Monday 8 September: A sensible idea from the Government for ending the use of asylum hotels

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

631 thoughts on “Monday 8 September: A sensible idea from the Government for ending the use of asylum hotels”

  1. Good morning, chums. First! And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. Wordle today was a Par.

    Wordle 1,542 4/6

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

    1. And just a postscript to the above: yesterday was the most horrendous day for me. Apart from virtually sleeping all day, I had the most horrendous series of heart-stopping nightmares. Let's hope today is a better (more relaxed) day.

      1. Dreams – and nightmares – are your brain processing the events of the day.

        Think on them, have a think about what they could apply to and if they help make a decision all to the good.

        1. Well, wibbling, the way I look at it is this: What happened, happened, and I can't improve my state of mind by focussing on the past. So I will just accept what happened and forget it. They say "Every day is a new life to a wise man (or woman)" so I will move on and enjoy a new day. (Good morning, btw.)

        1. Not that I can recall, Annie. In fact all I had for my main (evening) meal was a small pot of cherry yoghurt. Nor did anything happen to awaken any old fears. Strange, wasn’t it?

  2. Good morning Geoff and all you NoTTLers. This Monday Chuckle is posted by an eighty-four year old currently in a fancy hotel in Madeira:

    Two old guys, aged eighty and eighty-seven, were sitting on their favourite park bench one morning. The eighty-seven-year-old had just finished his morning jog and wasn’t even short of breath. The eighty-year-old was amazed at his friend’s stamina and asked him what he did to have so much energy.
    The eighty-seven-year-old said: “Well, I eat rye bread every day. It’s a well-known fact that it keeps your energy level high, and that it will give you great stamina with the ladies.” So on the way home, the eighty-year-old stopped off at the bakery.
    As he was looking round, the female sales clerk asked him if he needed any assistance. “Do you have any rye bread?” he asked. “Yes,” she said. “There’s a whole shelf of it. Would you like some?” “Sure. I’d like five loaves.” “My goodness, five loaves!” she exclaimed. “By the time you get to the fifth loaf, it’ll be hard.”
    He replied: “I can’t believe it! Everyone knows about this stuff except me!”

  3. Good morning Geoff and all you NoTTLers. This Monday Chuckle is posted by an eighty-four year old currently in a fancy hotel in Madeira:

    Two old guys, aged eighty and eighty-seven, were sitting on their favourite park bench one morning. The eighty-seven-year-old had just finished his morning jog and wasn’t even short of breath. The eighty-year-old was amazed at his friend’s stamina and asked him what he did to have so much energy. The eighty-seven-year-old said: “Well, I eat rye bread every day. It’s a well-known fact that it keeps your energy level high, and that it will give you great stamina with the ladies.” So on the way home, the eighty-year-old stopped off at the bakery. As he was looking round, the female sales clerk asked him if he needed any assistance. “Do you have any rye bread?” he asked. “Yes,” she said. “There’s a whole shelf of it. Would you like some?” “Sure. I’d like five loaves.” “My goodness, five loaves!” she exclaimed. “By the time you get to the fifth loaf, it’ll be hard.” He replied: “I can’t believe it! Everyone knows about this stuff except me!”

  4. Good morning all!
    A tad under 14½°C, dry, clear sky with a few pink tinged clouds, no wind.
    As the year turns, so the sun gets later and later.

    1. Good morning, I've noticed the darker evenings. I've looked up from my book, noticed it's dark, and presumed it's time to turn in. To find it's only just gone 9pm or thereabouts.

  7. A sensible idea from the Government for ending the use of asylum hotels

    But as we are all aware of, what government says in the media rarely happens in reality.
    They just stumble along from one empty promise to another and hope people either forget about it all when a new crises looms or they can simply control the news with their media management skills.

    1. What is the "sensible idea from the Government for ending the use of asylum hotels", Bob3? (Good morning, btw.)

        1. A couple of BTL Comments:-

          R. Spowart
          53 min ago
          Message Actions
          Oh dear.
          Has the Government forgotten about the fire at Napier Barracks in Folkstone in 2021, started by Migrants who thought that accommodation that had proved perfectly adequate for generations of our Servicemen was too demeaning for them?

          Em Hexton
          44 min ago
          Reply to R. Spowart
          I was thinking just the same. Possibly it must be pointed out, very firmly (and the pledge actually stuck to, for once) that they are restricted to accommodation on that particular patch of land, If there are no barracks, it will be tents and sleeping bags.edited

    2. What is the "sensible idea from the Government for ending the use of asylum hotels", Bob3? (Good morning, btw.)

    3. Good morning Bob3 and everyone.
      I disagree, it was tried before. Between the newly arrived crims having access to matches, and the locals being worried about their lives and property, it will end badly. Leave the ECHR.

    1. Importing once low-level attackers is akin to adding unnecessary, and definitely unwanted, ballast that will impede the flight to freedom the UK needs.

      1. It was evident that if the state were denied one option they'd ratchet it up to one even more luxurious, then blame us.

        There is no intent to stop the invasion.

    1. Russia hasn't got that many drones.

      A Ukrainian chum sent me a picture of his school. There's a huge bomb crater in the fields around it. I asked him how the windows had survived the blast.

      1. 412418+ up ticks,

        O2O,
        What the political overseers (kapo's) are aiming for is us to submit under the ruling being
        "if you cannot stop /beat them,then join them" fully in diversity, the boats that is.

    1. Yet a while back a muslim planning officer let off another muslim who'd extended his roof into their neighbour's garden.

      1. Snegl in yer Weegie. (pronounced snail). Sneglehuset is the spiral shell, also when a spiral tube is not mounted on a snegl it's still called sneglehuset.

      2. They eat snails in France – do they eat slugs in Sweden?

        If so is it an appetising dish for carnivores and do you have a recipe for a svenska snigel schnitzel?

  14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/09/08/why-even-an-imf-bailout-couldnt-save-britain-now/

    Folk keep pretending it is really difficult to recover from our economic mess. It isn't. It just requires significant state cuts – say 40-60%, time limiting welfare and forbidding it to most, the scrapping of absurd, nonsensical legislation (such as the green tax scam) and then cutting taxes.

    None of these things are difficult. They are politically unpalatable because then the vermin won't vote for the party that implements them.The working public are being held hostage by politicians desperate to save their own careers by lazy, feckless, usually foreign wasters.

  15. Good Moaning to you all, from a bright and sunny C d S

    Back home after a trip to Sarf Whales.

    Car had a puncture: we found out modern cars do not have spare wheels…. even get you home ones.

    We had 'wheel and tyre' insurance, but it does not cover punctures.

    Eventually, the RAC sent us 'a man with a van' who changed the tyre (Not for an expensive Posh Continental one like the others) in minutes

    When asked if I needed to replace it to match,he said all modern tyres are now radial and in most cases you are just paying for the name.

    The only problem we had, was that I did not have a Torque wrench and socket to check tighten the nuts after 25 miles.

    We got home safely without having to sing that 'good old song

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dr1pFTSQfmhU&ved=2ahUKEwjFs_C4yMiPAxXZQkEAHc3rOoEQwqsBegQICxAG&usg=AOvVaw0bnY-Ie5sTpcCcK_CF0nLx

    1. Yo, Mr Effort.

      The very fact that modern cars are not supplied with a spare rim/tyre is more clear evidence of the rapidly increasing stupidity of the species.

        1. My schoolboy sense of humour interprets your car registration as Gin & Tonic together with ViValdi; does Caroline happen to enjoy the music of Vivaldi?

          2. The lovely, soft Norwegian whisky I bought last week is a whopping 70%. One shot glass before bed is enough!

  17. Told ya so…

    Valuation of Rayner’s Ashton home was increased after ‘error’

    Price put on former deputy PM’s home was raised by £162,500, making it worth twice as much as nearby properties

    Angela Rayner’s family home was increased in value by more than £150,000 after an “error” by lawyers.

    The value of the property in Ashton-under-Lyne was raised from £487,500 to £650,000 in April 2024, official documents seen by this newspaper show.

    Months later, Ms Rayner sold her stake in the home to a trust set up for her disabled son for £162,500 – the same amount as the increase in property price.

    The increase in cost meant that their house was worth nearly twice as much as other properties on the street.

    The documents emerged just days after Ms Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary after a Telegraph investigation revealed that she had dodged £40,000 in stamp duty.

    Her critics said that the latest documents show that she has further questions to answer about her complex property dealings.

    The increase in price was made after lawyers from Swiitch, the conveyancing arm of Shoosmiths, the law firm appointed by the court to run the trust for Ms Rayner’s disabled son, wrote to the Land Registry in April 2024.

    They apologised for an “original error” that meant the house had been registered at only 75 per cent of its value and formally applied for this higher value to be listed.

    Price hike equal to deposit on Hove flat
    The trust was set up after a compensation payout from the NHS in 2020, following difficulties during her son’s birth and subsequent care in 2008.

    The increase meant that Ms Rayner’s share was worth £162,500. She subsequently sold it to the trust and used the money to pay the deposit on her £800,000 seaside flat in Hove.

    At the time of the valuation error, Ms Rayner was being investigated over questions of whether she paid the correct tax on a former council house she used to own in Stockport. She was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

    Ms Rayner has now referred herself to the HMRC over her failure to pay the £70,000 stamp duty that was due on her flat in Hove. She instead paid the lower rate of £30,000.

    She quit on Friday after the Government’s independent ethics adviser found she had broken the ministerial code because she had ignored two warnings that she should seek expert advice on the transaction.

    The lawyers involved in the purchase of the Hove property, Verrico & Associates, had earlier told The Telegraph that they were being made “scapegoats” by Ms Rayner and had not given her tax advice.

    This newspaper also found that in the past year, no house within a mile of Ms Rayner’s Ashton property has sold for more than £561,000.

    There have been 44 property sales on her street in the past five years, the most expensive of which was a three-bedroom, semi-detached home just down the road that sold for £365,000 in 2021 – almost £300,000 less than the value put on her home.

    Sources suggested that the true value of the home could be lower than £650,000, though it is understood to be larger than others in the area.

    A spokesman for Swiitch said: “At the time of lodging papers with the Land Registry regarding the Ashton-Under-Lyne property, an administrative error was made which bears no wider significance.

    “The error was identified, and the matter was resolved satisfactorily with the Land Registry.”

    It is understood that the property was valued by an independent qualified surveyor.

    1. How many of us wish we'd had optimists for house valuers?
      Pesky buyers tend to ruin such starry eyed valuations.

      1. A small cottage went up for sale along the way. The owners wanted 300K for it. After 3 weeks and no offers, they reduced it to 270 and eventually stopped trying to sell.

        Nothing's moving because of the offensive taxes slapped on moving house. Stamp duty is simply an egregious tax.

        It's funny that Raynor got a council house so quickly – and a nice one, most single dossers like her get a dingy, damp flat in a high rise. That she was on the council at the time of course had nothing to do with it.

        Thhen she sold that, benefitting from Conservative policies again and cheating the system by announcing it as her home when she was living with her bloke.

        Bluntly, she's a tax dodging hypocrite. Happy to trough, unhappy to pay her way.

    2. And if a higher value is accepted at outset then when she comes to sell it the CGT liability will be less.

      1. One advantage of giant breed dogs is that on a sofa they look down on the cat sitting on the arm…

        I've all three of mine in a semi circle in front of me. Daft buggers, nose to tail.

      1. The leaking infrastructure is losing 80L per day per person. Even new reservoirs over the past 30+ years won't solve that problem.

    3. Wetter areas of the country tend to be rather lax on water storage. It's been too easy.
      Dry areas like the east have had to be more organised for hundreds of years.

    4. It's funny that Leftists bleat and whine and claim 'climate change' when it doesn't rain here, but praise and squeal when there's wind somewhere else to provide our power but none here.

      Almost as if weather is a complex system and the water cycle is actually a real thing.

  21. SIR — Our local Tesco has a splendid display of Christmas puddings, pies and cakes (Letters, September 3).

    However, I was somewhat bemused to discover that the mince pies had a best before date of September 18 2025.
    Christmas gets earlier every year.

    Paul Bowdidge
    Martlesham Heath, Suffolk

    Two things come to mind here:

    1. Anyone buying ready-made Christmas food deserves all the crap, chemicals and detritus that go into making the effluent rubbish. Bake (or steam) your bloody own, just like your mother and your grandma invariably did. And don't tell me you don't have the time!

    2. What the hell is a 'Christmas Pie'? I've been bemused by that ever since I were nobbut a sprog reading Little Jack Horner who (allegedly) stuck his thumb into one and 'pulled out a plum'. I've never seen one let alone tasted one. What the hell do they mean?

    1. There's a theory that Christ's birthday was 15th. September but the date was moved to the Winter Solstice to recruit the heathens.
      Maybe the manufacturers were using the September date.

      1. But that was before mince pies were invented…or do you still have some dating from that vintage?

          3. That’ll be me then! I’m trying to pack for hols next week, organise a surprise party for 50 on Saturday and entertain children, who just started school 3 weeks ago, but appear to be on holiday!🙄

    2. People are different, with different calls on their time. Same as we don't make our own croissants (I can, but I don't) unless I've prepared everything the night before and usually the night before there's something else to do, like hoover, or put clothes away, or load the dishwasher, to clean the bathroom, hoover, take Junior to kick boxing club…

      The time isn't simply there to indulge my every whim.

        1. I don't mean to bash Grizzly but time is the only thing that you never get any more of, and the currency can expire in a blink.

      2. It's not a case of indulging whims. It's more a case of eating food that is made with ingredients you know and trust.

        In any case the time taken does not impinge much on my day.

        1. I am not having a go at you directly, Grizzly, you present many very good points. I am only suggesting that time isn't as available to others.

    1. It's odd that entities such as BBC verify were not needed when Al Beeb reported the news rather than tried to spin a narrative.

      2. There was a rumour that one of the BBC Vilify staff had "embellished" her CV to get the job, but that seems to be mandatory these days!?

  24. We were woken by the fire alarm going off at 5:57. Had the Warqueen get the dogs and Junior out. Looked in every room for smoke. Nothing. Saw a money spider creeping around the alarm and a tiny bug, so assumed it was that which set it off. Could also be humidity, but that was only 59%. Still, looked in the attic and downstairs. Nothing. I did smell cigarette smoke but that comes from the neighbours.

    I've had false alarms before with toast, the oven but not 'from nothing'.

    Got the bed linen changed and in the wash. Waiting for the quilt cover to finish.

    1. That would likely be due to wires/signals crossed with gov't alarm yesterday. I don't know anyone who got it on their mobile.

      1. Numerous throbs were triggered in one of my local pubs yesterday afternoon. My vintage mobile is simply too ancient to receive these alarms. Old tech does have some advantages.

        1. We all have different makes/ages…none of them went off. Think it was a gov’t initiative? If so explains it, Stig, yes? 😀

  26. 14 hours ago
    I would point out that the reason the police officers were armed had nothing to do with the arrest but purely because they're airport police which are all armed.

    The fact that they were directed (they didn't just take it on themselves) to arrest someone entering the UK, an Irish citizen who doesn't live in the UK, for a post made on X (a non UK based media platform) which wasn't made on the UK (and hence not subject to UK laws) is the most staggering example of overreach.

    20 hours ago
    They’d never have taken Father Jack or Bishop Brennan.

    16 hours ago(Edited)
    Or Father Fintan Stack – he’d have drilled holes in ‘em! Then called them nonces.

    1. The arrest was made very public to promote fear in the population if we dare express contrary opinion. The guy travelled here to attend court so plod could have collared him later. The investigation would have probably remained unreported saving all the hoo ha, but the chance of letting us know what will happen to us if we transgress with a tweet was too much for the authorities to resist.

      1. Yes, there is too much emphasis being placed on the officers being armed. Of greater importance is the number deployed to make the arrest, as well as the timing and location. Was it anticipated that Linehan would resist if only 2 officers were sent to arrest him? That it happened in such a public forum leads me to agree with you.

        1. It is quite difficult to resist when leaving a plane. You could run off and hide in the, errr…. Climbing the perimeter fence with your bags is not going to be easy!

      1. Hi Ogga. Lot of land there going to waste. Plenty of room to catch all that energy by turning it over to solar panels. You could intersperse them with windmills too. Wouldn't that be a glorious sight?

        1. Solar panels are dangerous in high winds/heavy snow, they break up and scatter all over (government version of 'plough the fields and scatter' i.e. another way to get farmers out.

      2. Exactly. Current government thinks farmers are just a nuisance – sell the land to investors, claim the tax, and import food instead.

        1. Yet they want to cut down on importing food using flights.

          Sometimes you have to look at these fools and realise they have absolutely no brains whatsoever.

          1. If you have access to Spectator, wibbling…good photo on there of Starmer & Co. – none of whom look impressed 😀

      3. MOH once looked out over a landscape consisting of fields, hedges, copses, coverts, roads, houses, canals and a railway line and remarked, “look at that! It’s all completely natural”! Typical townie.

      1. Angela is the lesbian. How is it that identical twins do not have identical sexual preferences?

        1. The sexual proclivities of many politicians are bizarre. If they were not so they would not have wanted to become politicians in the first place.

        2. For the same reason that they do not think exactly the same thoughts at the same time as each other. Being part of a split egg still makes them individuals.

    4. But, as a politician, she need know nothing about her brief, nor have any experience there either.

    5. They don't care since they are out to destroy the farmers. So what's the difference who's in charge?

  28. How the police became the goon squad of trans activists
    Graham Linehan’s arrest follows more than a decade of LGBT indoctrination in UK police forces.

    Malcolm Clark
    6th September 2025
    https://www.spiked-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/LGBT-960×540.jpg

    The arrest of Graham Linehan for the crime of tweeting has rightly provoked near-universal outrage. On Monday, the Father Ted writer was detained by five armed police officers as soon as he stepped on to the tarmac at Heathrow Airport, where he had arrived from Arizona. He was told that three gender-critical tweets from April were being investigated on suspicion of ‘inciting violence’.

    Labour has tried, unconvincingly, to echo the anxiety and disgust felt across the nation that Linehan’s arrest has provoked. UK prime minister Keir Starmer said policing social media should not be a ‘priority’ for the Metropolitan Police. Health secretary Wes Streeting was slightly more forthright, claiming that he wanted to see coppers ‘policing streets and not tweets’. Neither offered a robust defence of free speech.

    It’s understandable that Labour is less than sure-footed on this subject. After all, the arrest of Linehan marks the culmination of a long decline in British policing, beginning nearly 20 years ago, at the fag-end of Gordon Brown’s premiership. Since then, police forces across the UK have effectively turned into the armed wing of the very organisation that Streeting used to work for: Stonewall, the LGBT lobby group.

    The ideological capture began in 2008, with the publication of a Stonewall report on ‘Homophobic Hate Crime: the Gay British Crime Survey’. Funded by the Home Office, the report was a trademark product of a lucrative circle-jerk invented by New Labour, where taxpayer money is funnelled into activist lobby groups, who in turn demand policies from their buddies in parliament.

    The report presented a very bleak picture. The UK, it said, was in the throes of a tidal wave of homophobic violence and abuse. It was a conclusion almost impossible to square for anyone who lived in or visited the UK at the time – not least because you could hardly move without bumping into an openly gay national treasure, like Russell T Davies, Graham Norton, Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig, George Michael and countless others. I also distinctly remember London hosting the biggest Pride event in Europe that year. In short, Britain was hardly rife with ‘homophobic hate crime’ – in fact, the opposite was true.

    In many ways, the report was an early sign of the deeply subjective and invasive mindset that has come to characterise policing in this country. It recommended that officers spot ‘homophobic hate incidents’ even if the ‘victim has not identified them’. This was a brilliant ruse, as it provided a surefire way to magnify the scale of hate crime. It is little surprise, then, that we are repeatedly told that crimes against the gay community are constantly at crisis levels in the UK, despite public attitudes towards homosexuality reaching a point of near complete indifference.

    Stonewall had another trick up its sleeve to bring about its aim of a police force almost solely focussed on gay hate crime. In terms of chutzpah, this one takes the biscuit: it recommended that police forces in the UK ‘join Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme to access advice and support on becoming a gay-friendly employer’. Nice business, if you can get it. And, of course, Stonewall did. As of 2021, the overwhelming majority of British police officers were paid-up members of the ‘Diversity Champions’ scheme.

    When Stonewall’s next ‘Homophobic Hate Crime’ report was published in 2013, it was clear how deeply embedded it had become in the policing establishment. The foreword was written by Alex Marshall, the then chief executive of the College of Policing, who promised to ‘review and improve how police respond to homophobic hate crime’. He also revelled in the fact he had been designated a ‘Stonewall senior champion’. What are the chances?

    Having a senior member of the police force boasting about his own indoctrination makes for hard reading. But his foreword contained a far more disturbing revelation. While the report was still ostensibly about anti-gay crime, the word gay had been dropped. It had been replaced with ‘LGBT’, as though the acronym meant the same thing as same-sex attraction. Marshall, knowingly or not, was adopting the language of trans activism, which became the raison d’être of Stonewall under its next chief executive, Ruth Hunt.

    As a result of the hand-in-glove relationship between Stonewall and the College of Policing, every officer that has graduated in the past decade has been told that it is their duty to fight an alleged epidemic of transphobic hate crime. They’ve sat in classes lectured by trans activists, who’ve told them heart-wrenching tales of their personal suffering. Myths peddled by the trans lobby are presented as facts – such as that trans people, particularly children, are being driven to suicide by an atmosphere of bigotry.

    Linehan’s arrest comes after more than a decade of trans activism being promoted at the heart of British policing. As shocking as his arrest may have been, it should hardly have been a surprise. The police are only following orders. Stonewall’s orders, of course.

    1. None of my generation of police (nor any of my predecessors) would have been coerced into any of this kind of idiocy. Our bosses were of much sterner stuff, schooled on the streets as we all were.

      Anyone in politics suggesting such crass cretinousness would have been given short shrift.

    2. I noticed that the vile Sir Mark Rowley, is blaming the government. No, it is the Marxist College of Policing that is responsible. An organization that he is quite happy to go along with and implement big brother policies. It came up with the non-crime hate incidents nonsense and still enforces them even though the courts have deemed them unlawful. The college should be abolished and the police should go back to the old fashioned police training methods instead of being trained as a Stasi enemy of the people.

    3. What a pity they don’t pursue real crime like burglaries, shoplifting and other offences with the same enthusiasm.

  29. Good morning all

    Fine morning , some big clouds , slight breeze , will the washing dry on the line ?

    Moh left the house early , heading for a game of golf with pals near Bagshot , Foxhills , but as he is not used to motorways these days , I hope he copes with the chaos, not too sure of his route , M3 I think .

    Son has taken Pip out for a run , trouble is , Pip is now 12 + years , fit as a fiddle , but is now slightly deaf and runs and runs , nose down , why , because people do not have their lady dogs spayed, and the scent is too attractive for Pip , so he dashes off even though there is no dog in sight , what on earth am I to do?

    What will this week bring for Starmer , and how many boat people will cross the Channel this week?

    1. The M3 is either a racetrack or a car park.

      When Lucy was in season we simply kept her away from other dogs. It isn't fair on them, nor is it fair on her. We walked her separately, fed her separately, even teeth cleaned apart.

      She's too young to be spayed this year, but will be next when fully grown.

  30. How can a devout Muslim safeguard security and freedoms built on Western values?
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/how-can-a-devout-muslim-safeguard-security-and-freedoms-built-on-western-values/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-09-08&utm_campaign=TCW+Daily+Email

    BTL

    ‘For over two centuries, the Home Secretary has safeguarded the nation.

    'We have had free speech here for a very long time.'

    Watch Starmer's lips: if they're moving he's being specious and deceptive.

    Starmer clearly thinks it is high time that the nation should not longer be safeguarded and that any vestiges of free speech which still remain should be swept away.

    (N.B. Both these statements are in the past tense)

      1. They're here to take over.

        And our politicians are on their side as we shall see when the civil war comes.

        1. It'll mostly be fines, Rastus – ankle bracelets etc, as there are insufficient prison places. Grist to Rachel's mill.

      2. They come here for a better life. Trouble is, they bring with them the attitudes that made the country they came from a place where they no longer wished to live.

      3. People from Pakistan were allowed in after WWII to work in the UK textile industry.
        After the 1857 Mutiny, legislation was introduced which indirectly allowed or encouraged people from the sub-continent to settle or work in other parts of the British Empire; that's when the process started, both for better and for worse.

        1. Beat me to it, tim5165, quite right. Together with demographics (wimminslib+birth control = fewer babies – tomorrow's tax/NIC payers leading to government inability to pay future State Pensions, which Reeves recognises).

    2. I hear that the Irish people are working to stop the influence of Islam on their country, many are afraid of becoming known as anaemic. 🤭🤔

    3. First ripple.. murmur.. twitch.. grumblings of a revolution or military coup in response to the horror of..

      An Islamic Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and fervent supporter of Palestine Action, a terrrrierist organisation.. in charge of the Police.

    4. There are two categories of muslim, observant and non-observant.
      Although she may market herself as 'muslim', I doubt that she believes all the mumbo jumbo, or she would be living at home with at least three or four children, totally subservient to her husband.

      1. Don't kid yourself.

        Once there's a Muslim majority, with power, they will become "observant".
        Perhaps her husband instructs her to carry on in politics for the benefit of Islam.

      2. Actually she describes herself as a devout Muslim for whom her faith guides her life. In short she is a fanatic with a smiling mask on.

      3. Think ye not that she is not at home as you describe because she is of more use to the spread of the ideology out in the world? She can go back to the harem once she has completed the job.

    5. In answer to your initial question Rastus. She can't. People like her should, if we lived in a sane country, be seen as a clear and present danger to the public good and banned from holding any political office. She cannot uphold Islamic values, Sharia, and defend democratic values at the same time. Both systems contradict each other and, for a Muslim, Sharia must take precedence.

      1. Starmer must be aware of this. Putting a Muslim in charge of getting rid of mainly Muslim invaders is a deliberate ploy – the more Muslims in the UK the better as far as Starmer is concerned! He also knows he will have the full support of the Idiot King.

        Given the antipathy between Jews and Muslims (litotes!) I can only assume that one of the reasons why Starmer is doing this to annoy his Jewish wife.

        1. Why, though? They bring nothing but misery, violence, rape and anti social behaviour. They're a revolting pollution.

          The default should be to build a massive fence and keep them out.

    6. Good morning, Rastus 🙂 I keep asking 'who the heck voted for Starmer', and have been given several explanations (unions, etc) – I don't believe any of them, but I do believe his bromance with Macron/Tusk (especially Tusk). Bit odd…

  31. Morning All 🙂😊
    Up at 7am sunny warmish, car dropped off for the service 7:30, walked home, its up hill. Had to sit on a wall to get my breath back half way,
    phew !!!…….Lot's of people around, cars, dog walkers, children waiting for buses. It's been a few years since I've been a regular that early.
    Everyone on the TV this morning is ranting about a partial eclipse, showing hundreds of eager people standing outside to watch it and then cloud……

      1. Full service Bob. Much needed.
        The owner is they guy I sold my old van to. He had been nudging me about it for a couple of years before. It only had 53,000 on the clock. It needed quite a lot of work.
        He stripped all the shelving out and tidy-up up the whole thing. He runs a mobile disco as well as using it for work.

        1. Just had a call from the garage, both rear coil springs broken and will have to be replaced. Another 200 quid on the bill.
          All because of the conditions of our road surface.
          The council will be getting the bill for that. If they don't pay I'll knock it off the council tax bill.

  32. On today's headline.
    The last government whilst also readily allowing unknown unidentifiable people in rubber boats to invaded our country were using disused army camps as in one near Penally, not far from Tenby in Wales. At least 5 years ago we were near there on a family holiday and the local residents were complaining about the choice of venue the government had made to board the illegal invaders. Who seemed to be allowed to walk around un attended in the local area.

  33. We have all seen the shocking picture of the young woman slaughtered on the train in the USA.
    I'm assuming it was real as our mainstream media are ignoring it.
    Could the perpetrator have been incited and groomed into this sort of behaviour by the Lefts overuse of calling people racist over the decades past, like the recent claim that the countryside is racist.
    Should randomly accusing people of being racist be classed as a hate crime.
    And those that do it face prison?

    1. Saw the videos posted, but I'm not going to watch. Having my imagination confirmed like that is not something that will bring peace to my soul.

    2. It is real Bob. I have seen a video where the killer casually walks down the car while dripping blood everywhere. Then removes his sweater which, I assume is soaked in the poor girls blood. People like that killer should be shot immediately on being caught, in my opinion.

  34. Sigh.. swoon..
    Copenhagen driverless & clean metro train with passengers.

    London Tube strikes unleash 'pure carnage' on London: Commuter fury as drivers on up to £72K-a-year walkout in pay row – shutting the underground and bringing the capital to a standstill

    1. They are fully automated trains aren't they? If so, sack them all and let that be an end to the parasites.

    2. Copenhagen = 1.15 million
      Lunnon = 10 million.

      The principle of having driverless trains applies but the volume is much greater

      1. The population of London is far larger than the government claimed. This was known to be true because data from supermarkets gave an indication of how many people are buying everyday necessities, and these sales were too high to be explained by the official figures.

        Starngely receipts of purchases of basmati rice, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, aromatic spices such as cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, and cinnamon suggest Landan's population to be 120 million.

      2. We could do it a line at a time. We needn't have every line's vehicles replaced. Of course, unions would still want to ruin things, but they'd be told to FO.

  35. Good Morning all! Cool and sunny day in the hills and valleys of West Sussex. Now here is something that might have legs because of the corrupt government that is in power in Westminster. From the Mirror

    EXCLUSIVE: Palestinians launch legal bid against Britain over 'century of oppression'
    Lawyers behind the 400-page legal petition say they have evidence of alleged international law violations during the British rule of Palestine in the first half of the 20th Century

    A group of Palestinians will launch a legal bid for reparations from the UK Government, warning the roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict were "made in Britain".

    Lawyers behind the 400-page legal petition say they have evidence of alleged international law violations during the period of British rule in the first half of the 20th Century.

    Historical evidence from 1917 to 1948 allegedly shows Britain unlawfully repressed the Palestinian people, and was primarily to blame for the breakup of the single unitary territory, which is now split between Gaza strip and the West Bank, they claim.

    It comes as Keir Starmer prepares to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, unless Israel meets certain conditions. These include agreeing to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.

        1. Beat me to it, Sam. Quite right, the only money government has is ours (taxation – PAYE, VAT), or what it borrows on the bond markets (at the rate lenders dictate, they decide on how lend-worthy a government is).

          1. Who is 'Sam', Kate?

            It seems I am blocked by him/her (I cannot read his/her comments) but, for the life of me, I don't recall that I have ever come across anyone called 'Sam' on this forum.

          2. Sam Small above my comment, Grizzly…the one replying to Rastus (as was kowloonbhoy)…hope you can see it OK (I get confused with comments x)

          3. No, Kate. It seems that 'Sam Small' (never heard of him) has blocked me since his comments invariably come up as "Content unavailable".

          4. I’ve had that sometimes too, Grizz. If ‘Sam Small’ sees your post, s/he may see if he’s made a mistake and inadvertently blocked you s/he can change the setting. People often use nicknames/avatars …don’t worry about it, if it gets too much of a nuisance you can always block him/her too.

      2. That's not quite correct.. the way it works is.. they come up with an outrageous number.. then immediately Lord Hermer outbids them by adding a zero. That sum is leaked to the honourable members of the Press.
        Which is then halved by the PM. Great many success is hailed.
        Six months later a Freedom of Information request reveals the actual cost is Lord Hermer's bid times 3.

    2. Palestine was offered this before and refused it. Israel should just eradicate them. muslim will never change. it will always want to kill Jews.

      1. It is very noticeable the Pally's fellow muzzies want nothing to do with them.
        Saudi has the arid empty quarter just begging for the Israel treatment – but that involves brains, hands and hard work.
        The Egyptians are so fond of their neighbours they've built a barrier that makes the Berlin Wall seem like a picket fence.

  36. June Slater.

    We were denied access to much needed information during Lockdown. The media were willing participants in serving up biased and exaggerated claims about the effectiveness and safety of a brand new drug , a gene therapy.
    You were told to take it multiple times to stop other people catching the Infection, yet The EU Inquiry found it had never been tested for transmission.
    Some physicians had the decency to question the narrative., even at the risk of their own careers.
    @DrAseemMalhotra was such a person.
    As the NHS boycotted these doctors, big pharma profits soared.
    It took Pfizer 25 years to make $40 billion, they made a further $100 billion in just 12 months
    ..and you still think the roll out was about your health.
    An NHS that pushed a mask where the actual packaging told you it was unsuitable for viruses.
    A government that guessed at everything and made rules up that many didn't even bother to follow.
    They parties whilst you were locked down
    They groped strangers whilst they cancelled your weddings and buried your loved ones like toxic waste, and the media promoted this circus.
    Wild inaccurate modelling led to fear, that for some has never gone away .
    Cancer experts like Prof Angus Dalgleish begged the government to stop the boosters because of their concerns, no one listened.
    I'm glad to see The Reform Party have an open mind in an effort to learn from past mistakes and intentions .
    I'm thankful for people like Aseem, who put people before profit and even sacrificed their own careers .
    We need you because you offer transparency and honesty , in an industry like health care these are much needed qualities .

    1. The idea that your own vaccination can help someone else is idiotic. That such was spouted is utterly stupid. It exposed how dumb so many people are that they thought vaccines worked that way.

  37. I subscribe to the DT ..

    It is about 7 years since I wrote a comment on the DT articles ..

    After my disaster cleaning my laptop last night and finding I had to find passwords for everything , and including resetting my DT . That was successful .. but even though I have found my pass word to my subscription , the rules/ whatever seem to have changed re making a comment since I last attempted 7 years ago when I was banned .

    How do I try the the system now , what do I do, instructions please from those who comment on there .. I need to know whether I am still banned !

    1. Belle. Call 03309 127113, it's the Telegraph customer service they will help you. At least I have found them to be very obliging.

    4. Possibly a glitch on the site, if it doesn't work when you try again – maybe create a new account, or find your old account and change password (I've had to do that on a few sites recently, change password – Disqus for one).

  38. I subscribe to the DT ..

    It is about 7 years since I wrote a comment on the DT articles ..

    After my disaster cleaning my laptop last night and finding I had to find passwords for everything , and including resetting my DT . That was successful .. but even though I have found my pass word to my subscription , the rules/ whatever seem to have changed re making a comment since I last attempted 7 years ago when I was banned .

    How do I try the the system now , what do I do, instructions please from those who comment on there .. I need to know whether I am still banned !

  39. I find the prospect of SIR Ikea Slammer having, as his deputy, LADY Nugee – hilarious. A truly proletarian combination for the Labour party.

  40. Right, a mug of tea drank and a bit of breakfast eaten, off back up the "garden" to carry on with what I was doing!

  41. Good Day, Nottlers all! (For once I am posting in what for most of you is still the morning, but I am aware of our international reach and also a bit miffed that my aunt miscalculated the time difference again and rang me before 7 a.m., so good day it is.)

    A photo from what felt like the first day of spring here in Buenos Aires yesterday. It was so lovely to feel the sun.

    Just before taking this, I get the very upsetting news that a lovely friend of mine, a Canadian who was very close to me when I lived in Germany, had died suddenly. At fifty. She had found peace and love upon moving back to Canada, and was happy when I last spoke to her, so that's good to think about, but obviously such things do serve as a memento mori, and so I resolved to dance for her all day.

    I did. Eight hours in total. So I could sleep, and wake resolving to seize the day, because Now is all we have for certain.

    Love to all,

    Katy

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a2edbc0ff226f11269f45f212db92326656dac2c5d51539955b9d5d6914462b.jpg

    2. I'm sorry for your loss, Katy.
      But at least your friend died happy. Keep that thought when you remember her. I'm truly impressed at your dancing a whole 8 hours for her – that's something else!

    5. It's pretty sad when friends suddenly pass away. I lost two during covid.
      One I'd met at college in the mid sixties.
      Sorry to hear that Katy it sometimes makes us try and concentrate more on what we might have. I know it did for me.
      Best wishes. x

    6. It's a particular shock when it happens unexpectedly to younger friends.
      My best childhood friend died of a heart attack in his forties.
      He was a consultant heart surgeon.

    7. So sorry to hear that, Katy. It’s a terrible shock to all, no matter what the age and good for you for remembering her in the best way possible. 💃

    8. “The moment at hand is all that we own”. That was a John Denver line though I can’t remember which song. Keep dancing, Katy!

      There was a lady on my ward last week who was just 50 and had had a double bypass heart operation. She’ll make it but she’s also diabetic and her sight has been affected. Being on the ward frightened her until people began to realise that they needed to identify themselves upon entering and make it clear to her when they were discussing another patient.

    9. I hope she lived life to the full

      I have always esteemed your philosophy of grabbing life by the scruff of the neck!

      I would rather be ashes than dust!
      I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
      I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
      The function of man is to live, not to exist.
      I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
      I shall use my time.

      Noël Coward's Mrs Wentworth Brewster is inspirational – .she discovered 'in the nick of time that life was for living.'

      Carpe Diem

      Eat drink and be merry

      Burn the candle at both ends

    11. Ashes – I am so, so sorry for your loss. In our now (at least) weekly funeral rounds I am finding it really interesting the facets of the people I knew in one way and finding out their other hidden (from me) facets. There is always so much hinterland that we don't know.

      I am so glad for you and those left behind that your friend was happy when she died. . Condolences, though, and a fantastic tribute to dance for 8 hours – you did her proud xxx

        1. I find it strange that people who constantly claim to be so much smarter than everyone else seem incapable of recognising that but for agriculture and domesticating animals that they would still be living a hand to mouth existence even as so called apex predators.

          1. I do not post my comments for the likes of you (or for any other anonymous entity: who knows, you may just be a government 'bot'?).

            I post them for the information of intelligent individuals who have a proper desire to improve their health.

      2. I wondered how long it would be before someone who has suffered terrible bad health — as a direct result of a ridiculous diet —would pop up and offer his uninformed opinion.

        The BHF is fully funded by 'Big Pharma' who have a vested interest in keeping you ill. To them a patient cured is a customer lost.

        If you wish to remain ill, then carry on regardless listening to the crap that keeps you ill. If not, listen to better, more informed advice.

        Here is my comment on the excellent video (above) that you steadfastly refuse to listen to:

        Why do we never talk about stupidity? Not only did humans' health start to deteriorate from that moment, 12,000 years ago, when we started to chomp on grains and weeds; we also saw the advent of human stupidity at exactly the same time. 

        When we only ate our natural diet of fatty meat we were strong and powerful apex predators with few ailments. We relied on instinct, just as all other animal species still do. Eating vegetation took away those vital instincts and replaced them with increased stupidity. That is why the most clever, resourceful and innovative animal species to have ever evolved is also the only stupid entity to have ever existed.

        1. And, as expected, the Ed Miliband of the carnivore diet pops up to defend his one-eyed stance.

          Until I had my heart attack, possibly as a result of covid injections, I would suggest that my health and fitness were a damned sight better than yours. Even my GP was staggered that I had had the heart attack, as she regarded me as one of her fittest patients of my age.
          I've never been grossly overweight, unlike you.
          I can still swim well over a mile a session, even after the heart attack; and although the times are silly, to allow third world nations to qualify, I can still hit a qualifying time for the world masters' championships.
          But for injuries brought about by physical contact sport I have little doubt I could still run and probably a lot faster than you.

          1. There are none as blind as those who will not see.

            Anonymous man may talk a lot, but we will never know as we don't know who he is.

          2. There's a reason for that.

            My written opinions are such that in modern society being related could harm my children and grandchildren's livelihoods and life opportunities.

            Sad, but almost certainly true.

          4. I eat too much; I drink too much; I had a stroke 15 years ago, I am far too fat, I used to be a heavy smoker and I shall be 80 next year.

            I find it odd that I have already outlived so many of my contemporaries who did not drink, followed sensible diets, and exercised regularly.

          5. I'm sure there's a great deal of hereditary health at play.
            I'm five years younger than you and have always eaten what I regard as a balanced diet, but even when eating three full meals a day never put on weight, unless it was muscle through sports training. Both my parents were the same.
            My M-i-L eats anything and everything. Three meals a day, fruit veg meats fish pasta, you name it. Lives on her own, and
            she's coming up 100. She doesn't take any medication apart from the odd headache tablet and has annual covid injections!
            .

          6. In the genes, Rastus 🙂 my mother and her parents both died in their 60s….dad and his parents in their 90s….I'm already 76 so hoping have dad's family genes (although he did have two brothers died in their 70s)

          7. My father got to 85¾ and my mother to 97 – neither of them were heavy drinkers or smokers and they both kept relatively fit. One of my sisters died at the age of 73 and the other at 89.

          8. I suspect our longevity (or otherwise) possibly in our genes, Rastus. My mum died from her second aneurysm, the first was from smoking, or so she was told. She finally gave up smoking, very quietly, after my new baby was sneezing we thought due to smoke.

        2. Firstborn moved to the meat diet a while ago. After doing so, he has slowly lost weight and his Type 2 diabetes has "gone". No more medication needed. He also feels better in himself. He does eat some vegetables – cannot make a nice stir-fry without beansprouts and bits of onion & other vegetables, but his main food intake is carnivorous.

        3. Him in the Workshop follows Carnivore, as we've discussed previously, Grizz. Me? still on the widely varied diet. Perhaps something to do with early humans – men would hunt in a group (necessary to capture large or often fleet of foot animals) then kill and eat hearts/lungs/intestines – easier to eat/digest than muscle. Women, meanwhile, largely either back in the cave giving birth, or searching for berries etc to eat. It's thought women largely responsible for eating/growing grains, baby on the back and another on the way. The ones living nearer shores (did we first of all come out of the seas – discuss), would eat seafood/catch fish, and also seagreens either from the sea or growing on shoreline. I guess we would only come down out of the trees when larger animals became fewer in number, move to caves in groups, light a fire at the entrance to keep out predators, leading to cooking of meat….so on and so forth….

        4. Human mouths have both cutting and grinding teeth. Therefore we are designed to eat both meat and vegetables.

          The difference is we are no where near as active as we once were. We ate a lot of bread in the UK but we also spent a lot of time harvesting it, being out in fields, cutting and digging.

          I've spent today reading my book.

      1. I stopped around three years ago, also at my own decision, after having taken the damn things for around two years.

        Second best decision of my life (after reverting to eating meat and fish).

        1. I had three different types because I kept getting dreadful debilitating and very painful cramps in my upper legs.
          A good move in the end.

        1. They don't, they control the court with their voices.
          Clerks might hit something when the judge enters to get silence, but even that's fairly unusual in British courts.

          1. Judges in Britain do not use gavils though apparently Freemasons used to use them as do judges in the USA but not in Canada.

            Fortunately I have neve had to stand in front of a judge in court.

    3. Loved Dismaland in Weston-Supa-Mere.

      But has to be said Robin Gunningham is an uber woke knob-end.

      Banksy funded the purchase of the MV Louise Michel, a rescue boat for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea

      Banksy, the anonymous British street artist, used the 2024 Glastonbury Festival as a platform to highlight the refugee crisis by launching an inflatable life raft, holding dummy migrants, into the crowd during a performance by the band Idles.

  44. Good morning. The potions prescribed yesterday have taken effect and my discomfort is much relieved. I toddled down the corridor to tell the nurse the good news and we had an interesting conversation about how long drugs such as fentanyl, which I was given during the operation, linger in the body. I’m amazed that addicts such as the BLM hero could walk at all.

      1. I’m in the respite suite at a local nursing home, Bill. I committed myself willingly and they’re taking very good care of me. I’ll go home and back to work as soon as I feel able. What with the fire at Television Centre and the tube strike carnage, I figure I’m definitely in the best place this week. Back to the hospital to have stitches removed on Thursday.

        2. Wood lane fire – What caused that? I remember parking my car in a back street near Ladbrook Grove and couldn't remember where it was. I ended up walking past TV Centre and caught a tube from White city back to Ladbrook. They let me travel free. Get well soon.

        4. A friend and I are in London on Wednesday for a matinee (The Producers) booked several weeks ago.
          We are resigned to queueing for a taxi at Liverpool Street for some time. The performance is at 2.30; the train arrives just before midday, so we should get to the Garrick on time (fingers firmly crossed).

          1. If you're up to the distance, it's a fairly gentle hour's stroll, you could stop for lunch and then tea on the way back.

          3. Tell her she’s got Spartie duty to fulfil?
            Don’t forget your lead, you may need to drag her!

    3. Heyup Sue! Glad your recovery is progressing.
      Yes, such potions have their place, but that place is NOT on the street.

    4. Good news, Sue; after splitting – or sawing – your sternum in two, you needed powerful stuff!. It twill be good to wind down slowly.

    5. Good news, Sue 🙂 as for fentanyl, I've had a dose once but only a low one – even so, staggering around for a few hours, luckily someone else able to drive me. Hope you continue to improve x

    9. I suppose regular use limits the effect. It’s why I limit my use of strong painkillers. Good news that you’re feeling better.

    10. Excellent.
      It was the drugs, not the policeman that stopped St George of Fentanyl from breathing.

    11. Great to hear, Sue! Glad the pain is being resolved, and that you’re feeling much more comfortable!

  45. Not easy:
    Wordle 1,542 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  47. Back from a week on Carolina's Outer Banks with the tribe. Thought I would show you what a beach should look like. Bear in mind, this pic was taken on Saturday afternoon – a busy time… And yes, driving onto the sand is fine, as long as you have a proper 4WD vehicle, i.e. not AWD. If your vehicle is not 4WD and you get stuck, the tow out cost in not cheap, plus you will get a stiff fine.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4a076cacda10389675f81f6c0316a6a012fa8683f89a658e61d358bd5daf0778.jpg

      1. Lots of fishing going on. Family just set up a big awning to keep the sun somewhat at bay (youngest of us is only 5 months), and spent the day in and out of the water, plus kicking a football around. Temps around the 25-27 mark all day. Very pleasant.

        Best thing is, that is about as busy as that beach gets. And since it stretches for 120 miles along the outer banks (barrier islands) there's space for all.

  48. Righty, logged a query with the internet people over the photo uploading issue as it also breaks her instant coffee gram or whatever.

    Apparently it is related to MTU which decides how big a packet can be before it is broken up. The signal (ICMP) that says 'too big, break it up' isn't getting sent for some reason.

    Imagine sending a printed manuscript through the post. if the parcel is too big for the receiver postbox, it'll be sent back.
    Sender can then split it in two separate packets.
    In my case that message isn't coming over, so the packet is being dropped.

    She's also given away what she's doing in her 'work room' and it's as expected but… not. I don't know why she hid it all this time.

  49. Afternoon all. The only sensible idea about ending the illegals in hotels is to send them all back.

      2. He is an utter disgrace. There is video footage somewhere of him dashing a camera to the ground when a journalist asked him a question about some other disgraceful incident, and that question clearly annoyed Sir Mark, to the point where he physically lashed out ar the journlist and dashed his (very expensive) equipment to the ground.. What a clutz. I don't see why he has not been arrested for this assault and criiminal damage. Er = oh, I see…

      1. It must be a spoof.

        Mind you the Welsh Tourist Board used to have a poster encouraging migrants to come to Wales showing a smiling, pretty little white girl?

      1. I’ve just had texts from my surgery saying I am eligible for the flu and covid jab. Unfortunately to let them know I don’t want them I have to sign up to some NHS website. I think I will put a letter in their postbox.

        1. I did that and was roundly slated by some harridan. "Doctor does not like having to deal with letters."

  57. Miliband ‘refused to leave energy brief’ in reshuffle

    Starmer’s decision to keep the former Labour leader in post could prove politically damaging

    Matt Oliver Industry Editor.
    Dominic Penna Senior Political Correspondent
    08 September 2025 12:30pm BST

    Sir Keir Starmer tried to move Ed Miliband out of his energy brief and into the housing department but the former Labour leader refused, it has been claimed.

    The Prime Minister carried out a reshuffle of his ministerial team last week following the high-profile departure of his deputy, Angela Rayner, with several key figures shunted sideways or demoted.

    But when Sir Keir asked Mr Miliband to leave his job as Energy Secretary – overseeing the Government’s net zero policies – he “refused” and successfully held on to his post.

    “This appears to have been the one part of the reshuffle that didn’t quite go Starmer’s way,” said ITV political editor Robert Peston, who first reported the claims.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/09/08/miliband-refused-to-leave-energy-brief-in-reshuffle/

    Ms Rayner’s resignation followed a tax scandal over her purchase of a second home and left Sir Keir with the posts of deputy prime minister and housing secretary suddenly vacant, an opportunity he exploited for a major Cabinet shake-up.

    Yvette Cooper, the former home secretary, was moved to the Foreign Office, while David Lammy, the former foreign secretary, was demoted to the justice brief while receiving the consolation job of Deputy Prime Minister.

    Mr Miliband’s success in refusing to budge underscores his enduring influence in the Labour Party, where he is seen as a champion of the “soft Left” around the Cabinet table.

    But keeping the veteran MP, who is said to have encouraged Sir Keir to enter politics, could prove politically damaging at a time when energy bills are rising.

    Britain suffers from some of the highest household and industrial electricity prices in the world, a problem the Government blames on the current system’s exposure to gas prices.

    Mr Miliband has vowed to tackle the problem by getting the electricity system to run on 95pc “clean” power by 2030.

    But critics have warned that the breakneck pace of his policies – and their reliance on expensive and unproven technologies such as carbon capture – could prove expensive for households who will ultimately foot the bill.

    The growing backlash has made net zero one of the most divisive subjects in politics, with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK aiming to make it one of two key battlegrounds along with immigration at the next election.

    Mr Farage has predicted green energy could become the “new Brexit” and has pledged to scrap the Government’s commitment to meet net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    “Everyone can see the logic now”, he told The Sun in April.

    “Why would you export manufacturing and then re-import the goods? All you’ve done is you’ve exported CO2 emissions and actually added to them in many cases.

    “The lunacy of this. This could be the next Brexit – where Parliament is so hopelessly out of touch with the country.”

    On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman insisted Sir Keir was “delighted” that Mr Miliband will continue in his post.

    The spokesman said: “The Prime Minister set out his new Cabinet and his new ministerial team, a team that is going to be focused on delivering, with growth as a relentless focus, and the Energy Secretary has been central to that growth agenda.

    “Investing in green energy goes hand in hand with boosting growth and reducing people’s bills across the country. And the Prime Minister’s delighted that he’ll continue to do that.”

    Mr Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero were approached for comment.

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

    L R Jones
    1 hr ago
    Starmer is more pathetic than we realised – if he’s getting dictated to by Miliband, he’s not got long left.

    1. Who's the boss?

      Lunatic Miliband or Weak Starmer?

      Are we heading for Milband having another crack at being Party Leader? This would lead to his being prime minister.

  58. James Heale
    Labour’s deputy leadership race could tear Starmer’s party apart
    8 September 2025, 1:52pm

    The rules have been fixed and the timetable agreed. So, who will be the key players in the race to be Labour’s next deputy leader? That is the question all Westminster is asking this lunchtime, following Angela Rayner’s resignation last Friday. The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) met this morning and confirmed that nominations will open this Saturday and close on 27 September. Candidates need to be nominated by at least 20 per cent of MPs (80) and either five per cent of local parties or three affiliates including two trade unions; they are then put to members in a preferential ballot. Voting will open on 8 October and run until 23 October, with the result announced two days later.

    That tees up an intriguing Labour conference at the end of this month, when the contest will be in full swing. It means that the party’s splits could potentially be exposed in full public glare when members assemble in Liverpool. Those at the top of the party are all-too-aware of the potential for this race to disrupt the workings of government as Keir Starmer desperately tries to get his administration back on track. But given the legal constraints of the Labour rulebook and likely union opposition to any abolition of Rayner’s role, there is no other way but to proceed with a seven-week-long contest. The last time a deputy contest happened without a concurrent leadership race was 1981 – the year when Denis Healey, for the party right, narrowly saw off Tony Benn, the tribune of the Labour left.

    This contest could be similarly divisive – although, personalities, not issues, in Benn’s famous phrase, are likely to form a major role. Loyalty to the current Labour leadership is likely to be a key dividing line. Shabana Mahmood, the new Home Secretary, has ruled herself out this morning. Other names being bandied about as helpful to Starmer include David Lammy and Alison McGovern. The list of less-helpful names is likely to be longer. As the lifetime of this government has progressed, the number of potential Starmer foes has only grown. Lucy Powell, unceremoniously dismissed last week is now viewed as a likely contender; Emily Thornberry, sacked last summer, is almost certain to stand. Louise Haigh, a third woman axed by Starmer, has used a piece in the New Statesman today to effectively call for Labour’s ‘fiscal straitjacket’ to be ‘broken.’

    Rayner was a somewhat mercurial deputy, who often caused Starmer’s close aides no air of despair. But her worth was evident in the welfare rebellion when she sought to alleviate tensions between No. 10 and the Labour left. Her successor is likely to articulate, not alleviate, such grievances in the future, as the ructions from last week’s reshuffle continue to ripple through the party.

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

    What a dismal field

    1. Lucy Powell – regarded as 'soft-left'; pro-EU but also a member of Labour Friends of Israel; described discussion of rape gangs as "dog whistle" politics.

      Bit of a mixed bag, I'd say…

      1. Some people who are not facially attractive can have jolly and cheerful personalities with sparkling eyes and a pleasant smile. This depressed-looking woman is dismally unattractive, poor thing.

  62. Labour confirms rapid timetable for deputy leadership contest, with nominations closing on Thursday
    The Labour party has confirmed that candidates to be deputy leader will have to obtain the required backing of 80 MPs by 5pm on Thursday, when nominations will close. It has issued this timetable, which also says the winner will be announced on Saturday 25 October.

    Looks to me like it's a stitch up and the candidates are already known.

    2. A stitch up in British politics and Wastemonster ? It's commonly known as the Mr T. Jones effect.
      As in…. It's Not Unusual. Isn't it……

    3. Wasn't someone explaining the other day that the deputy leader is usually also the deputy PM. I could be mistaken, but if so, that makes it Lammy.

      1. I'm not certain how it works, but I believe Raynor was elected by the party and then appointed DPM by Starmer

        As the deputy leadership is a party role, with no constitutional position, the role of Deputy Prime Minister is not guaranteed to any deputy leader when the Labour Party is in government.

        So Lammy could remain in place.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Leader_of_the_Labour_Party_(UK)#:~:text=As%20the%20deputy%20leadership%20is,Labour%20Party%20is%20in%20government.

  63. Two jobs more or less done today.
    Shuttering in for a bit of concrete I want to pour for a short wall extension and a load of brash & other garden waste burnt.
    Have now started on the brash from the pear tree and have most of that burnt.
    To avoid Wirksworth or Matlock Fire Brigade out on a false alarm I did ring the Fire Control Room in Derby to advise them of my plans.

  64. Two hours in the garden. Saw work. No ladders involved. Glad to stop…

    France changed its government yet?

  65. Anyone wishing to depress themselves, be shocked, have their worst fears confirmed re immigration numbers – read Matt Goodwin today, and decide what you think about Boris Johnson (if you haven't already).

        1. Boris and Cameron were one of the reasons I didn't vote Conservative anymore. Or just didn't vote. But I will next time if it will help to get this mob of destructive morons out.

          1. I voted Conservative ever since Thatcher, Eddy. Although I like Philp, Jenrick, I doubt I’ll vote Conservative again – the video of Badenoch chucking large pieces of Jenga around was the last straw, for me. I remain doubtful about Farage/Tice/Reform. So possibly Advance. Or not vote at all, never done that before.

          4. Cameron quietly flew thousands of immigrants into the UK via our RAF Base’s. And who on this planet could accidentally leave their own little daughter alone in a pub. Like Cameron did.

        3. If her beloved Boris is not allowed into The Reform Party will Nadine Dorries decide to leave it?

  66. Well, got the last bit of the pear trimmings into the incinerator just as the rain began, blooming big heavy drops, so have come back in again only for the sun to come out again!
    Still, that's me for the day, but a satisfying amount done.
    I'll certainly need a bath tonight.

  67. Afternoon All! Sitting on a seat on platform 8 at Temple Meads waiting for my train to Gloucester and then to Stroud.
    I had a great weekend and now I'll be glad to get home.
    Travel plans All worked out OK apart from when the plane arrived at Bristol Airport and some people got off – but nearly everyone had to sit and wait as there was a problem there. A lightning strike apparently. Eventually, after more than an hour they let us off and there seemed to be a temporary passageway. Fortunately there was enough time till my train home.

    3. I remember as a prep school boy taking a train from Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads and thence to Exeter, Plymouth, and either St Austell or Truro where my parents usually came and collected me in the car.

      On one occasion my parents didn't have time to come to the station so I had to take another train on from Truro to Falmouth, walk from the Station to The Prince of Wales Pier and then take the ferry to St Mawes.

  68. Wordle No. 1,542 3/6

    ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
    🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 8 Sep 2025

    Tweet for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done, a 2 here, took me a while but the letters would only fit a couple of words that hadn't been used before.

      Wordle 1,542 2/6

      ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well done – unremarkable par here…..

      Wordle 1,542 4/6

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

    4. Par again today.

      Wordle 1,542 4/6

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

        1. I’m on paracetamol only now and will hopefully cope with that though I can still have a codeine variant if needed. I hadn’t realised how long the effects of that and the fentanyl linger in the body.

          2. Yes, they’re very good. The physio has promised exercises to help with the fluid retention and the arm pain – which I was aware of but hadn’t clocked as a typical symptom and something that could be eased with exercise.

          3. After my heart surgery I reduced the painkillers to just a nightly Tylenol after a few weeks. Not pain free but the discomfort helped me remember to not do anything stupid..

            Less.is sometimes better than excess I had surgery on my wrist and the doctor gave me a prescription for oxycontin as a painkiller. Just one pill taken before my wife confiscated them. – no more drooling stupors for me.

          4. Sue, I join the chorus of those pleased that you are doing so brilliantly and wish you so well- KBO. I don't mean to be inquisitive, but are the intensely painful opioid side effect to which you refer to do with what we call in the trade the "turtle head"?

            If so, I deeply synpathise (although I do DS anyway). The pain is intense and not dissimilar to childbirth. Dulcolax works, though it takes its time. And drink loads of water.

    1. Fabians. Kill them all. What makes that judge think that he will continue to take his meds after being convicted of killing people on London buses and tubes?

      What makes this deluded fucking wanker that anyone would feel comfortable sitting next to him on any public transport in the entire country?

      Well, of course….Batley…West Yorkshire. Fallen to the fucking caliphate.

      1. After watching Antiques roadshow broadcast from Bradford , which was a beautiful city , and how places like Bradford made Great Britain even greater in the old days , now a symbol of diversity and as Fiona Gordon or what ever she is called laughed as she said the city embraced many languages and cultures !

        A few of my long ago past relatives came from Bradford , Leeds and Wakefield , Doncaster , Tadcaster , Darlington , all either engineers, farmers, butchers , glove makers shop keepers , boiler makers , ship builders , builders , brass band players who competed at the old Chrystal Palace , teachers , nurses , local civic signatories , solicitors , and then WW1 took its toll , and the young men , well some survived and many didn't .

        What the hell has happened , Bradford is infected with Asian males who insist on wearing their national dress , yes pantaloons and long gowns and dark beards !

        1. "…their national dress , yes pantaloons and long gowns and dark beards !" And that goes for the women, too.

    2. I do hope this judge meets Haroon and his friends for drinkie poos later. Though i suspect what they will be drinking is his blood. As they have been screaming for for years.

    3. One would assume from that X posting that he was convicted for the London bus bombings, but no. While there's a suspicion that he was a mastermind behind them, he was convicted in the US on a completely different matter but served his sentence in the UK. That still does not excuse the judge's "all the best".

    1. When we lived in Laure, a French neighbour fell for a government plan to rehouse immigrants from Mayotte (a French overseas territory). Government to pay the rent.

      After a year of misery – they had parties in the street, had invited extended family to come and live with them – a house with accommodation for six civilised people was "home" to twenty…..and made absolutely no attempt to fit in with village life.

      They were eventually moved on by the social services. Gérard returned to find that the house had been completely trashed. Loos blocked and broken; sink ditto. Bathroom indescribable. Doors ripped off hinges. Radiators pulled off walls – filth and squalor. Cost him tens of thousands to restore it.

    2. Oh of course! 8 September is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ave Maria, gratia plena, dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulierribus, et benedictus ventris tui Jesus. (Predictive text fought me all the way so apologies in advance for any spelling error!)

  72. I see that it is now wine o'clock. So, farewell.

    Have a spiffing evening – congratulating Brash on keeping his "private" visit to lay a wreath on his grandmother's grave so secret that only twenty film, TV and photographers turned up…

    A demain.

    1. The longer Brash spends with Trash the tackier and more appalling he becomes. He's now beyond the point of 'no return'.

      2. He lost his mother and we should all have sympathy with that. My mother also died in a car crash a couple of years previously.. He seems to think he is the only one who has suffered.
        Meghan through her gaslighting and manipulations is keeping the pain alive.

        Talk about deluded.

          1. As is usually the case in life there are other issues. The driving instructor was a friend of mine. She had not long taken her test. My father didn't want to go to Bingo that Sunday night. She drove herself. She died.
            My friend ended our friendship because he couldn't cope with the guilt.

          2. A terrible experience for you all.
            (I agree with what you write but I can't upvote, it trivialises your comment)

          3. It was terrible. My father called his eldest daughter who happened to be his brothers daughter and i got a phone call at 9.30 pm from her telling me my mother was dead.

            I know we have text and messaging even then but why would someone drop such a bomb of news that way?

            I later new. And it is worse than you can imagine.

          4. I lost my father when I was 37 and my mother when I was 54.

            I never knew my paternal grandfather who died 35 years before I was born or my maternal grandfather who died 26 years before I was born. My maternal grandmother died in 1945 a year before I was born and my paternal grandmother, whom I only met once, died in 1954 when I was 7.

            One of my sadnesses is that my father died two years before I met Caroline so she and out two sons never met him.

          5. One of my regrets is my grandmother dying shortly before our eldest was born, but console myself she knew a great grandchild was on the way.

          6. I didn't know either of my grandfathers – one died in 1931 and the other in 1950, when I was two years old. My father died when I was four.

  73. Just announced

    No confidence motion on prime minister, Francois Bayrou.

    364 have no confidence

    194 have confidence

    25 Abstain.

    What will Macron do now?

    2. Has that been doctored? A previous photo did not show a Union Flag. I can't believe a left-wing Banksy would paint the flag.
      Edit: Yes, the image has been photoshopped.

      1. The BBC's take on it.

        "It depicts a judge in a traditional wig and black robe hitting a protester lying on the ground, with blood splattering their placard.

        While the mural does not reference a particular cause or incident, its appearance comes two days after almost 900 people were arrested at a London protest against the ban on Palestine Action."

    3. If Banksy had the stones that's what he should have done. Sticking it up the fatuous middle class anywheres who adore him.

  76. It is wonderful, in the literal meaning, that people can believe such things.
    I'm afraid that I can't.

    What happens next to the British-born millennial saint: Carlo Acutis will be displayed for the faithful, while cuttings of his hair are sent to chosen few as relics and his heart is stored in a gold box

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15076509/What-happens-body-British-born-millennial-saint-Carlo-Acutis-displayed-faithful-cuttings-hair-sent-chosen-relics-heart-stored-gold-box.html

    1. Thank God that the Angican church doesn't bother with such nonsense. 54 years since my first appointment as organist, I'll be cast out into the darkness at the end of this month. I'm still one of the youngest members of the congregation. Not bitter, though…

      2. Let's face it, Geoff, the CofE struggles to get to grips with faith, let alone miracles. Father P who does the sermons on the first Sunday of the month, assured us we were ALL saints. Me, I'm not so sure about my status.

        1. It's above my pay grade, Conners, but in the event of beatification, you have my vote.

          In the parish, we have two ex-High Sheriffs (therefore current DLs) and a High Court Judge. It's Surrey, after all.

          In the unlikely event of anyone recommending me for the honours system,, the envelope wil., be returned with "Not known at this address".

          As a Churchwarden in Suffolk in a two-year interregnum, I used to receive letters in a "10 Downing Street" envelope.

          Kept the postman guessing…

      3. My departure is largely instigated by the local "great and good." Not surprisingly, the Rector is outnumbered.

        I have plans for the future. My social life has largely revolved around the church since my childhood. That's just bee eraseds. No longer dependant on the Church for the roof over my head, I rent a remarkably affordable retirement bungalow in leafy, expensive Surrey.

        I have a plan. The closest church to Guildford Station is St Nicholas. Their former Verger and PCC secretary (?) used to attend the Good Intent on a Friday night.

        Churchmanship is somewhat further "up the candle", but I'm quite attreacted by that. I can view their services on YouTube (and have done).

        Rector expects the "volunteer" mode. to fail As do I. The difference is that I'm rather less likely to return to the fray than he appears to hope.

        1. Just a thought.
          Find easy distance churches with organs, fire them up and play what you really enjoy.
          You might get signed on a free transfer and get a lot of pleasure from it.

          1. I have an “abandoned project” in my lounge. If the eyesight returns, I’ll be soldering lots of wires.

            I bought a two manual 1980’s electric organ from eBay a few years ago. I ripped out the analogue electronics. I have most of the components to make it “talk” to a computer.

            Search “hauptwerk,” “contra bombarde” or – particularly Richard McVeigh on YouTube to see the result.

        1. They can’t afford me, Jools. After the “parish share”, which pays for a myriad of woke employees at the Diocesan office, we struggle to pay for energy, let alone maintaining the church buildings.

          There’s a view that I can be replaced by volunteers. Had they asked, I might have volunteered myself. The Rector expects the arrangement to fail. As do I. But ot needs to be allowed to fail. At which point, he would invite me to return. But I may well have moved on by then.

          To a large extent, my social life has been inextricably linked to the Church for a long time. There’s a church in Guildford within walking distance of the rail station. It’s slightly “higher church” than I’m used to, but that’s no problem. There’s a choir, which I might seek to join.

          Guildford Cathedral is an option, but they built it on the summit of a bloody mountain.

          But – having been tethered to a village church organ every Sunday for 54 years – I’d quite like to experience church music ‘done proper’, as Ange might say.

          So, perhaps once a month, I’ll book a Saturday night in a Travelodge, and attend Sunday Eucharist in a cathedral. Maybe post a review…

        1. In the London diocese we regard Prior Rahere, the founder of Barts Hospital, as a saint. I don’t think there are any claims of miraculous healing, just 900 years of healing. That seems sufficient, though the Vatican may not agree.

          1. There apparently has to be some proven incidents of a person praying to that particular person after their physical death and a Pope-approved miracle thus occurring. Maybe there are left-footers on here that can explain.

    3. I have always felt very uncomfortable with this aspect – relics etc. It strikes me as very macabre. The Reformers were right about this type of thing.

  77. Just arrived home……..it's been a long, weary journey this afternoon. Trains were on time though.

      1. Yes – and for some reason we couldn't disembark from the plane but had to sit there for over an hour.

        1. Oh dear there is nothing worse than travelling and having to put up with the silly mistakes of all others.
          It’s so annoying.
          Welcome home.
          One of our neighbours daughters and SiL own and run a hotel at a ski resort in Switzerland.

          1. I didn’t really understand why we had to wait – but I think lightning might have come into it.

  78. Just asking this ..

    The new Muslim woman Home secretary , will not be sending her own kith and kin back to Pakistan .. she won't . I know she wont .. because she is a Muslim women from a primitive female hating tribe .. and I hope to goodness her life won't be in danger .. because the Pakistan men DO NOT listen to women , they assassinate them .

    She will not do that because she will have monster Pakistani men breathing over her .

      2. How terrible are those in-
        human people in what they call a religion. This is what our stupid useless political idiots have allowed to come into our country.

    2. Well said TB. If she starts wearing the letter box kit we will know they are out to get her.

  79. I know I’m not the first here, nor alas will I be the last, to suffer bereavement of their spouse. Days that are particularly difficult are birthdays, anniversaries etc. During the past week I have had the first wedding anniversary since Mrs Bee’s death. I went to Dumfries House (which is 40 odd miles from Dumfries), a place we had wanted to visit. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t get emotional there (the tears came when I sat down to dinner at night). A couple of days previously I went back to the hotel we went to on honeymoon, but only for a bar lunch. That WAS difficult. We have to face up to these sort of challenges otherwise we could become hermits, prisoners in our own home.

    3. You're doing one of the best things.
      Remembering the good times.
      Carry on doing so, your wife will be enjoying them with you and mourning for you.

    4. My sympathies, Eric. I have nothing comforting to offer, I'm afraid – and I don't look forward to being in the same position myself.
      Take care, man.

    5. ericthebee

      I felt a lump in my throat as I read about your difficult memory .

      Consider yourself hugged , and imagine the warmth of a nice group hug from all of us .

    6. Oh man I feel so sad and so sorry for you. I've just had to use a tissue for my eyes.
      I can't image it happening to us but I know one way or another it will. We have just had our 51st wedding anniversary. Still intact.
      My best wishes go out to you.

    7. It won't get any less of a loss, but it will become easier to deal with. Sending you good wishes at this difficult time.

    9. Ah eric, what a sad time, but bravo to you for pushing yourself to do uncomfortable things. Very brave of you, and as Belle said, we’re all sending good wishes and thoughts to you.

    10. Thoughts with you. Let the tears come and like the psalmist, rage at the Lord for taking her from you. He won’t give her back but nor will He deny you comfort.

    11. Have you got a decent pub nearby? I ask because there's a sort of unofficial widows club and a separate widowers club at my local. The widows club is larger than the widowers one, naturally. They don't talk about their losses all the time of course, but there is common ground there and a bit of company can help. All the best.

    12. That dinner must have been tough, forget for a moment and turn to say something to your wife just to be slapped down by reality.

      This is a good place to visit for support and a few nottlers have benefited from our lack of wisdom in the past.

    13. I feel that anything I can say will feel like simple platitudes, but that hole in your life, though it will always be there, the currently raw and painful edges will eventually begin to heal and you may then be able to touch them without too much pain.
      God bless you and give you the strength to carry on.

    14. Not an easy piece to write and I think we are all touched that you wished to share such a sensitive time with the often rumbunctious – but understanding – NOTTLers.
      You also show great courage.

      1. Thank you for those kind words, but I disagree about the great courage. If I had that, I wouldn’t be here.

        1. No.
          What you're hinting at is not the way to go forward.
          Greater courage is to live with what happened, as you have, and carry on with the life you shared.
          I'm sure your wife would agree.

          1. Don’t worry. I dismissed that years ago when I had problems at work. If you ‘try to end it all’ and things don’t go to plan, you could end up worse off with physical and/or mental disabilities. But I still say that people who do it must have courage.

          2. It’s a hard one.
            I went through a crisis like that.
            At that point the only thing that stopped me was the thought that a chambermaid would find my body.
            Not a good time.
            I hope you continue to enjoy life.

          3. I would say they have extreme selfishness. They think only of themselves and not the effect on those left behind. I speak from experience.

    15. It's hard. It was about 14 months ago when I lost my wife. We had been together over 60 years. August was her birthday and our wedding anniversary. What keeps me going is that the family are not far away and we see each other regularly. Just back from a week on the North Carolina beaches with the whole tribe, from me to my great grand daughter, plus spouses and girl/boy friends.

    16. It is likely no use, but the memories are there of good times. Of moments when you were happy together.

      Remember her life, shared with you. Don't be afraid to fall apart. They show you love her.

  80. Local news.

    Anger over €1.89 bottles of Bordeaux wine sold in French supermarkets
    Winegrowers say the low prices undervalue their products

    September marks the start of the autumn Foire aux Vins (wine fairs), a commercial event that happens twice a year where bottles of wine are sold at reduced prices.

    While attractive for customers, wine industry representatives say these discounts undervalue their products at a time when producers are already concerned by the damaging impact of wine fraud, and uncertainty surrounding additional customs duties imposed by US President, Donald Trump.

    Declining wine consumption is also an issue. Some Bordeaux winemakers have experienced several years of poor harvests, while others struggle to manage excess supply. Vineyard owners are now being paid to burn their vines in an effort to reduce production levels.

    The accumulation of these obstacles has led the industry into crisis.

    “€1.89 for Bordeaux, €9.99 for Champagne, Lidl's wine fair has shocked the entire industry. In the midst of a wine crisis, seeing our bottles sold off at such low prices is a real betrayal of the work of winegrowers. Faced with these rock-bottom prices that undermine the value of our profession, how long are we going to accept this contempt?” wrote specialist wine publication Vitisphere on social media.

    Delicatessen Le P'tit Comptoir based in Thiviers (Dordogne) took to Facebook to criticise the “mentality of large retailers” and to encourage consumers to make ethical choices.

    “The famous Lidl wine fair. €1.89 a bottle of Côtes du Rhône or Bordeaux. Fair price? At what price were these wines bought from the winegrower?”

    Despite the backlash Lidl remains a popular vendor for consumers, with the discount retailer having sold some 180 million bottles of French wine on average per year since 2021, as reported by a regional branch of FranceBleu.

    Protests on the horizon?
    Wine producers and farming unions have previously protested against supermarkets selling wine at discounted prices – with actions mainly taking place at stores near wine-growing regions.

    In November 2024, and again this July, Lidl set the price of €1.99 per bottle of Côtes du Rhône, and €1.39 for the second bottle purchased. This led to a series of protests from angry farmers who entered Lidl stores and placed stickers on the bottles with the hashtag: Balance ta grande distribution (denounce your supermarkets). They also hung A4 signs reading: Nos vies valent plus que leurs profits (our lives are worth more than their profits).

    A similar scenario was seen in March 2024 when Carrefour supermarkets sold cases of six bottles of AOP (appellation origine protégée) Comte de Maignac for €9.96, working out at €1.66 per bottle. This also sparked protests and backlash from Gironde farming union FNSEA 33.

    In the same month, winegrowers from the Viti33 group gathered in front of a regional Lidl distribution hub off the A63 motorway near Bordeaux, after bottles of Bordeaux wines were being sold for €1.89.

    The group claimed that any sales prices below €2.50 contribute to the decline of their industry.

      1. Over:-
        Priced
        Under:-
        Quality.

        We enjoy it, but it’s overhyped and too many other regions have jumped on the wine-wagon.

        1. When I worked at Edinburgh Airport forJ Lyon’s catering, we usually won the annual race to get it on the wine list first in Edinburgh! We were well placed…!
          It was usually fairly undrinkable, unless chilled!

          1. Glad that I am not the only person not impressed by Beaujolais Nouveau. The only year that we tried it we found that it was very thin and acidic, equal to some of the Canadian red wines.

            I suppose that makes me a heathen not an oenophile.

          2. Not at all.
            I don't remember when the hype started but we've found 9 out of 10 have been very ordinaire.
            When it's good (rarely) it is very good indeed.

          3. I can remember the 1976 Nouveau, as Davy's wine bars had some really excellent stuff – there was one just across Holborn from our then London office. And we had very generous expense accounts. Happy Days…

          4. You probably remember the “runs” to be first into the UK with the vintage.
            It was one of those things that one did.
            (I wasn’t one of the ones, one boy out and one on the way in those days but friends did.)

          5. Yes, a friend had a Scimitar GTE and did "a run". You could get quite a lot in the back of one of those. I had the older Scimitar GT (a la Pricess Anne) at that time, which had back seats – but only suitable for very small children, or one adult sotting sideways. Fun car though, with the Ford 3 litre backed by the overdrive equipped gear box in a car that did not weigh very much.

          8. Nah! It was a very good advertising ploy but not the greatest wine! We did the same with getting the first grouse on to the plate on the Glorious 12th! Which was really silly as it should be a bit ‘gamey’ not straight off the moor!
            Just seen sos reply! 1982 was quite quaffable!

          9. It's a strange brew.
            When it's good it can be superb but I stand by my comment and I agree re the chilled suggestion.
            We usually chill it a little too.

    2. I'd love to have the disposable income to "buy ethically". Owing to taxes and inflation, however, it's a case of buy cheaply or not at all.

      1. Living in a wine growing region, I see how much effort goes into the production.
        It is extremely hard work.
        At the top end fortunes are made, but at the day to day level they are in a similar situation to what Labour is trying to do to UK farmers.

        1. I thought you might say that. It's true of course. Our local winegrowers in Cornwall and Devon demand huge prices for their wines. The vagaries of the weather here are possibly tougher than in France mind, although this could be a good year.
          We have 4 vines and possibly 100 nice bunches of large sweet white grapes, and if we can do that I'm sure the local vineyards have done well.

        2. Over here in our wine region it can be harder, vines need to be buried every year to protest them from the brutal winters.

          All of that work and a long dry summer like we have just enjoyed can result in a por harvest.

          1. One wonders why they bother, or is the premium so high that the one good year outweighs the five bad ones?

          2. It's accepted as being a good way to throw away a fortune. Rather than encouraging local growers, taxes on local wines are high and it is difficult for smaller growers to produce enough to sell through the government run stores.

            I did slightly misrepresent myself a few years ago when I was working in Lyon. I told them that I had a small vineyard just south of Belleville – they assumed that I was talking about Belleville just up the road on the Rhone, not Belleville in Ontatio.

    5. Personally I'd rather pay 10 pounds for ozzie wine because I know that it's going to be to my liking and I might even have been to the winemakers on a free boozy tour 'back in the day'.

      1. Not having a particularly sophisticated palate I'm more than happy with the local wines.
        Given that a typical meal out mark up is x4, getting a very pleasant bottle at one of the night markets for 5 euros is a bargain.

        1. Sounds good Sos.
          We use to holiday a lot in France when our three boys were much younger Key Camp caravan holidays were good fun. I use to follow the locals around the wine section and buy what they did. I found that the flashy labels quite often didn’t suit the content.

          1. I am led to believe that the fancy label can be created by any talented artist and need not bear any resemblance to reality as far as the chateau or vineyard are concerned.

      2. Neither the Warqueen nor I really drink, but we buy bottles as gifts for those we have dinner with.

        I don't really know what to get, so any suggestions always welcome!

        1. Kiwi and south African white wine is usually good. Ozzie reds are my favourite. Coonawara reds. But as you probably know, there are so many to choose from.

    6. Well, someone sold Lidl those wines at low prices, or are they merly using them as loss leaders to get people in the door, just as supermarkets do when selling gin, vodka, etc? Mind you, all it takes to make those "clear" spirits is a chemical plant…

      Equally, many of the French growers don't seem to be that mechanized, leaving them with higher than necessary production costs.

      Interesting that we can get very good "champagne" from Mumm, Chandon and others who own large California operations. Prices are about 1/2 of the actual French stuff. And they have a proper champagne taste.

      p.s. I've seen it noted many times that small French winemakers get screwed by the negociants, who make most of the profit. True?

      1. My view on "Champagne" is that it's one of the biggest con-tricks out there.
        Give me three bottles of Crémant de Bordeaux for one of ordinary champagne every time.
        I suspect that those selling those wines are making a small profit but what happens is that other producers sell less overall as a result.
        I also suspect that those producers get to sell more in the supermarket at better prices later in the year.

      1. A big bit.
        What next, disagree with the elected government?
        BAN THEIR FOOTBALL TEAM.
        Sport should be outwith politics.

        1. There is quite z fight going on over here with the regular complainers demanding that Israel should be banned from some tennis tournament.

          Who knows what kind of demonstration will kick off if they don't get their way.

          1. Perhaps sport gently edges open the door to show we can compete without having to kill each other.
            Oops no, silly me, everything boils down to aggressive politics.

          4. They’re whinging in Spain about the Israeli team in a Vuelta? event! Trying to get them barred! Flying pally flags etc.

        1. There was one UKIP conference that was so dire that I called my Green lady-friend to come and rescue me. Great days.

  83. And that is the volume turned up. Bruckner's 9th has just started on the Proms with the Vienna Phil.

  84. Oh well I have a decent excuse, up since the break of day dropping our car off at 7:30 am for a service and also replacement of both broken rear springs, not cheap. A bit of garden tidying, youngest grand daughter for the afternoon her lovely family picking her up. And not forgetting two glasses of SA merlot. On the cards that I'll sleep well.
    Goodnight all Nottlers sleep well all 😴
    Strongly Scottish fans banned from tonight's away game against Belarus. Empty stands ??? But scots one up at HT.
    Also about to go one up.zzzzz

  86. 18:27
    Firefighters are responding to a "possible hazardous materials incident" at Heathrow Airport.

    18:28
    We've just had a statement from the London Fire Brigade which says: "Firefighters are responding to a possible hazardous materials incident at Heathrow Airport."

    18:45
    "Trains are unable to call at Heathrow Terminal 4 due to the emergency services dealing with an incident," National Rail says in a post on X.

    …and then…

    20:39
    The events at Heathrow Airport are a "mass hysteria" type event, a source at the Met Police tells the BBC, with no hazardous material found.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c5ypl5grg24t

    1. The whole farrago is idiotic. Country after country struggles and none of them are prepared to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

        1. Abandoning inexpensive Russian gas and oil is the cause of the economic collapse both here and in Europe viz. high energy prices from subsidised “alternative” sources such as solar and windmills.

          Donating billions to a bunch of fascist thugs in Ukraine has not helped our balance of payments deficit either.

    2. Am I missing something? Why is this dominating the news schedules? Is there a yearning amongst news media that what happens in French politics ought to matter to us above anything else?

        1. I see it more as nostalgia for the "good old days" when the UK was a fully paid-up member of the EU.

          1. It would not surprise me to find the UK is still providing significant amounts of funding to the EU under the radar.

  91. On returning from el gym and our classes and the ablutions, we watched the end of he Big Bang Theory. It's a good ending to a good show but it always has me go a bit teary.

    Usually the warqueen would say something daft and mocking but as we've watched The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep) together and she was shouting 'go to him, you stupid woman!' I rather think she knows I'm a dippy romantic.

    However, what she did say was even more frightening 'I need you to lose weight so we can do this in our old age.'

    1. I've seen every episode of The Big Bang Theory. I treasure it as one of the finest of all sitcoms.

      1. I've seen a lot of them because MOH was a fan, but I fear I didn't appreciate the humour – or should that be humor?

        1. That was the last time we saw her – greeting Liz Truss. You can see the big purple bruise on her hand from a canula. She looked so frail, but still the wonderful smile.

    3. I'm not keen on pictures like that.
      She could be my mother's twin.
      Very sad for me, but also gives a frisson of unwarranted pride.

      1. And my mother! It must be a generational thing – cardigan, pleated skirt and pearls! And the smile and not too great teeth!

    5. One of my ex colleagues from my time as a court usher died today. She was also a very fine lady.
      The Queen was just The Queen to the rest of the world. Sadly missed and irreplaceable.

    6. There wouldn't have been a void had Charlie been up to snuff, but he's useless and thinks nothing of our heritage, pandering to islam instead.

    7. I would say the death of Philip hastened her demise along with her harsh treatment at his funeral served up by that Boris buffoon. HM Queen Elizabeth II was very savvy and knew full well that her eldest child was “useless” or was it “hopeless”.

  97. Has anyone seen Poppiesmum on here recently , is she alright ?

    I cannot check up on Twitter / X because when I cleaned my laptop with whatever the name of the cleaner is called , I lost all my sign ins again, and my google passwords haven't retained my info.. I mustn't get upset but I am !

        1. I've never had a warning like that – I think it was a scam. I remember poor old Tom used to say he used it………
          CCleaner Makes Your Computer Faster & More Secure | Official …
          CCleaner
          https://www.ccleaner.com
          Give your online privacy a boost. Stay more private if you share your PC with others by
          removing browsing history, passwords, and browser cookies. … Boost your …

          Why would you want to remove your passwords etc?

    3. Think I saw her yesterday, definitely recently (anniv. McCann case). Will tell her you are looking for her if I see her.

        1. There's something in the settings where you can tick only the bits you want it to clean, I think.

    6. Are you sure Google passwords are not stored on their servers? I don't know if they store the info on the local device or not. Might be worth a look for a minute or so.

  98. TThe latest annoying speak of yoofs –
    why do they preface everything they say with "I'm not going to lie"

    Could someone pleeeeese tell them that that is normally assumed?

    3. Oh, no! Not another irritating speech mannerism. I've yet to accept "amount" instead of "number" for countable nouns; "train" instead of "railway" station; the uplifting questioning intonation towards the end of sentences, usually associated with Australians and Californians; "can I get…" instead of "may I have…"; "like", peppering sentences as if a punctuation mark; and "yeah… no" when beginning replies to questions.

  102. Well, chums, it's bedtime for me now, after a much better day. So Good Night to you all. Sleep well, and see you all tomorrow morning.

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