-ness or whatever might actually have to do with food, but speed? If time is really that important, get a delivery from your regular supermarket. Or, send Herself, who likes (!) shopping for food.

        1. I don’t enjoy shopping, but I prefer to do it in person when I go for food.

          1. I like shopping in the immigrant shops.
            Much better choice of much fresher vegetables, many kinds of pastas from 3 different manufacturers, Polish & Russian pickles, Thai / Asian sauces, powders, more kinds of noodle than your noddle can cope with… cheese-stuffed chillies, beautiful fresh daily sourdough bread… drool!

    4. Ooh, you were cancelled for using “weaselly” – Still Bleau was on the panel 🙂

  40. Well – the vents have been replaced. I think. One of those ghastly jobs – where the instructions say – “Just assemble the autovents and attach to greenhouse” without adding that one needs four hands plus a fifth one (in bandages) to hold the very strong spring open while the sixth hand is trying to tighten the four bolts….

    Time for a beer.

    Lucky I had this job to do to keep “out of the way”. The MR is making two cushions which need her to make (from scratch and to her own design) a fabric “box” plus added zip. Just looking at it I realised that it made my horrible job look a doddle!!

      1. Visiting Falmouth a couple of years ago I suggested to my brother that we go to Rick Stein’s chippy. He nearly slapped me and then said,

        “Piss off! We go to a far, far better chippy down the road where you get a decent portion of much tastier fish and chips; twice the size and half the price charged by rip-off Stein. You also get more than a teaspoonful of mushy peas!”

    2. Watched the first episode last night, it was okay, pure fiction I expect though, an unfit old git doing manual work for the first time in his life like that would kill themselves.

      1. Long pauses between the shots.
        And, is he really such a buffoon, or are the monor disasters staged for comic effect?

  43. I can see a problem…

    The Taliban has hinted that Kabul could become a military target should any foreign troops remain in the Afghan capital past the US-led coalition’s withdrawal deadline, as the insurgent group continues to seize more territory.
    Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the BBC that any foreign soldiers who stay behind after the September exit agreement risk being treated as occupiers. He said that, while capturing the Afghan capital was “not Taliban policy,” nothing would be off the table should foreign forces – including military contractors – remain in the capital after the withdrawal was complete.
    The US may not be the only country at risk of running afoul of the Taliban’s interpretation of the exit deal. According to The Telegraph, the British government is preparing to keep a small special forces contingent in Afghanistan. The elite troops will reportedly be tasked with providing training to Afghan forces and will also serve as advisers during military operations.

    1. Funny thing, really. No UK troops have been sent to Mozambique to deal with the current murderous activities of ISIS, although Mozambique is a member of the Commonwealth, and Afghanistan is not.

      1. Check if there’s any US troops there.I suspect not.
        They need coat tails to hang onto.

    3. Who is arming and funding the Taliban?
      Go after them, make them fear for their lives, and blow their sorry arses away.

      1. Therein lies a sorry tale Ober.
        They are arming themselves with the finest US weapons given to the Afghan army and left behind when they ran away.

        1. Hmm.
          Tricky one, that.
          A bit late to have a software upodate that requires a password through Microsoft Authenticator to operate the weapon…

      2. Well, at least, support for Newcastle United gives rise to very little hugging …

  46. I still have questions about the Matt Hancock scandal that nobody has properly answered. 5 July 2021.

    Only a fortnight ago I heaped praise on Matt Hancock, then health secretary, his leadership in the success of the vaccination campaign. Then he was caught on camera in a steamy embrace with Gina Coladangelo in his ministerial office.

    Neither that incident nor his resignation reflect on his work in leading that highly important programme against the Covid virus, but there are some curious aspects in how that picture found its way on to the front page of The Sun. Not least, we need to know how, when and by whom the camera was directed to survey the interior of Hancock’s office. Then we need to know who sold the film to The Sun.

    I see that Mrs Coladangelo is described as being an “non-executive director” at the Department of Health, but what are the duties of such a post? By whom was she appointed and to whom did she report? That I do not know.

    These are all valid points by Sir Norman but so much of what goes on in Westminster is a mystery. Who for example gave the instructions to turn the advertising industry into a Woke Propaganda machine and who is it that has ordered the Border Farce to aid mass immigration? These are not minor matters they require the collusion of both Ministers and their Departments!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/07/05/still-have-questions-matt-hancock-scandal-nobody-has-properly/

    1. She had to undergo a “rigorous process” in order to be appointed. Hands on by the Secretary of State, I shouldn’t wonder…

      1. I’m sure that’s the basis for a plausible explanation for her appointment like passing an eyesight test by driving to Barnard Castle.

  47. On Saturday, on the bargain shelf in Morrisons (that won’t last long under the new owners) there was a seeded brown loaf for 18p. We snapped it up – enabled me to put off making a new loaf for three days. While waiting for two slices to toast, I glanced at the ingredients….and was just stunned.

    Water, Tapioca starch, Rice flour, Seeds 10% (sunflower seeds, linseed, millet, poppy seeds) Rapeseed oil, Psyllium husk powder, Potato flake, Humectant (glycerol) Treacle, Yeast, Stabiliser (hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose) Maize flour, Sugar, Salt, Millet flakes, Sugar beet fibre, Fermented rice flour, Fat reduced cocoa powder.

    All that just for a LOAF? Talk about weird…

    1. Perhaps that’s how Covid is actually transmitted, none of this virus route.

    3. 18p poorly spent. Baking tomorrow, just carefully fed my sourdough yeast to get it warmed up.

    4. That’ll teach ya.

      Flour, water, yeast, salt.

      Don’t you have a proper bakery in Narfalk?

      2. Mick the Miller at Leatheringsett watermill (near Holt) mills the best flour in the UK. His spelt flour is sensationally delicious.

    2. That ‘monument’ is weird – why are they all inward-looking? That says to me that they have nothing to say to the rest of us.

    4. So my suggestion that the RN be invited to erect a Mast and fly Nelson’s signal flags: “England expects …etc’ was a bit too anti-woke then?

    5. I would say that I will make a special point of not going to Trafalgar Square to see the new displays, but – I haven’t any plans to go there, anyway.

      1. She could just as easily have gone round to the BBC headquarters and got twice as many.

      1. 335120+ up ticks,
        Afternoon A,

        Would it make any difference to the voting pattern, did the revealing of 1400 / 1600 rape & abuse victims in rotherham , all inclusive governance employees in three monkey mode for 16 plus years caused hardly a ripple.

        Now viewed as part of the norm the herd cannot see they are supporting / voting for the orchestrated odious issue creators.

        335120+ up ticks,

    3. 335120+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      DOVER will be supplying the top up
      daily to take up any paedophile shortfall in society, courtesy of the tory(ino) coalition member.

    4. Anyone involved with this cover-up should either be sacked and/or have their pension rights removed.

      2. 335120+ up ticks,
        Afternoon JS,
        Never happened at rotherham with much higher victims as made clear in the JAY report, the mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella lab/lib/con close shop coalition still has support and continues to be voted in, with NO opposition.

      3. My solicitor is an ex-Police prosecutor. She has balls of stainless steel. Probably the scariest person I ever met.

  50. There is an article in The Grimes today about “judicial bullying”. I can’t reproduce it because it is not in the online edition.

    One sentence baffled me. “The campaign group Women in Law said it had noted “increasing incidents of judges making advocates cry in court“.”

    I ask you.

    These weeping wimmin should be thankful they did not work in the days of Lord Goddard and Mr Justice Melford Stevenson (just for two…)

      1. Seems to be a standard reaction, even among some supposedly in the military, these days. Who can forget the shame of the sailor crying because they took his i-pad?

  51. We know who we are. We also know what we are not – and that might be our failing. It’s time to be ‘unEnglish’ and become assertive – even if in our quiet English way. The answer does not lie in more constitutional meddling.

    England has been denied the voice it deserves by elites who would rather Englishness didn’t exist

    England has its own unique and complex identity, and it should have a parliament of its own, too

    NICK TIMOTHY

    The football fans singing “it’s coming home!”, while anxiously anticipating the pain of another England disappointment, manage to reconcile two seemingly contradictory English traits: boisterous triumphalism and private self-doubt.

    For the English do have traits and tendencies, just like any other nationality. And yet, for many English elites, England’s identity is something best denied. It is, they believe, too dangerous, too embarrassing, or too exclusive. Even those now debating what they call “Englishness” are doing so, they admit, with reluctance.

    Among them, a common contrivance is to pretend that English culture is, as one commentator puts it, “thin”, an identity that “has arisen not because of a positive movement to adopt the identity, but scorn for other forms of collective belonging”. Another pundit asks, “what is England now, other than sports teams and Shakespeare?”

    The answer is rather a lot. But it suits many to pretend that English identity is non-existent or negative because it excuses their own failure to respect the English and the status of England. They seem to hope that if “Englishness” must be appeased, they can make sure that whatever follows is an elite-led project in which they can keep everything civilised.

    But that is not how identity works. It is an organic thing, encompassing history, language, traditions, collective memories and shared places. English identity is about much more than the trite nonsense often described by politicians, who hide behind platitudes about the NHS, clichés about fair play and openness, or assertions about values, many of which might be shared by people from other countries, and some of which might be disputed by many within England.

    Just as a family’s identity is about memories and achievements and jokes and holidays and joy and arguments and tragedies and loss, so a national identity is formed along similar lines.

    England is the mother of parliaments. It is the land of Shakespeare and Dickens, Elgar and Holst, the Beatles and Stones, the Cotswolds and Cumbrian hills, London and Liverpool, Oxford and Cambridge. It is Stonehenge and St Paul’s, football and cricket, the local church and village pub, Isaac Newton and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

    It is cream teas and Cheddar cheese, a pint of bitter and a cup of tea, farms and factories, honest coppers and straight judges. It is the Wars of the Roses and the Reformation, Roundheads and Cavaliers, rebellions and strikes, Industrial Revolution and a Glorious Revolution. It is the home of Magna Carta, Locke and Burke, Churchill and Attlee, and long lines of kings and queens.

    And, of course, it is about so much more. Certain places and stories will matter more to some than others. Some stories are of failure not success, and some are embellished and spun. But that does not matter: what matters is they are all identifiably English, and they inspire us to be the best we can be. From philosophy to science, inventions to the arts, English culture is rich with significance. It is needlessly destructive to ignore, denigrate or misrepresent it.

    For this all matters, profoundly. Shared identity is what allows us to recognise familiarity in strangers, and that familiarity, psychologists attest, encourages trust and solidarity and the willingness to make sacrifices for others. You and I might never have met, but we have language, places, habits, customs and shared history, culture and stories to help us to trust one another. This shared national identity means we can look beyond the narrower identities – racial, religious, regional, whatever – that can divide us.

    And here sport proves the point. The English football team is multiracial and at ease with itself. The cricket team – who are world champions † – are multiracial and multi-religious. And as the football song shows, it is collective memories (“’cause I remember…”) and our shared attachment to place (“it’s coming home”) that bring us together.

    The problem with English identity, then, is not that it does not exist, nor that it is vague, nor that it is impossible to understand. It is that, for decades running into centuries, English identity was – with the tacit consent of the English themselves – subsumed into a broader British identity.

    But that British identity has weakened as the British missions – first imperial, later anti-fascist – came to an end. Politicians dismantled the institutions and constitutional arrangements that kept the Union together. Devolution, and nationalistic policies pursued by the SNP and Welsh Labour, pulled the nations further apart. So too have different decisions made by the English, Scottish and Welsh electorates. In the 1966 World Cup final, England fans held up the Union Flag; by the 1996 European Championships semi-final – played before Scottish devolution – England fans were flying the cross of St George without causing a stir.

    The problem is not English identity but a failure to provide the democratic, institutional and political voice the English deserve. Devolution to Scotland and Wales but not to England means Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish voters decide the government of England. A UK government elected by mainly English voters thinking of issues that are devolved elsewhere makes no sense to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. If one day we end up with a UK government elected with no English majority, but expected to determine policies in England that are devolved elsewhere, we will face a constitutional crisis.

    “English votes on English laws” does not resolve this issue. And there can be no return to the unitary state of old. The only sustainable remaining solution is an English parliament and English government within a federal UK, supported by a political culture that respects and cherishes pride in England and shows a more serious commitment to the government of England’s regions. We have a lot to take pride in, and as the football team is showing, there are many more shared memories – of triumph, hopefully, rather than disaster – still to be made.

    For in the week ahead we should shake off our very English doubts and enjoy what might become a championship-winning England team. If only the manager would pick the squad’s most creative talent, the captain of the club I support, Jack Grealish.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/04/england-has-denied-voice-deserves-elites-would-rather-englishness

    † But only in the one-day game.

    1. I don’t think we need yet another layer of government, which English devolution would mean.

      1. Just ditch the wee pretendy Parliament and the Welsh windbag Assembly. Have committees meet in Westminster to deal with devolved (ie regional) matters. No extra politicians!

        1. The Scottish Office under the Secretary of State for Scotland was dreadful. It was nevertheless better than what we have now.

          1. It comes as no surprise to find that a politician was dreadful, whether based in Holyrood or Westminster, Horace 🙂

        2. Does that mean Blair Brown and Galloway could be sent back north to Scotland….

    2. Being Irish is so easy…
      If you’re Irish come into the parlour,
      There’s a welcome there for you;
      If your name is Timothy or Pat,
      So long as you come from Ireland,
      There’s a welcome on the mat,
      If You come from the Mountains of Mourne,
      Or Killarney’s lakes so blue,
      We’ll sing you a song and we’ll make a fuss,
      Whoever you are you are one of us,
      If you’re Irish, this is the place for you!

      1. Sung incessantly to me when I was a toddler by my dad and uncle.

        For decades I was convinced that the line was, “If your name is Timothy O’Pat”.

    3. Not for nothing did the PTB go all out on translation services rather than insisting that incomers spoke English. A language defines a people; it incorporates their culture, their world view, their understanding of time and their relationships with each other. History is written in the vocabulary. Where there are tussles for language superiority (Quebec, for instance) it’s because those who are striving for their language acknowledge this fact.

  52. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7fbca95db4df8c05d2d7d6586dc85172591e672b359d503829dcc31b6047cbd0.jpg Do you share your pronouns?

    But why is it important to share your pronouns online, and should cisgender people – those whose gender identity corresponds with their birth sex – do it, too?

    https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/18/why-do-people-share-their-pronouns-on-social-media-and-should-i-14760853/

    Are English teachers equipped to explain to schoolchildren the use of pronouns in modern English grammar?

    Here is a guide:

      1. It isn’t even standard, although it could well be bog 🙂 Or did you mean bovine excrement (ooh! polysyllabic words, obviously a no-no!).

    5. Simple answer – an abbreviation/contraction of she, he, it and them –Shit ! Covers everything.

    6. Please metro, if you want to get it right, strike out ‘gender’ and insert the correct word, ‘sex’. It’s not dirty, honest, it’s English.

    7. Surely that ‘Norm’ pronoun should read ‘Nom’ – short for Nominative case..

  53. Afternoon, all. As far as I know Diana was white and extremely privileged. Why is she being given a statue at all?

          4. I have bred horses. It’s no use hoping that a loopy mare will breed sane offspring, no matter what stallion you use. Sometimes you get lucky, but mainly you get loopy foals – “temperament” they call it. “Mad as a box of frogs” is what I call it!

  54. It will be interesting to see who continues to wear a mask after “end of police state”, day.

    1. Quite a few, I suspect, Johnny, judging by the number of people I see wearing one in the street when they are on their own, or driving their cars (ditto) or women who have co-ordinated their mask with their outfits as a fashion statement, rather than as a supposed preventative measure.

    3. I stopped wearing a mask weeks ago. If questioned I go elsewhere. I’m totally fed up with being told what to do by a bunch of idiots…

      1. I haven’t worn one since I found out I could download an exemption badge. I gave one to a friend who said it was SO liberating to go shopping maskless!

    4. Quite a few of the attendees at yesterday’s open air garden event yesterday, I would think.

    2. They should have had one ready for King Charles coronation. Not this pile of shite.

    3. Who were the artists behind the six works considered for the fourth plinth?

      Six foreigners. Were British artists excluded on racial grounds?

    5. If the UK hadnt sailed west, Canada would be French and the USA would have been Dutch…

      2. Whether we had sailed or not we still wouldn’t have stopped the Spanish committing genocide and wiping out the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas.

        1. The Spaniards merely hastened a process that had been going on for several hundred years.
          The Dons were more efficient; that was the only difference.

      3. To be accepted by the art morons in charge of selection there would have to be an ‘h’ in the word ‘sitting’.

      4. To be accepted by the art morons in charge of selection there would have to be an ‘h’ in the word ‘sitting’.

      5. That was Blair hitting his all time low. Within 24 hours of the death of the Princess of Wales he had cynically tried to claim that she was the People’s Princess.

        I have quoted before some of the words of the song I wrote about Blair:

        The People’s Party, People’s Dome, the People’s lottery
        I am the People’s laxative so the People swallow me
        Pragmatic opportunism has given me success
        A sad girl died and so I dubbed her ‘The People’s Princess’.

  56. Teresa Margolles is a Mexican conceptual artist, who originally trained as a forensic pathologist. She communicates observations from the morgue in her home city, Mexico City, For her the morgue reflects society, particularly Mexican urban experience, where drug-related crime, poverty, political upheaval, and military action have resulted in violence and death (much like London). Contaminated water from corpses and the morgue is used in making her sculptures. What a nice person she is. She could get a job as a Radio 4 announcer.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Teresa_Margolles.jpg/220px-Teresa_Margolles.jpg

    Looks like ‘Death’ warmed up!

    5. The same certifiable creature who is getting her ‘work’ on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth. “Casts of 850 transgender sex workers which the artist expects will disintegrate in the rain.” The mind boggles.
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9757061/Casts-faces-850-transgender-people-displayed-Fourth-Plinth.html
      Given that this is in OUR capital city (not that you’d know it was in England these days), surely the plinth should display the work of a British artist/sculptor.

      5. With apologies to the Rugby song

        Ladies look away NOW!

        Melting away

        With the drip dripping prick
        of the syphilitic dick
        on a transgender

        pooftah queer.

    6. The same certifiable creature who is getting her ‘work’ on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth. “Casts of 850 transgender sex workers which the artist expects will disintegrate in the rain.” The mind boggles.
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9757061/Casts-faces-850-transgender-people-displayed-Fourth-Plinth.html
      Given that this is in OUR capital city (not that you’d know it was in England these days), surely the plinth should display the work of a British artist/sculptor.

  57. Canada was colonised by European colonists. It is still ruled by the colonists. No one is targeting the rulers because of this.
    The USA was colonised by European colonists. It is still ruled by the colonists. No one is targeting the rulers because of this.
    Mexico was colonised by European colonists. It is still ruled by the colonists. No one is targeting the rulers because of this.
    All of South America was colonised by European colonists. These countries are still ruled by the colonists. No one is targeting the rulers because of this.
    Australia was colonised by European colonists. It is still ruled by the colonists. No one is targeting the rulers because of this.
    New Zealand was colonised by European colonists. It is still ruled by the colonists. No one is targeting the rulers because of this.

    The United Kingdom gave up its colonies and put a stop to slavery at vast expense in men and money. The UK is being continually targeted.

    1. Very well said.

      Britain is now being colonised by Muslims and that is something about which we cannot grumble!

  58. Dominic Cummings says Boris and Carrie were like a ‘demonic Russian virus’ when together last year and says their relationship was ‘weird’ when he joined No10
    Cummings said Boris ‘unfit’ to be PM when he went to work for him in 2019
    But Brexiteer wanted to ensure Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour did not win election
    He also lashed out at the Prime Minister’s now wife, Carrie Johnson,
    Said that 2019 he regarded her as a ‘wildcard’ in a ‘weird’ relationship with Boris
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9756741/Dominic-Cummings-says-useless-Boris-Johnson-admitted-ludicrous-Prime-Minister.html#newcomment

    Oh dear – what is happening to me? I find myself in agreement with the sort of loonies who make BTL comments on DM articles!

    Cummings is right : Johnson is NOT fit to be prime minister. He is completely dominated by his latest wife and bases his policy decisions on her woke green whims. Why have we a border in the Irish Sea when he promised we would not have one? Why have we not taken back control over our fishing waters? And why are Northern Ireland servicemen not given immunity from prosecution while IRA members are? Johnson has kept none of his promises.

    1. From observation – telly and pikkies – there is something rather cringemaking about the couple.
      Another H&M situation; this time I suspect Boris will be the dumpee rather than the dumper.

  59. Good evening all.

    Sat outside Hook Norton Brewery enjoying a rather nice porter!
    That is porter as in a dark beer!

    2. The number of likes and replies this guy’s rant has received on Twitter indicates that this country is still very much under the control of the covidians.

      4. “covidians”. That word reminds me of another. I had to think while typing in order remember what it reminded me of. When I got to “of another” I remembered. Branch Davidians. A cult in the USA.

    3. The number of likes and replies this guy’s rant has received on Twitter indicates that this country is still very much under the control of the covidians.

    7. Another communist behavioural psychologist. Freedom for him, slavery for us.

    8. Another communist behavioural psychologist. Freedom for him, slavery for us.

    10. Here is an exchange on Lockdown Skeptics on the very topic and this twit Stephen Reicher.

      AnnabelleG
      12 hours ago
      Reply to DomW
      They are criminals — I pray these people are prosecuted….. The Cabinet, Sage and the lazy MP’s who went along with it when it was evident to anyone with a live brain cell what we were doing was a crime against humanity

      38
      Mike Yeadon
      Mike Yeadon
      12 hours ago
      Reply to AnnabelleG
      Hear, hear.
      Without question, a sizeable crowd of people should be subject to arrest. There’s a prima facie argument for this person to face criminal charges.
      Subject to due process, Id like to see the leading proponents of lockdowns, masks, mass testing, lying about variants, lying about vaccine safety & efficacy face LIFE IMPRISONMENT.

      I’ve been against capital punishment all my life, but for the upper echelons of this criminal fraud, I’d make an exception. I’d even do it myself

      1. Absolutely. The primary objection to capital punishment must be the possibility of killing an innocent person. In the case of the prime movers in the Great Reset scam, their guilt is not in question.

    11. What idiot in Government selects the psychopathic control freaks like this control freak to be anywhere near Government policy advice? Don’t blame Reicher for being a Himmler meglomaniac clone, blame the asshole who put him there.

  63. Good Afternoon All, Still in the surprisingly sunny Lake District, we did the obligatory and cliched boat trip around Ullswater today but it is stunning even if we had no option to sit on the exposed deck with a 20mph headwind wearing face nappies. Dear / insert deity of choice here / I can’t wait to see the end of these ludicrous restrictions . Yesterday SWMBO , normally a benign and affable sort, actually told a council covid marshal to FO when he chided her for taking a short cut across the Keswick Market pedestrian one way system to get some midge bite salve from Boots. I don’t know which of the three of us was most surprised.
    anyhoooo – pics

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ae08a3c6389fa1272f0c469c33fedf7e01ffe7557e2eeca28cb711025dcbfe0d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2ef6d1a55813aeb45d20fd8fd441971bd78879e7bc339bd2c0fe3ab27e7a16e.jpg

    4. As a proper Nottler, the least you should be doing is towing your tin tent over Hard Knott and Wrynose with a sign on the back:

      “Lock down causes traffic jams”

      1. I knew a witch called Hazel….

        I’ll get me coat…!

        How is Oscar today?

        1. He’s fine, thank you. He’s flat out asleep at the moment and seems quite chilled today (in between bursts of barking at imaginary beings whom only he can see and hear).

      2. Hydrocortizone Cream works very well for me.

        I disturbed a wasp nest today, very bad move, the HC sorted out the after effects of the stings fairly quickly

        1. We had four in the garden last summer. Thank God there is a local chap who disposes of them. At a price – but I’d willingly pay having once been attacked by a swarm of wasps. Even though I thought I was fully covered in protective clothing they got up arms and down necks.. Really frightening.

          Hope you are not suffering too badly.

          1. If I had had that number of bee stings I doubt I would be here writing.

            Wasp stings are unpleasant but soon pass.

    1. About time too. The GB designation is a legacy of colonialism and slavery and reeks of white supremacy.

      1. Indeed.
        It reminds the world why it’s a better place and they really can’t cope with that…

    1. I hope this wasn’t an expensive study. I could have told them it was all bollocks just by going outside.

    2. I hope this wasn’t an expensive study. I could have told them it was all bollocks just by going outside.

    3. Ah so.

      But, I’ll bet that there will be graphs available showing that while June ain’t busting out all over, August and September are hotter and April and May are colder.

    4. Ah so.

      But, I’ll bet that there will be graphs available showing that while June ain’t busting out all over, August and September are hotter and April and May are colder.

    5. Interesting BTL comment on the WattsUp site:

      Martin

      July 4, 2021 7:35 am
      In the UK the Fahrenheit measure of temperature has been out of use for 50 years or so – it hasn’t been taught in schools since the 1960’s. However whenever there is a “warm” event the media wheel it out because a headline of “sizzling summer over 100 degrees” is so much sexier than talking of 38 degrees. Conversely, in winter they never use Fahrenheit to describe cold weather -again “Twenty below freezing” is a better headline than “four below freezing”
      The MSM have no interest in delivering factual reporting – it’s all about spin and sensationalism these days.

      2. As much as I agree with your sentiment, I have to point out that you are wrong in saying “four below freezing”; that should be “36 below freezing”.

        1. I think King Steppenwolf is suggesting that the reporters are choosing the one that suits the narrative.

          They chop and change between the ones that look most impressive.

          100F looks a lot hotter than 38C
          minus 17C looks a lot colder than 0F.

    6. Interesting BTL comment on the WattsUp site:

      Martin

      July 4, 2021 7:35 am
      In the UK the Fahrenheit measure of temperature has been out of use for 50 years or so – it hasn’t been taught in schools since the 1960’s. However whenever there is a “warm” event the media wheel it out because a headline of “sizzling summer over 100 degrees” is so much sexier than talking of 38 degrees. Conversely, in winter they never use Fahrenheit to describe cold weather -again “Twenty below freezing” is a better headline than “four below freezing”
      The MSM have no interest in delivering factual reporting – it’s all about spin and sensationalism these days.

    1. Mmm.
      I’ll believe it when I see it.
      And will it be for longer than 47 minutes?

    2. But he hasn’t. The ludicrous rules for school children continue – as to the eye-wateringly expensive “tests” for anyone daring either to leave the UK or – worse still – return to it.

    3. But he hasn’t. The ludicrous rules for school children continue – as to the eye-wateringly expensive “tests” for anyone daring either to leave the UK or – worse still – return to it.

    4. There has been no lockdown here . The fields are full of campers of all sorts , there a raves , the beaches are full , Coach loads of visitors , Steam trains full of passengers ..

      Waitrose is the only store you have to queue up outside , the rest of them easy come and go , keep your distance though.

      1. We haven’t had to queue up outside Morrisons here since last summer. They scrapped the one-way system inside and I haven’t been challenged for not wearing a mask.

          5. Conscription to consternation to constipation
            No wonder you’re full of Law.

      2. We haven’t had to queue up outside Morrisons here since last summer. They scrapped the one-way system inside and I haven’t been challenged for not wearing a mask.

      3. Morrisons in Fakenham – they don’t even bother about “distancing”.

          1. Oddly – the only people who have shouted at me were staff (OK a bossy woman) in Tesco and a ditto in B&Q.

            A lot of people cross the road to avoid me – especially in the country lanes – but they did that before the plague!!

          2. I was gesticulated at by a bossy custome at another table in the cafe in Cirencester the other week – I just said – I’m exempt and walked on.

      4. Morrisons in Fakenham – they don’t even bother about “distancing”.

    5. There has been no lockdown here . The fields are full of campers of all sorts , there a raves , the beaches are full , Coach loads of visitors , Steam trains full of passengers ..

      Waitrose is the only store you have to queue up outside , the rest of them easy come and go , keep your distance though.

    6. The Johnson bastard is a lazy and ignorant buffoon, looking to allow others to dictate policy and following their scripts. The silly sod has never engaged his brain on matters of state but instead appears to kow tow to his latest piece of fluff.

      Johnson is now revealed to be an imbecile and the sooner he is removed, the better.

  70. Fury at 10-year ‘brutal vandalism’ plan to destroy British rail bridges and tunnels
    Campaigners and heritage fans have been left steaming over the plans that could see 480 structures pulled down, with many crossing old lines loved by ramblers

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fury-10-year-brutal-vandalism-23290668

    How COULD they destroy them? In a reckless acts of vandalism fuelled by health and safety panic, a government agency is burying historic bridges in concrete right across the country

    To many, they’re as important to our landscape as patchworks of fields and dry stone walls. To some they’re works of art and feats of engineering genius.

    And to others, they provide opportunities for rewilding and to create greener transport routes.

    But the picturesque railway bridges on this page are at risk of being filled in with thousands of tons of unsightly concrete or demolished amid health and safety concerns from road bosses.

    Work of genius: Greeps Bridge near Saltash designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel is also at risk of being defaced.

    The work, which will cost millions, is being proposed for 69 sites by Highways England – responsible for disused railway arches – even though simply strengthening of the structures would be cheaper.

    Last December, Highways England listed 116 structures it intended to fill in or destroy but has since reduced the number.

    However, to the anger of campaigners, it has not published a detailed list of those it intends to target and the agency has not specified why it won’t.

    Opponents say the work jeopardises plans to reopen old tracks as well as create footpaths and cycle ways or ‘greenways’.

    Infilling in Great Musgrave, Cumbria, went ahead at a cost of £124,000 with Highways England claiming it was at risk of collapse if used by heavy lorries.

    Locals say the 159-year-old bridge is on a rural B-road rarely used by goods traffic and could have been repointed for £5,000 to increase its maximum weight.

    Please read on, and realise we are in the hands of vandals …https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9755183/Government-agency-burying-historic-bridges-concrete-right-country.html?fbclid=IwAR2ZJH2cFZtiLpy8mmiC_uTQHdn4MHXS5jTumezKViyLBWwjXh4tnDAvLeU

    1. We have many surviving bridges around our part of North Essex from the Sudbury to Cambridge line. The track bed survives and is in parts a Valley Walk.

      The bridges both iron and brick are intact and not subject to vehicular traffic. The structures require minimal maintenance and are often beautiful constructs. ‘A bridge is only as good as its abutments’ was the first rule in engineering when assessing an historic structure. A little common engineering sense is lacking.

      When I buried my eldest sister a few years ago I was shocked to see the number of headstones (at Haycombe in Bath) needlessly lashed around a driven wooden stake. These included that of my father and mother.

      I am an advocate of sensible Health & Safety measures but think things are going too far. Such ludicrous measures in the cemeteries are akin to the mandatory face masks and social distancing: utterly worthless and causing more damage than they prevent.

  74. I was looking for another quotation in my “collection”, and came upon this.
    Most apposite in current times.
    Samuel Adams: “If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms.Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”

    3. Very good. It makes one wonder about the circumstances he was in that day that propelled him to write that.

  75. I was looking for another quotation in my “collection”, and came upon this.
    Most apposite in current times.
    Samuel Adams: “If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms.Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”

  76. “Travel and schools are two key areas where significant questions remain. Ministers are due later this week to set out plans for fully-vaccinated Britons to travel to amber countries (see a full list) without having to quarantine for 10 days on their return. The double-jab travel plan could start from July 19. It came as Madeira said it will allow entry to 5m Britons with an Indian-made vaccine that has not been approved by Europe’s regulator. Meanwhile, ministers are also due to outline plans tomorrow to end the need for schools to send home student “bubbles”.”

    That Bastard BPAPM has given nothing back really. Even the Spamhead says that one should carry on wearing a mask when on public transport.

    They really ARE asking for a revolution.

    1. Travel restrictions are the only remaining tool these bastards have left in their armoury. The rest of us will continue to ignore their petty dispensations and watch the tourist industry of France, Portugal and Italy go down the pan.

      Over to you lot Europe!

      1. The Europeans have already got vaxx passports. All this blather about freedom is just a smokescreen for vaxx passports being implemented in the UK too.

    2. I didn’t wear one on the bus last week when I went into town with my old schoolfriends. Nobody challenged me. The bus was only half-full and everybody had two seats to themselves.

    4. Sorry, Bill – I’m not sure what BPAPM stands for. I guess it’s Boris or something.

          2. Is Diana, formerly David Thomas who used to write in the Saturday Telegraph one of your relations?

  78. Apropos the BPAPM’s farcical “statement” can weddings go ahead with singing and dancing? Can funerals take place with all the people who want to go?
    Can on go to church and sit in the same pew as friends and neighbours? Can one SING hymns?

    So much bluster – so little content.

  79. Right – I’m off. The good news is that the autovents in the greenhouse closed. The test will be whether they open! I also moved a ton of logs from one (rapidly collapsing) log store to the adjoining one.

    The Ken Burns “Hemingway” (BBC4) series is extremely good.

    A demain

  80. So one of Chris Whitty’s three possible circumstances to wear a mask in future is ‘out of consideration for others’ if they express concern that he isn’t wearing one.
    So, it’s come to this? We are reduced to pandering to the lowest common denominator? If one person says ‘Wear a mask!’ we all have to? Out of ‘consideration’?
    Still, not to worry. The Government has ended ‘lockdown’ so that’s all right then. Cynical bastards, the lot of them.

    1. What’s the problem? It fits right in with the usual supine pandering to minority groups…

    2. I just don’t understand it at all, one could understand an authoritarian politician wanting mask wearing for the psychological effect, but why would a scientist want them when it is anti scientific to do force people to wear them when they are of now benefit medically.

      1. The most defiant non-maskies around where I live are young blacks and Moslem women who wear an abaya and hijab but no face covering. They walk tall knowing no one dare challenge them.

        1. No one ever did, Our Susan – that’s why slammer women would sail through “securiddity” at airports while the rest of us took off shoes, belts, coats etc etc etc. Bowed ans scarped and thanked the nice bame “officer” for being so helpful…………..

          1. And yet, when I was departing from Qatar after a few work trips, I noticed that there was a separate lane for “Ladies’ Verification” where women wearing face coverings were obliged to reveal their faces to an official, in private.

    3. Perhaps he’s saying that if one is as ugly as he is, one should wear the mask out of consideration to others?

      1. One of those big brass deep-sea divers helmets would be better.

        And funnier.

    1. Why is everyone in those stupid islands so weak-kneed that one idiot complaint is not greeted with a “Thanks for your opinon, now fuck off”, but instead grovelling apologies? Does anyone in the UK do anything other than grovel? God give me strength!

      1. Just like your female solicitor has been ‘masculated’ (like Margaret Thatcher) and has grown a pair; most people in any position of authority in the UK have been castrated. Wimpishness (lack of backbone) is second only to stupidity in this ever-deteriorating world.

    2. The police should have said “If the card offends you, shove it up your arse”.

    3. Muslims unhappy because they think dogs are unclean.

      This from a group that wipes its arse with their fingers after having a shit?

  83. Panorama (now), BBC1 – ‘Brexit: 6 months on.’

    As you would expect, a totally positive verdict on how Brexit is affecting the country.

    Uplifting. When is someone going to do something about the BBC? Like abolish it?

  84. Well that was a bit of a bugger.
    Walked to the Sun in the middle of the village and had a pint.
    Then walked to The Gate Hangs High, a mile and a half out of the village and found it is shut on a Monday!
    So walked back to the Sun for a last one before bed!

  85. Some good news at last.

    Right to life:

    Dear M…….

    I wanted to quickly share some brilliant news with you.

    Diana Johnson MP has decided not to take her amendment (NC 55), that would have introduced abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth, to a vote. Similarly, Rupa Huq MP has decided not to take her amendment (NC 42), that would have introduced a jail sentence of up to 2 years for offering support to women outside abortion clinics nationwide, to a vote.

    This is an amazing victory.

    It appears that the abortion lobby realised that it was very likely that both amendments were going to be defeated and encouraged the MPs not to take these amendments to a vote.

    To put in perspective how embarrassing a defeat on these amendments would have been for the abortion lobby, if they had taken the amendments through to a vote and lost, this would have been the first time that a pro-abortion amendment or Bill had been defeated in a vote in UK history.

    THANK YOU

    Thank you to the thousands of people that rallied over the weekend to get friends and family to email their MPs. MPs received more emails ahead of this vote than they have ever received ahead of an abortion vote, and in some cases, MPs received more emails on this issue than they had received on any other issue while in office.

    Thank you also to our supporters who have given so generously to enable us to have the resources in place to run a very large campaign against these amendments.

    We have spent a number of months preparing for this battle.

    This project has included building a larger network of relationships with active pro-life MPs in Parliament. Alongside this, we have worked to place a large number of positive pro-life articles in the mainstream media to provide the right momentum in the public eye for our side over this period.

    The final key component has been the further building of a very large base of grassroots supporters in every constituency in the country. This meant that when we asked people like you to email their MPs last week, it became crystal clear that a large number of people in their constituencies did not want these extreme changes.

    None of this would have been in place in order to help achieve this amazing victory without your generous financial support. Thank you.

    SADLY, THIS IS NOT THE END

    Unfortunately, this is not the end. The abortion lobby never sleeps. We know they will be back soon with their next attempt to make extreme changes to abortion legislation, so you will need to be ready to ensure there is a strong response from the public against their next attempt.

    In the meantime, thank you again for all your help on achieving this significant victory – and make sure you celebrate tonight.

  86. The George Cross is the worst possible birthday present for the NHS

    The ongoing idolatry of the NHS risks clouding our judgement, shielding our healthcare system from valid criticism and stymying improvement

    EMMA REVELL

    We clapped. We banged pots and pans. We coloured and painted and sewed rainbows onto banners and hung them in living room windows. And now, on the NHS’ 73rd birthday, the nation has bestowed upon it our highest civilian gallantry award, the George Cross, given for “acts of the greatest heroism or of the most courage in circumstances of extreme danger”.

    While individual doctors and nurses – and cleaners and administrators – will have moved heaven and earth to keep their wards and services afloat in the last eighteen months, this latest award feels like yet another step towards the deification of our sacred cow. In the rainbow-tinted haze of 2020, we seem to have forgotten that the NHS is an organisation, a provider – in theory – of healthcare for all, and while the nature of its business means millions have a strong emotional attachment to it, it should be held to the same standards as other institutions, not placed on a pedestal for the nation to prostrate itself before.

    After all, birthday presents usually are given in celebration – but in the NHS’ case it feels like a reward for not yet keeling over. The left conflates the admirable work of the people working for the NHS with the crumbling institution they are trapped inside. Few parts of the system work well, even fewer rank highly by international standards.

    There is nothing wrong with holding individual medical staff in high esteem, but the ongoing idolatry of the institution risks further clouding our judgement, shielding the NHS from valid criticism and stymying much needed improvement.

    An IEA paper published in 2016 illustrated the NHS’ shortcomings with startling clarity. If you take four common cancers – breast, prostate, lung, and bowel – and compare the survival rates in the UK to other European nations you can see the human cost of our failure to deliver improvements for patients. If treated in the Netherlands, rather than by the NHS, 9,000 lives would be saved. In Germany, 12,000. In Belgium, 14,000 families would still have their loved ones with them.

    The George Cross will no doubt mean a great deal to the NHS staff who have worked tirelessly on covid wards over the pandemic, who moved out of family homes for weeks or months in order to safeguard their relatives. But according to figures released last month, there are over 5 million people currently stuck on NHS waiting lists, waiting to begin treatment. In April 2020, only 11,000 people had been waiting more than a year but by March 2021 this had skyrocketed to over 430,000.

    My colleague Kristian Niemietz proposed the idea of ‘Coronfirmation Bias’: a phenomenon whereby people see the pandemic as confirming their pre-existing notions. For many in the UK, the NHS can do no wrong and therefore saved us all last year. For such an organisation, no reward is too much to give thanks. But in fact, the best international performers in 2020 do not have health systems similar to ours, few countries do, and they have much lower levels of public spending, including on healthcare.

    Improvements could be made, if only people were willing to consider them. A more flexible pay system than incentivises students to specialise in under-staffed specialisms, ending professional protectionism and allowing nurses and non-medical staff to take up the burden of minor procedures or prescribing to free up clinicians and consultants to take on more expert work, learning from best practice abroad instead of continuing with a misguided belief that the NHS’ only downfall is a lack of funding.

    In 2019 UK healthcare spending exceeded 10 per cent of GDP for the first time. For all that spending, the NHS has fewer doctors per 1,000 people than nearly every country in the OECD, we rank below countries like Greece and Portugal who are significantly poorer than we are. We also have half as many hospital beds per 1,000 people than the OECD average. The NHS isn’t underfunded, it is badly managed.

    “The NHS is the best gift a nation ever gave itself,” said Matt Hancock. The best gift we can give the NHS in return is honesty; to take a step back from the idolisation and to have an open and honest discussion about its weaknesses, otherwise it will continue to fall short for the country and for the people who are honoured to work within it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/05/george-cross-worst-possible-birthday-present-nhs/

    1. Forgive a last post – but I was always under the impression that the Health Service was there to look after – and, possibly – cure ill people. Dealing with medical crises was part and parcel of its purpose.

      Silly me.

        1. Blown a casket! Coffin-making factory burns to the ground ‘after being struck by lightning’ in Northern Ireland
          Major fire broke out at a coffin-making factory in Northern Ireland on Sunday
          O’Doherty and Sons Coffin and Casket manufacturers was ‘struck by lightning’
          Around 80 firefighters dispatched to tackle fire, with public urged to avoid area

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9755263/Coffin-making-factory-burns-ground-struck-lightning-Northern-Ireland.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

          1. God read that everyone is dying of Covid, but he knows better and has just shown her displeasure by reducing supply.

            If prices don’t rise there’s no Covid demand.

      2. Stop being a wally Bill. These days doing your job isn’t relevant. It’s all about statism.

    2. I very much doubt that the average NHS employee could care less about the GC, they would rather have had £100.

      If every NHS employee started to call themselves:
      A.N. Other GC

      I am sure there would be a realisation that the award was a gesture. I think the Queen has been very badly advised.

          2. Sir Cur Starmer, Sir Mo Farah, Sir Lee Pearson, Sir Alec Ferguson … the list is endless.

          3. High on the list of the totally undeserving is Doreen Lawrence.
            Doreen Delceita Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, OBE (née Graham; born 1952) is a British Jamaican campaigner and the mother of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in South East London in 1993.

          4. I agree. Stephen Lawrence would never have passed the courses I was obliged to in the seventies, to become an Architect.

            Yet the RIBA persists with its stupid Stephen Lawrence Award plus a shed load of other BAME bollocks. A shame on my otherwise dignified profession.

          5. I’m surprised that the McCann’s were never awarded an honor for their services in keeping the Metropolitan Police force’s ace squad of 30 detectives employed for a decade in sunny Portugal & Spain !

          6. The explanation is that the McCann’s are Freemasons as are most if not all of the Police and Politicians allowing this enduring nonsense.

            There are hundreds if not thousands of missing youngsters reported regularly in the UK but by contrast they are ignored completely.

            We live in a very sick society.

    5. We didn’t clap. We didn’t bang pots and pans……… but i can’t complain at the good treatment OH has had in the last few months.

      1. I didn’t clap or bang pots and pans, but I have had NO service or treatment this year (or last, come to that).

          1. Neither of us has, which makes me more than jaded when it comes to celebrating the NHS.

          3. Yes. I get about half way round a walk and I’m really starting to feel it and limp badly. I only had an X ray on it last Tuesday (when the problem really became bad in March). MOH has had a telephone consultation about a dementia review postponed and the only “examination” I’ve had for my hip was a telephone consultation where I held the phone in one hand, hung onto furniture with the other and tried to lift my leg. Shoddy doesn’t even come close!

          4. That’s not much use. When do you get the X-ray results? I guess we’ve been lucky here.

          5. Who knows? I had to ask for them last time (when I had my ankle done – same incident). I’ll give it a couple of weeks and try to get through to the surgery.

    6. “We clapped. We banged pots and pans. We coloured and painted and sewed rainbows onto banners and hung them in living room windows.” Not me gov. I never did any of those things. I think the health service (for which I paid handsomely all through my working life) is for treating the sick and not concentrating on a contrived pandemic.

    7. I would have awarded the NHS the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
      The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (Russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, romanized: Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, health, social and other spheres of labour activities.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Order_of_the_Red_Banner_of_Labour_OBVERSE.jpg

  87. On July 20th I will continue to wear as mask, but it will be a concealed private matter providing me a certain pleasure as I mingle knowingly around the unwitting of Ealing with a unnerving smile on my face.

        1. I’ll bet you never have a problem getting a seat – or on a train or bus.

  88. County cricket club puts its players on ‘enhanced education’ course after tweets containing racist, homophobic and misogynistic language were unearthed from 10 years ago
    More than 50 offensive tweets dating back to 2011 came to light last month
    The club condemned the tweets and launched an internal probe
    It is believed three of the players were under 18 at the time of the tweets

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9758051/County-cricket-club-puts-players-enhanced-education-course.html

    Our thoughts are not our own , and very soon our dreams will also be monitored!

  89. I’ve been watching Clarkson’s Farm. I know some people can’t stand him, but if, like me, you enjoy his sense of humour, it’s worth a watch.
    Some parts are a little contrived but overall it’s pretty good. Some good supporting characters in it, too.

    1. We binge watched the first four episodes – yes, he’s always had a sense of humour and he seems to have put his back into.

  90. I’d seen so little of him in the media of late that I’d begun to wonder if the boys had been around.

    Sajid Javid has finally broken the taboo and admitted that lockdowns cost lives, too

    In the past, those of us who raised concerns about the lethal consequences of lockdown have been smeared as wanting to ‘let the virus rip’

    PROFESSOR KAROL SIKORA

    Any possibility of an open and honest debate around the health costs of lockdown has been crushed by the ferocious obsession with a singular focus on Covid-19. All else has been ignored and, despite our best efforts, we have made very little progress in forcing the non-Covid health crisis onto the main agenda.

    That is, until now. The new Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, has written an article outlining the health case for reopening society. It’s the closest I’ve seen any senior politician get to fully acknowledging the true costs of lockdown.

    In the past it’s been a taboo topic. Those of us who have raised concerns about the disruptions to cancer services, the growing mental health crisis or any of the other lethal consequences of lockdown have been smeared as wanting to “let the virus rip”. We were targeted. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the damage that has been done across usual healthcare services, it’s a conversation that we were never allowed to have. It was reported that the Cabinet was not even briefed on the impact that lockdown has had on ordinary care. In my view that is scandalous.

    So for the man in charge of healthcare in this country to talk about the scale of the crisis with his first big article is a great relief. It will start a debate which will undoubtedly save many lives.

    One of the main issues with discussing the non-Covid health crisis is that we just won’t know the full damage, or anywhere near it, for years to come. In comparison to the relentless barrage of daily Covid statistics, we never stood a chance at properly keeping it in the public spotlight.

    Just from our own experience within our Rutherford Cancer Centre network, patients have been presenting with late-stage cancer in considerable numbers, far more than we would usually expect. Oncologists across our centres and beyond all share the same concerns. Nationally, there are estimated to be approximately 45,000 “missing cancer patients”. Where are they? Thousands will lose their lives unnecessarily because diagnosis and therefore treatment has been significantly delayed. Too many in the Covid debate just want to pretend that this isn’t happening.

    Cancer is sadly just one part of this growing catastrophe. A&E departments across the country are having unprecedented levels of demand for non-Covid illnesses. People who have not come forward previously with a niggle here or there which has developed into a serious issue. Heart problems, strokes, and many other small issues which may not be life-threatening but can cause extreme suffering for the patient – the list could go on and on and on.

    This is even before we talk about the mental health crisis. When we hear discussion about lockdowns later in the year, it is disingenuous to ignore the consequences of them as many have done. It’s easy for a scientist like myself to sit in my nice garden with no real financial issues to worry about and tell a club owner that they need to remain shut or a young professional to work from home in their tiny flat with small children. There has been an incredible lack of empathy and an unpleasant “I’m alright, Jack” mentality during all of this.

    Personally, I’m relatively unaffected by restrictions but I understand the extreme challenges that millions of people have gone through. This includes our children. When politicians look back at those images of playgrounds covered in police tape, will they be proud of that? Totally unnecessary and cruel. And we’re still locking up thousands of healthy children for days on end when in reality the damage done to their life chances will far outweigh the tiny threat from the virus. I believe that a society should put its children first and do everything in its power to give them the best chances possible. We have failed a generation of children in my view.

    Lockdowns and restrictions have severe consequences. It’s clear that Javid understands that. I’ve never been more hopeful that we’ve turned a corner. We need to fully acknowledge the crisis, openly discuss it and tackle it with the same vigour with which we’ve battled Covid.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/05/sajid-javid-has-finally-broken-taboo-admitted-lockdowns-cost/

    1. The antifas do this kind of mindless stuff for free. They really seem to hate their fellow citizens.

    2. When the enemy responds it will be like WW1.

      Then: Whistle (tweet) “OK lads, over the top.”
      Machine guns fire, soldiers killed in their hundreds
      Now: Tweet (whistle) OK lads, publish.
      Wokenwimps fire up, bloggers cancelled in their hundreds.

    4. 77th accounts on Twitter are easy to spot. They appear as old accounts but have very few followers and usually sports references in the profile. Added to pushing the WEF agenda, it isn’t subtle.

      1. Sounds like the Disqus spammer accounts. They are obviously harvested from old accounts which have stopped being used.

      1. “What have I done wrong?” asks the hysterical mother of the little boy, speaking to Doctor Kildare. Well, it’s very clear to me; she obviously hung the toilet roll the wrong way round.

        :-))

    2. This is a ridiculous Daily Mail article by a “journalist” who does not understand English and debates whether the toilet paper should hang “over” or “under” the roll. Anyone with any common sense will realise that gravity will force the end of the toilet roll to hang downwards, or “under” the roll. What the article means is “When the end of the toilet paper hangs down, should it hang close to the wall or further away from the wall?”

      I have debated this with Nurse Allan on the NoTTL site and she believes that it ought to hang closer to the wall; I take the opposite view. My argument is that in the case of ladies, whether they are having a “pee” or a “poo” they are seated on the toilet and therefore have two free hands with which to tear off the end of the toilet roll before use. This applies equally to men when they are seated for a “poo”. However, since men usually stand for a “pee” and use one hand to point Percy at the porcelain, then they only have one free hand with which to tear off the end of the toilet roll if they do not wish use the second hand and risk a dribble down their trousers. When the toilet roll hangs away from the wall it is not too difficult to tear off a strip by holding the roll steady with one’s wrist; this is virtually impossible when the toilet roll hangs next to the wall. Either sex can test this theory of mine by placing one hand behind one’s back and see that it makes sense. You can either upvote this post (if you agree with Elsie) or downvote it (if you agree with Annie). The vote is yours.

      1. It has to hang from the front of the roll, not from behind it.

        How many men use the paper for a pee? They just shake the drops all over the wall.

        1. Not if they are gentlemen, Ndovu. But thanks for agreeing with me and giving me the first upvote.

          2. Yup. I am. I also lift the seat and wipe any spillage from the rim with a disinfectant.

            Years ago I would have used a quarter of a toilet roll to cover the seat and wrap around the chain from the overhead cistern.

            I am now a little more relaxed. I do hate stinking urinals and now design and prefer those Unisex Ally McBeal cubicles where you have a mirror with shelf, wash hand basin and hand dryer in the cubicle.

            The well designed washroom will allow both men and women to meet (outside of the cubicles) without the Victorian stigma attached to toilets snd sex.

    3. This is a ridiculous Daily Mail article by a “journalist” who does not understand English and debates whether the toilet paper should hang “over” or “under” the roll. Anyone with any common sense will realise that gravity will force the end of the toilet roll to hang downwards, or “under” the roll. What the article means is “When the end of the toilet paper hangs down, should it hang close to the wall or further away from the wall?”

      I have debated this with Nurse Allan on the NoTTL site and she believes that it ought to hang closer to the wall; I take the opposite view. My argument is that in the case of ladies, whether they are having a “pee” or a “poo” they are seated on the toilet and therefore have two free hands with which to tear off the end of the toilet roll before use. This applies equally to men when they are seated for a “poo”. However, since men usually stand for a “pee” and use one hand to point Percy at the porcelain, then they only have one free hand with which to tear off the end of the toilet roll if they do not wish use the second hand and risk a dribble down their trousers. When the toilet roll hangs away from the wall it is not too difficult to tear off a strip by holding the roll steady with one’s wrist; this is virtually impossible when the toilet roll hangs next to the wall. Either sex can test this theory of mine by placing one hand behind one’s back and see that it makes sense. You can either upvote this post (if you agree with Elsie) or downvote it (if you agree with Annie). The vote is yours.

    4. What does it matter as long as you wash your hands thoroughly afterwards?

  98. The attack on those England-supporting primary school children for being white is rather chilling.
    Are we being prepared for a situation when famine or hardship in Europe will be ignored because those bad white people deserve it?
    Mind you, it does rather vindicate the position of never, never posting photos of children on the internet because you don’t know who is going to see them.

    1. I am curious as to why they did post. Did they have permission from all the parents?

      1. They usually get a blanket tick in a box for events “I agree that this can be used in the school’s publicity” I think.
        But it was a bad call to put it on the cess-pit that is Twitter.

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