Monday 6 October: The new Archbishop of Canterbury has an almighty job on her hands

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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541 thoughts on “Monday 6 October: The new Archbishop of Canterbury has an almighty job on her hands”

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe page. After 5 consecutive days of Wordle Pars I managed a Birdie today.

    Wordle 1,570 3/6

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    1. Morning Elsie, you just beat me again. I picked the wrong option in row 3 in Wordle today:

      Wordle 1,570 4/6

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  2. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLers, it’s Monday Chuckles time again. Today there’s a hospital theme:

    A man ended up in hospital, covered in wood and hay, with a toy horse lodged in his rectum. Doctors described his condition as “stable”.

    A woman went to a hospital to visit a friend. She hadn’t been inside a hospital for several years and felt very ignorant about all the new technology. A technician followed her into the elevator, wheeling a large, intimidating-looking machine with numerous tubes, wires and dials. She looked at it and smiled: “I certainly wouldn’t want to be hooked up to that!” “Neither would I,” replied the technician. “It’s a floor-cleaning machine.”

    The transplant patient was wheeled into the operating theatre, and then he had a change of heart.

    A man was lying in hospital, covered in bandages from head to toe. The guy in the next bed said: “What do you do for a living?” The bandaged man replied: “I used to be a window cleaner.” “Oh, when did you give it up?” “About halfway down.”

    Two small boys were sitting outside a clinic. One was crying very loudly. “What’s the matter?” asked the other boy. “I came here for a blood test.” “So? That’s nothing to be afraid of.” “You don’t understand. For the blood test, they cut my finger.” Hearing this, the second boy started to cry, too. “Why are you crying?” sobbed the first boy. “Because I’m here for a urine test.”

  3. Good morning Geoff and all NoTTLers, it’s Monday Chuckles time again. Today there’s a hospital theme:

    A man ended up in hospital, covered in wood and hay, with a toy horse lodged in his rectum. Doctors described his condition as “stable”.

    A woman went to a hospital to visit a friend. She hadn’t been inside a hospital for several years and felt very ignorant about all the new technology. A technician followed her into the elevator, wheeling a large, intimidating-looking machine with numerous tubes, wires and dials. She looked at it and smiled: “I certainly wouldn’t want to be hooked up to that!” “Neither would I,” replied the technician. “It’s a floor-cleaning machine.”

    The transplant patient was wheeled into the operating theatre, and then he had a change of heart.

    A man was lying in hospital, covered in bandages from head to toe. The guy in the next bed said: “What do you do for a living?” The bandaged man replied: “I used to be a window cleaner.” “Oh, when did you give it up?” “About halfway down.”

    Two small boys were sitting outside a clinic. One was crying very loudly. “What’s the matter?” asked the other boy. “I came here for a blood test.” “So? That’s nothing to be afraid of.” “You don’t understand. For the blood test, they cut my finger.” Hearing this, the second boy started to cry, too. “Why are you crying?” sobbed the first boy. “Because I’m here for a urine test.”

  7. A good morning to one and all.
    An almost warm tad over 13°C today with an overcast but dry start.

    1. Where were they before there was DT and his outspokenness to follow? Are these people not capable of independent thought and doing their own research or even just asking the unfashionable for their opinions?
      Bah!

    2. Good morning! Is this why the doom goblin has switched her attention to the Gaza scam?

  9. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautiful sunny morning – after all the rain over the weekend, it should be! Frustrating that the rain stopped me doing a whole load of things that were planned for the outside, but at least we got no damage from the wind.

    1. I know nothing about her – philosophy, background, whatever.
      Firstborn's Godfather retired recently as a C of E vicar. He used to say he was the last vicar in the Church who still believed in God.

    2. That's what we were asking after church yesterday. It would make a change, but I'm not holding my breath.

  13. The Islamist terrorist who carried out the Manchester synagogue attack was a cannabis-smoking university dropout who cheated on his wife and was violent towards his girlfriend, it has been claimed.

    Jihad al-Shamie, 35, claimed to be a devout Muslim and devoted father, but had a string of criminal convictions and was recently arrested on suspicion of rape.

    Well, chase my Aunt Fannie round the gasworks. I wasn't expecting that.

  14. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win, then they copy your policies at their party conferences."
    Reform still winning

    1. Just shows that they have no ideas of their own and just run with what they see will be popular.
      My contempt has never been so strong.

  15. Gawd listen to the full rant of The Moral Compass of Bury aka Gary Neville.
    He even boasted about tearing down Union Jacks on 'one' of his construction sites.

        1. Time was, when vociferous traitors — like this despicable Neville object — would have been hanged for treason.

  16. Good Morning!

    In Competitiveness Ursula/? EU've Got To Be joking! , our Greek correspondent Eleni Papadimitriou pours scorn on recent EU directives aimed at improving the EU economy. Also, ZYY is back telling us about today's major Chinese feast, as ever with the Chinese, a celebration of food, family and fantasy, in It's Mooncake Day! on China's Mid-Autumn Festival.

    In the second part of her excellent treatise, Xandra H, in T he Rise of Psychopathic Tendencies – Psychopaths and Narcissists tells the inside story of those afflicted and who often inflict the results on us. Mandelson, Lammy and Ginger Raynor get honourable mentions. And be sure not to miss Paul Sutton's piece, Indigo Not Violet.

    We'll be running two articles most days for the next three weeks. Please read both!

  17. And that is my 2nd mug of tea drank so off to pump bilges and then away to Stoke.
    See you all later.

  20. Latest breaking medical news – Brain doctors have warned that repeated head trauma from heading too many footballs when young can cause extreme woke leftyism in middle age.
    They are naming it Nevillitis.

    1. To be serious about that, Cassius Clay got Parkinson’s Disease from repeated blows to the head. The Neville bloke is an ignorant narcissist, aka idiot.

      1. There also seems to be a higher number of MND diagnoses among top rugby players.
        This problem seems to have appeared in the past few years. Apparently Motor Neurone Disease has been known and diagnosed for at least 150 years.
        Looking at the sheer size and bulk of modern rugby players compared with even fifty years ago, I'm wondering if that is part of the problem. These men are travelling at high speeds; it must be like being hit by an elephant rather a fellow human being.

    1. All government stationery and documents will have to be changed while former stationery and documents go to waste.
      Oops! This refers to the rebranding of the government logo.

    2. All government stationery and documents will have to be changed while former stationery and documents go to waste.
      Oops! This refers to the rebranding of the government logo.

    3. That was posted on here yesterday and I explained the idiocy of those 'figures'.

      A clear example of lies, damned lies and statistics.

      To reiterate: that 57,595,206 who "didn't vote for the Labour Party" consists of:

      ● Those not eligible to vote.
      ●Those who couldn't be arsed to vote.
      ● The remainder being the halfwits splitting the vote between a host of various numpty parties on the Right-and-Centre.

      That is why Labour got in in 2024 and it will be why they get in again in 2029.

        1. But this still means that only one in five people who were eligible to vote actually voted Labour.

  23. Must go out and clear barrowloads of fallen apples. What a waste…. But we have enough for the winter and spring.

    1. Or as stigenace effectively posted late last night..

      So what a few Pakistani rape gangs..
      So what a few no go areas..
      So what 1,000 per day hairy arse Muslim fighting aged men invade our shores..
      So what the Home Office employs 700 Islamic Jihadis..
      So what UK has twenty odd Muslim mayors..

      It's had very little impact on my savings account. My life hasn't been remotely overcome by Islam.

        1. "I appreciate that I'm supposed to moan about it incessantly in a vain attempt to ward it off."

          It's all good. Makes you realise.. like my ex-GF Dutch mother used to say.. 25% of us were pro-Hitler, 25% vehemently against.. the rest didn't give a toss.

      2. That last sentence is true. Alternatively, I can lie and pretend I'm being made miserable by Islam or simply shut the fuck up, either about that subject in particular or perhaps about everything, if it so happens to be the prevailing view of the majority.

        1. Morning, Stig.
          Personally, I prefer to read other opinions.
          I may not agree, but it does give food for thought.

        2. Continue to put your views forward. We don't have to agree with them nor you with others' opinions.

        3. The issue of islam is not that it affects many right now, but it would if you lived close to their ghettos. But what is coming down the line in the form of societal change. The few muslim MPs punch far above their weight vs numbers and they haven't got going yet. The group trying to define islamaphobia and criminalise it is just one example, halal meat being served in the forces is another. As I say, they have only been here in numbers for a few years and I do not want to live in an islamic society or accept their primitive ways of life.

          1. Halal meat served in schools is another. No animals should be slaughtered without being stunned first. and all halal meat sold in shops should be labelled as such.

          3. I always say that if I was being chased by the law or lost all my loot, I would decamp to the East and drink myself to death in a small bar whilst being pawed by adoring ladies. Fortunately, my road contains only one slammer, and she is under my strict control at the moment, but Cardiff itself is infested by Ubereats and the likes. I find them arrogant and threatening and it changes the balance of the city. Maybe I should buy the yacht instead of rent and booger off but I am lucky enough to live in a place I enjoy with my bro and sis close by. Well, just another 6 weeks until my winter hol until then, Im doing a bit of house maintenance.

          4. Kiki is very nice for a slammer. I think the difference is between being a Muslim and being an Islamic.

        4. You can – and should – say what your like here and don't worry – Nottlers follow the unwritten code not ever to use the down vote which is considered to be an insult! If people disagree they should either state their view openly or keep quiet!

    2. The present generation have none of: the brains, the balls, the drive, the intelligence, the education, the resolve nor the wit to 'save themselves'.

      All of that has been bred out of them. The future of the species has already been decided by a combination of those with malign intent and successive generations of brainless parents. There is no fighting against it, it is a fait accompli.

        1. I doubt that very much. I am 74·6666667 years of age. I have witnessed the pattern for most of my life.

          There is certainly not going to be any upswing [sorry: 'commencement'] of human intelligence any time soon … if at all.

          1. Well, I'm 76 and I marvel at the young thinkers on the right who despite everything being thrown against them in societies in which they are regarded as enemies to the point that their lives are threatened and they frequently have to be escorted by bodyguards, learn, persist, think and fight against unceasing opposition that people of our age never even had to think about. As old right wingers, we had it easy because the right was normal in our time. It is now a position that invites constant censorship, persecution and literal danger. We never had to struggle against such things.

          2. I discovered the Lotus Eaters about a year ago and look forward to listening to it on my way home from work every day

      2. I think you are wrong. You should look at some of the podcasters and what they have to say. Start with Carl Benjamin, Connor Tomlinson, Stelios Panagiotou, Dan Tubb, Tim Pool, Benjamin 'Beau' Dade, Konstantin Kisin, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, Matt Walsh and of course, Tommy Robinson. Sadly I can no longer include Charlie Kirk.

        1. A lot of people have a lot to say (it's what they do best), but no one has taken any action.

          And by action I am not talking about whining in newspapers or 'marching' around the streets shouting and waving banners.

          The Elizabethans didn't whinge in newspapers or march around the streets complaining about an approaching Armada.
          Likewise the British in the 1930s–1940s didn't moan to their MPs and write angry letters to the News Chronicle and Daily Sketch about the Luftwaffe bombing their cities.

          No, they got off their arses and the fought to save their country!

          1. Actually. You know as well as I do that the generation before us did damn all until the government called them up. So your image is not quite accurate. In those days they whinged in the pubs while academics waffled about whether they shold fight or not. Meanwhile a considerable number though that Herr Hitler was a decent enough chap. It was only because of the likes of Winston Churchill that we were halfway prepared.

          3. Oxford Union vote, 1933.

            The King and Country Debate was a debate on 9 February 1933 at the Oxford Union Society. The motion presented, "That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country", passed with 275 votes for the motion and 153 against it. The motion would later be named the Oxford Oath or the Oxford Pledge.

          4. Many of those people later joined the University Air Squadrons and fought with distinction.

          5. Not quite true that people did nothing until they were called up; bomber command air crew were all volunteers and RAF Fighter Command in 1940 consisted of the Volunteer Reserve and Auxiliary Squadrons as well as those who had joined up in the thirties.

      1. When was the last time you saw a 'meme', a 'GIF' or just a bog-standard cartoon created by anyone with any sense of spelling or grammar?

        I can't remember that far back!

    2. Who is she? On my version of the Daily Telegraph is the talent-free, woke nonentity Isabel Oakeshott frolicking with Libyan generals offering to help us deal with our illegal immigrant problem. I can tell you they are incredibly efficient. In Libya most miscreants were shot "while trying to escape" in the desert. Most, in the UK, I assume, would drown while trying to escape. Either way the delicate hand of the Libyan military in such matters are just what we need. I can also tell you they are cheap, a case of booze and a couple of cartons of ciggs, per week, is quite enough.

      1. The caption under the photograph reads: "Emma Watson. the Harry Potter star, leaves the Le Bristol Hotel after a Fashion Week".

        Is that of any interest to anyone with a functioning and rational mind? Front page news? This once-mighty rag gets more deplorable (not to mention error-strewn) by the day.

        1. She is of no interest to me. Never watched Harry Potter all the way through. More a Lord of the Rings type, myself. There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from that. Particularly how Middle Earth is overrun by the Orcs and the evil of Sauron. One might mistake the latter for Allah and the Orcs for his followers. The Nazgul are clearly our current government!

          1. Never read or watched Harry Potter books or films. But I respect JKR for her success in writing and her views on the rights of women.

          3. Our sons loved them.

            I have read them all but I found each one of the series less interesting than its predecessor.

          4. JKR also writes as Robert Galbraith and can thoroughly recommend the series of Strike available on iPlayer.

          5. There was a dramatisation some years ago, filmed in this area – of a novel of hers – The Casual Vacancy. a memorable scene was a character dropping dead in Minchinhampton

          6. I cannot argue with that, You-na-tan.

            'You-na-tan', The Swedish pronunciation of Johnathan! 😉

    2. Those descriptions of the various generations falls at the first hurdle.

      The pre-1946 generation were the stoic ones who valued country, family and gave hard-working loyalty.

      Every generation since then has degenerated, and continues to do so at an ever-accelerating rate. Just read the newspapers and the evidence is clear.

  29. 'Morning All
    I wonder how many of those elderly women arrested for "Terrorism" at the weekend will actually be charged and get the full Lucy(31 months)
    None will be the answer unlike Tommy who will be jailed again for not handing over a pin number
    So what was the point?? after all this was nothing different to every other Pally protest was it??
    This, new powers to ban protests I'll give you 3 guesses where they'll be used
    https://x.com/AwakenedOf/status/1974798552313573842
    https://x.com/john077333/status/1974777084829634712?s=46
    Good luck with that let's see you try and arrest 100,000 at the next patriots march

          2. I did not appreciate his atheism because his criticisms were over simplistic going after those religious who were not terribly sophisticated. But there is no doubt that he was a brilliant man and spot on on so many issues unlike his contemporary, Richard Dawkins who's understanding of Christianity was on the level of Sunday School kids. Never understood why anyone took him seriously.

          3. My father-in-law was great admirer of Richard Dawkins and was a a devout Atheist as were my mother-in-law and my two sisters-in-law. However his youngest daughter, my wife, is a devout Christian.

    2. Oscar Wilde said that only superficial people do not judge by appearances!

      I am sure that Mr Wilde would agree with me: I find Shabana Mahmood an extremely unattractive person.

      2. It's a good thing that politics isn't a beauty contest. Nigel Farage can only turn heads… the other way, although leaving us with no politicians whatsoever might be a worthwhile experiment.

        1. She's not a bad-looking woman if you like that kind of thing, but her politics and power is a threat to us.

          1. Not the kind of thing I like!

            Having said that it is not her race nor her being Muslim that I dislike though I do find that Islamic ethics are completely incompatible with European ethics based on Christianity.

            We spent several years sailing in Turkey and made many Turkish friends but we did not try to change Turkey or the Turkish We had lively conversations with our Turkish friends on a variety of subjects – as we do with all our friends – but Turkey is their country just as England is mine and I am English though I have lived in France for the last 36 years.

  31. France’s PM resigns after 27 days
    Lecornu’s sudden departure worsens his country’s political deadlock and could lead to snap elections
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/06/french-prime-minister-sbastien-lecornu-resigns-macron/

    A week is a long time in politics so you might argue that the duration of Liz Truss's time as prime minister of 49 days (or 7 weeks) ) was a long time!

    I wonder if the PTB in the Conservative Party, the Bank of England and the financial markets realised that by getting Liz Truss replaced by their own candidate, Rishi Sunak – whom the party members had rejected – was the fatal blow which killed the Conservative Party for ever?

  32. No one at the Tory party conference .. why , because the tickets are so expensive , yes , you have to pay for a ticket to get in there .. then there are the spivs quaffing booze, the hotels , they have failed everyone ..

    They don't have the strength of purpose .. they forgot good Conservative value ..

    Mel Stride is talking with an empty desperate heart .. they allowed this mess ..

    To hell with the hospitality sector , we need industrial growth .

    They are just as useless as Labour .

  33. Got there in the end:
    Wordle 1,570 5/6

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      1. Twin brothers have grown the world’s heaviest and longest pumpkin in the world.

        Ian and Stuart Paton, from Lymington, Hampshire, won two world records for their pumpkin, which weighs 1,279kg (2,819.8lbs) with a circumference of 21.3ft.

        The 64-year-olds spent six hours a day tending to their crop of squashes before taking the winner to the weigh-in at the Giant Vegetable Weigh-Off at Wargrave Nursery in Reading, Berkshire.

        The brothers said that one of the keys to growing the pumpkin was keeping inside a greenhouse at all time. Ian said: “You wouldn’t be able to grow them that size outside.”

        The pumpkin took about 130 days to grow from the size of a golf ball to its full size………

        Ian said that his passion for pumpkin-growing had become a family affair with his granddaughters Etta and Martha Syrett, aged four and seven, helping. However. he admitted they were still too young to contribute with the growing process.

        “They do get their hands dirty and they love it. They even talk to the pumpkins,” he said.

        The event is part of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth and the results were submitted for official recognition.

        2. Clint Eastwood would talk to the trees, but they didn't listen to him. Are pumpkins any more communicative?

          3. I'll nip into the kitchen and have a chat with the decorative gourds in a bowl.
            I'll report on their opinions of the party conference season later.

          4. Yeah. Trees are stubborn gits who only talk about gardening. Pumpkins are far more up with modern events.

  36. Morning everyone. Off to the RAFA meeting shortly. Probably the last bastion of white male patriotic privilege!

    2. She's a wonderful bellwether. If she supports it, espouses it or carries a banner for it, you know it's dodgy.

      1. And if Mummy and Daddy are short of a few krona ….. the Doom Goblin is wheeled out.

    3. I have to confess that it was me who wrenched all those idiotic plastic lids from all those bottles (and cartons)!

          1. I saw them perform once – they were engaged for a posh, private function and I was on the catering staff. We saw them in rehearsal too – they were excellent and very talented.

          2. We saw them years ago at the Mercury Theatre.
            They were really funny.
            Like Fascinating Aida, I could watch them again and again.

        2. Very funny. I could understand a lot of it. The pianist, George Logan, was very talented. Patrick Fyffe played his part well. Raving pufters bringing joy to millions.

          2. It was a good film and surprisingly touching.
            It began as a joke, but the end was really tear jerking.

  38. 413835 + Morning Each,

    Morning Each,

    may one ask,
    Just how much would have been retained had the political pervert "miranda" been reinged in early doors, prior to triggering its take down England campaign commencing.

    Truth be told the children of this nation closely followed be the elderly have been offered up on the alter of DEI to placate the invaders, by the lab/lib/con anti Brit.pro eu coalition party and members, over the worsening year on year decades.

    More importantly, over the last thirty plus years how many lives have been lost / ruined via the route of putting party before Country in pursuit of the number ten power seat through votes before the welfare of the indigenous people.

    The politico's now hold conferences ( fodder for fools) to rhetorically put right what they deceitfully, treacherously, intentionally activated initially.

    Health warning,

    Holding ones breath waiting for change IS proving fatal, change
    will have to be achieved by learning from our history and fought for.

    Only British citizens will be able to claim benefits, says Stride
    Shadow chancellor says Tories’ proposed overhaul of welfare system would save £47bn annually

    2. Much better to do what some other countries do – in order to get benefits, claimants need to have paid in.

      1. We lost our dear old friend Jim last year. He was 89.

        He fell over so often that he had to go into a nursing home and even though he had walkers and a wheel chair he fell over again and again.

      2. There was an excellent article somewhere that marked out on a timeline all the key events in the final run in.. from That Fall.. right through to the (DNR) order &/or medical directive & NPO (Nil Per Os) at the end of your bed.

        With a few anecdotes.. here's one from Leslie Phillips:
        "If you are alone and have nothing, nobody gives a damn. If you are alone and have something, everyone cares."

        1. An ambulance team were called to an old lady because her friend found her on the floor after a fall.

          The ambulance team transfered her to hospital where they found her a bed.

          She fell out of it!

    3. RIP Jilly Cooper

      (for the woman who wrote Bodice Rippers)

      I cannot confess to ever having read any of her books but she always struck me as being a jolly woman and, to be honest, I do prefer jolly people to gloomy people who take themselves too seriously.

      1. She used to write articles in a Sunday newspaper my father would buy. I don't think I ever read those either. But she seemed to be part of my life when I lived in England and I felt a pang on hearing of her passing. 88 is a good innings. Although I suppose Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke have done better.

    4. Somehow, I expected her to go out with a bang.
      An event involving stables, horses, lots of straw and an impossibly dark haired, brooding man.

    5. I remember one time we were doing a lunch for Jilly Cooper and she was choking on a piece of beef – somebody managed to have the presence of mind to do the Heimlich (?) manoevre and she survived.

    1. Large infrastructure projects employ a myriad of specialist consultants.. I have often found myself sitting through the "Colour Consultant" presentation on bridge constructions.. thinking.. how long.. how long.. before we finally get to the inevitable Battleship grey solution.
      keeeerching..

    2. A piece of work that didn't need doing at all. It's the sure case of 'we have the money, we will spend it'.

      However the marketing cost is the side issue. It's the hundreds of thousands spent on testing it across countless websites, the miniscule development effort, the project planning, the legions of managers, meetings and time wasted not doing anything else.

    1. I don't recall Michael Flanders and Donald Swann singing a song with lyrics:

      ♬"The Muzzies, the Muzzies, the Muzzies are best,
      I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest …"♬

    1. Just abou everything wrong with this country comes down to poor parenting. Why? Because of welfare. If you know you don't have to work to get money, you teach that to your children, so they don't bother either. They waste ttheir time in school and disrupt other children.

      If the state mandates what children can see and do, then it tries ever further to remove the parent. Government is an appalling parent. It is lazy, arrogant, overbearing, abusive and useless because big government doesn't consider that one size does not fit all. hat's what parents are for.

      Stop nannying everyone and bugger the feck out of our lives. If you want better children, scrap welfare.

      1. No No yes and no.

        Nowt wrong with welfare, in fact it's imperative you maintain it.. your SMEs, Corps & state depend on spending. In any case the oil in the engine must flow to avoid a stall.
        As for parenting Yep. However, it has to be said me missus & I employed a lot of interns of our very rich clients. My word, Gawd help us. Even a Shanghainese father begged us to spark some kind of life into his vacant son. They weren't even spoilt. I even tasked one to go to the beach and count the grains of sand, I kid you not. He was happy.

      2. You can trace the parenting problem through the human ancestry tree back to where it all started.
        Would you Adam and Eve it?

    3. The Poles are fighting Russia as we write. They have apparently lost about 10,000 men KIA. This was down to Donald Tusk who does anything and everything demanded of him by Ursula von der Leyen.

        1. We should not trust anything the EU, NATO and the US say about the progress of the war in Ukraine.

          One of the regular guests on The Duran is a Russian and on the ground driving medical supplies to the front lines. He says that the Americans are there in numbers because only they can operate the Himars. The American generals are determining the targets under the guise of Ukrainians.

          He also says that the F16s are most likely being flown by former US airmen because it takes several years to train foreign pilots who have been taught to fly former Russian aircraft. It is easier to train a novice than re-train an experienced fighter pilot.

          As you note there is a continuous drip feed of more soldiers and more arms and machines from the west to Ukraine. Likewise the Ukrainian people are being kept on life support by many billions gifted them by the EU and the likes of Starmer.

          The explanation for this mad scheme of support to the monsters in Kiev is that the western politicians depend on American money to fund their own heady lifestyles. They must keep the Americans engaged at all cost in order to preserve institutions such as the EU and NATO.

          Had President Trump the brains he was born with he should have shut up shop and walked away from Biden’s War.

          1. My view is that Russia had genuine grievances regarding Russian peoples in Ukraine.
            The “West” should have stayed out of it, but stated unequivocally that Russian invasion anywhere else would have resulted in all Hell being unleashed.

            The problems have arisen not because of the last 10 years but because the Yanks and the EUrocrats wanted to expand into areas of Russian influence. It could have been prevented if the “West” had been far more open to them after the fall of the wall.

            The military industrial complex is voracious and has a bottomless stomach for strife.

    4. Poland was such a walkover that Hitler suggested to Molotov over cocktails that Germany and Russia could share the spoils.
      However the Finns were recording it all on tape and in the end it was a close Finnish.

  45. Sadly, the same age group as my younger grandchildren. But a case of Darwinism in action.
    I wonder who was paying his air fare?

    A British man has died after he swallowed several packets of cocaine before his flight to Dubai – which eventually exploded in his stomach.

    Jensen Westhead, 20, had ingested multiple bags of the class A drug at a hotel in Manchester in December last year.

    He then boarded a to flight to the United Arab Emirates where one of the packages 'burst in his stomach' two days later.

    2. He should have used the double condom trick. They never break when you double up. So i'm reliably informed.

    3. Four people including a female have been arrested for drug smuggling – Pity they weren't with him on the flight. Years in jail at taxpayer's expense.

  46. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/05/theres-only-one-way-the-tories-can-survive/

    To dismiss Reform isn't practical. They have a lot of people with a lot of experience running government departments and dealing with the Westminster nonsense. However Reform voters see Farage as some sort of Messianic hero who will right every wrong – despite everyone having a different view of the wrongs, and how to right them.

    However the Tories also have an awful lot of idiot Leftists in their party who refuse to give up their absurd ideals: May forcing in 'net zero' as her legacy is the most obvious. She wasn't thinking rationally, of the economics, industrial and technical needs, just the grand vision of righteousness. Such a mindset is immature at best, and utterly expected of the political class.

  47. Just back from the garden. It is a very nice, almost still day. My plans had to be changed because a large chestnut branch sapped off during the gale. I can trim most of it – but the main "stem" is six inches in diameter and my sturdy electric saw is not big enough to cope. Needless to say, the law of the sod applied as the branch fell across my laboriously constructed leaf mould frame….

    I'll have another bash after lunch.

    1. Oh dear. Let this be a lesson to you. Don't cut down tree branches.

      I watched the tree people trimming ours back when we moved in. They were very… meticulous (expensive) and trimmed the branch all the way along, then sawed off a bit at a time with nice, neat stacked blocks of wood that I assumed they then sold to make even more money.

          1. No can do, I’m afraid. I can trim all the, er, trimmings but neither of us could cope with the main branch.

          5. It came right off. The initial problem was trimming the trimmings so as to get to the main branch.

            The bloke who cuts the grass has a large chain saw – and he dealt with the branch in five minutes. All that remains is to take the heap (a large heap) of trimmings to the bonfire site to await disposal when there is a gentle north wind. The logs will be removed on Wednesday after noon and stacked.

    3. Presumably a chain saw Bill? Even my cordless Einhell chainsaw would get through 8" with ease

          1. And for old men with arthritis and withered muscles! Only wish I had had one years ago.

          2. I bought a couple through Amazon and both lasted about 5 min so I got my money back. I’ve had a McCulloch electric chain saw for 32 years, also got a crocodile chain saw, an Einhell cordless and a chainsaw attachment for my extendable Einhell hedge cutter. I do have rather a lot of trees round my bungalow

        2. Cut from one side then the other. Even if the cuts don't perfectly line up, you will probably be able to push or lever it over.

    5. So you want me to come over with my chainsaw as well as my scratter and apple press?

  48. This is my friend. I think she must be quite good at singing (i am not – i am tone deaf). She is supporting another friend of mine at a gig at the Pheasantry (aka Pizza Express King’s Road SW3) on Saturday 25th October. I shall be there!

    https://m.youtube.com/shorts/xo-7fpqT6cM

    1. Estimates put Neil Kinnock's net worth at around £9.5 million in 2025, mainly from pensions and political roles. Glenys Kinnock, who passed away in 2023, left an estate valued at about £1.5 million.

      83 yrs old. Betcha he's got his Tax thresholds, rules and allowances all worked out. BVI.. Turks and Caicos or the other one.

      2. He is the absolute pits, klb, Just the epitome of the grifter, as was his wife and as is his son.

      3. Not one real day’s work done in his life. No wonder they look down on us, for allowing them to get away with it.

      4. Not one real day’s work done in his life. No wonder they look down on us, for allowing them to get away with it.

      5. His EU pension (dependent on his promotion of the institution) doesn't attract much in the way of tax at all. That's the way it's been arranged.

    2. Emissions from the Windbags of the past smell just as foul as today's newly fermented ones.

  50. “Gosh it’s a bit depressing this, isn’t it?!”.
    “It is very quiet at the moment – I am hoping that the conference will liven up.
    “It’s not like a wake – that was last year. This is like the reading of the will – only true family members show up and it’s the serious business of dividing up the family silver.”

    Barely a single Conservative will be elected. Funding will dry up. Whole Conservative Associations will shift to Reform. That's what happens when parties come to an end. Nothing is Eternal.
    David Starkey

    1. Sergey Lavrov has commented that the West is fighting a proxy war with Russia.
      I think the UK is being governed by a proxy PM.

  52. Every protester supporting Hamas and the Palestinians should be forced to read this and justify their support for what Hamas ordered.
    '[The footage] will be used as propaganda: broadcast and circulated everywhere, so that they will be seen by our people. The goal is to incite the masses to go out and support us. In parallel, the incursion forces should instil terror and fear in the enemy,' a description outlining the massacre's 'operational principles' read.

    'Fighters must be urged to inflict as many casualties as possible in every house beheading, shooting heads of families, running down soldiers with vehicles, destroying tanks, cutting off limbs, etc,' it continued.

    The directives called on terrorists to slaughter entire Israeli communities at the kibbutzim on the Gaza periphery, including women, children and the elderly.

    'The plan calls for preparing spectacular acts that will wipe out whole neighbourhoods and kibbutzim,' an instruction said.

    'One example given is to pour gasoline or diesel from a special tanker, burn the site and broadcast the images. Breaching openings in the barrier (gates).'
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15166145/Sickening-acts-Hamas-terrorists-ordered-carry-October-7-victims-create-shocking-scenes-Israel-releases-orders-killers-given-including-cutting-limbs-beheading.html

    1. First time an urban war has been exposed to a delicate effeminate progressive liberal in real time on a smart phone.
      War is terrible. This is Jihad in real time. Be careful what you support. Be careful what you wish for.
      Conor Tomlinson

  53. from the Daily Mail
    A key ocean current in the North Atlantic Ocean is weakening to the point of total collapse due to climate change, a new study warns.

    Scientists say the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre – a massive system of rotating ocean currents south of Greenland – has been losing stability since the 1950s.

    It is now approaching a 'tipping point' – a critical threshold in the system which, if passed, could cause sudden and dramatic climate changes.

    2. The gyre in "The Second Coming" symbolizes a cyclical view of history, reflecting the poet's belief in inevitable chaos and the breakdown of order. It represents the widening spiral of societal collapse and the coming of a new, tumultuous era, suggesting that history moves in recurring cycles of destruction and renewal.

      We're doomed" Doomed I say! Wait a minute, it says the Gyre is collapsing. We are saved! Thanks be to God, we are saved!

      1. 'Twas brillig, and the slithey toves
        Did gyre and gimbol in the wabe
        All mimsy were the brorgroves
        And the momeraths outgrabe.

        1. I used to have a gyrotop toy when I were nobbut a sprog. It worked by yanking a string … hard.

          1. I used to have something similar that travelled along a wire frame. You set it spinning and it would go round corners and along the bottom as well.

    3. I know, it's terrible news, isn't it!

      I feel sorry for all those poor people — and their relatives — who perished when the rising sea levels covered Greenland, Long Island, Borneo, Madagascar, Baffin island, New Zealand, Japan, Jamaica and Lincolnshire!

      We shall never see their sort again. Time to erect effective flood defences in The Andes, the Pyrenees, The Himalayas, The Rockies, The Alps, Exmoor and the North York Moors.

      Before it's too late!

        1. They think a) we've no memory, b) we don't read anything outside their propaganda, c) we have only been indoctrinated with "climate" science (as opposed to biology, physics, chemistry and geography) and d) we're brain dead.

    6. I seem to recall reading about the possibility of the Gulf Stream stalling and collapsing in the '70 when the big project fear was the new Ice Age.

  54. Afternoon all,

    I took this picture this afternoon.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88198f6a09f65265d6793cf525943f38a3ded9a3ab3e1d24a66476fd69d6f583.jpg
    It shows the valve and actuator assembly removed from my heating system on my test rig.
    The actuator has been energised, the valve has been opened and the microswitch contact was heard activating – indeed the continuity tester is beeping showing the contactor is working.

    On the face of it, it looks as though a working part has mistakenly been removed from my heating system after a fault report was made to the installer whilst the system was apparently working normally.

    I posted this one take GIF sequence as evidence that there was a boiler fault and copied it to Nottlers for any suggestion as to what might be going on:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3bbbe260ffdaf9d4b17b04febac67821cb8dbbc741b969720c767b98b5bea5ad.gif
    This shows the boiler and heating system doing a cold start from the mains and going through a normal start up and ignition sequence despite the boiler being designed to take control instructions from the user via the hot water or central heating demand switches on the timer.

    Nottlers have concluded that my heating system had a mind of its own and that I was lucky that I had a fault in my heating system whilst it was working normally (like the Air India 787) without causing any deaths.

    One Nottler has correctly identified the boiler problem which is actually not a part of the boiler.

          1. Not sleeping well. Arms hurt and legs twitch but I get through the day without pain killers and am bored. Seeing the surgical team on Wednesday morning and begin the Cardiac Rehab course on Thursday. GP phone call on Wednesday afternoon. Hope that’s more constructive than the Practice Pharmacist chat last Friday. Had blood tests, which showed my cholesterol “in range” and kidney function much improved, she said – so she tried to push statins (which.i refused) and sent me blurb on kidney failure. Wot?

          3. They try anything to sell statins. Sleep problems. Try Boots Sleepeaze Tablets 50 mg. They really DO work.

          4. I agree.
            If I have a run of waking during the night for no good reason, a couple of nights on Sleepeaze breaks the subconscious pattern.

          5. Your comment about Ramipril side effects rang a bell with us.
            MB stopped taking it some time back and I realised that the first thing I hear in the morning now is NOT that dry cough.
            Just a cross legged Spartie demanding to go out instead.

    2. We had an expression for this in the RAF when an undetermined fault occurred – Failed Under Continuous Testing

      1. I wanted to avoid at all costs a callout that ended up RWT (Right When Tested) and/or FNF (Fault Not Found) – I’d have to pay withou having gained anything.

        I spent a week tracing live wires through cable runs with a live wire proximeter tester but I could not do the ultimate check of testing the actuator valve without isolating the device. I acquired the replaced valve and actuator to confirm an intermittent fault which turned out to be case.

        At the end of the day it looks as though this BAXI boiler might well be considered smart enough to diagnose a range of faults to protect itself but can lose control of the heating system it is supposed to be taking orders from when actuators have intermittent faults.

        The technician said he has had to deal with this problem many times and carried a replacement part on his van. However he could not explain why the boiler had detached itself from all user controls even after a manual reset on startup.

        Just another FACT that eluded me.

        Ed: haven’t checked this comment cos I keep gettin disconnect by WiFi.

          1. There was clearly a high possibility of me being FUCT.

            What surprised me was that I had filmed a ‘one take’ sequence of a scenario showing evidence of a domestic boiler behaving in way that was deemed to be impossible.

            The parallels with the Air India crash were interesting enough for me to try and discover how a ‘smart’ self diagnosing boiler could ever dissociate itself in a working, non fault state, yet completely cut itself off from all user controls.

            The clue id the restoration of monitored normal boiler functions after the valve actuator, which had later evidence of intermittent behaviour, had been replaced.

  56. Why protests have started a debate over 'Britishness'

    CHRIS MASON

    When a political party gathers for its annual conference, the host city (or at least the political and security bubble that surrounds the conference centre) becomes home to feverish and partisan political chat.

    What is different about the next few days is Manchester is also a city in mourning after the horrific attack on Thursday. There is, of course, still sharp political argument here but the emotional and practical backdrop is one of grief, fear and an ongoing police investigation.

    The flags outside the conference centre fly at half-mast. A community just a few miles from here, but also all over the UK, is terrorised, frightened and grieving. Many Jewish people are furious more has not been done – for years – to protect them. And all this poses some of the biggest questions about who we are and what we hold dear.

    The other day the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood pleaded with pro-Palestinian protesters not to head out onto the streets in the immediate days after the attack at the Heaton Park Synagogue. She argued that to do so would be "un-British". But others ponder just how British it is to curb repeated protests – the plan Mahmood now plans to legislate for.

    So what are the fundamental tenets of Britishness – a concept itself some would contest – under which a multicultural, multilingual, multireligious collection of nations such as the UK could agree on?

    Against the backdrop of pain and grief, this is a debate about some of the fundamentals of our society – democracy, protest, offence, tolerance (even tolerance for the intolerant) and proportionality. In addition to antisemitism, there is Islamophobia too.

    The home secretary talked over the weekend, rather euphemistically, about what she called "community relations" and others might put more baldly as racism and hatred. The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the UK had tolerated what she called radical Islamist ideology "for too long".

    This element of the conversation around the dangers of Islamism and how it is countered is not new and itself infuriates many as we collectively wrestle with what to do about it. These are challenges for the home secretary, challenges for the government yes, but challenges for society as a whole.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7840dv7n4po

    I wasn't intending having a "FO!" moment today until I read this.

    And Islam is Islamism.

    1. "… under which a multicultural, multilingual, multireligious collection of nations such as the UK could agree on?" There is your essential problem. We were not a multicultural society until it was foisted on us, we shared a common culture based on Judeo-Christian heritage. Ditto for multi-religious. We were Christian in the main in all its shades sharing Christian values to which Jews largely also subscribed. Multi-lingual – a common language is what unites a society and cements its culture. That effort has been expended to shatter that speaks volumes for the attempt to destroy the culture. We can cope with the Welsh and Scots having their own languages, but the main unifying language is English (because, unlike the other two, it's a world language and will happily absorb vocabulary from other languages).

      1. More to the point, i, for one, don’t want to live in a multicultural, multilingual, multireligious country

        AND

        I would point out that prior to 1997, the “collection of nations” (sic) which males up the UK were essentially monocultural, monolingual and monoreligious (Christian) so the author is being very disingenuous (deliberately).

        1. Blair started the breakup with his devolution, based on the EU's regionalisation scheme. Most of what's wrong with present day Britain stems from Blair.

  57. Tory party veteran quits over leader's ECHR stance

    A Conservative councillor has quit the party "with profound regret" after Kemi Badenoch said a future Tory government would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

    Scott Brown said: "The ECHR is not merely an international agreement; it is a cornerstone of civil liberties, enshrining rights that protect individuals from arbitrary state power and ensure justice, fairness, and dignity for all.

    "This policy shift exemplifies a broader drift within the party away from its traditional role as the steadfast defender of British institutions toward a more populist agenda."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c931eg1dvx9o

    The UK was never in danger of sliding into authoritarianism in 1950 or 1997. It is now, even with the ECHR. Mr Brown is standing on his head.

    1. This is why the Tories cannot be trusted. Brown fails to realise that leaving the ECHR doesn't revoke any of the protections we had before. What he's really saying is 'Waaaggghhh, waaagghhh!' and throwing his toys out of his pram.

      2. He is just the sort of person who should have been kicked out of the Conservative Party. many years ago.

    2. Ah, populism. Also known as democracy. He’s pretending his party’s rhetoric will translate into action and pretending ECHR human rights doesn’t translate as criminal protection.

      1. Agreed and racism has increased with each and every race relations bill passed by parliament. They just don’t get it do they l

    4. Why should we rely on a foreign court to ensure Human Rights in the UK? Are we not capable of accomplishing this ourselves?

      2. Given that we had habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights in the 17th century, I think we were streets ahead of the continentals.

  59. Siamese twins Bill and Ben were joined at the hip and went on a driving holiday to France, they stopped in this hotel for a meal and the waiter came over to see how they enjoyed their meal. Ben said "The food was terrible, we don't like French food and furthermore the place is horrible, the scenery awful, there's litter everywhere and the French people aren't nice" The waiter said "Well if it's that bad why do you come here?" Ben replied "It's the only chance Bill gets to drive"

      1. It’s new Grizzly. The Blockbuster is for retro effect. My bet is that this is Southern California where there are an awful lot of people with more money than sense. Still it would be fun. But I think the novelty would run out pretty quick.

  61. Yo All,

    The Sun has finally come out of the clouds: it is getting too hot to sit outside.

    We will put up with it though!

  62. Saira Khan brands flag-raisers 'a bunch of saddos' who 'drink a lot' as she backs Gary Neville's claim that 'angry middle-aged white men' are dividing Britain

    Shake the tree.. tell everyone how you really feeeel.
    If only United had signed Jihad Al-Shamie as their No 9 and played a 4-4-2 the country wouldn't be divided.

          1. The Bluebell Railway has built a ‘new’ Brighton ‘Atlantic’. It ran for the first time last summer.

  64. Little Cat has been spotted! SWMBO in the area so she's on her way over. Fongers croxed.

    3. Oh joy, Paul! I didn’t like to mention him because I hadn’t read anything from you! 🥰👍🏻🤞🏻

    6. Do you trust her not to fall over?

      May you have astonishing good luck and a happy catty reunion.

  65. Wordle No. 1,570 4/6

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

    Wordle 6 Oct 2025

    Entertain Par Four?

    1. I preferred another option but this seemed more of a Wordle sort of word and I got lucky.

      Wordle 1,570 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟩⬜⬜🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. All too easy today.

      Wordle 1,570 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. #MeToo – like yesterday I didnt play my second starter word, a pity as it would have given me the final two letters and a tap-in for birdie.
      This time I chased the letters around the grid until they had nowhere else to go…….

      Wordle 1,570 4/6

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

    5. Late but a pleasing result.
      No birdies on the golf course so this is my only birdie today.

      Wordle 1,570 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  66. That's a heavy hitter.

    Lord Frost fuels Reform defection talk as he blasts Tories for being 'far too positive' and warns 'we're close to ceasing to exist'
    Lord Frost has also lavished praise on Danny Kruger, the former Tory MP who joined Mr Farage's outfit last month.

    "..the obvious strategy of trying to recreate a proper strong Conservative Party is now much more difficult, because there already is another one."

  69. "They will be given one last chance," Trump posted on Truth Social.
    "THIS DEAL ALSO SPARES THE LIVES OF ALL REMAINING HAMAS FIGHTERS!"
    That is, if they agree to fully disarm based on the White House's 20-point peace plan.

    Just about to expire.
    Finish the job, IDF.

    1. Golda Meir said: if Palestine lays down its arms there will be no more war, if Israel lays down its arms there will be no more Israel.

  70. Bitcoin at all-time high hitting $125,000.
    The total stablecoin supply reached a new record of over $300 billion on Friday.
    Tether co-founder Reeve Collins expects “all currency” to become stablecoins by 2030 as part of a broader shift that will see all forms of finance go onchain.

    1. I don't suppose Mr Collins is old enough to remember what happened to the "blue chip" Poseidon mining shares…..

    1. Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet…… (or indeed finding a much-loved lost cat! Well done btw)……

  73. I see it is approaching wine o'clock. A very busy and exhausting day. Barrowloads of apples picked up and junked. The chestnut branch sorted -three days worth of logs stacked. More to follow on Wednesday. And a haircut. The excitement was almost too much.

    Have a splendid evening. I shall not be around much tomorrow as the Arts Society has a "study day" on the way the three kings Charles accumulated what is now the Royal art collection.

    A bientôt.

  74. Despite Gary breaking all the unwritten wokery and race baiting rules for the generalisation and denigration of a whole community of people based on their age, gender and skin colour, I wont be calling for him to be sacked from our tv screens or for him to get a visit from the thought police for causing offence and spreading hatred.
    After all free speech is free speech and it just shows the utter hypocrisy of the Left.
    And above all as the old saying goes, it is better the Neville you know than the Neville you don't

    1. These solar factories are an absolute disaster As are the wind factories. Please do not call these horribly inefficient desecrations of our countryside "farms" because they are not "farms". They are the industrialisation and destruction of our countryside, the end of our self-sufficient and sustainable food production and an environmental apocalypse.

      1. Apart from the fact that the taxpayer would end up paying for it I would love for there to be a series of massive hailstorms that destroyed every solar farm in the UK.
        I hope yours' would be lucky Fallick_Alec.

  76. Woman at centre of Christian Horner sex texts scandal is paid HUGE fee to drop her allegations, as he looks to move on with wife Geri Halliwell

    It was all about the money.
    He should point it out, name her and shame her. He was an arsehole as was the woman, now he can prove it.

      1. Why?
        Because I am sick and tired of people being taken to the cleaners for human foibles.
        It happens everywhere.
        People take offence, where none was intended and it encourages more of the same.
        It's yet another attack on normal living and results in the shutting down of debate off the back of it.
        Hate speech crime, blasphemy laws, arrests for speaking genuinely held opinions because ONE person may have taken that offence.
        I dislike it intensely.

        1. Not familiar with what you are talking about – assumed it was some sort of divorce/adultery claim? Your post seems to suggest it is something else, something to do with free speech etc.. Pleas do supply the details, as I'm clearly mistaken

          1. It was an employee claiming that they were getting unwanted text messages from “the boss”.

            My post relates to the principles not the specifics.

          2. I have a plaque in my kitchen which reads, "the more people I meet, the more I love my dog".

  77. Little Cat has been captured, and is on his way home.
    YAAY!
    Celebrating with a tincture! No idea how stressed I was over that daft moggy's absence!

          1. Oh, come on.

            That would be a lovely clip, and I'm sure almost everyone on Nottle would be delighted to see it

    3. That’s absolutely wonderful news, Paul! I’m delighted for you and SWMBO! She must have felt soooo guilty!
      Love to all! 🥰

    7. Yay! Possibly the best news ever – except if Starmer had had a Damascene conversion, become right of centre and sacked all the lefty communists and muslims so we had sensible policies, he closed the borders and deported the dindu criminals.

    9. One of out cats disappeared a few weeks before we were moving house.
      The daft moggy hadn't been seen by anyone in the neighborhood, she just went walkies or something.
      The people that bought the house promised to keep a lookout for the cat and sure enough, every few days we would get a call about some cat that had wandered into the garden but it was never the right one.
      It was almost a month later that we got a call that this must be her, she had just wandered in and made herself at home. We rushed over and there she was, no worse for wear, not starving just back!

      1. I'm having some sort of thing with black cats (or they are with me). Been in Scotland recently, one adopted me there, but I had to travel home (three hour journey) so obviously left it there. Been home half an hour, what seemed to be exact same cat appeared, sauntered off after a few minutes. Will I see it again…here or there….maybe I'm more lucky than I thought 🙂

          4. I can’t get it to work either – sorry Conway. It’s a short video dance class of very young girls, dressed in red ballet clothes, one won’t get in line so one of the older ones pulls that one into line, clenching her fist but then sees the camera and tries to turn it to a friendly smile and cuddle. It doesn’t sound funny, but it is how some very young children behave.

      1. Oh, boy, is he a happy moggy! Patrolled house and garden yowling like the eejit he is…

  78. Off topic
    I've been watching the run up to the News headlines.
    There is a trailer for a celebrity version of a TV show.
    Every "Joe Public" game show that is successful quickly gets commandeered by a celebrity version.
    Why the Hell do we need to watch celebrities, most of whom are already over-exposed and overpaid, be given even more coverage at the expense of "ordinary" people?

    Edit for missing "been"

    1. I don't watch anything these days except a bit of sport, old films and some youtube fishing videoes.

      2. We still watch all sorts of sport, films, documentaries etc. and some news/current affairs and silly quiz shows.
        But not the celebrity versions.

        1. I wasn’t even talking about the BBC. I look at some their headlines, and that’s about it.

          2. Some of the sport, rugby especially, can only be seen live on BBC. I think we will stop paying this year.

          3. The racing went from the beeb years ago. Channel 4 did a good job then it went to ITV and became woke. I don’t miss it .

    3. I absolutely agree. Celebrity brain surgery, anyone? Watching self-professed "celebrities" blunder their way through everything that requires the sort of expertise that they do not have is not a good way to skew the tax-payer funded national broadcaster. In my opinion,

    5. The Sleb versions are always less interesting than the original programmes with "little people".

  80. I've just been sending out a load of mailshots to people who bought a hedgehog calendar at some time in the past – so apologies if you are one of the recipients. We have a revamped website now and adjusting the postage charges has been a bit of a nightmare. But people can now order and pay via the website which is a bit more modern than I'm used to.

    3. I got the email thanks. Don't want the cards as i bought multiples by mistake last time and i have run out of children to offload the calendars to. Normally give them to my cleaners children but they are more into iphone calendars now.

      I will make a donation instead. At least that saves you postage !

      https://helpahedgehog.org/

      My next door neighbour has a huge amount done in her garden and she has installed little cut outs for the hedgehogs to come and go.

      We are quite lucky really. Badgers, foxes, deer all show up on the nightcams.

  81. Evening, folks. We had a talk on the Air Ambulance at the RAFA meeting. Interesting that they decided to be independent and rely on donations rather than accept government money – they felt govt would be telling them what they should be doing, how to do it and whom to employ, no doubt. I bunged them a few quid for fuel.

    1. That is exactly how the RNLI was destroyed.

      Good for RAFA.

      Post a link so we can chuck some cash at them.

        1. They did an excellent job for my parents’ friends’ granddaughter when she was injured in a horrid accident on the M54 (caused by some protesters on a bridge, of which there aren’t too many over the M54 – Telford way). She lost her spleen and won’t be able to have children but she’s in her 20s now and I think I heard she was on a working holiday in Australia.

          1. The PTB should sterilise all those protesters, and their children and grandchildren.
            Let them learn that what goes around, comes around

            to them.

    2. I honestly didnt know that the Air Ambulance was a charity! I thought it was part of the NHS – I will make sure I make a contribution on your link below, they're truly excellent…..

      1. Thank you. They also operate cars (BMWs) in urban areas where the chopper won't be able to land. These carry the same kit and crew (trauma trained paramedic, trauma trained doctor and driver) as the flying equivalent. If they had been part of the NHS it would have been bankrupt and accident victims would still be waiting, probably! If I sound cynical it's because I'm struggling to get my trapped nerve (my own diagnosis based on previous experience) sorted. The last appointment with the doctor was a waste of both of our time.

        1. Done it, although being a parochial type, I contributed to the North-West branch (you never know I might need them one day!).
          Might make it a regular thing – I'm getting a little disillusioned with Cancer Research……

    3. I make a monthly donation to the Devon and Somerset Air Ambulance. You never know when you might need them.

      1. Didn't the Social Democrats : David Owen, Shirley Williams, Woy Jenkins and Roy Rodgers say they were going to break the mould of British politics.

        The S.D. movement rather lost its mettle when it forged an alliance with David Steel to become the Liberal Democrats!

  83. 413835+ up ticks,

    May one ask ,

    Would that be the same police also keeping you up to date that were operating in rotherham where pakistarni paedophiles were covertly highly active under a lab. council / police umbrella.until the Jay report blew the whistle of justified honest revealence? https://x.com/TheFreds/status/1975124908834492438

    1. That link is dreadful.
      If mosques were attacked similarly the Muslims would be on the the streets 24/7

      Perhaps the Christians need to go on the offensive.
      HARD.

      1. 413835) + up ticks,

        Evening S,

        The other arm MUST be freed,talking a good fight can no longer be applied.

        Turning the other cheek went out of vogue long ago, ALL cheeks facial, and arse, are red raw with abusive slapping, not only from the islamic side either but sad to say our own indigenous.

    2. Aren't the vast majority of crimes at churches simply 'ordinary' theft and vandalism?

      3. A lot of people can spot false flags when it coincides with their beliefs. eg lefties spotting that the Trump assassination was fake. One has to go one step further and accept that some of the things that reinforce your beliefs are also false flags, designed to reinforce that belief and nudge you into supporting a particular desired law, conflict or policy.

        It is being said that the US and Israel are gearing up for another attack on Iran.

  84. When is a journalist going to put searching questions live on air to the home secretary such as:

    1. Do you think that having two legal systems operating side by side in one country is a recipe for injustice and chaos? Would you be prepared to ban all sharia courts in the UK?

    2. Given the fact that the majority of UK citizens think halal slaughter of animals is barbaric and cruel, would you be prepared to outlaw it?

    3. Former non-Muslim Labour politicians such as Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt were in favour of reducing the age of sexual consent. What age would you like to see the age of consent given the fact that many Muslim men think it should coincide with the age at which girls reach puberty?

    Of course there are many more questions that should be put to her!

    1. 1. No
      2. No
      3. 6, just to be sure no very freakishly early menstruating girl gets missed.
      After all, what's good for the Mo's is good for the philander.

    3. I'd ask her:

      does she prefer her eggs fried or poached?

      which is best, EastEnders or Coronation Street?

      does she like the skin on a rice pudding?

  85. A propos of the discussion on Lord Pillock and his support for a wealth tax, my daughter sent me this on IHT earlier today.

    Inheritance tax: Current policy and debates
    Research Briefing

    Published Thursday, 02 October, 2025
    “This paper gives a brief summary of the structure of inheritance tax before looking at the debates there have been about the tax in recent years.
    https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00093/
    Options for reform
    Inheritance tax is the most unpopular tax in the UK, according to polling, despite less than 5% of estates being liable for the tax. This has led several commentators to propose abolishing the tax. Numerous arguments are given in favour of abolition: for example, that inheritance tax represents double taxation, it is unfair, or that it hinders economic growth. Some commentators who favour abolition say it could be replaced with a wealth transfer tax (PDF) that is based on taxing the recipient, rather than the donor’s estate. Many also point to the inefficiency of the tax, since the wealthiest people have several options to avoid it. Some researchers believe that the gift system should be reformed, so that vast wealth that is distributed during someone’s lifetime can be taxed effectively, rather than escaping inheritance tax entirely. Some economists and commentators also argue that individual elements of the tax could be reformed.”

    1. Some take out a life insurance policy specifically to cover the tax, on advice from independent investors.

    2. Double taxation? You're taking the urea.

      Let's say you buy something that costs £100. £20 is VAT immediately – that's assuminng it's the only tax on that good). It's paid for – unless you're on welfare – by an income which has been taxed with national insurance and income tax.

      That salary is paid by a company that pays corporate NI. Oh, and business rates, corporation tax, bin taxes, that pays heat, light and 'waste' taxes. That pays ground rent, stamp duty, capital gains taxes: at every turn, there's a tax.

      That assumes one company makes the good and from no materials. It's rarely like that – with multiple suppliers all paying these taxes over and over again to create an end product, costing productivity in endless legislation. Take biscuits – the regulations, taxation on everything from the plastic wrapping to the biscuits themselves to the oven temperatures to the glue used to seal the end, to transportation to logistics – it's a horrific, expensive nightmare and then, then after all that work the useless, indolent, spiteful government slaps a 'sugar tax' on them.

      Double taxation? Try thirty or forty times taxed. Hell, even that ignores inflation, another tax.

      The tax should be scrapped – along with capital gains tax, stamp duty and countless other taxes.

    1. Programmed search engines are not true AI. True, genuine artificial intelligence is self aware. It wouldn't do what the useless statists want.

      A search engine to find and match say, spending to energy use to NHS use yes, that's an ideal algorithim for a computer to monitor and constrain but it is NOT – NOT (in even bigger capitals) artificial intelligence. It's a heuristic algorithim.

    2. I have been commenting on my attempts to find, after seven years of faultless operation, how my domestic boiler started acting strangely one night – it had not once done that before.

      I rushed downstairs and found that my digital timer was showing no heat demand lights – I had to turn off the boiler's power at the mains to stop it.

      It took me a week of seemingly normal boiler operation until I found a heat demand timer control sequence that would demonstate repeatedly that my boiler would fautlessly work on its own but repeatedy ignore my commands. I made a video record of the boiler doing a regular ignition and burn without any commands.

      I used this video to report a fault because it was behaving autonomously outside my control without displaying any of its intelligent self diagnotic codes it even ignored my reset commands.
      I couldn't even kill its behaviour by turning it off and on the power switch.

      So as one Nottler remarked – it had developed a mind of its own.

      This self diagnostic boiler was built over seven years ago and demonstrates that a programmed machine responding to mechanical and electriccal inputs can develop a life of its own and go completely out of control.

      We don't need to fear disastrous consequences when using AI – we already have potentially dangerous programmed machines that are deemed completely safe.

      .

      1. 413865 + up ticks,

        Morning AO’E

        Been reading of your trials & tribs.and it sounded familiar then realised it was likened in many respects to our PM
        starmer the TooL

        1. I think we are witnessing the state of offairs that can be described by Fallick_Alec as FUCT! (Failed Under Continuous Test).

  87. A somewhat roundabout drive to Stoke today. Road closed signs on the B5054 to Hartington so stayed on the A515 to Brierlow Bar and the B5053 to Warslow.
    First time I've driven that road and it's absolutely spectacular scenery.
    Road after Ibstones is still blocked to detoured via Foxt and met several horse riders, looking VERY smart, coming up the lane. Paused next to a Landrover and asked the drive if that hunt was out and yes, it was.
    I then said to the drive that it was a great shame about Tony Blair.
    When she look puzzled, I told her, "Yes, the bastard's still breathing!"
    It got a laugh!
    Anyway, got to Stoke, sorted a couple of things out for Stepson and, as he didn't want to go anywhere, started off home.
    I spent an hour at Froghall on the way back, exploring part of the old copper smelting works.
    This is the gas meter house where the gas main came in to the works https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eaf56186799124b1cc610e152600f8bb942d12c0162513e7d1967109d94285a4.jpg And this, I presume, is the shut off valve; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3283772c33006fef519ffa063dfa9a27a212668b30093783305ee568cb268655.jpg A view of the outside with the main section of the works being visible through the trees on the other side of the Churnet Valley Railway's line; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99d58691e90d9ec099fd2c4bba8820e801235fa4228b47ef6827e6aa069d74f8.jpg The railway bridge over the river https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/713ac8608a423c9011b83f51ad66baa14f923b3f08f4c2da54320ce2ee4718c5.jpg And the old chimney which, apparently, was being prepared for demolition by Fred Dibnah when he died; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03cbd8b08a32d394fbe6983af5f33cd094377ad6efab3f4a3567fd00a8e562d0.jpg And the base of the aforesaid chimney https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3805784f0a1b4d93a8c44af367b6d2b83ed1dbd9501b5eba54423d2e77a4d110.jpg

    1. I'm guessing that B o B could demolish that chimney in 20 minutes just using a sledge hammer!

      And give him a few hours and a good sized truck, he could get the debris home for the garden.

      1. I would not want to demolish it.
        In fact I'd rather it was conserved as a monument to our Industrial Heritage.
        A few more photos:-
        Looking across to the Compressor House on the other side of the railway https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eef06518d181255b5a4908966758472ff663822c396a117d00f46cc311ce3d6b.jpg The empty transformer compound next to the plant sub-station https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ae340991a3a99047baa3b90c056e0bdb399b5b2ee0c968cca7cc9b22913b3608.jpg I was not able to get into the sub-station, but got a couple of photos from the damaged doors https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29295fcd89f6b612968956ade8a9a86d9a4ef505857f5f0509eb0cd267c5fd95.jpg
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b1469f2050630b80a726d8152c4689e2cd05cb1258fbbf5ffa6c70c36008342a.jpg Steel props hole the chimney up on 3 sides https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc46e1756aa25d4e95fb1f50c576102ee0144dcd5eaf05adc52dd6a3c3366f3c.jpg And a look upwards https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99b80d3f6e15b02ad7749e85aad3439a4c812b8699342ad4ae99f5363e77c797.jpg Anyone know what this is? It's taking over a lot of the ground https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/030cfafd1b904e8f6a86deb5290aef97d34f4bdbd6404d04fae2eca6337248c4.jpg The inside of the compressor house referred to earlier, taken during a walk along the canal on the other side of the works https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61e52b5861370bf4fd2f06ede9093398a629443416309984e9292522a70fcec2.jpg

          1. I suspected that.
            Unfortunately, it's growing on a thin covering of soil over the top of tarmac or concrete.
            A lot of Himalayan Balsam too of which I rather like eating the seeds.

          1. Down here we have old Wartime air stations sadly now housing estates .. the only clues are Spitfire Close, Hurricane Way , The Aviators etc and then of course in the Wimborne area , more airfields smothered with houses … No clues except for distant memories of Alan Cobham , or Cristopher Cockerel, or RJ Mitchell and the named streets..

            Here in this area we have an old experimental nuclear power station built in the late fifties sixties , being decommissioned , that will be gone in another ten years .

            The saddest sights are the Military camps , with their housing quarters and roads named after wars that were pre WW1 or Boer … Middle Eastern/ Franco Prussian , unpronounceable names , but the names remain solid , reminding us all that old wars DO flare up every fifty years or more ..

            Our industrial times are confirmed by the stone quarry lorries laden with huge chunks of stone , or sand and gravel , there are still many working quarries in Dorset , and stories of how they ferried heavy stone onto barges from Portland by sea, or used oxen to haul wagons of heavy material from the quarries before mechanical means took the weight .. ie trains or lorries and ship..

          2. I remember when I rode with the Saddle Club in Colchester trotting along streets like Poperinghe Road.

    2. It's a shame that these sites are left to run to ruin. If they were maintained as heritage areas they'd be ideal for schools to visit to see how our industrial past worked.

      1. Apparently the Churnet Valley Railway was offered the site as their depot, but only under condition that they refurbished the chimney.
        Sadly, the cost would have been too much for them.
        Some photos of the railway taken in June. The loco is an American S160 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/63af07567b721924192250b2ba44f8675b4966f6c7c0b779011696f5ec8ad142.jpg Taking water at Froghall https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d9a2339be1d0a9c01bc14f69a100550202f4bb87223ae82782a7e43b023a3291.jpg And ready to go https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6888ae05de6f4041b318c5b8f72096965b6dccf8c3d1b9bd4c8fd8879437e109.jpg Running round at the end of the line which used to go to Cauldon Low Quarries. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/915b7611bc28de65db5c274fcf70b67d56ab5cd4bd5a387361f58043edd5c363.jpg Taken in August at Consall https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e1ced17d0017a44d26371aeeaad65555b531876be29288ca7c33a4f62abdc90.jpg And coming back the other way https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/136ec26245aff2c89b5df02dffc190c06497b98991a30f5cb6ec58505144d4a8.jpg

        1. Astonishing that we have advanced to such a degree and are now being forced backward thanks to the obscene 'climate change act'. To a time where more inefficient engines, more resources intensive machinery were used.

          I do love steam engines though. There is a purity in their simplicity and elegance.

  89. Indeed. They say a man is not complete until he is married and then he is completely finished!

    1. It is quite extraordinary that he thinks we'll fall for this explanation. The chutzpah verges on the astonishing.

    2. Insane self righteousness. They've no intention of stopping the invasion. It should have ended 30 years ago when the very first wretched bunch of dindus landed, were shot by plod and the next bunch fo scum thought… perhaps not.

      I hate them. I hate what they're doing to this country. I hate that we cannot speak to the truth. I hate everything the Left have done.

    1. Ban that, stop welfare for gimmigrants, ban their marches, crack down brutally with any protest or violence, even if they get uppity – smash them and they'll leave.

      Get rid of them.

    1. I'd point out that while Milioaf is a psychopath, the stupidity of net zero was implemented by May.

        1. The present political class from all parties are an uneducated rabble in search of easy fortunes.

          Toe the line and dictates from the globalists, even if it results in taking your own citizens into penury, you may be assured that you will be rewarded most handsomely.

          These ghastly people are driven purely by the pursuit of self aggrandisement, power over others and a share of the immense spoils generated by their loyalty to the politics of the mad house.

          In brief they are self centred bastards who care nothing for the harms they inflict on those they deem beneath them.

          Tony Blair is the shining example of the type, responsible for the premature deaths of millions, prancing on the supposed world stage, telling us that if we did not take the Covid shots we were mad (whilst obviously giving the shot a miss himself) and now directing policy in the UK principally to further reward himself and his wretched family.

          If I outlive that shit I will make any detour to piss on his grave.

  98. "British parts found in Russian drones, Zelensky says"

    Nice to see we're still exporting something.

  99. Well, chums, that's me for today. Good Night all, sleep well, and see you all early tomorrow morning.

  100. 'He didn't mention the Moldovan flag or the other. He only had a problem with the Union Flag.'

  101. No Lin Biao moment for Emperor Xi.. especially with all the missiles locked & loaded and ready to fly.
    It looks like retirement in Pyongyang. LOL
    New CCP regime promise great many friendship with West and promise not to copy anything ever again.

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